Rewriting Your Life Script? Set Boundaries - Part 3

Can you imagine going back in time to change significant choices you made at a younger age? Being older and wiser indicates the probability for choosing differently. Some would even like to rewrite their entire life script composed of experiences, decisions, and the direction their life took over the years.

Some things are unalterable. You can't change who your parents were or the environment you were exposed to growing up, but you can change your attitude. Altering daily routines to allow for more flexibility isn't easy, but it's not impossible. God’s grace and mercy and the insight he provides allow for a new script to be written on how you will order your life for the remainder of your days.

Psalm 1 refers to a life script God will bless. "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord on which he meditates day and night.” This is not easy, but a choice that honors Christ Jesus.

Rewriting Your Life Script? Set Boundaries - Part 2

Opportunities for making significant changes in one’s lifestyle rarely occur. When it does happen the opportunity may slip away if the willingness to be accountable is missing. Taking responsibility for the cost or sacrifice that change demands is the issue. A young woman desperately wanted her marriage to heal from the anger and jealousy that had torn it apart. 

For reconciliation to be possible she would have to change her inordinate attachment and dependency on her parents. Her husband refused to reconcile until she was willing to set boundaries on her parent’s influence and control. Throughout her marriage, she had blamed her husband for their ever-present conflict.

Although this young woman's intentions were sincere, she refused to enforce the boundaries she knew were needed. Mature love is what adults crave and seek, but becomes possible only when God’s instructions to leave parents and cleave to each other are set in motion. While this may be difficult, God will provide the means to do so where a firm choice is set in place.

Rewriting Your Life Script? Set Boundaries - Part 1

Blaming others for our troubles and hardships is often a first line of defense. Accusations range from absurd to ridiculous and on to laughable. You’ve heard the story of the student who didn't do his homework. When the teacher asked him to produce it, he excused himself by blaming his dog, whom he accused of eating it.

Blame is a form of deception that tries to hide our inadequacies. Blame attempts to make something or someone responsible for our own bad choices. In reality, it's an effort to sidestep accountability by refusing to be submissive to the truth. Believing that if you escape the immediate consequences of a bad choice, you will escape them indefinitely, simply isn't true.

Learning to set boundaries on blaming others and to accept responsibility for your decisions a critical choice. God directs us to confess our sin and failures, for through confession, we override the impulse to blame others. The old adage of confession being good for your soul has viability. Confession paves the way for an honest relationship with God and others.  

Facing the Giants of Life - Part 3

The strongest and most faithful Christian is vulnerable to sin and failure. Moses succumbed to disobedience and was held accountable by God, who instituted severe consequences. Moses’ disobedience demonstrated an unwillingness to be submissive to God and those he was responsible for leading during a difficult period of transition.

Getting fixated in negative thinking obstructs feelings of happiness and joy while possibly preventing a normal progression toward positive opportunities and success. All the Hebrew people twenty years of age and older who had come out of Egypt would be prohibited from possessing the promised land because they refused to be submissive to God's leadership.

Blaming others or God for our troubles demonstrates an unwillingness to make appropriate, healthy choices. Yet regardless of how daunting our troubles and challenges appear, God will deliver us safely to wherever he is directing us. He requires us to move forward in faith, believing in his promise to help us overcome every obstruction.  

Facing the Giants of Life - Part 2

In life’s journey, cruel, bad things happen to good people because evil exists in the hearts and minds of those whose mission is to harm others. Justifiable punishment is right for those who perpetrate evil on the undeserving. Blaming others for our lack of achievement and failing to be accountable is often a defense for lack of courage and faith.

The majority of the men whom Moses sent to survey the land God promised believed Israel was incapable of taking it from the giants who possessed it. Listen to their exaggerated analysis. "The people living there are powerful giants and their cities are fortified and well defended." They believed God was incapable helping them, so they exaggerated the obstructions.

They blamed God for placing impossible barriers in their way and believed death awaited them if they engaged the giants who possess the land. They failed to trust in God's provision and protection. Whatever you’re facing, believe "you can do all things through Christ who will empower you to do what appears impossible." 

Facing the Giants of Life - Part 1

Opportunities will invariably include some obstructions. Obstructions are deterrents that can obscure success. The Hebrew people chose wandering the desert forty years rather than facing giants that possessed the land God had promised to give them. Fear prevented them from following God’s guidelines that would insure their success.

Refusing to take advantage of the opportunities God makes available demonstrates lack of courage to step out in faith and be accountable. Numbers 14 gives evidence of this process in action. Listen to the voice of protest and blame. "If only we had died in Egypt or in this desert. Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword?"

They cried out against exaggerated obstructions while rejecting God’s promise of victory. God's promises always embrace possibilities for victory. He does require that you be submissive to his directives and, with the faith he provides, confront the real or imagined giants. He will empower you with his strength, so victory is assured.

Overcome Obstructions: Submit to God - Part 3

In Numbers 14 the Hebrew people refused to follow God's chosen plan to claim the promised land flowing with milk and honey. Time was of the essence! A decision had to be made and action taken to acquire God's blessing. I'm always amazed by predictable opposition to the clearest of God's directives.

          Were these people unaware they were accountable to God for their lack of submissiveness and to the reality that God's timing determines success or failure? Whatever the opportunity, giants, however they’re defined, will have to be subdued. The obstruction for the Hebrew people was a failure of faith that God would be with them and go before them to ensure victory.

