(Some material adapted Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst)
His divine power has given us everything we
need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his
own glory and goodness. Through these he
has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may
participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused
by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith
goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to
self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to
brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing
measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:3-8
The verses above are very clear about the fact that God has given us
everything we need to keep from coming unglued.
The key words are “His divine power”, and “Make every effort.” Through Him and only through Him can we make
different choices when we feel unglued.
It will still not be easy but it is possible
with Him and impossible without Him. We
also have to “make every effort” to add things like goodness, knowledge,
self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, and love. That requires making a choice. It won’t happen naturally because of our human
nature. We do not have all that good
stuff automatically like God does, but in His power, we can. Here are some steps we can follow to help us
bring a godly calmness to our unglued situations.
1.
Remember
Who You Are: Remember that you are a child of God, holy and set apart for a
mighty plan; dearly loved. Nothing is
worth trading that for. Do not let your
unglued situations, or difficult people rule you and dictate your
behavior. Resolve this ahead of time and
predetermine to remember who you are
and whose you are.
2.
Redirect
Your Focus to Jesus: We have
absolutely no power to face our unglued situations but we can focus our eyes on
Jesus. He is the one with the power to
get us through the hardest places. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations
where there are no easy solutions or certain answers. When we don’t know what to do, at least we know who
to turn to.
3.
Recognize
that God’s Job is not Your Job: Sometimes we get into situations where we
get consumed with trying to fix everything that is wrong. We are no responsible for figuring out how to
fix things, or for winning the battle.
The battle is not ours. Our
responsibility is only to trust Him and release these situations to Him, and to
be obedient to God in the midst of these situations. When we are obedient, we are in the flow of
God’s power and covered by His ways, which are way better than our ways!
4.
Recite
Thanks and Praises to God: When we get into difficult situations and hard
places, the last thing we feel like doing is giving thanks and praises to
God. There is power in the sacrifice of
praise and it may just be the sweetest sound to God’s ear. Focus on who God is
in the circumstance and realize that the hardship is a blessing – even though
it doesn’t feel like it!
5.
Realize Reactions Determine Reach: It is hard to remember that we need to be
careful how we react to hard situations.
My reactions testify to the kind of relationship I have with Jesus and
the effect He has on my heart. We can
add to the authenticity of our faith and love for Jesus if we pause and let the
Spirit react through us. Our reactions
determine how effective we can be for Christ in the lives of those around
us. It is hard, but it is a defining
moment, and sometimes we might fail because we are human. Fortunately there is grace for the unglued!
Scripture to Claim:For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, buy our eyes are upon you. 2 Chronicles 20:12
