Laced with Grace...never get weary of doing good

I am flat out tired as I write this devotion.

Between life, working in ministry, working a job and going to school, my body is screaming, “I’m tired!” I am sure one or two of you reading this today can identify. Sometimes we just get weary.

The Bible tells us to not get weary. It isn’t talking about physically, actually, in the book of Galatians it is talking about not getting tired of doing good…

(Galatians 6:9Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)) “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap if we do not give up.”

Now, the fact that Paul has to warn us that we should not become weary in doing good tells me that there is a very good chance that we WILL get tired of doing good things. Not the kind of “get tired” as in needing a nap but the kind of “get tired” that propels us to quit.

Truth is, when we can’t see the fruits of our labor we tend to want to throw in the towel. Imagine with me that you work day in and day out at a factory. At the factory, it was your job to produce the best fruit that you could. Every day you work  hard, but at the end of the day, you see no fruit. You continue this for days, then weeks and over years…still no fruit. One day you decide that you aren’t  going back to that factory. I mean why? You have no fruit to count. Why keep doing a good job for nothing!

But what you didn’t know (or see) is that the “fruit” came in a different shape. The fruit you were making was the “good morning” to the one no one else would speak to. Your fruit was encouraging the one who needed encouraging. Your fruit may not have been noticed by you, but it was being counted in so many other ways.

Doing good is not something that we should ever tire of doing. Doing good is a way of thinking, a way of living; it is what defines who we are!

If you are tired (physically), get some rest. If you are tired of doing good, keep doing and see how God will bless you for endlessly being devoted to Him.

BLESSINGS, Laurie

@copyright2017 laurieadams

Laced with Grace...OCD is not the same as serving others

My family has accused me of being OCD. Obssesive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a “mental disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations (obsessions), and behaviors that drive them to do something over and over (compulsions). ”

Just recently, at a family gathering, while everyone continued to visit, I began to clean up. Putting away food that had already been out too long, picking up trash and washing dishes. I didn’t do this because I have a compulsive behavior about dishes being clean but rather, I started to clean up to help the hostess; to serve her and the rest of the family.

I am a servant, I do not have OCD. There is a difference.

Most people think of the word “servant” as a negative thing. Most people visualize a servant as one who waits on people hand and foot; someone who is hired to do the dirty work. However, servants today are not slaves; they are people who help or assist others.

Jesus was the perfect example of a servant. 

He came to serve others, to help people. He wasn’t OCD, but He would rather be serving others than be served.

(Galatians 5:13) "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your feeedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”

If we are to be like Christ, we must learn to serve. 

Serving others requires putting  aside our own self centeredness and seeing the genuine needs of others. When we see others like Christ sees them, we all should be compelled to get up and help; to serve them.

At our recent family gathering, I was asked why I am always cleaning – if I was just OCD? My response would be this: 

"No I am not OCD, but I have been called to serve others and to serve them humbly, in love."

Being OCD and being a servant is not the same thing. Serving others is a good thing and a God thing.  

Never belittle someone or be ashamed of having a servants heart; it is one of the highest honors a Christian can have this side of heaven.

BLESSINGS. Laurie

@copyright2017 laurieadams

LACED WITH GRACE...are you burdened for the unchurched?

How burdened are you for the unchurched?

Recently, my husband was having a conversation with someone about the burden that he has for those who have left the church. While often times there is not much a Pastor can do about those who choose to uproot and leave, it is still a burden they carry, as far as their relationship with God.

In a recent survey conducted by Reachrightstudios, a ghastly number was revealed that 59% of millennial’s who grew up in church are now leaving the church. Not to go to another denomination, but walking away from their faith!

That statistic should alarm you if you are a Believer. As Pastors, I  can assure you that it bothers us, even worries us.We have one of the greatest mission fields right in our own backyard with those who are unchurched.

