The Right List

Dear Heavenly Father

There are so many things that I want to accomplish in my life. Like many of your sons and daughters, sometimes it feels like I’m taking one step forward and two steps backwards. The demands on my time are increasing, and my resources don’t seem to be keeping pace. This can be nerve-racking because you think, “When will it end? When will I be able to coast on the wave of things finally going the way I want?” The older I get, the more things slip by me, so I decided to make a list, thinking it would help me to get a better handle on things.

Habakkuk 2:1-3 (NLT) tells us, “I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint. 2 Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. 3 This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.” You instructed the prophet to write down the vision You gave him, and to make it very plain so that Your message would be clearly understood.

One of our common practices is to make lists, and these lists are to help us construct a clear vision of where we’d like to go. For many of us, the list is quite elaborate and intentional, and for others of us, it’s a little more vague, but whatever it is, we put the list away for safekeeping. We figure on going back to it whenever we need inspiration or further direction that will help us frame where we’d like to go. After completing my list and looking over it a few times, I was pleased and felt like I had accomplished something that would really help me. It felt good to have something on paper, but as I thought about the scripture in Habakkuk 2:1-3 (NLT) it seemed to me that I had missed something.

Father God, You have always wanted Your people to recognize and appreciate the sacred calling and identity that rests on them through Jesus Christ. The further we get away from this, the more life will get away from us. It is perfectly fine and admirable to have a list, but on the top of this list should be our commitment to listen and pay attention to the Spirit’s guidance in a greater way. Many of us make the mistake of thinking we can be guided by our instincts, that if we just listen to our hearts more or stick to our personal agendas, we will end up in the right place. John 16:13 affirms that only the Spirit of Christ can lead and guide us to all truth, and when we allow ourselves to be guided by, in, with, and through truth, there is liberty and freedom; then we won’t feel out of pace with the race God has set before us.

Father God, please help us to shift our priorities in a way that is in alignment with Your Will. Let us not be overtaken with arrogance and pride. Help us to recognize when we are heading in a wrong direction. As we sit down to write our visions and make them plain, please lead us through Your Spirit as to what to write, so that our lists are right in Your sight. Please help us to grow in Christ. Thank You for our Blessed Savior, thank You for the Holy Spirit, and please let Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In the precious and powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“The Right List”, written by K. Lizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2020.  All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.

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