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Biblical Boundaries Part 5: Fortification
We have been through the tough stuff now and we are going to have some fun in week 5. If you have your equipment you are ready. We need to fortify ourselves with the tools we need to be successful. We need to protect ourselves by building the white picket fence with all the information we have collected to date. We did not collect this information so we can forget about it. This is the typical reaction today because we are afraid of this information. It is not easy changing a bad habit into a good one. It takes time, strength and a mass amount of courage but God is faithful to finish the work He started in you (Hebrews 12:2a).
We always need to start our story with Jesus as the foundation or we will repeatedly fail. This is going to be your testimony in the future. It is going to be what Jesus uses to help you draw people to Him in the future. He will use this to help you remain successful for the rest of your life. Fear not because He is working a work in you that will not be forgotten. Having Jesus as your foundation will give your fence the kind of strength it needs to remain upright.
Your foundational posts describe ‘you’ as you are today and who you plan to be in the future. The fence you are building is not just a fence, it is your future. It is the foundation of how you will set and defend boundaries for the rest of your life. Jesus and you will do this together. He will be with you today as you are, and He will be with you as you go about doing good for Him. He has already seen you as you will be and He knows exactly what it will take to bring you there. Trust Him every step of the way as He points you in the right direction.
The slats joining your foundational posts are temporary. They represent the thing you want to eliminate. They will be removed as Jesus teaches you how to eliminate that thing listed. As you take strength and courage from Him to stay the course, you will gain more strength and courage from your success. This is not only teaching you to be strong as you work these out, but it gives you encouragement to continue as you see yourself changing. You will change into what Jesus has created you to be. Sometimes, you will take huge steps, but other times you will feel like you are not moving at all. When you feel stalled look back at what you have accomplished in the past to see that you are not standing still but are still moving. Hang on until you begin moving at light speed again.
This week, change your mindset into a successful mindset. Stop writing down what is causing you to sin and start writing what is the things leading you to be successful. How are you eliminating sin in your life? What are you doing that is changing you? What is Jesus doing to guide you? Have you noticed changes in you for the better? Have you noticed a difference in any relationship you have since? Does the Word of God mean more to you now? Have your behaviours changed? Have your words changed? Have you seen something change unrelated to what you are currently working on? Have people commented on your changes? Write all of this down as you go along so you do not forget the progress you are making. This information will encourage you.
Your Boundary Board is a miracle that God will use to improve your life. The verse you use to encourage yourself will also be of significance to you as you work on the thing God has asked you to eliminate. He has taught you that the Word of God is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). He will continue to teach you this throughout all of your training. He will teach you this Your whole life. As long as you continue to learn from Him He will continue to teach you for what you do have He will provide more but if you refuse to be taught what you do have He will take away (Mark 4:25).
Study your fence this week and ponder your verse. Bury the verse deep into your soul as you continue to defend your boundaries. The new you is waiting for you. Jesus is waiting for you. We are all waiting for you. When you become the ‘you’ Jesus wants you to become that effects every Christian in your community. You will do what Jesus has commissioned you to do and if they are doing what Jesus has commissioned them to do the community will become a power house for Jesus. Imagine white picket fences in every house surrounding every Christian. Can you see the work that we can do? “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do.” Says Jesus in John 14. So, go and do greater works wrapped in your white picket fence.
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Biblical Boundaries Part 4: Wisdom
Up to this point you have been gaining wisdom without being aware of how much wisdom you have gained. If you have been asking Jesus for answers and He has been supplying them wisdom has been embroiled in all of those answers. There was prep work for you to do from Week 3 and if you did it you will know what you look like when you are on the other side of this transgression. The thing God has asked you to stop doing or to start doing will lead you into a specific character trait or state of mind. Up until this point this trait was flawed because of this transgression. God is working at perfecting it in you starting from this point.
