starting

 Monday, April 25, 2022 (6:32 a.m.)

Holy God,

Thank You that I get to start the day with You. Long before the sun came up I was already singing.

♪Let’s start at the very beginning A very good place to start When you read you begin…♪

Starting. Beginning. With You. Thank You Lord.

Lead and guide me this morning I ask (Matthew 7:7). Into Your Word. Into the day.

I want to live as You would have me. Faithfully. Hopefully. Lovingly (1 Corinthians 13:13). I want to be obedient to and controlled by Your Holy Spirit (Romans 8:6).

(7:34 a.m.)

Starting at the very beginning (Genesis 1:1). A VERY good place to start!

(9:57 a.m.)

Returning to Paul’s message to the church at Rome. Specifically Chapter 8. The Spirit’s Power

Starting at the very beginning. New Life Through the Spirit; 8:1-17 through Final Glorification; 8:18-39 (Illustrated Bible Handbook). How blessed we truly are to be so loved by You. Thank and praise You Dearest God.

I want very much to fully embrace and practice the Truth of “Following after the Holy Spirit [which] leads to life and peace” (8a The Living Bible). Keep me from “following after the old nature [that] leads to death” (8b).

The Message goes further with these verses (5-8). “Those who think they can do it [live] on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them - living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what He is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.”

I fell back into that trap Lord. Attempting to think my way out of the funk I had thought myself into. You are bigger. You are better. You are brighter than ALL of the foolish ideas I’ve come upon.

Continue Your work in, with, by, through and for me Lord. I love You. I want to serve You. Well. Make it so Dear God. Make it so. Use me. Thank You. Praise You. Amen.

(418 words ~ 10:34 a.m.)