Caitlin
The daughter of a Lion is still a lion
Simplify
I am a perfectionist. I am displeased by anything that does not meet very high standards. I make everything harder than it has to be, especially my walk with God. I always have to do everything. I have to go to all the meetings with the leaders, all the conferences, all the bible studies and all the prayer meetings (Which then causes me to miss personal time and lose focus) and I wear myself OUT! I beat myself up over every mistake and compare myself to others constantly (which produces either insecurity or pride). But Scripture says God does not require perfection. On the contrary, “Who can say ‘I have kept my heart clean, I am pure from my sin.’?” (Prov. 20:9) Nobody is perfect. Where I refrain he pursues and where I fall he picks up. His grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9). And if I am righteous, it is because God has made me righteous. A righteousness from God has been made known that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. (Romans 3:22). He does not require perfection. So, over the last few months, the Jesus has been teaching me to simplify. It is almost like going back to basics. The thing is, it’s so simple, it’s difficult for us to grasp. Yes us. I have had so many people tell me they do the exact same thing! We make our walk with God so complex! Like it is one giant puzzle and we’ve got to figure it out. We are constantly examining our weaknesses and our issues and inspecting all of our motives…and then we try to fix ourselves (which is not your place. It’s Gods.) Self-examination most definitely has its place, but if it is your focus, then aren’t you truly just looking at self all the time? And in that place it really becomes “me looking at self” and not “me looking at the Lord.” I’d like to be perfect. Everyone would! So it’s easy to try to fix yourself. For me, it is easier than waiting on God to do it sometimes. So He is teaching me to simplify my life. And get back to the basics. He is instilling in my heart that I don’t have all the answers, and that that’s okay! He has been teaching me how to simplify on many levels and in many areas. Here are a 2 of them.
1. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” –Romans 8:1
There is grace for mistakes. One of the biggest and most valuable things he is teaching me is how to not walk in condemnation! Conviction is of the Lord. Condemnation is absolutely not! So you miss time with God today or you give a snappy comeback to your parents (or whatever you do!). I used to beat myself up over that and then apologize to God ten billion times. Instead, he has taught me to pray once, receive forgiveness and grace. If you don’t have his grace, you’ll do it again in five seconds anyways! And after all of that, you don’t look back. Because I can ask for forgiveness, receive it and grace, but then if I look back and dwell on it I’ll walk straight back into condemnation and guilt. So don’t look back. And know there is grace for mistakes. Grace is God’s help so I don’t HAVE to keep sinning. “God rescued us from the dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the Kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.” –Colossians 1:13 the message
2. When I began writing this message, I had about five other points, but when I began to teach them I realized that they all got down to residing in the presence of Yahweh. So, I cut all those out and went straight to resting and residing in the Lord! Because it is a higher calling to rest in his presence than to strive in our own strength. And instead of trying to do/fix everything myself, I remember that I am changed when I am with him. He reminds me that it is not our job to mold the rough places of our heart to be soft. It is our job to stay moldable and soft toward him so that when he wants to, he can change those spots. When I was learning about resting and residing in his presence, he repeatedly showed me the story of Martha and Mary. (Luke 10) Martha is doing things for Jesus and Mary is simply being with him, aka IN HIS PRESENCE. And Jesus said Mary chose better. It never says Mary rested, but she definitely was not striving and worrying and DOING THINGS FOR GOD THAT GOD NEVER ASKED HER TO DO. Mary went after him. She dwelled in the presence of the Lord. So, I dwell. I Reside. I don’t mean a cute thirty
minute quiet time. I seek him. I just get alone focus. I soak in his word, praise him, whatever but stay chasing until there are no more distractions; until he has all of my focus. Sometimes I read my Bible and hour and talk to him for ten minutes. Sometimes we just talk forever and I only read like one verse. It depends. How I rest is I just go be with him. He is my chill pill :) It’s not as much as how you do it as much as that you do it. That’s how to simplify. Don’t be a Martha and worry about what to do, just get in his presence. When you are in his presence, you get to know him. When you know him, he’ll tell you WHAT to do.
Those are a couple ways the Lord has taught me to simplify my life. He reminds us that we don’t have to do it all in our own strength and we don’t have to know all the answers. Our part is to love him and bring him glory; he’s perfectly capable of the rest. He is showing me that as long as I focus on him, and as long as I gaze into his eyes like fire, he’ll make sure I keep burning. It’s that simple.
