Can't change people

We can't change people, sometimes we might order them around and as they comply get a false sense of control but we do not control.  The only thing we truly control is our relationship to the Lord.  We have to work on that and as suffering comes as it surely will we can either cave and hide from the Lord or grow deeper into Him.  We can't control others and as we draw closer to Him it becomes unmistakable that the person so frustrating to us is the one we should be asking our Father how best to deal with.  

Ask the Lord why you suffer, its relationship building.  We want easy street, auto-pilot but that doesn't drive us to Him. 

--

http://jd-jimsblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-is-your-relationship-to-lord.html

The shadow of His wings

It isn't a feeling - until you get there, it isn't a place we go -we can be there at all times and in all situations.  As we seek deepening relationship we learn to live there, to stay confidently ever mindful that we are His.  To walk through the world with Him as the guide, Giving Him the things we see that we can't deal with - which is most things.  The only thing we really can decide is to be His in all things.

To know we are His in all things casts out fear.

service to God

Service to God must come at the end of self.  If we choose to go before then we are tempted to act on our own strength.  If we realize how helpless we really are for service to the Lord then we will let Him work through us. Our messages will be about Him and not us.  This means we will point toward Christ as we should rather than basking in what we think is our holiness.

We will never feel qualified to work for Him, and we must get to that point under His guidance and leading before we can be of use to Him. 

How is your relationship to the Lord?

We tend to want to compartmentalize our lives, we only have so much time for people, or this activity.  We want to be secular sometimes and Holy at others.  Yet the Lord wants us to be in relationship with Him at all times- there are no lines of distinction or spheres, for us to cling to them is to set ourselves up as lord of our lives rather than the Lord our creator.

Furthermore the Lord teaches us His children through action, not just study.  We often have to live a circumstance in order to drive it home.  The only thing one learns from youtube is possibly how to work a computer better, although much can be seen on youtube.

The Lord wants us to realize His ever presence in our day to day at our vocation, the one we have now and not the great one we dream of Him using us in.  The circumstances of our lives train us in accordance to His will for His purposes.

Further more He gifts us for His purposes, natural talent can be a path away from God when our focus is on the talent and what we see the limits and opportunities as being.  God will equip us for His work.  To sense His leading then not obey because we feel we have not the necessary gift is often done by those who forget that with God all things are possible.

We get caught up in things, rather than relationship to Him.  If He let all our things be taken as He did with His servant Job, would we still serve Him?

Do we seek to know His purpose for our lives or do we do we seek to know Him in all things?  

Are we too focused on self rather than Him?  Are we caught up in the injustices against us (sinners -deserving death) that we need reminding that He wants fellowship with all?

What do you think about or do?

How does one get the mind of God to be what he thinks?  Diligence, study, repetition, immersion into the mind of the Lord.  It cannot be gleaned from another person, it must be taken directly from the Source of Life.  Hearing His Word should be our great desire.

Inevitably and often, things will come out of His Word that we feel we cannot do.  We in fact must because His Word says we must.  His ways aren't hard, the hardness comes from our unwillingness to do things His way, our stubborn stiff necked insistence on our own way. We elevate our reason above His, we make ourselves out to be something we aren't, we seek the comfort of others on our route down the wide path.

We justify our own stubbornness by looking at those we feel are following God even less than we are.  The Standard is to follow the Lord in all things, not just be ahead of the crowd.  There is always growth in Him.

Anything of the Lord that we dismiss as too hard, or convince ourselves it doesn't apply to us, or wasn't meant for us, IS an area of disobedience on our part.  Think on those things, watch for the way you are telling God that He is not, but that you are.  Let Him show you how your way ends in destruction, but His way ends in life.

In first Samuel, Saul didn't fully follow God.  He often times was more worried about what the people thought than God.  He certainly didn't do what He was told, but allowed his own interpretation to cloud his obedience.  We're all like Saul when we cling to our self instead of yielding to His spirit.

What areas of your stubbornness have come to mind?  Yield to His ways.

developing personality

People are by nature self focused, taken to its end, one can become self focused to the point that the only authority they recognize is themselves.  Their reasoning, outlook, etc. becomes their moral compass they recognize no other authority.  They however did not create the world, and while seemingly somethings may be within their grasp of control, certain aspects are clearly not.  In this mind set of knowing we're not in control the Bible becomes truth, it rings true, whereas before we didn't recognize it as having any authority.  As we seek relationship with the Creator, His word becomes alive.

Certain problems come along - God allows- that we cannot answer or solve, apart from Him.  Once we see His answers and become hungry for them we can ask the questions that He may use to draw others to Himself.  We must saturate ourselves with His truth to push out any remnant of our own misguided thinking.

Once we become His, all the aspects of life that we considered important no longer are.  Our clinging to this life ceases.  Others who are not His (yet- with great hope for them to be His) see our disdain for the things they see important, they see the change wrought by our fellowship with Christ, and we will almost certainly be labelled, ostracized, criticized.

Once we get to relationship with Him, why doesn't the Lord take us home to be with Him?  We have to develop our personality in Him.  There is our personality that we develop as we relate to the world and our experiences, this naturally happens in life.  Our personality in Christ is developed by clinging to His ways in all things.  Even to our detriment (from a natural standpoint.  Are we willing to have our natural life poured out by Him for others?  Endure the tragic circumstance by His strength?  When those that aren't His see our lives poured out, then He can possibly have His way with them.  Anyone can speak of what should be, even with great passion, but to live it out with no earthly reward is a stronger message, and our character is developed in Him.

Is your personality developed in every aspect possible in Him?

Fully committed to the Lord?

We are bombarded by distraction and other things in our lives.  We make our own worlds where we escape reality.  Examples:

drugs - legal and illegal
anything sex related where pleasure - without potential consequences of being a parent is the focus 

video games

our own mind- in fantasies and pondering worlds we would create

sports

music

reading

cars, homes
Basically anything related to me, my and I put above others.

As we involve ourselves in these things, we are saying to God that we are god in those areas.  We fail to take Him seriously.  We are saying the world He created for us His creation isn't good enough, and drilled down that means therefore He isn't good enough.  True happiness comes from knowing Him not the things above.  Any of those things above are dead ends without God.  We need to be focused on Him, be in His word and listen for His voice.

We live in our own little world within His world, yet we need to be solely focused on His world.  Our worlds can't long exist in His world.  We must take God seriously and His ways, and not our ways. We cannot take ourselves seriously.

Concentrate fully on God, give yourself to Him.  We have to be His-willed and not self-willed. Let the life of Christ live through you.  The Lord will engineer circumstances where we must make the clear choice between His world or ours.

So where are you?