There is nothing quite like knowing that you are not only forgiven and made brand new by the Creator of the universe, but also that He  has pledged never to leave or forsake you and to be with you always, even until the end of the age (see Hebrews 13:5 and Matthew 28:20).

How the God of all things can care about small, insignificant humans is beyond the comprehension of many of us. But He does. David declared in Psalm 18:35, “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great.” I imagine David was in awe of God’s amazing intervention on his behalf and that of his nation; but this verse reveals something even more amazing about God. When David praised God for His gentleness, he was extolling the fact that the Creator Himself, the Mighty One of the Universe, in humility, meekness, and an act of condescension, made him—insignificant David—great.

God rescues us. He delivers our lives from destruction. He saves our souls and welcomes us into His family. He is with us at all times and will continue to be right there until the end of our lives or the end of the age—whichever comes first! And to top it off, He gently humbles Himself to grant us greatness in our little time span.

But there are hindrances and obstacles to a well-lived life. And those hindrances don’t have all that much to do with whether or not your dreams were fulfilled the way you had hoped—no; such disappointments have less impact upon the quality of your life than you would imagine.

The hindrances and obstacles that must be conquered in the well-lived life have everything to do with the mind and attitude, beliefs and reactions, flexibility and resolve. Upon what do you meditate? What is your prevailing attitude toward work, responsibility, or others? What is your belief system—beyond your faith in Christ? Do you believe easily that He will cause all things to work together for your good, or do you think bitterly, probably not—nothing works out as I want? How do you react to stress? Do you seek Him and trust, or do you fly off the handle in fear, panic, or rage? Can you deal gracefully with changes in plans, whether short-term or long, or do you stew over the unfairness of it all? When options present themselves that violate your convictions, do you follow your conscience or do you fudge, just this once—it won’t hurt anything?

These are the things that determine whether your life is well-lived. Dreams fulfilled, desires met—those are icing on the cake.

This weekend, I urge you to spend some time with your Deliverer, Rescuer, Redeemer, Forgiver, Healer, and Savior. Pour out your heart to Him and allow Him to touch any encumbrance in your life that, if left untouched, would hinder you from having a life well-lived. Let Him do what He loves to do: to bring light to entanglements, to deliver you from hindrances, and to remove every obstacle that would disqualify you from having that life well-lived. Don’t put it off; He who saved you is delighted to bring you to full maturity. Remember, it is His gentleness, meekness, and humility directed toward and in you that will make your life, when all is said and done, not only well-lived, but great.

And, on that Day when you see Him face to face, may He look you in the eyes and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Happy weekend, happy life, happy eternity!

Dorothy

Instead, I was attacked out of the blue with a migraine and couldn’t get my mind to think about much of anything. That’s why I wrote about joy. When I undergo a physical attack, I’m learning to relax, trust God, smile, and laugh a lot. So, aided by the Word of God and a migraine-busting ice pack, I rejoiced in God and wrote about joy. And the joy of the Lord was my strength. No more ice pack!

As I thought about the unconnectedness of Monday’s and Tuesday’s blogs, it dawned on me—they are very connected in a way that can help us to stay on track.

Christian life is about doctrine. Christian life is also about the attitude of the heart. Yet where do we as believers get gummed-up so much of the time in church life? In the areas of doctrine and attitude! When we think someone’s doctrine is off, if we don’t catch ourselves first, we’re liable to push Jesus off His seat at God’s right hand and pronounce judgment on the offender ourselves!

However, as you endeavor to be accurate both doctrinally and spiritually, the Father also holds you accountable to pursue and excel in love as well (see 1 Corinthians 14:1 and 1 Thessalonians 4:10). You are called to walk in both accuracy of discernment and a high level of love, but this takes a lifetime of practice.

Conflicts will  arise between Christians over doctrine. You will observe from time to time that someone is not behaving according to Scripture. You may even recognize that different ministers of the gospel are over-balanced in one direction or the other. Do you address any of it? Should you remain silent? What if someone else wants to discuss it with you? How do you guard your discernment and desire for accuracy without violating the law of love?

This is where the joy of the Lord comes in. It is your strength. Conflicts like these can weigh you down and wear you out over time if you don’t hold tightly to your joy. As you navigate through what can feel like shark-infested waters, you are not alone; Jesus is by your side. You have every right in the midst of conflict to praise Him; you have permission in the storms of strife to think on His goodness and rejoice, and you have the privilege when all hell breaks loose to ask Him to intervene in the situation and show you what to do. It is His good pleasure–His joy and delight–to come on the scene of your conflict when you ask Him to.

