Balance

Lately, I have felt a bit unbalanced.  It seems like life is just kind of passing me by.  I don’t want to live life like that, I want to live with intentionality and purpose for each day and for every decision I make.  I want every ounce of my life to be directed towards Christ and His purpose and glory.   Feelings of unbalance and restlessness should be a sign to us that it’s time to take a step back, to go away, and spend some quiet time with the Father.  Yes, I know and sense God beckoning me to come away and spend some quiet time with Him.

Being alone with God is so important to the development of our faith.  We have to be intentional about carving out times for rest and renewal, because if we don’t our souls will be a mess inside.  Sometimes I think we are too afraid though to carve out times for rest because the quiet scares us.  It is in the quiet moments that God comes to us and shows us our true selves.  In the quiet we come face to face with the sadness, sorrow, or guilt we feel in our souls, and not to mention, the lies of the Enemy.  Busyness keeps us from really coming face to face with the reality of what’s going on in our hearts, so we run, we keep busy.  It’s really a coping mechanism, which unfortunately keeps us from experiencing true wholeness and everlasting peace which comes from intimacy with the Father.  Because the nagging thoughts don’t stop, they are still there.  The thoughts of inadequacy, doubt, fear, and a need to control, etc. linger.  You see the Enemy really truly does want to destroy us and one of the places he goes is our minds.  But the wonderful and marvelous truth is, is that we can come face to face with these lies in confidence with the Word of God and we can live as overcomers.  We don’t have to be held captive by them anymore.   We really can walk in freedom and “…take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:5b)

You see God is constantly calling us to Him.  He is so near to us.  He longs to speak to us, to heal us, to free us, but often times without even knowing it we move away from God.  This is why we must carve out time to be quiet and still before the Lord, waiting with anticipation and hope that He will speak.  We can draw near to Father; it’s a promise of scripture!  “Come near to God and He will come near to you...” (James 4:8a)

Yes, there is so much more for us in Christ.  It means digging deep, being real, authentic, and honest about what goes on in our own hearts.  The more I dig the more I realize I need Jesus, but isn’t this the beauty of it all?  The more authentic we are and real about our sin and brokenness, confessing it to the Father, the more He can dig that out and replace it with His love and the gracious power of the Holy Spirit.  It takes intentionality and a heart of true submission, because when we “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) The Holy Spirit will help us.  In fact, without the Holy Spirit there’s no way we can overcome, but with Him and His power we will demolish strongholds and find rest!