Focus on the Lord

When you are upset or embarrassed you tend to ask the Lord to make you feel better. God does not "make" you feel anything. You are in control of your emotions. You choose what to feel by the things upon which you choose to focus your attention. You can rehash the embarrassment of mistakes you have made and you can use your imagination to embellish the supposed reactions of those who witnessed your humiliation. Or, you can focus upon the Lord and trust Him to perfect that which concerns you.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. He does not instill emotion in your heart by supernatural means: rather, your heart responds to Him with love and gratitude because you are His. Focus on the Lord and the silly little faux pas of everyday life will assume their proper place. Entrust yourself into His hands. You belong to Him. Do not be afraid of what human beings think of you. Instead, remember His thoughts toward you. His thoughts toward you are love.

Scripture: "The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands" (Psalm 138:8 KJV).

The Lord's Agenda

The Lord is your help, but you are to be about His Work. The Almighty God will not facilitate your heart's plans unless your heart is aligned with His. "My food...is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work" (John 4:37). God is indeed with you. Only stay open to Him and do not fix in your mind an agenda of your own.

Don’t press forward in the strength of your own determination to make for yourself a good reputation. You sometimes plunge forward in an attempt to right what is wrong. Fall back into the Lord’s arms. He has worked in memories, in hearts, and in minds. He has vindicated you. He is vindicating you now. He will vindicate you.

All those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are chosen by God. You are being raised up to fulfill the purposes for which He created you.

…what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God. Isaiah 49:4

The Problem of Physical Pain

Although the Lord allows you to forget the sensation of physical pain, shock over the intensity of suffering you have endured remains. God has blessed you with great blessing because of the pain you have endured. Not only in spite of it, not only through it, but because of it. The flames did not set you ablaze. Your human love would spare those you love the pain that brings blessing. God's love and wisdom sometimes allows them this privilege. Do not repine (Webster: feel or express dejection or discontent).

The reason that God allowed His Son to suffer was not so that He could gain blessing, although Jesus was indeed blessed through the pain. Christ died that you might live. The pain was a by-product of the process of dying.

Pain by itself holds no blessing: self-mutilators are in bondage to the enemy. But the physical pain that occurs on the path to Glory is used to shape and to form according to God's Will, to further fit you for the Kingdom. Do not fear pain. The Lord is with you in it. And do not suffer undue grief over past pain. God has seen you through it.

Scripture: Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. Philippians 1:19 NIV

Material Wealth

You cannot compete on the world's playing field and win; your heart isn’t in it. You do not really believe that money and possessions are an accurate measure of worth, and so you will never be truly competitive in this arena. If you had a million dollars in your own name—or five million dollars—you would not be ‘out from under’ the type of oppression that you fear. You would not spend your money as ‘they’ would, and so you would still be vulnerable to judgments. The fear of being judged is the true oppression here; the bitter hurts of having been weighed and measured and found lacking still corrupt your heart.

And now I will show you the most excellent way (1 Cor. 13)...Love is a strategy of war, if you wish to think of it in that way. It is a weapon the enemy does not possess.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2 15-17

Obedience Cancels Out Fear

A byproduct of obedience to God is freedom from the idea that physical infirmity is punishment for disobedience. Disciplining the body for the sake of health has some reward, but disciplining the body in order to hear God’s voice more clearly reaps eternal reward. Your physical health (or lack of it) is a gift from God. Belief, trust, and obedience to the Lord lead to peace of mind and heart regardless of the state of the body.

Scriptures: For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:8 NIV

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

No Regrets

Do not suffer remorse. Repentance is of the Lord, but remorse is not His tool unless it is of the sort that leads to repentance. Remorse by itself, apart from repentance, is a bitter brew. Do not partake of it.

Scripture: ...I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way...2 Cor. 7:9 NIV

Look Ahead

The Lord knows the path you’ve traveled. He knows of your pain, of your remorse, and your sorrows; those that have been self-inflicted and those that pierced your heart as wounds inflicted by others. His love and His compassion are yours and you belong to Him. Do not be afraid of the path before you; blessing lies ahead. Learn to wait upon the Lord. Learn to trust in Him even though you cannot see the prize. He will provide for you. Only do not flirt with evil; it has no part of you, and you do not belong to it.

God knows your heart. Read the message to the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3:7-13. God will vindicate you, but first you must step out of His way. You impede the Holy Spirit’s work when you attempt to be judge and jury of your fellow human beings; this is not your job. You will make yourself a menace to others, and this is not God’s will. He desires that you be well-loved and well-respected. There comes a time when those you seek to correct have a better hope of making a turn-around without you dogging their steps. Withdraw and allow God time to work in the memories and in the thought processes of those you seek to change; God can remake memories. He is with you. Allow Him to guide your footsteps in a different direction. Blessings are ahead, and if you will give God time and space to work, blessings are behind as well. God is above time and space. He can literally remake the past. But in order for Him to do this regenerative work, you must step aside.

Scripture: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14