David’s Prayer For Help

From one season to another, we often return to past pain and disappointments. We can blow them up and magnify them so they seem bigger than they really are. This causes us to wallow in self-pity, become stuck where we are, and cause us to doubt that there’s any hope for the future.

Feeling self-pity can be a subtle issue to detect in ourselves. It is usually attached to a hurt in our heart that needs to be tenderly touched and addressed. If we do not let the Spirit take hold of this area of our lives, we choke our relationship with God.

In Psalm 142:1-7 we see David as an example of how we can resist this in our lives, and handle our past pains with healthy processing and emotion. David was experiencing complete rejection from his own family. The man he looked up to, King Saul, was jealous of Him. Yet he openly and honestly poured out his heart and his raw emotions before God. It feels like a sad and lonely experience for David. No one would blame him for falling into the self-pity pit.

But instead David decided to reach out to God in prayer. He chose proximity over distance, and said to God that He was his for refuge and that was all he ever needed. -Psalm 142:5- David drew near and declared his comfort, provision and strength in God rather rather than In himself.

With everything David went through he consistently poured out his raw emotions before God, and sought an eternal perspective. What ever you face, whatever you are going through, take some time to invite God into your situation, and surrender to His plans and purposes. As we do so, we will experience God’s total peace foster our hearts in His presence, and process our feelings as we give them over to Him first. This is where self-pity releases it’s hold on our lives, as we take hold of God’s unending care and concern for our lives.

So give yourself and your fears fully to God today.

Comfort Zone: A Beautiful Place, But Nothing Ever Grows There

Our Comfort zones. This phrase can be used to described in many areas of our lives, both personally and professionally. It is a place where we are, well, and comfortable. What happens when you get out of your comfort zone?

By attempting something that is outside of your comfort zone, you are able to grow and, most, importantly, learn. Learn that you are a capable human being, learn that mistakes happen, learn that you are courageous.

I learned how this process works with my son. My 16-year old and went to work as a dishwasher at a nearby restaurant after school. He wanted to save for a car. With in a few weeks he was complaining, mostly because he was missing his friends and his video games and wanted to quit his job. But it stuck with it and in a few months he became a chef helper. I could see the anxiety left and he began to smile again. It turned out that my son loved to cook but. He would have never knew he enjoyed cooking so much.

If you stick it out, there can be great things awaiting you.

I’ve also seen adults going back to school to further their careers. Your ever to old to learn new things. People find themselves questioning their decision after a few weeks or months into the new commitment. It’s uncomfortable. It’s new, and it’s not their comfort zone.

What At First Glance Appears To Be “Not For You” May Turn Out To Be The Best Thing You’ve Done

Since I’ve became a Volunteer and Writer, to get out of my comfort zone. I never considered I would enjoy either task I’m doing so much. I have learned so much about myself or the people I am blessed to help. But, most importantly I am still learning the mistakes are not always a bad thing, as long as I learn from them.

“Move Out Of Your Comfort Zone, you can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.- Brain Tracy

If you’re considering trying something new, either personally or professionally, I urge you to overcome your fear, remind yourself that you are capable, and don’t just step buy jump out of your comfort zone.

The Armor Of God

What do we do when we want to be used by God, but we’re afraid or even tired of feeling attacked? How do we protect ourselves when hurtful things are hurled our way?

First, we must remember that people are not our real enemy. Satan, the father of lies, the deceiver, the accuser of us all, is our true enemy. -Ephesians 6:12-

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world as against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. This is hard to remember when the flaming arrows are aimed our way come at us via vicious lips or fast typing fingertips of people. But it’s still the truth.

We also must realize that it’s not our job to protect ourselves with thicker skin. Instead, we need to put on the full armor of God He has given us. We find this reminder in verses 10-11 In Ephesians which says, put on the full Armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devils schemes. This isn’t a battle that is taking place in the flesh. We are fighting a spiritual battle.

We are to ask for the breastplate of righteousness -Ephesians 14- and pray to make choices that align with the truth. We are to put on the shield of faith -Ephesians 17- believing God is who He says He is. We are to then put on the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. – Ephesians 17- This is where We silence Satan with the truth of who we are, and what God has done for us.

God hasn’t called us to toughen up against people. He has equipped us to suit up against our true enemy. Yes, the initial pain we feel when we come under attack is real, too. Every piece is His power, peace, and protection placed between us and Satan. And we can stay surrendered to being used by the Lord because we know we’re fully covered by Him.

The Bible Is A Training Manual For Our Lives.

So many people don’t know this, of thing it bunch of lies, or it’s a old un-useful story book. It is such a shame.

How many of you can remember the instructions that your parents passed down to you? Another question is, how many of you are still following through on those instructions?

As a child, I didn’t get much instruction from my mother, she was full of foolish superstitions and such. Thank God I had my father’s instruction to go by.

More than likely it was passed down to them from their parents. My Father was raised in a Jewish family. The Bible tells us as parents to train up a child in the ways that they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6-

Have you ever had a hard time reading or understanding how the Bible applies to your life? I have when I was not a follower of Christ and even times as a new follower. I spent many years thinking I was not faithful enough, because I wasn’t getting anything out of the scriptures outside of what the pastor told me. At first I didn’t enjoy reading it. Then it occurred to me, could it be because of the way I was reading the Bible? The Bible is God’s instruction manual, to teach me exactly how I’m supposed to live my life. Yet I didn’t see how I was supposed to be navigating things like the internet, social life in the middle of the pandemic. If the Bible is a instruction manual, should I be able to come to it with my problems and find the right answer! Of course I should, but of course this is not the way the Bible works. We need to add prayer, meditation, and worship, to know the right answers. We can learn a lot from the Bible. Without adding the extras that God says to add the approach to reading scripture is wrong and could be the very reason your not getting anything from it.

