Wednesday, July 21, 2010

EMMDEV 2010-07-21 [Seven Laws of Spiritual Success] Renewal: What needs to be done.

1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!
2 Take words with you
and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
"Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria cannot save us;
we will not mount war-horses.
We will never again say `Our gods'
to what our own hands have made,
for in you the fatherless find compassion. Hosea14:1-3
We've talked about daily renewal:
- God's mercy is new every morning - It's abundant grace!
- It's about realising that we can't dig our own wells. (Broken cisterns)
- It's a soul-quake where we recognise the shaky ground of self and the solid ground of faith.
Repentance is simply a description of what going back to Him is like.
Many of us go through Regret, Remorse and Reformation (we realise we're in trouble, we're sorry about it and we try to put it right) but that is not repentance. (None of these take us back to God)
Repentance (or Renewal) is about going back to God.
The goal of repentance is to get back to God and nothing short of that will satisfy.
If we repent because we have lost inner peace or have a sense of guilt, then we have not really repented. Repentance is about being close to God. If we don't go for that, we will dig our own wells.
So what does Hosea say:
1. We go to God - conscious of our sin.
2.“Take Words...â€� No fumbling on the issue â€" call a spade a spade
- I failed to trust God with my longings
- I failed to believe that He loves me
- I failed to see the value He gives my life.
3.We acknowledge that no-one else can save else
- Not Assyria
- Not Horses
- Not other powers
- The fatherless (powerless) find compassion in You
4. Offer the fruit of your lips - praise.
Let's sum it up:
Renewal (repentance) is a daily (sometimes hourly!) prayer that is offered in sincere faith and sounds something like this:
"Lord, I need YOU, because my life is like a broken cistern that holds no fresh water, only You can save me, and I give myself to You again. Thank You that I am forgiven and loved. So here am I - send me."
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/