Day 19 Daniel Fast Devotional_Embracing the Now_Adam and Gresia Schilling

Embracing Now

Recently, the Lord has exhorted me to focus on the current season of my life.  I have a tendency to live in the future, and miss God’s heart for the present.  We can choose to live in the past, in reaction to the past, or in the future.  The biblical instruction is to learn from the past, plan for the future, and embrace the present.

God’s people are told to remember their history, so they may learn from it (Dt. 5:15; Ps. 105:5; Mt. 16:9; 1 Cor. 10:11).  Jesus told us, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself” (Mt. 6:34).

Paul writes to the Church in Galatia, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25).  Jesus also instructed the disciples to abide in Him, His word, and His love (Jn. 15).  How often I leave the place of His love, forgetting His past faithfulness, to strive over the very things He has promised.  We have all walked in reaction to a past offense rather than “keep in step with the Spirit.”  To obey Jesus we must embrace His will for today, avoid the pitfalls of past offenses and anxiety for the future.  To embrace today, we must live each moment in step with the Spirit.

Gracious Father, I pray that you would guard our hearts from anxiety about tomorrow, hurt from the past, and forgetting your faithful handling of our lives.  May we know our history as the people of God, so that we may corporately seize the era of grace we are living in.  May we also be a people who remember our own salvation and journey with Christ, so that we can seize the current season of our lives.  Let us walk in step with the Holy Spirit, not with hyper-spirituality or religious duty, but in the easy yoke of Christ.

Comments