Surround yourself with happy people

When Job was facing the death of his children, the loss of his property and sickness in his body his wife said to him “are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”  (Job 2:9)  Isn’t it better to be alone than with the wrong company? We need to be careful with whom are we spending time.   

Whether we notice it or not, we are influenced by the people close to us.  If they don’t share our values one day we may realize that we have changed and we have compromised our morals and our faith to be more like everyone else. Their talk rubs on us; certain vocabulary becomes “normal” and certain actions start looking “acceptable”.

Sometimes it is no fun to stand out and be the only one in a group thinking in a certain way or not willing to do certain things, the pressure is strong and hard to deal with, but don’t forget  “The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don’t.” (John 15:19) It is that simple, we are not meant to act or be like everyone else.  Don’t let the enemy trick you for even a second thinking that you are being old fashion, intolerant or fanatical, don’t fall into that trap.  If you have any doubts about how you should act check the guideline, the Bible will clear up any uncertainty you may have and will give you a very clear instruction on what is right and what is wrong.

It is important to choose our friends wisely; no one wants to be under constant pressure to deviate from his or her faith; on the contrary, we want to surround ourselves with people that will help us stay strong as we enjoy our journey.

One time I heard speaker Dave Martin say “People are like elevators, they take you up or down”.  Wouldn’t you agree?  Can you think of some people that somehow seem to brighten your day just by being around?  They are positive, happy, wise… a ray of sunshine!   When others… Well, you know how it goes.  You want to be happier?  Hang around happy people…really there is no need to go into deep analysis … it is just fun to be around people who see the good side of life!

“Whoever walks with the wise will become wise; whoever walks with fools will suffer harm.” (Proverbs 13:20) Little by little the people around us can help us be better persons or they can weaken us and separate us from what is good. “It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away; it’s a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray“ these lyrics from the song Slow Fade by Casting Crowns describe how our life is made up of many moments and encounters, that happen day in and day out.  We need to guard who are we inviting to be part of them.  People don’t change overnight, marriages don’t crumble in an instant, teens don’t suddenly become strangers to their parents; it is all a very slow process influenced by the people and the environment we allow ourselves to be in.     

Be prepared, be strong and be very honest! Take a prayerful inventory of the people you spend most time with and start taking out of your life damaging relationships, you don’t have to be rude, just be truthful and analyze if a person is adding or subtracting in your life.  If God has specifically asked you to help a certain person, then do it, but if not, don’t make your life more complicated and put some space between you and them. “Stay away from fools, for you won’t find knowledge there.” (Proverbs 14:7)

Life is beautiful, it is meant to be lived fully!  Yes, sometimes it is hard and sad things happen, but we are children of God, The Lord, our Redeemer has written our name on His hand (Isaiah 49:16)  We have plenty to be happy about! During tough times our friends support us through prayer and during the good times we all celebrate together. When we surround ourselves with happy people we are loving ourselves and preparing for the battle.

Smile big and laugh out loud, “This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24) 

Growing pains

My son, who absolutely loves tennis and plays it every day for at least two hours has been complaining about his knee hurting, so we started reading about Osgood-Schlatter  Disease, or what we commonly call “growing pains”.  The condition is most commonly seen in active children who are going through periods of growth spurts.  

Can you relate?  Don’t you feel sometimes during spiritual growth spurts that God is stretching your faith to the point of breaking?

“Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.  For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.”   (James 1:2-3)  I used to read this verse and think… “Be happy when trouble comes?  Why? It makes no sense!”  Well, it doesn’t make sense if we only see the current circumstances, as very often we do, but if we try to see it according to what God says “live by believing and not seeing” (2 Corinthians 5:7), then we won’t stop at the beginning of the verse, but we will continue reading … “So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” (James 1:4) Doesn’t that sound good?  God loves us so much that He is not going to send us unprepared to fulfill our purpose; first we must graduate from “faith camp” and then we can be ready for whatever comes our way! (Notice that faith camp is an ongoing growing experience; we pass one level and soon we find ourselves in the next and this goes on for the rest of our lives.)

So how does God strengthens our faith?  I am sure you already know the answer: We go through difficulties, let God mold us, wait, believe, praise and wait some more until God’s perfect time comes and we see such exciting outcome that in a matter of seconds all that waiting seems to disappear.  We don’t like the going through part, but the final result is well worth it.  

