Fresh Start
If you had 2014 to live over again, would you do something differently? Most of us would because we made some mistakes and had some failures last year. It’s a fact of life that we’re going to make mistakes and come up short as we go through life. It probably comes as no surprise to realize there are going to be some defeats and setbacks in life. As we begin a new year, we want to look at this question: How do you make a fresh start?

Scriptures
Isaiah 43:18-19; Proverbs 28:13; Proverbs 27:12; Proverbs 15:22; Proverbs 24:10; Galatians 3:4; Matthew 9:29; Proverbs 4:23; Philippians 4:8; Psalm 1:1-3; Jonah 3:1; Psalm 37:5; Zechariah 4:6

Verse
The Lord says, “Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

Thought
God is more interested in your future than your past. He wants us to forget about what’s happened before, whether it happened in 2014 or 1994. The past is over and the books have been closed on it. God is interested in your future because that’s where you’re going to spend the rest of your life. In spite of whatever failure or mistakes you made in the past. God wants you to look ahead and make a fresh start in 2015. Regardless of the failure you’ve had here’s how to start over:

S – stop making excuses T – take stock A – act in faith R – refocus T – trust

Questions
Do you find it hard to not make excuses for your failures? Did you ever experience failure in life because you failed to listen to the advice of other people? Do you make an effort to try and learn from your mistakes and failures? Have you ever spent time just evaluating and taking stock of your life situation? Who do you have in your life that can help you take stock of your life? Do you have faith to expect and believe a new start can come from you? Do you believe this is a true statement: We tend to get out of life what we expect? Why is it important to trust God to help us make a new start?

Response
Make a commitment to make a new start in 2015 because God is more interested in your future than He is in your past. Embrace the acrostic START and ask God to help you every day to stop making excuses and to take stock and act in faith as you refocus and trust in Him.

Prayer
Dear Lord Jesus, I want to make a fresh start in my life this year. I need your help to guide and lead me in this process. Thank you for not holding my past mistakes and failures over me but releasing me from them. I’m so glad that you’re more interested in my future than in my past. In your name I pray, Amen.