Staying Safe

Jesus knew the importance of getting alone with God. If He felt this habit is important, although He had a divine nature, how much more should we value this activity too?

Jesus set boundaries and escaped from the crowd or declined an offer or refused to comply to every request made of Him. He followed the leading of the Holy Spirit and was not a workaholic, an enabler or an over-achiever. He simply rested in God's love and enjoyed His company.

He went about doing good (Acts 10:38), healing the sick, feeding the hungry multitudes, casting out demons and working miracles. He did this by the Spirit's direction, not of His own volition. Jesus walked in the will of the Father who sent Him, energized Him and anointed Him (John 5:18-20).

Jesus filled Himself with the presence of God and was ready to handle the divine appointments He encountered each day (Luke 5:15-16). He cared for his own needs as well, without feeling guilty, even if He missed the opportunity to help someone else (Matthew 4:6-7, 26:18-20; John 12:2).

Interruptions in His schedule, crisis situations and dire needs in others did not tax His faith or cause Him irritation. He took them all in stride. His compassion and grace enabled Him to look at the situation and meet the real need, not just the surface issues.

Jesus enjoyed the fellowship of His disciples. He spent time mentoring, instructing and encouraging them. He answered their questions and lived a spirit-filled life as an example to others.

In the Garden, Jesus sweat blood at the thought of the anguish God called Him to suffer on the cross; but He did the will of the Father regardless of His preferences and concerns (Mark 14:32-42).

God calls us to walk in the Spirit as well; to meet His expectations for us rather than those from other people; and not to enable people but to point them to Christ and to lead them to the resources they need to help themselves.

Prayer:

Father God, only a fool despises the instruction, advice and correction of Godly parents; but those who listen and heed their words are wise. When our parent's counsel comes from Your Word, give us the wisdom to obey and to follow their advice. Our parents have been around the block a few times and can help us to navigate our way (Proverbs 15:5).

With age comes wisdom from the school of life. The same is true of the wisdom from above, which is holy, amiable, sympathetic, submissive to the Father, full of mercy and the fruit of the Spirit, unbiased and genuine (James 3:17). Help us to hear Your voice, to heed Your wisdom and to realize that the only safe place in this world is in Your presence.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus spent time in the Father's presence and filled His Spirit with God's Words; He did or said nothing that He did not first see God say or do. - John 5:44

Loving Our Self

As a perfectionist codependent, I always put everyone else's needs above my own. As we all serve one another, we all get served. I read in the Bible that God wanted it this way.

However, it did not work that way in the first 45 years of my life. I did all the serving and others did all the taking with rare expressions of gratitude or encouragement for what I did.

I grew to resent the lack of reciprocation and my constant physical and emotional exhaustion. I felt like a hamster on its wheel, going round and round day after day and getting no place fast.

One day I realized that I was actually teaching people to expect me to do everything and not to respect me or my needs. I had a savior and martyr complex a mile wide and high.

The fact is, however, that I love to serve others. It is my main ministry in Christ's body. Thankfully, I started working for a recovering codependent at this same time and she spoke truth to me that set me free.

She said, "You are a person too, and you can minister to yourself and meet your needs in the same way you meet everyone else's needs." WOW! That gave me food for thought.

She reminded me of Jesus' words to love others as we love our self (Luke 10:27). I realized right away that I did not love myself in the same way that I loved others.

This opened up a whole new world for me. I went to the library and checked out books on how to be a nurturing parent. I learned to nurture myself and how to nurture others in a healthier manner.

Prayer:

Father God, so many times we take Your words at face value and skip over the minute details of the verse. We miss so much of the meat of Your Word because we do not take them in context with other verses in the Bible. We miss the whole picture, which You intend for us to see.

As we follow the leading of Your Spirit each moment of the day, we stop allowing the good things to become the enemy of the best things. We stop spinning our wheels by so much busyness and we live productive lives that bring us joy as we also give joy. We develop a closer relationship with You and people see our good works and give You the glory (Matthew 5:16).

Thought for the Day:

As we walk in the Spirit, we stop enabling others to be less than they can be by allowing them to do hard things for themselves and to learn to lean on God instead of on us, so they can live productive lives.

The Beauty of God

There are times when we refuse to love one another, and the Holy Spirit is grieved. This severs our fellowship with our Father (Luke 6:37). At other times, we love one another too much and end up getting out of God's will. We enable each other, and spend all of our time loving people until we forget to give God any of our attention.

We are so busy serving others that we spend no time in the spiritual disciplines of bible study, prayer and worship of our God and King. God calls us to wholly concecrate our self to Him and His Kingdom. As we obey, our heart fills with the joy of the Lord, which becomes our strength (Psalm 28:7). We enter His Rest for eternity (Hebrews 4:10).

In return, Christ becomes to us more than we could ever imagine. He fills us through all of our being with all of His fullness (Ephesians 1:19). As we enter His rest, we relinquish our need to rely on our self to provide our own way in this world. We walk according to the Spirit and are blessed of God on a daily basis (Galatians 5:16-25).

Sometimes, we doubt that God hears our prayers. Many times it is because we are telling Him what to do and expecting Him to do it. God does not take orders from us. He is not our Aladdin's Lamp to grant our wishes. We tell him our problems and leave them in His capable hands, because He promises to eventually work them out for our good in His own way and timing (Romans 8:28).

