01/31/2024 – The Essential Elements for Divine Renewal – Part 2
Genesis 9: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
As this new beginning after the flood is revealed to us, we can understand how we also can be not only renewed but become ministers of renewal to those around us and to the world!
Renewal requires, first, completion. Noah completed the ark, his mission. He did not just “finish” it. He completed it. That means he built it well, according to God’s specifications. You must build your life well, your marriage, your relationship with god and others. Build it to last! It must hold up in the storm. God said to seal it with tar. Noah was going to put his life and his family in that boat. You’d better believe he sealed every nook. He completed his ministry, his preaching of justice. The world completed their iniquity. You must even complete your trial. You must fight all your battles, face all the attacks God will allow on your life and ministry before you can start your new phase. Often, we want to start the next phase, go to the “next level” but we have not completed the level God placed us on. The true value of the ship is only known AFTER the storm!
There are no endings with God, only completions. God ensures that everything He creates runs its full course and achieves its conclusion. We have left many a project unfinished, we have given up on relationships and ministries; but God never gives up on us or His purpose. God always perseveres. His perseverance is the ability to overcome failure and use even our weakness and the enemy’s attack for growth and improvement.
God’s purpose is accomplished not by being safely preserved in our current situation, but by completing our purpose in it and being transformed into a new and better person. This is the process of systematic renewal that God has established for His creation. He allows evil to manifest and complete its iniquity so that it is redeemed or eliminated through judgment. The good that remains is purified through the attacks from the manifesting evil and must grow in the awareness and fear of God’s judgment.