Living Life for Christ Alone

"The Lord rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence." Psalm 18:24 I have been giving this verse a lot of thought lately.  Maybe it's because it makes me question who in the world could possibly claim such a thing before God. Yet at the same time, I'm strangely drawn to the confidence with which the psalmist said it. I mean, seriously though. If you think about who God is, and how He knows us through and through, it seems almost foolish to make such a claim to Him. In case you're not tracking with me, let me explain... Remember that day when you went the whole day doing everything perfectly?  You got up right when the alarm went off and shouted, "Praise God!" rejoicing the whole day while simultaneously doing everything He had for you to do that day for His glory AND serving every person you came into contact with by pouring out every ounce of strength you had with the right motives, while still wearing a smile on your face and not having a hi...

It's way too easy to fall into a pit of condemnation and shame, isn't it?  I don't know about you, but there are many moments in my life where even the smallest of missteps in my life are like big arrows pointing deep into my soul, accusing me of being the worst person on the planet.  Too much time is spent in this pit, pondering the "what if I hadn't done that?" questions, as well as the "is there any hope for me now?" question. Or there are other times where I've jumped straight to the "there is no hope for me now" conclusion. Do you relate?  As one who can easily overthink things, I have often found myself digging deeper into this pit, simply because I am good at finding more reasons to do so.  But as one who has been bought by the blood of Jesus, is this really where I should be living? I am His, am I not?  Didn't His sacrifice and glorious resurrection make it possible for us to get back up when we fall and not even look back w...

For a long time, I struggled with the voice of condemnation. I desperately wanted to please God, but never felt like I could do enough to please Him. The voice of accusation and condemnation would speak, and I would fall into the trap of introspection.  To this day, there are still times when I fall for that voice. But God has been over the years teaching me to recognize when He is convicting and when the enemy, the accuser, is condemning. Because there is a difference. They are not the same. Characteristics of the Accuser’s voice: 1. When Satan comes, he tempts us to despair of our relationship with God. He takes his accusations and puts them between us and God, tempting us to believe that whatever we have done or have failed to do has become a reason for God not to want us anymore. He lies to us and says that our sin has separated us from the love of God. Have you ever felt driven away from God because of guilt and shame? That is not God doing that. God...