Remember the student so eager to please the teacher that she would frequently show him her paper and ask, “Am I doing this right?”
Or the child in the swimming pool calling out, “Mom……Mom…….MOM!!” because he wants her approval for the amazing thing he has just done.
Was that you or someone you knew growing up?
Sometimes I am like that with God. I take a step in the direction I think He’s leading, then I stop and ask for His reassurance that I’m on the right path. Did I hear Him right? Is this what He wants me to spend my time doing? Am I doing this right?
God doesn’t want his will for us to be a secret. His ways are different than our ways, but if we’re watching and praying, He will show us that we are seen and heard. God loves us and leads us and reassures us along the way.
I might be driving in the car praying (with my eyes open of course) that God will clearly tell me what to do about something, and a song comes on my radio like…
I might be spending time with God, reading my Bible, and wondering if I am hearing His direction correctly, and I read one of these verses…
‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ‘ John 10:27
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7
God is all around us. Speaking to us through a song, a scripture, a fellow believer. The Holy Spirit gives us reassurance as we seek Him and listen. God is so near to us when we look for Him and He calls us even closer.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
James 4:8 ESV
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 ESV
Just like the teacher who wants their students to succeed and is there to help them, God is there for us.
And just like the mother who loves to watch her child do tricks in the pool – even if they’re less than perfect — God loves us and approves of even a less than perfect attempt to do His Will.
Dear God, please open my eyes to see You working and leading in my daily life. Please open my spiritual ears to hear your Voice. Teach me more about loving people and loving You. As my desire grows to know You more intimately, give me the wisdom to see that if I’m doing my best to follow You, I’m doing this right.
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21
Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. Psalm 73:23
Whether your relationship with your earthly father is wonderful or filled with turmoil or just emptiness, there is another Father who loves you perfectly and protects you completely.
The “Proverbs 31 Woman” is called a Worthy Woman, Virtuous Woman, Good Wife, Capable Wife, Wife of Noble Character, Radiant Bride. I’ve written this lighthearted contemporary commentary of her. I hope it makes you smile.
I came away from my experiences in Jerusalem with renewed thankfulness to God for His amazing grace! Because nothing that I have ever done or ever will do could make me righteous in His sight.
I’ve never considered myself to be graceful – full of grace. In fact, sometimes I’m just the opposite. For example, take an incident that occurred at the Garden Tomb in Israel recently.
Satan loves to distract us with things, both trivial and life-altering, that will take our focus off of Jesus. The enemy is an expert at creating diversionary tactics to keep us from doing the things we can only do if we keep our eyes on our Savior.
