Heart Tracks - The New Thing

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19

I've a friend that I get with in prayer regularly. He's walking through a time in his life that is challenging him in every way. As he was sharing some of what the Lord is teaching him through this time, he referenced the above Scripture, and how we tend to understand it. He said that when we think of "new things" that the Father is doing in our lives, we think of "new and exciting" things. Things we enjoy and look forward to. He said that he knew that He was doing such a thing in his life, but that it was anything but exciting and enjoyable to his flesh. This new thing of the Lord was stretching him spiritually in ways he couldn't have known. He said it was painful, but at the same time, glorious, because the new thing He was doing in his life was resulting in a new and deeper understanding and knowledge of the Father. As I listened to him relate all this, a train of thought from His Spirit came to me. It simply said that the new thing He does in us is so often the last thing our flesh would desire, but if we will walk with Him through the process, we will find it to be the very best thing of all. If we can get away from our western mindset and examine the lives of those who lived most deeply in Him, isn't that exactly what took place in their lives as He revealed His "new thing" for them?

The Father's new thing for Paul led to a prison cell and a headsmen's axe. His new thing for Peter led to his being crucified upside down. For John, the new thing was a barren prison island, removed from all he knew and loved. For these heroes of the faith, and the countless unknown heroes that came after them, His new thing always included pain and suffering. It always stretched them beyond what they thought they could endure, took them further than they ever thought they could go. After his salvation experience on the Damascus Road, the Father's first words to Paul were that he would show him "How much he must suffer for My sake." For the sake and cause of Christ.

The new thing that He would do in these men and women of faith was certainly the last thing their flesh would have chosen, but the result for them, and for all those impacted by their lives, was His very best. For them, and for we who have been blessed by the journey they entered into. The new thing He did in their lives resulted in blessing, joy, and life for untold numbers whose lives were impacted by that new thing He revealed to them. And He continues to reveal through them.

I believe that He is always doing a new thing in the midst of His Church, of His people, but we will miss it if we insist on living within the comfort zone of the old things we know so well. The new thing He's doing will stretch us and take us further than we thought possible. It will certainly involve pain, but oh, the joys to be found and known in Him as He does it. None of the heroes of faith would exchange the best things He gave in the midst of the new things He was doing. They entered into a joy and glory in His presence that was worth it all. So will we if we will persevere to the end.

Are you longing for Him to do a new thing? That's a great desire, but know that the path lies through your own Gethsemane and to His cross. That's the last thing your, our, flesh will seek, but its end will be the best thing we could ever have....deep, wonderful, intimate fellowship with Him. He's doing a new thing. Will you allow Him to do a new thing in you....no matter where and how He leads you to it?

Blessings,
Pastor O