God Speaks Into the New Year

Are you ready for a New Year?  It seems 2020 has done a dirty deal to many of us and most are ready for a change. I think as humans, we are always looking for newness. Last year's New Year's post was the most read post that I've published. A good majority of us are often looking for that change from the old into the new and New Year's day is just the time to start over. Almost everyone makes resolutions and plans to "change" and "be new" are discussed. Too often these resolutions and plans are not reached or followed through. The good news is that God's "newness" does not get forgotten and does not fail to reach it's goal. The Bible talks about being "new" in many places.

Lamentations 3:22-23--"The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, For His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness."

Each day, God's mercies and compassions for us are new. Every day, when we awake, we can look forward to the mercy of God.

2They are new every morn

The majority of the verses talk about being "new" with God and the newness we experience when we become followers of Christ. When we become followers of Christ, He gives us a new way of looking at things. He changes our hearts. 

Ezekiel 11:19--" I will give them a new will—an undivided heart—and plant a new spirit within them; I will remove their cold, stony heart and replace it with a warm heart of flesh."

Ezekiel 36:26--" I will plant a new heart and new spirit inside of you. I will take out your stubborn, stony heart and give you a willing, tender heart of flesh."

2 Corinthians 5:17--"Therefore, if anyone is united with the Anointed One, that person is a new creation. The old life is gone—and see—a new life has begun!"

Ephesians 4:22-24--"then you know to take off your former way of life, your crumpled old self—that dark blot of a soul corrupted by deceitful desire and lust— to take a fresh breath and to let God renew your attitude and spirit. Then you are ready to put on your new self, modeled after the very likeness of God: truthful, righteous, and holy."

Once God has created this new life and new spirit within us, we wait until His new kingdom comes when He returns to set up the new earth. If you will let God, He will create in you a new heart and spirit. He will clear the muddiness from your mind and create a newness for you. Don't get stuck in 2021, doing the "old" things; let God make it all new for you!

Revelation 21:5--"Behold, I make all things new...."

Isaiah 43:19--"Watch closely: I am preparing something new; it’s happening now, even as I speak, and you’re about to see it. I am preparing a way through the desert; Waters will flow where there had been none."

God Speaks Love

Are you ready for Christmas yet?  Have you been able to get your shopping started? Will you get together with family this year? Is that all there is to this holiday? 

This past Sunday was the second week of Advent at our church and the theme was love. What a great time of year to talk about Love, especially if we can focus on the Love that God has for us. God's love for us is displayed in many ways. First of all, the simple fact that God created each one of us means that He loves us. 

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life." (Psalm 143:6)

He is also available to us at all times of the day, 24/7, 365(6) days of the year. Also because God made each of us, He knows all about us and cares for us. God knows what we need, sometimes when we don't even know what we need. God does not want any harm to to come to us or our families. This also means that God is working on our personal life events and desires that nothing but good comes to us. 

"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23)

If we ask God, He will provide direction for our relationships with others. As mentioned in the last post, God thinks about us and rejoices over us in singing. These are all great examples of how God shows His love! (adapted from 10 Ways God Shows His Love For You! POSTED ON JUNE 1, 2017 BY DEBRAPEDROW)

The best example however, is when God sent His Son, Jesus to earth as a baby. Can you imagine the sacrifice made by Jesus Himself for us? Jesus was already in Heaven with God and He knew God's plan of salvation for each of us. Jesus willingly came to a dirty, sin-filled earth as a humble baby to begin a very rough journey of love for us. 

"and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (Ephesians 5:2)

He was born into a world of sinners, many of whom treated Him unkindly, and endured 33 years before offering Himself as the ultimate sacrifice and bridge for our entrance into Heaven. God the Father suffered for us by sending His Son out of the safety and "wonderfulness" of Heaven and into the wicked world. Not only that, God knew that the mission for Jesus would require great suffering on the part of His Son. Parents do not typically send their children out of safety to a place where they will suffer, but God did. Both God and Jesus sacrificed even more by the death on the cross. 

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."  (Ephesians 2:4-5)

When Jesus died, because He had consumed the sins of the world (the Bible says He BECAME sin), God had to turn His back on Jesus. 

"He orchestrated this: the Anointed One, who had never experienced sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might embody the very righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

As a parent, I cannot imagine willingly turning my back on any of my children. Imagine Jesus too, at the time that He needed His Father the most, God turned His back because He WAS sin. Fortunately, this was a short-lived occurrence. Once Jesus released the hold that the devil had on those He loves, Jesus went back to Heaven. Still, God and Jesus willingly made these sacrifices in order to save the ones they love....anyone that calls on the name of Jesus for salvation!  Remember this Christmas season that the cute little baby, whose celebration we await, became SIN for us, so that we would be able to celebrate Him for eternity!

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:13)

Life--"Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;" (John 11:25)

Obedient--"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:8)

Value--"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."  (1 Timothy 4:8)

Eternal--"Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (John 17:3)