Double Take

This new year don’t just take it at first glance. You’ll miss the new if you don’t look again. You’ll think it’s just the same old reality, you’ll mistake the opportunity and miss the transformation.

It’s time to do a double-take.

‘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?’
Isaiah 43:18-19

How many times do we filter our expectations based on previous experiences? We can only embrace this fresh start if we truly look at it ‘a fresh’!

Don’t just clear out your clothes, your room and forget to clear out all the hurt and disappointment you’ve been carrying too. Allow yourself to completely and fearlessly have hope again.

Don’t just declare ‘this will be my year’ or ‘God’s going to do something great this year’ and not accompany that statement with faith. God doesn’t just give you empty promises, he FULFILLS them - so don’t just respond in agreement out of habit but rather with faith.

‘The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.’
Lamentations 3:22-23

Do you truly believe what you’re saying? Do you believe that this year will look different?

I read this statement recently, “Don’t fall in love with the first draft of the dream” and this really resonated with me. I know I often want to hold close to the first word or vision God gave me for something when really that was just a glimpse at God’s real plan for me.

In just embracing the ‘first draft’ we come from a limited perspective. We miss the ‘updates’ that God wants to give us, we stop searching for new revelation or vision cause we think that was it.

But what if the first time we saw ‘it’ we didn’t see it fully? Don’t we know that God’s ways and thoughts are so much greater than our own and we can never fully comprehend them? So it’s time to revise your lens and look again friends.

Take a second glance at that opportunity or that day. Did you see it for the potential that God did when he create it?

This parable Jesus used came to mind.

‘He [Jesus] also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’
Luke 5:36-39

This emphasizes people’s tendency to want the old and reject the new, assuming (wrongly in this case) that the old is better.

Let this be a reminder of the importance of embracing the new. So would you clear out our old mindsets, assumptions, and beliefs and see the new thing that God is wanting to do this year?