Permissible, but not Beneficial

The concept of "permissible but not beneficial" is one that I have struggled to get from my head to my actions for a long time. It's one of those things I know, have known, get reminded of on occasion, but doesn't always affect my decisions. I'm grateful for the opportunity to once again work on good choices. Better choices. Best choices.

As a Type 1 diabetic, many people say to me: "Oh, you can't eat that, can you?"

The truth is, I can eat anything I want. I simply have to adjust the amount of insulin I take. I can also make wise decisions about how much of that anything I choose to ingest. However, I still struggle to make those wise decisions, too.

When I look at a piece of fruit and a handful of chocolate chips and know that they'll each have the same affect on my blood sugar - sorry gals, fruit has sugar - I'm going to pick the chocolate. Almost every time. It doesn't matter that the apple or orange or grapes also come with vitamins and minerals.

It also doesn't help that there are the days I eat right and my blood sugar still soars. It could be I didn't sleep well the night before, had a particularly stressful day, have a cold, or a fluctuation in my hormones (which you know is almost always happening to us.) Then I throw in the proverbial towel and figure I might as well eat what I want if eating healthy and balanced isn't giving me the positive results I'm seeking.

It's all a mental thing. I admit that. Well, actually it's sometimes an emotional thing, too. I want to get my head, heart, stomach, and mouth all working together toward the same goal: to get and stay healthy.

I do eat healthy. Sometimes. But I also eat junk and I also eat too much. And I need to remember (consistently) that neither of those habits are beneficial to me. Or my family.

I want to be around to see my grandchildren grow up. Considering my oldest child is currently thirteen, that's a major long-term goal. But not only do I want to be here for my children and their children, I want to be healthy. I want to be a role model for them by being active in ministry and living my life on fire to share the gospel.

I can't do that if I lose my eyesight, my feeling and possibly the reality of having legs. I can't do that if I have major kidney disease. All real risks in my life that increase with my decreased ability to control my blood sugars.

And so much of it boils down to this: what is permissible is not necessarily beneficial. God wants the best for me, and I have to find my want for my best, too. 

The verse God gave me for the beginning of the year is 2 Corinthians 10:5 - "...take every thought captive to obey Christ."

That means taking every thought captive - including those about food.

That's what I'm working diligently on through this study. That's what I'm becoming #empowered to do as I learn, step by step, brick by brick, to #CraveGod above and beyond and before anything else.

There are so many things that are allowed in this life, but I want to want what is best, what is going to draw me closer to the Lord, what is going to help me sow and reap a part of the harvest as I work the works God prepared for me before He spoke the earth into being. 

When I look at it from my perspective, I think why not? It's not that bad. It's permissible. 

When I look at it from the perspective of who God is and who He wants me to be, I want the best.

Secret to Prosperity

The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. Deuteronomy 6:24-25

The secret to prosperity is obedience. No, I'm not talking about financial prosperity, I'm talking about being prosperous in the truly important things in life: mindset, relationships, contentment, joy, Holy Spirit power, God's presence - all the riches according to Christ Jesus. God has promised to supply all of our needs according to the glory of His Son, but we often are looking for our wants. We tend to compare ourselves to others and what they have that we don't. I know that I'm guilty of this.

However, when I turn my eyes away from the flesh and look upwards, I am reminded of the multitude of blessings that God has already poured out on me. This reminds me to be obedient in this: "in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Philippians 4:6)

God doesn't tell us to do things, does not give us laws and boundaries for His good, but for our own. To approach everything with thanksgiving is a gift to us. It helps open us to the joy, contentment and positive relationships that God desires to give us. The things we often seek, thinking they will give us these things always disappoint.

This is a lesson - the importance of obedience - is one I am constantly trying to teach my children. I'll admit, even though I know how important it is, I often fall short in reinforcing immediate, respectful, cheerful obedience in my children. I also resist being completely obedient to God, making myself a good role model, despite my prayer to be radically obedient.

Lately, I have recommitted to reinforcing obedience in my children. They, like me, will not simply choose to be obedient because it's the best path. While some are naturally more obedient than others, none of them will choose it all the time. Therefore, it is my job to teach them through modeling, verbalizing, and consequencing. When I don't, I sell them short. I rob them of a life that will lead to the prosperity God has offered them.

We all want the best for our children, but the secret is not to give them everything they want, but to teach them to joyfully obey God's law, the first of which for our children is to "Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise." Ephesians 6:1-2

Raising Your Voice

My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud;My voice rises to God, and He will hear me. Psalm 77:1

God is amazing! Let me start by saying that. As I looked for a verse to start this morning's devotion with, He had me open my large multi-version Bible to Psalm 77. The NAS version of this verse (above) uses the words "My voice rises" where others use the word cry. Cry didn't do it for me, but talking about rising my voice struck me in the heart.

