Deliberate Decision

“‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” Joel 2:12-13 (ESV)

Consider going to a part of your life that is somewhat private and assess your normal response when you let God down. What do you do when you choose to disobey God? How do you respond to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in your life? Perhaps you seek to hide from God and try to work things out on your on. Maybe you choose to allow sufficient time to elapse so that your sensitivity to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit diminishes.

Satan seeks to convince us that we need to delay our return to the Lord. We rationalize our sin and try to justify our choices. Eventually, we come to our senses and realize the foolishness of procrastination. We don’t need to wait to run back to God. We don’t have to get our lives all cleaned up and ordered in order to return to the One who redeemed us with His love.

• “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” Rev. 2:4-5 (ESV)

The moment you become conscious of sin, run to God. Don’t hesitate! Confess your sin instantly, specifically, and then receive God’s forgiveness completely. Don’t give the devil a toehold, a foothold, or a stronghold in your life. As soon as you become aware of even a fraction of sin in your life, run to God!

Chronological Bible Reading Plan: (Day 255:  Joel)

Pursuing God,

Stephen Trammell
Executive Pastor
Follow me on twitter at: http://twitter.com/stephentrammell