A letter to a Friend . . .
I wondered how I could best serve and care for you. I don't usually speak to the flesh problems directly because all of our real issues are spiritual and have to do with our relationship with God. I am a "root" person. Things at the bottom/foundation must be right or nothing else can go right (Matthew 7:24).
The best I know to do is to try and encourage you in your faith which to my knowledge is the only definition of encouragement in the Bible, Romans 1:12. I would like to offer you my rendition of what life boils down to for me and my life, which defines my relationship with God and my walk through this world. The Christian life can't be so hard or complicated that it isn't "doable" by the most simple of men. And I am a simple person. These are the things I stand on and walk in for my reason to want to stay alive and do my life peacefully and restfully, in the midst of my own daily providential sufferings. When I am out of sorts with myself and my life, this is the list I use to check myself out with to see where I am adding to life's difficulties, foolishly and unnecessarily on my own part. Maybe something here will speak a word to you in your suffering, loneliness and need. Please know and believe that I am not in anyway making light of the issues or difficulties in your life in the simplicity of what I am saying below. So here is my best stuff.
Stated in the negative there are really only seven fundamental problems in life
All caused by misbelief (ignorance) or unbelief (rejection of the truth/God) and wanting our own will instead of God's
Adding up to - refusal to believe in, accept and submit to God/His word and His providential will
Consequence: endless additional, self-inflicted suffering and misery over and above God's will. When our pain is unbearable - that unbearable pain is in the space between God's will and our will when they are not the same will because He promises to make all things bearable by His loving grace (Hebrews 11:27).
1. Evil - no goodness
2. No help - alone
3. No hope - nothing/no one to look to
4. Anxious - at the mercy of yourself, others and life
5. Fear - not safe
6. Ignorance of God - no truth
7. Unbelief in God/His word - no faith
Believing any one of these things alone will rob me of my peace, rest and joy in God - Romans 15:13
All of my discontent and unhappiness in God's providential will for me and my life
Is my believing in one or more of the seven lies listed above.
My problems, hardships and difficulties are not the problem!
The problem is one of these seven unbeliefs underneath the problems, hardships and difficulties.
The truth is in the Scripture reference
1. Evil - no goodness - Psalm 119:69; 1 John 4:4; Romans 8:28
2. No help - alone - Isaiah 41:10,13; Psalm 46:1; 72:12; 124:1-8; 107:8,9
3. No hope - nothing/no one to look to - Matthew 11:28-30; Lamentations 3:18-24; Psalm 73:26
4. Anxious - at the mercy of yourself, others and life - Philippians 4:6; Hebrews 13:5
5. Fear - not safe - Proverbs 1:33; Psalm 34:4; 1 John 4:18
6. Ignorance of God - no truth - John 14:6; 1 John 4:8; Jeremiah 9:23,24
7. Unbelief in God/His word - no faith - Romans 1:20-22; Hebrews 3:12,13; Joshua 24:14,15; Habakkuk 2:4
Psalm 119:92; Psalm 27:14 I must believe in God and His truth and goodness or I will perish
Psalm 90:14 Will I be satisfied with God's mercy/lovingkindness and be glad all the days of my life?
Psalm 103:10; Ezra 9:13; Genesis 32:10 If I am truly God's chosen child and am on my way to eternal life with God in complete joy and happiness then I will never, ever suffer what I deserve to suffer. All of my providential sufferings are less than what I truly deserve to suffer no matter how severe they may be.
2 Thessalonians 5:18 - my thanksgiving and praise IN all things proves my faith in
1 John 4:18 Perfect Love casts out all fear
Job 35:4 One who is perfect in knowledge
2 Samuel 22:31 God's perfect ways
Psalm 19:7 God's perfect word of truth
Deuteronomy 32:4 God's perfect work
Psalm 119:69 God's perfect goodness
Romans 12:2 good and perfect will of God
2 Samuel 22:33 God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect
Romans 8:28; Psalm 138:8a Everything ending up right for me
Ecclesiastes 4:11; Psalm 85:11 Everything that God says and does in our lives is to bring us to reverence Him as God.
Isaiah 30:15 This is the image I want the world to see of me - strong in a quiet, restful confidence in God.
We are all given our life's story, that is our honor and privilege to live through, as a witness to God's goodness, love and mercy, Ephesians 1:12 and to be a praise to His glory through, and that will test our faith in and our faithfulness to God, 1 Peter 1:6,7; Luke 18:8.
