Freedom from Sin

God gave us His law to prove to us that we cannot save our self. To reach holiness through the law, we must keep every word of it (Matthew 5:18; James 2:10).

When we trust in Christ, who did keep every letter of the law, as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, His Holy Spirit takes up residence in our body (Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 6:19).

Christ in us satisfied the law for us (Galatians 5:18). As we surrender to the leading of God's Spirit, we are free to live in His righteousness (Roman 1:17, 8:14).

God's Spirit never leads us into permissive living (Galatians 5:18). We grieve God's Spirit when we use His temple for sinful purposes (1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 4:30-31).

Our relationship with God is more important than any other aspect of our life. He fills us with His presence and we follow God's Spirit moment by moment.

Increasing our intimacy with God is the best use of our time and efforts. His living water flows through us and out to the world around us (John 7:38).

As we love Him with our whole heart, soul and strength, He quenches our thirsty soul (Deuteronomy 6:5; Psalm 42:1-2, 143:6). Then we love our neighbors as our self and fulfill the second greatest commandment (Matthew 22:39-40).

We love each other as God loves us, and we serve one another and lay down our preferences, feelings and opinions for one another (John 15:12-13).

God's precepts are for our protection and are only restrictive if we want to continue to sin. When we choose to live in God's freedom in righteousness, we are no longer under the oppression of Satan's abuse.

Prayer:

Father God, prior to our salvation through Christ, we served the devil and His will for our life. We may not have committed evil, but even our responsible, ethical life was inspired by his desire to keep us from coming to Christ.

If we return to the bondage to Satan's lies (Galatians 5:1), we forfeit our freedom from sin. You can no longer bless us, although Your desire is always to give us all good things (Psalm 84:11; James 1:17). Draw us to completely surrender our life to You.

Thought for the Day:

When the righteous return to a sinful lifestyle, we muddy the springs of living water within us.

 - Proverbs 25:26; John 4:14, 7:38

Reacting to Life

When we are attacked for our choices and feelings, we must fight with spiritual weapons, not carnal, human ones. Our warfare is not against a person, but against the spiritual powers, which operate behind the scenes and through people. Realizing who the real enemy is enables us to fight with the spiritual weapons the Lord gives us (2 Corinthians 10:4).

My father reacted to life as a bipolar, rage-aholic. In my younger years, I compliantly did as I was told; but with age, I learned his behavior and I stood up for myself. I used anger to protect my interests when anyone made a decision that affected me, or when they did not listen to my feelings or my needs, discounted or ignored me, or did not take me seriously.

After I surrendered my life to Christ, I still used anger to make people take me seriously. What I did not realize is that anger is not God's way (James 1:20). Anger manipulated me into acting as a tool of the devil. He discouraged and wounded people through my outbursts of anger. The root of any issue goes deeper than human decisions, personalities, schedules and life choices.

With time, I learned to gain the person's undivided attention and to express very firmly that my needs are either not negotiable, or that an alternate decision needs to be made that I am comfortable with. This is an effective method if the other person is spirit-led and listens to my needs, does not discount or ignore me, and takes me seriously.

Otherwise, I make it very clear, without anger, that I am upset about the decision being made; and I will make alternative decisions, which will provide for my needs. Divorce is never an option, and quitting a job before securing another one is not advisable. However, we can protect our self from another person's upsetting decisions and behavior, by getting counseling and by using a time of separation to work out the opposing issues needing reconciliation.

Prayer,

Father God, remind us that we are all living in spiritual warfare (1 Peter 5:8). If Satan can use some decision to split a relationship, he will do it. Your Word tells us to turn the other cheek and to go the extra mile (Mt. 5:39); but after we do this, we often need to take a stand. Help us to journal our feelings, to pray about the situation, to ask You to intervene on our behalf and then to try to communicate our needs once again. Remind us that a period of separation for the purpose of reconciliation allows both parties to live apart for a time, to get counseling and to find a way to resolve the issue, which is causing them grief.

