Can You Let Him Have His Way?

If I let You have control

Is it possible that everyone would know

Just how long I've been doing this on my own?

If I let You have your way

Is it possible that today

All of my fear of failure would fade away?

If I was ready to just let go

Is it possible that my life would show

How You have not been the one I chose?

I sang songs about living life Your way

You better choose the Lord today

At least that’s what the verse made me say

But I couldn't just give You control

I wanted to, but didn't know

How You could make choices for me better than my own

If I let You have your way

Would You really save me today

Or would being with You just turn my friends away?

I am really ready to let go

I’ll read my bible and whatever else I can to show

That this time You are the one I chose

I want to live my life Your way

I’m gonna start right now, today

But just a minute I have one thing left to say

Can You and I share it, control?

It may seem strange this I know

But, that way I’m leaning on You not on my own

God help me let You have your way

I need to do this right today

But letting go takes all of me away

I think I can, but then I get in the way.

Adayinthelife :-)

Who Reached Down For You?

Who reached down for you? We love to answer that question by saying God helped me. God met me right where I was. He picked me up and turned me around. That sounds good, but no man has seen God so again I ask who reached down for you? Who did God send to be your help? Did He send an aunt or uncle? Maybe it was a school teacher or preacher? For some it was a drug addict or dealer. Others found their hand in the hand of an innocent little boy or girl.

The one thing that is true is that we all have been in a position of disgrace or despair at some point. We cried out to God for help if we knew how. If we didn't, we continued to sink and sink until seemingly from nowhere someone said enough. You don't have to live this way. You can do better. You can be better. Who reached down for you?

Was it the wife whose husband you had been sleeping with? Or the boss who you'd spent months doing your best to undermine? Could it have been the best friend that you belittled every time he or she was out of your sight? Who reached down for you?

Who met you in sin's alley and refused to turn away? Was it an angel all dressed in white? This is another thought that we hold on to. Most likely it was someone who looked like you. It was someone who recognized the smell of sin that lingered on you because they knew the smell themselves. But did you know that the person who reached down for you was on assignment?

He looked just like your friend from back in the day because he knew how to blend in. She spoke with the same voice of the woman you trusted because she knew what you needed. They knew that they needed to wear whatever shell that you were wearing to reach you. Had they come like a sheep dressed with the spirit of God on their sleeves, you would have ridiculed them or tuned them out.

Instead they came dressed like you and stuck by you long enough to reach down for you at just the moment when had they not the wolf would have been the only one there. Who reached down for you? Or should I ask who will you reach down to?

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

1 Corinthians 9:22

Business Before Pleasure

Have you ever just stopped and asked yourself what am I doing? What is supposed to take place in this day? Well, I have. I've had those moments where I woke up and just sat there wondering what I was supposed to do. It has happened at times during the work week when my day included business and the weekend when my sole objective was pleasure. It was not that I didn't understand what was supposed to happen at my job or with my leisure time. The thing was I was out of touch with my Father's assignment for my day.

These moments happened most often when I allowed myself to become so wrapped up with the ebb and flow of each day that I forgot that every single thing that I had planned was secondary to what God had planned for me. I know that I am not the only one who has asked God to order my steps and then placed His instructions behind grading papers, watching Grey's Anatomy, or aimlessly reading my news feed. I assured myself that it was alright if I changed the order as long as I eventually got everything done.

I tell you it was not alright. Everything that we do is supposed to line up with God's plans for us not vice versa. We are to follow His instructions seeing to it that His business supersedes our wants, our desires, and yes even our needs. Let me go further on the needs part. We often find ourselves saying things like it's alright that I missed service today because God knew that I needed to be at work. Well, did you ever think that He had a job for you to do in the service that day? He needed you to be one of the people praying. He needed you to give the new member a ride home. He needed you to hear the word so that you could speak life to the dead spirit in your boss. 

But you needed to pay the light bill. You needed to make enough to cover the grocery bill. You needed to be present for the 90th day so that your medical insurance could come through. Meanwhile, God was waiting for you to remember to put His business first and allow Him to be the supplier of all of your needs.

Adayinthelife:-)

Pick Your Battles Wisely

A distinctive marker of far too many relationships is how often those involved fight. This is true in both romantic and platonic relationships. Girlfriends wear the number of fights they have survived and remained friends as a badge of honor. An all to familiar conversation involves recounting how many times they have "fell out" over the years. Some couples also measure the health of their relationships in the number of epic battles that have been waged and won. The details of which also find themselves woven into the fabric of daily conversation. Then there are the parents who proudly argue, fuss, and fight with their children in what is usually described as an exercise in getting them to behave. I wonder have any of us ever stopped to assess what all the fighting is for?

How many battles have you chosen to fight without consideration for the outcome? Did you think my words may injure my friend? Did you think my tone could discourage my child or break something in my spouse that I am ill equipped to repair? Was there at least one moment where you asked yourself is this something that is even worth fighting for?

I have not always been thoughtful in this way. I have screamed when I should have whispered. I have cursed freely while holding apologies for ransom. I have fought just because it meant winning...not long term winning. No. My thoughts were for the moment when holding my point would wear the person out and I would have seemingly gained an advantage. But, time and wisdom has me thinking about the battles I chose to fight and those I should have known better than to choose.

How many battles did I fight for the sake of peace? How many lives were changed because I ignored my assignment to restore?  Scripture tells us that we are to pursue peace with all men and that my friends is exactly what we should be fighting for. 

Adayinthelife :-)

To Protect and Serve

When I was growing up, I remember thinking of all of the things that I wanted to be. At different stages, I wanted to be an actress, a CEO, a writer, and even for one short summer a singer. I thought that each of those jobs would suit me for various reasons. I studied what it would take to become successful at each. I daydreamed about what it would be like. I even wrote down my master plan.

I can say without hesitation that I never not once wanted to have a job in law enforcement, but that is exactly the job that I hold today. I am one of God’s children and as such I am a spiritual law enforcer. You might wonder as I did what does that even mean? A job in law enforcement has many different requirements, but the two that really stick out for me are to protect and serve.

Spiritual law enforcers must work diligently to protect all of those who they encounter. Shielding the public from the pull of sin is the key objective. Officers must be sure to intercept and diffuse all of satan’s attempts to distribute malicious content. This can only be done when the officer is equipped with the right spirit and that spirit is the spirit of God. There exists no gun, knife, missile, or blade that can destroy God’s spirit. When armed with God’s spirit, the spiritual law enforcer acts as a shield for everyone who is in harm’s way. 

A spiritual law enforcer must also be one who serves. Scripture tells us in 1 John 5:16, that we should pray for those who we observe committing a sin. Submitting ourselves in prayer for others is the ultimate act of service. This is because effectively praying for others requires the spiritual law enforcer to be clean and free from sin. Abstaining from sin and purely following the word of God benefits the law enforcer however, the true benefits are to those who are served by the prayers that they themselves could not put before God. 

If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.

1 John 5:16

Adayinthelife :-)