The Lord may lead you to confront someone about their error; the Lord may direct you to keep quiet. He may even correct you on the issue! But know this: the Lord is for you and not against you. As you seek Him in your pursuit of both doctrinal purity and love, He will instruct and teach you in the way which you should go; He will counsel you with His eye upon you (see Psalm 32:8).

And through it all, remember this: the joy of the Lord will always be your strength.

Dorothy

As with every good thing we receive from God, Satan has devised a clever counterfeit for true humor and joy. Although I’m not addressing joy’s counterfeit here, suffice it to say that no one—including the devil—counterfeits worthless items. It is obvious, then that joy and good humor are very valuable when used in the right way.

A much-quoted Scripture declares at the end of Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

How does this joy—and its sidekick, good humor—work to strengthen you? Well, first of all, let me state something very clearly. I’m not referring to pretend “smiley-ness” and “praise the Lord-iness” that we can sometimes hide behind (I’ve been guilty, too) to make others think we’ve got it all together. No. The joy of the Lord which releases the strength of God is confrontational joy and humor—not exercised to impress others—but exerted in confrontation against the enemy—and against your own negativity, pain, or depression.

When you confront the devil with the joy of the Lord, he cannot stand against the strength that God imparts through it. Joy released during times of stress, pain, torment, or any other negative mindset or emotion empowers you to resist the devil, forcing him to flee from you.

However, sometimes an even more formidable foe stands between you and the attainment of God’s promises—you. How can you operate in joy when your mind or emotions scream in agony against the universe–or your neighbor–or your boss–or your body, racked with pain? It is at times like these when joy–and more simply, humor–can be among your most valuable assets.

When I catch myself becoming uptight and taking myself too seriously, I’ve learned that the quickest path out the inevitable downward spiral is through exercising the joy of the Lord and good humor. At first I have to force myself to participate in the process, but when I do, true joy always takes over and I am strengthened and refreshed. Remember—this is confrontational joy, and the target of this confrontation is yourself.

I have exercised this confrontational form of joy against my own negativity more times than I can count. Allow me to embarrass myself as I share some examples.

• During times of emotional overload in my twenties, I accidentally discovered that if I forced myself to look in the mirror when I was crying, I would end up laughing—especially if I made faces at myself. And as I laughed at myself in the mirror, I got tickled by the absurdity of it all, and stress and pain seemed to fade away. Then trust in God would return to me along with real joy. I challenge you to try this technique if you feel yourself sinking into self-pity. It has worked for me.

• Driving home after one of those days as an eighth-grade teacher when no one would listen and the paperwork piled as high as Mount Rushmore, the Spirit of God prompted me to smile. I did so, then stopped, and resumed complaining to Him. No, He urged; keep smiling—all the way home. I felt like an idiot with a big fake grin plastered on my face for the next few minutes. But it wasn’t long until the power of those smile muscles started oozing sunshine down into my grumpy soul, and by the time I reached my driveway, I was rejoicing. Again, I have exercised this technique often since then. It is extremely powerful when used against frustration, stress, or an overall negative attitude; and I guarantee that if you stick with it, you’ll end up smiling for real.

• At times in bed when pain attacked my body and I couldn’t sleep, I realized that surely I must have stirred up a hornet’s nest somehow by my life or prayers, and that the physical symptoms were a clue to me that my enemy was not pleased. And I laughed. And laughed. And laughed. As I laughed big, hearty, belly laughs there in bed, pain-induced anxiety lifted and symptoms subsided. I laughed big laughs one night not too long ago at pain immobilizing one of my hands—and that pain simply drained out and vanished, and I fell asleep, a happy camper.

The joy of the Lord is your strength. As counter-intuitive as it may feel—especially to a melancholic personality-type—confronting yourself with joy and good humor when in the pit of despair, self-pity, or pain is exactly what the Great Physician ordered. And as you allow yourself to participate in confrontational joy, you will find the negativity fade away, and in its place will be the strength that can only come when you exercise the joy of the Lord.

May you be strengthened as you confront negativity with joy!

Dorothy

As I was finishing my time with the Lord, I drained the last gulp or two from my coffee mug. Something with the texture of a crumbled dunked cookie flowed into my mouth with the last slurp. That’s odd, I thought; I didn’t dunk anything.

