Friday Fight 63 - Reflecting vs. Rejecting
Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF63.
How many of us are married, desire to be married, or are in a relationship but are headed in an unhealthy direction? Perhaps you were in a relationship or friendship that was too destructive to keep, and you took ownership and moved forward. Whatever the relationship, how do we move beyond where we are now to where God wants us to be?
Reflecting vs. Rejecting:
The purpose of this lesson is to encourage a relationship that may be in a season where prayer is the only unified front holding it together. How do we move from unconsciously rejecting to intentionally reflecting?
All relationships struggle, period. But what we do after recognizing those struggles is pivotal. A good question in this situation is, where is my focus? We cannot change other people, but we can pray and ask God to change our hearts towards others. How many times have we prayed and begged God to change a person we love only to find that God changed our hearts and perspectives instead?
Reflecting on a relationship means we focus on our significant other and surrender ourselves to God and them. Perhaps we focus on their needs, their love language, and how we can bring value to their lives. But, ultimately, we put them before ourselves as Christ perfectly modeled for us.
Imagine a mirror that is used to reflect an image. When we look at our reflection, we only see our face for a reason. Examining our relationships includes looking at how we speak, respond, affirm, and edify the other person God sent to lovingly bless our lives. Reflection enables us to step back and look at how to become better listeners while in constant prayer. On the other hand, reflecting is not blaming or focusing on the faults and shortcomings of others. Doing so moves us from self-reflection to their rejection. We remove ourselves from the mirror and blame everyone else when the only person we can truly change is ourselves. To be served, we must first serve.
Darkness will always focus on the destruction of healthy relationships, primarily marriages. Satan influences us to selfishly put our happiness first, prioritizing our needs and desires over God and others. We lose perspective and inadvertently reject our significant other, and the relationship deteriorates.
Reflecting does not mean God wants us to remain in unhealthy relationships filled with blame. However, those who blame others for the demise of their own relationship should spend more time reflecting and focusing on themselves. Let’s try to focus on God, be in prayer, and reflect on the things in ourselves we can change.
Philippians 2:3-4 NIV: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Pastor Shannon