Our passage today is from Isaiah 43:18-19 which says,
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
There are two parts of this passage — 1) don’t dwell on the past and 2) God calling us to a new thing that he has in store for us.
Forgetting about the past is not easy and the things we tend to dwell on are failures and shortcomings. Because God knows this about us, He speaks through Isaiah and tells us NOT to dwell on these things.
Then He says that He is doing a new thing and He is calling us to that. In all areas of our lives there is room for new things but of course to do something new you have to stop doing something old. It is like buying a new room full of furniture and trying to move it in without moving the old furniture out — you have to move the old stuff out first or you are going to have a mess.
The real “turbo charge” for anything new is to pray about it. Enlisting God’s guidance will take you farther down the path and will help you stay on the right path. It could be as simple as saying; “God, I’m really excited about (your new thing) and about doing it to become a better husband and better father, all for Your glory. As I work in this direction, please help me keep focused and open my eyes to other things the YOU believe I need to be working on.”
Blessings to all as we develop in our community of faith and encourage each other to be the best men we can be in 2018 and beyond!
Questions:
1) What are some of the “old” things you would like to move out of your life to make room for the new in 2018?
2) What are some new things you would like to move in?
3) Why can’t we just read and listen to a bunch of self-help material instead of enlisting God’s guidance in this process?
4) Share a story about something in the past that seemed bad at the time but that ultimately God turned into a blessing in your life.
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