Biblical Fear = Respect

I have had many non-Christian people ask me how a “loving” God could ask me to fear Him.  That the bible is full of commandments to fear Him.  They passionately explain to me how this cannot possibly be something a “loving” father would do to their child.  Most of these people are from broken homes, or abusive pasts.  Since I too suffered from an abusive history I understand their resistance to anyone telling them they have to fear them.

Let me explain the psychology behind this.  The number one thing that abuse creates is rebellion.  It will manifest itself in one form or another.  Some turn to drugs, alcohol or sexual promiscuity.  Others fighting, lying, or stealing.  Still others abuse others, repeating the cycle that was perpetrated on them.  The conduct is a way of numbing themselves from the pain that they are feeling, but it is also a way of striking out at the people who hurt them. 

It is usually their parents or parental figures who did the damage.  Children look to their parents for nurturing and love.  They give their parents their love naturally and expect it to be reciprocated.  When it is not they, first blame themselves for being bad human beings because obviously there must be something wrong with them because why else would their parent or parents reject them? Secondly, they start to act out in an effort to hurt back or rebel against the pain they are feeling.  This is often not a conscious premeditated reaction.  No, little Susie does not decide, “I think I will go out and have sex with every other guy in town so I can show Mom and Dad how much I resent them not validating my love for them!”  No, in actuality she would probably be mortified if she knew that was the real reason why she was behaving like that.

It took me a very long time to realize that so much of my behavior and destructive cycles were because of the neglect and abuse I had suffered in my past.  I had to humble myself and admit why I was behaving the way I was.  It has been a long, painful road to recovery and honestly I am still trudging down it everyday I get a little closer to healing.

So, to get back to what I was originally addressing.  For many of these people the term “Fear of God” was used while they were being abused.  Such as “I’ll put the fear of God in you!” while the belt or electric cord or board or whatever else, was being used to beat the child by the adult, was coming down.  There are no positive connotations for this person with this analogy.  This adult has misused God’s name for his or her own evil purposes and will have to deal with God about that some day.

You see the bible does speak about fearing God, but when it does it is speaking about respecting God and His power.  Like we respect the power of electricity.  Think about it.  If you were washing dishes and you needed to plug something in, would you reach over and grab the cord with your hands sopping wet and put it into the outlet?  Of course, not!  Why?  Because you “fear” or respect the power that electricity has.  You know that with wet hands and an electrical outlet there is a very real chance that you would get zapped.  You would dry your hands off first because you respect (fear) getting shocked.

This is the same translation we should be using when we think of the word fear in the bible when related to God.  Let’s look at a few scriptures and switch out the word fear for respect just for an example.  I’ll use the Psalms because it is full of just such verses.  I will put respect in parenthesis so you can see where I switched fear for respect.

Who, then, is the man that “respects” the Lord?  He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.  Psalm 25:12

The Lord confides in those who “respect” Him; He make His covenant known to them.  Psalm 25:14

Let all the earth “respect” the Lord; let all the people of the world revere Him.  Psalm 33:8

But the eyes of the Lord are on those who “respect” Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love,  Psalm 33:18

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who “respect” Him, and He deliver them,   Psalm 34:7

“Respect” the Lord, you His saints, for those who “respect” Him lack nothing.  Psalm 34:9

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the “respect” of the Lord. (or to respect the Lord)  Psalm 34:11

Who knows the power of Your anger?  For Your wrath is as great as the “respect” that is due You.  Psalm 90:11

And now a few from Proverbs to finish out my point…

Do not be wise in your own eyes; “respect” the Lord and shun evil.  Proverbs 3:7

The “respect” of the Lord adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.  Proverbs 10:27

A wise man “respects” the Lord and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.  Proverbs 14:16

He who “respects” the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.  Proverbs 14:26

The “respect” of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.  Proverbs 14:27

Better a little with the “respect” of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil.  Proverbs 15:16

The “respect” of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.  Proverbs 15:33

Needless to say, there are so many others, but I am sure that you get the point.  Try it for yourself.  Read through the scriptures, if you don’t have a bible borrow one, and trade the word fear when it is used in relation to our interaction with God with respect and see if you sense something a bit different. 

