Lean Not on Your Own Understanding

Fear has been a common theme amongst Christians as of late. The enemy is trying his hardest to make sure that we're kept in fear. Fear from the unknown. Fear from the past. Fear of everything. And I acknowledged that in my last post.

Since we talked about what, or should I say Who, casts out fear, we also have to know that faith and trust is also imperative in casting it out.

A Bible verse that has been in my head is Proverbs 3:5. And although it doesn't exactly say not to fear, there are some little gold nuggets that we can discern from this verse.

First is the obvious. Trust in the Lord. When we put our complete trust in God, what shall we fear? What can anyone do to us that God can't handle? The Bible is always telling us to trust God, but it isn't always so easy. We want to take matters into our own hands and try to handle our situations on our own. But that won't work. We manage to mess it up further, so God has to fix our mistakes and bring us back around to what we're supposed to be doing. We could have avoided all of that if only we had trusted God.

Take Psalm 56:3-4 for instance.  "Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?" Psalm 56:3-4

Even David knew the importance of trusting in God. There's no need to fear because our trust is in God.

Side note: I particularly like "I will praise His word." Why? Because praise ALWAYS stops the enemy. It's important to praise, especially when it's the last thing we want to do. Praise brings us out of fear and into trust because we're focusing on God, not our fears (problems).

Then we have this little part of "with all of your heart." That doesn't mean with part of your heart. It means with ALL. If we trust in God with ALL of our heart, that means there's no room for fear and doubts. Hard right?

Fear and doubt are sneaky little devils. They will come to torment you, to make you forget that the One in control isn't the one who matters, but God has the final say-so, not them or us. He knows what's best for all of us, and it's time that we started trusting in Him with ALL of our heart.

And, then, we have "lean not on our understanding." This has two possible meanings. One could be that whatever we "think" is wrong isn't really an issue. It's the lies of the devil making us blow things out of proportion, or it could mean that we shouldn't rely on ourselves to fix the situation. That we should ALWAYS put our trust in God.

Both of those are great indicators of how we shouldn't put trust in ourselves but in the Almighty God.

Once we trust God fully, all fear, doubts, discouragement and whatever other lie the devil is trying to use against you will have to go. And once we start trying to do God's job, we give the devil an opening to come back and torment us.

It's time that we put all of our trust in God, that we fully believe that God will take care of any and every situation that we find ourselves in. Lean not on YOUR own understanding but lean on God's! 

Why so negative?

Negativity is like a poison.  It spreads until finally it's taken over your mind.  It sits there and dwells until finally, you can't see anything positive.  You don't speak positively, everything is negative speaking.  Well, the Bible tells us that "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit." (Prov. 18:21 NKJV)

We are supposed to mind our tongue.  We can do the most good or the most damage by using just our mouth.  It is the member of our body that will keep us in the most trouble.  Since this is the case, then why should we speak negatively about the things in our life.  We will only make things worse on ourselves by speaking this way.  Why not speak good things into our lives instead of speaking the bad things?

Just a few chapters over, the Bible says, "Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles." (Prov. 21:23 NKJV)  If you speak badly, you're only bringing trouble to yourself.  So why should we sit back and dwell on the things that we see as negative?  Why should we say the negative things that we are thinking?

I have to admit, I'm not always an optimistic person.  I try to be, and I honestly need to be more optimistic than pessimistic.  It wasn't until recently did I start thinking about how badly these negative thoughts affect our lives and attitudes.

James 3: 5 says, "Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.  See how great a forest a little fire kindles!"  Don't let your tongue spread the negativity around like a poison!  Speak good things into existence.

Have you ever thought about the negative things you say and how they actually impact your life?  Why say that you're living a bad life?  Why not say, "I will live a good life.  I will live a happy life!"  Doesn't that sound much better than thinking and speaking, "Well, it's a bad life for me.  It'll never get better."  With that attitude it won't!

God doesn't want us miserable.  He doesn't want us to worry.  He wants us happy, healthy and whole.

Think about it.  Doesn't negativity and worrying go hand in hand?  Of course it does!  With that negative thinking, you're going to be worrying about your future which GOD HOLDS IN HIS HANDS!  He knows what He is doing.  Why can't we just trust Him?

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:6,7)

Why should we think negatively when it says that "the peace of God" will guard our hearts and minds?

Paul said to fill our minds with "...things that are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things." (Phil. 4: 8)  He didn't say to think negatively! He said, basically, to think on good things!

