Dear Ones,
Hope you are having a good weekend! Our friends have arrived and will be retreating today. The nearby Arboretum or the Paul Bunyan trail is a good place to walk and have time with the Lord. We will be going out for dinner later and then time together in sharing and prayer. Tomorrow afternoon we will be packing the car as we plan to leave very early Monday for North Carolina to see our son’s family. We are excited! Appreciate prayers for our safety, good health and weather.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
It is a relief to know that our spiritual lives don’t depend on our will power and desire to do everything right, but rather on putting our lives into God’s hands and giving Him control. That is not the way of our culture today that seeks to do what we want, when we want, to the extent we want. That way will leave us drained and feeling empty. God’s way is a way of freedom as we give Him the controls and cooperate with the Spirit to receive that which we are powerless to do, but He will do within us.
I am reading about spiritual disciplines and the definition given for discipline is: “The ability to do the right thing at the right time for the right reason.” If we practice the spiritual disciplines, when the time comes to act it will be a natural response according to the Spirit. We don’t become more like Jesus by trying to become godly, but as His love, joy and peace fill us so we do the right thing without thinking it just comes naturally. Don’t we want that in our lives: to receive His grace that gives us new attitudes and a more loving heart?
Richard Foster, in his book “Life with God” writes of the difference between training and trying harder. Our granddaughter has loved soccer since she was very young and has trained well, eats well and is very disciplined. Therefore, when she is in a game, she excels as a result of training she has put in. She doesn’t wait until she is going to a game to train, but she does the workout beforehand so she is ready when the time comes. We also train by doing spiritual disciplines. It is not our self-effort that earns us a close relationship with God, but rather trusting fully in Him. What is even better is the fact that we train with a supernatural Partner and the results far exceed the work we put in. We do not produce the change, we simply receive it. We take the steps to cooperate with the Spirit, but He does the work within us. Doesn’t that sound much better than having it depend on us? Let us rely on the Lord and obey as we sense the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Challenge for today: Memorize Phil. 2:13, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy