Wow! Coming off the year of SO was quite interesting. Either I'm not paying enough attention in the beginning of the year or I am a slow learner, because God always seems to bring it on the last quarter of the year. I learned more about my pride and strong-will than I ever expected and thankfully was humbled which led to my submission and obedience both at home and on the job.
So, this brings us to 2015! I've been praying about the theme for this year since November and struggled really until this morning. I love how God has tied it all together! At first I was thinking it would be the year of Worship. Then, it was the year of taking thoughts captive. Then it was preserving my heart. And where I've landed miraculously wraps all of them up into one word: Magnify!
I was on my way to a conference in December and heard a Tony Evans sermon in which he simply asked the definition of magnify. He made it simple: to make bigger. In our walk with Christ, it is our honor and privilege to make God look bigger than the stuff we face in life, whatever it is. It stuck with me, but I had no idea to what extent until this week.
Today I made time to do a word study on the word magnify. I love that God has such deeper meaning in his word than is presented at first glance! This is what I found:
In the Greek, magnify is the word "megaluno" which means to make great, enlarge or magnify.
In the Hebrew; magnify is the word "gadal" (pronounced gaw-dal). The primary root is to twist; to be or make large (in various senses as in body, mind, estate or honor, also in pride). It's translated as magnify (32x), great (26x), grow (14x), nourishment (7x), grow up (6x), greater (5x). It means to become strong, grow up, be greater, wealthy, evidence oneself as great, be powerful, significant or valuable. In the intensive stem it indicates that this rearing up has occurred (brought up children) and may also imply permission (when Samson's hair was to grow Numbers 6:5). But primarily it is to magnify or to make large.
My theme verses are Psalm 34:3 (but I like the entire chapter to get the full effect!) and Psalm 69:30, Psalm 70:4, Philippians 1:20.
What does this all mean? It means this: my 2015 will be focused on making sure that I remember that God is truly bigger than anything that I face and therefore my reaction and response to the things that happen in my life should reflect that. When I make that intentional choice (taking every thought captive), I grow in my relationship with Christ and worship Him in a variety of different ways. Not only that, but I then give Him more permission to preserve my heart which means I can be braver and bolder when He leads me to be. At the end of the year, I hope I will have grown in my relationship with my God and truly magnify him in every way possible.
Here's to 2015... Magnify! Hope you'll join me in magnifying His name!