I spit out the remaining liquid and crumbly stuff into a napkin over the sink. And there, right before my eyes, were small chunks of cat food. Yikes! And contrary to the label, it did not taste like chicken.

As I spit and rinsed, spit and rinsed, and spit and rinsed again, I wondered how it happened to find its way into my coffee. Earlier in the morning, I had dished out the chow for my cats while simultaneously making my coffee. Evidently, something went terribly wrong in the preparation.

And two thoughts came to me.

1.  In our own lives as we go about our daily routines, things can get misdirected, lines might get crossed by accident, and we end up with less than pure intake. In fact, at times we eat “cat food” in life without even knowing it. Things may not seem quite right with what you’re hearing; the input from others may seem funny to the taste, but on you roll at the speed of light without giving it a second thought.

This is why it’s so important for you, in your busy life, to test all of your intake with the Spirit of God and His Word. If something doesn’t “taste”, “smell” or “feel” right to you, lift up a quick prayer and ask God to sort it out for you. Then later, if the Lord hasn’t brought clarity to you yet, spend some more time in prayer and look into the Word to find out what God says about it.

A man of God I highly respect used to say that when we listen to sermons or read Christian literature, we were to “have as much sense as an old cow; eat the hay and spit out the stubble.” I would add, this pertains to everyday life as well.

There’s a lot of cat food out there and there’s a lot of stubble. That’s why you need to be spiritually alert. Know what you’re hearing; know what you’re receiving as “the way it is”.

2.  You will survive with cat food in your stomach; you will survive some stubble. You just won’t receive the pure nutrients of the Word of God by consuming these things, and therefore, you’re not going to be nearly as strong as you could be in your walk with God.

If you go to church and find that you’ve been fed some stubble with your hay, just spit it out; don’t blast the messenger as a false teacher. Does Flossie the cow start an email campaign alerting the other cattle that Farmer Smith is a false farmer because she found some stubble in her hay last week? No, she eats her hay and spits out the stubble.

There’s a difference between stubble and poison. There’s a difference between cat food accidentally dropped in a cup of coffee and the intentional twisting of doctrine. You’re not only responsible to train your senses to discern between true food and stubble or cat food; but you also need to train your senses to discern between stubble and poison, cat food and toxins. The differences may seem subtle to you, but to God the differences are huge—as different as human misunderstanding versus the purposeful twisting of truth.

You are accountable every day you mature in Christ to develop discernment and to walk in it. When you are presented with stubble in your hay–or cat food in your coffee–spit it out! However, if you are fed a constant diet of stubble or cat food, you may want to find another place to dine.

On the other hand, don’t make the mistake of labeling those who have served some stubble or cat food in their messages as false prophets or teachers, or as those who preach “another Jesus”. Maybe they just had a bad week or a rough year. If you spend some time praying for them in love, you just might be blessed to learn how powerfully on-target they can preach.

It is my conviction that, as Christians, we need to refrain from labeling ministers and other believers in a knee-jerk reaction. Yes, we are to discern what we hear, but not everything that contains some stubble or bits of cat food is heresy; and not everyone out there who is labeled as false is, indeed, false.

And if you drop by my house for coffee, I’ll do my best to give you the straight stuff, cat food-free.

Dorothy

God is able to quicken His Word to the heart of the newest believer, and when that Scripture is prayed or spoken with faith, it will achieve God’s purpose.

I’ve learned a bit about the utilization of God’s Word as an offensive weapon through the years, often by trial and error.

The main thing I’ve learned is that when I am confronted with impending trouble or disaster, I must lean heavily upon the Spirit of God. He always has a way of escape for me; my job is to check in with Him to find out what it is. If I mechanically press the “Gospel button” of my choice, then I assign myself as the one in charge of how I’m rescued, not the Lord. When I am facing sudden danger, I must let Him lead. Let me explain by presenting to you this Tale of Two Deliverances.

Deliverance Number One

Many years ago, I was handing out tracts with a group of friends outside of Busch Stadium, home of the baseball Cardinals. In front of Stan “the Man” Musial’s statue, a friend and I were talking with a scraggly young man who was standing with his back to the curb. A strange look came over his face as he leaned in toward us and snarled, “Have you ever considered that you would be martyred for your faith?”

Up from my insides, I spoke the words I heard: “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:11 and 12 just filtered up from my spirit and flowed out of my mouth! The sword of the Spirit was in operation.

