When I observe and note my poor choices I am confessing my sin to God. (I changed the wording here from "repenting" to "confessing" as it expresses my perspective more effectively!) I know I have acted in my own strength and not been willing to surrender and look to Him for His strength. The next step is to "produce fruit in keeping with repentance." (Matthew 3:8)I don't want to be like this image!
"As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." Proverbs 26:11
I know that God is a loving God.
"But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness." Psalm 86:15
And I know that "sin shall not be your (*my*) master, because you are (*I am*) not under law, but under grace." Romans 6:14
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
When I read Chronicles 7:14 I am filled with hope as I know that God hears, He forgives and He heals.
I desire my heart to be "good soil" as outlined in the parable of the sower."But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."
Luke 8:15
Heavenly Father, please forgive me for so often sinning by knowing the good I ought to do but not doing it. Forgive me for often taking your grace and mercy for granted and falling into a "slippery grace" kind of mentality. I don't want to just give you lip service and say "sorry" and then not turn from my ways. Please help me grow in this area and turn from my ways and follow you. Thank you for hearing my call, for your forgiveness and mercy and for the healing and restoration you provide. Help me rely on you alone for strength. Help me persevere and produce fruit in keeping with repentance. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Hi, Christina. Your blog is awesome! WHOO HOO! I think of observation and correction a bit differently. I love how God uses different things to speak to our hearts. To me, observation is confession. It is so easy to speak back to God my agreement that "Yeah, I have done thus and so and that was sin." But the harder part for me is correction or repentance. Repentance to me be definition is active. It isn't saying it is doing. It is acting on the plan to change. I love that when I do the observation, I can make a plan for correction. "Ok, the next time I am in this situation, I will _______" It is really so simple! God has shown me that he is honored with my having that plan and then executing it when faced with the need to do precisely that!
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, just wanted to say I LOVE YOUR BLOG! You go!
Actually I'm pretty sure I view it the same way but I guess when I used the term "repentance" alongside observation I may not have communicated my viewpoint effectively. I see observation as noting what I did wrong and saying "I'm sorry" and correction as turning away from wrong, in other words "action"...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. What an awesome bunch of ladies I've met through TW! Just seems like I keep meeting more and more of them:-) It's awesome to meet so many people who are really hungering for God.
BTW that brambles story has still kept sticking with me....amazing story and image.