Just let God be God.

Tonight, I want to ask you, are you living a life that is pleasing to God?

Be still and know…He is God. Your life is not your own. You wake up in the morning because He has given you breathe. You fall asleep because He gives you rest. Nothing of you is your own. So stop trying. Cease striving and know that it is all Him.

I don’t know about you but I’ve never really prayed for physical healing. I’ve always masked my lack of prayer during my own sickness with the excuse that God made our bodies to heal and He knows when we are sick…not only that but often times I think that I would rather not bother the Lord with my sicknesses, ailments, and pains.

This week will be the busiest week of the school year for me and it’s funny but I seem to find myself with a fever, cold, and aches in ways I haven’t remembered feeling before. I didn’t think to pray for healing until we prayed for a friend of mine who has a cold and he began feeling much better. I continued on in my day until another friend, a lovely Irish woman, came up to me and told me that we are CALLED to ask for healing, to pray for healing when we get sick.

I’ve learnt that you don’t ignore a calling of the Lord because that happens to be disobedience. Thinking a little further about how I am sick I realized that I was relying on my flesh or my ability to rest or persevere in order to heal myself instead of relying on the mighty Healer and maker of my body. In my pride and in my sinful nature I realized I had put up a barrier between myself and the Lord and said, “I don’t need your help.”

My lesson therefore for the day has been this…He longs for us. He longs to love us and heal us and be loved by us. We love Him by obeying Him and letting Him call the shots. That means choosing His will over our and He commands us to ask for His help.

Stop believing that you are too strong, too skilled, too busy for the Lord. Stop believing that you don’t need Him. He longs for you. He longs to heal you.

I want to do the Lords will…always. Why don’t I always do it?
Fear. I want to live absently of fear

It is by grace you have been saved…by faith, so that no one may boast. It is a gift of God!

It was for freedom that you have been set free, therefore be no longer subject to the yoke of slavery.

I’m stepping out in faith and obedience!

”He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one of us dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

Do you eat for the Lord?
As I was reading my devos this morning I pulled out a chewy bar that I had made a couple weeks ago. It was really yummy. And then I read over this verse and thought to myself…
1) Oh look, the cure for obesity!
2) Did I ask the Lord if eating that chewy bar was for Him?
3) Did I give thanks for the provision that stopped my growling stomache?

Eating is one of those gifts from God that we’ve been given as a source of pleasure but if we choose to forget that it is in His grace that He supplies for all of our eating needs and then some, we forget to thank Him for His goodness.

So today, thank the Lord for what you eat but also consider that you are eating for the pleasure of the Lord and His glory. Who made the ingredients for the delicious meals in front of you? God. The almighty One. The abundant provider.

As I get older it seems to become easier to find joy in the Lord in everyday situations. I can remember that when I was younger the little things threw me off for ages. I would be stressed out, depressed, and effected in everything I did. As I’m learning more about Jesus I’m beginning to learn something else…to consider it ,”all joy when you encounter various trials” means that each trial or test is a simple exercise of faith. It’s like seeing if you can run the extra km in a race or seeing if you can do 10 extra reps with weights. It isn’t about failing and it no longer becomes “the end of the world” when you can’t do these things…it becomes all the more reason to endure so that next time you’re prepared. It’s such a blessing to me that the drama of failure creeps aside when we realize that God is the one taking the hit if we allow Him to be in control.”In heavenly armor we’ll enter the land. No weapon that’s fashioned against us will stand. The battle belongs to the Lord. Take courage my friend your redemption is near. The battle belongs to the LORD!!”

The simple fact of the matter: we must learn now to love God with all that we are. This is the absolute most important thing we could ever do. It’s kinda crazy to wrap your head around.