Well its been awhile since I had anything to say. But this...this is a good one. Maybe you can relate with me about the struggle of "doing good works". As I've grown in Christ, I've grown in my understanding of why we do good things. For a long time I was striving to prove I was saved and good enough and that I loved the Lord enough that I would do good things for Him. Thanks be to my Savior who did not let me continue along entrenched in thinking like that. Still, occasionally, I struggle with perfectionist behavior, performance based love, and falling right back into those thoughts. Yesterday morning the Lord spoke to me in Ephesians 2. He tweaked my vision once again and as with everything He does, it brought peace, joy, and delight to my soul!
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up with Him,
and seated us with Him, in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,
in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. "
This list of beautiful promises in these verses is amazing! Not just salvation, as if that wasn't beautiful enough, but He makes us alive, raised up with Him, seated WITH HIM, and He brings us there so that He can show us surpassing riches of His grace in KINDNESS!
He is out to show me KINDNESS! He is out to show you KINDNESS and its not because of anything we have done. Just soak in that for a minute!!
ok, it gets better.After that delightful reminder that I can't work to save myself or earn His favor, He says to me, "My Love, works are NOT a requirement, they are My gift once you are Mine. They are MY good works. I prepared them, you just walk in them and enjoy them!!!" Say what?!
Now that resonates in me, I do LOVE to walk in the works He has prepared for me! Which one of us hasn't experienced that almost unexplainable delight and exhilaration of riding along on the Holy Spirit's work and being a part of something that was a "God thing"? Contrarily, I know the feeling of striving to make a Michelle's good work into a God thing. Its hard, its exhausting, its draining, its bla.
yesterday morning the Spirit highlighted the word "prepared". When I think of prepared, I think of a substitute teacher having all the lesson plans laid out for her to use with the class and she just walks in and does it. I think of preparing dinner for my husband and kids before I go out for girl's night. I leave dinner fully cooked, table set, glasses made, all the way down to the scissors laid out for cutting the baby's food. All he has to do is walk in and serve. I looked up prepared/preparation in the dictionary.
Here are some synonyms: made ready, gotten ready, arranged, assembled, built, concocted (love that one), constructive, contrived, cooked up, endowed, fashioned, formulated, furnish, ground work laid, made provision for, outfitted, ready, settled, smooth the way, all systems go, all bases covered, all set, prepped, primed
Antonyms: disorganized, ignore, neglect
Isn't that delightful...Can it be that God has these treasures of "good works" all laid out and preped for me and I just have to walk in them??? I just have to look for them each day because He has done the prep work!? Many of you know that my son is into Mario Kart, much to my annoyance, still the Lord seems to talk with me using it often. ha! I played it with Zach this Saturday. Because I hardly ever play and he plays daily, he is much better than me. As you drive these different courses in race cars you try not to fall off the road and die and avoid evil creatures that will kill you. Conversely, you are also looking for these magic boxes that give you special gifts for your drive, some that help you to win. I kept missing the boxes as I drove. I was so busy trying to go fast, and not die that I wasn't putting driving through the boxes as a high priority. They were there, whether I chose to drive that way or not but I was too busy to try to find them on purpose. At some points I'd hit them accidentally and I was always glad I had. Zach kept saying, "Get the boxes mom!"
I see these good works God has prepared for me as treasure boxes in my day. Have I been frantically driving through my day just trying to survive and missing His treasure He prepared for me this day!?
In all His power and wisdom and design the most perfect treasure of good works for me to walk in, every day are laid out! The Lord says: Get the box Michelle!
Think God is awesome yet? Well here's one last piece. In the analogy of the sub teacher or my husband feeding the kids dinner, they still have to do the work on their own. But I discovered, that God doesn't work that way, of course. I looked up "walk" from this verse, in the Greek reference in the back of my bible. I found it means to tread around, walk at large, to live, to deport oneself, follow (as a companion or votary)-go be occupied with , walk about. Since I didn't know what votary meant, and you probably don't either, here are some synonyms: believer, addict, amateur, buff, devotee, enthusiast, disciple, fanatic. So here it is: we are IN Christ doing these good works; not alone, not given the prep work and left but it is done together with Christ as the expert, and me as the amateur devoted disciple! What assurance! If you are a teacher, you've come back to school and found that they sub didn't execute your plan as you prepared it! I've come home to find that Eric added something to the meal or left the table and kitchen a disaster, NOT PART OF THE PLAN. But with God, there's no danger of that because you are in His plan doing it WITH Him! Oh joy and bliss! I'm serious, nothing compares to the fulfillment, purpose, and life that comes from these treasures!
So girls, let's go be treasure hunters for His preped works for us today! Then comment back with what you find!
WHO IS LIKE THE LORD ! love yall!
Girls in love with Abba, sharing His Word and works to His glory and the reknown of His name! Let the nations praise Him! "for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard. " Acts 4:20
Why We Blog...
This blog is born because we, who have been with Christ, cannot contain our joy and excitement as we know Him more and hear His voice. We must share with each other what He is saying and doing! So this blog is created to connect the Body of Christ and to bring glory to His name. This is a place to share scripture, words of encouragement to the Body, stories of God's work in your life, hymns and spiritual songs, as well as, testimonies of what God is teaching you through time with Him and prayer requests. Please share only what will encourage, unify, and spur us on to fullness in Christ. Be mindful that almost anyone may read this. We pray this will be a tool that brings God glory, unifies His children, and is a light in the darkness. If you'd like to be an auther, email Michelle. Otherwise, follow and be sure to comment!
Michelle, what a stark contrast this post is to your email. Incredible, the revelation that the Father gave you was a direct answer to our prayers!! I'm overjoyed, inspired and I see Him in a fresh way. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us. I'll be on the look out for the treasures and ready to walk about like a fanatical amateur for Him!!! Love you!!!
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