Faithful

Do you notice how different "themes" tend to confront you in your life from time to time. I find myself going about my life and as I'm confronted by different circumstances, people, studies, messages etc...my thoughts for a season of time are continually brought back to a particular topic. Lately, I feel like this topic has been glorifying God. I'm afraid my summary of these thoughts may be significantly lacking, and I'm not even sure this is the correct title...but I felt that I should share this journey of understanding with you...mostly in an attempt to reel in the scattered bits and pieces and hopefully obtain a bit more understanding for myself.

My mind has been tossing around the question, "who am I or who do I want to be?" Several circumstances I have faced recently have really challenged this issue for me. Messages, studies, and conversations seem to be reinforcing the ideas and keeping the thoughts active. Every area of my life is forcing me to come back and focus on this topic. I know it is not a coincidence. God is doing something.

I recently read about Peter and his denial of Christ. What stood out to me this time when Christ reveals to Peter what is about to happen, is that His words tell us that Satan was trying his best to separate all of them (Christ's disciples) from Christ. The NIV says "Satan has asked to sift you as wheat". And he goes on to say that HE prayed for Peter! He prayed that Peter would not give in and would remain faithful to Him. The issue in Peters life was denial. The author of the study goes on to point out that the real issue was Peters inability to deny himself, which led him to deny Jesus Christ.

I just picture Christ having these same conversations with Satan about me. It is so easy to focus on our circumstance and be so wrapped up in the difficulty of it all that we miss the bigger picture. As most do I'm sure, I have great difficulty denying myself...particularly in the midst of trials. Suppose Satan has confronted Christ about this issue in my life and Christ has prayed for ME to not give in and to remain faithful. That thought right there has been so overwhelming to me in the past few months. I have come to believe that some difficult circumstances are allowed into our lives to teach us and to help us develop the qualities we need to be the person God has intended for us to be. But in addition, sometimes these difficulties are allowed into our lives to prove us faithful. Satan is trying to separate us from Christ! Christ knew that Peter would fail in the moment, but He also knew that Peter would NOT fail in the mission. I want Christ to know that about me! That is the person I want to be.

I tend to view my difficult circumstances as times to be endured or "survived", but that is really not the point. Not only do I want to be a person that can deny myself and remain faithful to God, I want to handle my circumstances (good and bad) in ways that bring glory to Him. I want to fight against Satan's attempt to separate me from Christ! Oh how I want to prove Satan wrong. When he thinks that he can hit me with something that will finally do me in, I just want to come back at him with a reaction that makes him sorry he even tried. Not only do I want everyone to see God glorified, but I want them to know that Satan tried and he failed...again. I want them to know that he is trying to separate them from God too, but (in the words of Beth Moore) Christ will not grant Satan permission to do anything that can't be used for God's glory and our good...if we will let it! Satan doesn't have to win in your life...Glorify God and be faithful! I want to make God so proud and so happy that he trusted me and gave me to opportunity to remain faithful. I will probably fail, just like Peter, in the moment (or two)...but I want to succeed in the mission.

I pray that God continues to confront me with this, and as my nature finds me fearing or refusing to deny myself...I pray that God reminds me that out of His love He sacrificed more than I could even imagine...and that Christ will ultimately find me faithful.