Talking to Myself and Finding a New Perspective

What do you do in times of trouble?  When the world seems to have spun off its access, and you aren’t sure what comes next?  In times of conflict or stress, we all have one of two tendencies:  fight or flight.

Those who flee will tend to run away – sometimes physically, but most often emotionally.  We will do everything that we can to get rid of the feelings of stress – eat, escape into a book or TV, ignoring the problem…the list is long.

Those who fight on the other hand, seem to do well with adrenaline – they might use their words, lose their temper, move great mountains to get things done.  One of the less obvious ways of fighting is to be a ‘figurer outer’.  We will tend to analyze the problem from morning to night, anticipating every possible solution, hoping we can make it go away!

The really creative people are those who manage to combine the two stress responses.  When they face a stress that is just too great, they might stir up trouble in another area of their life in order to be able to channel the adrenaline into something they feel they can conquer.  Or they might start a new project, giving themselves a productive outlet for all that pent up energy.  (I can really do a lot of cleaning when I’m avoiding something!)

Fight and flight are built into our makeup, and have their purpose.  But when we are driven by feelings, and don’t respond out of love, neither of these is healthy for us, or our relationships.  When we are in stress, we have to find a firm rock to stand on in the midst of it.  That rock is Jesus.

How do you handle stress?  How do you really turn things over to Jesus?

Not very long ago, I got to that point where I needed to again assess – am I just complaining, or am I really expecting God to work?

I have discovered over the years that sometimes I get to the point where I pray for other people, but fail to pray for myself.  I need to sit myself down and determined to talk to God about things every day – not just about other people’s things, but about my stuff.

After a year of job rejections, statistics tell us that as many as 8% of the population have just given up.  There is always more than one way to look at a situation.  I believe this time in history is a chance for us to restore our foundations and get ready for our next time of building.  Every time of rebuilding has to be preceded by a time of demolition, cleanup and restoration of the foundational structures.  Sometimes you wonder if you are going to get squished under the rubble.  This is a time to find encouragement and a new perspective.

David learned to encourage himself towards God in times like this:

Psalms 42:11

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Psalms 27:13-14

I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Prayer for a Crisis

There are going to be times in your life when your stability is in question – whether it is a job change, health issues, your emotional upheaval or other people’s emotional upheaval – life will be unstable at times. The bible doesn’t say that when we join God’s team we won’t have problems. It says that God will walk with us through the problems.

As we look at Jehoshaphat’s prayer, we will see the components of how to approach God – how to put our faith in God, not just as an entity in the sky, but as the One who walks with us and in whom we can rely.

Jehoshaphat was in a pickle.  A great big army was coming against him.  He was trapped.  Ever felt that way?

As we look at his prayer, you will find a way to deal with your situation.

Read 2 Chron. 20:6-13

Who He is – First, Jehoshaphat described God.
• List the attributes of God
• David often listed God’s attributes to himself. He often reminded himself of Who God was – (see Ps. 121)

What He has done – Next, he described what God has done in the past.
• Part of knowing Who God is, and making it personal is to remind ourselves of what He has done for us in the past.
• See Ps. 21 – vs. 1-7 are declarative of what God has done – vs. 8 and forward talk about what God will do.
• We believe what we see, and when we remind ourselves of what God has done in the past, we are able to “see” His provision.

Affirm trust in Him – Jehoshaphat then tells God that He’s all they’ve got.  They are sticking with God no matter what.
• Make a decision. You can decide to ‘hope’ in the Lord, or you can decide to PUT your hope in the Lord.   If you can hope in a swing without ever sitting on it.  You PUT your hope in the swing when you sit in it.  When it doesn’t break, your hope has been proven well placed.
• When you are backed against a rock, you can keep squirming, or you can choose to lean on the rock.

Ask – Next, Jehoshaphat describes the problem to God and asks for Him to act.
• After you have told God (and yourself) Who He is, What He has done, and chosen to believe that He will be your deliverer, then you lay out specifically what you want Him to do. (2 Chron. 20:10 and forward)
• Another example is Jesus – Mark 14:35-36
o He asked God for what he wanted, but He still affirmed Who God is, and knowing in His heart that God wanted Him to press forward, He bowed His will to God.

Wait – the people then stood and waited – and God spoke.
• 2 Chron. 20:13
• Ps. 27:14 – David told himself to wait on the Lord.
•Looking again at Jesus’ prayer,  I believe that in laying out His request to God and reaffirming that He was willing to do whatever God wanted even if it wasn’t His own will, Jesus gained the strength from the father to press forward.

Praise – God told them to go out singing.  By the time they got where they were going, the battle was already won.

•How do you spend your energy?  Do you spend it worrying about everything that could go wrong, or do you choose to put your hope in God and march forward in praise?

