ESTHER’S WARRIORS MINISTRY
Happy Mother’s Day to all mom’s, grandmothers, spiritual mothers and all the women God uses to touch someone’s life in a positive ‘mom’ way. Take a moment today to pray for all women that the Lord would strengthen them and draw them close to Him for the peace that only true salvation can bring. “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” (Isaiah 66:13a) Pray that women find that comfort as they work to provide for their families whether natural or extended. Pray for those whose moms have gone home to be with the Lord. Do something special for your mom today in spite of differences you may have.
God knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb. He
knew the plans He had for you for hope and a future in Him. Whatever your circumstances growing up know that He was with you through it all and He brought you through it all. Many of us had wonderful families that nurtured us and taught us healthy patterns of interacting with others. Countless others did not have such luxuries. It is during our early years that we learn about boundaries…whether healthy or not. We carry these skewed lessons with us into adulthood. Now is the time to let go of blaming those who raised us and take full responsibility to learn and establish healthy boundaries to go forward in the Lord.
What are boundaries? In the spiritual realm we often pray ‘hedges of protection’ around our family, neighborhood, city, state, our leaders and country. These hedges are boundaries, strong walls of fortification to keep us safe. We know from Ephesians 6:12 that, “…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against…spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Our fight is not really with people. It begins in the spirit realm so our first boundary must be there also. Spiritual boundaries are our first priority. Set them daily and maintain them. Stand firm!
What are personal boundaries in the natural? Boundaries are simply limits that we place on our time, our emotions and our thoughts. As with all we do it is always a heart issue. Boundaries are meant to keep us safe and healthy on all levels but not to keep us from interacting with those God has placed in our life. Boundaries are not meant to keep us from growing and changing to be more like Him. So first check your heart to make sure that the boundaries you are setting and maintaining are from a place of Godly love for yourself and for the other person as well.
Jesus clearly tells us, ”And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength…You shall love your neighbor as yourself…” (Mark12:30-31) If we place the love of the Lord above all, the love of those around us will follow as we will begin to see them with the compassion of Christ. We never want boundaries to be set from a place of pride, bitterness or spiteful intention toward another. Always check your heart for therein lies the root of your decisions and ultimately your actions. A Holy Spirit assisted heart check will quickly let you know if the boundary is from a place of wholeness or not.
Once your heart is clear what constitutes a healthy boundary? I believe that we are out of balance in the body of Christ on this issue. Yes we are called to be servants as Jesus served. However, we are not called to be
burned out, guilt ridden and overwhelmed by ‘church work’ or family service. As we walk closer with Him, the Holy Spirit will lead us in the direction we are to go to truly ‘follow Him.’ Jesus said, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also…” (John 12:26a) As we follow Him, He will direct us and serving will be fruitful (have results that bless others and help them know and grow in Christ). It will not drain us and leave us fruitless or bearing negative results or emotions.
Too many times hopefully well-meaning Christians are all too eager to tell us how much more we can and should do and where they think we should sit on Sunday. In essence this can pull us from following Him to following man. We are called to “…work your [our] own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you [us] both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12b-13) Make sure you are working out your own salvation not trying to dabble in someone else’s. Conversely, do not let someone else try to manipulate yours. We are each solely accountable to God for how we live our life. This is one of the most important boundaries to establish. The walking out of our salvation is sacred and consecrated unto the Lord. Take every effort to keep it that way.
Just to clarify, I am not talking about prayerfully considering what your spiritual cover, your pastor, may say to you. If you are sitting where the
Lord has directed you to sit then discern what is spoken to you. However, always remember that it really does not matter where you sit on a Sunday. What really matters is that you sit at the feet of Jesus each and every day. He will let you know where He wants you and what work He has for you.
On judgment day it will be you and the Lord not you and a cast of your friends. It will just be you and Him. You won’t be there for anyone else’s judgment either so now is a good time to step away from believing that you know how they could better serve the Lord. To walk the narrow path to salvation requires a very close personal walk with the Lord and a constant heart check to ensure we do not slip onto the wide road of judgment that leads to destruction.
Join us this week as we ‘pray the states’ toward the 2012 Presidential election. We are praying for each state in the order of admission to the Union. Please cover Louisiana admitted to the Union April 30, 1812, in prayer. Pray for wisdom and discernment for the political leaders, pastors and church leaders, the people residing in Louisiana and for all in our Nation. Each state is important in forming our United States of America. We commit to pray for a different state each week so we not only provide prayer cover but also to make us aware that our country is bigger than the space we personally occupy in it. These are our United States. Let us pray that we will arise united ‘for such a time as this!’ Please repost and share.
Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray. Keep our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety. They are our frontline on the battlefield, let us be their frontline in the spirit. May God richly bless you this week and help you establish and maintain healthy boundaries in Jesus’ name. Amen and amen!