Don't Cut Yourself Short

There are many times I have found myself in the middle of a serious problem that I wished and prayed would either vanish or conveniently find its solution immediately. While that satisfaction would alleviate my burden and allow me to continue with my life, there are some productive outcomes that result from embracing our challenges.

I have felt and seen in the lives of others the truth that if we don't firmly grasp our issues, they will not only firmly clinch us, they will likely dominate us. So, tackle the situation before it tackles you - if you can. If the circumstances took you by surprise, then respond don't react to the invader. Reacting is a sudden, knee-jerk, immediate action done due to some stimuli. Responding is the deliberate acknowledging of what is happening and planning of the necessary reply.

I never said this was going to be easy and it often is not, especially in a heated and difficult situation. Although I do not wish problems on anybody, the more problems you don't ignore and meet head-on, the more you will develop a strategy for beating them. 

Complications, obstacles and trouble in life are a given certainty. Life is what you make of it. Problems, issues or challenges in life can develop better integrity in us, if we allow it. Camaraderie among friends, family and co-workers can result from assistance with our problems. And the joy of seeing the challenge through and solution met is always satisfying.

Through life, problems will come and go, but you, God and hopefully your support group are your constant. I have heard and read of many who have given up in their fight of whatever situation they are battling and they choose suicide or death as the way out. There is no Player 2 or respawn point in real life. Life can deal a nasty hand at times, but God says to -

1. Seek Him first (Matt. 6:33),

2. Cast all your cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7),

3. Trust in Him and submit your ways to Him and He will make your path straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Knowing that everybody experiences problems, and going through a challenge of grief over a friend I lost recently, I wanted to encourage you. Whether your issue is on the lower end of the managing scale or much higher - first, turn to God and then meet that monster or mountain head-on and - Don't Cut Yourself Short. 

His Double Portion

I've heard many times from the pulpit - "You cannot out-give God." While this is true and many of us would try to out-give God for honorable reasons, Christians need to understand the idea of being filled up with God before pouring out God to others. If resting in God's presence and allowing Him to minister to you does not happen, then whatever believers do is under their own strength. 

Some people have a hard time with receiving anything from anybody, especially God. However, from the beginning, if we desire to be part of God's Family, there must be a reception of God's gift of love - Christ Jesus.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

Look at the ways Jesus loved us - He taught us His new way of Kingdom living, lived the perfect life we could not live, sacrificed His perfect life for ours as the redeeming substitute for our fallen relationship with Father God, bore torture for our healing, on the third day of His death He rose - defeating death, Hell and the grave. 

This display of love did not stop at the Cross and Resurrection. Christ now sits at the right hand of Father God and intercedes for His believers along with The Holy Spirit. Not only is Love one of God's names, according to Scripture, He is Love - 1 John 4:8 says, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." 

Love is a verb, an action word - it does not stay still. We see this concept emphasized in Psalm 136 as it has twenty-some instances of the phrase - "His love endures forever". Even though this is a song, we certainly understand the main point through repetition. God's love continues toward His family forever. Our responsibility is to freely receive and freely bless others with His love and inpouring of blessings.

Believers in Christ have the most generous God and King. I'm sure many Christians can testify to the plethora of blessings God has continued to bestow - and we must find the time and place to allow Him to pour out His abundance. 

Securing an uninterrupted time and place for God to minister to believers as His family is paramount for relational development. Just sitting and soaking in God's presence is a wonderful start, but be receptive to the good things, the love, the equipping God desires to do with you in these moments. This time supplies the opportunity for God to fill the Christian and arm the Christian with what is needed to minister to others, by receiving His Double Portion.