Grow in Faith and Reap a Harvest of Righteousness - Part 2

Choosing what is good and godly may require a struggle that’s surprising to most of us. Why not just roll with the flow and take the pathway of least resistance instead of staying focused on righteousness, peace and God’s purpose for you? There are many distractions to divert your attention from God’s plan for you.

Change, especially change that comes with repentance, trust and faith in Christ Jesus, begins a process that continues forever. While our finite, limited minds have trouble comprehending this truth, its validity is not lessened. The temptation is to take the course of least resistance and roll with the flow of old expectations.  

Your goal now is to flow with faith and trust in Christ Jesus, to remember that faith, trust and repentance are God’s gifts to you, that includes his righteousness. These gifts give your life a definite focus. Maturing as a person of faith is your objective now. God’s Spirit resides in you to ensure you reach God’s plan and purpose. 

False Assumptions vs. Reality - Part 2

The ability to deal constructively with reality is based fundamentally on faith and trust in God to sustain you, no matter how terrible or twisted reality appears to be. A woman revealed with frustration how everyone she met seemed to have an ulterior motive or hidden agenda behind their friendliness.

This seemed to be true for the young man in Jesus' parable of the lost son. With his inheritance depleted, his friends were nowhere to be found. Even the farmer who hired him to feed hogs had little respect for him. Yet it was in this setting that he shifted his thinking, which allowed him to confront reality, including facing his family and making amends.

False assumptions got him into trouble, but the willingness to shift his thinking alerted him to choices for changing his life. This young man had faith in his father's love for him that allowed the father to forgive his foolish choices and behavior. The father had faith in his son's ability to eventually deal constructively with reality, which is God's plan for each of us.

Family Peace: Putting God in Charge - Part 2

Couples who develop a high level of trust for each other learn how to avoid destructive power struggles. Developing trust for each other's strengths and weaknesses contributes to a balance of power that's important for creating a strong, healthy relationship. The appropriate delegating of power in a relationship relies on feelings of trust, peace, and contentment.

Developing and sustaining trust hinges on how others behave. Your perception of others and the world is influenced by behaviors you observe and the personal experiences you bring to a relationship. If you were deceived or abandoned in a former relationship, you might be distrustful about being vulnerable again. Surviving emotionally depends on knowing who to trust.

Jesus knew about the need to trust. Jesus is trustworthy because he is the Son of God, so he asks you to trust him as a friend and Lord of your life. Listen to Matthew 16:25. "Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Taking this step of trust and faith is a significant choice for positive change.  

Allowing Intimacy: Getting Close - Part 3

An early pioneer in the field of psychology observed two basic entities known as the pain and pleasure principle. I'm sure you would agree that most people try to avoid pain, and when it's felt, an all-out effort is exerted to find relief. Too much emotional pain caused by a significant other can lead to despair and often finds relief by creating distance.

What causes a couple to gravitate toward pain and despair? Differences in personalities, beliefs, and positions taken on issues are fertile grounds for hurt feelings, conflict, and misunderstanding. Ideally, pain caused by personal differences could lead to deeper closeness and intimacy when communication leads to understanding and is honored and accepted.

Positive change is possible when pain is viewed as a friendly messenger. Pain becomes the gateway to wisdom if permitted to do so. Job 6:25 proclaims: "How painful are honest words." If you can trust your inward pain to a loved one who hears and understands, a door opens to a deeper, more pleasurable intimate relationship.  

Faith and Trust to Grow - Part 3

Children love to explore. Discovery and learning is a never-ending process that begins in infancy. Parents can interfere with the initiative to explore and learn by an overly-protective attitude or by harsh restrictions. Children must have boundaries and safe areas to explore, but as growth and learning take place, more freedom is needed to explore.

Change is anchored around the initiative to explore alternatives to whatever opportunities or problems life presents. Children have a natural, inborn faith to seek out that which is beyond their present knowledge and skills. Learning is the pathway to change. Jesus told the disciples to let the little children come and learn of him.

A child will eagerly take the initiative to come to God because of basic trust. Do you have an eagerness to explore and learn from Jesus? Listen to his invitation. "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Jesus is the firm foundation for building faith, hope and trust. 

Faith and Trust to Grow - Part 2

Children need to believe they are special in ways that make them feel unique, but not totally set apart from others. They need recognition and acceptance that confirm they're loved and appreciated. God created us for a significant purpose so our lives would not linger under a cloud of shame and doubt. Shame and doubt's message is that you're flawed and inadequate.

Dominant feelings of shame and doubt are like shackles and chains that bind us to mediocrity and non-productivity. The opposite of shame and doubt is faith. John Wesley's friend, Peter Buhler, told him to "Live by faith until you have faith." Someone else proclaimed, "Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see."

God has put faith in your heart and soul to give you confidence. So focus on that speck of faith rather than the mountain of shame and doubt. Permit yourself to want faith. Believe that God desires to give you faith enough to change. Be willing to fight the good fight of faith. These decisions produce positive change blessed by God.