New Beginnings

This is a year of blessing for the people of God; regardless of what place in their life they are coming from. They might be experiencing feast or famine in any area of their life, but this is still the year of blessing. The people of God are going to experience a new level of discipleship in their walk with Christ. As they begin to turn their whole lives over to Him in a show of sacrifice—as they begin to seek the face of God and not just His hand they will experience a new level of blessing, joy and anointing in their lives that they could never even imagine. As with anything though we are going to try and find a thousand reasons why this shouldn’t apply to or we shouldn’t be included in this portion of blessing. There are so many things that we have done both intentionally and unintentionally that should exclude us from this time of blessing. There are so many more worthy than us out there that actually deserve it.

Spiritually why would god take someone like me and bless me? Why would he pour out his spirit and anointing on me? When someone asks me a question like that I absolutely love it because it gives me an opportunity to show them their worth in gods own words. In a few verses in Isaiah 43 God tells us not to be burdened by our past. He says to quit going over and over the events that shame us and hold us back so they continually hold us in bondage. He reminds us that He alone is God and that he was the one that split the sea to deliver his people and made waters flow in the dry desert for His people. He tells us to be ready because he is doing something new. In that passage he asks us if we can see this new work yet? If we cant get past what we did in the past or our reasoning as to why we should not be included in this new outpouring of the spirit then chances are we cant see it. God tells us that he is doing this for his people because they are His people. A people created specially designed for his praise. A god who has forgiven me; completely written off all debt that I have had to sin and keeps no record of what he paid on my behalf. Makes ways for me where there are no ways possible and provides for me where there are no provisions attainable. A god who wants to include me in a new outpouring of his spirit because he considers me to be a part of his chosen people who is specially designed for the praise of his glory. What more could we be looking for?

The year may have not started out great for all of us. In know personally in my own family I have seen the inside of hospital more than I would have liked to. I have felt the financial crunch a lot harder than I have in quite a long time. Still I can know that this is the year of blessing. To see only the things that tell me otherwise and contradict the word of the lord is to lose my faith or allow it to be controlled by what I see and what the circumstances say. That is not the way that faith works; faith is believing in the things that you cannot see—things that appear not as though they were. If God speaks a word into the lives of his people then he is going to be faithful to bring that word into fruition. To see the circumstances that are not the way they should be for a year of blessing is not cause to be heavy hearted or to lose faith in that which god has promised me. It is a time to celebrate the faithfulness of god and his sovereignty over all things. It is a time to celebrate the season of blessing that the lord has promised regardless of what circumstances I am facing.

The year may not have started out great for all of the people of God in January. Or maybe you know someone who is just coming to Christ and the year hasn’t been that great for them either. Maybe it just wasn’t circumstances out of your control that has made the year a rough start,maybe you cause some of the roughness yourself. Each day is an opportunity for a new beginning with Christ. Each new day is a new opportunity to enter into the promises that he has for your life. What a better time to realize this than the Easter season. Just as Christ rose from the grave to give a new beginning reconciled to the father, he is doing the same thing today. You have the opportunity to rise above your circumstances to faith in the one that gives new beginnings and take part in the season of blessing he has ordained for his people.