Skip to main content

Picture Perfect

Philippians 1:6
“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a god work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
They say that good things take time but to be completely and utterly transformed into the likeness of Jesus takes a lifetime. I will never reach perfection until I meet Jesus face to face at the gates of eternal paradise but this by no means indicates that He will keep me at a standstill. In fact, with confidence I am able to state that by His gracious hand, a good work has indeed begun within me and will continue as long as I remain willing. I have recently been reading “The Making of a Man of God”, written by Alan Redpath, which gives a clear summary of what having a willing heart looks like, stating: “Let a man be right with God, reconciled through the blood of the cross, humbled at the foot of Calvary; let him be broken, coming to God guilty and hopeless and needy; and at that moment God takes hold of him and transforms and uses all his gifts and qualities, until that man becomes a mighty influence.” To remain willing means being humbled before the Lord, accepting that I can do absolutely nothing in my own strength and admitting that I need a Savior to save me from myself. With my willingness to surrender, the Lord has given me such freedom in many areas that I was incapable of conquering. Through His overflowing Spirit, I am no longer in bondage to a past that has kept me suffocated in fear and trembling for far too long. With the amount of blessings that have been poured out on me, I can give nothing but thanksgiving to the One whose gracious hand has been upon me. 

Application
Everyday this week, I will take a picture of a good thing to remind me that the Lord is doing a good work in my life. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overwhelming Conflict

Psalms 91:2 “I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.””  This past Sunday, team Uganda had the privilege to lead the two church services. From worship to the sermon, the Lord was present. Having never sung in front of really anyone to being on the worship team and having not one, but two solos, was rather frightening. In addition to having a spirit of fear, the morning of, I was faced with a myriad of conflict as a glob of toothpaste dropped slyly onto the shirt I was planning on wearing, I did not have a necklace to match the shirt I then had to put on, and I ran out of time for curling my hair and ironing my skirt. I knew the enemy was seeking to do whatever he could to focus my eyes on myself rather than on what the Lord was attempting to do in and through me for that day, but I was already defeated and left wondering how a day that had begun so terribly could have a positive outcome. I needed a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spir...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Transformation

Mark 7:17 “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the thins which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.” As I was reading my devotional this morning, it touched on something that I had said early on in my time here in Uganda: “You can’t run from sin because you can’t run from you.” Sin truly does live in my heart and it is only when I run to Jesus, who is the only One who can deliver me from myself, that my heart can be radically transformed. I can and have attempted in my own strength to change my heart, but this has only led to condemnation and failure. The Lord never asked me to fix myself, He has asked me to do nothing other than cry out to Him at street level so that He can fix me in my most broken state. That is how He wants me: battered, bruised, and broken because this is when I am honest; this is when I want nothing more than for the Father to fix what I have ruined, again. But, when I attempt to change what only the L...
Post a Comment
Read more

Selfless Love

Romans 15:1 “We who are strong ought to bear with the fallings of the weak and not to please ourselves.” Hebrews 6:10 reminds us, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” Our God is faithful to His promises, rewarding those who are humble, who become weak to win the weak, who bear the burden, and who love selflessly. However, we as humans are deceiving as we do almost everything to benefit ourselves in one way or another. Especially when it comes to others, helping someone can sometimes quickly become a personal gain that we use to make ourselves seem superior to the one whom we are helping. However, we are called to love others the way in which Christ has loved us, selflessly. To love selflessly is to humble ourselves and love without gain, bearing the burden of another simply to encourage them in their battle and allow them to recognize that they are not alone. Life is difficult as ...
Post a Comment
Read more