Stress Points to Life Points Day 5

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Welcome to Day 5 of Stress Points to Life Points!

 

Day 5 Stress Point Intense Relationships: Have Your Own “Stuff”

 

 I really think I might step on some toes today with this but…here goes…

We must have our own “stuff” with God. We must have our own worship, our own prayer time our own Bible time alone with Jesus. This means we can’t be dependent on the faith of our significant other which is susceptible to falter and wavering. Everyone is human. We all make mistakes and allow our faith to become lukewarm. But, when our relationship with Jesus is so intermingled with what our boyfriend, fiance or spouse’s faith, we lose our individual and meaningful connection with our King.

~Having our own “stuff” with God means that we worship Him like He is the only one in the room. (Regardless if our guy is standing right next to us at church)

~Having our own “stuff” with God means that we take time alone to pray. (Even when our guy wants all or our time to himself)

~Having our own “stuff” with God means that we read the Bible and let the Holy Spirit teach us how to apply it to our life. (Not relying on the faith and beliefs of our guy)

Totally not man-bashing here. I would tell my guy friends the same thing, too…We must allow our boyfriends, fiances and husbands to have THEIR OWN STUFF with God as well. 

Truth Point: For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Deuteronomy 4:24)

From my book Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties In A Decade Of Drama 

Don’t let the word jealous trip you up, though. Today, jealousy is attributed to relationships in general, and we often think about a raging, irrational, jealous boyfriend or girlfriend flying off the handle upon finding his or her significant other cheating. But our current definition—however distorted by imperfect humans—does in fact accurately represent a characteristic of our King of Kings. The word jealous comes from the Latin word zeal. Merriam-Webster defines it as “one who is intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness and vigilant in guarding a possession.” Before you tie a negative, cultural view of the word jealous to your King, take a moment to comprehend this fact:

The creator of the universe, the God who hung the moon and the stars and can move mountains with just a word from His powerful voice, wants every single ounce of your attention and affection. This desire for your love and worship is so intense it is like a consuming, holy, pure fire. 

To worship our King with our intense relationships is to bring to the throne our passionate, romantic feelings that swell in our hearts and oftentimes overwhelm us to the point where we worship the guys in our lives instead of our Divine, Jealous God. This happens to the best of us when we are so in love and in the pre-intensity stage of the relationship, and all we want to do is spend every waking hour with our guy. What happens, then, is we begin to do what the Israelites did: worship an idol (our guy) rather than our amazing, loving, powerful King. By not allowing ourselves to drown in a sea of emotions that surround a newly-intensified relationship, we make room in our lives to delight in the Lord first, which is what brings us true fulfillment in relationships. {Stress Point page 103}

 

Life Point: Take some time today to journal through some tough questions about your present romantic relationship and your personal relationship with Jesus. If you are not in a relationship right now, please don’t check out. These are still important questions to contemplate for the future.

~Does God look at my relationship with my guy and become jealous because I neglect personal time with HIM?

~Do I stand firm on my own beliefs based on the Bible regardless of the thoughts or opinions of my guy?

~Is my significant other strong in his own faith? Is he becoming the spiritual leader that Jesus commands men to be in the Bible? (Based on Ephesians 5)

 

What are your thoughts? Let’s chat…do you tend to make God jealous when you dive into a romantic relationship? How can you develop your own stuff with Jesus TODAY? Leave a comment…

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I’m happily serving my Jealous God. He wants all of my heart. Deut. 4:24 #stresspointstolifepoints www.liveitoutblog.com

 

Stress Points to Life Points Day 4

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Welcome to Day 4 of Stress Points to Life Points!

Day 4 Stress Point: Dating Jesus First

Just as I mentioned in Stress Point for both of the dating chapters, this section (Day 4 and Day 5) is for everyone, regardless of your dating status. If you are single, this is for YOU. If you are dating seriously, this is for YOU. If you are engaged, this is for YOU. And, if you are married, this is for YOU, too. Lean on in and listen to this one piece of advice for successful relationships…

Date Jesus FIRST.

