Nick Meeder | Way Finders

My wife and I recently went up on Skyline Drive and it was beautiful! We went to our favorite spot to watch the sunset.   Kate asked me what God had been teaching me and it was great to share all the wonderful things He’s been doing, even in “bad” things that had happened. Even in the bad things, God had still worked things for His glory and my good. As I was reviewing my pictures of the evening, it reminded me that everything in the beautiful pictures is His and not mine. It’s easy to think that when I’m looking at the vastness of creation, but what about the stuff that I consider “mine?” Is it really mine? No, but do I operate as a manager with His stuff? Not always. One thing you and I really forget is that we are not our own, we are His creation. Yet, the beautiful thing is that He will not violate our volition, though He owns us. He will be patient and long suffering with us until we willingly surrender ourselves to Him. God has every right to you; He owns you. Yet He will not force Himself upon you. Oh, the depths and richness of our God’s love! When we surrender to God and come into relationship with Him, then we are filled and freed. When we decide we’re tired of trying to fulfill ourselves by our own hand and freely give ourselves to Him, that is when we truly begin to live!

“Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.” Luke‬ ‭17:33‬ ‭ESV‬‬ ‭‭“…and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” ‭2nd Corinthians‬ ‭5:15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Who are you living your life for? And are you truly living? Or are you trying to live for yourself?

One of the most foundational elements to understanding who God is, is being able to relate to Him correctly and understand how God relates to us. ‘Oh, that’s easy, Nick, I know God and understand Him. He loves me.’ That’s great! And it’s one thing to know who God is intellectually; it is a whole different level of intimacy to know God emotionally and relationally. Since the discovery of my root system in LifePlan, God has been “rooting” (pun intended) out bad beliefs as I discussed in the previous post.

Recently, I had an accident at work in which I received second degree burns on my thigh, forearm, and face. I was melting a brazed joint on a copper pipe to remove a valve from a refrigerant system. The valve was faulty, which is why I was removing it in order to install a new valve. What I didn’t know is that pressure had built up behind the valve after I had vented the pressure. When the braze joint melted, the pressure pushed through the brazing alloy. When the pressure did this, it took with it, polyester oil (used for lubrication in mechanical parts of the refrigerant system) and atomized the oil. When the atomized oil hit the flame from the torch I was using, it ignited and I was engulfed in a fireball. Now, this all happened in fractions of a second. I was in a location with limited access and couldn’t readily get away from the flame, which is why I got burned as bad as I did. But praise God that He kept me as safe He did, because it could have been a lot worse. I got away from the flame, turned off the acetylene torch and the fire went out. Next, I assessed my damage. The skin on my forearm had melted and shifted, causing wrinkles in my skin, almost like pantyhose that had bunched up. I took a rag and put it in a bucket of ice water I had been using earlier and put it on my burn to try and alleviate the pain. Next I felt my lips, nose, and cheek stinging so I put a cool rag across them as well. I wasn’t concerned about my leg yet, though it hurt, because it was covered and I couldn’t see how bad the damage was. On the inside, part of me was freaking out and wanting to go into shock. I was shaking. Somehow, the other part of me was mostly in control, keeping me calm and telling myself that it would all be okay. I told God I still trusted Him, but I was scared. Over the next several hours, I would go to an urgent care center, get treated, and then be released to go home and begin the healing process.

Why do I tell you this story? I want to show you what lies I started to believe, and then maybe it will help you see what lies have made their way into your own life.

I didn’t know how to process what had happened to me once the adrenaline and hype of the day had gone. I was confused, and unsure of what God’s work was in the situation. In the midst of it all, I knew I could trust God, but I felt like I had been abandoned. I didn’t feel like He loved me. Why would He have allowed it? Was He even there, because I felt like I was on my own? I still trusted God, but instead of trusting Him, I was questioning why He would’ve allowed it. Was He punishing me because I had done something wrong? Did He have a plan for me? Because it was starting to feel like He didn’t.

You know what? God and I had a long conversation a few days after the incident, because of how it was affecting our relationship, and I am pleased to tell you that He answered all of my questions and fears. Let me summarize our conversation by sharing what He taught me.

God reinforced that I am His son and He has not abandoned me. He is completely trustworthy (Romans 8:15-17).

