Should

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love. I Cor. 16:13

Years ago, I hired a life-coach to help me write a book. She was fantastic. However, one of her pieces of advice was to leave out the words ‘should’ and ‘ought to.’ To this day I never quite understood her reasoning.

God’s word is filled with these functional expectations. I decided not to follow her guidance. Instead, I chose to lay a path of good things we ‘should’ do in order to live a life pleasing to God. I did this by using several Bible scriptures that provide wise and flourishing counsel.

My verse for today is a wonderful example of things we ‘should’ follow. The journey isn’t about perfection or looking up at a steep mountain we must climb in order to reach the top. No, it’s more like stepping stones our heart knows would be good to take in the challenges life brings. It’s the guard rail that keeps us from veering off the path of God’s will. After any missteps we may take, we dust ourselves off in the grace of God, learning from it, and we keep going forward.

The stepping stones in I Corinthians 16:13 remind me of what might be asked of a soldier. No matter what is going on around you, “Be watchful (awake) for the enemy!” “Stick together!” “Stand your ground!” Yet, all the confidence and fortitude is useless without having a spirit of love.

Be strong, not in yourself, but in the Lord and His mighty power. Do not be tossed about by every new idea and thought that comes along. Stand firm.

I Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

‘Should’ verses are extremely important in our lives, so much so, that we benefit when we heed and follow them. They aid our spiritual vision and deeper understanding of the bigger picture around us. We learn that not everything revolves around our individual lives. There is so much more to consider than how the consequences of our thoughts, actions and motives affect us. God wants us pay attention to His directives from His word so that all may come to Him.

In the hard times, when it seems impossible to meet such expectations of good behavior (to find and conquer that next step), this is the time to lean on God’s strength. When I ‘should’ and want to, but I can’t, God can.

It is time to act in maturity with full confidence. Most people become irritable and unkind. And though, we, as children of God will make mistakes at times, we strive to stay faithful to the tasks at hand, keeping our eyes on the Father, the God of the impossible.

Lord, when life becomes difficult and cumbersome, give me victory over myself. Keep me awake when the enemy dulls my senses. Help my faith to keep me solid. Make me brave when I would rather run away. Let your strength be my closest friend and love be my heart of hearts for all those you put in my life. In Jesus blessed name, Amen.

Peaceful Choices (Discernment Series #12)

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. James 1:5

What a beautiful promise this verse is for us. Let’s come to God for the wisdom we lack and seek His ways.

In today’s blog, I want to follow wisdom as we dig deeper into the fruit of the Spirit (introduced in last week). We will be honing in on one fruit in particular and what part it plays in our discernment process, and that is the fruit of peace.

1. Jesus’ last words on the cross were, “I commit my spirit into your hands.” In other words, He was asking God to take His precious life now that everything had been accomplished.

That’s a pretty peaceful place to be.

I long to imitate Jesus’ words, but instead of waiting to say them at my time of death, I desire to speak this beautiful phrase to God, right now. I want Him to use my life and let it be all that He wants it to be. I commit my spirit into His hands in dying to myself while living.

A surrendered life brings peace.

2. Feeling safe is a condition that we think will bring us peace, but does it really?

Certain circumstances happen in which we don’t feel safe. Examples for me would include: driving to unfamiliar places, doing new things, speaking uncomfortable truths, giving to others on an empty tank (after a prompting from God) and not knowing if I can handle unappreciation on their part.

Is peace supposed to always be our guide in knowing that something is right when we feel it or wrong if we don’t?

Is it possible that discerning between two opposing choices can be done without bias?

“I think I’ll go with door #1 because it feels safe or peaceful to me.”

Yet, what defines ‘safe’ to God?

Do we make decisions based on our comfort and safety or are we willing to go forward in courage knowing that God’s wisdom and love will carry us through?

Ponder each of the above questions thoroughly.

3. God will lead us, at times, to go through a delay in giving us the wisdom (discernment) we lack and we must choose peace in the waiting in order to truly carry out His ways.

We may say, “I don’t have peace in making this decision.” And sometimes, the peace we seek will come, yet not defined as comfortable or convenient. However, we claim a quiet calm when we know (on a deeper level) that God helps us do what is right even in our most insecure moments.

