Prayer

I'll just do a quick one today. My reflection in the Lord lately is very humbling and encouraging. It's humbling because I'm realizing more all the time the futility of my efforts at salvation. I'm not sitting around "trying" to be saved. I am saved. By "efforts at salvation" I'm referring to those things that all Christians tend to do as part of "normal" Christian living, like Bible reading, praying, remaining disciplined, sharing about God, worshiping, etc. These are all GREAT things and SHOULD be practiced regularly. However, they are futile for me right now because none of these things actually forms my salvation or even expresses it.

No, my salvation is formed by the One who made it possible - Jesus. Because He died and rose again, death is conquered, sin has no power, and I am not a slave! Even the expressions of salvation come from Him. My changed life - His. My heart of worship - His. My strength of resolve - His. My everything - His.

What I could use right now are the effective prayers of righteous people. I know I'm fine with the Lord, but I can so easily take that for granted. It turns out that the reservations I had with the church at which I interviewed are mostly reservations with myself. Though Natasha and I don't agree about the end point of the journey with this particular church, we do agree that the Lord has some MAJOR work to do in my heart if I'm ever going to be at a point of leading people into God's throne room. I'm humbled, but sometimes when I'm humble I'm not able to see how I'm going to get back up. So, pray.