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He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Psalm 23:2-3
There are times in our lives when we can become completely overwhelmed by all that is around us. We can be pulled by finances, family issues, relational struggles, health concerns and many other things. In fact, these things of life are just the tip of the iceberg.
While it isn’t mentioned in mental health circles as an official ‘diagnosis’, each of us can be affected by the ‘Messiah Complex’. The Messiah Complex can be described as that thought process that says we are to become the savior of our world. In other words, all that goes on around us is our responsibility to correct, redeem and improve.
The messiah complex is rarely intentional. Usually it sneaks up on us. We take on one more responsibility. Our hearts open up to one more problem. Our compassion is directed towards one more individual’s crisis. Soon, without our knowing it, our minds are filled with concerns that really don’t involve us or that we have no control over. The result is frustration, fatigue and perhaps anger. We become so overwhelmed by all we ‘should do’ that we don’t do anything well.
That’s when Jesus says “Come. Rest in my arms. Take time apart to relax.” In fact, the Psalmist implies that our Good Shepherd demands us to rest in His Rest. The Rest that Jesus promises us is complete rest. It comforts the soul, nourishes the spirit and feeds the physical parts of our being.
When we become distracted and overwhelmed by the cares of this world it gives the enemy opportunity to pull us away from the important things that build our relationship with Jesus. When our relationship with Jesus is weakened our relationships with others will falter as well.
Take some time to evaluate your priorities. The world should not rest on your shoulders. Prayerfully consider what things need to be given over to the power of Christ’s righteousness. When we learn to rest in the Rest that only Christ can give. Take another look at Psalm 23:2-3.
“He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Who is the dominant one in our lives? Who is the one who gives rest, strength, comfort and peace? It’s Jesus! We are the receivers. He is the giver of all that we need.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I’m tired. I thank You for the fact that you know everything that is on my mind right now. All the stress. All the frustration. All the things that are making me angry. I confess to You that I am taking far more responsibility for things than I can handle. I ask that with the help of Your Holy Spirit you would empower me to rest in your arms. I hand over to you all the things that are troubling me today. In Your powerful name I pray, Amen.
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Revelation 3:8
There are many times in the Bible when God closes doors. These are times when He shows His great strength and power. He ‘closed’ the gate to the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve sinned. And with that closing it was never to be entered again.
God closed the door on the Ark as the Great Flood began. It was a show of power, protection (for Noah and the animals) and finality. Life would never be the same again on planet earth.
There are other times when doors were closed symbolically to show that God’s timing was not yet complete. The Israelites were delayed from entering the Promised Land due to doubt. David was prevented from building the temple because the time was not yet right.
God closes doors for a reason. In each of our lives there are times when we pray, we plead, we earnestly seek God’s working in particular areas of our lives. It’s frustrating for us when the doors close in front of us. It can cause us to doubt, to become angry, or give up all together.
God also opens doors. When He opens a door there is no shutting it. The Pharisees tried to shut the door of the tomb where Jesus lay. But God opened that door with a thunderous earthquake and NO ONE could close it. Man can try to hold back God’s power but He will never be thwarted by man. God’s open doors are no match for man’s power. Ever.
In the book of Revelation, the Apostle John delivers a message to the churches around him. In each letter the message is basically the same. Clean up your act…or else. There’s one exception to that pattern and it’s seen in the letter to the church in Philadelphia. The church in Philadelphia is described by John as being a weak church. John says, in verse 8, “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”
The church in Philadelphia was given many opportunities that the other churches around her were not, yet, it appears she was the weakest of all the churches. There was one redeeming quality that brought blessing to the church in Philadelphia. In spite of her weakness she had remained true to her faith in Jesus Christ.
The same is true for each of us as we travel this journey called life. There are times when we feel weak. We look at where we are and where we’ve been and can feel like total failures. Hopelessness and despair can attack us and try to keep us from experiencing the joy of Jesus in our lives.