The instruction manual style reading is that you will go through the text with a particular problem and expect that the text will give you the answer. Think of trying to assemble anything from IKEA. You are sitting there with a bunch of parts with no idea of how to construct your purchase. Opening us the instructions will guide you along the very process you must go through to get the desired result. Instruction manuals give us a path the must be followed with 100% accuracy if we have any hope of attaining intended result. The Bible does not, and cannot, function in this way. Rather the Bible functions like many great pieces of literature, teaching us virtues and a mortality that is intended for us, in order to be the kind of people we were created to be. It teaches concepts, not processes. Approaching the Bible like an instruction manual would lead many people to make wrong choices, simply because it is in the Bible.

I hope we can all recognize that if we are unable to have children, husband still shouldn’t sleep with their wife’s servant in order to get one.

Another problem with approaching Scripture this way, is that it completely negates what the intention of the writing was. There is an entire discipline in the field of Biblical Studies, called literally criticism, that is devoted to figuring out exactly how the text works. The goal is not to diminish Scripture to being no more than reading the latest New York Bestseller, but rather a recognition that language has a particular genre. By focusing on the composition, structure, and style of a text, literary critics enables us to see the world of the text.

Nothing is more important that our ability to read a text closely and sympathetically, with both an eye and ear to the internal dynamics of a text. Like the difficult passage that says “My tears have been my food day and night, while people still say continually “Where is your God?” -Psalm 42:3- if my understanding is the Bible is an instruction manual. This kind of thought may lead you to believe that if anyone questions the existence of God, you may not consume anything but your own tears, because that would mean Jews and Christians would never been allowed to actually eat food.

If we come to the Bible expecting like spiritual owner’s manual complete. with handy index, a step-by-step field guide to the life of faith, and absolutely sure answer book to unlock the mystery of God and the meaning of life, then conflict and stress follow right behind and, like a leech, find a place in your heart and soul to latch on.

The Bible is made up of 66 separate pieces of literature. Each one has its own meaning and understanding behind it. That means that we have to approach each text differently, in order to understand what God is telling us through His Word.

If you approach the Bible as an instruction manual, you will almost certainly miss the meaning entirely and end up with a skewed view of God. Do not try to read the Bible as an instruction manual. God is teaching us things through His Word, but it not meant to be entirely prescriptive. It teaches us the morality of being a follower of Christ, but it doesn’t give us the instructions on putting that mortality into place every day throughout all time. Reading the Bible’s context provides for us a path to a deeper connection with God.

The Encourager

Barnabas

Many of us are familiar with the twelve apostles of Jesus, as well as with Saul, later named Paul, who is responsible for writing most of the books in the New Testament. But there great men and women of faith mentioned throughout scripture, and one of them Barnabas, was highly influential when it came to sharing the gospel.

In the New Testament, a man named Barnabas was all about encouragement, so much so that it was his nickname, and it stuck. Scripture tells us that he owned and put the profit from the sale at the apostle’s feet. -Acts 4:36-37-

These attributes of encouragement, support, and generosity would stay with Barnabas. When he saw how Paul has become a fervent follower of Christ, Barnabas took the then-unknown disciple under his wing and introduced him to the other apostles in Jerusalem.

The other apostles were afraid because of Paul past actions, but Barnabas vouched for him, and because of this, the new convert stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. Barnabas encouragement helped move Paul from the sidelines of Christianity and put him into play.

Later passages detail how Barnabas was doing the work of God in Antioch but decided to find Paul so the two could work together for their faith. The church grew steadily under their partnership and their efforts for Jesus netted tremendous results, helping spread the faith far and wide.

Barnabas truly was a “man of encouragement.” He gave life to the church and sacrificed much for the faith. He, along with Paul and other Christian leaders of his time, were instrumental in spreading the gospel across the land and converting great numbers, both Jew and Gentile. Because of others like him, we know Jesus today. We can honor Barnabas by sharing our testimonies and sharing the Good News near and far. Like Barnabas, we can be people of encouragement.

Fear Of Man

Constantly seeking the approval of others rather than resting in God’s approval leads to people pleasing. It involves us often being afraid of people’s reactions to our needs, wants and desires, and therefore we stop inviting others in and resist what we really need. We can all fall into the people pleasing trap.

Proverb 29:25 declares that this fear of man will prove to be a snare. The definition of the word snare in English means “a trap,” much like ones to catch an animal. But the word is used in this verse carries a meaning that goes far beyond critter-catching.

In the original Hebrew, the word translated in English as snare is the word moqesh. Moqesh doesn’t only mean a trap for pray; it also conveys the concept of bait or a lure. It indicates an animal, object or person that is enticing, causing another to stop what they’re doing and put themselves into a dangerous situation because of the “prize” in front of them. Before they know it, they’re caught!

From time to time we have all been caught in a moqesh. So what are we to do to free ourselves from this snare? We wiggle free when we realize we do not constantly need the approval of others. We have already secured the greatest approval of all: we are all children of God. He can grant us the courage to resist being caught in people pleasing.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, God wants us to discipline our minds to remember that we already have God’s approval from others. Ask God to help you make choices based on what He wants you to do rather than on someone else’s approval. We can learn to entrust our lives to God, giving responses that line up with His Word, carried out with confidence instead of timidity.