Live For Today!

One of my mom’s favorite verses to quote is “Today is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Even though she loves to tell me this especially on the mornings when I really want to be back in bed sleeping as opposed to getting up and going to work, it has an even bigger meaning to my days.  The Lord has really been showing me that I need to focus only on today.  Not to dwell on the past things I can’t change or to worry about what tomorrow might bring, but to focus solely on today. 

When I go down the path of focusing on my past failures I am opening myself up to allowing Satan to play in my head.  Making those failures seem huge, insurmountable, and cause me to be less likely to try for fear of failure.  That fear of failure based on the past can cause us to stop dreaming, loving others, and to stop giving.  We fear the rejection and/or failure that we had experienced.  Just as the worry of what tomorrow will bring can cause us to hold back what we might do today. 

God doesn’t want us to live in a state of frustration, fear, depression, or anxiety.  He wants us to live a bold life of faith in Him that He will be our strength.  We need to focus less on how far we have left to go and start focusing on what progress we have made in our walk with God.  Think about how much you have changed since accepting God into your heart.  

So stop worrying about tomorrow and stop focusing on past failures that can’t be changed and focus on today!  Focus on what God has called you to do today.  Though we are all be tempted to get discouraged at times through our day we have to remember that God is in control and fighting your battles for you!  

When a Little Dab Won't Do

Do you remember the phrase “a little dab will do you?”  When it comes to something really strong?  Like maybe a perfume or medication?  That mentality for something strong doesn’t apply to God!  The importance of reading your Bible every day is to grow in your relationship with Christ.  After all He died for you so why wouldn’t He want a relationship with you? 

So many people think that they are good to go for the whole week as long as they go to church on Sunday morning.  It’s that “little dab will do you” mentality.  I used to be one of them!  The relationship I had with Jesus then compared to the one I have now is a completely different one. 

When I thought going to church on Sunday morning was enough, I wasn’t worshipping with my whole heart.  It wasn’t that I didn’t believe or didn’t want to hear the message or that I didn’t like the music.  It was that I thought it was enough just to be there.

But as my faith and trust in God has grown over the last several years, I have come to find that on Sunday I get to hear a message from the Bible that speaks to my heart.  I’m getting a little (sometimes big) nugget that will bring me closer to God.  It often times will relate to what I have been reading in the Bible even if its not in the same part of the Bible, but I’ve then been given confirmation on what God has been teaching me through my daily reading!

One of the main lessons I’ve learned is that God doesn’t want you to face things alone.  Whether you are facing issues with debt, depression, loss of a job, loss of a spouse or someone close to you, illness, or any other problem, God wants you to have perfect peace.  But the only way to obtain that perfect peace is to trust Him to take care of the situation for you.  He wants you to rely on Him to get you through it!  If you think about it we had some great examples of this in the Bible.  King David in 1 Samuel 30:6 “David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters.  But David found strength in the Lord his God.”  When David spent time in prayer, when his heart and mind were fixed on God, David always came through.  It was when his mind was fixed elsewhere that he failed, that he faltered.  It didn’t mean that God didn’t love him and forgive him, David had lost sight at that moment, he had taken his eyes off the one thing that gave him perfect peace… God. 

When it comes to having my heart and mind fixed on my situation I have often wondered how to change this?  It seems when I have bills coming due or any other thing that I could focus on and worry about I would find myself stewing over it.  Thoughts of how I could make it work out to be ok.  But in reality there is nothing I can do to make it ok except give it to the one who can.  Meditating instead of on things I can’t change to meditating on things that I have faith in.  Knowing that the time I spend in prayer, reading my Bible or singing worship music in my head I am finding my way to perfect peace through the situation because God has it covered.