God Will Not Give You More than You Can Handle

I can't remember how many times I have heard this through the years but it is significant.  It's supposed to be a comforting statement for people when they are experiencing a time of great difficulty.  The idea is that God knows how much strength you have so He will not allow difficulty to become so heavy that you fall under it.

       

I suppose this is a misunderstanding of 1 Cor. 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."  (NAS)  The ability mentioned here is not our ability but God's ability, because without Jesus we can do nothing.

God will give you more than you can handle because, He wants to handle it through you with His strength instead of yours.  As a matter of fact, He will give you more than you can handle because He is jealous for you to get to know His Son, Jesus Christ in you.   That means He wants you to talk with Christ in you as you rely on Him more, instead of talking to yourself so much as you rely on yourself.

The Apostle Paul knew how it felt to have more than you can personally handle.

 He thought he was going to die but he tells us God had a purpose in it.  "Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:9 ESV)

Learning to rely on Christ in you through overwhelming difficulties is necessary if you are going to spiritually mature, for it not only blesses you, but others as well.  What a cool plan God has in place!  You get to know and experience Jesus in you more and then others get to know Him more as He lives through you.  "For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you." (2 Cor. 4:11-12 ESV)

Are you going through great difficulty?  Tell God you give up on your own strength and ability!  Then become enamored with Jesus by focusing on and relying on Him!

Believe it.  This is the Gospel!         

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder www.GraceLifeInternational.com 
All Content Copyright © 2014 Mark Maulding

Is Your Life "Rooted" in God's Love?

You may be surprised to learn that I have a degree in horticulture.  Though I do not use that degree, I do know some things about plants and trees. Take Azaleas for example.  There is nothing more beautiful in the spring than a yard full of these colorful flowering plants. One of the greatest displays of them is often seen on television at the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.

One of the fascinating tricks to growing beautiful healthy Azaleas is to make certain the soil they are rooted in is acidic. The acid must be the correct kind or it will destroy the roots which will then wither the plant possibly killing it.

In Ephesians 3:14-20 there is a terrific prayer I often pray for myself, my family, my staff and all those we minister to.  The prayer is basically one where we are asking God to give Christians a deeper revelation of Christ in us.  One of the results of this will be that we will be rooted and grounded in God's love for us.

Ponder the picture God gives us of roots from our soul being in the best soil they could ever be in, the perfect soil of God's love.  To have the roots of our soul drinking deeply from God's love is indescribable.  I not only say that from personal experience but mainly from the conclusion of that prayer.

So where are the roots of your soul today?  Here is a reality check. If those roots are not first and foremost in God's love, then they are somewhere else vainly attempting to get our God-given need for love met in a person, a possession or a position.  When we live like this, over time our soul withers and we may even feel like we are dying.  No spouse, child, parent, date, friend, house, car, clothes, job or anything else can provide our soul with the love we need.  Only God Himself, Who is love, can constantly nourish our soul with the perfect kind of love we need.

All of us at times seek to meet our deepest need for love in the wrong place.  This will eventually lead us into disappointment, emptiness or frustration.  Don't get me wrong, it is great to be loved by someone else, to enjoy our possessions, and to look forward to our job.  The reality is that we can actually enjoy those more when we are rooted in God's love; then we can be OK when those sources dry up.

Why don't you pray that prayer in Ephesians this week for yourself and those you care about?

Until next time, remember He loves us.

Live free in Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com 

Do You Accept Yourself and Is It Biblical?

When your life becomes difficult and you believe you just have to talk to someone, what kind of person do you look for? Most of us not only want someone who may have wisdom for our situation but we also search for a person who will accept us no matter what we tell them.

Maybe we believe God loves us and are able to rest in His love for us. Maybe you have even gone so far as to really believe your Heavenly Father accepts you regardless of what you do. But have you taken the next step? Do YOU accept yourself?

Just as it is often more difficult to forgive ourselves than it is to forgive others, it is also more difficult to accept ourselves even though we accept others. This is not only true for the typical Christian; it is also true for Christian leaders. How do I know? Well, first, I was one of them many years ago. I have not been a pastor of a local church in 20 years but I now spend some of my time mentoring, counseling and coaching pastors. Inevitably, this topic rolls around during our conversation. Christian leaders have just as much difficulty accepting themselves as the rest of us. So, why do we struggle so much with this?

It is because we are focused on the wrong criteria for accepting ourselves. Here is what we tend to do. We examine our lives and think about the positive and negative things we do. If we are honest, we hope that we can "score ourselves" in the positive. Some of us inflate that score in our minds so we can accept ourselves. That is prideful. Most of us realize that regardless of the score, there are things about us that we just don't like. So we just cannot accept ourselves.

Let's change our focus. If you have read my previous devotions, hopefully you are convinced God accepts you because He made you acceptable when He gave you His righteousness. It is His acceptance of us that gives us the ability to accept ourselves! Because He accepts us, that is the basis of us accepting ourselves.

Here is what I want you to do this week. I want you to pray something like this often. "Father because you accept me, I accept me." It may feel uncomfortable at first but as the week rolls on, I think you will experience a deeper peace. Do not mistake this for positive thinking as some books teach. This is positive believing in what God declares is true....He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on my behalf, so that I might become the righteousess of God in Him. (2nd Cor. 5:21)

Until next time, remember, He loves us! 

