1. Abiding
2. Building strength
3. Maintaining our armor
4. Going out for the fight
"Without oil from God, we can never be more than a dark and empty house. Focus on his face. Discipline your heart. When your mind wanders, focus on his face. He is beyond worthy of your time, your undivided attention."... "When I return to the place of abiding quietly in his presence, I no longer feel the burden, only the faith and joyful anticipation. That is what it means to live in His love! To faithfully listen to His voice, despite everything!"
Abiding in Him - It's the only answer. Whe we are hidden with Christ in God, then our vision becomes clearer, we begin to see who we really are. Truly loved by God "For you died to this world and your new real life is hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3
I think Heidi explains abiding perfectly when she explains that by abiding in Him, all of our burdens fall away. No they don't go away, but those moments of being in His presence build and encourage us to keep on going.
The purpose of abiding is to maintain our identity when we've been wounded. "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in Him" 1 John 4:16 Feeling low, I asked God to help me with my emotions, I am a firm believer on bringing heaven to earth as much as I possibly can. There is no grieving in heaven, and therefore, no grieving on earth. I know my mother is in Heaven, but how I was feeling needed to change. The Lord spoke to my heart that, the hardest part about death is losing the love you have received from that person - and that's why spending time with God is so important - because in Him, we are complete. It's ok to miss a loved one, but he never wants us to feel loss of the love He has for us. Hearing this from Him made a world of difference to me. It wasn't a grieving I was going through - it was a loss of part of my identity - the loss of love. By my abiding in Him and his speaking that to my heart was like medicine for my soul. My spirit became refreshed and life came back to me. Literally the sun came back out and I truly enjoyed the rest of my day.
If I hadn't taken that time to abide in Him, I don't know how long it would have taken me to feel better. Psalm 25:12-13 says "Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well being, and his offspring shall inherit the land."
Building strength - His love repairs and rebuilds. He is a master builder and knows exactly how to engineer our souls and minds. Had I hardened my heart to Him and gotten angry for "taking" my mother, I would have been viewing him with the wrong philosophy. Satan is the thief and liar and the only one who steals - God does not! Knowing the word, builds your strength to know the truth. When my mom got sick, the Lord very clearly told me that I had to let her go - and not to war for her - so I put my trust in Him and obeyed.
It is imperative to guard your heart (Proverbs 4:23) - especially when emotions are running high. In shock and trauma, people get defensive and emotional - we can't control how they are reacting, but we can control how we react to them. Abiding in Him and deciding to walk in love no matter what is a responsibility that we as Christians have. Many see death as a loss and grieve, but when we are in Christ, only the flesh has died; the spirit just crossed the threshold from flesh to being present with the Lord. With Christ as our savior - we will be united once again.
In this time of rebuilding strength, remind yourself of your righteousness. You are righteous because you are in Christ. You are a co-heir with Christ, you have the mind of Christ, you are a son/daughter, and you are His bride! There is NOTHING that can seperate you from the Love of God - NOTHING! (Romans 8:38-39)
Maintain your Armor - Why do I say to maintain your armor? Like any warrior who goes out to battle, we need to do a constant check of our armor when battles are thick. Swords get swung, darts are shot, and sometimes its easy to get tired and let down our guard. But we have got to stand firm until the end. Forgive quickly and straighten your armor, apologize, and straighten your armor. Remind yourself as frequently as you need of who you are and whose you are.
Going back out for the fight - Living life in abundance is a choice. You can choose to let the weights of the world bog you down, or you can choose to abide in him and keep going.
How do I know this is possible, I look to Stephen as my example. In the midst of preaching to a hardened group - Stephen maintained his charachter to the point of death as we see in Acts 7:51-60 51 “You stubborn people! You are heathen[l] at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.” 54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage.[m] 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56 And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” 57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him 58 and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.[n] 59 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.
1 Corinthians 16:13 says "Be on Guard, Stand Firm in the faith, be strong, be courageous.
