In May I wrote a three day series on temptation. I was dealing with a pretty strong temptation and the Lord was faithful to show me how to deal with it as I dug into the truths of His Word. In that series I shared what I learned as I studied on temptation. The last thing I mentioned was to confess your struggle to a friend. Someone you know loves you and will be honest with you. You should pray about who this should be. I did this and the Lord dropped a name in my heart of who I should talk to. I came up with reasons I shouldn't talk to this person but in the end I knew God was right. This person has been trained in the specific area I was dealing with and really was the perfect person for me to talk to. Yet, I so bad did not want to do this. I was afraid of what she would think. I was terribly nervous and had what I thought were great excuses to not go. I kept praying and double checking with the Lord that this is what I really should do. I would gladly back out if this was not God's plan. After the third time of telling the Lord I would back out He again reminded me of what His word says about confessing: Confess your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16
Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and He will flee from you.
James 4:7
Then He said not to ask Him to back out again. I know what the Word says and if I didn't do it, it would be because I was being disobedient. Not because He let me out of it. I don't remember the exact wording but that was the idea and it was enough for me to shut my mouth and carry through.
I remember stepping out of my van in front of my friend's house the day I met with her. I said, Alright Lord, here I am. Being obedient to you. No matter what happens, I'm being obedient to you.
I have to tell you, I'm glad I was. We had small talk then got down to the heart of the matter. By the time I left, I felt a peace because I did the right thing. I obeyed the Lord. And now I'm glad because every time the temptation tries to distract me, I know I have someone I will be accountable to. I know I'm accountable to God and I know I'm accountable to my husband (who also knows what I've been dealing with) but to have that extra friend who I know knows this vulnerability about me is actually good. I can send her a quick note asking her to pray and I know I'm not on this battlefield alone. Just like when Moses held his hands up while Joshua was fighting the Amalekites. Aaron and Hur came alongside Moses and held his hands steady til the battle was won. (Exodus 17:8-16) Our friends and accountability people can come alongside us and keep our hands held high to the Lord while the battle is being fought. We need to have this connection with each other because we need each other. God never intended for us to fight our battles alone. True, we are not alone because God is always with us but often times He helps us using another brother or sister in Christ. There is NO ONE who never needs help from anyone else. We need to sacrifice our pride and confess to each other. Be honest with each other. Don't be afraid to say I'm struggling here. Forget those lies Satan is telling you that this will be damaging to your reputation because after all you are supposed to be a Christian. Or the fear of being rejected or laughed at or gossiped about. If you've prayed about who to talk to and God gives you a name you go to that person. Their response is between them and God. You're responsible for being obedient to what He told you to do. Chances are good God won't send you to someone who will respond negatively. God is for you. God is for you being set apart for Him and walking purely in His sight. He loves you and won't steer you wrong.
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