by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

FOCUS

I believe that 2019 will be a year marked by repositioning, realignment, and refocusing. This is a year that God wants His bride to focus even more wholeheartedly on the One Thing (Psalm 27) and to narrow in on the unique assignments He’s destined for us.

Many people are in transition right now. I believe that this is the work of God and that He is strategically repositioning each one to be aligned for what He’s about to pour out. It feels like God is moving lives around like chess pieces to set up for His next big move. For some, this is a physical move and for others it’s a shift in their hearts. Even though transitions are uncomfortable, be encouraged that the uprooting and shifting won’t last forever. He is repositioning us to play a key role in the current and new great awakening.

I believe that 2019 is a foundational year for many where He will let our roots go down deep. He wants to restructure some things and then deepen our foundation. It may feel like there’s a lot of work going into setting the new foundations in your life, family, and ministry. You may not be aware of instant fruit right away. However, it will be important to realize that this foundation setting season will be crucial for the next 5, 10, 20 + years. The more careful we are with building deep, pure, and solid foundations, the stronger and more long lasting what is built upon it will be.

We are entering into a strategic year for refocusing on our Ephesians 2:10 assignments from Heaven. We need to position ourselves to walk in the works He’s already prepared beforehand for us. This has nothing to do with striving toward a task but everything to do with throwing off anything that hinders and running full speed ahead into the arms of Jesus. In the midst of this race, He is also inviting us to slow down our pace in this busy world to listen to what He says and reflect on what He’s spoken in the past (Psalm 46:10, Proverbs 3:5-6). When we do this, we get clarity as we run deeper into His heart. When seek Him will our whole hearts as our only agenda, we will watch the divine assignments He’s prepared for us naturally be released.

I believe that Hebrews 12:1-2 is a key verse for 2019.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

LETTING GO

Since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have sacrificed greatly and paved the way for us (see Hebrews 11), “let us throw off everything that hinders.” This means everything that hinders, not just the sin that so easily entangles.

God is calling us to let go of even the good things that are no longer ours to carry into the New Year. What we were called to carry in one season may not be what we are called to carry into the next one. He is inviting us to lay everything before Him: every commitment, relationship, and plan, and to welcome the fire of God. Whatever remains will be refined like gold and emerge to the surface while whatever is burned away is not meant for us to continue to carry.

Many times the good is the enemy of the best. Sometimes we have to lay down the silver to embrace the gold. Metaphorically speaking, silver is not necessarily bad but if it fills up our lives so there’s no room for the gold, we may be missing out on entering wholeheartedly into our assignments in this season. We need to be led of the Spirit and respond to God’s mission upon our lives rather than led by need or even open doors. Open doors are great but we can only go through one open door at a time and not all open doors are God’s invitations or assignments for our lives. This is why it’s so important to fix our eyes on Jesus and remain close to Him so we will know which way to go.

Some questions to ponder as we step into the new season are:

• What are you born for and what has God called you to carry in this season? Who are some of the people God has highlighted for you to run with in this new season?

• What in your life does not align with God’s purposes for your life in this new season? What is He calling you to let go of and trust to Him as you enter into this New Year?

A commitment or relationship that brought life in one season but that is no longer meant to be a part of our future season (excluding the covenant of marriage) does not mean there was anything wrong with it. We need to acknowledge and thank God for the gift it was in that season, celebrate it, and then trust it to the Lord. I encourage you to welcome a fresh baptism of fire over your life so that God can refine what’s to remain in this new season (Matthew 3:11).[1]

STAYING IN YOUR LANE

Once we have let go of weights we are no longer required to carry, we can run faster in the race marked out for us. It is important to stay in your own lane in 2019 even if that means saying no to other things that are important but not yours to carry. In Acts 6:3-4, there were many needs that had to be met including helping the widows. However, if the apostles continued to carry this load into their new season, it would have taken them outside of their calling. They made sure the needs were still met by empowering others to step in so that they could be free to run the race God set before them.

