Women’s Connect September Devotional
Our theme for this year at Women’s Connect is “A New Thing” and I’m just thrilled to share all the Lord has put on my heart in regards to this theme! It was my privilege to write the devotional this month to kick off our year in Women’s Connect and I pray it speaks deeply to your heart as it has in mine. Jesus is so good and is at work! All praise to Him!
Click here to hear our theme song that aligns with this. Spend some time in worship, asking the Lord what He is desiring to do in your life right now? What new thing is He stirring in your heart?
Blessings,
Rachel Greene
A 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.’ Is. 43:19
I absolutely love that we can stand on the promises of God! Isaiah shows us a beautiful promise in the verse above. It is such a sweet reminder that our Jesus has the power and authority to make all things new in our life. 2 Cor. 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Each summer, we, as a Women’s Ministry Team, seek the Lord as to what He is desiring to speak over women and the Women’s Ministry for the new year. The Lord made it clear that this was the verse He had for us this year as it resonated with each one of us on the team. The Holy Spirit continued to bring it to mind often as we sought Him for His Word for women. It is such a powerful verse. Let’s unpack it together.
“I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Notice the phrase “it springs up.” Spring is about new life and growth. Creation displays new hope in the spring season. I know in my life, I can get stuck in thinking patterns and in old ways of doing things, when instead the Lord is springing up something new in my life. He is asking me to lift my gaze to Him and go in a new direction – to think renewed thoughts. He asks me, “Do you not perceive it?” I know sometimes I miss it. I can get stuck with old timelines and old things, comparing things to the past and getting stuck in tradition. When the Lord is saying, “NO….this is a NEW season!” He is the God of always making things new! Even if you don’t see change yet, be ready for it to spring forth!
Every season is new because He is the Life-Giver. He is our living God, therefore, we can always have new hope. We can look with new intention on what goes on in our day-to-day interactions and look for the new things the Lord is springing up in our life. We can allow Him to continue to transform our heart to be ready and willing to step forth in the new thing He is calling us into.
Jesus, let us be still before you for long enough to hear your voice. Holy Spirit, thank you for making us new.
The next sentence is such an amazing depiction of His power. “I am making a way in the wilderness”. Wow! We have story after story in Scripture about God making a way in wildernesses – physical, emotional, and spiritual. The Israelites being led out of Egypt, as well as God providing water for them from a rock in the wilderness in Exodus 17(literally causing a stream to flow in the desert) are some of the physical deliverances in the wilderness. The Lord opening Hannah’s womb and giving her a son (I Samuel 1), revealing himself to Hagar when she fled in hurt and fear(Gen.16) are others that show us He heals us not only physically, but emotionally from a wilderness season. Mary Magdalene being delivered from seven demons(Luke 8) is an incredible spiritual deliverance! These accounts are a beautiful picture of what our Jesus does for us because the amazing news is – we personally know Him and His Spirit lives in us! We have the privilege of living in the New Covenant, the time after the cross and resurrection, where the literal Spring of Water abides in us! If He did this for them, how much more will He do in our lives.
Talk about miracles, a river in the DESERT? What happens when water rushes into dry places? Vegetation! New life! Newness and growth! This is Jesus, the Living Water that rushes into our life and the dry, weary places of our soul. Let Him in. Let Him come to you and move freely with you and grow NEW life in any dormant places in your heart. He desires to completely transform our life – every part. He wants nothing hidden from His loving touch and resurrection life. No more living in darkness or sin. Let His light in.
So I’m wondering, have you been in a wilderness lately? Where can you say you have a wasteland in your life right now? Is it something physical, emotional, or spiritual? Our wilderness can be due sometimes to lies we are believing. Lies like, “I’ll never have enough”(poverty mindset), or “bad things just happen to me”(victim mindset). It can stem from pride in our hearts or putting our hopes and dreams in something on this earth. Maybe we are struggling to believe that God really does want to give us good things. Or maybe we feel perpetually stuck in a season that feels like it will never end? Asking, “Does God see me? Does He hear me?” I can identify with these last few in my life.
It is vital to identify these things. We can get comfortable and content in our wilderness and decide to set up our camp there, thinking, ‘this is just how it is’. But no! Every time Jesus steps into a need, He always brings newness, hope, life, healing, restoration, and peace. He doesn’t leave us as we are nor does He desire us to camp there. Remember the story of the Israelites? God’s plan for them was not to be wandering the wilderness for 40 years. His plan was that they enter their promised land triumphantly, with Him leading them in victory and claiming what He had given them – a land flowing with milk and honey. We can so easily get blinded to the wilderness we are just sitting in and become content to live in this ‘less than land’ when the reality is Jesus is calling us to live in our inheritance – our promised land! He loves us too much to allow a part of us to live in ‘less than land’. He is calling us to march out, to live. To breathe again after heartache. To hope again after disappointment. To claim the promises He has given us through fighting our battles in His strength.
I’ll tell you one thing is for sure- the enemy knows how powerful you will be if you are living in that promised land so he will do everything he can to lie to you about your rights, to get you to feel discouraged and defeated. Fight against him. Use the armor of God(Eph. 6). Scripture is at our disposal always and is our weapon. In doing this, the enemy has to flee from us.
As a Christian, the beautiful truth about hope is that, our hope is not dependent upon an outcome, our hope is a LIVING PERSON. We can always have new hope. 2 Peter 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a NEW birth into a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you.” Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that is our absolute promise, because He proved it true. He fully defeated death, darkness, destruction, and sin in our life! What sin, what heaviness can you release to Him to make you new?
Jesus is our Creator and Sustainer. He is also our Way Maker and our Resurrection Life. I know my heart can become stagnant and believe God in little ways, when He is doing SO MUCH MORE than all I can ask or think! He desires us to look to Him, get on board with what He is doing in our life. To not pray small prayers but big, believing-God sized prayers and allow His Spirit to make us new.
What do your dreams and expectations look like these days? Is there an anxiety you can lay down today? Is there a dead or dormant dream in your heart? Is there something you have prayed for for so long, you don’t have the intensity or hope you did for it at first?
Dear sister, breathing life over us and the dreams He planted in us is what Jesus is all about! Give Him those places in you. Invite Him into that. You don’t have to have it all figured out or made clean. He will do it all. Let Him breathe life over those hopes and dreams again and fill you with new hope for that thing! Let Him make a stream in the wasteland places in your heart. Let Him make it a place of green, life, and vegetation. Just take that first step and invite Him into that place. Let Him begin to heal and make it new inside of you. Just say yes to Jesus.
One day we will look around and see that the dry season is long gone, because we let Jesus into that place. And we will have a testimony to share!
He is our Well Spring, as He promised to the woman in Samaria (John 4), He will fully satisfy us! He gives us water that becomes in us a spring, welling up to eternal life. He is our literal stream in the desert! And we can always access Him. He will never be unavailable, tired, or dried up.
Here are a few reminders of who you are in Jesus, friends.
The Holy Spirit is constantly interceding for you.
He is your Counselor, Comforter, and Friend.
He takes care of you.
Jesus is your Good Shepherd. He leads you by quiet waters and restores your soul.
He gives you all you need in Himself.
He is more than enough for every need you could ever have.
His love heals you.
His love is faithful to you.
You are found in Him.