Forward Focus

Photo credit:  http://liveholiness.com/2012/02/the-path-of-prayer/

This morning I found myself penning the following words in my journal....

"I'm realizing when I play the comparison game I am just asking for a battle.  When I look to the left or right or behind me...I'm setting myself up for attack.  I really truly just have to keep my eyes on you Jesus."

I am a planner.  A list maker.  I pencil in dates on my calender for the year 2050.  To be honest ladies before the holidays I actually had myself so stressed out about by life that I literally made myself physically ill.  To the point where I marched myself to the doctor and he looked at me with genuine concern and said "Bridget, I'll run tests, but I am not sure its a physical problem.  I think you might be struggling with anxiety/depression from so much stress in your life."  

And right he was....tests came back.  Everything was normal, but I was not.  I was stressed.  Anxious.   Strung out.   Overwhelmed at all that I had on my plate, but God brought peace.  He always provides it when we sit at His feet and ask Him for it.  It's when we refuse to rest in His presence that life gets overwhelming.  

This morning as I penned these words "I really...truly....just HAVE to keep my eyes on you Jesus,"   I realize...it is the only way.  When I look to my right or my left....oh the comparison that happens....she is prettier, thinner, has a cleaner house, has a better job, is more successful  has a better car......when I look behind me the lies that satan throws at me are almost unbearable "Remember that time you failed, lost, were made fun of, didn't make the team, made a fool of yourself....the list goes on.....the past haunts me.  Immobilizes me.  Enables him, the enemy to make me utterly useless in the kingdom of God, but when I keep my eyes on Jesus....I'm not distracted by my past.  I am not focused on what she has and I don't have.  I am focused on one thing.  My Savior.  My Maker.  And it is to Him that I give all glory. 

As I spent time with Jesus this morning He whispered sweetly such wonderful truth to me from Philippians 3:

"....one thing I do:  FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND and STRAINING FORWARD to what lies ahead, I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

I pray that each of you too will forget what is behind you.  Let Jesus use your past as a way to mold you for the present and the future, not as a way that the enemy gets to immobilize you.  Instead press on toward Him.  Towards life.  Towards his amazing call....that He wants for you.  All of you.  Not just a part of you.  All.  Of.  You.

Blessings,

From God's Heart to Mine: James Chapter 3

Sometimes its hard to see past myself. I get so caught up in my own life, my own struggles, my own hardships, my own busy-ness, that I forget about everyone but me, myself, and I.

I had one of those days the other day. Satan was planting little seeds of doubt, greed, and selfishness in my mind and I in turn was letting these untamed thoughts run rampant in my head instead of taking them to God the moment they started.

You know the thoughts I'm talking about. We've all had them. They start with things like:

"I am just too busy right now to help out my friend (insert name here). Doesn't she know I have a million things to do too?"

or maybe

"Well no one helped me when I went through the same thing, so why should I give up my time to help them?"

(ugh that last one just gets me....and really shows how many lies fill our head when we don't continually give the stuff satan tries to fill our heads with, to God)

Do you recognize either of those? Maybe you have your own selfish thoughts in your head that will require a little clean up?

As I struggled through these thoughts and tried to justify my way of thinking, I finally reached for my bible (which I should have done in the first place) and opened up the book of James.

James 3:13-18 says:

^"13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

To hear the words earthly, unspiritual, and demonic being used to describe my current state of mind was a slap in the face. Each are things I strive to run from, not toward. It was only in that moment that I reached for the word of God and he let me face the cold hard truth in his loving and gentle way that I finally felt my insides give a bit and realize how wrong my bitterness and selfishness really were. That none of my feelings were justified at all. That these feelings, according to this passage are never justified.

So how about you? Do you struggle with these same feelings sometimes? Friends we must run this race together and spur one another on to not let these feelings overtake us, but again and again take them to the cross and lay them at Jesus feet where they belong. His desire is for our hearts to look more and more like his, and he cannot do a good work in us if we continue to let Satan distract us from His will. He will give you strength, just ask him...

Philippians 1:6

^"6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

One of the hardest things to understand sometimes in life is that God doesn't promise comfort. Some people mistake lack of comfort for lack of God's presence. I can tell you that God has asked me to do many uncomfortable things. The last 10 months being one of the hardest of them all in my entire life, and yet I know, standing here on the other side that He called me to this. That had he not brought me through the refining process of the hardships of the last 10 months, that I wouldn't have learned half of the stuff He taught me had I gotten to skip it and it is in that alone that I sing His praise. He is a good God. He is faithful and he alone will sustain me forever and ever.

Romans 8:28

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

So what about your heart? Are there sometimes seeds of ungodly selfishness and bitterness harboring there? Take them to the cross and let God's grace wash them away. Use these moments even in the busy-ness of your own life to set yourself aside and be used by God to serve another.