Until this year I used be jealous of people who were so obviously full of His Spirit; the overwhelming joy that some people find in Him was lost on me, and frankly it was a bit grating to my own wavering spirit. I was envious, and annoyed at the same time; I knew that I was missing a key component of this "Christian" thing, but it seemed altogether unobtainable to me. I lived in the world, and only once in a while would I step into His Presence. Convenience ruled my schedule; I gave the world my best, and I gave God the leftovers. The problem was I knew that it was wrong, I knew that there was more to the Christian life than what I was experiencing, but I was too self-centered and lazy to try.
God got a hold of me this year. He opened my eyes and He showed me that there is, indeed, so much more to life when we choose to put Him at the center.
When I think of the jealousy, and truly, the contempt that I used to feel towards those I deemed "good Christians", I am ashamed. God doesn't ask me to compare myself to others, and He tells me not to covet what other's have. His word tells me that He will provide for all of my needs, and all I have to do is ask, trust, believe, and commit my way to Him.
The catch is that satan tells us lies all the time; he is the King of Lies. He likes to whisper in our ears, "You deserve better than that...", "You'll never been good enough...", "They are all just hypocrites; don't waste your time...", etc, etc. He will say anything to get you to give up, to get you to be jealous and full of contempt, and he will say whatever it takes to turn you away from the One who loves you more than anything, the One who's love for you is everlasting and unwavering. He will say anything to turn you into what he wants you to be, not what God longs for you to be.
Satan used to tell me that I was just not blessed with the ability to be a "good Christian", he used to tell me that I could fake it and I could settle for mediocre, and that joy just wasn't my thing. Lies, all lies.
In Romans 7:21-25 Paul says this, "So I find this law at work: When 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 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 within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
The law of sin and the lies of satan are powerful, but truly, Jesus can rescue us from them.
So how do we do that? How do we overcome the cycle of lies, and free our feet from the ties of this world? It starts with an intentional choice. It is a choice to not listen to the lies, and to not give in no matter what; it's a choice to cling to God's truth even when it seems impossible, or out of our reach.
Next comes a choice to give your time to Him. This a choice to surrender your time, your agenda, and your heart to Him. This is not easy, but when you commit to it, your life will change. If you want to really know God, and to really grasp the life He wants for you, surrender is essential.
Many people start things with good intentions and then fizzle out as life gets crazy and as obligations pop up; be sure of this: when you choose to give your time to God, satan will do everything he can to take it back and to dissuade you from sticking to it. I daily pray for God's protection over my time with Him; I pray for His Spirit to guard my mind against the attacks of satan during prayer, and I pray that my children will be content to not interrupt me while I have my time with Him.
Getting on track with any relationship, including your relationship with God, requires you to invest time, energy, and attention to that other person. What has worked for me has been a reading schedule for my bible; it has giving me a structure to follow, a checklist of sorts; when I cross off the chapters as I read them I am more and more motivated to get through them all. The more read, the more I learn about God; the more I learn about Him, the more I love Him. I find that reading my bible naturally leads to prayer. As the Word of God fills my heart and my head I enter into conversation with Him, and in that time I grow closer to Him, and my thirst for more of Him gets stronger and stronger.
The next thing that happens is that I commit everything to Him. I understand that He is All Powerful, All Loving, and All Seeing; He provides for my every need, and I lack nothing when I am in His Presence. I have found that joy in Him is within reach, and is more that easily obtainable when I take the focus off of myself, and off of my circumstances, and just try.
It is obtainable for you too. If you've ever listened to the lies of the evil one, or if you just could never quite figure out how to step fully out of the world and into His Presence here is it:
1. Commit to reading the bible everyday...don't waver, don't give up.
2. Pray...for protection over your mind, your time, your focus, and against the lies that satan will tell you.
3. Commit your way to the Lord...surrender it all, and pray for strength to cling to His truth. Believe fully that with Him all things are possible.
4. Lastly, humble yourself before Him. James 4:10 says, "Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will lift you up."
Do you want a full life? A life free of jealousy, and anger over what others have that you want? Humble yourself before His throne...and God will provide for you.
This song has become one of my favorites recently. We are in this world to shine for Him; God calls us to be His light, so don't let Satan tell you otherwise. We are the light; He is the light. Don't sit in the shadows, step into His Glory.
God desires to have you...all of you. He is jealous for you; He wants to fill you with His joy. Let Him. Don't settle for mediocre; jump full on into the life He has for you, and bask in the joy that only He can give; the joy that is blind to the circumstances this life throws at us. In Him there is no fear; in Him we are made complete.
Pray diligently for more of Him in your life, and do everything you can to protect yourself from the king of liars, the evil one of this world. You are worth so much more than you can imagine to the One who died for you; don't give in and don't give up. The evidence of His grace in your life is everywhere; open your eyes to it, and give thanks to Him.
Satan seeks to make you feel like your life is worthless, but cling to this: God made us for more than this world. The scriptures say, "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."
If you are telling yourself there's no point, that true life in Christ is unobtainable for you...wake up! Those are the lies of the evil one, and you were made for more than that.
