Forty. As of tomorrow, November 22nd, we have 40 days left in this year.
Just how fast has this year gone by? Wasn’t it just Summer a few weeks ago, and now here we are with only 40 days left in the entire year?
2026 is a brand new year of life on it’s way to us. It’s filled with promise and potential and if you will be consistently available to God, he will fulfill you in ways you never imagined possible. But … we’re not there yet, my friends. It is not time to begin focusing on a new year, it’s time to finish this one right!
40 days separate us from this new year of life, and those 40 days matter significantly. God wants to prepare you, equip you and mold you in the next 40 days. Forty.
40 is a critical number in the Bible. 40 often represented new life, growth and transformation. God worked in the 40 to prepare a way for the future. God changed people in the 40. The preparation for a breakthrough of change happened in the 40.
My friends, that’s exciting!!!!! This 40 belongs to God and he’s preparing you for a new year of life in the next 40 days.
Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days by the devil. After that temptation, Jesus began his ministry on Earth and changed eternity.
It rained for 40 days, flooding the entire earth. All life outside of Noah’s ark was eliminated. Then the waters receded and life began again from only that which had been saved.
The giant Goliath taunted God’s people for 40 days. Then, the little shepherd boy David slays the giant with his slingshot and a rock and wins them victory and freedom.
How many days were between Jesus’ crucifixion and his return to Heaven? 40!
Forty. Then, completion, then renewal, then victory.
In the next 40 days before 2026 comes, God wants to do a work in YOU! Will you partner with him in the transformational process that brings victory? Will you let him have his time and space in your life for the next 40 days?
What have your past 40 days been like? Do you even really remember them? 40 days ago it was October 12th – what do you have to show for those days? Were they significant? Did you grow and get better, or did those days just pass with little to show for them?
Don’t let the next 40 be like your last 40. It’s time to go deeper. It’s time for full heart surrender. It’s time to wake up with intention and live on purpose. On the other side of this 40 is that new life, that growth, that transformation only God has seen. God wants to do a work in you! Will you submit to the process?
In the early days of Christianity, before someone could be baptized as a Christian, they were to wait 40 days. For 40 days they would simplify their life down to the basics and focus fully on living for Jesus. After 40 days, if they still wanted to commit their lives to Jesus, then they would be baptized.
What if the next 40 days was an intentional simplifying of our lives with a focus on Jesus to prepare us for 2026? What if we took these final 40 days of this year and allowed God the space to work in us so we step into the new year changed. What if this is your renewal and re-commitment to Jesus. 40 days of focusing on Jesus.
That sounds special doesn’t it … and basically impossible in your busy life. Especially the next 40 days of holidays, travels, gatherings and functions. It’s the busiest time of the year, certainly not the time you can slow down to focus on Jesus. That would be a huge struggle for the next 40 days, wouldn’t it?
And do you know what God says about that – Okay, struggle it out!
Philippians 2:12-13, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
That doesn’t mean you have to work to earn salvation,