{"id":25515,"date":"2019-04-18T03:30:50","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T10:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=25515"},"modified":"2019-04-23T11:15:53","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T18:15:53","slug":"april-18-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2019\/04\/18\/april-18-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"April 18, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cTherefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.\u201d <\/em>Philippians 3:15<\/p>\n

Moving the Couch<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The other day, a friend told me she was doing some spring cleaning, and had moved her couch out of the way. She found something that, in her words, she really wished she hadn\u2019t found. She did not tell me what it was, and I won\u2019t speculate (and you shouldn\u2019t either.) It is enough to know that her world was rocked by this discovery.<\/p>\n

But she made an interesting connection. She said, \u201cThis is how prayer is sometimes. You\u2019re innocently praying, and suddenly you come across a thing you didn\u2019t know was there. And you say to God, \u2018Really, Lord? You had to show me that?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing what you don\u2019t want to see\u2014the thing you forever can\u2019t un-see\u2014can be very hard when it is about someone you love and trust. Those findings will create an ongoing spiritual battle with hidden powers of darkness. We will pray and beseech and forgive, possibly for many years, until it is resolved.<\/p>\n

But often God reveals to us not someone else\u2019s sins but our own. Attitudes hidden even to ourselves come to light. Wrong thinking, skewed ideas, improper perceptions, even loose morals are suddenly paraded before us, causing us ask, \u201cDo I even know\u00a0<\/strong>God?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank God for His great mercy extended to us! What would be the result of these attitudes and actions if they were to remain in us? What would become of us? What would our witness be in this world? How could our testimony survive?<\/p>\n

No, no\u2014He must cleanse our hearts and minds from all impurity. He doesn\u2019t bombard us all at once with our sinful nature that still sometimes seems to be our Rule of Life, but He shows us when we are ready to see it, when circumstances are right. We must repent, of course. We must turn from those things of the flesh, of the old life, and walk toward Him. We must pray to stay tender and yielded toward His surgical fingers and allow Him to cut away what is hidden inside us that will cripple or destroy us, or make us unfruitful or useless.<\/p>\n

\u201cFather, in Your faithfulness, You reveal our inner self. Help us to be tender and yielded to the work of Your Spirit. May our eyes be wide open to the things You show us, and may we be willing participants in our transformation. We make no excuses for our previous choices, but rejoice that You are perfecting us. In the Name of Your perfect Son, Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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