"As You Know"

"My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes." (Psalms 119:48)

  To be perfectly honest, these are never easy, these trials that we live through from time to time. As a matter of fact, they can test us in ways that we never thought we could ever be tested. Not that it is a bad thing; because if we knew what we were in for, we might just plan to stay away from whatever it was that was going to test us. Interesting how that works, don't you know? If we are still focused upon the law of trusting God, then what do you think this might be getting at? I will go back to something I have shared more than once, learning to drown! We know these waters, they cannot support us; and the harder we try to keep ourselves up, the more we seem to sink and feel like giving up. That is what it is like to try and be holy; as if we are trying to walk on water. It is not going to happen! At some point we just need to stop fighting and surrender! I do love God's commandments, as do so many of you. We would love to be able to stop from falling short, but the reality in all of this, is we do not measure up; if we did and if we could, Jesus would not had to do what He did to save us! Commandments and statutes are two different things; as one is that which ought to be done, while the other is the measure of what actually happens. Plain and simple: we are never going to be as good as we think we can be; but we can always be as good as God wants us to be! It is all a matter of how much we surrender; the more we give in to God, the more we experience what grace really is. Not just what grace means, but what it means to me, and to you, individually. That is what "statutes" is talking about, prescribed and appointed amounts of grace, for each and every single one of us. To get right down to it, trust is something that you must do on your own. You cannot take my word on how to trust God, it is something that you must do on your own, individually! No one else can drown for you, if you are going to learn how to drown, you are going to have to do it yourself...

""There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other."" (John 15:13-17) NLT