Friday, December 11, 2009

Sovereignty

Here's a morning message to myself as a believer in a letter form:

Good Morning,

First of all, there's nothing you can do to make today better or worse than God has planned. The decisions you make in these early moments of your day have nothing to do with your day and everything to do with your heart. Christianity isn't sorcery. You have no power. Your preferences are irrelevant. This day is about submission. God has planned everything today and asked for no advise. You can't love God as you are trying to influence Him. You must aim to do one or the other. This requires radical trust. Pray for your agenda to match His, not for His sake, but yours. Pray for His strength. Get in His Word. Pray it as you read it. As your mind wanders away into the perceived troubles of the day, place those troubles and challenges on the table of prayer. Capture anxieties and fear. They are trying to steal life and energy that belongs to and must be harnessed by faith. Imagine Mary's heart as, in Luke 2:34-35, "Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.'” Did she pray against this? Did she "not receive this word?" Of course not! Clay doesn't bargain with The Potter. It is your task today to be soft in The Potter's hands, willing for and committed to His shaping. Let your soul be pierced by the Word of God. Let your heart be revealed and neither apologize for nor downplay all that rises and falls by the hand of God. He knows what He's doing, and you don't. This is not a source of frustration, but the only source for the "peace that passes understanding."


Would you write a similar letter to yourself today? Would it be different? Simeon prophetically reported "the child's" destiny to his mother, Mary, as a future fact. What parts of your life have this same sense to them?

1 comment:

  1. Thanks very much Pastor John - this was a true eye opener!

    The irony of this is that our tendancy is to try controlling that which we can't (my boss who hails from S. Africa refers to this as "hearding cats") which causes frustration, ultimately having a negative effect on the condition of our heart; which is what we should be focusing on to BEGIN WITH! Whereas if we focus on our heart, we will be better equipped to react and respond to the day therefore lowering our frustration and safe guarding the condition of our heart. This would be referred to as a positive feedback loop as opposed to a downward spiral which I am sure we can all agree we spend much of our time in.

    Thanks again!

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