Series: Renewal
I Timothy 6:11-16 ESV
I John 1:5-7 AMP
Looking at life through the lens of renewal, daily renewal is an ongoing process. As with all of life some days are easier than others.
In other words, some we win, some we lose, and some get rained out.
In I Timothy 6:11-16 we are issued a challenge, “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”
We (as humans by ourselves) cannot win every battle.
We can, however choose to the best of our ability to seek God and God’s Holy righteousness. We cannot be righteous because only God is righteous.
We can ask for righteousness.
We cannot be Godly without God.
But we can ask God to grant us Holy Godliness.
We cannot believe all the time, but we can ask the one who is always faithful to give us faithfulness.
No matter how much we want to love, we cannot achieve it on our own. In our asking we admit, confess, and acknowledge that God alone is Holy.
We can fight the good fight of faith by turning to God so we can receive God’s Grace and righteousness. We cannot fight without God’s help.
As we turn to God daily we recognize our inability to succeed on our own.
As we consider daily renewal we recognize our daily need for God. Admitting we need and want daily renewal from God leads to a path of expectation.
In Spiritual Direction I remind others we often get what we expect. When God is involved and we turn to God expecting goodness and Grace, we will receive goodness and grace.
When I was young I once asked my da if God would give me whatever I asked for. He looked at me for a long time and then he said, “it can really depend on what you are really asking to receive.”
He went on to say, “if you are asking for Grace, the answer is always yes. If you are asking for goodness, once again, yes. If you ask for self-control, yes”. But if you are asking for a sailboat the answer could be a yes, or a no, or a maybe later response.
He went on to explain that God will only give us those things if they are ultimately for our good. That’s because God is good and cannot give us anything that will harm us.
God can only give us good things.
Remember, God is light and in God there is no darkness.
I John 1:5-7 from the Amplified tells us, “This is the message [of God’s promised revelation] which we have heard from Him and now announce to you, that God is Light [He is holy, His message is truthful, He is perfect in righteousness], and in Him there is no darkness at all [no sin, no wickedness, no imperfection]. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness [of sin], we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we [really] walk in the Light [that is, live each and every day in conformity with the precepts of God], as He Himself is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another [He with us, and we with Him], and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin [by erasing the stain of sin, keeping us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].
Walk with God.
Walk in the light.
In the light we find renewal daily.
In the light God reminds us to stop and breathe in “Holy”.
Spiritual Practice: Breathe
Breathe in Holy…breathe out frustration.
Practice it as many times as it takes to know you have made a connection to God. When we turn to God the connection is already there, we just don’t feel it because we are after all human.
In God, Deborah
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