There is no need to have a great experience to have an equally important revelation. Praise God for He does what He says in His time. When He wants to tell you something, you will hear Him.
Humility is one attitude that we all need as believers. The absence of humility is being absent from the Lord's presence, and most of the time we are the ones stepping away. The kicker there is that we aren't aware of it during many important times when we could have been blessed.
I am currently struggling with a critical attitude that is full of hatred and bitterness. The need for all this to be completely purged from my system was amplified and brought to my immediate attention today. Knowing is apparently half the battle (G. I. Joooooooooooe!)
Has anyone else felt that familiar feeling of bitterness which leads us to think that people are constantly trying to compete with you? Well, that's what was trying to get me to say something harmful in front of some important people in my life a while back. Though I won't say much about what happened, I will say this - that the Lord has His own special ways of truly searching our hearts and taking out what is wrong.
Many of these wrong attitudes were apparent and easy to take out - cigarettes, porn, and cussing come into mind - but I am sure that each and every one of us has those deep rooted feelings and attitudes that we don't know are keeping us from being so much more in the presence of the Lord. Hold that - either we aren't aware of these skeletons, or we go around saying 'that's who I am.'
My friends, when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior (and if you haven't yet, please don't delay), we in effect have declared His sovereignty over everything that we are - we have given Him unlimited, unhinged access to our mind, body, and soul.
Let me say that again - we have given Him unlimited and unhinged access to our mind, body, soul, heart... I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Therefore, I have given God sovereign right over all things JB Lardizabal. And hold it - it isn't intrusive when you think about it.
Let me say it yet again! When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have given Him unlimited, unhinged access to our mind, body and soul... And there is NOTHING that can top that! We give Him unlimited, unhinged access to our mind, body, and soul...
Wait, who is He?
Oh, He's just God, the Ancient of Days, the Creator of the Universe, and the King of Kings. Yeah, He's God, Yahweh, just infinitely powerful, infinitely knowing, and present everywhere you are - and guess what? He loves you so much that He gave Himself so you could be saved! It's with that love that He wants the best for you, and the moment that you declared His Son, Jesus Christ, as your Lord and Savior, I bet He was extremely excited to begin working in and through you to be the best you can be!
That's how we can have peace in all things!
That's how we can keep smiling even if things don't seem right!
To God be all the glory and the praise!
Amen? Amen!
My beloved friends, this is NOT the time to be complacent. With every day we are given, we need to focus more on Jesus Christ. We need to read the Bible more. We need to pray more. We need to spend more time with God. We need to fellowship more. We need to tell more people about Him...
...and as we serve Him more, as we give Him more of ourselves, we can be sure that He will do more for us to be the best that we can be, for His glory, and for His purpose to be fulfilled in our lives.
I leave you with a message I learned today. It's a message for me as much as I want it for everyone else:
Never assume you are more
Never assume you are less
You will have your time
And I, Yahweh, will be glorified.
Again, To God be all the glory, honor and praise.