Isaiah’s writings came to

We are surrounded by cries of God’s people in desolation, billions of people in some parts of the world have no access to medical facilities, many are hooked on drugs… Each one of us have our own desert experience. Jesus who came to show us the way also experienced his desert.  It seemed like all was lost, that death had overcome, but there was a declaration of life though Christ.  God is doing a new thing and neither death nor devastation can take our Jesus from us.  Many of us are standing in our desert.  For some it may be persons whose lives are ruined by past sins and for that we have thrown them out of our lives; some experience sickness as their desert and we write them off in our minds; for some, their desert is financial and they cannot see anything in their future but poverty; for some, it is hopelessness in a love relationship that has gone sour.  However, despite all these, if you look with the eyes of faith, you will note a transformation is about to take place.  God is going to make your wilderness a delight. 

1. Israel to God’s commandment was lackadaisical, they sinned against God but God loved them and earnestly wanted them to change.  They could do nothing to change the past but God gave them the opportunity to start all over again. Isaiah 55: 7 says God will have mercy and abundantly pardon.  God is saying to you today, ‘my grace is sufficient not only for the past and present but also for the future’.  

The 2nd step to embracing the new thing what God wants to do in your life is to:

2. Clarify your Focus -- discover what God wants for you: What do you see when you look at your life?  Do you see possibilities or problems?  Is your cup half filled or half empty?  Notice what God said in our key text: “I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland”.  The children of Israel had a choice.  They could view their past and the problems of their present, or they could focus upon what God wanted to do in their lives.  Fanny Cosby, famous poet and songwriter, was 8 years old when she wrote her first poem.  The poem expressed how contented and happy she was and that she did not expect anyone to sigh or complain because she is blind.  You must see yourself as God sees you and you must see your possibilities as God see them.  You must believe that you can do all things through God.  You are not a failure because you know that when God is for you, no one can be against you.  No one should harass you, take charge and declare that no one will harass you in Jesus’ name.  Shut the mouth of the devil in Jesus name.  God hears your prayer even when it is whispered.  When you realise how great God is, you will know that your potential is not limited by your colour, race, qualifications etc.

The 3rd step to embracing the new thing what God wants to do in your life is to:

3. Commit yourself to God’s hands - God has already set in motion the activity and the people that will take the children of Israel out of captivity but the choice to accept it was in their hands. Similarly, God has already set in motion the events and the people that will bring you your miracle and your deliverance but are you need to cooperate with God?  God is ready to change the affairs of your life and when God is ready to do new things, no prince of Persia can stop or delay it.  However, can you pay the price of the new thing God is about to do in your life?  Meditate seriously on Isaiah 43: 22 - 26.  God asked the children of Israel if they were willing to pay the price for this new thing!   

   a) Are you willing to pay the price of earnest prayers? Read Psalm 69: 3, many of us want big answers but are not ready to pray. 

   b) Are you willing to pay the price of a burnt offering?  What God is asking is not too much but are we willing to make financial sacrifices?  Are you willing to sow seeds of faith in order to reap abundant harvests?  How much of your income have you invested in God.  We cannot invest nothing and expect abundant blessings.  You must learn how to give in order to receive.  Give and it shall be given unto you.  Give with both hands and you will receive in full measure, pressed down and running over.

   c) Are you willing to pay price of repentance?  Are you spiritually proud?  Thinking you deserve everything?  Or will you turn to God in humble penitence asking humbly to be blessed.  

    

   If you are willing to pay the price, then God is ready to make springs burst forth in your life.  God is ready to do a new thing.  Rejoice and learn the lesson of praise.  Learn from sport fans, when a goal is scored, there is spontaneous praise.  You can shout barefooted, or when cladded in designer footwears, what is important is the praise.

    

    

   The blind searching for light need to know God is able, the alcoholic searching for quenching, the homeless looking for shelter, the crack addict seeking unspeakable joy and hope for a life all need to recognise that God is able.  When your situation seems hopeless, when your back is up against the wall, God is saying He is able.  If God did place the stars in the exact order around the sun, if He was able to create man in His own image, if He was able to walk on water, and know the number of hair on your head, then He is able and He is about to do a new thing.  Do you perceive it?  Can you see God’s hands in your situation?  God is able, claim it and you will receive it.