Take That Step

So pray this way: Our Father in heaven, may Your name be honored, may Your kingdom come, may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Matthew 6:9-14 NET

It’s a message of unconditional and unending acceptance by God, based on His grace and received through faith in Jesus. I’ve discovered that it’s one thing to agree with grace or even recite verses about grace, but it’s another to truly understand it and live it. Honestly, that’s where we can tend to miss the message the most.

We listen to grace on Sunday and then live with guilt, law, and condemnation Monday through Saturday often withholding grace from those we encounter. It’s not hard news, bad news, complicated news, or frightening news. It’s good news. The message of Jesus is one of hope, of joy, of peace, of freedom.... let us continue to be faithful to Him who created all things because what does how we feel have to do with Who we are serving.

When suffering, struggling, reeling in emotion and sadness the answer is often to throw ourselves into the day ahead, into the roles we need to be in.... parent, sister, friend, employee. So even though could be difficult, choose to smile, speak friendly, with care and concern ...... choose to let our feelings catch up with our actions for we are NOT going to feel better until we do better.

Take that step, ask for Holy Spirit to walk along side, forgive, surrender the tight grip of control, our moving forward from this point requires accepting God’s grace and walking in the freedom He has given us from bondage that held us tied to bad habits, addictions, damaging behaviours. Do that and you will be one step closer to flourishing, planted..... Its what Jesus Christ has done, and still continues to do for any who ask it of Him. 

He takes a tattered, broken, marked person and makes them better than ever before. When Jesus goes to work on us we become unrecognizable to the people who knew us before.  God’s definition of restoration doesn’t just mean putting us back together, but it means to go above and beyond in making us better than before. We’re always in far better shape after Jesus has gone to work on us than before. It doesn't mean we won’t suffer or feel the growing pains because we will but  God will restore us. That’s not a “maybe” or “if He feels like it.” It’s a promise that the Lord will restore His people to a better place. We might feel like our past has left us too broken to be of any use.

We might feel so used and ashamed that God could never use someone like us, we are not alone in those feelings, saints have gone before us, chosen and loved by God. But these are lies the enemy wants us to believe to keep us down so that we won’t fulfill God’s purpose for our lives. Pray! Deny these thoughts and know that when God puts us back together there’s more than an external picture of being put back together like a broken vase, God does an internal working in our heart, soul, and mind that is a healing of sorts as well.  

Jesus wants to reach down into the innermost parts of our soul where no one else can go to mend and fill with grace. To rid us of shame, guilt, sorrow, pain, insecurity, and more. These are works only God can do; no human has the ability to fill the void and depths of the heart.