In the past several weeks you have learned to become aware of your transgressions, what leads to your transgressions and how to begin intervening on your own behalf along with Jesus. If you follow the book The White Picket Fence you will have been journaling all of these pieces of information. Somewhere along the line, if you have been speaking to Jesus, you will have had a revelation from Jesus. When you invite Jesus to help you intervene on your transgression He doesn’t waste any time revealing to you what needs to be done. The thing I love more every day about Jesus is when He asks us to stop doing that “thing” He also gives us a replacement for it. He is working to make us who He created us to be if we would just trust Him to go where He sends us. I know exactly how hard trusting Him is for us mere humans especially us women who have been hurt by human men. We can do it in time. If the Word says we can trust Him we can be guaranteed we can (do a search because I don’t have enough blog room to quote them all).
The wisdom we get is from Him. You are learning this week the wisdom behind knowing what makes you tick. We need to discern the behaviours causing us to transgress by writing them down. It is one thing to think them but writing them down shows us the behaviours in real life. One bit of information I want you to know is when they are in our head the devil has no access to them but once you write them down they become food for his eyes. When we start discerning what the devil is using to make us transgress he will step up his game. This is part of the wisdom Jesus wants us to know. When we determine to follow Jesus, the devil will begin to trip us so we fall head first into the ditch on our path. I want you to know it is not Jesus tripping us, but if He thinks we need to be tripped to learn to obey Him, He will let the devil trip us.
Learning what the easiest spark to eliminate is, and going after completely elimination of that one first, will give you the strength you need to eliminate all of them up to the hardest. To be successful at this you must determine to do this daily to work this out in your life. Wisdom is useless if it is only used intermittently.
By this week if you are lukewarm about eliminating sin you are in disobedience. Jesus said in John 13:17 that if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. This verse would spur you with its goodness but if you need to be shocked into doing the will of God you can go to James 4:17. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Eventually, as you continue in the will of God, the blessing verses will spur you on to do good but sometimes we need the verses that scare us to death to spur us on. Don’t fear having to use them. They are there for just that reason. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He has provided exactly what we need to get into His will.
The wisdom you need this week is from God and it will continue to come from God. You are learning whatever it takes to be successful and that knowledge can only come from Jesus. He is going to provide the escape for you but it may very well take some time and smaller steps to make sure you are successful. Going cold turkey might work for someone but not for you. The process is a learning experience each one of us must go through so we do not go back to the transgression again. We are all aware of the story of the demons return with seven worse than him but if you are not read Matthew 12:43-45. We need to habitually seek God’s face for answers that will give us the wisdom to stay away from sin.
If you need help learning how to set Biblical boundaries The White Picket Fence, Crown for Life Pursues Biblical Boundaries will be available for purchase beginning in December. The last chapter is an instruction for you but I recommend you read the whole book first because our need to feel as if we are not alone will be met with abundance.
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Little Task; Big Task
Obedience in the Little Tasks
It is an exciting time for Leola right now. She is coming into the work God gave her many years ago. She is staring out the window from her Jesus chair remembering all the work she has done to prepare for this day yet knowing it still isn’t enough to prepare her for the future. She still knows there is a long way to go. God has had her do works she had no idea would prepare her for today. She created Strategic Life Skills Workshops she has never taught, under His direction. She has written newsletters never seen before by the public. She has gone places and done many things under His orders. She has also disobeyed God in many instances because she didn’t think what He was asking her to do was appropriate for her direction. As she thinks about her disobedience she wonders what she had not learned the easy way because she chose to disobey. She understands today obedience is not about understanding it is about doing.
Leola is thinking about boundaries again because they tie in with obedience. She knows from experience if boundaries do not surround her goals the goals they will never be met. How often do people set goals and never attain them because they neglect to include boundaries with their goals? Each goal is set with the expectation it will be reached but they never are because the way is not prepared. When God told Leola she would speak in public her first reaction was to join Toastmasters to practice speaking. There she learned how to write a speech and speak properly, use appropriate language and props, and how to dress. She posted videos on YouTube to practice teaching the Bible. Each time she did what God required she got more adept at doing His will and more prepared for His big task. She always wondered when the time would come when everything He told her would come into fruition. She never stopped doing what He told her to do because each little task was the preparation work for the big task.