Even in Colossians 3:2, it says, "Set your  mind on things above, not on things on the earth."

Why worry when you don't have to?  The things on earth don't matter!  It's God that matters.  It's God's plans!  Quit thinking about what could go wrong, and start thinking about what could go right!  God has His hand in our lives.  It's Him we should be seeking when we feel negative and down and out.  It's God who knows what we need in our lives.  Don't push him out because you think something will go wrong.  Bring Him in instead.  It can only get better for it. 

Have a Little Trust - Why is trusting so hard to do?

Learning to trust is possibly one of the hardest things to do.  I have trust issues.  I don't want to open myself up to the heartache that sometimes come along with trusting people.  But, what good does it do to keep myself from trusting others?  To keep myself from loving because in order to love you have to trust.  And God, well, He wants us to love everyone - even our enemies. So, do we have to trust to love?  I'm not sure, but why test it?

Opening myself up to trusting others has been a continuous battle, because once I finally let someone see the real me, I fear the worst - rejection, heartache - and it's happened to me before.  Over and over and over again.  But do you know what?  The one person who doesn't reject me or cause me heart to ache is God.

So why do I have a hard time trusting Him when all He has ever done is help me out, lead me where I need to be, and given me everything that I've ever needed?  It's because I'm human.  We want to take things into our own hands.  We want to worry about everything, and from that worrying, we want to fix it ourselves.  But, we can't fix it ourselves.  We have to learn to give it over to God.

Psalm 62:8 (NKJV) says, "Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.  Selah."

God is our refuge.  He will take us into His arms, and He will make sure that nothing bad harms us.  Strong's Concordance says that "refuge" means "a shelter (literally or figuratively):  - hope (place of) refuge shelter trust"

That tells us that God will be our place of hope, a shelter from danger.  So, if He is this for us, why can't we trust that He will always be this for us?  Why in times of distress do we turn away from God and try to "fix it" ourselves?

Proverbs 30:5 (NKJV) tells us that "Every word of God is pure.  He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him."

"Every word of God is pure"  In my MacArthur study Bible, the note on the word "pure" says that it "literally means 'tried,' and found to be without dross or error."  Strong's Concordance says the same thing.  That the word "pure" meant that it was refined and tested to purge away.

So, God's word is pure.  That means that what He says is without error, so if the Bible tells us that He is our refuge and shield, that He will protect us at all times, (Notice it says "Trust in Him at ALL times."), why do we let ourselves DOUBT He will take care of our needs?

Just the other day, I was worried about not having enough money for my bills.  I don't know why I doubted that God wouldn't take care of me, but I did.  Financial burden seems to be something we don't trust God enough in.  Well, I was talking to my dad and mom about it, not asking to borrow money, but having problems trusting that the money was there.  Well, come Sunday, after praying hard about that, I got an email saying that I had received some money through ebay.

This is just one example of how God has shielded me from financial burden, yet each time it looks like things are getting tough, I don't TRUST HIM.  Why?  Why do I not trust the God who has given me everything no matter how many stupid mistakes I make?  His love and protection is without fail.  Why does that not stick with me?

Isaiah 26:4 (NKJV) says, "Trust in the Lord forever, For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength."

That "everlasting strength" according to my MacArthur study Bible means "Rock of Ages," and that means, "a rocky cliff where the trusting one may find shelter from attackers."

When we feel like we're under attack or when we feel like nothing could get worse and then it seems like it does, God is where we need to be.  We need to find our "everlasting strength," our "Rock of Ages," our "shield."  God hasn't moved.  God is the "same yesterday, today and forever."  Our trust should be in the Lord.  He knows our past; He knows our future.  And unlike us, He knows what is actually best for us.

I'll leave you with this final word from Proverbs 3: 5, 6 (NKJV)

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your path."

God will show us where we need to be.  We just have to trust Him, no matter how hard it is.

Where is God?

Have you ever felt like you cannot be comforted from whatever it is that is bothering you?  Maybe you feel like nothing will ever be right in your life again, that whatever hurts you will forever hang over your head.

You cry out the words, "Where is my help?"  And the verse may come to mind, "My help comes from the Lord."

You think, where is God in this?  Don't fret.  You aren't the only one who has thought that.  Even in the Bible, say in Psalm 119:82, it says,

"My eyes fail from searching Your word, Saying, "When will You comfort me?"