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

He told me that in the midst of all that was happening, He was there holding me. I learned that God ALWAYS loves me and has the BEST plan for my life. I learned that Satan will attack at my core, who I am. He puts lies in my mind. I am who I am because of Christ, and Satan cannot change that. So what will he do? He will make me doubt who God is. If I doubt who God is, then how can I be sure of who I am? If I do not know who I am, I will go through life seeking after every vain thing to satisfy the deep longing in my soul for meaning and belonging, the relationship with my Father in heaven. It is the cosmic battle: the battle between the truth and the lies, my glory or God’s glory, my satisfaction from my own doing or the satisfaction of knowing who I am and Whose I am.

Now, who are you and whose are you? Are you fulfilled and living a life of true freedom in a relationship with your heavenly Father? Do you see yourself as His child and He your faithful, unfailing, and loving Dad? In what ways is God using the things and events in your life to help you know Him as He did for me?

This past June I went through an event called LifePlan with a life and business coach named, Chris LoCurto. If you haven’t done so, click this link and go over to his page and see if LifePlan is right for you. It completely revolutionized my perspective on life and its trajectory. I thought I was a healthy person, but oh, man, I didn’t even realize the crap I’d put between myself and my relationships, particularly with God. Going into LifePlan I knew it would be difficult, but coming out of it, I have lived more free than I ever have in my life. Now, is it difficult? Yes! There’s still a lot of bad beliefs and habits that I must battle to break. However, with God’s help, it’s a whole lot easier.

The reason I wanted to tell you about LifePlan is because one thing that I’ve discovered post-LifePlan, is that I battle with trusting God completely. One of the bad beliefs that I’d had was that God had left me on my own and that I had to perform (i.e. be good enough) for Him. I didn’t even realize that I was operating like that until we started digging in my root system. We found a lot in my root system. However, this idea that I had to be good enough drove me to try and achieve my version of success, or what I thought was success. I tried so many things, pushing and striving, but each time, it never satisfied me. Instead, I felt even more empty than before and would wonder why I wasn’t achieving my dreams.

The truth is, I was operating from a bad belief. I was operating as though God didn’t have a plan for my life. That He had left me on my own to figure it out. I was operating as though God couldn’t be trusted. The truth is, that is a bad belief! You see, God is my Father, and He’s yours. He is completely trustworthy. Jesus told the disciples,

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you…20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you…And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” John 14:18-21

You see, God is your Father and He has not left you as an orphan. You can trust God’s plan for your life. His plans are better than yours. Ask God to help you know Him as your Father. Surrender your desire to have life on your terms. Accept His love, mercy, and grace. Give Him control of your life. Start building that relationship with Him that He so desperately longs to have with you. He is trustworthy. He loves you!

While July 4th is certainly a time of celebration, it is also a time of reflection. Our country’s foundation was an interesting progression in response to tyranny, but most importantly, one founded on God’s principles. 

  
One thing I lose sight of is that the success of any individual or body of people rests solely on the foundation of principles and ethics instilled and acted upon in the individual or group. Why is this so? All success and blessing comes from God, not of our own hands.

God’s laws and principles governing our world dictate this to be so. One law God instituted is that you reap what you sow. Our founding fathers, fallen in their own ways and suceptable to their own vices, still founded (sowed) this country on God’s principles. The produce (reaping or harvest) of that was a thriving country blessed by God. It was not by our hands or our founding fathers’ hands, but God acting on the promise that He set in place, which has yielded such a free country.

Let each of us pause now and consider in ourselves upon what foundation are we building? What are you sowing to? Are you sowing to the Holy Spirit Who acts and convicts in you to produce fruit in keeping with righteousness? Or are you sowing to the flesh which will result in pain? What is one area of your life that you know you’re not acting according the Spirit’s desire? Surrender it to Him and ask that He would help you to act and think as He wants you to do. Remember, you will reap a harvest according to what you are sowing.

Where does God have you now?

It is easy to get caught in the myth that your present situation sucks and if you could just get away from it, your issues and problems would go away. The truth is, God has you where you are now for a reason. If you don’t understand why, try asking Him. You might have to actually listen, though. Just remember that His answer isn’t always what you want. However, His answer deffinately IS what He wants for you so that you’ll grow into His likeness.

Proverbs says that the diligent prosper. If you want to prosper where you are now, or if you want to move on to other things, be diligent in your present situation. How can you expect to be given more responsibility in life, if you’re not stewarding well what He has given you now.

God has awesome things for you, I have no doubt about it. If you are faithful in where He has you now, He will give you greater things to steward. But it starts with being diligent with where you are now.