Faith to Walk in the New

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to another episode of Worldwide Wonderful Women. I am your host, Paula Harris and this podcast is for women who are all about learning how to live in God's divine power. It is produced on behalf of Transformed Worldwide Ministries. Thank you so much for being here. [00:00:38] Hello. This is Episode #380 and it's entitled, "Faith to Walk in the New." Talking about new--Happy New Year! I pray that you will have a blessed year in 2026. May it be full of God's peace, love, joy, and good health. [00:01:03] We would love to hear from you. Any topics that you would like for us to cover or any issues as far as growing in God's divine power, we are here. We'll do our best to address them. But what we want to do today is focus on two passages from Isaiah 43:18-19. [00:01:21] Now let me give you a little background on these scriptures. First, Isaiah chapter 43 directly addresses the people of Israel and Judah who are in exile in Babylon. Now this exile is a result of their punishment for their sin and rebellion against God. [00:01:49] In essence, when you think about Isaiah 43, it's a powerful prophetic message that was meant to console and comfort the exiled Israelites, reminding them of their special relationship with God and promising their eventual return and restoration from captivity. [00:02:13] So now let's look at these verses. Okay, verse 18 states, "Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old." So now what is this verse saying? Well, after evoking strong memories of the Exodus event in the preceding verses, like verses 16 and 17, God was instructing the exiles to stop dwelling on the past. They needed to not remember the former things. [00:02:47] Now the former things previously seemed to refer to the judgment against Israel that was predicted earlier in Isaiah. The instruction may have really two parts when it says stop dwelling on former things: stop dwelling on your punishment or their present exile, and don't yearn for the former days of Israel's power and glory. Two things. Stop dwelling on the punishment. You know, okay, things aren't working for you right now. And stop dwelling on what was, which is not going to be right now. Instead, their attention was to be focused on God now and his miraculous redemption that he was about to bring to pass. [00:03:39] His people were held captive in Babylon, but they were to remember that the power did not lie with Babylon, but God. So in the previous verse, just like verse 14, he lets them know that in spite of the Babylonians pride in their fleet of ships, which no doubt brought them great wealth and power, the richest and most powerful nation of that time was going to be brought low by God. [00:04:08] God is predicting here that there was going to be the fall of Babylon. And when he predicts something, it is going to come to pass. [00:04:19] So the Lord again reminds his people that this will not be the first time that he has humiliated a great nation. He did the same thing when he drowned the powerful forces of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea right during the first exodus from Egypt. But they must not focus on what he has done in in the past. [00:04:43] Instead, they need to look up in the present and see that God was going to do a new thing. And this new thing was to prepare the road for a new exodus. In the past, he had made a way through the Red Sea, but now he was going to make a well-watered way in the desert. And we see that in the next verse. In verse 19, it says, "Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth, shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." [00:05:26] God, who in the first exodus brought Israel out of Egypt and drowned the Egyptian army, would do an even greater thing. [00:05:38] Therefore, forgetting the past, Israel should realize that God would do a new work. And so in this new Exodus, which is really the return from exile back to their homeland, the Jews would be going through desolate desert where God would provide water and streams of abundance. [00:06:01] So his chosen people whom he created should praise Him. We know that even a third more glorious Exodus is going to take place when Jesus the Messiah returns in the future to regather all of his people and establish his millennial reign on earth. And we're going to be a part of that. Praise God! All right, so now these verses, along with the entire chapter of Isaiah 43, is offering them comfort, a promise of future redemption, and a reminder of God's enduring love. And he's assuring them that he will bring them back home. [00:06:47] They were to have hope--contrasting God's powerful actions in the past (like parting the Red Sea) with a promise of new things (including the downfall of Babylon their enemies, and the gathering of his scattered people back home). So now. Okay, Paula, thank you for sharing that. What does that mean for me in 2026 as we enter the new year? [00:07:15] Just as God was committed to his people in this passage, he is committed to you, his child, right now. So please stop dwelling on the past. We are to learn from the past. But in our faith walk, we need to take steps moving forward because he is doing new things. He has a great plan in store for you. But you have to allow him