2018 - The Year of Expectation

First of all, on behalf of Isabella and me, I would like to pronounce a blessing over you and your family for 2018. May this year be the best year of your life. I trust you had a great Christmas.  I enjoyed my break. The rest was amazing. But I did miss you and this labor of love. We are celebrating 20 years of Today’s Word. It has been, and continues to be, an amazing part of my life and ministry. I know you have many options for daily devotions and I am thankful you choose this one.

Today’s Word is not a canned prewritten devotion.  I believe that part of the uniqueness of what God has called me to do with Today’s Word is that He requires me to seek Him daily and to share what He says.  That being the case, I am excited about what I believe God is saying about 2018.  While God made plans for you before the world began, you get to actually live out God’s plans in different times and seasons, and at different levels and stages of your life. Discerning what heaven is saying concerning the season you are in is critical, because attempting to do the right thing, but doing it at the wrong time, makes the right thing the wrong thing.  Since God’s plans for your life are already written, true success can only be experienced when you discover, develop in, and then deploy into God’s will for your current season.

Every year I seek God for a theme.  I want to know what He is saying in the current season.  I truly want to flow in God’s grace daily.  Life become less about your striving and more about God’s sovereignty and providence when you consciously make a human alignment with your divine assignment for the season you are in.  That said, what I believe God spoke to me for 2018 is that this year will be a Year of Expectation for us.  What I mean by this is that God wants us to enter every day with an expectation of His goodness to be manifested in the earth.  

In the messages for this year, we will learn to develop a Godly expectation that will fuel our faith and elevate our hope. Thank you in advance for going on the journey with me.  I believe it will be an amazing year.

So what does this mean to you today?  Since I am introducing the series today, I will simply give you a few quick nuggets about expectation and the season I believe we are in.

1. 2017 was a challenging year for many.  Isabella and I faced some of the toughest challenges of our lives.  But like many of you, we came out on top, by God’s grace.  While it was a year of great victory, those victories came after significantly challenging experiences.  Thankfully, we are still here, and it’s by the grace of God!  Take a moment to look back over 2017 and give God praise for bringing you through it.  

2. Through the challenges of 2017 and those which proceeded them, many of us have sown significant seeds of godliness over the years.  In this season we will enter every day expecting a harvest on every seed sown.  We will believe God for harvest in our personal lives and also in the Body of Christ at-large.  This expectation will help us keep our faith in the “ON” position.

3. When speaking about true expectation, I have heard Christian leaders describe entering every day with an “outstretched neck.”  The visual is of a person who is SO expectant that their neck is literally stretching out as their face gazes into the heavens in anticipation.  It’s like they are living every moment in Godly suspense, awaiting the manifestation of God’s promises.  This is how I believe the Father wants us to live 2018: in expectation, with anticipation, in suspense, knowing that God’s harvest, on the seeds we have sown, can come at any time.

Closing Confession:  

Father, this is a year of expectation for me.  I expect You to provide a harvest on every seed sown, both in my life personally, and across the Body of Christ.  You are the Lord of the Harvest, the earth functions on a system of seedtime and harvest, and I believe it’s Harvest Time for us!  So, I enter this day and every day of 2018 with an outstretched neck.  I have an expectation of Your manifestation.  I live every moment in anticipation of Your goodness. I maintain a Godly suspense daily, knowing that my harvest can come at any time.  Thank You Father for seeing me through 2017.  Thank You for blessing me to see 2018.  And thank You, in advance, for making 2018 the best year of my life and an amazing year for the Body of Christ at-large.  This year we will see a tremendous Harvest of souls come into Your Kingdom.  I declare this by faith.  In Jesus’ name, Amen!

This is Today’s Word.  Apply it and prosper!