January message

JANUARY MESSAGE

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Do not cling to events of the past

or dwell on what happened long ago.
Watch for the new thing I am going to do.

It is happening already—you can see it now!

I will make a road through the wilderness
and give you streams of water there.

(Isaiah 43 verses 18-19 … Good News Translation)

These verses from Isaiah 43 encourage us not to dwell on the past but to look forward to new things that God wants to do in our lives. As we approach the beginning of another new year it is good a time to remind ourselves that God promises to be with us in any and all the challenges that we might have to face in the future.

Sometimes life can be a bit of a struggle and we might feel that we are trekking through a wilderness and in need of some refreshment. Jesus promised to pour “living water” into our lives if we are willing to open up our hearts to receive it.

Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.

Indeed, the water I give them will become in them

a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

(John 4 verse 14 … New International Version)

These words are taken up in this verse from a well-known hymn …

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold I freely give

The living water; thirty one, stoop down and drink, and live”:

I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream;

My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,

And now I live in Him.

Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)

May God go with you and bless you all richly in 2026

Brian Turner … Churchwarden St Mary’s Knockin.