I'm in the middle of a 30 day challenge with an accountability group. The challenge is to be up early each morning, before the rest of your family, so you have time for personal devotions and are ready to serve your family with a happy heart. Every day the ladies check in on facebook with an "up and in" if they did it or an honest confession if they didn't. The last few mornings my allergies glued my eyes shut, literally. So I have "in's" but hardly any "up's". I feel like I'm trying really hard to be self disciplined, I desire to be closer to God and spend time in his Word, and I know that serving my family is something I am called to, and that fulfilling my calling is life giving. So I've been having a hard time understanding why these good things that I desire aren't playing out in my mornings. I'm looking for that thread that Russ is always talking about, the one that connects what your leaning in the Word with what Gods trying to teach you in your circumstances. And I think I found it.
2 Thess. 1:11&12 keeps popping up.
"To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
This verse has been inspiring and comforting to me.
In His Power he will fulfill our resolve for good
- to spend time with Him
- to serve my family well
- to have victory over the things (sin) that keep me from Him
- to live a life that is to His glory
In His Power he will fulfill every work of faith
- to carry me every time I say "I can't, but You can"
- to give me boldness in obedience when every thing around me says its not right, not smart, or not worth it
- to be my courage and confidence when the road ahead looks dark and impossible to travel
By His Power He will make me worthy of His calling
dictionary.com says the definition of worthy is:
- having adequate or great merit, character, or value
- of commendable excellence or merit; deserving
Deserving. By His power He will make me deserving of what He has called me to. Because I'm not deserving. On my own, in what I think is my own power but is really nothing more than my dressed up weakness, I am completely ineffective. Undeserving of the life he has called me to, unable to taste the fullness of life that He is offering me. A life of joy. A life worth living. A life that brings glory to Him. But by His power I can have all of those things, I can do all of those things! All I have to do is ask, and keep asking. Paul says in this verse that "to this end we always pray for you". What a comfort to know that I have a God who loves me and wants to give me this best life! But at the same time understands me, knowing that if I didn't have to keep asking I would forget Him.
But there's more.
In His power He will fulfill our resolve for good. Ultimately, what I want is a life of obedience, a life that is satisfied by God. Piper says,
"God is most glorified by us when we are most satisfied by Him."
But what I've been learning this week is that sometimes the obedience that he calls me to looks a lot different than I think it should. Sometimes my obedience is to resolve to do better, be more disciplined. And sometimes my obedience is to resolve to accept the circumstances He's allowed that are out of my control and not get hung up on what I think life's supposed to look like. Either way it only happens "by His Power".
Its easy for me to look at my mornings and get discouraged and feel like a failure. A mood that would, no doubt, carry on through the day and make my whole family miserable. But sometimes that "best life" He has for me doesn't include my best intentions and good things. Sometimes the baby has been up all night. Sometimes I'm, or one, or all of my family is sick. Sometimes my plan, my schedule gets thrown off. Sometimes that's a good thing. Because sometimes God is teaching me a different kind of obedience. But even then the truth of all obedience remains the same, it can only be done in His Power.
And the best part is that it's all
"So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."
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