But the next thing that happened left my friend Cat and me with dropped jaws. The man, leaning into us and threatening one minute, collapsed backward the next, onto the hood of the car parked behind him at the curb. Some of the guys in our group approached us just then and asked if we wanted them to take over. Cat and I, who were punching each other in the thigh in shock—that really happened? left the fallen man to the guys.

Deliverance Number Two

God has been good to me and has gotten me out of a lot of dangerous–and potentially deadly–situations. Another time He helped me did not play out the way I thought it should. You see, I was in awe of what He had done for me in front of Musial’s statue, and I decided that the Scripture that rose up within me that night was my secret weapon. Philippians 2:11-12 is amazingly wonderful, and every time I read it, I think about how God displayed His might that night at Busch.

One 4th of July, three of us were returning from a city-wide fireworks display. Traffic in the park was bumper to bumper, just inching along, and we had the windows rolled down. A young man in the park, all liquored-up, was screaming into the grid-locked traffic, “ROCK AND ROLL!!!” He and I caught eyes, and he yelled at me, “DO YOU LOVE ROCK AND ROLL?!?”

I looked at him out of the passenger window, and as he approached the car, I said, “I love Jesus.”

He lost his mind. Cursing, he grabbed me and attempted to pull me out of the window. Ah hah! I thought. I get to use my secret weapon again! and I quoted Philippians 2:11-12 as he continued to yank away. Instead of letting go of me as I expected, he became even more enraged and pulled harder.

Hmmm….this is not good, I thought, and quietly listened to the Holy Spirit within me to hear what to do next. With the upper half of my body being wrenched out of the window, I began to pray in tongues out loud, looking him in the eyes as I did so. I don’t know who was more shocked of the two of us, because he instantly let go and jerked away in disgust.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrgggghhhhh!” he bellowed. “You’re WEEEEIIRRD!!!!” And off he fled into the night. I squirmed back into the car, but not before he poured the rest of his beer on my head and the windshield.

My Take Away

As I reflected on the two tales of deliverance I experienced, I started to realize something. God doesn’t necessarily perform according to our script!

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 says, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.” If God has a variety of gifts, ministries, and effects, would He not also undertake deliverance for us in a variety of ways? Indeed, God never changes, and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever; but He works out His wonders in a multitude of ways. The key here is: He does work wonders for us.

Your job and mine is to trust, ask the Lord for help, listen, and then obey whatever He shows us to do.

May God show you His wonderful delivering power as you hold fast His Word, listen for the leading of His Spirit, and lean heavily upon Him.

Dorothy

I made the tough decision to cancel all plans, disappointing my friend, and obeyed what I believed to be the leading of the Holy Spirit. Days later, I knew why I had been “tackled”. My mother had been scheduled for a routine operation on the day I was to leave and was doing great just out of surgery. But within 24 hours, my dad called. “Your mother’s dying. Come home.” I found out that due to surgical error, her intestines had been punctured and she was dying from the release of toxins into her body.

Doubling up on the Word gave me the discernment to stay in town instead of camping out–for weeks–in the swamps of Georgia and the beaches of Florida like I had planned–before the days of cell phones. Had I ignored the pressure of the Holy Spirit or neglected to increase my Bible intake to receive the discernment I needed, I would have been unreachable when Mom was dying. On top of that, I would not have returned until long after she passed.

I will be forever grateful for the coordinated working of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God in my life at that crucial time. Thanks to the Holy Spirit’s tackle-like leading and the increased discernment I received from the Word of God, I was able to quickly make it to my mother’s side when her life unexpectedly drew to a close.

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for Your wonderful, intimate leading!

Have you ever lost your confidence? Has your peace lifted from you? Has the fire in your belly gone out? A look into the life of the prophet Elisha may help you to reclaim any missing components of your Christian walk.

Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth with a Mission (YWAM) was the first person I heard to share this teaching—the Axe Head Principle—pulled  from 2 Kings 6. The lesson he taught has stuck with me throughout my life.

A group of young prophets were building a home for themselves when one of them lost an axe head. It flew off the handle as he was chopping down a tree and landed in the Jordan River. To make matters worse, he had borrowed it from someone else. This young man called out to Elisha for help.

“Where did it fall?” Elisha asked. The young man took him to the spot and Elisha cut off a stick and threw it in. The iron axe head floated to the surface and was recovered.

