Today I am on my way to Toronto, Canada with The Sweetheart. We are traveling for Revival By Design, sharing this wonderful Blueprint for Revival! We appreciate your prayers for safe travel.
I am beginning a four part series on Warning Signs for Christians entitled “Shut the Front Door!” In other words, we have to be careful about allowing certain things into our lives, if we notice unwanted evils creeping in…shut the door! Don’t even allow them to step one foot inside your front door! My sons took this picture when they were on a missions trip in Scotland. I thought it was fitting for today’s post!
There are many pitfalls that can trap the Christian in our spiritual walk if we allow them to. Yet they are easily avoided if you know how to spot them and take action to remain steadfast, faithful and a vital member of the Body of Christ. Let’s take a look at a few of them today.
Just Say No!
You can please some of the people some of the time but you can never please everyone at once! We are natural-born people-pleasers. We try to be everything to everybody. We are nurturers by nature! But that can have its downside because it causes us to stretch ourselves so much that it takes us to a breaking point.
Of course we must take care of our families. They are of utmost importance to us. But it is all of the other demands that put the unnecessary strain in our lives. We just cannot learn to say, “No!”
We are really only here to please our Lord and Savior. If we are in tune with Him, then all is right with the world. His opinion of you is the only one that matters. If you have always been a people-pleaser, then you have been running yourself ragged. It’s time to stop.
“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10 .
Overload
It is Satan’s business to keep us so distracted that we have no time for God or the things of God. No time to pray, no time for His Word. We are just too busy. We must take authority over the enemy and just say, “No!”
So many things demand our time today. We are slaves to technology. Our smartphones, laptops, tablets, e-readers, all of these things keep us pre-occupied and steal hours of our time every single day. Can you imagine a day without your cell phone? Have you had to go without it recently? It is truly an addiction and sadly, an idol with so many of us. We can hardly have a conversation without continually looking at our devices.
It is the enemy’s business to keep us this busy. If we are so tired and worn out from running all the time then we will not have time for God, and guess who is happy about that?
We must get our priorities in order. Jesus is first, then family, church, friends, career, etc. It may mean that you have to lay down some things to be able to put God and your family at the top of that list. But the rewards are eternal!
When in Doubt, Don’t
Decisions are made by the hundreds every single day. What outfit should I wear? What to fix for dinner tonight? Those are the simple decisions, thankfully. The more important ones we are careful to decide. We mull over them, hopefully we pray over them! If it is a difficult decision we might seek counsel. Friends might tell us to do one thing, parents might suggest another. What do you do? If there is no peace in the situation and there is no clear answer, we must not move.
If you are anxious, stay put. Even if this is difficult, realize that an uneasy conscience is the way the Holy Spirit speaks to us about what might be best. Hold on to truth and wait on the Lord.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. But in all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path.” Proverbs 3:5,6.
Overreacting has caused many a heartache and making hasty decisions can lead to disaster down the road. Be careful and prayerful, you will be thankful in the long run.
Tomorrow we will start with Lethargy! Doesn’t that sound like a fun subject! You won’t want to miss it. I would love to hear your comments today. Be sure and pin, tweet or share today’s post on Facebook.
Blessings!
Sharing with Fellowship Fridays, Memories by the Mile
Not just a part, He wants all of your heart!
All He wants is all of me, All of me!
We must walk daily with Him, relationship, relationship relationship!! Thank you Eileen, you shared some beautiful words of wisdom here today friend! ♥
This post really speaks to me. A friend of mine found a couple of places in Scriptures that tells us during evil times, go in and shut the door, keep safe at home in other words. For years my friend said she felt the Lord was telling her and me to just shut the door more. Both her and I suffer from severe arthritis. Mine started when I was a teenager, hers in her 40’s. We both are in and out of wheelchairs, so at times it is a challenge. But in a world that seek accomplishments in doing, it is often the oppression that unless we are doing we are not accomplished.
Annie Flint was also afflicted with severe arthritis and she wrote many poems about being still and know He is God. I think it was Isaiah who said the leaders of his day were “do and do” and not seeking God’s will. So this is nothing new under the sun. There are many good works we are not called to do. Even Jesus commended Mary for choosing the better thing, sitting at His feet learning.
So often we spend out selves out, not filling our spirit man. The danger in this is the carnal sin nature will have more say in our behavior than the Spirit of God if we do not seek to be filled daily from Him and His Word.
The influences of the Word of God must me more in our lives than anything else. For years I struggled with that until the Lord brought a man in my path who said the Lord challenged him to read the Bible as much as he could. At first he thought he would get board with that idea. Years later he had kept tracked of how many times he had read the Bible. When he retired he read the Bible from cover to cover every week. So at the time I met him he had read the Bible over 2,000 times. He said that funny thing was, he still found verses he never read before.
A lifestyle of being in His Word, diligent daily to die to self, seek His face daily. I was challenged to daily seek God for what He would have me do every moment of the day, for one week. That if I did not know in my spirit I was do to something, not to do it. I felt odd, but did it. I was amazed to find most of what I was doing, God had not called me to do; the blogs, the artwork for commission, the teaching online at a university, the writing for magazines, etc. It was all good work but not what God had for me.
God wants all of me, not part of me, that is a daily dieing to self.
To Him be the glory
Yay, so awesome you saw it on Pinterest, lol! Thank you for your enthusiasm for this series…I wasn’t sure how some of it would be received, and I even scaled back considerably. Next time though I am going all out! Ha. Blessings to you!!
I saw this series on Pinterest today and half-cringed, half-chuckled. I just posted about how I’m experiencing a season of spiritual apathy after a series of intense trials..and I get the sense perhaps that I need to read all five posts. ASAP. 🙂
I am (sort-of) looking forward to reading all five. In that “Ooooh, Lord, I need to hear these things but my flesh doesn’t want to” kind of way. In all seriousness, I am virtually hugging you for sharing what God has put on your heart. Thank you!
Wow! What an experience! So glad you shared…we do have to be careful today. I have come in contact with people like that, I know the spirit that you speak of when you said she made you “tired”. And you were not off topic at all! You will know in the future that you can be kind to her but not to allow her to infringe on your home. Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing! You are so welcome here! Blessings. ♥
The title caught my eye–Shut The Door. Yesterday a woman I know from the grocery store gave my son and myself a ride home from town. She asked if she could use the restroom, then asked for a drink of water, then… she wouldn’t LEAVE. I kept moving round my kitchen cleaning and doing things, and she just SAT there. She finally left, and I had the distinct feeling in my spirit that I need to keep her out of my home. My husband agrees. I don’t think she is evil, but she just made me ‘tired’ with her presence. I will be pleasant, but I can’t allow this to happen again. Sorry, a lilttle off topic, but I had to share with someone.
Hello Tiffany! I was too friend, thankfully the Lord showed us we only have to live to please Him. And we shouldn’t be miserable trying. Much love! ♥
I sure hope I have gained some common sense Mia…I know the Lord has His hands full with me!! Praying God blesses you with strength this weekend and gives you rest and peace. ♥
Dear Nannette
Excellent advice I have come to believe we only learn to do through trials and tribulations! After a few times, we do seem to get some common sense along the way, don’t we!
Blessings XX
Mia
This is beautiful written. I was a major people pleaser. I thought that was the way to go as a christian. But thaank God for deliverance. Keep up the great work!