God Changes Us. He is Able

Published by Deborah Negron M.A. 2016 on Facebook

I Choose to Look Forward…

Psalm 30
1 I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2 O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

If I continue looking back
I lose sight of God’s plan for my life.
If I consider all the sorrow and suffering
I will be pulled back in to despair.
The Lord’s desire is that we walk in faith. When we walk in faith we are not walking with human reasoning. We are not considering our strategies. We are not premeditating how we will act if the worst occurs.

My Motus Operandi has been to calculate, examine, compare, deduce, manipulate and walk with much trepidation. It has been to look at statistics and odds and trust in human judgment.
God has moved us away from human logic and objective reasoning. He wants us to consider reality in light of His Word.

To the human eye, a loser will always be a loser. A vagabond will always be just that. A immoral person must be the one we guard ourselves against.

Faith takes us to borders never before crossed. In Acts chapter 10, we find the historical and life changing moment for the Apostle Peter. He as a jew, was always to follow the law. The specific patterns, rituals, customs and forms of it were what made him who he was.
What he ate, where he communed, how he practiced his faith was in relevance to his particular experience and family heritage.

But when we come to Christ, He changes our DNA. He changes our past. He draws us to a higher order of thinking. Peter had no fellowship with the gentiles.
As a good practicing jew he was not to partake of anything with pagans.
But God! But God! God changes things. He changes our limited minds and opens us to his great love and mercy.
He gave Peter a vision where he sees animals that were against his cultural and religious beliefs…
God tells him to kill and to eat.
That is, take part of, consume, have fellowship, sit and dine. This was a cultural crisis for Peter. This was a matter not yet considered. Later, God reveals a man named Cornelius whom Peter would minister to. God took Peter out of his schema. He takes us out of his thoughts of stereotyping. God changed his mindset. God caused him to consider the Power of the cross and the death and resurrection of Christ, Holy Spirit gave Peter Christ’s new revelation… His new heritage….His new way of thinking.
He drew Peter to the very heart of God.

Jesus not only came for the jew but also to be the Christ for the gentile.

He came not for the wealthy only, but for the poor. He came to end social classes. He came to straighten crooked thinking.
Scripture tells us that, from every creed and tongue, from every tribe and every nation, there will be a remnant.

In Philippians 2 it states,
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus came to take away division and impart wisdom. There is a great Divide however! Those that believe and those that reject him.
It is in each person’s choice and free will to decide what side they are on.

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

I choose not to look back at my past, my failures, my shortcomings, my frailty. I choose only to look back at the day when my sins were forgiven.

I choose to consider God’s great love.
Looking within brings sorrow, looking to Him gives us hope, a purpose, a motivation a determination to serve Him all the more.
He is our strength, our shield, our eternal hope. He is the Lifter of our head.
Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of Our Faith.

I will Seek you More Earnestly Lord.

I will look forward and anticipate your moving in my life. You order my steps.