RENEWAL

Note to user:

There is power in the Word below.  Pray for a spirit of wisdom & understanding in the knowledge of Him so that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened as you seek the ways of His Kingdom.

From my life experience, I make the following statement:  “Desire precedes renewal and renewal precedes transformation.”  Now to be very clear, I am talking about the kind of daily renewal and transformation that you practice and work into the personal framework of your thinking and subsequent actions.  You've heard the term, “practice what you preach.”  My old music director used to say, “perfect practice makes perfect.”  The point is we must practice!  We must learn to think and act according to the Fathers will through the leading of the Holy Spirit.  We must also improve and grow in our practicing in all wisdom and maturity by that same leading.  So back to the original statement.  The seed of desire starts us down the path.  Then we must sit at the feet of our Father in prayer and worship and let Him speak into our spirits.  This precious and necessary time will fuel renewal in how we think and act.  That process begins to transform us from self centered people to kingdom minded people.  There is a very clear reality that we all must face and which I have certainly wrestled with considerably.  Whether your a veterinarian, plumber, roofer, attorney or any other

vocation, how you invest your thoughts are going to directly influence your actions.  We are investing our thinking into running our businesses and performing our daily jobs to the best of our abilities.  Yes, we have to live in the here and now and stay floating...I get it and I live it in the trenches everyday.  What we set the eyes of our hearts upon as we are doing these things make all the difference.  How we fuel and prepare our spirits before we go into the battle of repairing someones roof or unclogging someones sewer line is going to directly influence how we handle dealing with challenging people and situations.

I was having a conversation with another self employed colleague recently as we sat and reviewed the terms of a contract.  As we sat talking toward the end of our meeting, we mused about how there is work that we do to pay the bills, and there is work we do that is our passion work.  Sometimes it results in a paycheck and sometimes it doesn't.  It is important to do what you love.  As followers of Jesus, we are called to walk as He walked and live as He lived.  Was He a carpenter?  Yes.  What do you think was rolling around inside of Him as He made furniture?  I believe His spirit was prepared before he picked up a tool.  He was likely engaged with those around Him and focused on doing the best job He could do as a carpenter.  People around Him knew the spirit that was at work in Him and there was no mistaking where the eyes of His heart were set regardless of whether he was teaching, preaching or doing carpentry work.  The closing point and purpose is to let your passion for the Father and for His kingdom work influence all your activities at all times.

RENEWAL

• “Father, create in me a clean & pure heart.”
• “Father, may my spirit be steady and strong.”
• “Father, I choose to be a living sacrifice for Your purposes. Strengthen my resolve so that I do not fashion myself after the ways of the world’s culture.”
• “Father, lead me in the renewing of my mind.”
• “Father, sustain me that I may persevere in the repetitive conditioning of being renewed for Your kingdom.”
• “Father, I ask for wisdom as I cast aside my old way of thinking and move forward, abiding in Christ. May I have holy thinking as I move forward with steadiness and may my flesh & soul conform to my spirit that I may be in Your will.”
• “Father, I ask for clear, spiritual vision that I may be renewed with the full knowledge of You and be able to walk with discernment.”
• “Father, I ask for continual reminders of my rebirth and regeneration through the Holy Spirit, so that I may keep my mind set upon You.”

Scriptures of Renewal

Colossians 3:10 - And have put on the new self which is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.

2 Corinthians 4:16 - Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

Ephesians 4:22-24 - And put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

Hebrews 6:4-8 - For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

Psalm 51:10 - Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Proverbs 4:23 - Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

Romans 12:1-2 - And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.  3 keys for knowing God’s will:  A yielded body, a separated life, a transformed mind.  *This flows well into 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Titus 3:5 - He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.   Revival in the inner man by the Spirit so we may develop in our lives.

 

--- In Ephesians 4:24, I’d like you to take special consideration in understanding how our new selves are created in the truth of righteousness.  It is important to grasp the practical application of this scripture in the renewal process of our daily lives.  Our new selves are created in the likeness of God.  This means the nature and ways of God now become our ways.  Romans 10:10 says that it is with the heart that a person believes, and that believing results in righteousness.  The origin of the word heart conveys the idea of thoughts and feelings.  Since we now live according to our new nature in God, we also share in the wonderful life of His thoughts and feelings!  So, rest in the realization that living a righteous life is not by your efforts.  This means, you surrender and submit your emotions, the things of the flesh, all the thoughts and feelings and lay them at the feet of the Father as a way of life from here forward.  You begin practicing this through getting quiet in His presence, listening to what He wants to say to you, worshipping and lifting up whatever he lays upon your spirit in prayer.  Learn to let the Holy Spirit lead you in all areas of time, focus, priorities, energies spent, activities planned and everything else.  Most importantly, learn that your inner peace only comes from Him.  Circumstances cannot take away the true peace we have in Him.  The peace that comes from a life practicing abiding in Him as He abides in us.  It is like a gentle flowing stream through the innermost places in your spirit even though there may be a storm raging all around you.   Pray and ask your Father to direct all your thoughts and feelings toward the fulfillment of His plans that He has laid before you in this time.  ---

 

Prayer of Renewal

Father, according to Titus 3:5, thank you that I am a new person, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit.  Colossians 3:10 tells me that my old way of talking, thinking and living is out of style and I have a new life in You, custom made with Your label upon me.  Today I choose to put on the spiritual clothing you have prepared for me.  I march forward with my eyes upon you, living out compassion, kindness, humility, the quiet strength of a servant and a steady disciplined character so that I may not be consumed with distractions.  According to Romans 12:1-2 I place everything I do today before you as an offering of thanks.  I choose to be a light for You and Your Kingdom within my culture today.  My goal is not to fit in with everyone around me but to simply fix my eyes upon you and to do the work of a good soldier for my Father and King.  As I pick up and use these tools that you have given to me, I know I’m being transformed from the inside out.  I also pray according to 2 Corinthians 4:16, that even though at times things look like they are falling apart on the outside, I know You are making a new life inside of me where Your grace and mercy is forming a new foundation from which I live.  I celebrate according to Ephesians 4:22-24 that everything according to my old way of living has to go.  I now walk forward with an entirely new life, fashioned and sculpted by You and renewed from the inside.  May Your creative work in me be displayed in glory through all my character and conduct as Your character is reproduced in me.  --- AMEN ---