Have you ever gotten so caught up in a circumstance that you couldn’t move, except maybe to step backwards? The kind of stuff that happens to us, around us, and (sometimes) because of us that we cannot seem to get out of our mind long enough to deal with any other issue. Life goes on and requires that we respond, but we cannot. Everything starts to look like and be judge by that one issue. Our self-worth and the value of others become blurred by what is happening in our mind. Something may have really happened, but it has past and the whole battle over the issue is now in our mind. “What if I do?” “What if they do?” “What if I don’t?” “What if they don’t?” “Why didn’t I?” “Why didn’t they?”

Our expectations of other people become blurred by our thoughts of what they might do or should do. When we interact with people we are responding to our thoughts about “the issue” and not what is happening right now. You become frustrated, and the frustration is the inability to understand someone’s action or reaction based on your expectations. They become frustrated with you, based on unexpected reaction to new issues and inappropriate responses. They have not been privy to the thoughts of your mind and cannot understand your acts. Friendships are lost in such ways. Family members are cut off from each other in such ways. Jobs are lost, Church fellowships slit, and people get lost in the mess of such ways.

The scriptures have answered the issue. “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26). Don’t judge the issues (don’t pass sentence or extract punishment based on the issue). Do not condemn and get stuck at the problem. Do forgive (release anyone and everyone from guilt, including yourself). Be humble (do not exalt yourself) when correcting (taking the issue past the problem to resolution).

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty (the mental state of being free) to the captives (imprisoned, physically or mentally) and recovery of sight to the blind (physical or mental block effecting sight), to set at liberty those who are oppressed (to be burdened, spiritually or mentally)” (Luke 4:18). When our expectations of others are based on the futile working of our own mind, it is a lie. Have you let past circumstances become a prison and the workings of your mind prison bars? You cannot be free (at liberty) if you are seeing through a lie. The lie becomes prison doors, and the truth shall set you free.

In your mind you think you know the truth of the circumstance. In your heart you believe that you have judge justly. But the truth is that you are not the judge in the matter; God is the judge. “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man” (John 5:26-27). The answer then is to humbly take the circumstance to God in prayer.

There is a saying, “Don’t tell God about your problem, but tell your problem about your God.” Telling your problem about your God is negotiating with the circumstance; to reach an “out of court” settlement. If you have dominion and authority, command the circumstance; do not negotiation with it. Where do you get dominion and authority? Dominion was mankind’s, given at creation. All authority is from God. “For there is no authority except from God” (Romans 13:1b). Go to prayer, tell God about your problem, and ask for authority over the particular circumstance. Jesus has overcome, and by His overcoming God grants authority to the believer in Him.

It may sound simple, because it can be. You are not alone, it happens to us all. If we get all caught up in a circumstance (the way it appears to us to be), we complicate things. Complication is mass simplicity, or a lot of little things that can seem big. If we let our mind run away with an issue, it can multiply the issue to the point that we are overwhelmed and helpless. But we have a Helper. God has sent His spiritual Apostle to us, the Holy Spirit to give us comfort.

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me. Anointing signifies consecration. Consecration is setting apart for a purpose. It does not signify perfection in the area set apart. David was a boy not yet perfected when he was anointed to be king. God will set one apart and then the anointing will teach. “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him” (1 John 2:27).

There is a lot of healing (forgiving – see Mark 2:9) that needs to happen in the Church. God has a lot of work to be done. “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Luke 10:2). We, the Church, have to be unified in grace and mercy (forgiveness) and love (our identity). Something happened yesterday; don’t let that stop you from being sent out as a laborer in God’s fields. Something happened yesterday; don’t let that cause you to judge another coworker in God’s fields today. Forgive, learn from the anointing, and go on. Pray the Lord of the harvest to heal us and to send us into His harvest. Let go of the circumstance and hold on to the promise of God.

© 2007, 2017 Tim D. Coulter Sr.