I don’t know about your experience, but according to my vast scientific knowledge, iron does not float. And according to some Christians’ life experiences, once things start going south, they never get better.

However, scientific law sometimes has to take a back seat when God comes on the scene, and the downward spiral of your life must halt and reverse when God throws in a stick.

Let’s imagine that Elisha was still alive and visited your home. You might tell him that you lost your confidence in God, your peace left you, or your fire died out.

He would respond to you just like he did with the young prophet. “Show me where you last had your confidence.”

You would then walk him back to the spot where you last moved in confidence. (This principle, of course, also works for peace,  joy, freedom, the fire of God, etc.)

There he would throw in a stick and you would recover the missing fruit in your life.

But, Elisha is not here. The Holy Spirit is, however, and He is more than capable of walking you back through the past few days, weeks, months, years—even decades, if need be—to help you discover when you last had the peace of God operating in your life. And instead of a stick, He will stir those waters with the cross of Christ.

Right after the time in your life when you last experienced the peace or confidence of God, what changed? Did you involve yourself in something that went against the heart and purpose of Jesus? Was it something you never really dealt with? He’ll show you if that’s the case, and He will give you the grace to quickly make it right. He wants you reunited with that confidence, peace, and fire more you can imagine. (Kenneth E. Hagin used to say that it only took about five seconds to truly repent—you repent, and then, with trust in God and obedience, you get right back on the course He’s set for you.)

Perhaps you never violated your conscience with an outward act of disobedience. Maybe you neglected doing something that the Lord had directed you to do. James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Did you drop off on your time in the Word or fellowship with God? Did you clam up about your relationship with Christ for fear of what people might think? Did you neglect to forgive someone or to ask them to forgive you? Did you start harboring a grudge against a pastor, a church, a friend or a family member? The Holy Spirit will reveal to you how you lost that axe head, and again, He will give you the grace to quickly make it right.

The Holy Spirit is always very clear when He convicts you. He reveals some specific thing that has been standing in the way of your joy or peace, gives you the grace to repent, and redirects you in the right path. That is how the axe head principle works.

On the other hand, the voice of condemnation is vague. You will feel bad about yourself for all your flaws and will want to beat yourself up. You will think you deserve to be punished for your sinfulness. This is not how the axe head principle works. You may think, as you bang your head against a wall, that you are searching for the elusive axe head, but you aren’t. You are beating yourself up, and the Holy Spirit is not in that. Stop it now!

If condemnation describes you, then you may have found the lost axe head after all! The axe head you misplaced is the knowledge that you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and that you are accepted in the Beloved! (Ephesians 1:6, KJV.) Pick that axe head back up, praise and thank God for it, accept His grace, soak in His great love for you, and get back on track.

How, where, or when you lost the axe head is not the main issue. The main point here is that God wants all obstacles removed so you can pick that axe head back up, rediscover your inner “lumberjack”, and press on in Christ, free and clear, for all you are worth!

Here’s to recovered axe heads!

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 24-25

Simmering under the surface in many marriages is a disregard and lack of appreciation, one spouse for the other. Every evening, sitcoms use this underlying disrespect as fodder for laughs as couples (married or not, heterosexual or not) battle it out with witty insults. And the unspoken message is that the winner is the one with the most dehumanizing, ourageous put downs.

Synonyms for the word disregard are: ignore, take no notice of, discount, pay no attention to, forget about, and disrespect. Do you ignore your spouse? Do you take no notice of her or pay no attention to him? Do you discount him or forget about her? Does your attitude and your behavior expose an underlying disrespect for your spouse?

I’m no marriage counselor, but I have caught myself in dismissive, bitter, and disrespectful attitudes, conversations, and behaviors toward others in my life. Try as I might to get God to fix the offending one for me, He wouldn’t budge! And then I realized it—God’s concern with me is what I do about my part, not how He and I can fix someone else! That bothered me a lot; I wanted the other person to feel how much they hurt me; I would have liked for them to get hit over the head with how wrong they were!

Go figure—God made me repent about my attitude toward my offenders! But along with the adjustment in attitude He directed me to make, He also showed me that wrong behavior is wrong behavior, and He doesn’t endorse it in anyone.

