Do you feel like a steady person? One who can face life’s challenges with a steady heart?
For many years I felt like the person this verse described…
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Ephesians 4:14
I felt like an infant. I didn’t know how to ground myself in the Truth. I certainly didn’t know how to do what these next verses describe…
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him Who is the head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows, and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:15-16
Then I began to pray…
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within Me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:10-12
I began to realize that I must always remember the joy of salvation if I want to be steady. I must also maintain a willing spirit to be sustained. Willing to do what? You may be asking. Willing to listen. Willing to obey. Willing to forgive. Willing to always follow God in a childlike trust. The worst thing I could ever do is believe that I have somehow outgrown utter and complete dependence upon God.
Yes, we should mature in Him. But what I’ve discovered is the more I mature in Him, the more I realize how much I need Him. He is my focus. He is my constant Confidant. He is the ear Who needs to hear my complaints. He is my very best Friend.
When we allow God access to our entire life and invite Him into every part of every day, then we become steady.
Is it important to be steady? Yes, it is if you want to be lacking in nothing.
Consider these verses…
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4
I wonder, when is the last time you counted it joy when you faced a problem? Have you ever thanked God for the troubles in your life?
I never would have considered it before, but a few years ago, while pondering these verses and living through a tidal wave of one problem after another, I began to thank God. I would thank Him for the troubles and thank Him for already having a solution waiting to be found by me. I began to thank Him for loving me enough to allow these trials to mature me. I thanked Him for creating ways for me to be made perfect and complete, lacking nothing. I still consistently thank Him for all these things.
I wonder how this perspective might also change your life. It has revolutionized mine…and it also turned what the enemy was using as weapons against me, into weapons I use against him. Now that is a true victory.
365 Days in the Presence 