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~ Speak It Forth!
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Pastor Howey Stewart, Oklahoma
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Can
I have a “re-do”?
Written
By Howie Stewart
Did you ever call for a “re-do” when
things did not go your way during a childhood game? Maybe there was an
unexpected interruption or maybe you stumbled at an inopportune time. As a result you needed to “reset the clock”,
so to speak. Unfair disadvantages and
circumstances erased, the game could begin again. Balance was restored, new outcomes were
possible.
We still need “re-do’s”
in life from time to time. Life has a
way of bringing more than our share of unpleasant interruptions, things that
trip us up; making the outcomes we had hoped for seemingly out of reach. Have you ever needed a “re-do”, a new
beginning? The Bible has something to say about that.
John Newton, the writer of the old
hymn “Amazing Grace”, knew something about “re-do’s”. Consider these lyrics: “I once was lost, but now am found, was
blind, but now I see”. The reason these
words ring true is because they speak to our deep inner need for a divine
“re-do”.
God is in the divine “re-do”
business. He knows how to set things
aright. First of all, He knows how to
forgive sins. This is the most important
kind of “re-do”. The apostle John tells
us that “if we confess our sins He is
faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) With
sins forgiven, we can continue anew our journey of faith.
As the New Year brings new hopes and
aspirations, even so God seeks to do new things in the lives of His
children. “Behold, I will do a new thing,
now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and
rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah
43:19) Roads in wildernesses and
rivers in deserts? How unlikely, how
illogical. But the word of the
Lord declares it. No matter how unlikely
or illogical it may seem, God wants to do a new thing in your life.
A wise man once said this: “Until the pain of staying the same exceeds
the pain of change, then you will not change.”
New things are not always easy.
New pathways often require effort and toil. But God is calling us to rise above our
present plateau, to “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God.” (Philippians 3:14)
So as this New Year beckons, let us
not hesitate to call out for His intervention in our lives. Don’t be afraid to ask Him for your
“re-do”.
