As we look towards Spring 2021, my heart is filled with the hope of new beginnings. Life is filled with gratitude for God’s countless mercies, and as I look about- though I cannot escape that there is still much that grieves God’s Heart and needs to affect our own, there is a good and secure place to stand and say, “I am ready, life is about to be new.”
I am not, hopefully we are not who we were a year ago and I don’t want to go back. Lord, show us how to walk forward as a changed people, walking forward into the new time, with a new beginning that You are lovingly calling us into.
That may look like a challenge but after a time of rest or recovery, God will ask us not to dwell on the past. (Isaiah 43:18-19) He will ask us to do a new thing in His Name. His Holy Spirit will be calling us forward. We are being called into a new season, a new time. (1 Peter 1:3) God’s mercy has been with us even when we were tempted to lose heart. But we remember to that the Lord is our portion and His faithfulness never ends. (Lamentation 3:22-24).
Journeying under the banner of Christ’s Love and Power gives the ability to endure any wilderness and any trial because He is the one that walks before us. He secures the next steps, He directs our path and sees what we cannot know.
The illusion of control and desires for personal glory are set aside. They cannot exist in the same portion as Love. A portion is a space that is emptied and ready to be filled by God’s love and grace. His Spirit pours in generously. We become new and the old is gone. We are born into His Love and His Spirit. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Isaiah 40:31
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
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.
Lamentations 3:22-24
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-17
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. God is making all things new.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Philippians 3:13-14
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Revelation 21:1-3
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
Revelation 21:4-5
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
The BELOVED 