the struggle

"The Struggle"
By Gracie
By The Grace of God M/M
(gracie@bythegraceofgodmm.org)

How do we come to realize that we need help? We usually endure a lot of pain. Pain is not meant to hurt us, but to call our attention to the fact that something is wrong. It is a gift. A gift of warning. Our ignoring the warning, will typically bring more pain into our lives until we are sick and tired, of being sick and tired. Whether we struggle with drugs, alcohol, smoking, overeating, raging, abuse or any number of other issues or compulsive addictive behaviors, we must all reach our bottom. And pain will usually drive us there. The sooner we recognize where we are, the quicker we become engaged in the struggle to get out from where ever we find ourselves. We all need to have that moment when we "come to"... "About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. "When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, `At home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you..." Luke 15:14- 18

The first point of engagement in the struggle is to find out why we are where we are. It could be as simple or as complicated as each of our lives have been. No matter what, we need to look in the mirror & ask why? Discovering the whys & wherefores of how we got to this place, may in the end prove insignificant, but none the less, it is a huge part of the process! We need to see those things that drove us into our own personal prisons, addictions and bondage's. Somewhere along the way, we each decided that something made it acceptable to be in those pig sty's. Maybe it is familiarity and we became comfortable with the uncomfortable or maybe staying there is easier than coming out from there. But we MUST come out from where ever there is. "And what union can there be between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: "I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be my people. Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty..." 2 Corinthians 6:16-18

We need to let God lead us to the truth, no matter how hard that truth is, and that requires struggle. The truth is, we don't want to see ourselves in truth, we don't want to know the reasons why, because it demands an answer, and that answer demands an action. The pseudo wall of protection we've made is hand made, imperfect, and does not protect us! It actually usurps God's protection from us, because we insist on taking things into our own hands. There are many costs we are paying to stay where we are. The truth is, that no matter what road we choose, it will deeply wound us, and will deeply cost us! It comes down to which cost are you willing to pay? God gave us the ability to choose. Of course, only God's road, has a cost that reaps eternal value in us and eventually through us! I pray that we let that revelation get us so deeply, that it drives us into repentance!!! Not just confession, but repentance that breaks us AND the bondage we find ourselves in! Praise God, that He is loving, tender, just and merciful! And let's not forget long-suffering! "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven. Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don't become weary and give up. After all you have not yet given your lives (to the pointing of shedding blood) in your struggle against sin" Hebrews 12:1-4

We truly only have 2 options, we either fight or flee. If we flee, we will again, be victims of a trap we have set and built for ourselves and do not really want to be in, and the process of pain will begin again. Remember, we all must reach our bottom. If we chose to fight, we become engaged in the struggle for clarity, reaching for that point, where we get it. And the getting it, moves us to action, and action leads us to healing, deliverance and victory! So the question, we must answer is, do we flee the truth about ourselves or do we engage in the fight, the process of growth God is calling us each to?

For, we each MUST "...choose this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15)

"For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you." Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2