It’s during these times that each of us needs to look to the open door! In spite of our weakness, God has a multitude of opportunities and blessings for us to enjoy. And when God opens a door for us, there isn’t anyone who can slam it shut.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. Thank you for the message to the church of Philadelphia. Thank you that even in my weakness you have placed an open door of blessing and opportunity before me. Empower me with your Spirit to refuse to listen to the voices that tell me I’m a failure. Forgive me for the times I have failed and help me to walk boldly through the open doors you have set before me. Amen.
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. Psalm 20:7
There are times in life when you just feel like ‘enough is enough’. People say ‘God will never give us more than we can handle’ but there are times when each of us have looked towards Heaven and said “Really? Isn’t this enough? I can’t take it anymore. Maybe YOU think I can handle this. I don’t’.
The ‘human’ tendency in each of us is to take matters in our own hands. We may not verbalize it to anyone, but deep inside us there’s this voice that says we are on our own. God either doesn’t exist, doesn’t care, or is just too removed from my situation to know what to do.
It’s a normal thing to do and God understands that. After all, He created us in His image. He created us to think on our own and to make decisions based on what we know and not on instinct. So, in the midst of our turmoil we seek our own answers. We may turn to revenge and call it justice. We may attempt so cope with the pain with drugs, alcohol, new relationships or even religious practices. But none of those will work and we find ourselves in the same turmoil.
In Psalm 20 the Psalmist offers up a prayer for those of us who have suffered the wounds of physical, emotional or spiritual abuse. His prayer for us is that in the midst of our darkest hour when anger and hate and revenge seem the only way out, that we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
The Psalmist doesn’t tell us to trust His power or look at His works and trust those. The power is in the name. Horses and chariots were items most people considered to be unbeatable in battle. They were swift and dangerous. While Jesus walked on earth many were healed simply by calling on His name. Life is hard. Tragedies come. People and churches and spiritual leaders fail. Family and friends will hurt you and abandon you in the time of your deepest need. But God is there. He desperately wants to walk with you through whatever life throws at you.
Call on His name. Talk to Him about your hurt. Release the pain and burden into His hands and ask Him to bear your load. That’s what He is there for. He loves you and it doesn’t matter if what you are going through is the result of your own choices or the actions of other people. His concern is about you.
Nothing anyone can do to you, no physical or political or even evil spirits can harm you when you call on the name of the Lord your God. Jesus is waiting to hear from you.
PRAYER: Dear God. I’m calling on you today. The trials and struggles that lay ahead of me seem insurmountable. I’ve been beaten up, battered and bruised. You say to call on you instead of calling on physical things like horses and chariots so I’m doing that. I need to feel Your presence in my life today. Empower me by Your Spirit to trust in you because I’m not sure I can do that on my own. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16
Some people think of confession and would rather have their toe nails pulled out with no pain killers or have surgery with a dull butter knife! The very word ‘confession’ conjures up visions of sitting in a dark room talking to a voice behind the wall or having all your secret thoughts, feelings and actions put up on the big screen for everyone to see. Following the confession you are led out and stoned by those around you.
The picture most of us have of confession is painful at best and terrifying at it’s worst. One of the reasons confession is hard is because confession is often seen as an attack on who we are as a person. If I have hatred in my heart I’m a bad person. If I have thoughts of lust I’m a bad person. If I get angry or struggle with an addiction or am hopelessly in debt I’m bad. I’m a failure and I’ll never amount to anything
Sad to say, the church (note the small ‘c’) has had a part in the negative press confession gets. Confession is really just agreeing with God (and other close friends) that we have faults, failures and struggles in our lives. Confession is not a statement of our worthiness. As Christ-followers our self-worth is wrapped up on the arms of Jesus. We will still struggle with sin. We will still fail. We will still make poor, even stupid decisions. We only need to take a look at some of the greatest Bible heroes like David, Paul, Peter, Abraham, Moses and a whole list of others who have made terrible mistakes either unintentionally or through rebellion.
James tells us that in order to be healthy spiritually, emotionally and even physically we need to live a lifestyle of confession. Prayer, confession and repentance are the three actions that lead to the forgiveness of sins committed by church members.