The feedback that my husband received about his worry for those who have gone out the backdoor kind of surprised me and sent me on this trail of wondering where my own burden lies. He was told he needed to be delivered of worry. Now, I would agree that it isn’t good for a Believer to worry, for God says that He will take care of everything, even the tiny sparrow. But worry and burden are two different things.

The Apostle Paul possessed the most effective tool for evangelism: a burden for those who did not know Jesus. His burden for his own people to become Believers burned inside of him. He sums up what was in his heart in Romans 9 where he basically says, if it was possible, he would give up his own hope of eternal life so that those who didn’t have it could.

(Roman 9:2,3) “that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.”

Paul strove to reach as many people as possible for the Gospel. I am sure that even Paul, the great teacher that he was, had some walk away. But his burden for those who rebuked him and walked away from the Message never stopped him from caring or praying for them.

We all know someone who has walked away for one reason or another. What have you done about it…have you prayed? Have you cared? Do you still have a burden?

It is my prayer that I will never stop worrying (having a burden) for the unchurched to come back Home.

BLESSINGS. Laurie

@copyright 2017 laurieadams

Laced With Grace...Come Boldly!

We are to come BOLDLY to the throne of grace. But instead of coming boldly, we come barely.

I don’t know why, but too often we allow our past mistakes; our sins, to affect our confidence in coming to God. So much so that some of us opt out of praying or seeking God. We ask ourselves, “why would God use someone like me?” or “Why would God give me grace?” 

God understands our need for Grace!

He already knows we are sinners, there is nothing that catches Him by surprise. Needing grace and mercy means that we are far from perfect but even in despite of that, God wants us to come and not come lightly, but boldly!

God doesn’t hold our past mistakes over our head, He never intended for us to live in fear, guilt or shame. All those kind of feelings don’t come from God, the enemy wants to trip us up by lying to us and making us feel less than God sees us.

It doesn’t matter how big the sin is. God’s mercy is bigger! His Throne is big enough to encompass everything and everyone.

(Hebrews 4:16) “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Don’t let anyone or anything make you feel so bad that you back away from receiving God’s promises. Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we can walk freely and BOLDLY to the Throne!

Hold your head up high, my friend, and whatever you find yourself needing today…ask boldly and believe that God’s grace and mercy is yours today!

BLESSINGS. Laurie

@copyright laurieadams

Facing our Lions

This past weekend, I spoke at a women’s conference about “Facing Your Lions”.Lions, as you know, is likened in the Bible to that of the enemy, because the enemy seeks its prey like a lion. Lions are quick to pounce on their prey, and they have one motive for doing so … to kill and eat!

The enemy, my friends, wants only to devour us.

The book of Daniel unfolds a very interesting story about the lions in our life. It is here that we see that the faithfulness to God not only brought deliverance to Daniel but while Daniel found himself in the lions den, God SHUT the lions mouths.

This is the very thing that we need to learn to do when the lions in our life come creeping around, circling us to destroy us. Often times, when difficulties come upon us, we pray to God to take it away or we wish that God would just terminate the enemy for good. But here in the book of Daniel, chapter 6 to be exact, God showed me that it isn’t our job to KILL the enemy but that we can close his mouth…

(Daniel 6:22a) “My God sent His angel and shut the lion’s mouths and they have not harmed me.”

If you read the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, you will see that in the end God takes care of things. God IS the victor and the enemy IS defeated. But in the meantime, we must understand that the enemy is going to lurk around and pounce on us every chance he gets. There is no getting away from the trials and tribulations in our life. Our mindset must not be on how to get rid of these lions in our life, but how to not let them cause us harm.

We can learn from Daniel how to go to battle with our lions. He survived the night in the lions den because he had his lion taming equipment: God’s Word and His Faith. Anyone knows that a lion tamer goes into a lion cage not unarmed. He goes with a chair to guard himself and a whip to keep the lion distanced. What guards us against the lions in our life is our shield of faith. What about the whip? That would be the sword of God’s Word.

