It is a new year, and it is time to understand who Jesus Christ says you are. It is time to take back what you have lost or to discover possibilities you have never even considered. There is no perfect time to take back relationships or to discover joy. The time is now to liberate your life. You have longed for your mind to think only of good things, and believe unceasingly in what God promises. You have hoped to believe. Even though the Word tells you that you are new in Christ—even though you know the old should be over—you have struggled to move forward in faith. You haven’t fully perceived the depth of the incredible spiritual transformation that new life in Christ really promises. He means for you to be completely free from the chains of old baggage, and to live in the freedom the Holy Spirit imparts.
It is time to start the journey that new life in Him promises by laying down who you believe you are for who He says you are. How do you begin this journey to find freedom in Him? You start a new life by refusing thoughts of the past and lies of the enemy. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” God instructs in Isaiah 43:18. This Scripture declares that you shouldn’t wrap your mind around what has happened, and you shouldn’t continually think about the past which you have allowed to define you. Forget means being unable to call to mind, unable to summon up, or unable to picture. Now that sounds amazing—not to remember or even have a picture in your mind of past fears or failures. Forget means that the past is gone. So don’t dwell on it. When you don't dwell on what has been, you have greater faith to believe in what He promises. He will keep you in perfect peace when your mind stays on Him.
“See!” the Lord declares. “I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it” (Isaiah 43:19)? See means to perceive. To perceive who you are in Christ, you seek the revealed truth of God’s Word. You don’t just glance at His Word and expect it to change the way you think. You can’t expect to have a close intimate relationship with God without reaching out to Him with all your heart and soul. “See!” He speaks again and again to your struggling heart. “I am doing a new thing. It springs up. Lay yourself down. Surrender the old, and learn of me! And you will know me as you have never known me.”
“I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland,” He continues. “The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise” (Isaiah 43:20-21). He chose you on Calvary. This promise of His Spirit to fill you—to strengthen you—to change you—to break the chains of the past—is His truth. Even though you may walk through a wasteland of hardship—through pain or suffering, He provides your needs. You will not be destroyed, but empowered. He makes a way for His people.
It is time to understand who you are in Jesus Christ. It is time to perceive His truth. By the gift of His life on Calvary for your sins He has declared that you are righteous. He doesn’t see you as you see the old person you once were! He doesn’t see the filthy rags that you perceive yourself to be. He sees you as that new creation He bought with His life. “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind,” Paul writes, “and put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:23-24).
He defines you. He created you to love and praise Him, and you belong to Him. He gives you everything you need to survive and flourish. Choose to forget the old. Learn who He says you are in His Word. Choose freedom from all that has claimed you. He is your promise. He has already redeemed you, and called you righteous. It is time for you to perceive it. It is time for your new.
© 2018 Lynn Lacher
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