Start Again

It’s a new year and I am sure many of us are happy to start this year with a fresh start. Because new means a clean slate. We can say goodbye to the past and embrace the future. We can start again.

When you think about where you are in life, what would like to do over? Would it be the time you were in school? Or the time when a serious relationship dissolved? Or the way you handled a situation?

All of us have been there, where we would like to take back what we said or did. We wish we could turn back time. What if I told you can? What if you could start again?

Life is not over just because you made one mistake or many mistakes in life. In fact, the beauty about life and our walk with God is we can start again.

This was the case about a man named Saul in the Bible. He was so convinced that he was right about persecuting Christians, when he was wrong, that he made it his goal to shut them down (Acts 9). But God in His mercy and grace stopped him his tracks. The same with us... whatever wrong thinking patterns we have adopted - like worry, fear, or not saving our money, or not treating our bodies right - can be changed. We can start again by changing the way we think. Is there something in your life that you need to change and you need to combat it by changing the way you think?

How do you know if you are living by the truth or a lie? God will tell us. In the story of Acts 9 - God confronted Saul and told him to stop. The same with us. God is confronting us with the truth. He does not want us to walk in sin but live a life of truth. We can start again by letting God confront us.

Because the truth is if we don’t stop and change the way we think then God can put us in timeout. Do you remember when you were given a timeout or were disciplined for doing something wrong? God put Saul in a timeout when he struck him with blindness for three days. In those three days he sat, prayed, and did not eat or drink anything. He was thinking about his life. Just like Saul, we can start again by accepting the process and humbling ourselves.

There is no point in fighting God because He will win. Saul made the choice to no longer fight God but accept that he was wrong and move on with God. What about you? What mistakes have you made and can you accept it and move forward in a humble way?

I want to move forward but I don’t know how? Don’t worry you don’t have to do it on your own, because God sends Ananias to help Saul. In life, God will send us our own Ananias to help us with our fear, anxiety, addiction problem, saving, health, anger, or whatever is pulling us down. We can start again by letting others help us.

Then, we can be like Saul and do what he did which was start again by surrendering to the Holy Spirit.

Oh what joy Saul felt when he no longer was blind but could see. God was giving him a second chance and this time he was not going to ruin his opportunity. He was going to live right and that is what he did.

And we can do the same thing too in our lives. By surrendering our will to God and letting him have His way in our lives we can have the best life ever. This is a new year, why not start again by letting God have full control in our lives?

Prayer: Father I want to change the way I think so that I can see change in my life. Help me to combat my thoughts with the Word of God. Help me to humble myself and remove pride in my life. I accept the challenge to let you change me and I want to surrender my life and my will to the leading and power of the Holy Spirit. Amen

To watch the full sermon on this topic please click here.