If you want to be powerful and effective, there are three things that you have to address. And, I like this verse because I think it lays it out in order, with clarity. Many of the truths of the true faith are contained in these short verses packed with impact.
First, confess your sins. If you are sinning against your spouse, your brother, your friend, your Lord, confess it. Unsaid here is that you don't get to confess the same sin daily, and keep doing it. None of us expect our spouse or our brother to put up with us doing the same thing daily, over and over, just because we said "I am sorry." You aren't really sorry if you keep doing it.
God is no less realistic about it. What we have, in terms of discernment, knowledge, wisdom, all flow from Him, so He clearly has the same feelings about sin that we do, magnified by infinity. What He has that we do not is an endless grace that informs His mercy. We can, and do, fail, time and again, and God still listens, still works in our life, still wants, still reaches and still forgives. His capacity to overcome our faults is limitless and without cost, if we humble ourselves to ask, and seek.
So, you have to get right with God, first and foremost. Because, if you are not living right with your spouse, or your brother, or your sister, or your coworker, or your boss, or your pastor, or your children, you are not living right with God first. I won't list the 20 examples that come to mind, where it says in the Bible that sinning against someone is also sinning against God. Find the right priority.
Fix yourself with God, then fix yourself with your family. Search yourself and find where you should seek forgiveness, and where you should GIVE forgiveness. Hard hearted, stubborn holding onto wrongs and slights only makes you weaker and less happy. God counts them, you don't have to. You can deal with it and move on. Forgiveness is healing, and eliminates the sin, and wasted emotion of wrath. There is a reason vengeance is reserved for the Lord. It is exhausting and complex and messy. Leave it to God and move on with something that is energizing and simple, like love.
That is what makes a righteous person, which is the second part. Not an absence of sin, or a perfect life, but a life of respect and reverance of the Lord. God does not expect or require perfection for righteousness. Righteous persons do make mistakes, do have issues. That is why it starts with confession. Righteous persons are concerned as to whether they have done right by others and by God. They examine theirselves, they genuinely regret their faults, and they do not back away from looking to see where they were wrong. They expect to be wrong in places and situations, and are willing to accept it and work to remedy it. Righteous means many things, but thankfully, it does not mean perfect, because that is Jesus' role solely.
Righteousness can feel like a burden, if it is carried inappropriately. In combat, our soldiers carry upwards of 60% of their body weight in equipment and gear. They do it effectively, because we have figured out how to stack it and pack it. There is an appropriate way to carry weight, and being a righteous person is weighty. If you are constantly weighing yourself against God's standard and spend all your time trying to figure out what was right and wrong, you will go crazy. You will also have almost no friends or people in your life, because you are going to be a huge bummer to be around.
Carry the weight correctly. In our case, that means give it to God. Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I don't have a backpack that it all fits in. That is what Jesus said, take his yoke, learn to let Him figure out how much to put on our backs. That is how we find rest for our souls. We were meant to run through fields of forever singing songs to our Savior and King. Love that song, but it is just true. We were not designed to be wheelbarrows full of shame and sorrow. I don't blame God for not wanting to have that around for eternity. Let it go now, and practice for what heaven will be like.
Then third, and most importantly, we have to pray. God does not need any help from us, nor does He need us to inform Him of anything. What He does want is us to commune with Him. Commune is the root from which communicate comes. In my simple definition, that is what prayer is, communion with God. If we open our heart, if we bare our soul, we get to where God wants us. In those moments, there is no doubt as to what to pray for, there is no point of pain to worry over, there is no weakness to overcome.
I think sometimes that my life is just living out song lyrics that speak to me. From the song Me and God, "Early in the morning, talking it over, me and God. Late at night, talking it over, me and God. You could say we're like two peas in a pod, me and God." I don't know what font conveys the voice Josh Turner sings that in, but it has always just spoken to me. And, that is how I see my relationship with God.
That is why I see my faith as such a personal and internal mechanism first. I can't get it right toward everyone else, till I get it right toward God. And once I get it right toward God, I have such a head start on getting it right with everyone else. Prayer is talking it over with God. It can be the Act of Contrition, or the Lord's Prayer, or the Serenity Prayer. Those are all fine, and very meaningful. But, it can just be that anguished, inarticulate WHY? that you spit out because you have no strength for anything else. It can be that joyous THANK YOU! that you scream because you have no words for anything else. It can be that whispered HELP... because you have no courage for any more.
If you seek Him, He will meet you where you are. And, that point where you come together is powerful and effective. The entire world has been changed and moved because of those moments, in ways great and small. Imagine where we would be if we made that our habit. There is no greater improvement you can make on the world, than to pray consistently and effectively over something. There is no greater improvement you can make on yourself, than to pray consistently and effectively over the right things.
That is what woke me up this morning, following a terrible dream. I just had this sense that God was just there. It went from that cold drenching terror moment that dreams can provide, to that complete calm and peaceful feeling I recognize as God. It was instantaneous. That is what I talked over with God early this morning. Two peas in a pod, I pray for that. That is where I want to be.
Hope that is where you are.
GLYASDI
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