He meets us at our choice.

Recently something really big happened with my faith, as I said. It was easy after that to think, Well, I've fasted and prayed for this, so I'll just take a break for awhile. I was wrong.. I ended up breaking my fast, more than once, this week and it of course is accompanied by a sense of shame and guilt.

However, if I've learned anything about walking in the Word, it's that we have a choice. No one's twisting my arm to break my fast, or to study my Bible. It's my choice alone. We have to see past our current circumstances and make the best decision for the future. That to me is a huge sign of spiritual maturity. It should be noted, though, that it's not all on us, thank goodness. We make a choice and He meets us where we are.

1 John 1:9 says (NIV), "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." So, confessing is our choice, and forgiving and purifying is what He does with our choice.

As I've been doing the A Call to Die study, the Holy Spirit has convicted me of sins that I have committed. Thankfully in the light of God's grace, I need not feel ashamed or guilty because He forgives! He wipes our slate clean! This does not mean, however, that we can "grieve the Holy Spirit". Romans 6:15 says, "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" We don't quench the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives because we continue in our sin.

As I've grown and matured in the faith, I have realized that I should worry less about the external and more about the internal. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, " "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." As I walk in the Word and pray and seek the holiness of God Himself, the external will fall away on its own. I have experienced that first hand. The internal is more of a struggle. But He is faithful and just.

He is faithful and just.

He is faithful and just.

Over and over again I repeat that in my mind... "O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you." (Psalm 89:8)