{"id":6855,"date":"2012-05-10T05:29:50","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T13:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=6855"},"modified":"2012-05-10T05:54:29","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T13:54:29","slug":"take-the-initiative-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=6855","title":{"rendered":"Take the Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N3Q5CxQ24bA\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>. . . add to your faith virtue . . . \u20142 Peter 1:5<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves\u2014 God does that. But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves. We must \u201cwork out\u201d our \u201cown salvation\u201d which God has worked in us (Philippians 2:12). Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things, and in the initial stages that is difficult. To take the initiative is to make a beginning\u2014 to instruct yourself in the way you must go.<\/p>\n<p>Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative\u2014 stop hesitating\u2014 take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, \u201cI will write that letter,\u201d or \u201cI will pay that debt\u201d; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.<\/p>\n<p>We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been<\/p>\n<p>DJR Journal<br \/>\nTrying to manage our lives by managing our habits is a delicate balancing act on a slippery slope &#8230; in which we may conclude that we are in control and that &#8220;if it&#8217;s to be, it&#8217;s up to me&#8221; etc.   Ideas that have some truth, but tend to leave you out of our lives and lead us off onto our own paths.     But this one habit in today&#8217;s song, Raising the White Flag &#8230; that is always safe and a good first step.   <\/p>\n<p><em>After that, you can hear my voice better.  It wont be competing so much with the other voices that come thru your own &#8220;good ideas.&#8221;   So build the habit of Surrender,   and start all your projects with a White Flag.   You say you want me to lead you and direct you.   A White Flag is a good way to start each day and each project.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>. . . add to your faith virtue . . . \u20142 Peter 1:5 Add means that we have to do something. We are in danger of forgetting that we cannot do what God does, and that God will not do what we can do. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves\u2014 God does that. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6855"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6861,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6855\/revisions\/6861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}