Everything New - A Devotion

Isaiah 43:18-20 (NLT)
“But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and owls, too, for giving them water in the desert. Yes, I will make rivers in the dry wasteland so my chosen people can be refreshed.”

God is making everything new in your life as a believer. Your life is a process that began before you were born in the midst of creation that culminates on the Day of Judgment. For those who have chosen Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior – this will be a family reunion. The problem is most people have difficulty discerning the overlap of creation, birth, life, rebirth, death and resurrection. Salvation is not for a day in the future. It begins now and works itself out until then. I know a young woman who never had the opportunity to know her biological father so in her late twenties decided to find the man who apparently wanted nothing to do with his child. She needed to meet him and know him. Even if he did not want a relationship with her, this woman needed relational closure. When she did finally get in touch with him, she discovered that he had always wanted to know her and be her father but disagreement between parents had created a ravine that separated father and daughter. The woman had married and had a family of her own. When the day of their joyous reunion came, she was afraid that although they had communicated many times would he also love and accept her past including her little family. He did. Now they have resumed a relationship that was intended to begin when she was born. They are making the most of fulfilling the time that was lost over the years with many visits and planned vacations. Our sin separated us from our Father. When we were born into sin, it created a devastating separation. From the moment you were created in your mother’s womb, God was not only planning a reunion, but working on all the details to be sure you didn’t miss a thing in your wandering. No matter how long it took you to make your way back to your Father, He has saved your inheritance and is just waiting for you to discover the new thing that He is doing. His Spirit and His Word are working overtime in your life as refinement burns away the compromising counterfeits and substitutions to make room because God is about to do something new!

Isaiah 48:6-11 (NLT)
You have heard my predictions and seen them fulfilled, but you refuse to admit it. Now I will tell you new things, secrets you have not yet heard. They are brand new, not things from the past. So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!’ “Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new, things you never heard of before. For I know so well what traitors you are. You have been rebels from birth. Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name, I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out. I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. I will rescue you for my sake—yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished and I will not share my glory with idols!

God knew His People were rebels from birth. Nothing you have done or will ever do surprises the Lord. He recorded every day of your life while you were still growing inside your mother. (Psalm 139:16) If He knew every moment of your life, then why didn’t God stop you? Oh, I am sure that He tried but you have a free will to make a choice between death and life. Until you choose life by accepting Jesus Christ and His Sacrifice as atonement for your sins, God will not intervene. He cannot. His Righteousness and Justice will not allow Him to take away your right to choose. It was granted now it is up to you. When you became a believer, the Kingdom of God was unlocked to you just you may have a key to your parent’s home to use as needed. All my children have access to our home. They know where I live. Each one knows the numeric code for the security system. They can unlock the doors and know that they are welcome anytime because it is the house of their parents. They have been granted access. As a Child of the Living God, we are given the same privileges when it comes to His Kingdom. But if one of my children rebelled against the family, I might be forced to change the security code or locks to forbid access to protect us. Parents whose children are desperate due to drug addiction for example may need to keep their child out of their house so they do not steal money or property to exchange for the vice that is killing them from the inside out.

God has an entire Kingdom waiting on you. He has secrets you will never know unless it is revealed by His Spirit to the Heart of His Precious Child. But God must make sure that you have ceased your rebellion and are not a traitor to His Kingdom. He looks at your heart. The Lord examines it carefully. If you truly have given your heart to Him, all these things are available to you. As God refines you removing the sin that separated you preparing you for His Glory including the new things He is doing and secrets that He is ready to share – the task is daunting. You may be wondering how your new life is better than your past when all hell is breaking loose. Who knew salvation involved suffering? Suffering is nothing more than our body refusing to let go of our way to have God’s Way. When hell breaks loose in your life, it can be removed from it! Now God can do something new – brand new including your past, present and future. Nothing will be untouched. God has a reputation to uphold as Loving, Compassionate, Caring and Concerned Father and He will not allow His Kids to depend on idols or others to get His Glory but will express His Glory in each of His Beloved Children.

Romans 4:16-17 (NLT)
So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the Law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

The promise of new things can only be received by faith. It is free so there is no burden or responsibility on our part to earn it. It is impossible to do so. Following God’s Law as given to Moses or the religious doctrine created by the church will get you no closer to God than obeying the law makes you friends with the president. It is expected because of His Sovereign Power and authority. Even if you did not vote for the current president, it is a requirement of our country to obey his ways because he is the ultimate power and authority of the United States. To reject that authority or rebel against his mandates makes us a traitor to our country. God is God. He is the only God. This fact is not based on our ability to believe it just as believing in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny makes them any more real that childlike fantasy. The Promise of God for life is a benefit of being a Child of God. His Blessings are for His Children. Faith must turn into belief. Belief is revealed the impact the Gospel of Jesus Christ has on our life. If you believe in God and that sin has separated you from Him, you will call on the Name of Jesus Christ. If you believe that Jesus Christ has the power to save, heal and deliver you – you will make every effort to live a sin-free life and according to the mandates of His Kingdom. Abraham had faith. He believed in God with his life and was even willing to put the son he waited for all of his natural life on the altar as a sacrifice to maintain his covenant with God. What will you sacrifice to live in a relationship with God? How much of your life are you willing to give? Some of it, all of it, or none of it, the choice is yours. Choose carefully.

Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. This is vitally important to newness in your life as a believer who lives by faith. How big is your faith? Do you believe in the God who brings the dead back to life or just the one who heals the sick sometimes? Do you believe in the God who creates new things out of nothing? It takes a lot of faith to experience all the Blessings of God for your life. Expansive faith reaches into your past resurrecting dead promises, into the present digging up the new ones and into your future where you will find the prize of His Glory. Your past cannot keep your missed blessings unless you allow it. Removing your expectations including the carefully constructed life you are building based on what you can see, feel and touch must give way to make room for God’s New Thing. You have no power it making it happen so quite trying to help Him by settling for less and not wanting more. God can do it! It has been His Plan all along. Leave your past behind you but not before you grab hold of His Promise and snatch them up for now. Walk in His Ways and discover all the Blessings for today. Approach His Throne boldly with faith that has created an anchor for your soul that cannot be moved by doubt and fear relying on confident hope in the God who brings the dead back to live and creates new things out of nothing because that is exactly what He is doing for you!

Titus 3:4-6 (NLT)
But—“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.

God knew that there was no way for us to make it through this life in His Righteousness without some help so He poured out His Spirit through Jesus Christ to make it possible for us to experience new birth and new life. God is not mad at you for rebelling. It was no surprise to Him. His Mercy was predetermined for your life before you were born and His Grace ready to come to your rescue as Jesus waited until just the right time. You have missed nothing in your rebellion and wandering that God is not ready, willing and able to restore. The only way that you cannot have it is if you do not want it, accept it or choose to have it. Salvation is the title deed to every single promise for your life even those you thought were a thing of the past. His New Birth and New Life include the Resurrection Power that allowed Jesus walk triumphantly from the Tomb. If God was not willing to withhold any good thing from your life but is ready, willing and able to make all things new, what do you have to lose other than a broken, dysfunctional life that is unable to produce love, joy or peace and lives in constant fear of dissatisfaction and brokenness on the verge of death every day with no hope for the future? It would seem this is a no-brainer if it were not for all the discontent, unfulfilled Christians to content with. God revealed His Kindness and Love when He saved us not to the least of it but to the uttermost. The Holy Spirit is the key to discovering His Promises buried in your past, overlooked in the present, and hidden in your future. He represents an All-Power God who leaves nothing left undone. His Spirit will take His Word break it and bless it in your life as you commune with the Lord and discover everything He has for you! What you are waiting for God is doing…rely on His Spirit and He will show you it all!

Romans 8:26-28 (NLT)
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

The Holy Spirit is our strength when everything around us does not seem to add up to our dream and destiny. When fulfillment seems elusive, His Presence is a constant reminder that God is working every single detail of our life for good because we love Him and are living according to His Purpose. In our weakness, His Spirit prays for us and aligns our heart with God’s Will giving us peace in the midst of the unthinkable and guidance through the darkness until we discover all of His Promises and Blessings for our life past, present and future. Don’t ever doubt it because just the existence of His Spirit in you is a guarantee that if you will wait for it, push, press, pull and endure – it will happen by faith anchored in confident hope. (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:14) It is impossible to discover all of God’s Precious and Perfect Promises without His Spirit active in our life.

I Corinthians 9:23-26 (NLT)
I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.

In natural terms, I have probably lived half of my life by now. As I look back over the years, there are enough of them that allow me to begin to see God’s Hand and His Plan working when I thought He wanted nothing to do with me because I had walked away. God has rescued me more than I realized and His Plan is being perfected day by day. In the midst of the chaos of life, the thundering noise and great responsibilities, it is sometimes very hard to hear that still small voice beckoning you to come into His Presence – I encourage you to fight your way there with purpose. There is no detail of your existence not taken in to account for blessing by the Hand of your Loving, Attentive and oh so Faithful Father. He loved you when you didn’t love Him. God wanted you when you did not want Him. He knew you when you did not know Him. From beginning to end, His Plan is perfect for your life leaving out not one significant detail along the way! Choose to give your life to Jesus today. Purpose in your heart not to sin but live in close proximity to God every day and in every way! The summation of your footsteps will become your destiny and in the end it will reveal the Plan of God perfected in your life if you will choose to live according to His Purpose and Plan for your life. Every footprint is significant do not ignore is value or intent but choose to live for Jesus and put purpose in every step. It is all coming together. Let His Spirit be your guide! Just put one foot in front of the other, eyes on Jesus and heart after God and soon very soon everything past, present and future will be new!

Revelation 21:5-7 (NLT)
And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.