Without the proper lion taming equipment, the lions (the enemy) will tear us limb by limb. The question that I would ask you today is this: “Are you prepared to spend the night with your lion?”

1 Peter 5:8 says this: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

There is nothing more that pleases the enemy (your lions) than to see us discouraged and give up. “Lions” in our life want us to have no joy, have no excitement and have no blessing from God. However, God doesn’t want us to GIVE UP, He wants to SHOW UP!

Will you let Him?

BLESSINGS. LAURIE

@COPYRIGHT laurie adams

Laced with Grace...loosen your grip

We all know that everything comes from the Hand of God. But somehow when those blessings are passed from His Hand to ours, we hold on with a tight grip.

I have always been impressed with my husband’s ability to give to others so freely. He is the kind of man that would give the shirt off his back for a stranger. I like to think I also have a giving heart, but honestly, my grip on the things I adore doesn’t always come loose easily.

I wish I could be more like him and more like Hannah was. The Bible tells us of how Hannah had a undeniable understanding of the gift from God that her son Samuel was…

(1 Samuel 1:22) “Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, ‘After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before he Lord, and he will live there always.'”

If you are familiar with the story of Hannah, you will know that she had begged God for a child and when God answered her, she wanted to give him back to God, to serve Him all the days of his life.

I find this selfless act that Hannah did so remarkable. So often, we grip so tightly to those things that God has freely given us that we forget where it all came from in the first place.

I love how Hannah was so grateful to God that she humbly loosened her grip on the best gift she had and offered him back to the Lord. I don’t want to just give the “best” gifts back to the Lord, I want to have such a loose grip that everything I have and everything I am, I offer back up to Him.

What belongs to God that you still are holding on to? Let it go and let God do some awesome things in your life!

BLESSINGS. Laurie

@copyright laurieadams

Laced with Grace...what does prayer change?

Today is marked National Day of Prayer. All across our country, the emphasis is on praying for our great country. But what does praying really do, does it even change anything?

You might ask, “If God knows everything anyway, what difference does Prayer make?”

(Matthew 6:8) “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

(Ephesians 1:11) “In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him Who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.”

Praying does not change God. He is, He was and He always will be. God is the only steadfast and unchangable power you will ever encounter. Sometimes praying will change our circumstances but what Prayer changes most is the one praying and believing!

I think of Abraham as he was pleading for the people of Sodom (found in Genesis 18:23-33); would God really destroy this city if only 50 righteous people were found? Abraham continues to ask, how about 40? 30? All the way down to 10 – would God destroy the city if ONLY 10 righteous were found? To each of Abraham pleas, God answers, “I will not destroy it”.

Abraham finally stopped praying about it. Why, Because he got what he wanted? I don’t think so, I think Abraham finally realized the depth of God’s mercy.

Praying changed Abraham, not God. Prayer changes things. Mostly, if we look beyond our own thinking and look to God, Prayer will change us.

Today is National Day of Prayer, won’t you take a moment to pray for our country, your city, our churches and our families and see if God doesn’t change something, perhaps He will change something in you!

BLESSINGS. Laurie

@copyright Laurieadams

Laced with Grace...when power is lost!

It happened again! We lost our power.

The last two Saturday nights we have experienced wicked storms here in the south. So wicked that we lost all of our electrical power. Last Sunday morning when power was not restored yet, my husband decided to cancel Sunday morning worship. Shortly after he canceled, our power was restored.

This past Saturday night, it was a repeat of the week before, except this time a breaker on our street caught on fire and it seemed we would be without power for some time, in fact, all night long and into Sunday. What would we do without power again?

Have you ever considered what having no power can do in your life? No electrical power means no lights, no charging the cell phone, no Facebook, no evening news, no air conditioning on a hot night, no cooking on an electric stove, ice cream will melt in the freezer, no hair dryer to fix your hair, etc and etc.

