Inhale.
Did anyone else finish last year feeling like you were completing one long exhale? Perhaps you were one of those people ‘fanging for a break’ to clear your head from the bombardment of a thousand jobs, messages, meetings, events and responsibilities you’d just accumulated over the last 12 months. So to be kind to yourself you ‘flicked the switch’ and willingly filled your head with anything else for a while; which sounds perfectly reasonable. Welcome distractions like travel, drinks, social catch-ups, drinks, movies, food (did I mention drinks?) were a fabulous ‘time-out’ from the year that was. After all, you deserved it! After participating in this ritual for a while now however, I’ve observed there’s just one problem: coming out of the coma. Trust me, the fog is real. Some of us risk resurfacing at the start of this year not much clearer in our head or in our spirit than when we tapped out. We need Someone to tap us on the face.
Awaken.
How aptly named is the word ‘grog’ by the way? A popular liquid relaxant and Australian social icon, I admit to availing myself of a few cool ales over the summer break in a good communal spirit. The only thing is it tends to leave the headlights a bit ‘foggy’ and the antennae a bit less sharp, doesn’t it. To have a relaxed, joyful, wound-down heart is good thing: but a dulled and foggy headspace - not so much.
Revive.
3 Words for Your Year
I reckon what we all need to do to kick this year off right - before the crazy comes crashing back in - are three things: inhale, awaken and revive. I’m happy to speak for myself and you can insert your name if the shoe fits. But I know what I need at the start of this year is a good, spiritual splash of water in the face. Like a proverbial bucket of water over the head, I need one that invigorates me, wakes me up and makes me alert to where I am and what’s going on around me. I need to be revived.
I also know I need to inhale - and deeply. There’s few things better than getting outside early in the morning and breathing in the crisp morning air (I always sing ‘Morning has Broken’ when I do). Perhaps this is something some of us need to take up this year? Not singing Cat Stevens, the morning walk. Personally, I can’t walk in the morning and not be led immediately into prayer. I feel like God is literally there waiting for me each day, when I do. As the psalm says;
My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, “LORD, I am coming.” - Psalm 27:8
There’s a gospel saying yo may have heard, “Lord I need a revival”. Ultimately that’s what I’m proposing for us here. The wake-up we need is the one where the Father who made you taps you on the face and speaks your name, smiling and ready to go. We need to inhale the crisp, cleansing air of the Holy Spirit - like a good long drink - asking Him fill our lungs and lead us back to prayer and praise. Turn some worship music on in the lunge room instead of the TV for a change and let loose. When was the last time you sang out loud in the shower, park or car? Come on, I double-dog-dare you. My old man does this unsolicited on a daily basis - way to go Kev!
Finally, the revival that each and every one of us needs, is a double handful of the Spirit of God splashing into our face and invigorating us with a renewed passion for life and the mission Jesus has called us to. When I am revived I have a renewed prophetic sense of where, what, how, who and why God is calling me. Do you need clarity about any of those things? I know I do, every year before heading back out into the fray. There’s one thing the enemy hates and that’s someone who knows their enemy, knows who has won the victory and can see their target clearly.
Revive = a renewed prophetic sense of where, what, how, who and why God is calling you
Inhale - Awaken - Revive. I pray this may be your experience this year as well as mine. If we pursue these things, I have no doubt they will be. May the Spirit of the living God truly revive each one of us this year! God bless.