An Acceptable Year

"To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord"-Luke 4:19. American Standard Version
"To proclaim the year of the Lord's favour"-Luke 4:19  New English Translation
"To announce the time has come when the Lord will save his people "-Luke 4:19 Good News Translation
" And to announce that the time the come for the Lord to show his kindness"-Luke 4:19 Easy to Read Version
"And to tell people that the year when the Lord will help them has come"-Luke 4:19 World English
"And to say this is the year the Lord has chosen"-Luke 4:19 Contemporary English Version
"To announce this is God's year to act"-Luke 4:19 The Message

It is a new year and it has come indeed  with all the excitement and promises that a new season usually brings. Amidst all the celebrations is a certain uncertainty about what the year holds which may sometimes be daunting but it need not be especially  when we  remember that there is one who has gone ahead of us(Isaiah 45:2).

Usually in most congregations, there is usually a word for the direction in which the church is moving but if there is going to be a performance of these things, we on an individual basis will have to take it and personalize it. This will require a certain tenacity that must surely go beyond January.On a daily basis this year, we should confess the word from God that we have received as the word for this season.

 Jesus on opening the scriptures that day in the synagogue, proclaimed that " this is  the acceptable year of the Lord".According to some versions, it is a year that the Lord will help and this help will come as a result of God's favour(Psalms 102:13). If God is going to help us, it means that there must be something we are planning to achieve.There is a goal or several goals in mind and as we do something about it, the Lord's help is promised.This year ,we should not use confusion as an excuse for doing nothing.Neither should we be  trying to do with prayer what increase in capacity will do for us. A true sign that we believe all of the good word that has come from God this season is to get to work(James 2:17)

So no matter what the word from God is for your congregation,we will all need the Lord's help and I am so glad  that the year  the Lord' will help has come(Luke 4:19),It is indeed an acceptable year.

Happy New Year
Grace Tom-Lawyer