What Are You Doing Today?
Psalm 118:24-29 Amplified Bible (AMP)
24This is the day which the Lord has brought about; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 25Save now, we beseech You, O Lord; send now prosperity, O Lord, we beseech You, and give to us success! 26Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; we bless you from the house of the Lord [you who come into His sanctuary under His guardianship]. 27The Lord is God, Who has shown and given us light [He has illuminated us with grace, freedom, and joy]. Decorate the festival with leafy boughs and bind the sacrifices to be offered with thick cords [all over the priest's court, right up] to the horns of the altar. 28You are my God, and I will confess, praise, and give thanks to You; You are my God, I will extol You. 29O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever.
I began to realize that every day I was making choices, whether consciously or unconsciously. I was making a choice on how I would approach my day and what I would determine to have happen or not. Now I realize that I am not in control of every aspect of my day, because other individuals are involved and things happen, because of spiritual elements at work, as well as the response, choices and actions of self and others. But I have a choice in what I do and how I respond to the elements, people and circumstances that arise around me, and even to my own choices, bad or good.
My Bishop makes a point of saying what we can make happen for others God can do for us. I have found this to be a truth that has often been overlooked. Many times our motives for doing the things that we do are self-serving and they lack, God’s direction and will. This is the Lord’s day. This is the day that He made, but often we take ownership and place our tag line on it. What we choose to do with it can glorify God or can glorify us. It can bring distain on the Kingdom and it can bring distain on us. It can draw people closer to God or it can push them away from God. If we chose to ignore the fact that each day is a blessing from God and that we should be maximizing its potential and the minutes of it, we will find ourselves wasting our time, in places of negativity, criticism, fear, anger and so many places that lead us to respond and do things that are contrary to building our faith, the kingdom of God and our relationship with God and others. Daily I pray, daily I confess, daily I am focused on blessing God and keeping my heart clean and my flesh under subjection. Daily I try to help someone. But if I do not choose to determine any of those things, flesh can take over and things can go horribly wrong, horribly quick.
Often we are the darkest thing in a situation instead of choosing to be the light. Many days we recognize all the enemy has been able to accomplish, but we do not recognize who God is and what He is able and capable of doing. Many days, instead of building up, we want to tear down all in the name of being right. Pastors Thomas used to say; “sometimes you have to give up your right to be right.” At first I thought it meant we were always supposed to take a place of false humility and say we are wrong, but then God began to reveal to me that many times we wake up with an ideal of what we want, need or are going to do, and we have an ideal of what right is for that day, and even for our lives; even within our encounters, relationships and interactions, but we have to recognize this is the LORD’s Day, W are created unto Good Works for Him. His version of right and what should be in proper order is often not ours. We should be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord, we should be giving Him thanks and we should have a temperament of gladness in spite of what we view went great or not so great. Yesterday I was expecting something to turn in my favor. I had an idea of what the day should have been, and nothing went as outlines in my mind’s eye, but I was determined not to lose, hope, focus, faith or my praise nor my worship. I determined that God was in control and He knew best and if it didn’t come on that day it would come, or in another way that He had ordained.
Our day should always begin and end with praise and thanksgiving and be filled with the leading of the Holy Spirit and what God has for us, even when it doesn’t look right, or even when we recognize the enemy is stirring up trouble remember this is the Lord’s day and He can turn it around and make it good, but we have to be in His will and make our day count in ways that we cannot always see or benefit from here in the earth!
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