freshness

 Saturday, September 9, 2023 (6:11 a.m.)

Holy God,

Thank You Lord. Already out and active. Necessary pool care. And admiration of Your early morning freshness.

Mm, freshness. Your freshness, Lord. Lead me into Your Word this morning.

(6:46 a.m.)

I’m smiling as again I say, “Thank You, Lord.” Not only smiling, but singing it out. ♪Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord♪

Their are various artists who’ve also sung these words. Thank You Father for their simplicity.

Time spent with You changes our lives. Our thoughts. Our words. Our actions. An absolute freshness comes over our entire being when we submit ourselves to loving [and being loved by] You.

Drawn again to 2 Corinthians 5:17, I read “We Are God’s Ambassadors” (vs. 5:11-6:2) What an honor. Privilege. Responsibility. I ask (Matthew 7:7) Dear Lord that You teach me to use it well.

Reading this section in The Message, I marvel at its simple title. A New Life. Beginning at verses 14 and 15, I thank You Father for all You want us to learn.

The apostle Paul speaking. “Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in His death so that everyone could also be included in His life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.”

Amen to that Dear Lord!

“Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know” (v. 16). I still so often get it all wrong Lord.

Thank You that “Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone, a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and Him, and  then called us to settle our relationships with each other” (17-18). You do this refreshing work in us Dearest God.

“God put the world square with Himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what He is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ Himself now: Become friends with God; He’s already a friend with you. How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on Him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God” (19-21).

Talk about an absolute freshness! Do all You must Blessed God that I use Your fresh start to each new day exactly as You would have me.

And right here, another song. ♪God Will Make A Way Where there seems to be no way He works in ways we cannot see He will make a way for me He will be my guide Hold me closely to His side With love and strength for each new day He will make a way, He will make a way♪

Thank You. Praise You. I love, need, trust and want to live the freshness of this new day for Your good and to Your glory. Amen.

(573 words ~ 7:46 a.m.)