to order your steps and to light your path. [00:07:52] Remember that as we leave the old, it might be a little frightening, but we don't have to fear because we have a God who is faithful and all sufficient. Also remember, if God says he's going to do something, he always brings it to past. And that God's promises (His Word) is something that we should be reading every day, especially as we continue to go in 2026, so that our faith will remain strong. Because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And it helps us to know that regardless of whatever has happened in the past, whether it's something bad that we don't want to really dwell on, or whether it was good things that are no longer here (whether it's people or a job or some family situations); whether it's good or bad regarding the past, we need to keep our focus on God, knowing that God is always a God of growth and life. And so there's always new things happening. [00:09:02] So what we need to do is focus on the new thing that he's about to do in 2026. That we are to trust his promises. We are to allow him, which I mean, he's God he can do whatever he wants to do. But first of all, when you looked at verse 19, it said, "Shall you not know it?" We need to know it. We need to learn. We need to make sure we're sitting at the feet of Jesus. Because it says in verse 19 that he's even going to make a road in the wilderness. He's going to make rivers in the desert. Now, that's a miracle. And if you want God to do miraculous things in your life, you have got to stay in connection with him, in his word and prayer, and allow him to take the bad things from the past and even the good things that maybe you no longer have, and allow him to show you the great things and the great plan he has in store for you even now. [00:10:05] Let's again, just think about 2026. First of all, it's a blessing that we have breath in our bodies. And when I think about this and our topic for today of faith to walk into the new. When you think about the Israelites and that they were in exile. They were in exile because of the choices that they made. [00:10:30] Wherever you are today, pretty much maybe there were some other people that made choices for you, but pretty much where you are today is because of some choices that you have made. I know for us, when we had to move and leave Pennsylvania and come to Florida. There were challenges in leaving Pennsylvania, in moving from the old or the past to the new. And then when we got to the new, it wasn't just all a bed of roses. We had challenges even in the new. [00:11:05] And even though there were things that we had to leave behind and things that we had to let go, it didn't mean that we would forget the people of the past or the wonderful memories. It's just that we had to leave PA to make it to Florida. [00:11:21] And if you feel stuck or if you're afraid or whatever. If you've got to let go and take the next step that God is telling you to take, take that step of faith; because you're trusting him, knowing that you can't do it, knowing that God's going to have to work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. [00:11:41] So in wrapping up this podcast, I just want to encourage you and let you know leaving the past has challenges and walking in the new has challenges. But I can tell you, I am so thankful that we made the move. The things that God has done for us here, I mean, just so many precious, precious things; they're different and they're new. And so I am just so thankful to God for showing his faithfulness, his love, and his tender care. And I'm not privileged. He'll do the same for you. [00:12:19] So you're going into a new year, and there's a lot of unknowns. And you know, there's going to be ups and downs, there's going to be blessings, but there's going to be challenges. And that's all right. And the reason why is because even though you may not know what you're going to face in this new year, God does. He knows the beginning from the end. And so therefore, you can go forth in confidence knowing that he has promised never to leave you. [00:12:52] Think about the Israelites and how God took them into the promised land, the land of Canaan. They got there. Did they sit down and put their feet up? No. Even though they had been given the land and he brought them into the promised land, they had battles once they got there. So it's the same with us. We're going to have this gift of a beautiful new year. But you know what? Yes, we're not going to be able to just put our feet up the whole year and not have any spiritual battles. But it's all right. We're going to have battles. We know that. But we are already victorious in Christ Jesus. I hope that you receive that. I hope that you have confidence in Jesus and that your faith is totally in him, not in you. Definitely not in this world. For it's not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. [00:13:57] Happy New Year! [00:13:59] Until next time. Smile, Jesus loves you! [00:14:08] Thank you for listening. To make sure you do not miss any future episodes, please subscribe to our podcast. We want all to be able to live in God's divine power. Also, sign up for our monthly newsletter on our website, twmforjesus.org. Please do share our podcast with others and Lord willing, we'll be together next month.