Tuesday, December 20, 2011

THE NEW CREATION


Hi all,
Attached herewith, please find a copy of my latest Daily Light Meditation in rhyme and metre.
30 years ago, when I went to a prominent Bible School, I was confronted with the Scripture which Daddy Hagin believed passionately. It was; 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 2 Cor 5:17 ESV One of the topics we learned was what was called, “New Creation Realities”. For someone who was primarily a Methodist, it was “revelatory”.
I remember sitting there for a couple of evenings amazed by what I had never understood. Not that I understand it 30 years later. I doubt if anyone has unpacked this Scripture fully. We used to sing a chorus entitled, “I’m a new creation, I’m a brand new man.” It continued, “Old things have passed away”. Of course, what we were singing in the services was 2 Cor 5:17. It concluded with the words, “I’m a new creation; I’m a brand new man”. The words were easy enough. But how to put it into effect was a bit beyond most of us. Well, it was for me anyway.
The problem for me at the time is that although I knew I was a new creation, I felt as though I was still living in the old one. A number of us felt much the same, but said very little because we thought it would reflect badly on what we were being taught!
Today’s Scriptures remind me vividly of those days. They were wonderful and very exciting days. So much to understand; so much to learn. But the reality of the new creation still burns in me and sets my heart on fire. So our meditation today looks at the Scriptures and takes us on a journey from the times we are living in to God’s New Creation. Not just you and me. It’s a complete new creation for which this present universe longs to see.

Blessings
Jim & Phyllida Strickland.

The New Creation


O Father, what a promise; and this applies to me!
It’s quite incomprehensible. How can it ever be?
I’ve struggled with this problem, since can’t remember when.
My sorrow will be ended; It won’t plague me again!
The prospect’s so exciting. It surely makes me scared.
It’s happened unexpectedly; it’s caught me unprepared.
I know I shouldn’t feel like this, I have expected trouble.
And Jesus Christ has come along and pricked this foolish bubble.
It thought I faced this on my own and couldn’t overcome.
I knew I was a friend of Yours, but not a closest chum.
And yet the application goes further than just me.
It seems that all creation has groaned continuously.
It’s looking for deliverance, from Adam’s fatal fall.
Creation was affected, and Satan’s had a ball.
It’s all been warped and twisted, as though in labour pains.
It’s calling for deliverance, from mankind’s wicked stains.
This thing is universal. It’s all within the reach,
Of Satan and his demons, like flotsam on the beach!
Our bodies are affected. We aren’t what You first made.
We lost most of our faculties when Adam disobeyed.
So everything around us is longing for relief.
We know that it is coming Lord, but let the time be brief.
Clothe us with brand new bodies in heaven, earth and sky.
Not what Jesus swallowed up, but ones that cannot die.
Renew Your old creation. Cause it to live once more.
Return the life that Satan stole back in the days of yore.
Make us a new creation with all sins washed away.
Cleansed by the Blood of Jesus and with us here to stay;
A place without the sun and moon; a place of dazzling light,
Where Jesus and his brilliance is always shining bright!
A place that’s sheltered by Your throne; where hunger is no more;
And thirst a distant memory of what we knew before;
Where Jesus is our Shepherd, who fills our every need
Where every tear is wiped away and You are Lord indeed.
Where tribulation’s ended and sin shall reign no more.
Where Father, Son and Holy Ghost is whom we’ll all adore.
Jim Strickland – Written 21st December 2011