Spiritual Renewal

Over the last few years, I have asked quite a few people how their walk with the Lord was doing. Some rated their personal walk with God as great and some rated theirs as poor to non-existent. But most people answered with statements like; ‘It’s okay, I guess’

It seems to me that too many Christians are living bland spiritual lives. They are neither hot as fire nor cold as ashes. I think we can all relate to that to some degree, because we all go through times when our walk with God seems to either slow to a crawl or just seems to stop altogether.

But we must be careful, because there is great danger found in these times. The danger is that we can become what the Bible calls ‘lukewarm’. It is during these slumps that we end up just going through the motions, because we have let the world around us rob us of our passion for the Lord.

Of course, when we get into these spiritual lulls, it is very hard to just snap your fingers and get out of them, isn’t it? How many times have we skipped church because we had the Sunday morning blahs, or missed an opportunity to witness for Christ because we just didn’t feel like that was a good time for us? I think all of us have felt like this at one time or another.

But, if you are in one of those lulls now, I have some very good news for you! God has given us some basic principles to regain our passion for Him, and we are going to be discussing those this morning.

How many of you would like to be on fire for the Lord once again? Oh, come on! If we don’t feel good enough to raise our hands for God, how in the world are we going to be able to renew our passion for Him? Again, how many would like to feel a new energy rise up in their souls for the Lord? That’s a more accurate representation, I think.

We have been saved to soar like eagles, not crawl like crickets. We have been won to win, and we have been converted to conquer. As Christians, we choose whether to run in victory or roll over in defeat.

Those are our choices. Which choices are you making this morning?

God has given us some basic principles to help us keep passionate for Him. Let’s talk about them.

1. WE MUST KNOW WHO WE ARE

Not long ago, an elderly lady went into an insurance office. She told the agent that she was poor, and wanted to know if she could stop making the monthly payments on her husband’s life insurance policy. She said he had been dead for several years now and she just didn’t have the money to keep paying the premiums. When the policy was checked, the agent told her it was worth half a million dollars.

The lady was rich, but it did her no good because she was not aware of what she owned. Christians also need to know about the riches of the kingdom that they posses so they can use them to benefit God’s kingdom here on earth. Christians do not live passionately for God is because they do not know all of the benefits they posses.

We talk about the benefits that Christians have, but exactly what are they?

First, and perhaps most important; we are actually God’s children. You have heard the expression that children use; ‘My dad is bigger than your dad?’ Well, Christians can say that and mean it.

In 1 JOHN 3:1, it says,

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

We are related to the Creator of the world. And, He loves and cherishes us even though we continue to sin against Him.

A couple had adopted a baby boy after trying to have a baby for five years. To their surprise, a short time after the adoption, the mother discovered she was pregnant, and she later gave birth to a boy.

One day when the two boys were eight and nine years old, a neighbor came to visit. Observing the children at play, the neighbor asked, "Which boy is yours?" "Both of them," the mother replied.

The neighbor persisted. "But I mean, which one is the adopted one?" In her finest hour, the mother replied, "I’ve forgotten."

When we are adopted as God’s children, He chooses to forget our sins, to forget our wayward past, and to give us the full rights of sons or daughters. We must always remember that, as God’s children, our value jumps off the scale.