We are our own worst enemy

I watched a video of a dog that was chewing on a bone, and who got viciously angry when he saw something out of the corner of his eye encroaching on this one thing that was making him happy.  He growled at it, bare his teeth, even tried to bite it.  There was one problem. The encroaching object WAS HIS OWN FOOT.

I think that, often, we are our own worst enemies, and we are the disturbers of our own peace. We believe that there is only one thing that will make us happy, and we tell God that we won’t be happy until we get it.  We get angry at those who appear to be getting between us and our “happy thing” (even angry at ourselves because we made choices that messed everything up).  However, it is often our own demand that God bring us our happiness in a certain way that blocks us from ever becoming happy, or content, or joyful.

Or, even worse and more prevalent is our mental focus on whatever is getting in our way, and everything we DON’T have. Whatever joy we may have been headed for gets cut off at the pass the moment we gripe and complain about what’s wrong and what we don’t have.  Gratitude is the most powerful human weapon we can wield to break off emotional and mental strongholds.  Focusing on what is RIGHT, no matter how small, breaks the debilitating chain of negative thoughts that rob us of contentment and joy and peace.

God has the supernatural ability to give us joy and contentment REGARDLESS of our situation, if we will only let Him.  He can supernaturally INFUSE us with joy and contentment without the obtaining of any outside item.  In His presence there is fullness of joy.

Have you ever been worshiping with a large group of people, and be wrapped up in the moment, focused on God, pouring your heart out to Him, sensing His presence, and feeling completely at peace?  Your external circumstances and situations didn’t change – God just supernaturally met your emotional and mental needs at that moment without moving a single playing piece on the chess board of your life.

And He can do that for you today, as well.  Stop blocking yourself from peace and joy, satisfaction in the midst of your troubles, by saying that it must come in a certain form.  All good things come directly from God, and for most of us, even if we don’t have everything we want, we can say “the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places”.  Allow yourself to learn how to be content in any situation, whether you have much or little, by going directly to God and thanking Him for anything you DO have.

Psalm 16:

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    apart from you I have no good thing.”

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
    you make my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
    even at night my heart instructs me.
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
    With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence,
    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.