Change Your Thinking!
God told His people: ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!’ (Isaiah 43:18–19 NIV) So, if you’re asking God for a vision, or to enlarge the one He’s already given you, you need to make room mentally. ‘Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left.’ (Isaiah 54:2–3 NIV)
Somebody said dreams always come a size too big so you can grow to fit them. Don’t settle for mediocrity in your work, your relationships, or your walk with God. Mark Twain said: ‘Twenty years from now you’ll be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do, than by the ones you did. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the wind. Explore. Dream. Discover.’
Even if you come from a background of addiction, poverty, depression, abuse, and low self-esteem, God can enable you to rise up and put an end to that old mind-set of defeat. In Biblical times, animal skins were made into wine containers. At first they were flexible and easy to work with, but over time they grew rigid and lost their ability to expand. That’s why Jesus said, ‘No one pours new wine into old wineskins. [It] would… burst the old skins… New wine must be put into new wineskins.’ (Matthew 9:17 CEV)
Throw out your old wineskins! God won’t infuse a fossilised mind with fresh ideas, but He will change your life when you line up your thinking with His.