Do you know how to renew your Spirit?
Do you ever feel run down, depressed, tired, or just plain weary? It is so common to get worn out and fall prey to discouragement or sadness. This is normal and it’s a common part of life. It’s not necessarily a bad thing to feel weary. God can use our weariness to bring us back to Him for strength. However, Satan will try to use our weariness to turn us away from God. We cannot let this happen! The next time you feel weary and you need to renew your spirit, turn to the right things!
8 Ways to Renew Your Spirit
1) Spend a day with God
Jim Berg talks about spending a day with God in his Book, Changed Into His Image. This is such a great idea, and one of the fastest ways to renew our spirit in Him. I must admit, giving up a day or even a few hours just to spend time with God isn’t something I really want to do. My time is precious to me, but God wants my time! No matter how hard it may be, when you and I feel weary and run down we must set aside time to spend with the Lord.
2) Sleep
Sometimes our spirits are weary simply because our body is weary. Physical exhaustion and “soul weariness” go hand-in-hand. Sometimes we just simply need to rest. Schedule in time for a nap, go to bed early, or just take it easy. Rest is an important part of life.
3) Pour out your heart to God
Talk to God, pour out your heart to Him. He wants to fill us with His strength and joy… He can and He will! If you find yourself weary, immediately start sharing your thoughts and feelings with Him.
4) Spend time with other Christians
God has placed other Christians in our lives for a reason. Godly friends can help pull us up and pull us along when we are feeling weary and down. When we are strong we can help others, and when we are weak they can help us bear our burdens. God wants Christians to strengthen each other. (See Ecclesiastes 3:9-10 and Galatians 6:2) So make sure you are going to church, call a friend who can listen, and ask others to pray for you.
5) Read Good Christian Books
There are so many helpful books written for Christians. We can glean so much wisdom and encouragement from good Christian authors who have walked the Christian life longer than we have. If you are feeling weary and discouraged, make sure your reading material is encouraging, and spiritually edifying.
6) Sing – especially the hymns
Have you ever just thought about the words to some of the hymns we sing? Old hymns are full of Scripture, solid truths, and wonderful encouragement. The next time you feel weary, grab a hymn book and sing or just read some of the songs. They may spark more emotions but they will also encourage your heart and help renew your spirit.
7) Journal to God
Release your weariness onto to paper and into God’s hands. There is something so refreshing about putting thoughts and feelings onto paper, especially when it’s in the form of a prayer. No one needs to see what you write. Let your written words be between you and God alone.
8) Focus your energies on the right things
If you are weary, take a break from business, and constant striving. Focus your energy on making time for God, on prayer, and time with others. Don’t be afraid to make the effort to encourage someone else. Sometimes all we need to do to feel refreshed and encouraged is to make someone else feel blessed and cared for. Try it… it works! 🙂
Please Remember This
God wants us to turn to Him when we are weary. I am still working on this too! He wants to be the One to renew our spirit. We need to rest our bodies, rest our souls, and renew our spirits in Him. We can’t let Satan take advantage of our weariness. He will go after us when we are weak. We must be on guard for times of weariness. They will come. Let’s be prepared and take our weariness to God. Let’s renew our spirits in Him.
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31
I Would Love to Know
- How do you renew your spirit?
- Who can you encourage today?
If you know someone who is feeling down and discouraged, why not share this post with them today?
The last chapter of Life Quest by Cary Schmidt gave me the inspiration to write this post. You can check it out here.
Lovely post Becky! 🙂 I am thinking about ordering one of your books. Given the choice between the two, which one do you prefer and why? Also, in order for your to get commission, do I have to put any of your information in? Like a certain code? Or do I just follow the link?
Hmm… I love both of them!! Changed Into His Image is a deeper read but the truths in it are very foundational. Life Quest is great as well… It’s more of any easy read and entertaining – but just as biblically sound! Both are KJV only. If you like thought-provoking books (and don’t mind deeper reading) I would recommend Changed Into His Image. You don’t need to do anything special to order the books… Just follow the link 🙂
Thank you for commenting! If you purchase a book let me know which you decide and what you think if it 🙂
I was not expecting #8 on your list but HOW TRUE! “… He that watereth shall be watered also himself”… somehow God sees to that! 😄 And what if many of the troubles and discouragements we go through are specifically intended to make us helpful to others, through our testimony to His comfort and faithfulness? (Of course we won’t know until heaven… 🙂)
Thanks for the reminder to look up and then out during the tired moments! Hope y’all have a lovely day!
Yes! Thanks for sharing that verse, I really love that thought form Proverbs 🙂 Helping others when we feel down can really help us get our mind of ourselves. Not to mention, it can really bring happiness into our lives. Hope you are having a lovely day as well 🙂
Such a great post! I agree wholeheartedly with what you said! When we are weary, God wants us to turn to Him with it, but Satan uses that to draw us away from God. You know that I am familiar with weariness lol I do enjoy singing hymns to God, and aside from just regularly reading my Bible, also focusing on the Psalms 🙂 Friends are a great encouragement as well! Whether I share my heart with them, or just ask them to pray for me. And yes, we can come to Christ with all those concerns, discouragements, disappointments, etc. And it’s also important to remember that whatever you’re feeling isn’t anything new or strange! Even the greatest prophets in the Bible, and great Christians throughout the ages, have felt those same things!
