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Why do we do it?

I’ve taken some of my unused PTO days this week (since my truck was stolen, and since I have a lot to get done before my daughter’s birthday party). Early yesterday morning after my wife and daughter had finished getting ready to leave for work and school, they let me know that we had no running water in the house. I had no time to look at it because I have a bridge call for my IT team at the beginning of each work day. I make myself available to the team (for as long as they need me) for triage, prioritization and guidance during the busiest and most chaotic part of the IT day. They don’t have to join the bridge if they don’t need me for anything, but I make myself available to them during this time each morning.

Yesterday was a bit more busy than normal with critical issues that needed to be tackled, so I worked with them for a few hours before I was free to tackle the personal things I need to do here at the house. The night before, I left work at the end of the normal shift to spend time with my family (dinner together, family time, errands and personal commitments we had for the evening). But there were several open critical issues that I needed to follow up on before my scheduled time out of the office — so I circled back to the work items that needed tending and put in several hours late into the night/morning to make sure things were in a good place.

Why do I do this?

I’m not advocating that everyone regularly work late nights and still work on their scheduled days off. In fact, I try my best to ensure that the team that I lead doesn’t have to. If I see them working on their days off or late at night, I tell them “Go spend time with their family” and “We’ve got you covered. ” As a leader, I serve them by filling those gaps as best I can on their behalf. I still divide and delegate the workload as needed to the team, but we are not a critical 24×7 operation that needs an on-call IT rotation (like I’ve had in previous banking, healthcare and commercial datacenter jobs).

But I see how reliable and trustworthy and faithful my God is to me in my time of need — and His example leads me to try to be available for my team in their greatest time of need. I see His example of taking care of things silently and behind the scenes (not to get credit or be lauded as a hero, but because He loves me and wants to see the best for me). I see His taking care of me even while I am at rest, and I want to do the same thing for the people that I serve.

After I finished our IT bridge call, I returned to the personal errands and responsibilities. I did what I knew to try on the well and didn’t find a quick resolution, so I called the well installer and left a message. I started tackling other challenges and nothing seemed to be going right. Then I just lifted up my eyes to the Lord and said, “I could really use some help with this stuff, Lord.” Not in a demanding way, but humble by my own inability and surrendered to the truth that I needed help. My wife called back shortly because on of her clients had brought her Christmas gift by the salon and he had a suggestion of something that I didn’t know to try. I cut the power to the well and cleaned the contacts on the pressure switch as he described and boom, it worked again. I’ll have to replace the switch, but that saved me an expensive repair visit and got us up and running immediately. Then everything else took hard work, but I made progress and was able to be grateful to God for His help the rest of the day.

You are reliable, trustworthy and faithful. If we haven’t seized hold off this hope, help us see this more clearly. If we have hope but it has wavered, help us to remember and to cling tightly to you. By the power of Christ in us, help us to be like you for those we get the opportunity to serve today. Amen.

‭Hebrews‬ ‭10:23‬ ‭AMP‬
[23] Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word];

https://bible.com/bible/1588/heb.10.23.AMP

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Facing, not Avoiding

This is a challenging time for us. We have made commitments that stretch us thinner than usual and that challenge us daily, weekly and monthly in uncomfortable ways — yet we have made those commitments because we decided together as a family that they are worth it. Since making those commitments, we have faced many unexpected challenges that have tested our resolve and our commitment. And a few times when life has recently kicked us in the face, my wife has had to remind me or I have had to remind her that it is all going to be okay and that God is still in control. And I know that my daughter is seeing first hand how we handle these situations — that we aren’t always strong, that we don’t always get it right, that things can be stressful or scary, and that we don’t always trust God as faithfully as we should.

My daughter and I love riding Rollercoaster and thrill rides together. And some of the best rides are the ones that still scare us. Choosing to face that fear each time, knowing that there will be fear but that there will also be the thrill of a new experience together is fun within the safety of a ride designed and tested by skilled engineers and properly maintained by theme park operators. In a similar way, choosing to face fear in life offers an opportunity to experience life’s opportunities more abundantly — if we are confident and trusting that God is with us and will not abandon us.

