Lately Holy Spirit has been giving me Proverbs 3:5-6:
“Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart; lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.”
We are SO used to leaning to “our own understanding” which if you think about it, is faulty and often incorrect. We have been raised to listen to our “own understanding” and this is where we need to re-direct our thoughts to God’s thoughts and our ways to God’s ways. How do we do that?
WE READ OUR WORD, THE BIBLE
We get to choose every day how we are going to act, re-act, what we are going to say, what we are going to do, how we are going to live and when we live “according to our OWN understanding” we wonder why we don’t hear God speaking to us. This is where we need to back track and take a GOOD long look at ourselves to check our hearts. So often we allow the opinions of others define who we are instead of the One Who created us.
WHO ARE YOU CHOOSING TO LISTEN TO?
It is hard to go against the grain of how we’ve been taught and allow God through His Holy Spirit to show us how to lean upon Him and NOT our “own faulty understanding.” Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
If we cared MORE about God’s thoughts and LESS about those of other people, our priorities and our lives would reflect more Jesus and less flesh.
OUCH
The scripture tells us:
“In ALL our ways acknowledge Him and HE will direct our path.”
We miss out what God has for us when we take Him off the throne of our lives and put people on it. We are to be led BY faith and NOT by our feelings.
When we allow God to take the place in our hearts and minds that we have often given to His creation instead of Him as the Creator we are out of order. We need to take back that ground. We need to re-evaluate who it is that we are making “Lord OVER our lives.”
WHO IS LORD OVER YOUR LIFE? IS IT PEOPLE? IS IT OPINIONS? IS IT YOUR FEELINGS? IS IT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES?
If it is anything BUT God than we are leaning to “our own understanding” and NOT to God. It is only when trusting in Him that we can have peace, that we can walk in the calling God has set upon our lives (remember it is ALWAYS your choice, Holy Spirit is to be our Guide and our Teacher, but the ONLY way He can have the role of Comforter in our lives is when we ALLOW Him to give God His rightful place in our lives which is front and center).
Jesus is to be our example and the only way we can learn HOW we are to be, WHAT is pleasing to the Lord is to READ His book of instruction and example to us – which is the Bible, the infallible Word of God and to walk in it. To undo “our own understanding” and to rely upon His! This is where He BECOMES Lord OVER your life. You know you can agree to accept Jesus as your Savior, but the true victory and power that is given to you IN THIS LIFE is when you allow Him to be LORD OVER YOUR LIFE. And spiritual growth is painful… But it is SO worth it. Let’s pray:
“Father God, I thank You so much for Your forgiveness, Your mercy, Your love, Your patience, Your guidance, Your teaching, Your perseverance with me. I thank You for Your Word which is to be my “GPS” in life. When I follow Your instruction, I am able to go from point A to point B. When I don’t follow Your instruction, I find myself at loss, discouraged, depressed, fearful, worried – all the things that are not what Your Word tells me is “fruit of the Spirit.” Help me Lord to have a humble heart, help me to keep my eyes focused on YOU and NOT give people, circumstances, feelings the throne in this life that I have given to You. You ALONE are Lord! Please take my faulty understanding and replace it with Your correct, holy understanding. Please help me to give Holy Spirit His rightful place as my Guide and my Teacher so that He can THEN be allowed to BE the Comforter in my life that He desires to be. Help me NOT to give ground to people or my circumstances and elevate them above and beyond You. In the name of Jesus, I command my feelings to take their rightful place to the side! My feelings are NOT my God! In the name of Jesus, I decree and declare that my thought process WILL align with that of God’s Word. I WILL trust in You, Father with ALL my heart! I will lean NOT to my own understanding. In ALL my ways I will acknowledge YOU and trust You to direct my path! Thank You Father for Your Staff and Your Rod which guides me and corrects me. I love You Lord, let Your good and perfect will prevail in my life. Thank You Father, that Your thoughts and Your ways are HIGHER than mine. Take me higher Father that I won’t miss Your good and perfect will for my life. In Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN.”
When we pray this prayer truly meaning it, Holy Spirit shows up BIG time! Why? Because we have invited Him to do so! When we do this, we see a turn-around in our situations, in our lives because God IS in control. The peace that passes ALL understanding surrounds us and we are able to go forth confident that He Who has begun a good work in us will do what His Word says – He will finish it, because He IS our God. Thanks BE to God!
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