Life is too short to spend carrying other people’s callings and living for other’s expectations. It’s time to give ourselves wholeheartedly to the call He has placed on our lives, all for His glory (Romans 12:1-2). This world needs you and what you carry. It needs you to arise and shine and be the light in this dark world that you were uniquely destined to be (Isaiah 60). 

FIXING YOUR EYES

While we all have different assignments, we all have the same ultimate goal. In this race, it says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…” Jesus is to be our focus. He is to be our One Thing. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our destination, destiny, and dreams come true.

In 1922, Helen H. Lemmel wrote the famous hymn Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. She was inspired by a poem by and the life of a missionary named Lilias Trotter. Trotter laid down everything to become a missionary in Northern Algeria. Her consecrated life was focused on the face of Jesus.[2] More than ever with what we are facing this this world, our call and priority above all else in 2019 needs to be fixing our eyes upon Jesus and adoring Him no matter what shaking comes our way. As we keep our eyes on Him, and run wholeheartedly the race set before us, we will experience acceleration deeper into the heart of God and into our destiny.

THE JOY SET BEFORE

While our focus is to remain on Jesus, it’s also amazing to ponder the fact that we were the joy that was set before Him that caused Him to endure the cross.

In light of the extreme price that’s already been paid for us, as we dive into 2019, let’s consecrate the year by throwing off everything that might hold us back. Let’s choose in all circumstances to run after Jesus wherever we might find Him.

When we lock eyes on the One who gave everything for us and when we run unhindered toward Him with everything inside of us no matter where we see Him, whether that be in a storm, a valley, or a mountain top, everything else will fade away. It’s simple really, when Jesus is not just our One Thing but our Everything and the all consuming desire of our lives, everything else falls into place and perfect alignment with Heaven (Matt 6:33). Let’s fix our gaze on the One who loves us more than we could ever comprehend, and let’s run with total abandonment into the arms of Jesus with a relentless passion that stops at nothing until we have taken hold of Him.

Blessing you as you welcome a fresh baptism of fire and focus over your life. May you see Jesus like never before, may the gold emerge and sparkle in the radiance of His glorious presence. Even now as we close, lets take a moment to turn our eyes upon Jesus and look full into His glorious face...

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Key Resources

In this mini-Encounter E-course, there is a session on Focus and a session on Fasting. Be led into a powerful encounter with God and learn how to accelerate your growth, increase your hunger for God, and remain focused on Jesus wholeheartedly, becoming a burning one, fully consecrated to the Lord. Access this today

[1] To learn more about a receiving a baptism of fire, see Jennifer A. Miskov, Ignite Azusa (Redding, CA: Silver to Gold, 2016), 62-64.

[2] To read the original poem and learn more of the story behind the song “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” see Jennifer A. Miskov, Walking on Water (Bloomington, MN; Chosen Books, 2017), 76-79.

To be led into a fresh encounter with Jesus and a baptism of the Holy Spirit, join Jen on the full Walking on Water Encounter eCourse today.

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

The Sabbath rest is one of the most rewarding gifts we’ve been given. If God needed to rest after 6 days of creating the world and everything in it, then I can follow in His example. Too many times though, we overlook this gift of rest that is built into the rhythm of abundant life offered to us by God.

Is there Purpose in our Busyness?

There’s something numbing about keeping ourselves busy and running around from here to there that gives the illusion of importance. If someone asks me how I am doing and I tell them that I am super busy does my busyness make me feel super important because I have so many things to do? Sometimes the tape in my head goes like this:

If I am busy, that means I am important.

If I am important, that means I have value.

If I have value, that means I will be loved.

But if I am not busy does that mean I no longer have worth or am loved or have value or am important?

I think if we’re honest, filling up the moments of our lives with stimulation, busyness, going from one place to the next, seeing one post to the next, and driving with one hand on the wheel while we eat fast food in the other and check our social media accounts on the way to another meeting is a normal part of some of our worlds. What’s the true benefit of working overtime again and again, striving to get more so we can continue to be encaged in the hamster wheel of running faster and faster to nowhere? At the end of our lives, will we be satisfied?

