Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today- October 28, 2010
“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 desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19
God is the original change agent. The past is past, as He is interested in new things. New relationships, new life, new endeavors, new learning, new languages, new cultures, new methods, new character, new ways of doing things is on the heart of God. He never changes, but what He does transforms us. “I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6a).
His Spirit is on the move, initiating all the time. His work is never totally complete. God is a master at taking nothing and making something. He can take new and raw talent and craft it into a Christ honoring home or career. The grim times of yesterday He replaces with the potential of today. Do not be afraid to start over with our God of second chances.
He can take your desert experience and build beautiful aqua ducts of grace. He wants to do a new work in your life. He wants you to change. Christ is your change agent. The old habits of anger and unforgiveness can and will be changed by the work of the Holy Spirit in you. A surrendered life is always under the influence of righteous transformation.
“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
God is the father of change, but He wants to use you as a change agent as well. You can become God’s representative for change—a revolutionary for righteousness. There are new things that need to happen in your family, work and church. You have been a spectator long enough. It is time for you to become engaged as a participant. You have properly prepared, now others look to you for leadership. Prayerfully make wise changes.
You will lead your family through this valley. Your response to adversity will be their response to adversity. If you are calm and trusting, then they will be calm and trusting. If you embrace change, then they will embrace change. Change can shake everyone out of their complacency and move them forward in Christ. Embrace and celebrate change.
You may be the change agent for your church. The church needs to change from irrelevant methods to ones that captivate the culture. And lastly, your work needs an extreme makeover. It is through your humble influence that change is taking place. Submit to Christ’s changes in your life, so that you can be His change agent in the culture.
“But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6).
Am I allowing my unchanging Savior Jesus to change me? Am I a catalyst for change?
Related Readings: 1 Samuel 10:9; Psalm 55:19; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Hebrews 10:20
Boyd Bailey is the author of Wisdom Hunters daily devotional and two devotional books, Infusion and Seeking Daily the Heart of God
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Should a church hire a senior pastor who fell to sexual sin which resulted in divorce … was saved in 1995 and has since been called to Seminary and graduated ready to serve the LORD’s Kingdom ?
I needed to hear this!!! Great words 😉