daily devotional

This morning you and I woke up to a brand new day and a brand new month. Welcome to May 2019. This is your opportunity to start fresh and take all you have learned the first 4 months of this year and just GET BETTER. That’s it. That’s all you have to do. Get better. Will you use this month to simply get better?

Our scripture for today is Isaiah 43: 18-19 “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.”

Do you believe God is about to make a way where there has been no way before? Do you believe a breakthrough is just ahead?

At this moment, hold the very thing you’ve been struggling with in the forefront of your mind. There’s likely a goal, a relationship or a situation that you’ve been working on and it just doesn’t seem to be improving. You’re frustrated because all of your efforts seem to be for not. An area of your life you started making progress on, now you’ve fallen back again. A relationship that is nearly hopeless. That habit you can’t seem to break. The situation you’re stuck in. Go ahead and be honest, single it out. Which goal, relationship or situation hasn’t worked so far this year? Yes, that one. Think of it now.
Now we will read that same scripture, Isaiah 43: 18-19 from the Message translation):

“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand new.”

God wants you to know he is about to do something BRAND NEW. It’s coming. Say that with me … it’s coming. It’s coming. It’s coming. He is about to do something brand new.

It may not have worked before. You may not have seen any progress in the past. You may be feeling hopeless and tired from unsuccessful efforts, but it’s coming.

So what does this scripture say? “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history.” Just because the door was locked last time doesn’t mean it will be locked this time. Give it another try. Just because the answer was no before, doesn’t mean you should give up asking. Ask again. You may have tried and failed, but TRY AGAIN.

You may have written goals last month and totally bombed … will you try again this month? Will you be so bold to write new goals and believe it could be different for you this time? Many won’t be so daring … but the question is, will you? Will you stop dwelling on last month’s failures and focus on this month’s potential?

Try again. Don’t keep going over how and why it didn’t work last time. That’s old history. Move on and try again. We can get ourselves stuck in a rut of utter destruction as we replay in our minds all that hasn’t worked for us.

Have you ever tried to help someone and before you ever get your suggestion completely on the table, their immediate response is, nope that didn’t work. Hey, isn’t that us with God?

Maybe he’s been trying to give you your answer but you’ve been so busy telling him how that has never worked for you before. Okay. Fair enough. It didn’t work before, BUT WHAT IF IT WILL WORK THIS TIME BECAUSE GOD IS ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING. It’s coming. It’s coming.

Just because it’s a drought doesn’t mean God can’t bring rain now. It’s coming.

Just because it’s been a long, hard winter season in your life doesn’t mean God can’t give you one heck of a summer. It’s coming.

God is about to do something new.

And then in our scripture God tells us to be alert and present. We just studied this word “alert” last week in episode 326 titled “Be Alive Today.” Being alert is part of being fully ALIVE. To be alert means wherever you are, BE THERE. Be in the moment, eyes wide open. BE LOOKING. What are you looking for today?

Did you wake up expecting to feel good? Did you wake up expecting to be in a good mood? Did you wake up expecting a brand new start? Seek and ye shall find. I hope you’re seeking good today, that’s surely what you will find.

Keep your eyes open and don’t miss how God is working all things together for something brand new.

Now, one final point … the brand new thing God is about to bring will likely not be what you expected. God’s ways will blow your mind. He never does things in a way our human minds would think of.

In Exodus we read of Moses leading the Israelites, and their enemies, the Egyptians, are hot on their trail. Moses comes to a dead end, The Red Sea. Surely they are cornered in and there is no way. I bet sometimes you feel like that don’t you? You’ll drown if you keep going, but if you turn around you’ll face attack. And what does God do? Something brand new. Something that has never been done before. He told Moses to put his staff in the water and the Red Sea parted and a dry path was before them.

Can you imagine this? Moses is surely about to die and here he is responsible for all of these people he’s trying to save and God tells him to do something so ridiculous like, put your staff in the water. THAT MAKES NO SENSE GOD. If Moses would have stood there delaying and rationalizing, he would have missed the miracle.

If you stand there delaying and rationalizing, YOU WILL MISS YOUR MIRACLE. I know it doesn’t make sense to try again. I know it seems crazy to believe this is going to work. BUT GOD IS ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING BRAND NEW.

The God who parts the Red Sea, the God who seals the mouths of the lions, the God who makes a path on a raging sea, the God who makes walls crumble, the God who gave Samson nothing more than a jawbone of a donkey to battle 1000 men and WIN … this is YOUR GOD. And he’s about to show up and do something brand new for you.

It’s coming. Stay alert and present. Be willing to try again. Don’t argue and say it won’t work. With God, all things are possible. Your breakthrough is building. It’s coming!