It is the last day of the Daniel Fast for me, exactly 45 minutes. I am so thankful for this experience. It has been great to put my every day eating habits into Gods hands. I have learned a lot to through this experience. Last Thursday night my lovely sister Hope and her husband Mark visited me. My sister asked me what I have learned most through this fast. I told her that I learned I actually have God's strength within me. And that it is the strength of God that gets me through all of the cravings. "O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you..." -Daniel 4:9. It was this verse that made me realize that the same God dwelt in Daniel was in me. That I had the same strength that Daniel had because we both worship the same God. Just knowing this and hanging on to this daily makes me stronger. Knowing this through experiencing it so much in this fast I feel like I can withstand almost anything that the devil throws at me, even though i do know there will be times when my flesh is weak and I will give in. That is also the sinner in me, but I feel like it is going to be harder for the devil to tempt me, now that I cling onto this verse.
This past Tuesday at nav night Andrew Ledwith spoke on identity in Christ. I had heard this talk once before, but the second time was great and reinforced all the things that I have been going through. He talked about when God made us He gave us our identity in Him, and then gave us a purpose in life. Then satan told Eve that she had to do something to earn her identity in Christ. Satan knows that this is the place that i struggle the most in with my walk in Christ. Sure enough he got to me later this week. Friday night I was having a hard night just seeing my identity in Christ. After a decades party I decided to go for a little drive around Tally to clear my thoughts. It was during the car ride that I realized that I let the devil feed me lies all day long. During the day I felt like a failure. I felt like I was doing my worst in school, and I also that I was failing in my relationship with God. This semester in school was supposed to be easy for me but it has been very difficult for me to find time get all my work done, and that is how I felt like I was failing in my school work, when in actuality school is going well for me. In my relationship with God I felt like I was not giving it my all . Because I have not been memorizing enough verses or that I have not had as many quite times with God as I hoped, but then I realized it was not theses things that determine my relationship with God, it is my faith in Him. When I remembered that God had made me in his image then I realized that I was letting satan tell me all these lies. It is just comforting to know that I do not have to do anything to earn my identity in Christ, but that I have had it ever since God created me. I also know that I will struggle with this daily. But I will have to remind myself of Philippians 3:12 "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own."
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