God wants to do something new in your life

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Sanctification”

Our Bible verse for today: “Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “God wants to do something new in your life”

I remember a time many years ago (in a different church than I am the pastor of now), we had a guest speaker on a Sunday morning. He preached a great message about how God wants to do something new in each of our lives. And He will do it, if we will just cooperate with Him and do our part. It was a lesson that I had taught numerous times and in various ways over a period of years in that same church.

After the service one of our members commented to me that the message really touched his heart and that he was going to make the changes the speaker suggested. Then he said, “Pastor, how come we’ve never been told this before? I would have made these changes sooner if somebody had told me this.” When he said that I was incredulous. I remember thinking “Dude! I’ve taught that same lesson here probably a hundred times! He teaches it once and now suddenly you get it and you’re all excited about it?” What that young man was expressing was the truth of the old saying that “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

The truths of God are always available and the promises of God are always operative. The problem isn’t if God is ready to teach you, but if you are ready to learn. God has new things He wants to teach you, new things He wants you to experience. They’re not new in the sense that God has just created them. In that respect they’re actually old – the truths and promises of God have existed for thousands of years since God spoke them in Scripture. But they’re new to you because you haven’t learned them yet.

In Isaiah 43:19 we’re reading about God speaking to the people of Israel. God had something new and better planned for them and if they were ready to go, He was ready to take them. The same is true in your life. God has new and better things planned for you in 2024. Spiritually there are things He wants to teach you and show you, and there are new experiences He wants you to have. The question is if you want them and if you will do your part to seek them out.

One of my favorite quotes about this comes from author Jim Peterson in his great book, “Lifestyle Discipleship.” Jim writes, “One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the infinite opportunity for spiritual growth. But however much we have matured, there is always more beyond. It is in this that we find the adventure of living. There will always be new, unexplored dimensions of His person beckoning to us. The possibilities go off the chart.”

This is what the process of sanctification accomplishes in our lives. It is God always leading us to something new, something better – a larger, deeper, expanded experience of Himself. Do you want that? Are you ready for it? Will you do your part to seek it? The fact is that God wants to do something new in your life.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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