Sure, there are answers to your problems in the Word of God.  There are times, though, that you can read through the Bible and not find anything to help you deal with your problems.  Or, you find them but they don't alleviate your worries and concerns.

So you keep praying, and you keep searching. Good.  Keep doing do that.  Because, you WILL find GOD the more you read the word and search for Him.

He hasn't moved.  The problem is us.  We aren't casting all of our worries on God.  We aren't letting go of our problems and giving it to Him.

I've done this.  I've prayed and prayed until I felt like my prayers were bouncing off of the ceiling.  I felt like God wasn't hearing my cries for help, and I felt like if He was hearing them, He wasn't answering them.

That of course wasn't the case.  The answers I wanted weren't in God's will.  He was hearing me, and He was answering my prayers.  He just wasn't answering them the way I wanted Him to, but after some thought, and a good read through Psalms, I knew that I had to "Let Go and Let God."

He wants to help us.  He wants to comfort us, but we won't let Him.  We, as humans, want to fix the problems ourselves.  We want God to take a lead from us and follow our directions, but we can't do that.  We have to follow God's directions for our lives - the Word.

When you feel like God isn't near, I beg you to reconsider your thoughts.  God is right there.  Waiting.  Waiting on you to come to Him and let Him be the Father that He wants to be.  He wants to comfort His child.  It isn't His will to make us suffer.  We make ourselves suffer by not giving into Him and falling into His loving arms that are waiting for us.

Psalm 121: 1, 2

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills - From whence comes my help?  My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth."

I encourage you to read the rest of Psalm 121.  I encourage you to read through Psalms when you're hurting.  God wants to help you.  God IS your help.  Just call on Him, cast your burdens on Him, and He will deliver you.

Psalm 55:22

"Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved."

1 Peter 5:6, 7

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for He cares for you."

Cry out to the Lord

 

Guys, sometimes it's hard to remember that no matter the storm we're traveling through, there is a light amidst the storm.  God will calm the storm and will bring us out of the things that distress us the most. 

Feeling Unworthy of Forgiveness

Last time, we covered feeling unworthy of love.  Today, I’d like to cover the feeling of unworthiness of forgiveness.

Maybe you can’t see your own worth because of the mistakes you’ve made in your life.  But let me tell you something – You are not perfect.  Once you accept this, you’ll see that it’s easier to move past your mistakes.

Notice I said easier.  It won’t be easy.  This I know, but eventually, the pain will end, and you’ll move past it.

No one is perfect.  Let’s look at this phrase a little closer.

We are only human.  There is no way we can be perfect.  Sure, we ought to strive for perfection, but we’re going to screw up.  It’s just us being human!

No matter how hard we try not to sin or mess up, chances are we’re going to at least once or a couple of times our life. 

Romans 3:23

 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God

That verse proves that God knows we’re all sinners.  We mess up at times.

Psalm 78: 38, 39

But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them.  Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, And did not stir up all His wrath; For He remembered that they were but flesh, A breath that passes away and does not come again.

See, God knows that we’re only human.  He is compassionate, and forgiveness is ours if we only ask for it.  But that hardest part about seeking forgiveness or feeling unworthy of forgiveness is the unwillingness to forgive ourselves.

Sometimes, we feel like we have screwed up our lives so much that we aren’t deserving of a good, happy life.  But that’s not true.  God has forgiven us when we repent of our sins.  Why can’t we forgive ourselves?

Psalm 103:12

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

That’s a good question.  One I struggled with for years.  I couldn’t see past the mistakes I’d made.  But, they happened.  I had to learn to accept that.    

Sheila Walsh in “Let Go” says

“To say that we don’t deserve to be forgiven is to make our sin more powerful than the blood of Christ. If God forgives us, then we must forgive ourselves…. Every sin was covered by the lifeblood of the Lamb.”

She also says, “…forgiveness means being comfortable with ourselves, the good and the bad.  We don’t have to be perfect.”

And she also says, “It’s vital, though, that we separate what we did from who we are.”

It’s hard to see our mistakes as a separate entity.  But that’s just what it is.  We made a mistake, but we don’t have to let it define us.  It’s separate from us.  We have to forgive ourselves to get peace of mind and healing from unforgiveness. 

Say this every day, “I’m not perfect.  I don’t have to be perfect.  If I mess up, I will ask for forgiveness, forgive myself, and live life.”

