A fresh start; a new beginning

Has there been a time in your life where you have thought you could use a fresh start? Ever wish you could push the “EASY” button and your life would somehow get back on track or you would get past a difficulty? Ever wanted to be like the golfer who kept taking ‘mulligans’ until he got it right? Maybe you’d like to have a fresh start in a career? A fresh start with your finances? A relationship? A diet? What about a fresh start in your walk with God?

Based on Isaiah 6:1-8 I’d like to suggest how to capture a new start.

1. Admit your pain – We all have pain in our lives; no life is immune. Isaiah admitted his pain when he states, “In the year King Uzziah died…” My experience has been that the most significant fresh starts happen following some great loss or death. We often think it is God that brings the pain in our life when the reality is most of the time He is simply waiting for us to bring Him the pain.
2. Acknowledge it’s all about God – Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. And they were calling together, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory.’” It’s all about God. When I have admitted my pain, most of the time it has brought me to the Lord God. But it’s those times when instead of saying “It’s all about God” I’ve said, “It’s all about me” that my pain has seemed exceptionally strong and has lingered in my life.
3.  Annunciate the truth about yourself – Isaiah said, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.” When I have allowed the Holy Spirit to reveal where I am in my walk with Christ, it has often led me to say, “Woe is me”; well really more like “I can’t believe this is where I am.” Until we recognize and admit where we are spiritually, things will never change.
4. Absolve the past – After the angel of the Lord took the hot coal and touched Isaiah’s lips, he said “Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.” God doesn’t want you or me to live with regrets. And because of that, He’s offered us this incredible gift called forgiveness. What are you holding on to? Maybe you are holding on to the regret of a failed relationship? Or to the regret of wrong choices or wrong words or hurtful things you’ve done? God forgives! That’s God’s part. Our part is to acknowledge how we were wrong and repent of the wrong we’ve done. Then we should simply receive God’s forgiveness and release the regrets. But the problem comes when we want to relive the past. Or we allow others to relive it for us.
5. Answer God with a “yes” – After all of this had happened Isaiah clearly heard the Lord say, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Here’s Isaiah’s fresh start; he said “Here am I, send me!”

If you need a fresh start today read Isaiah 43:19. In it God says, “Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” He’s making a way in your wilderness; in your desert. The question is will you follow Him?