I have such great anticipation for the year ahead. Something in my spirit is stirring and telling me this is going to be the best year of many of our lives.
As we look forward some of us need to shake off some of the hurts and disappointments of the past and recognize the future is what we need to focus on. I am reminded of a process that I went through years ago called “new name.” It helped me recognize faulty beliefs I had about myself and freed me up to become a better version of me.
So many of us are defined by an old perspective we have of ourselves. Maybe we’ve even allowed ourselves to be labelled with some unflattering title. Many people, unfortunately, take on medical diagnosis as an identity of what their life will be like.
In the bible many of the great stories are about people who, in faith, shook off an old identity, received a new name, and with it enjoyed an entirely new life.
Abram and his wife were at one time unable to conceive a child. If you asked him or his wife what their self-view was, they would have said, “We can’t have kids.” On the other hand, God told Abram to look at himself differently. He gave him a new name, Abraham, which means “Father of many” and told him, “Your descendants will be as many as the stars in the sky.” Abram accepted his new identity and became Abraham, patriarch to all the children of God.
The name “Simon” means “weed.” A weed sways with the wind. We see the same actions throughout Simon’s life, including when he denied his beloved Jesus three times. Jesus eventually says to Simon, “I now call you Peter.” Peter means rock. Peter, no longer a weed, but a man who stands firm in his conviction is then able to be used by God to bring the gospel to the world.
People come as patients and they have named themselves: Pain, cancer, weak and prone to infection, fatigue, poor, fat, depressed, stressed, etc. Patients will sometimes ask why I don’t inquire every visit about their symptoms or all the things that are wrong with them. I tell them, I care about your struggles, but I don’t want you to keep speaking that into your life – I don’t want you to claim your struggles and keep creating that reality. Instead, I want you to claim your health, declare your healing, and speak words that will change your situation.
This year in 2017 I want you to give yourself a new identity. I want you to break off the self limiting label, diagnosis, title and get ready to create a new future. Give yourself a new name that you can lay hold of and begin to walk in that every day. See yourself well, healed, prosperous, vibrant, energetic,
We need to learn from history but we need to keep it where it belongs, in the past. What matters now is today and the creation of your future.
Be blessed and make 2017 your best year ever,
Dr Matt
