Untied Relationships

 

If I was the enemy of mankind, what might be one strategy I would use against them to bring about their defeat?

Satan uses many tactics against us, like fear and intimidation, lies about God, lies about us, our worth.…

But let’s face it, if he could take us out, he would have already.

Then this thought crossed my mind.

“I’d untie their relationships!”

When one enters a relationship with an abusive, controlling significant other, one thing they’ll do is try to cut off the other relationships in your life. They don’t want you to have someone else to turn to.

Though we don’t consider ourselves to be in a relationship with Satan, he’s constantly trying to forge his way into one with us. Those especially susceptible are those who don’t believe he’s real.

He must laugh at the way we think we’re the ones in control.

He’s been around longer than we have. He’s seen you grow up, he knows your likes and dislikes, your fears and insecurities, your areas of special pride. In short, he knows how to tempt and influence you and what snares to put in your path.

Look at all the broken relationships around you. There’s brokenness between parents and their children or grandchildren, between husbands and wives, between childhood friends, between business associates who could’ve done great things together.

When walking and holding hands with a small child who cannot yet appreciate the dangers of this world, we can guide them around the potholes of life, tugging them gently (or wildly if necessary) away from the shifting ground.

But Satan doesn’t want that child to hold your hand. He doesn’t want them to be safely guided by someone who knows the ropes.

He doesn’t want you to hold on to your heavenly Father’s hand, either.

He wants you to fall into the pitfalls and traps he’s set for you.

He wants you to listen to his lies and to hear his voice above the others in your life.

He wants to sabotage and untie the relationships in your life.

You may think you self-sabotage; but who planted the lies in front of you to affect your thinking and influence your choices?

I’m not saying we should blame the enemy for all the failures in our lives. At some point, we need to take responsibility for our decisions and suffer the consequences.

But there are reasons we chose the choices we’ve made; not excuses, but reasons.

Satan loves to dip his finger into every pot of soup we make. And his fingers are DIRTY! He’s coated them with the poison of his lies.

God created us. He created us to need Him – and to need each other.

Satan seeks to untie your good relationships, especially your relationship with God.

Once the knot is untied, where does that leave you? What does it leave you thinking and believing about yourself and others? Does it make you trust yourself and others less? Does it make you trust God less? Might it even make you angry with God?

That’s his goal.

If Satan leaves your relationships alone, perhaps they’re unhealthy relationships that he can use to your destruction.

Jesus Himself said, Satan, our common enemy, comes to steal, kill and destroy. While He [Jesus] comes that you may have life and live it to the fullest! (John 10:10)

What good relationships in your life have been unraveled?

Even if you think they can’t be restored, God’s thoughts are greater than ours. (Isaiah 55:9)

Align yourself with God’s ways of thinking, with His written Word.

It’s time to forge new, strong, healthy relationships with the people we love – and new people God is bringing into our lives. This might require a lot of forgiveness toward others, and even toward ourselves. We’ll ponder forgiveness another day…

 

Come Back

 

(photo from amazon.com)

Pastor Ken Willard repeatedly drew me back into his sermon; actually, quite appropriate, since he brought a “Come Back” message.

Using Micah 7:7-8, he began to call us back. Not just to God, but to the land of the living. Let’s face it, anyone who has a working television in their home, or who plays with social media has been affected by the current state of our nation.

“Therefore I will look unto the LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in the darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.” (KJV)

I’ll admit, I never understood the latter part of this verse: “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” Proverbs 17:17 (KJV)

According to Pastor Ken, this means that your friends were born to be there for you when you find yourself in a place of trouble. If we think we’re going to prosper in life, it’s likely we’ll need friends. They may not be lifelong friends that we’ll intimately share our days with forever. But the friends that God provides for your times of adversity could as easily be friends from childhood who’ve stuck around a long time, or friends you’ve just met.

Insisting on doing things without accepting help, may prove to take us a lot longer, if we accomplish them at all.

Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, “For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.” (KJV)

“At the place of challenge, sometimes there’s a fall.” – Pastor Ken

When we’re challenged and we fall, sometimes bouncing back isn’t about proving anything to the challenger, but more for proving to ourselves what we’re made of.

