blah!

I got into a sort-of-spat with my husband this evening, I have asked God for forgiveness for it because I know that it is at least half my fault. I have not asked my husband's forgiveness...It is so much harder to ask forgiveness from a human than it is to ask God. I know that God will forgive me, but a human may have no desire to do so. NOT that my husband won't forgive me, but with other people, I am much less likely to be forgiven, and then it is just awkward. 

I have been VERY sluggish with my QTs lately. I've been thinking so much about other things (work, home improvement, visiting family, trying to start an online business...which is not going so well) that I have neglected what should be the most important part of my day. I don't know why I continue to do this. 

WHY is it so easy to break a good habit and replace it with a bad one?

I guess that would be the devil at work, he loves to use distraction in my life to make me less Christ centered. There is so much that I want to do, and even though I prioritize every day, I am always ending my day feeling behind. 

I cannot see an answer to this issue. I think it will be my continual thorn in my side. Unless I am able to cut some things out of my day...but I do not see that happening either, at least not for a while. And life will only get more busy as the new year arrives with family member #4.

Lord, help me see perspective. This life is but a season, whether or not I finish my day feeling accomplished; whether or not I end this month ahead, whether or not I make all the right choices this year, whether or not I end this life with money. Whatever happens, you will always be there, standing by silently. Guiding and teaching whenever I am willing to seek the truth.

"Lead me in your truth and guide me, for you are the God of my salvation, for you I will wait all the day long." Ps 25:5

The Grace Awakening, Chapter 6

I know that it has been forever since the last post, I have been awful at quiet times lately. It only takes a day of forgetting to get out of the habit, why is that?

Anyway...

Chapter 6 was good, Charles talk about the slavery of sin and the fact that our slave master (Satan) wants us to live in that sin and think that it is freedom. It's true, so many people do.

I do not really think that I am living in this falsehood. I certainly sin sometimes, but I don't feel that I "continue to sin that grace may abound," as it says in Romans 6.

I need to study through Romans again someday, but it is so deep and I find it hard to follow, but it was good to walk through Romans 6 with Charles. He said that you need to KNOW that you are free. Our Identity has been changed since we accepted Christ. We are like a fabric dipped in red die, changed forever, one with Christ.

He also said that you need to CONSIDER ourselves to be dead to sin.

And lastly, to PRESENT ourselves to God as free.

p. 112: Not only must there be intelligent calculation (consider) based on true information (know), there also has to be a presentation of ourselves to God.

The Grace Awakening, Chapter 5

I skipped chapter 4. Chapter 3 was just so hard to get through that I thought that I would just skip through a few other chapters and be done with this book.

but...

This chapter was actually quite interesting and engaging for me. It was all about fighting for your liberty in the face of legalism.

Liberty is freedom from something or freedom to do something. We are free to live the way that God has made us, regardless of how he leads others. 

Legalism is an attitude based in pride. Legalists conform to artificial standards and often try to force others to do the same. They may do this in one of 3 different ways:

1. doctrinal heresy: This happens when people twist the word of God to meet their own agenda (Fred Phelps and his band of followers)
2. ecclesiastical harassment: It makes me think of the neighbor who looks through their window to make sure that everyone is doing everything exactly right and reports it when the grass is an inch too long or the car didn't make it into the driveway or...They spy so that they can point out the faults of others and try to get them to conform.
3. and hypocrisy: Those who lie and deceive. Denying faults in the face of opposition.

So what is the response? Of course don't be a legalist, but also stand against them:

1. stand firm in your faith
2. stop seeking the favor of others
3. live honestly, know the truth and live by it.

I don't know if I fall into this trap all the time, but I do know that I have been deceived in the past. Lord, help me to seek truth daily and be certain of the truth that I live by.

Follow up: Galatians 5.