Invitation to faith...

Today, I was doing a review of one session of the Beth Moore study, A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place, and I was reminded that whatever is inviting me to fear at the moment is God's invitation to faith. Do you do this? A circumstance that you have prayed so many times about comes up again. You feel 'bad' to come to God again, and so you go about your day...your week...without coming to God..waiting to feel 'good' again before coming back to God. Well, I pretty much felt this today and then Beth reminded me that I need to bring all my emotional stuff, my needs for today into the light of His Presence daily. He is the only One whose Truth can dispel the darkness, the confusion, the 'bad' feelings you can't define.

Even though it may sound like grumbling or whining (remember the Israelites), God is able to look beneath the 'sinful' response to the root. Could it be fear that God will not come through again that keeps me from coming to Him, that maybe I am not valuable enough to Him for Him to 'deliver' me? Or it could be pride that I have to take control here. I need to be self-sufficient instead of on my knees as the the worldly adage floods my mind, "God helps those who help themselves". That is so humiliating. Yet I have been learning that it is only when we learn how to receive that we learn the secret of humility.

Read with me from Lamentations 3:19-26 (The Holy Bible, NIV version)

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Pray with me in the light of God's truth:
Father, we thank You that because of Your great love, we are not consumed. We thank You that Your compassions never fail, that they are new every morning. Yet I confess that so many mornings I do not avail or come to get this daily 'manna' that my soul requires for the day's challenges. Please forgive me. You know my needs for today. Here, take them, because I cannot handle them. Because You are my portion, I will wait quietly for You. Fill me with the peace that passes all understanding as Your Spirit lets me grasp that my Hope is You alone. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus' Name, Amen.