Isolation__This Is No Time To Go It Alone

Next to your home, your vehicle is where you'll spend a good amount of your life, so make the ride exhilarating. Introducing the all-new fully reimagined Infiniti QX60, a luxury SUV designed to help you conquer life in style. The all-new QX60 features ample cargo space, available massaging front seats, and a panoramic moonroof. It's as functional as it is stylish and as versatile as it is serene. Visit InfinitiUSA.com to check out the all-new fully reimagined Infiniti QX60.

Now with extremely limited availability, contact your local retailer for inventory information. This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Running with Horses, a podcast devoted to inspire you concerning a relationship with Almighty God that empowers you to accomplish things you never thought possible. Shirley Weaver wants to take you there.

And now, here's today's episode. We've definitely learned that God's plan is so perfect in every way, and part of this plan is really a miraculous, a supernatural outline for the way that we live. And a very important part of that outline is the fact that we belong. We belong together, and the opposite of being together and belonging being set into place is the opposite, which is to be isolated or to be separate from or separated. So one example that I just think of so often is, we see this played out in the animal kingdom, where weakened or smaller members of the herd naturally hang near the back or fall near the back or slowing down or weaken for some reason. So they become separated from the center, which is usually where the strength of the herd is concentrated, right?

From the front to the center, but the weaker portion would become closer to the back, again, where a weakened for some reason or smaller animal then becomes logical prey for an animal looking for something to devour, so to speak. So that example sort of stands out in my mind, and I just think right now, the reason that we have for really paying attention right here is because we see it so much. We see that believers and individuals even outside of the family of believers, they're really, really being singled out, and they seem to be like that smaller or weaker animal. They're sort of falling behind and becoming more acquainted with and more comfortable with being isolated or separated from the center or from the family. Psalm 68 verse 6 speaks to this principle, this truth. The King James would say it this way, God seteth the solitary in families. He seteth the solitary in families. The ESV puts it this way, God settles the solitary in a home. God settles the solitary, that person who is isolated or alone is settled in a home by the Lord himself.

It's a sovereign thing he does. That is, therefore, we know that is God's heart. The Passion translation is my favorite. Verses 5 and 6 together, just the whole thought goes like this. To the fatherless, he is a father. To the widow, a champion friend. The lonely, he makes part of a family. The prisoners, he leads into prosperity until they sing for joy. This is our holy God in his holy place, but for rebels there is heartache and despair. That last line is stunning.

The comparison is stunning. The despair and the heartache that is really descriptive of those who get separated somehow. They get isolated somehow, sometimes by choice. Not always, but sometimes by choice.

And so here's the thing. God's plan for you is to be established in family. Now that might not be like the traditional family, but there is a setting for you where you are surrounded by, you have company with those that are watching for you, who care about you.

This like a family setting, like you would imagine a family setting being. And the first thing about this way that God orders things is this aspect of having someone to watch for you. Why is that important?

Because you are so important. Every individual is important to the Lord and he makes this arrangement. He sets this arrangement in motion so that we all have someone to watch for us. That we don't get isolated or separated. And we've learned that authentic Christian living means aligning with the Lord's view.

In this case that's really important. Which is all the more important because our lives are an epistle. Our lives are a story that other people read and our speech and our actions really define us. They define our lifestyle.

So they tell a story and frame the facts concerning us as they really and truly are. This is interesting. A consistent human trait is that we typically are the last to believe our own capacity for wrong behavior. Including this inclination to become isolated or to become separated.

Sometimes there's even an outworking of pride sort of at the root there. Certainly there are other situations where you are powerless to do anything about it. And in that case you might even say that you are affected by the choices that others have made. Well the good news is God has a plan.

His plan is to place you solidly in the center of the herd where there is strength. So going back to this point about not being able to discern our own capacity for wrong believing or wrong behavior. We usually don't come to an honest self-assessment without Holy Spirit prompting and the counsel of others. And the difficulty here is that of self-judging. Where we don't self-judge but we become isolated and determined to have it our own way we proceed unaware of the danger of falling off to the side or to the back in a weakened state. For example the life of David David's position as king protected him until Nathan, you will remember Nathan was the resident prophet in the king's house until Nathan confronted David.

He confronted his reckless behavior, his deceptive nature and the consequences of his sin. And for you and me in order to mature as a believer it helps to have someone watching. And of course we need to watch for one another so that no one becomes isolated and left to, this is my expression, to go it alone. You do not want to choose to go it alone and if you're put in that position for some reason outside of your control you want God's plan to intervene. In this case you need the Lord's plan to come full full throttle, come onto the scene as strongly and as quickly as possible because we need the security of being nurtured by others, being nurtured in the faith, plus a healthy understanding of repentance so that authentic Christian living is possible for your life and for my life. Bottom line, God's love and the love of others invested in and watching for us helps develop our lives so that we can tell the story that is consistent. Our lives tell the story that is consistent with what God intends because it aligns with his plan and with the order that he intends. And again we said this earlier but it's worth repeating, the way you know that is actions, words and deeds and the way we operate our actions. They need to be honest and open and really we need to self-judge, we need to need to self-assess where we really are both on the inside as well as on the exterior.

We all can do pretty good in giving a show, that would be the outwardly expression, but what's going on inside you know is really what God wants us to do. You know is really just so important and so critical. Someone watching for you because you really are important, every individual is. You don't want to go it alone, you don't want to be isolated, you do not want to choose to be so determined to have it your own way, have no one to disagree with you or to find fault with what you're doing or take exception to it, maybe fault is not the right word, but just really to point out to you, hey have you thought about this?

