When trying your hardest isn't good enough.

Today was my first day back in Fairbanks. I gotta admit that this is one of the last places I wanted to be this morning. One thing that I've really been worrying about (notice I said 'worrying,' not 'praying') is that I would either stop growing or worse, slide backwards; because I did not think there was a church that I could grow from in town. Boy was I wrong! Tonight, i went to Bible Baptist Church, and sat through a sermon that God had to have planned just for me! Brother Leon Groff taught a message on why we don't grow, even when we are doing everything we can think of to grow, and draw closer to God.
The problem is that we are trying to hold ourselves to God's standards on our own. No matter how hard we try on our own, we will never be able to hold ourselves to God's standard. Isaiah 64:6 says '...all our righteousness are as filthy rags...'
What we need to do, is humble ourselves, admit that we cannot grow on our own, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us closer to God. Brother Groff used personal relationships as an example. If we are interested in someone and want to grow closer to them, we naturally look for things we can do to make that person happy, and to please them. As we start doing things that make that person happy, we naturally grow closer, and the relationship gets stronger and stronger. The closer we get, the more things we can do for that person. The same is true with God. As we start doing little things that please God, we will grow closer to him, and we will naturally starting getting closer to where he wants us. This message was a huge encouragement to me, because it is exactly what I have been struggling with over the last couple of months. I've been trying to grow, but I wasn't seeing the results that I thought I should be seeing. I am so thankful for God's faithfulness! I has proven that if I trust him, and go where ever he leads, he will take care of me both Spiritually, and Physically. God is so good!!!!