January 27 Thought for the day....changing your environment

Before we came to Christ, we were all surrounded by some kind of environment. It could have been fear of tomorrow. It could have been anger. It probably was selfishness to some extent. To go back into to any of those environments would be detrimental to our health and spirit. Environment affects us. Let me give you a very practical example if you have just stopped smoking, revisiting places where you would often smoke, or being around smokers, will trigger the need to surrender to your environment. It is the same with fear, anger, selfishness and all of the things that kept us in bondage.

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us" Hebrews 12:1

In this scripture, we are challenged to think about our environment, here is what I mean.  When we come to Christ our environment has been changed. We have gone from an environment of fear, anger, selfishness, doubt, sin to an environment of faith. We are now in the environment of a great multitude of men and women who have shown us the way to overcome in every situation. We have a hall of heroes of faith that are now our challenge to live up to. Our environment is charged with people whose lives show us their failures and their overcoming faith. How can we live there?

The writer answers that question by saying, "lay aside every weight that so easily ensnares us". The idea presented from the Greek is this. The first part of the phrase is saying, something that feels very comfortable, a former environment of sin or mediocrity. The second part is the idea of being surrounded (in that environment). To put it together the meaning is, don't allow something that you have been comfortable in, surround you. The last part is to "bind" or "imprison you".

We have been made new in Christ, the old is passed away. It is comfortable to go back to those places where we were formerly limited or that held us in bondage. Instead, we are to remember that we are now among those witnesses, those great men and women, who changed the world and as we walk in that environment, we are now free and we too will change our world.

We can count on the Lord.

In my prayer time early this morning I was simply enjoying my relationship with the Lord. There is a lot going on in my life, most of it very good but some of it a struggle. In the middle of it all I see the Lord!

Isaiah went through a crisis when his cousin, King Uzziah died. It was during that time that He saw the Lord (Isaiah 6). Some times I believe the thing that is the greatest hindrance to seeing the Lord or hearing from Him is the daily grind of life. When everything is normal, we can handle it and like many of our relationship we can tend to take our relationship with the Lord for granted.

In my positions as husband, father, pastor, leadership at Cornerstone TeleVison, and the various other roles I play I have come to understand that I need the Lord always, every moment of everyday. I need to be intentional about my relationship with Him. What does it mean to be intentional about the Lord? It is just doing the basics!

I must start and end my day with talking to the Lord. Actually I talk with Him all day long. I believe my relationship with Him is real and that He is always with me so we talk all day long.

I am in His Word. I read a regular devotion everyday and I read several other passages as well sometimes I will get so engrossed I will read entire books of the Bible at one time, always hearing something fresh from the Lord. I tend to keep my reading controlled so I don’t lose meaning by reading for volume.

I try to look for God in all things. I look for Him in people, in what they are saying doing and how I can help them. As situations occur throughout my day, I try to see what God is saying through them if anything (sometimes life just happens). I have learned that God will use anything and everything for my good if I will allow Him.

I am also my worst critic. While that may seem like a bad thing and it can be if I let it get to me, I allow His grace to be sufficient for me. I am always pressing on to be who the Lord wants me to be and am critical of myself when I believe I have not lived up to His or my expectations, however I then remind myself that He is looking at my heart and not necessarily my actions (look at the story of David, Joseph, Peter actually most of the Bible heroes). I am then able to apply His grace to my life and move in the freedom that grace and His forgiveness bring to me.

Relationship with Him is an amazing thing. There is such great freedom and you realize you really can count on Him. Don’t be afraid to grow, to make mistakes to even question the Lord. He can handle it! As you build relationship with him, you learn that you an really count on Him