Revive, Refresh, Renew
Love The Lord Your GOD

This teaching is actually derived from the Bible. Moses’ taught the Hebrew people in Deuteronomy 6:5 to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Jesus Himself reiterated this in Matthew 22:37. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. “

To love the Lord is to love and obey His Word. God reminded Joshua before the latter led the Israelites into the Promised Land to “be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest” (Josh 1:8).

Thus, it is needful for us as Christians to put first things first before we decide on our goals for relationships, studies, work or business.

But, what if we do not put God first in our lives?

The Apostle John wrote in his epistle: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 Jn 2:15-16).

When the things of the world overwhelm us, we will naturally not have time for the things of God. Even if we do go to church on Sunday, worshipping God becomes a ritual, a lack-lustre and dull routine. Singing of hymns becomes done with no feelings or meaning. Anything which we used to enjoy doing in church becomes a chore. Conversations with other believers become self-centred, ordinary and even have no spiritual value.

The Pharisees often tried to find opportunities to trick Jesus into giving wrong answers to their questions so that they could discredit what the Lord Jesus taught. They asked Him: “What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? Christ knew the wickedness in their hearts and answered:

“Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. (Matt 22: 17-21)

As earthly beings, we recognize that we need to work hard in order to live on this earth. But, as children of our Heavenly Father, let us not forget Him, to put Him as TOP PRIORITY in our lives. As born- again Christians, we have sufficient knowledge of God’s word and have God- given ability or abilities to serve Him.

We ought not to be in the spiritual doldrums, but be alive in Him, and constantly be revived, refreshed and renewed in Christ every day.

How Can We Be Revived, Refreshed, Renewed In The Lord?

The Apostle Paul provides us with some guidelines:

1. Put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (Eph 4:22).

2. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind (Eph 4:23).

3. Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:24).

4. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God (Rom 12:1).

5. Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2).

6. Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Eph 6:11).

We cannot remain as passive Christians, just like we do not remain passive at home, school, work or business. We must pray for God’s help, and we need to take action to be active in the Lord. We have a living Saviour who intercedes for us in heaven. We have the Holy Spirit to help us every day, and we have God’s Word to guide and encourage us so that we will not be caught in the doldrums at any time.

When we put God as priority in our lives, then other things will fall in place. Husbands will love their wives; wives will love and submit to husbands; children will honour and obey their parents; employees will do their work not as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart; and employers will do likewise (Eph 4-6).

Then “all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph 4:31-32).

May God grant us the strength to dedicate our lives to Him today…not only for 2018, but for the rest of our lives.

May God revive, refresh and renew us!

Pastor Bob Phee