"My Soul Waits For You Alone"

MORNING PRAYER-- God, come to my assistance; Lord, make haste to help me. Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Psalm 95, Deuteronomy 10:12-22, Hebrews 4:12-16, John 3:22-36

"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." 
Hebrews 4:12

In keeping the above verse, John the Baptist completely embodies the idea of living a Christ-like life. When John's disciples and some of the Jews came to him and told him that Jesus was also baptizing in the same water and that everyone was now going to Him to be baptized, John said that in this, his joy was now complete. (John 3: 29) John's ability to recognize his power as being absolutely nothing compared to that of the Son of God is something to strive for, to say the least. He recognized that he was of the earth, but that Jesus was straight from Heaven, therefore possessing all of John's power and so much more. The happiness and joy of John the Baptist was not made complete in the works of his hands and in the things that he was preaching about or showing the people, it was only made complete in the coming of the Son of Man, and in finally seeing, with his own eyes, Jesus, doing just what God said He would do!

This is definitely one of my new favorite passages, because it shows perfect humility. John had lots of power in his community and many who believed in the things that he was teaching and showing them. He could have easily tried to take all the fame and glory as his own, but he lived to give it back to the One to whom it belonged. This seems so foreign to me when I look at our society of today. I don't honor God in my earnings and victories, however, in disaster I ask him why. Nothing that I have is my own, not even my life. Learning how to treat everything as belonging to Him is so foreign, but SO worth it. It's worth it because when I start to do that, the things that I wanted to be secret are no longer worth keeping. He takes those things from the dark and shoves them further out into the light until I can do nothing but learn how to overcome them, through no one's help, but His. His hand guides me through a forrest of what I once thought were my deepest darkest secrets and He shows me that they are not what make me, me in His eyes. My heart is what He sees.

It is the easiest thing for me to get caught up in appearances, which is, coincidentally, the least important thing in my walk with Christ. He doesn't call those who are pretty and blemish-free today, He calls those who have lost their lives for Him, in order to follow ALL of His decrees and laws. He calls those who fear Him. I want to be one of those people.

EVENING PRAYER-- Father, accept my imperfect repentance, have compassion on my infirmities, forgive my faults, purify my uncleanness, strengthen my weakness, fix my unstableness, and let your good Spirit watch over me forever, and your love ever rule in my heart, through the merits and sufferings and love of your Son, in whom you are always well pleased. Amen.