Friday Fight 137 - Spiritual Security

Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF137.

Typically, right around this time of year is when we begin to reflect on each of the relationships in our lives. Our reflections vary, regardless of the induced emotion. The holidays warm our hearts, remembering the past or experiencing beautiful traditions we can repeat for years to come. But what about the painful traditions, nonexistent relationships or people devaluing us impact our relationship with God?

Spiritual Security:

As we look back on past relationships, let's take a moment to examine those with our parents, particularly our fathers. Some may be wondering why the focus lies there. Still, unfortunately, many of us apply the characteristics of our relationship with our earthly father to our Heavenly Father. Stay with me; this may be a challenge to apply. While reading this post, keep in mind that hurt people hurt people, and those who have hurt us, fathers, grandfathers, and stepfathers, were not born this way. Someone broke them at some point. Psalms 121:7-8 says, "The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

So, where does this leave us in our journey for spiritual security? To know and experience God's fullness, we cannot expect full-time coverage of our lives with part-time conversations. To have a relationship with God, we have to let go of those who have hurt, abandoned, abused, and mocked us, particularly a father figure. We need to be present to receive the gift of His presence and trust His heart, even though many of us may have never experienced this. Remember that our Heavenly Father always provides; this will bring comfort when our thoughts go to various relational deficits and the hurt they have caused.

We all have things to overcome and are a work in progress, but let's try to choose our Heavenly Father and let the trust begin there. Perhaps a loved one wasn't able to sacrifice enough time for us but remember that God sacrificed His only Son for all of us. Maybe part of overcoming our hurt is that our father figure was never available, yet God is omnipresent (present everywhere at all times). Instead of focusing on the absent shortcomings of others, remember God is omnipotent (all-powerful). If our childhood hurts stem from a parent being proud only when we made them look good, remember that God's love is unconditional. So maybe we didn't experience what we perceive as valuable in our lives; the incredible part is that God is always working for our benefit to offer healing, comfort, and restoration. Regardless of how we feel, in most cases, our parents did the best they knew at the time. We can continue praying for those who have stolen from us and our desire for a healthy relationship rather than allow these hurts to rob us of our relationship with God. We can always find spiritual security in God, knowing He loves, blesses, heals, and fights for us from His throne room.

Photo Credit: Jenna Allshouse

Pastor Shannon

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