What has my
observation of my own walk been? Honest
answer? I failed miserably…
What do you do
or how do you respond when you find yourself in dire, unexpected straits? This question is not for you to measure by
the response of someone else… It’s not a question for you to answer for anyone
else’s input or judgment. It is for you
to think about, look deep within yourself and see how you handle certain
situations… And the answer will be different depending upon what is at
stake. Is it your family? Is it your
health? Is it your job? If ol’ slewfoot
knows what buttons get you to respond in a way that does not glorify God in
your life, shouldn’t you know the same?
What has it done
for me? It has given me a good meter to
measure what it is I need to work on spiritually and what I have seen within
myself these last couple of weeks – has made me cringe. TRULY there go I but for the grace of God and
for His mercy. Thankfully if we have the
Holy Spirit abiding in us (and if you have made Jesus Christ your Lord and
Savior the Holy Spirit does abide in you) you become more sensitive (even if you
won’t admit it) to the things that need changing within your life.
I can FULLY
understand Paul’s writings in the book of Romans. It is a constant battle!
“We know that the law is spiritual; but I
am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what
I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want
to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do
it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in
me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but
I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do
not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it
is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find
this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For
in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in me,
waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of
sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this
body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus
Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in
my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has
set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to
do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the
flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in
us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Those
who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires;
but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what
the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind
governed by the Spirit is life and peace. "(Romans 7: - 8:6)
It is amazing to
me because you can become so in tune with the things that you need to work on
within yourself that it can feel like nasty sludge and the only thing that gets
it off of you is the recognition that you need to do something to change to
have your peace restored to you. Some of
these things that the Holy Spirit reveals to you that need changing are things
that may change over a period of time.
They may be things that you need to bring before your Heavenly Father
because YOU can’t change it about yourself, you need His help.
I am someone who
has never seen the point in trying to “hide” something from a God who is
omnipotent. I find it much easier to be
honest with Him and say, “Okay Father – I know that you see the good, bad and
the ugly inside of me. I admit that I
need to work on (whatever it is), help me.”
Sometimes the things that we feel most rebellious about are emotional
scars that have occurred in our life.
God desires to heal them, we just need to give those scars to Him. There are some that we refuse to let go, be
it that it has become a point of comfort for us or we are fearful. Having gone through a prodigal experience in
my walk, I still see residue from that period of my life that I need God to
heal in me. He is my Creator, He knows
how I am intricately made. He is the
best physician or Counselor to turn to.
In my heart I know that when God tells us to do or not to do something
it is because He sees the full picture and is wiser than we are. There are times when we either push that
aside or refuse to believe it, most of the time this has to do with our measure
of faith in God, how much we trust Him.
The thing that
amazes me is the closer you desire to draw to God – imperfections and all, the
more you get to see yourself more clearly.
If God points out something to me that I need to work on, my peace is gone until I get it right! Until I confess it (to HIM), until I
recognize that I am powerless to do anything about it (without HIM!), until I
decide that in order for me to grow and reach a higher spiritual level, I need
to work on whatever it is that God is pinpointing to me and trust that He has
my best interests at heart.
If God is
speaking to you, you will know it. It’s
what you decide to do with what He is saying that matters. He knows us sooooooo much better than we know
ourselves, we tend to forget that He has our best interest at heart – and who
knows better than the one who made it, what those best interests are?
We might as well
accept the fact that we are “works in progress” because fighting against the
tide can become cumbersome and exhausting and in the long run, we end up having
to change what needs changing anyhow just to have a peace of mind. What I have found out in the 29 years I have
been a Christian is that until I learn whatever lesson I am on in my walk, I
will have to circle around it over and over again until I get it before I can
move forward to whatever else God has for me to learn. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. The
ironic thing about it, is what God has instore for us is so much better than
what we have in store for ourselves.
“Do not conform to the
pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then
you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and
perfect will.” (Romans
12:2)
