Tuesday, March 9, 2010

No More Excuses


I recently bought me another pair of jeans. Why? Because I only had ONE pair that I was wearing (all the time!). All my other jeans, well, didn't quite fit. (Yes, even after laying down on the bed in an attempt to zip them up!) Sad, I know. Despite the fact that one of my new year's goals was to "exercise 3 x a week", as you can tell, I was falling way short. I felt as if God asked me, "Do you want to get healthy?. Then do what you gotta do." I had to tell myself, "Okay, Rochelle, no more excuses." For me, the ideal time to exercise is in the morning before my munchkins get up and my 120 mile per hour day starts. I was used to getting up to pray but now I'm adding that former dust collector, the treadmill. After a few weeks, can I just say that it feels great?! Oh, I guess I just did.

I'm reminded of a story in John 5 when Jesus came across an invalid who had been in that condition for 38 years. (That's a very long time.) He asked him, "Do you want to get well?" Surprisingly, instead of a rip roaring affirmative reply, the man gave Jesus an excuse. Seems like this man was comfortable on his bedroll. I wonder how many times we have done that to God. Not only with our "physical" being but our emotional being. You know, when we're angry, bitter or hurt over something that happened yesterday (or 20 years ago). Jesus asks us, "Do you want to get over this?" Unfortunately, we rather give Him an excuse and stay on our bedroll of false security. I say that because these emotions can become a crutch that keep us from receiving God's best.

Amazingly, Jesus simply ignored this man's excuse and told him, "Get up, take your bedroll and start walking." Upon his obedience, the invalid was "healed on the spot." Wow! No more excuses my friend. It's time to get up. It's time to get over it and be healed! May we say like this former invalid, "Jesus made me well!"

3 comments:

  1. Yes, I needed to read this today! Thanks for the word of encouragement! NO MORE EXCUSES! Blessings to you Rochelle.

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  2. God is cultivating my diet. I'm having a blast eating foods that He approves of! It seems that our Creator did a really good job creating a variety of yummy things to eat!

    Thanks for the inspiration today!

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  3. OH girl.. what is written here, " You know, when we're angry, bitter or hurt over something that happened yesterday (or 20 years ago). Jesus asks us, "Do you want to get over this?" Unfortunately, we rather give Him an excuse and stay on our bedroll of false security. I say that because these emotions can become a crutch that keep us from receiving God's best" speaks loudly to my soul today.. Feeling pretty under the weather due to finding out I have pneumonia, I want to throw my pity party of frustration because I am not one to sit and lay around at all.. But this is exactly where the Lord has me right now, and I have to be obedient to " rest" in Him, in the process of healing.
    So much power in your blogpost here, sister.. I am going to be reading it time after time I think, because Abba Father speaks to me all the time asking me if I want to stay stuck in whatever emotional upset I have in my daily life.. Stubborn is my middle name, and even with Him, its a learning process of seeing His way is the BEST way for healing.. Thanks for sharing your powerful words here.. I look forward to coming back and reading much more of your posts!!
    Hanging onto the Thread of Hope,
    karen
    http://www.karensthreadsofhope.blogspot.com

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