Start Your New Life Today (16 page)
I suggest you begin praying about each tormenting emotion or mental habit you have and find scripture about those areas. For example, if you are prone to worrying all the time, pray specifically about freedom in that area and look for all the scripture you can find about worry and anxiety. Study what God’s Word says about peace and refuse to live without it. It is yours, bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus, so why not claim it and start a new life today.
The apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:12 that he was determined to take hold of those things for which Christ Jesus died. In other words he made a decision that he would learn to have and enjoy everything Jesus died to give him. He mentioned pressing past things and that is exactly what we must be willing to do. It takes no effort at all to remain in bondage, but effort is required to gain and maintain freedom. Claiming your rights as a believer in Jesus will take some diligence and determination on your part. You will have to study, pray, and refuse to remain in bondage, but there is a life of freedom waiting for you that is more wonderful than you can imagine. Make a decision today that Jesus died to set you free and free you will be!!!
Do You Need a Change of Address?
I
find it difficult to believe what the people of Israel said in Numbers 20:2–4: “Now there was no water for the congregation, and they assembled together against Moses and Aaron. And the people contended with Moses, and said, Would that we had died when our brethren died [in the plague] before the Lord! And why have you brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, we and our livestock?”
How could they have said such a terrible thing? “Would that we had died when our brethren died [in the plague] before the Lord!” Were they actually saying they would rather suffer, be in torment, and die in slavery than to live free and with God?
It is difficult to believe anyone would choose one or the other over freedom but the truth is people do it all the time. God was offering the Israelites a new life, but they continually murmured and complained about every inconvenience they encountered. They wanted to behave however they felt like behaving, yet they expected good results. The sooner we realize that never works, the better off we will be. God’s promises are available for all. But they are not available unless we are willing to do things God’s way.
We cannot do bad things and expect good results. We cannot grumble at God and expect divine blessings. That is what the Israelites did. They were impatient, they murmured continually, they felt sorry for themselves, they were not thankful, and they blamed Moses and even God when things went wrong. They had an opportunity to press through to the Promised Land, yet they died in the wilderness. How can that be? How can they be so confused and twisted in their thinking? But then, I was the same way for many years and I know people like that today.
Jane married an alcoholic named John, and when he went into his drunken rages, he beat her. She left, took their children, and divorced him. Two years later, Jane married again. She married John again—oh, not
that
John. The second husband’s name was Ralph. He was a drunkard, and she repeated the same sad and abusive story. Her third
John
was named Ken. Although their names were different, it was as if she married the same man (the same kind of man) three times.
When I met Jane, she grumbled and asked, “Are there any good men out there?” Of course, she later admitted she looked for men in all the wrong places. She usually found them at a bar or a party she should not have attended. She didn’t go to church or any kind of Bible studies. She never put herself in a place to even meet a decent man, but she continually complained. The truth is she was making bad choices and then having a “poor me” attitude about the results. It is foolish to think we can see change if we keep doing the same things over and over.
If you desire change in your life, you will have to make some different choices than the ones you have made in the past. Do you need a change of address? Are you tired of wilderness living and prefer to live in the Promised Land, a place where many good things abound? If that is what you truly want, you can have it, but you will have to be willing to change many things in your life.
It is easy to condemn the Israelites because the Bible lays out their story so clearly. Paul wrote about the wilderness wanderings and urged his readers to not “discontentedly complain as some of them did—and were put out of the way entirely by the destroyer (death)” (1 Corinthians 10:10–11). As long as you continue to act as the Israelites did in their grumbling, you will get the same results. As long as you live like Jane, you will have the same disastrous effects. Although I gave the example of Jane, these situations abound in many people’s lives. Perhaps you are someone who has your paycheck spent before you cash it. Or maybe you are easily offended and end up angry most of the time. Regardless of your situation, as long as you continue with bad choices, you will end up with bad outcomes.
As long as you continue with bad choices, you will end up with bad outcomes.
When you are really tired of getting the same negative results—when you are tired of Satan buffeting you and tormenting you—you are ready to make changes. Those people in the wilderness died outside the Promised Land because they never learned. You have an advantage: you know about them, and you also know the Holy Spirit wants to change you.
You
can
change. You can begin by asking God to help you think positive thoughts in line with His positive thoughts, because positive thinking produces positive attitudes. Once your attitude changes, your life changes. It requires some effort and persistence, but it is definitely worth it. It is really quite simple: make the decision that God is smarter than you and start doing things His way.
Instant Gratification
“I
nstant gratification takes too long,” my friend said, laughing. She was standing in front of the microwave. She set the timer for ninety seconds to heat her coffee and tapped her toe as she impatiently waited.
I smiled as I watched, but then I realized that we’ve been spoiled by the word
instant
in our lives today. We have instant credit approval, instant oatmeal, instant coffee and drive-through everything. We like to think God’s ways are the same, but they are not. “God, give it to me now,” we pray. Or if we don’t use those words, that’s what we mean.
One of the things I’ve learned from my years of Bible study is we can’t hurry the Lord. He does things in His time. The Bible tells us about the long waits of Abraham and Joseph before God fulfilled His promises to them. Moses fled into the wilderness after killing a man, and waited forty years for God to tap him on the shoulder. Rachel prayed for years to have a child, and so did Hannah, before God answered them.