Obedience and preparation go hand in hand with God. Those who wait on the Lord are not sitting on the couch watching television they are preparing themselves for the big task the Lord will ask them to do. Each person the Lord called He also prepared with information about the future. Moses was told He would lead God’s people to the Promised Land. Gideon knew He was going to free God’s people. Paul knew He was going to bring the Gentiles the Gospel. If you know one character in the Bible that was perplexed about His duties please let me know because I haven’t found him or her yet. Even Jesus knew He would die and why. Each Bible character had boundaries set up to make sure they went in the direction God told them to go, not going to the right or to the left but straight ahead. When God tells you His goal (the big task) for you, you can do nothing but get prepared for it. It is about the work we do to learn, the work we do to practice and the work we do to become an expert at what God is calling us to do.
Getting Prepared for the Big Task
The big task is what Leola is super excited about. All the little tasks are sometimes boring and time consuming however each one of them has to be done to get prepared for the big task. Leola eventually got to the place in her walk with God of complete obedience so she will eventually get to the big task. She wants to be prepared for it lest she be of no effect to the women she is serving. It is about God but more so about His children. She is here to serve God in a specific capacity for His children. She has learned she is serving His women to serve Him but she wants to serve the women He wants her to serve. To do that she needs to know who He wants her to serve and in what capacity. Serving His women means she needs to be prepared to deal with what they bring. Are they disobeying Him? She can serve. Are they guilty of sin? She can serve. Are they ignorant of God’s message? She can serve because she has been there and done that. Do they ignore Him? She can serve. She has gone from serving self to serving God to serving women. His great teachings have prepared her to serve Him and His women at the same time. Her obedience in the little tasks over the last 15 years has prepared her to serve His women in her big task. Bring it on!
Perhaps, you do not know what God has prepared for you. Perhaps, He has removed your memory as a result of your disobedience to Him (Matthew 13:12, 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke 19:26). If God has removed your memory of the big task, implore Him to remind you again, and set your heart to preparing for it. Learn how to set boundaries around the goal He has for you. This is my job in the body of Christ. I am here to help you prepare for the big task God has laid upon your heart but if you do not know it you cannot prepare for it. I am currently writing about creating boundaries as the first book in a series about Leola and Veronica’s business named Crown for Life. Expect “The White Picket Fence” in the fall to help you with setting and defending boundaries to get to your goals. We are all here for a reason and that reason is to serve God and… No one is here to serve God alone but to serve His people as well. Jesus said when we serve people we serve Him (Matthew 25:31-46). Even when you are prepared and in the big task God prepares you for another big task. You will spend your life becoming prepared from one task to another. Don’t get tired from doing the small tasks. Be the wise servant who can be trusted with little so when much comes Jesus knows you are prepared to be trusted with it.
Meditation Verses: Matthew 13:12, 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke 19:26; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 16
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A Crisis of Identity
The Old Crisis
Strained relationships are common for Leola right now. It isn’t the fault of the people in her life. There is a struggle in her mind about who she should be as a Christian. Should she abandon her old self? She has secular friends and Christian friends and at this moment she is not comfortable with either one. Her behaviour with each one is not quite up to par. She cannot be a Christian with her secular friends and she can’t stand her Gentile behaviour with her Christian friends. Who is she, a Christian or a Gentile? She isn’t Gentile enough to be a Gentile nor is she Christian enough to a Christian. She just doesn’t fit into either category. “I wish I knew who I was?” Leola thought as she sat studying the Words of God. She knows she is going through an identity crisis. Her identity revolves around whom she is serving and how. Is she a Christian serving Christ or a Gentile serving Satan? Someone preached God does not gift unsaved people so what does she do with those talents she has had all of her life? Are they from God or from Satan? Does she have to give them all up and develop new ones?
Leola started learning about those so-called ‘Spiritual Gifts’ the teachers spoke of. She ordered tons of books and studied the Scriptures. She was convinced even the unsaved were gifted by God to do what they were doing otherwise that would me either we developed them ourselves (we are god) or the devil gave them to us (he is god). Without a doubt Leola was gifted for leadership and administration. Who gave her those gifts because she has been acting within them all of her life. She is also an encourager and a teacher. How did she get those talents? If God is not giving talents to people from the time they are born how did she get them? These questions are weighing heavily on Leola at this moment. Even in these early days she can see within the church people are not acting within their own talents, which is also perplexing to her because if God gives the talents why are they not being utilized by the church. Are we not the Body of Christ, the eyes, the mouth, the arms and the feet? Maybe, they don’t know what talents they have or they don’t like what they have? Either way she has to get to the bottom of this or it will drive her nuts! (That is her combination gift of administration and teaching kicking in. They always need to find the truth to set them free from not knowing!)
