No post tonight

I've spent most of the last week getting over the flu. Yes, today marks the start of the second week of summer, and I spent it sick in bed.

So, no post this week. Come back next Sunday.

Happy Father's Day

I had some things I wanted to write about this week, but I'm setting them aside. They don't seem so important now and must not have been in the first place, as I cannot remember them very clearly.

I just want to take the time to say Happy Father's Day. I don't know if anyone of you reading this is a father, but you have one, and I hope that you can and do appreciate what a good father does.

I've never really talked much about my parents on this blog before, but today is the day to make the exception. Before I got saved, I wasn't close to my dad even though we lived in the same house. I was basically scared of my dad, particularly because I was unemployed and didn't have any prospects at the time. I would go for days at a time where I wouldn't leave the house, and I was essentially a bundle of nerves. He was basically supporting me and I had nothing to show for it.

That said, I can look back and realize how foolish I was being. My dad loved and cared for me, and provided for me when by all rights, he could've tossed me out. The Lord was providing for me even then, when I couldn't even begin to see what He was doing for me.

Dad and I really began to get close when I got saved. I could respond to him in love rather than fear. Both he and Mom had been praying for me, because they knew things hadn't been right with me. I could begin to love and appreciate my Dad in a way I couldn't before.

Earlier this year, Dad had a health scare that forced him to make some serious changes to his diet and lifestyle. It made me stop and think about all the things of which I was afraid he would miss out. I want my parents to meet the woman I bring home to meet them, to see me become a husband, and maybe even become a father.

I love my dad, and I thank God that he knows that I do. I thank God for him.

Gratitude and God's goodness

I gave some thought to skipping this week's post. I didn't have much in mind to write, and my motivation to keep writing has diminished. I'd be lying if I knew why the few readers o have even hang with it.

Truth be told, there are many times when I don't feel like sitting down to write, but just not wanting to doesn't seem like good enough a reason not to do it. I don't typically feel like going to work, as I don't really enjoy what I do, because the reason to go (making a living, people depending on me, God tasking me to labor faithfully as anyone else) outweigh the reasons not to do it (not liking what I do).

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." I'd like to say I always do this, but I don't. No believer ever always does thing to God's glory. We may be forgiven but we're still sinners. I'm not always happen in my circumstances, and I've been known to have a grumbling attitude when it comes to my job. But, the Lord provided for that need, and has sustained me in difficult moments when it sometimes felt like I was on my own. In those moments, I grumble and complain, but afterwards God stirs my heart to gratitude and thanks.

I hope that I glorify God in what I write tonight. Too often I've written things, especially on the old blog, that were obviously nothing more than complaints. They may have been cathartic to write, but I'm sure they weren't very interesting to read. Certainly, they weren't written with the intent of honoring the Lord.

This doesn't mean I can't choose to do things differently in the future, or even the present. In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul writes of "forgetting what lies behind, and reaching forward to what lies ahead" (Phil. 3:13 NASB). A major area in which I struggle is letting go of past mistakes, times in the last where I sinned when I could've avoided them, had I leaned on the Lord to protect and deliver me in those times of temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13) Certainly, I can allow these moments to trouble me, and I am convinced Satan wants me to be troubled by them, as they can cause me to doubt the forgiveness God has given me through His Son, Jesus.

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By the way, looking back to the first paragraph of this post, here's a tip for when you're not sure what to say: pray to God that He will give you the right words to say. He knows what you want to say, and will show you how. Just trust in Him.

A much-needed reminder of God's grace and forgiveness

Today was the first time in about three weeks that I made it into church. Long ago, I realized that I really suffer spiritually when I don't attend church like I should. Going into church today, I heard a message that I really needed to hear.

The past few weeks, I've really been struggling spiritually. My thoughts have been bitter and angry, with so much hostility toward God and others. I've felt like I've been spinning my wheels, not sure what I was doing or where I was going in my life. I felt like so much old sin was raising out of me, as I was a very angry and bitter person before I got saved. I wanted to do right, but I truly believe I was being goaded by Satan to be hateful and angry at God for my own failures as a believer.

This morning in Doulos, we heard a message from Colossians chapter 2:11-16 (NIV):

11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh[b] was put off when you were circumcised by[c] Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[e]

The point Paul was making to the Colossian church was that the externals of religion do not matter to God, as God Himself cares about the internal transformation He Himself performs in the life of a believer at the point of salvation. When we are saved, God puts away the old sin nature from the redeemed person and brings about the new creation in that person (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

The message was both convicting and encouraging. I was convicted by the fact that, as of late, I've been trying to do good on my own. When we actually do that which pleases God, it is actually God's power at work in us. Any work we try to do on our own is useless and ultimately futile (Psalm 94:11). 

The encouragement for me came with the reminder that any thing that had to be done to have the blessings of love and forgiveness had already been accomplished by the Lord Himself. I realized that when I was saved, I had nothing that I could ever possibly offer to God to warrant His forgiveness, but that I had never considered that He already knew all that, and elected to save me. it was both very humbling and encouraging, and it made my heart glad. I came home, prayed for forgiveness for not trusting God as I should, and now I feel unburdened.

I'm glad. i have joy, real joy that I haven't felt in a long time. If I had to leave you readers with everything, it's that if you're struggling with having joy in your walk, ask God to show what's keeping you from having joy, whatever it may be, confess and turn from it, and thank God for His forgiveness.