IBS Week 12:

Nick:

Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

This was a portion of the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples when they asked him to show them how to pray. He never said to pray for things to go the way you want them to go, but he said to pray for gods will to be done here on earth. I want to come to the point of wanting gods will to be done and nothing more. I know there has to be a huge freedom in wanting only what god wants for us. He created us and knows best for us. He knows the plans he has for us, we don’t. I find myself trying to figure out or predict what God might have for our family and he never asks us to do that. Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow. But our spirit is willing but our flesh is week. We want to know what God knows, and we can’t have that. We try and say this is his will and we think we know and we dwell on the ideas that we form. Ultimately, these thoughts will never give us the satisfaction we are looking for. We will never have the peace our hearts long for. I know that there is that peace and freedom once we have that perspective of wanting only Gods will to be done, not mine.

Julie:

1 Corinthians 7:23 – “You were bought with a price; do not become bond servants of men.”

This is one of those verses that you hear a million times, then one day it really sinks in how true and personal it really is.  Where I was spiritually when I read this verse this morning wrecked me.  I know that I am bought with a price, but have I really ever measured the weight of that price?  I’ve tried.  But I never fully grasped it.  As I read this though, God opened my eyes to recognize what exactly was given for my salvation.  The weight of Jesus’ blood was on me.  I felt it.  It was heavy.  I was humbled!  I was in awe.  I was convicted.  I had not been respecting what God sacrificed for me – his Son.  I have a son.  I can only taste the pain of the sacrifice.  And it was for me!  This lack of respect had landed me in giving myself to men (the world), not God.  Man does not own me.  Man did not create me.  Man does not know my future.  God does.  Why do I enslave myself to something that does not even care for me the right way?  Man usually has an ulterior motive or a selfish ambition.  I, as God’s beloved, cannot let myself get entangled in the pleasing of man any more, for man has nothing to offer me because I now have a better understanding of the weight of my price.  I am far more valuable than to fall into the snares of the world and be overcome by it.  I am God’s purchase and I will let Him be my guide.  I will let Him overcome me, and I will submit to my Creator.