Renew me from the inside out.

Romans 12: 17 – 19 ‘don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone.  If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody.  Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do.  I’ll do the judging, says God.  ‘I’ll take care of it.’ (The Message)

Life has not been so kind to me and I find the older I get the more I want to ‘hit back’.  I know and have come to realise that most people go through the same things.  People are fickle and boy can they disappoint you.  Looking back at what has happened in my own life, I sometimes feel that it is my right to actually ‘hit back’.  Well it isn’t that easy and being mean spirited doesn’t work for me.  I don’t want to become someone that is all bitter and twisted.  I don’t want to sit at home in a couple of years and think back to the years of being bitter and twisted. 

I want to make a difference, I want people to look at me and say ‘she is always kind, understanding and friendly.  She doesn’t carry grudges and she always tries to look at the bright side of life.’   Yes, people are always going to disappointment and I need to get used to that, I might as well play ‘second fiddle’ and get used to that.  It doesn’t mean I don’t care.  I care, I don’t like disappointment, I don’t like people being nasty and rude to me.  I don’t like people ignoring me and not doing as they are told.  So what now? 

I am going to take a deep breath; I am going to take these people in prayer to God.  I get angry and irritated but let me tell you something, I will not let them steel my joy, I will not let them take away my dreams of being loving, kind and understanding.  I want to show grace, have compassion and love them for who they are.  

I will trust in the Lord God, I am going to make Romans 12 my motto for the next couple of years.  I am going to carry this around with me until it becomes me.  I want God to change me from within so that this old body will shine and just maybe be renewed as my mind and soul gets renewed.

Do yourself a favour; take a look at the people around you.  Look at the people that serve the living God, I mean look at their faces.  They radiate a beauty and seem to have a kind of inner strength and peace about them.  Then go and look at the person that isn’t serving our Lord, they seem to have burdens so heavy it draws on their faces and they seem tired and worn out.   Look and you will see it.  Look at Joel Osteen and look at Joyce Meyer (Joel is my age, and Joyce is older) aren’t they beautiful?  Yes I believe they are.  Compare them to someone you know who really doesn’t care about the Lord and the life after this life.  Look at them and think about it.

Lord God, I want You to renew my body, mind and soul.  Most of all I want You to come and life within me and renew me from the inside out.  Lord please renew me.