After spending the last couple of weeks engulfed in the faith portion of my Mom's journal, I've come to know my faith needs to work out more. I so easily lose my sight of God's goodness whenever the littlest opposition rolls my way. Why? I wish I had a ready answer. But the why is not what holds me back. It's the excuses. How can I believe when...., everything seems against me, nothing works out the way I want.....blah blah blah. It becomes a downward spiral of mistrust and frustration that I have to fight my way out of just to get back to even ground. This is not where God wants me to live. And I don't want to build my house here either. One of the problems I see, for myself and maybe for you as well, is that I base my faith on how I feel that day. Feeling good physically, mentally....faith is strong and sure. Wake up feeling achy, tired, down and faith flies out the window. This too, is not God's plan. Faith stays steady when all around and inside does not.
So as I was jogging the other day, I was listening to a Joyce Meyer podcast as is my habit (and a good habit it is!) and something she said really struck a chord for me, and I don't remember the exact words but the gist of it was that change doesn't happen until the excuses go. What a insightful concept. Seems simple, right? But oh how we love to hang on to our excuses...we are so justified in our disbelief.
And this is not just applicable to exercising faith. It can be applied to any area of our lives. Live with anger? What excuses are you using to hold on to it? It's everyone else fault that I can't be happy and at peace because they do this or that or the other thing. How about gossip? Well, everyone else does it. I feel funny just walking away or not joining in. And how about the biggie....overeating (ugh!!). Just this once. I'll eat less tomorrow. I feel so down today, I need a little treat. And yes I've used all of those. LOL But I think you get what I am trying to say here. None of our bad habits, our sin, our weaknesses will every be overcome without losing the excuses first. The Bible is full of can do expressions, why aren't we using them!?!?
Philippians 4:13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
1 Corinthians 15:57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
These are some very powerful Words. While these are general and are "right for all circumstances" Scriptures, there are many verses in the Bible that can speak to more specific areas in our lives we wish to change. It's our job to seek them out and apply them to our hearts, minds and lives. Something else Joyce mentioned: hearing, loving, receiving, obeying. That is what we must do with the Word of God. Lose the excuses for why we can't obey what we've heard from God.
Oh, I have so much work to do!! So much to let the Holy Spirit have His way in my heart! I am so thankful for progress that has been made and look forward to what the Lord will continue to change in me on the path of life. I pray that this "no excuses" visit has created a spark in your heart as it has mine.
Lord, help us to let go of any and all excuses for disobedience, unbelief, and just plain staying in place instead of moving forward with You. Let us step out of our comfortable cages of faithlessness, anger, indulgence, people pleasing...whatever prisons we have set ourselves up in and made our homes and step into the wide open plains of freedom that you would have us run and rejoice in. There are mountains to climb for sure, but the view from the top will be incredible because we will stand there with You and see the victory. No excuses!!
Examine your heart today, find one area you constantly make excuses in and find a Scripture or two or three to meditate on. Let it empower you to overcome
Romans 8:37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
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