Please note: I use “His/Her” terminology for God, because He/She is both male and female. For more on this, you can go to my video teaching: The Mother Heart of God. Feel free to comment on the video or on this blog if you’d like to discuss these pronouns. I love to hear from you!
As I write this, we have just turned the calendar for a new year. Every new year brings new promise. It is the opportunity to embrace new things.
Understand, however, that this is not just about a new year. It is more about a new YOU, and that is actually an ongoing, year-round process!
In order to embrace the new, we have to let go of the old. This can be a lot harder than we expect. The happy truth is that we do not have to do ANYTHING and SHOULD NOT do anything as if we are alone in our own strength.
God is ALWAYS present and delighted (and insistent) that we lean on Him/Her.
God is our Helper to help us do what we cannot do easily or at all. Often, WE need to be “upgraded” before the new “upgraded things” happen to us as byproducts. Being upgraded requires letting go of our old ways of thinking and being — ways that do not align with Christ and His commandment to love as He loves.
This is empowered as we stay in communion with Him, being loved and letting that love heal us in all our false ways of being. What are the ways of thinking and being that we, as frail but fabulous human beings, all too frequently need to let go of?
One of the many mindsets and ways of being so many of us operate in, unconsciously or subconsciously, is that it is up to us to get our needs met.
Often, this is learned because life has taught us that we can’t count on anyone else. This is orphan-minded thinking that broken people who hurt us and life circumstances confirm. We then project this onto God and act as if we are orphans — on our own, making our way through life alone, toiling, and fearful.
Another mindset that requires renewal is our confusion about our intrinsic worth and value. When we are not properly loved, in truth or because of distorted perspectives, we learn the lie that our worth is not intrinsic to ourselves. Rather, it is determined by what and how well we do, how much stuff we amass, how we look, … We prop up our egos and self-esteem by all sorts of fractured props that cannot bear our weight, which only a God, Who adores us, can carry.
Another way of thinking and being that God wants to address is an attitude, overtly or covertly, of independence. This is especially celebrated in the western culture and has a lot to do, not only with our minds, but also our wills. The idea of being “self-made” and MAKING things happen is routinely applauded and ultimately makes us our own gods. Outside, we appear to become bigger and more powerful. But inside, we become smaller, emptier, and plagued with increasing insecurities and fears that we medicate with all sorts of “drugs of our choice.”
These are only some of the mindsets and ways of being that God wants to redeem. NONE of these mindsets and ways of being are the ways of Christ or the truth of who we actually are. God is Love (1 John 4:8,16), and we were made in the image and likeness of Love. Love is all about “the other” emptying Him/Herself for the objects of His/Her passion.
How do we address all the issues we know are problematic? We have to go back to our Source and foster the connection we already have. Jesus said (John 15:5, Amplified Bible):
5I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.
Remaining or abiding in Christ means an ongoing, intimate, and active resting in our seamless relationship with Him/Her and being led by Holy Spirit. It is something we can cultivate and practice. It is the way we bear eternal, lasting, and lovely fruit that we don’t need to strive to maintain or defend.
To be able to rest means that we are able to trust God to be present, strong, and attentive. It means that we believe that God is actively providing for us, keeping us safe, healing and restoring, and guiding us surely and safely in paths that are truly good. Dependency upon and partnership with God is what He/She wants — it is based on an intimate, ongoing, and growing communion.
This takes us back to my original assertion that we do not have to do ANYTHING and SHOULD NOT do anything as if we are alone in our own strength. Our ability to walk this out, and not just give it lip service, foundationally rests on our ability to TRUST in a God we cannot see with our natural eyes in the midst of uncertain, and often painful, life experiences. In order to let go of the old ways of being and doing to embrace the new, trust is required!
Philippians 2:13 (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition) brings this out soooo well. It is a scripture I lean into regularly. It says:
13 [Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
The main points here are:
- You won’t be able to walk in what God has for you in your own strength.
- There is not a time when God is passive and inactive towards you.
- God is truly effective at what He/She does in you.
- He/She creates and energizes the power, ability, and the “want-to” to walk out His good plans for you.
This brings Him/Her pleasure, satisfaction, and delight because, as “other-giving Love,” YOU get to experience His pleasurable, satisfying, and delightful plans.
Holy Spirit is relentless in His/Her drive to reveal the intrinsic glory of His/Her sons and daughters (Rom. 8:17, 19, 29). God has beautiful plans (Jer. 29:11, Rom. 8:21–22, and Eph. 2:10) and fulfilling purposes for every human that He/She designed, crafted, and delighted in before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 2:10 (AMP) connects all these “dots” so beautifully:
10 For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].
Getting there from where we are requires being dependent upon and led by God’s Spirit, apart from Whom you can do NOTHING of eternal value. As we grow and mature in Christ, we operate increasingly in this fashion.
Romans 8:14 (The Passion Translation) says:
14 The mature children of God are those who are moved by the impulses of the Holy Spirit (emphasis added).
Dependency, patience, and peace because we trust and rest are hallmarks of the fruit of Holy Spirit — Love, Himself, in us. Here is where we are empowered to let go of the things we need to let go of. Some of these things are the false ways of being and the behaviors driven by hurts and lies that I discussed earlier.
But there are many more things that are candidates. All wounds and lies frequently and unconsciously drive us — in varying degrees — to cling to idols, which harm us. They are false sources of identity, value, provision, and protection.
So, what do you need to let go of this new year/season to get a fresh start?
Seek Holy Spirit. He/She loves to reveal, heal, and empower you to do so. As that is accomplished, Holy Spirit will then give you the revelation of what is next and the empowerment to grab ahold of it. You can run your race with more freedom and joy and fruitfulness. I believe in you and am excited for you!
Let me know what Holy Spirit shows you!
Love,
Catherine