After studying the Words of God I came to believe God gifts everyone from the day they are born. How they use the gifts God bestowed upon them at birth is another thing altogether. I have expressed this truth before as I will again – God has a plan for every single person on this earth from before they were born so therefore we can only believe this truth – God has given each person talents to function in this world inside and outside of the church building. The identity crisis each of us goes through is specific to using those talents. Are you a born leader, then lead? Are you an excellent organizer, than organize? Are you compassionate toward the hurting, than have mercy on them? People are being used by God to move another person into their specific plan of God. Your leadership, administration, mercy or the another gift was given to you by God to work and to show people Christ! In Romans 12 Paul tells us about the gifts everyone has, Christians and Gentiles. We use these gifts to function in our work and in the church to serve each other. These are what are called the functional gifts of God. We function in them every day no matter where we are while 1 Corinthians 12 list the gifts used to edify the Body of Christ. Paul tells us the Spirit Himself unleashes these gifts as He sees fit. These are for those of us in the Body of Christ to be used to edify each other. We know this because Paul tells us they come by the Spirit. In 1 Peter 4, Peter tells us to get busy doing what God has gifted us to do so the body will run like a well-oiled clock. They both want us to stop lusting after what men want and do what the Spirit wants. Herein lies our identity crisis. We want what man wants for us but God wants us to do what He wants for us. It is the struggle between Gentile and Christian we all go through.
Her New Identity
Leola is having a crisis that can only be described as a crisis of her new identity in Christ. Her gift of leadership and administration turns out to be a rare combination and to be found in a woman was detrimental to her cause or so she thought. Men and women alike will hold her back but in her search to discover the giftings of God she is also discovering who is in charge of those gifts and it is neither man nor Satan. God gave her those gifts and left her in charge of them to choose whether she would use them or not! She will! Her new stronger identity would do what He wants her to do rather than be limited by what people think she should do. Her learning also included teaching the gifts of God in a Life Skills Workshop as well as encouraging everyone she meets to use the talents God has given them to serve His people in the manner God instructs not people. Being able to improve her life skills was hinging on His answers to this crisis. In finding the answers Leola gained a full understanding of who she was in Christ and who she would become for Him. This was significant for her because this crisis was holding her back from doing all the things of God meant for her. Now that she is years past this crisis Leola’s faith in God is based on His approval of the tasks she does not mans. She will not be held back by people because she knows God is making His way for her to do exactly what His will is and she is going! She said out loud to Satan, “If you are in God’s way, you are in my way, so get behind me, Satan!”
Who will win in your life, the Gentile or the Christian? If you think God has not gifted you with THAT gift (women shouldn’t have it or men shouldn’t have it) you are limiting God. God is bigger than any man and He does what man cannot do. The gifts of God are for us all to serve His people whether they are saved or not. Just as God uses the saved He also uses the unsaved. Do you know how He has gifted you? The Bible does not tell us explicitly what we will do on the New Earth although since it is our soul using the talents given, and our soul will live on the New Earth it stands to reason whatever our soul is gifted to do here will be exactly what it will be gifted to do on the New Earth for the Body of Christ. Think about your talents here. Can you use those talents for God’s people on the New Earth? I am gifted with Leadership, administration, exhortation and teaching, can they be transferred to the New Earth where everyone knows who Jesus is. Absolutely, because outside of Jerusalem will be those who chose not to use their talents to build up the Body of Christ therefore they in turn were not built up either. They will not know Jesus personally because they chose not to have a relationship with Him by studying His Words. They will go into Heaven as ignorant about Him as they were on the day they were saved. Let that not be you! No matter what any person says God is the one who gifts you, He makes the way for you and He gives you the people you are to serve. No man has the power to do any of this. Give up your identity crisis today and free yourself to do what God has asked you to do to serve us, that we can do the same! We are going with or without you so why don’t you just come!
Meditation Verses this week: Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; 1 Peter 4; Revelation 21-22
