My time has been split up amongst several different projects, therefore, my posts have been less than daily. However, my identity is not in daily posts. It's in Him. How can we fight to stay in the race when life happens so frequently around us. I'm doing vehicle repairs for my wife's van, a full time job, Door Dash to help pay for the remodeling we are starting to do in my house and all this is drawing me away from my daily writing. Is this a bad thing? No. Yet if I let my busy life take priority over my relationship with God, there's the problem. Can we be busy, with non-stop things going on and still have a relationship? Yes.
Being in the middle of anything, we can choose whether we are mindful of Him or not. When we say, I can't handle all this pressure and start to lose our joy and happiness, then worry because He is the source of our joy and happiness. If we start to get overwhelmed, we aren't relying on Him to keep us centered. Our joy comes from knowing Him. It's an understanding that you live in Him and He in you and that He is in control of your heart.
You see, the situations we are in never change. The Jews expected Jesus to change their situation. They wanted the Romans killed and removed from their land. They wanted independence back. Yet, Jesus came to change their hearts not their situation. Jesus came so that within their Roman occupation, they could love their enemies and in so doing, change the hearts of the Romans. The unattainable becomes attainable through Christ as the heart changes to be OK in any situation it's in.
Can we let our lives overwhelm us? Yes we can, because we don't let our hearts be filled with God's joy, happiness, self-control and love.
For instance, If we are in line for coffee at a coffee shop and we are running behind for work, we are automatically stressed because we are running late. The long line adds to the stress and when you spill coffee on you in the car because you were hurrying, more stress is added. In this situation, we can rely fully on God to give us the energy to make it through the day instead of relying on caffeine. His life in us gives us more than we can imagine.
We think, God has better things to do with His time than be my caffeine dose for the day, yet He wants to show how much He loves us through these things. If we cannot be fully reliant on Him to supply us with our basic needs, then how can we be confident in Him supplying our salvation. Is God only good at giving us the big ticket items and not the daily needs? It would be like a rich uncle who only comes around on your birthday or Christmas. You never see him except those two dates but the grand gifts he brings are so awesome, you forget the time he's not there. So, do we rely on Him for forgiveness of sins and salvation only then never expect anything else? Of course there's those people who are spoiled rotten and think the rich uncle should buy them everything they want. God's not like that either, there's a middle ground between spoiled and too full of self doubt. Spoiled wants it all and self-doubt thinks they don't deserve anything.
We have to understand the relationship God wants with us. He takes joy in providing for us, that's His love. Yet we are not to abuse that love. We should except His grace, kindness and care with great humility and appreciation. If our hearts are right, the relationship between us and Him can overwhelm any situation we face. We can move and be in this world and never be affected by it's doubt, stress, and evil ways. We can sit in a figurative dumpster fire all around us and we would never get burned by it.
This is why it says, be in the world and not of it. We cannot help but be different than the world around us when we are in Him. So, my busy life cannot dictate how my time with God is. Instead, my busy life is made straight and stressless under His presence not the other way around. If we live by reacting to our situations and letting them rule our lives, then we aren't any better than those outside of knowing Him.
We cannot say we know Him then melt every time something goes wrong. I've always heard Dan Mohler say, if you squeeze an orange, what comes out? Orange juice, right? What if we squeezed the orange and apple juice came out. That would be extremely weird and if you saw that juice in a cup you'd think that orange had to be bad. So why when we squeeze a Christian with everyday situations, everything comes out but Christ. If we are squeezed by the pressures of this world like an orange is in a press, the thing that should flow out of us is Jesus not something different like emotions and hurt feelings. It's a true test of someone's faith and Peter says faith must be tested, tried and proven in order for it to stand. If we are the fruit of the tree and a wind storm comes, will we fall to the ground and be eaten by the bugs or will we stand through the winds and provide the world with food they so desperately need.
If you stress about the day, don't condemn yourself and throw yourself in a pit of despair. Look and see your need for Him. Just as we need water everyday to live, so we need the living water to live in Him. We cannot be so fixated on our lives that we lose faith and hope in Him. Truth is truth and will never be anything but the truth. How then do we let our lives override the truth. The truth being this. Rely fully on Him to the point that no thing can be done without Him being involved in it.
I always used to think that I had to get approval from Him in everything I did daily, which is exhausting. Instead, I have faith that wherever I go or whatever I do, He will be there to guide me and move me in the right direction when needed. I cannot live my life paranoid, thinking each decision I make or each direction I take will spell disaster. Instead, walk and if He says turn here, then turn there. Simple! Just be open to hear Him when He wants to say something to you. Again, have faith that you know He wants to talk to you and will talk to you.
This is not a one way street. Communicate and seek His voice. Know you have the ability to hear Him. Know He wants you to hear Him. Know that He loves you and wants the best for you. This is being not of this world but in it. This is walking in Him. This is Life and Life more abundantly. Just open your heart, mind and spirit to Him and He'll do the rest.
To God be the Glory!
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