Returning and Rest, Quietness and Confidence
Most people want to attack problems or run from them. It is a strange combination, but it depends on our personality and our relationship with the Lord. God wants us to see the source of our deliverance from our problems and the source of our strength. It is not in attacking or running.(Isaiah 30:15) He is the Source of our deliverance and our strength, so the way we receive His help is by returning to Him in repentance, resting in Him by trusting Him, being quiet before Him and listening to Him, being confident in Him, not in ourselves. However, most people will not take the time to surrender to Him and do these things.
Are you willing to return to Him in repentance? When God shows you a sin in your life, will you confess it and forsake it? Remember, He can't bless us in our sins, or else He would be encouraging us to sin by reinforcing wrong behavior. Every day we must ask the Spirit to show us our sins, so we can turn from them, and return to the center of His will.
Are you willing to rest in Him by trusting Him? That is how we are saved from our sins and every problem of life. We can't save ourselves from sin, and we are powerless to solve our own problems. We must decide to rest in the Lord.
Are you willing to be quiet before the Lord regularly, so you can hear Him? Then, when you hear, will you obey? If you obey, He gives you the strength to do His will. He does not give us strength to do our own will.
Are you willing to put your confidence in God? It is the trust issue again, but it is a little different. We must stop thinking we can handle things, having confidence in ourselves. We must have confidence in His solutions. Then, when we act in that confidence we have His strength.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 33-35.
Are you willing to return to Him in repentance? When God shows you a sin in your life, will you confess it and forsake it? Remember, He can't bless us in our sins, or else He would be encouraging us to sin by reinforcing wrong behavior. Every day we must ask the Spirit to show us our sins, so we can turn from them, and return to the center of His will.
Are you willing to rest in Him by trusting Him? That is how we are saved from our sins and every problem of life. We can't save ourselves from sin, and we are powerless to solve our own problems. We must decide to rest in the Lord.
Are you willing to be quiet before the Lord regularly, so you can hear Him? Then, when you hear, will you obey? If you obey, He gives you the strength to do His will. He does not give us strength to do our own will.
Are you willing to put your confidence in God? It is the trust issue again, but it is a little different. We must stop thinking we can handle things, having confidence in ourselves. We must have confidence in His solutions. Then, when we act in that confidence we have His strength.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 33-35.