HSD: You’re Trying to Help Again!
Come here. Come take a walk with me.
I’d like to share something personal with you.
So one thing that the Lord has been working on within me and my household is money management. The last season we endured was so painful that I had no choice but to receive the message loudly and clearly. My family has always had a tendency to over-indulge in food…only I didn’t realize it. We (or at least I) never really looked at prices. I would pick up anything I knew everyone liked and deal with the consequences at the register. I’ve been blessed by the Lord to not have a story where my household had to struggled in that way.
Then the storm hit… and we faced what felt like financial challenges left and right. Money being blocked or stalled, random financial threats, deals of financial promise crumbling under…it was rough.
And I vowed to God and myself that I would do better moving forward.
Fast forward to our first trip in the store since I made this promise.
Here’s where things got tricky spiritually.
I began to do something I hadn’t realized I was doing.
I began to lead this task by fear instead of wisdom.
Now, there was one good time I heard the Holy Spirit say, “put that back and get it from this store.”
Everything else, I agonized over. Do I really need this? No, we can wait for that. Put it back.
And by the time the kids started picking out snacks, I began to really allow the spirit of fear to infiltrate.
I started stressing, yall.
Not because we couldn’t afford to cover the bill.
But because I feared that if I didn’t apply the lesson learned from last season, I’d face a similar season in time to come.
And I REFUSED.
Later on in the evening, I began to experience other symptoms of torment.
Confusion. Worry. Distraction. Intrusive thinking.
And after I denounced and renounced those agreements and repented to the Lord for coming into agreement with those spirits, the Holy Spirit revealed how they crept in.
“When you thought you were helping me, you were actually helping them.”
Oof, that was rough.
His Word tells us, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7
So if I’m worried about anything…it’s not Him. If I’m leading any task by fear, that is also not Him. If I somehow slip up and start to take matters into my own hands, renounce that spirit of control because that is not Him either, bredren.
Have you ever done anything like this? Where you thought you were in alignment with God’s Will but you somehow stumbled on the path of works-based faith and self-wisdom?
It can be disheartening when you realize you somehow missed the mark, but here are a couple of lessons I learned from my spiritual faux pas. I hope they help you, too:
1. We cannot help God. When His Spirit was giving me wise instructions about where to go and get better deals, that was Him helping ME. That was Him reminding me that HE was the one doing the transformative work within me and HE would be the one to help me navigate through the process. The minute I began to overthink and stress out about my choices, that was the same minute I came into agreement with the enemy’s agenda. I have since renounced it wholeheartedly. Couldn’t believe myself.
2. Asking for wisdom is essential. In James 1:5, James stands on this importance. Why? Because if wisdom is the effective application of knowledge, that means the only way to truly use what I know to do better would have to come by divine guidance. I’d have to ask for God to help me apply what He just taught me instead of trying to do it myself. Sometimes…I just cannot with myself.
And then the Lord reminds me that He does not just expect me to extend grace to others, He requires me to extend grace to myself as well.
I love Him so much. Everyday more and more.
Just the same, I just want to encourage you today.
You live by grace through faith.
That is the fool-proof formula.
To maintain this way of life, you stay connected to The Holy Spirit by way of Worship, prayer, meditation and reading His Word; you repent often, pray for wisdom, and keep it moving.
That is it…
He’s doing everything else.
It’s alright. You’re still in process.
But of course,
I encourage you to do one more thing as an essential part of your Worship and affiliation with Christ…
do every single thing you do with His Love.
Holy Spirit, I thank You for this Word today. Please let it meet the eyes of every person who needs to hear this so that they may be encouraged to move forward and lead others to you with Love. We love You, Lord, and we thank You. In Jesus’ Name to the Glory of the Father, we thank You. Amen.
