I don’t want to be a fool, but I know that I can be and have been!  I want to finish well.  I want my life to matter.  I want to make a difference for God’s glory and Kingdom.  In my heart, it has nothing to do with doing something great, so that I can do something great.  It really is my hearts desire to serve God and do great things in His eyes and for His eyes.  I want my life to bring Him glory, because He is worthy of glory!

As time flies by, I realize that I no longer have the physical skills, energy or ambition that I used to have.  And it seems that no matter how in love I am with God, that there are persistent temptations knocking at my door, looking for the opportunity to wear me down and take me out.

I have lived enough years to discover that the enemy knows my weaknesses and seems to always have just the right temptation to dangle in front of me.  I know myself well enough to know that in a moment of weakness, I could easily slip into sin, not wanting to and fighting every step of the way.

My peace, comfort and strength come from the reality that God will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I can bear and He will always provide a way of escape!  If God allows me to grow old and gray, when I depart this earth and stand before Him, it is my hope that I will hear Him say “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

I know who I am and I know who I am not.  I know what I need to do and look forward to getting it done today.  I know that “God, who began a good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1:6)

I thank God for not giving up on or running out on me and pray that He will give me strength, wisdom and obedience to not give up or run out on Him!  G3!

Just a little something I felt inside –

The Voice!

Rain keeps falling and the bitter cold bites!
Life gets harder and death closer –
I want to give up, just let go and slip away,
But some small voice wispers “hold on!”

I close my eyes and listen closely,
but I hear nothing else.
I desperately want to, need to hear that voice.

I open my eyes and see the words on the page
and the voice speaks again!
The voice comforts, encourages and fills my hopelessness with hope.

I will make it past this moment!
I will make it though this day!
I will make it into Eternity,
for the voice has promised and reassured me!

I’ve noticed that the harder I work to clean and clear away the clutter in my life, the harder the enemy works to add to and build up the clutter in my life.  I get rid of some and he finds a way to bring more back in.

I know that I need to clear away the clutter – physically, mentally and spiritually.  I work to clear it all away, so that I can see what really matters.  And just when it seems that I am starting to make some progress – WHAM!  Here comes another big old mess of clutter to deal with.

Physical Clutter – This is probably the most easy to deal with!  It may not seem like it, but it is.  The key is just to dive in.  Start in one area and pick up and deal with each thing you touch.  It should go into “trash”, “to give”, “to do”, “get help” or in its “proper place”.

Mental Clutter – This one is a little tougher, because it is sometimes hard to distinguish what is clutter and what is not.  Sit down with a pen and paper and write out the things that you have to do – that’s right make a “to-do list!”  Take 5-10 minutes to list every possible thing that you can think of that you need to do.

After you have all of that out of your mind and on paper, you are a little more free to think about what else is on your mind that needs dealing with.  Most people usually have three to five things that they are seriously dealing with at any given time.  Figure out what those things are and make an “action list” of what you can do and what you need to do.

Now – get to work on those list!  That is what this day is for!  Do what you can and if God blesses you with another day tomorrow, then do a little bit more!  Just taking the time to know what is on your mind, knowing what you have got to do about it and beginning to do it, even if it is just a little bit of action, begins to remove clutter and help you to get focused and free.

Spiritual Clutter – This is really not all that difficult, but we make it much more difficult than it has to be!  Basically, we all have things that we are doing that we don’t need to be doing.  Figure out what those things are!  Be honest with yourself and with God – give those things to Him, by asking for forgiveness and strength to get free.

We also have things that we are supposed to be doing that we are not doing!  Ask God to forgive your inaction and begin to take action and get obedient immediately!  You will be surprised at how much better you will feel and how much more smoothly your life will ride!

These are just a few steps – take these and you will be on your way to getting free of some of the clutter that ties you down and hems you in!  The Bible says in Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before or beside Me.” Don’t allow clutter to become a god in your life – take it on and take it out – you will be glad you did!  G3!