“He gives power to the faint; and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall; But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.” -Isaiah 40:29-31 (NKJV)
The definition of renew is resume (an activity) after an interruption; re-establish; give fresh life or strength; revive; replace. I have had more than my fair share of encounters where God has had to renew my strength and make me into a “new creation.” He is a God of revival and a God of re-establishing people who had everything taken from them by the enemy. Renewing people is His specialty but He is also a God who originally brought something new out of nothing, which is all of creation as we know it. He speaks and life bursts forth.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” -Psalm 51:10 (NKJV)
God is the Creator of all things, so it makes sense that He is more than happy to create a “clean heart” in us and renew our spirit within us when we have strayed off course a little or completely recreate us when we encounter Him for the first time after never knowing Him at all. God speaks and life appears. God is in the business of giving life to those who ask for it and creating things out of nothingness. The fall of man is what causes everyone to stray off course from our original calling to the life God originally had in mind for us. “No on can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44. For me, in 2018 I was a really bad alcoholic with crippling depression. After a couple of months of doing nothing but basically sleeping and drinking, I got out of my depression. He renewed my strength! I know now that it was God who took that spirit of depression out of me because afterwards, I had this strong urge to start going to church.
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” -Isaiah 43:19, 20 (ESV)
Becoming a “new creature in Christ” has been an experience that is hard to describe, especially when I experienced a new addiction pop up shortly after meeting God. I was still very ignorant and unaware of the “schemes of the enemy.” I started doing kratom to help with muscle soreness after working out and it turned into an addiction to where it was literally the first thing I thought about when I woke up, all before even praying or talking to God. That in turn, made kratom a major idol and God does not tolerate idols very well, nor should He because He should always be first in your life when you have a legitimate relationship with Him.
Long story short, it was a rough battle but the battle with my addiction to kratom was won ONLY because God helped renew me and gave me the strength to come off of it. Without Him, I wouldn’t have stopped using it. The plant is legal, sold at most privately owned gas stations and doesn’t impair you like alcohol or weed does. It does however, wreak havoc on your limbic system which was another reason the Holy Spirit told me He didn’t want me taking it anymore. It took a few tries, but He finally freed me from that addiction just like He did with cigarettes. An addiction to cigarettes have been a generational curse in my family: my mom died from lung cancer, my pap died from complications with COPD after getting pneumonia, and my great uncle died from both lungs eventually collapsing because he refused to quit smoking after the first lung collapsed. Cigarettes are the strongest addiction He has broken off of me, even stronger than kratom, meth, heroin, or weed.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” -Romans 12:1, 2 (NKJV)
It has been a slow transition in my renewal process, but one that has been noticeable by my fruits. My fruits of Him being in my life are my freedom from my addictions, especially cigarettes. A work that has shown up in my life through faith has been writing and playing music again. Even though I second guess at times if I ever knew God because of how subtle my transformation has been, I know after thinking on these last 3 years that I have been in the presence of the Most High. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the hand of God has been on my life, though subtle, it’s certain I have been redeemed and renewed. I feel however that now more than ever, there are more and more spirits out there trying to sound like Him to people astray and discernment is critical if you don’t want to be swayed from the path God has chosen for your life. I have a strong discernment and most people can’t lie to me without me being able to tell and most deceitful spirits can’t sway me without me figuring it out first. Cultivating that gift was a struggle with lots of trial and error, but I am happy to have it now. I remember Him asking me about what spiritual gifts I wanted and remember Him saying discernment was a difficult gift to receive and now I can see why.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” -2 Corinthians 5:17
This verse is particularly true for my reaction to the drugs I once used to enjoy. “Old things” being the way drugs and alcohol used to make me feel whole and comfortable. I used to feel satiated and satisfied after drinking, used to be satisfied after taking kratom, after doing meth, after smoking a cigarette, smoking weed etc. but now, none of those things satisfy like they used to because I have experience the True Source and it is God Almighty. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trust in Him!” Psalm 34:8 I always thought that verse was weird until I experienced the high of the Holy Spirit and every other high I have ever experienced pales in comparison to the clean and pure high of the Holy Spirit. I implore you to seek God out for yourself and experience His glorious presence and let Him strip away the things in your life that you thought made you feel whole and replace it with Himself, renewing you into the person He originally created you to be.
Rise Of The Pheonix 