A bi-weekly motivational column by Dr. Deana Murphy
I enjoy meeting new and interesting people. And of course if they are Believers, there seems to be a much lesser effort to communicate. The commonalities and same values sort of help the relationship get off the ground, you know, the comfort of sharing the respect and love for Christ. Yet much to my chagrin, not all interesting Believers share the same love and respect for him that the Bible speaks about.
This isn’t my usual “get up and get going” article this week but there’s something on my heart I want to share and trust me, it will add value to your Christian walk and lifestyle.
Last week I attended a women’s summit where women of all persuasions were embraced. Now it was not my event and though I was an invited attendee, it isn’t my place to judge or comment on that. After all, Jesus did say, “go into all the world.” My presence and attitude was my living testament.
On the last day of the event, I agreed to have dinner with a lady who I eagerly wanted to network with. A couple of other ladies asked if they could join us. While walking to the restaurant I discovered by the conversations that we were all Christians. Settling in our seats around the table we placed our food orders and the two ladies ordered alcoholic beverages.
For me, Christianity means sound obedience to God’s word and the teachings of Christ including living by Proverbs 20:1: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” It is not my place to judge these ladies; however it is obvious by this passage deception had obviously crept in. The Bible has much to say about many subjects and drinking alcoholic beverages is one of them. Unfortunately, too many Christians believe they can have a Budweiser in one hand and the Bible in the other—two diabolical opposing elements indeed.
My position is when Christians engage in worldly pleasures of drinking alcohol and even smoking cigarettes, it most certainly affects their testimony. Not to mention their health. How do you make the distinction of who is the Believer and who isn’t? I can certainly say that I wasn’t at all comfortable in that setting where these women were drinking. I could have easily been perceived as giving in to the appearance of evil (See 1 Thess. 5:22). God deems any compromise with the world system as sin mentioned in 1 John 2:15: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Alcoholic ingestion is of the world.
Making right decisions. My question to you is when you are faced with a temptation, do you generally go with the flow or do you weigh your decisions on the word of God? One of the ways not to be trapped by the snare of temptation is meditating on the word. There's nothing more essential to life and success than meditating on God's word. It is not laborious. Take a scripture, read it a loud, close your eyes and think about it then see it unfolding in your life. When your mind wonders, grab it back, read the scripture again and meditate on the end result for thirty minutes. And then you will make your way prosperous and enjoy sweet success. Stick with it!
The guidance within. I have another question for you. Do you depend on the guidance and direction of others, or do you stand firm on your own convictions? Often times we may allow others to make decisions for us because we feel incapable or we want to spare ourselves of being different from the crowd. I had a choice at that restaurant to ingest an alcoholic beverage in hopes to gain favor and become significant in the eyes of those ladies. Catch this; your significance is the sum of how you differ from others. Every decision we make not only affects us, but our families and the people around us. Even future generations are affected by our choices. There is no substitute for seeking God's Word for guidance and heeding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our heart.
Following your heart. And my last question, are you afraid to make a decision that others don’t like? Don’t be timid or uncomfortable by following your heart. And you shouldn’t have to give an explanation for what you feel led to do. If you’ve prayed about it, if your heart is full of it and it goes along with scripture, then follow your heart. God says he orders our steps. There may be times you may sense that you’re supposed to do a thing and you may not know why. That’s more than likely God’s pull on your heart. God has a plan, and you are part of that plan, but you won't live it if you are afraid to make a decision that others don’t like.
As Believers, we are being watched whether we’re aware of it or not. But God is ever present and we can hear his voice guiding and directing our decisions. Colossians 3:15 AMPLIFIED clearly tells us how we know this: “And let the peace [soul harmony which comes] from Christ rule [act as umpire continually] in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ's] one body you were also called [to live].” It appears that following God’s guidance yields peace, joy and righteousness. No confusion, no frustration.
Begin intentionally living by design today. I encourage you to “walk [live and conduct yourselves] in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God [with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance, and recognition] (Col. 1:10 AMP).
Now ask yourself these questions: Is there a scripture that applies to my situation? What does it say I should do?
I would love to hear from you on how God had ministered to you through this article. Contact me at dmurphy@eewmagazine.com
Dr. Deana Murphy is a speaker, educator, blogger, award winning author and founder and CEO of the LivingDesigns360 brand. She specializes in showing over-shadowed women how to renovate their lives and break-free of self-imposed barriers so they can own their power, reclaim their identity and live a blessed life. She helps women confidently change their lives and grow to master the habits of self-esteem, self-confidence and well-being functional in four core areas of life including life improvement, spiritual growth, professional achievement and home and family management. Her holistic methodology to life-improvement engages the unique approach of designing your internal self as one would design their house; room to room meaning from the attic to basement; head to toe. She’s your go-to resource for empowering life makeovers, whether you seek one-on-one consulting, group trainings, workshops or lifestyle makeover events.
Visit Dr. Deana at deanamurphyglobal.com
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