BeyondSeeLevel

Faith requires us to stand still and wait on the Lord for what our hearts hope for. We don’t just wait, but we wait for it to be delivered in a package that glorifies and pleases God.

At an opportune time of vulnerability, depression, impatience and desperation, the enemy will present a facsimile of the package we’ve been praying and hoping for. That package may pleases us, but it doesn’t automatically please God. So now we’re faced with denying and rejecting what pleases us because we know it won’t please God.

We may develop this underlying resentment toward God and our walk because it seems to keep us away from what or who we want. But we can’t take possession of it because of what and Who we know. It feels right. But it’s not righteous.

Now the struggle in our human nature is trusting God in the waiting room of obedience while being frustrated, disappointed and tired of waiting for what we hope for.

Know this: The enemy will always send counterfeits. Counterfeits are demonically designed to deceive, debilitate, then destroy. Your faith walk with God is Divinely designed to protect you, not to restrict you.

God sees what we can’t and knows what we don’t know. In His will, we are benefactors of His protection. Outside of His will, we become fair game for the enemy.

We must understand that the enemy isn’t just trying to give you a bad day or a bad season. He’s trying to destroy you. And very often, he uses your own desires as bait to do it.

Keep your desires holy and wait on the Lord. Remember, our lives are purposed to bring God glory, not just ourselves pleasure.

*Tressa Jo

“‘But you, mountains of Israel, will produce branches and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. – Ezekiel 36:8

Our Father, in heaven

I thank You for being so high and so holy. I thank You for being our hope in a desolate land. You are a merciful Father, truly loving us beyond our faults. Thank You for dealing with us, in our waywardness, with much love, mercy and grace. Lord, we surely don’t deserve anything good, but because You love us so much, You continue to bless us anyway. Thank You!

You chasten those You love because You love us enough not to leave us in our sin; in our mess; in darkness. Thank You for complicating our lives when we stand a sinful distance from You. Thank you for the discomforts of discipline that usher us back to You in repentance.

Lord, as you restore us back to You, I pray that the mountains of life we face produce branches and fruit for us. You tell us in Your Word, that all things will work out for our good. So I pray that the mountains that we once faced that challenged and chastised us, now spring forth peaceful blessings in our lives. Blessing that will constantly remind us of Your goodness and grace. Let the mountains produce the fruit of obedience; the fruit of Holiness; the fruit of faithfulness; the fruit discipline in us. Let the mountains produce in our lives all things that will bring You the highest glory and help us grow in Your grace.

Help us learn from the error of our ways. Help us walk in humility that we may see the “us” You see in us. Lord, it’s so easy to be blinded by pride. Pride has blinded many of us from seeing and hearing what You want us to hear; what we need to hear. Lord, open our ears, that we may hear. Open our eyes, that we may see.

Create in us a clean heart that we may worship You. Give us an appetite for Holiness. Transform our minds that we may know Your will for our lives. Work in us to will and to do what pleases You. We need You to guide us and to tell us what to do because we can’t direct our own lives. We are sheep in need of a Shepard. Help us not lean on to our own understanding.

Lord, God, You are our only Source! You are our coming and our going, our beginning and our end. Help us honor You with the lives You’ve given us every day we live, in word, thought and deed. Help us never to become so cavalier or too comfortable with You or Your blessings that we start to think and act like You have to do what You do for us. Help us always have a heart of thanksgiving toward You. You are the Holy God of heaven and no other is above You! We bless Your name God!

Amen

*Tressa Jo