Regeneration

Praise the Lord, my Dear Sisters in Christ!
(It is just a few hours until December 1, 2008! Wow Jesus – You strengthened me to make it! I did not know that I had the ability to endure through to now, but by Your strength, by Your power, and by Your design, I am still here – encouraged to go FORWARD! Thank you Lord!)

Forgive me ladies – I had to take a moment to give Him some praise! Anybody else feel like that? Individually, as families and as a country we have seen challenge over the last year. Yet tonight I feel like the psalmist king. I, too, know that the Lord upholds His righteous. Like him, I have never seen them forsaken nor begging bread. 

We know that God has and that God will provide for us, no matter what our country must continue to go through in this season. We need not fret, because the Lord so graciously prepared us for the things that mankind is experiencing right now. (Matthew 24; Luke 21; I Thess. 5; Rev.3, etc.) He’s got us firmly in His grasp – and He knows how to bless His own within any economic climate. All we have to do is listen and obey His voice. 

As we enter into last month of the year, I think about something we so often speak of in the body of Christ – the spiritual relevance of numbers. When the year began the cry of most was centered around it being 2008 – with many focusing on the 8 as representative of “new beginnings or regeneration.” As I think back over the year, God showed me that for many, our new beginning or regeneration was truly like a birth. 

The birthing process in quite strenuous, to say the least. It involves some indescribable pain, stretching, ripping – you get the picture. For all living things – flowers, trees, animals, humans . . . bringing forth new life or bringing forth a new beginning is hard. There must be some pushing up through dirt and ashes. We see things busting through cocoons, seeds and pods. There is even the coming forth from the womb with great travail. And all of these require strain and pain. 2008 was, for many the year of strain and pain. My prayer is that many of us went ahead and took the labor and agitation of the new beginning. I hope that we endured the labor process, and did not abort or get off the birthing table. I hope we took the pain, and that we are standing at year’s end as vibrant new flowers, beautiful new butterflies, or experiencing something newly birthed in our spirit-man! No pain -- no gain.

And what is the Lord saying about 2009? Well, 9 represents the summation – the conclusion of the matter. It is described as the summation of all man’s works – the judgment. I truly believe that God has something in store for His people that are enduring in righteousness. Hang on in there – the Righteous Judge sees you! If you allowed Him to regenerate you and to bring you forth anew, then He has something good in store for you!

Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and Keep Looking Up . . . the King is Coming!