My husband was in a dilemma, two Sundays in a row now with no power. Could he possible cancel church again? Everything around us seemed to be a mess with wild winds knocking down tree limbs and flooding the streets and now no electricity. Isn’t this exactly what happens to us when we fail to get plugged into the power of God? Everything is off balance, out of order and we feel powerless.

While many of our towns people and congregation families waited for the power company to come out to fix their lines, my husband decided to have church anyway. And the power of God was felt in a awesome way and not only that but right before church started, our lights at church came back on.

I was quickly reminded of how we are dependent upon so many things in our life to give us power. Our careers. Our bank accounts. Our positions that we hold. But when power is stripped away (and it often is) how lost we become. There is only one power that will sustain us thru any storm in life and that is the power of God.

“That your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5)

My power doesn’t come from a man, a utility company or anything else other than God, but like the electrical outlets in my house I must be plugged in to get His power.

Are you plugged in or have the storms got you sitting in the dark?

BLESSINGS. Laurie

@copyright laurie.adams

Laced with Grace...growing in Grace

This week we had to cut our tree down in the backyard. I’m not sure when or how, but at some time our tree became diseased and stopped growing. As the men were cutting it down, I came to realize something: the tree may have stopped growing but the roots were still intact!

Realizing this about the tree made me think about my own spiritual growth. I know I have deep rooted faith but how well am I growing in grace?

Before you or I can answer that question, we must understand what it means to grow in grace. In order to grow in grace, we must increase our Christ-likeness. Many people have roots of Christ; they know OF Him but their growth is somehow stunted because they don’t nurture what they know of.

Growing in Christ-likeness is an ongoing process. 

One way to check your growth in grace is to take an honest look back over your past years trials and hurts. How have you reacted to them – with mercy towards others or with anger and bitterness? Have you learned to be more kind and more patient? Have you learned to be more soft spoken as you encountered those difficult people in your life?

The saying goes, “if you aren’t growing, you are dying”. There is nothing more disheartening to God than to see one of His children have His roots but make choices that hinder steady, strong growth.

Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians exactly what needs to be removed In our lives in order to grow in the grace of Christ:

“Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamor and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” (Ephesians 4:31)

Jesus makes it very clear that holding onto such things will cause us undue deadly weight that can hinder our spiritual growth. Without continual growth in our spirit, we will just end up like the tree in my backyard; nothing but dead weight with our roots still intact.

Consider with me today the following question…”are you growing or dying?”

BLESSINGS. Laurie

LACED WITH GRACE...stand out, don't just fit in

This weekend I will be taking our youth group to participate in this years state competition for Fine Arts. It is one of the moments that as a youth pastor makes me proud. Obviously, I am proud that these young people are using the gifts and talents that God has blessed them with for His glory but more than that, I am proud to see these young people taking a stand instead of trying to fit in.

We live in such a time that youth (and adults) seem to do whatever it takes to “fit in”. From finding the right look, to hanging with the right crowd to keeping up with the “Jones”. But it has been my experience that whenever we try to keep up appearances, we usually trade peace with anxiety, acceptance for disappointment and contentment for worry.

For the Christian youth (and adults), the focus of life should not be on “fitting in” but rather on “standing out”. In order to accomplish that we all need to make a choice…the path that we choose will determine which side of the road we travel.

The best example of those who took the right road to travel were the twelve disciples…they chose to stand out from the rest. Think about these guys; they were just ordinary men, living the norm up until they were asked to follow Jesus. The difference between them and all the others that were just trying to “fit in” came down to their determination to follow Christ. No doubt, this decision did not win them the popular vote but they followed their heart in despite of that.

“The things you have heard from me among many witnesses. Commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Timothy 2:2)

Despite the obstacles, fear and challenges that these men endured, following Christ brought them to a place of peace and hope in which they were able to turn around and teach to others…instead of fitting in, they stood out for Christ.

