Day 13: The Power of Fasting | 40 Days Prayer Focus

NEW BEGINNING

There are few things the human heart longs for more profoundly than a genuine new beginning — the authentic sense that the past no longer defines the future, that yesterday's failures do not determine today's possibilities, that the story is not over but is in fact just beginning. God's entire redemptive narrative is structured around new beginnings: a new covenant after the old one failed, a new heart given in place of the old one, a new creation emerging from the ruins of the fallen one, a new Jerusalem descending from heaven to replace the broken old order.

New beginnings are not God's plan B. They are His specialty. The God who created light from darkness, life from death, and order from chaos is the God who delights in making roads in wilderness and rivers in deserts. He is not limited by our history, frightened by our failures, or constrained by our past. He is the God of the new thing — and today, Day 13 of 40, He is declaring a new thing over your life.

1. The Command to Forget

Isaiah 43:18 contains one of the most radical commands in all of Scripture: 'Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.' This command is given in the context of Israel's captivity — a people with every reason to be defined by their past, by the trauma of exile, by the memory of Jerusalem's destruction, by decades of collective grief and shame. And God says: do not remember. Do not consider. Stop defining yourself by your history.

This is not a command to practice historical amnesia or to pretend the past did not happen. It is a command of priority — do not be so occupied with what was that you miss what is. The verb 'consider' — 'biyn' in Hebrew — means to meditate upon, to dwell on, to give sustained attention to. God is saying: stop meditating on the old thing. Stop giving it your sustained attention. Because the sustained attention you give to your past is the capacity you are withholding from your future.

2. What 'Former Things' Must Be Released

💔 Former Failures: The mistakes, the moral failures, the ministry disasters, the relational breakdowns — all the things that make you think 'I am not qualified for what God wants to do next.' God does not disqualify based on past failure. He qualifies through redemption.

😢 Former Grief: The losses, the betrayals, the disappointments, the unanswered prayers, the dreams that died. Grief is legitimate and must be processed — but there is a season for grieving and a season for moving. God calls us forward.

🏅 Former Glory: This may be the most surprising thing to release: the former season of blessing, the previous anointing, the last great move of God that we keep trying to recreate instead of positioning ourselves for what He is doing NOW. Nostalgia for the former rain can prevent us from receiving the latter rain.

3. God Announces Before He Acts

Isaiah 43:19 opens with 'Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth.' The word 'behold' — 'hinneh' in Hebrew — is an attention-getter: pay attention, look carefully, something significant is about to be said. God is making an announcement. And the announcement precedes the action. God regularly declares His intentions before He fulfills them — giving His people the opportunity to align their faith with His purpose before the manifestation.

The question that follows the announcement is searching: 'Shall you not know it?' — literally, 'Will you not perceive it?' The new thing that God is doing is already in motion — it is 'springing forth.' The Hebrew verb 'tsamach' — to spring up, to sprout, to bud — is a present tense active verb. The new thing is already happening. The question is whether we have the eyes to see it, the faith to receive it, and the flexibility to cooperate with it. The old wineskin cannot contain the new wine.

4. A Road in the Wilderness, Rivers in the Desert

The specific nature of God's new thing in Isaiah 43:19 is deeply instructive: He makes a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Both of these images speak of provision in impossibility — a way where there is no way, water where there is no water. The wilderness is the season that feels directionless, purposeless, and devoid of progress. The desert is the season that feels dry, barren, and unable to sustain life. And God says: in THOSE specific conditions — in your wilderness season, in your desert season — I will make My greatest provision.

This is the nature of the God of new beginnings: He does not wait for favorable conditions to act. He creates favorable conditions out of unfavorable ones. He does not make the road where the path was already clear — He makes it in the wilderness. He does not give rivers where rain was already falling — He gives them in the desert. The most unlikely season of your life is often the season God chooses for His most remarkable new beginning.

5. New Every Morning

Lamentations 3:22-23 was written in the immediate aftermath of Jerusalem's destruction — one of the darkest, most grief-saturated books in the entire Bible. And from within that darkness, Jeremiah discovers the most luminous truth: 'Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning.' New. Every. Morning. Not once a year. Not after extended seasons of demonstrated improvement. Every morning.

The newness of God's mercies is not conditional on yesterday's performance. The sun does not calculate whether yesterday deserved today's light before it rises. God's compassions rise with the same sovereign reliability as the dawn — not because of what we did but because of who He is. 'Great is Your faithfulness' — the greatness of His faithfulness is measured not by the grandeur of our lives but by the consistency of His character. Every morning is a new beginning because every morning the mercies are new.

6. Practical Steps Into the New

New beginnings require more than a declaration — they require deliberate, practical steps of faith. Joshua had to step into the Jordan River before God parted it (Joshua 3:13-15). The disciples had to launch their boats into deep water before the miraculous catch came (Luke 5:4-6). The lepers had to begin walking toward the priests before their healing manifested (Luke 17:14). God regularly calls His people to take a step of faith before the new thing becomes visible.

What step of faith is God calling you to take toward the new thing He has declared over your life? It may be writing the business plan for a God-given vision you have dismissed as impossible. It may be making the call of reconciliation you have been putting off. It may be applying for the ministry position that feels beyond your qualification. It may be beginning to pray for something you had given up on. The new thing of God is not experienced passively — it is entered actively, through the obedience of faith.

Is there a 'former thing' that God has been asking you to release so that He can give you the new thing? A past failure you keep rehearsing, a previous season you keep trying to recreate, a grief you have been unable to move beyond, a disappointment that has hardened into a theology of limitation?

Today, by faith, open your hands. Let go of what was. Receive what God is declaring right now: 'Behold, I do a new thing.' He is not a God of repeats — He is a God of progression, escalation, and new glory. The best is not behind you. It is ahead of you. Receive it today.

🤲 Releasing the Former

Father, I release into Your hands all the former things I have been holding onto. [Name them specifically before God.] I stop meditating on what was and I turn my full attention to what IS and what IS COMING. I make room for the new. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Lord, I receive the new thing You are declaring over my life. I do not need to see it fully before I receive it. I receive it by faith. I say yes to the road in my wilderness and the river in my desert. I believe that what You have spoken is already springing forth. In Jesus' name, Amen.

🌄 New Every Morning

God, thank You that Your mercies are new every morning. Today is a new day — a fresh start, a clean page, a new chapter. I receive Your new mercies right now. What yesterday held does not determine what today will bring. Your faithfulness is great. In Jesus' name, Amen.

🏃 My Step of Faith

Holy Spirit, show me the step of faith that activates the new beginning You have declared. What is the Joshua step, the launching-into-deep-water step, the walking-toward-the-priest step that You are waiting for me to take? I will take it today. In Jesus' name, Amen.

🔙 Former Things: Which of the three categories — former failures, former grief, or former glory — has been most keeping you from moving into what God has for you now? What would it mean practically to stop 'considering' it?

👣 First Step: What is the step of faith God is asking you to take toward the new beginning? What has been preventing you from taking it — and what would it take to take it today?

See you on Day 14 — Deeper Prayer Life