Time For God

 

Many people complain about not having time in their busy schedule to spend time with God. That is the sign of someone who is way too busy. There are many ways we can incorporate prayer into our daily agenda. One idea is to Prayer Walk. This accomplishes several things at once…exercise, prayer for your neighborhood, a time to praise God for the nature all around you, and a time to share your concerns with God and to listen to His advice. Another idea is to stop watching television, which robs us of so many hours in our day. We can also put worship music on while we do household chores and worship right along with the singers.

Those who spend time with God are closer to living a spiritual life than the person who spent hours in Bible College. To do both is even better! Once we come to Christ, the Holy Spirit teaches us all things as we read the Word, listen to sermons and fellowship with other Christians. The longer we live the Christian life, the more tempted we are to think we have arrived. We get complacent and cold hearted toward spiritual things. We grow bored with reading God’s Word and going to church services.

If Satan cannot take you back into a life of sin, the second best weapon he has is to deceive you into apathy in your Christian walk. The Bible tells us that in the last days, the hearts of many will grow cold (Matthew 24:12). There will be a great falling away of people who live as cultural Christians and who do not have a fervent, personal relationship with Christ by His Spirit (Revelation 12:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4).

In America we have unlimited access to spiritual tools and events. Yet, we make every excuse to miss fellowshipping with other Believers and learning from God’s Word. Our worship turns mechanical and we grow colder by the day. We honor God with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him (Isaiah 29:13).

An intimate relationship with the God of the universe allows us to love and be loved, to walk in victory through the trials of life and to be led by the Spirit of God moment of moment throughout the day (Romans 8:14). When we commit all of our body, spirit and soul – our mind, will and emotions - to Him, we receive blessings from Him in return. His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23), and just waiting for us to enjoy them.

If our spirituality is not infiltrating every compartment of our life, we are not allowing Jesus to live as our Lord. The goal is for us to walk in the spirit at work, home, school, church, the shopping center and on the roadways. The closer we walk with Him the easier it is to trust Him in the hard times (Psalm 56:3; Joshua 1:9). Our uncompromising habitual service to God (Psalm 50:9-10) is more important to Him than occasional grand gestures. He meets us the moment we long for His presence (Jeremiah 29:13), and gives us both the desire and the power to accomplish His will in our life (Philippians 2:12-13).

Prayer:

Father God, You dearly love all of Your children. You shower us with patience and provide everything we need to live a Godly life. Help us not to choose Satan’s lies, but to choose repentance instead (2 Peter 3:9). You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place and to appease Your wrath over our sin. You provide Your Holy Spirit to lead us into Your truth and to strengthen us through the trials of life. Help us to faithfully follow the leading of Your Spirit and to do Your works until Jesus returns to the earth.

Thought for the Day:

God is not an emergency technician that we only call in times of trouble. He is our Lord and Savior and deserves our committed life of devoted worship to Him.

The Importance of Forgiving Yourself

"God remembers our sins no more.”
- Hebrews 8: 12

Sometimes it is easier to forgive others than it is to forgive our self. However, the same principles in God's Word concerning our responsibility to forgive others, also applies to forgiving our self. As humans, no one is perfect. We all make mistakes. You can eliminate self-rejection by reminding yourself that even in your failures God forgave you 2000 years ago. He took from you the burden of guilt for your actions and nailed it to the cross, because He already knew about and forgave you for what you have done. If God can forgive us, how can we do any less?

Sometimes, we even hold grudges against our self for our past disappointments, failures and mistakes. God holds no grudges. His steadfast love never ceases, His mercy never ends; in fact, it is new every single morning (Lamentations 3: 22-23). He casts the memory of our offenses as far away as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12). Think about that...when you travel east around the globe, there is never a point that you start traveling west. The east never meets the west. God gives us endless forgiveness (Hebrews 8: 12). If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us every time. He will do one better than that! He will also sanctify and purify us from all unholy behavior, if we will let Him (1 John 1:9). As we accept Christ's sacrifice for our sins, we can let go of our anger against our self and forgive our self.

There is no way that we can truly love others if we do not first love God and then our self. Luke 10: 27 admonishes us, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” God calls us to let go of our need to make an effort or to do penance to make up for our past offenses. Jesus already took care of the penalty for us on Calvary's cross (Acts 13:38). If you need to ask someone's forgiveness, or make amends for something you have done, now would be a good time to do that (Matthew 6:12). But even if they will not forgive you, God already forgave you, and Jesus shed His blood to guarantee your forgiveness. If God cares enough to forgive you, then you can forgive yourself too.

If you refuse to forgive yourself, then there are negative consequences ~ stress, inner turmoil, panic attacks, loss of sleep, irritability, chronic physical illnesses, anger, feeling overwhelmed and having strained relationships with others. If you do not forgive your self, you run the risk of more unresolved hurt, pain and suffering from self-destructive behaviors. You have guilt and remorse eating away at you from the inside out. Subconsciously, you may even be seeking revenge and paybacks toward yourself in a way that you are not even aware of. We have a putrefying wound that is never cured, until we accept God’s healing in this area of our life.

