Discipline For Your Soul
“Send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared… do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)
Do everything possible to relieve the suffering of others, but don’t forget to balance with plenty of joyful praise. Otherwise, you’ll be tempted to allow the care and burden of your effort to transfer to your soul and weigh you down.
The world is filled with needs we care about but the way we respond to those shouldn’t be an intellectual fix. Some of those God does not plan to fix—at least not in the way you might think. Besides, there are layers of history between the Lord and the situation you’d have no way of knowing.
So guard against projecting your own plan onto the situation. Otherwise, you could be more soul-inspired than spiritual, and it may be difficult to discern which is which. Be sensitive. Allow the Lord to work through you, realizing He was there first. Don’t get ahead of Him.
The Lord’s perfect will is to heal, deliver, and restore. Your will, of course, is aligned with His, so stay the course, don’t lose heart, and don’t run out of energy while He accomplishes what only He can accomplish. Yield the care of every “care” to Him. When you do, your ability to help others will strengthen.
In the same way we cannot lead effectively without discipline, we also cannot cooperate with the Holy Spirit when the soul—the mind, will, and emotions—is undisciplined. Jesus taught that simple trust in the Father’s watchful eye depends on His love to cast out all fear. The example we offer to an unbelieving world balances every outreach with confident trust plus gladness of heart.
The joy of the Lord is your strength!
Amen.