THE NEW BEGINNING AND AGENTS OF CHANGE

Isaiah 43:18-22

In this systematic study on the new beginning for God's children, we have considered so many aspects of it.
The summary of what we had studied can be itemized thus;
- God promised to do a new thing in our lives this year. He said "I will do a new thing----"
- He commanded us to clean up or delete the memories of old things. He said "Remember not the former
things neither consider the things of old"
- We were also made to realize that the promises may never be fulfilled automatically unless we know how to
engage with the rules of engagement. He said "I will do a new thing-----but ye have not called upon me o Jacob
"
- We also stated that, in engaging with rules of engagement, there are some agents of positive change we
need to employ. We have already considered the following agents; The word of God, prayer, spiritual warfare
and raw faith.
In today's study, we want to consider righteousness as an important agent of positive change. Righteousness
is a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare to secure our breakthrough.

1. GOD'S PROMISES, EVIDENCE OF HIS GOODNESS

Psalm 34:8; 100:5; 135:3; 145:9; Jeremiah 33:11; Nah 1:7
Our God is good to all his children and this is evidenced in his many promises in the bible. These promises
reveal the true nature of God as a good, faithful and merciful God as opposed to Satan's wicked acts. His
(Satan) only mission is to steal, kill and destroy man (John 10:10; 1Peter 5:8). The goodness of God should
form our mentality whenever we go to God in prayer. Having this good perspective about God, is the key to
answer prayers. The prodigal son in the parable of Jesus in the book of Luke in the 15th chapter is very
instructive. Even though, he had messed up his life and not worthy to be called one of his father's servants, yet
he had the right knowledge of his father as a good and merciful father who would have mercy on him if he
repented. This marked a great difference with his self righteous brother's mindsets of their father whom he
perceived as a hard and austere father.

2. GOD'S PROMISES, INHERITANCE OF THE RIGHTEOUS

2Chronicles 26:4,5; Job 22:21-28; Psalm 5:12; 34:15,17,19,21; 37:25,29; 55:22; 58:11; 72:7; 92:12; 112:1-3;
125:3; Proverb 11:28; 15:6,9; Isaiah 3:10;
The righteous in this context is the man that has found grace in the sight of the Lord through the new birth in
Christ Jesus. He has obtained salvation by trusting in the atoning blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of his sins.
And beyond this, he has been empowered to live a righteous life. There are three kinds of righteousness; one,
self righteousness, that is man's ability to do right on his own without Christ atonement (Rom 10:1-3); two,
imputed righteousness, that is, Christ righteousness is imputed on us at the moment of our salvation, God at
this point does no longer see us as sinners anymore but righteous, covered with righteousness of Christ
(2Cor 5:21); three, the implanted righteousness, that is, the righteousness infused into us to do the work of
righteousness (1John 3:7). Therefore, for you to be qualified for his blessing, you must experience the new
birth and obtain the grace to be living a righteous life.

3. GOD'S PROVISION, THE BOLDNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

Proverb 28:1; Daniel 11:32; Ephesians 2:18,19; 3:12; Hebrews 4:16; 10:19
One thing that makes the difference between the ordinary Christians and the Royal seeds is that the Royal
seeds know whom they are in the Lord ! True righteousness that is wrought in Christ Jesus is always bold in
the Lord.