Fill it up!

A reminder from my devotions this week: fill yourself up with God! He is the one who made you. He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows how much you can handle, and wants to help you handle it! You overflow with what "fills your heart."

When you fill yourself with other things, you get all anxious and tied up. You begin to feel frustration, anger, even worse things. What you put into your heart is what comes out in your attitude, your facial expressions, your words. That includes laziness. That includes doing what you should be with a poor attitude. Sure, you get your stuff done, but the bad attitude brings you down - and everyone around you, too. But, when you strive for the positive attitude, when you ask God to fill you with Himself from the inside out, your positivity is infectious. Others feel better just having witnessed God through you.

This also means you can't depend on yourself. Because it's true: God won't give you more than you can handle. "I can do everything through Christ Who strengthens me." There is nothing I can't handle without Him. HOWEVER: there is much I can't handle if I don't let Him in; if I try to do it on my own strength, my own abilities. His power is perfected in my weakness. (See 2 Corinthians 12).

This is a fairly serious statement, but I believe if I keep my heart with Him, getting to know Him more each moment of each day through prayer and studying His Word, I can believe the promise that what comes out of me will be good, will be pleasing, and will glorify Him.

And that's the whole goal, isn't it?