God does not want us to FEAR Him, He wants us to respect Him as any good parent would.  Respect is not something you automatically get, but you earn by showing how much you love and respect the person first.  If God sending Jesus here to suffer and then die such a horrific death for us was not evidence of His love for us and the fact that He deserves our respect I’m not sure what is. 

He created us to love Him and each other, and that has been corrupted by Satan.  It has been warped but that doesn’t mean it can’t be straightened back out.  We just have to seek Him and He’ll show us how.  How do I know, the bible tells me so.

One Thing Never Changes

Hello again, my dear old friends.  It has been so long since I have written here.  Well over 2 months and I have felt the distance everyday.  I have missed my readers and I pray that I will be able to get back to blogging on a daily basis again.  This all depends on His hand moving or staying circumstances within my life.

No matter what the circumstances, the one thing I have learned over time and has become abundantly clear to me is that God is the only thing in life that never ever changes.  I may change my mind, clients may change their terms, but He will never change who He is.  If He made me a promise 20 years ago, it will come to pass.  Isn’t that amazing!  Do you have something that God promised you a long time ago?  Perhaps, it is something you have forgotten about and when it didn’t come to pass in the time frame that you felt it should you figured you had either heard Him wrong or He had changed His mind.  Not so my sister or brother, it just hasn’t been the right time yet.

What do I mean by that?  Remember the Israelites in the wilderness?  It took them 40 years to make an 11 day trip.  Why?  Because, they were never ready to step into the promised land.  It was not that God wasn’t going to fulfill the promise He had made to His children, it was just that their hearts were not in the right place to receive it.  They were full of unbelief and rebellion.  If you give a child what they want, even if you have promised it, when they are behaving poorly what will be the result?  You will be reinforcing the poor behavior and they will act even worse.  With no consequences for bad acts we dig ourselves deeper into the pit of mistakes never realizing that we need to put down the shovel.  Only by denying us what we desire most until we have humbled ourselves before Him do we step into the fullness of His blessings.

Go back and read over Exodus,Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and you will see what I am talking about.  Even Moses got a little besides himself and knocked himself out of the running to enter into the promised land.  This is unfortunately what can happen if you hang around people with the wrong mindset for too long.  You start to behave like them without even realizing it.

Do not give up on your promised blessing.  It is still waiting in the wings to come out on the stage of your life.  Our God, our Father who never changes is just waiting for you and I to get to the place that we can handle what He has for us so that He doesn’t have to take it away again.  Instead of looking at the fact that you haven’t received, look at what you are or aren’t doing that is keeping you from receiving and start there.  You’ll then have to do the hard part of sacrificing your bad attitude on the altar.  However, after you have done that you can get ready for the amazing blessings that were promised to you, no matter how long ago it was.  That’s what faith is about and keeping the faith means staying steady in all seasons.

Blessings my siblings,

Cyn

I Shall Not Want

How many know the 23rd Psalm?  Many can recite it by heart.  Yet, how often have we stopped and truly thought about the words of the first verse.  It sums up all the rest of the Psalm. 

There are many translations, but most say, "The Lord is my Shepherd.  I shall not be in want." or "...I shall not want."  Today, while I was reading this something hit me about the verbiage.  I mean seriously, how many times have I read this?  I have got to have the I.Q. of a rock to have just seen it, just now. 

I have read this Psalm at least a hundred times.  I have clung tightly to, "Even though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil."  Screamed it at the top of my lungs at times of extreme attack from the enemy.  Oh yeah, I have been standing fast on this scripture.  Scared to death, but repeating, "If God is for me, who can be against me?" a paraphrase from Romans 8:31.  

Think about this though, if I truly believe that first verse of the 23rd Psalm, what am I so afraid of?  My fear was stemming from what fear always stems from.  Truth being twisted into something other than what it truly is.  Fear is the opposite of truth.  Fear binds, truth frees. 

