ABOVE ONLY DEVOTIONAL FOR WEDNESDAY 9TH JANUARY 2019 TOPIC: God's Recipe for Newness 3 Hebrews 11:15-16 (GNB), Philippians 3:13-14 (LB)

ABOVE ONLY DEVOTIONAL FOR WEDNESDAY
9TH JANUARY 2019

TOPIC: God's Recipe for Newness 3
Hebrews 11:15-16 (GNB), Philippians 3:13-14 (LB)

They did not keep thinking about the country they had left; if they had, they would have had the chance to return. Instead, it was a better country they longed for, the heavenlycountry.* I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies...on this onething: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

If you keep thinking about where you are coming from, very soon you will look back, turn around and return there. But if you keep your mind focused on where you are going, God will grant you the grace and strength to get there. If you really want to press into the newness that God has in store for you, you need to forget your success and achievements of the past, as well as your mistakes and failures of the past. Either of them can limit you. Hear what the Lord says: “…, "do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago. Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already—you can see it now! Iwill make a road through the wilderness and give you streams of waterthere, Isaiah 43:18-19 (GNB). Keep your eyes on the joy that is set before you and not on the pain you endured and overcame last year. Embrace what God is saying to you asyour present reality. Spend time in and meditate on God's word until you can clearly determine what God is saying to you. Like Prophet Habakkuk did when he began to hear God, write the vision and make it plain so that you can run with it. The vision is for an appointed time. It shall speak and not lie, Hab.2:1-3. Declare it, pray it and start acting in line with it. As you keep focusing on where God is taking you to, God willmake a way for you to get there. Keep renewing your mind with God'sword; do not be discouraged or distracted by anything or anyone. Let the past be just that- the past. Focus fully on the pictures God is showing to you. Your newness will spring forth!

Prayer:
I receive Your grace, Dear Lord, to forget the past and to focus fully on the new pictures You are revealing to me of Your plans for me.

BIBLE READING PLAN IN ONE YEAR
Genesis 23-24, Matthew 7