Fear + Guilt = Us Not Repenting Like God Wants Us To

This week has been all about Satan's attack and to be honest, I'm sick of it. But a beautiful word was given to me yesterday. "Do not be afraid of Satan, because if he is attacking you, you are probably doing something right." When we are asleep, Satan doesn't want to touch us because we aren't having any effect on this world! Man, whenever I heard that I just broke down before the Lord thinking that Satan was attacking me for no reason, but it's because I am doing the Lord's work, and the awesome thing about God is Psalm 91:11, "For He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you in all your ways." Whenever the Lord spoke those words of peace into my heart, I couldn't help but to praise Him. As you look at the title of this post, "Fear + Guilt = Us Not Repenting Like God Wants Us To," it's kind of self explanatory. Whenever I was doing my devotion this morning, that title was being shown to me through many different aspects of my life, but as I began to read more in David's life, his sin effected others around him, even his family! But, what did he do about it? Absolutely nothing. He could of brought a family meeting of some sort and taken control, but he just sat around and sobbed. I don't know about you, but this is the way I feel whenever I sin against God. Whenever we sin, God DESIRES us to come to Him, but Satan does everything in his power to put Fear + Guilt into our hearts which leads us (=) to not repenting!

Do you ever feel this way? What can we do about it?

Well.... Here are some thoughts or questions you can ask yourself.
1) Is God a forgiving God?
2) Can God save me from this sin?
3) The most important one to me, which covers all of the above is, measure up our GOD to our troubles.

There is no comparison, guys. Yes, God is a forgiving God, and yes God can save me from my sin. So, what are you waiting for? God is just and God is righteous in His ways. If He has freed you and forgiven you from your sins, LIVE LIKE A FORGIVEN PERSON! Do not become so sin sick to the point of stopping at nothing just to satisfy yourself. Become strong and courageous in the Lord. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and everything else will be added to it. So, my last question of the day is, what are you doing about your sins in your life? Your sins from the past that you continue to hold on to and not let go of? Or the sins that we, as a body, are committing right now. I've become so numb to the point of me not realizing that what I've done wrong is sin. My prayer for everyone, is that we may see God's glory and break before His face like the people in Revelation did. They hid before God, because His Glory was so much, they couldn't handle it.

Micah 7:8-9

"Though I have fallen, I will stand up. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the Lord's rage until He argues my case and establishes justice for me. He will bring me into the light. I will see His salvation."
Take these words and apply them to your life, so that we may live as God wants us to live...freely and abundantly. God will show up for us. He has already begun to argue our case against our enemies that want to hurt/kill us, but His rage is worth it. Lord, may we live the life that You want to for the rest of our days. May we be crucified with You each and every day, so that when we look in the mirror, we see Jesus and not ourselves. Thank You for the cross and what it means, Lord. We love you and we praise You for who You are, what You've done and what You continue to do in our lives. May we learn and meditate on Your Word every day to see the light and not the darkness. All blessings, honor and glory to You, forever and ever. Amen.

Give Thanks

Just starting this blogging thing out, so whatever is said, I pray that the Lord would use it in a way according to His will, not mine.

Today is Saturday, October 3, 2009, and I had to babysit my little sister today. Oh what a blessing she is. No matter how many times my parents ask me to babysit her, I will do it any time anywhere. Before Maddi was before, she is now two years of age, I was starting to ask myself "what would it be like to have a little sister?" Note that I do have a little sister, but I never really see her, so therefore, it discourages me not to see family. Well, as my Saturday began, my parents left for Knoxville to go to the UT Auburn game. It was great to see them and hang out with Madilyn all day. We did so much together...we took a good, long nap, we danced and sang together, we watched "Babe" together along with some TV. It was getting around her bedtime at 9:30, so I laid down with her in her bed, read her some books, and began to put her to sleep. When she finally sat still, and was getting tired, she turned her nightlight out, and laid down to go to sleep. Just like mom always did with me and still does with my younger brother and sister, she lays down with them and prays with them. So, I did the same. I always like to pray over/with them, even though Maddi doesn't understand the reason why. So, I started off by saying, "okay, Maddi, we are going to pray now" and as soon as I said that she said, "Dear God, thank you...." with a little more of mumbling being said from her. As I began to pray out loud with her, God grabbed my heart and took me through my day...what I had done, what I had eaten, what I could of done, and what I talked to Him about.... Man, that last one was a doozie. I remember praying, yes, but do I remember myself giving thanks to Him for any reason? No. Now, I know a two year old girl, who speaks, but can barely speak, doesn't know who God is yet, but for her to say that is such an inspiration to me. My heart melted as soon as I heard her say those words to God. But the awesome thing is about it is that when she said it, God heard her! 

So, what am I thankful for? 

I am thankful for the life God has given me, the family that I have, the friends, the people in my life that help me every day through prayer and accountability, and most of all, I have thankful for the salvation God has given me. Without salvation, I don't know where I would be. God, thank You for Your blessed Son who You gave up for MY sins. 

God tells us in His Word to let our requests be made known to Him, but you know, sometimes all it takes is for us to just sit, be still, know that He is God, and give thanks for all the He has done for us! God will use anyone or anything to get our attention. Do not be so caught up with your "stuff" in the world and completely forget about your purpose in life. 

I'll leave with something I have been pondering on for a couple of days now: John 4:35

"Don't you say, "there are still four more months, then comes the harvest? Listen to what I'm telling you: OPEN your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest."

- Have you given thanks lately?