Sunday, April 21, 2013

Stand Firm

I am a simple man.  I love God, my beautiful wife, my family, and friends.  I enjoy almost anything outdoors, working, and sitting down and having a good conversation.  My wife and I love more than anything else to eat dinner and talk about our day and to just enjoy the presence of each other. I do my best to talk to God throughout the day and try not to begin or end a day without sending thanks up to Him.  What does all of this have to do with anything?

During college, I used to blog a little about things that I saw each day or something I was going though that made me stop and think about my walk with God.  It was both a way to express myself and keep up with my thoughts while hopefully offering some encouragement to whomever happened to be interested.

Getting to the point, here lately God has been doing some work inside of me.  For the longest time I prayed to Him that I would be humble and that I would grow closer to him. In the past few months He has done just that; He has presented me with "opportunities" in which I was humbled and made to rely solely on Him.  Through all of this God has told me one thing that rings out clearer than any other lesson I have learned and that is that no matter what is to happen I can always fall on Him and He will always catch me.  I have always felt that even though God "was there" that I still had to carry everything on a day to day basis and that when I  was married that I was the one that had to support the family and bear everything.  That is the one thing that He has changed within me in the past few weeks.

Tonight, my wife and I went to see Sunday Night Live to see some close friends and to hear some amazing Christian music and preaching.  Roger Burns delivered a message regarding the daily trial we face against our sinful nature and the course that it takes on us and how Paul displays that pain in Romans chapter 7.  Each and every day we, almost more now in this time than ever before, are exposed to and burdened more in our Christian walk than ever. However, at the same time, we are more able to encourage each other.  Roger finished with the transition into Romans chapter 8 in which Paul declares that there is hope in Christ Jesus and that all who are buried and revived in Him have hope everlasting.  Take heart. Take heart each day when it seems that the world may be bearing down on you or that the struggle within your heart feels as though it will tear you apart and know that God is there with you, beside you, and within you to help you rise above.

The worst thing that you can do is to close God out and think that you can handle it on your own, believe me.  Take a moment and think that this is the Creator of everything you see, everything you know, and everything you have ever known and what He wants more than anything is to know you and to let you know that He loves you unconditionally and wants you to know Him more.  He wants the best for you.  The creator of all things wants the best for you.  Don't think that knowing Him more is a burden, it isn't.  Knowing and loving God opens up another aspect of life that is beyond anything possible without Him.  Start your day with a "thank you" and read a passage a day and start from there.  As you draw nearer to God you will discover a relationship more fulfilling and unlike anything you have and will ever know.


"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Romans 8:28





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