God Has Prepared You for a Fresh Start
By Rick Warren
"You have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power." Colossians 2:10 (TLB)
If you’re ready to make a fresh start, you need to take a personal inventory. That means you take stock of and evaluate what you've got to work with. When you do a personal inventory, ask yourself these three questions:
What are your assets?
Look at your physical assets, your educational assets, and your financial assets. And remember your spiritual assets as a child of God. Colossians 2:10 says, "You have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God through your union with Christ. He is the highest Ruler, with authority over every other power" (TLB).
What have you learned?
Take time to write down lessons you’ve learned about life, yourself, family, God—whatever you can think of. Galatians 3:4 says, "Did all your experience mean nothing at all?" (GNT) You won’t waste your experiences if you learn from them.
Especially pay attention to your painful experiences—because God never wastes a hurt. Instead of having a pity party, learn from your pain. Write down the lessons. Stop regretting and rehearsing your mistakes and start learning from them. Why? Because innovation is always built on failure. It's how you recognize what doesn't work.
You can also review what Bible teaching has taught you. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:14, "You must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you" (NLT).
Who can help you in your fresh start?
Proverbs 15:22 says, "Get all the advice you can, and you will succeed; without it you will fail" (GNT).
Pride often keeps people from reaching their dreams and goals. Instead of asking for advice, people insist on figuring things out themselves.
The Bible says pride leads to destruction. It also says that God gives grace to the humble. Why? Because the humble are teachable. You're never going to have a fresh start if you act like you've already arrived. You need other people to speak truth, point out your blind spots, encourage you, and help you remember God’s promises.
When you take a thorough, honest inventory of your life, you’ll see how God has prepared you to make a fresh start.
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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