What is the truth of this verse?  David says I shall NOT BE IN WANT, not I shall NOT BE IN NEED...  This is very important.  The difference between these two phrases is universal.  First, let's look at what the two words that make the difference actually mean. 

Want means to "feel" a need or desire for, something wished for.

Need means a requirement, destitution, or poverty.

There is a huge difference here.  I shall have no wants because God is my Shepherd.  the definition for this is a person who protects, guides, or watches over a person or a group of people.   My needs are already handled because He is my protector and guardian.  The necessities are being handled, I don't have to fret myself with them.  So what's left?  Wants of course. 

Maslow's Hierarchy of Need is a well known theory in the Psychological field.  Perhaps, this being my major, is why this has become so clear.  It is a pyramid theory, much like the food pyramid of good nutrition.  According to this theory a person's largest and most fundamental needs are at the bottom, each need supports the need that is on top of it.  Unless the first need is met, the others cannot be addressed by the person.

The first level is Physiological - breathing, food and water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, and excretion.  (Homeostasis is the bodies ability to adapt to its environment.)  Once this is achieved we move to the next level Safety - which is security of body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health, and property.

This continues with Love/Belonging; Esteem, and finally Self-Actualization.  According to the 23rd Psalm God takes care of the base automatically.  Think about it, we breath...when is the last time you had to "think" about breathing?  Food and water are supplied, in America to the point that obesity is an epidemic. 

Sex has been thrown so out of whack from God's original intent it is frightening.  Things ranging from pedophilia to ritual calling for defecating on another person for sexual gratification.  The number of "allowable" sexual partners is now infinite.  However, sex was meant to stay within the bounds of marriage.  Sex was not to be engaged in until after one was married.  Wow, if we had stuck with this there would be NO STD's!  Every single one is caused by multiple partners, so where would we be if each person only had one?  Okay, my mind is now officially boggling at the prospect of what the world would look like if we followed God's rules.  Moving on...

Sleep, the bible says that He gives His beloved sleep.  When we do not rest in Him, when we toss and turn at night, why is this happening?  Because we are not trusting in Him, as Proverbs 3 tells us to do.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding."  When we adhere to our own concepts of anything, of any circumstance we are not trusting Him.  The result is usually unrest.

The two that are left homeostasis (body regulation to the environment), and excretion.  These are things that like breathing we don't have to think about.  Seriously, when you have to "think" about excretion it is never a pleasant experience, now is it?

All this brings us back to the first verse, because He is my Shepherd I shall have no wants, because my needs are being handled.  If we trust Him for this, let us let go and trust Him for the rest.  Without these basic needs being dealt with nothing else that follows will have any real meaning.

Not to be gross, but how appetizing and exciting would a gourmet meal in a resort-like venue, with attendants waiting on you hand and foot be if you were either constipated or suffering from diarrhea?   Or if you were say, vomiting uncontrollably.  If you were freezing cold or burning up? 

We take so much of what He supplies for granted.  So, let us go back to this scripture and heartily say, The Lord IS my Shepherd. I shall NOT want.  He has it under control, just like everything else.

Next blog, I'll dive into the next verse of this Psalm.  What a powerful word for a hurting world this is.  For the next 24 hours meditate on this 1st verse, and see that you will not want.  He challenges to trust Him to do as His word says He will do.

Holy Father,
Thank You for taking care of our every need and even more so for giving us the things that we want.  We forget sometimes how blessed we are to have You looking out for us.  Although, we don't always see Your hand at work in our lives as a blessing, we know we need You more than the very air that You give us to breath.  Thank You for knowing us better than we know ourselves, and taking care of us as a loving Shepherd takes care of His flock always does.  We praise and worship You in full humility of our dependence on You.

