The painful thing about the Christian life is that sometimes we don't learn until we bear the consequences of our mistakes. "Be watchful (sober-minded) and alert, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith..."  An icky feeling came upon me when I realized my lack of alertness and watchfulness... I guess if felt that way because I realized it along with the consequences of not being alert and watchful.

Reflections that came out of it

On failing...

The worse kind of consequences for our mistakes- our sins is not the kind that we have to bear by ourselves - the worse kind of consequences are the ones that hurt the ones we care about. A feeling of helplessness is felt when we look upon the shattered glass and realize there is nothing we can do to gather the pieces and stick them back together - we cannot fix it. And then comes the temptation to dwell upon it, and I guess it feels good for a moment to be hard on ourselves and to blame ourselves and to punish ourselves. It is as if we are fixing something by punishing ourselves.

Nuh Uh! God's Grace helps us to understand how foolish that is. There is liberation in placing our faults at the foot of the cross. Understanding Jesus Christ helps us to grab onto the Grace of God, allow Him to cleanse us, allow Him to purify us from all unrighteousness - and then we lift our head and learn to walk again in the freedom that comes when we know He has cast our sin as far as the East is from the West. Are the consequences still there??? - YUH!

Some consequences we bear the rest of our lives until we are lifted up into Glory. But we learn to Trust Him to take care of the mess. We learn that by His strength we can live joyfully while bearing the earthly consequence of our failures, understanding that God can make good come out of it, even if at the moment it is impossible for any good to come out of it.

On blessings...

I am learning the value of certain blessings God places in our lives. Since these blessings are valuable,  they are also tough - they are tough in a way that it is not only challenging, but also humbling to the believer He entrusts it to. The rewards however are eternal. Pastor Jireh's repeated phrase he has mentioned quite often in his sermons ring in my heart - "God cares more about your character than He cares about your comfort." I define character as-- our closeness to Him, and our likeness to Him.

Romans 8:28 "For I know in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose." What is this purpose???
Romans 8:29 "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

I am thinking that some blessing can only be enjoyed along with the toughness that comes with it... why? Well in my life I am convicted and have concluded that blessings become curses when we forget the Blesser. Of course I might be wrong about my next observation, but I find the toughness inbedded in the blessing as glue to the Blesser. See... I think the Greatest Gift God gives us is HIMSELF - all blessings and gifts he pours into our lives are meant to point us to HIMSELF. It is foolish when we take His blessings and forget about Him - not realizing that the ultimate blessing is not in the gift itself, but in the Giver.
Hence, when God inserts some challenge and toughness in the gift - it is good and it serves to keep our focus glued to the Blesser - since without the Blesser, the gift in fact a curse. I find myself lucky when at the end of the day, even if the initial thing I thought was the gift disappears; I find my relationship with Giver has grown even closer. And when I find myself walking closer with the Giver I also realize that I am a little more conformed to the image of His Son Jesus Christ.

Gifts come in different forms some do not look like gifts at all, but the Ultimate Gift is the Giver Himself, and how he uses "gifts" to Give Himself to us.

On sanctification...

I had lunch with my twiggie today, and I realized I found a sanctification identifier in my life - I told twig (and I am kinda rephrasing it now) - "I think when something causes me to get on my knees and I have no choice to depend on God and be desperate for Him, some major sanctification is going on in my life"

"Bring me joy bring me peace, bring the chance to be free, bring me anything that brings you glory, and i know there will be days when this life brings me pain, but if that's what it takes to praise you, Jesus bring the rain" Mercy Me.

We are stubborn, stiff-necked people!

I have at least three friends who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and they know without HIM their life is meaningless, but they choose to live without Him. They know that they just have to come before Him and He will receive them with love. Just like that, they can begin walking with Him again. but they know if they return to Him they have to give up their "quick fixes." Funny thing is - they know their "quick fixes" only leaves them even more empty and even more frustrated. They know what they are holding on to is crap, but they choose to trade crap for the Greatest Treasure. Why would they hold on to crap when they know God offers them living water? The bread of life? Freedom??? All this for free because Christ's blood was shed on the cross - paying the ultimate price for sin and to destroy sin in us. Maybe knowing is not enough --- I think it takes more. I think it takes God's discipline- God's rod- God's refining and God's breaking apart. He will replace their hearts of stone with hearts of flesh.

I too find myself wandering back to dry wells at times. God show me grace and utmost love and patience as he disciplined me throughout my life. He is still training me and teaching me with Grace and Love. May I likewise show utmost patience to these stubborn lambs and continue to love on them till they repent.

I remember Driscoll said this about God - "God does not love us after we repent- He keeping loving us until we repent." Well and of course that implies he doesn't stop loving us once we repent (if that's what you are thinking...)

I was reading Andrew Murray this morning. What a man of God; what spirit-filled insight he gives of the life of a Christian.
I was reading this morning...