Not Setting Myself Up

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 1 Corinthians 6:12 (New King James Version)

Paul knew there were many things he was allowed to do and yet if doing those things led to addiction or bondage he avoided them. Unless things are spelled out specifically in Scripture and begin with the phrase, “Thou shalt not” each of us must individually determine what to steer clear of….what to avoid. Sometimes, many times, the knowing of those things is brought about after experiencing the pull.

This truth is easy for me to grasp when it comes to an area such as food. Certain foods are trigger foods for me. To partake means an over whelming urge to over indulge. They are not the foods I can eat in moderation therefore they really should be avoided. This is cut and dry for me. It is a black and white area. I have no question as to whether or not I should make other choices. I know my limits. I know the consequence if I don’t apply this principle. My track record speaks for itself.

This morning, I am applying this truth to another area of my life. Unlike food, this is not a physical aspect but rather an emotional one. I am aware of certain things that will trigger negative emotions in me. Presently, I do not do well when those emotions are triggered so it is necessary for me to see what things should be avoided so that I am not “brought under the power” of a downward spiral.

I look back over the past week, one that has been filled with battles in my mind, and I see certain things I could have chosen NOT to do….certain things I could have not said, certain emails I could have not sent, certain expectations I could have not entertained. With each one a negative emotion resulted. I paid the price as did those who crossed my path. God and I will be walking through those instances in a time of acknowledgement, confession, and receiving of forgiveness. It will allow me the fresh start I need as I head into a new day.

I look forward to the day when the things I avoid now can once again be enjoyed. When my walk becomes such that a trigger is handled in the right way. For now, I would rather not set myself up for a battle.

Father, bring me to the place whereby I operate out of faith and confidence rather than out of dread and fear. Amen.

A Different Road - Kathy Troccoli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P2awWTLmGU

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

Ongoing and Unchanging

Why has my pain been perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable? Jeremiah 15:18 (New American Standard Bible)

Perpetual and incurable. Ongoing and unchanging. Do you have issues or circumstances in your life that feel like that this morning? It may be poor health, financial difficulties, habits and addictions, or failure upon failure. For me, it is emotional battles and faulty perceptions. It is the cycle that continues to repeat itself. Short lived victories, repeated desires for change, restated decisions to do better “next time.” Each time I succumb to the pulls downward everything becomes clouded and the view I have of myself, God, and others becomes clouded as well.

Unlike Jeremiah, I don’t see God as One who deceives me or is unreliable. But I sense His displeasure, disapproval, and disappointment. I sense the same from others and at that point, my default mode is to pull away in order to do less damage. My hopes are that I can get away, get my act together, and step forward later on in better shape. All the while hoping the relationships will still be intact but fearing that they won’t be. People are people and their patience and resolve may or may not last. Hence, the war in my mind perpetuates and the pendulum swings between feeling loved or unloved.

God’s answer to me is found in the very next verse, “If you return, then I will restore you.” Returning for me implies getting things right once again with God. Stop running, start confessing, and stay close to Him. Ask Him for truth and correct views. Embrace the forgiveness and mercy He offers. Learn from the mistakes and as verse 19 says, “extract the precious from the worthless.” No matter how deep the sin, no matter how horrible the fall, there is always something precious I can take from the experience.

The precious I am taking is the sense that I am not a lost cause, a ruined vessel, or a hopeless case. As long as I get up one more time than I fall, I am still on the journey and there is still hope for improvement.

Father, I don’t know what others are thinking of me now, but I find comfort in the thoughts You have toward me. I don’t understand Your love but I receive it! Amen.

Unfailing Love - Chris Tomlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_MyC6kJzPg&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

In All Honesty

Jesus called His disciples and said to them, I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance. Mark 8:1-3 (New American Standard Bible)

When Jesus walked on this earth He never failed to connect with the heart of the people. That was because He knew them….not as a group but as individuals. He knew their strengths and weaknesses, where they had come from and where they were headed, and what their needs were. It is one thing to see those qualities of compassion in another individual. It is quite another thing to see them in the Creator of the universe.

Two of the most profound aspects of God that I have come to realize is His unconditional love for me and His individual knowledge of me. He knows me thoroughly and still loves me. It has taken me a long time to crawl into that truth and feel at home. It has also taken a long time for me to see that when God reveals my own internal world to me He does not do it to condemn and shame but rather He does it show me what He desires to touch, heal, and restore. Taking in that truth has done more for me than anything else to cooperate with His process.

I have found that growth on this journey is possible only as I admit to God and myself what is really going on in my heart, mind, and emotions right now. Not dwelling on the past or longing for the eventual change He will bring about in my life. But rather it is standing in His presence stripped of all pretenses, masking, and camouflaging and simply acknowledging the truth of my mindsets, my feelings, and my perspectives pertaining to God, myself, and others. It is a time of coming clean and setting the record straight. It is easier for me to “hide” with the hope that I can fix whatever is wrong and then be able to present God with a more palatable picture. Oh, how He must ache for us to step away from all that and walk in truth. When I do that, I find acceptance not rejection. I find freedom and not condemnation. I find compassion and the realization that I have moved forward one more inch!

But what of the times when I don’t walk in truth? The times that I remain in the darkness of my own thoughts. He waits until I finally step in His direction.

Father, Your ways continue to astound me. You do not see me through the lens of yesterday or tomorrow but rather this moment. I marvel that Your mercy, love, and compassion truly are new every day! Amen.

One Desire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUbbq6t0qT0&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

When Things Don't Match Up

I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land…..and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he told them. Jonah 1:9,10 (New American Standard Bible)

Let the world know that you are a Christian and they will expect your actions to match what you say. When there is a big difference between what we say and what we do, people will ask us the same question these men asked Jonah, “How could you do this?” It did not make sense to them how Jonah could SAY he feared the LORD and yet BE fleeing from His presence. His words and his actions were polar worlds apart from each other…they were incongruent and dissimilar. This kind of inconsistent living is easy to spot.

The harder cases are those who externally display the life of a Christian but internally their world is falling apart. They have the actions down pat, but their heart is far removed from God. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day come to mind. That is why Jesus always directed the conversation back to their motives, their thoughts, their heart. He called them white-washed sepulchers (graves). In other words, their outward show was beautifully decorated but inwardly there was death and decay. Others may not have been able to detect the contradictory life but Jesus could. God was not fooled! His desire was to help them see the truth about their spiritual condition and allow Him to transform them.

For me, it was having God bring me to the point where I was confronted with my core beliefs of who God was and what my relationship was like with Him. I had the outward things down pat….church attendance, involvement in spiritual activities, sporadic conversations with believers that sounded good. I had my sterling moments as a believer but in the privacy of my own life I carried a secret. I had a wrong view of God that kept me at arms length from Him. I knew Jesus as my Savior but failed to relate with Him on a deep, personal level. My mental assent of God was not sustaining my heart. It was when I finally admitted my own emptiness that I made room for God to fill me with Himself. He taught me how to say, “God, I need You!” His desire has always been that my internal relationship with Him matches my external show. I love the change!

Father, You are remaking me and I marvel at Your work! Amen.

Make It Real - Mark Lowry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-B3IeE9K58

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

Knowing the Difference

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:31-32 (New American Standard Bible)

Sometimes I can read a portion of Scripture and walk away thinking I know what it is saying, only to discover later that one aspect completely escaped me. This morning that aspect that is being seen is from the phrase, “know the truth.” To me, it meant the taking in knowledge. To be told something, to read something, to hear something would equate knowing it and would hence lead to freedom. This morning I realized that I was confusing knowing ‘about’ something with knowing it.

I know that knowing about someone is different from actually knowing them and being in relationship with them. Knowing about a certain food is different from actually tasting it. Knowing about an activity is different from knowing it from experience. Cognitive knowledge is not the same as experiential knowledge. It is no different in the spiritual realm.

This is explaining to me why I can spend years searching Scripture, reading books, sitting under wise counsel, and even praying and still live with a sense that areas of my life have not been affected or transformed past the surface. Mindsets, actions, and heart issues remain pretty much unchanged and I am now seeing why. It is not due to a lack of desire or lack of knowledge. It is due to knowing more ’about’ the truth than actually knowing the truth. To understand it, perceive it, feel it, take it to heart, apply it, but most of all to depend on the Spirit of God to get it into the deepest part of me.

