THE "I" SYNDROME

Isaiah 46:9b  "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me."


It is not about me.  Nor is it about you.  It is about God, our Lord.  Our lives, once we give them, surrender them to the Lord, are no longer our own.  So why is it there is a constant need at times to focus on ourselves;  to demand the attention that we should be focusing towards the One who gives us our very being.  I have yet to find the letter "i" in Jesus. If you will notice, the only noun/pronoun you find enclosed in that beautiful, precious name is "us".  Our Lord loves us so much that He is willing to share His inheritance, His love, His life, His beautiful Holy Spirit, with "us".

I find myself, once again, confounded, caught up with the self mode.  And let me assure you, I had a visit to the "Holy Spirit wood shed" concerning it.  The difference between the one that my Heavenly Father took me to was that when I came out of it, was with tears AND smiles.  The one I went to as a youngster with my daddy, well, it only brought tears.  The method was the same though.  "I am doing this because I love you" and then there was the discussion of the whys and corrective instruction.  The tears were not from physical pain but the deep pain you feel when you have grieved the Lord, and others in the process.  The smiles, they come from the joy that the Lord pours into your spirit as He shows His ever present mercy and grace in which He gives you corrective instruction. 

It is not necessary to explain why I needed correction, once again, as the reason doesn't matter.  What matters is that we focus our lives on the One that gives us life.  That we sit and listen to counsel, that we wait to speak when the Holy Spirit gives us utterance, words that will enhance the glory of God and not ourselves.  That the words we speak have real meaning to the kingdom of God.  That we listen to those wiser than ourselves who have so much to share of the Lord, so much in Godly wisdom and experience.  Only in this manner can we come to know what the Lord wants us so to know of Himself and His kingdom here on earth.  See, there is a Godly kingdom on earth.  It is hidden so well that if we are not seeking His face, we will not find it.  We see so often with just our eyes and not with our spirit.  God's earthly kingdom that is here now is a spiritual kingdom and unless we are willing to let go or the "I" syndrome, forgetting about ourselves, and give ourselves totally to being about our Lord, our entire selves, our lives being about Him, we will miss that beautiful place He gives us to dwell in, here, on earth. 

Earthly dwellings will drag us down, and included in that are the dwellings of the old wine skins, the old man, that was put off, but that the enemy so wants to refit us in.  Trust me, no matter how good he makes that old man look, it is a sham, a paper dwelling that will disintegrate the moment you want through the fire. 

Father, help me, help my friends, to stay in the habitation that You have designed for us.  The dwelling place where Your Holy Spirit sits waiting for us, to guide us, to enlighten us, to draw us to You alone.  Let me only want to be included in the "us" that You draw me into.  My relationship with You.  So much less of me, Lord, so much less of me.  More of You, only You, my God.  I praise You, my Lord, I worship You alone.  You are worthy of my very best.  I know You have forgiven me, forgotten the error of my ways, and have lifted me once again to Your loving arms to hold and protect, to shield and deliver from the old man, the ways of this world, and the emphasis placed on "I".  Let all worldly emphasis, my God, be placed on You, this day and forever more, in my life and the life of all those who love You and call You Lord.

04-28-12