Urban Oasis
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Urban Oasis
Five Essential Elements of Your Relationship with Christ
Communication – It is essential to communicate with others in our relationships. Without communication, it is impossible to have a lasting relationship. How can you ever get to know someone without communicating with him or her in some way? John 17:3 states, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.” The only way to get to know Christ better is by talking with Him in prayer. We must also be willing to listen to Him when He speaks to us. The problem with us today is that we are always on the go and we forget to stop and listen to the voice of our Lord. He is all around us, yet we continue about our daily lives while he waits for us to give Him some quality time.
Trust and Faith – Proverbs 3:5-6 states “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” How can a husband and wife expect 100% effort in the relationship if neither
trusts the other? Eventually each person will start to make assumptions about the other, which lead to accusations, which lead to arguments, which produce a break down in the relationship. Our marriage with Christ must also include faith and trust. Without them, He can’t intervene in our lives because we are not allowing Him to do so. If we don’t trust Him to supply our every need and have faith in His promises, He is not obligated to prove Himself because we didn’t believe in Him anyway. Bottom line: When we want or need something from the Lord, we must ask Him and BELIEVE He will do it in His will.
Obedience – We must obey the will of God in order for us to receive what he has for us. If we are disobedient, we will be punished. If all God asks us to do is tell others about Him, why is that too hard for us? If all He wants us to do is live an upright life before Him, why aren’t we willing to do that? We have to be ready, willing, and able to do whatever it takes to do His will.
Love – Love is the most important element for an effective personal relationship with Christ. We cannot say with conviction and certainty that we love God if we cannot also say that we love our neighbors, spouses, friends, families, our enemies, or ourselves. God is Love; therefore if God exists in us, we must also be Love. True love is not just an action, a
feeling, nor a thought. It is a combination of these things. The ultimate act of love as explained in John 3:16 is that God gave to us His only son as a sacrifice for our eternal life. Jesus suffered for our shortcomings and made no excuses for doing so. That single act of selflessness is enough to make us reverence Him all the more.
Growth – The relationship grows as each of the four previous essentials becomes stronger. If growth is stunted, you may need to examine and reflect on your relationship with Christ. Bringing your relationship with Christ to maturity takes diligence and patience. You may get weary and you may even want to give up, but continue to seek God’s face. Constantly talk to Him and allow yourself to be wrapped in His embrace and feel His awesome presence. Once you do this, you can count on Him to be there for you whenever you need Him and trust that He won’t ever turn His back on you.
Be Well.
Tanisha Lawson
Tanisha Lawson is a freelance writer living in the metro Atlanta, GA area.
Rid Yourself of the Clutter
Have you ever heard the saying “Cluttered desk, cluttered mind”? It’s a fact, if your environment is messy and cluttered, it’s virtually impossible to get a clear and concise idea in your mind without being distracted.
Now is the time to take control of the things in your life that prevent you from being the person you were intended to be. Clutter is more than just stacks of papers or closets overstuffed with clothing and shoes. It is often a lifestyle that tends to stifle creative thinking and living.
Take inventory, not just of the “things” in your life, but of your life as a whole. What are the top 5 priorities in your life? How much time do you spend on each of them? If you find yourself engaging more time in other things that simply don’t matter, then it is time for a change.
There are emotional consequences that come with letting physical clutter take over your life. It can become very difficult to get individual tasks completed because there are so many tasks that now appear to have piled up. That great idea or invention God placed inside of you cannot be developed because so many other things are stealing your attention. You become stagnant. Progress is halted while someone in the world is waiting for your ideas to come to fruition and change their lives for the better.
Procrastination is the thief of time. This is the only today you get! Do it now. Waiting and putting things off for another time is how the clutter got created. When you have completed the task you will wonder why you didn’t just get it done in the first place and you will feel accomplished and energized for the next project at hand. You will also be surprised how much time you will gain.
Getting organized isn’t as hard as some might think. There are a few key steps to keep in mind and you can use the same method for anything you want to whittle down.
First, take inventory of what you have and what has it helped you accomplish.
Second, enlist the help of someone who will be honest with you and help you to discern how it would benefit you if you kept, gave or trashed a possession. Also to help keep you on task if you should become distracted and start the re-accumulation of stuff.
Third, decide where you want to donate or send your things and make arrangements for pick-ups or drop-offs. This will solidify that these items will not come back to your possession and it allows you to sow into someone’s life that may be less fortunate and may truly have a use for those items. With arrangements made in advance, you’ll know that someone is counting on you and will be more inclined to follow through.
In order to make room for the things your heart desires, you need to let go of the things that have served their purpose in their season. This principle not only serves you in ridding yourself of clutter in your home but also in your life as well. Make a conscious decision to live a clutter free life.
Dessina King
Dessina is a nurse and freelance writer living in York, South Carolina.
When the Bandages Are Removed
Scripture Reading: Daniel 3, Matthew 8
In January 2008, I found myself once again lying on a bed in the emergency room suffering from an affliction I had been battling for seven years. Given the necessary intravenous medication, I began to feel better and was released to battle this illness alone (or so I thought) once again. Upon my discharge from the hospital, I began to feel a deep depression and the sense that I would never beat this sickness.
The next morning as I prepared to shower, I removed the bandages from the previous night’s emergency room visit. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I had to double take my image. The bandages had left behind a simple message: GOD IS. I called to my mother to eyewitness and she confirmed the words that were imprinted on my chest where the bandage had once been. The depressed feeling that lingered over me immediately left and I began to rejoice in my heart.
A very simple message of encouragement was given to me through the affliction that attacked my body: GOD IS (fill in the blank). What is God to you? Is He everything? Is He
nothing? Is He just a notion that someone through the passage of time created to explain the existence of life? I can fill in the blanks like this: God is my healer, my deliverer, my beginning and my ending. I owe Him my all.
As I reflect on this situation in my life, I would like to pose a question to those that are dealing with a difficult situation. What are you going to see when your spiritual bandages are removed? Will you be the same person you were before your trial? Sometimes we find ourselves in “God’s Clinic” for desperately needed surgery to repair damage to our spiritual body. Whatever the diagnosis may be, when God has repaired the broken part and has
placed a bandage over the scar, it is left to us to determine how the scar will appear once the healing process is complete.
Tanisha Lawson
Tanisha Lawson is a freelance writer living in the metro Atlanta, GA area.
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