In Jesus name,
Amen

 

Consistency is Christianity

Ever notice how easy it is to get distracted?  I find that I have to fight the temptation to do "something else", when I am trying to be productive on a consistent basis.  Even getting down to writing this blog has been more than an effort lately.  I haven't written in 10 days, and I was going full steam when I first started this.  Blogging every single day.  So what happened?  Am I no longer on fire for the Lord and getting His message out?  Have I become apathetic to life?  Am I just so busy that I don't have time?  The answer is an unequivocal NO.  None of these reasons even ring at the truth.

The truth is I get distracted.  The temptation to do other, less important or sometimes even not important, things gets a hold of me and all my good intentions go out the window.  I go to Facebook and start talking to old friends, only for a minute mind you.  Right.  Or, I start trying to clean out my email inbox 'cause that's uber important.  Not, as my kids used to say.  Or, I start reading.  Nothing wrong with that, but I can do that at anytime.  How about when I start playing the stupid Facebook games?  Oh, yeah that downright imperative!

My point is that I have been allowing myself to get side-tracked.  The enemy throws out something I think may be interesting and I get caught up in it.  He plays on my propensity to be inconsistent.  I realized this today while listening to Joyce Meyer on t.v.  She talked about being consistent, and the Holy Spirit didn't nudge He shoved, THAT'S IT! 

While I considered this, it came to me that this is another application of what James is talking about.  James 1:6  - "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

I ask God for something, such as being blessed in writing and being able to make a living at it.  However, when it comes to being obedient to what He tells me to do to help it along, I allow myself to get thrown off course.  Why?  Because, a part of me is doubting that it is really going to happen.  That He will deliver on His promise.  I allow the enemy to sabotage me, by sabotaging myself and not staying consistent.

Consistency is the firm footing of Christianity.  You can't be a true follower of Christ and change your mind on a regular basis.  Jesus, stood by His actions and continued on no matter what was coming at Him.  So did the Apostles.  No matter what they were threatened with they kept spreading the good news.  They were consistent.  They didn't allow good times or having fun distract them either. 

Neither did Jesus.  Let's look at His first miracle.  It was in the middle of having a good time.  John, Chapter 2:1-11 tells the story.  He and his disciples are partying at a wedding they have all been invited to.  The wine runs out, probably because this person didn't have enough money to buy more, so he went with what he had and hoped for the best.  This was an act of faith in itself.  Mary, Jesus' mom says, "Son, the wine is gone.  Fix it."  He replies to her that it's not His time yet, but rather than ignore His mother's (and child's - interesting paradox, huh?) request.  He grants it.

This is representative of Jesus' ministry.  He was consistent in granting the requests of those who believed and had faith in Him.  Even though it was not "time" for His ministry to begin, he did not get sidetracked by that.  He fulfilled His calling and did what He knew He had the ability to do.  Turn the water into wine.

Not only was He able to reinforce the faith of His disciples, but think about what the guys who scooped the water out of those jars must have been thinking.  The jars were the ceremonial washing jars.  YUCK!  Who knew what kind of nastiness was in there.  Yet, God turned the cleansing liquid into an extraordinary ambrosial  drink.  So much so that the master of the ceremony regaled the host for saving his best for last.  I'm sure he was quite shocked as well.

What good can be done when one embraces consistency?  The sky truly is the limit.  For when I am consistent in seeking the Lord, studying His word, loving myself as He loves me so I can show love to everyone else, and yes...writing.   I am showing the world what it is to truly be an obedient Christian.  I can't accomplish this unless I am consistent.  Honestly, no one can.


Daddy,
Help us to stay consistent in being obedient to Your will and ways.  Keep us on track with what You want us to do.  Protect us from the evil that can come from being distracted.  We love You, we praise You, and we want to be inline with Your every desire.  Help us to see when we are being tempted to get off course, and bring in Your angels and tune our ears to Your Holy Spirit so we can stay on task until it is completed.

We praise and thank You that You are there for us, and You answer our every prayer.  That You are faithful to deliver when we do not doubt or become discouraged.

We claim the righteousness that can only come from You, in Jesus' precious name.
Amen

 

Yardwork in My Mind

Every time I work in the yard, I am brought back to the correlation between our spiritual lives and horticulture.  I understand why Jesus used agricultural analogies so often in His parables. 

