"NOT FINE"

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

ARE YOU SEEKING?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

It is hard to admit when it is going sour isn’t it?

We love to put on the happy face and give the ubiquitous “I’m fine” response when asked the “how ya doin” question” don’t we?

Truth is we do have times when we “aren’t fine”. We have moments when things have gotten weird or our choices and decisions have backed us into a messy corner.

And it is in those times that when we could really use a little help that we often choose to gloss over our true feelings in favor of denial of remaining hurting, confused or befuddled.

I see this so much with folks striving for recovery, myself included. The trouble is we have masked our feelings and our hurts for so long that when we are presented with opportunities to get a little help we choose clam up and remain miserable, maybe even medicate; do anything to avoid the truth.

We do this in spite of what GOD says…

James 5:16

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed.

We need to begin to realize that the enemy desperately wants to keep us in isolation when we are hurting, he wants us to keep all the hurt and chaos in our lives bottled up inside of us so he can cultivate them into bitterness, anger, and pride. He wants us to internalize and hide our failures and sin so that he can keep heaping them on one another and drive us further and further into sadness and seclusion. He wants to bury us!

I know today many of you who talk with me and read the DISPATCH are fighting this battle. Pride and fear have you pulling away from friends and help. You’ve decided that no one cares and that GOD can’t be trusted.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth. There is no shame in humbling ourselves before the Lord. There is no embarrassment in admitting to GOD and to our closest friends that we are in a bad spot and could use a friendly ear or some good counsel.

If you don’t believe me, believe the WORD!

James 4:

7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

We all have times where we blow it, where the enemy gets the best of us for a day, maybe longer. But we serve a GOD of restoration of reconciliation. All he asks of us is to be humble and truthful about our condition.

Psalm 147:6

The Lord lifts up the humble and downtrodden;

So I ask you today. Has life got you pinned in a corner? Have your recent decisions put you in a place where you feel there is no way out? Come humbly to the LORD this morning, find a trusted friend. Pour out your failings and mistakes to GOD and them and GOD will lift you up.

Psalm 10:17

O Lord, You have heard the desire and the longing of the humble and oppressed; You will prepare and strengthen and direct their hearts, You will cause Your ear to hear…

I love you all.

Freedom Church

Pastor GDelaney