In my last devotional, I left the challenge, it was time to get out of the boat and leave the last year behind, which due to the pandemic has affected our lives. However, as we move out of Lockdown we must evaluate and allow ourselves to break free of those restrictions, for if we are not careful some habits formed by lock down could become new comfort zones. As we revaluate what lies ahead in ‘The new normal’, we ask what is God saying to us?
Personally, back in July 2020 when the Church I attend reopened this verse clearly spoke to me. “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.” (Hebrews 10: 25.) And as we gathered at Church each week God honoured that step and has blessed us along the way.
So, as we all consider what the next steps may be, I encourage you not to be merely guided by your feelings but by God’s own word. For we cannot undo yesterday, but we can act today to influence tomorrow.
In 1 Samuel 12:24 we read this: “Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you?” “Look ahead and seek God’s way.” (D. De Haan)
So let us let go of the past to embrace our future. Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
In verse 2 we are called to be transformed, so that we might do the perfect will of God. When we are to move onto something new it calls for us to let go of the old, even the good of the old – to move into the future. And therefore new blessing calls for bravery and risk. But God has promised he will never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5.)
In his book The Anointing, R T Kendall talks of living not in past anointing or even present anointing but preparing for the anointing we are about to move into.
In the Home Mission Video brought out for the 2005 Baptist Assembly it talked of two churches where embracing the future called for risk.
Here are two thoughts to consider. Firstly, are we ready to let go of the past and embrace the future? What does it mean for us as individuals and The Church I belong to?
To move to be the person God wants us to be and to be obedient to Him we need to receive the word of God and not just know the word of God. One thing we really need then is to learn to cry out to God for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. For as a pastor friend of mine from Romania said: “The secret of Church growth flows out of an outpouring of the Holy spirit.” I sense we are in a time where God wants to refresh The Church and pour out His Spirit upon us. We need to be transformed from what we were to what God intends us to be and not conformed to what has gone before.
So, what is God saying to us? (Jeremiah 29: 10-13) Verse 10: “This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfil my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.”
We have not been through a seventy-year exile, but we have been through a strange year and Just as God fulfilled His promise to His people, He is saying, I believe, that we are emerging out of this present period and moving into a period of blessing. It will not be all sweetness and light, but “I will be with you” says The Lord.
Verse 11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” No matter what is going on in the world and how tough it becomes to be a Christian, God has good plans for us.
Verse 12: “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” For when we seek Him with all our heart, He will hear us. And here lies a Challenge. It is time to pray for our Nation, and to seek God to use His people in these days, for He says in verse 13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” When we seek Him, we will find Him.
As I close, let me underline a couple of points as we move into the future and what it holds. A time may come when we need to consider: should I go against the state that I may honour God? In the meantime, let us fellowship together, seek His face, and seek to reach a needy world with the Christian Gospel.