 

You heard me right. Isn’t it so easy to let that mushy gushy feeling of being in loooooove distract us from our relationship with God? We get caught up in the fun happenings of getting prettied up for hot dates, going out to restaurants or movies or whatever that it is tempting to let our time with Jesus slide to the back burner. Here’s the deal, though. When we keep our KING in the center of our romantic relationships He…

 

~Protects our heart if/when the guy crosses a line…

~Guides us in godly behavior that really is for our own good…

~Shows us if Mr. Right is really not so…well…right for us

~Shows us how to love your guy with an unselfish love that sustains relationships and takes them to amazing levels of trust and intimacy.

 

 

Jesus is the perfect example of true LOVE. In order to survive the dating world and move into relationships that please the Lord, we must imitate Jesus. Love HIM first. Serve Him first. Then we will best know how to love and serve others, including the guy in your life. This takes intentional time in the Bible daily to stay accountable for our behavior while in that swooning phase of dating.

 

Truth Point: So imitate God. Follow Him like adored children, and live in love as the Anointed One loved you—so much that He gave Himself as a fragrant sacrifice, pleasing God. (Ephesians 5:1-2 THE VOICE)

 

From my book Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties In A Decade of Drama:

This author of romance is our Immanuel, God with us. We see the name Immanuel used in the New Testament when God announces to Mary, Jesus’ mother, that she will give birth to a son and they will call Him Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:22–24). You might recall this detail from the Christmas story; I know the sweetness of the idea that God is with us has stuck with me since childhood. God literally came to earth to be with us when He sent His Son, Jesus. Then, because Jesus, our Immanuel, died on the cross for us, we still have God with us as the Holy Spirit living in our heart. All it takes to feel God’s presence with you is to believe that Jesus is your Lord, Savior, and King.

Through every stage of life—the good, the bad, and the ugly—God is with us. This includes our romantic life. What girl doesn’t want to feel as though she’s the only one in the room, the most beautiful, absolutely captivating to someone? Our Immanuel makes this a reality. The people of God, the Israelites, lived in an on-again, off-again relationship with God in which they continuously fell away from and cycled back to their belief in their Immanuel. We too often live out this type of faith, as dating is usually a distraction to our all-out worship at the throne of our King. Yet He continues to welcome us back, forgiving our waywardness…

God wants us to long for Him, and Him alone. He calls us to worship at His throne because this worship puts us in a mind-set in which He alone can meet our needs and speak to our hearts. Because He is Immanuel, God with Us, the Lord knows our desires in dating, and He truly does want us to find happiness and love—the kind only He can give. When we are secure in worshiping at the throne of our Immanuel, our God who is always with us no matter what, we are okay with even being without a boyfriend or husband. At first the concept might be scary, but He pours His love and security over us and we grow to be okay with whatever romantic situation we find ourselves in. {Stress Point pages 81-83}

 

 

Life Points: Set some time in your schedule TODAY to make a date with Jesus. Get some worship music going and get your journal out. Write out these questions with an expectation that Jesus will speak to your heart.

~Lord, how much to YOU love me?

~Do you think I’m beautiful?

~How can I love YOU more today?

Your turn. What do you think about the concept of DATING JESUS FIRST even when you are in a romantic relationship? Leave a comment…let’s chat!

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I’m making a date with Jesus today. #stresspointstolifepoints www.liveitoutblog.com

**Click HERE to get your copy of Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties In A Decade Of Drama

Stress Points to Life Points Day 3

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Welcome to Day 3 of Stress Points to Life Points!

Day 3 Stress Point Body Image: Get Over Yourself & Make Much Of Him.

 

As I mentioned several times in Stress Point, I really really really didn’t want to write the Body Image chapter. I would much rather sweep that stress point under the rug –– pretending that I don’t have body image issues. It’s a daily battle for me to get over my issues with looking at myself in the mirror. My heart is beating fast right now just typing this in anticipation that God is doing some work in me on this stress point. Lord, can’t we just skip this? NO!

