Expectant for the Move of God — A New Year Devotional
As we step into a new year, my heart is filled with a sense of expectancy. Not a distant hope, not a wish whispered into the wind—but a confident belief that God is moving, here, now, and in the days ahead. I don’t want to enter this year with hesitation or reservation. I don’t want to stand at the edge of what God is doing and hold back. I want us to step forward with open hands and willing hearts, believing that the God who calls is the God who provides, the God who leads is the God who sustains.
The prophet Isaiah speaks to this expectancy when God declares, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19). God doesn’t ask if He might do a new thing—He is. The question is not whether God will move, but whether we will recognize it and respond without resistance.
Too often, we pray for God to work while quietly clutching our comfort. We ask Him to lead, yet we hold tightly to the familiar. Maybe this year God is inviting us to release fear, to drop our excuses, to step out of the safe and into the sacred unknown. Faith requires motion. Faith requires trust. Faith requires a “yes.”
When Mary received the impossible news that she would carry Jesus, she didn’t fully understand—but she responded, “May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38). That is faith without reservation. When Peter stepped out of the boat, he didn’t wait for calm seas—he moved at the sound of Jesus’ voice (Matthew 14:29). That is faith without refusal.
What if we lived that way this year? What if we woke each morning expecting God to speak, expecting opportunities to obey, expecting doors to open, expecting lives to change—starting with ours? What if instead of asking God to bless our plans, we simply joined Him in His?
This year, let’s lean forward instead of leaning back. Let’s say yes more than we say later. Let’s believe that God is not finished with us, our homes, our churches, or our communities. The same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead lives in us (Romans 8:11). Something is stirring. Something is growing. Something is ready to break open.
Lord, give us a heart that expects You, a faith that trusts You, and a life that follows You—without reservation.
Thoughts from the Edges 
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