"Acknowledge Me"

There has been something sitting very heavily on my heart the past few months. Well, actually, the past year. It has been a while since my last post, and for that I apologize to my readers. However, it has been a time of growth and learning. God has set innumerable things into motion, and taught me many important things during this fruitful time. I have not forgotten about the few of you that do read my posts, but I must admit, life has a way of getting busy and stress-filled. Throughout this past year, and particularly in recent times, I've repeatedly considered various topics to discuss with all of you, reflecting on the numerous lessons I've absorbed in this overwhemled brain of mine. And, yet, my mind continues to rest on one simple topic. I am not entirely certain I can even give this topic a solid title, because it really isn’t anything too monumental. However, I would still consider it life-changing; it was for me, anyway.

For context into today’s post, I highly encourage you to read Proverbs Chapter three. I will be focusing specifically on verses five through seven, but it is always important to read within context. Any time I reference a scripture when sharing personal stories or advice, it is my strongest suggestion that you read more than the verses I point out to get a better understanding of the text being referenced. It is usually not smart to blindly listen to a person online when it concerns the Holy Scriptures. With this being said, let’s read Proverbs 3:5-7.

"5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he shall direct your paths. 7. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.”

Verses eight and nine are also very important to point out in this context, but I will allow you to read those on your own.

I often hear these verses mis-interpreted. Most of the time, I hear everyone focusing on verse five and ignoring the latter. What does it mean to trust the Lord with all of your heart? What does it mean to lean on the Understanding and Will of the Lord rather than your own? These are the questions we should be asking, and not guessing or coming up with our own vague answers.

Have you any idea how many speakers I've listened to over the past year who have stood before a room full of people and said something like, "Wondering why your life is a mess? It's because you need to read your Bible and pray more"? In my humble opinion, I would say far too many. This is shallow advice. When a man of God stands in front of a room of people struggling in their relationships with God grasping at any truth they can bear to find, the last thing they need to hear is what they should be doing without any advice on how to accomplish it. The spiritual warfare and demons some of those people are trying to fight off daily aren’t going to go away that easily, or by our own effort and power. They go away when there is resistance (verse 7). We are told to cut off the hand that sins (Mark 9:43-48; Matthew 5:29-30), to resist the devil and flee to the safe-haven of Christ (James 4), and to fall forward out of our sin, not fall back into it (Proverbs 24:15-16; Philippians 3:12-16). In order to be successful in these things, I have found that it is crucial to invite Christ into those moments.

Yet, if you are anything similar to me, you might also have seasons where you struggle with

things being too mundane, leading one to essentially beg the question, "How do I enhance my connection with God when life is calm, quiet, and uneventful?" My thought process is that if our greatest levels of growth and learning come from pain and hardship, it must also be important to acknowledge how we may keep that attention on Christ when life is going well. I don't know about you, but I sometimes find it much more difficult to remain disciplined in my relationship with Christ when nothing "wrong" is taking place.

This is what leads me to what has truly been on my heart: Verse 6. For me, acknowledging the Lord was my starting point. My life did not begin to change until I began to actively apply these scriptures to my life, not just metaphorically, but literally. It is easy to look someone in the face and tell them that they simply need to "read more" of their Bible - a Bible that sometimes leaves a person feeling more confused than before they opened it - and to just "pray more". While these are excellent habits to cultivate, and I'm certainly not suggesting you stop trying to do so, the reality is that for some people, it remains significantly more challenging to accomplish or even understand how to do either of these things.

My advice is to simply begin acknowledging the Father in everything that you do. Make it a habit to have Him on your mind and to share every aspect of your life with Him. When you start to actively change your habits, then your mind and heart follow, not the other way around. The verse prior to number six jumpstarts this thought by sharing the wisdom that we cannot lean on our own understanding of things. I would argue that it is impossible to successfully convince yourself of any truth in a logical sense before ever experiencing it in practice for yourself. Even if we tried, we would not be sustained for long at all. This is because everything in this life points back to the things of spirit and Heaven. We cannot possibly know everything about the spiritual realm, or even begin to try to comprehend God’s plans. Leaning on our own understanding is the same as signing our own spiritual death warrants. Our understanding can even limit our own Faith, if we allow it to. Some mysteries of Christ are to remain just that: mysteries.

This is why it is so important to listen to the commands of God that have been passed down to us through Church history, and truly trust Him with everything that we do and with everything that we are. Verse 7 reiterates and deepens the previous two verses by encouraging and commanding the fleeing and resistance from temptations, but once again, how else can we achieve this other than to invite Christ into every single moment of our lives? Putting this into practice is how I was able to build the foundation of spiritual discipline that eventually led to a strengthened ability to dive into scripture, and ultimately offered me a much stronger prayer life altogether. Those desires don’t exactly come naturally to our flesh, but they are natural for our spirits. This is why training ourselves with spiritual discipline and progressive overload (starting small and increasing once you reach a strength level you are comfortable with) is such a struggle; our sinful nature is constantly at war with our soul.

Of course, this effort will be uncomfortable, and we must face things about ourselves that we are ashamed to face, but God never told us that He wanted us to be comfortable. If anything, the scriptures point to the harsh reality that we as believers are supposed to be the very opposite of comfortable. It warns us that we will be persecuted for His name’s sake and that we must endure (2 Timothy 3:10-15; Matthew 10:21-23); but what a beautiful thing to be persecuted for? To me, that is an honor of the highest form on this side of eternity.

Remember, have grace with yourself. God is not angry at you or disappointed in you because you don’t pick up your Bible every day. A lot of us live in a version of Christianity that conveys this message, but it is inaccurate. While I think the original intention was innocent, even if the thought was poorly executed, consider that reading scripture daily is an excellent way to honor the Lord, but it is not the only way. A relationship with Christ runs far more deeply than a personal, private interaction that doesn’t require any outside assistance. It is okay to ask for help and seek communion from other believers, and that is actually what we are called to take part in (Hebrews 10:19-25; Psalm 133; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). Let me point out that we serve a merciful God full of grace, and as long as you are seeking him with fullness of heart and intention in everything that you do, he will provide you with everything that you could ever need to be successful in the Faith (Deuteronomy 10:12-14; 1 Samuel 12:20-25; Colossians 3:22-25).

Prayer:

"Father, forgive me, for I sin and fall short of your glory day after day. I come before you humbly asking for the truth of your knowledge to fill my mind and soul, so that I may better serve you. You are my God and my Savior, and for this, I am eternally indebted to you and will choose to serve you out of the willingness of my own heart; help my freewill to be directed towards you above all else. Although I am unworthy to ask anything of you, I ask that you please strengthen me; thank you for allowing me to be able to humbly approach you in prayer. Thank you, Lord, for being all merciful and full of grace, for the gratitude of all the mercy you have shown me and this world pulses throughout my veins. I love you more and more everyday.

In Your Precious, Holy Name I Pray,

Amen."

Reflection:

• In what ways may I acknowledge God more in my daily life?