A New Definition of New

One of the leaders of Adventures in Missions has a ministry that he runs alongside the ministry that he does with AIM. This ministry is called “Keys for the Journey.” The idea is that you receive a key with a word on it and allow God to speak into that word for whatever season of life you have it. At some point the key will be passed on to someone new. This can be when you feel that God has revealed to you why you have the specific word that you do and you’re ready to move on, or when God reveals someone who He wants you to pass the key on to. 

This year I got a key at my launch with the word “New” on it. I thought that my key would say “now” because that was what my last key said that I had recently lost. When I received the key and saw the word, there was no immediate recognition of why God gave me that word. Verses from scripture about being a new creation entered my mind, but those were never verses that I struggled with understanding or accepting to be true for myself.

Already God has started speaking into this word and revealing new things to be about the word. One of these revelations came while my squad was worshipping together and singing these lyrics “You make me new, you are making me new.” After singing this a few times God was tugging at my heart so I sat down with my journal and these are the words that found their way to the paper:

Just like your mercies are new every morning, I am made new every morning. The thing about our human understanding of new is that we see that newness doesn’t last. Those white shoes won’t be white for long. The new device we bought this year won’t be the best one anymore next year. The new car quickly racks up miles and suddenly it’s no longer new but used. 

That’s not how God’s newness works. His newness is one that lasts. He is constantly making me new. My newness isn’t depleting and it doesn’t disappear when I make a mistake. 

When God says I have made you new; when scripture says “the old is gone the new has come” that is never going to change. That is a Truth that will never not be true. Sometimes we might not feel like new creations. Or we might not act like we are made new and we may go back to old habits that don’t line up with God’s word. These however do not change the Truth of who we are. God’s word is more powerful than any of our feelings and actions. He is also slow to anger and constantly pursuing us so when we feel off or act off He will bring us right back into His loving embrace. 

The other really cool thing about the keys for the journey ministry is that having a key highlights the way that God repeats Himself. He will confirm things that He wants us to hear and know. He will reveal something through nature or a song and then later confirm it with words from a brother or sister. 

This morning my squad leader prayed over me  and I wish I would have counted the amount of times she used the word “new” or “newness” in that prayer. She prayed that I would walk in the newness God has given me. She asked for me to have new trust. She asked for new revelations of who God is and who I am. New redemption. New everything. When she finished praying I asked if she knew that my key says new. I was shocked when she said she didn’t, but we were both excited by the ways God confirms and repeats. Often times there are seasons in which there is a theme to what God teaches us, and the theme for my current season is definitely “New.”

It’s clear that He wants me to walk in the Truth that I am a new creation and He wants me to open my heart for Him to revel new things to me. 

 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Cor 5:17

Blessings, 

Kaci