When God blesses me to open my eyes to a new day, I try not to take it lightly, although its very easy to do so. I make an effort to spend time with him and remind myself to strive to be pleasing before him in the day. Asking him to help me make the right decisions and to move in a way that is pleasing to him. Sometimes, in my day to day decision-making, I fail miserably and sometimes I succeed at taking a moment to search for wisdom on what to do.
Do you seek to honor him with your actions and reactions?
Honestly speaking, no matter where you are in your faith walk, you can encounter moments and people that tempt you to step out of the will of God. I remember one morning praying to have a productive day in Christ. I wanted to exemplify him by being an example to those around me. I wanted for people to see Christ through me. See sometimes you are the only bible that someone reads. Meaning someone can see you and see the love of Christ in you because you have been humble and obedient to his word. Your righteous walk will cause them to be curious about the God you serve.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.
Matthew 5:16
Well within an hour of that prayer, I was in the car throwing my hands up at the driver in front of me because he had cut me off. When I got to work, I was met at the door with opposition. Later that day, I was annoyed by another employee and my response was not warm and fuzzy. When I got back home that evening, I thought, Wait! Did I just do that? Did I set out on this day to be pleasing to the Lord and fail miserably with every opposition that was in my path.
I did. I had failed miserably and could not blame it on anyone but myself. That wasn’t the first time that I felt I had disappointed the Lord either. Honestly, I felt like I had failed him a lot. As a mother, as a wife, a daughter and as a friend, I had sometimes fallen short. However, one thing that I know is that I have salvation and grace through Jesus Christ, and I can grow in that grace.
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
2 Peter 3:18
God knows us to our very core. He knows that we need work in some areas. God doesn’t deal with us the way the world does though. He does not judge us as people do. When we seek him with our heart, he will take our moments of opposition and use them to grow us with grace and love.
Can you remember your, ‘Wait! Did I just do that?’ moments? Did you grow from them?
Jesus walks with us and talks with us, keeping us on the higher path and making our crooked paths straight. He gave us access, a way for forgiveness so that we would not have to feel heavy in spirit with the weight of our sins. Paul says
When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For my inner being I delight in Gods law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work withing my members.
Romans 7:21-23
Then he goes on to say…
Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 7:24-25
No matter how great our disobedience or how far we have fallen, thank you, Jesus, for baring the weight of it all so that we are not heavy, burdened down and without salvation. We will fail sometimes and sometimes we may carry that failure with us.We are not going to be the perfect examples of Christ. There are always going to be oppositions, there will always be trials. The assurance that God gives us is that he loves and cares for us and will be there with us. Walking us through those times of shortcomings and defeat. Times when we feel we are not deserving of God’s love. When we encounter these moments, if we, with a sincere and humble heart, turn to God for forgiveness, we can go forth knowing that because of Jesus Christ our sins have been forgiving.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We glorify you for you are worthy to be praised. Thank you for loving us with such grace and love. We will strive to walk righteously before you because we want to be pleasing to you. In those moments where we may fall short God, we will rejoice in knowing that you have covered our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ who walks and talks with us daily to strengthen and guide us. Thank you, Jesus, for being the living word. In Jesus name we pray! Amen.
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Originally Published May 18, 2020 By Clemetra Dashie