Called to action

To start 2020, I'm repeating "Reset: Diligence Is a Choice; It's Time to Execute," a YouVersion Bible app reading plan by Vance K. Jackson that I also used to finish out 2019. It pulls together many Scriptures from Proverbs, Psalms and elsewhere, exploring them from a variety of translations, to express in no uncertain terms the importance of putting action to our intentions that arise from seeking God's guidance. 

This morning, it prompted me to write:

The dream at hand is to take responsibility for my messes; to clean up my spaces; to get rid of the clutter and excess. God is telling me if I ask Him for guidance and trust Him to deliver guidance, He will equip me to complete the task. 

But I must do my part. This work will not be done unless I do it. I believe God is telling me it’s time. 

And it’s not selfish. It will free me — and Gene — to be more responsible stewards of our resources, including time, for God’s glory. 

Heavenly Father, please help me know what to do with this stuff. Help me let go of what I don’t need. And help me know what to do with it, whether it be to donate, keep or toss into the trash. I trust You to guide and equip me — and to balance this work with service to and fellowship with You and the people You bring into my path. That is perhaps my biggest challenge. Help me, I pray. I trust You. I love You. May my faithful, humble, gracious response glorify You. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen,

I also reread and declared some truths gleaned from Scriptures by Lysa Terkheurst as part of her "Trustworthy" Bible study of 1 & 2 Kings.

This is the one that helped today: "Today, I declare doubt must flee because I'm shifting from self-sufficiency to sacrifice, putting trust back in God's hands."

She referenced Psalm 4:5 ("Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.") and Romans 12:1 ("I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.")

The declaration continued with a prayer: "From the time I wake up in the morning until it's time for me to go to sleep, I know there are things begging for my attention other than You, God. The weight of my problem begs me to give in to self-made solutions that leave no room for You to move. I pray that today would not be a day of self-sufficiency but a day of self-sacrifice. I offer myself to You as a living sacrifice because I know You are worthy of my trust."

I have felt before that God was calling me to get busy with these challenging tasks at home. Pray as I might, I couldn't seem to follow through. These and other Scriptures I've been taking to heart recently may be allowing God to shape a new perspective within me. Seeing the task more clearly as God's assignment for me today helped me keep at it. And the concept of sacrificing my desires, pleasure and will, and replacing them with God's will for me, also helped today. I think in the past I was trying to do what needed to be done through my own sufficiency, and that never worked. Today, I tried trusting God, believing it was His will for me, and the results were much better.

I got busy. Praying often along the way, I accomplished the tasks I felt God had called me to do. Just for today. And I am grateful.