Exchange Your Old List for His New Life

To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

—Isaiah 61:3 NLT

 

There are many things in this world that evoke sorrow, including death, sickness, pain, loss, and loneliness. The list is endless and can be overwhelming. However, only Jesus can break the cycle of suffering. His grace, which transcends our sin and brokenness, offers us unconditional love and healing. 

 

Jesus replaces the ashes of life with His righteousness, transforming grief into joyous blessings and despair into praise. He is the answer to the endless list of things that plague you. Jesus desires to be sown into your life, enabling you to stand strong as an oak for His glory.

 

Is this your experience? Joy amidst the world’s pain? Peace, regardless of your circumstances? Forgiveness, even in the face of hurt? You received Jesus by faith, but has the incorruptible seed of His Word taken root and flourished? Have you embraced His understanding instead of your own? Until you have spiritually grown, your roots will provide little strength and fail to anchor you. Joy will remain elusive, and fear and anger will be your responses to sudden problems and those who challenge your circumstantial peace. If you refuse to allow the love of Jesus to transform your life—if you refuse to let the Holy Spirit illuminate the new life you have received—the things on this list will dominate your existence instead of His peace.

 

In the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus read Isaiah 61, revealing Himself as the prophesied One. However, they rejected Him, and He performed little healing there because they didn’t believe in Him (Luke 4:16-30, Mark 4:5). The Holy Spirit speaks the truth about Jesus’ identity in our lives. Do we believe Him, or do we reject Him with our unbelief? Jesus affirms that all things are possible to those who believe (Mark 9:23). When we fail to spiritually grow and believe in what we’ve received, we limit Jesus’ healing power in our lives.  

When the Word comes alive and you believe it in your heart, you receive it (Mark 11:24), but may not physically experience it. Your belief can manifest as your reality in a matter of moments, or it may take a long time. But when the seed of God’s Word continually finds fertile ground in your heart, you will witness its tangible truth. The Word reproduces itself within you. You possess a new list of joy, peace, love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23), eagerly awaiting the harvesting of your faith.

 

If your heart is hardened by unbelief, the Holy Spirit is ready to awaken your heart to Jesus’ sanctifying healing of spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Jesus’ healing is not fragmented or broken; it restores the entire man. By His stripes, you were healed over 2000 years ago (1 Peter 2:24). He completed a finished work. When you believe until you know without a doubt that it is yours, you enter into His finished work of healing grace.

 

Is your heart hardened to God’s peace and joy? If you’re still grappling with fear, loss, illness, and other destructive forces, Jesus came to heal you from them (Psalm 107:20). Only the grace of Jesus can awaken a hardened heart. However, you must nurture His Word in your heart and shield it from the lies of the enemy and the emotional upheavals of your circumstances. By seeking His new life of righteousness to be your reality, you can experience true healing and transformation.

 

Believe who Jesus says He is in your life. Receive His truth even though His truth isn’t seen, felt, or experienced. Jesus cursed the fig tree, and its roots died immediately. But its death was not visible to the disciples until later (Mark 11:20-22). Jesus speaks life and healing to you, even though the visible evidence may not be experienced until much later. It is up to you to plant God’s truth in your heart and nourish it until it becomes your reality.

 

Are you tired of being tired? Exchange your old list for the truth of His new life.

 

You shall be strong, secure, and unshakable. You shall walk in healing, not bitterness, hurt, and pain. You shall rejoice in the God of your salvation. No weapon of unbelief that comes against you shall prosper. You shall speak death to every lie that comes against the truth of the new life Jesus has given you. This is your heritage in Jesus, and your righteousness is from Him (Isaiah 54:17). You shall be as a great oak, bringing forth His glory in due season.

 

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