Settle in

Take a deep breath. Turn off notifications on your phone. Tell God about any habits you would like his help to change, and ask him to help you become someone new.

Thought starter

Read Isaiah 43:19 slowly. Then read it again:

“Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don’t you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in the dry land.”

Isaiah 43:19 NCV

God is always moving forward. He loves doing new things in our lives and turning nothing into something. If we want to follow him, we can’t face backward. Imagine trying to drive a car on the freeway by staring in the rearview mirror the whole time—you’re going to crash!

In the same way, we can’t live life looking back or staying in the same place. We need to move forward. Maybe there’s a habit we are stuck in that we don’t know how to change. Or maybe there is a dream we want to reach and don’t know how to get there. No matter where we are stuck, God has the power to help us move forward and grow. We just have to let him.

Here’s what we’ll learn in this Quick Quiet Time:

• Holding on to old habits and ways of thinking keeps us stuck.
• God changes our hearts, not just our behaviors.
• Taking action keeps renewal going.

We need to let our old self go.

If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new!

2 Corinthians 5:17 NCV

… throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Ephesians 4:22–24 NLT

Do not lie to each other. You have left your old sinful life and the things you did before. [10] You have begun to live the new life, in which you are being made new and are becoming like the One who made you. This new life brings you the true knowledge of God.

Colossians 3:9-10 NCV

Truth bomb:

We can’t step into a new life while still nurturing old habits.

• God is all about new beginnings. He moves forward. He gave us Jesus so we can have a new life, but sometimes we still hold on to things from our old life.
• Old patterns and habits include things like this: lust, deception, and lying to each other. These keep us stuck.
• God can make us new, but we have to make the choice to let go of the old.

Metaphor moment:

Butterflies can’t fly if they keep trying trying to crawl like a caterpillar. In the same way, we can’t live God’s new life if we keep trying to live our old one.

We can’t enter a new room if we are still holding on to the doorknob of the old one. We have to let go to move forward. God opens the door for us; we just need to walk through completely.

A car left parked too long doesn’t stay pristine—it rusts. Stagnation is slow‑motion decay. We are either being renewed or being drained.

God is always changing us from the inside out.

Growth isn’t a one-time thing.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:4 ESV

Lightbulb moment:

Renewal is watered by action.

• We cannot rise to a new level while thinking the same old way.
• Renewal starts inside and works its way out. A changed heart leads to changed actions.
• Renewal means that instead of letting the world shape our thoughts and reactions, we allow God to reshape our mindset so we can understand what God values

Humor break!

Why did the caterpillar switch trees? He wanted to turn over a new leaf!

Bring the inspiration with you

Save this phone wallpaper to remind you to move forward today!