Today, as I was pulling out weeds I paused as I reached out for one.  I was hesitant because I wasn't sure if it was a weed or a plant I would like to keep.  Let me explain further.  I live in Southern Nevada, where many plants "blow" into our yard.  Some are beautiful and useful, like the tree we know have growing in our front yard.  Others are not, like the crab grass that I am consistently battling.

Over the years, I have planted numerous flowering plants that didn't make it.  This is a desert climate and only the heartiest of plant life survive.  Although, the mature plant died, in it's death seeds were dropped into the soil which tend to come up later, sometimes years later, as the offspring of the original. 

So today, my hesitation stemmed from my wondering was this an offspring of what I wanted or what I was trying to get rid of?

As I thought about this, it occurred to me that my thought life has, in many ways, the same dilemma.  As thoughts come up I have to determine to keep them or pluck them out.  So many times though, the thought as it is just forming is difficult to determine if it is good or bad because in the beginning they look very much alike.  Just as the weeds look like a keeper at first, but as it grows I realize it was a sleeper agent.  Fooling me into believing in the interim that it was going to enhance my psychological and emotional landscape.

It is so difficult to tell the difference, at first.  When I'm really unsure, I'll go look it up and see what I have going on.  By the same token, I must do the same thing with my thoughts.  When I'm unsure as to if it is good or bad, an encourager or a discourager I need to turn to the Authority.  I take the thought and compare it to His word, if it fits I keep it if not I pluck it and chuck it.

When I pluck negative thoughts from my mind, I can't keep them in a jar somewhere.  I have to through them away like the weeds from my yard.  Bag them up and cart them off to the dump, where they belong.  In actuality they are nothing more than garbage.  Also, if I don't get them out they will start to choke the positive thoughts that God has given me, just like a weed.

When Jesus spoke of the parable of the four soils in Luke 8:5-8, this is exactly what He was talking about.  The various soils represent the states our minds can be in. 

The seed that falls along the path and is trampled, is a mind set that is so caught up in getting where its going way it doesn't have time to stop and let the seed in.  It spiritually tramples the truth of His word underfoot with double dealing and willingness to do anything to get ahead. It listens to Satan and his lies about how success is achieved in life and acts upon it.  Subsequently, God's word is crushed beneath the unbelief and supposed self-reliance.

The seed that falls among the rocks is a mind set of willingness to believe, at first.  As long as it is easy.  When the trials and tribulations come, that James book states we should count as pure joy, this mind counts it as overwhelming torture.  It believes the lies of Satan that tell it, Jesus and God lied to them and there is no truth to what it first believed, otherwise these things wouldn't be happening.  This thought life soon turns to the previous way as the seed of truth is stolen, and they try to do things on their own.

The seed that falls among the thorns is a mind set that is unwilling to sacrifice all for Christ.  Worry is it's constant companion because it is trying to determine how to hold on to everything it has while serving the Lord.  Unwilling to seek first the Kingdom, day by day the thoughts go first to what is going on in life and God gets pushed further and further into the background, until He is the foundation of their life walk but not the reason.  Study of God and His will for life is not a priority, this mind never becomes useful for growing more Christians because the weeds of negativity are never plucked from this garden.

The seed that falls on good soil is a mind set that puts God first, no matter what.  This mind is willing to let go of all that it possess to possess Christ.  It regularly weeds its garden by reading and studying and hearing the Word of God.  Thoughts that are not in line with what it is learning are plucked and discarded.  This mind is able to reach other minds and help them grow into what God created them to be, while becoming itself what He had in mind. (No pun intended)

So you see, Jesus used parables that spoke to tending the soil because our minds are like soil.  What we plant in them is what grows.  The only way to keep ugliness from growing is to have a regular schedule of weeding and pruning so that the thought life flourishes and spreads out its positive seeds to other fertile soil.