As a young Christian and a very optimistic person I thought I would not have to go through that growing process; somehow I imagined that God would spoon feed me forever using His Word and other people’s examples, in my mind, I thought that would be enough, but of course God’s plan was different, and much better.  He knew I needed to go through difficulties to be able to grow closer to Him. “When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you.  When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2)  Something happens when you feel you are at your lowest point and you think you can’t go on and God stretches His hand and lifts you up, you can’t perceive that from somebody else’s experience; it is too intimate, just between you and God… and faith grows.

Then God asks you to do what seems impossible; He doesn’t even supply all the needs at once, but one at the time... and faith grows.  Then He teaches you to look at little things, to enjoy each day and dream big… and faith grows.  “Anyone who believes in him will not be disappointed.” (Romans 10:11) 

We can’t stay still, God is active all the time and He expects us to continually grow “So Jesus grew both in height and in wisdom, and he was loved by God and by all who knew him.” (Luke 2:52)  God wants us to go deeper in our relationship with Him and that requires spending time with Him, studying His Word and listening to the Holy Spirit’s promptings “And now, just  as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him.  Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught.” (Colossians 2:6-7)

It is all so beautiful and spiritual and… hard! Sometimes spiritual growth hurts.  It is a continuous fight between what we want and what God is planning and most of the time God doesn’t give us the blueprint of the plan, if He did how would our faith grow? Of course we know the plan is good and that encourages us “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.  They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)   To make things more interesting we also have to deal with our flesh “For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak” (Matthew 26:41) I am sure you have been there, knowing what you had to do, but fighting every single minute because many times doing the right thing is tough!

But please don’t get discouraged, through all the growing process God is with us “My gracious favor is all you need.  My power works best in your weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)  The more we know God the easier it is to let go; everything He is doing is good for us and all we have to do is surrender to Him; we give Him our fear, our pain, our doubt and He “who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.”  (Philippians 1:6)

Be the light

“You are the light of the world- like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see.  Don’t hide your light under a basket! Instead , put it on a stand and let it shine for all.”  (Matthew 5:14-15)

The other day I was talking to a friend about how difficult it must have been for the prophets to know the suffering the people of Israel would have to endure if they didn’t turn to God.  But as I was talking I realized that like the prophets, we have been given a revelation;  God has chosen to open our eyes and let us see,by His mercy he has lifted the veil  so we can have a glimpse of what will happen at the end of time.  “God overlooked people’s former ignorance about these things, but now he commands everyone everywhere to turn away from idols and turn to him.  For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31) What are we doing with this revelation?  Are we acting with the urgency required? And I don’t mean that we should start spreading panic;  on the contrary, we should be sharing peace, hope and life, in other words… the Truth of Jesus.

So before we go and hit everyone over the head with our Bibles, judging them and frightening them with ultimatums, let’s pause and ask God what is it that He wants us to do… what would Jesus do? How would He treat them? How would He share His Father’s love?

There are people around us hungry for peace, searching for meaning and hope, and even tough we don’t have all the answers, we know who does and we can point them His way.  “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him?  And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” (Romans 10:13-14)  Everyone around you is there for a reason, you may not know what they need or what they are going through, but God does.  We are meant to be light in the darkness, a breath of fresh air in a highly polluted world.  

You may have read Isaiah 6:8 “Then I heard the Lord asking, ‘whom should I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go for us?’  And I said, ‘Lord, I’ll go! Send me.”  We read this verse and get all excited and we repeat… “Yes, Lord send me too!  I will go” and that is great! But when He gives us our assignment our excitement may dwindle some and we think … “really?  Is this what you want me to do?  This is too hard!” God knows it is hard for us, but not for Him, and He wants us to walk by faith relying only on Him, reaching our hand out to His children, the ones that are suffering and need His comfort and love.   

We reflect God’s light when we love; I am not talking about some half way, kind of nice attitude… No!  When we really love!  When we make it so outrageous that people find no way to deny that it was God.   The song by Newsboys “God’s not dead” says this in a great way “Let love explode and bring the dead to life, a love so bold to bring a revolution somehow” That is the type of love we need to share.  Make it big because that is how God loves.  He loves in unbelievable ways that make us say with a smile… “Yeah, God, I know that was you!”