What works for me may work for you, too, when you find yourself in strife. I pull aside, allow myself to focus on the Lord, and acknowledge that He made both of us—myself and my human antagonist. I thank Him that He loves both of us and that Jesus died for both of us. And if the one who offended me is a believer, I trust that the God who dwells in me dwells in him, as well. I forgive him and then tell God, “If the veil was torn away, and he (she) could see clearly how hurt I was by his [words, actions, attitude, snubbing, etc.], I know that he (she) would fall to the ground, cry, tear his garment, and beat his hands and feet on the ground in sorrow over the pain he caused me.” Then compassion for his (her) agony of repentance rises up in me and I am able to forgive him cleanly, whether I see the fruit of it yet or not. If unforgiveness raises its ugly head within me again, I just pray the same way again and watch it flee from me. (After I’ve prayed such prayers and have truly forgiven people from the heart, I’ve experienced the softening of  attitudes toward me as well as apologies given—more than once.)

Sometimes, however, the One you are ignoring, paying no attention to, or disrespecting is God Himself.

Romans 1:20-21 states the case that humans, from antiquity on, have known God; since creation His invisible qualities and divine nature have been clearly seen and are understood through simple observation of all that He has made.

Our generation fits this description every bit as much as those alive in Bible times: “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21).

Of all the undermining behaviors I’ve written about this week—role-reversal, control, and passivity—I believe that disregard for God is at the root of all of them. You know God; do you honor Him as God? You see the majesty of God in nature; do you give Him the thanks He deserves?

When you honor and thank God as a way of life, your heart and mind are guarded in Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:6-7). This gives the act of thanking God a protective edge. When you acknowledge Him, when you give Him praise, when you thank Him in your life—especially on an ongoing basis—your human tendencies toward role-reversal, control, nagging, or passivity are less likely to dominate your personality. As you make it your business to acknowledge God with a thankful heart everyday, the deceptive, seductive, degrading suggestions by the culture and the enemy cannot find a foothold in your life. When you disregard the practice of thanking and acknowledging God, you are more likely to fall into the mindsets and behaviors described in the rest of Romans 1.

The take away from all of this is to tackle every thought, suggestion, mindset, emotion, offense, and worldview that comes your way with an eye toward the Word of God, acknowledging God as God, and thanking Him for being your God.

Keep yourself on firm footing by refusing to disregard God or His Word in your life any longer. He is God, and as you acknowledge Him as God and give Him the ongoing thanks He deserves, you will find yourself growing in wisdom and clarity about the world around you and His will for you in it.

Thanksgiving is a force that will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Be bold in your acknowledgement of Him and stay thankful,

Dorothy

Passivity. I almost didn’t write about this topic because I just didn’t feel like it; I was thinking if I kept putting it off, you would do it for me.

The primary complaint concerning passivity in marriage comes from women whose husbands who have laid aside the leadership role in the household. Although he tends to lead everywhere else, she laments, he doesn’t do so at home. There are many underlying reasons for this, but passivity on the part of a man toward his God-given responsibility can be extremely harmful to a healthy marriage. For an excellent outline about this, I am including a link at the end of today’s blog.

Since passive people, due to their characteristic avoidance of conflict and submissive demeanor, don’t create waves, you might think that passivity is a key to godliness. However, passivity toward God-given responsibility is a primary cause of ineffectiveness and unfruitfulness in Christian life.

For example, you probably eat three square meals a day without giving a second thought to the big bites of your time that eating consumes. However, have you ever thought that feeding your spirit with God’s Word was too time-consuming? When you can’t spare five or ten minutes sometime during the day to read or meditate on the Bible, you just might be spiritually passive.

“Seven days without prayer makes one weak” flash signs in front of many churches. Corny? Yes. True? Yes, again. But when you can’t seem to find the time to communicate with God, you just might be spiritually passive.

Jesus called you, His disciple, the salt and light of the world. The salt in you was not meant to rest forever in the shaker; your light was never meant to sit permanently idle under a barrel. No matter how thrilling it is to hear testimonies of souls won, lives changed, and prayers answered, those miracles didn’t occur without the salt being poured out first or with the light still turned off. In every case, someone rose up out of passivity and lived boldly, spoke freely, or prayed fervently. God used someone’s salt and light to perform His wonders.

With the world squeezing in against you from every direction, you can’t afford to live  a passive life. You will never be able to address the persistent twisting and distortion of truth in our generation effectively with bland passivity or wishy-washy conviction. As the old saying goes, “If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.” Only by soaking up the nutrients of the Bible and by spending time in fellowship with your God on a daily basis will you find the ongoing strength, wisdom, and power to face off with the assignments that God will send your way.

