Walking through the open doorway to blessings offered by the Lord God.  That is what we picture ourselves doing, taking that sigh, as the smile spreads across our cheeks feeling somehow that the light has become a bit brighter.  Everything that we do or have done is seeking love, acceptance and authentic attention.  This world and the enemy would have you substitute that true joy with placebo, but there is no replacement for observing God’s generosity and care when His righteous blessings are bestowed.  We can go through years, nigh decades of misery and all of it is wiped away at that grateful moment of reward.  The only thing that the enemy may do to prohibit that blessing is magnify our personal and private fears causing us doubt and ample trepidation necessary to stop us from walking through the portico.  We must remember our victory may not be stopped only surrendered.

My sin is not just reward for righteousness, in fact it cannot be categorized as a reward at all.  There are those who will attempt to convince us that we deserve judgment for our continual sin and that we are undeserving because we do not find ourselves perfect, incapable of sin.  Do not diminish the glorious gift of grace we were given.  It is sufficient, the sacrifice paid in our stead, what Christ did completed the payment for all sin if only we will accept that gift.  I know emphatically that if the Lord intended me to be righteous at the moment I accepted the truth of His death, resurrection and ascension, then He would have taken me to heaven right then, for my tasking here would have been finished.  But, I am still here, suffering through my weakness, finding His strength, writing His Word upon my heart and standing in the face of tragedy, deception and fear.  My victory over sin is assured, I am no longer a slave to sin, nor am I driven by the fear of it.  My sanctification is now, my purification is now and fortunately will continue throughout the rest of my life on this planet.  The only way that the enemy may have any measure of impact in my life is to hope that somehow the powers and principalities offer up temptation and I do not seek Christ to aid me in resistance.  Again the enemy’s only impact in my life comes through my surrender to sin. I pray that the Lord protect me and deliver me from temptation by filling my mind with the thoughts of Christ.

We are not weak, though we may falter.  We are not strong though we may seem confident.  He is sufficient in all things, to humble my self reliance and fill me with adequacy.  I am meant for His Work.  Illusion is not truth and certainly we will suffer for the short term, but victory is not in the moment but eternity.  And though all things must and will pass away, some will remain, in the presence of Almighty God, shaped for permanency.  Lord give me what I need and take from me what I should not have.  Let Your Word and its Truth be the lamp stand that guides us to Your Promises.  Give us faith, greater than a mustard seed, the kind necessary to stand in the face of those circumstances which must shortly come to pass.  Deliver us and grant us peace in this life and the next.  Praise God in the Mighty Name of King Jesus.  Amen.