I am Having a Good Day

I really think I’m getting better. I have my crabby and hostile and overly critical moments, and I am still pretty lazy by my own standards, and I am not as disciplined as I want to be. But I feel like I have my life straightened up to the point where God is willing to bless me. I guess he blesses everybody to some degree, but when people talk about “being blessed” as a state, they mean something better than an occasional answered prayer. I feel like God has given me sufficient grace to improve myself to the point where my life can go well. By “grace,” I mean an ability that has been provided to me supernaturally.

I want to be very careful not to take the credit. People always say God gives stuff away for nothing, and I don’t think that’s correct. He generally expects you to participate. But what you do can’t really earn his blessings. So what God really offers is a tremendous discount on everything. For example, to get salvation, instead of leading a perfect life, you believe in Jesus and ask him to forgive you. So I’ve done a little bit to cooperate with God, but he made all the improvements happen.

Today I had a big ol’ victory. Two, in fact. A problem in one area bled over into another area. Something I had to deal with threatened to prevent me from doing something I had promised to do. Today I got some unexpected and extremely powerful help with the first problem, so the second problem is probably dead, too. I wish I could tell you more about it. The more I think about it, the more I realize what a great story it is. Maybe later this year.

I’ll tell you something about my past as a Christian. I always got annoyed when people hollered “Praise the Lord.” First of all, I was confused by the whole notion. It still seems a little weird that we are expected to praise God, but I can see that it’s a good thing. It increases your faith and helps you to avoid crediting people with God’s actions. But on top of that, I thought they sounded insincere. Unhappy Christians are not rare, and very often, when Christians talk about how wonderful God is, they sound completely insincere to me. Like they want to believe it, or they’re saying it to fit in, but it’s not in their hearts.

The further I progress, the more sincere I feel when I talk about how great God is. And every time I hit a plateau, I look back at a previous level, and I think, “Wow, I had no idea back then. I thought I realized how great he is, but I didn’t have a clue.” And of course, I know that when I look back from the next plateau, I’ll feel the same way about this one.

It’s not just emotional comfort. It’s not just a cleaner life. It’s not just relief from guilt, or the sense that I’m doing more good. God DOES STUFF for people. He gives people jobs. He heals their diseases. He fixes their families. He helps people earn money. He guides people when they need earthly things like a good mechanic or an honest realtor. He’s better than Angie’s List and GPS, rolled into one.

It seems like God will be very obvious about helping you in two situations. First, when you’ve bottomed out and your life is garbage and you turn to him in desperation. He might instantly take away an addiction, or he might help you get released from prison, or he might get you an negative result on an HIV test. Second, when you start to get it together to the point where he can sort of endorse your life. You’re supposed to be an employee and a representative (the Bible uses the word “ambassador”). I suppose there is a limit to how much he’ll get behind you and promote you while you’re still clambering out of the mire and trying to hose off the filth.

God is just all over me these days. I don’t know what to do. I wish I had more luck getting other people to try the things that have worked for me, but at least I’m getting the help I need.

It’s a funny thing, but the more you’re blessed, the more able you are to receive blessings. I know people who do very valuable things for me, telling me about teachings and so on, and because I’ve been opened up to taking that kind of advice, I benefit tremendously. But when I try to tell them something helpful, forget it. Sometimes it sticks, and sometimes it blows right by them. It’s as if I’m condemned to be more blessed than blessing. Talk about mixed feelings. I want the good, but I don’t want to be the only one who gets it.

Get Robert Morris’s Elevate DVD series, and read the Freedom booklet. Then get Jentezen Franklin’s book, Fasting. Put this stuff together, along with your other Christian efforts, and look out. If you can receive it and benefit from it, great. If not, at least I tried.