Earlier I referred to the church with a small ‘c’. The true Church, the body of Christ, operates in a way that makes confession personal and effective. It’s not a liturgical event, nor does it even need to be public. It should be an act of cleansing that says “I know I’m okay. I’m a child of God. But I have issues. I’ve failed and I need to make things right with God and others that I’ve hurt.’
Confession isn’t a trial. It’s to be done with close brothers and sisters in Christ. It doesn’t need to be in front of a pastor or priest or congregation. It’s an agreement with you and someone you trust to open yourself to the healing power of prayer. Some have even experienced physical healing by living a life of confession.
PRAYER: Father God. I thank you for Jesus and His love, forgiveness and understanding. I confess to you that the faults of my past and the mistakes I’ve made haunt me like ghosts. I’ve been abused by those in your church that claim to be helping but have ended up being judgmental and making my life miserable. I claim the freedom I have in you. Show me the areas of my life that need healing. Empower me to find trusted friends who will openly and honestly accept me with all my faults and pray with and for me. Amen.
After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. Job 42:10
Have you ever noticed how, during the driest times of the year, the only greenery in your yard is the weeds? Why is it that when the nice, soft, green grass goes into dormancy and stress the weeds are the ones that stand strong and tall? They seem to stand out above the brown dry grass around them as if to say, “Look at me! I’m still green and healthy. And you…well….you are dead!”
People can be the same way. At those times when we are in despair or struggling to survive, there are those who ‘have all the answers’ to our dilemma. We aren’t eating right. We aren’t wearing the right clothes. We aren’t hanging with the right friends. We aren’t doing our job right.
It can even be more frustrating for us when they even throw the ‘spiritual’ angle into our pain. We need to pray more, go to a different church, attend a bible study, read a certain book, or do what Aunt Sally did when she was going through the same thing.
Job endured a similar situation with his ‘friends’. He’d lost everything he had. His wealth was gone. His kids were dead. He was covered with painful boils, and for whatever the reason, his wife had stopped supporting him emotionally. Add to that the visit from three friends who proceeded to tell Job, in all their human wisdom, why God was punishing Job.
The problem with Jobs friends, and the problem with the advice we sometimes receive, is that…well…it’s worthless! It doesn’t speak to our needs. It increases our pain and can load a boat load of guilt on us. To be fair to the ‘advice-givers’ their advice may be well-intentioned, and there may even be some truth to it.
For example, going to the right church, being involved in Bible Study and reading Gods word and having a good prayer life are all important parts of being a Christ-follower. However, doing all the right things doesn’t guarantee that life will work for us. We still encounter grief. We still get cancer. We still have to endure broken relationships. People still let us down.
In the story of Job, we have an opportunity to see what he didn’t. We see what was going on in Heaven and the discourse between God and Satan. We also see God’s impression of Job. God Himself said that Job was a man of integrity and character. In all that Job went through, God himself stated that ‘Job did not sin’ (even though Job’s friends thought otherwise).
At the end of Job’s test, God reveals Himself in a mighty and awe-inspiring way that drove Job to His knees in worship and humility. Then, God spoke to Job’s friends. He was not kind to them. But Job prayed for his friends. He wasn’t told to. That’s the way Job was.
People of integrity realize that offensive people will come their way. True Christ-followers know themselves so well that the words of thoughtless people, whether intended to be harmful or not, do not change their standing with Jesus. Because they are secure in who they are, they can pray for offensive people just as Job did. It’s not easy. It’s a lifestyle of forgiveness based on knowing that what others think of us isn’t nearly as important as what God thinks of us.
PRAYER: Holy God. I thank you today for who I am. I praise you for the fact that regardless of what others think about me, you know my heart. You understand my pain. You know my past and all the reasons I am the way that I am. I ask that you would give me patience to bear with offensive people. Help me to have the power to pray wisely for them, not for my sake, but for yours and theirs. Guard my lips as I speak to those around me as well. In Jesus name, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 