Unresolved, unproductive and unnecessary anger, hatred and blaming of your self are counterproductive. It is a trick of Satan to make us pessimistic and negative. It stops our growth in our spiritual walk until we come to the place of forgiving our self. These buried emotions may even make us defensive and distant with other people. We carry our feelings on our shoulders and think other people are talking about us or have an attitude toward us, when all along we are the one sinning against our self. We live in constant fear of failure, of making more mistakes or repeating old mistakes, of being rejected or of not gaining the approval of others, when all along we are the one rejecting and withholding approval from our self.

Sometimes, Satan discourages me into thinking that I am too incompetent to help anyone else. I get disheartened and I want to give up. Whenever this happens, God never fails to send me reassurance through His Word or an encouraging remark from a friend or even a stranger. His perfect plan will use all of my foibles to help someone else in their time of need. Despite all of our failings, God gives us overwhelming victory through Christ who loves us (Romans 8:37). Even if everyone else is fighting against us, including our self, they shall not prevail. God is with us to deliver us in our times of need (Jeremiah 1: 19). The Lord forgives us and we can forgive our self as well as one another (Colossians 3:13).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we are so blessed, because You forgave all of our transgressions and covered all of our sins. You never count our sin against us again. On the cross, You paid the penalty of the sins of the whole world once and for all (Romans 4:7-8). Now, we can forgive and comfort those who sin against us, including our self, so that we will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow (2 Corinthians 2:7). In You, we have redemption through Your blood. You forgive all of our sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace (Ephesans 1:7). We realize that since You forgave us unconditionally, we can follow Your example and forgive others and our self unconditionally as well.

Thought for the Day:

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone (even yourself), forgive him/her (and yourself), so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." - Mark 11:25 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lover of My Soul - Part 2

Read: The Lover of My Soul - Part 1 first

In the past, when I felt empty, alienated or overwhelmed, instead of listening to what my soul needed and filling that need, I ignored it. Or if I did take the time to listen, I then asked other people to fill that need. They reacted to my request as if I placed a heavy, unnatural burden on their lives, which in reality it was. 

As God brought more and more healing to my soul, I learned that before I start grasping from others, parched as I was for a bit of love and attention, I needed to go to my quiet place and turn to God instead (Psalm 42:2). In this emotional state, I poured out my love to God and trusted Him to care for me.

In return, He fulfilled the thirst of my soul and gave me serenity and joy. God either showed me a simple method to meet my need, or He brought along another person to meet it for me. At this same time, God also gave me a stable personal life. 

In moving back to my hometown I found a fulfilling job at the Montessori school, I enjoyed the same friends and I worshipped with the same church family. Through this stability, Jesus also gave me assurance and contentment from within. 

Therefore, no matter how many negative circumstances encumber my life (Psalm 57:1-3), if God did not show me a way to change them, then I started leaving them in His capable hands.

I grew less dependent upon people for affection and attention, because God’s love poured over me like a waterfall, and I learned to nurture my own soul (Psalm 131:2). I also started reading two Psalms every day of the month. Through David’s words, I realized that he was every bit as emotional as I am (Psalm 31:9-10). 

This gave me confidence to communicate my fears and insecurities again to people whom I could trust. I knew that with God within me, I could face the future in peace. I found my assurance in His love and my strength in His joy (Nehemiah 8:10). I looked forward to living for the Lord during my lifetime, and to eventually enjoying the riches of heaven with Him.

I learned that I could only accomplish those things, which the Spirit directed me to do (Psalm 94:17-19); so, I laid aside the shackles of codependency. I stopped serving people for their sake. Instead, I served only those whom God led me to care for. By spending time with God in every waking moment, I experienced the fullness of God’s love for me.  

I felt more connected to God’s Spirit, and this competence spilled over into everything I did. I started following the Spirit’s direction moment by moment throughout the day. I simplified my life and scaled down my physical possessions and the size of my home. I spent more time enjoying what God gave me.

I also started giving myself encouragement for a job well done. Once I got to a place of meeting my own needs and of waiting on God to direct me each moment of the day, He introduced me to Kevin as my new husband. We met at Books-a-Million bookstore and were immediately drawn to one another. We dated for six months and saw each other every day, except one, during that time. 

A few years after we married, God opened a door for us to work together as a team in the pastoral ministry in a south Florida church, which brings great fulfillment to both of us. I only had to relocate one more time, and I changed professions from teacher back to Pastor’s wife. God took the ashes of our former lives and made something beautiful from them.

In this interdependent relationship, I came to understand that 1 John 4:7-13 is a very possible and a highly recommended way for two married people to live. Kevin and I prefer one another and we spend a great deal of time together. We laugh often, cling together when we cry and serve God together. Kevin taught me that I could trust him with my fears and insecurities. 

He learned to listen to my words with understanding; so, I no longer felt like I had to use anger to make my needs known. Since we both love God first, we are free to love one another sacrificially as Christ loves us. We still often meet our own needs, but we do more for one another than we do for our self. God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.

(For free detailed information on how to develop an interdependent relationship, email me at: kathleenbrdly@gmail.com)

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, as we trust only in You, You see us through the devastation of life and bring us out victoriously on the other side. You care for us more deeply than we can ever love one another. You work circumstances out in our life to bring us what we really need. 

You give us beauty for the ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair (Isaiah 61:3) and new mercies every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). You put a new song on our lips (Psalm 96:1), and we will praise You for eternity. Help us to love others, not through humanistic motives, but by the direction of Your Holy Spirit.

Thought for the Day:

Surrendered to God’s love, we can live a fulfilled life.