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Moving Towards God

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By Keith B. @ NotUnknown.com

At the age of nine years old, I understood and accepted that God sent His son to die for me and redeem my sins. I began a journey on that day to know God. Unfortunately, that’s all I did. I began. I didn’t continue. God stayed where He was. Available to me and waiting. I got…sidetracked.

My contact with God wasn’t constant. God was like that neighbor who would knock and not go away, even when I wouldn’t answer the door. I could just feel Him peeking in the windows. So I went my own way, avoiding His gaze, trying to stay just out of reach.

My friend Sean and I were at breakfast one morning, drinking Denny’s outstanding coffee. We were talking about God and knowing Him. Sean held his hands apart.

“Buddy! God is here, and I am way over here. I am either moving toward Him or away
from Him. There is no inbetween!”

Sean speaks in exclamations. That is part of what I love about him. He also speaks from God. I love that about him even more.

Knowing God requires structure for me. Without it, I follow the sound of my own voice. My own voice has always eventually led to destruction. So, to purposefully know God, I put structure in my everyday life. For me, that started with how I make decisions.

What do you do when you are faced with a difficult decision? Maybe you are trying to decide whether you should look for another job. You don’t know whether or not you should stay in a marriage that doesn’t feel alive. Your parents health is declining and you don’t have any idea what to do. Do you have someone you can turn to for guidance? Is there someone you trust completely? Your mother? Brother? Spouse? Best friend?

What about the day to day stuff? Should I apologize to my wife for yelling at her when she started the whole fight by nagging me about the shirt I didn’t pick up and take to the laundry room? My daughter’s best friend stopped talking to her and sitting with her at lunch. Does anyone care about that or is that something you should just take care of on your own?

I found that in all decisions, big stuff and small stuff, my decision making stunk. I convinced myself I made great decisions. Only, when faced with the results of my decisions, I realized I didn’t.

Sean reminded me that God knew me in my mother’s womb, the number of hair’s on my head, the intimate parts of my life I felt too much shame to share with anyone else. And He never walked away. He waited for me to realize how much He wanted to be a part of all my decisions. To do that, I had to let Him into all my decisions. I had to learn how to move towards Him.
In my life I move towards God in a number of ways. I pray purposefully. My friend Lance recently talked about his day being a constant conversation with God about the big things and the little things. I do that. I read His word looking to know more about Him, not about me. Li-wei taught me how to read His word to seek who God says He is and what can I learn about His character. My friends Dan and Jay meet with me every Saturday, to do life together and to speak His word into each other. My wife Roxanne and I pray together for our marriage, our sons, the future, today, for big and small things.

Have you introduced purpose into your life? What are you actively doing to move towards God?

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Castimonia Kirby Meeting Cancelled Tonight – 10-31

Due to Halloween, tonight’s Castimonia meeting at River Oaks Tower will be cancelled.  The meeting will resume next week.

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Castimonia’s PARATUS Men’s Retreat 2018

Castimonia’s Paratus Retreat is a retreat for any man who struggles with any type of sexual purity.  Paratus, Latin for “equipped”.

If you are wondering about whether to attend this retreat, ask yourself these questions:

  • Are you fully equipped for the spiritual battle that is raging around us right now?
  • Are you a man who strives for biblical sexual purity?
  • Are you a man who struggles with maintaining that sexual purity?
  • Do you want a circle of brothers helping you in your sexual purity journey?

Join us for a weekend dedicated to equipping adult men of all ages, all walks of life, and various levels of struggle with the tools necessary to wage this spiritual battle and emerge on the other side as the sexually pure men that God intended us to be.

At the Paratus Retreat, we will discuss strategies for equipping ourselves with tactics necessary for battling the enemy. We will discover the true meaning of brotherhood and fellowship. The leaders of the Paratus Retreat will set the example of vulnerability and accountability. We hope to pave the way for all men to be fully equipped to wage war against Satan’s tempting assaults and emerge VICTORIOUS.

