Commitment

Read: Isaiah 26:3

“Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:5

Commitment is a word few take seriously today. If it’s broken, we usually throw it away and get another one, including our relationships. There was a day, when we took things to the Fix It shop or to the counselor to be repaired. Nowadays, we just pitch it and go shopping…looking for a newer and bigger or more powerful model. God gave us the commission to live up to our obligations (Ecclesiastes 5:5), to protect what He gives us (1 Timothy 5:8) and to nurture our relationships (John 13: 34).

We get so caught up at work with meeting deadlines. Our time gets inundated with people we need to see. Then our spare time is taken up with chores at home. The busyness of everyday life consumes our thoughts and actions. We are so tired by the weekend that we resent spending any of it in the house of God. We just stay at home and sleep-in, so that we have enough energy to get back on the treadmill of our daily schedule once Monday rolls around again.

Therefore, before we can ever live such a committed life to others, we must first surrender our life to the Lord. If we continue to pursue our own agenda for our life, then our decisions will all be influenced by our selfish, human tendencies. God calls us to draw intimately closer to Him each day, to live in His presence.

Developing habits of quiet time every day will enable us to hear God's voice. We get our marching orders from Him; and when we do, we start to experience a whole new life as we keep His will in the forefront of our thoughts. Our job is less burdensome and our work flows more smoothly. We interact with people on a deeper level. We care more about the little things that mean so much in life.

Make a commitment to yourself today to surrender your life completely to the will of God. Make the changes He shows you that are necessary and be kinder to yourself and to all of those in your other relationships. Our frustrations with the present and our guilt from the past will rob us of the gift of tomorrow that God has in store for us. We cannot allow Satan to deprive our spirit of the life-giving flow of God’s Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit has the power, which makes our lives more productive for both the Kingdom of God and for us. By forgiving past hurts and walking in the Spirit in the present, we can look forward to a fulfilling future.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we commit our daily schedule to You and we dedicate our lives wholly to You. You will cause our thoughts to line up with Yours, and You will established our plans and cause us to succeed (Proverbs 16: 3). You are ever able to keep what we commit to You. (2 Timothy 1:12)

Thought for the Day:

Society has rarely seen what God can do through a person who is fully committed to Him.

Renewing Our Mind

Read: Ephesians 6:10-18

"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT)

Many people misinterpret this verse by saying that God will not give us more trials than we can bear. Clearly, this is not addressing trials, but is about the temptation to sin. God does not diminish our trials, because He uses trials to work character in our life (James 1:3). He does, however, strengthen us to resist the temptation to sin. He wants us to walk away from temptation as victors rather than victims.

Temptation is common to all of mankind and does not affect our Salvation. The first unholy thought is not a sin; it is a temptation. It is Satan’s tool to draw you away from spiritual pursuits. We only sin when we agree with and entertain those ungodly thoughts and quests. When we are tempted, God always gives us His wisdom to see right through Satan’s lies.

One way we withstand temptation is by renewing our mind (Romans 12:2) with the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We start pursuing eternal matters rather than allowing issues in the earthly realm to consume us. This is easier said than done.

Since we live in this worldly realm, its shackles continually pull us back to earth. Some people are spiritually immature and give in to a wide range of fleshly driven, decadent, corrupt behavior that brings God’s judgment on their lives. Others are less overtly sinful; yet, are still excessively busy with worldly pursuits. Some are even idle gossips or full of anxiety or prideful about their own accomplishments.

If we make a commitment to follow Christ, then withstanding temptation gets easier every day. As we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, read the Bible and listen to the preaching of God’s Word, worship with fellow Christians and share with others what Christ is doing in our life, then we renew our mind by puting on the mind of Christ (Psalm 27:11).

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for the tools You give us to live a life, which is victorious over sin. When Satan attacks, prepare us to do battle using Your armor (Ephesians 6: 11-14) as our defense.

Thought for the Day:

Our defense against temptation is to be fully dressed for battle.

Why Did You Die?

