The Balancing Act

 “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees;

I will not neglect your word.” Psalm 119:15-16 (NIV)

 

I have a condition known as hypoglycemia. It happens when my blood sugar (glucose) is used up too quickly or when it goes into my bloodstream too slowly. The symptoms I get can vary. I might suddenly become shaky, very tired and hungry or I may get confused or irritable. Yes, I know some of you are thinking “So how is that different from any other day?” Very funny.

While I have never gotten to this point, I do know that if it becomes too severe, seizures or even a coma might occur. So I have to take care of myself. But here’s the truth: sometimes I don’t. Yes, I am very aware that I need to eat small meals throughout the day and not skip a meal or go too long between them. I also know that if I eat a diet every day that is balanced with protein, vegetables, fruits and fiber while limiting sugars, I will have very few episodes of hypoglycemia.

And yet, too often I try a “quick fix” to correct the problem, like a candy bar. And it will “fix” the low blood sugar – for a while. But all the candy bar will end up doing is shooting the blood sugar up as it dumps a temporary boost into my bloodstream and then disappears as I drop to another low. I am left with the choice of either grabbing another candy bar for another temporary fix or eating a meal that is balanced.

Sometimes my prayer life is like that. I am in God’s Word for days, seeking His face, asking for His guidance, praising Him for His grace and forgiveness. I am “balanced” and ready for any situation or issue that might come my way. But then one day I “skip a meal” of His Word and think I can make up for it later with a candy bar: a verse or two from Scripture and a short prayer. 

Will it give me a temporary boost? Sure. But now I have a decision to make. I can either wait until another low comes, whether it is a situation at work or a concern at home, and grab another verse or two and hope it moves me up into the high range. Or I can make time to feast daily on balanced meals of reading God’s Word and seeking His direction for my life.  

Just as a balanced diet every day without skipping a meal can prevent the majority of my blood sugar problems, so a balanced “diet” of being in God’s Word daily can keep me encouraged and strong between the highs and lows of life.

Lord, I don’t want a temporary fix with you. I want to soak in your Word as I look for your direction for my life. Help me to daily seek you with all my heart. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 R.A.P. it up . . .

Reflect

• Do you find yourself in a “hit and miss” relationship with the Lord when it comes to your prayer time?

• What prevents you from daily conversations with God?

 

Apply

• Make a list of all the activities that you participate in for one full day.

• Draw a line through those things on your list that could be eliminated or rescheduled so you can have face-to-face time with the Lord.

 

Power

• Psalm 119:15-16 (NIV) “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.”

• Matthew 24:35 (NIV) “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

• Psalm 119:105 (NIV) “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

 

Mislabeled No More

 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

II Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

  The jacket the woman was wearing was beautiful – a soft shade of pale yellow with a hint of cream and brown swirled throughout. But what caught my eye  seconds later was a strip of masking tape on the back, just below the left shoulder. On it was written “$5.00” and under that the initials C.R.

  Obviously the woman had purchased the jacket at a garage sale. There is nothing wrong with that – some of my best treasures have come from those sales – but suddenly instead of seeing the beauty of the jacket, my focus was on the garage sale label that was stuck to it. And I began to wonder what to do next:  take off the label or leave it and act like it wasn’t there.

  We all wear labels, don’t we. Maybe they aren’t as obvious as the one on the woman’s jacket. But they can become a part of our lives without even realizing it. Do any of these labels sound familiar? Worthless, loser, failure, unloved, ugly, neglected, afraid, defeated, depressed, broken, ashamed. Sometimes others may label us in these terms – but many times we label ourselves. 

  There is so much freedom in knowing that II Corinthians 5:17 throws out those labels once and for all. It says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” A new creation! That’s the label we should be wearing as Christians. 

But unfortunately we allow Satan to not only whisper mistakes we may have made in the past but try to stick those labels on us today. If we allow him to succeed, it will affect our witness to others as well as how we view ourselves as children of the Creator.

  Today, this very minute, stand up and shout “I cannot change the past but I CAN change the future because I belong to Christ and He lives in me.” And the labels? Praise God, they are transformed!

• Worthless becomes Treasured!

• Loser becomes Winner!

• Failure becomes Success!

• Unloved becomes Cherished!

• Neglected becomes Nurtured!

• Afraid becomes Brave!

• Defeated becomes Conqueror!

• Depressed becomes Comforted!

• Broken becomes Whole!

• Ashamed becomes Joyful!

Do not let Satan’s lies stick to you like that piece of masking tape on the beautiful jacket. Let Jesus pull off that old label and throw it away! You are not mislabeled. You are a beautiful new creation in Christ!

 

Father, thank you for labeling me as your child, valuable and worthy of your love, mercy and forgiveness. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

R.A.P. it up . . .

 

Reflect

• Have you ever felt like you have no value?

• Why? Could it be because of what happened in your past or how you are living now?

 

Apply

• Journal a column of every label either you or someone else has tried to give you. Leave a blank space beside each one. 

• Now read God’s Word and in the blank spaces write down the labels that God the Creator has given you. Place a huge X over each old label and remind yourself that you belong to the God of the Universe.

