Keep @ It For What Matters

yippee ki yo compadres.
so God just spoke to me big time through my gma. we're hangin on the porch and all the sudden she's all:
hey. i learned in my quiet time this morning that sometimes God tells us to do something and we totally obey in the beginning and take that first step, but so often satan, our flesh and others get in the way and we lose sight of the initial word from God. we might take one step too many and next thing we know we're out of God's will when initially we started in His will- pleasing Him. before we know it though, we're ending in pleasing our flesh...
God may clearly say take 3 steps and we take 2 steps in timidity, fear, or unbelief. or, we may take 4 steps in greediness, assumption, or irreverence.
anyhoo- si senor. 100% whole-hearted yessssss. exactly. God released me from so much self-condemnation and self-abasement through this little gem of a bible passage. oh glory! this freedom and release feels tight.


1 Kings 13 (NLT)
A Prophet Denounces Jeroboam
1 At the LORD's command, a man of God from Judah went to Bethel, and he arrived there just as Jeroboam was approaching the altar to offer a sacrifice. 2Then at the LORD's command, he shouted, "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: A child named Josiah will be born into the dynasty of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests from the pagan shrines who come here to burn incense, and human bones will be burned on you." 3That same day the man of God gave a sign to prove his message, and he said, "The LORD has promised to give this sign: This altar will split apart, and its ashes will be poured out on the ground."
4 King Jeroboam was very angry with the man of God for speaking against the altar. So he pointed at the man and shouted, "Seize that man!" But instantly the king's hand became paralyzed in that position, and he couldn't pull it back. 5At the same time a wide crack appeared in the altar, and the ashes poured out, just as the man of God had predicted in his message from the LORD.
6 The king cried out to the man of God, "Please ask the LORD your God to restore my hand again!" So the man of God prayed to the LORD, and the king's hand became normal again.
7 Then the king said to the man of God, "Come to the palace with me and have something to eat, and I will give you a gift."
8 But the man of God said to the king, "Even if you gave me half of everything you own, I would not go with you. I would not eat any food or drink any water in this place. 9For the LORD gave me this command: `You must not eat any food or drink any water while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.' " 10So he left Bethel and went home another way.
11 As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons came home and told him what the man of God had done in Bethel that day. They also told him what he had said to the king. 12The old prophet asked them, "Which way did he go?" So they told their father which road the man of God had taken. 13"Quick, saddle the donkey," the old man said. And when they had saddled the donkey for him, 14he rode after the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree.
The old prophet asked him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" "Yes," he replied, "I am."
15Then he said to the man of God, "Come home with me and eat some food."
16"No, I cannot," he replied. "I am not allowed to eat any food or drink any water here in this place. 17For the LORD gave me this command: `You must not eat any food or drink any water while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.' "
18 But the old prophet answered, "I am a prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave me this message from the LORD: `Bring him home with you, and give him food to eat and water to drink.' " But the old man was lying to him. 19So they went back together, and the man of God ate some food and drank some water at the prophet's home.
20 Then while they were sitting at the table, a message from the LORD came to the old prophet. 21He cried out to the man of God from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: You have defied the LORD's message and have disobeyed the command the LORD your God gave you. 22You came back to this place and ate food and drank water where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors."


it's so hard learning God's still, small voice. it really, truly is. but man, we have to keep persevering and setting aside time daily to listen though. He deserves our time, worship, and respect enough for us to choose Him over t.v., idle talk, etc. i stumble and fall in many ways. i fail. a lot. i have failed in this category. however, i absoultely refuse one day @ a time to let it keep me from getting back up and trying again. for His Name's sake we all have to keep trying & failing, trying and failing. b/c eventually we will try and succeed. we will get better & better @ this vital area of our relationship with our Significant Other and Master.
"I do only what my Father tells me..."
I pray our King would grant us all the strength to keep @ it so that we may run our races with excellence, abide deeply, and be able to say "I do only what my God tells me."