Only reacting

You know that aged old question, “what came first, the chicken
or the egg?” I wonder instead what came first, the thought or the manifestation?

So often I hear people say things like, “ I said that
because they said this” or “ if they didn’t do that to me I wouldn’t have done
this to them. ‘ We are only reacting to
whatever life seems to throw at us.

I wonder though… if we found out that our reality is not
defined by what gets thrown at us, instead it’s defined by our reaction, would
we change the way we react?

I have often contemplated, the commandments of Father God, maybe
are less command and more protective defense.

Also the Fruit of His Spirit we are to grow within us and
share with the world, what if He is
giving us tools for success not just do as I say, because I said so,… rules to
follow.

Take for instance self-control, if we mastered self-control,
it may stand to reason that we would become a lot less reactive, and way more purposeful in our responses to all life’s situations. Its very likely,
that most, if not all, drama and stress in our lives would disappear.

It also amazes me how easily deceived we are when it’s
pertaining to our own personal character.

We are more than willing to help in the assessment of other
people’s character, sometimes jumping in with our two cents before being
invited into the conversation.

Yet when it’s our own character being assessed, that we may accidentally overhear, rarely do
we listen self- controlled, ready to make adjustments to our own character
based on what we overheard. No… more likely we react defensively pouring out every component surrounding our
personal circumstances that may be unrealized by our assessors thereby making their
assessment of our character unmerited. Meanwhile our emotions having been
stirred are making it difficult if not impossible to remain self-controlled.

Knowing the rather high probability that this is truly the
way we would respond, still never seems to detour our two cents jumping into
either invited or uninvited conversations about others. Somehow we think only
our circumstances deserve to remain un-assessed by those without full disclosure.
It never crosses our minds that we don’t truly know enough to give any value to
our two cents in the first place so maybe we should change our thoughts instead
of devaluing our two cents by putting it out there having no backing.

No matter what life throws at us, it’s our decision and the
implementation of said decision that truly becomes our reality. Whether we are self-controlled or instead react
emotionally determines who is truly in the control seat bringing forth our
reality.

Reacting permits an open door for the enemy to take over the
control of our reality. Our reacting means an almost immediate emotional
response that’s lacking in self-control.

Not only can the enemy at that point take control of our
reality but he tends to keep it by triggering those same emotions over and over
and over again.

1 Peter 5:8 NIV — Be alert and of sober mind. Your
enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour.

Galatians 6:7-8 KJV — Be not deceived; God is not
mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that
soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to
the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

Father God is no respecter of person and He will not be
mocked. No He doesn’t play favorites no matter who does or doesn’t go to
church, who prays more, who’s intuitive enough to be right more often than not,
even based upon who is actually right and who’s wrong in accordance with His
Word.

Our job has never been to sit and contemplate who is or is
not acting according to His Word anyway. That is between them and God. The Holy
Spirit has never been fired and is still in charge of conviction.

Because we are weaker alone and isolated, the enemy causes
division among us and with the using of the mandate to be discerning, we are deceived into believing we aren’t
really judging people.

Ephesians 4:29-32 KJV — Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that
it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with
all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

No matter what situation we find ourselves in, and no matter
who we believe needs a small nudge or a big shove, back onto the straight and
narrow, two things remain true and worth our consideration,

1. To react, is
giving the enemy a very high probability of winning control, however temporary,
over our reality, keeping us in bondage.

2. We don’t get to
pick and choose what parts of God are trust worthy enough to have faith in. We
either have complete faith in Him, or we don’t.

Until next time may God-bless you and keep you as you seek
Him with your whole heart.

