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Spiritually B A L A N C E D Part 2 of 8

B A L A N C E D

Be open to the Holy Spirit

Acknowledge that you’re a sinner

Lament for your sins

Allow God to work in your life

Nourish yourself with God’s Word

Commune with God

Exercise faith in God

Draw strength from God

Keeping our lives balanced can be a challenge whether it is physically or spiritually.  And the next part in our series for a balanced life is no exception.

Acknowledge that you’re a sinner

It can be difficult to truly acknowledge we are a sinner.  We might be able to say it but to really understand what it means is a totally different story.  So the question would be, what does it mean to acknowledge that we are a sinner?  And how can we know that we are a sinner?

Start with…

The first way to know whether or not we are a sinner is to start by looking at other people,  right?  Wrong!!!  But isn’t that what we do a lot of times?  We look at ourselves as better than those people so we must not be that bad.  So we don’t see ourselves as we truly are.  But we are not any better than the next person.  We can look at the most horrific sin out there and think how horrible but that could be us because we have all been born with sinful flesh.  We are no better than anyone else.  “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23.

Now you might be saying but I haven’t murdered anyone or committed adultery.  That may be true but in God’s eyes, sin is sin.  Sin separates us from God.  And remember to hate someone in God’s eyes is classified as murder and what you think in your heart can be adultery.  “…Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” Matthew 5:28.  It is about what is in our hearts and minds.

Begin by…

Where we need to begin is at the cross.  We need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and what He has done for us.  The more we focus on Him we see ourselves as we truly are and that is what brings us to the point of acknowledging that we are a sinner.  We cannot realize our need until we come to the point of seeing ourselves as we truly are.  Jesus said, “…For without Me ye can do nothing” John 15:5.  We can’t even see our wretchedness or our worth without coming to the cross.

When we focus on others we look at ourselves as “rich, and increased with goods, and having need of nothing;” and we don’t recognize the fact that we are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” Revelation 3:17.  But when we behold Christ we see our need.  And as we behold Him we can recognize our sinfulness and our need for a Savior.  And that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags but His righteousness is complete.  We need to ask Jesus to come into our lives and let His righteousness live out in our lives.

Dear Father,

We need You to even realize our sinfulness.  But I am so grateful to You that as we come to the cross and realize how sinful we are, the cross also shows us how much we are worth.  Thank You for the love and worth that You have shown to us.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Come to the cross today and every day for the rest of your life!  Jesus loves you with unfailing love and is waiting for You.

Love you all!

If you are someone that already comes to the cross each day what blessing has it been for you?

If you have not yet read part 1 in this series check it out here:  Spiritually B A L A N C E D Part 1 of 8

 

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Trials, Do They Really Make Me Beautiful?

Beauty!

We all have a view of what we think beauty is and how we get there.  But may I suggest to you that beauty has nothing to do with physical appearance?  Beauty to me has more to do with character than physical appearances.  I have seen people that most would consider being very ugly yet they are the sweetest people and I would want to consider them my friend.  Then, on the other hand, I have seen others, that in the world’s standard, they are drop-dead gorgeous.  But to be honest they are mean as a viper.

Leaves

As I was driving to work the other morning and I was marveling over the beauty of the leaves.  They were different shades of colors, red, orange, and yellow with many hues in between.  I just love the beauty of the fall.

God has given us a variety of seasons to teach us lessons of His love and grace.  And as I was thinking about it the Lord brought to my mind how the leaves got to the point of this beauty.  The cold of the frost brings out the beauty of the leaves.  I know that there are different factors for when they change, what colors they become, and how long the colors last.  But for this illustration, I am keeping it simple because that is how the Lord gave it to me.  We tend to want to complicate His lessons rather than listen and take them at face value.

The cold that brings out the beauty of the leaves reminds me of our lives.  The Lord allows things that come into our lives that seem cold and they are called trials.  Those trials can make our characters beautiful if we allow them.  This seems rather silly but what if the leaves resisted the cold and frost and refused to turn the beautiful colors?  We know that the leaves can’t decide to whine and complain and try to resist change.  But God has given us the freedom to choose whether we are going to allow those trials to cause the beauty of God’s character to shine through us.  Or we can choose to complain, be miserable, and make all of those around us miserable.

Trials

I can look back at the trials that I have been through and see the difference between having faith and trust in my Heavenly Father or whether I became the fix-it person of the situation.  Isn’t that our tendency?  Or maybe it is just me.  When a trial comes I try to see how I can fix the problem rather than turning to God.  Trying to fix it ourselves is so miserable and we don’t grow through it and become beautiful.

I know that my goal in life is to give everything to God.  I want to allow Him the freedom to work in my life and the lives of those around me and not try to fix the problem.  For those who have children, I am sure you pray for them as I do my own.  But how many times when the Lord brings something into their lives that could help them grow and mature, we step in and try to fix the problem or take the problem away?  When I step back and let the Lord do the work, WOW, I am blown away.  He is the one that can bring about what we need and what others need without our interference.  Our job is to pray and then allow Him to accomplish the work in us.

I realize many times that I don’t pray enough.  The tendency is to complain instead of going to my knees.  Christ is our example and He spent a lot of time in prayer.  And I know when I do it does make a difference.  If we started to agonize in prayer as Christ did we would see the beauty of Him shining through us daily.  And this is what the world needs.

Dear Father,

Thank You for the trials.

Help us to realize our need for You more fully.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Go to God with all your trials and let Him do the work.

Love you all.

Do you have a story where you trusted God through a trial and what work He did? I would love to hear it.