Living Better In 2011!

Meditation Moments by Clara Crawford-Milton

clara@reverencehim.com 

Living Better In 2011!

 ²² But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. I Samuel 15:22

God is holy; therefore, His Word is holy too! How Many times in 2010 did He tell you to do something with specific instructions and when it was said and done you had altered His command to fit what you wanted to do? Let’s be real; I would venture to say most of us did it at least once last year. If we would be truthful, it probably happened to all of us at least once. When God says do something there is no need for us to wonder how it’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen, will we have the resources, whose going to help or what others will think. When He says do it, we have got to learn to just do it! The little incidentals have already been worked out. There is no need to wonder how things are going to come together.

So many times when the going gets tough we are so quick to second guess the command of God, that same command that we were so sure about originally. Wow! It’s a trick of the enemy. Do you know he will even trick us concerning our personal relationship with God? He will confuse us and make us second-guess the mission that we were so firm on if we give him a crack. We know it was God. He manifested Himself in a way that nobody could have orchestrated things into place but Him. But when the tides started raging we start second guessing. Lord, help little me to live better in 2011. Ya’ll I am not talking about materialistic things. I am talking about living a closer life with Him in 2011. I am talking about recognizing the tricks of the enemy better, so that he won’t catch us off guard often, or if we are caught off guard, we won’t stay off long. We will come to our senses sooner. If we get our relationship right with Him the materials will come! That’s just one of the many benefits. We will return our focus to Him quicker and keep it there longer before the next fall. I say next fall, because we are not perfect and will not be perfect until He returns. But, we are perfect in Him! Yes, we will make our mistakes but let’s not make the same one over and over. Let’s be committed to our promises no matter what Satan sends our way. Now is the time to set the stage.

 The year is fresh. We should not be walking in the same weaknesses this year that we walked in last year. Ok, you know you weren’t the steward that God wanted you to be. Set a goal to do better now. Remind yourself, write it down; visit your notes. Don’t let Satan do a 2011 repeat on yo!. If you got caught up in an adulterous relationship and God delivered you, don’t go to a new one! If He delivered you from fornication, don’t get in it again. Pray for strength! If He cleaned your mouth, stay away from those nasty mouth people! Maybe you were blessed with a new job; don’t take that old attitude into the new job. Or maybe He moved you to save you from some spiritually unhealthy people. Go to that new job minding your own business! There is no need for you to start mess everywhere you go. Let the peace of the Lord rest on your shoulder! Maybe He sent you there to live a life before somebody that doesn’t know Him. It doesn’t matter what people think, please God! Did you spend most of 2010 being focused on yourself? Were you more focused on your person than God?

¹⁷ Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ ¹⁹ Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?” You know Saul was like that. He was so into Saul that he failed to follow God’s specific orders. The sad thing that I noticed is he never admitted that He was wrong. To make sure, I read it in I Samuel 15 in more than one version. Instead he tried to desensitize what God said with Samuel. Samuel was angry with Saul for not following the orders of God. He knew that Saul had lost his status as king because of disobedience.

I have to ask how many blessings we lost last year because of disobedience. How many spiritual demotions did we take? Don’t be like Saul!  ²⁶ But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!” I even wonder how many times was God dealing with us and Satan convinced us it was not God speaking to us to get our attention; what we went through just happened. God was trying to get our attention and we down played the sin. How many times did He tell us not to buy it and we bought it anyway. He knew there was a need ahead that He had already given us the money to take care of. How many times did we step in the midst of Gods allowed suffering in somebody’s life and played the role of hero? Sometimes God wants us to suffer in order to teach us. But here comes Mr. or Ms. Fix It and obstructed God’s divine plan. Then when things don’t turn out the way we hoped with the situation, we are disappointed.

People of God we have got to learn how to consult God in everything. When I say everything, I mean everything. Recently, I met a gentleman in Home Depot. He seemed like a really nice man. It seemed too good to be true! Bingo! It was. Minutes after our conversation God said, “He is married.” Ouch! That’s a no, no. a few days later he called me and I confronted him. He couldn’t deny it. I did a free search on the internet! God will bring to you what you need. All the resources are His! And behold, there was his wife’s name listed. That was God! I didn’t pay to get it either. You see I belong to The King and I am too precious to Him to take something part-time. God has my anointed mate! We have got to stand no matter how good it looks. He was probably the beast before the blessing as they say. Satan knows that God has bountiful blessings and since he wrote his own job description, he is uses his expertise on us if we allow him. he paints that seemingly perfect picture!

This is a new season! It’s a new day! Fresh blessings are being sent our way. We can’t afford to make the same mistakes this year that we make last year. If we do, we haven’t progressed since the beginning of 2010. He is so good to us that He gives us new opportunity to get it right every day!  He gives us a fresh start with new love, new mercy, new grace, and a new chance to get it right. God is not concerned about our past. He wants our right now life. Everyone has a past. Stay out of the rear view mirror and look straight ahead for the now moment and the brighter day coming! Live better in 2011! Amen!