Look...I am doing a new thing!
Dearly Beloved
CFC Theme 2021: Behold I’m doing a new thing!!
What a statement to start 2021 with and to declare that God is saying to you and me and to His church in general, “Stop considering the old …. look … I’m doing a new thing! (Isa 43:18-19.)
Well, one can say, “Yeah but the pastors always have a new exciting slogan at the start of every year” or maybe we can say, “Yeah but what guarantee do I have that this was truly God who said it? Maybe we should wait and walk 2021 out and see what happens and whether it was God who said it or not.”
My dear friend, it’s true. It remains not only a challenge to correctly hear from God in the times we live in right now, but there is also a weight of responsibility that someone has to carry when they boldly say, “God Says.” We’ve sadly missed it so often when we said God said and it never came to pass.
But… I do believe with all my heart that with the right intentions and a pure heart we ought to still be willing to ask God to speak to us and to have bold faith to declare what He says. God is still speaking to His church whether people believe it or not. My humble opinion is that the people who are willing to trust God and believe that they’ve heard correctly from Him are a precious asset to the body of Christ. We need so many more willing and able people to hear God’s voice. Just imagine what the impact in our society will be when leaders and children of God start hearing what He’s saying and then declaring it. We will find people standing amazed when they see the manifestation and outcome of what God said. Wow…just imagine!!
Looking again at scripture, the Bible is full of brilliant examples where God said something and the next moment it turned out that He was doing a new thing. Like for instance the Israelites leaving Egypt and the next moment, like never seen before, the sea parts and there is a new highway.
Remember Daniel in the lions’ den, the one moment he’s food for a bunch of hungry lions and the next you find that every lion’s mouth was literally locked up.
One of my favourite examples is in Matthew 9. Here we read about the woman with the blood issue. For twelve years she suffered so much and no one could help her and then!! …. then she touched Jesus’ garment. Right there on the spot God did a new thing!! Instantly healed!! A few verses earlier a ruler told Jesus that his daughter had died and when Jesus came to his house people were crying and mourning and when He told them in verse 24 that the girl was not dead, but sleeping, they all laughed at Him and again right there and then God woke the child up!!! Doing a new thing!
Friends, so often we’re not very different from so many unbelievers in the world. We’re caught up in the same brokenness and we suffer and cry and groan before God and then a statement like this … Hey I’m doing a new thing!! We silently grasp hold of every bit of faith we have, yet slide into an unbelieving denial that this can’t happen and at the same time laugh like the mourners at the bed of the dead child saying, “Can this be true, can this be God, Why would God say, “Look I’m doing a new thing”?”
I want to encourage you today. We haven’t seen anything yet!!! We have nothing to lose if we believe and hold onto a “God promise” like this. As a matter of fact, who wouldn’t want to see, in the days we live, that God is doing a new thing. A new thing out of the midst of every challenge. A new thing out of every brokenness and a new thing out of every desperate cry for help.
If there was ever a favourable time for God to demonstrate Himself to His children, it’s now and therefore I’m encouraging you according to Hebrews 12:12-13 to lift your hands and to strengthen your week knees and to make straight the paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Get ready for a new thing that God is doing in your life!!
This is your year of breakthrough, this is your year of receiving a miracle, this is your year of supernatural provision, this is your year of encountering God like never before. God is saying, “Do not consider the former or the old.” Well, if I’m asked not to consider the old, what should I then consider? Consider this… God is doing a new thing for me! He is already busy and therefore I’m putting my trust, my hope and everything I have in Him.
Some people have already received their breakthrough and if you have, please send us your testimonies. For many of us, we might still be waiting for our new thing for a little while longer. If that be the case let’s wait patiently like Habakkuk did in chapter 2:3 “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end – it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”
I love you and be overwhelmingly blessed in Jesus Name!
– Ps Roland Engel