Psalm 139: 1, 14, 16
Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

Losing a loved one is the most debilitating and devastating experience anyone can ever go through. This grief extends beyond words and engulfs us body, soul and spirit. Often we find no solace in our grief. No word of comfort, no gesture of concern and no card or flower can lighten our burden of anguish. When viewed as loss, there is no solace in death. When viewed as our Homecoming, however, we find comfort and even some joy. When we take our last breath of this earthly air, we take our next breath in the celestial atmosphere of heaven. Death is actually the ultimate healing.


We all have a boundary around our lives. On this day, we will pass through the veil of death into the presence of God. These verses tell us how God views death from His side of the grave:

Ps 116:15
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. NKJV

Ps 48:14

For this is God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death. NKJV

Prov 14:32

Even in death the righteous have a refuge. NIV

Ecclesiastes 7:1

A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. TLB

Ps 16:9-11

Heart, body, and soul are filled with joy. For you will not leave me among the dead; you will not allow your beloved one to rot in the grave. You will let me experience the joys of life and the exquisite pleasures of your own eternal presence. TLB

2 Corinthians 5:8
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. KJV

Luke 20:36

And they never die again; in these respects they are like angels, and are sons of God, for they are raised up in new life from the dead. TLB

Luke 16:22
So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

Grief is a natural process, which has no exact time frame and is experienced in unique ways by different individuals. Feeling the pain of grieving is difficult, but it's an important step toward healing. This task can be especially hard for a grieving person because it can feel at first that you're being disloyal when you start to think about enjoying a life that doesn't include your loved one. This is far from true. Your loved one would want you to live a full and happy life even though they cannot be here to share it. They are in the joyful presence of God and dwelling now in eternity, you are the one still here on earth.

For many people, the hardest part of losing a loved one and grieving that loss is to figure out what to do with all the love you feel for them. Remind yourself that you don't have to stop loving someone just because he or she is no longer with you. When a memory pops up, send a loving thought to that person. Thank the Lord for the time you shared with your loved one.

The loss of a child is one of the deepest pains a parent experiences, regardless of a child's age. The pain of how life could have been with that special child is often the most difficult to embrace and work through. A good way to honor the life of a miscarried baby is to make or buy something in memory of the baby to keep your loved one close to your heart.

Make a special safe place in your heart for your deceased loved one, and allow yourself to cherish those memories for the rest of your life. They will enhance your future relationships because of the love you shared. You can also make a keepsake box full of treasured photos or mementos of your relationship with your deceased loved one. Perhaps you'd like to visit a special place you both enjoyed and allow the joy of your good memories there wash over you. Allow yourself to cry, because tears wash away the grief. It's important to realize that you can cherish a memory without getting trapped there.

It is likely that some of the memories may cause a stab of emotional pain now and then, when you think about your loved one. That is normal. They were very important to you then and they still are now. When this happens, it's important to remind yourself that these fleeting moments are a normal part of the grieving and healing process. They can happen on and off for years and they may never go away. It is important to allow yourself to have these feelings. Do not deny it, cover it up, ignore it or run away from it. Feel the sadness fully and when you are done, then let it go. Be aware that grief has physical reactions as well as emotional reactions on the body. Physical reactions include: poor appetite, disturbed sleep patterns, restlessness, low energy, and other pains. Emotional reactions may include: panic, persistent fears, nervousness and nightmares. 

You can write your loved one a letter, or visit their grave and tell them how you feel. You can celebrate their birthday by doing something special. You can have a party and invite their friends and leave a place for them at the table. You can journal your feelings because keeping them inside is not healthy.

Learning to cherish the memories without allowing your loss to control you is a very important step toward healing and wholeness. You are allowed to find joy in your new experiences, and you can take comfort in the knowledge that you keep your cherished memories of your loved one with you, wherever you go and whatever you do and whomever you do them with.

Some people are angry with God when their loved one dies. Allow yourself to feel that anger. You may feel like God took your loved one away from you before it was time. God knows the meaning of grief. He had to watch His only begotten Son die for the sins of mankind. Psalms is full of King David's grief over different aspects of loss in his life. You can read the Psalms, and as you relate to them allow yourself to feel the feelings completely.

