Renewal Time!

2 Cor. 4: 16-18

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Moving forward with God takes being renewed every day by him. My quiet times are actually supposed to be a RENEWAL TIME. Renewing my way of thinking about feelings about my situation/problems, heart condition, and my sins.

Renewing my mind to see the unseen.

Romans 12: 2

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.

Only by renewing my mind can I see what God has in store for me. My way of thinking is too focused on how things are RIGHT NOW. God’s will is all about what is going to happen, not what has already happened or is happening now.

(Isaiah 43:18-19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!) – Thanks for this Scripture Tiffany!

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Jesus was revealing the future to his disciples about what was going to happen to him and them. Jesus was reassuring them that in the end, everything was going to be alright.

Matthew 6: 27-34

27Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your lifet? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Too often I have lived my life with the purpose of trying not to worry or be anxious about things. The problem is that I end up worrying anyways because that is what I am focused on. “you of little faith”

Faith/hope is about looking forward to a better tomorrow. Not worrying about it!

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see

2 Corinthians 5:5-7

Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.7 For we live by faith, not by sight.

God is fashioning me for his purposes. While God is doing that, it is important to live by faith (what God sees) instead of by sight (what I see).

Isaiah 45:9

"Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground.Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'The potter has no hands'?

God has been forming me into a new man to take on things I have never taken on before. He believes in me so much and has a vision of who I will be and what I am going to look like when I am all finished.

When I argue with God, I am nothing but a “potsherd”, a piece of pottery that stays broken and on the ground.

But God “stoops down to make me great”. He picks the pieces of me off of the ground and forms them into something great.

Psalm 18:35

35 You make your saving help my shield,
and your right hand sustains me;
your help has made me great.

Jer. 18:1-6

At the Potter's House

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message."3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me.6 He said, "Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.

God can change his plans at any time. My life is in his hands.