Thought for the Day:

Put the devil to flight and preserve your marriage and other relationships by preferring one another, never insisting on your own way, laying down both sets of preferences and finding a third alternative with which you can both live happily. - James 4:7

Make Up YOUR Mind

Read: Ephesians 4:22-27

“…let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no,..” - James 5:12

The human soul frequently experiences a barrage of “unfriendly fire” that threatens to snuff the very life out of us. This usually occurs when we disregard the leading of God’s Spirit within us. We say “Yes” to someone’s request, when we really mean “No”; and we say “No”, when we really want to say, “Yes”.

We act this way in order to keep the peace, to prevent hurt feelings, to make people like us and to appear submissive or cooperative. We hesitate to get blindsided by the unexpected; therefore, we submit to everyone else without discretion. If you feel victimized, anxious, broken, angry, distressed, lonely, unsupported, exhausted and empty, I can guarantee that your soul has been breached. You have sold your peace of mind for a temporary peace with another person.

Speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) is God’s formula for relationships. We do not need to fight with someone else in order to keep our boundaries safe. We have no need to enforce our boundaries with the use of anger, yelling or forceful words. (It took me a long time to learn the truth of that statement. I used anger to protect myself; but all it did was alienate from me the people I cared about the most.) We simply need to state our feelings, opinions or decisions calmly and definitively.

To quote a very wise man (my husband!), “The trick is to remain calm, businesslike and resolute” rather than to cave in to the guilt, controlling and manipulation, which others use to try to force us to do their bidding. The more secure we are that we heard from God about an issue, the softer we can speak to have our “self” heard and our needs met.

Most of us have taken care of others for so long, that we never learned how to take care of our “self.” If you do not know how to care for yourself, I have a very simple solution for you, which was shared with me by my former employer: “Minister to yourself in the same way that you minister to others. After all, you are a person too.”

If we do not take care of our “self” we will get depleted and maybe even sick in body, soul or both. Then we will not be able to take care of others at all.  We make our best decisions and hear from God the clearest when we focus on God as our center and move through life guided by His Spirit. This way we are not exhausted, burdened and depleted by giving everything of our “self” away to everyone else.

It is much easier to exchange a "No" with a "Yes" at a later time - than it is to turn a "Yes" into a "No" after you already made a promise. The only healthy way to exist is to learn to live by doing only that which God inspires us to do, and then letting God do the rest. If you do not learn how to say "No", others will take you for granted and lose respect for you. When you respect yourself and look to God to give you the approval we all need in life, the irony is that people will start to grant you much more respect and approval than they would have done otherwise.

God taught me that I do not need to accept people into my circle of friends or family who violate my body or emotions, or who make a decision without my consent or who dishonor who I am. I do not need to be around people who are dishonest and manipulative or who disrespect my needs and desires. I can cut off fellowship with anyone who is condescending, belittling, critical or derisive to or about me. When we separate our self from abusers, we will experience more honesty and support from the healthy people we allow into our life.

The process of setting boundaries and honoring them is the most healing gift, which you can present to your self and others. We find healing when we say the words that match our feelings, when we speak our truth with conviction, when we refrain from allowing fear to rule us and when we specifically verbalize what our needs are. We no longer lock our true self away in an inner prison and mentally abuse our self for not measuring up to someone else’s expectations and standards. We allow our true self to express who we really are and what we really want.

Setting preferences and limits establishes a strong sense of ‘who you are’, which means that only certain people or aspects of life can enter your boundaries. Saying, "Yes" to these aspects and people, or saying "No" to people and events that God does not direct you to interact with, is the healthiest way to live. The Bible mandates that we love everyone, but we do not need to like everyone, or to interact often with everyone. If certain people object to you caring for your self, they will either adjust their behavior or depart from your life. That is their choice, and that is okay. God has a perfect plan for your life that may or may not include them. We can make a vow to our self to tolerate no less than what is God’s best for us.

Prayer:

Father God, if we place You first in our life, then doing things for our self and others becomes an expression of Your love. We will then give out of Your abundance within us and we will expect nothing in return. Help us to let our light so shine that everyone will see our good works and give You the glory (Matthew 5:16).

Thought for the Day:

God’s love changes us from the inside out and gives us the ability to have healthy relationships.