I'm amazed at how my Savior can take any and every circumstance around me to show me more about him. My prayer has always been that this journey of life I'm on would continually bring honor and glory to him, so by using every opportunity; my mistakes, my successes, and my day-to-day adventures, he teaches me how to use it for his glory. This life he blessed me with is ALL about him! So, these are my thoughts, my heart cries, and my lessons from his glorious Word. These are the teachable moments from my Savior!

Psalm 25:4-5 "Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."

Thursday, February 23, 2012

What Do You Long For?

I Corinthians 10:23

“Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive.

I recently began a Bible study with an amazing group of sisters in Christ! I get so excited when I see how God places people together by his divine appointments and begins to knit our hearts together for his glory! This study has been on my heart for some time and as God was directing my path into this area of group Bible study, it was amazing to see how he laid every brick in the path to see it come to fruition. We are in our second week and already tremendous growth is taking place.

God’s Word states in I Cor. 10:23 that “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive.

As I began to pray over that verse, the Holy Spirit really began opening my heart to some things in my own life. There are many things in my own life that bring honor to my Lord, but there are also many things in my life that may not be the most beneficial to lead others to see Jesus in the divine glory he deserves. Now, this is not an easy thing to swallow. Looking into the depths of your soul and asking God to bring about the dirt and grime of your life so that he can wipe it clean is somewhat of an unpleasant experience. But looking at it from the perspective of leading others to the throne of Jesus and having sweet fellowship with him, then I welcome his “clean house” approach! Hallelujah!

Daily we are given choices from what we wear, to what we eat, what we say and how we treat others, and the list goes on. Are we giving thought and prayer into what is actually beneficial and constructive for the kingdom of God? From studying God’s Word and experiencing God in my life day in and day out, I know that I was made to crave, or long for him. He is the essence of my being and my heart’s desire is to fan that flame brightly for him!

Psalm 84:1-2 “How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; 
my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

When my focus is on him and I participate in that intimate fellowship with him daily, then I will continue to crave his presence and do his will. We crave what we spend time on most, right? Whether that is watching TV, eating, texting, facebooking, or whatever takes up most of our time; that is what we will crave. Though those things in and of themselves are not wrong, if they take up that longing in our hearts that is designed to be occupied by God then those things are not beneficial. I want to be the person God made me to be and crave my glorious Lord. I want my thoughts and my actions to not only be beneficial, but I want them to bring God the magnificent glory that he ultimately deserves!

I challenge you to pray over these verses this week. Read through God’s Word and know how special you are to him and that you were made to crave him! Ask him to bring to your heart the things in your life that are not beneficial to his kingdom’s work and replace them with things that build up the kingdom. Great things will happen in your life dear friends. His Word will dramatically change your life and bring you to that sweet dwelling place where the LORD Almighty resides! There’s no sweeter place to be!

Blessings~

Allison

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