Stumbling Around

Is that you?  I have done my share, believe me, and I still stumble, but not as often and stumbling is not fun. It usually causes us pain or someone else.  Of course I am speaking from experience and I have suffered sufficiently from my stumbling.  Usually we slip up in anger, impatience, in our words, actions or even our thoughts, sometimes I have to repent of a thought that brought me down.

Have you ever been doing quite well in your Christian walk and all of a sudden you feel down, like something is not quite right and a little or a lot depressed?  It is because some little act or word got in your way and tripped you up, or it could have been just a thought of impurity, impatience or anger.  If you get upset over something someone did or said, you are apt to fall into a pit prepared for you by the devil.  I do not appreciate his traps and he has many of them.  Then you will have that ugly feeling in the pit of your being that things are just not right and then you have to stop and consider, 'what happened to me?'

Sometimes it takes a sincere apology depending upon who you injured, or a repentance to God because He alone knew your thought or motive.  But you do need to take care of it right away and make your standing with God whole again.  If your method did not work of making it right, then you did not take care of it in the right way.  Let the Spirit speak to your heart and in all honesty, do the right thing and then you will have a happy spirit again, right away.

Jude 24,25 says, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, both now and forever.  Amen."  Yes, He is able and He will do it, if we allow Him to.
To live in His presence is to keep us from stumbling and making mistakes that affect us Spiritually. It also keeps us from hurting ourselves and others Spiritually.  Our natural nature is sinful and wants to get even or talk back and it really hurts us Spiritually and others as well.

This was my husband's favorite Bible text and one of the nurses asked me what his favorite text was and I told her Jude 24 and she memorized it and said it to him when she was taking care of him.  I thought that was a very thoughtful thing to do.  It probably gave him peace, which it should do, it is a wonderful promise and I love to repeat it, and dwell upon the words and their meaning.

Can you trust God to keep that promise for you?  He is well able to keep you from stumbling and driving Satan out of your pathway.  James 4:6,7,8  "But He gives more grace, Therefore He says:  God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, Therefore submit to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you...."  We have only to resist the devil and he will flee.  God does the driving of him out of our lives.  I know from experience.  Will you be willing to resist today?  Keep His promise with you, write it on a card and memorize it and say it out loud and let Satan know that you mean it.  You will have that peace that passes all understand that the Bible speaks about.  Grandma Joan