What about this? Really important, really really important there. One other just consideration while we're talking about having someone to watch for you. I've learned and this has been such a personal help to have at least two people. I kind of think of the example of Aaron and her on either side of Moses you know lifting up his arms. It's just a principle that works.

Even in the New Testament, Jesus set them out by twos. If you have two or three together, there's such safety, there's such provision there and whomever God sends to watch for you, soften your heart, allow those around you to see you, allow those around you to speak into your situation. Next point, we all need wise counsel, so probably the choice in our thinking would be that that is what we are receiving, but you really need to look, see whose counsel really you are receiving.

You may think it's counsel, but ask the question whose counsel is it? Because God Himself, the Lord, ordained specific purposes for your life and to accomplish those, here it is again, you really were never meant to go it alone. You can't grow spiritually without wise counsel from those that God has placed around you, surrounding your life, whether it's one or two or three or four or more and you know casual acquaintances are great, but that's not really the point here. Rather we need, you and I need, a circle around us of those who have sufficient integrity to speak up when something isn't right. Believers can get isolated and separated from this kind of help. It results often in personal heartache and loss, not only for themselves though, and this is really a sad part, but where there are those that love and care about them, where there is a family and others that care about them, they are affected too when the individual decides that they are going to have the rule, the final say in their own affairs and that they don't want any help. They don't want anyone interfering or quote telling them what to do, end quote. Basically they see it that they don't need, or rather let me use another pronoun there, we would say at a point, at that point I would say, using myself as an example, and again this is not the example we want, but I open myself up to heartache and also affect and bring heartache into the family that's around me because I choose to rule in my own affairs and I refuse any advice or counsel, and I refuse the input of others, and you know why I do that? Do you know why I do that?

Because there's an arrogant situation here and basically because I can, because I can, I do that because I've been able to get away with it thus far. So at that point you could say that the example that I'm laying out here for me or for anyone else like that, either I do not have or I refuse to have a circle of believers who can watch for me, a circle of godly people with integrity positioned by God around me to watch for me, and isolated this way, you know, I mean it's true. Charm is deceptive. It's amazing how charming and how, yeah, how charming we can be when in fact underneath the surface that is not the case.

We really need help. We need someone to share in the agenda that we've chosen, and if we've got destructive activity going on and it continues unchecked, that doesn't mean, and I should never feel that it means, you should never feel that it means that God approves. Just because I continue to quote, get away with something, end quote, does not mean that it's okay with God. It just means that thus far I'm like David, the king, who was on a path that he really believed he was getting away with and really took the position of judging others in their weakness, being so arrogant that he wouldn't and couldn't see his own weakness until God's man, Nathan the prophet, came on the scene and pointed his arrow out to him, and the result was great repentance on the part of David. When he realized what he had done, when he realized that it had taken really something substantial, divine intervention from the Lord to break through that charming exterior and get to the heart issue, to the root and the truth, not what was being portrayed for casual consumption, the way that others just casually read our lives. Unfortunately, that kind of thing takes time, often years, to really turn around because damage can be done, and really more damage than we could ever imagine. So because something didn't occur or come to a point overnight, but took time and over a period of time to become the way that it is, often you cannot reverse, most often you cannot reverse the situation to cause it to go back to normal or go back to a healthy arrangement. It took time to get that way. It takes time to get that way. It takes time to not only realize the extent of the damage that's been done, but then to repair it and to let redemption do its work. The person on top today likely will not always be on top. Keep that in mind. And it's very sobering to think, and it is so true.

We see it in again and again. We need an entourage of those who are highly developed in God's Word with spiritual discernment to surround us, wise counselors, godly influencers. For you and for me, life is no place to go it alone, just is not.

And if you say, there is no one like that in my life, I don't know anyone like that, listen, you can pray, ask God for that very thing, for that very thing. And so I'm going to pray with you and ask God to open this whole scenario up for us, you for your life, me for my life, and believe God that He has the circle of believers that you need so that you will not have to go it alone. Father, in Jesus' name, we do believe you right now for this very provision as you promised in your Word that you have set, solitary and family, that you have arranged for us to be established in and surrounded by a household of faith, believers who have integrity to watch for our lives and to speak into our lives.

And as you have said, this is not the time to pull away and to neglect the importance, this very thing is so important to your heart and to your plan. According to Hebrews 10, verses 24 and 25, you've said this to us in many places in your Word, so we know that it's your intention and we know that your plan includes answered prayer, that's our prayer today, and we believe you, Father, this way. Put those who have the gifts that you've ordained to be in my life around me, bring them full circle around me, and Lord, I thank you in advance and I believe you for the fulfillment of this very thing. In Jesus' name, I pray and I'm so grateful, amen and amen, amen.

Amen. Listen, here it is again, we have the mind of Christ, we do, that's the thought life of a king, that is of the king. In this regard, concerning the fact that we are not to go it alone, but we are to have wise counselors and we are to have those who watch for us so that our lives are the right story for others to read and to say that this is an example of a servant of the Lord and of those who follow him. Philippians 2, verses 3 through 5, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. We have the mind of Christ, we have the mind of a king, amen. That's really, really good news. God bless.

Running with horses. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time.