God's
lesson plans for us, as well as Satanic warfare, and the results of our own choices
will all cause circumstances to occur in our life, which often threaten to
overwhelm us. We cannot control these
issues no matter how hard we try to insulate our self from them.
We
can minimize tribulation's effect on us, however, by eliminating the amount of
circumstances that we bring on our self, by drawing near to God and resisting
Satan, and by changing our attitude about those issues, which we cannot control
(James 4:6-7; Philippians 4:8).
Also,
rather than to view life as a series of responsibilities that we must perform,
we can change our focus to see them as privileges which we are allowed to achieve;
and then we gratefully rejoice in the fact that God gives us His strength and
desire to accomplish His will for our life (Philippians 2:12-13).
These
two strategies eliminate the stranglehold we feel from viewing our
responsibilities as a victim rather than as a victor in Christ. There is life
and death in the power of our tongue (Proverbs 18:21), and our declarations
influence our words, actions, and feelings.
Making
these few minor adjustments gives us a sense of having a measure of power over
our circumstances. When we realize that we are choosing to live in the center
of God's will for us, then we feel His strength, wisdom, peace and joy flooding
our soul - our thoughts, feelings and choices.
We
start by acknowledging our negative feelings, fears and insecurities. This
allows us to feel understood, accepted and valued. Validating our true self is
a very important part of living a positive, fulfilled, peaceful and joyful
life.
Then,
we choose to live as a victor, which also allows us to influence our
parasympathetic nervous system - where much of our healing takes place.
Joyfully accepting our various trials allows us to experience, on a personal
level, God's miraculous power through them.
Prayer:
Father
God, help us to change our focus in life, especially about our trials. We can
look forward to seeing Your hand in them, and to realize that You have a higher
purpose for us in them. Remind us to listen to our body, soul and spirit and to
seek You about how to meet our own needs.
Every
dark cloud has a silver lining, and every negative tribulation can have a
positive outcome, because You are involved in our daily life. You empower us
with Your strength and wisdom to walk through the shadow of death as overcomers
rather than as casualties. We love living life under the shadow of Your wings
(Psalm 23, 91).
Thought
for the Day:
When
we realize that we can influence our attitude and the outcome of our trials
through Christ in us, we are able to cause our parasympathetic nervous system
to work towards our healing and success, rather than against it; this gives us
a greater opportunity to serve God with literally…every fiber of our being.
