Journey4Jesus
Praying Gods Word in all areas of life… The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
HOW DO WE LIVE IN THIS BROKEN WORLD?
Lord, take my hand…
This is going to sound super weird to say, but I have to say that I have grown increasingly thankful for the hard times we have been experiencing? No I don’t like pain and I don’t enjoy the difficulties that we endure daily trying to survive and see light at the end of the dark tunnel. But these troubles have caused me, to lean in heavily onto Jesus, to look towards Him for wisdom and comfort in the midst of the trial.
I spent years trying to “hear Gods voice”, I tried but I just couldn’t figure it out. How could I know what He was trying to say to me? Why couldn’t He just give me the writing on the wall? I’m sure I’m not alone with these struggles…
What God has taught me lately is, the more I lean into Him and learn Who He is through His Word, and time in prayer & worship, the more I have learned to discern His voice. It didn’t happen suddenly, it has been a slow process of growth and understanding. It has over time become personal and wonderful, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Jesus has been teaching me to look outside of my circumstances, and to open my eyes to the bigger picture. You see, the enemy of our souls’ wants us to stay inward focused, then we won’t notice what is happening all around us, hopefully before it’s too late.
If I let it, it’s so easy to get caught up in my own personal pity party, where the guest list consists of Me, Myself & I. the topics of conversation always start with “If only”… and “Why me”…
But it is here, in THIS place and TIME, that God has been getting my attention, teaching me that, God’s omnipotent sovereignty needs to be coupled with human responsibility. In other words, If I want to Live out Jesus in my Life for others to see in this Dark world, then I am responsible to continue to grow Spiritually… this is a life long practice that we only graduate from once we reach Eternity.
When I look at the world we live in today, I often wonder how it got to be this way, where did we lose our way and fall so off track. I can flick through the channels on the TV, only to find program after program, and advertisement after advertisement, selling us new ideas and thoughts… what are we do with them?
Often-times I would just ignore them, telling myself that it’s just TV… its all pretend anyways, I viewed it as harmless entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, much of it is just that, but I also see how easy it is to implant ideas that might be initially shocking to me, then over time to become normal, unnoticed and even acceptable (at least to the point of no longer being shocked or offended by them).
As followers of Jesus, this is where we need to pay attention. Are we allowing ourselves to be altered off the path, which has the potential to cause us to lose our way. This is one of the subtle attacks of the enemy, his way of attempting to corrupt our minds to accept ways that are not of God, as normal and acceptable.
In our day and age, this is not just in TV, we are bombarded through social media, radio, newspapers, magazines and books. We live in the age of Knowledge, this age is fast moving and exciting, but it also comes with very real dangers.
There was time that the news sources were trusted for simply speaking the news, they have now become led by opinion, or worse bought for a political agenda. Those that get paid the highest have the loudest voice.
So in a world like this, how do we as Christians respond? I believe we follow the same advice that Peter gave in his 2nd letter to the Christians of his day. We need to guard ourselves, we need to grow in our knowledge & understanding of Truth ( this being Gods Word), and we need to grow Spiritually.
In Peters day, it wasn’t so different from now. False teachers (those who were selling false ideas for their own benefit) were abundant, and doing ALL that they could to cause believers to trip up and fall. It was these teachings that he was warning about and showing us how to prepare so that we could stand against the false teachings of the day… I think in 2020, we need to assess ourselves, are we growing Spiritually mature, discerning Truth verses what we are told to believe and accept as the new normal.
God doesn’t change, nor do His ways… He is the same Yesterday – Today – and Tomorrow.
Journal Entry: #22
We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. / God made great and marvelous promises, so his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world. / Do your best to improve your faith by adding goodness, understanding, / self-control, patience, devotion to God, / concern for others, and love. / If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful./ But if you don’t grow, you are like someone who is nearsighted or blind, and you have forgotten that your past sins are forgiven./ My friends, you must do all you can to show God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won’t stumble and fall. 2 Peter 1: 3-10 CEV
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your Word. Thank you that every word of scripture is so personal as if it is spoken directly to me, as my roadmap to You. Thank you Lord for All I have, All You have provided to me.
Thank you that unlike this world, we don’t need more, bigger, shinier or faster to impress You. You gave us everything we need to please You, and You invited me to share in all your goodness, and be a witness to your Majesty and Power so that others might be drawn to You as well.
Thank you Lord God for the most important gift of all… Your Spirit alive in me, giving me the ability to deny the evil desires of my sinful nature and the strength to resist the enemy and his attempts to distract me from your will and your plan for my life.
Help me Lord I pray, to continue building my faith in You. stay close to me as I stay close to You in your Word, times of prayer and worship. Help me Lord to produce the fruits of your Spirit; to be good and understanding to others, to have self-control and patience, to truly care and Love others.
Forgive my tendency of selfishness, focusing inward on self, rather than outward on others. Teach me Lord, I pray, to Love others better. Lord God, I desperately want my life to be both useful to You and to have a deeper meaning than what this world offers. I want my life to reflect Jesus and be able to bring others to know You as well.
Forgive me Lord, for the times I forget the sacrifice You made to forgive my sins. What You did to cleanse me from my past and all the terrible things I did in your eyes. Thank you that You have removed All of that from me and do not remember them anymore. Help me to never forget what You have done for me and how great the sacrifice was. Thank you Jesus.
Thank you for choosing me, for calling me to yourself. I have no idea why You chose me, but I am so thankful that You did and I am now your Child, You adopted me into Your family. I choose Lord, to keep my eyes on You. Keep my feet firm on your path Father.
Guide me this day and every day You have planned for my life, so that in the end when You return and I stand before you, I will hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.” . In Jesus name ❤️ Amen
My Final Thoughts & Encouragement:
If you, like me, have opened your eyes to the world around us, and wonder how on earth we got here? Let me encourage you… none of this is a surprise to God. He knows our human hearts are easily led astray, and He is still in Control of the present and the future.
Even in the Old Testament, days of the Kings, when each was fighting each other for power within the Children of Israel, God reserved and protected 6000 who had not bent their knee to the false Gods of the time… out of hundreds of thousands of people… only a mere 6000 stayed true, and the most amazing part was that God knew them and was protecting them.
I’m pretty confident that the reason these 6000 stayed true to the one true God, was they stayed connected to Him. They continued to learn, to share, to talk amongst each other, the things of God. They likely separated themselves from those that were not walking with God so as to protect their hearts and minds from the culture around them.
Please don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that to stay true to God, we need to get away from everyone and live in a commune or out in the back country. Today, we have the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us connected to God.
This same Spirit wants to teach us how to walk and live IN this world, so that we exhibit Christ to those who don’t know Him. Yes, these might be trying times… In so many ways. It might be Covid 19, financial insecurity, fear of the future, or a myriad of other things that want you to focus inward and allow Fear to grow rather than your Faith.
I challenge you today, shift your focus, off self and onto God. Let the Lord of your life, teach you and speak to you and bring you into all knowledge, this knowledge is not about intellectual pursuits , but is the spiritual knowledge which comes through the Spirit himself and is focused on the person and the Word of God.
Draw near to Him and He WILL draw near to you…
Blessings, Janet❤️. Journey4Jesus
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{ If this benefited you in any way, I’d love to hear from you and I would be thrilled if you would share or invite more people to be encouraged.
Journey4Jesus 