Wishing the world would straighten up on its own won’t make it happen. Wishing the rapture would just take place now won’t make that happen, either. You are salt and you are light, and since the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Himself will quicken  and empower you to do all that He’s calling you to do. But He cannot do these things in you without your active cooperation.

“‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’  Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”  Ephesians 5:14-17, NIV

Stay salty and shine brightly,

Dorothy

For an outline from bible.org on the origins and effects of passivity in marriage, see  https://bible.org/seriespage/passive-men-wild-women-part-1-genesis-31-5

Among the most destructive attitudes in marriage according to my pastor’s wife is the drive—whether you are the husband or the wife—to always get your way, to win arguments at any cost, or to control your spouse. She teaches that both partners are accountable to fight for the marriage, not to dominate it. If not dealt with, this mindset will erode and destroy the foundation of what could be a good, solid, and satisfying lifelong relationship for both individuals.

The quest to control a relationship, however, is not unique to husbands and wives. While I was a teacher, I had a ringside seat to the human drive for dominance over others. During my thirty-two years as an educator, I watched as boys, girls, and teens positioned and maneuvered for control over their peers (and sometimes their teachers!) in every grade I taught, from second through ninth.

Winners and losers in the power game unfortunately continue to emerge—without anyone giving it a second thought—throughout society, with both genders, at every age, among all races and ethnicities, and indeed, even among Christians. This desire to be right, to be better than others, to be top dog, is so prevalent that we don’t even blink an eye when we observe it. Strategies are employed to ensure that “I” come out on top and that “I” craft a winning persona. Little thought is ever given to the ones who may be hurt or destroyed so that “I” can secure “my” rightful place as the best, the brightest, the prettiest, the funniest, or the most powerful of all.

And here’s where it gets really weird. We can sometimes cop the same attitude with God! Have you ever caught yourself viewing Him as an accessory to your own success? OUCH! Have you ever spent time in prayer declaring to God how you will become the most anointed, most beloved, most amazing, most prosperous person this generation (or church) has seen? These attitudes very likely originate from the same place that playground “pecking orders” come—from the drive to rise above others so you can get the recognition and success you feel you so “rightfully deserve”.

Such desires are not birthed by the Holy Spirit and are not in accordance with the heart of God. That’s why when such praying is not actualized, it is due to God’s love for the one seeking the “bump up”. It’s His will to form Christ within all of us—in our thinking, attitudes, desires, and behaviors. He refuses to undermine His supreme purpose for our lives by handing out superficial success—like a genie—to anyone who craves or demands it.

Think about this: when one partner in a marriage refuses to be a doormat to the other—while at the same time remaining faithful to his or her vows to love, honor, and cherish—the lust for control is met head on. Despite the accusations of the demanding partner to the contrary, the husband or wife who lovingly refuses to be manipulated or controlled is actually walking the love walk.

In my Christian walk, if I do not yield my frustration and anger to God when things don’t go my way and allow Him to redirect me, then I just might strike out in vengeful self-righteousness at anyone who I perceive as standing in my way. In my desire to be in control, I may stop at nothing—including ruining the reputation of others—to justify my indignation at not getting my way.

When God does not help me to fulfill my driving desire to have my way, however, it is truly a wonderful opportunity for me to reassess my personal motives and methods. He doesn’t condemn me for being a control freak; instead, He lovingly reproves, corrects, and redirects me. At this point, if I yield to His grace and seek His will (not mine), I can patiently anticipate rising up in His timing to fulfill all that He has ordained for me to fulfill.

Neither bullying control nor nagging harping are endorsed by the Word of God for marriage—not for husbands, nor for wives. And when it comes to my relationship with God, I have a choice to make. Will I yield to Him and joyfully embrace and take part in His precepts and purposes for my life OR will I petulantly insist on my own plan and nag Him incessantly to do what I think He should do throughout the rest of my time on this planet?

The choice is up to each individual.

• It is dangerous and it will turn out badly for you to keep kicking against the goad [to offer vain and perilous resistance].  Acts 9:5b, Amplified Bible

• I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live.  Deuteronomy 30:19, Message Bible

• …in order to live the remaining time in the flesh, no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.  1 Peter 4:2, Holman Christian Standard Bible

May God bless and help you as you daily yield control of your life and will to God.

Dorothy