Sit or Stand?

Saturday mornings.  My favorite time of the week.  This is the day that I get to spend extra morning time over my coffee, my Bible, with my Lord.  To say I love Saturday mornings is an understatement!!  I believe He looks forward to it too.  It seems He always has something to say to me in these quiet hours.  I love Him so!

For the past while (weeks, months - not sure how long, it eventually just melds together) I have been struggling with some strongholds in my life.  Situations that I just haven't been able to get a grip on.  Feeling I need to do this thing this moment.  Then the next moment something else seems to be the answer.  I have been feeling very helpless, hopeless and like a big FAILURE.  Why can't I conquer this thing?!  I've prayed, I continue to read the Word, continue to seek the solution.  The way out of this stronghold. 

A couple of Sundays ago, the Lord told me it was time to stand.  I wrote that down.  He even gave me something to help me remember and define what He told me.  Savor Truth And Not Desire.  Pretty cool, unh?!  I do savor Truth.  But how much do I savor It?  Enough?  I don't think so.  If I did, I wouldn't be struggling so much with this thing.  Nonetheless, the Lord has continued to lead me.  Helping me find a way out.

I began reading a book last night called Truly Fed by Gari Meacham.  The first scripture she referenced in her book is John 5:1-9.  This is the story about the man that is lying by the pool of Bethesda.  From time to time an angel would come to the pool and swirl the waters.  The first person in after that would be healed.  The man was paralyzed and had been for 38 years.  Jesus came by and saw him lying there.  He asked the man a somewhat startling question - "Do you want to get well?"  Well, of course he wanted to get well or he wouldn't have been lying there, right?  The man answered with all the reasons that he couldn't make it into the pool after the swirling of the waters.  Not a yes or a no - but excuses.  Jesus told him, "Get up, pick up your mat and walk!"  The man got up and walked.

This morning I just "so happened" to be reading in the book of Acts.  In chapter 3 there is a lame man at the temple gate called Beautiful - so he could beg people as they went by.  When Peter and John walked by they noticed this man.  Peter told the man, "I don't have silver and gold, but what I have, I give you: In the Name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!"  And he did.  Later in this chapter this line stuck out to me on the page - and they recognized that he was the one who used to sit and beg at the Beautiful Gate of the temple complex.  And it hit me - I have been sitting and begging.  It is time for me to get up and walk!

You know, if you know what you need to do - JUST DO IT.  Quit begging.  Quit sitting.  Quit following the definition of crazy - wanting different results but continuing to do the same thing.  I sat there this morning, once again, in awe of my Savior.  Realizing afresh that I had Life in my lap.  The Word of God is alive.  I can use it (for lack of a better way to put it) and live or I can just sit, read, even appreciate what It says but not utilize it and not gain the life that is right there - waiting for me to reach out and take it.  I'm TIRED of being where I'm at. 

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30:

"Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart,, and you will find rest for yourselves.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

Sounds like a good deal to me.  I'm tired and I'm Worn.  I am ready to let go of my burden, my stronghold.  I want to get well.  I'm tired of sitting and begging and expecting a different outcome.  I want to get up and walk!  Straight into the arms of Freedom Himself. 

Wisdom

James 3:17
The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceloving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.


My desire is to operate with the wisdom from above leading me in my life - daily, second by second. My wisdom gets me nowhere.  Even worse than nowhere.   It leads to places that I don't want to be.  Been there and done that too many times.  At this stage in my life, I truly want to follow The Lord - period.

As I was reading this scripture this morning and applying it to a situation in my life right now, I was checking myself to make sure I was following these characteristics of wisdom.  I began thinking "oh, maybe I'm not being compliant enough", or "maybe I'm not showing enough mercy".  But then the next two characteristics stood out to me - without favoritism and hypocrisy.  

Without favoritism means I shouldn't treat one person different from another.  Without hypocrisy means that I should be truthful.  Combining these two characteristics of wisdom tell me that I should not flatter people.  I should speak truth.  I should have balance.  Yes, I need to be compliant.  I need to show mercy.  I need to treat people the way I want to be treated.  But if I flatter and disregard truth, then I am not being honest.  I'm not being pure.

God doesn't flatter us and He always gives us Truth.  Even when it hurts.  He is the Perfect Father.  All of my days, I want to follow His ways and walk in His truths.  Trusting Him to take care of situations that are out of my control.  To right wrongs.  To speak to people's hearts in ways that I never can.  He knows the end from the beginning.  I just know the past and the here and now.

So - today I give Him anew every situation in my life.  I pray I seek His wisdom above my own.  Thankful that my Father is the Great I Am.  The Beginning and The End.  He knows how to reach every person in every situation.  He knows how to get the job done.  His arm is not too short to reach anywhere it needs to reach.  He is God and I am so glad,...

The Bondage of Food!!

To eat or not to eat.  Can I just say that sometimes I eat so much and think about food so much that I can't stand the thought of FOOD!!!  Don't misunderstand.  I am so very thankful that I have food to eat.  God is so good to me.  But there is a difference in me having food and in food having me.  Bondage is bondage.  No matter what form it is in.  Substance abuse, shopping, pornography,...

SO - today I declare - I will eat when I am hungry.  I will try my best to make healthy choices when I eat.  If I'm not hungry, unless there are pressing reasons that I need to eat, I will not eat.  Food - I tell you - you have no hold over me.  I will eat when hungry, do moderate exercise, and I will weigh what God intended me to weigh.  I will not be ruled by the scales, by my fleshly cravings, by the media's image of the perfect body.  I will be ruled by the Holy Spirit.  God knows what I need and when I need it.  He is my Provider.  I trust Him to take care of me as He sees fit.  I will follow Him!

The end.