It Builds Character!

We have had a saying in our house that my girls have never really appreciated. Whenever they have been required to do something that they don't really want to do, we tell them that "It Builds Character."  It is a phrase that each of them has grown up hearing, so it has become kind of a catch phrase in our house...whenever we tell our girls now to do something and we begin to tell them why, they say, "I know, I know,....it builds character."

We may laugh about it, but I am glad that they are starting to understand the need to do things, even when they aren't our favorite! That is a necessary part of our physical life, but it is also a very necessary part of our spiritual life as well. Discipline is hard. It requires us to do things that we don't necessarily want to do, but as we do what is right, our character is developed to resemble God more and more closely.

As I was reading through Ezekiel, I came across a devotion in my Bible at Ezekial 36:27. That verse says: "And I will put my Spirit on you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."
The Power of a Praying Woman Bible - Stormie O'Martian

"We all have to do things we don't want to. Even in the best of jobs, there are still parts that we don't enjoy. When we do things we don't like simply because we know we need to do them, it builds character in us, makes us disciplined, and forms us into leaders God can trust. Besides, there's always a price to pay when we forsake the things we need to do in order to do only the things we feel like doing.

When we ask for it, He will give us the discipline we need in order to do all the tasks that are distasteful to us. When God asks us to do something, He also promises to equip us to carry it out.

God has promised to put His Spirit within you. Wherever you go and whatever tasks are before you, you have the pledge of His powerful guidance. But you have to be continually tapping into Him. You have to be in constant communication with Him in order to be plugged into His power. You have to be moving in the Spirit in order to do all He has for you to do."

I believe that now more than ever before, it is time for us as Christians to dig in! It is time for us to stand up and do what is right even when it is hard. It is time for us to be what we call ourselves!!!!  If we call ourselves Christians (defined: to be Christ-like) then we should be just that. A true representation of our Lord and Savior. We should be willing to do the hard thing and turn away from the desires of our flesh and follow after the Spirit. It is time for us as Christians to follow the Lords decrees and be careful to keep His laws!!