Healthy Relationships (Part III)
When we say, enough is enough, and begin to put God’s principals into practice, we can have hope for healthy relationships!
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Growth
Unnecessary Attachments (Part I)
As I was making one of my many Amazon purchases this week, I realized how dependent I have become on this form of digital shopping. It’s hard to remember the time that I actually had to wait and not have the item right away. Similarly, we create unnecessary spiritual and emotional attachments and we tell ourselves that we can’t live without them. …
The Fallacy of Self-Improvement (Part II)
Our growth is not going to come by our effort to improve ourselves. On the contrary, Jesus told His disciples the key to growth in the Kingdom is abiding in Him. …
A Time to Review and Refocus (Part II)
I hope you had a great start to the New Year! There is a new sense of hope and expectation in our hearts as the New Year begins. Every year is a gift from the Lord! Let’s allow Him to show us how to use this year and be effective in what He desires to do in us and among us! …
The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Part III)
The story of the Prodigal son also includes the older son who missed the blessing of being in his father’s house. Are we missing out on the blessings of being a son or a daughter of our heavenly Father!? …
God’s Rest and Work (Part IV)
Moses told the people of God that the Lord had rest for them in the Promised Land but that they had to fight their enemies before they could enjoy the rest He promised them. Similarly, we have spiritual enemies that we need to fight against before we can truly experience the rest God has for us.
These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things. Deuteronomy 12:1-4
“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety…Deuteronomy 12:8-10
The Israelites had been through a long journey in the wilderness due to unbelief and disobedience. God had brought them out of Egypt to bring them into the rest He had for them in the Promised Land. However, they had work to do before they could enjoy this rest. They had to fight their enemies and dispose of false gods that their enemies worshipped.
Many of us come to salvation but still carry old mindsets, bad habits, and false identities that we need to deal with. Those old mindsets don’t automatically go away after salvation, but they require our effort to dispossess them and break down the strongholds that we have erected.
For example, some have learned to protect themselves by holding on to grudges and not allowing people to get close to them. As a believer, if we carry bitterness and forgiveness in our lives, we cannot experience the rest of God. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us that we are expected to forgive others regularly if we want the mercies and the forgiveness of God in our lives. The rest of God cannot enter a heart that does not let go of bitterness and unforgiveness.
Some of us have a tendency to get negative when things that don’t go our way. The truth is before complaining starts, we must have entertained negative thoughts and emotions. If we desire to experience the rest of God, we need to learn to hold every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and dispossess negativity and complaining that is part of the old nature. Instead, we are called to give thanks to the Lord. We fight negativity in our lives and learn to be content, which allows us to remain in the rest of God.
Furthermore, the above passage shows us that the rest of God and His inheritance are intertwined. If we truly want to experience all that God has promised us in His word, it will begin with entering His rest. For example, the fruit of the spirit is every believer’s inheritance, but it requires our cooperation with God, and it also needs His rest in our lives. Just as in nature, it takes time and patience to see good and tasty fruit developed, we cannot develop the fruit of the spirit by striving. We partner with the Lord in our growth, but, at the same time, we rest in God and are being patient with the process of growth.
Sometimes we look for Promised Land as if a particular location, job, relationship, or church can change everything for us. While in some cases that may be true, in many cases, it is more about the internal work we need to do to be at rest in God while at the same time fighting the spiritual enemies that want to steal our peace and identity amid the Promised Land that God has given us.
Do you have a healthy balance where you can rest in the Lord and at the same time are intentional in fighting your spiritual enemies and allowing God to grow you and use you?
Image by Hoang DANG from Pixabay
God’s Rest and Work (Part II)
Rest and work are part of God’s nature, and He has designed our lives to function with a combination of resting in God and working out our salvation. …
Insights from the Book of Jude (Part I)
The book of Jude has only one chapter, but it is full of insights and valuable warnings for Christians in every generation. …
God’s boundary Lines & His Territory for Us (Part I)
With much technological advancement has come the feeling that we can conquer anything we want and achieve any goals we set for ourselves. The truth is that achievement apart from God’s will is not going to bring the satisfaction that we desire. The Lord has given us boundary lines and a field for our lives, and if we desire to live a fulfilling and meaningful life, it’s important to discover God’s boundaries and the territory He has provided for us. …
God’s boundary Lines & His Territory for Us (Part I)Read More »
As Iron Sharpens Iron…(Part I)
Having good relationships in life is truly a blessing, but it seems like finding the right relationships is challenging! We may find a person fun to be around for a couple of months. However, sooner or later, something they do makes us irritated and we don’t enjoy them like we used to. Just a note of caution this devotional is not about those who are physically or emotionally abuse to others. If you are in that kind of situation, please seek help.
As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17
The truth is that most people that we are attracted to are going to be different than us. Therefore, they will eventually rub us the wrong the way! Generally, we are attracted to those who have common values but a different personality from us. If you are a quiet or a shy person, you will probably gravitate towards an outgoing and bold person. If you are an aggressive person you may gravitate towards a more easy-going or passive person. This is also true in marriages.
While the differences can be a strength, many times, we are annoyed with those who operate differently. The above scripture reminds us that there is a purpose for the people that God has placed in our lives. We all have sharp edges or issues that can cause pain and frustration in others’ lives. Our human tendency is to stay away from those kinds of people and not deal with them. However, we should appreciate and value those relationships. We need them and they need us! As the Lord directs us, we should stay in relationship with these individuals and be willing to do the hard work of mutual sharpening!
Having conflict and misunderstandings with others is part of human nature. The key is to understand the value of those conflicts in shaping us to become softer, gentler, and more patient with people. We don’t have to run away from those who cause us discomfort but be thankful that the Lord uses the person to grow us and mature us. In addition, we tend to hear God selectively based on the area of our strength, and friends who are different from us can help us in that area. For example, if you are an aggressive person, you may tend to think that being bold and forthright is always the right approach. However, if you have a friend or a spouse who is quiet, they may question your approach and help you to slow down before acting out of habit. This process helps us in hearing God differently and become more a balanced Christian!
Do you have people in your life who irritate you or cause you discomfort? What is about them that bothers you? Do you judge them for not being like you? Do you feel judged by them? If both parties have the capacity for a truthful conversation, it could open the door for honesty and vulnerability in the relationship. When we take away the barriers of carnality, we have the potential to to communicate about our differences with humility, strengthen the relationship, and to allow those differences to sharpen each other!