Romans 12 - "From The Inside Out"

As I think about my life and where I am today the tears flow. I am overwhelmed with His blessings. One of the biggest blessings of my life is my husband who loves me no matter what. He cares for me. He loves on me. He blesses me in so many way. He truly lives a life that the Lord flows from him. I am so blessed with his knowledge of the Bible but most importantly I am blessed with His obedience to the Lord. I am blessed to serve alongside Him in ministry as we both live sold out to the Lord. I love the song "From The Inside Out" which is how I live.

In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out,
Lord, let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out.

When I think about our love for the Lord, I think about how He comes first. Sometimes people don't understand why we do or don't do somethings but it really doesn't matter as long as we are doing His will. 

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

Romans 12 in The Message tells us when we present ourselves to the Lord daily we will be changed from the inside out. Not only do we need to practice this daily but there are also things we need to do for the Lord. We need to find our place in the body of believers we call our church family. We also need to show love to all we come in contact with. Another thing these verses tell us is to stay away from evil. We are also encouraged to be friends with all we meet. Those are things I find easy to do. Verses 11-13 use to challenge me greatly until I started living in the Lord's presence and being consumed by Him from the inside out.  Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. 4-6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t. 6-8 If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face. 9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. 11-13 Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. 17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Dear Jesus,
Thank You for consuming "From The Inside Out" and for living in and through me each and every day. Thank You for giving me the insight on how to not get burned out. Thank You for loving me and blessing me with the desire to be a servant. Lord, You are so awesome! You are so great! You are so mighty! I praise Your Holy Name for all the ways You bless me, especially with the blessing of my husband! Woo hoo! Thank You Jesus for being The One I Am Sold Out To! Amen!