The scripture verse(s) we talk about today include: 2 Corinthians 4:16, Jeremiah 29:11 & Isaiah 43:19
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xoxox
Sarah Elizabeth
Our Faith Your Day Declaration!
Jesus, thank you so much for loving me in the way that you do! You designed me on purpose for a purpose. I want to live to my full potential today, with a mindset that honors you and a soul that seeks to know you better. Jesus I know that you are the way, the truth and the life, and I ask you to guide me and reveal to me what it is that you want to show me here, have me experience here, and learn from this season. Help mold me and shape me into the best version of me. I will live today as your vessel ready to receive your word, respond to your promptings, and pour out your overflowing love to those all around me. Please allow your thoughts to become my thoughts, your ways to become my ways and your will to become what I truly desire. Jesus if you are in it I want it and if you are not I don’t! I choose to faith this day of life! I am so grateful to be your girl! In Jesus name Amen!
How many times have you felt discouraged, let down and disappointed by the physical body you see in the mirror each day. How often do you look at yourself with sadness that the youthfulness that you once recall seems to be fading away. Do feelings of frustration, resentment and even hatred creep into your heart when you see where you are at physically today. My sister take heart, I have the perfect encouragement from the Lord for you today!
While each day, month, and year that pass us by are nothing short of glorious gifts from God, they are also a reminder of how we are actually getting older, we are changing physically, and we are getting closer to the end of our stay here on earth. It’s not morbid, it’s simply what is. The upside of all of this is that we are promised that even though our physical bodies are aging, our soul can be renewed each day through Jesus. Physically we may see graying hair and wrinkles where things used to be smooth. We might feel stiff and sore after doing activities that were once a breeze. We may need glasses for reading and insoles for walking, and we or our loved ones may even be struggling with devastating health challenge, but take heart my sister, because we are able to be renewed by his love on the daily!
The Apostle Paul wrote some amazing words of encouragement to the believers in Corinth, which can still be very helpful for us today. In 2 Corinthians 4:16- he says: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
Paul knew what it felt like to experience hard things. After his conversion to become a follower of Christ he was guaranteed that things would become difficult, that was part of the process. He knew that his strong faith would come with strong backlash, and he faced beatings, imprisonment, a shipwreck and even a snake bite that should have been deadly, but because of God’s all encompassing love didn’t even harm him at all. Throughout his years of preaching the good news, he physically became weaker, older, and closer to his final day on earth, however on the inside…his hope, peace, faith and love for Christ became brighter, more powerful and more representative of the eternal salvation that was getting closer as each day passed.
My sister you have that same potential to renew your spirit as well. Consider for a moment how much work we do to renew our outside appearance. We go to salons, and spas and book various anti aging treatments. We want to look and feel our best on the outside, but how much more important is it to ensure we don’t neglect our spirit as well. In the verse we read it assures us that we ARE wasting away on the inside…however it promises us that we ARE also being renewed on the inside. In this sense renewed means to regenerate, rejuvenate to make like new! Jesus wants to come into your heart, and regenerate the hope that has been lost, he wants to rejuvenate the joy that has slipped away, he wants to bring the peace that makes you feel like a new person. A person who although your circumstances are not perfect, can feel confident about stepping out into this new day of life.
In the definition the word renew has a variety of meanings, yet is used as a verb in all cases. A second definition of renew is to resume an activity after an interruption. I wonder if that can apply to you my friend. Has living the life that God has envisioned for you once been so clear, but now seems like it’s fading out the rear view window. Was spiritual growth, personal growth and becoming the best version of you once a dream and a goal that you held firmly in your heart, but now seems like something so far away. My sister, looking at where you are today at the beginning of 2024 if you are realizing that you have you checked out, played little, counted yourself out or told yourself that you don’t really deserve the more that God has in store for you. This my dear is a lie! One that the enemy is hoping that you will believe as you determine what is to come for this year. Here’s some truth to set you free. The best version of you, the one who shows up for herself, has confidence in who God has designed her to be, and knows that with God for her nobody can be against her, is still out in front of you! That girl isn’t a distant memory…no my friend, that girl is someone who you can become this year. You can renew that girl! You can renew your soul that has felt heavy. This year you CAN become someone you have never yet been, or someone you haven’t seen in years. God wants you to push past whatever interrupted your progress in the past, and reaffirm that it’s not too late…the good plans that he has for you are still available! Jeremiah 29:11- promises us…For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Honey if you have put your more on hold, if you rode the struggle bus in 2023, or even before that…then there is no better time than the now to renew your faith in God’s promises over you…there is hope and a bright beautiful future for you. It’s not going to fall into you lap though, it’s a process of taking that next right step to move you forward, and that’s what he’s here for. To be available for you in every moment that you lean in and ask him to help support you through the next day, week, month and year.
Isaiah 43:19- For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
God wants to do all of this through a renewed commitment to him. My dear I want to encourage you today to put him first. To focus on him the most. To not lose sight of where he is taking you and who he is allowing you to become along the way. Sure your body may be aging, the years may be passing, but what you see as a wasteland, he sees as a place where rivers flow. What you feel are the struggles of the untamed wilderness of life he sees as having a clear path through. I want to remind you that while we only ever see the outward appearance, the physical state, the tangible reality, he sees the inside, your heart, your soul and he wants to renew you today. To do a new thing in you. Will you let him? Will you surrender your aging, tired, and weakened self in exchange for a renewed spirit? Will you let the transformational power of the Holy Spirit dwell within you. Will you let it guide you and lead you to the true fountain of youth…everlasting eternity with a renewed body in heaven? You might be aging and physically that is true, but girl please don’t believe that your best days are behind you. They are actually right out in front of you and waiting to be lived! Renew your commitment to Jesus as you start this year of life, and prepare to be amazed at how he will renew your spirit!