Amy said I should take a picture of a bug outside laying on its back with all it's feet moving that can't flip over...that would be me!!! These last few weeks, I have led a life of prayerlessness, if that is a word.... but " Praise God",(so I thought until I talked to Amy); that I had been studying His Word even if the reason was due to me being in school.
As I was complaining to Amy about everything going on in my world she said to me:
" I was running down the stairs at work today, trying to get some exercise, eating a snickers bar at the same time when I could hear someone coming down the stairs behind me as they were getting closer. When I could feel them on my heels I turned around with the candy bar in my mouth and said;" "this kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it?" I still laugh when I think about that scene... She said to me " your studying scripture all the time but you can't pray?" That kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it?"
Have you ever felt like you didn't want to pray? Or you couldn't pray?
It's a fact that we become what we desire!!! What we desire is in our heart. And what is in our hearts is what we worship! In other words whatever we set our hearts on is what will become our master. What is it that you are setting your heart on? What are you serving? We cannot serve two masters. These last few weeks I have been trying to serve two master's. I have had divided devotion! Look at this verse in LUKE 16:13; "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
I just had some rooms in my house painted. I have never had anything in my house painted before. The paint on the walls is from when we built the house. New paint made everything look dull and plain. So I starting looking for new things, MATERIAL things to put in my house. I became obsessed with trying to redecorate. It has become this demanding DESIRE that I haven't be able to satisfy...It has crowded my heart along with the busyness of my life and I have had no room for PRAYER..... I have been going through the motions but missing one of the most important parts; the relationship part. If I had saw this happening to one of my friends I would have warned them that they were "PLAYING WITH FIRE"...... that they were on dangerous ground....ground that is slipping away.
Faith is not NATURAL...... If we are not longing for His presence then we are not ready to receive Him each day.....We cannot be in two places at the same time!!!! We cannot have one foot on one side of the fence in the spiritual world and one foot in this world.... Abraham could not serve his God and stay in his home in UR. He had to leave his comfort of his own home and live in a place where he felt like an alien or a stranger. There was nothing familiar to him in this new place where God had sent him. But Abraham walked by FAITH not by SIGHT.... He had to make a CHOICE and so do we.
Our choices: We can choose to either be alienated from God because of our sin and disbelief or we can become like strangers and aliens of this world because we know "it is not our home..."
I have realized these past few hours that I have to CHOOSE the peace that God offers. PEACE is a state of mind.....Peace is not a change in my circumstances. We live in an evil world where believers are going to endure suffering!!! A change in our circumstances would only be temporary relief, or temporary happiness. This is your gold nugget for today: ( Christ not only preached PEACE, He purchased PEACE with His own body and blood).... God reassures us that when we receive that PEACE, we have been brought near to Him through the blood of Christ!!!! Unshakable PEACE that can only come from God!!!
So today I took a long hard look at myself and I asked God; " Is there room in my heart for you to dwell ?" I challenge each of you reading this to ask God that same question. We must choose DAILY who and what we will serve. It is so easy to fall prey to the natural self-seeking world. It is so easy to want your house to be beautiful and to want nice things. Please don't misunderstand me, I do think God wants to bless us with the desires of our hearts, as long as it doesn't crowd our hearts, that would leave no room for Him.
The real issue is our hearts; when we love Him we will obey Him and serve only Him. That's when our hearts become FREE.... then God can make His home there. Then we become a blessings to others. I have made a different CHOICE today... I am setting my heart's desires on God. Even though I don't feel like praying or blogging or studying, I am going to push through this and do it. It is a CHOICE..... you might be saying all this sounds great but how?
JOHN 17:17; Sanctify them (purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them Holy) by TRUTH; YOUR WORD IS TRUTH.
SANCTIFY- means to separate!!!! HIS WORD WILL SEPARATE US FROM THIS WORLD.... It is FAITH in the WORD that separates us.... His word will separate us from worldly thinking, worldly desires, weariness, and restlessness....
working on saying yes to the PEACE that was purchased.
Robbie
(asking for your grace today........a quiet repost as we are working today in the ICU's)
