Long Way Home 9-4-08

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I entrust my life and my day to You. ... "Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments" (Deuteronomy 8:2). Character counts. The intents and desires of our hearts matter. Though You meet us where we are and love us as we are, You are never content to leave us as we are. You have a land of blessing and fulfillment before us, where You want us to "live and increase," when we "go in and occupy the land" (v. 8:1). But You want us to go into that land different in character and heart that when we began the journey. And the truth is, our hearts need to be humbled. Our character needs to be changed. We need to learn that Your ways are the best ways, that Your love includes Your conviction, correction, and discipline, that our wisdom and our strength will always fall short of getting where we know down inside we want to be. So we have to learn to trust You to bring us through every challenge of adversity, every storm of suffering, every shame of sin, every temptation of trusting in ourselves apart from You. And whether we like it or not, that most often happens in the wilderness. The wilderness times, the wandering times, the waiting times are where You humble us and test us and teach us. You lead us by the long way home. That's how we learn to walk in "the Way of the Lord" (Acts18:25). As we begin the journey, You begin to show us that our ways are not Your ways and our thoughts are not Your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8). But as we continue our journey each day, as You bring us through the wilderness of our world on this side of heaven, letting you humble us and test us and teach us, You patiently and graciously renew our minds and change our hearts (Romans 12:2). And with the hope of home in our hearts, You keep building our character and changing our nature, making us more like You each day all along the long way home. "You have made know to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your Presence" (Acts 2:28). The long way home is Your way home prepared for each us to prepare us and produce in us al that is needed to display Your life and nature and character through us. "And not only that, we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:3-5). So even though I walk through the valley and wander through the wilderness, even though I endure the sufferings while learning to wait patiently for the promises, Your Spirit is here with me, living within me, all along the way into the fullness and gladness of Your Presence. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you for praying for my computer problems. Miraculously, they fixed it for me in one day! I'm excited to be leading a men's retreat at Camp Loucon, Kentucky this weekend and would appreciate your prayers for us. God bless you! Subscribe free by email to Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com Please Click Here to Order our Ministry Resources On-Line -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502