Yesterday I did plenty of raising my voice, but it wasn't to God. It wasn't for him to hear me and help me. It was at my children. I'm not sure why I was struggling so much to keep my flesh under control yesterday. Could be I didn't have my morning meditation and Bible reading. Could be I was trying to do laundry, homeschool, catch up on housework and was distracted by a new book. Could be because I didn't have my praise music on, helping me keep focus. Could be because instead of raising my voice to God, I was trying to do it all on my own strength.

I know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, but I often step out into it on my own. You'd think I would learn, but sometimes we spend "40 years making an 11 day trip" (Joyce Meyer) and I have to be reminded to rely on God EVERY day for EVERY thing.

I also need reminding to actually lift my voice up to Him. (Psalm 142:1, Isaiah 40:9, Isaiah 52:8) This is something I am not very well practiced at. For me, prayer is a very private, silent activity between me and God. However, as God is teaching me, in the Bible prayer is never seen as silent. It is open, verbal communication with God.

* Psalm 54:2Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth.
* John 17
*Acts 4:24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.

There is a reason Jesus told His disciples to go close themselves in a room to pray (Matthew 6:5-6.) It was because the expectation was that they'd be praying aloud. Yes, God hears us when we pray silently, but the devil hears us when we pray aloud. It is spiritual battle, and the Word is our sword. {Ephesians 6:17 - Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.}

I've convicted to pray more aloud, and when I do feel more filled with the Spirit. However, I don't do it often. My kids are almost always around. Will they think I'm crazy (more so than they probably already do)? Should I care? No. I should care more about them hearing me talk to God. I should also care more about letting them hear me raise my voice to God, instead of at them. That will make more difference in their lives than any lesson I could teach them on prayer.

An Imperfect Mom

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Romans 7:18-19

I find this is one of my biggest struggles as a mom. I know all the right things to do, for goodness' sake I've taught parenting classes before! I've studied parenting, read countless books, and am a trained group leader. But I still mess up in my parenting, almost daily.

Most certainly, some days are better than others, but at least once a day I lose my temper, don't pay as much attention to my children as they need, or flake out in the area of making sure the simplist of chores are done (like having them brush their hair and teeth before playdates.) I mean to do better. I pray to do better. I commit to do better. But, before I know it, there I am messing up again.

I truly think Paul says it best. "I have the desire to do what is good, but cannot carry it out." And why is that? The reason is found in the previous sentence: "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature." I am sinful. Totally and completely. I can do some good some of the time on my own, but I always fall on my face when I rely on myself. I know to rely on God, but sometimes it seems like too much effort. If I relied on Him for parenting, I'd have to rely on Him for what came out of my mouth, what goes in my mouth, what I do with my time. I don't want to be that accountable, because, quite frankly, my flesh enjoys me giving in to it.

I know that I'll pay for giving in to it, but for the moment, I still make the wrong choice. I know I need to submit to God. I know that He will provide everything I need. I've even prayed about being radically obedient. Now I simply have to make the choice each time a choice comes up to submit instead of going according the the flesh. Then I will have peace and prosperity (the kind that comes as a result from making the right choices.)

"Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. Job 22:21

A Women with Solid Walls

Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. Proverbs 25:28

Do you ever feel like the walls that maintain order in your house are broken down? I think we've all been there. I know for sure that I have. And what I have found is at the root of the problem is not my children. It's me.

Children will be children. They will push boundaries. They will disobey. They will have bad attitudes. Okay. Children will be human. And when they tend to be more human (i.e. more controlled by the flesh than by self-control) I generally find that it is because I have been that way myself. When I have not been submitting to the Holy Spirit and exercising self-control in the way I act, speak and react I see that reflected in my children.

I used to think that I was a very self-controlled person, until I had children. Then I learned that they were capable of pushing buttons that I never knew I had. One of those buttons is defiance. It will drive me crazy quicker than anything else. (Ever felt that red-heat anger in your belly? I hope I'm not the only one.) If I allow that feeling and anger at being disobeyed in how I handle that disobedience, I am myself stepping into disobedience against God.

This is a practice that takes practice. It is a skill that takes submission to the Holy Spirit and a recognition of how sinful I am myself. Because I have learned that consequences of losing it (I never feel good after having acting without self-control) are, I pay very close attention to myself when I'm dealing with my children when they are acting up. I'm no where near perfect, but I continue to work on developing the skill of self-control. (1 Thessalonians 5:6)

And when I do, I see improvements in my children's behavior. They are still human (as am I) and they are still children, but they exhibit more positive behaviors the more I exhibit positive behaviors. I don't have any regret about losing my temper or yelling at anyone. The walls of my city stay intact and are not broken down, opening up the way for more sin to creep in.