As to our self-worth I will share something I recently found that I thought was a brilliant solution to that pesky issue. I read this in the best treatment of mental illness by a Christian I have ever read. She was trying to pin down who/what she was in the times that her mind was not sane and she was reduced to a bare body self and decided that she could not go along with Descartes' statement, "I think therefore I am" because her mind was not always available to rationality. Then she looked at "I love, therefore I am," since according to Scripture love brings us into the very ground of our being, God. But she knew she was not always loving or when sick in her mind capable of loving. So she finally decided that "what makes the soul and therefore the human is God's love, not the soul's love for anything else. Therefore we might best say that the "whatness" of humanity is "I am loved, therefore I am." That works for me so I have adopted that as my "am-ness" and I think she is right. My worth is in that "I am loved" and that by a God who is love personified and who loves perfectly, 1 John 4:8,18.
Our work is ever to be a believer in Him, John 6:28,29 and to build yourself up on your most holy faith, keeping yourself in God's love, Jude 20,21. That is everyone's number one job. In that you will be a witness to the entire world around you that you are totally satisfied and completely at rest and peace in your God, this is how you are to be a praise to His glory in your "being" Ephesians 1:12 . Whatever else you may find or are given to do is secondary. We can do this, if we have any mental capability, no matter what else hinders us in our flesh self. Joy and peace are in believing, Romans 15:13 not in doing. Doing must be an outcome, an outworking of our already having joy and peace in and with God through our believing. Our fundamental position is to be one of happy rest in God and out of that then comes our good deeds.
Maybe it is time for you to become more you in your inner man and character and seek to be a better lover of God and a better praise to His glory from your heart to His. Be with Him more, enjoy Him more, learn Him more, be satisfied and happy in Him more. He is so able to raise up stones to do any of the work any of us do without blinking. But you are the only one that can love Him with your love. You are the only one who can be you and give Him your heart of devotion and gratitude. I think it might be time for you to go inside of yourself and develop your inner man to love God's person better and more and to be more the you that God created you to be. That is what He wants from you the most, for you to be you offering Him your own private, personal love for Him and to trustingly submit to His providential will showing your faith in his directing you and your life. That is what He wants most from all of us.
But we can lose our inside selves in learning/teaching/working and then that becomes our "am-ness" and then when it is gone, you find there is little else to you but what you were in what you working at. God forced me to come inside of myself . I have been there and done that. Often our strengths are what turn out to be our biggest enemies because we make them our identity/am-ness/idols. Then God has to come and break us of living in and through our strengths instead of knowing our total weakness of flesh so that all our strength and power can be of and reflect glory to God, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Life with God is to be rooted in and lived through grace by faith. We must learn that without Him we can do nothing and to be happily, contentedly depending on Him for everything. That is our proper place and what is most conducive to our well-being and happiness.
You can leave everything in your life to God, He knows what to do with all of it, just like He knows what to do with all of us. Your work is you. Take everything as from God's hand and exercise/train yourself unto godliness in each situation and grow in character and in faith in your God. God will work more through your brokenness/meekness than through anything else you can do or say! I think that is some very wise counsel.
We could be good spiritual friends and walk our bumpy roads out together and speak truth to each other as we stumble along until our time here is up. It is without question an excruciating road to travel alone which I have done most of my 34 years with God. With the psychological, psyche and mental damage I have suffered at the hand of my parents for 18 years that ended up in my six stays in mental hospitals and severe instability in my flesh being, I have to keep a very tight grip on my stability - so I have to keep myself on track all of the time with God or I will become weak minded and start heading for the edge and become mentally off again. So even the possibility of that has served me well in that it keeps me mindful of where the source of my real self and my real life is - with God. God takes things away from us - and then uses our needs, I believe, to weaken our natural flesh strength and keep us at a level of neediness that forces us to look to and depend on our God for everything.
Well there it is - my best care and love for you within my best beliefs. You're welcome to any of it that might serve your soul's needs and ignore the rest. God has to be/have an answer/solution/resolution to all of our dilemmas in our lives, just like you need some right now. I seek and desire only your good, deep heart healing and happiness in yourself and in your God. For that we must walk in the truth of things, 3 John 3,4. It is my prayer that you will find your way to a better, sturdier and happier place in your walk, in the story of you and your life's contribution to God's praise and glory.
May you know and enjoy the width, depth, height and length of His love for you and enjoy loving Him back. He is worthy.
