OVERCOMING FEELINGS OF FUTILITY – PART 2

2 – Resist Negative Influences:
You know that old saying: [Misery loves company], well it’s true. There are people out there who are in a similar or worse circumstance than you are and whether they are trying to or not, they will do everything they can to keep you down. In addition to that, Satan wants nothing more than to keep you in your present state because it keeps you from effectively living your life for YHVH. Paul was writing to the Corinthian church and expressed this fear: [I fear that somehow you will be led away from your pure and simple devotion to Moshiach, just as Eve was deceived by the serpent.] -- 2 Corinthians 11:3. Normally when we think of Satanic attacks and spiritual warfare we think of some huge, obvious and extreme temptation, but Paul’s fear is that these believers would be [led away] from their [pure and simple devotion to Moshiach. And that is exactly what happens when we allow others to pull us into or keep us in, a state of futility. We lose that pure and simple devotion we had once known. [Putting confidence in an unreliable person is like chewing with a toothache or walking on a broken foot.] -- Proverbs 25:19. Both of those activities sound painful, don’t they? But they are not nearly as painful as the life you are going to have if you continue to be influenced by the negative forces around you. When someone joins you in your misery, you have to begin viewing that as a spiritual attack, and in the Name of Moshiach rebuke those negative thoughts and images from your mind. Refuse to be a part of those negative influences by restating, remembering and re-enacting the fact that you are a child of Elohiym, that you are destined for heaven, that Ruach HaKodesh indwells you and that nothing or no one can change that fact.

3 – Re-Discover Your Purpose:
In his book; [Teaching the Elephant to Dance], James Belasco describes how trainers shackle young elephants with heavy chains to deeply embedded stakes. In that way the elephant learns to stay in its place. Older, powerful elephants never try to leave, even though they have the strength to pull the stake and walk away. Their conditioning has limited their movements. With only a small metal bracelet around their foot attached to nothing, they stand in place; the stakes are actually gone! Like powerful elephants, people are bound by earlier conditioned restraints. If you are suffering from futility, it is a learned behaviour that has taken place over time and is as limiting to your spiritual progress as the un-attached chain around an elephant's foot. Yet when the circus tent catches on fire and the elephant sees the flames and smells the smoke, it forgets its old conditioning and runs for its life. If you are suffering from futility, you need to realize that your spiritual house is on fire and you better do something about it before everything crashes in. [Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So, I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches.] -- 1 Corinthians 9:24-26. Now how does the runner win the prize? By focusing on the end of the race, by seeing clearly the goal set before him, by knowing that his purpose is not just to run the race, but to win the race. Your purpose in life, as a follower of Moshiach, is to win the race, not just sit by the sidelines and worry about what might have been. It is time to remind yourself day after day, moment by moment, that you are not here on this earth just for yourself, but you have been called to a higher purpose one that brings glory to Almighty YHVH Elohiym. And even if life has handed you some bad times, even if you haven’t accomplished everything you would have liked to and even if you have failed in life, the one thing that never changes is your purpose to live like a Elohiym loving, Moshiach following, Kingdom growing, child of YHVH.

4 – Rest in YHVH’s Peace:
You want to know something? While YHVH might want you to be the best in business, the greatest spouse or parent, what He wants more than anything is for you to put away these feelings of futility and realize that He loves you no matter what. HaShem isn’t grading you on how much money you make, how long your pedigree is or how many accomplishments you have to your credit. Isn’t it time to just relax and let YHVH do His work in you? Isn’t it time to quit trying to please yourself and everyone around you and rest in the fact that YHVH Loves you just as you are. Let me give you a few Promises from Yeshua and let them be the promises that you claim today. [Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My Yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For My Yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.] -- Matthew 11:28-30. [I am leaving you with a gift -- peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid.] -- John 14:27. Now it’s one thing to read these promises and say, [That’s really nice.] It’s another thing to read them, meditate upon them and let them sink into your soul, why not go home and relax and read these words over and over again to yourself, allowing Yeshua to speak to you directly through them? He wants nothing more than for you to rest in His peace.

