Wednesday, November 19, 2014

A Procedure Manual for the Unglued

(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

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