GET UP!

I receive a lot of prayer requests (which is why Morgan is banned from my phone as I want them to stay private) and one thing I've always encouraged is that no matter what you've done, no matter how far you feel you've fallen, what a travesty and tragedy it would be for you just to drop out of corporate worship but moreover how tragic to just put His word down. What you need more than anything is to pick it up. Go to the psalms. You won't find anyone who has blown it, had to utterly depend on God, or had such height and depth of emotion then the man after Gods own heart, David, who penned much of the psalms under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. No matter what he did (murder, adultery, taking a forbidden census and having so much bloodshed on his hands, past victories, failures, betrayal, loss) he believed God would take him back and wanted him back. That's the deal breaker. Do we sin so grace may abound? Heck NO! But did The Lord pay for your sins past, present, and future before you were ever born? Yes! They were nailed to the cross. Do we still face consequences...yes but The Lord still doesn't treat us as our sins deserve. I've seen people light a match to their own flame and medicate with alcohol or drugs until they all but self-destruct. If The Lord allows the enemy to sift you like wheat let Him as something in you needs to die so you may fully live. But as long as you have breath 1) LIFT UP...cry out and stretch your hands up for The Lord to deliver you. 2) GET UP! Strengthen your weak knees so that the lame behind you may walk and endure that discipline as The Lord disciplines is for our good and because we are His (Hebrews 12). 3) WAKE UP! Stay alert. Know where you are weak and where the enemy gets a foothold. Make a plan. But seek not to medicate (I'm not talking about people who truly need medicine for certain things...I'm talking about trying to drown your sorrows or guilt from not repenting with some sort of substance. Run to the word to medicate and take comfort. 4) PICK UP!! Pick up the word of God. We are without excuse and we are to know the truth and abide in it and the truth will set is free. It's not words on a page. 5) OWN UP! confess and own your sin before God. He already knows. He is big enough to handle us spilling our hearts out and urges us too. Also, remember that the Lord is after relationship. He would rather you know Him then you just get delivered to live for yourself. Some of the places of bondage in your life probably didn't just Happen over night and may require some time of critical care with the LORD so your gaping wounds can become scars or even tattoos. Don't forget what He has brought you from or how incapable you are apart from Him and how capable you are of any amount of sin. All of us are sinners and on equal ground at the cross. If you start to get proud GET DOWN and humble yourself. Then, 6) DON'T SHUT UP! Turn back like Peter after he denied Christ what did The Lord pray for him as he knew satan had asked permission to sift him like wheat? That after that he would turn back and strengthen the brethren. People behind you need to know (and maybe not in detail) that if you can blow it and experience full redemption that they can to. The Lord is not finished with you if you still have breath. COME LET US RETURN. “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:1-3 ESV)