Reset, Restored, Renewed
UPdate Partner Newsletter Volume 1 Issue 1
by Jeff Olinghouse
Dear Partners and Friends,
Throughout the course of everything that has happened over the last year, we pray that you have found a renewed relationship with the Lord. We have personally witnessed God’s grace working in our lives as He has reset us, restored us, and renewed us in a magnificent way. We give God all the glory for continuing to work in us that which is well pleasing in His sight! All the pruning and realignment we’ve experienced this year is vital to both our personal walk with the Lord and the completion of our race. We rejoice in God’s wonderful grace and perfect timing as He has so tenderly molded us even more into the image of His Son throughout the tumultuous events of the last 12 months.
We began 2021 with a season of consecration and separation from the influences of the world. We pulled ourselves away from social media, news, and anything else that would distract us from hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit accurately. As a result, we have discovered a realignment and closer fellowship with the Lord than we ever had before. During this season of prayer, God revealed even more clearly His heart to us for our nation, the world, and the specific assignments He has for the Body of Christ during this time. With that said, I want to challenge every one of you to take a personal season of reset if you haven’t done so already.
RELATED: God’s Process for a Vessel of Honor
God’s Process in a Season of Distress
Throughout the pandemic in what was one of the hardest seasons of my professional life, I discovered just how much Jesus loves us. For those of you who don’t know, my travel business was hurt tremendously as a result of the continued travel restrictions due to the pandemic. In fact, I lost over 90% of business revenue during 2020. Not only was this an extremely challenging time for us financially, but it was also a blow to my dreams, my business, and my pride. Because the beginning years of our ministry have been financed by our businesses, this great loss even seemed to be a massive setback for moving forward in the plan God had for New Life Metro. Everything I had worked so hard for over the course of 25 years in the industry seemed to be teetering off the cliff.
However, it was during this time of great distress that the Lord began to root out some issues in my own heart that had never been fully surrendered to the Lord. The Lord took this opportunity of professional loss to work deeply in me, cutting away things that were displeasing to Him, and pruning off the dead branches in my life. Throughout this experience, I began to receive a revelation of what Jesus taught about the pruning process in John 15. It’s an extremely uncomfortable season, but it’s so necessary for proper growth in Christ!
Over the course of 2020 and into 2021, God has been taking His big spiritual pruning sheers and snipping, cutting, and reshaping all those who truly call Him Lord. If you’ve been resisting this work of divine grace, I want to challenge you to receive God’s pruning in your life. Never allow that pruning process to be problematic; instead, allow God to remove things that need to be removed so that you can move forward in His plan and purpose. The pruning process is necessary in the life of any disciple of Jesus Christ!
Reset
God’s grace to begin again
As we moved into 2021, the first thing Mica and I discovered was that God was endeavoring to take each one of us through a season of reset personally, politically, and spiritually. For us, we experienced this reset in a most unusual way by preaching at the same church this year that we did last year--exactly one year to the week! However, our ministry there this time was completely different due to spiritual growth that had taken place in me in the last 12 months. The revelation I gained throughout 2020 allowed me to minister in a fresh and personal way. I found myself ministering with the genuine heart of a shepherd, and I recognized that God’s main concern is for the sheep. Because of the reset that God did in my life personally, I now have revelation of how much God loves us!
Throughout the difficult months of 2020, God gave Mica and I several scriptures about His sustaining power including Psalm 55:22, Psalm 2:5, and many others. In a time of severe professional famine, God supernaturally sustained us and kept our businesses afloat with no outside aid or support or governmental assistance. Having said that, I felt led during the latter part of last year to put my hands to something and to get a part-time job working at a funeral home. My time at the funeral home opened my eyes to the deception taking place in the world. While I saw very few Covid-related deaths, I witnessed dozens of funerals for suicide victims—particularly among young people who had taken their own lives as a result of hopeless from the pandemic. This revelation of eternity awakened me to the fact that young people especially need the Gospel now more than ever.
One of the most tragic services I facilitated at the funeral home was for a young man who took his life at age 25. The funeral home service was attended by more than 100 people of the same age group who came to say their final good-byes. However, when the time came to open the casket for the final viewing, these same young people fled the room. I realized then how many young people are not prepared to face eternity and death. God put eternity in the heart of every person, and seeing the finality of another forces people to recognize the futility of their own salvation. What I witnessed at the funeral home that day left my heart with a great burden to minister the Gospel to young people.
While my travel business was being tested during 2020, God was doing a reset in me! This resetting in my heart and mind was necessary for the call upon my life and God’s plans for the ministry of New Life. The eternal principles I learned in 2020 will forever be engraved in my heart to reach the next generation.
Sometimes, we never know what God is up to and how He is preparing us for something that will be necessary later on. In that micro-season of time, God placed a love for the hurting that I have never experienced before. I now know we can confidently press forward with the Father’s heart to minister to those who are wounded in their greatest hour of need.
RELATED: Are We Working with God’s Process?
Restored
God’s grace to heal what was broken
After we experienced that season of trials, temptations, and triumphs, God began a new process of restoring His purpose and call upon New Life Metro. Yes, there were some things that we had to walk through to watch God perfectly restore things to His order. One thing I learned in this season is that if something is broken, eventually, it will have to be restored.
In terms of our ministry, God has restored the sense of purpose, hope, and love that He has for mankind and given us revelation of how we can preach and teach the message of new life in a very practical way to disciple others. Sometimes we all get so busy with life that we forget the one thing that Jesus instructed us to do, which is to go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28). We are now moving forward with a restored sense of purpose and a clear message of discipleship.
Renewed
God’s grace to renew us from the inside out
When we allow God to take us through His processes, there is ultimately a renewal that will take place in us. Today, I can honestly say that the call of God has been renewed in our lives to a greater measure than ever before. Of course, I have always loved God and wanted to serve Him with a whole heart. However, what has happened to me in the last year changed my life forever.
In times of great distress and difficulty, we will either pull away from God or pull into Him. Learning to be faithful to God, His Word, and the leading of the Holy Spirit will give us all a sense of renewal in the end. By drawing near to Him, He truly does draw near to us!
I’m confident 2020 was a year that none of wish to repeat; however, we all must evaluate our hearts and ask ourselves some honest questions. Did I reset? What did God restore, and what has God renewed in my life by enduring this challenge? If we all can look at 2020 as a lesson in spiritual maturing, then I believe we got it right.
My prayer is for every one of us to draw nearer to the heart of the Father more than we ever have before. If we take the time with Him, He will take the time with us. As we allow God to make the necessary changes and adjustments in us, we will begin to see His mighty victory manifest in our lives.