Getting a Word for the Year
Why a simple phrase can shape your prayer life, form your character, and keep you grounded when everything is changing.
I’ve learned something over the years: a single word, held before God, can shape an entire year.
When I was leading a church, I would ask the Lord for a word for our community, something to preach into, disciple around, and pray toward. Sometimes it became a banner. Other times, it became a challenge. Sometimes it called us to faith; other times it called us to slow down and pay attention.
But before I’m a pastor, I’m a child of God, and having a word for my own year has been just as formational.
These words have shaped my prayers.
They’ve stretched my faith.
They’ve re-formed parts of my character.
And perhaps most importantly, they’ve kept bringing me back into God’s presence.
Because that’s the point of a word for the year:
to give your prayers shape
to create formational focus
to stretch your faith
to draw you back to God, again and again
You don’t have to choose one, but I’ve found it deeply helpful.
So I seek a word for myself, and if you’re leading a church or ministry, I’d encourage you to seek a word for them too.
My word for 2024 was “Enjoy it.”
At first it sounded soft, like God was telling me to sit by a pool and drink iced coffee for twelve months. I almost dismissed it.
But this year was anything but comfortable.
We transitioned out of senior pastor roles.
We stepped into new positions with LIFE.
We launched a ministry to coach pastors and consult with churches.
We stepped into itinerant space, trusting God for open doors.
It was exhilarating and stretching.
Rewarding and disorienting.
A mid-story chapter. A halftime. A handover.
It was tempting to look back and long for previous clarity.
It was tempting to look forward and long for it to feel established again.
It was tempting to live everywhere except present in what God was doing now.
And so those two little words became a lifeline: Enjoy it.
I wrote them in the back of my prayer notebook where I keep my annual prayer prompts. I saw them every day. I prayed them. I argued with them. I lived into them. And slowly, I began to enjoy God in the stretch, not just in the certainty.
That’s the power of a word.
It focuses you.
It becomes a banner.
It shapes your prayers.
It forms your soul.
How to seek a word for the year
You can’t force it, but you can make space for it.
Often it comes through a Scripture that won’t leave you alone.
Or a line in a sermon.
Or a sentence in a book.
Or a whisper that keeps resurfacing when you rest.
If you’re wanting to hear God for a word in 2025, take some time over your break:
Go for a slow walk
Sit with the Lord in silence
Read Scripture without rushing
Pay attention to what shimmers
Notice what causes your spirit to flutter
Let it bubble up rather than chase it down
He loves to speak to His children.
My word for 2025 is forming already
It’s from Luke 16, little things.
Jesus asks us to be faithful in small things, honest with little things, trustworthy with worldly wealth, and faithful with what belongs to someone else.
The implication is beautiful: faithfulness in the little leads to true riches, greater responsibility, and things of our own.
So next year, I want to pay fresh attention to the little things, I’m going back to basics.
Little thoughts. Little habits. Little opportunities easily overlooked.
Because formation is rarely loud.
Most growth begins almost invisible.
What about you?
Do you have a word for the year ahead?
Or will you seek one?
I’d love to hear it, drop it in the comments.
Maybe your word will shape more than your year.
Maybe it will shape you.