I am not saying that we can’t fill our schedules up or that if we do have full schedules it means something is wrong. What I am saying is as we enter toward the end of this year, let’s take a step back to re-evaluate our commitments to make sure that what we are intentionally investing our time into are things that we are born for, are building the Kingdom of God, and life-giving. As we dive into the new year, we must be able to choose the good over the best and let go of the silver to embrace the gold. Too many times it’s those good things that fill up all the space in our lives, leaving no room for the best to enter in. Until we are courageous and willing to let go, that is.

One thing I Learned in my Sabbatical time in Maui

This summer I learned a very important lesson on rest. I decided to take a small sabbatical time of rest and refreshing in Maui after running hard for 6 years with Destiny House and entering into our 7th year. While there, I felt like God was inviting me to extend my time on the island more than once. The first extension was easier to say yes to. But then when I had to decide in the second month whether to stay yet another month, I struggled. I had to decide whether to come back to the mainland in October to teach at multiple schools of ministry and other obligations or stay another month in Maui, extending my time of rest, surf, play, and to be refreshed for a women’s conference in Virginia in November that I felt was significant.

I didn’t want to let down all the people I had committed to. Would they think I am a flake? Would they think I am irresponsible? I am a person of my word and I felt I would be letting so many people down. I still hadn’t secured housing for my time on the mainland so I would have had to sleep on a couch for a month all the while doors kept opening for me to stay longer in Maui.

Would I do what I felt I should do or would I follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and give my soul the attention it needed? If I knew I wouldn’t let anyone down and they would understand me caring for my soul, if I trusted that God would provide for me still, what would I choose? The real question I needed answered was what was God saying in the midst of all this noise in my head and what season did He have me in?

I knew deep down that I wasn’t ready to return and dive back into full time ministry and teaching. I knew that my heart still needed more restoration and rest. I knew that being at the beach and surfing the waves is one of the gifts God put in my life that helps restore my soul. I wondered what it would look like to enter into the clear yes in my spirit of the Virginia trip in November fully rested and ready to go rather than worn out and tired from running around doing good things that I really do love but that didn’t fit the extended season of rest God was inviting me into. I knew what my heart needed but still battled with what other people would think and how they would view me. I didn't want to let people down.

I also felt like this decision would be a turning point for the next 40 years and next era of my life, shifting me from what I’ve know and always done into the spirit of pioneering and stepping out of the boat like Peter did to walk into the unknown. The fact that I was presented with these decisions at the same time and in the midst of filming the Walking on Water Encounter E-course there on Maui and getting ready to launch The School of Pioneering Revival is not an accident. These are all about stepping out of the boat to be closer to Jesus at all costs.

Staying in Maui another month would be me letting go of what had been familiar ad stepping out of the boat. It would mean going off of the map into the unplanned, and into a completely different direction. Because I believe there is safety in walking with the family of God and not off on my own in isolation, I invited a significant spiritual mother and spiritual father into this decision making process. They both readily and quickly confirmed my decision to stay and felt the Lord on it. This was a huge gift of safety and strength in making this shift.

Then I did something I rarely ever do. I called to share my heart and cancel all of my engagements for the month of October on the mainland. I was able to give some of these opportunities away to other friends so they could be blessed by them. I let go and trusted I heard God. I chose to make space for what my heart needed to enter more fully into this season of rest God was giving me. I extended my time in Maui for the sole reason of resting.

When the time in Maui was complete and I finally did come back to the mainland to go to the Women’s Abide conference in Virginia in early November, God moved in great power and touched many lives in a significant way. God even blessed me financially. Triple the number of Writing in the Glory attendees signed up and my books all sold out, releasing continued revival fire even after I had come and gone. I even extended my trip another week to hold a few more revival meetings. To read some crazy testimonies of what God did there, see Acts of the Holy Ghost in Charlottesville, Virginia. All that to say, when God invites us into a season of rest, we can trust that He will take care of us and all of the details. There’s no way I could have lived 3 months in Maui without God providing the body of Christ to welcome me in. So many beautiful saints poured out hospitality again and again for which I will forever be grateful for. My prayer is that my recent journey deeper into God’s heart through rest would be a prophetic encouragement for you to embrace the Sabbath gift of rest God wants to give you today.  