We give You thanks, most gracious Elohiym, for the beauty of earth and sky and sea; for the richness of mountains, plains and rivers, for the songs of birds and the loveliness of flowers. We praise You for these good gifts and pray that we may safeguard them for our posterity. Grant that we may continue to grow in our grateful enjoyment of Your abundant creation, to the honour and glory of Your Name. Teach me, then Adonai, not to murmur at the multitude of business and the shortness of time. Not to magnify undertaken duties by seeming to suffer under them, but to treat them all as liberties. Not to call attention to crowded work or petty fatigues. Not to gather encouragement from appreciation by others, lest this should interfere with the purity of my motives. Not to seek praise, respect, gratitude or regard from others. Not to let myself be placed in favourable contrast with another. I need You to teach me day by day, according to each day’s opportunities and needs. Give me, O Adonai, that purity of conscience which alone can receive, which alone can improve Your inspiration. My ears are dull, so that I cannot hear Your voice. My eyes are dim, so that I cannot see Your gifts. You alone can quicken my hearing, purge my sight, cleanse and renew my heart. Teach me to sit at Your feet and to hear Your Word. YHVH Elohiym, teach us, we pray, to ask rightly for the right blessings. Steer the vessel of our soul toward Your Heart, the tranquil Haven of all storm-tossed souls. Show us the way we should go. Renew a willing spirit within us. Let Your Spirit curb our wayward senses and guide us to that which is our true good, to keep Your Laws and in all our works to rejoice in Your glorious and gladdening presence. For Yours is the glory and praise from all saints forever and ever. We pray this in the Name of Yeshua. Amein

OVERCOMING FEELINGS OF FUTILITY – PART 1

Solomon spoke for many people of his generation and our own when he wrote: [Everything is meaningless, says the Teacher, utterly meaningless! What do people get for all their hard work? Generations come and go, but nothing really changes. The sun rises and sets and hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south and north, here and there, twisting back and forth, getting nowhere. The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea. Everything is so weary and tiresome! No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.] -- Ecclesiastes 1:2-8. Leonard Woolf, literary editor of The Nation wrote: [I see clearly that I have achieved practically nothing. The world today and the history of the human anthill during the past five to seven years would be exactly the same if I had played Ping-Pong instead of sitting on committees and writing books and memoranda. I have therefore to make a rather ignominious confession that I have in a long-life ground through between 150,000 and 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work.] Just the kind of people you want to invite to your next party? Both Solomon and Leonard Woolf sound like they have reached the point of despair where there is no return. They have decided that there really isn’t any meaning to life, any accomplishments they have made ring hollow, so what’s the use in even trying? Have you ever felt that way? What’s the use of even getting up in the morning? Why work when I know I’ll never get ahead? Why make such an effort raising my kids in the right way if they’re going to end up blowing it anyway? Or why try to live the faithful believer’s life since I always seem to fail at it? If you feel that way it’s obviously not a good thing, but I can tell you that you are in the company of many people in our generation, both believers and non-believers.

The dictionary defines futility in this way:

1 -- The quality of having no useful result; uselessness.

2 -- Lack of importance or purpose; frivolousness.

The fact of the matter is that most of us have felt this way at one time or another, but we usually get over it, but there are those people that find themselves living with feelings of futility day in and day out and it is something that needs to be overcome if they will ever live the fullness in Moshiach that they were designed for.

What Causes Feelings of Futility?

I have four of the most common causes I want to briefly share with you and then we can look at some practical steps to overcome. This list is hardly exhaustive, but it should help us get a basic understanding of the problem.

A -- Unfulfilled Dreams:
Maybe you thought when you became an adult you would rise to the top of the corporate ladder, be a sports star, have kids that were perfect or be a spiritual superstar. But at some point, and time you’ve come to the realization that life isn’t everything you thought it was going to be and you haven’t even reached stage 2 of your 10-point plan. And instead of dealing with life’s circumstances and the reality of the moment, you dwell on what might have been if you’d had the right lucky breaks, married a different spouse, or had made different decisions in the past. So now you find yourself living in the drudgery of the life that is, rather than the life you always wanted.

