I am a numbers guys; it comes naturally and quite handy in the industry I am working in… I can spot a trend and will apply brakes to a downward trend or accelerate to ride the momentum of an upward trend. Both have different characteristics and should be planned for differently. Importantly, you need to keep moving, stagnating is as good as dead, throw in the towel while you are ahead… NEVER!!!!! BUT DON’T stand still, DON’T GO THERE!!!
Certain downward trends are short lived, and the turn around can be seen shortly after it, others are slowly going down, and at times you need to let it go slightly, take the punch and plan to bend that curve back up again. All of it cannot be dealt with the in same manner; some you need to drive sales at lower margins, other lower sales with higher margin; sometimes you tighten the belt on expenses, other times you turn a blind eye on expenses…
Try your best, with everything in you, to not go below your previous low, DON’T GO THERE!!! Recovery is harder if you drop below your previous low, not impossible, but your previous hard work is then basically down the drain…
Now… how do I join the dots of this to our relationship with God? Quite obvious… pause a bit and think about it…
You can plot this graph in any time line… in an hour, in a day, in a week, in a year… in a Spiritual season… It can actually be put in context in so many aspects of our journey… it is okay to not always be on a high, we have “down” minutes, hours, days… but draw a line and don’t go beyond the line, don’t go below your previous low.
Don’t go there… Don’t run back to what brought you to your lowest.
A phrase I use often is “When escape becomes bondage”; We supplement our lack (our short comings; emotionally, spiritually and physically) with forms of escape. A short-term escape becomes bondage and we find ourselves tied up, struggling to let go and get loose. These are most of the times when we were at our lowest; Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll, pardon the pun, but that explains it best. It may not always be to the extreme of such, and can likely be “little foxes” spoiling the vineyard, or a little leaven that corrupts the soul, innocent distractions.
If you know this brought you to your knees previously, WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU RUN BACK TO IT??? It is short lived, it will make you feel good at the moment, but the next morning you will wake up with a hang over, and with the same problems you got drunk with the night before, it is not miraculously going to disappear, not if you supplement it with worldly desires.
I have quite a few friends that lost the battle to drugs; either overdosed, passed away because of a rough life, or ended up on street begging daily for drug money. It is never enough, the escape mechanism wears off, and you need more to escape from whatever you are running from… Stronger drugs, more beers… longer party sprees…
All praise and glory to God; I took quite a long walk on the wild side, but by His grace, I live to tell the tale of how He rescued me…
Nothing is stopping me… I come home alone every single night of my life and it is flipping lonely, absolutely nothing is stopping to pop into a bar for a beer, which will become 2, then 3, then back to 12 beers and shooters to where it was previously, evolving into a drag of a joint, before I find myself I’ll be on the dance floor with ecstasy… been there, way too often…
Be true to yourself, don’t run back to what caused your pain in the first place and then struggle to get out of it again; this includes toxic relationships, whether friends or opposite sex partners.
Only look back once you are too far to run back to it, looking back will only be a measure of God’s greatness working in you…
Don’t go there… Pity Parties
“OOOOOOH, WOE IS ME… I am stuck, now what…?” It is perfectly normal to be down, there will always be ups and downs, it is part of life…
In 2 Corinthians 1:3-14 Paul writes to the church of Corinth, and make mention of the tremendous affliction and tribulation they went through, they were tested above their means, pressed out of measure, to the point that they despaired of life, with a sentence of death hanging over them, BUT… BUT… it was beyond their measure, they were pushed to a point to trust in God only, nothing they could do would bring them freedom and peace, only God’s love and grace could.
What’s significant for me in this scripture is that they spoke about it, they made mention of the tribulation, the immense pain they went through, but they did not get stuck there, they did not stagnate… they pushed forward, relying fully on God, they rejoiced in God’s glory and grace, giving thanks to the church for their interceding prayers.
Surround yourself with the right crowd, if the right crowd is not around then rather sit by yourself, the Holy Spirit is there, I promise you He is, He is now more real to me than ever… You chose the conversations you feed your spirit with, bad company corrupts the soul.
It is now almost 2 years since my life as I knew it crumbled… one person I confined in at the beginning of my journey told me one day… “Stop with the Pity party, it’s enough now…” at first I took offence in her words, but that brought a turning point, the point of putting my hands down, pushing myself up, dust myself off and carry on. Had I stagnated, I would most likely still have been at the “Party”, blaming life for the low blows I believe I didn’t deserve…
Stagnating will eventually turn into a downward curve; you can simply not sit still and wait… Yes, I know, “Be Still and know that He is God…Wait on the Lord, and He will renew your strength…” It doesn’t say, “Don’t read bible and don’t pray while God is busy sorting out your life and trying to get you out of the mess you got yourself into.”
What do you do in your waiting? What do you do in your “Be Still”? Feed, feed and feed your spirit, supplement your anxiety with petition and prayer, seek His presence… THINGS CANNOT NOT CHANGE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE ALMIGHTY.
Heraclitus said that the only constant is change… It is a fact, there will be change, and if you spend your time at the feet of the Almighty, the change will ALWAYS be for the better; to transform you, to bring you closer to Him. The first step in restoration is your relationship with God, restoring you to the love of the Father’s heart… everything else can wait, it will fall into place… First seek His kingdom and righteousness…
If people are removed from your life and it brought you closer to God, it’s good…
If you had to lose everything in your life and it brought you closer to God, it’s good…
If you had to be brought to your knees and it brought you closer to God, it’s good…
My journey has its low moments… moments of doubt, moments of fear and anxiety, not that there is anything that may cause it, except for lies from the enemy…
I have been given free will to choose what to do with it…Do I Run away, try and “Escape” it by supplementing it with rubbish? Do I go sit in the corner and feel sorry for myself, stagnating in my growth? Or do I identify, trample on it and fill my thoughts with thanks giving and praise?
Fear, anxiety and doubt is in contradiction to who the Holy Spirit is, thus against the true knowledge of God and it need to bow down in obedience before Christ.
‘For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. ‘
2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Make the lows short lived, don’t get stuck and stagnate, don’t let it become a “Flatline” in your pulse, causing a downward trend to death… stay close to God and His righteousness.
Don’t drop below your previous low, this will have a upward trend and you will move and grow from glory to glory.
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