Don't Look Back

There are so many moments in my life that I am definitely NOT proud of.  Decisions I made that compromised my integrity, went against my beliefs, hurt friends, brought heartache, and ultimately caused me to be outright disobedient to God.  Not fully obeying is total disobedience!  Either you are completely in the right or you are wrong.  It is no different with sin, you are either sinning or you aren't there is no in between middle ground where you can sin halfway and be safe!  I was reading today in 1 Samuel and its funny how the Israelites are just like us.  They have their ups and their downs, moments of obedience and moments of disobedience.  However I like the words that Samuel speaks to Israel in his farewell address from being the leader of Israel and instating a king like the people requested.  "Don't be afraid," Samuel reassured them.  "you have certainly done wrong, but make sure now that you worship the Lord with all your heart, and don't turn your back on Him."  Although the Israelites did wrong, by asking for a king to lead them instead of the Lord, God forgave them and gave them this commandment.  Don't be afraid, although we all have made decisions in our life that have left us afraid of the consequences, we have a loving caring God to look up to help us through those times.  We ALWAYS have the opportunity to turn from our old ways.  Our bad habits, addictions, laziness, rudeness, anger, bad stewardship habits.  No matter what the situation we always have to opportunity to turn to God and not follow through in the way our flesh may desire to do.  We must remember that although we may sometimes live the rest of our lives with scars from past sins or situations we don't have to let those define who we are.  God is able to restore all the lost time, put back together the pieces of our broken life, and make us new!  It is our duty to turn towards God, to truly surrender to Him with all we are.  To worship Him alone with our whole heart, and not turn back towards our old life and sins.  When we are truly worshiping God with our whole heart we don't have time to get caught up in the mess of the world.  We don't have time to spend our days doing the things that mean nothing to us because God will be the one that means the most.  Our lives will be so consumed by Him that our focus will become in a sense so concentrated on Him and His will that all we will be able to see are the opportunities that will draw us closer to Him.  We will be concerned for others more than ourselves, we will be honest in our lifestyles, and begin to see our old fleshly habits fade in the presence of God!  It is up to us to draw near and give our full heart to God.  He is ready and waiting already all we have to do it turn towards Him and not look back at what used to be.  God is not concerned about your past mistakes, He is looking at joining you today to help you be the best you can be tomorrow!

This week take some time and just ask God to cover your past mistakes.  Whatever they may be, there is nothing that He can't cover with His forgiveness and love.  For me I know there have been times where I was the one holding myself back because I couldn't forgive and forget about the things I have done.  Don't waste time, if God says it is finished and it is forgiven IT IS!!  ACCEPT IT and move on ahead with Him.  Don't be afraid to walk daily with God, sometimes it may not be clear where He is leading you but He has the perfect plan and will not lead you into anything that He doesn't see as the absolute best for you!  Take His hand this week, let Him lead you and join Him in what He wants to do IN and THROUGH YOU this week!

In God's Hands

Yesterday I was meditating on Joshua 9:25 it says: "We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you" What a great verse I find this to be.  I sat there and I prayed Lord, let this be my response to you each and every day.  That I may be in your hands fully believing and trusting that YOU alone will care for me.  That YOU will provide for me, be my joy, be my strength.  

We as Christ followers must have this attitude and response to God.  That we come to Him and fully release all control of ourselves over to Him.  He is the maker of us, He has a plan and a purpose for each and every one of us and the sooner we surrender to His will the more amazing our life becomes.  I will be honest and say it is terrifying at times to take that blind step of faith and completely release all control....However there is nothing better that we can do than to entrust the creator of the world with our life.  He designed us, He knows us better than we know ourselves.  He will take care of us and He will do just as this verse says, He will do whatever seems good and right to us.  Now I must add also that just because it says GOOD and RIGHT doesn't mean that we will never face hardship, or hurt, or difficulties in our lives.  I look back upon my brief years and see that the times that I remember the most as pivotal points in my life are those times that follow extreme difficulty, sometimes even pain and suffering.  God will use whatever means necessary to get our attention because sometimes we don't fully surrender to Him.  Sometimes we say Lord you can have this area of my life but I'm going to keep this area.  That isn't how God works though, He demands full surrender, complete devotion and He won't give up until He has it ALL.  We must remember however that even in the midst of the most difficult times God is still in control and He is behind the scenes working everything out for His perfect plan.  We simply need to keep our focus on Him and not our situation.  

This week I want to challenge you to pray this prayer to God.  Tell Him that you are in His hands and to do whatever He sees good and right.  Ask Him to open your eyes, heart, and mind to Him and His plans for your life.  May you discover new things about the Lord this week.  I pray that you would grow a little closer to him through your faith and through trusting Him.  He does have a plan and He has it all for the purpose of making you the most joyful, happy, and satisfied person if you'd only look to Him and let Him be God and you be you.  Take the steps you need to this week to fully surrender to Him and His hands will not let you fall!