A Fresh Start

And a very good morning to you!
t is Sunday morning,30 January and the year 2022, this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:1

We have to make a new start, we have to make a new beginning. We can’t just grow up in the faith. There has got to be a defining moment in our lives when we have got to say, “Lord, I can’t do it anymore. I am handing it over to You. I really want to start again.” We are talking about a relationship with a living God - His name is Jesus Christ.  

Don’t keep on putting it off.  Time is not on our side. It is a different experience for each person. Charles Finney, that very famous American revivalist was a lawyer by profession. He had a dramatic encounter with the living God in a forest. He said it was like a shaft of light was going through him. The love of God was overwhelming him, so much so that he said: “Lord if you do not stop, you will kill me.”

John Wesley - he went all the way to America to try and find a relationship with the living God but came back again, totally disillusioned. In a little Bible study group in a place called Aldersgate in London, he said a strange warmth came over my heart. Scales fell from my eyes and from that moment on he started a revival that the world had never seen before.

What about C.H. Spurgeon? They call him the prince of preachers. He was a country boy and he had a very broad accent. He was walking home one night and a terrible snowstorm overwhelmed him. He ducked into a little country church and as he walked into the back of the church there was a layman, probably a farmworker, preaching.  All he said was, he quoted Isaiah 45:22:

“Look to Me, and be saved,…”  

It changed his life, that young man at the age of 21 years old. They built the London Tabernacle Church for him that could seat 10,000 people. Yes, he met with Jesus!

You know I asked my dear wife, Jill this morning, “The time that we surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ in that little church on the Main Street in Greytown, what was the first thing that you encountered?" She said, Hope.  Up till then, she had no hope for the future and that day when she gave her life to Christ, hope came into her heart. For me, it was a burden that fell off my shoulders. It was like I was carrying a 50 kg bag of cement all over and that morning I laid it at the foot of the cross.

What about you today, wouldn’t you like to pray this prayer with me? Maybe this is the day that God is going to change your life forever... Pray it after me:

Dear Lord Jesus,
Today, I surrender my entire life to You. I want to be born again. I want to start afresh.
Thank You for coming into my life, for washing away my sins, for dying for me, a sinner, on the cross of Calvary. And Lord, because you live, I can face tomorrow.
Amen.

God bless you and have a wonderful day.
Goodbye.