Even in the Small Stuff....

"Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things." Phil 4:8

Years ago, long before we went into the ministry, I would often pray this prayer....

"Lord, I love you. I want to live my life for you. I pray that you would mold me and make me into the person you have called me to be and USE ME, Lord, for your kingdom. Amen."

A simple prayer....so I thought. Little did I know that He would actually hear my prayer and start chiseling away at me right then and there!

The things I once did that were "just in good fun" started becoming sinful...difficult to do.
The TV shows or movies I once thought were ok to watch started becoming wrong...disgusting to watch
The music I loved to listen to, that perked me up, or made me "happy" started becoming shameful... difficult to listen to.

All these areas of my life that once seemed so unimportant, started becoming increasingly significant and I couldn't deny them anymore!

God was teaching me that even in the seemingly "small" areas of our life, He is and should always be, Lord. The things we allow into our homes or our lives, whether it's on television, movies, in music or whatever.... should only be to glorify Him.

I failed at that this past week. I gave in and allowed the flesh to take over and loaded my mp3 player with some music I "used" to listen to, thinking, "oh, it's no big deal, it's fun and it's only music....."

My son picked up my mp3 player yesterday to listen to it and he asked me what "this" song was? I cringed....

See, we've always made sure that whatever our children listened to glorified the Lord... nothing else. They've never known anything different.

Well, I let him listen to "the song" thinking, "what can it hurt? It doesn't have any bad words in it......no big deal!"

When I heard the words coming from my son's mouth, great shame took over my heart...... In that "small" area of our life, in that quick instant.... I gave the devil a foothole into our family. I let him in...

You see, the "little" areas in our life that we think hold little significance in our walk with the Lord are the ones that are sooo hard to let go of and for good reason! It's in those small, little areas (in music, tv shows, etc...) that the devil takes and uses to work in his favor. We just don't realize, what we allow in our minds and in our thoughts, how powerful it can be over our lives!

"If you want to live a life that honors God, you cannot continue to let things in your life that are likely to draw you in the direction to disobedience. You have to make a decision to focus on what is good rather than what is evil. You have to choose to fill your mind and heart with things that God would praise rather than things you would be ashamed to have revealed." -John McArthur

"I stand convicted and corrected Lord. Forgive me. I pray you will be Lord even over the "small" areas of my life. Amen."

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!