B -- Confusing Success with Significance:
A number of years ago after the England rugby team had won the World Cup; their Coach made this observation: [The overwhelming emotion in a few days, among the players on the England rugby team, was how empty that goal was. There must be something more.] Some of you have reached the goals you have set in life, but when you reached them, you discovered that success is fleeting, and a hollow feeling takes up residence within your soul. You have confused success with significance and rather than focusing on the accomplishments that really mean something; like being a good dad or mom, sticking to and living by the believer’s faith ethic or good conversation with friends, you have let the success syndrome keep you reaching for just a little bit more.

C -- Personal / Spiritual Failure:
All of us have experienced failure at some level, but some have experienced a deeper failure than others or one that is not popular or accepted by our culture. You might have been fired from your job, had a messed-up marriage, had kids that rebelled against your values or given into temptation and blown your faith testimony and credibility with others. And instead of accepting that some failure is good because it leads to growth or accepting the forgiveness that YHVH offers when we’ve turned away from Him, we begin to wonder if it’s any use at all trying to be who Elohiym wants us to be.

D -- Lack of a Support System:
A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need. -- Proverbs 17:17. Maybe you have read that verse and said [That’s true!] but the problem is that you don’t have that loyal friend to help you through the tough times of life – no one to encourage you, help dust you off and put you back on your feet. And so, you say: [What is the use in even trying? No one is there to help me.] Now, as I said, we could probably come up with some more reasons, but this is probably enough to get us started – anymore and you will all leave here depressed. But now that we’ve identified the problem what we really need are some…

Steps to Overcome:

If you are at this point in your life, you know how unhealthy it is for you and others around you, so what can you do about it? I have a list here of four steps that will help, but I’m not promising an automatic cure, it’s taken you some time to get this way and it is also going to take some time to change things back to normal.

1 – Renew Your Commitment:
If you are a Moshiach follower, at some point in your life you made a commitment to follow Yeshua Moshiach as Adonai. And whether you feel like it right now or not, you’ve got to renew that commitment and let YHVH know that you are willing to not only make the effort to overcome, but with His help you will overcome. Once king David had a horrible personal failure when he committed adultery, yet he prayed to YHVH in this way: [Restore to me the joy of Your Salvation and grant me a Willing Spirit, to sustain me. -- Psalms 51:12. Did David claim to be filled with joy when he prayed this prayer? No, he was absolutely miserable, so he asked Elohiym to restore the joy he had once known. Did he think he could do this on his own? No, he knew that he was weak, so he asked YHVH to sustain him on his journey back to wholeness. Part of the reason some of us are suffering from futility is because when we have been knocked down, we have relied completely on ourselves to bring us back up. And every time we try that, we will fail. We need to call on YHVH to restore us and to give us the strength we need to make it. [YHVH] renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to His Name. -- Psalms 23:3. Whether you are able to accept this as true or not at the present moment, Elohiym wants nothing more than to restore your joy and renew your strength and give you the power and ability to overcome. Please let down your guard, renew your commitment and allow Him to do a new work in your life.

Hi UK people ? is there anyone near Norfolk? I know a UK sister as I'm typing she is living rough as of today in the woods. Things haven't gone to plan. Please pray protection over her as you can imagine fleeing to the woods alone is very scary for her. If anyone can please help her in any way please message me. I'm feeling very worried for her safety ??

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness...
Acts 4:29

Speak the truth in boldness and God will carry your words to their intended ears.

OTOH, that's not an excuse to ignore principles of rhetoric and persuasion! "God helps those who help themselves" isn't in the Bible, but it's still Scriptural. For example, "A gentle answer turns away wrath."

It’s Prep Day! Let’s prep for the Shabbat!

And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.
Acts 4:21

If you speak the truth boldly and publicly (not rudely!), you might be punished--even killed--for it, but the truth, once commonly known, only becomes louder when it is forcibly silenced. If God has been good to you, don't hide it. Make sure that others know, because their faith might depend on your faithfulness.

Anyone know where to get 100% cotton or linen socks at a reasonable price?