On this Monday after Thanksgiving week let’s begin by thanking our God for Who He is and how He loves us: in spite of who we are!
Most of us have a very limited view of God. How can we enlarge our view of our God? How can we KNOW Who He truly is so that we can live our lives in communion with Him?
I heard it said this weekend that prayer is our eyes looking into the eyes of God. And when you look into the eyes of someone you are guaranteed to get a glimpse of who they are! The more time I spend looking into the eyes of another; the better I get to know them. The value of prayer in getting to know our God is beyond explanation.
Which leads me to the thoughts for this week. So much of our Christian lives are spent trying to do life God’s way. We try; we fail. We try; we succeed. We try; we fail…
How frustrating this can be! How convicted we are at points; during sermons on particular areas, etc. Is this really how our God desires for us to live this Christian life? Did He plan for it to be so uncertain, so inconsistent?
This prayer journey for me has been so helpful in getting my perspective where it should be. Am I saying that I have arrived in the spiritual sense? Absolutely not! Oh my, no. But I am seeing my “perspective” on living this life change. And it is exciting. Since I was in my early twenties I have had a motto for my life; “Get your mind out of time and into eternity.” Circumstances and experiences in my life had led me to realize that the temporal really is just that; temporal. My desire and goal was to live with eternity in view; striving to please my Heavenly Father and make a difference in this world for eternity. Sometimes in the past 20 years or so I’ve been successful in living days with this purpose. Sometimes I have failed miserably; when my thinking has been influenced by the wrong ideas or surroundings. As a human being trying to live the Christian life; you and I will stumble, need to regroup and begin again. Sometimes, many times a day.
What the prayer journey has done for me is this. It has cemented in my heart and mind that fact that it is not about me. It is not about my efforts. It is not about my success or failures. It is not about my doing for God… This is a big one. It is not about me doing all of the right things for God!
I am just a vessel. HE IS THE ONE DOING THE WORK. HE DESIRES FOR ME TO KEEP MY VESSEL PURE AND OPEN FOR HIS WORK. HE LIVES WITHIN ME. HE WANTS TO BE THE ONE SPEAKING, THE ONE DOING, THE ONE HELPING OTHERS, THE ONE SERVING, THE ONE RAISING MY CHILDREN, THE ONE TENDING TO THE NEEDS OF MY HUSBAND, etc.
When I stumble and when I fail, it is because I am trying to do it “His Way” instead of allowing Him to do it through me. Yes, we try to teach our children to live life God’s way, making choices based on what is His way… but as a growing, maturing Christian woman, I want to move beyond my choosing His way, to my choosing to walk so closely with Him, realizing that He lives within me and allowing Him work through me as His vessel.
The bottom line is this. When I begin my morning by talking with my Heavenly Father, the idea is not to pray and then go about my day. The idea is to speak with my Heavenly Father the moment I am conscious in the morning; to give Him my burdens, to confess any known sin, to get my heart and mind focused on Him. Then I must realize that He walks with me through every step of my day; not sitting beside me, but within me. My growing communion with my God has opened my eyes to this fact; what a wonderful thing to understand!
How can I live a truly victorious Christian life? BE THE VESSEL! Trust Him to work in me and through me. Period. This week’s challenge. Praise God for allowing us to be used by Him in this way. Praise Him for walking with us through our daily lives. Praise Him for never leaving, never forsaking us. Praise Him from Whom ALL blessings flow.
