My biggest desire this past year was to have a daily coffee break. Stellar, I know. I’m not sure how my engine cycled down to park, but halfway through teaching English last year I started sputtering and smoking and ended up with no desire to get into gear again. This is quite unlike me, the girl like Josephine in “Little Women” full of boundless energy, whose life goal was to “do all the things”. I haven’t finished “doing all the things” yet, but I feel like Bilbo Baggin who said, “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” As I prayed and searched the Lord for a word from The Word, I knew it couldn’t be an action word where I actually had to “DO” something, heaven forbid, like “Love” or “Trust” or even “Seek”. Instead, in my present lethargy, it had to be something that the Lord would do for me, so I finally landed on Renew and it feels just right. Here’s what I’m asking the LORD to do for me in 2020, or more accurately, since he’s already done it all on the Cross, I’m asking Him to help me access that which is already available: I need him to renew me, spirit, mind, and body.
RENEW my spirit and heart.
Isaiah 57:15b, NIV says, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
King David prayed in Psalm 51:10, NIV, “Create in me a clean heart, Oh Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.” A “right” spirit is also translated, “a steadfast spirit”. Yes, I need that Lord. I can’t quit yet. Help me to endure. With your right spirit in me, I can do all things. More importantly, I can BE the person you want me to be. I can be loving, kind, and patient. I can always trust, always protect, always hope and always believe with your spirit renewed in me.
Proverbs 4:23 Berean Translation says, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.” I need those springs of life to flow again, so I’m trusting you Lord to guard my heart, to renew it and fill it with You.
Luke 6:45 NLT says, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” Oh Lord, fill up my heart with the treasure of YOU, so that from my heart will flow grace and goodness.
RENEW my mind.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” (Romans 12:2a NIV). Transformation is what I need right now. I need an about face in my thinking so that I can do and be what’s required of me. I need God to do this for me. As I focus on Him, I trust that I will be able to get moving again, and get unstuck from this not-wanting-to-do-anything. Isaiah 26:3 says, “People with their minds set on you, you keep completely whole. Steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don’t quit” The Message.
RENEW my strength
I want to soar again like I used to. Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint,” King James Bible.
Oh Lord, please renew my strength. I want to rise up over the situations around me and fly, I want to get the big picture, your perspective on things, and be able to quickly dive down to where I’m needed and do what’s required of me, but I can only do that Lord if I’m soaring.
“Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendour,” Isaiah 52:1 NIV. This verse caught my interest, and maybe it’s because I am not a pyjama person. I fear being caught at the door in my pjs so I quickly get dressed every morning. I can picture myself pulling on some nice clothes while I also pull on the strength of the Lord every morning.
Habakkuk 3:19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. We have a lot of deer where I live, and at times they sleep and graze in our yard. If frightened, they will leap over the six foot fence from a standing position. Oh, Lord, how I need that kind of ease, grace, and spring in my step again!
Psalm 84:7 NIV says, “They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion.” This Psalm describes the pilgrims as they ascended the hills to Jerusalem. They needed strength to keep going and to finish the climb. I need the Lord to renew my strength to finish the journey so that I can worship Him.
Oh Lord, I want to love you with all my heart (spirit), all my strength, and all my mind. Please renew me so that I can love you, serve you, and worship you in 2020, Amen.
By Pamela Mytroen
