The theme for the year at our church is “Next Levels!” And what’s funny is that when I was watching the crossover service, a lot of what the Apostle taught about the theme resonated with me. It felt as though he was confirming some things that the Lord had been teaching me and walking me through towards the tail end of 2025. Long story short, you’ve been stuck in one place for too long, and it’s time to move on to the next thing, next levels.
When I was in Bulawayo attending Selbourne Park Christian Church, Pastor Richard Langworthy taught us about Hezekiah’s pools. About how sometimes we hold on to stuff, even good stuff, until it becomes stagnant and toxic. Almost like the manna when they were instructed not to store it for later. And I think about this message a lot with regard to next levels. When I overstay my welcome in a season or a thing, even the things that were once good for me start being unhealthy. Especially in relationships, when their season has passed, it’s passed.
And then I sought the Lord for my personal word for the year. Last year was about fruits/results, and that stayed true until the end of the year. For this year, the word is “accumulation”. It might sound like a reach, but for me it ties into “next levels”. In 2025, I learned about how to get results and bear fruit, but this year is for accumulation. Last year, I was in my new money era. Being nouveau riche and living out my own rendition of “I blew it.” But this year, we’re heavy on Haggai 1 trying to find out why the bucket has holes and won’t accumulate.
And this is part of a much larger conversation as an African child. Why aren’t we accumulating past our generation? You know how I feel about #BlackTax, if not, you can read that here. I don’t want to rely on my kids financially in my old age. My kids won’t be my retirement plan. God is my source now, he’ll be my source in my old age. And when I pass away, I’ll pass away in surplus and have something to leave behind for my children and their children’s children. And the year of accumulation will teach me how to do that.
One of the major takeaways Apostle shared about the year of Next Levels is how we need to build capacity. God says He will pour out a blessing you can’t contain, yes, but that’s because He is naturally into abundantly above all that you could ask of him. When we talk about capacity, we basically mean you can’t pour new wine into old wine skins. An example is how for four years it was just my husband and I. And then we got a puppy. And then we got our son. There is a stretching of me that happened when I got my puppy that prepared me for my son. Once Bam-Bam came into the picture, there was no time for Menty B’s and wallowing or bed-rotting all day. My puppy had a strict regiment. At 06:00 hours she needed breakfast, and if you didn’t walk her, good luck sleeping that night.
How are you building capacity for the things you’re praying to God for?
I want more money (who doesn’t?). But that means I need to build the capacity to service more clients and to offer them the best service. It means levelling up my skills and catching up on the industry advancements. It means delivering on time every time consistently. It means being legally compliant to receive big monies from corporates and international clients who have my money. I made enough this year to start being taxed. Initially, I was considering tax evasion. But give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. So now my husband had to figure out the tax portal and how to work it, not just in Zim but in SA as well because international, no?
I serve a God of multiplication. Everything double double oh! The widow with the vases had containers to start, she had to go borrow more from her neighbours, but she had pekutangira. It’s time to seek the Lord and to ask Him in which areas of your life you need to build capacity in. Spoiler alert, it’s probably gonna be out of your comfort zone.
