“While others still slept, He [Jesus] went away to pray and to renew His strength in communion with His Father. He had need of this, otherwise He would not have been ready for the new day. The holy work of delivering souls demands constant renewal through fellowship with God.” (Andrew Murray) If Jesus needed constant renewal there is no way we could do without it! In some ways I think constant renewal through fellowship with God is truly what living in grace is all about. Those moments with Father is when we are basking in his grace, renewing our commitment to Jesus and been filled with God’s peace, love and joy. If we every morning renew our strength in communion with Our Father there really isn’t anything in the world that can be against us. 
      
      He forgives your sins—every one.
      He heals your diseases—every one.
      He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
      He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
      He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
      He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.
      (Psalm 103:3-5, MSG)

Thomas Merton explains the miraculous interaction with God this way: “By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet.” Not a bad way to start your day! 

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1-2, MSG)
     
When we come to Jesus to commune with him, the Holy Spirit creates space for God’s grace and peace within us. When we come to Jesus for renewal we are blessed beyond measure. When we come to Jesus offering our everyday life as a sacrifice we will be changed inside out. For better.
Because God is good and he wants only good things for us.
Because God forgives our sins, heals us, and restores us.
And there is nothing better than that. Just like Brother Lawrence describes it: “There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.”

Gracious God,
We bring our everyday lives to you.
Show us how to embrace what you’ve planned for us.
Keep on changing us inside out,
continue renewing us.
Enable us to continually converse with you.
Enable us to continually share your love
and love like you.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: What’s your take on constant renewal?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you live and grow in grace!

This post is part of One Word at a Time: Renewal Blog Carnival! Check out the other posts!

P.S. Flowing Faith is about to move from blogspot.com to flowingfaith.com. The official moving day will be this Friday: 11022011 (a wonderful palindrome day here in Europe!). The blogspot.com will transfer you over to flowingfaith.com, too, so don’t worry. Also RSS feeds should be transferred as is.
I hope to meet you at flowingfaith.com! God bless you!