shame
remorse
weakness
sadness
failures
anger
bitterness
burdens
and lay them down.
Its time for the Word.
II Timothy 1:7
For God did not give use the spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of sound mind.
I Know He's Watching Me
Fear is an emotion that overshadowed those who experienced the first Christmas. When the angels announced that the Messiah was about to be born, Mary pondered her situation. Fear overshadowed her excitement. She was worried about so many things.
The moment of birth is of excitement and fear. There's all this pain and anguish and in Mary's situation, she's seen women die in labor and she knows nothing about epidurals. Mary is thinking about her future and her current situation.
The midwife in this situation says this "Breath."
When the stress and pain are the most intense, the One trying to get you through this season is trying to tell you if you want to make it through this season, you've got to keep on breathing.
God gave that same counsel to those who waited on the birth of Christ.
The Lord said "do not be afraid."
Luke 1:30 Fear not for you have found favor with God
Matthew 2:20 Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for the child is of the Holy Ghost
Luke 1:13 Do not be afraid
Luke 2:20 Do not be afraid for I am bringing you good tiding of great joy.
Time and time again, when people were full of fear, the one who was trying to counsel them...the Lord said "breath."
God's message is the same to us now.....
Breath.
Sound mind comes from within and its something God has placed in you. Therefore he hasn't given us the spirit of fear but he's given us the inner capacity to chill.
God is the father of chill.
The same root word for sound mind is also the root word for diaphragm. Interesting that an organ allows you to control your own fear finds its root in the same place as sound mind. We know that when you exhale longer than you inhale, you can force relaxation on yourself. Breathing can literally change your experience.
Breathing is so powerful that it can affect other people. The spiritual diaphragmatic response will change your situation help you find peace.
First, you've got to rely on God's perspective.
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Viewing things through your natural eyes will bring you fear. The Word say's You'll keep me in perfect peace if my mind is stayed on You. When chaos is closing in, I've got to see myself and my situation through the eyes of God.
Whatsoever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. If there is any virtue, think on these things. You've got to learn to see your circumstance through God's eyes.
This is a rough one for me. Like....I see that God's doing something...doing lots of something but He hasn't answered this specific prayer I've prayed. One thing my mentor said was if He's moving in another area He's trying to direct your focus, your attention, your energy to that. Until He answers that other thing there is no instruction of there. He's doing that on purpose. When we talk about hearing the whispers of the Spirit, this is one of those things. If you find that you keep being drawn to something, pay attention. If you've prayed about a bunch of different things, God's heard you. He's moving in this one way so go with that. Do THAT until He gives you some direction to do something different. <---She's so awesome y'all. She always says "I'm gonna say something that's gonna sound hard" and you know what? It is and it blesses me. That woman....my God I'm grateful for her.
Google maps has shown me the power of perspective. It'll give you real time traffic conditions. And Lord know we needs these in the DMV. You can tell where the traffic is before you leave your house. It'll show you where to go and what to avoid. how does Google do this? Its because Google has a satellite that sits high and looks low. <---Okay Pastor, I see where you going with this! Now I could choose to travel without Google Maps but by taking my chances I might encounter trouble. And I learned a long time ago, that WILLINGLY walking away from God is something crazier than the word insane can convey. It makes more sense to rely on something that looks low from on high and has better perspective.
That's what God does. He can see from His perspective what I can't see from mine.
To rely on God's perspective you've got to understand that God is in control.
Psalm 115:3 But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases.
Google didn't invent the importance of perspective.
Everything in the heavens and on Earth are God's. Nothing is outside God's purview.
Isaiah 55:8-11
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10
“For as the rain and snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth,
Making it bear and sprout,
And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11
So will My word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will not return to Me void (useless, without result),
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
Lord, if this isn't the truth. His ways most definitely aren't mine. But what I know is that His ways are better for me even when I feel like His ways have kept me or are keeping me from what I want. Because what I want isn't always what's best for me and what He wants for me always is. That's a lesson I've learned over and over and over again and I'm still learning it in deeper and more profound ways. He's still working on the kid.
If you get a Word, you'll get a perspective you hadn't anticipated.
I've never seen the righteous forsaken.
There's not one weapon that will win against you.
Now this is an interesting little foray. Getting a Word will give you a perspective you've never had. Had God not told me that she would be my wife, I never would have prayed like I prayed, fasted like I fasted. That's a perspective change that changed my behavior big time.
Not only is God in control, He won't put more on you than you can bear.
I know this is a controversial statement. I have often felt that what was going on was too much. When my mentor sacrificed our relationship for the sake of me getting my PhD, I was certain that that was too much. When I didn't get into med school in 2014, I wasn't sure I'd make it to 2016. But those things ended up being things I actually did live through. I
Sometimes we get nervous because we feed our fears by thinking God has overestimated us. I do think God may have stretched me to my max with this wife situation. This medical school situation had some fibers breaking in the muscle of my faith since I seriously almost booked a one way ticket to the other side of Jordan, but here I am! Still over on this side, in the and of the living. Won't He do it?
We think he's forsaken or abandoned us. I sure enough thought that a few times. God, why give me someone as amazing as my mentor and then require me to function without her? Like legit without her. I thought that was over but she didn't. She couldn't let me know though because I needed to trust my PhD Advisor and not spend my time second guessing him so I was just broken and she wasn't able to do anything to help me do better without jeopardizing something she knew was more valuable in that moment. And when the relationship I had with him was cemented, there she was. And here she is now. And she didn't know if I'd take her back even if it was for my own good. So glad I actually prayed (and cried) about that and decided to let her back in because chile....I have so needed her.
