Thy Will Be Done...Not Mine!

"But the one who peers into the perfect law^* of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does" James 1:25

In the dark or the light, God loves you no matter what.  Today's message reflected on the question….What is God asking you to abandon to follow him more closely? It went further in saying all good things in our lives are only good if they help us and lead us to love God more. Are the things in my life leading me closer or further from God? Do I know when I am acting outside of God's will for me?

Yes, I know the times in my life when I'm acting outside of God's direction. Sometimes it is small things, like sleeping in when I really need to get up. Or bigger when I don't do what my soul is calling me to do; instead I staying lazy in procrastination. Doing things that are unhealthy and hurt my body. All of the above mentioned things act outside of God's will for me and when I do it I can feel it to my inner core.  "My soul feels crunchy" is a catch phrase I use often to describe my discontent from my willful disobedience.

I can hear God telling me "you won't get to where you need to be if you keep holding on to this". It is not easy to live right, eat right, act right and do all God is calling me to do.  It is uncomfortable, painful, and not always peachy staying aligned with God's will.  Sometimes it's much easier to just be lazy and live in sin.

God has so much more for me if I can just abandon the bad things (disobedience) and look to him for grace, forgiveness, and peace. Traditionally, even when what he calls me to do is hard, the outcome is always something that makes me grow, stretching me to be better than I was.  Furthermore, the results are always much better than I could conceive.  He will always give me MORE than my imagination could come up with. 

What is he asking you to abandon today to draw closer to his will?  Is it the trashy romance novel, binge watching Netflix, scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or maybe constantly watching CNN/Fox news?  Whatever your disobedience do it despite your wants.  Embrace his requests with joyful gladness because he will restore and transform along the way.  When you look back you won't recognize the old you.

Keep on trucking.