“This month shall be your beginning of months . . the first month of the year.” Exodus 12:2 NKJV.
A fresh start begins at the cross where our Savior died.
“I wish there were some wonderful place,
Called the Land of Beginning Again.
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches,
And all of our selfish grief,
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door,
And never put on again.”
(Land of Beginning Again, Louisa Fletcher)
My thoughts and comments today are about “a fresh start.”
Wherever crowds gathered last night with good cheer and optimism, they held one hope: that their life would somehow be better this year. They wanted to do better; they wanted to be better. Sadly for most, that hope will not be met with reality. But there is a place where such hopes can be realized. A fresh start is God’s specialty.
In delivering Israel from distressing slavery in Egypt, God sovereignly declared, “This month shall be the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.” Exodus 12:2 NKJV. In a moment, the Almighty God forever reset Israel’s history, as He can change yours. January 2014 can be a “beginning of months” for you.
I love the resounding confidence of the psalmist, “You visit the earth . . greatly enrich it . . provide their grain . . water it . . settle its furrows . . You bless its growth. You crown the year with Your goodness and Your paths drip with abundance.” Psalm 65:9-11 NKJV. I want to live every day with that anticipation; that is also my heart and prayer for you.
Along with the favorable things that will come your way and the kindnesses that will be shown you by others, you will also face challenges you do not anticipate and difficulties you do not foresee. Yet this year can be blessed, a new season of God’s presence and favor upon all that is done in His Name, whatever your present circumstance may be. See 2 Corinthians 4:15-18 NIV.
You can experience forgiveness, healing from past hurts and release from regrets, new hope, renewed peace, reassurance, restored relationships, wisdom, and a fresh start. The place for a new beginning is at the cross where the Savior died for your sins long ago, and with new life, “crowns the year with [His] goodness.” Read Isaiah 53:4-6 NKJV.
Let me be clear; new beginnings do not happen because a calendar or circumstance changes; a fresh start only happens when grace and spiritual change happens in you. Only God can do that. “What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for their old life is gone. A new life has begun.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT.
And be encouraged in this truth, God also finishes well all that He begins. “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 NIV. See also Revelation 21:1-5 NLT.
My heart and prayer for you is that you have a blessed year, crowned with God’s grace.
A Note of Praise to God . . I was just told that in 2013 the readership on Facebook of EveryDay Life-Bulgaria reached 57,000 across 77 countries, touching North and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Baltics. That is an increase of almost 20% over 2012. A huge thanks to Pastors Lusi and Svetla Arsov and their EDL Translation Team at Friends Church, Sofia, Bulgaria. EveryDay Life is “touching hearts and changing lives.”