After all the praying we do and the processing of it all, we still may make a wrong decision! Does that mean all of life will crumble if we get it wrong from time to time? What will happen to us? Will we be struck by lightning?

God is bigger than my incompetency. He is bigger than my mess ups. I am relieved and thankful for that. He knows my heart. He knows your heart. We WANT to follow His ways.

In my mind, I simply don’t see God as a giant, holding a zapper, ready to zap me when things go wrong because of a failed decision. He knows I want to do what is right. He can make good come from my bad choices, my incompleteness and failings.

And…we all can use our mistakes to learn better ways for the next time. We can have peace in simply knowing God will take care of the situation. We can let go of anxiety, stress and worry.

We can even let go of other people’s stupid mistakes and make the atmosphere peaceful (and generous) in our love for them (because we know how it feels to err). THIS makes our lives beautiful. It also sets the tone for others to make better choices next time. Our ‘I told you so’s’ or rages and rants over people’s bad choices only create stubborn, rebellious and prideful hearts who will not learn from their mistakes.

4. When peace is far from you, first ask your heart, “Am I believing a lie (through fear)?” And then ask, “Am I at peace, sometimes, simply because I’m comfortable?”

5. How hard is it to seek peace in times when you must start, continue or end a necessary conflict? What about when you are in the middle of a storm? Where is God? He is absolutely with you and when you call out to Him, He will come to aid you. A peace beyond understanding (Phil. 4:7) will guard you, but you must have eyes to see and ears to hear His kind of peace that may not feel very peaceful. Sit with Him and let Him supernaturally invade your emotions, your mind and heart. He wants to be present in your life. God may still ask hard things of you (that feel unsafe), but to stay in His peace, go forward in His tasks and let Him take care of the rest.

Here are things I’ve added to the Discernment Wheel from last week.

Discernment is:

A desire to do the right thing even when antagonized (to not have regrets)
Following the Holy Spirit and His fruit
Not grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit
Not about one way of doing things; His ways can change in a heartbeat
Flexible
Not necessarily a magical experience
Not a moment to enjoy but to work
Emptying ourselves to be filled with God’s wisdom

Lord, thank you….thank you that even in turmoil and tough decisions, we can find peace in you, an inner calmness that we cannot quite wrap our brains around. Your peace is such a comfort. Growing in letting go of everything having to be perfect in and around me is also a comfort. Father, I commit my spirit to you for always. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Nourishing Words

The lips of the righteous nourish many…Proverbs 10:21

Nourish. What a beautiful word!

Most of us would love to be known as one who nourishes or enriches others by our words.

Yet, there are times we fail. We get nervous and become the ‘bad guy’ we’re not. Stuff comes out of our mouths and later, we shake our heads and whisper…”What was I thinking?” or “Where did that come from?”

All of us do it.

I’m reminded to have grace for those around me, when they speak out of turn. My own blunders remind me to come to their rescue and see the real person behind their blunderous words. Who are they really, deep inside? Typically, I know their hearts.

I hope humanity will give me that same leeway.

However, mostly when I misspeak, silence blares back at me, and I feel the weight of my misuse of words or lack of nourishment for others on my shoulders.

But what if my words are truth, and they’re taken as a blunder?

What I want is to have courage to speak the depths of my true heart and not be so afraid of what others think of me. Will they call me prideful or know-it-all, will their responses be contrary to what I believe or will my nourishing words be heard and heeded? Will my deepest intentions be felt by them?

Sometimes, peer pressure moves me to go along with the multitude of gossipy, unkind, negative complaints in order to be liked. Like a teenager, I want to feel like I’m a part of things which can outweigh my desire to speak sustenance into another person’s soul.

Nourishing words are so much better. I want to remind myself daily of this.

When God’s deepness comes to mind, and I can’t think of the right words to say, I cry out to Him. The next thing I know, He takes over and puts things in my mouth…nourishing words. I experience these same supernatural instances from others in my life as well. What a blessing to receive such sustaining truths for myself!

Jesus, you are The Word. Give me ears to hear what nourishing speech others speak into my life. May my own word mistakes not bring discouragement to my soul or to others, but help me to learn from those times. May my words be intentional and not just haphazard and undisciplined. When my nourishing words are neglected, misunderstood or refused, give me a heart full of prayers of love in return. In Jesus name, Amen.