The rewards of saying “Yes”

As I was driving towards home tonight, I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit to go aside so we could spend some time together. (Is that awesome or what?) Unfortunately, I had a lot to do to get ready for my trip to IHOP tomorrow.

However, I’ve been up at 5:00am the past two nights to watch the God.TV daily devotional. Mike has been teaching on James 1:4:

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (ESV)

I wish I could remember more of the teaching, but I wrote down that scripture and a couple others on an index card and took it to work with me. When work got dull or frustrating, and I wanted to hop on a time-wasting website, I just remembered that verse about persevering (steadfastness). Other times recently when I have felt the Lord’s presence restraining me (e.g. “Ok son, lets shift away from that time-wasting activity…”), I have tried to stop as quickly as possible and shift into what He wants me to do.

Let me tell you, trying to be obedient in this simple area the last couple of days has had an awesome effect on me! There’s nothing worse than closing out a day feeling quenched in your spirit and barren in your heart because you’ve wasted so much of the day, and against His admonition. Thank God for His grace and the ability to get back in His will, but it’s so awesome to go a whole day without getting out of sync and feeling quenched!

I wanted to encourage all the readers out there (lurkers, I should say… make a comment already!): Understand and remember the grace of God. Read Romans 8:1 until it is weaved into your spirit… THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION!! No matter what happened, as long as you’re born again and have repented, you are not a failure in God’s eyes!

One of the things that the Lord showed me not too long ago which so reassured my heart was that I was a success in His eyes, because after all the years I’ve known Him, I still choose Him and love Him… That I have a rich history in Him (even in the midst of what I’d call failures and even falling into sin), and in a time that the nations are becoming increasingly anti-Christ, I still love Him. That counts a LOT in the heart of God, even if you feel like you are a very weak christian. Just keep pressing in and receive the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, good bible teachers, and especially friends that are pressing into God alongside you.

Blessings!