Something Fresh

What is this insatiable need for something fresh?

Does anyone else experience the constant desire for new colors, new flavors, new textures; new [FILL IN THE BLANK] anything?!

I know I do. I know that I love newness. I love freshness. How could anyone be settled in the same ol' thing?

This morning I went down to the beach for church. (The colors are not drab, squawking only comes from the sea gulls, and the air is warm.) I grew up in Vero Beach and have grown very used to the ocean view.

However, for the past year I have lived in Lakeland. It is a landlocked city between Tampa and Orlando. Though there are plenty of lakes and beautiful scenery, it doesn't match the ocean. Coming back to it again seemed fresh all over again. I could smell the sea spray in the air, the emerald burst of summer all over again as if for the first time.

Newness. Freshness.

Over half of what I love about travel is not so much about learning the new languages (though I do), cultures (though I do), thoughts, feelings and ideas of other cultures (though I do very much.) My love for travel has much more to do with...well...the travel.

The travel.
The movement.
The newness.

This brings me to what I feel the Christian life is all about: Something Fresh.

Have you ever wondered why, when God moved, it was always a "move of God"? Check it out. God is almost synonymous with a verb, with motion.

In the Word it seemed that God was always moving. In my day to day life, I love it when I sense that God is DOING something. In fact, if we are Christians, then we are called to DO something.

We are called to newness.
We are called to Something Fresh.

My major difficulty with the churches is that it is usually stale bread. I was brought up in a ministry where it was always fresh manna in the house. There was always a new miracle. There was always a new word of the Lord. There was always a fresh aspect to the mission, a new place to minister at, a new angle to minister through.

This is what our churches are missing. This is what is missing from our gatherings. Something new. Something Fresh.

God says in the Word that He is the "God of the Living, not the dead," so is He god of our churches? It is questionable, because many of these churches are just that; dead.

How do we move in Something Fresh in our own lives?
Absolute surrender moves you out of the way and allows the Spirit to take full reign.

Total surrender that we know anything.
Total surrender that it is "our" ministry.
Total surrender of our denominations.
Total surrender of our finances.
Total surrender of our dreams and visions. (This is a tough one for me at times!)

Absolute, complete, total surrender of all of these things is what begins to allow the Holy Spirit to move in our lives.

Then follows a sensitivity to the Spirit.
Then comes a boldness.
Then comes the miraculous in a steady stream, flowing daily, blowing our minds daily.

That is the insatiable desire for more; the deepest call of God on our lives for more. We will never be satisfied, never be at peace or settled until we have absolutely surrendered to Him, so that we may move in Something Fresh.