What Are You Asking God to Do in 2022?

I have heard so many other stories of God at work around us in 2021. Friends who are finding their way back to God after the death of a spouse. Another friend is finding her way back to God after a divorce he did not want and never anticipated. The facilities person at the school whose entire family publicly proclaimed their faith by being baptized. The list goes on and on. The people that attend our church each week fall into three groups. One group consists of mature believers who get it. One group is made up of baby believers who are beginning to get it. And one group is people who are not yet believers at all – but they are on the road.

We are all still in process. We are all finding our way back to God. We all need to be restored to a right relationship with Him. What are you asking God to do in 2022? 

I gave up on new year's resolutions years ago. It seems to me they are too dependent on my ability to change me. If I could change myself, I would have already done so. So, in recent years, I have focused my new year's thinking on what I am asking God to do in the new year. I have lived in anticipation of each new year for some time now. And I have learned that your picture of what you are asking God to do can change and define your new year.

There are verses in the Bible that motivate me to dream. And there are verses in the Bible that scare me to death. Can I share one of each?

Here is the verse that motivates me to dream. It is found in 1 Corinthians 2:9:

No eye has seen,

No ear has heard,

And no mind has conceived

All that God has prepared for those who love Him.

I have seen God do some big things in my life:

• Overcome sexual abuse as a child

• Deal with the pain of infertility

• Survive and thrive in ministry

• Learn to win over depression

• Learn to deal with depression daily

• Watched my husband deal with A-fib heart issues – 52 cardioversions and three ablations

• Speaking and writing for hundreds of thousands of women

I could go on, but I am sure your list is just as long or longer than mine. And yet - I am convinced of this truth. God still has big things He wants to do in my life and your life! Things we have never seen or even heard of before. And things I cannot even imagine. He has it all prepared for me if I continue to grow in my love for Him. God has surprised me my entire life. He has allowed me to visit many different countries to serve him. He has opened doors that I never dreamed would be opened for me. And he is not done! I just need to position my heart and mind so that he can do something new. And I need to learn how to be quiet before him. There are new truths I cannot know unless I am still before him because so many times, he whispers dreams to my soul. The answers to my problems are rarely delivered with a shout. I have learned many lessons from the Holy Spirit that I never expected to learn. So much of God cannot be known on the run. The Bible is filled with people who tried.

Moses was a shepherd - and an aging shepherd - he did not realize that he would be leading a mass exodus when his path was interrupted by a burning bush. I love the apostle Peter because I can relate to his determination to keep the rules and not eat anything unclean. I tend to be a rule follower and have even thought I was better than those who didn't follow the rules. And then God broke all of the rules when he prepared Isaiah for a new ministry to the Gentiles. How? He placed a buffet of kosher animals before him and told him to eat. Can you imagine the shock Peter must have felt?

And Isaiah. Isaiah simply could not understand or see what God was up to in his life. Isaiah learned that the honor and name of God backs every promise of God, and Isaiah 43:19 is a whopper!

Isaiah 43:19 I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

What a great promise! What a motivation to dream! But here is the verse that scares me to death.

James 4:2 says this: You don't have what you dream of because you don't ask God for it.

Wow. I love stories about Heaven. The older I get, the more I love them. Because I am closer to Heaven now than I have ever been – and so are you! My grandmother used to tell me a made-up story about a man who died and went to Heaven. When he got there, St. Peter, the guy who keeps the front gate at Heaven, showed him around. He took him to a huge room where presents were all beautifully wrapped – but none were opened. When the man looked more closely, his name was on every present. Finally, he got excited and asked St. Peter, "Are these the rewards God has for me?" And St. Peter sadly replies, "No. These are all the things God wanted to give you while you were on earth, but you never asked for them."

What a scary thought. That God has things prepared for us in 2022 - more than we have ever seen, heard, or imagined. But we could miss it all in 2022 if we do not ask God for it. What are you asking God to do in your life in 2022? What are you trusting God for this year? What are you asking Him to do in you and through you?

Here are my three suggestions for what you want to ask God for in 2022.

First - ask God for something big.

Something big enough that only God can pull it off. Remember - Scripture says God has things "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has conceived … God has prepared for those who love Him."

Most of us acknowledge that we serve a big God. But our prayers often seem like we serve a little God because we only ask Him for little things. So what would happen if 2022 were a shift in the size of the things we ask God to do?

Second - ask God for something specific.

Ask God to do something so specific in 2022 that by the end of the year, you will know if it came to pass. Too many times, we pray 'bless my friend" general prayers. What are you specifically asking God to do in the life of your friend?

Psalm 139:16 "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

Third - ask God for something personal.

Ask God for something personal. Something that will change your life. He cares about you. He wants to bless you. He wants to work in your life and accomplish things that God can only explain.

2020 was a challenging year for many. 2021 has not been a lot better. 2022 can be a breakthrough year if we learn to pray breakthrough prayers.

Mary Southerland is also the Co-founder of Girlfriends in God, a conference and devotion ministry for women. Mary’s books include, Hope in the Midst of Depression, Sandpaper People, Escaping the Stress Trap, Experiencing God’s Power in Your Ministry, 10-Day Trust Adventure, You Make Me So Angry, How to Study the Bible, Fit for Life, Joy for the Journey, and Life Is So Daily. Mary relishes her ministry as a wife, a mother to their two children, Jered and Danna, and Mimi to her six grandchildren – Jaydan, Lelia, Justus, Hudson, Mo, and Nori.