Mistake Blessings

Mistakes are building blocks of life, the blessing of grace and growth, not to be mistaken as a sign of incompetence or failure. The failure is the ones stagnant in growth, too afraid of making mistakes. — Proverbs 3:11-12 My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord Or loathe His reproof, For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. — Job 5:17 “Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. Fear of making mistakes can manifest as cowardice and stagnant spiritual growth, also causing an unfulfilling life experience here on earth. The longer one walks in this fear the more cloudy their vision becomes of who God is and who they themselves are. The wrath of God becomes their justification for stagnation in spiritual growth and understanding, while the love of God becomes a distant dream that one day they hope to obtain. They live life riding the fence, never knowing their true potential, never understanding their true value and worth (aka the reason they themselves are the masterpiece that God put together on purpose that the world was lacking). The missing puzzle piece so to speak. We mustn’t teach our children not to make mistakes, we should teach them instead how to learn from the ones they do make. We shouldn’t raise them to fear being wrong or to hide their misunderstandings and questions about why the world works the way it does. Instead, we should instruct them who their creator is and how purposefully He knit then together. Show them how exciting it can be to live life as the adventure it was meant to be. Teaching them how to seek understanding and how to receive instruction gratefully. Allow them to experience the joy of getting it right, a job well done and the pain or disappointment of missing the Mark or not making the team. Mentor them that mistakes are not only necessary for growth but also certain to happen. Open their eyes and hearts to the instruction and counsel of Almighty God the Creator who knows the reason they are here, the purpose in which they were created. The God who knows what makes them his masterpiece. We shouldn’t instruct our children in how to get their ways, wants and desires by being demanding or entitled. Instead, instruct them how to be contented with their basic needs being met. We are all created on purpose and with a purpose. I picture father God looking over the Earth that he created and saying it is good, but it would be better with this someone. Then he knits that someone together to be born making a masterpiece within the masterpiece. No two people have ever been the exact same. We all have our uniqueness. We all have something in us that only we can offer the world. Each of us just one piece to be connected to the whole just like a puzzle. We were not put on Earth as adults. We all had to be born so that we could grow into our purpose by learning from our mistakes, by our asking questions, by our drawing closer to our creator with the acceptance of salvation through his son Jesus Christ, and by receiving his instruction that in effect is pruning and watering our faith. Father God blesses us with the ability to make mistakes and learn from them. — 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; — Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Another lie it seems has become the reality of society, the craftiness of the enemy has led so many of us to believe the making of mistakes is so bad we must avoid doing so at all cost and hide the ones we do make behind a closed door heavily guarded. We not only operate in this way of thinking we help it along by passing our own judgment upon our brothers and sisters in Christ even if only with a look of disappointment on our face in response to a mistake another has made. It’s no wonder why so many of us have such heavy burdens of regret upon our shoulders not understanding why we can’t seem to lay them down at the cross and leave them there. The enemy has made the way near impossible for Father God to break through in order to shape us, mold us, water us and enlighten us as we journey toward our true purpose. If we are so afraid of being wrong or making mistakes we will justify the ones we can, therefore, never seeking forgiveness or correction. And the big ones we may ask forgiveness for them in private, yet still hold the heavy burdens of guilt upon our shoulders, to afraid of releasing them and chancing someone finding out. — Hebrews 12:6-8 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Praise God for His Merciful Agape Love for us. Love that the enemy cannot penetrate or conquer. Love that gently reveals truth to us, giving us the option of escaping the clutches of the enemies lies. — Proverbs 29:1 A man who hardens his neck after much reproof Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy. Now we know why the enemy goes to such extremes to deceive us about making mistakes. If we stay under his deception long enough we could find ourselves beyond remedy. The enemies ultimate goal becoming reality. — Proverbs 25:12 Like an earring of gold and an ornament of fine Gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear. This is the way we should be understanding the making of mistakes. The inevitable truth is we will no doubt make mistakes. We can choose to consider the mistakes we make as some of God’s best blessings of grace. Then we can let go of the heavy burdens of fault and keep only the seed of truth planted by His Spirit into our understanding from each mistake made. Until next time may God bless you and keep you as you seek Him with your whole heart.