You might ask, how are these young people “standing out” as they sing or play an instrument at a Fine Arts competition? There are many other things they could be doing on a Friday night – they could be at a party or hanging with the wrong crowd but each of these young Christians made a choice; they chose to not be like the others, instead, to follow Christ.

May the Lord bless you and me as we “stand out” for Him.

BLESSINGS. Laurie

@copyright /laurie adams

Laced with Grace...do you long for God?

Today I shared the following devotion over at Www.lacedwithgrace.com:

Many times in my life I have longed for something. When I was a young child, I longed to be 16 years old so I could drive. Once I reached that goal (age), it didn’t seem to satisfy me because it wasn’t too long before I longed to be 18.  The point being, that many of us just are not satisfied with where we are at the moment. We all want to be somewhere else, be a different age, look a certain way or maybe even be someone else.

Longing for something means that we are either not satisfied or we are immensely missing something or someone. Have you ever longed to see someone? Perhaps time has passed by and you haven’t seen someone in a long time or a loved one has gone to heaven and you long to see them once again. When my son was in the Air Force and he served for a year overseas, I remember the anticipation that filled my every being while we waited at the airport for him to come walking out of that exit door. I literally stood on my tiptoes, scaling over every head of each person who came walking off of that plane. Looking and looking until I finally saw the top of the head of my beloved son. Such a longing to see him, to hug him and know that he was safe.

The Psalmist exposes his heart with such a longing for the Lord in Psalm 63:1…

“O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for you. my body longs for you…”

Here, the Psalmist does not ask God for anything; he doesn’t ask for better health for himself or his family, he doesn’t ask for a raise at work, or even plead with God for a happier marriage. Instead he focuses on his relationship with God, “earnestly” seeking Him to fill every fiber of his being with the things of the Lord.

This is the kind of longing that I desire. Much like looking for my son in that crowded airport, I want to be always searching for the Lord, with such great anticipation that nothing (and no one else) will matter. Today, I want to ask you as you read this: Do you long for God’s presence as though it were the very thing sustaining you? When is the last time you cried out like the Psalmist for God?

Pray this with me: “Dear Lord, You are my God and I desire to seek You like never before. Give me a thirst that cannot be satisfied, give me a longing to see Your face like never before. When I am dry, fill me up. When I am weak, give me strength. When I am lost, guide my steps. You, My Lord are all I need. I long for You today and all the days to come. AMEN “

 BLESSINGS, Laurie

@copyright laurieadamsdaily2017

Laced with Grace...lessons from Moses

Since the first of the year, I have been on a quest to read thru the Bible this year. I have just finished the book of Exodus, it is here that I have found a new interest in the story of Moses. We all are familiar of the childhood Bible stories of Moses going up against Pharoah and even about Moses going up to the mountain to write the tablets of commandments, but there is so much more to Moses than all of that.

Moses was indeed the first great Israelite Prophet but he was also one of the greatest leaders, I think, in all history. Moses wasn’t always considered great though. Before God called him out, Moses was just a slave. Being  born into slavery, Moses had his obstacles to overcome. For one he had a stuttering issue and for another he had a temper. But despite  all of that, God saw fit to use Moses and he became one of the most powerful rulers who led his people out of oppression into freedom.

I would like to share with you today 5 things that God showed me this week that can help us in our quest of becoming a stronger Christian and a more grounded leader:

TAKE A STAND (Exodus 3:7-10)

Here we see that Moses, the one saved son during the time that Pharoah demanded all sons to be killed found himself to be living at the palace. He may have been guarded his first few years but when he became an age of understanding and witnessed for himself the mistreatment of his fellow Israelites, he knew that not all was right with the world. Moses had a choice to make – would he stand or would he bow. There are too many people in the world who are bowing – God needs us to take a stand and be counted.