Heavenly Father,
Thank You for speaking to us in ways that we are able to understand.  For letting us see the correlation between the natural world around us, and how you created us to think and be.  We love You for Your willingness to do what ever it takes to get through to us.  Thank You for Your patience, mercy, grace, and loving kindness to a species that does not deserve it.  Please, continue to show us the truth of Your word around us, and how to implement it on a daily basis.

In Jesus name,
Amen

  

You Have To Fight to Stay Faithful

Faith doesn't come easy.  It isn't an automatic pilot type of thing.  It requires that we focus on God and not our circumstances consistently.  The enemy is going to try to steal your faith, every single day of your life.  Whatever he can do to make you doubt, which is the opposite of faith, he's going to do it.

This has been going on since the beginning.  Before man was on the scene there was a battle in heaven.  Why?  Because Lucifer convinced other angels that God's sovereignty was in doubt.  That His supremacy could be challenged. 


The one thing that Satan is is tenacious.  Even though he was booted out of Heaven, and doomed for the Lake of Fire he doesn't stop in his rebellion.  Perhaps it is a, "I've got nothing to lose" mentality.  Who knows?  What matters is that he goes after God's prized creation, man. 

He does this by planting seeds of doubt into Eve.  Here we see the first incident of man not fighting to stay faithful.  This is from two people who had direct interaction with God daily.  If they had these difficulties staying faith, how much more of a fight is it for us?  Yet, I digress from my point I am trying to make here. 

Let's see how they didn't fight to remain faithful.  In Genesis 3, Satan approaches the woman in the guise of a serpent.  The serpent must have been a willing party to this because he gets in trouble later, but let's stay on track that's a commentary for another blog.  He starts the conversation by questioning her faith in God's desire for them to have the very best of everything.  "He said to the woman, "Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden?"

Let's dissect this statement, the first part is immediately a challenge to her faith.  "Did God REALLY say..."  How many times do we question what God has told us?  Did He really tell me to forgive that person?  Did He really say to tithe 10%?  Did He really tell me to speak to that person about my faith?  The list is infinitesimal.  This is working on our faith, any time we question what God has said we are not being faithful.  I'm not talking about making sure it is God speaking to you, no I'm talking about when you know that you know it is God and you question what He has told you to do.  That is what Eve did, let's continue...

Verse 2 has her answering the serpent with what God has instructed, that they are not to touch the tree in the middle of the garden or they will die.  Satan responds with a rationalization, he tells her that she won't die.  That in reality the only reason God doesn't want them to eat of this tree is because they will become like Him.  Essentially, he perpetuates the lie that God is afraid of them.  Why in the world would God be afraid of what He had lovingly created?  He has provided for their every need, denying them nothing, and wanting to protect them from what would hurt them.  Just as any loving parent would.

So often as children we question our parents' decisions, not understanding why they say no to things that can ultimately do us harm.  This is the same situation for God and His first creations, as well as us today.  Satan did not create the lack of faith, Eve did not fight to maintain her faith it what she knew from what she had seen her entire existence.  She takes a second look at the tree, and starts to rationalize again.  It's good for food (she has plenty of other sources of food), it's pleasing to the eye (she was in the Garden of Eden everything there was pleasing to the eye), and it was desirable  for gaining wisdom.  The last is the most important part, her desire was to gain wisdom on her own instead  of relying on her faith in her loving Creator to give her wisdom.  She gave up, and gave in without a fight.  Adam, did even less although he had known God longer that Eve he did not question for one moment her actions, he just went along with it.  Not putting up one once of a fight at all.

As you can see, from the beginning of mankind we have had to fight to maintain our faith.  When we don't we fall prey to the enemy and his unscrupulous and conniving ways.

What are you not being faithful about?  Look into your life and honestly exam your walk with Christ.  Are you fighting for your faith or are like Adam and Eve are you giving in to the temptation of unbelief?  Faith is a gift, as it states in Ephesians 2:8, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God --" (Italics mine).  You see faith is a gift that we must protect.  Don't take it for granted.  If you cherish something you will fight for it, tooth and nail.