Difficult times are going to happen – they will make you or break you. The sooner you let stuff go and take your concerns to God, the sooner you can get off the treadmill and just deal with what is in front of you today. Life gets crazy sometimes – but when we accept Jesus into our hearts, eternal life starts now – abundant life, life to the full – and that includes joy in the moment, expectation for the future, and anticipation of God’s great and mighty works along the way.

Let’s anticipate God’s voice and His breakthroughs.

Talking to God

This morning, while reading a book to some 2 year olds,  I asked them what they should do if they are afraid.  Another worker helpfully suggested that they should pray.  I said they should say “help me Jesus.”  Is there a difference?  Not really – yet there is.

The blind men on the side of the road didn’t ‘pray’ to Jesus.  They shouted “Help us!”

Once, when I was a teen, I was at a friend’s house.  This was the house where we had Sunday night church, and this was Sunday afternoon.  Peg  was a godly, amazing woman.  She spent all of afternoon making loaves of bread for the group that was coming to her home.  By the end of the afternoon, her oven was stuffed with loaves, and she needed to make a meatloaf for her family.  I watched her put that meatloaf on the BOTTOM of the oven and tell God “Lord, this meatloaf needs to be done in 30 minutes.”

Now, in my house, meatloaf took a minimum of 45 minutes, and you never put ANYTHING on the bottom of the oven.   Up to that afternoon, I “prayed” to God.  I had never talked to Him like He was in the room.  But I watched Peg talk to Him like He was in the room.  I have to tell you that there was never a more watched meatloaf on this earth.  It was done in exactly 30 minutes.

My relationship with God changed that day.  I started crying out “Jesus help me” and multiplied my prayer life.

To a lot of people, God seems far away.  He may seem far away to you.  The blind men didn’t cry out once.  Jesus was actually, physically far away.  They kept crying out “Lord, Son of David, Have Mercy On Us!!!”  Again and again they cried out.  They cried out until they got an answer.

Keep crying out.  From the gut.  You will, in time, hear His answer:  “What do you want me to do for you?”

Giants in the Land

Are there giants in the land for you?

Tonight it occurred to me that to the 10 spies and the Israelites that followed them, the giants were very obvious obstacles.  In fact, common sense said that they needed to ‘count the cost’ of this venture, and avoid these real obstacles.  From their point of view, fortified cities and very powerful people were insurmountable problems compared to people on foot without any of the modern ‘tools’ (chariots, for one).

They wanted to run for the hills!  (Okay, they wanted to go back to Egypt, but you get the picture.)

Here’s the kicker.  Listen to what God said in response:

“The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.” (Numbers 14:11-12)

God was seriously offended that they didn’t trust Him.

Are you facing obstacles?  Finances, relationships, even personal growth – sometimes we just reach that wall where we say “there are giants in the land.  I can’t go forward.  I have to find a way out.”

Has God led you? He will bring you victory.

Let’s draw a line in the sand, and choose to listen to those with faith instead:

“We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” (Numbers 13:30)

“The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.  If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (Numbers 14:7-9)

We can move forward.  We can find the view of faith.  There is always a view of faith and a view of the practical.  Let’s do what Joshua and Caleb did – find the view of faith by

• looking backwards to God’s record
• looking forward to the possible
• choosing to believe

Faith trumps practical because God is working.

When the Children of Israel did go into the land, finally, they found that God gave them so many miracles and new lessons.  Going forward in faith is a walk in the miraculous.  Going back to the familiar is to live in the mundane, walking around the same mountain again and again.

I choose to look for the miraculous.  What about you?

How, Then, do we Change?

How do we change something about ourselves that needs changing?

If I have something on my face, I can wipe it off, but only if I know that it is there. I either need a mirror with which to see it, or good friends that will point it out to me. Sometimes, I can feel it myself, as it starts to dry and my face gets that dried cement feeling on it.  In all these cases, all I need to do is get a napkin or wash cloth and wipe it off.

When I have a mannerism, habit, way of thinking or approach to life that needs changing, God often uses the same process. He will either show me through some sort of ‘mirror’; He will tell me through good friends and new insights; or the thing that needs to change becomes a problem and I become aware of it.

Here in lies the problem: Mannerisms, habits, ways of thinking and approaches to life don’t wipe off as easily as jam. Paul talked about his attempt to follow the law this way:

But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. (Romans 7:18-20, The Message)

How, then, do we, as broken people perfectly incapable of getting it right, fix the things that God brings to our attention?

