Beth Moore in Toronto: Something brand-NEW...Don't you see it?

"Forget about what's happened;
   don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
   It's bursting out! 

Don't you see it?"

(The Message-Isaiah 43:18-19) 

Well, no, Beth, actually, it's the same-old, same-old...

Yes, I am responding to Beth Moore who posed the question from Scripture at the Living Proof conference held in Toronto over the weekend. 

(Yay, Toronto loves Beth!! Check out the Tim Horton's gift card in her hand!) (Photo credit: Lily Taylor)

The theme: "I'M UP TO SOMETHING NEW", in reference to Isaiah 43:16-21.

Well, even as I responded inwardly to the beginning question, God again reinforced his current word to me this year. Continue on in His Word. Beth shared how God speaks to her, shows His 'new' thing as she reads His Word and He presses certain Scripture in her heart. So, even as I go through the same-old, same-old, I will continue to be alert to 'perceive' (to become aware of through the senses) the new thing He is doing as He walks with me through the same-old.

^{John 13:7 -} Jesus said to him (Sita), You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later on.

Recap of Beth's teaching:

1. God is up to something new.
-so be alert, be present as you read His Word to 'perceive' it. (Isa.43:18-19)

2. God rarely does a new thing the old way. 
-in Exodus God carved a desert road in the middle of the Red Sea to deliver His people. In Isaiah He promises to open a sea in our desert.

-Beth shared an anecdote that wonderfully depicts how God works: She was playing with some building blocks with her grandson who was feeling out-of-sorts and trying her best to give suggestions that seemed pretty good--symmetrical, logical suggestions for a balanced structure--but he kept shaking his head. Finally, he just had to tell his grandma, "Bibby, that's not what I'm doing!"
How many times do we try to nudge God in complying with our plans? No matter how much sense our suggestions make, many times, He has to gently and firmly press upon us, "But...that's NOT what I am doing..." (Jer.29:11)

3. God can do something new in an old place. 
- Yes, in our old place, that desert, be it chronic illness, financial hardship, relationship issues, job issues, He can make streams and promises to walk with us through them. (Isa.43:19)  Pray and ask God to help you perceive the stream.

4. Just patching up the old won't result in something new.
- Luke 5:36-38 ^{- 36}He told them this parable: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 

5. We, too, must be up to something new.

- Anything that we rehearse in our minds defines our current mood. 

 Lamentations 3:19-20 [O Lord] remember [earnestly] my affliction and my misery, my wandering and my outcast state, the wormwood and the gall. ²⁰My soul has them continually in remembrance and is bowed down within me.

²¹But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation: ²²It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. 

- Ezekiel 36:26 - A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Amplified Bible)

- Psalm 32:1 - BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, to be envied) is he who has forgiveness of his transgression continually exercised upon him, whose sin is covered. (Amplified Bible)

6. God grants new mercies for each new day. 
 - "I could never handle that"--not true, God's grace is always sufficient for the need.

- Lamentations 3:22-25 - It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not.

    ²³They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness.

    ²⁴The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.

    ²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait hopefully and expectantly for Him, to those who seek Him [inquire of and for Him and require Him by right of necessity and on the authority of God's word].

- every morning, establish authority over your day and ask Him to give you all that you need to abound. 

2 Cor.9:8 (Amplified Bible)- And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation]. 

 

7. One day we will go from a new thing to a new everything.

- Revelation 21:1-5 (Amplified Bible) - THEN I saw a new sky (heaven) and a new earth, for the former sky and the former earth had passed away (vanished), and there no longer existed any sea.

    ²And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, all arrayed like a bride beautified and adorned for her husband;

    ³Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne and I perceived its distinct words, saying, See! The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp, tent) among them; and they shall be His people, and God shall personally be with them and be their God.

    ⁴God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away.

    ⁵And He Who is seated on the throne said, See! I make all things new. Also He said, Record this, for these sayings are faithful (accurate, incorruptible, and trustworthy) and true (genuine).

Ladies, shall we walk the 'new' road together with Him?

The day is brighter here with You

The night is lighter than its hue

Would lead me to believe

Which leads me to believe

(chorus)

You make everything glorious

You make everything glorious

You make everything glorious

And I am Yours

What does that make me?

My eyes are small but they have seen

the beauty of enormous things

Which leads me to believe

there's light enough to see that

(chorus)

You make everything glorious

You make everything glorious

You make everything glorious

And I am Yours

From glory to glory

You are glorious You are glorious

From glory to glory

You are glorious. You are glorious

Which leads me to believe

why I can believe

You make everything glorious

You make everything glorious

You make everything glorious

And I am Yours

You make everything glorious

You make everything glorious

You make everything glorious

And I am Yours

From glory to glory From glory to glory

You are glorious. You are glorious.

You are glorious. You are glorious.