          Listen as 1 John 5:4 gives us courage to step up to the plate and be submissive to God's leadership. "Everyone who is a child of God overcomes the world and our faith gives the victory that overcomes the world." To overcome means to subdue our fears and doubt and move forward in faith under the protection and presence Christ Jesus will provide.  

Overcome Obstructions: Submit to God - Part 2

What does the phrase, “time is of the essence,” mean to you? It implies an essential need to take immediate action. In Numbers 13 Moses sent a team of men to explore the promised land. Two brought back a good report encouraging Moses to immediately take possession of this rich land of opportunity. It was the moment to take delivery on what God provided.

However, obstructions consisting of fear and doubt gave loud voice to objections that resulted in forty years of wandering in the desert of poverty rather than enjoying the prosperity of a land filled with milk and honey. God's allowed Israel to sabotage a great opportunity by rejecting his perfect plan and timing.

It's hard to let go of what is known, yet God will ask us to do that. God expects us to be submissive to his leadership and to act accordingly. We will be held accountable for our choices. However, God’s love and goodness, his insight and wisdom, give us confidence to make changes that correspond to the opportunities he places before us.  

Overcome Obstructions: Submit to God - Part 1

Relationships thrive where peace is present. Peace is listed after love and joy in Galatians 5:22 as a fruit of the Spirit. Jesus said he would give peace to those who put their faith and trust in him. The peace he promised is not a fragile peace like the world gives, but the peace of God identified as a fruit of the Spirit that gives believers confidence.

Satan creates obstructions to negate God’s peace and must be confronted with the armor Jesus makes available to Christians to protect them from attempts to negate the peace Jesus provides. Blaming others for our shortcomings and failures is an obstruction we choose when we, by our own volition, submit to temptation.

While there are many obstructions, God provides ways to overcome every hurdle and stumbling block. When we stand ready to be accountable for our failures by seeking forgiveness, God restores the peace he promised. “When you seek God with all your heart, He will be found.”  This is an affirmation that secures peace for the weary soul.  

Seize Opportunity: It's Our Responsibility - Part 3

The success of a worthy mission or project depends on participants being accountable and submissive. Some people bristle at the thought of being accountable by thinking it’s an invasion of privacy. However, most opportunities require accountability and submissiveness to rules and procedures that ensure tasks are completed within an acceptable time frame.

Regardless of how promising an opportunity appears, obstructions such as impure thoughts and motives can block success. Self-centeredness can discourage others from providing positive input that promotes your own success. If you become sealed off emotionally and spiritually, you put yourself on a narrow pathway where you may stumble and fall.

God intends for you to successfully navigate through obstructions. He encourages you to constantly renew your mind with the truth of his word so you will be ready to take advantage of opportunities sent your way. Being accountable and submissive is possible. God empowers you with strength and determination to do so.  

Seize Opportunity: It's Our Responsibility - Part 2

Being created a little lower than angels is an awesome thought. Have you considered the implications for opportunities this makes available to you? What robs us of God’s blessings is our refusal to be accountable and submissive to the requirements the responsibility demands. Another issue is that we permit obstructions to block our advancement toward achievable goals.

Obstructions can be other people's needs that distract us from reaching our objectives. Misconceptions attached to anger, greed, or self-doubt become obstructions that interfere with reaching objectives. Lying, covering up facts, or any deceptive behavior that hides the truth are considered obstructions.

A man explained how he allowed fear to become an impediment to his happiness at work by robbing him of opportunities to excel within the company. As God's creation, we are accountable to him for opportunities he gives us and how we use our gifts and talents. He rewards those abundantly who trust him and act responsibly.  

Seize Opportunity: It's Our Responsibility - Part 1

What makes human beings unique from other species is our ability to feel and think and to come to logical conclusions. Listen to Hebrews 2:7 from J. B. Phillips' The New Testament in Contemporary English. "What is man and woman that you bother with them; why take a second look their way? You made them not quite as high as angels. Then you put them in charge of your world."

With responsibility comes opportunity, but also accountability for how choices are managed. Another component of responsibility is submissiveness, which in its healthiest sense demands compliance and obedience to authority. Submissiveness implies honesty and truthfulness, which are an absolute necessity for every facet of life.

If opportunity is not seized at the moment of availability, it may be forever lost. Opportunity may mean saving a relationship that has deteriorated, but could with major effort be turned around. God puts us at the crossroads of life to offer us a chance to evaluate what's important. Submitting to that opportunity is your choice.

Created for Relationship - Part 3

An issue all marriages encounter is who is to be submissive to whom and to what degree. Equality includes equal power, different but equal roles, as well as opportunities to express the talents and skills each person brings to the relationship. Ephesians 5:21 offers this advice, "Submit one to another out of reverence for Christ."

What does the word accountability mean to you? Everyone has to answer to someone. Even gang members have this responsibility. Those who refuse face severe consequences. Most human beings comply with being accountable where assurance of personal safety exists. Submissiveness means more than yielding to the desires of another person.

In the healthiest sense, submissiveness means to be accountable to another person. The apostle Paul indicates that relationships should reflect our relationship with Christ Jesus. We are accountable to God for our behavior and our thoughts. God encourages us to consistently submit and be accountable to his kindness, love, and power.