adjust

Saturday, April 8, 2017 (7:26 a.m.)

Blessed God,

I'm confessing right off, I am feeling out of sorts. Irritated. Snarky. I could continue listing all the negative words that come to mind but I don't want to.

Instead I look to You. Asking You to change my attitude. Yes. Father, please.

And You do! Just look at this. Searching the word adjust, I find only one entry. Romans 12:1-2.

The Message, “[Place Your Life Before God] So here's what I want you to do. God helping you:” Right there! Those three words. God helping you. Mm, yes please!

“Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it.”

Quickly respond to it. Here I confess again. I can be very reluctant in responding to You. You speak forgiveness. I hold grudges. You say, “Love”. I pull back.

“Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

Well-formed maturity. Now there's a statement! Yes. I am in desperate need of well-formed maturity.

Holy God, thank You. Thank You that You are here. Ever available to our needs. I cannot change my attitude on my own. Oh, but look at all You can do!

The last paragraph in a section titled Self-Perception (The Life Recovery Bible) supports my thinking. “We all have great potential for change, but we cannot do it under our own power. As we yield our life and will to God, we can depend on Him to renew our mind and heart. He will help us overcome our defects of character, transforming us from the inside out.”

Yes Father. While I tend to focus on nursing resentments and keeping score, I thank You for reminding me of Your MUCH better way!

(5:13 p.m.)

Blessed God, thank You for clean windows. Perhaps You would continue working out my attitude so my outlook would see more clearly through them.

This from Illustrated Bible Handbook, “An Appeal for Commitment; [Romans]12:1, 2. When we offer ourselves to live for the Lord, we begin a process of inner transformation which will lead to an entirely new outlook on life. Only by refusing to be squeezed into the ways in which people of this world relate to others will we be able, together, to experience the good and pleasing will of God for us.”

And here I sit, confessing to You this huge chip I still have on my shoulder. DEFINITELY one of “the ways in which people of this world relate to others”! Work with me Father. In, through and for me.

I need You. I want You. I ask You. I thank You. And I love You. Do all that You must in making me obedient to Your Word. Thank You. I love You. Amen.

(536 words ~ 5:39 p.m.)

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