So we will tackle this together…ok?

This stress point goes hand in hand with Day 2 Self Image. That inward focus and even obsession with my body steers me in all kinds of dark places in the depths of my heart and mind. I go down a long, dank road where I obsess over myself to the detriment of focusing on the throne of my amazing King.

I really must get over myself…get over this obsession…and make much of HIM.

Truth Point: Can I go anywhere apart from Your Spirit? Is there anywhere I can go to escape Your watchful presence? If I go up into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in the realm of the dead, You are there. If I ride on the wings of morning, if I make my home in the most isolated part of the ocean, Even then You will be there to guide me; Your right hand will embrace me, for You are always there. (Psalm 139: 7-10 THE VOICE)

 

From Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties In A Decade Of Drama

In Genesis when God, Elohim, flung stars in the sky, raised up mountains from flat land, molded a smoldering sun, hung the moon in the wide abyss of His outer space, and lovingly formed man out of His perfect image, our Creator displayed His creativity in majestic ways not to be out- done. With a heart full of admiration of our King, our Creator, we must not worship the creation—obsess about our body—but rather worship at the glorious throne of the Creator. For when my energy is spent picking and prodding at my self-perceived flaws, I distract my worship from the One who painted my eyes hazel, who tinted my skin a perfect shade of olive, who sculpted my hips with beautiful curves.

Over time, this concept has soaked into the fibers of my brain and it has caused me to rewire my thinking toward Him. I realize now that by concerning myself with my body’s imperfections, I’m constantly focused on myself and not on my Creator. This is a subtle form of idolatry that, over time, brings about full-on worship of ourselves rather than our magnificent King. This is not a productive way to spend our precious days here on the earth.

As I’ve grown closer to my Creator and allowed Him to show me all the ways He thinks I’m beautiful, a hard reality has revealed itself: by treat- ing my body poorly with the bingeing and purging and obsessive thoughts, I was flat out disobeying the very King I so desire to please. When I tear down my body with destructive behavior, I’m defiling His creation.

~We wouldn’t look up at a rainbow and say, “Hmm . . . that red hue is not quite deep enough.” So why would we look at ourselves (His creation) and criticize our beautiful red hair whose every strand was painted by our Creator with care and craftsmanship?

~We wouldn’t look with scorn at a stunningly grand oak tree and mock its extravagant height. So why would we look in the mirror and throw insults at our beautifully tall stature that our Creator framed just for us. 

~We wouldn’t kick a cuddly, innocent puppy. So why would we beat up our own body—the very body that reflects the creativity of our almighty King? (Stress Point page 60-61)

 


Life Point: I’m struggling typing the next few sentences ‘cause I don’t want to do what I’m about to encourage YOU to do. But, this will be so freeing and it is an incredible habit to form. What would happen if we rearranged how we look at ourselves in the mirror? What would happen if we turned our focus outward and toward our Creator? Instead of worshipping our bodies like idols (that is really what we are doing when we obsess about how much we don’t like our body) we will celebrate HIS creation?

So…take five minutes and stand in front of the mirror with a prayerful heart. This means we will take five minutes to observe what we see in the reflection and praise Jesus for it. I’m serious friends, this will be tough the first couple of time we do it. But lets develop a habit of loving our bodies as God’s beautiful artwork rather than tearing our bodies down and trashing God’s creation. Do this everyday for a week with an expectation that God will revive your body image. He is faithful when we get over our insecurities. He is faithful when we get over our destructive thought processes. He is faithful when we get over ourselves and…

 

Make much of HIM.

How did it go? Did you do the Life Point excercise? Leave a comment…let’s chat!

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Declaration: Today I am looking in the mirror and celebrating myself as God’s beautiful creation! #stresspointslifepoints www.liveitoutblog.com

 

*Click HERE to get your copy of Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties In A Decade Of Drama