The ultimate affirmation for all men is to hear at the end of days, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

A wise man is strong, And a man of knowledge increases power. For by wise guidance you will wage war, And in abundance of counselors there is victory.
Proverbs 24:5-6

Start: November 16 – 04:30 pm
End: November 18 – 12:00 pm

Organizer: Castimonia Restoration Ministry, Inc.

Email: Retreat@Castimonia.org
Website: http://castimonia.org/retreat
Venue:

Cat Spring Retreat Center
14852 Hall Road
Cat Spring, TX, US, 78933

To view information on the Cat Spring Retreat Center, please visit this website:

http://thecatspringretreat.com/index.html

*Refunds are as follows:

Full refund minus fees up to September 15th.
50% refund minus fees after September 15th and up to November 1st.
No refunds after November 1st (retreat credit only).

Any Refund can be applied to a future retreat after November 1st.

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The Two Types Of Boundaries

Proverbs 4:23 – “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

In order to understand how setting limits plays out in relationships, it’s important to know that there are two types of boundaries — defining boundaries and protective boundaries. Each kind of boundary has a distinct purpose. It’s important that you learn the difference, because defining boundaries should become permanent in your life, while protective boundaries are the ones you can move “beyond.”

Defining boundaries are values that establish who you are and who you are not. They are at the core of your identity and reflect what you believe is important and valuable in life. Here are a few examples:

–I follow God and his ways and will always live my life in him.
–I love my family and friends, and I will treat them with grace and truth.
–I know my mission and purpose in life, and I will not divert from it.
–I say and receive the truth; I’m neither silent in saying it nor defensive in receiving it.

These defining boundaries help you and others know the real you, the person who has substance and stands for things that matter. They help guide your decisions and directions in life. Here are some examples of how defining boundaries might be used in your relationships:

–“I’m looking for a position that fits my strategic abilities rather than one that is in operations.”
–“We have a rule that all who live in this house go to church.”
–“I want to hear the truth from you about how you think we are doing in our relationship.”
–“I’m a night owl, so let’s not plan something that requires that we get up at, oh, dark thirty.”

This is simply how you tell people who you are and how they tell you who they are. You clarify and define yourselves with these sorts of boundaries.

Protective boundaries are different. They are designed to “guard your heart” (see Proverbs 4:23), and your life, from danger or trouble. There are times when you must protect your values, emotions, gifts, time, and energy from people and situations that may waste or injure them. Protective boundaries have several elements to them. You have to face the reality that talking hasn’t fixed a situation, and you have to set a limit.

A protective boundary might begin with a statement like this: “I want us to work this out, but nothing I’ve said has made any difference, so I’m taking a different route.” This affirms that you value the relationship and that you want the other person to understand that your actions are not punitive but, ultimately, redemptive. You are simply trying to solve a difficulty in the relationship with your protective boundaries.

The consequences portion of the boundary then needs to be stated in an “If . . . then . . .” form to make sure the other person understands you mean business. For example, consider the following statements:

–“If you continue being thirty minutes late to events, I will take a separate car.”
–”I need a better work ethic from you in the office, or we’ll have to make some changes.”
–“If you keep spending over our budget, I will cut up the credit cards.”
–“I can’t lend you any more money until I see you making serious efforts to find a job.”
–“I want to bring your grandkids to see you, but if you just surf the Web while we’re there, it’s not worth it to come.”
–“I want to see my grandkids at times when you don’t need a babysitter; otherwise I feel taken advantage of.”
–“If you won’t stop drinking too much or using drugs, I will take the kids and move out.”

Here’s the important distinction between a defining boundary and a protective boundary. A defining boundary is forever and unchangeable, part of what makes you “you”; a protective boundary can change if the other person responds to it in a healthy way. Your defining boundaries mean that, for example, you will always follow God, love people, be committed to personal and spiritual growth, and so forth.

These are the core parts of you, and you don’t change them. But you might change a protective boundary if the other person understands what they are doing to you and makes a significant change. Then you might lessen or end the consequence: no separate cars, no making changes, reissue the credit cards, and so forth. When the change happens, you no longer need the protection.

This devotional is drawn from Boundaries in Marriage, by John Townsend and Henry Cloud.