'GOD's NEW THING'

Isaiah 43:18,19 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 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." (NIV)

With the new year we should be motivated to find God's New Thing for our lives.
Isaiah's writings to the children of Israel came at a dark chapter in their history. 

They are in captivity, they have lost everything they thought they would keep forever, and they were home sick for the land and the blessing God had promised them.
To receive this New Thing from God, they had to...

1. Change Focus -- Stop looking behind and look ahead. (notice vs.18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.")

A.) If we are ever going to move on to new things in Christ we need learn that we cannot depend on past victories to keep us going; Forget the former things;

The children of Israel had many victories in their past:
1. Left Egypt;

2. Conquered the Land of Canaan;

3. They conquered other nations;

4. Survived a split in their country;
But now they are in captivity. All their past victories were doing nothing to set them free. They needed a new work, new miracle, new victory. New Action.

The question isn't "what has God done" the question must be: "What do you see God able to do?"

B.) In order to move on to New Things in Christ, we must ALSO know that we cannot allow our past failures to possess us...'don't dwell on the past'.

Philippians 3:13 "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead," (NKJV)

The children of Israel had failed God miserably. Every time He blessed them with good things, they returned to Him evil things:

1. God gave the Temple - they gave idol worship

2. God gave truth - they live and practiced a lie

3. God gave His commands - they lived like they were suggestions.

4. God gave wealth -they used to abuse the poor

5. God gave Himself - they gave Him rejection.

The children of Israel did not deserve to receive anything from God. Yet He still loved them and He deeply wanted to help them change.
Notice God's Message to His people:

God says vs. 18, 'Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!'

God was not condemning them for their past, they could do nothing to change it. Instead God was holding out His hand of hope. He is in effect saying: 

'Forget about your past -- I WILL! I am giving you an opportunity to start over.'

Isaiah 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon."

If we are going to get anywhere in our spiritual life we must ALSO understand that...
We Cannot Live on Yesterday's Faith...

The children of Israel had experienced many great spiritual blessings throughout their history. From the first Passover, to the crossing of the Red Sea, to the conquering of the Land of Canaan, and the building of the temple, the children of Israel had seen the hand of God at work in their lives.

Yet their faith in what God had done was doing nothing to deliver them from their present situation.

Yesterday's faith was not able to deliver them from their present problems. They needed fresh faith, a fresh vision and action for what God could do.

They needed a new supply of the SAME faith that had brought all past victories.
Psalm 85:6-8a "Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You? 7 Show us Your mercy, LORD, And grant us Your salvation. 8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak..." (NKJV)

Also to receive this 'New Thing' that God wants to do in our life is to...
Sharpen our focus-Discover what God wants for us.

Notice again Isaiah 43:18 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 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."

'Do you not perceive it? means 'to know by seeing; recognition, acknowledge, aware of, understand.'

What do you see when you look at your life for the year to come? Do you see PROBLEMS!? or do you look for the potential, the Possibilities?

Notice what God said:
'I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.' (NIV)

The children of Israel had a choice. They could view their past and the problems of their present, or they could focus on what God wanted to do in their lives.

In order to discover what God wants for your life it is important that we see SELF as God sees us.

The children of Israel felt as though they were simply getting what they deserved because of how they had lived. Some even believed that God would never have anything else to do with them. But they were wrong!!!

As you read this devotional you may feel like your past has made your life a wasteland, completely useless.

But in God, your life can become a stream of life; for self and others...

Romans 8:1,2 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." (NKJV)

Colossians 1:21,22 "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation." (NIV)

In order to discover what God wants for us,
See Your Possibilities as God Sees Them.
God says, 'I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.' (NIV)

Read Ephesians 3:20...

God is able...to transform the desert areas of your life into fields of blessing and abundance. God can take a dried up useless life and transform it into a life of purpose and blessing.

2 Corinthians 3:17,18 "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (NIV)

The greatest step to receiving the New Thing that God wants to do in our life is to...
3. Commit Self To His, already laid out, Plan...

God had already set into motion the events and people who would lead Israel out of captivity and back into the land of blessing. In God's Mind it was a done deal. All the details were set!

But it was still up to them to decide if they wanted what God was offering. If they refused God's plan, if they refused to follow where God was leading, then they would be doomed to remain in their captivity. 

God says 'do you not see it? 'I am making a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.'

God has already set into motion a new direction and a new purpose for your life in 2014 -- will you see it; recognize it; follow Him?

Psalms 95:7-11 "For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, (quarreling) as you did that day at Massah (testing) in the desert, 9 where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. 10 For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways." 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, "They shall never enter my rest." (NIV)

Read again our main text and let it encourage you as you begin a New Year.

Isaiah 43:18,19 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 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." (NIV)

God bless as we begin 'God's New Thing' in this New Year as we work in conjunction with our Great and Glorious God! Praise His Holy Name!