I missed it DAY 8 of 40

How many times do we "miss it"?

We're an imprefect people who serve a perfect God whose desire for us is to share in His holiness (hebrews 12).
We see the perfect example of how we should live that out from the apostle Paul as he exclaims in Philippians 3:

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

We're not perfect, we won't be perfect anytime soon, but we should be pressing towards Holiness, towards godliness.

See there is a mountain that gets in the way of this sanctification process, that mountain is called pride. We are people group of Americans who have been taught that everything is about being right, being perfect, getting our way etc. ideals and beliefs that are in direct opposition to the Word of God.

This past week the Lord spoke to me, the Holy Spirit instructed me, and I ignored Him. Yes I ignored Him.
I didn't find this situation to be one of great importance, I wasn't really sure if it was the Lord tugging me or not, so instead of addressing it and praying about it, I ignored it.

It took 2 days for me to realize what had REALLY happened and on top of already ignoring the Holy Spirit, do you know what my first reaction was? To come up with an excuse and a denial of my faults in the situation.

Perhaps while reading this you may be wondering why in the heck i'd admit all of this on a public blog, well there's a simple answer for that in the Word:
James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.

This isn't my first rodeo with missing the mark, it's not my first time to have pride and find excuses, it's not my first time to not do something the Lord has told me, and ya know, honestly it won't be the last, but I've learned something.

When you mess up, fess up. Repent... ask for forgiveness from the Lord (and He is faithful and just to forgive 1 John 1:9) ask for forgiveness from those who your sin impacted, and then live in forgiveness. Live into the freedom that repentance, forgiveness, and redemption brings.

Forgiveness is a glorious blessing that is readily available to us for every sin, every mistake, but are we willing to lay down our pride, humble ourselves, before God and man to admit we messed up?

Be quick to repent,
Be blessed,
J. Tate