'prone to wander Lord i feel it
prone to leave the God i love...'
{come thou fount of every blessing}
no matter how deep our longing for the things of God, even our longing for Christ himself, the fact remains that we live in mortal bodies with hearts of flesh. sin rules this world. darkness hovers over it. and as full of light as we may be with the glory of the creator residing inside us, our minds and hearts remain under perpetual attack. i don't think we are 'prone to wander' because we don't have enough faith, or we don't love Jesus enough. i believe it's because the enemy is waging a constant battle for our failure. our spirits may be willing, but our flesh is weak. we may believe, but we may need help overcoming our unbelief. {mark 9:24}
with this in mind, i read psalm 141. as David expressed his desire for protection from such sin, in both word and deed, i too realize my weakness. my desperate need for a hand to hold to keep me steady and balanced. to keep me from drifting and falling.
and listen. in my minds eye, i don't simply imagine my small hand being held by a big strong hand as we walk along the beach...although that would be lovely. but no.
what i see is a narrow trail along a jagged, rock strewn mountain top. me slipping, groping, dangling. a massive, muscular arm reaching down just as i can't hold on any longer and clutching my forearm as i seize his. when i drift, i fall. when i let go, i fail.
don't let yourself inch toward the edge. even in subtle ways. sometimes it may seem harmless... but the inevitable fall will have devastating consequences.
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks... {matthew 12:34}
'unless the fountain of life is kept pure, the streams of life will soon be polluted'... {Spurgeon}
i don't want to be a drifter. to aimlessly wander or simply be carried along by the current of society.
rather, i want to decide to be focused. to be careful.
my verse for the month of August is:
Psalm 141:3+4
'take control of what i say, o Lord, and guard my lips.
don't let me drift toward evil or take part in acts of wickedness.
don't let me share in the delicacies of those who do wrong'
what's yours?
3 comments:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14
I wanna be like Jesus - as a husband, father, businessman, and worship leader, I want my heart's meditation to be a reflection of my God.
John 6:37b (GW): "I will never turn away anyone who comes to me."
What an inspiring verse! So many people refuse to get saved because he or she feels that they have done too many bad things! They feel like they need to clean themselves up more before they can get saved! But this verse shows that God will accept anyone who comes to Jesus and repents of their sins.
Once you come to Jesus, you can take comfort in the following verse:
John 6:47 (GW): "I can guarentee this truth: Every believer has eternal life."
So once you are saved, you don't have to worry about staying saved or losing salvation. Jesus said that every believer has eternal life. Being saved and having eternal life is a "state of being" not doing! Once you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, you simply are saved. It becomes part of who you are---a Child of God! You might mess up and stumble here and there, but since you are a believer, you still have eternal life!
How wonderful is that?! :)
My scripture is actually my life's theme scripture....Isaiah 61:1-3
1)The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
2)and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
3)to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
I love the Lord, and desire to be used by him daily...my mission field is my home, my family, my work place, my neighborhood...just to be aware of those around me, who may be hurting, desiring a way out of their troubles... not being so self absorbed in my own life. Here I am Lord, send me!!
Crystal, you have been used so amazingly by the Lord. Not sure if you remember me, but we went to South Jr. High, and Katella together I was one year ahead of you, and we were on homecoming court together. I helped with the Christian Club we had at lunch time. It's been a delight and great listening to your music through the years, and was blessed when as a surprise, you came to Mariners Church in Irvine to sing for worship last month....the Holy Spirit filled the place. What a blessing.
My middle daughter Whitnee just got back from a mission trip to Romania for this summer. Her adventures have been blogged at whitneecrystal.blogspot.com if you'd like to read how God has used her, and continues to use her.
I love reading your blogs, but never comment till now. Lord bless you Crystal and your family!!
Karyn Carson :-)
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