Your friend,
I wondered how I could best serve and care for you. I don't usually speak to the flesh problems directly because all of our real issues are spiritual and have to do with our relationship with God. I am a "root" person. Things at the bottom/foundation must be right or nothing else can go right (Matthew 7:24).
The best I know to do is to try and encourage you in your faith which to my knowledge is the only definition of encouragement in the Bible, Romans 1:12. I would like to offer you my rendition of what life boils down to for me and my life, which defines my relationship with God and my walk through this world. The Christian life can't be so hard or complicated that it isn't "doable" by the most simple of men. And I am a simple person. These are the things I stand on and walk in for my reason to want to stay alive and do my life peacefully and restfully, in the midst of my own daily providential sufferings. When I am out of sorts with myself and my life, this is the list I use to check myself out with to see where I am adding to life's difficulties, foolishly and unnecessarily on my own part. Maybe something here will speak a word to you in your suffering, loneliness and need. Please know and believe that I am not in anyway making light of the issues or difficulties in your life in the simplicity of what I am saying below. So here is my best stuff.
Stated in the negative there are really only seven fundamental problems in life
All caused by misbelief (ignorance) or unbelief (rejection of the truth/God) and wanting our own will instead of God's
Adding up to - refusal to believe in, accept and submit to God/His word and His providential will
Consequence: endless additional, self-inflicted suffering and misery over and above God's will. When our pain is unbearable - that unbearable pain is in the space between God's will and our will when they are not the same will because He promises to make all things bearable by His loving grace (Hebrews 11:27).
1. Evil - no goodness
2. No help - alone
3. No hope - nothing/no one to look to
4. Anxious - at the mercy of yourself, others and life
5. Fear - not safe
6. Ignorance of God - no truth
7. Unbelief in God/His word - no faith
Believing any one of these things alone will rob me of my peace, rest and joy in God - Romans 15:13
All of my discontent and unhappiness in God's providential will for me and my life
Is my believing in one or more of the seven lies listed above.
My problems, hardships and difficulties are not the problem!
The problem is one of these seven unbeliefs underneath the problems, hardships and difficulties.
The truth is in the Scripture reference
1. Evil - no goodness - Psalm 119:69; 1 John 4:4; Romans 8:28
2. No help - alone - Isaiah 41:10,13; Psalm 46:1; 72:12; 124:1-8; 107:8,9
3. No hope - nothing/no one to look to - Matthew 11:28-30; Lamentations 3:18-24; Psalm 73:26
4. Anxious - at the mercy of yourself, others and life - Philippians 4:6; Hebrews 13:5
5. Fear - not safe - Proverbs 1:33; Psalm 34:4; 1 John 4:18
6. Ignorance of God - no truth - John 14:6; 1 John 4:8; Jeremiah 9:23,24
7. Unbelief in God/His word - no faith - Romans 1:20-22; Hebrews 3:12,13; Joshua 24:14,15; Habakkuk 2:4
Psalm 119:92; Psalm 27:14 I must believe in God and His truth and goodness or I will perish
Psalm 90:14 Will I be satisfied with God's mercy/lovingkindness and be glad all the days of my life?
Psalm 103:10; Ezra 9:13; Genesis 32:10 If I am truly God's chosen child and am on my way to eternal life with God in complete joy and happiness then I will never, ever suffer what I deserve to suffer. All of my providential sufferings are less than what I truly deserve to suffer no matter how severe they may be.
2 Thessalonians 5:18 - my thanksgiving and praise IN all things proves my faith in
1 John 4:18 Perfect Love casts out all fear
Job 35:4 One who is perfect in knowledge
2 Samuel 22:31 God's perfect ways
Psalm 19:7 God's perfect word of truth
Deuteronomy 32:4 God's perfect work
Psalm 119:69 God's perfect goodness
Romans 12:2 good and perfect will of God
2 Samuel 22:33 God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect
Romans 8:28; Psalm 138:8a Everything ending up right for me
Ecclesiastes 4:11; Psalm 85:11 Everything that God says and does in our lives is to bring us to reverence Him as God.
Isaiah 30:15 This is the image I want the world to see of me - strong in a quiet, restful confidence in God.
We are all given our life's story, that is our honor and privilege to live through, as a witness to God's goodness, love and mercy, Ephesians 1:12 and to be a praise to His glory through, and that will test our faith in and our faithfulness to God, 1 Peter 1:6,7; Luke 18:8.
