SPIRITUALITY AND FAITH
GOD WANTS TO BIRTH NEW STUFF IN YOUR LIFE
Article by Pastor Philip Nissley,
New Hope Assembly of God, Taylor, MI
Giving birth is the most dangerous time in a mother’s and baby’s life. If a physician is not present or is not giving full attention to a woman in labor, one of three tragedies can occur: the baby can die; the mother can die; or both can die. During labor, there is discomfort, pain and heartache, but then comes the joy of new stuff birthed in your life.
Isa. 43:18-19 says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing (birthing) 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 was writing to the children of Israel at a bleak period of their history. They are in captivity, have lost everything they thought they would keep forever, and they were home sick for the land and the blessing God had promised them. God was telling them the 1st step to birthing the new thing God wants to do was to:
I. CHANGE YOUR FOCUS -- QUIT LOOKING
BEHIND, START LOOKING AHEAD. If you are continually looking behind, you cannot see where you are going. If you are going to move on to new things in God, you must depend on your Call from
God, NOT past Victories to sustain you. The nation of Israel in Isa. 43:18 had many “former” victories, yet faith in what God HAD done was doing Nothing to deliver them! They needed a new work, new miracle, new victory. God was extending to them the only possibility for change and that was a RENEWED commitment to God’s Call on their life! They are told in verse 18 to “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past”. In effect God was saying: “I am giving you an opportunity to start over.” In the same way, God is reaching out to you today. You Cannot Allow Your Past Failures to Possess You and You Cannot Live on Yesterday’s Faith. Lift up your eyes to the ONE from whom comes our help (Psa. 121:1).
II. TRUST THAT GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU AND HAS YOUR BEST INTERESTS IN MIND. The true way to “discover you” is to fully submit your life to the One who made you! Jesus then set you apart from the world so new stuff can be birthed in you! But before you deliver, there’s a process you have to go through. Birthing involves sacrifice, preparation, and birth pains. There are adjustments we are required to make. You may feel like giving