Stewarding Rest during the Christmas Season: The 10 minute Challenge

What would it look to steward rest in the midst of this busy holiday season? What would it look like to not run around trying to please everyone with extravagant gifts but instead slow down and give people the gift of our presence?

Now I know not everyone has the freedom to be able to stay in Maui for months, but we do all have 10 minutes each day or even once a week where we can get alone with God to encounter His love. What would happen if today we STOPPED everything and spent 10 minutes in pure silence waiting upon God?

If you want to know what’s really going on in the depths of your heart and experience deep peace in the midst of the craziness all around, I want to encourage you to take 10 minutes today and STOP everything and just be still. Stop all in-take, all reading, all listening, all moving, and simply BE. Listen to God. Welcome Him to meet you in a special way. Listen to what He has to say. Put down your journal writing, Bible reading, phone until after the time. Turn off your music and any other stimulation just for this sacred set apart time. Let’s practice Psalm 46:10 where it says,

“Be still and know that I am God.”

I will warn you right now, to get 10 minutes of absolute silence and focused engagement on God, to be fully present with Him alone, you will may to fight a million battles. So many distractions will try to come against you. But this ONE THING I ask of the Lord, King David says in Psalm 27:4, is “that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” And the more you practice cultivating space to listen and be present for God to move in your life, the easier it gets.

So I pray that as you begin to build this beautiful gift of stewarding rest into your life, that God’s grace would be upon you and that He would give you rest. Rest for your souls. He is waiting with open arms for you to enter into the Secret Place with Him and to remind you that JESUS is truly the reason for this season. May we never let busyness distract us from this simple truth. May His stillness go deep into your heart and permeate you with His rest for your soul.

 Key verses: Exodus 31:15, Psalm 46:10, Psalm 91, Jeremiah 6:16, Matthew 11:28

Experience the Fruit of my Sabbath in Maui: NEW Walking on Water Encounter E-course

In retrospect from my time in Maui, I am now realizing the significance of making these crucial decisions all the while of filming my Walking on Water Encounter E-course in Maui and getting ready to launch my online school and dream come true, The School of Pioneering Revival. If I am not able to step out of the boat and follow the leading of the Spirit into the unknown and trust in Him, then how can I encourage others to step out of the boat? To experience some of the fruit of my time in Maui, I want to invite you to watch a 10 minute video of me sharing more about The Secret Place and Cultivating a lifestyle of Intimacy with Jesus in the first session of the Walking on Water E-course. There is a free preview once you register here or feel free to sign up for the whole Encounter Course to unlock a season of intimacy and destiny.

Blessings and Mahalo and a huge thanks to the Maui tribe for loving and taking me in!

Jen

by Jennifer A. Miskov, Ph.D.

PEACE

Five letters, one word, but when it appears, it destroys millions of competing thoughts to bring us to a place of rest in the Father’s truth. Peace is something that so many of us strive for yet so few of us have as a regular part of our lives. One definition of peace is “freedom from disturbance” and another is “freedom from war.” In our day and age, we truly have to fight off a war of competing thoughts to steward a place of peace in our hearts and to keep our attention on The One Thing (Psalm 27). What would our lives look like if we could steward peace despite our circumstances, distractions, pain, or lack? What if we knew at a core level that we are God’s children and because of that, we knew that He will always keep us safe and will always be present with us in our darkest and most confusing times?

Stewarding peace in our lives means that no circumstance or situation can change our perspective on God or shake the security we have in Christ. When our hope is fixed solely on Jesus who paid a great price to win us over, no storm in this life will ever again have the power to move us (Psalm 91). We are firmly rooted in God’s overwhelming love (see Romans 8).

