A NEW CHAPTER

 A NEW CHAPTER "PART 1"

LETTING GO OF THE OLD, TAKING UP THE NEW

Matthew 9:16 "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment and the rent is made worse"

17 "Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved"

Isaiah3:18 -19  “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!

Starting this New year with another series. God is showing unto us statutes and precepts by which we live the new year.

From scriptures, we understand the mystery of "New" - "New things", "New starts", "New life", "New beginnings"... 

In Psalms 126 vs 1 "when God turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream". _"Turned again"_ "To turn" means to change, to make something that was before into another, to make something usual i.e. "old" and make it unusual i.e "new". Prior to the turning again, something usual had been occuring in Zion then came the new. We also saw from scriptures that if any man be born in Christ, He is a "new" creature, "old" things are passed away and all things are now "new". Also in Genesis 1 when God created the heavens and the earth. Verse 1-2 tells us about a certain world filled with darkness and void before this great transformation- that great "New" which erased that which was "old".

We shall thus be looking at what "New chapters" mean for us this year 2022.

Looking at the above scriptural verses, we see something in form of an instruction. Here we see Jesus Christ speak one of his parables. He began by saying "No man". This is to tell us He was not only speaking to his disciples or to the people around him at that time but also unto you and I. Paraphasing the verse "No man having possessed a garment, {not just a garment but an old one} joins it up to a new one else the new is corrupted by the old. He went further and said no man having bought a new wine {takes it home and} adds it to the very one he had gotten before, else the new be made sour by that which is old.

In this parable, we are taught here that there is a tendency for "our new" to be eaten up by "our old". The old year 2021 is gone by and the new year 2022 is come; there is a likely possibility that in this new year, we let the actions of the years gone by control the happenings of the new year. And we are being admonished not to. It is human to want to because of certain events that have occured in one's life take actions that are deterrent to starting a new life. The Israelites would have returned into captivity were if not for the mercies of God when they were faced with challenges in the wilderness (Number 20:4-5). 

The new year is upon us and we have started planning how it will go; some haven't even started at all, the issues of the year gone past still on their minds. It is very safe to say that this new year that has come will come with new challenges. If you were weighed by 25% in the previous year, the new year will weigh another 25 or more than that. Hence, if you are still holding on to the weight of the year before; coupling with that of the new year, one will not be able to make the most of the year. 

Let us imagine a Bullock carrying just one cart over a long distance; at some point it will get tired, but let's say we add another filled with the same content into it, the animal is weighed down and may not be able to perform its ordered task. Perhaps, we now add to this added cart another Bullock, the work is much easier to perform. This is the same way it is with us when we reflect on the old things and instead of finding a way out try to return unto it. The new cart is the new year or "you" this new year; and the new Bullock is the "new" preparation for the new year.

We must come to an understanding also that for every new thing that comes your way, there is a new preparation. The old style of doing old things will not work for doing the new things. There has to be a new preparation for a new season. As one has entered into the new year,  your disposition also has to turn new. You have been trying to reach a goal in the years before but you have not been able to. Have you sat down to think what if there was another way to approach this thing?Many times when we are trying to hit a thing and we are not even getting close to the target, it may be a pointer to changing something or preferably fine tuning something whether it's our technique, our disposition towards the subject matter or the subject matter itself. Remember, the old wine is for the old bottle, and the new wine is for the new bottle. 

You can not do the new things the old way and expect a new result. A new thing plus A new way is what yields the new results.

Another thing we should know is that it is up to man to make the difference in the events of his life. How your life events play out depends a large percentage on how your part is being played. This is why Jesus was referring to "the man's self" {no man putteth by himself}. Whether you will live the new year like the previous year is largely dependent on You. 

Why is this so? 

Life happens to every man but every man has the capacity to choose the way he responds to Life. There is a concept of the "old" and the "new" You. We should know that the "New You" in the new Year has never met with the "Old You" in the previous year. The link between these two concepts "the old and the new" is YOU.

When "You" bring the old closer to your new, both have the capacity to make impact on each other but the stronger power belongs to the "Old You." Why? There is already a formed relationship between the "Old you" and "You", one which the "New You" does not have {whether it is with You or the old You}. Hence, what you have experienced has much more role to play in what you will experience if you allow it.

TO BE CONTINUED

THE MEN THAT LEAD

Building men and women of Excellence....