Spiritual Habits that Renew, Restore, Prosper Us

UV 2023/10000 Spiritual Habits that Renew, Restore, Prosper Us
Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
Zechariah 9 v 12

We need to keep turning to the Lord in prayer and with thanksgiving every day and in every situation and circumstance. He will strengthen us and equip us for the tests and trials of the day. He renews us. We are not to be prisoners of sorrow, frustration, anxiety or anger and hopelessness but we are declared prisoners of hope, the hope that the gospel inspires in us. We expect to hear good to great news breaking out in our lives. We gain strength and grace in every negative situation we face. We gain more from negativity and adversity than from good times and favourable circumstances. Our endurance when it is tested gives rise to the patience of the faithful and patience gives rise to character and character gives rise to hope.

The Lord not only renews us, He restores us. IF there is anything that we have lost in the past, He does not merely restore it but He restores a double portion of it. If we have been shamed, instead of shame we will be given double honour as Mordecai was honoured with the horse and position as well as authority of Haman. Like Job who was severely tested by the enemy of our souls, the Lord will make our latter half even more blessed and prosperous than before. If we received our former blessings as a shower or rain, now will receive it as a flood.

We need to continually agree with the declaration of these promises by the Lord by thanking and praising Him for the hope it inspires in us. It is not an empty or baseless hope but one founded on the solid guarantee of Jesus that His words and His Father’s will are in alignment. He is our refuge in good times as well as in times of trouble. We can rush to Him and hide under His wings of prayer and the Word as chicks run to hide under their mother’s wings as soon as they sense any danger. Adam and Eve hid from the Lord when they became aware with new knowledge that they were naked. Instead of hiding from God our shame and pain, we need to confide in Him and He will restore us to a double portion of His inheritance. Whenever and wherever we feel a sense of restriction, inhibition, absence of the presence of God, fear, doubt, negative thoughts and emotions, threats or any other vulnerability, we should rush to the Lord. The Lord will break iron bars and bronze gates to set us free from all bondages, anything that inhibits us or restricts us. We need to knit these healthy spiritual habits in our daily schedule : praise, pray, confess, declare and possess the double portion.

Prateep V Philip