"I Feel"

So many times I have heard this phrase "I Feel". I have even utter it myself thousands of times. Now each time that phrase sputters past my lips I cringe. Why? Well it's simple, feelings are the most unstable platform for making any decision, ANY! At best I have observed a 50/50 track record on the "I feel" decisions (I am being very generous here). Yet it's what we use as our primary filter for entertainment, job decisions, family relationships and our obedience to God. I bet you have your own story of how feelings left you torn and tattered behind the bumper of an emotional drag racer!

What might be a better way to live? It seems a better way is to still feel as a human does, but then subject those feelings to God's calling! In other words, what has God called you to do or be in this situation that transcends feelings? To give you some meat for this so you don't disguise your "Calling" decisions in more cloaked feelings, look for these things before making decisions in life:

1. In inward urge of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14), Scottish proverb “It’s better felt than telt”. It’s an experience you can’t describe.

2. A definite word from the Scripture. (John 7:17) It serves to deepen your conviction of that urge.

3. A burden in your heart. (John 4:35). Everything God does draws back to bring people into the kingdom, so will be your calling.

4. Advice of Godly Christians (Gal 2:2). Nothing significant accomplished in human history was ever done alone! Others discernment will serve you will and you will prosper.

5. A mentor that comes alongside to equip you. (2 Tim 4:11). The words and actions of a gifted and spirit-led leader that has gone before you will help you through the most difficult times. (Your pastor, parents or a friend that is more spiritually mature than you)

6. Divine ordering of events by God. (1 Cor 16:9). God will use His providence to seal the deal that you are heading in the right direction.

Use these filters the days of feeling frustrations will be finished forever! (5 F's in one sentence must be a record!)

Monday Morning Blues

(Exodus 20:9-11) “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

Ok, so I did a little project this morning. See it’s Monday morning and I wanted to know how many Monday mornings I have done what I did today. I was curious how many times I had gotten out of bed to start a week after being excited for the end of the previous week. I wanted to know how many times I had to hit that alarm clock with the mixed emotions of a start of another work week. Well are you curious? If I take away the first 10 years of my life I have repeated what I did this morning 1,508 times.

Fifteen hundred times I have joined forces with the many in the world that get up and go to work or school. Over the years I have approached this routine with joy and many times with angst. And as a boy I learned that having a bad attitude about this weekly routine was not going to get me anywhere. The only way I was going to change those Monday morning blues was to change my perspective on each one that comes by.

Work is important to God, but no so important that it’s all we do. Resting is just as important to Him. He wants us to live lives that are in perspective, with priorities and in design with His plan. Yet if we are always working on task after task and project after project we begin to lose sight of that design. On the contrary you won’t get where you think you are going if you keep on going with no rest. (Additionally some of us need to actually get up and do some solid work. The excuse of putting it off until tomorrow is just plain laziness, you want to get somewhere in life, get of your butt.)

OK, back to my point, just like there is a time to work, there is a time to rest. Many people fudge the rest because they work all the time and never rest. Then they fudge the work because they never rest! When we do this we put ourselves in a dangerous position. That is why the Bible says “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a bandit” (Proverbs 24:33)

The urgent will always be with us and I truly believe the greatest danger to us learning how to work six days and resting one is letting the urgent things to crowd out that which should be priority. Evaluate your life and ask yourself some tough questions regarding how your weekly schedule matches up with your priorities.

There are 3 areas you need to hit on when it comes to proper schedules:

1.) Planning

2.) Executing

3.) Evaluating

Your week needs to include all three at some point. So how are you doing with your work? How are you doing with your rest?