Where we are powerless, God is powerful.  Jesus healed the blind man, the paralytic.  God raised the dead – not only through Jesus, but through Elisha, Peter, Paul, and (I’m sure) others.  If that isn’t enough, then take a look at the lives of Peter and Paul – men who were changed very quickly by the power of the Holy Spirit to be the people God needed them to be for the jobs He had for them to do.  God worked mightily in all these instances – He can do the same for whatever issue you might be facing today.  Just ask Him – stop ‘trying’ yourself, and give the Creator of the Universe the authority to do the work in you.  Rerouting brain pathways isn’t such a big thing for the One who held back waters, put the stars in place and created man from dust.

Where we are powerless, He is Powerful – let’s ask Him to do it.

Even In Our Weakness

Paul said of a conversation he had with God about his thorn in the flesh:

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor. 12:9-10

Why do we delight in our weakness, hardships, difficulties?

James put it this way:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  James 1:2-4

At this time of year, our weaknesses seem so big.  We want to make resolutions, but we see our list of failures from last year. We made a resolution five days ago, and we’ve already broken it.

I wanted to make it through the Bible last year, but only made it 3/4 of the way through.  Rather than making a huge issue over it, I’ve just changed my plan a bit.   Over Thanksgiving I gained 5 pounds then lost them.  Over Christmas I gained three.  I’ll lose them, and hopefully a lot more.

Joy is an important part of adversity, because keeping a positive attitude is the first step in overcoming obstacles.  Obstacles will either be your opportunities or they will sink you – and it starts with your attitude.  Can we trust God in all the things this new year has to offer – from world changes to our own frail humanity?

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.  (Heb. 4:15-16)

Jesus is waiting to walk each step of the new year.  No matter the challenges, we will find Christ is more than able to help us, and He has sent the Holy Spirit to teach and guide us.  God is our help.  That is the secret of Paul’s words.  In our weakness, He is strong.

The Battle is in the Mind

When you read the Psalms (See Psalms 42-43), you find that the writers talked to themselves a lot.  Often, they would say ‘this is how I feel, but self, we are going to trust in the Lord.’

How you think determines how you exist in a hard time.  When you want to give up on your resolve, or maybe you already did; when you find bad news, or feel overwhelmed, how you think determines how you live.  We can learn from the writers of the Psalms.

• Talk to God – remind yourself who He is.
• Explain your position and feelings to God
• Then make a decision on how you are going to respond based on who God is.

Note:  Don’t base your actions on your circumstances, base them on who God is.

Are you having trouble meeting your New Year’s Resolutions?  Are you overwhelmed by events or circumstances?

Put your eyes on God – remind yourself that He is powerful and able.  He gave Moses the ability to stand before Pharaoh.  He gave Esther the ability to become a woman most pleasing before the king.   He gave Daniel and his friends the ability to eat well and live well and gain favor with the Babylonian rulers. He kept Jeremiah safe in a ravaged land, and Ezekiel safe among those taken captive.

Then, give Him the authority to make the changes in you.  Get your strength from Him instead of yourself.

Choose to walk in joy and praise.  Renew your mind with His word and get your strength from Him – not in dribbles, but in there under the waterfall.

As you get your strength from God, you will meet those resolutions, you will walk in victory.  You will get opportunities to share the hope and be a light.  You will have joy…one day at a time.

Following Hard

This morning I read about Elisha.  Elijah was going up to heaven and all the prophets knew it. (See 2 Kings 2)

Three times Elijah told Elisha to give up and to stay behind, but Elisha kept saying “I will not leave you”.  Elisha wanted something.  He didn’t want Elijah to not go, he wanted a double portion of Elijah’s anointing.

Elisha had to overcome repeated discouragements – from Elijah, from the other prophets, and from the long trek itself.  Elisha kept his eye on what his goal was, and it was given to him.

One of the blogs I read is Kem Meyer – she has a great post about getting what you train for:

http://kemmeyer.typepad.com

Elisha didn’t decide that day to follow hard after Elijah – he had been following him for some time.  He got the double portion because of all the days he had been following up to that point.  He knew when was the right time to say ‘no, I’m not staying, I’m following’, because he had been practicing listening to God and obeying.

What does this concept of following – of getting what you train for – look like in your life?

Prayer

I am reading the “Power of Prayer” by R.A. Torrey. Amazing! Today I read about the importance of praying in Jesus’ name. Earlier in the book, he talked about actually talking to God when we are praying.

Have you ever thought about that? When you pray, are you actually talking to God? I wonder – sometimes I think I have a tendency to just complain – give God my ‘list’ – but my heart isn’t talking to God – it is whining. In fact, I have found myself talking to myself about what I want to talk to God about. What is that?

This kind of goes with Sabbath. Taking time out to slow down and actually rest. I endeavor to take the time to pray – not just time for prayer, but time to slow down and actually talk to God.

Time to hear His voice, and time to stop whining. To express the depth of what is in my heart and to hear what God has to say to me.