I love the beginning of a new year. It’s an opportunity to
start fresh and rededicate myself to God’s purpose for my life. Even though
this should be a daily practice in our lives, there’s something about a new
year! It’s like we are at the starting line of a new race and we don’t have all
the sweat and dirt and dust of the old year clinging to us, we are clean and
focused on the journey to come. I intentionally buried many things in 2011
along with the shovel, and have determined that I will not pick those things up
again. I buried the old Ebony and I won’t miss her. I truly believe that this
is a season for restoration. All of the
things that the enemy has worked to take away from us will be restored through
Christ – peace of mind, joy, health, finances. It’s our season if we will do
what God says.
This week God brought me to Ezekiel 36, specifically verses
25 -28. Now, I must admit, this chapter is not all sunshine and roses but it is
an awesome tribute to how God will restore in spite of us. God is speaking to Ezekiel and telling him to
prophesy to the mountains of Israel how He is going to restore them for the
Israelites after their exile. He tells of how awful they behaved and why He
scattered them all over and exiled them in the first place. God was angry and
plainly says that He was performing this restoration, not for them, but to show
forth His holiness through Israel after His reputation was blackened over and
over again.
Think about this. Like Israel, we were doing our own thing,
living the way we wanted to, and going against God’s will. But God looked down
at us and even in His anger decided to take us, and clean us up. Why? So that others might realize who He really is
through the work that He has done on us! Ultimately He must get the glory. That
is why this is not just a season of restoration but also of reconciliation. In
verses 25 -28 God says, “I’ll pour pure
water over you and scrub you clean. I'll give you a new heart; put a new spirit
in you. I'll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart
that's God-willed, not self-willed. I'll put my Spirit in you and make it
possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You'll once
again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You'll be my people! I'll be your
God!”
God desires to wash us clean and renew our spirit so that we
will do what He tells us to do and live by His commands. When we do that, we
will back in our rightful places! On January 1st, I felt like I could feel God getting the pitcher of water and
beginning to pour it in my spirit. I was in desperate need of a soul and spirit
renewal. I was ready to replace all of
the dead stuff with life!
As He began to
refresh my spirit, I liken it to earlier in chapter 36, when God tells the
mountains of Israel that they “will burst
with new growth, putting out branches and bearing fruit for my people Israel.
My people are coming home! Do you see? I'm back again. I'm on your side. You'll
be plowed and planted as before! I'll see to it that your population grows all
over Israel, that the towns fill up with people, that the ruins are rebuilt.
I'll make this place teem with life—human and animal. The country will burst
into life, life, and more life, your towns and villages full of people just as
in the old days. I'll treat you better than I ever have. And you'll realize
that I am God. I'll put people over you—my own people Israel! They'll take care
of you and you'll be their inheritance. Never again will you be a harsh and
unforgiving land to them.”
That’s restoration, folks! Everything that looked dead or in
ruins in your life is being rebuilt. Your life is being plowed in order to make
room for all the life and fruit that is coming. God closes that section of
scripture with the promise that those mountains will never again be harsh and
unforgiving for the people. Many of us have survived some tough, dry places but
if you keep going and pressing, you will once again feel your soul being
restored. So don’t be discouraged if you don’t see things changing immediately
in your situation, the enemy is just waiting for you to say the wrong thing and
block you. Remember that God is pouring newness into your spirit and preparing
you for the fruit that is about to come forth. He said that He’ll treat you
better that He ever has before. Hang on to that and watch God move…
Happy New Year and AMEN!
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