Live Free In Christ, Mark Maulding, President Founder GraceLifeInternational.com

How to Prepare to Be with Your Family for the Holidays

     One Christmas song invites us to go home to be with our family for Christmas because it is the best place in the world. We can't wait to get there. It goes, "There's no place like home for the holidays..."

     This idealistic phantom family lives in Christmas songs but rarely is it seen in real life. In most homes during Christmas, many have ambivalent feelings. Deep within, we want to be with family on Christmas day, but we also know this encounter has the potential for conflict, rejection and pain.

     So how do we prepare to meet our family during the holidays? First, make sure before we pack our bags for the trip, we unpack the baggage in our hearts. The best way to do that is to squarely face the hurts inflicted upon us by anyone we will encounter. To do so, go to your Abba and ask Him to remind you of all the things this person has done to you. While still in prayer, ask Him to show you how that event made you feel. Next, pray, "Father, you forgave me through your Son, Jesus Christ, when I did not deserve it. This person did __________ to me and it made me feel _________. This person does not deserve to be forgiven, but in Christ, my identity is that I am a "forgiver" and I have the Great Forgiver living in me. So, by faith I choose right now to forgive that person whether I feel like it or not." Before you leave that prayer time, take responsibility for your sin of resentment towards that person and confess it to the Lord. Jesus died for your sin of resentment so you can thank Him for forgiving you or ask Him to forgive you. Our Abba's forgiveness is one of our blessings in Christ! (Ephesians 1:7)

     The next preparation you will need to commit yourself to is to pray and tell your Father that you give up the right not to be hurt by this person again. In essence, you are telling God that you are trusting Him to be in control. We see this kind of trust in Jesus life in Phillipians 2. (If you have been abused, this does not mean God approves of that or that you should allow it again.)

     Finally, and foremost, ask Jesus Christ to live His life through you to love the people you will be around during that time. What would happen if you went to all of your holiday gatherings with the attitude that you are showing up to love these people instead of showing up to get them to love you! Jesus says to us, Without Me, you can do nothing!" John 15:5. Depend on Him to live and love through you, including those who may not seem lovable. You cannot determine how they will respond, but that is not your responsibility. However, we are responsible to love people (Romans 13:8).

     I would enjoy hearing from you if you choose to allow God to lead, live and love through you during the holidays.

Until next time remember, He loves you.

Be Free in Christ,

Mark Maulding , President and Founder 
GraceLifeInternational.com

What is the Key to the Christian Life? (Part 2)

   We are continuing to answer this question originally posed last week. In Isaiah 40:31 we are told that living from our union with Christ enables us to "renew" or "gain new strength" which literally means to "exchange". If we live from our union with Christ, we will exchange our strength for His strength.  

          Three beautiful word pictures are given to us to help us visualize this truth. The first says, 'They will mount up with eagle's wings".  An eagle lives in high places. He unfolds his wings and flies on the strength of the wind. Daily, we are to unfold our wings of faith and ask Christ to live through us.

          The second says, "They will run and not get tired. My wife is a runner and she tells me there is something called a "runner's high" runners sometimes experience. The runner feels so strong that she believes she could run forever. As we depend on Christ in us, we will be able to run in this life and not get as tired emotionally and mentally.

          Finally, "They will walk and not become weary." There are many places we must walk every day. We need to get out of bed each day and get dressed, get the kids ready, go to our job, walk in obedience to God's Word, and love people. Only as we depend on Christ to live through us in the power of the Holy Spirit can we walk through life and not become so weary.

          I have asked a question to thousand of people through the years.  The question is "Would you be willing for the next seven days to ask Jesus to fill you with His love and live His life through you"?  I cannot guarantee that we will feel any differently, but if we will do this by faith,  I believe we will see God work in and through us in new ways.   Will you take the challenge today?   If so, why don't you tell the Lord and ask Him to remind you for the next seven days?

          Until next time, remember He loves us!

Is God Really Trying to Build Character in Us? (Part 1)

      If you are like me,  all of my life I have heard that when we experience trouble in our lives, God is trying to build character into us.   The premise behind this is that though we are Christians, we are incomplete and problems are God's way of getting his character into us.

     Let me say as clearly and as loudly as I can.  "That is NOT true!  It is a gross misunderstanding of the gospel!"  The real gospel is this.  Because we have Jesus Christ in us, our Father is working to bring the character we already have out of us!  We already have everything we will ever need to live the Christian life.   Peter wrote in his second letter in 1:3.  "...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness..."  Do you see that?  We have everything we will ever need ALREADY.    Here is another compelling truth.  Paul wrote something similar in the second chapter of his letter to the Colossians in verse 10. "...in Him you have been made complete...".   Complete is sometimes translated with the word fullness.  In either case, the idea is the same.   In Christ, we are already complete or full.   If this is not enough for you, then let's look at Hebrews 10:14.  "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified."  

     The offering i.e. the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ has made us perfect in our new creation identity because we were set apart by God (sanctified) when he saved us.

This does not mean we will not sin.  We will.  This is speaking to the bigger issue of us being united with Jesus from the moment we believe.

     Until next time remember He loves us!