Week 4 - Thyatira
Task: Identify a sinful habit that is preventing your spiritual growth, and make an actionable plan to fight against it throughout this week.
Yubin Kim
The sinful habit that God was urging me to surrender before Him was media consumption. This seemingly minuscule habit bore negative thoughts in my mind and fed into my laziness. I knew what God wanted me to do, but I was stubbornly resisting. Not only was I unwilling, but I was stuck in my fear of disappointing God. Then, God spoke to me in His soft and gentle whisper: “You say you love me and you want to be near me, but why are you so unwilling to give this small thing up for me?” All it took was His gentle rebuke, and I surrendered because I wanted nothing more than His nearness.
I have tried and failed so many times to give up media in the past, and I have had zero confidence in myself. So, I put my full confidence in God to give me strength. And He did. Contrary to my doubts, as I came before God in my weakness, He sustained me through each day. I felt this closeness with God that I’ve not experienced in a while. Every second of my every day was filled with His holy presence, and there was an inexpressible joy that overflowed in every area of my life. I had only surrendered my desperate and contrite heart, and God blessed me— just as God responded to Moses’ desperation to see His glory. He showed me that what He has for me is far greater, but He could not give it to me unless I surrendered my fleshly desires. I give all praise and glory to my Father who has strengthened me by His faithfulness, and I pray that I may continue to seek His power and might, for my flesh is weak and my heart is deceitful.
Jooahn Sur
One area of my heart that I wanted to work on at the beginning of Lent was my pride. I felt like I had been unforgiving in my relationships, ungrateful in my circumstances, and unwilling to surrender to God. However, as Lent season progressed, I could feel my pride getting worse, and I started struggling spiritually. God slowly moved down the ranks in my list of priorities as I became more focused on my career ambitions and my relationships with people. As I experienced various frustrations throughout the weeks, I became even more unwilling to turn to God, and this negative cycle continued.
When Pastor Gus preached on the church of Thyatira, I realized that I had been struggling spiritually because of the “yeast” that had grown in my heart. I spent that day in repentance and decided that my game plan to fight against this pride was to simply set aside time to spend with God in the Word and in prayer. Instead of just squeezing Him into my schedule, I wanted to approach Him intentionally, with an open heart. Additionally, as Pastor Gus preached the previous week, I invited Jesus into my spiritual battle and allowed Him to fight for me as well.
I followed my game plan throughout the week, and I became more reliant on Him as he dissolved my pride. I looked forward to the time I spent with Him each day, and a huge wall that stood between myself and the Lord began to crumble. I felt more joy in my day-to-day life and was able to love others better, too. I understand now that God can handle the sinful parts of my heart and actually wants me to give those to Him. I hope and pray for continued growth in my relationship with Him by prioritizing Him during this Lent season and beyond.