Growing in God

We must each continue to take a personal inventory as we grow in understanding and effectiveness in our individual walk with God.

This is not a one-time project, nor is it an over-night matter; it will last our lifetime as we watch for signs of selfishness, dishonesty, resentment and fear. When we find these cropping up, we must ask God at once to remove them. As has been said, "God does not hold us guilty just because birds land in our branches, but it is another thing if we let them roost and build nests there." As long as we live in our bodies, we cannot be counted as "cured" from our fleshly sin nature. What we have, instead, is essentially a daily reprieve, contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual walk with God.

Psalms 42:5 Why are you so downcast, my soul? Why so distressed within me? Put your hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. (v.8) By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me -- a prayer to the God of my life.

Happiness cannot be sought directly; it is a by-product of love and service. Service is a law of our being. With love in your heart, there will always be some service being done to other people. A life of power and joy and satisfaction is built on love and service. Those who hate or are selfish are cutting themselves off from God and other people. Little acts of love and encouragement, of service and help, erase the rough places of life and help to make the path smooth. If we do these things, we cannot help having our share of happiness.

Job 28.27 The God looked at wisdom and appraised it. He confirmed it and tested it. (v.29) And He said to man, "The fear of the Lord -- that is widom & to shun evil is understanding.

Father, we pray that we do not grow weary in our attempts to the right thing. Although we will have days in which our harps are tuned to mourning and our flutes to the sound of wailing, we will endure in the strength of the hope You give us until the sun re-appears. For we know that the sun does not go away just because the clouds roll in. Even so, You continue to supply our next breath every minute as we live and breath and have our existence in You. Thank You for supplying our every need -- You are our source for all we have and all we hope to be.

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