Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. The morning started out a little slow for me, and it was as if I woke up in a fog. Not feeling bad and not feeling good. Not feeling happy and not feeling sad. Not feeling energetic and not feeling weak. It was as if I had little feeling for this new day at all as I made my way to the front porch for coffee. My time this morning began more out of routine than out of eagerness, and I had no expectations because of it. But when I saw the morning God had unfolded today, off to the Throne I went with not much of me to give, and before you know it, I came Alive from the inside out. This New Day went from black and white to Living color before I could say “amen!” If I do my part even when I “don’t feel like it,” He always does His Part. Isn’t that the way that it is with you?

It’s easy to treat the Living God just like everybody else if we aren’t careful. Out of sight…out of mind. When we don’t feel like talking, we refuse to answer the door or pick up the phone. If the plans aren’t thrilling, we go begrudgingly, and we’ll even complain to the one who convinced us to participate in the first place. When the conversation is entertaining, we’re all in, and if it’s not, we tune it out or we walk away. We only want the “good” things and the good times in life, and we kick and stomp like a 2-year-old over the “bad” things and the bad times, and we rarely see the Purpose in it all. We’re stuck in “if it feels good, do it” mode, and we have a need to be entertained around the clock…even when it comes to the Living God. If things are going well, we’ll thank Him. When things aren’t going well, we’ll appeal to Him. But when things seem to be coasting along and we’re walking through the fog, we live like we have no need for Him at all. It’s in that numb place that we need Him the most…ESPECIALLY when “we don’t feel like it”. When we’re in the fog, we’re the most vulnerable, and when we’re feeling numb, we are the weakest. It’s when we meet with the Master of the Universe, even when we “don’t feel like it”, that He shows up in Living Color and He’ll Refresh and Revive the soul in a quick minute. He’s the lifter of the fog and the “lifter of my head” and He says “When you are weak; I am strong” and “My Power is made perfect in weakness”….BUT unless we do our part – unless we seek His Face – unless we Thirst for Him – He can’t do His. Meeting with Him even when we “don’t feel like it” is one of the truest signs of our Devotion to Him, and it leads to some of the most amazing God moments…if we don’t treat Living God just like everybody else, that is.

It’s fascinating when you think about it. Most of us so easily serve our loved ones day after day, even when we don’t feel like it. We get up early in the morning to prepare breakfast and to send the kids off to school, even when we don’t feel like it. We head out to work to earn our living so that we can feed the family we love, even if we don’t feel like it. We’ll go shopping or to a particular restaurant or to see a movie we don’t care to see just to please the one we love, even when we don’t feel like it. There seems to be no end to what we’ll do (even when we don’t feel like it) for the people we love the most in this life. But meeting with the Living God, even when “we don’t feel like it,” is an entirely different story for most people. He gets set aside UNLESS things are really, really good or when things are really, really bad. Outside of that…We put Him on a shelf right along with a dusty Bible until we feel like spending time with Him again. He’s the MOST High and the MOST deserving of our time and our attention, but instead of giving Him our time and our attention day after day, even when we “don’t feel like it…we set Him aside until we need Him again. Just because the Living God is out of your sight and out of your mind, don’t fool yourself into believing that He’s okay with that. He’s a forgiving God, and although He’s already paid the Price for all of your sins, no matter what you do, He’s your Father and He wants your time and your attention ESPECIALLY when you don’t feel like it. He wants you to be AT LEAST as devoted to Him as you are to the rest of your world. This is the key to a rich Walk with Him.

I was in a bit of a fog and a little numb when I first faced this new day, but it’s an entirely different story now after my time with the Lord of my Life. I met with Him with no excitement, no expectations, and not much feeling at all, and He turned my Heart around, lifted the fog, and just like that, my “view” went from black and white to Living color. He “put a new song of Praise on my lips” and NOW I’m armed and ready for whatever this new day brings.

How about you?