Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits:
M.O.M.: Ephesians 4:31
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.(English Standard Version)
Today's reading: ZECHARIAH 5-8 REVELATION 19
Looking Now
Now that the holidays are over, what is it that you look forward to next? Maybe you look forward to spring and the new season or maybe you look forward to the coming of Easter or perhaps a next birthday of a friend or family member? What do you have to look forward to?
This is the wrong question. If we wait for something else to come along to give us that feeling of togetherness, we have missed the point of Jesus.
Yes, God blesses us with great families and friends and fills our family times with blessings and we must give great thanks to Him from whom come all perfect gifts.
But-the point is- if we are completely alone with Jesus, we have all we need. We should not be looking forward-we should be looking 'now'. Jesus said it Himself:
33"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6
The scripture also says:
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
I suggest to all of us that there is much power and peace and joy right now waiting in the presence of the Lord. Yes, there are plans to be made and lives to live but if we are focused on God we will realize the present danger of missing the abundance of grace-filled moments that come from meditating on God and His word.
After you read this and get out and about in your day, will you catch all the blessings and opportunities to bless that God has planned for so long?
2 Timothy 1:9 ►He has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
Ephesians 2:10 ►For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
It is a life of blessing. This life God gives us to do good works. To be able to reach the lost and to bless the poor and downtrodden or to lift someone's spirit by just sharing God's love in your heart with them-these are all right now. There are possibilities all around us.
“To obey, to be ready for every good work.” Titus 3:1.
The problem may be that our eyes are inward on self and on the next thing that will bring us pleasure while we should be focusing on God's good pleasure because we love Him.
Philippians 2:13
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Revelation 4:11
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
For His pleasure not ours? Yes. Not our pleasure but His. Not what we 'will' but what He wills. Remember, we are being transformed into the likeness of His Son, Romans 8:29, and His son, Jesus, said,
"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."Luke 22:42
No matter how far you feel from God at this moment, He is right here with you.
Psalm 139:7-12
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Even if you tried to hide from God, He would always be there. So, you must know that God will never leave you. When you are lonely and sad, God does not want that. He wants you to look at Him and be with Him and allow Him the pleasure of lifting you from that dark place. If you have to be busy planning for the 'next time' to keep from being overcome by the pitfalls of sadness and depression, God is right there offering complete peace.
It is nice to look forward to being with family, I admit. I treasure that time. But we really should not 'look forward' to spending time with God--we should always be there-now. We should look now...
If we love Him, then, we should be overcome with peace and joy seeing God's good pleasure in our obedience. Now, that makes sense...
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
Forgive me for feeling desperate to plan. Stop me and allow me to sit at Your feet and learn.
Comments