New Beginnings, Day 9 The overwhelming blessing. Read Genesis chapter 9. As Noah and his family ended up back on dry land, God blessed them. I imagine that this blessing felt incredibly overwhelming to Noah and his family. As the only surviving human beings on the Earth, God’s blessing and command to them was to fill the Earth with people. This must have seemed like an impossible task, yet so often that is exactly how God blesses us. He shares with us a vision that is so much bigger than anything we could have ever hoped to accomplish on our own. God knows that in order for us to truly…

New Beginnings, Day 8 God remembered. Read Genesis chapter 8. New beginnings can feel very lonely sometimes. If you have truly left the things in the past, there’s always that time in between. That time before you have built new relationships, made those new connections, and started those new habits. During that time it’s easy to feel lonely. There’s a huge temptation to go back to what you were doing before because it was comfortable. I’m sure during this time of flooding that Noah felt lonely. As we we read here, God remembered Noah. While Noah may have felt alone, he was never truly alone. God was with him and…

New Beginnings, Day 7 The totality. Read Genesis chapter 7. In reading through this chapter, it’s hard to not be struck by the complete and utter totality by which the Earth is destroyed. Everything that breathed air died, except for what was placed carefully in the Ark by the Lord. When we think about new beginnings, we must understand that the old must die first. Sometimes that’s easy and we’re excited to get rid of the old and we don’t even have a second thought. Sometimes pieces of the old continue to try to live on and creep into the new beginning. God made it very clear for his new…

New Beginnings, Day 6 God’s new beginning. Read Genesis chapter 6. Here we see God making a decision to start over. The creation that he made was not acting the way he created them to act. They weren’t doing what they were created to do. They were not fulfilling their purpose. So, God made the decision to issue judgment. God decided to make a new beginning. Even in the midst of all of the disappointment and judgment, there was one man that God saw doing what was right. Based on Noah’s individual actions, God chose to save him. We can understand that God is going to judge each of us…

New Beginnings, Day 5 The likeness of God. Read Genesis chapter 5. This is an incredible list of the family line of Adam. We see his sons and their sons. We see how long they lived. We even see how God moved in the life of Enoch. Throughout, we remember this verse. God made us in his likeness. Our beginning starts with God. It doesn’t matter whether or not we agree or believe in him, we have to acknowledge that he is our beginning. View the video devotional here https://youtu.be/5RQD5TM-ygk

New Beginnings, Day 3 Starting over. Read Genesis chapter 3. Sometimes a new beginning is as the result of messing up. We must start over. Adam and Eve had to start over. They had sinned and God addressed their sin, but that didn’t change the fact that they had to begin again. When we sin, we have to come to God for repentance and we have to start over. We must allow God to move in us and cleanse us, then allow him to set us upon the new pathway that he has for us. Sometimes, as a result of our sin, we must change paths. God always has a…