Anchored!

Hebrews 6:18-20

^" God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."

As long as we stay connected to our anchor we won't go anywhere, however we are always free to let go of the anchor at any time. That is part of His love for us that we can choose to let go and not follow Him at any time. Sometimes it is a diliberate choice other times we may not realize we are drifting away.

Our connection can be lost sometimes without our even realizing we are letting go. How do we cut off our connection? We stop praying, reading His Word, stop going to church, stop meeting with other believers. Usually it starts slowly. When we see this happening to people around us reach out to them and try to reconnect them to the Anchor, because the current of sin is strong and will drag us further away than we had planned to go. We can help reconnect others by showing interest in them, being generous, not judging them, offering to pray for them and talking to them.

Our connection to the Lord is a bond of love. The Anchor is God's love for us and when we obey Him then He is faithful to fulfill His part. Keep running to Him and He will guide your steps.

Prayer: Jesus help me to pray about the difficulties I am having so that we can stay connected.

Read More: Hebrews 12:1

Plan of Action James 1:22 & James 1:25: Return to God.

Fallen short...

I am signed up for e-mails from Max Lucado and I received this today. I thought it was worth sharing.

"Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

 

Worry is falling short on faith. Impatience is falling short on kindness. The critical spirit falls short on love.

 So, how often do you sin, hmm… in an hour? For the sake of discussion, let’s say ten times an hour. Ten sins an hour, times sixteen waking hours, times 365 days a year, times the average life span of 74 years. I’m rounding the total off to 4,300,000 sins per person! How do you plan to pay God for your 4.3 million sin increments? You’re swimming in an ocean of debt.

But God pardons the zillion sins of selfish humanity. He forgives sixty million sin-filled days. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where He always wanted us to be. And He did it by the grace of Jesus Christ."

In Our Hearts

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..." Romans 8:1
Once we have been saved we often sincerely want to do the things God wants us to do, but in our human condition it is harder to do than it seems. Inwardly, we have a deep desire to do the will of God, it's just that our humanness gets in the way. I heard a Pastor say, 'we never drift towards God.' Since we are human it takes effort to pray everyday, read the Bible, and get up early for church (Hebrews 10:25).

Remember it is a common experience to struggle with moving forward in our relationship with God. Since this is so common be encouraged. Sometimes we see other people that appear to be so devoted it makes us feel inferior. However, what we are seeing are the results of their perserverance. We can perservere too. In fact, God wants us to perservere (James 1:3-4 & Hebrews 12:1). Trying again when we mess up is His will for us.

'The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.' Ps. 145:8

Prayer: Lord, help us not to give up. When we do mess up, help us to turn back to you knowing that this is a part of the human experience and that You don't condemn us when we are trying and reaching out to You. Revelation 2:19

Read More:
John 3:16-18
Plan of Action (James 1:22 & James 1:25):
Try again, one more time! Don't give up! James 5:11