My Pastor preached a phenomenal message at church this weekend and I just have to share. It is too good not to. The way he breaks down scripture and brings it to a practical level is nothing short of amazing. It is a gift from God that I wish I had (without coveting, mind you). Our church has been going through the book of Galatians over the last several weeks in a message called The New Normal and it has blessed me beyond words. This particular message, however, spoke specifically to where I am in life and I thought I would share just in case you are there too.
Personally, I have been in a season of transition which is why you haven’t heard from me in a while. I started a new and exciting position at work, got married in October (woohoo!!!!), have been struggling with different challenges with the kids, and have just been in a place spiritually where I don’t feel like I am hearing from the LORD. Have you ever been there? Just feeling dry spiritually and desperately needing to hear from God. That is where I have been for some time now. I have been stuck in several areas of my life and want desperately to hear God’s direction in those areas. It feels like I am literally begging God at this point. So what do you do in these times? Do you wallow in the pain and silence? Do you beg as I have been doing? I know many of us, including myself, allow seasons like this to literally freeze us right where we are. We do nothing, either out of fear or discouragement or other nasty little emotions that we let control us. For me, it has been all of the above to the point where I have felt trapped and unable to move forward.
So what am I going to do now? I am going to do what my pastor preached this weekend. Like Emmett Smith, who ran only 2 yards his entire first game but ultimately ended up breaking the record for longest yards, I am going to put one foot in front of the other until the momentum has me moving forward. I am not going to let my emotions control my life as I learn to obey the law of Christ no matter how I feel. How? By doing good as it tells us to in Galatians 6. We do good by helping others (v 2), doing our best without comparing ourselves to others (v 4), taking responsibility (v 5), being generous (v 6), and listening to God (v 7). Once I learn to do good by following the word of God, I am going to keep doing good by implementing a system that makes
doing good repeatable. I hate systems, but they make just about anything replicable. Even though they go against every fiber of my unstructured being I hope by implementing a system I will be able to live out God’s plan, even when I am not hearing directly from Him. Here is the one my Pastor uses with the acrostic BLESS. I think I am going to give it a try:
B – Bless others – x3
1. Bless someone in the faith
2. Bless someone outside the faith
3.Randomly bless someone else
L – Learn – x3
1. Learn something new from where you are in the Bible
2.Learn something new from somewhere else in the Bible (Proverbs is a great place)
3.Learn something new from some other source
E – Eat – x3 (great things happen around food, we have 21 meals on average per week. Pick 3 times this week that you will be intentional about who you eat with.)
1.Eat with friends
2.Eat with people outside the faith
3.Eat one on one with someone that you can be intentional with
S – Sense – x3
1.What is God saying to you? (hint: are you spending enough quiet time with him to find out)
2.What are you saying to yourself? (does it line up with what God says about you?)
3.What do you believe about what others say about you? (does it line up with what God says about you?)
S – Serve – x3
1.Serve 1 person inside the faith
2.Serve 1 person outside faith
3.Serve another person randomly
(By the way, a little suggestion here: If we are not hearing from God and are in a season of dryness we need to continue reading scripture. Scripture is the very breath of God and we will always, always hear from Him there.)
So, I feel like I have a good plan for moving forward and I plan on enlisting my accountability partners to help me with it. If you don’t have an accountability partner, I highly recommend one. I have 3. It will change your life. One of my precious girls texted me this morning asking me to read Psalm 143:8 reminding me to simply let God show me his unfailing love and as I trust Him, and lift my soul to Him, He will show me the way to go. Thanks Maria for your friendship and accountability. I know that I can always count on you.
So what about you? Are you struggling with something? Do you feel stuck? Are you feeling dry spiritually? I believe that if we learn to do good according to Galatians 6, allow God to love us as we pour out our souls to Him according to Psalm 143 and find an accountability partner to walk with us along the way we will be a lot less likely to grow weary in doing good and we will reap a harvest as God directs our paths.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Discipline Is A Good Thing!
I sit here in my quiet time reading my Bible. The Lord is admonishing me AGAIN! Not a bad thing, it’s just tough to face him as I realize that I have been disobedient AGAIN! I love how living His Word is. How he speaks so clearly to us through it, yet at times it seems so cloudy and confusing. I am sure that perplexity is my own weakness because God is not a God of confusion. Thank you for making it discernable today LORD! Thank you for using your word to correct me.
Sounds strange doesn’t it? Who appreciates correction and discipline? I have been around long enough to know that when the LORD is correcting me, I should pay attention. In fact, I invite him to do so because I am well aware that he knows better than I what path is best for me.
As many parents do, I have been praying for my children for a long time; Praying for obedience, integrity and many other qualities that I want for my children. Today wasn’t any different but as I was conversing with God and reading his word, he gently reminded me of my own sin in this matter through the unlikely story of a priest and his sons.
