Glorifying God

I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, "He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy." And they were glorifying God because of me. Gal 1:22-24 (NASB) I think today's post will the culmination of several days of challenge, which works since I didn't have the chance to post through the course of the weekend! As I have been working through the first two chapters of Galatians for Sunday school, I've been reminded of the beauty of Paul's testimony. It is not necessarily the actual conversion experience that is so powerful to me, but the effort and attention put into learning after his conversion. But, the biggest thing that stood out to me over the weekend was his reputation. Even before he began the depth of the missions ministries for which he is most famous, people who had never before seen his face were praising God because of what he was doing. What do people think of me? I'm not talking about the people who know me personally. I mean the ones who only know me by reputation. What do they see? What is my reputation? And, what is their response when they hear of me? I definitely want to have a good reputation, but I also am realizing that I want to be careful even with that reputation because I want the right things to flow from it. I want my good reputation to cause people to glorify God because of me. That is my goal. I still have much to learn in regards to making that goal a reality, but that is what I am striving for. Lord, please let them see Your hand and Your work in my life, not accomplishments of my own. Please use my life for Your glory!

Fertile Ground

Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous ; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. Isaiah 30:23 (NASB) This morning, this verse melted my heart. When I think of my soul and what I want to pour forth from it, this is probably the best mental image I could ever have. I can just see His rain pouring into my soul, watering the seed of life within me. I can picture the harvest - an incredible growth in Him and outpouring of His rich and plenteous harvest in the world around me because He's able to grow His Spirit within me. When I back up to Is 30:18-19, I see a beautiful picture of how much God longs to be near to me. He longs to do these things in my life. How do I respond? Do I allow His Spirit to pour through my life like a nurturing spring rain? Or do I allow the "stuff" I hang on to in my life to knit together like a shield of weeds that blocks out the nutrients? Oh, how I desire to grow! How I desire to get rid of the things that continue to stunt that growth. How I long to be completely usable by Him! I let so much get in the way. My challenge is to intentionally allow Him to whittle those things away from my life until I am completely usable to Him.

Get Wisdom!

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. (Prov 4:7 ESV) This verse has always made me chuckle a bit. Then, Doug read it out loud this morning - and both of us read it in ESV - and I had to chuckle again. The ESV just puts it so, well, bluntly! But, there is also a lot to it. I want this to be my goal - to seek wisdom from whatever source God wishes to bring it to me. And, as I go along, to pray that the Lord gives me the discernment and insight to know what is wisdom and what is folly. How I long to be wise! Lord, please help me get wisdom with your guidance, that it may be true wisdom. And, may I have the insight necessary to utilize that wisdom appropriately!