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In preparation for the spiritual warfare retreat I'm going on this week, perhaps there is a reason this is at one of the most inconvenient times of the semester for me. A spiritual warfare retreat in the critical, pivotal point of large papers due both before and after..but I realized that's not my problem. My problem is...These are the things I value more than God:
- ability to do homework
- time to do homework
- friends
- control over my body through food
- control over my body through sleep
I renounce these things I have held as idols over God. Through the blood of Jesus Christ I have been cleansed from my sins, and can now live a life victorious in Christ. It is through Christ that I am able to put these things in the proper place in my life.
It is obvious that the Lord is doing some work in your heart. Thanks for posting. It is awesome to see your vulnerability for Christ so transparently. Keep up the great work J-Dawg. Jesus is refining away and making you shine inside and out. :)
Some things this post makes me think about: On one occasion I reflected on why I was grumpy and I traced it back to not getting enough sleep the night before and I found myself demanding to God that I deserve a full nights rest. As soon as I thought it I realized how silly that was. I don't deserve anything from God except His wrath. And thankfully He spared me of that. Now any extra goodness I receive is just icing on the cake. Another example that got me thinking is our water heater which is broken (I pray that it gets fixed soon). As much as I shiver through my shower though, I find an opportunity to praise Him cuz not even this petty ornery thing can separate me from His love. I guess that's why fasting is so important, it reminds us that we must rely on Him more than we do on bread and water. The things we need to survive aren't as important as He is. It's so much more fulfilling to live life this way, like the birds and the flowers rather than living to "get what's mine". Ironically, Much Afraid, a character from my favorite book, Hinds Feet on High Places, learns this from a flower named Acceptance-With-Joy who lives in the desert and gets by with a few drops of water that comes by happenstance.
I also like how Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes about Christ, "By calling us he has cut us off from all immediacy with the things of this world. He wants to be the centre, through him alone all things shall come to pass. He stands between us and God, and for that very reason he stands between us and all other men and things. He is the Mediator, not only between God and man, but between man and man, between man and reality."
Thanks for the post!