Daily Renewal Routine

This past year I've had the delight of enjoying cuddling with my grandson who just turned a year!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone!  There is just something about holding a little one so close that brings such comfort, let alone the comfort that we bring to a small child when we hold them close.  But do you experience that in your spiritual life - the comfort of holding fast to the Lord.   In today's post, we  will see that God has a daily renewal routine for our spiritual life; one that brings comfort.

Where is the comfort if my daily routine doesn't include God?

As I pondered holding my little grandson and how closely he clings to me, I thought to myself, isn't that how I am carried by my Heavenly Father?  He loves me with perfect tenderness and affection.

Yet, most days, I don't want to be carried by Him.  Maybe want isn't the proper word, but I certainly behave that way.  I am so busy either trying to figure things out for myself, I forget that I have a Heavenly Father who desires to lift me up and carry me.

It's like we are behaving as teenagers with the Lord.  Those of you who have raised children through teenage-hood know that phase when children no longer seem to want hugs and kisses.  If it wasn't for the fact that many of us go through this stage, we might feel hurt and unloved.   At the very least, we miss those times when our little ones needed us and craved our affection.

Even though the Lord is Sovereign and doesn't need anything, He desires our love, actually requires it of us...

what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 1

Deuteronomy 10:12

Yet, by nature, we do not love God due to original sin.  The carnal mind is at enmity with God.  

I confess, when I read the above verse, I was convicted.  Do I truly love God as I should?  Do my actions speak of great love for the Father?  Sadly, oftentimes not.  I routinely fall into self-centered focus.

The following devotion by Charles Spurgeon was an ahh haa moment for me

Whether in light or in darkness, in communion or in temptation, we alike need the prayer, “Forsake me not, O Lord.” “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” A little child, while learning to walk, always needs the nurse’s aid. The ship left by the pilot drifts at once from her course. We cannot do without continued aid from above; let it then be your prayer today, “Forsake me not. Father, forsake not thy child, lest he fall by the hand of the enemy. Shepherd, forsake not thy lamb, lest he wander from the safety of the fold. Great Husbandman, forsake not thy plant, lest it wither and die. Forsake me not, O Lord,’ now; and forsake me not at any moment of my life. Forsake me not in my joys, lest they absorb my heart. Forsake me not in my sorrows, lest I murmur against thee. Forsake me not in the day of my repentance, lest I lose the hope of pardon, and fall into despair; and forsake me not in the day of my strongest faith, lest faith degenerate into presumption. Forsake me not, for without thee I am weak, but with thee I am strong. Forsake me not, for my path is dangerous, and full of snares, and I cannot do without thy guidance. The hen forsakes not her brood; do thou then evermore cover me with thy feathers, and permit me under thy wings to find my refuge. Be not far from me, O Lord, for trouble is near, for there is none to help.’ Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!'”

As I've shared in previous posts, I have recently come out of quite a difficult winter dealing with health issues and severe anxiety.  It's been so nice to feel calm and not have too much going on in the health department.  And then I realized, I haven't been leaning into the Lord anywhere near as much as I was when I was in the thick of those trials.  When in reality, it is actually in times of plenty that I must pray and seek the Lord all the more!  

Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. 

For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”…

Matthew 26:41

Those times that are going well can be the most dangerous times in our Christian walk.  Times when we should be praying, "Forsake me not...", and holding fast to the Lord.

You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and  hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.  He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.

Deuteronomy 10:20-21

     Renewal - How to Make Feeling Comfort a Daily Routine 

When we continually hold fast to the Lord, He will daily conform us into His image.  How amazing is that?!  We are daily renewed by the Lord! 

I don't know why we, as children of God, make things so difficult for ourselves.  We get in our own way, and as a result allow the distractions and temptations of the world draw us away from cleaving to the Lord.

Wouldn't it be so much better to ALWAYS cleave to the Lord, to be enveloped by His strong and mighty arms, to lean into His chest and feel the heart that beats Amazing love.

Of course it would be!

{To read more about what it means to be a child of God, head over to my post, God's Only Child - Me! which you can read HERE.}

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,

Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

Refrain:

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,

Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;

Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God, to Thee.

There let the way appear, steps unto Heav’n;

All that Thou sendest me, in mercy giv’n;

Angels to beckon me nearer, my God, to Thee.

Then, with my waking thoughts bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs Bethel I’ll raise;

So by my woes to be nearer, my God, to Thee.

Or, if on joyful wing cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I’ll fly,

Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest,

There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest;

Age after age to be nearer, my God, to Thee.

Eliza Flowers

May your daily renewal routine start with jumping into the arms of Jesus and holding fast.

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