My "Word" for 2013...

 Choosing a word to focus on in 2013 was not so hard.  "His Presence" seemed to lead to this one..

The "word" that I want to focus on in 2013 is something that I have learned a little about this past year.... It really began with that book I have recommended over and over in my posts and in conversations with friends and even strangers. The Spirit opens up opportunities to share things I have learned over and over again as I give thanks for this wonderful grace given to me, to all of us....prayer.

The book is A Praying Life by Paul Miller.

It is funny how when I really began to work at committing chapters and books of Scripture to memory by using  Scripture Typer (click and you can get started), I began seeing threads running through God's revelation to us.  One that has stuck out to me in the Sermon on the Mount,  and in I John is that if we "just ask" he hears us.  There are other truths attached to asking, like loving God and others, asking in His will, abiding in Him, trusting Him.  But the word "ask" is the connecting word, a word that suggests
an intimate relationship,
    a growing relationship,
         a dependent relationship on God.

John 14:13 ESV "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

John 16:24 ESV "Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."


Matthew 7:7 ESV "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

I John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we aks anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him."

Okay, I think I get it...."Just ask...."

So "ask" is my "word" this year.  My prayer in putting this phrase out there goes something like this:

Father, in your Word you tell us that if we ask for anything in your name, you will give it to us.  Jesus also said that "You have not, because you ask not."  Oh, Father, help me to remember to ask before I go into "fix it" mode.  Before I start planning and manipulating on how things need to get done.  Help me to hear the Spirit speaking truth to me, "Ask, and you will recieve."   Just asking seems like a copout but help me to understand that it is the only way to peace, to living the abundant life, to living in dependance on You, knowing that everything I am, everything I have, is because of you and you alone.
Oh, God, help me in the hours, days and months ahead, as long as you give me life,  to remember to "just ask!"
And then, Father, help me to see, to give thanks for and to lift up Your Name when I see your work all around me.
Amen...and Amen.

From my experience God really does hear us and answer when we "ask."  I'm looking forward to a year of standing in awe as I watch God work in response to "just asking."  

What is your "word" for 2013?  It can be the same....wouldn't that be fun?  Let me know and I can "ask" for the strength and courage you will need to follow Him this year in how He is leading you.