Refreshed & Renewed

Stinky, sweaty, exhausted and dirty.  That’s how my ‘men’ arrived home yesterday.  What were they doing?  They went on a four day hiking trip.  Three beautiful days of sunshine and one day of teeming rain and howling wind.

That old saying, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” probably would fit their sentiments of the weekend.

The first thing they did as they stumbled through the door was drop the weights on their backs, peel off the grimy threads – plastered to their bodies with sweat and grit, and climb wearily into the shower to wash off the filth of their adventure.

When they emerged clean and sparkling – even behind the ears – they were tired but refreshed.  The water renewed their energy and they were ready to start again.

Jeremiah 31:25
I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint

In our day to day, God promises to refresh our spirits just as the water refreshed the guys’ bodies after their hike.  Coated in the filth of the world, we can turn to God and be made clean.

Acts 3:19
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

Some days it seems as though the stench of the world clings to us and we just can’t get away from it.   At every turn we are bombarded with the world’s standards and the devices Satan uses to lure us into sin.  When we get comfortable in the muck it is often difficult to see where the line was when we started to sink.

A perfect example of this is in movies.  We are very particular about the language we will tolerate when watching a movie.  When discussing a movie with someone who doesn’t share this value, I was surprised to realise that they didn’t even hear the swearing or cursing.  To them, the movie was great.  Because they were accepting of the foul language (muck) they didn’t even hear it.  They had become immune to the offense and were comfortable with the standard of the world.

God tells us quite plainly that He wants something different for us than what the world has to offer.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Day in and day out, we are pelleted by the ammunition of the world.  Worse than armour piercing bullets, these are ‘heart-seeking’ missiles.  We need to be on guard and prepared to withstand the battery of the enemy.  The next few posts are going to focus specifically on some of the tools that God gives us to help us stand firm in Him.

If we focus on Him, trust in Him and purpose to obey Him, He WILL make us like Him.

2 Corinthians 3:18
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.