How many of you feel like your stuck in your present circumstances?
How many you are tired of the way thing are?
And no matter how hard you try, no matter what road you seem to take, the obstacles in your way are bigger than your ability to overcome them?
Well, that's because they likely are!
But... they are NOT too big for God!
Today I want to talk to you about,
Letting God Do A New Thing In Your Life!
"Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert."
Isaiah 43:18-19
What is God's Word saying?
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.
The point is to motivate the hearer to seek a new vision and a new interest in the things of God.
I know some of you are asking, well, how do I do that?
But the 1st step to embracing the new thing that God wants to do in your life is to CHANGE YOUR FOCUS!
Let's take a look at verse 18:
“Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old."
God is telling us to stop looking behind
and look forward!
If you are continually looking behind, you cannot see where you are going.
If you are ever going to move forward, to on to the new things that Christ has for you, you must learn that basic concept.
You cannot depend upon past victories to sustain you!
Nor can you concentrate on your past failures!
Stop allowing the things in your past to possess your future!
Forget the former things!
In the text, we read the children of Israel had many victories in their past:
1. Leaving Egypt
2. Conquering the Land of Canaan
3. Fighting of prospective conquerors
4. Survived a split in their country
But now they are in captivity. All their previous victories were doing nothing to set them free. They needed a new work, a new miracle, a new victory.
The question is not what has God done in the past
The question must become:
What is God doing in your life right now?
What is it that you want Him to do in your life right now?
In continuing with the text,
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 them the Temple - they gave Him idol worship
2. God gave them truth - they lived and proclaimed a lie
3. God gave them His commands - they lived like they were suggestions.
4. God gave them wealth - they used it to abuse the poor
5. God gave them Himself - they gave Him nothing except rejection.
The children of Israel did not deserve to receive anything from God. Yet He still loved them and He earnestly wanted to help them change.
Let's notice God’s Message:
"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 the hand of hope. He is in effect saying: Forget about your past! I am giving you an new opportunity to start over!
"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."
Isaiah 55:7
If you are ever going to get anywhere in your life, your spiritual life you must understand that you cannot live in the past, you cannot live on yesterday’s Faith!
From the first Passover, to the crossing of the Red Sea, to the conquering of the Land of Canaan, to the building of the temple, the children of Israel had seen the hand of God at work in and through their lives.
The children of Israel had experienced great spiritual blessings throughout their history!
But he fact was their faith in what God had done was doing nothing to deliver them from their present situation!
Why?
Because their old faith was not sufficient enough to deliver them from their present problems. They needed new faith, a new vision for what God could do!
"Will You not revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?
Show us Your mercy, Lord,
And grant us Your salvation.
I will hear what God the Lord will speak,
For He will speak peace
To His people and to His saints;
But let them not turn back to folly."
For He will speak peace
To His people and to His saints;
But let them not turn back to folly."
Now let's move on to the 2nd step to embracing the new thing what God wants to do in your life.
You must clarify your focus!
What does God want for your life?
Well the first thing He said He wants for us is to:
"Do not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old."
And the He said:
"Behold, I will do a new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?"
So the question is what do you see when you are looking your life, right now?
Do you see problems?
Or are you seeing the possibilities?
Now let's look at what God is telling us to see:
"I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert."
Because we serve a God who allows us free will, we have a choice!
We can either choose to focus on our past, our problems, the challenges we're facing in this season
OR
We can turn our eyes towards God, focus our attention on what wants to do in our lives!
I don't know about you, but I have had some pretty great things happen to me in my life!
I've also had some pretty horrible things happen in my life!
But in order for us to see what God wants to do in our lives, we MUST learn to see ourselves as God sees us!
We may see ourselves, our past, our present circumstances as the "wasteland in the dessert"
But in God, through Christ, our life can become a stream of life.
In order to receive what God wants for you, You must see your possibilities as God sees them; I am making a way in the desert.
God is able to transform the desert areas of your life into fields of blessing and abundance.
God can take a dried up useless parts of your life and transform it into a life of divine purpose and grace:
"And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled, in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight"
Colossians 1:21-22
"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. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."
Romans 8:1-2
"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
The greatest step to embracing the new thing what God wants to do in your life is to:
COMMIT YOURSELF TO GOD’S PLAN
God has already set His plans in motion!
He has already placed the people in our lives to take us from captivity in our wasteland to a land of promise and blessings!
But it is still up to us!
Do we want to refuse what God is offering?
Or do we want to choose to accept His plans for our lives, receive what He has in store for us?
If you're unhappy in your present circumstances, apparently the choices you've made didn't bring about the results you had desired!
Why not Give God's plans a chance?
God has said to all of us:
"Behold, I will do a new thing!"
"For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you will hear His voice:
“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness.."
As in the day of trial in the wilderness.."
God wants to take your life to new heights!
To soar above the voices of your enemies!
Today, each and every one of us have a choice..
My prayer each of you today, is that you will allow God's Word today to penetrate your heart, your spirit, your soul.
That you will allow God to direct your steps, guide your paths,
make clear the way as he shines His face upon you, lighting your way.
That you will reach the level of provision and blessing that God has for you, that you will fulfill your divine assignment
God is able!
Are you willing?
When you leave this place today, may you all SOAR!
Brian Monzon Ministries