All that we deserve is hell. Every sin we commit helped to crucify our Beloved Savior. Even our best efforts are just filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We do not deserve His love and guidance, but He freely gives it to those who believe on Him (Romans 5:6-7). That is the beauty of God. He loves us regardless of our performance and yearns for our time and energy for Himself (Romans 5:8).

Prayer:

Father God, Your Spirit helps us in every issue we face in life. We usually have no idea how we should pray, but Your Spirit prays through us in deep expressions without words (Romans 8:26). Thank You for working Christ's divine character and nature in us through Your promises (2 Peter 1:4). Thank you also for loving us when we were the least lovable, and for caring for our every need, sometimes before we even mention it (Isaiah 65:24).

Thought for the Day:

The Kingdom of God is within us and gives us righteousness, peace and joy through God's Holy Spirit. - Luke 17:21

Our Enabler

When we help in a time of need, this is usually a one-time event, and it rarely causes any negative emotions to rise up in our heart. When the crowds asked Him, Jesus told them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise” (Luke 3:10-11). Pure religion that is undefiled before God the Father is to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction (James 1:17). There is a time and a place to help one another (1 John 3:17).

However, there is a thin line between the concepts of helping and enabling a friend, neighbor, workmate or family member. Enabling drives us to help another person in inordinate ways, and to feel responsible and worried about things that this person should actually do for him/herself. Enabling allows addictive and irresponsible behavior in the person we are helping. Enabling often goes one step further into protecting the person from the consequences of his/her actions.

We make excuses for the person we enable. We do things for them that is their responsibility. We feel obligated to solve their problems. We try to make life easier for them at our own expense. Then we feel negative emotions rising up within our soul, because we feel taken advantage of and unappreciated. Enabling is as addictive as any drug and quite destructive both to our self and to the person we are enabling. The balance comes in when we help people as Christ directs us to assist them, instead of by doing things for them that they should do for themselves (Ephesians 2:10).

The Bible tells us that every person should bear their own burden (Galatians 6:5). It clearly states that those who do not work, should not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10-15). When we enable others, we prevent them from growing up as independent individuals who follow God’s will for their life. God makes His grace abound to those who trust in Him, giving us the sufficiency to accomplish what He calls us to do by His Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 9:8). There is so much that we cannot do for our self, however, and these are the things that God does for us. He is our enabler in the best of ways.

God reveals Christ to us and in us (John 16:14-15), guides us into all truth (John 16:13), regenerates us (John 3:5-8; Titus 3:5), sanctifies us (2 Thessalonians. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; Romans 5:16), washes and renews us (Titus 3:5) and strengthens our spirit (Ephesians 3:16). He also leads us (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18; Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1), empowers us (Luke 4:14; 24:49; Romans 15:19; Acts 1:8), fills us (Ephesians 5:18; Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17) and dwells in us (Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14; John 14:17).

He sets us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2), quickens our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11) and grants us everlasting life (Galatians 6:8).  He teaches us to pray (Romans 8:26-27; Jude 1:20), distributes His spiritual gifts and manifestations in us (1 Corinthians 12:4, 8-10; Hebrews 2:4), anoints us for ministry (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38) and brings unity and oneness to the body (Ephesians 4:3; 2:14-18). He proves we are His children and produces in us the evidence of His presence (Romans 8:16; Galatians 5:22-23), sealing us until the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30).

The Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), gives us access to God the Father (Ephesians 2:18), reveals the deep things of God to us (1 Corinthians 2:10), reveals to us what God gave us (1 Corinthians 2:12), reveals the mystery of God to us (Ephesians 3:5) and brings us into liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). He is also our guarantee and deposit of our future resurrection (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5). He speaks to, in, and through us (1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Timothy 4:1; Revelation 2:11; Hebrews 3:7; Matthew 10:20; Acts 2:4; 8:29; 10:19; 11:12, 28; 13:2; 16:6,7; 21:4,11).

The Holy Spirit sheds God’s love into our hearts (Romans 5:5), bears witness to the truth in our conscience (Romans 9:1), teaches us (1 Corinthians 2:13; John 14:26), gives us joy (1 Thessalonians 1:6), comforts us (Acts 9:31) and brings things to our remembrance (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit enables us to wait on God (Galatians 5:5), to obey His truth (1 Peter 1:22) and to preach the gospel (1 Peter 1:12). Jesus is our all in all (Colossians 1:17) and He lives within us by the Holy Spirit, enabling, leading and guiding all of our steps (Galatians 5:25).

Prayer:

Father God, You have done everything for us. Without You, we can do nothing (John 15:5). We can do all things, only when You enable us (Philippians 4:13). We trust and to obey You (Psalm 78:7). As we put on Christ each and every day (Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27), we walk in Your Spirit by Your direction to accomplish greater works than Jesus did (John 14:12), because we are His Body (1 Corinthians 12:27). Remind us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and to give You all the glory for everything we accomplish in Your name (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Thought for the Day:

God is working in us, enabling us both to desire and to have the power to work out His will in our lives. - Philippians 2:13