The NEW

Happy New Year! Happy New Year- I have said and had that said to me many times in the past few days. The operative word in that phrase is NEW. God is the Master of the NEW. He takes old, tired, worn out creatures, and makes them NEW. When sin entered the world, it brought death, and suddenly everything started the progression toward aging- becoming old. The physical world no longer lives forever. God in His wisdom and mercy, however, had a plan of restoration... of making things new again. It was the sacrifice of His sinless son Jesus for our redemption. God is the Master of the new.

In the Word of God we read that His mercies toward us are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) (Isiah 50:4). Each day we start afresh under the mercies of our great and wonderful God. Second Corinthians 5:17 says that old things are passed away, and all things have become new. It says that we are new creatures in Christ when we accept His salvation and enter into a relationship with Him. He makes us new- from the inside out (2 Corinthians 4:16). We think new, we respond in a new way, we look at the world through new eyes.

A friend who had recently accepted God's gift of salvation remarked that on a short drive from X to Y, she had marveled at how beautiful everything was and how much she had enjoyed the trip. She had made that same trip many times, sometimes daily, but suddenly she was aware of all the beauty of the flowers, the landscape, and the freshness of the area came to life. It was as if it was all new to her. In actuality, it was! Christ within her awakened her new being to all her surroundings in a new way. She saw things through new eyes- the eyes of spiritual reality.

The New Year (2007) is a time of new beginnings, new anointing, new tasks for us to do. We do, however, need to let the old go when God is moving to the new. Why is it that when we have God's anointing for a certain thing, we think that it should and will last forever? (Or maybe that is just how I think.) Many times God's anointing is for a specific reason or season, and when it is fulfilled, He moves on to the next thing. He is certainly not a stagnant God. We, on the other hand, tend to hang on to those things we are comfortable in, things we know at one time we were supposed to do, but are not sure that it is a lifelong assignment. Some things we have to let go of. Joyce Meyers states, “God will anoint you to do what He calls you to do. But when His anointing is gone, let it go. Get rid of the thing God's anointing was on at one time but not anymore... Sometimes we hold on to assignments that God is finished with for us...Ask God for wisdom...make room for new life to flourish.”

At 12:00 on December 31st, the year 2006 ended, and a new year started at 12:01 a.m. January 1st. I do not know about you, but the new year did not turn over at exactly that time for me. Oh, time moved on, and technically we were in the new year, but my heart and my spirit lagged behind about a week. I had to make a conscious decision to enter a new year with the Lord. As the apostle Paul says, we have to forget about what is behind us and press on to the things God has for us ahead. Maybe 2006 was a rough year for you. Maybe it was one of the greatest yet. It probably held its share of both good and bad. Either way, we have to let go of the events and circumstances of 2006. We can try to learn from and then forget the not so good, and remember with fondness, and yet not camp or become prideful of the good. The past year is just that-past. The Lord is ready to do something new. Actually He is already doing it, we just have to recognize it and jump aboard.

“Do not call to mind the former things,

or ponder things of the past.

Behold, I will do something new,

Now it will spring forth;

Will you not be aware of it?

I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,

Rivers in the desert.”

Isiah 43:18-19

In the account of one new beginning in Joshua chapter 1, God had to get pretty blunt with Joshua. The past was over. He could not change it. He had to forget about it and go on from there. God simply said, “Moses My servant is dead.” Period. The old is gone. The new is come, and guess what? You are it!! I'm going to do something new (lead My children into the Promise!) in and through YOU! “Now therefore, ARISE!” Joshua 1:2-5

(For how it all turned out, see Joshua chapters 23 and 24.)

What an interesting and exciting time to be alive, because God is doing something NEW again...all the time... and He wants to do it in and through and with and for YOU!

I'm in... are you?

“Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14