Ding, Ding, Ding

My van has this wonderful contraption built into the system. It keeps me on track. It helps me do what is right and prevents me from having my day interrupted intentionally. The magical ding ding ding sound that comes when I leave my keys in the ignition. What a wonderful invention! I found myself smiling today as it made the sound over and over. It was a great reminder that I needed to remove my keys before removing myself and locking the doors. This made me think of the Holy Spirit and how he prompts us. When our soul is being pulled into an area of danger or sin, the Holy Spirit will begin to warn us. Yet just like those dings we hear in our automobiles, often we ignore them. We often tune it out and act without taking heed to the warning. Then we are frustrated that our keys are locked in our vehicles or that our battery is dead (the ding occurs too if the interior lights are left on) and we begin to ask WHY? We feel as if we have been let down, forgotten about and often we get angry. All because we didn't heed the warning of the ding! Think about how we react when we've lived in sin and had behaviors that do not bring Glory and honor to the Lord. When we finally stop and look around we get angry that the Lord allowed us to endure a pain or go through something. Often times the pain we carry is not from the choices we make, but there are times when we in fact brought the pain on ourselves. We chose not to die to self that day and therefore we lived in the flesh. Then we ask God where he was when _____________(Fill in the blank) happened? And though our God is a loving a merciful God, I'm sure at times he would like to respond with "I am right where you LEFT ME." Ouch. Toes officially stepped on. If we start our day with the thought that we belong to the Lord and invite him to be not just a part of our day, but be our entire day. If we give the Holy Spirit full reign in our lives to do as he pleases, then when things happen to us through out our day we can COUNT IT ALL JOY. Whoa- did I just type that? Deep breath- and big girl pill please! This scripture in Romans helps us to understand better....

Romans 8:16-26 (New Living Translation)

16 For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. 17And since we are his children, we will share his treasures -- for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20 Against its will, everything on earth was subjected to God's curse. 21 All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. 24 Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently. 26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

So you see friends, we all want the blessings of God, but we don't want the sufferings that go along with it. Yet most of our sufferings are not brought onto us because of the cross we carry- it's more about the cross we forgot to pick up. We ignored the DING DING DING. We walked out without the armor. We are stark naked and the enemy is fully aware of it too. There are those we read about who truly suffer for the cause of Christ. Typically we are not those people. We have yet to embrace that type of relationship with the Lord. That closeness. Some would be scared to be that close to the Lord. Why would we want to encourage pain and suffering? We are not people who enjoy pain. We are not people who call on suffering and invite it over for tea. We push it away. Scream for it to leave. Fight until it's gone or until we can't fight any longer. 

We must ask ourselves what is in the way of me and The Lord? What is one area of my life that I have yet to give over to the Lord to work? Am I willing to let that part go and let him have his way? Am I willing to TRUST him. Trust that he will not only see me through- but I will behold all the riches that the Lord has for me?  He didn't create us to destroy us, as my boys do with their Lego towers. He created us to please him. Why would he want us to endure anything we didn't have to? Why would he want us to deal with something so harshly that we turn away from him? We often point the finger at the wrong person. We point at the Lord and say WHY WHY WHY.... instead of putting pain-blame where it belongs... to the enemy of our souls. He seeks to kill, steal and destroy. He offers no promises and no hope for a future. Yet we bow to him daily when we fail to take up our cross. OUCH again. Still preaching to the choir. Lord help us. Be our NUMBER ONE. Help me. Teach me how to seek you with my whole heart. 

Remember, and remind me dear friend, that our biggest victories are not won on our feet, but on our knees. The clean houses, empty sinks, and organized homes are a good thing, but not the best thing. I've never worn out the knees of any pair of pants from prayer... have you? 

Convicted,

Staci