Seeing Your Need

We have authority in our walk with God. It is a part of God's promise to each of us who turn to Him, desire to know more about Him, and seek to draw closer to Him. 

We have to accept that we have no power of our own to change ourselves, no skill or talent or worth in ourselves to be of value or benefit to, or accepted by, the God we are hungry to know more about.

Once we realize that we are helpless, powerless, valueless, and need more than we can accomplish for ourselves, we can find what we need in the outstretched hands and arms of God the Father. 

It is only by seeing our need which is drawing us to Him, and realizing our inabilities which are keeping us from Him, that we realize the work Jesus did, in willingly obeying what God assigned Him to do, fills in for us since we cannot even do what *we* want to do.

Although we can be successful in life, in work, in business, in sports, in finance, we find that our outward success does not translate into inner success or address the emptiness, the personal loneliness, the sense of being unfulfilled and dissatisfied no matter how busy we stay or how much others admire or envy us from the outside.

The resistance of our personal pride of accomplishment, which tells us we don't need anything from anyone, can only be overcome when our growing sense of emptiness and hunger for something with more reality, more enduring value than what we have surrounded ourselves with so far, threatens to overwhelm us. Of what use is our sense of pride if it leaves us with a feeling of isolation, emptiness, and failure?

By giving God permission to do what He wants in our hearts and lives and minds, we find that the love of God changes our perception of what is around us. We begin to see people as having value in themselves rather than in what they can do for us. We begin to see things in their true light - stuff that will wear out, fail, and have to be replaced. 

Most of all, we see Jesus, the Son of God. He is both our loving elder brother as we are brought into the family of God, and He is the majestic and honored King over all, Who has been given His authority and power by God. 

It is He Who, by obeying God, paid the price for us to receive the gift of life -- His life -- in eternity with God. 

It is His love which fills us and changes our attitudes and colors our expressions and fills our words with new meaning when we speak to others.

It is His strength which allows us to start resisting the urges that we all have, the appetites that draw us away from the new-found sense of belonging, the self-will that tries to separate us from obedience to the caring and loving will of God.

By realizing that God desires to do us good, not harm, and by acting on that understanding by each day, throughout the day, giving Him permission and access to make changes in our hearts and minds, we start to learn what it means to walk in faith -- we act on what we believe.

As we grow to know Him better, we will find that more of our lives, more of our choices, more of our behavior can be given to Him to change. He can be Lord of all we are, helping us, guiding us to be all He wants us to be, which is so much better than what we had made of ourselves. As we walk in His ways, drawing closer to His love, enjoying the sweetness of His presence, we find we leave behind our ways and their bitter taste.

Loving God, You overwhelm us with Your love as we see more and more what You have given to us so freely. We can hardly do justice to our feelings when we try to say "Thank You," but we continue to do our best to obey You in what we say and what we do. When we fail, we know that we only have to turn back to You, leave that failure behind, and continue to walk ever closer to You in Your love. You will strengthen us as we try to live as we believe You want us to.

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