Rather than focusing on your loss, focus on the time you had together and the person their love helped you to become. Know that you are loved in return and always will be. You can find comfort in God's love and in His strength to continue on in your journey. He has a special plan for your life that does not include your loved one. He will reveal it to you one step at a time. He will nurture your heart and your soul as you look to Him one moment at a time. 

God bless you today and always.

Children's Games

Read: Heb 3:14-19

"Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors,” Rev 4:13b

Did you ever make a “telephone” with paper cups connected by a string? As long as my playmate and I kept the string taut, the voice carried clearly from the speaker to the listener. If we got too eager and moved closer to one another, the dialogue ended, because the line was no longer taut. The further my playmate leaned toward me to hear, the longer our communication was interrupted, because the line grew looser still. Even if I yelled louder, she still heard nothing.

This happens sometimes when I try to communicate with My Heavenly Father. I tell Him my issues and hear no response. Then I try talking louder, even yelling and questioning if He is even listening to me! Until I rest and quit straining forward, I hear nothing! Communication is not re-established until I relax and sit back.

Sometimes, static gets on the line and slurs our conversation. The cares of the world, sin in my life, and idols I have erected will interrupt my communication with the Lover of my soul.

The Lord is there all the time, trying to speak to me, but I do not hear due to my stressing, straining and striving to communicate with Him. Or due to the sludge of life, which stops up the flow of our interaction.

When I quit trying so hard, my anxiety and stress diminish. When I cease my self-efforts and trust the Lord to speak in His timing, the line tightens once again. When I lay down my attachment to the world, the Holy Spirit washes away the residue from the sludge I allowed to build up between us. Our communication is restored without any exertion at all.

Prayer ~ Lord, thank You for listening! Even when my stress level interrupts our communication, You never leave me nor forsake me; You are always there inside of me…loving me, coaching me, cleansing me and leading me through life.

Thought For The Day ~ Emily Dickinson said, “Saying nothing... sometimes says the most.”

Bridging Gaps in Relationships

Read: Proverbs 15:1-2

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”  - Proverbs 25:11

Have you ever noticed that whenever there is more than one person in a room, there is the potential for a disagreement? The most loving of couples eventually experience an argument. To protect the integrity of their relationship, conflicting partners need to recommit themselves to one another after every stressful event or time of discord in their life. This assertion of love and faithfulness between them serves to reassure them both.

The first step in bridging a gap in your relationship is forgiveness. If the difference of opinion gets swept under the rug or is put on the back burner and allowed to simmer, the issues will resurface with some future catalyst. Not only will it reoccur, but it will also cause the current issue to balloon out of proportion with the added steam from the unresolved conflict. Admitting, “I was wrong and I apologize” are both the toughest words to say and the most powerful ointment verbalized in the human language. Humility puts your partner at ease and generates an environment for them to apologize for their own part in the quarrel.

Once the apology is made and accepted, then a recommitment to the relationship is necessary. Even when we choose to forgive, the painful memory of the occurrence reverberates in our mind. Sometimes, relying on God’s agape love is the only way to care for an individual in the absence of any feeling of human love toward him/her. The painful memories ease with time, but a restored dedication to the union between you creates loving emotions in you right away. 

A phenomenon that I never understood until now is that sometimes we even disagree when we are the only one in the room! Did you ever have an argument with yourself? Psychologists say this “split personality” comes from the three ego states within your soul. They label them as the Inner Parent, Adult and Child. Your Inner Parent is Authoritarian, Permissive or Nurturing and reflects all the parental figures from your past; your Inner Child is either healthy, wounded or recovering depending on the way you were treated by all of the parental figures in your life; and your Inner Adult is the person you are becoming now and often serves as the referee between the Parent and Child.

If you analyze the transactions between these three entities within your soul, you will discover a great deal about yourself and you will also feel more connected and integrated as a person. You will also react differently to other people in your life, because you will start to recognize their distinct ego states as well. God’s desire is to restore us to wholeness, as we invite Him to go back in the corridors of our past, where often we do not want to go, and to heal the painful memories that haunt us to this day. He is waiting to fill those empty places as only He can fill them. You can depend on Him to do it. He lived on this sin-cursed earth and empathizes with every hurt and negative emotion that we could ever experience. He understands exactly how you feel.

