|
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19) January 2003, Dear Friend, Greetings! Happy New Year! Trusting that all is well with you and your loved ones. We are all fine here, and looking expectantly to what God is going to do in this new year. Isn’t it wonderful that we can start fresh each new year; put the past behind us; and go forward? We have a brand new year ahead of us, just waiting for us to enjoy God’s blessings. Thank God, we don’t have to wait for a new year in order to repent of our sin, and turn our life over to Jesus! We can do that anytime, anywhere, with no holding back! Praise God! God can make all things new. He restores our soul. (Psalm 23:3). He can restore our health, our energy, and our hope. If we choose, we can follow Him all the way to victory! Sometimes it may look as if the answer to our prayer will never come, and it is so easy to fall into despair and lose heart. But God says differently! He says He will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. He will redeem us! Glory! Our part is to never give up, to keep pressing on, trusting Him when our dreams are shattered, and our investments crash, and when we sin and fail. God loves you and me so much that He says “Come to Me, all of you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28). He wants to take these burdens from us. Oh, if we would only let Him! When we take our problems to the Lord, we have to learn to leave them there, and not take them back, and if the worry comes back, remind ourselves that it doesn’t belong to us anymore. God’s love never changes; it is a steadfast, unfailing love. There is no one, anywhere, who can love you or me more than He does. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to be at rest. If we look at the life of David, we can see that his life was constantly in danger. His Psalms speak from a point of desperation, to despair, to fear, and then to trust, and on to victory. He cries out “The King shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips.” (Psalm 21:1,2). Think about this for a minute. Picture David, going through a tough battle, his life is in danger, the enemy is fierce, and he does not know if he will live to see another day. He is frightened, and in despair of his life. He cries out to God! Save me O God! Deliver me! Suddenly he remembers that God is on his side! He gains new strength for battle! He is not tired anymore! He is strong again! He presses in to the enemy, and defeats him! Glory! David’s life rested securely on God’s unfailing love, and so should ours. Each morning, when we wake, our first thought should be of our loving Savior, Who is cheering us on, sustaining us, and keeping us close to His loving heart. The more we do that, the more joyful we will become, and the more joyful we become, the stronger we will become. Suddenly those aches and pains won’t bother us anymore. Suddenly we will have strength to get up and face the world! This is a new day, and God is on our side! Therefore, who can be against us? Paul says in Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” He goes on in verse 32 to say “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” God wants and wills for us to have joy and success. It goes on to say in verse 37, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” He has made us to be “more than conquerors.” hupernikao, (hoop-er-nik-ah-oh), Strong’s 5245: From huper, “over and above” and Nikao, “to conquer.” The word describes one who wins more than an ordinary victory, who is super victorious and has achieved abundant victory. Alleluia!! We are hypernikao because of Christ’s love for us. His love conquered death! So what do we have to fear? Nothing! No matter what happens in life, we know who we are, and Who we belong to. We know that all things work together for our good. Wouldn’t you like to start this new year on a joyful note? I know I would. Let us begin today to praise God daily. Let us look to our future with all the hope and confidence that God gives us in His Word. We have a confidence that no man can take away because we know Who Jesus is. His love never fails. His promises are true, and they are for you, and me, for today. Take that problem that you have been worrying about and hand it; no, throw it to the lover of your soul. He will not only catch it, but He will take it from you, and cause you to be hupernikao. Tell someone today that Jesus loves them, and that He will cause them to be hupernikao if they will turn their life over to Him. That will start a conversation! Remember that each day of this new year, as you go from day to day, God wants to satisfy the longing of your heart, and He wants to sustain you through all the trials of the day. He wants to give you rest. He wants you to be more than a conqueror. This is a new year. It is a time of new beginnings. Let us put aside the things of the past, and go on from here. God says in Isaiah 43:18, “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.” Then it goes on to say how He will do a new thing, and it shall spring forth. This is a time of putting away the old, and bringing in the new. I believe God is saying to us today, “Trust in Me, and do not be afraid. I am still in control. Keep pressing in to My love and mercy, no matter what you see or how you feel. I want to see you successful. I want to see your family saved. I want to see your children serving Me even more than you do. Trust Me. I will never leave you or forsake you. I love you.” Let us be a people of trust and hope. Let this new year be the beginning of a new attitude. Put on a smile today, even if you don’t feel like it. Do you know what will happen? You will start to feel happy! Put on a joyful attitude, and you will be joyful inside. Our Heavenly Father loves it when His children place all their trust in Him. Don’t you love it when your children place their trust in you? Of course you do! Case closed. God bless you, Rev. Barbara Anne Yovino
|