But, whether we’ve “fallen away from God” or we just find ourselves in a tough spot, God designed us to be like rubber balls, not hacky-sacks. We’re supposed to bounce back. And we aren’t underinflated, so we won’t just sit there when we fall, we’re still filled with the breath of Life.

Realize this, we’re just as anointed while we’re sitting in that dark place as we were when we felt like we were pleasing God. His gifts and calling are without repentance, meaning He doesn’t take them from us. (Romans 11:29)

“The best place to be when you’re in the worst place is here, in the presence of God; here, in the body of Christ, with your brothers and sisters; the ones born for your adversity.” – Pastor Ken

Those weren’t his EXACT words, but as I tried to keep up with him, that’s what it sounded like to me.

So, think “comeback thoughts”. Let God light your way and look for the friends He’s already laid in your path.

There’s no depth that any of us have dropped to that Jesus can’t reach us.

(photo from ebay.com)

Giving Good Gifts

(My own photo.)

God restores my soul.

What part of me is my soul? My spirit is one with His, my body is my flesh and blood, but my soul is comprised of my mind, will and emotions. All of those parts of me have been influenced, and sadly, damaged by the world.

God restores me through various means; often just a walk through the beautiful creation of the nature around me brings incredible healing. But one of my favorite ways is when He touches me through my friends and their encouragement and the parts of life they share in with me. Most of the time they probably don’t even realize the healing they impart to me. Maybe that’s because God is actually the One imparting the healing, He’s just doing it through them; through you!

One little reminder of love that brings me healing is a gift my friend Marie gave me. Though my friends can be very giving, Marie’s gift illustrated to me one of the many times she listens to me. Being heard and acknowledged brings tremendous healing.

I drink a lot of water and had mentioned, off the cuff, that when at home I should drink from a glass, not bottled water. I hate contributing to the plastic problems we have in our earthly environment. During a visit with Marie, she gave me a cup; perfect for my needs. I don’t sip from this cup, I guzzle. I drink more water than anyone I know. But, each drink from the cup reminds me that she loves me and she listens to me and that she chooses to allow God to restore my soul through her and our relationship. It was a simple gesture, but it came from pure motives and a loving heart. I love her for this.

I find it quite easy to love most everyone. But, certain people more significantly write their names on our hearts. Marie is one of those people. God bless you, Marie.

There are so many ways we can allow God’s healing to pour through us into those we love, and even into the strangers we meet every day. If you take a few minutes, I’m sure you can come up with a list of ways God has poured into you through the people around you. Sure, you can come up with a list of ways people have hurt you, too. What kind of person do you want to be? One that drips with healing or one that inflicts injury, {most commonly the kind of wounds we can’t always see with our eyes)? We can bring healing just as easily as we can hurt. We get to choose which words and actions we’ll use.

I’ll bet we’ve all heard the phrase, “Hurt people hurt people”. The truth of the matter is that when we inflict pain on those around us, it’s not always intentional. When acting from a place of hurt, we do hurtful things, sometimes, without even realizing it.

Often, we can’t help but ask, “But when is someone going to pour into me?” If someone shares healing with us, we can pass it along, blessing others from our place of healing. It can feel impossible to help others when we’re hurting so badly ourselves. We might be overlooking the actual sources of our distress, or even be in denial about the wounds we bear; being blinded by our pain. That definitely makes it harder to give good gifts to others and can prevent us from seeing ugliness we might be spewing about into the lives of those we love.

But, God does not leave us helpless or without resources. His Word is filled with power and tools to make us more like Him; whole. When our pain is so great that we refuse (consciously or not) to turn away from His Word, rather than to it, He sends someone along to take our hand, or our heart, and lead us to Him. Of course, we always have the option of pulling away from the help He sends to us.

Some of the biggest sacrifices we can make are through allowing God to act through us, even when we ourselves are in insurmountable pain. And sometimes, some of our biggest healing comes through the self-sacrificial love we choose to share.

Whether it’s through a token of our love, or through our actions, we’re all capable of showing our love, even when we’re tempted to act selfishly. We can do this only when we yield to God and what He shows us to do.

How has God been pouring into you? How has He been pouring through you?

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.” – James 4:7-8 (NIV)