Happy New You
Isaiah 43:18
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
Now I know we are in the second Sunday of the year and many people have set goals and resolutions that they would like to accomplish throughout this year.
Yes, the beginning of a New Year is a great opportunity to strive to reach something new, do something new and even accomplish something new, but this morning I would like to focus on something a little different and that’s being something new.
Somebody say “Happy New You”
Now I think a more appropriate title would be “Happy New Us”, but Happy New You sounded good because it was close to Happy New Year, so we will just leave it at that. Haha
Quote: Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Make the most of yourself….for that is all there is of you.”
This morning I don’t want to focus so much on what we want to do this year, what we want to accomplish this year, or the things that we want to get, but I want to focus on us growing as an individual and putting ourselves in a place where we can handle the blessings that God wants to bring our way.
Did you know that I can have a blessing for you, but if you are not ready for the blessing then either I will not give it to you, or if I did give it to you it can turn out not to be a blessing?
A blessing or a good thing that is given to us before we are ready can turn out not to be a blessing.
It can still be a good thing, but if we are not ready for the good thing, the good thing can turn out to be a bad thing.
Let me give you an Example: I heard a preacher use an illustration like this so I will make my own using the same concept.
Say I have a brand-new car that I want to give to a 5-year child.
Now even though the new car can be a blessing and I have the keys to the car, I should not give it to the 5-year-old.
Why? Because he is not ready for it.
His maturity is not ready for the blessing.
His responsibility is not ready for the blessing.
Him personally is not ready for the blessing.
So even though it is a blessing, if I give the blessing to him to soon, it will not turn out to be a blessing at all.
A blessing given before we are ready may not be blessing at all.
So, a good Father will not give the car keys to a child who is not ready for it.
Now if I take that same car and give it to someone who can drive, give it to someone who is mature, and to someone who is responsible then that same car can be a blessing to the person I give it to.
Here is what we need to notice:
The car has not changed, the keys have not changed and even the roads haven’t changed, but the only thing that has changed for it to be a blessing is the one who is receiving the blessing.
Can I bring it home to you and I?
Sometimes God has blessings for us, but the blessings have not showed up yet. Why? Because we may not be ready for the blessing.
See God may have to do a work in us first before He is able to give us that certain blessing.
The good news is the blessing is already there, the blessing is ready, but God is doing a work in us.
Then when you and I get to a place where we can handle the blessing and we are in a place where we are ready for it, God sends the blessing our way.
I am not sure about you, but I do not want to miss out on the blessings that God has for me in 2021 because I was not ready for them.
So that is what inspired me to preach this message this morning entitled “Happy New You.”
The heavens are open, and the blessing is waiting…
I do not think you heard me, I said the heavens are open and the blessing is waiting.
God may be waiting on you and me.
Help us Lord.
I would like to look at a few areas that you and I can grow in that will help us to be prepared for the blessings that God has for us in 2021.
- Perspective – Mindset in the way that we see things.
Maybe you and I can grow in the way we look at ourselves.
In the way we see ourselves in accomplishing what God has called us to do.
Come on Now…Let me know I am not alone. Let me know I am not the only one who has sat by the edge of the bed and said God I just do not have what it takes.
Are you sure you called the right one?
Maybe our perspective needs to change and say you know what I don’t have what it takes, but the One who called me is not looking for a perfect vessel He is looking or a willing vessel.
Maybe instead of I can’t, we can turn it into I can try.
I am not broke, but I am in between blessings.
Instead of, that is just the way I am, maybe turn it into God is growing me.
Maybe we need to go from I can’t to I will give it a try.
I have what it takes to be all that God has called me to be and do what God has called me to do.
Oprah Winfrey said “Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.” ―
Maybe we need to change our outlook at something that we didn’t succeed at the first and say now I am start again but with more experience.
The challenge is not to let our know how and experience stop us from starting over again.
- Purpose – Pursuing what God has for us.
Another area that you and I can grow in is going after all the God has for us.
In 2020 maybe we took a step back and didn’t pursue the purposes of God upon our lives like we know we could have.
Well in 2021 that can be different.
Practical things that you and I can do to take steps toward what God has for us is:
- Develop a prayer life
- Develop a word life
- Get involved in ministry
- Be faithful in our giving
(Giving is not only finances, but it is our time, talents and even resources)
- Using our gifts and talents to build the kingdom
Notice these are all things that you and I can do. We do not need anybody to give them to us.
That leads me to my next point:
- Passion: Disciplines that we are willing to do to get what God has for us.
The areas that I mentioned in the previous point are all things that you and I can go after and we don’t need anybody to give them to us.
We have heard it before, right? If I only had this or if I only had that, but the challenge is to use what we have.
To reach our full potential we must use our passion to fuel our disciplines to get us what we want.
Then when our passion fuels our discipline, we can use our disciplines to develop ourselves into what we can be for God.
It reminds me of the old saying “Give a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach a man how to fish you feed him for life.”
I see two scenarios here
One is survival off what people give us.
Two is learning and developing our ability within us to get the same thing that someone gave you.
One is we depend on what someone else does to accomplish an outcome or we can develop the God given potential within us to get the same thing that someone gave us.
This year you are going to develop the potential that is within you to get what God has for you.
To go after that purpose that God has for you.
The changing of the clock is not going to bring it to you.
The changing of the calendar day is not going to bring it to you.
The way we are going to have all that God has for us and be all that God has called us to be is to make changes and go after it.
Many times, we can think the changing of the calendar is going to bring our goals to pass, that is not so, it is the changing of our disciplines.
It is putting ourselves in a place to do better, get better and be better.
Now we have more time on our hands than ever before to get better at who God has called us to be.
Sometimes the busyness of work and ministry can have us focus on what we do rather than who we are, but lockdown has allowed a lot of us to deal with things that we might not normally deal with when we are super busy.
We are using this time to go to new levels.
We are using this time to develop our character.
- Open to change
- Listening Skills
- Being on time
- Building our prayer life
- Building our Word life
- Grow in our giving – Giving is not just finances. It can be time, talents, and resources.
- Respect
- Less Judgmental
- Education
- Forgiveness
- Respect
We are using this time to be better for God, because the heavens are open, and we are not trying to miss our blessings.
The heavens are open and let’s go after all that God has called us to be. The blessing is there.
