The work of God's Spirit within us depends upon our
cooperation with Him. We cannot produce fruit without His presence in us; but
He cannot produce fruit in us, if we are not willing to surrender every area of
our life to Him. As the Spirit gives us God's character and special gifts, we
use them to serve one another (1 Corinthians 12:4).
The Holy Spirit enables us, by the grace of God, to be
good managers of His diverse gifts within us (1 Peter 4:10). God instructs us to care for
others, but He also cautions us to care for our needs as well (Matthew 22:39; Philippians
2:3-6). If we neglect our own salvation, or our physical, emotional and
mental needs, then we will have no resources to share with others.
We will run out of emotional and physical energy. We will
end up bitter and resentful, because we will do all of the serving. It is
important for us to care for our self too. Some believe it is selfish to care
for our self. I used to think that as I served others, they would serve me, and
both our emotional tanks would be full.
This put an undue burden on others to give to me as much
as I gave to them. They did not have the resources within them to do this, so
we all ended up losing. My expectations were constantly disappointed and I
battled to keep myself encouraged and motivated to continue serving anyway.
What I finally learned was that codependence with other people is an illness.
We are to depend only on God in our life. We are to obey
His Spirit's direction each moment of the day. If we serve someone, without His
direction, we may divert God's dealings in that person's life. As we function
in God's spiritual anointing, we never run out of energy to serve those to whom
God leads us to minister. We can even meet our own needs as God's Spirit brings
them to our attention.
Prayer:
Father God, teach us to rely on You for every need in our
life. Please encourage us with the truth that it is acceptable to ask for our
needs to be met too, and to meet our own needs if no one else will. Help us to
make friends who will bring blessings into our life rather than those who suck
the life right out of us.
Teach us to erect boundaries for those toxic people who attempt to take advantage of us. Remind us that we should minister to others only as Your Spirit directs us throughout the day. We will show the love of Christ to others as You make a way, not as our human compassion demands.
Teach us to erect boundaries for those toxic people who attempt to take advantage of us. Remind us that we should minister to others only as Your Spirit directs us throughout the day. We will show the love of Christ to others as You make a way, not as our human compassion demands.
Thought for the Day:
Authentic Believers dwell in, exhibit and function
from the righteousness and holiness of God in our service to those God brings
our way.