KNOW WHEN TO TAKE A RISK (Exodus 32:1-14)

Moses listened to God. He also obeyed God’s Word, but Moses also challenged God at critical moments. Take the moment he was on top of Mount Sinai, God expresses His anger towards the Israelites for building the golden calf and God declares that He will destroy them for their disobedience. However, Moses takes a leap of faith and urges God to reconsider for he knows that the people can repent and change. I say that took a lot of courage for Moses to take such a risk. In the end, God agrees with him and the people are saved. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to debate with God but I do think that if Christians of today took more risks, perhaps if they came out of their comfort zone more people could be saved.

MEET PEOPLE WHERE THEY ARE (Exodus 19:24,25)

Moses was on Mount Sinai when he received the Ten Commandments. Instead of proclaiming it from the top of the mountain he did something that we don’t see much these days from leaders. He went to the bottom of the mountain, where the people were and walked among them, proclaiming and teaching them the new laws. Instead of just telling them, Moses got on their level and showed them. There is no better lesson for any leader to learn than this – don’t just tell people about God, show them. 

NEVER COAST (Hebrews 3:5)

When I think about the long road that Moses went on, it lasted for years. Think about it – 40 years as they wandered in the desert and that was just a glimpse of the years that Moses labored hard. If anyone deserved a rest, it was Moses! But he remained focused and he never stopped working or caring about the people. Sometimes I think we get frustrated too easily in our ministries and the first onset of trouble or turbulence, we abandon ship. God blesses faithfulness and hard work and steadfastness. Just look at Moses! Ministry is definitely not for the faint and  lighthearted.

SPEAK TO THE HEART (Exodus 35:21)

Most of us think that the way to motivate people is thru the pocketbook. The more we give monetarily, the more they pay attention. That may work in politics but Moses showed us that the job can get done when people are moved from their heart. The Bible tells us that when the Tabernacle was built, everyone gave “as their heart so moved them.” Speaking to the heart of people may be challenging and uncomfortable but when we get to the heart of the matter, we get to the core of each persons heartbeat (what they are passionate about). God speaks to our heart, so why would we lead any differently?

I don’t know if any of these points of leadership resonate with your or your ministry but I implore you, if you haven’t taken a look in awhile, check out the life of Moses. See if you can’t glean a few leadership tips from him and along the way maybe God will guide you as you lead a few people out of their oppression and into God’s freedom.

 “Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory.” (Proverbs 11:14)

BLESSINGS. Laurie

@copyright LAURIEADAMS

Laced with Grace...what matters most to you?

This is a question that I have been asking myself lately. I have come to a crossroads in my life where answering this question has been life changing for me. So many times, I think that we get caught up in the busyness of our life, the comings and the goings and the wants and want not’s of our every day surroundings. I no longer want the great things to mean little and the little things to become great in my life. I want what God wants and nothing less.

To answer this question of “what matters to you? ‘, my list could consist of many things. Things like my family, my health, my testimony, but the one thing at the top of the list would certainly be my relationship with God. To me, every single other thing in life hinges on this very thing. If my relationship with Christ isn’t what it needs to be, all other things will simply just be mediocre. I don’t want to be a mediocre Christian.

I want (I need) to put God first and foremost in my life. When I surrendered my life and heart to Christ, it meant more to me than just joining a church. My relationship with Him is so much deeper than a job title or the name on the sign out front. When we experience salvation, the change is noticeable, well it should be. The things that we use to do, we shouldn’t do any longer…

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15)

The Apostle Paul struggled with this “Have and Have Not’s”, knowing what he should do but yet not doing it. I suppose we all have that one or two things on our “to-do” list that no matter how hard we try, just does not get done. If it is important to God, it should be important to us.

So what do you think matters the most to God?

Outside of accepting Him as your Lord and Savior, following Him and making Him number one in your life would closely follow.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

When we put God first in our lives, all other things fall into their proper place. (Or they will drop out of our lives.) If you are missing church more than usual, where have you placed God in your life? If your schedule is too full to spend time in prayer or His Word, check where God has been placed. So many times we put “other” things before God and then we wonder, “where is He?” God never moves, we move Him out of the way to make room for other things.

