RaVae EricksonAll too often we give up…on life, on love, on peace, on faith, on God. How much better off would we be if, instead of giving up, we gave it over to God? How much would that kind of TRUST really cost us? Not much if we exchange the act of giving up for it.
Yet, few ever have the courage to do so. Few give up all to God on a daily basis even though we are commanded to do so: “
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
However, those who do live FULL lives. Their eyes are opened WIDE to the greatness and awesomeness of our God. They are not apathetic or atheistic in nature. They are full of LIFE, full of LOVE, full of JOY, full of PEACE, full of GOD.
Each of us makes a choice every day, every moment, to follow God full out, or not. To TRUST the Holy Spirit’s leading, or not. To BELIEVE, or not. I want to make those decisions to follow the Lord, so why is it so hard to do so? Probably the same reason it is so hard to actually work out…I can read articles about working out, watch videos showing different moves to work out, learn how good it is for me to work out, but none of it does any good unless I actually WORK OUT.
I KNOW the logical decision is to give my issues and problems over to God. To trust Him with my life, my all, every day. To follow hard after Him. To listen to the Holy Spirit’s leading on a momen-by-moment basis. But none of it does me any good unless I actually TRUST God with it, listen, and DO.
So many things in life are the same way. Yet, actually completing the ACTION enough times for it to become a habit never gets any easier.
Lord, let me be one of the few. Help me choose the narrow road on a daily, moment-by-moment basis. Help me to hear Your voice and follow through on Your commands. I long to trust you like I have never done before. I want to hear You speak life into me, to see You use me for Your purposes. Give me the tools to follow through.
This is my prayer, is it yours?
Blessed! Great challenge RaVae.
It brings a couple things to mind. Giving things up to God is want He wants us to do. "My burden is easy, My yoke is light." God wants to carry us. It is hard to follow God…He said it would be, but the rewards are beyond anything we could ever ask or think of.
It also reminds me of the title of a NT book: Acts. It is properly titled: The Acts of the Apostles. Could you imagine if the apostles wouldn't have done anything? Would it be "The Thoughts of the Apostles"? or "The Good Intentions of the Apostles"?
The beauty with doing (ACTION as you put it)what God wants us to is that it requires us to "Give God". He not only wants to work on us, but He wants to work through us!!! Praise God!