In everything we do, there is a chance of failure — but even in failure there is an opportunity to learn, grow and improve. And there are other common fears of things like fear of abandonment, death, the unknown, physical harm, rejection, embarrassment/ humiliation, etc. But for each of these fears, we all deal with situations in life at some point that offer fear as an obstacle (or even fear as a choice).

Fear does not have to be our default setting. Or even if fear is our default setting or first reaction in a situation, we do not have to let it remain in control. Fear is not always irrational — we will all die, we will all fail, we will all be rejected — we must accept reality when it comes to these things. We will not always have a villain to name, and we will not always understand a clear reason behind why things happen a certain way.

For some good additional reading on fear, see this article: Identifying the Three Fundamental Fears: Death, Abandonment, and Failure by Jim Dubos https://stenzelclinical.com/identifying-the-three-fundamental-fears-death-abandonment-and-failure/#:~:text=Fear%20of%20the%20unknown%20is,Abandonment%20or%20Fear%20of%20Failure

Jim says about fear:

This is why God is not and never will be obsolete. He will never leave you, His love is not earned, and He has conquered death.  Death, rejection, and failure will happen, but you do not have to live in fear of them.

Jim Dubos, Identifying the Three Fundamental Fears: Death, Abandonment, and Failure

What have we chosen today — choosing to our fears or facing them?

What have we not handed over to Him?

What areas of our lives and our challenges have we not trusted Him with fully?

Lord, forgive us for our lack of trust in you. Heal our foolish unbelief. Help us to be courageous and strong in you, especially not just in ourselves. Do not allow the enemy to steal from us by way of fear. May it be so clearly evident to all that it is foolish to not trust you, that you do not fail, and that you do not abandon. Amen.

‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭31:6‬ ‭AMP‬
[6] Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble in dread before them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not fail you or abandon you.”

https://bible.com/bible/1588/deu.31.6.AMP

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Cadence and Consistency along The Way

I got to go on a 4 mile hike in the mountains with a friend yesterday. Things have been a bit stressful lately and it was so nice to get away outside in nature, get some exercise, and get my mind off of everything else.

When I’m able to start my day with a quiet devotional, get outside for exercise regularly, spend time in praise and prayer, eat healthier, and maintain a grateful attitude, no matter the chaos, challenges (or even loss and grief) — I don’t find myself overwhelmed, depressed or hopeless with a negative or victim mindset.

There is something about having an expectant mindset and a purposeful and intentional approach to each day that shifts not only my perspective, but that helps me rise above the circumstances. And I can be expectant and intentional if there is something that I can hope and put my trust in.

Walking in The Way isn’t about finding a way to change our stinking thinking so that we can be more prosperous — it isn’t a self help trick to manifest our best life now either. We seek the Lord, we want to know Him better, we want to walk with Him and better understand His ways, we put our trust in His promises and His guidance, and we follow Him. And when we are walking close with Him, and have our eyes set upon eternity, the little things of this world just don’t seem as important or scary or tempting.

When I hike, if I can maintain a steady cadence — like a drum beat that gets neither slower or faster — I can hike for much further distances without getting as tired and without my body, muscles and joints aching as much afterwards. I will lengthen or shorten my steps depending on the trail itself, but maintaining a constant cadence in hiking and biking helps me with my endurance and my recovery. And maintaining a steady and consistent cadence of seeking the Lord and putting my hope in Him helps me endure whatever life has to throw at me and rise above it.

If there is something that is wrong you down, if you find something is making you easy, show, tired, or overwhelmed — I encourage you to seek the Lord more consistently, to put your trust in Him more fully, to decide to follow Him, and to experience the power and strength that He will renew you with. Amen.

‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:31‬ ‭AMP‬
[31] But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] Will gain new strength and renew their power; They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun]; They will run and not become weary, They will walk and not grow tired.

https://bible.com/bible/1588/isa.40.31.AMP

hballingerLeave a comment

Strong in Love

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NLT
http://bible.com/116/1co.16.13-14.NLT

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We face spiritual attacks upon our lives daily – but once we have Christ in us,  these “attacks” shift into being tests, into challenges – and once we set our hope firmly upon Jesus Christ as our Savior, we can recognize them as opportunities.

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The world might ask, in what kind of mad,  twisted realm do trials,  sufferings and persecution become opportunities? And we can explain to them that our own nature, we can understand the normal reaction of the flesh towards these things – we understand that being hurt by another,  the flesh cries out for payment of revenge in return. But we also have another voice that is active and alive in our lives, which tells us that even when it is to our clear detriment in this life,  even when it will not clearly benefit us in any way,  that we have the opportunity to choose to bring love,  peace, patience,  joy,  kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  and self control into this world even as a response to the evils of this world.

And when we do,  and when it is clear that it was not for our own benefit or gain or manipulation – what clearer and undeniable testimony might we raise up so that another might realize the truth of Christ who lives in us? How can someone who considers themselves or enemy and considers themselves an enemy of God deny our pouring out blessing upon their lives as repayment for the pain and hurt and disappointment they have dealt or to us? But isn’t this the very example of Christ,  that He loved us even when we were still sinners – that He went to the cross for each and every one of us who might choose to turn to Him and bear His name upon our hearts and our lives?

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So we have a great encouragement for standing guard against the attacks of the enemy,  but we have a great opportunity to see them with open eyes for what they really are – moments on this earth in our own lives where we might be like Christ in the garden at Gethsemane – where we might say,  take this cup from me Lord if you will, because it is bitter for me to drink, but it is better that your will be done than my own.

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And what is amazing is that once we are on other side of the trial,  once the Lord has moved that mountain and cast it into the sea because of our faith as small as a mustard seed that proved us faithful and clinging to Him firmly – we find that He is faithful and true and that He does bring us through and provide for us and bless us. And as we learn to do this,  moment by moment,  decision by decision,  as we serve the one that we have chosen to be our master,  we are molded,  we are shaped to be more and more like the thing that influences and directs our actions,  more like whatever is master over our lives.

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So we remain on guard because we should know who is in control. Are we still a slave to sin that is holding us captive and controlling or lives?  Then we need to find freedom from our captors,  we need to ask Christ to break those chains, and we need to walk out of that prison cell as we are sent on our mission to bring Christ to the world by being Christ in the world. We are the body of Christ,  being led by the Holy Spirit, bringing His good work and love and truth into this world – or we are dead flesh, waiting to be tossed into the flames with the sin that we have chosen to worship by allowing to have mastery over our lives.

If you admit that you have sinned, that is good,  because otherwise there is no truth in you and you would be a liar in the deep depths of darkness. But do you realize that there is one who offers you a spirit of power and strength and confidence over sin?  Do you realize that the Holy Spirit is not a voice of timidity or fear or guilt or shame – but one of deliverance,  of renewal, of victory over sin and temptation and the tricks of the enemy?

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So how do we walk in strength when we are so weak ourselves in the flesh? We choose to walk in His authority and power,  we choose to accept His annointing upon our lives. We seek for His will to be done in our lives, knowing that whatever the cost, He is the only prize worth receiving. 

Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.  But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”
Luke 10:19-20 NLT
http://bible.com/116/luk.10.19-20.NLT

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord ’s favor has come. ”
Luke 4:18-19 NLT
http://bible.com/116/luk.4.18-19.NLT

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35 ESV
http://bible.com/59/jhn.13.34-35.ESV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1 John 4:7-12 ESV
http://bible.com/59/1jn.4.7-12.ESV

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 5:14 ESV
http://bible.com/59/gal.5.14.ESV

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:8-10 ESV
http://bible.com/59/rom.13.8-10.ESV