You're not the first one to go through this.
Elijah says to God in 1 Kings 19, I'm the only one who's trying to do right and now someone is trying to kill me. Verse 14 read He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts (armies), because the sons of Israel have abandoned (broken) Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I, only I, am left; and they seek to take away my life.”
Elijah developed only-itis. Its when you think your'e the only one to go through what you're going through.
You ain't the only one with cancer, or marital issues or financial problems. You ain't the only one.
God had to tell Elijah, get from under this tree. I've got all these people who still worship me who are ready to help you.
Oh the perspective that not just me Jesus. Last night I was talking to one of my friends about the girl God talks to me about and she told me something about only-itis. Mind you this is before I heard this sermon too. Won't God just do things? Anyway she told me that she's got 4 friends in the same boat as me: waiting on someone God has promised them. Talk about a wake up call! It ain't just me! Lots of people are waiting on a promise God's made them in the area of relationships and the thing about that is... you can't make God move faster and you can't be ahead of what God's doing. Lord, we're here and yet believing. You're the lover of my soul and the holder of my future. I know you'll make it a good one!
He's already given you the victory.
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Living your life for God is living knowing that the outcome has been accomplished. You don't have to wait until someone says its done, God says its done. You don't have to wait to praise Him because its done. You can thank God in advance for the victory and healing and glory.
He has given us the ability to breath in the midst of our circumstance but that's an action.
Peace in the middle of your storm also requires something from you.
You've got to learn to practice what you pray for. Some wonder why the word for sound mind is sometimes translated to self discipline.
The person able to remain cool and calm in the face of trial and maintain themselves and their sanity is someone exercising self discipline. This brings to mind this verse
2 Corinthians 10:5 We are destroying sophisticated arguments and every exalted and proud thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ,
Its a self discipline to look at things from God's perspective and also to take the things we think and not be controlled by them but check them against the Word of God and our relationship with Him. Its a hard practice....like those last 5 reps on the bench press but a necessary one. It tears me apart sometimes to snatch lies I tell myself out of the air and pass them through the sieve of His Word but its good for me. It is the foundation of me getting my peace back.
God's peace takes harmful energy and makes it useful. <-- Sho nuff!
There are situations where what was designed to destroy you might end up developing you.
Remember ALL things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. Not some things but all things. So yea, that think that almost took you out is ultimately going to contribute to your good.
2 Corinthians 4:17 says For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]!
I've got some thoughts about how momentary distress and how understanding your own weakness and relying fully on God's strength can produce something worth the pain of that experience. My my my, if this isn't a scripture to ground this piece I wrote in the Bible. You know how God gives you something and you just write it down? Well today He's given me the scripture that goes with it. A night of prayer in the face of something I desperately wanted but was tainted in a way I could accept is a blessing to me despite the fact that sometimes I forget that it is. God showed me exactly how this thing I turn over in my mind, wondering if I should have just gone for it, could have harmed me irreparably but it didn't. It didn't because He was with me.
I'm stronger now and better now because I lived through it.
Deliverance isn't all on God. In order for Him to bring about a miracle, He needs something to work with.
God created everything out of something that was already there. For Him to move, you've got to give Him something to work with. Are you giving God something to work with and space to work in your life? I sure am trying.
God told David he would get victory but he still had to throw the stone.
Namon had to go into the river 7 times to get rid of leprosy. He had to go himself, to get his miracle. It was there for him to have but he had to put some action behind it.
Practice what you pray for. Do your part.
God can build a bridge over troubled waters, but you've got to walk over it.
He'll build a shelter for you, but you gotta get under it. <--Can I tell you that shelter will save you but you've got to GET UNDER IT. You can't just be like God help and then look at all the things He sent to rescue you and say "That's not the thing I wanted to save me" and end up not getting what you need. Its foundational to what we do as IME and the way I live my life. When God has sent me a way to save myself, I've taken it. I've taken it painfully, prayerfully, and in tears. I've taken it and watched things I held dear drift away and can I tell you if they're for you they'll be back? My little boy is back in my life because that which I held dear, I was willing to let go for the shelter God gave.
When I stopped getting emotionally beat up every day but the inconsistency in my relationship with the girl I loved, I recognized that I was under His shelter. And guess what? I stayed there. I stayed right where I was and got healthy. That's not the way I wanted God to fix that. I wanted God to make that relationship consistent and do the things He'd told me He would do. I wanted Him to fix it by making her my girlfriend. That's not what He did. The current state of our relationship is not the way I'm believing He'll ultimately fix our situation but it is what I have right now. And it keeps me healthy and functional and prayerful and happy. You've got to be willing to let God's choice for how to help you be okay with you.
Rely on his perspective, Do your part and lastly, trust God for the results.
We fall into fear because we start obsessing about results that only belong to God. The results are God's. If you want to be found faithful, you've got to learn to trust Him for the result. Can I tell you that if she never decides to be with me, that'll be God's result. Its hard though. Its hard to relinquish that much control to God but everything is better in His hands than in my own. Still hard though. You may have allowed fear to take over but you've got to learn to trust God more. Trust Him for the healing, the deliverance, the child you've prayed for.
When you trust God for the result, you're smiling in your storm. When you see the lighting flash, smile so you can show God what you look like when you're going through a storm. And sometimes, just hold your head up in your tears and praise Him anyway because that's the kind of vulnerability that my relationship includes.
God says "You're more precious to me . I'm the one, I'm the one who sees your heart. You are not forgotten."
If his eyes is on the sparrow, then I know he's watching me.
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