My poor man has had a rough two weeks. He went in to the hospital on Tuesday night March 9th with chest pains. The doctors ran every test you can imagine, then finally they did a heart cath on Thursday morning and we were able to leave the hospital thinking all was going to be ok, by Tuesday of the following week his arm (where they did a new proceedure heart cath) was in serious pain and turning red and holding heat so that night he went back to the hospital and they kept him from Tuesday til Sunday afternoon with a serious infection in his arm.
We are home now but in the midst of the storm he finally got news that everything had been approved and what we have been fighting for, well over 19 months was now coming to an end. Praise the Lord.
God is so good and I have pondered what this year and a half has brought to me in my life. It has been hard and at times I felt I was going to fall apart, but the thing I have learned about the Lord is that he has begun a good work in me.
Philippians 1:6Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath BEGUN A GOOD WORK in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:God will never let his children be utterly cast down, he lovingly comforts you with his words and constantly draws you back to a right mind set. He has been so faithful to me even when I have not been so faithful to him.God promised in his word that with that work that he began in me he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He never gives up on his children, the goodness of God leadeth a man to repentance.
During this year I have been stripped of all self righteousness, He has shown me that I had put a lot of stock in the things I was doing for him, almost a works mind set. I was trying to find favor in God's eyes and in the eyes of man by doing all of these (RIGHT) things. ......visitation, soul winning, teaching, bible reading, prayer life. Do not get me wrong these things are right to do, but if you are doing for the wrong reasons they are meriting you nothing in the eyes of God and the reward of man thinking you are spiritual is all the reward you will get.These works do not make one spiritual, allowing God to work in you and through you makes one Spiritual.
In Galation 5 we see that Paul was telling the Galations that they had put themselves back under the law thinking it was going to merit them something, We tend to try to put on Spirituality ourselves. We think if we do all of these things then we will be spiritual, then you have a Christian that is frustrated, spinning their wheels, and feeling like they never measure up.If you take an apple seed and lay it on a table, it will never grow. If you just put it in the ground, it may grow but be weak, if you put it in good soil chances of a good tree increase, But if you put it in good soil, water it, place fertilizer around it chances are soon your tree will be bearing fruit.Not one thing you can do can make that tree bear fruit, it is natural process of a healthy tree.We are trying to bear fruit ourselves on our tree, we are trying to produce something that is God's job. We cannot put on Spirituality, it is something that God does through us.
We must water the tree.Ephesians 5:26
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the WASHING of water by the word,Through watering the tree and making sure it has the nutrients it needs it will be a natural process. By reading God's word we are watering our soul and the natural process will bear fruit.
Having been put in a situation where all of these things I was doing were taken from me I had to take a good look at who I was and where I stood with God. In my thinking with all of those things making me right with him and now none of those I have to offer, I felt defeated and totally at a loss. I have come to realize with the comfort of my Saviour and his loving working in my life that he loves me and excepts me without all of my righteousness being presented at his feet, all of my righteousness is as filthy rags in his sight.
Now having gone through this trial, I can now offer these things out of a love for him and not wanting a love from him. He loves me already, I do not have to earn his love.
Galatians 3:3Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now MADE PERFECT by the flesh?We are not made perfect by the things we do and that is not what merits us Spirtuality, it is Christ working in us. Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.We are made perfect by the Spirit and yet we try to make ourselves perfect.
I have learned to stop and listen and try to be obedient to the Lord's leading.
He will never leave you nor forsake you.
I am so thankful for the Lord teaching me to follow him and to stop trying to establish my own righteousness. I am all for those things I mentioned earlier and I will continue to do those things in my walk with God but like I said earlier I can now do them out of a love for my Saviour and not trying to obtain a love from my Saviour.
I love the LORD because he first loved me.
Rebecca
Congrats goes out ot Marci J. She is the proud new owner of a Hamilton Beach Toaster.