It all sounds so nice, but how exactly can we love like that?  Well, the Bible is full of stories that inspire us and messages from God that clearly tell us how, not only that but as we spend time with God He guides us and starts placing people and opportunities in our path.  In 1 John 3:18-19 we read “Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.  It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth.” Love is active, it needs to be expressed and shown; otherwise it is only an empty overused word.

“Be humble and gentle.  Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (Ephesians 4:2)  Look at the words in the verse: humble, gentle, patient… Let’s be honest, those are not easy words to put into practice, but that is what makes it so exciting!  We know that the light that we are called to be is not ours, is a reflection of God’s light and that is why it is possible to love the way He is asking us to love.

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  (Romans 10:15) Let’s allow God to use us as His messengers to bring light to a suffering world; one loving action at the time.

Inform your giants who's the boss!

I am sure you have heard the story of David and Goliath.  I am certain you have read it in the Bible and maybe you have heard many teachings and read books about it, but have you ever put yourself in the place of David?  Have you ever visualized yourself as that small, many may have said  insignificant person standing beside this huge mean looking  giant?  To be honest, I never had, until last week, as I was washing dishes and looking out my kitchen window.  I pictured my giants and heard the discouraging words they like to whisper … “what makes you think that God is listening? Look around, can you see anything happening?” I saw their menacing looks trying to fill me with fear wanting me to give up. I saw me, my face pale and my knees weak.  I looked so small and fragile and for a second I thought I would crumble at the site and cry, but no… I started telling the giants what was going to happen and how God was going to make it happen.  And I realized how much fun it is to speak out loud to the giants!

God’s Word is powerful and we should speak it out loud often, “In the beginning the Word already existed.  He was with God, and he was God.  He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1) “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will remain forever.” (Matthew 24:35)  Sometimes we look too long at the massive challenges in front of us and we start doubting instead of looking only to God and speaking with confidence the promises that He has made, declaring that our Redeemer lives and He is already fighting for us. “The Lord himself will fight for you.  You won’t have to lift a finger in your defense!” (Exodus 14:14) 

David knew God was by his side and this gave him the confidence he needed to fight Goliath.  He knew God would not let him down, and he was not shy about it either “You come to me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord Almighty- the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head…And everyone will know that the Lord does not need weapons to rescue his people.  It is his battle, not ours.”

(1 Samuel 17:45-47)

Don’t you love that assurance? Wouldn’t it be nice to speak to our giants like that all the time?  If we know God, if we trust Him and if we know He is for us, I wonder why sometimes it is hard to affirm it and believe it? Why do we allow ourselves to get caught in the lies the enemy tells us? I guess that is why David didn’t wait too long and “As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him.”  (1 Samuel 17:48)  He ran toward his giant before he would get scared or think too much about it.

So, the first step is to know who is doing the fighting, the second is making the decision to fight and the third is doing it.  But get ready because giants don’t give up easily; it may be a tough struggle, but you know who wins. And don’t expect a cheerleader squad either, I am not trying to bring you down, I am just being realistic.  David found discouragement from his own family “David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. ‘What are you doing around here anyway?’ He demanded.  ‘What about those few sheep you are supposed to be taking care of?”  (1 Samuel 17:28) and the king, Saul said “Don’t be ridiculous! Saul replied.  There is no way you can go against this Philistine.  You are only a boy, and he has been in the army since he was a boy!” (1 Samuel 17:33) 

Or maybe people around you agree, but they may have an opinion on how you should tackle the problem “Then Saul gave David his own armor – a bronze helmet and a coat of mail.  David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before.  ‘I can’t go in these,’ he protested.  ‘I am not used to them.’  So he took them off again.” (1 Samuel 17:38-39)  As you go into battle, it is good to listen to advice, but not everything will be helpful, so guard your time with God because it is essential as we face our giants… really it is crucial for everything in life.  Only God can guide our steps and we need to do what God says, even if it doesn’t make much sense to everyone else.  By now you must know that God loves to make possible what seems impossible in the most unusual ways.  

David knew that it was not him who defeated the giant, it was not his preparation, his experience or the weapons he used, it was God.  His unshakable faith allowed God to work the miracle… are you ready to see giants fall at your feet?  Start telling them that God is in charge!