Heavy Hearts that Praise Him

When I was younger, I use to unbiasedly chose "colors of the month". My favorite of all favorites has always been yellow for as long as I can remember..Yellow Power Ranger, yellow bedroom, yellow princess dress, yellow nail polish... But at some point I decided to give all the colors a chance. And I would choose, at random, a color to sport and adore all month long. Differing shades of greens and blues, purple, white and so on... each color would get their turn that way and I would take joy in looking at a colorfully organized closet.
This trend of clothing choices has long since past, however traces of this tendency linger in my wardrobe and mentality. I've mentally noted that I choose to wear grey most often now. I'm assuming at some point I'll get sick of the color grey. But this last week, I've found it so applicable. Just so very BLEH!
All week I've felt the "my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak".
All week I've fought my moods and desires to praise the Lord in my living because I love Him and He loves me..
All week the Lord has been so consistent to remind me that all that I do must be an outworking of my positional holiness and contentment in who He is.

"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
 Colossians 1:9-14

As I had the chance to be reminded of the truth of His Word and the truly transforming power of the Gospel, I was so encouraged and challenged in Paul's prayer for the Colossian church.  First He reminds them HOW it is even possible that they can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. A couple things to note, Paul prays for them to be filled. That means He understand that it was a need, implying that at times they are emptied or lacking. We must be filled with the knowledge of His will in both 1) spiritual wisdom and 2) understanding.
The knowledge of His will can seem overwhelming..But I am so consistently reminded of God's will for me in the Word. Two always stick out to me: Sanctification (1 Thess 4:3) and Thanksgiving (1 Thess 5:18). Sanctification is one of the most beautiful testimonies of God's grace and faithfulness. That He consistently makes us into His likeness and allows us to grow in a deeper knowledge of Him.

In the second section of Colossians 1:9-14,  I absolutely love that Paul reminds them of WHY they are able to walk in a manner that is fully pleasing to God. Look at the verbs He uses:

• qualified
• delivered
• transferred

I picture those awkward moments in middle school when captains are choosing teams for PE. ( Think every PE scene out of diary of a wimpy kid) Being picked for His team. Being removed from the shame of the other team, being clothes in His uniforms and sent out of the field to play. Obviously this illustration pails in comparison to salvation and sanctification.
But be assured Paul is reminding them that there is not a thing they did to get on that field.
It was all God. He has made us positionally holy. He has first loved us. He has chosen us.
He has qualified us, delivered us and transferred us. He is doing it all! That is WHY we can live lives fulling pleasing to Him. That is why we can produce good fruit, and pursue practical holiness.
It is our joy and should provoke us to worship of Him!
This is the reminder..
HOW can I live like this? WHY can I live like this?
because of the Gospel. Because Christ offers Himself to us freely!
So even when it rains, when we're grey and bleh, when we're weak and unable- we worship God passionately. We live to please Him. We grow more and more in the knowledge of His will and enjoy it.