I have the ability to change my actions and modify my behavior but that will only be a temporary fix at best. I thank God for individuals who have shared profound truth with me over the years, but because they are simply people and not God, they did not have the ability to get that truth fully into me even though many times that is what I looked for them to do. My heart needs to change and my mind needs to be renewed through God’s Word and by God’s Spirit. Then and only then will I begin to walk in freedom.

Father, I have often looked to people and books to help me change. While they can give me knowledge ONLY You can help me truly know. Free me through the truth as I come to know it not just know about it. Amen.

Ancient Words - Michael W. Smith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vmTkXNpwzs

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

Available Guides

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Acts 8:30-31 (New American Standard Bible)

An Ethiopian eunuch saw his need for help, asked for help, and received help. Philip, one of seven deacons mentioned in the early chapters of Acts, was available to be that help. The eunuch desired a guide and Philip became that guide. It was not a long encounter but it was God directed, God ordained, and God approved.

I rejoice in the truths that are pointed out from this passage of Scripture. Life is filled with moments when the help of others is not only needed but God purposed. I am a witness to that! I have had times in my life when human guides were sought and found. At just the right time, at just the right season they (like Philip with the eunuch) saw my need and became available to guide me. It was often only after the fact that I could look and see the full scope and value of their investment in my life. While many have been used of God to teach and guide me, three in particular are standing out in my mind this morning.

The first is a mentor who guided me as I transitioned from the entanglement of legalistic thinking to freedom in Christ. The second is an accountability partner walked me through the darkest season of my life and is still guiding me as I transition from looking to people to fixing my eyes on Jesus…the Author and Finisher of my faith. The third is just beginning the guiding process which I believe will help to transition me from a life of emotional bondage to finding emotional wholeness in Christ.

The common threads? All three have had a history with God. All three have walked through their own hurts, disappointments, and struggles. All three have accepted God’s call to guide others when prompted by Him to do so. I rejoice in being the recipient of their guidance but I also desire to be a guide to others. I want to be available (whether for a single conversation or an ongoing relationship) to be to individuals what others have been to me.

Father, You have always been faithful to send the right guides at the right times. I thank You for that and rejoice! I trust You to continue that pattern in and through me. Amen.

May I Be His Love - Kathy Troccoli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B6ieQL_Q-k

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

Encouraging Yourself the Right Way

And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. I Samuel 30:6 (King James Version)

This verse intrigues me. It comes at a time when David and his 600 men have returned to their city of Ziklag only to find that it had been burned with fire and their families taken captive. Their possessions and loved ones were gone and they spiraled into a pit of anger, confusion, grief, and revenge. Their first response was tears until they could cry no more. Their next response was to stone David. In their irrational thinking they felt, as leader, he was to blame for this horrific tragedy. They were not even able to digest the fact that David was experiencing the same loss as they were. They were blind to his personal pain and consumed with a wrong agenda. Fortunately, the story ended with this plot dissolving and the return of their families. Possible tragedy turned to victory!

It is in our nature when we are hurting deeply to find someone to blame and to go on the attack against them. Our minds tell us that making them pay for our pain will somehow bring relief or at the least make us feel better. Revenge can seem like a worthwhile and even healing answer. But as with so many other wrong conclusions, it is a lie and technique Satan masterminds and introduces, and it will not bring the result we are hoping for. He knows if he can get us to use our emotions to drive us to wrong actions then the destruction will be even greater. We must remember that he is still a roaring lion who seeks to devour us. Often he will even recruit believers to aid him in his plot! Oh the tragedy that awaits if we join him.

There is a better way. David encouraged himself in the Lord. This is where he received his strength and direction. He simply had to begin reviewing God’s faithfulness in the past as well as His covenant promise of protection, provision, and presence for the here and now. When all others turned on him, he turned to God. What a difference it would have made had each of his men reached for God’s hand instead of for a stone. David knew the dangers of having any other source of encouragement than almighty God Himself. No one, other than God, could deliver his people and redeem his story.

With that said, God now whispers to me the words of James 1:22, “Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only.” He knows the necessity for me to apply this principle of encouragement the next time I am filled with sadness, loss, grief, and pain. How vital that I turn to Him rather than curl up with my emotions and do further damage.

Father, Bring me to the place where You are the only One I reach for, listen to, and follow. Amen.

Strong Tower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqL_zcig9Is&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.