We can’t hurry the Lord. He does things in His time.
We should learn from the countless examples in the Bible of people required to be patient that we cannot hurry God. Many people grow impatient in waiting, and of course, the devil uses that to sneer and say, “God isn’t going to do what He promised. If He were going to do it, He would have done it by now.”
As I’ve thought about the matter of human impatience, I’ve realized that impatience is the fruit of pride. The proud can’t seem to wait for anything with a proper attitude. It’s as if they cry out, “I deserve it—and I deserve it
right now.
”
I want to point out something from the words of James 5:7. God doesn’t say, “Be patient
if
you wait,” but, “Be patient
as
you wait.” He uses the beautiful example of farmers. They prepare the soil and plant the crops, and then comes the season of waiting. They know in God’s time, the crops will produce, and they also realize it’s a different growing season for tomatoes than it is for wheat. They know waiting is necessary for harvest, so instead of making themselves miserable while they wait, they enjoy the time in between seed planting and harvest. You can make a decision to do the same thing.
We need to enjoy our lives now—right now while we wait. So many people complain about wasting time (which is how they talk about waiting). Instead of pacing and grumbling about how long we have to wait in line at the grocery store or the traffic congestion on the expressway, what if we said, “Thanks, God. I can slow down now. I can enjoy this moment. Every second of my life doesn’t have to be busy, busy, busy”?
The psalmist said it this way: “My times are in Your hands; deliver me from the hands of my foes and those who pursue me and persecute me” (Psalm 31:15). This was the prayer by a man in a desperate situation. His enemies were out to kill him. Still, he didn’t panic, but said, “My times are in Your hands.”
Isn’t that how God wants you to live? Your life and your times are in God’s hands. Doesn’t it follow then, if you’re facing delays and have to wait, God knows? He’s the One Who controls the clock of life. “My times are in Your hands.” That’s the way God wants us to live—and to enjoy the waiting time. Don’t focus just on reaching your desired destination. Focus on the journey and be determined to relish the moments God gives you to relax, and enjoy them as a gift from God Himself.
Too Hard?
P
lease make everything easy and simple for me, dear God. I don’t like to struggle, and I want constant victory without exerting any effort. Let me go on my way as I let You do everything to keep me secure.”
I have never heard anyone pray those words, but I have heard people ask for an easy life in prayer. Too many people want victory without battle, triumph without effort, and ease without labor. God’s world simply doesn’t function that way. After thirty-three years of ministry I have never had a person ask me to pray they would be able to endure their difficulty with a good attitude. They always want their problems to go away; and looking at it naturally, that makes sense. We all probably feel that way until we learn that some of our greatest blessings come out of our challenging times in life.
Too many people want victory without battle, triumph without effort, and ease without labor. God’s world simply doesn’t function that way.
“It’s just too hard.” I wonder how many times I have heard people say that. I wonder how many times Joyce Meyer has said that.
And I have.
There was a time when I tried to make a firm stand for following the Lord, but in my heart (and often in my mouth) were the words, “It was just so hard.”
God convicted me of negative thinking. He taught me that if I would stop looking at the hardships and obey Him, He would make a way for me. Deuteronomy 30:9–11, 14 tells us God wants to bless us and prosper from the work of our hands, but we must obey His commandments, and in verse 11, He assures us we can do it: “For this commandment which I command you this day is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off.” The first time I saw that scripture it destroyed my lifelong excuse that what God was asking me to do was just too hard. Anytime God asks us to do something, He always gives us the ability to do it.
Because we spend so much time listening to the negatives and figuring out what can go wrong, often we forget the promise that His will is not too difficult for us. Instead, it may help if we expect our difficulties to actually work out for good. For instance, take encouragement from Joseph. After he spent years in Egypt and saved the lives of his family in Canaan, his brothers were afraid of him. Before that, they hated him, plotted to kill him, and sold him into slavery. After their father, Jacob, died, they expected Joseph to punish them. He could have done that and groaned about his hard life—and his life had not been easy. Not only was he sold as a slave by his brothers, but he was wrongly imprisoned and could have been put to death if God hadn’t been with him.
Instead of saying, “Life is so hard,” Joseph said, “As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day” (Genesis 50:20). He understood how God works in human lives.
Joseph didn’t look only at the hardships; he looked at the opportunities. Joseph didn’t listen to the whispering campaign of his enemy; he turned his ears to the encouraging words of his God. In no place do we read of him complaining. He saw everything that happened to him as something that would work out for good in the end.
Even in difficulty we need to remember God loves us and has a good plan for our lives. The devil likes to creep in to say, “If God loves you so much, why are you in this mess?”
The best answer I can give is to repeat the words of Paul the great apostle:
Let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us (Romans 5:3–5).
God never promised us a life lived on easy street, but He does promise a blessed life.
Choosing the Right Response
W
hen you and I begin to break ourselves of any bad habit, we have a struggle on our hands. We have to fight within ourselves, crying out to God, “Lord, help me, help me!” It is so wonderful to know that the Holy Spirit is always with us to help us all the time.
If you know you have given yourself over to some bad habit like emotional eating, when you sit down to the table you have to say within yourself,
Holy Spirit, help me not to overeat.
In a restaurant where everybody at your table is ordering dessert, and you can feel yourself starting to waiver, you can cry out inside,
Holy Spirit, help me, help me!