This year has been a year where God has led me to work on discipline and self control. As the year started, I was diligent in seeking God and exercising discipline and self-control. As I ended my fast and went back to "regular living" I slacked off, and eventually found myself down a path I had never intended to go.
For the next few weeks I struggled, knowing that change needed to come but admittedly ashamed at how I had ended up at that place. Instead of moving forward, I just stood still not pressing forward and not going back. I was frozen, as I often do when I realize I can't, haven't, or didn't give 100%.
I set my heart to start over today. It is a new year in my life, and I still desire to achieve those goals. As I was reading the word today I was reminded of Peter. This is a man who walked by Jesus in a rather close proximity. He pledged to follow Jesus wherever he went. Then in Jesus's weakest hour, Peter denied he even knew Him. Yet, Peter became a great preacher with a boldness that he didn't have before, after the resurrection of Christ.
I realized in reading that, we all fall. Granted each of us falls in different areas, and to different degrees, but the fact is we all fail. We backslide, we compromise, we fail to move forward. It is easy to get caught in the shame of that, but it is just part of life.
That challenge the strength comes from getting back up and pressing to go farther than we were before the fall. Maybe it is just me, but I often feel like I am the only one who did that. Satan has no problem feeding that thought to keep me from moving forward. Satan wants us to stay condemned, because he saw what happened when Peter and Paul rose from the ashes.
Ordinary men, empowered by the Holy Spirit changed this world. Imagine what you could do if you stopped allowing Satan to condemn you with your past, and started over walking in the fullness of Forgiveness and the Power of the Holy Spirit. Here is too a new day!
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