The car was from the year of my birth; an antique. A 1955 model, it looked like it just rolled out of a new car showroom. Obviously, whomever was driving it had invested time and money in restoration. As I looked it over I wished for ‘before’ pictures. I wonder if it was rusted, if the seat covers were ripped, if the paint was faded? Most likely some of those things were true, given the age of the machine; but no more.
Restoration, renewal – it is a great thing, isn’t it? When I am tired after a long day, I know that a good night’s sleep will bring energy for the next day. When I have a high output time in life, I know that there will be ‘down time’ during which I will find fresh inspiration. I love Sundays, mostly because of the gift of renewal that I find in the gathering of the people of God, in singing the songs of worship, and being together at His Table.
Are you in need of renewal, friend? Has life exhausted you? Maybe it was a long struggle through some illness or crisis. Perhaps your weariness is just from “life” and all of the endless effort required to keep it all going. Maybe you are bruised and beat up by disappointment or the cruelty of another. Or, you might be putting life back together after some failure? I know all of the above, but I also know the joy that comes when I find renewal in Him.
Restoration, renewal – it is a great thing, isn’t it? When I am tired after a long day, I know that a good night’s sleep will bring energy for the next day. When I have a high output time in life, I know that there will be ‘down time’ during which I will find fresh inspiration. I love Sundays, mostly because of the gift of renewal that I find in the gathering of the people of God, in singing the songs of worship, and being together at His Table.
Are you in need of renewal, friend? Has life exhausted you? Maybe it was a long struggle through some illness or crisis. Perhaps your weariness is just from “life” and all of the endless effort required to keep it all going. Maybe you are bruised and beat up by disappointment or the cruelty of another. Or, you might be putting life back together after some failure? I know all of the above, but I also know the joy that comes when I find renewal in Him.
Isaiah, God’s preacher to Judah, looked beyond their coming destruction to the Promise God whispered to him. He reminded the people of renewal they would find, too. He said that they would struggle "until at last the Spirit is poured out on us from heaven. Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops. Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field. And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest." (Isaiah 32:15-18, NLT) Go back and re-read those lines. They are for us, too! In my prayers this morning, one of my requests was the Spirit to give me a new awareness of my righteousness (right standing before God) in Christ, that I would sense, anew, the confidence that comes from that place. How about you, friend?
Peter stood before the religious authorities who were trying to quash the message of Jesus, the Messiah and Savior. Full of the Spirit, he told them that the deadness of soul that kept them from truly knowing God could be replaced with Life. How? "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus." (Acts 3:19-20, NIV) Turn to God! Times of refreshing will come!
Pause to pray today. Take a renewal break. Find true recreation. (Another trip, more activity, some diversion is not likely to provide what you really need.) Instead, look up and pray for the Spirit to touch you, yet again with restoration. And here is a promise, our word from the Word today.
"God who made you has something to say to you; the God who formed you in the womb wants to help you. Don’t be afraid, dear servant Jacob, Jeshurun, (names for God’s people) the one I chose. For I will pour water on the thirsty ground and send streams coursing through the parched earth. I will pour my Spirit into your descendants and my blessing on your children. They shall sprout like grass on the prairie, like willows alongside creeks. This one will say, ‘I am God’s,’ and another will go by the name Jacob; That one will write on his hand ‘God’s property’— and be proud to be called Israel. (God’s own people)” (Isaiah 44:2-5, The Message)
"God who made you has something to say to you; the God who formed you in the womb wants to help you. Don’t be afraid, dear servant Jacob, Jeshurun, (names for God’s people) the one I chose. For I will pour water on the thirsty ground and send streams coursing through the parched earth. I will pour my Spirit into your descendants and my blessing on your children. They shall sprout like grass on the prairie, like willows alongside creeks. This one will say, ‘I am God’s,’ and another will go by the name Jacob; That one will write on his hand ‘God’s property’— and be proud to be called Israel. (God’s own people)” (Isaiah 44:2-5, The Message)
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My Lighthouse
In my wrestling and in my doubts,In my failures, You won't walk out.Your great love will lead me through.You are the peace in my troubled sea,You are the peace in my troubled sea.
In the silence You won't let go,In the questions Your truth will hold.Your great love will lead me through,You are the peace in my troubled sea.You are the peace in my troubled sea.
My Lighthouse, my Lighthouse!Shining in the darkness,I will follow You, ohMy Lighthouse, my Lighthouse!I will trust the promise,You will carry me safe to shore.
I won't fear what tomorrow brings,With each morning, I'll rise and sing.My God's love will lead me through.You are the peace in my troubled sea,You are the peace in my troubled sea.
Fire before us,You're the brightest.You will lead us,Through the storms.
Rend Collective © 2013 Thankyou Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)
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