Renewal

by Mrs. Ruby Cerejo

1. God gives us an experience of his love because He wants us to help people who are lost find their way back to Him.

2.God longs to do for others what He has done for us, He wants us to share with them what we have “seen and heard” cf. Acts 22:15; 1John 1:3.

3.The term “Charismatic Renewal” means Renewal through the use of charisms. The stress is always on the word ‘Renewal’ and never on the word ‘Charismatic’.

4.We are always in the process of ‘Renewal’. We can never be fully ‘renewed’. If we were, we would be another Jesus. But we can constantly strive to be ‘more renewed’.

5.The people in the world want to see how different we are from everyone else. If we are not different they will definitely not be attracted to the Renewal, but also not to Christ himself.

6.The following are some of the qualities that God and the rest of the world expects to see in us:

1. Our good example:- Titus 2:7,8. A good teacher not only knows the way, but also shows the way and goes the way.
2. Cheerfulness: If we are constantly moaning about our problems, and airing out our anxieties, we are no different from the people who have had no tangible experience of the Lord. The joy we hove experienced in the Lord is different from the transitory pleasures offered by the world, which is dependent on moods, feelings, situations and circumstances. Our joy must be lasting and constant because it is rooted and grounded in Jesus, who is ‘the same, yesterday, today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8 - "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.") The people in the world are waiting to see our faces lit up with this constant cheerfulness, the proof that the ‘joy of the Lord is our strength’ no matter what we go through ( also John. 16:24. "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete")
3. The world and God wants to see in us growing compassion for everyone like Jesus, the Master whom we serve cf. Matthew. 9:36 "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" and ; Mark.8:2."I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat." The Holy Spirit will inspire us with different ways of showing true Christ-like compassion to all we meet.
4. Everyone and even the Lord is looking to see if we have become overcomers in the area of forgiveness, and remembered grudges. We are called to rise above our human nature and become divine/Christlike. Each time we forgive the people who have hurt us, we are showing God’s compassion in action, we are becoming more and more divine, because it is God loving the offender/sinner in us. Matthew. 5:23,24 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift;". Ephesians. 4:32. "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you"
5. We should seize every opportunity to be witnesses of the Lord, and speak about the wonders He has done for us in our life, even if it be sharing the good news with just one person. We have the example of Philip; ministering to one single eunuch of the court of the queen of Ethiopia in Acts 8.

7.How to evaluate ourselves:-

1. Is our prayer time making us worshippers? Are we ministering unto the Lord in active Praise & Worship or is our prayer time constituted of petitions? As we worship our God He does a heart transplant and infuses into us His divine qualities.
2. Do we make efforts to listen to the Lord? To His plans for our life? Do we hear Him making excuses on behalf of the people who have hurt us?
3. Are we obedient to His Word at any cost? The cost of obedience is nothing compared to the cost of disobedience which could cut us off from the protection and blessings of the Lord.
4. Do we try to preserve the anointing we have received during our prayer time by trying to ‘pray without ceasing’ sending up short ejaculatory prayers like S.M.S. messages.

Finally, to sum up:- God is the only one who is entitled to call us ‘charismatic’ if we measure up to what he expects of a true ‘charismatic’ in the light of His Word. So a charismatically renewed person must have the following:-

C

Character - no breath of scandal should touch his life:- 1Timothy. 3:2 "Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,"

H

Holiness - looks closely at the Lord: 1 Peter. 1 : 15 "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do"
Humility - Joshua 4 : 6,10 "to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua." The source of both Holiness and Humility is the Holy Spirit.

A

Awareness - of who he/she is in God’s sight i.e. a son/daughter 1st and a sinner last. (Ephesians. 1 : 18 "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints"). He is also aware of his neighbour’s needs.

R

Reconciler - A truly renewed person is called to the ministry of reconciling man to God and man to man.(2 Corinthians. 5 : 17,18 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation).

I

Intercessor - He carries the needs of his brothers and sisters to God and God’s blessings back to them. 1 Timothy. 2 : 1. "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone"

S

Sympathetic - truly renewed person has suffered and can sympathize with others. (2 Corinthians. 1 : 3,4 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God")

M

Mature - He / she keeps looking at Jesus. He is the goal / perfection we must reach. Hebrews. 5 : 13,14. "Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

A

Alert - A renewed person is alert to Satan’s strategies and ready to go into battle. 1 Peter. 5 : 8,9. "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings."

T

Trusting and Transformed…Trusting the Lord in everything will lead to transformation. Romans.12 : 2. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will"

I

Indebted : A charismatically renewed person is a always indebted to God. He remembers what he was and what he can be without God. So he always sings a song of thankfulness.(1 Thessalonians. 5;16-18 "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus")

C

Committed : A renewed person is Committed ….Committed to Christ, to his Cross, to his Church (Luke. 9; 23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" and 2 Chronicles. 16 ;9 "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.")

Finally, our manifesto / theme song / programme of action should be as spelt out by St. Paul 2 Corinthians. 5:20 "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God" 2 Corinthians 6:3-10, "We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything."