Decisions are something that we have to make every day from the moment we wake up to the moment we lie down. The alarm goes off, “Do I hit the snooze button again or do I get up now?” I’m tired, “Do I go to bed early or try to stay up and watch a little TV?” And in between those two every day events, there are so many more decisions to make. Some we do by habit, others we do from commitment and often we are just going with the flow. But there are times in our lives that one poor decision can have lasting consequences that can be very devastating. Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol can put you in a wheel chair for the rest of your life, cause you to be responsible for the death or injury of others, or even send you to jail. It can also take your life. But there is a flip side to all of this and that is, one good decision can also change the caliber of your life for the better.
Being a teacher of women, someone asked me a couple of weeks ago, “What information would you give women to help them be successful in their New Year’s resolutions?” I’m not a big fan of “New Year’s Resolutions” so I had to take a minute to think about what’s the common thread for us as women on resolutions. The more I thought about it the more I realized the list of things we jump up and say we are going to do or would like to do for the New Year is quite substantial. But there is one thing I can think of that will cover anything on that list and more. It is, “This year, I’m going to obey God!” Yep, that about says it all.
Somehow as Believers we have gotten off track to think that we can pick and choose what we do as far as the Word of God is concerned. Beep! Wrong!!! If we are going to live to our fullest potential then we have to start with, “What does God have to say about this in my life?” And whatever it is, I’m going to do it!
How do we get started? I suggest that you begin with taking a hard look at that thing you want to change the most. For most of my adult life, I struggled with my weight. I would lose weight only to gain it back and even pick up some extra pounds I didn’t have before. But when I began to see (through the Word of God) that my eating was much deeper than just taking in too many calories or not exercising enough, then I was able to get to the root of my problem. I was using food to help me deal with certain emotions. It was a god to me and also a comfort in some ways. The truth is, God did not make food to comfort us, He made it for fuel and nourishment to the body. He never intended for food to be our friend, *Yeshua, is our Friend. And the Holy Spirit is the one in which we gain and receive comfort. As I began to get to the root of my overeating and made the decision to treat my body as the temple of God and take authority over my flesh, things turned around for me. As I took one day at a time, focusing on obedience to God, food began to lose the hold it had had for years. That was the biggest blessing to me, I was FREE!! The extra blessing or the gravy you might say was that I did begin to lose weight, dropped about 5 sizes, and I have not gained it back.
I used my weight issue as an example because losing weight and getting healthy is one of the top 3 New Years resolutions for women. But no matter what it is that you want to change in your life, you first must realize you cannot do it apart from Yeshua and obedience. You cannot expect your finances to change for the better, if you don’t do what God says concerning your money. If you don’t tithe then you are going to have money problems. If you spend your bill money on things that you shouldn’t then you will always find yourself behind in your bills and your credit rating low. Ask yourself, “Why is it that you are such a poor steward of your money? How do you view money?” We must get to the root of why we struggle or have problems in certain areas in our lives. Deciding to obey God period will change your life forever….for the Good!
There is no easy or might I say, lazy, way to achieve this. You must spend time reading the Bible. But I do want to say, that the King James Version is not “the be all to end all” that some people believe. First, Yeshua didn’t speak King James English, He spoke Hebrew and Aramaic. So for anyone who has been taught that King James is the only real Bible, you now know better and are free to try other translations. I say this because over the years I have met too many women with this misconception, and since King James can be somewhat difficult to read, they stopped trying. So if you don’t have a translation that suits you, please look for one that does. Also if you are not one who has been reading your Bible on a consistent basis, please don’t try to go from 0 to 90 all at once and try to read a chapter every day when you hardly read a chapter a month, or better yet, don’t try the formula for reading the Bible in a year. Make a realistic commitment. It can be 15 minutes day. But whatever it is, stick to it. You will also need a good Bible concordance and study guide. Another biggie, you must read the Old Testament too. It is a must, because without it you won’t really understand God, and it will help you with your understanding of the New Testament. And if possible, please attend a Women’s Bible Study. A good Women’s Bible study will help you have a renewed mind in Christ and His way of how a woman of God should be.
Second, surround yourself with women who are positive in the Lord, and stay away from the self-righteous, judgmental ones who think they have arrived. There is a little test I tell women to try to help them judge where people are at. It is often impossible to tell from an outward appearance who people really are because so many in the church have practiced and polished their appearance of being holy in such a way, that new converts or baby Christians are easily fooled. Take a biblical truth you know is right, and really flows against what the world says, and twist it a bit to be more mainstream than God and see what this person’s reaction is to you. Do they agree and cosign your foolishness? Are they huffy and self-righteous in correcting you? Or do they lovingly guide you back on track? You want the latter. Let me give you an example why it is so important to be grouped with the right people.
I was mentoring a young woman who had been struggling with letting go of a relationship that she had so desperately wanted to workout. And in her desperation she had really made some very poor decisions concerning this man, but when she did decide to be obedient to God she began to pull away from that lifestyle. There was also a very well known female minister throughout the city of Philadelphia, who happened to befriend this young woman. One day she was visiting her and she began to question this young woman about her child’s father, and when the young woman shared that it didn’t seem that he wanted to marry her, this well seasoned, well known woman of God, told her that she had to use her feminine wiles to help him see that she was it. WRONG!!! The blessing in all of this was that this young woman had really made the decision to obey God, had been in the Word concerning this matter and knew that what this minister was telling her was wrong!!
The dangerous part of all of this is that if this encounter had happened two months before it did, the young woman could have easily agreed with this woman and found herself in even more trouble. I’m not just sharing one side with you, because as a leader in our church I began to watch this minister, and it turned out she was giving wrong information to several woman and it was addressed. I am sharing this story (with permission) because I want you to understand that you must know the Word for yourself, and it is essential to group yourself with women who not only know the Word of God, but have made the decision to live by it through “Obedience”.
Sisters rise up and be in the group of virgins who are prepared for her Groom. Do not be one of the ones caught without oil. See Matthew 25:1-10 in your translation of choice.
Blessings.....Pat Betters
Note from Ponnie: *Yeshua is the Hebrew name for our Messiah. Christians call Him, Jesus, but in Pat’s blogs the Messiah will be referred to in His Hebrew name of Yeshua.
Monday’s Blogger: Sasha Brown….Beauty & Health
No comments:
Post a Comment