I am a perfectionist. I am displeased by anything that does not meet very high standards. I make everything harder than it has to be, especially my walk with God. I always have to do everything. I have to go to all the meetings with the leaders, all the conferences, all the bible studies and all the prayer meetings (Which then causes me to miss personal time and lose focus) and I wear myself OUT! I beat myself up over every mistake and compare myself to others constantly (which produces either insecurity or pride). But Scripture says God does not require perfection. On the contrary, “Who can say ‘I have kept my heart clean, I am pure from my sin.’?” (Prov. 20:9) Nobody is perfect. Where I refrain he pursues and where I fall he picks up. His grace is sufficient and his power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9). And if I am righteous, it is because God has made me righteous. A righteousness from God has been made known that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. (Romans 3:22). He does not require perfection. So, over the last few months, the Jesus has been teaching me to simplify. It is almost like going back to basics. The thing is, it’s so simple, it’s difficult for us to grasp. Yes us. I have had so many people tell me they do the exact same thing! We make our walk with God so complex! Like it is one giant puzzle and we’ve got to figure it out. We are constantly examining our weaknesses and our issues and inspecting all of our motives…and then we try to fix ourselves (which is not your place. It’s Gods.) Self-examination most definitely has its place, but if it is your focus, then aren’t you truly just looking at self all the time? And in that place it really becomes “me looking at self” and not “me looking at the Lord.” I’d like to be perfect. Everyone would! So it’s easy to try to fix yourself. For me, it is easier than waiting on God to do it sometimes. So He is teaching me to simplify my life. And get back to the basics. He is instilling in my heart that I don’t have all the answers, and that that’s okay! He has been teaching me how to simplify on many levels and in many areas. Here are a 2 of them.
1. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” –Romans 8:1
There is grace for mistakes. One of the biggest and most valuable things he is teaching me is how to not walk in condemnation! Conviction is of the Lord. Condemnation is absolutely not! So you miss time with God today or you give a snappy comeback to your parents (or whatever you do!). I used to beat myself up over that and then apologize to God ten billion times. Instead, he has taught me to pray once, receive forgiveness and grace. If you don’t have his grace, you’ll do it again in five seconds anyways! And after all of that, you don’t look back. Because I can ask for forgiveness, receive it and grace, but then if I look back and dwell on it I’ll walk straight back into condemnation and guilt. So don’t look back. And know there is grace for mistakes. Grace is God’s help so I don’t HAVE to keep sinning. “God rescued us from the dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the Kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.” –Colossians 1:13 the message
2. When I began writing this message, I had about five other points, but when I began to teach them I realized that they all got down to residing in the presence of Yahweh. So, I cut all those out and went straight to resting and residing in the Lord! Because it is a higher calling to rest in his presence than to strive in our own strength. And instead of trying to do/fix everything myself, I remember that I am changed when I am with him. He reminds me that it is not our job to mold the rough places of our heart to be soft. It is our job to stay moldable and soft toward him so that when he wants to, he can change those spots. When I was learning about resting and residing in his presence, he repeatedly showed me the story of Martha and Mary. (Luke 10) Martha is doing things for Jesus and Mary is simply being with him, aka IN HIS PRESENCE. And Jesus said Mary chose better. It never says Mary rested, but she definitely was not striving and worrying and DOING THINGS FOR GOD THAT GOD NEVER ASKED HER TO DO. Mary went after him. She dwelled in the presence of the Lord. So, I dwell. I Reside. I don’t mean a cute thirty
minute quiet time. I seek him. I just get alone focus. I soak in his word, praise him, whatever but stay chasing until there are no more distractions; until he has all of my focus. Sometimes I read my Bible and hour and talk to him for ten minutes. Sometimes we just talk forever and I only read like one verse. It depends. How I rest is I just go be with him. He is my chill pill :) It’s not as much as how you do it as much as that you do it. That’s how to simplify. Don’t be a Martha and worry about what to do, just get in his presence. When you are in his presence, you get to know him. When you know him, he’ll tell you WHAT to do.
Those are a couple ways the Lord has taught me to simplify my life. He reminds us that we don’t have to do it all in our own strength and we don’t have to know all the answers. Our part is to love him and bring him glory; he’s perfectly capable of the rest. He is showing me that as long as I focus on him, and as long as I gaze into his eyes like fire, he’ll make sure I keep burning. It’s that simple.