Daily devotional, Feb 20, 2024 Full tank

"And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." 
Romans 5:5

I have always been told that when tackling seemingly insurmountable challenges, all I have to do is to do my best and leave the rest to God. I applied this advice on almost anything that I had to do — as a college student, I hung on to this as I worked on my thesis. As I got my job, I applied it in every project given to me. 

As a mom I found myself giving the same advice to my children. Well the two older ones who are now old enough to be given school projects. I just tell them to do what they can according to their skills, prepare what they can, ask for support from the teacher or from me, and pray that the Lord will bless their efforts and fill up whatever void they can no longer fill.

"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you,I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." 
Isaiah 41:10

According to my folks, apart from insurmountable challenges, such a mantra also applies to our needs. In whatever area in our lives, as long as we do what we can do, God will be merciful enough to deliver us from the challenges that we are facing — be it in the area of health, finances, and even in marriage. And, indeed it again seemed consistent to what the bible is teaching us:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

Just recently though, I heard from my favorite preacher that we can also ask the Lord to reinforce our efforts towards improving our character. When we decide to follow Jesus and surrender ourselves to Him, we will have a natural tendency to desire to grow in Christ-likeness.

But as human beings we could never attain that perfection. We however can always try to be more like Jesus. And when we ask for His help to augment our efforts at trying to be more patient, more kind, more gentle, and more humble, He will be more than willing to accede. In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul the Apostle prayed for the church saying:

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every familyin heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of His glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love," Ephesians 3:14-17

So how do we ask God to fill up our efforts to live our faith? Well, we should first recognize our weaknesses and be humble enough to confess it to God and repent from them. So let us ask ourselves, which among the fruits of the spirit have we yet to bear? Is it love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, or self-control?

Let us say it is in the area of patience. If we can only muster 5 out of 10 in the patience scale, then the next time we are being tested by our children, or our spouse, or whoever in our lives, then we ask God to fill us up. We can do this by uttering the words “help me Lord to be patient like you,” and then recall in our minds the many times God has been patient with us.

The same goes when our tank is not filled with joy. When we fail to be happy because we keep on comparing our lives with others, let us ask God’s help again. When we refuse to be joyful for others, let us also seek His help. Apart from calling to mind the many times He brought joy in our lives, we can recall His command that we have to be joyful. Here is one of the many bible passages that call on us to rejoice:

“Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous things!”
 Joel 2:21

When we are being challenged in the area of kindness, we can ask God to aid us by reminding us the many times He had been kind to us even if we did not deserve it. Let us remember memory verses that describe the Lord’s kindness, and ask God for the strength to remain kind when other people are not.

It may be difficult, but we can always train ourselves to live our faith. And when our Lord and Savior sees that we are doing our best, He will fill up the void in our tanks so that we can forge the path that He has for us and continue walking in His ways.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." 
Romans 15:13

Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Ephesians 3:16-21 and Galatians 5:16-26 to dig deeper on today’s topic.

Reflection Question:  Which fruit of the spirit has yet to manifest in your life?

Conversation with the Lord: Lord Jesus Christ, I want to be more like you. Please empower me my Lord to walk in your ways, and fill up my effort to grow in Christ likeness. I am far from my goals so please be patient with me. I love you Lord. Amen.