It's Just Stuff!

I need to make a confession, sometimes I let stuff get to me...even little stuff! You know, the car breaks down, bills are unpaid, kids are driving you crazy, God doesn't seem to be at home...ever been there? Isn't it amazing how easy it is for little things to get under your skin, on your nerves, in your head, and mess up your day, your week, your month...your life? It's not that you mean for it to be that way, you want to be adult enough to recognize that it's just life, spiritual enough to know the enemy is trying to distract you, and mature enough to walk through it, but the truth is that sometimes it just gets to us.

Peruse the scripture and you'll quickly find that our Bible hero's had their moments too, Paul got ticked off and sent Mark packing, Moses killed a guy, and Peter cut a guys ear off...talking about having a bad day! The thing that speaks to me in all of this is that having stuff is human, that's not an excuse it's an opportunity! Because we are human, live in this world, and endure suffering as a part of our walk with Christ, we have to learn how to recognize the difference between an attack or assualt and simply having stuff...Satan uses everything, but not everything that happens in life is demonic in nature, though we can cause it to become that way...I am convinced that I run out of gas today that it isn't the devil, that is, until I open the door for him to invade my humanity and create such conflict within me that it becomes a place of contention!

The Apostle Paul said that in tribulation, stress, and situations, that none of these things moved him. When Joseph was taken from his father, his coat covered in the blood of an animal and presented to his father as evidence of his demise, it was just a coat, Joseph was very much alive and being positioned to revive a nation. Even though Moses was cast to the back side of the desert and forced to feed his father in laws sheep, he was not hidden from God, he was being prepared for his ultimate purpose.

Often those things that appear to destroy us are actually sent to develop us and create in us the ability to minister to others because of the stuff we ourselves have been through...I'm not minimizing the things that come our way, nor I am suggesting that the devil doesn't have his hand in working against us...I'm just saying that the hand of the Lord is upon us, that He has taken great strides in investing His best in our lives and sometimes...It's Just Stuff!