Has God ever asked something from you? You would recognize it possibly first as a thought, for instance to walk across the room to extend kindness to someone you don't know. If you don't respond immediately because that is way out of your comfort zone and the thought tends to linger and get more persistent as time goes on then it very probably is God.
Has God ever asked you to give up something or change something in your life?
In the last few months God has asked me to give up a boyfriend that was detrimental to my mental and emotional health, television, indulging in eating out frequently, eating healthier, refrain from any dating or to even imply availability subtly or outwardly to a member of the opposite sex and my morning sleep. Not only did He ask me to give these things up, but he also asked me to replace these things with him and to do this for one year. (He knew I would need a lot of him to successfully accomplish these tasks.)
I had tried to leave my boyfriend for 5 years (yes 5 years), eating out is my most favorite thing to do, actually I really didn't do much of anything else except watch television and without my ex the likelihood I would find another male to talk to was a pretty high probability, and my mornings, that was tough. I have never been a morning person. I have hated mornings all of my life, except when I was a young child on the farm with my grandfather. Getting up early to ride the tractor with him was absolutely the highlight of my day.
I have hesitated, negotiated, and at times just plain ignored the calling of God for most of my life. However, as I began to surrender myself to him, to obey him and replace my other gods with him, he has been so faithful to me. Everything he takes from me, he replaces with something of his.
I was talking to my Aunt last night, and she was telling me that she has stopped watching her soap operas and I know she hadn't missed those shows in over 30 years, but she was holding on to 1 hour of television each evening. She felt the tug of God to let that go as well. Most of us may never be asked to give up television and that's fine. I'm not saying anything against television.(not in this post anyway.) It's about, what God has asked you to sacrifice. I told her, that when God asks something from you, he wants to give you something; he wants that time and your obedience so he can bless you more.
When you praise him when you're hurting, he knows it, he knows your sacrifice, it's easy to praise God when things are going great, but when they aren't, and you praise him anyway, that is really special to God. When you give up something you love so you can spend more time with him, he sees that sacrifice as well.
As I drove away from her, I turned up my music and began to sing worship songs, when I had a brilliant moment of thought. (Could it be God? =>) God understands sacrifice. He requested it from his people since the fall of man for the atonement of sin, for expression of thanksgiving and love and surrender to him. He too made a sacrifice, a sacrifice greater than anything he as ever asked of us.
He loves us so much he sent his only son to die for us on the cross. Jesus loves us so much he willingly placed himself on that cross to save us from our sins and to bring us into a relationship with our creator.
Our God understands sacrifice in a personal way. Sacrifice is him showing us how very much he loves us. Sacrifice is God's love language. When we lay down what pleases us, what we idolize and obey our Lord, he sees our sacrifice, he sees it as a statement that we love him more. It is the highest expression of love, we can offer up to our Savior our Lord our Father. Believe me that does not go unnoticed.
God wants to take all the junk that you put into your minds, into your bodies and into your spirit and replace it with him with his goodness, his love, his peace, his joy and even his holiness. He knows what hurts us. He knows what is good for us. Just like we know what is best for our children. God also knows what is best for his.
When you heed his warnings, lay down what you want and do what he wants you to do, your spirit will soar to places you have never been before. Everything and everyone you have used to fill that hole in your life from the virtually harmless like television (or is it?) to the more serious escapes like drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, overeating, cutting, abusive relationships, etc. He will remove from your life and instead of leaving a gapping hole he will replace those holes with more and more of himself.
Praise him today, not only for what he has done but for what he is going to do in your life. He is waiting for you to come to him, to ask him to take control of your life, to surrender your will and replace it with his will. Once you do that you will start to marvel at how he begins to orchestrate your life to perfection.
Be Blessed!
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