As a pastor’s wife, I hear all of the “reasons” for not being faithful. Not just faithful on Sunday morning, but faithful in giving, faithful in serving, faithful in prayer, faithful in living for God. When I think about all that God has done for me – NEVER should He be put on the back burner. If I, (if we), are to rise up above the mediocracy of this world, we must answer this question: WHAT MATTERS MOST TO YOU? And then put our money where our mouth is…live it!

Make 2017 a year of intentional living, put God back where He belongs!

BLESSINGS. Laurie

@copyright Laurie Adams

Living at peace ...as far as it depends on you

Well, here it is … the second day of a new year. “Out with the old and in with the new” is what they say. And that is exactly what I intend to do in 2017.

2016 literally drained me of needy people. Some may call them toxic relationships, whatever you call it, they drain me spiritually, physically and emotionally. I am the type of personality to give it my all; give, give, and give some more and it is difficult for me when people zone in on my kindness and take advantage of me. It’s almost like I’m wearing a bull’s-eye on my chest that says, “hit me right here!”.

You know what I am talking about. That person you work with, or go to church with or maybe even call brother or sister, that literally suck the life out of you! They insist on getting the last word, or attacking you for anything and everything. Every chance they get, they sucker punch you! As a Christian, we are all led to believe that the “Christian thing” to do is sit back and take it, but the Bible does not say that we have to let it keep coming. In fact the Bible DOES say that some people are just toxic or “snakes”…

“Their venom is like the venom of a snake…” (Psalm 58:4)

Maybe you have someone in your life that is slippery like a snake; the havoc that they bring will mess up your attitude, mess with your relationships and it can mess with your spiritual walk with the Lord if you are not careful. Toxic people are often very unreasonable. You cannot reason with them or talk things out because they are so fixated on themselves. They will blame you for everything and point out how everyone has wronged them and they take no personal responsibility for anything.

So what do we do with these relationships that are killing us, more specifically, what can a Christian do?

First, recognize that it has nothing to do with you, but everything to do with them. The saying is true that “hurting people hurt people”. The main reason some people become a thorn in our flesh is because they have unresolved hurt in their life and instead of dealing with it, it is easier to inflict pain on others.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)

They key phrase here is, “as far as it depends on you”. Also, “If it is possible”. What a Christian can do in a toxic relationship hinges upon these two things. Sometimes, a person can do all that they can do and it still not be possible to live at peace. Some people don’t want peace, they want to wallow in their pain and while down there, they want to make you suffer to. If you have prayed, fasted and done all that you can do to seek peace and STILL there is none…all you can do sometimes is just agree to disagree.

Secondly, sometimes even agreeing to disagreeing doesn’t stop people from sucker punching us. When you have done all that you can, sometimes you need to just move on, take a step away and separate yourself. Even Jesus recognized this with the Pharisees…

“Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to His disciples, saying, ‘Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.’ ” (Luke 12:1)

After you have recognized what causes toxic people to tick, and you have done all that you can do, and you have had no choice but to separate yourself from them; the third and most important thing to do is to pray for reconciliation and seek God to break down the barriers that keep the toxic person from getting free from their pain.

In 2017, I am determined to do things differently. I don’t mean that I intend to hang up the towel on every angry, hurtful person that comes across my path. In fact, I don’t think that is what God wants for us to do at all. But I do think God wants us to live more intentional. In 2017 I am going to be more intentional about the words I speak, the places that I go, the actions (and reactions) that I take and I am going to be more intentional of putting safe boundaries up in relationships that are harming me and not bringing me closer to Christ. If I could live a more intentional life for Christ, perhaps the walls of pain that others have could be penetrated and they too could become more intentional. (And free in Christ)!

Live in peace … as it depends on you, because it just might be dependent on what you do or don’t do.

Blessings. Laurie

@COPYRIGHT LAURIE ADAMS