BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW

BEHOLD, I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW

I have never been described as a picky eater since typically I will eat whatever is set before me, but I must admit that I detest stale bread.  So…if you’re going to make me a sandwich, try not to use last week’s bread.  If your budget allows, if at all possible, please share some of the fresh stuff!  New.  Fresh.  Healthy.  You get the picture, don’t you?

Some years ago, I was an untimely and uncomfortable witness to my friend’s presentation of artificial flowers to his wife.  I don’t know exactly why he purchased them, but I am sure that my friend’s heart was in the right place.  Nevertheless, ‘Mrs. Friend’ was not a happy camper, to say the least.  And hubby just didn’t know when to quit: “But baby, these plastic roses will last forever.  They won’t die,” he reasoned.  No sale there!  His wife had obviously been desirous of nature’s best, not the flower factories finest.  No amount of explaining or convincing would ever change that.

It occurs to me that our GOD loves fresh things as well.  He wants to give us new testimonies in lieu of those from five years ago that we’ve been playing over and over like broken records.  Don’t get me wrong.  God doesn’t want us to forget ‘past’ benefits; that’s called gratitude. (Psalm 103:1)  But He wants to carry us into newer, bigger and bolder dimensions of faith so that our spiritual relationship will grow and mature.  Hebrews 10:20 reminds us that God’s way is indeed “a new and living way.”

FRESH OIL is definitely needed.

We cannot effectively minister with yesterday’s agenda or yesterday’s anointing.  So here’s the question: How do we embody and embrace freshness in our relationships with Christ and in our ministries?  I will answer naturally first, then spiritually.  Our marriages grow stale in the absence of dynamic and continuous communication.  That is, one discovers new dimensions of nuptial joy and intimacy by engaging one’s spouse in purposeful and ongoing exploration of the mind and personality.  This happens only through meaningful and creative discourse.  Put simply guys, you gotta’ talk!  And so it is in our relationships with God.  In prayer, we mine hidden treasure troves of what I call relationship rhema as we dialogue daily with the Father.  We gotta’ talk!

There is absolutely no substitute for prayer.  Individually.  Corporately.  No substitute!  For winner-believers, it is part and parcel of every day; and, as we learn how to practice the presence of the Lord, it becomes our spiritual touchstone for each passing hour.  Just as we all need to greet and confer with family members (morning, noon and night), we cannot afford to place our relationship with Almighty God in a restrictive religious box that is unwrapped only during midweek Bible study or Sunday worship services.  Here is what we must do: “Pray without ceasing.” (I Thessalonians 5:17)  Think about it.

It has been said that this world has no real concept of the enormity and range of what is accomplished behind the scenes through prayer.  In fact, God loves us so much, that when we are absent, when we don’t show up to talk with Him, He truly misses us.  The Creator actually yearns for those intimate moments of spiritual fellowship with His sons and daughters.  So what do you say?  Let’s not keep God waiting anymore.  We gotta’ talk…to HIM…today!  It will certainly bring back the fresh spiritual appetites that we once had or are now seeking – for He alone is The Bread of Life. (John 6:51)  There is absolutely no staleness, nor one iota of insufficiency in Christ Jesus.  Indeed, it is wonderful to know that we need not await our arrival in Heaven to hear His loving and life-giving words, for in the intimacy of our prayer closets HE surely whispers to us: “Behold…I make all things NEW.” (Revelation 21:5)

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!