Flashback Friday Devotion #14 [put on a new you]

Hi, Everyone.
We'll continue our Armor of God series on Monday. Please pray for me (and others), as our church's women's retreat begins today, in a nearby town. The theme is "Refined by Fire," and it's about trials. The Lord and I wrote the theme song last January, and I'll be singing it and teaching the chorus to the ladies this evening. Also, I'm one of the small group leaders.
My two daughters are going to the retreat, also. Please pray especially for my younger daughter, that she won't back out at the last minute, that she will go and allow the Lord to meet her there. I'm praying for a spiritual breakthrough for her, as she hasn't been following the Lord very closely for some years now. Thank you for praying for all of the above.
Have a great weekend, and be sure to go to church on Sunday.

Today's devotional is from my personal journal dated April 22, 2007.

Flashback Friday Devotion #14 [putting on a new you]

     The Lord used my husband to direct me to His Word today. This morning Chris asked me, "What do you want to put on, for church today?"  Chris likes to iron, so he irons for both of us. God bless him!
     I know God is leading me to focus on a phrase, when I hear that phrase and it reverberates inside me. It's rather hard to explain, but that's what happened when I heard Chris say, "put on." I went to my Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, which led me to Ephesians 4:21-24.
     Ephesians 4:21-24 says, "If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."
     That seems so simple:
          Put off gluttony and put on disciplined eating habits.
          Put off overeating and put on feasting in God's Word.
          Put off indulging my flesh and put on the mindset that I must offer my body as a living
          sacrifice.
     If this is about changing my appetite from overeating to feeding on Jesus, from gluttony to discipline, from laziness to exercise, it feels so scary to me, even though I want it so badly because, let's face it, I've failed at it over and over.
     In taking that fear to the Lord in prayer, He confirmed that it is, indeed, a total change in my makeup as a person, and that He is the only one who can do that in me. He promised the power of His grace, to change my nature and to break old, destructive habits. If I cooperate with Him, it shall be accomplished.

Today, consider that which you need to "put off."  What do you need to "put on," to accomplish presenting your body a living sacrifice?

Blessings,
Mary

Mary, I am praying for all of you. Sounds like an awesome topic. Your daughters are all in my prayers. You know that God can do all things. I hope this finds you well. Gob Bless

In Christ
Karyn

Hi, Karyn.
Thank you so much for praying. The retreat was awesome. I can't even put it into words. I'm blissfully "spent." :)  My younger daughter did leave after lunch today, but at least she stayed 'til then. God will use what she heard, for sure.
The best sharing came at the very end. It was very sweet.
Blessings,
Mary