Really, God? New, again? Didn’t we do that one a couple years ago?
I know better than to argue with God, and yet, I still do. Then, He dropped this verse in my spirit. It’s now my focus verse for 2025!
See, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19
I usually get my word around the last weekend of the year. This year, I couldn’t get away from the word NEW. It was my word just a few years ago so I resisted, but it kept fluttering around in my mind. And so it is, this year, 2025, my word is NEW, again.
I suppose the theme of every January is new, isn’t it? New clothes, plans, intentions, and goals. Grand expectations of doing all the things we forgot to do, last year. Here’s what I’m realizing: all these things usually fail because we fail to do what we planned to do. We don’t lose the weight, or write the book, or get a new job, because we stop pursuing the newness and the beginning-of-the-year fervor. And the excitement wears off. We drift back to status quo, and end yet another year, still entrenched in mediocrity. Just me? Do you want something in your life to be new again?
Now, What?
As I’ve pondered the word NEW, several things are becoming clear. This verse says that God is doing a new thing. God never changes, and yet, because He is God and God is infinite, He can continually do things that are new to our finite minds and lives. So, instead of rolling my eyes at my Father, I better get ready for new things. If I don’t want status quo, I’d better let God get busy doing the new things He has planned for my life. He longs to make us new, again.
Remember how I said we often don’t achieve our New Year goals because we stop pursuing them? This year, let’s try something new. Let’s give up depending on ourselves to affect the change and trust the One who said that HE was doing something new!
So, how do we plan to allow this new to take shape? We ask Him to direct our paths so that we can partner with his plans for us. Lord, what are you trying to do in me? How do you want to accomplish it? What do you want my part to be? What’s our first step? Will you help me? And He WILL help, I promise. If we have not because we ask not, it stands to reason that if we ask Him to lead us, He will.
I’ve also noticed that for God to do His part in certain things, I have to do mine. If my goal is a new job, I can take a class or write a new resume and ask God for His help. I can take a step toward change and ask Him to help me. If He has a different plan, I can partner with that, but at least I’m trying to affect change instead of acting like He is a genie in a bottle who exists to grant my wishes.
New What?
Well, if this isn’t the million-dollar question, I don’t know what is. And the kicker is, I can’t tell you! But, God can. I told you, God is so big and so infinite, even the possibilities are endless. The most important part of all this is to let God lead you to new and through new. It’s easy to simply put God in a box, isn’t it? And sometimes, we put the new year in a box without even inviting God into the box! Talk about shooting ourselves in the foot!
It’s so tempting to try to figure it out ourselves. Another temptation is for us to tackle the new stuff in our own strength. We buy the new exercise clothes and swear we will exercise at the gym 12 hours a week when last year’s record was zero. We proclaim that we WILL lose 75 pounds this year, after gaining 40 last year. Our new day planner is beautiful, even though if we live as we always have, it’ll still be empty come March. We spend days studying goal setting and creating a large list of all the new things we will do daily, weekly, and monthly. Do you see a pattern here? Plans are all fine and good. They are a great first step toward change, but until we invite God to lead the process, we are but a clanging cymbal.
The first step of discovering what new He wants to do in you is to ask Him. He is faithful. If you ask and then wait and listen, He will show you. Once He shows us, we move to the next invitation: Lord, help me to change, to do new things, and to be obedient in all things.
I would like to end by offering ideas of new possibilities. Maybe, God wants you to have…
- New truths–to combat the lies we believe and tell ourselves and the faulty beliefs that limit us
- New assignments–If God bringing you to a new job, home, life season, location, ministry, etc.?
- New thoughts–Sometimes, we need God’s help to rectify our “stinkin’ thinkin'”
- New habits–Perhaps you need new physical, mental, emotional, nutritional, daily, weekly, or monthly habits.
- New routines–Search intentionally for new ways to handle old problems and to find new methods
- New understanding–Sometimes, we possess a faulty understanding of ourselves, of others, of our past, of our future, or of God
- New hobbies–If you’ve always wanted to try it, this is a perfect time.
- New priorities–Think about your current priorities. If they don’t line up with your values, your values or your priorities need a tweak.
- New perspective–Sometimes, what we see isn’t necessarily what we get. We can ask to see things as God does instead of as man does.
I can assure you, as we step into the new year, that God wants to do something new in your life. The adventure is partnering with Him to discover what, when, and how. Ask for His help, and expect His answer. When He answers, take a bold step forward. Begin to dance with Jesus into a season of newness, where things are new and exciting, and surrendered to His control. Ask him what He wants to do. Then comes the hard part: Step out of His way and into His will. Let Him make you new, again.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:
The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17
And here’s a link to a free printable about areas of our lives that we can ask God to recalibrate, or make new.