Fight for your faith, fight to remain faithful.  Through prayer, and petition, as Philippians 4:6 states for us to remain in faith.  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."  When we act in faith seeking God for direction because we trust Him to take care of all things Philippians 4:7 continues the promise with "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

You can't understand faith, or the results that it creates.  Yet, it is the most precious thing we have, with it we can move mountains.  Mountains of debt, bad relationships, health problems, or any other issue that may be happening in your life.  You have enough faith to do whatever God has destined you to do.  I know because His word says He gave us our faith.  Why wouldn't He have given us enough to get us to the other side, to help us walk on water so to speak? 

You have to decide will you fight or will you fold?

Daddy,
Please forgive us for the times we have not fought to stay faithful, for the times that we have listened and believed the words and lies of the enemy.  Help us to keep focused on Your truth and fight to protect the faith You have gifted us with.  It is a treasure as is our salvation.  We praise You for Your love and devotion to us, even in our fallen state.  Thank You Jesus for Your sacrifice to bring us into right standing with our Father.  Thank You Lord, for the faith You have bestowed upon each of us, and help us to see it every day of our lives and live every aspect of these gifted lives for You.

In Jesus name,
Amen

  

Keep Our Mind On Things Above!

This has been a particularly hard day.  The battle for my mind has been arduous to say the least.  However, as long as I can keep it in perspective, I'm okay.  It is a battle for my thoughts, between God and the enemy.  God wants me to keep my mind on things above, Satan wants me to think about all that has gone wrong, and could go wrong in my life.

When I allow the negative to win, my mind goes to places it shouldn't.  Like, why am I here?  I have no purpose, I should just give up.  That's the lie!

God says, that I have a purpose, that before time began He had plotted out my destiny.  So what gets in the way?  Doubt and unbelief.  Lack of faith.  All of which are sins.  How can I doubt the One who created me?

When I begin to doubt it shows two things at work in my mind.  The need to control and lack of patience.  The more I want to control and the more impatient I am, God is funny this way, the longer He makes me wait.  Think about it.  Whenever you have been anxious about something, it never seems to happen.

It's like the child who is promised that they will go to Disneyland soon.  The day never seems to come, and the longer the parent delays in taking them the more impatient and demanding the child becomes.  However, if the child were to say to the parent, "You're never going to take me, I don't believe you!"  The parent would probably say, and rightly so, "If you're going to act like that, you are correct we aren't going."

Sometimes we step on our own blessings by trying to "demand" that God do it our way and in our timing.  How do we do this?  We go out and try to make the situation happen according to our own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5, say we are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and we are not to lean on our own understanding.

When we attempt to handle things according to our own understanding and ideas, we really mess it up.  We have to be on constant guard with our thoughts, and ever vigilante against the ploys of the enemy.  Temptation comes from both sources.  We must be careful not to blame or give too much credit for our wrong thoughts to the devil.

The only way to stay on top of this and keep our minds straight is to keep our minds on things above.  Reading scripture on a regular basis, praying consistently, turning away from the things that would distract us or make us despondent.

One way to handle this is to memorize a Psalm in it's entirety.  These treasures are the key to sanity when all is falling into insanity around us.  I would not suggest trying to remember the 119th Psalm unless your just a glutton for wearing out your brain.  That's a very, very long one.

It may sound cliche, but I recite the 23rd Psalm when things are feeling overwhelming.  Sometimes I repeat it a couple of times, until I am sure that my mind is back where it belongs.  Focusing on God's grace and mercy, and the fact that He is in control.

Write the Psalm out on an index card so you can carry it around with you until you have it down, or download an app on your smartphone.  Whatever works, just have it with you always until you have it down to memory.  Try it, I promise you'll like it.

Father,
Please help us to stay focused on You and Your word at all times.  Keep us meditating on what is pleasing in Your site.  We praise You for Your patience with us as we waver in our faith and belief.  Trusting You to get us back to right standing with You, in all our ways, thought and deeds.


In Jesus name, Amen