Yes none of those feeling are new to anyone… David needed to encourage himself in the Lord, and Elijah experienced feelings of defeat and discouragement as well! It’s nice to have those reminders from the Bible!
All those points are great! The last one is especially convicting. When I go out and witness, or do something with glorifying God I feel so much more uplifted. But when I’m focusing so much on myself I get a lot more discouraged! Recently in my literature book I was reading some poems that have been put into music. I knew most of tunes, so I sang them out loud. It’s amazing the difference when you focus on the words 🙂
Yes, we cannot think too much about ourselves when we are busy doing something for someone else!
Thinking about the words really helps… Sometimes when we are so familiar with the song we don’t take the time to really think about what the words mean.
Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
I love these suggestions and have to remind myself often to put God first so that my well is always full.
The first way you mentioned (a day with God) has been on my mind a lot lately but I haven’t been able to figure out how to best do that. The basics I’ve considered are unplugging from social media/the internet, more Bible study and prayer, maybe time in nature, but I still can’t figure out how to logistically really make it work. Like what should this day look like? Thoughts?
PS. How have you not written for Tirzah yet?! We’d love to have you as a contributor 🙂
I’m glad you like these suggestions!
All those ideas sounds pretty good to me! Spending time in nature is perfect… There’s nothing like time spent with God out in His Creation. My suggestions would be about the same as what you already said… In Changed Into His Image, Jim Berg recommends spending a few hours out in nature, or in a quiet place and just spending a long period of time reading Scripture, praying, and also singing to the Lord.
I am hoping to do this soon as I really need to get away with God for a couple of hours or more!
P.S. Really? That would be so neat… I will have to pray about that 🙂
My dear Rebekah, my heart was so refreshed after reading this post. You have given us many wonderful and much-needed ideas for renewing our Spirit.
Spending time with our preciouw Lord never fails and I must say that singing or playing praises unto Him does a world of good. Whenever I am down, weary, or discouraged I tend to go straight to my piano and play sweet hymns for hours. Afterwards I am always renewed and refreshed 🙂
Thank you for joining Roses of Inspiration this week. What a joy to have you at the party! 🙂 Hugs! Stephanie-The Enchanting Rose
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! I’m so glad you found this post to be refreshing.
It’s nice to meet another music lover and piano player! Music and hymns cheer me up so well 🙂
I was so happy to join the party… looking forward to the next one!
Great post, thank you! 🙂 I tend to journal or write as I pray a lot, which always encourages me. I also like listening to sermons in English, and I definitely love singing! 🙂
http://www.victoriaminks.com
Yes! All those things are great… listening to sermons is really helpful for me too! 🙂
Great post! I’m going to try to work on these things to help me renew my spirit! 🙂
Good for you 🙂
This is a great list of ways to renew our spirits. I love listening to worship music…and my most recent spirit renewal activity is Bible journaling!! I love it! Thanks for linking up with Grace and Truth.
Hi Aimee, thanks for sharing! I’m glad you have some favorite activities you can do to renew your spirit 🙂
Thank you for this beautiful post! Isaiah 40:31 is my life verse and something I constantly need to remember. In our weariness, God wants us to wait on Him. Only He can renew our strength.
Thank you, Kristen! That is a great life verse 🙂
Wow! Thanks Rebekah! This list was so encouraging! 🙂 I have to agree with every one of them! 😀 I have some hymns that I sing to myself when I need God to strengthen me. There’s nothing quite like it! :’)
Hi Sarah, I am so glad you found this list encouraging! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Rebekah! I hope you had a lovely Monday 🙂 I wanted to pop in and let you know this wonderful post will be featured at Roses of Inspiration tomorrow. Thanks again for sharing!
Hugs and joy!
Hi Stephanie,
Thank you SO much! 🙂 I feel honored! I appreciate you stopping by to leave a comment and let me know! ❤️
Hello dear Rebekah~~I am visiting you from my dear Stephanie’s party, so nice to find you.
This is a beautifully written post and full of great encouraging words for your readers.
You have shared much for us to ponder on and apply to our lives, thank you.
One of the things I find helpful when I need time with the Lord us walking. I live in the mountains and therefore, when I walk I feel surrounded by God in all His glory through nature. It’s quiet…peaceful…and refreshing, no matter what the weather is doing.
It was a pleasure visiting with you, Rebekah.
Have a most beautiful and blessed day~~
Debbie
Hi Debbie,
Thank you so much for the sweet and encouraging comment! I find walking very helpful and rejuvenating as well… It must be great living in the mountains 🙂
Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment! 🙂
Dear Rebekah,
I came to visit via Stephanie’s site and I am so glad I did. I needed to hear this message today. Thank you so much for posting.
I am reading and studying Just Like Jesus (Max Lucado) at the moment, and this has been life changing for me.
I believe our God guided me here with his gentle hand.
Wishing you a blessed week ahead,
xTania
Hi Tania,
I am so glad you were able to find my blog… thank you for visiting and leaving a comment! I hope this post was a help and a blessing to you!
I read that book too and I remember really enjoying it – Max Lucado always points his readers back to Jesus and I LOVE that! 🙂
Love and prayers,
Rebekah