Years ago, I looked at what search parameters were bringing people to the Thin Within blog on New Year’s Day. I noticed each January that people had typed into Google their earnest question, “Is God is doing a new thing?”
I don’t know if Google is clear on the answer, so I definitely want to be:
YES!
Our God, the King of the Universe, is doing a new thing! Even now!
His Word is filled with examples and passages of promise that state that this is so!
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 desert and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:18-19)
But note what he asks US to do! To forget the former things and not to dwell on the past.
So, what if we stop telling tales of former glories, former wounds, former victories, failures, and the pain of our past? Let’s release our grip on whatever we think we know and open our arms, hands and hearts to what God IS doing now! Sometimes there is great benefit at looking at the past to learn from it, but let’s refuse to wallow (dwell) in it. Let’s invite our God to cut away anything that tethers us to our past so that we might be free to soar into what He has for us NOW!
In-19 God IS doing a new thing. RIGHT now. Even as you sit here reading this…
…God is doing a new thing.
Even if you think you are stuck in a rut…
…God is doing a new thing!
No need to ask Google! God IS doing a new thing! His eternal Word promises that this is so! This moment is brand new! Let’s capture it for the Lord.
He says the new thing He is doing is springing up!
Delight and surprise! Hope and joy! Like children in the heat of summer playing in a splash pad fountain that squirts up from the ground at a water playground, we, too, can delight to be refreshed by God’s new thing that is SPRINGING up!
He IS making a way in the desert of my life. He IS making streams in my wasteland!
AND in yours!
Many are caught in the “I’ll start dieting Monday” trap, but when Monday comes, their resolve often goes. Is that the “new thing” that God is speaking of, though? Or is that done in my own strength?
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)
What is the pattern of this world that we are not to conform to? Well, I don’t know about you, but saying “I’ll start Monday” or after this holiday, or jumping on the “New Year’s Resolution” bandwagon all sound like a “pattern of this world”.
I get the impression that God has set up a choice here. I can either conform to the pattern in this world OR I can choose to be transformed. Which do I want? Do I really believe any resolutions that I can make will promise transformation? Have they ever before?
How does the transformation I need take place according to this passage in Romans? Is it by pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and making promises to yourself or New Year’s Resolutions? Or, is it by renewing my mind?
It’s by renewing my mind!
Doing the same thing again and again expecting a different result is one of the definitions of insanity. Has having a list of “New habits I will form this year…” ever benefitted me? On the contrary, the enemy has used it as a club of condemnation for me often.How about you? So, what about joining me? Let’s be done with the insanity of doing the same thing we have done every year that hasn’t helped us. Instead, this year, let’s commit to the transformation that comes from God. It happens BY the renewing of our minds according to Romans 12:2!
We focus on this very thing in our small coaching groups. We learn how to renew our minds and experience transformation that STICKS!
We want to help with that! These groups are the best possible means to a new start, joining God in the new thing He is doing in your life!
Start “the first day of the rest of your life” knowing that you have planned and set in motion YOUR transformation!
Groups run for 10 weeks, and new ones start up every few months. Check on this coaching groups page to see where we are currently at in the schedule and what we currently have going.
