A Fresh Start
God has programed into His system that every day would be a day of fresh start, not a one time thing. You get it over and over and over again.
Have you ever had a time in your life when you just wanted a fresh start more than anything? Maybe it’s to move to a new job or school or even a new state? After all even nature gets to start over. Every new season is a fresh start just as every new day is as well.
In the book of Lamentations chapter 3 the prophet says, “My mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness.” This is wonderful news for us because this means that God’s mercies are there every single morning, In fact, God’s mercies are new every time we repent of sin. We don’t have to wait for a new day or a new season to start anew, we can get things right with the Lord as many times as we need too.
I’m not talking about what is referred to as “greasy grace” where you willfully sin because you know you can repent. I’m talking about living in the knowledge of the fact that the completed work on the cross by Jesus Christ affords us the right to repent and start fresh as many times as we need.
Sometimes we can find ourselves not just having a day, but a whole season of hardships and we feel we cannot take much more. It reminds me of a great story about Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. When he was 39 years old, his wife passed away and he wrote in his journal, “My life is over.” He felt like everything for him had passed. He’d already written the Declaration of Independence and he’d been the governor of Virginia. However at this point in his life, he felt like everything was done. Why even bother going on living? Why even go any further? He didn’t realize that he was still going to be the president of the United States.
He didn’t realize that he was still going to found the University of Virginia, and he didn’t realize that he would go on to build an incredible place at Monticello, his home that now is a tourist site for many Americans. Here’s the point from Thomas Jefferson’s story. You may be at a point where you’re writing in your journal, “My life is over.” However, you have so many fresh starts ahead of you so don’t give up!
We have to learn how to have a system of fresh starts, we need to basically build them into our walk with the Lord. There are some ways to do this so that you can begin to walk in the knowledge of having fresh starts in your life. We all need this and as believers God has provided ways for us to have it.
So the first thing you have to have in your life is faith. The second thing you have to have in your life is the Word of God. If you have the Bible in your life, but no faith, the Bible is not going to be as great for your life as it can be.
If you’re a person of faith, you have to come to the Word of God with faith. In fact, if you’re praying but you don’t believe God hears your prayers, then to whom are you praying.
Everything begins with faith. And that is the same with the Word of God. One of the most shocking statistics shows that fewer than 9% of Americans read their Bible on a regular basis, fewer than 9%.
It also says that 50% of Christians will read their Bible 3 to 4 times a year…3 or 4 times a year. If it’s the most incredible book that’s ever been written, why don’t we read it? Because we already think we know what’s in it.
Reading the Bible needs to be a regular part of your life. It’s not as much about how much you read every day as much as it’s about putting the word of God in you every day.
Another thing that contributes to having a fresh start is the Holy Spirit. Many people are under the impression that you pray to receive the Holy Spirit and that’s it for the rest of your life. However, we can get a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit every day. I love that God gives us “free refills” as it has been called by a man of God.”””
These three ingredients are the system to having fresh starts in your life every day. Faith, reading the Bible and the Holy Spirit are some of the best ways of having a fresh start.