Great In 2008 With His Magistrate by Tommy Andersen

Every year the Lord gives Mari Anne a word for the new year. It always challenges me to press in to get my personal insights from the Holy Spirit as to what that word means to me as I enter into the new year. From experience I know these words will take the whole year to unfold, and I will need to grow into the realities of their truths. I will give myself to prayer, study, and meditation, soaking up the life of God within the word.

Here are a few insights He has given me so far.

What will be great in 2008?

God is great every year, and He will always be great, worthy to be celebrated and worshiped continually. His greatness is an established eternal fact. The only improvement in this regard is in our own realization of it and trust in it. The "great" that God talks about in this word is not about Him but about us. My first sense is that I need to recognize that this is a personal invitation given to me, and I need to pay attention to what place being great has in me.

If I am honest, I have to admit that my heart aches and longs to be great. I desire to make a difference, be the hero, contribute something of great value, make a mark in the world, knowing that I will leave a meaningful heritage of eternal value.

In the beautiful and heart provoking article, "The Seven Longings Of The Human Heart," Mike Bickle writes, "In the core of our being, we long to be successful and noble. The great God created us with a pursuit of greatness deep within our emotional genetics."

Jesus himself does not condemn my desire to be great. He just wants to direct the energies of this longing, cautioning me about the dangers of deception. He wants me to have His perspective on what it is to be great.

²⁶ Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. ²⁷ And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave (Mt. 20:26-27)

¹² Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven... ¹⁹ whoever does and teaches them (God's commandments), he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 5:12-19)

⁴ Whoever humbles himself... is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 18:4)

I hear my Father's invitation to respond to this specific longing to be great this year, for me to move into more of my divine call of sonship and destiny of greatness.

Here are three areas of greatness I sense He wants me to pay specific attention to in 2008.

1. My great worth
   
   I am great right now! There is greatness in my humanity that is inherent in the mere fact that I am created in God's image. I am destined to live as a son of the Most High God. I have worth beyond description, shown in the expression of Christ's sacrificial payment to redeem me. I am of greatest value and importance to my heavenly Father. He cannot imagine life without me. In 2008 this great truth needs to become the dimension in which I live, freed from the limiting matrix of worthlessness.
   
   
2. My great heart
   
   The heart I now have, the soft, sensitive, good heart of flesh, has the capacity for divine perspective, to see my life and other's through heaven's eyes. Like Paul prayed for the Ephesians, may the eyes of my heart be opened to see the hope to which I am called.... my glorious inheritance and the incomparably great power available to me as a believer.
   
   "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." (Col. 3:1-2)
   
   In 2008 the Lord is inviting me further into his heavenly heart, teaching me to see things from his vantage point. I will be a brave heart this year, showing great courage as I move further into laying claim to my promises, fighting bravely against all things that still are blocking my heavenly view.
   
   (Mari Anne and I will be teaching a Heavenly Heart Encounter this Spring, click here for more info)
   
   
3. My great life
   
   This great life I am living right now flows out of my great sense of worth and my reassured, safe heart, knowing that my Father thinks and feels that I am the greatest. He tells me of my great worth. My identity is rooted and grounded in this ongoing, relational affirmation I receive daily as we commune with each other. When I know of my true worth in His eyes, I am free to be me, and my longing for true greatness does not need to express itself through manipulation or control, seeking fame or fortune. I am already satisfied; my needs are met as He tells me, "You are great." Out of already being great, I become free to do great exploits.
   
   In 2008 the Lord is inviting me to live more confidently and humbly, thinking great thoughts, speaking great words, doing great deeds of service for my family, employer, employees, neighbors, friends, and strangers, through sincere intentional acts of service. I'm free to meet their needs at my own expense of time, talent or treasure.

How is this great life possible?

Great in 2008 is possible with His Magistrate.

What is His Magistrate? Who is His Magistrate? What is the Lord trying to say through this? I have an inkling of its meaning and am praying for more.

A Magistrate is, according to the dictionary, a civil officer or lay judge who administers the law, one who conducts a court that deals with minor offenses, and holds preliminary hearings for more serious ones.

My thoughts are that the Holy Spirit is the Magistrate. He is the one who shows me how to be great in 2008 and how I measure up to the demands of the law of God. He is the one who convicts me when I come up short and stirs in me good feelings of true guilt, that I may own my own failures, admit to the places I have broken God's absolute standards, and realize the areas I lack true greatness. He wants me to end all the minimizing, excusing, and ignoring I have been doing dealing with these minor offenses. Then through the power of the gospel, I can be freed from what's keeping me small-minded and limited, breaking me into the greatness found living in Christ.

2008 is a focused time when Magistrate Holy Spirit wants to deal with the little foxes in my life. He wants to hold court with me, dealing with the hidden, minor offenses that are burrowing potentially fatal holes in me being great. By the appropriation of God's grace, my ongoing sanctification and transformation will give me the internal change needed for true godly greatness.