From the time Israel became a nation, the tribe of the Levites served as high priests in the temple. Eli, a Levite, was serving in the temple with his two sons whom the Bible says were wicked because they had no regard for the LORD (1 Samuel 2:12). They were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt, sleeping with women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting amongst other sins. Eli wasn’t ignorant to it; in fact he reprimanded them for it but the Bible says that they didn’t listen to their father’s rebuke (v25). The LORD reminded Eli that he had clearly revealed himself to Eli’s family and asked him why he honored his sons more than he honored God himself. Both of his sons died on the same day and Eli’s family never served in the temple again.
God used this unassuming story to remind me that he has already revealed himself to my family in the matter of obedience and if I don’t deal with the sins of my children correctly, my family will suffer for it. You see, parenting in a godly manner is a lifestyle, not something that you check off your list. For me, it ebbs and flows. I focus on godly discipline for a while, the children respond well and I slack off only to resort to reprimanding them as Eli did with his sons. Soon enough I find myself becoming the threatening and repeating parent that lacks godly discipline and I discover that my sons are disobedient again. Maybe one day I will become more consistent. I pray it is soon because reprimanding is not enough. It wasn’t enough for Eli and his family suffered the consequences. I for one don’t want my family to suffer for my disobedience and inconsistency. I am convinced this is one of the many reasons God hates divorce because there is no one to balance the other person when they are lacking. No one to remind in times of absent-mindedness. No one to give strength when the other is too weak and tired to discipline. But God always provides. He has graciously put people in my life who have the freedom to point out the sins of my children when I don’t see it. Who have the freedom to look at me and say “are you going to deal with that”. It’s easy to reprimand, it’s hard to discipline.
So now it’s time for the hard part. This is where the rubber meets the road. Will I take this word from the LORD and simply hear it as I have in the past or will I make a plan and put it in to action. I think I will choose the latter and not only that I think I will invite someone to hold me accountable to the plan. Thank God there are many friends in my GFI Community who parent the same and are willing to come along side me for accountability. Thank God there are people like my boyfriend Rob and my friends Julie and Kathy who love me enough to tell me the truth, even if it hurts. So in the midst of my own correction from the LORD, I am grateful. Grateful that he loves me enough to discipline me and for showing me that discipline is love!
Proverbs 13:24 ~ Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
Sounds strange doesn’t it? Who appreciates correction and discipline? I have been around long enough to know that when the LORD is correcting me, I should pay attention. In fact, I invite him to do so because I am well aware that he knows better than I what path is best for me.
As many parents do, I have been praying for my children for a long time; Praying for obedience, integrity and many other qualities that I want for my children. Today wasn’t any different but as I was conversing with God and reading his word, he gently reminded me of my own sin in this matter through the unlikely story of a priest and his sons.
From the time Israel became a nation, the tribe of the Levites served as high priests in the temple. Eli, a Levite, was serving in the temple with his two sons whom the Bible says were wicked because they had no regard for the LORD (1 Samuel 2:12). They were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt, sleeping with women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting amongst other sins. Eli wasn’t ignorant to it; in fact he reprimanded them for it but the Bible says that they didn’t listen to their father’s rebuke (v25). The LORD reminded Eli that he had clearly revealed himself to Eli’s family and asked him why he honored his sons more than he honored God himself. Both of his sons died on the same day and Eli’s family never served in the temple again.
God used this unassuming story to remind me that he has already revealed himself to my family in the matter of obedience and if I don’t deal with the sins of my children correctly, my family will suffer for it. You see, parenting in a godly manner is a lifestyle, not something that you check off your list. For me, it ebbs and flows. I focus on godly discipline for a while, the children respond well and I slack off only to resort to reprimanding them as Eli did with his sons. Soon enough I find myself becoming the threatening and repeating parent that lacks godly discipline and I discover that my sons are disobedient again. Maybe one day I will become more consistent. I pray it is soon because reprimanding is not enough. It wasn’t enough for Eli and his family suffered the consequences. I for one don’t want my family to suffer for my disobedience and inconsistency. I am convinced this is one of the many reasons God hates divorce because there is no one to balance the other person when they are lacking. No one to remind in times of absent-mindedness. No one to give strength when the other is too weak and tired to discipline. But God always provides. He has graciously put people in my life who have the freedom to point out the sins of my children when I don’t see it. Who have the freedom to look at me and say “are you going to deal with that”. It’s easy to reprimand, it’s hard to discipline.
So now it’s time for the hard part. This is where the rubber meets the road. Will I take this word from the LORD and simply hear it as I have in the past or will I make a plan and put it in to action. I think I will choose the latter and not only that I think I will invite someone to hold me accountable to the plan. Thank God there are many friends in my GFI Community who parent the same and are willing to come along side me for accountability. Thank God there are people like my boyfriend Rob and my friends Julie and Kathy who love me enough to tell me the truth, even if it hurts. So in the midst of my own correction from the LORD, I am grateful. Grateful that he loves me enough to discipline me and for showing me that discipline is love!
Proverbs 13:24 ~ Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
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