I would normally start with good morning but it's much later than that. I hope today has found you well and that you, like me, have learned another wonderful thing about God. I don't know about you but whenever I speak of God in a strong way, an attack is surely to come. That's what happened today.
I believe that God is God. I believe that He is holy and just. I believe that even when we don't feel Him; He is near and I believe that He loves me. I'm not the smartest person on the block and like you, I screw up often, but I know what I know and He is my Lord.
I spoke of Him today. I spoke of hope, trust and faith and then my husband came home and I was tested. Have you ever noticed the more passionate about Christ the greater the attacks? Well let me tell you it happened to me. We went from bliss to anger in about 30 minutes. And although I am not normally an angry person, one word brought me to the boiling point and oops, human nature took over, you can imagine the rest.
As I was driving to pick up my son, by myself, wonder why? Well we'll leave that for another day. More to the point, I began to put 2 and 2 together and I had an epiphany, whenever we believe our faith can be shattered. We have to stand strong and remember that people are people and God is God. So, I let out some steam, came to my senses and asked God to heal the wounds of a very stupid argument. I'm waiting to see if He will but I know that if I trust Him, He will put my feet on the right path. I could have gone on today with a chip on my shoulder and a sense of pride, instead I chose to ask for forgiveness and let God heal the anger.
I learned long ago that anger doesn't make me right, it doesn't heal the wound and in the end, it causes senseless damage. I want to be more like Jesus, so I surrendered, asked for forgiveness and was forgiven by my maker. It's good to surrender. It makes us better people when we can admit that our way is not always the right way and relinquish control by saying, "Your will, not mine."
If I believe that God is merciful and forgiving then I must be merciful and forgiving too. This is not a one way relationship. It was designed to teach us God's way and to give us a model that works. I have heard from people that "'God is so far away', 'He doesn't love me', 'He is punishing me', 'My prayers won't be answered if I'm not good.'" What does that all mean? We can't win our salvation. He died so that we could have eternal life. He took the greatest punishment of all time and He did it freely and our prayers are answered, maybe not the way we want, but they are answered.
Our will must align with His will. We must understand Scripture and be prepared to fight an enemy we can't see by standing on faith that God is near. Finally, We must believe that He loves us, even when we don't feel Him, see Him or hear Him.
God is not a puppet. We can't argue with Him. We can't manipulate Him and we can't choose which test we will undergo. We are His to do with what He will and the stronger our faith the harder we will be tested. Like I said before, I'm not the smartest person in the world but I do understand that evil lurks in this world and that satan wants us as far away from Christ as possible. Why do you think prayer has been taken out of so many things? Guess. We are becoming the minority, not the majority. People will fight for animals harder than they will fight for religious freedom. It's a fact. So, as you go about your day be aware that faith does come at a cost. You will be tested and the test may take everything you have to be victorious. You can't do it alone and you shouldn't want to. God gave us His word to help us fight any battle that comes our way. He gave us prayers to help us fight the dark and He gave us each other to unite for His glory. We have all the tools but we have to surrender, ask for forgiveness and prepare for battle.
God does love you even if you can't feel Him. He tells us that He is always near. We must believe that. He also tells us that His thoughts are not our thoughts so we can't rationalize or figure out what He's doing. We have to trust that He will do what's best for His kingdom, even if we don't think it's best for us. For at the end of this journey, we will figure out what we did wrong, what He was doing with our lives and if we passed the test.
Psalm 57:1 NKJV:
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by.
Exodus 34:6 NKJV:
And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
Romans 12:2 NKJV:
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
My prayer today:
O, Lord, I thank You for helping me be bold and for loving You. It has taken many hard bumps for me to see You like I do now. I remember when I would pray and I would have an answer right away and then, I remember when I prayed and no sure answer came. I might have figured out later what You were trying to do or I decided that it was better off for me to surrender and let You do the rest. Help us all to surrender unto You what is Yours. I know that we belong to You and that our lives are not our own. We come before You, women that desire to know You intimately. We want to stand on rock and be still. We want to know You are near even when we can't see You. Like Job, so many go through trials they don't understand and the only way to be victorious is to put You at the forefront of the fight. The Holy Trinity is in place to help all of us get to the destination we so desperately want to be. Give us wisdom in the fight and help us surrender our desires for Yours. I thank You Lord for loving us so much and for being merciful and just, even in the face of our iniquity. You know us better than we know ourselves so please cleanse our hearts, align our will with Yours and make us heaven minded. Our joy is not in what we have but what we have in You. In Jesus name, AMEN
Until tomorrow...
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