Are You Willing?

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.”  Psalm 51:12 

A willing spirit. What does that have to do with the joy of salvation?  Or with sustaining me?  Apparently, quite a bit.  The Word of God is so powerful- yet it never wastes words.  Every word has meaning and application for us as believers.

Many times when life causes us to be discouraged, depressed and overwhelmed, something inside of us shuts down.  We have a tendency to put up walls between us and the Lord.  If we desire to have the joy of our salvation restored, we must be granted a willing spirit.

Willing for what?  Willing to turn things over to God.  Willing to hear His voice.  Willing to put down the things He tells us to put down.  Willing to follow Him wherever He leads us to go.  Willing to be restored. 

When we become willing, we, in essence become moldable, bendable and pliable. We become useful in the hands of the Master Potter.  A willing spirit is a sustainable spirit.  When we hand the reigns of our life over to God, he gives us grace to keep up going. He gives us grace to operate in His Spirit.

In this verse, the Psalmist is ascribing all the action verbs to God.  It is His to restore and His to grant a willing spirit. It is His to sustain me.   Isn’t that interesting? We cannot even be made willing to change into His likeness without him granting us a willing spirit.  We can do NOTHING apart from Christ.

Dear Lord, I surrender.  I need your help. I need you to help me be willing to be restored and transformed into Your likeness. I look to you as my source of all that I now- or ever- will need.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri

Restored.

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.” Psalm 51:12

 

 

Have you ever lost your joy? Sometimes life has a way of zapping every bit of happiness and joy that we possess.  It is a dangerous place to be, however, when we lose the joy of our salvation.  When we forget who we are and where we came from; when we forget who He is and what He has done for us… We are on dangerous ground.

Sometimes we have to come before the Lord and ask him to restore that joy to us. The Bible talks about the joy of the Lord being our strength.  Joy in God is so much more than feeling like life is going our way.  It is so much more than the thrill we feel when our flesh is temporarily satisfied.

The joy of our salvation is one of the main things that make salvation attractive to others.  When we get down on life; lose our joy and smile, we render our testimony ineffective.  Today, begin to seek the Lord to help you get back to that first-love feeling.  You know, the feeling you had the day you first came to Christ and knew your sins were forgiven.  Pray until that becomes foundational in your walk with God.  And when that begins to slip; seek Him once again to do a work of restoration.

Dear Lord, I have lost the joy of my salvation.  Restore that to me. Reset my perspective.  Help me look at life through Your eyes and in the wonder of all Jesus purchased for me when He was crucified.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri