3 Signs God Is Saying, “I Will Give You the New Once You Let Go of the Old”

Have you been praying for a new relationship, a new source of income, or a new pattern of godly living? If you are clinging to an old relationship in your heart, an old mindset that is preventing productivity, or an old habit that is creating temptation, you will be unable to receive the new from the Lord.

Therefore, here are 3 signs God is saying, “I will give you the new once you let go of the old.”

1. If Your Mind Is Stuck in the Past Even Though You Want to Experience Something New, This Is a Sign God Is Saying, “Let Go of the Old and I Will Give You the New”

God cannot fill what isn’t first emptied. Throughout Scripture, there is a consistent pattern of letting go so God can give, removing so God can replace, killing the sinful so God can bring to life the new in you.

This same pattern actually plays out with the mind as well. Our mind is a like container. If it is filled with dirty water, it cannot be filled with fresh water. We have to pour out the thoughts of old, stop dwelling on the past painful memories, and allow God to help us focus our internal attention on his current will for our lives. Isaiah 43:18-19 states:

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

We are told to “remember not the former things.” We must focus our attention on the “new thing” God is doing. The path to receiving what you want will involve more than our thoughts, but so often it starts there.

If you want a new relationship, you have to let go of thinking so much about that person in your past. If you want a new career, you have to let go of the old limiting mindsets and be open to new ventures you never tried before. If you want a new pattern of living, you have to breakout of the old mental ruts.

Ephesians 4:22-24 (NIV), “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

2. If Your Life Does Not Have Room for the New Blessings God Wants to Give You, He Is Saying, “Get Rid of the Old So I Can Send You the New”

Sometimes we ask God for things we have not yet made room for. If you want a new relationship but you don’t have any time to give someone, how can you receive this blessing? If you want a new source of income but you are always busy socializing with friends, how can you do the work that will be needed to generate a new income stream? If you want a new behavior in your life but you are deeply entrenched in your old daily routine, how can you start behaving in a new way? In Mark 2:21-22, Jesus said:

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Jesus was saying your life must match what God is giving you. New wine will expand thus it needs new wine skins that can expand with it rather than old wineskins that have already expanded to maximum capacity; so too must you make room in your life for the new things God wants to give you.

3. If You’re Clinging to an Old Dream or Desire When God Is Trying to Give You a New Vision for the Future, This Is a Sign the Lord Is Saying, “Let the Old Go and I Will Give You the New”

Perhaps you thought you were going to marry that person you grew up with, but now that you are both adults, they lack the character you desire in a spouse. Maybe you went to school for a certain career, but now that you are doing that career, you are realizing your true talents are better suited for a different path. Or maybe you were taught at your previous church a certain method of connecting with God, but now God is using your new church to teach you a different way of hearing from him.

Jeremiah 18:4, “And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” May we embrace the truth of Isaiah 64:8, “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

May we submit to his leading in our lives as he gives us new visions and hopes for the future.

Related Article: 4 Things that Will Happen When God Is Giving You a Vision for the Future