There are many books written on this subject. The one I recommend is: Healing the Child Within, by Charlie Whitfield. If what I said peeked your interest, I am also available to chat more about this at: ckbradley950@comcast.net

Prayer:

Lord, when I conflict with my loved ones, please give me the humility to admit where I am wrong and to apologize for hurting their feelings. Move by Your Spirit to renew the bonds of love and allow us to walk in one accord. Start by healing the factions within my own personality and make me whole and complete in You (Colossians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

Even if I am not at fault, help me to apologize for contributing to the discord.

Or So It Seems!

Read: Romans 8: 26-28

“How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” Matthew 7:11 (NKJV)

Sometimes, because of the circumstances in our lives, God appears unavailable, judgmental, distant, unjust, condemning, neglectful, and even unkind. We look at Him from an earthly, carnal perspective and expect Him to act like a human being instead of a holy, omnipotent God. God’s ways are so much higher than our ways that we often fail to see His provision when it comes, or His love when it is offered, or His direction when He speaks in His still, small voice. Often, we fail to believe it if we do not see it with our own eyes!

In actuality, nothing happens to God’s children that He does not allow. Look at Job! For a season, his life lay tattered and ruined by Satan’s design. What we often fail to realize is that Job sat at Jesus’ feet throughout his whole ordeal. Then, in the end, God blessed Job with an abundance of every good thing, which this life offers. We can learn from Job’s example.

We can also learn from Paul when he begged God three times to heal him of the infirmity in his flesh. God told him, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Paul accepted God’s answer and surrendered his will to the Lord’s will. King David’s baby was sick. He fasted and prayed for days, begging God to save this child’s life. When the child died, David accepted God’s will, got up and bathed and returned to his kingly duties. Eventually, God gave him another son by Bathsheba, and God chose Solomon to continue the bloodline of our living Savior.

We can take encouragement from the lives of the characters that God chose to include in the Bible. They and all of their fellow soldiers for Christ put up a good fight throughout their lives, but they were all merely human. Life is never as it seems. God puts a silver lining on every black cloud. He causes the earth to revolve, the stars to remain suspended in the sky, and a blade of grass to flourishes before it withers and dies. Therefore, we too can rest in complete confidence that God will work all things out for our good too.

Prayer:

Lord, remind us that in you all things are possible. All humans go to one of two destinations when they die, help us to reach as many as we can, and to help them to choose life and peace rather than the torments of hell for eternity.

Thought for the Day: 

We tolerate the intolerable and bear the unbearable only by keeping our focus on Jesus, who keeps us in perfect peace.

Healthy Sense of Self for Christians - Part 2, Led By the Spirit

Human beings are the result of all of the nature and nurture that God provided for us in our lifetime. He intended that we have the parents, the environment and the genes that we have in order to be the person He needs us to be. This way He can use us to help others with our unique skills and talents. But we do not have to indiscriminately help everyone who needs our help.

Love does not mean giving people what they want, it is following the Spirit’s leading in everything we do and say. Reaching a balance in the area of ministry is both basic and simple. If God does not give you peace to comply with someone’s request or a need that they may have, then do not get involved. God teaches us to develop healthy boundaries based on the Holy Spirit’s direction. This is crucial for creating a safe place - a home base - for the authentic person whom God created us to be, as we follow His will throughout our day.

Many of the ministry needs that we try to respond to may appear Biblical on the surface. The issue is legitimate and the person is in real need. However, serving others without Spirit-led boundaries eventually starts to feel like slavery and bondage, and may even cause us to grow more and more resentful and angry in our soul. If the Holy Spirit does not direct us to get involved and we do so anyway, this can have an oppressive effect on us, because it becomes a “works” brand of Christianity.

Let me give you one example from Jesus’ life. He walked among the multitude of sick people beside the pool of Bethesda (John 5: 1-18). They all needed His help, but He only healed one of them. He could have spoken a word and healed them all at once; or He could have sat there the whole day and ministered to each one individually. However, He followed His Father’s directions instead of humanisticly responding to all of the needs (John 5:19). Jesus set boundaries, and He gave us an example of how to set them too.

