Loneliness or Aloneness

The Bible speaks of being alone in two different ways. One denotes loneliness and the other refers to living al-one with our Father God (John 16:32). We can experience both at the same time, or one without the other.

God realized that loneliness had an adverse effect on the human soul (Genesis 2:18). He created us for companionship. Have you ever tried to scratch an itch in the middle of your back? We need each other. 

Even in a crowd of people, we can suffer loneliness, because it is a state of mind, rather than a physical issue. It is a aching void deep within our soul.

Loneliness causes us to feel isolated, dejected, abandoned, unimportant, unloved and even hopeless. We want to hide under the covers, ignore our responsibilities and vegetate.

Loneliness affects us mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. We actually believe that no one cares about what happens to us, unless we realize that God continually cares for us (1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22).

Aloneness is quite different than loneliness. We all need time to be alone. This helps us to get in touch with our inner self, to ascertain our needs, to get to the root of any negative emotions and to maintain our union with Christ (Colossians 1:27, 3:3-4; Galatians 2:20; Hebrews 3:14).

In times of solitude, we recharge our psychological, physical and spiritual batteries to have the energy to continue to minister for the Lord as His Spirit directs (Ephesians 2:10).

Times of solitude refresh us and prepare us to hear from God each moment of the day (Psalm 95:7; Hebrews 3:7-8). Al-one times require quiet, private and peaceful surroundings.

We listen with our spiritual ears (Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:9). The presence of God infiltrates our spirit, soul and body. We are one with God and enjoy His companionable silence (John 10:27-28).

Once we enter God's sanctuary within our spirit, we realize the futility of our temporal existence and begin to pursue eternal endeavors instead (Psalm 73). Al-one times help us to maintain a spiritual focus throughout our life.

Prayer:

Father God, our disheartened soul takes comfort in Your continual presence within. We meditate on Your Word and follow Your precepts each step of our life. Thank You for Your blessings and abundant provision of all of our needs.

We trust that You will continue to perfect us until Christ returns (Philippians 1:6). We have abundant assurance that You will keep all of Your promises to Your Saints (Romans 4:21). Teach us that loneliness is our choice. Remind us to spend al-one times with You, and we will never experience debilitating isolation, but restful solitude instead.

Thought for the Day:

As we traverse the moments of each day and face the issues of life, we function from our spirit, rather than our soul. This enables us to continually meditate on the goodness of God and the Truth of His Word, as we follow His Spirit's direction to accomplish His will.

God's Unfailing Love

God hears our prayers and answers them (Psalm 40:1; Micah 7:7). When our soul faints from trials and stress, we can put our hope in the Word of the Lord (Psalm 119:81). 

Our soul finds its rest in the Lord of our salvation, because our hope comes from Him (Psalm 62:1,5). When we trust in His Word, others who also fear the Lord will rejoice because they see our testimony of His provision (Psalm 119:74).

At times, we may feel disheartened or discouraged without any reason. God is putting a burden on our heart and we have no idea who to pray for or what is going on (Romans 8:26). 

However, God's Holy Spirit knows and wants us to pray for God to work in these lives, for Him to send His ministering angels to protect them and for Him to provide for them in every area of their need. Prayer changes lives.

Even if we are the ones living through a time of illness, unemployment or estrangement from a child, spouse or parent. These negative circumstances give us an occasion to spend time alone with God. 

This is often one of the most precious periods of our life. As we linger in God’s presence, our soul is filled with strength, peace, love and courage. Protect against limiting God's glory by doubts and insecurities. Trust in His faithfulness to see us through every trial life throws in our path. 

He promises to work out even the most horrendous circumstances for our good (Romans 8:28). God’s love is unfailing and His deliverance is abundant (Psalm 27:14, 130:5,7; Isaiah 8:17). He is our help and our protection (Psalm 33:20).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us to spend time in worship and adoration all throughout the day. We thank You for all of the special "hugs" You give us in both the simple and complex ways You order our life. 

As we bask in Your presence, cover us with Your love and glory and fill us to the brink with Your Holy Spirit, so that we can accomplish Your will for our day.

Thought for the Day:

As we immerse our self in fellowship with God, His Holy Spirit fills our soul with inexpressible joy and transforms us into the divine nature of Christ. - 1 Peter 1:7-9; 2 Peter 1:3-4

Focusing

Whenever we walk through life and forget to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), we change our focus from God’s glory and majesty to what is happening around us. This is discouraging to say the least. Our soul – our mind, our will and our emotions - gets disheartened and sometimes actually becomes sick inside of us (Proverbs 13:12). To change this, we can take Paul’s advice and focus our mind on eternal things, not on the temporal, day-to-day grind that we face here on earth (Colossians 3:1-2).

Our daily worries and concerns take our eyes off Jesus and put them on our self. When this happens, our troubles and trials multiply until we are overwhelmed. We unwisely pay attention to foolish people and allow them to affect our life. We submit to people who take advantage of us and treat us abominably or who lord their life and success over us. Instead, God advises us to flee from people who are carnal and evil. He also tells us to take captive every one of our thoughts and to submit them to Christ (Psalm 35:12; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Corinthians 10:5-6, 11:20).

Paul gives us a checklist to do this. Rather than to focus on our little microcosm of the world, God wants us to place our thoughts only on things that are true, honorable, righteous, pure, lovely and admirable. We cast out negative thoughts from our imagination and take our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. We think only about things that are excellent and worthy of praise (2 Corinthians 10:5; Philippians 4:8). Once we do this, our spiritual equilibrium returns and we find a smile bubbling up from deep within our soul. A fulfilled longing is sweet to the soul (Proverbs 13:19).

All authentic Believers have died; and it is no longer us, but Christ that lives His life in us and through us (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3). If we let Him, He will deal with our stress at work, the mean spirited people, our wayward children, our mounting bills, our messy house, etc. He lives within us and He motivates us and gives us wisdom and strength to face every issue with victory and grace. Our real life is hidden with Christ in God. Once we realize this, we are no longer negatively affected by the world going on around us.

If we focus on our failings and our sins, we try in the flesh to remove these issues from our life. We lose our joy and peace because we are no longer focused on God. Instead, we can repent of our sins and shortcomings, give them to Christ and allow the Holy Spirit of God to do His work within us. God rids us of all guilt and condemnation (Romans 8:1). As we focus on Christ, we live good lives among the unsaved people in our world. Although they may accuse us of doing something wrong, if we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, they will ultimately see our good works and glorify God with their life as well (1 Peter 2:12).

Every morning, we put on our new self that is being renewed and changed into the image of Christ (Colossians 3:10). Each day, we clothe our self with Christ, and He provides a shield that repels all the fiery darts from our enemies (Romans 13:4; Psalm 33:20; Ephesians 6:16). God knows what is happening in the planet around us and He has everything under HIS control. There is no need for us to bother or worry about anything at all. God has an opinion about everything in our life and an answer for all of our questions. We just need to spend time with Him in prayer about all our concerns and then leave them in His capable hands.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, when we look around us we get discouraged. When we look within us we get depressed. However, when we look to You, we find joy that defies description and we bask in Your glory (1 Peter 1:8). As we keep our mind centered on You all day long, we live in peace and we are led by Your Spirit through every moment of every day (Galatians 5:16, 25; Romans 8:29). Your truth sets us free, and we live with high praises to You in our heart and on our lips (John 8:32; Psalm 149:6).

Thought for the Day:

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” - Hebrews 12:2