 

Power 

• II Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

• Galatians 2:20 (NIV) “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

• Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The Battle of the Wills

When my children were small, they struggled with decisions all the time. Which cereal to eat, what outfit to wear to school, which television show to watch. So I made it easy for them: I gave them options. Rice Krispies or Cheerios? The blue shorts and blue and white top or the green outfit? The Smurfs or the Muppets?

There were no other alternatives; I offered two choices and they had to decide. The fact that they were all three a bit strong-willed did not matter to me. It was my will against theirs. And when they didn’t do what I wanted, I was even more determined to be in control and decide for them. Most of the time it ended in tears or tantrums. I’m trying to do less of that as an adult. At least in public.

Here’s my point. Isn’t that the same thing that we do with God? We go before Him and we give Him our options as we pray. “Here are your choices, God. Do I buy the big house on Poplar Street or the big house on the cul-de-sac? Who should I date: the tall good looking boy or the shorter, smarter boy? Which would be better for my backyard – the above ground or in-ground pool?”

  The first part of Psalm 143:10 says “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God . . .” What the Psalmist does not say is “Do my will, God.” How about us? Too many times my attitude when I pray is one of “Here are MY options, God. So tell me which one You want” instead of sharing from my heart and then asking Him what He has in mind for my life.

There is nothing wrong with sharing your ideas and plans with the Lord. He wants you to do that! The problem comes when we move from sharing to demanding that the Creator of the Universe choose from OUR options.

I believe that as my relationship with Jesus becomes more a “one-on-One” and not a “me here/You there” connection, I will want to follow His direction. But that will not happen until I toss out my desires and wants and replace them with His.

And as I follow His direction, He will begin to shape those very things that I desire most in my life to be what He desires most for my life. My prayers change from my choices for God to His will for me.

I encourage you to go before the Lord without a decision, without an agenda, without your will ahead of His. Ask Him what He wants for your life. Ask Him for direction. Ask for wisdom. And ask for peace when His answer comes, if it doesn’t conform to the answer that you thought you wanted.

Seek His heart and ask Him to change yours to make you more like Him. Then step back and watch what He does. His will or yours? The answer will be obvious.

Father, I come before you asking that you show me your will for my life. I lay all my plans down. Replace them with your plans for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

 R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Have you ever gone before the Lord with your answer to your request and simply asked Him to “rubber stamp” your will? 

• What was the result?

Apply

• Journal your prayer requests in a column titled “My Will.” Next journal the title “God’s Will” in the next column. Before you write anything down in the second column, read today’s Power verses.

•  Ask the Lord to show you His will for your life. Write down what He is sharing in your heart. Are they the same or different?

 Power 

• Psalm 143:10 (NIV) “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”

• Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

• Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

 

Say What?

 “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” 

Colossians 2:8 (NIV)

My family and I went to a unique restaurant this weekend. It was full of dinosaurs - all shapes and sizes and names that none of us could pronounce. But what interested me more than anything were the “facts” included on a plaque by each dinosaur figure. 

For example, the stegosaurus holding court in one of the dining areas “lived more than 150,000,000 years ago. It was 30 feet long and 14 feet tall but it had a small head and a brain the size of a walnut.” How much of that statement is actually true and a fact?

A tyrannosaurus rex kept watch over us as we ate lunch. It lived “65 million years ago and weighed as much as 9 tons.” Again, is that 100% accurate? As we ate lunch, we were surrounded by what the waitress called “facts about our amazing past” but I kept thinking “How could someone claim all this information as fact?”

That applies to us as Christians, too. We are surrounded every day by bits and pieces of truth woven together with an untruth or half truth. For example, an acquaintance once told me that the Bible says that “God helps those who help themselves.” When I asked her where that sentence was found, she didn’t know. “But it IS in there, exactly like that,” she insisted. Nope.

What about “charity begins at home.” In the Scriptures? No. But often quoted in a sentence preceded with “The Bible says . . .” Colossians 2:8 states clearly that we can be fooled by “deceptive philosophy” in this world. If we do not spend time in the Word daily, we are going to struggle with what is true or half true or completely false.

And if we listen to everything this world offers without stopping to dig for truth, all those facts which aren’t facts will begin to mold together so that it’s harder and harder to separate out truth, just like the information we read about the dinosaurs.

Always remember: when someone shares something as Scripture that you are not familiar with, don’t hesitate for a second to respectfully ask them exactly where it is found and then look it up in the Bible. If it does not line up with God’s Word, we can write it down and repeat it all we want, but it is not the truth from the only One who speaks truth: Jesus Christ. 

Father, help me to stay in your Word daily so that I can base my life on the Truth of Jesus and not the fiction of the world. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

R.A.P. it up . . . 

Reflect

• Have you ever believed something that you heard was Scripture based, only to find out later that it was not from the Word? 

• What did you base your belief on?

Apply

• Carry note cards in your purse or pocket with you every day.

• When you hear someone quote something from Scripture, write it down. Research in the Bible to see if it is truth from God’s Word or a worldly belief.

Power 

• Colossians 2:8 (NIV) “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.” 

• Romans 12:2 (NIV) “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

• I John 2:17 (NIV) “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”