Once You Get It!

PSALM 139:1-3 O Lord, You have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down, and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down. You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

Oh! LOLOLO…The title is from a 1960’s breakfast commercial. This Lil root’n’toot’n cowboy would say, “Wake up you rattlesnake! I want my Maypo!” What’s so funny? I reiterate the greeting every morning, as I give my beloved sister her wake-up call. OK….. Down to business.

My whole premise of today’s message is about getting a wake-up call. It happens to all of us at one time or another. However, we ignore the fact that God is trying to say, ”Hello, Dufess! “If you do it my way, you’ll be much happier in the long run.”

Sometimes God is gentle; however sometimes you get slammed. Yep…I really got slammed many times……..BUT ONCE I GOT IT…… I was happy, regardless of the trials that occurred in my life.

Isaiah 50:4 The Lord has given me His words of wisdom, so that I know what I must say to these weary ones. Morning by morning, He awakens me, and opens my understanding to His will.

Once I began to understand that He loves me, regardless of my sinfulness, it felt as if the weight of the world was lifted from me.

Psalm 139:17-18 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They cannot be numbered. I can’t even count them. They outnumber the grains of sand, and when I wake up, You are still with me.

What? He thinks precious thoughts about me? Those were my thoughts, in my youth. Jesus was not a person with whom you could have a relationship. Was He?

He’s not the scary Dude with the cattle prod, with whom I grew up. Zap! There’s a black mark on your soul (mortal sin). ZAP! There’s a bunch of grey marks too (venial sin). Jesus won’t live in that sinful mess, unless you are in the confession box frequently.

Catholicism had us all so scared in the ‘50’s. There would be a line for confessions, every sat afternoon.

THEN CAME VATICAN II: A lot of rattlesnakes were awakened; Bible Studies/Grace. DID I SAY GRACE? All of the old strict rules fell to the
wayside.

I was 50, when I truly got it. Two years ago, one of my cousins shared with me that she was in in a dark place. Last year, I hugged a totally
different person. With the “Sonlight” in her face, she said, ”I finally got it. He loves me just the way I am.

All of her Bible study was worth it. She finally realized, that what she was hearing in her head, were lies from the enemy. Never doubt, that God teaches us through our trials.

The greatest thing that He ever taught me; I WAS BOUGHT WITH A PRICE. He’s not out to get me. He’s there to love me, and forgive my brokenness.

HEAVENLY FATHER: Open the eyes of the hearts that struggle with legalism and conviction. Bless them and gently show them your truths. WAKE THEM UP..to a new life in Christ Jesus.
In Jesus Name, I pray.

Sue Cutler
Fearless Faith