About HisSpirit.org

Life is a journey. Life’s journey is a series of new beginnings. And life is new for us every morning. There is a reason that God has shared with us that "The LORD'S lovingkindnesses (His mercies) indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23). God's mercies are new every morning. For us, each day is a new beginning. 

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As we travel along life's pathways, we often need to take advantage of what we may refer to as a "do-over." We make mistakes, and then avail ourselves of a do-over. Both children and adults love to have do-overs. Golfers call it a mulligan. They make a terrible drive and declare a mulligan, a do-over. 

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In playing chess with my granddaughter, Eliana, there are occasions when she will make a move that could only be described as a potentially costly mistake. I will look at her move, then look into her eyes, look back at the move, look back into her eyes, and raise my eyebrows. Eliana will then study her move, see her mistake, and "un-move" her chess piece, sort of a "chess mulligan." We will talk about her move, come to an understanding as to why it was potentially a costly mistake, and then she will search the board for what may be a better move. 

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Learning from our mistakes, isn't that how life often is? And isn't it good to have a kind, compassionate, and loving teacher who helps us deal with our mistakes? 

 

Isn't that how God is as He walks with us through our mistakes, compassionately and lovingly showing us and teaching us how we can do life better via a series of do-overs, a series of new beginnings? 

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God reveals His compassion and lovingkindness to us as we continue to yield our lives to the Lordship of Christ. We have been given many do-overs in our lives as Christians. By the grace and mercy of our God, we are offered forgiveness and allowed to "do life over" until we get it right. 

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As Christians, we don't refer to it as do-overs. We use Christian terms such as spiritual growth, progressive sanctification, recommitments, and rededications, as God offers opportunities for a do-over. We are offered "new beginnings" over and over again. 

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Pastor Jim Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church in New York City once said, "The Christian life is made up of 10,000 new beginnings." I have found that to be true in my own life as a Christian, as a son and as a brother, as a husband and as a father, as a pastor and ministry leader, and as a student of the Bible and, yes, even as a teacher of the Bible. 

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I have lived a life overflowing with new beginnings: new commitments, recommitments, dedications, rededications, resolves and repentance, drawing nearer followed by failings and fallings, sins of thought, word, or deed, sins of co-mission and sins of omission. As you can see, the longer one lives, the more one can know the truth regarding this thought of 10,000 new beginnings, new dedications, new commitments, and new resolves. Such is life, particularly for us Christians. "O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness (His mercy) is everlasting" (1 Chr. 16:34). 

 

I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I know that one area many Christians struggle with is following through with a real, genuine commitment to consistent Bible reading and Bible study. Failing at this and recommitting and resolving to do better is part and parcel of the 10,000 new beginnings mentioned by Pastor Cymbala. 

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It is hard for us to truly realize that God, the Creator of the Universe and all that is within it, has provided us with His Book, written personally by Him through His Holy Spirit, to read and take into our hearts and spirits. 

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John Wesley once said,

I want to know one thing: the way to heaven. . . . God himself has condescended to teach the way.

For this very end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book.

O, give me that book! At any price, give me the Book of God! 

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O, that we too would have the heart's desire John Wesley had. May we grow to know God fully through reading and studying "the Book of God!" 

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I hope to encourage you to grow in your love of reading and studying God's Word and to be open to allowing God to lead you on a journey in which you will touch this world for Jesus. 

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You might wonder, "What can I do to impact this world for Jesus?" I am reminded of what Glenn Beck said about his meeting with Billy Graham five years before Billy Graham went home to be with the Lord. 5 

 

Here is what Glenn Beck said,

"At one point, I said, "Billy, where are the people who are going to step up?

Where's the next George Washington, Abraham Lincoln? Where's the next Billy Graham?" 

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And he smiled and said, "God is tired of people like me getting credit for His work." He said, "It's not going to work this way, this time. 

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This time, people who are just regular people are going to do something that they may think is small and insignificant, and they may not even understand it, but they feel compelled that they're supposed to do this one thing. And they'll argue in their own head, saying, "That doesn't make any sense. Why would I do that? What I do, that's not going to change anything." 

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And Billy Graham said, "And if everybody who hears what they're supposed to do and does just that, nothing more, nothing less, just that, and remains faithful, the lights will come on, and you'll see a mosaic that God is working. And everyone on earth will know, only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could have done it." 

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When I look at my own life, I must acknowledge that I was so unworthy of God using me in any way in His service, that is, but for the Grace of God. Satan would remind me then, and even today, that I am still unworthy. But in the face of that reminder, I would declare that I am worthy by my faith in the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and by God's Grace. I have been saved; I have been justified; and I am being sanctified through the constant working of the Holy Spirit in my life. I live to serve Him, for He alone is Worthy! 

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Today, I am faithful to my "life verse." I am just one person, one disciple of Jesus, compelled by the Spirit of God, doing what I do each day as I continue to study and teach the Book of God "to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." I hope that you will join me in this. 

 

I pray that you will be encouraged to commit to reading and studying God's Word, "digging deeper," and growing in your knowledge, understanding, and personal relationship with God. May this be just the beginning. May God, by His Holy Spirit, lead you in your studies, and may He continue to guide you along life's journey as you live to serve Him! 

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God has provided us with every opportunity to come to know Jesus, not just know about Him, but to know Jesus personally as our Savior and our Lord. He has given us His Holy Spirit to not only bring us into a saving knowledge of Jesus but to teach us, guiding us and bringing to our remembrance all that Jesus taught. 

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Yet even with all that God has provided for us, Paul would write this to the Church in Corinth,

1 Corinthians 13:12

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 

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By way of metaphor, our present spiritual understanding is like a poor reflection in a mirror. We see very poorly now compared to what we will see and understand when we see God face to face. (Life Application Bible Commentary (NT), Tyndale) 

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Right now, we only know in part; at the time of Christ's return, we shall know fully. Then, our knowledge and understanding will be complete. 

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Until that day, we should commit to getting to know God more fully now. By "digging deeper" into the Word of God, we can continue to grow in our knowledge, understanding, and personal relationship with the Lord.