Titus 2:11-13

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus."

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Taking Heed

Last night I prayed a scary prayer: Lord, empty me of myself.

I've seen this past week that the beginning of the new year has given me a chance to refocus. I have felt for a while now that I've been in a bit of a dry spell, spiritually speaking; but with this new beginning has come new mercies ("It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV) and renewed desire: desire to be in the Word, desire to pray, and desire to grow.

As I have been spending more time in the Word and in prayer--and even doing a good deed here and there--I have recognized in myself a dangerous attitude of pride creeping up. Do you know the feeling? I stayed up late to read my Bible and pray instead of going to bed. I'm feeling pretty good about myself.... I really helped that person out. Now others are going to think pretty highly of me.... Pretty ugly thoughts, huh?!

So, last night I said to God, "God, this is a scary thing to pray, but... empty me of myself." And then He brought an old song to my mind.
It's all about You, Jesus.
And all this is for You, for Your glory and Your fame.
It's not about me....
It's not about me. Without Him, I am nothing and can do nothing. It is only because of Him that I can pray and that I can thirst for His word and that I can desire to know Him more. It is only because of Him that I can love and that I can serve and that I can grow.

1 Corinthians 10:12 says, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall." Today, I am taking heed.


4 comments:

September said...

Angela,,

Awesome words of encouragement to all of us today!
Thank you for your prayers today. It has been a wonderful day free of headaches,, and the Appointment went well. Just waiting on some results.
Your words are ring so true,, I just told my friend on Tuesday night that my "theme" for this year for myself is to "get over myself!"
Keep the Faith!

GammySel said...

Angela
How true and how quickly can those prideful thoughts sneak up on any of us.

May the Lord grant your prayer. May we see less of Angela and more of Christ- and I also desire that for myself!

May our Lord be merciful to both of us to hear our prayer!
Angie

Lisa said...

Thanks so much for this post! After being absent from the blogworld for a month or so, I'm just know catching up on all the posts I've missed the last month! This one is exactly what I needed to hear today! We have been laying out desires to God about overseas stuff. (Asking God about our desires, can always be tricky! I think they are God's desires too, but??????) so this post was so encouraging to read. Thanks for these words and the challenge! Miss you guys!

busymomof10 said...

Beautiful, transparent post!!

My theme for this year is: "Less of me and more of Him in 2010." This speaks to my desire to lose weight and to cultivate a more intimate relationship wtih God this year.

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