Some thoughts for the New Year: NEW BEGINNING, BUT THE SAME OLD CIRCUMSTANCES

Long ago I took my family to a Christmas show, as an extra we were given tickets to see a light & water show. Computerized fountains, with colored lights; my children asked me where I got the new tickets, I said: “They were thrown in for free”. My youngest immediately asked, “Are we going to be thrown in also?” How many times I am reminded how important mind set is in properly understanding things.

Our mind set affects even how we approach circumstances. Reminds me of how an optimist is described: “He was the sort of man who would go after Moby Dick with a row boat, a harpoon, and a jar of tartar sauce.”

Jesus delivered a man that was demonized, people’s reactions were surprising and the command Jesus gave that man tells us a lot about God’s priorities:

Mark 5:1-20…When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him…No one was strong enough to subdue him…When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid…As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”

Change happens all the time – the question is what do we do with it? If we seek to be different because circumstances have changed, we will repeat the same mistakes because change from without never makes a difference! Just read about Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8. Real change comes from inside! Then the circumstances do not matter!

Most times God does not deliver us from our circumstances but from ourselves.

Take these points into the New Year with you:

1. Look for what has happened inwardly - What new thought patterns? What new desires?

2. Do not expect circumstances to change immediately. See it as a time for maturity and growth.

3. Inward change will speak for itself! Say nothing, just live it!

Luke 5:37  And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.

The So What? What is your plan for 2019? Write it down and bring it before the Lord.