My Naughty Corner

My son and I were playing role reversal one day, where he was the teacher and I was the student.  He had set work for me to do and I had to do it.  Now playfully I complied as he did not even realize he was learning in the process.  After a while he instructed me to do corrections to the questions I “purposely” got wrong. To which I defiantly refused. He said “Well you will be on punishment“. Then he sent me to the “naughty corner” which was my bed for an hour.  

Now, I happily complied all the while smiling to myself. He was smartly thinking that sending me to my room was punishment while I was happily thinking ‘Wow, I just won the best prize!”.  As I laid in my happy haven, snuggling up ready to go to sleep. I asked myself, “Why do the things we deemed as punishment as kids seem so great now we are adults?”  To that the Holy Spirit replied, “the same way how there are some spiritual practices we deem as punishment when we are babies in Christ.  But as we mature spiritually and understand the importance of them we then come into agreement and find that we can actually enjoy them”.

He continue to reveal that these are things like reading your bible, praying, fasting, worshiping and sitting in His presence for revelation.  We sometimes think of these as a chore and are often too busy to implement them.  These basic spiritual practices which are key to living a victorious life. Only when we come into spiritual maturity (note I said spiritual and not physical), do we then understand the importance of cultivating these spiritual practices.  Only then do we cultivate the desire instead of a completing a chore.

As we venture into the new year. We all have plans and new year resolutions we want to implement.  I am re-couraging you, don’t forget God in all your planning.  Actually in order for any plan to come to pass, God must be first and He must be consulted.  If not you will surely be disappointed. Remember Proverbs 19:21 NIV “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails”. 

This upcoming year I am challenging you to choose one of these spiritual practices that you know you have been neglecting and work on it this year. I will start first. For me, that would be fasting.  I do it, but not as consistently as I should and honestly for me right now it seems like a chore. And definitely not one I enjoy.

My prayer for you this year is that you will seek God to see what area in your life He is calling you to come deeper in, so that you can live a victorious life.  Please don’t give up if in the beginning it does not all go as planned. It seldomly does. Trust and believe that as soon as you commit, something will come up to derail you, But I assure you that if you keep trying and keep seeking God, He will show up for you. I prophetically declare that 2024 will be the best year for you.  As a pastor once said.  “It will be the best year for you if it is your best year spiritually.”

I take this time to wish my readers a blessed and prosperous 2024!

Be Re-Couraged in Christ!

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