Through different seasons of my life, I have found myself pursuing the straight and narrow path for selfish reasons. In a way I believed that as long as I was pursuing to strengthen my relationship with Jesus, my deepest desires would be rewarded to me. I was once told that my future husband and I would meet at the moment that we were both right with God. Whether or not I believe this to be true...it ignited this fire in me to be right with God in order to meet my future husband. What a rude awakening I had when I discovered the evil that had rooted in this way of thinking. Upon this realization, I found myself struggling with the thought of giving up those desires in order to pursue a righteous path for the sole purpose of being right with God. Was I willing to release the pursuit of my future into the hands of God? Could I say "Lord, ONLY if it is in your will, can I have these things"? At the moment I could not fathom giving up the hope of someday having a person who was mine and I was his... that was a desire that had consumed my hopes and dreams throughout all 22 years of my life...and now I am suppose to give them up in the pursuit of God alone? Through confession of this selfish desire, prayer, and study I released the power of my future into the hands of God. Something I had since believed I was already doing. Little did I know the reward of being freed of these desires freed me from the suffering of not receiving them. It has been quite some time since struggling with the relinquishing of my desires into desiring only what God has intended for my life.
In listening to the sermon spoke on the first sunday of 2014, I was reminded of this past struggle and time in my life. I was reminded of my need to pray daily: "Lord make me new." Pastor Tim explained what it means when we ask to be made new according to God: to remove, reverse, and renew. It means asking for God to remove sin and wrong. To make repentance a lifestyle and praying: "Whatever needs to go...give me the grace to let it go." To give God full reign and full access to our lives.
Pastor Tim ends the service asking three questions: [1]If you were in the new world and looking back on this present time, what would you stop doing right now, what would we cut off, what would we leave aside? [2]What would we begin doing that we haven't been doing? [3]What would you keep on doing?
I pray that God would lay these questions heavily on my heart throughout this whole first week of 2014 and that I will have answers the next time I read this post. For now, I charge you to listen to the message and search your heart for the answers to those questions as well:
Here is the link to the service: realityla.com/tag/jesus-christ
