Ding! The Light Bulb Goes Off – April 2K14 WOTM

By Brother Matthew Abney

Living saved requires going through things that we need to learn from, no matter how long it takes. You can fight, try to remain neutral or stand your ground and get what is needed from it. The Lord God has given us free will to choose how to move forward. It is a learning process; you cannot get it mixed up. You know the difference between a good feeling and a not so good feeling.  Good: things may not be going that great for you, but you have joy.  Bad: the bills are due, your kids say they hate you and people talk about you at work. We can all relate to something. We have been there but then … Ding! The light bulb goes off! Let me explain the concept.

Remember the feeling you had when you first got saved? You were on fire for God and told everyone! You didn’t care if people knew your past. You had a good feeling knowing the love God had for you and moved strong in His will. As a baby, you are inclined to want your father. You were comfortable knowing you were safe. In your mind, no one could beat your dad; his voice sent chills down your spine when you were wrong or he was displeased.  As you got older, you were almost as tall as him. You favored him more, but you wanted to be your own man and a grown up.  You no longer got that same chill because he was loud. You knew he loved you and wouldn’t kill you; there was a comfort in his voice. He allowed you to make a mess of things only to correct you about them later; especially, when it came to choices you made that would ultimately groom you into the man you’d be someday.

As you became of age … Ding! The light bulb goes off! He was right all along! You did not know as much as you thought you did. Everything was there for your good. You took what you learned and did the same with your family as you realized everything comes full circle.

It is the same way in our walk with God. The Lord warns, chastises and grooms us into the men He desires us to be. Your life is not in your control. All we can say is, “Lord not my will but your will be done,” and let Him control and guide us so we can avoid many of the mistakes that we would make. We grow up and see clearer … Ding! The light bulb goes off! We realize we can live sin free and we can live life more abundantly. Every day is a new day to be filled with learning and there is nothing that should get in our way. We should look forward to successfully getting through temptations to come, if not my brother or sister, we need to grow some more.

It is the little foxes that destroy the vine; those little things of the flesh that we allow to suck the life out of us and take away from our evidence that God is with. Read Galatians 5:19-22. It tells us that we should seek things such as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. We are to crucify the flesh daily – it is the only things I know that will get us through the day. Our goal every day should be to have that great feeling of “I’ve been with the Lord ALL DAY!” If we don’t have that feeling, we need to re-evaluate our day.

We have to grow up. If we don’t, we can get stuck in a life that is unfulfilling. If we get comfortable sinning, we will die an eternal death. If we don’t make an effort to remove sin ASAP, it will grow to be this monster that we will try to remove in our own strength and that will never work for any long period. So my plea is that you go back to your Father let Him take the weight from you. Stay close to Him with daily prayer and grow. It is not hard; it just requires a day-to-day commitment. You can do it! You can let go and come back to God – it is not too late. There will always, ALWAYS be those who want to see you fail or don’t want you to grow, but that is not in your hands anymore. Let Him have it and deal with that. You know He can. And you will grow and take your place at the table with your Father. Let Him give you the life you deserve that is already planned out for you. He owns everything and only wants the best for you. It’s work, but it’s worth it.