Off with the Old and On with the new eh!!
I had just returned from running an errand and was changing my clothes when I realized that instead of pulling my new clothes, I put on the old ones. I thought to myself, well Lord, what was the point of me getting new clothes if I am only going to put the old ones back on? The obvious answer was that they were worn, comfortable and exactly how I like them. If I have to dress up every time I leave the house, then when I come home, I want to be able to relax and so I go for my broken in, well worn clothes. Now that is bizarre considering I kept saying to God that I needed new clothes. So He provides for me to get the new clothes and what do I do? Chuck them in the back and pull the old ones. Immediately I could feel God speaking to me about a blog…
We as human beings are so interesting!! We pray and ask the Lord for change in our circumstances, change in our lives, but yet we still try to hold onto the old. It literally takes God mashing up the old for us to give it up. No one says it better than in the Bible, Mark 2:22 New Living Translation (NLT) “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” Why would you ask the Lord to deliver you from an old relationship; from an old lifestyle; from a dead end job; from anything that you have been miserable in, only to hold onto the old and fight Him to step into the new? I have read so many prophecies from the end of last year into this new year talking about the new season and what God was requiring, in order for us to walk into our new season. He never said it was going to be easy. Change is always hard because it means getting used to a new way of doing things. I read in a Doug Addison word on January 11th, 2014, “Time to transition into something new. Watch how old ways of doing things are not as effective. Step out and see!” This is so important! I acknowledge that most of us are creatures of habit. We might not be comfortable in our present circumstances, but at least we know it, right??!! We would prefer the known to the unknown. By taking that leap of faith and trusting God, it requires you to leave your comfort zone and be open and flexible to the new. What is funny about that is, your comfort zone is not actually comfortable at all. If it were, you wouldn’t ask God to get you out of it. We are like that scripture that talks about being double-minded. We want God to rescue us out of our situation and when He provides the open door, we don’t walk through.
In this new year and this new season, God is calling us out of the old in order to embrace the new. It is truly going to take tremendous faith and trust in God. I wrote a blog at the end of the year called ‘Did 2013 Make or Break You”; I refer to it from the standpoint that the last couple of years was preparation for this new season. If you did not allow God to process you and prepare you for the new season, you would have a dusty time trying to adjust to the new. It is an accelerated time where what took years to do, is now being done in a flash. Do you want to walk into the purpose and destiny that God has designed specifically for you? Then you have to keep singley focused on Him. No one that walks forward, does so looking back! If you do, then you will find yourself having many accidents. I have never seen anyone successfully drive a car looking backwards, unless they are reversing. Ordinarily, we only reverse in a car, in order to get out of spots so we can move forward.
Now is the time to ask God for a renewed mind and heart. Ask Him for the mind of Christ. Ask Him to help you shake off the past, clean out all of the cobwebs in your closet and give you the faith needed to step onto that new path. You can do it!! This is the time to rid yourself of unhealthy relationships, whether with people, things, addictions, depression, old mindsets…anything that has held you back!! He has a whole lot waiting for you…just draw the line in the sand and step over it, declaring that nothing and no one will hold you back from fulfilling your destiny in Christ. So don’t put on the old clothes, throw them out and start putting on the new. There is a treasure trove waiting for you, He is handing your key…Isaiah 43:19 New Living Translation (NLT)19 For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