I have good news for you. It’s easy to steward peace in our lives if we simply follow what has already been given to us in God’s Word:

Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV) says,

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Let’s break this down into three simple action points:

1. REJOICE

Choose to rejoice in God always. This means to celebrate His goodness in good times and in bad. It means worshiping Him at all times because He never changes (2 Chronicles 20). Always means always; not just when things are going our way. If He can trust us to fix our affection on Him during hard times, He can trust us in good times to continue to keep our focus on Him. And praise God; the Lord is always near! No matter what the situation, God is near to our hearts. Because of His nearness, we can choose to be anxious about nothing and rejoice always!

2. TRUST

Let go and let God move on your behalf. In every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, we are to give our requests, burdens, cares, questions, and uncertainties to God. TRUST, another five-letter word but when lived out changes everything. What would our lives look like today if we truly trusted that God is for us (Romans 8:31)? Or that He is working behind the scenes on our behalf even now to bring us into a greater level of the abundant life He died for us to have (John 10:10, Ephesians 3:20, Hebrews 12:1-2)? Because of who He is and His great faithfulness, we can trust Him with our whole hearts.

3. THANK

Practice gratitude, it’s a privilege. When faced with a great need, it’s the perfect time to recount times in the past where God has come through for you in a similar situation. Furthermore, move beyond just thanking God for the past; learn also to thank Him for the future. Trust in His character and begin thanking Him ahead of time for the breakthrough He will bring. Thank Him that He has already gone before and is preparing a way to bring perfect alignment. Thanksgiving and praise opens the gates to more of God’s presence (Psalm 100:4).

Stewarding peace is simple when our perspective is in alignment with heaven. Proverbs 3:5-7 (NIV) summarizes it quite well.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways (acknowledge or) submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

We literally don’t even need to say another word because these Scriptures say it all. All we have to do is actually believe and apply these truths to our lives to receive this incredible gift of peace that transcends what we can see in this moment. God’s ways are so far above our ways (Isaiah 55:9). If we truly believe the truth that if God did not spare His own Son, how could He not also, along with Him, give us all things (Romans 8:32), we can more easily trust Him with our daily cares.  If God cares for the birds of the field, how will He not care for us who are more valuable to Him than these (Matthew 6:25-34)?

When we let go and trust God with our burdens, our hearts are wide open to receive the peace that passes understanding. This peace comes when we no longer lean on our own ideas of what’s happening in our situations but instead we choose to trust that God has a bigger story in mind. I want to encourage you to pray the following prayer out loud as an act of walking in peace:

God, I give you all of my burdens today. I let go. I entrust each of my concerns into Your loving arms. Thank You that You have already gone before me to bring breakthrough and to provide for my needs. I thank You that You care about what concerns me. I choose to rejoice in Your goodness and to celebrate Your faithfulness. I thank You for what You’ve done in my life in the past to get me to where I am today. I acknowledge that You are a good God with a great track record in my life. I renounce fear, anxiety, torment, and any distractions in my life that would keep me from You. I declare that only Your truth is welcome in my life. I believe that You are for and with me in every circumstance. I stand in faith and hope that in Your perfect timing, You will make all things new. I trust that You will bring me to where I need to be as I keep my eyes fixed on You. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

I bless each of one you with the courage to let go and to trust God with all that concerns you. Instead of worrying about the future, I declare the Father’s love and peace to permeate every cell in your body. As you trust in God with all your heart, may you receive a fresh baptism of the love of the Father. As you practice thanksgiving, I pray that your perspective shifts and that you receive a peace that transcends unanswered questions. In this moment, may you be filled to overflowing with His peace that passes understanding. Blessings to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.

*If you want to learn even more about how to Steward Peace in the Midst of Storms, check out my latest book Walking on Water: Experiencing a Life of Miracles, Courageous Faith, and Union with God where I go more in depth and also provide additional prayers and activations for walking in peace and freedom.