If we do not set limits on our activities as the Holy Spirit directs us to do, then our responses to other people come merely from the complex network of carnal thoughts and emotions in our soul. We may have a nagging sense of doubt and shame because of our past; therefore, we are driven to help by the fear of rejection. We may fear that God disapproves of us when we meet our own basic needs, so we spend all of our time caring for others instead.

If we do not follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, we run the risk of getting worn out and of distancing our self from God, which will cause us to lose our spiritual anchor. Anything that affects our spiritual, mental and emotional well-being also affects our physical well-being. Hospitals and doctors offices are full of people with psychosomatic (mentally induced) illnesses.

God has a much richer plan for us, in which learning to love ourselves is vitally tied to learning to love our neighbor. Having a solid, healthy sense of who we are in Christ, and of our God-inspired, unique individuality, goes hand-in-hand with being able to enter into loving “interdependent” relationships with our family, our church and our community.

When you feel overwhelmed, take a time out and hide beneath the shadow of the Almighty. Seek refuge under His wings. This keeps out unwanted intruders of doubt, insecurity, fear and obligation, and provides a safe place where you can grow and develop as an individual. The sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit during these times does a complete work in our body, soul and spirit. He renews our strength and He equips us to perform the works that God calls us to achieve. 

This “home base” provides a place to gather our authentic thoughts and feelings, as well as gives us the time needed to decide whom we are in Christ – without the fear of being shamed or verbally attacked by well-meaning brethren. This is a secret place where we can honestly face the realities of our life. We can also ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and guidance and ask God for the strength to be able to step aside and to allow Christ to accomplish His will through our life.

God's plan for our self-development involves a building up of our selves in a grace-filled, restorative experience of Christ in us, which is our hope of glory. This way, we can live less like Martha who frantically rushed around serving others – and more like Mary who allowed herself to sit at Jesus' feet first (Luke 10:38-42). From this passage, it is clear that God does not want us to give out of obligation. He wants our giving to flow from our genuine desire to serve Him and from our choice to obey the leading of His Spirit.

Being able to choose the boundaries we feel comfortable with is a key step in being able to give genuinely, rather than under compulsion. As we spend time with Him, and receive His grace and care for us, there is a natural overflow of this love, grace and caring outwards to others. Allowing one's “self” to be built up in Christ's love makes it possible for us to serve others out of love, rather than out of coercion or codependence.

How do we know where to draw our boundaries? How do we know how much giving is too little or too much? No two people have the same boundaries. To answer this we need to listen to our own soul – our mind, will and emotions - and to the leading of the Holy Spirit within us. Service without boundaries easily leads to resentment and anger. It is not the amount we are giving that counts, but the process – serving from a cheerful heart – that really matters. If God does not give you peace to comply with a request or a need, then do not get involved.

Giving of one's “self” as an overflow of the grace we have experienced may not always come easily or without difficulty or pain, as Jesus showed by his life and death. God wants to put His hands around our tiny "sparks" of genuine giving and to nurture them gradually into a torch blazing with agape love. Our light will then shine like a city set on a hill (Matthew 5:14). With God's hands sheltering our obedience to His Spirit from the winds of guilt, shame and perfectionistic expectations, our love can grow – step by little step – into a flame of genuine caring and nurture. This allows God to minister through us only to those to whom He leads us.
 
Allowing God to build up our feelings of self-worth and to help us to develop secure boundaries is a spiritual priority. Allowing God to teach us to say "No" is more important to our spiritual growth than saying "Yes" to yet another "spiritual" activity. We do not always need to have a clearly articulated or spiritual-sounding reason for saying, "No." If God is not leading you to say, “Yes,” then by all means, please say, “No.”

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, prompt us to take time to just sit at Your feet like Mary did and to soak up God's grace until we are filled with Your Spirit. Then, help us to serve others from a place free of resentment. If we do find ourselves not feeling genuinely led to give, help us not to force ourselves, but to obey the Spirit who leads us by His peace from within.

Thought for the Day:

Our giving comes from a genuine desire and freedom to serve God. ~ 2 Corinthians 9:7