Still

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. -- Exodus 14:14

How often do I run around and around... when all I need to do is be still. Be still and know that He is God.

And that He is GOOD.

New

new–adjective
1. fresh or unused
2. different and better
3. other than the former or the old

There are fifteen definitions of 'new' on dictionary.com. But these are my favorite three. They encompass all that is new in us when we are in Christ.


2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Ezekiel 36:26
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.


Romans 7:6
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Colossians 3:9-10
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.


So what does being new entail? It means I have a new spirit, a new heart, a new way of doing things, and a new self. It means that I am an entirely different and better creation. It means that my heart is fresh and my allegiances are unused. It means that I serve in a way different than the former. Better than the old.

How will I live this reality this year? That I am new. Unused, untouched by the world. Fresh and clean of any transgressions. Free of the old law and old ways. How will YOU live it?

New Beginnings

Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert

and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:18-19

....

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Hephzibah and other promises

I have been taking a special joy in the sweetness of my beloved, Jesus, this week. He has reassured me in so many ways this week of my security and identity in him, his ridiculous love for me, and the fact that his ways are FAR higher than mine. Some verses that have been close to my heart the past couple weeks...


And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:19


Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4


For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9


You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her (Hephzibah), and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.
Isaiah 62:3-4


I have been rejoicing in the endless promises of God.... for I am Hephzibah in his sight.

Finding Peace

The JOY of the the LORD is my STRENGTH!

I well remember them,

and my soul is downcast within me.

yet this i call to mind,

and therefore i have hope:

because of the lord's great love we are not consumed;

for his compassions never fail;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

i say to myself, "the lord is my portion,"

"therefore i will wait for him."

the lord is good to those whose hope is in him,

to the one who seeks him.

it is good to wait quietly

for the salvation of the lord.

lamentations 3:20-26