Psalms 23:1-6

 Psalm 23:6 Only goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life; I will dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come.

Our salvation depends on God. We can not obtain our own salvation. It is not just through praying, or just through works. It takes our faith, depending on God, fully entrusting in God to strengthen our hearts and soul. So why should we spend our life struggling, trying to be better on our own? We need to rely on God and find rest in him. He will guide us down the right path. He is our shepherd, and will bring us to green grass and safe waters. If we can allow ourselves to become dependent on God, as this verse says, goodness and love will find us. 

We need to let ourselves delight in our Lord. We need to let ourselves draw near to him. We need to open ourselves to his true desires for us. We need to let ourselves rest in him. We need to understand that he is truly in control. As this crazy year draws to an end, we should look back and see how we tried to use these last few weeks to become closer to God as a message. Did I put down the phone? Did I turn off the TV? Did I allow peace into my home? If you can’t answer yes, there is still hope! What comes next? Advent! As we begin to prepare for the celebration of Jesus’s birth, I challenge you to download a prayer app. And move it on your front screen, rearrange your icons for it to be where FaceBook was. That way, when you are trying to check your FB updates, you will hit the prayer app instead. Or you will have to willingly avoid the prayer app to purposefully open FB (or whatever other social media site). Give it a try. Open your heart to hearing more of God’s word throughout the day. Dwell in the house of the Lord.