First Reaction
First Reaction
Can I ask you a few questions? Will you promise to take a minute and think about your answer? Will you be honest? Okay, here we go… What is your first reaction when you do not know the answer to an important question? Do you Google it, phone a friend or call your mom?
What is your first reaction when you are blindsided by someone’s anger and they hurt your feelings? Do you lash back, cower in defeat or tell everyone you know how rude that person is?
What is your first reaction when you are stressed – so stressed that you are stressed about being stressed? Do you fall apart, do you yell and scream at everyone around you or do you kick it in gear and accomplish more than you thought you could?
What is your first reaction when you are filled with fear and anxiety? Do you worry yourself silly, imagine every worst case scenario, or withdraw yourself from the situation?
What is your first reaction when you feel hopeless, hurt and lonely? Do you crawl in the bed and cover your head, do you close the blinds and sit in the dark, or do you find someone to counsel you?
What is your first reaction when you are filled with joy – so full of joy you want to jump up and down and shout out loud? Do you run post it on Facebook, hug everyone you see, or call your BFF?
You should write your answers down. Do it – really quick. For instance, there were 6 questions so shorten and jot down your 6 answers. Then look at your list. This is a list of your first reaction responses. How do you feel about your list? Are you proud of the way you respond or are you feeling a little uncomfortable right now? Does your list surprise you? Mine did.
If we were all who we are called to be, the answer to every one of those questions would be…I call on the Lord. (YIKES!) However, we are all broken, flawed, self-centered and distracted so our answers fall short of who God longs for us to be. He truly wants to be everything we need. Let’s take a step in that direction. Let’s open our eyes, take a look at how far we are away from Him and move a little bit closer.
Let’s print this out and change our first reactions. Let’s learn to seek Him first. Let's let our first reaction become to Be Still and Know that He is God! He has me!
When I don’t know the answer…I call on the Lord. I will pray as David did in Psalm 25. Verses 4-5 say, “Show me your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.” Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” God has all the answers we need. Our first reaction should be to call on Him.
When I am blindsided by someone’s anger…I call on the Lord. I will “Commit my way to the Lord, Trust also in Him. And He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth my righteousness as the light, and my justice as the noonday.” - Psalm 37:5. God is my defender. I need not defend myself. I will love as He loves and leave the rest to Him. There are dozens of scriptures teaching that it is wrong to be defensive. We are called to love – but what does that really mean? Based on God’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13, we are to be patient and kind – never jealous or envious. We are not to be prideful or glorify our self. We are to be selfless. The Bible says “true love does not seek it’s own”. We are to never be rude, easily angered or over-sensitive. We shouldn’t be touchy when it comes to others words or actions toward us. We should rejoice in the truth – God’s truth that is. (Therefore, we really need to know what it says – right?) Our first reaction should be love – because He is love.
When I am stressed…I call on the Lord. When I am stressed, I will pause and seek my King. In John 14:27 Jesus made a promise. Put your name in that promise. Pam, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you”. In Matthew 11:28-30 He said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” This rest = relief from my stress. Rest in Jesus. Rest in Jesus. Rest in Jesus. Lord, let our first reaction be to crawl up in your lap and find peace resting in You.
When I am filled with fear and anxiety…I call on the Lord. I call on the Lord for He is good! “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7) Oh God, help me learn to be anxious for nothing but in EVERYTHING trust in YOU! No more anxiety. No more fear. There are 365 verses in the Bible that tell us to not fear or to not be afraid. God gave us a verse for each day of the year. Because of Him, we can be fearless!
When I feel hopeless… I call on the Lord. We know better than to feel this way. Our hope comes from the Lord, right? Because of who He is and what He has done – we have hope – complete and total hope! Romans 15:13 tells us, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” In Jeremiah 29:11 God tells us that He knows the plan He has for us and that is to give us “a future and a hope”. Hope is ours!
When I am filled with joy… I call on the Lord. Scriptures tell us to “count it all joy”, “rejoice in the Lord always”, and “a joyful heart is good medicine”. Remember the old bible school song, “I’ve got joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart”. That should be our new anthem! We have so much to be joyous about…so many reasons to be filled with joy. Sometimes we cannot see them. But – just the fact that I can write this and you can read this is enough to be filled up with joy! God is good! All the time, He is good!!! He loves us so and has given us so many gifts. James 1:17 tells us that “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” Look around you and count all your good and perfect gifts. There are more than you can even count.
Next time, may our first reaction be to call on the Lord! May our first reaction be to Be Still and Know that He is our God! If we run – may we run to Him! If we fall – may we fall into His arms. When we smile – may His praise forever be on our lips. He is everything we need…everything we need…I mean, everything we need.
Thank you for reading this blog.
I am praying for you!
Pam
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