Learn to let go and forgive.  You are forgiven.  You are free from this unforgiveness trap.  Just accept it.

Count Your Blessings; Not Your Losses

One morning, I woke up thinking about the things in my life that I had lost or wished that I had in my life that I didn't.  On the verge of tears, God spoke to me - not in an audible voice but in a thought.

Why aren't you focusing on your blessings instead of your losses?

My first thought was, "Yes Lord."  And then I really thought about it.  How do we lose sight of our blessings?  Why can't we be happy with what we've got and trust the Lord will give us what we need?

We can.  It's just a matter of "disciplining our flesh"as a great lady of God at our church said one Sunday morning.

See, our spirit is always at war with our flesh.  Our flesh wants us to dwell on temptations, losses and things that will bring our spiritual side into war with our flesh.

Romans 8: 5-6

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

We have to be spiritually minded to get that peace that God has promised us.  We have to dwell in Him and what He has provided us.  We need to focus on our Spiritual side (blessings) and not our flesh (losses).  If we lose sight of our blessings, we will suffer "death".  No,  not literal death, but spiritual death.  If you aren't spiritually minded, you can't live your life peacefully.

We, our flesh, wants us to focus on our losses, but God wants us to focus on our blessings!

What's the point of worrying over what we see as a loss when, in fact, it's a blessing in disguise?  Sure, it's hard to see it as a blessing at first, but God ALWAYS has a plan.  It's HIS blessing to us, to our future.

Because, let's face it, God knows WAY more about our future than we do.  He knows what we need.  He knows the desires of our hearts, and it's His will to give us those desires.

Remember last week's post about waiting patiently on the Lord?  That comes in handy while we wait for our needs and desires.  When we go through a tough time and have to wait, God is opening up the way for our future blessings.

When we wake up in the mornings, we should thank God for blessing us with life!  Don't listen to those lies that run around your head saying that it isn't a good day or you don't have a good life.  That's a horrible lie straight from the devil!

Psalm 118:24

      This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.

You have a pulse.  You woke up in the morning.  Look around at how much God has done for you.  He has given you life.  Blessings beyond your imagination!

Focus on those blessings!  And you'll have peace instead of worry!

Proverbs 10:22

       The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it.

"Wait on the Lord" A Lesson from David

I'm not a patient person.  I've never really been willing to wait on the things I've wanted most in my life, but life isn't always about immediate gratification.  That usually never makes us "happy" for long.

A few months ago, probably closer to half a year by now, God gave me a Word - Shalom, in this instance, meaning "order."  He told me that He was going to put my life in order.

It was a lovely Word.  A Word I needed to hear.  Things started looking up for me then.  Great things began to happen for me, and I couldn't have been happier.  But, about a month ago, things started falling apart in my eyes.  I know God has a plan, but I couldn't see it amidst the turmoil and sadness in my heart. 

God hasn't taken back His Word.  This I know.  But it doesn't mean I'm good at waiting on my Shalom. 

Whenever, I feel down, I turn to Psalms.  The authors always make me feel better with their words.  One verse in particular in the whole of Psalms has stuck with me. 

This particular Psalm is from David - a man after God's own heart.  According to the MacArthur Study Bible I own, it says in Psalm 27, David "engages in 3 conversations which help him balance the ups and downs of real life."

The truth is no matter the promises of God we will still have ups and downs in life.  And we have to learn how to persevere in this life.  It isn't easy - by no means.  But that doesn't mean God has forsaken us.  Quite the contrary actually.  God is more present than ever.  He hasn't moved.  We have.

In Psalm 31:1 David said, "In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed; Deliver me in Your righteousness."  And then in verse 24 he says, "Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who Hope in the Lord."

Over in Psalm 37:4 David says, "Delight yourself also in the Lord, And he shall give you the desires of your heart."

It doesn't say may it says shall! God will give us what our heart desires!  We just have to "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." (Psalm 37:7)

In Psalm 40: 1 David says, "I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry."

Wait patiently for the Lord.  It's tough to though.  I know from experience.  But NEVER give up on what it is you're waiting for.  God promises us that HE will give us the desires of our heart.  And He will!

Patience may not be one of our virtues, but it's something that will help us in the long run.  He will "hear our cry" no matter what it is, but God WILL comfort us and help us.  He will "strengthen our hearts."  Wait for the Lord!  All good things come in HIS TIME.  NOT OURS!