I’ve banned making New Year’s goals.
I don’t do it. I actually refuse.
Go ahead. Tell me all the reasons I should make them. I know, I know. But just hear me out.
Here’s the deal. I used to be a perfectionist until God set me free. I used to find pieces of my identity in what I could accomplish, what I could create, what I could produce. I would strive and work and strive and work. I would make unattainable goals and when I would happen not to accomplish them, feel like a total failure. Any one else?
I was either finding my identity in the working towards the goals or the failure of not attaining them. Always feeling unsatisfied, and honestly really, really tired.
And then I started having revelation on my true identity, who God says I already am.
I started resting in what Jesus has already done for me. I let Him clothe me with His righteousness. I started not only listening but believing Him when He says, “Your righteousness isn’t sufficient for you. Here, take mine.” I put on His robe of righteousness and now the only striving I’m doing is to enter His rest. See, He paid a very high price for me to be able to rest. What an absolute disgrace it was for me to try to work for something He had already done.
These days that robe stays put, right over my shoulders. And if I forget sometimes and take it off, Holy Spirit is right behind me, reminding me to put it back on again. I’m walking in deeper levels of freedom than I’ve ever experienced. I’m now free to be me. I’m free to be who God created me to be. I can dream and create and produce from a place of rest. And I’m finding I’ve been more productive in these last two years resting than I have in a lifetime producing.
What if we kick the New Year’s resolutions to the curb? What if we went against the grain and said no to goals?
What if our only goal this year was His presence?
I felt towards the end of last year very pregnant with something in the spirit. I knew 2019 would be a year of birthing. I almost hopped on that thought train of preparation. “There’s so much I need to do. How can I prepare? What lists should I make? What is He doing?”
And then I felt Him say to me, “Pursue my presence, not what you can produce.”
I think the key to attainable, ridiculously high goals and excellence is His presence. I think if we were a people focused more on His presence than producing things, we would see more built in a year than a lifetime spent producing. I believe sitting in His presence, hosting His presence, being aware of His presence, is actually the fuel to productivity that we don’t realize.
You can’t mess that goal up.
You can’t fail.
You can’t loose when it’s Him you’re after.
So when you see all of the posts around the internet and on Instagram about goals and resolutions, whisper to yourself “presence over production.”
And regardless of all the things we have to do, of all the work that has to get done, all the things He’s called us to build, let’s make our one goal this year being with Him, sitting at His feet, soaking in His presence. And let’s produce out of that posture.
He’s the God of multiplication. The little boy gave him a few fish and loaves of bread and He fed a multitude. Don’t you think He can do that with our time? Don’t you think He can supernaturally multiply your “doing” if it’s His presence that we pursue?
Presence over production. It’s fail proof, friends.
Because I don’t do goals or resolutions, I listen for one word I feel He’s speaking over the year. If you choose a word of the year like me, these key necklaces are the perfect way to wear that reminder. You can grab one for you or for a friend, here.