Be Made New Again!

Have you fallen away from the Lord?  Do you need a new life in Christ?  Or, have you just slipped up and don't know how to get back to where you were?  All of us have slipped up.  And a lot of us have fallen away and need a new beginning.  Is that you?  It's me.  Yes, I have fallen away through discouragement, or was hurt really bad and lost my way for a time.  And yes, I can use a new life in Christ, can you?  I would like very much to be 'Made New Again'.  How about you?  May I be so bold as to touch upon some of the reasons why we fall away?

One reason I did, was because I was accused of stealing money from a church fund that I was in charge of.  I would never do that, instead we were constantly putting our own money in that fund to help the poor.  So we felt we were abused and mistreated and decided we didn't want to fellowship with that kind of people.
We forgot that we were fellowshipping with God and going to meet with Him each week and not belonging to a social club of some kind.  I never dreamed I was hurting God.

Then there are those who have suffered abuse at home from a parent, a spouse or relative or friend.  Then we decide that following a different path might help us forget our pain, when instead, our pain would have healed over had we remained faithful to God.  We might put ourselves in some pretty difficult circumstances under this type of pain.  I understand that lack of love in childhood or marriage can drive us to seek to be loved, we all need love and want to find it, we just need to find it in the right places.  Is there help for us, I am sure there is, so let's look for it in the Scriptures.

Psalms 51:10 This is David's prayer for renewal  "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."  If we have fallen away, we can ask God to do a new creation within us and He will of course.

Isaiah 40:31  "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."  It takes a while for God to renew our strength, it is a gradual work upon our hearts and minds and then all of a sudden we take off in a renewed relationship with the Lord that is even better than before.

2 Corinthians 4:16  "Therefore, we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day."  Doesn't that give us hope, it does me.  Day by day God will keep working in our lives to transform us into His image.  I like that so much, He is so patient with us, I hope I realize how patient God is with me and appreciate it like I should.

Some admonition for us who are wanting a new life in Christ.

Romans 12:2  "And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

God does the renewing, we choose to allow Him to do His work in us and day by day He will renew our hearts and minds until they are like His.  I know that sounds like a big order, but God is used to doing big orders for us and its His business to renew us as much as we want renewed.  I am willing, are you.  I surely hope so.  Grandma Joan