Choosing Humility

 “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, you must also forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”

Colossians 3:12-14 

This verse has an abundance of practical application for our everyday lives, but I’d like to present the one highlighted to me today. 

It’s imperative to understand due to our inability to control anything other than ourselves. We most likely will have a myriad of situations where we’ll be disappointed in how things play out, and might even wrongly nurture some accusation regarding it. 

For example, I had very recently been sweetly convicted of some offense I had towards another believer after going to them to seek clarity on a issue. Unfortunately, their peace looked a lot different than my peace in how to move past it. I kept praying blessings over the person when I’d think of them b/c I had already recognized that I felt hurt by the situation. That hurt started to become anger and I needed the Lord to bring me His peace as it wasn’t coming from the meeting of minds.

I realize the lack in details makes this hard to relate to, but each of us have people in our lives where we think they’ve gotten something wrong, and they may think something negative about us. We could become really bitter if we don’t keep our thoughts in check. It’s a part of life, but will hinder us from the fullness of life God desires for us.

 I think a lot of Christians probably do a really good job of keeping their resentment, bitterness, hurt, and even unforgiveness hidden, but I hope we’re all inviting God to daily search our hearts and reveal to us if it’s there. We want to live in harmony with all because that honors God, and also results in a more peaceful life for us. Yet, sometimes that’s not going to look like we’d like it to, and we might have to submit some angst that accompanies that, but we’re called to prefer another over ourselves anyways! 

I love how He holds me accountable to His love, and gently performs every surgery necessary for my heart to reflect His. May the Lord’s love guide, protect, and heal us all as we walk out our salvation in Christ.

We Make Hard Things HARDER By Our Beliefs

It really comes down to what's in our hearts. Our thoughts reflect our heart. Once we truly believe what the Lord says, the enemy has nothing he can do to us. Until then, he can give us trials in every area while we figure out whether we believe God or not. Thankfully the Lord already knows how He is going to work out His tests and our enemy's trials and tribulations in our lives. That said, we have a part to play in how long we're going through the thing we've decided is our current personal hell.  That part is how we choose to look at it, think about it, and talk about it.

I do very much believe that grumbling and complaining about everything prevents us from walking in the truth of what the Lord has done for us and in us. It also keeps the enemy hooks in our lives quite firmly making his lies appear all the more true.  It's secularly proven that we believe what we hear ourselves say the most, so SHUT UP with the self-defeating talk people (said super lovingly!!!!).

We need to be doers of the word instead of just hearers only… no angel, human, nor even God himself, is going to do what he is set forth biblically as our part in this beautiful relationship He has designed with us. We can be overcomers by the blood of the lamb AND the word of our testimony, or we can continue to sit and complain that things are so hard while we wait for him to give us a miracle on our terms.  Proverbs 23:7a For as he thinks within himself, so he is.  Our behavior follows our thoughts, so we need to set our minds on the Lord and His truth. Until then, we're constantly in a battle of our flesh versus our spirit. 

He's not angry with us though! He knows our weaknesses and He’s allowing us to choose to stand on His truth or choose to go around the mountain again and again like we enjoy it or something.

The Lord gave me a picture :  Huge mountain, with a few cliffs to rest on in various places.  We are standing at the bottom looking up and saying "Wow, too hard, there’s no way! Lord just place me at the top near you, I can’t do the climb."  The Lord says “You can’t stay at the top if you don’t climb though, that’s how you get your hinds feet which allow you stay up here.  If I place you here, you’ll just fall and that will be more harmful than just staying where you’re at.  His children respond "Ok Lord, if that’s how it’s got to be, I’ll just start walking around the mountain AGAIN until you change your mind.  I told you it’s just too hard for me."

The Lord with tears in His eyes “My child, just follow my Spirit.  I will take you up the mountain strategically, allowing you to rest after each victory before climbing more.  You’ll be here before you know it”.  Us:  "Lord it sounds good and all, but I just can’t yet.  Give me more of your grace and strength so I can... "

The Lord:  "My child, I’ve given you everything.  There’s nothing left that can be done to help you.  Believe Me, trust Me, and follow Me. There’s only one way to victory, but lots of mind numbing circles to defeat.  You CAN trust Me.   Declare Phil 1:6, 2:13-14, 4:13 over yourself and just keep looking up to Me.

ETA:  This blog entry is written for those that are struggling with normal life events, not life altering ones. When dealing with the death of loved ones, serious illnesses with children or spouses, this is not even close to covering the gamut of what you need, and I apologize that you're facing such heartache.  If you want to reach out, I'd be happy to pray with you, and ask the Lord to give you wisdom, grace, strength, and power to walk out your pain with Him.