As to our self-worth I will share something I recently found that I thought was a brilliant solution to that pesky issue. I read this in the best treatment of mental illness by a Christian I have ever read. She was trying to pin down who/what she was in the times that her mind was not sane and she was reduced to a bare body self and decided that she could not go along with Descartes' statement, "I think therefore I am" because her mind was not always available to rationality. Then she looked at "I love, therefore I am," since according to Scripture love brings us into the very ground of our being, God. But she knew she was not always loving or when sick in her mind capable of loving. So she finally decided that "what makes the soul and therefore the human is God's love, not the soul's love for anything else. Therefore we might best say that the "whatness" of humanity is "I am loved, therefore I am." That works for me so I have adopted that as my "am-ness" and I think she is right. My worth is in that "I am loved" and that by a God who is love personified and who loves perfectly, 1 John 4:8,18.
Our work is ever to be a believer in Him, John 6:28,29 and to build yourself up on your most holy faith, keeping yourself in God's love, Jude 20,21. That is everyone's number one job. In that you will be a witness to the entire world around you that you are totally satisfied and completely at rest and peace in your God, this is how you are to be a praise to His glory in your "being" Ephesians 1:12 . Whatever else you may find or are given to do is secondary. We can do this, if we have any mental capability, no matter what else hinders us in our flesh self. Joy and peace are in believing, Romans 15:13 not in doing. Doing must be an outcome, an outworking of our already having joy and peace in and with God through our believing. Our fundamental position is to be one of happy rest in God and out of that then comes our good deeds.
Maybe it is time for you to become more you in your inner man and character and seek to be a better lover of God and a better praise to His glory from your heart to His. Be with Him more, enjoy Him more, learn Him more, be satisfied and happy in Him more. He is so able to raise up stones to do any of the work any of us do without blinking. But you are the only one that can love Him with your love. You are the only one who can be you and give Him your heart of devotion and gratitude. I think it might be time for you to go inside of yourself and develop your inner man to love God's person better and more and to be more the you that God created you to be. That is what He wants from you the most, for you to be you offering Him your own private, personal love for Him and to trustingly submit to His providential will showing your faith in his directing you and your life. That is what He wants most from all of us.
But we can lose our inside selves in learning/teaching/working and then that becomes our "am-ness" and then when it is gone, you find there is little else to you but what you were in what you working at. God forced me to come inside of myself . I have been there and done that. Often our strengths are what turn out to be our biggest enemies because we make them our identity/am-ness/idols. Then God has to come and break us of living in and through our strengths instead of knowing our total weakness of flesh so that all our strength and power can be of and reflect glory to God, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. Life with God is to be rooted in and lived through grace by faith. We must learn that without Him we can do nothing and to be happily, contentedly depending on Him for everything. That is our proper place and what is most conducive to our well-being and happiness.
You can leave everything in your life to God, He knows what to do with all of it, just like He knows what to do with all of us. Your work is you. Take everything as from God's hand and exercise/train yourself unto godliness in each situation and grow in character and in faith in your God. God will work more through your brokenness/meekness than through anything else you can do or say! I think that is some very wise counsel.
We could be good spiritual friends and walk our bumpy roads out together and speak truth to each other as we stumble along until our time here is up. It is without question an excruciating road to travel alone which I have done most of my 34 years with God. With the psychological, psyche and mental damage I have suffered at the hand of my parents for 18 years that ended up in my six stays in mental hospitals and severe instability in my flesh being, I have to keep a very tight grip on my stability - so I have to keep myself on track all of the time with God or I will become weak minded and start heading for the edge and become mentally off again. So even the possibility of that has served me well in that it keeps me mindful of where the source of my real self and my real life is - with God. God takes things away from us - and then uses our needs, I believe, to weaken our natural flesh strength and keep us at a level of neediness that forces us to look to and depend on our God for everything.
Well there it is - my best care and love for you within my best beliefs. You're welcome to any of it that might serve your soul's needs and ignore the rest. God has to be/have an answer/solution/resolution to all of our dilemmas in our lives, just like you need some right now. I seek and desire only your good, deep heart healing and happiness in yourself and in your God. For that we must walk in the truth of things, 3 John 3,4. It is my prayer that you will find your way to a better, sturdier and happier place in your walk, in the story of you and your life's contribution to God's praise and glory.
May you know and enjoy the width, depth, height and length of His love for you and enjoy loving Him back. He is worthy.
Your friend,