TODAY’S INSPIRATION:PRESS ON!

 “And I knew that any words and actions in this moment, like all moments, spoke powerfully of the God within me” _Author Unknown

This quote is profound. We have to be very careful of those moments. The moments where we can either pass the test or we can fail to show the God within us. When we fall short (and we will sometimes) we must be quick to repent. God is fully aware of our sinful nature and everything we do, but because Jesus lived perfect, died, and rose again, He has already purchased our perfection. God sees us as perfectly righteous in Christ. In God’s eyes we have been perfected by virtue of being joined to Jesus by faith, which frees us from needing to earn approval through perfectionism, from God or anyone else. Thank God for Jesus and the free gift of grace, God who knows everything, knew that it would be impossible for us to earn! So even though we may sin, we can be forgiven, saved, sanctified, and changed. This does not give us a free pass to sin, like Apostle Paul, we should pursue perfection and holiness because that is what Christ has called us to be. We will never be a model of perfection in this life, because this journey is a process of sanctification as we continue to learn to walk in Christ’s ways. One day we will be perfected, but in the meantime, God wants us to surrender to the work of the Spirit within us and to the commands of Scripture so that Christ can keep working in us to make us more like Him. Remember God promised us He will never leave us. He is always with us, even when we fall short. We may leave Him because sin will tear us apart, but He is always there waiting to welcome us to repent and return. We cannot let our sinful nature or this world’s chaos distract us from focusing on God. Pastor Joseph Prince stated, “We should be less sin conscious and more Christ conscious.” I agree. The devil, who is the father of sin, loves for us to focus on our wrongs instead of Christ’s righteousness. God wants us to proclaim His goodness to the world. We want others to be drawn to the Good News of the Gospel because they see it alive in us, through our triumphs, trials, and also in spite of our imperfections. It is easy to praise God and do a victory dance when God answers prayers the way we expect, or He gives us what we want when we want it. However, can we press on and praise Him even when things look tough or we don’t get what we want? Can we admit that God is our strength in our weakness? Better yet, can we praise Him for just being God? If we can do these things, then others will be drawn to God, because of the light they see in us, regardless of our situation, circumstances, or our shortcomings. God is our strength for today and our hope for tomorrow. If we trust this and focus on God’s plan for our life, His purpose, His perspective, He will guide us through our journey. And we can expect our journey to be full of peace and joy, moving forward to obtaining the ultimate prize, eternal life. Knowing this we can press on!  Love and Blessings….

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus had also laid hold of me” (Philippians 3:12)

“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 1:6)