Hindrances To A New Beginning

Different ministers of God have spoken at different times about a New Beginning. A lot of us are familiar with Isaiah 43:19 where God says behold I do a new thing. But the question is how many of us can say we have truly experienced a new beginning in our walk with God, family life, career and finances? Can we truly say we have experienced a new beginning in our church or in our nation?

There is a big difference between God saying He wants to do something and we actually experiencing what God says He wants to do. This is why today we want to look at the hindrances to a new beginning. So that we don’t just hear messages about a new beginning or a new thing like we have heard in previous years, but that we actually experience and testify of a new beginning this year.

In looking at the hindrances to a new beginning, we will take time to look at a people God desired a new beginning for; a people He told about a new beginning but who unfortunately never experienced the new beginning God had planned for them.

Exodus 1:8-14, Exodus 2:23-25 and Exodus 6:6-8 describe what the Israelites had been facing for many years:

•They had been slaves for many years.

•They had been under the yoke of the Egyptians for years.

•They had lived in a land that wasn’t theirs for years.

•They had been going through pain, oppression and severe hardship for so many years.

•Their lives had been bitter for years.

•They had lost their joy, weren’t happy and just used to cry and groan in their misery.

God saw all of this and wanted to give them a new beginning. He wanted to change their situation. He wanted to move them from the level they had been on for years to a better and more glorious level. Let’s take note that the situation or level the Israelites had been in which God wanted to change, wasn’t a situation or problem of 2 years, or 5 years, or 20 years. They had been in that situation or on that level for over 400 years. What this tells us is that there is no situation God can’t redeem, God can’t change. With God it’s never too late to start afresh. God can give you a new beginning at any age. God can give the worst of situations a new start, a new beginning.

So these were a people that God had remembered and wanted to change their story. He wanted to break every yoke in their lives and take them into their own promised land so they could have a new beginning. But of the over 600,000 people that left Egypt for the Promised Land (Exodus 12:37), just a few actually entered the Promised Land and experienced a new beginning (Numbers 14:21-24). My prayer is that whatever will keep us from experiencing a new beginning, God will remove from our lives.

Number 1 hindrance: Lack of available and willing vessels

In Exodus 3:9-10, God shared His vision and plan with Moses about the new beginning He wanted to give the Israelites. But for this new beginning to be actualized, Moses had a part to play. The vision or dream of a new beginning would be nothing but a dream or mere talk until someone could step in to do what was mindful and necessary for this new beginning to become a reality. Every new beginning whether in our personal lives, family, church or nation, requires a Moses; it requires people who are available and willing to pay the price that will bring about this new beginning. People who will do what is mindful and needful for there to be a new beginning.

We want many great things to happen in our lives, families, church and nation, but we are not ready to pay the price. Moses had to pay the price –

•He had to confront and challenge a very hard and cruel ruler like Pharaoh.

•He had to be willing to face resistance and opposition from even the people he had been sent to help.

A new beginning isn’t automatic. Something must be done for there to be a new beginning and somebody must be available and willing to do those things that will bring about a new beginning.

Are you a willing and available vessel? Am I a willing and available vessel? Can you pay the price that is needed for you to have a new beginning? Like the woman with the issue of blood, can you struggle your way through the crowd just to get to Jesus so you can touch the helm of His garment and be healed and have a new beginning (Mark 5:25-28)?

As Jesus was ministering on that day this woman received her healing, there were many people like her who needed a new beginning and who all they needed to do was touch the helm of Jesus garment and they would receive a new beginning. But some would have seen the crowd and said I don’t have the time and patience to pass through this crowd. Some would have said I am not a crowd person and not bother at all to get to Jesus. Yet, they were expecting a new beginning. Not only did the woman with the issue of blood have to pass through a large crowd to get to Jesus so she could receive a new beginning, she had to do something that wasn’t convenient or comfortable. This woman was bleeding on that day (Mark 5:29). This wasn’t a comfortable situation to be in. It wasn’t comfortable and convenient for her to leave her house that day in the condition she was in. It would have been so much easier for her to just sit at home that day and pray for a miracle. But she went out of her comfort zone. A new beginning will require you going out of your comfort zone to do something that is not convenient and comfortable.