“Get over yourself!”
Those were the words that resonated in my spirit at the Apple store in Charlotte last Thursday! I was there because my laptop, which I use every day, sometimes all day, was “frozen”. I had attempted to download the pictures from our daughter’s wedding. About 30 minutes into it all the warning signs came up on my laptop and, yes, the spinning “rainbow” wheel and my computer just FROZE! I was so helpless. My guy in town, “Mr. Mac,” who I call upon in times of TECH trouble, was not free…so I booked an appointment with Apple.
As I was sitting there having this wonderfully very young, intelligent tech guru help me (I was old enough to be his mother), another guy came to my aid with my phone. It had been giving me trouble for months so I thought I might as well book an appointment for it too. It didn’t take but about 5 minutes for me to figure out the “phone” guy WAS NOT the same tech guru that was working on my laptop.
In fact, the phone guy had to leave me and go wait for another “Apple guru” to tell him what to do next with each step of the process. It got a little comical and I was a little embarrassed for the guy. This went on for about an hour and half. Finally they had my new phone ready to restore and hook up to download all my saved information.
To my shock…as we started the process…the phone said, ”Cannot complete. Device doesn’t have enough storage.” The not-such-a-guru said to me, ”You didn’t tell me you needed all this storage on your phone!” I sat there perplexed. I didn’t think I could have been more clear that I wanted an upgrade but the exact SAME everything that my current phone had.
I am not a “tech” person but I am learning to be. I just assumed he would know what I currently had as I handed him my old phone. Needless to say, he disappeared only to return after about 15 minutes with another “Apple guru” who gave me the bad news/good news. They could still help me but they had to undo what they just did and redo it with another phone. Are you following me still? This entailed calling Verizon…being on hold…etc.
I was told it would take about another hour. I said it was ok. I had no choice because I would be stuck without a phone. But after the third hour of sitting on the techy stool at the techy help desk, it grew harder and …I was starting to “steam”.
It was not as easy and short as they had projected…and I was stuck there. I realized that by the time I would be finished at the Apple store I was going to be leaving Charlotte and heading through Concord Mills traffic and road construction on my way to Raleigh in 5 o’clock traffic.
About that time my thoughts were interrupted by the nicest lady, another tech guru, who said, “You look like you need a hug.”…LOL. To be extremely truthful and transparent, my feelings were to push her, yes, I said push, maybe even shove…..…I promised to be transparent.
My thoughts went something like this, ”No, what I need is for you to get rid of the guy who doesn’t know what he is doing and get my phone done ASAP and give me a discount to boot.” Please tell me I am not the only one who has had such thoughts running through their brain!
About that time that inner voice…THE HOLY SPIRIT…said…”GET over YOURSELF!” and immediately brought to my mind all the devastation that recently occurred in Haiti.
And out of my mouth came these words, “NO, I just need to get over myself, have patience and realize I could be in a much worse situation. I could be in Haiti with no food, water or shelter.”
She didn’t know what to say…and honestly…I could not believe what came over me and out of my mouth. My inclination was to shove…but God intervened..… and HIS Holy Spirit inside of me…battling my flesh…took over.
It was a realization that the hours I spend praying and reading my Bible …was the reservoir from which, all at one time, in that moment of “testing,” I could draw on. God was so faithful to overcome me in my time of extreme testing and jabbing by the enemy….so that…I could respond through His power and not in “my flesh”.
Can you relate???
Point of post: we never know when the “test” will come…nor the “temptation”…but in order to die to our “fleshly self”…we have to submerge ourselves in God’s word and in prayer.
Through prayer and being still we learn to recognize the Shepherd’s voice. Through His word He teaches us how to respond. I can’t control how others act but I can certainly control how I respond…and how I react. That is what I am accountable for before God.
Just that morning in my quiet time I was reading in the book of Philippians. In chapter 4 verses 4 and 5 it says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again REJOICE! Let your gentleness be EVIDENT TO ALL” [emphasis added]. BOOM…the Holy Spirit…had been whispering, “rejoice in Me.” The word “gentleness” overcame me in that time of testing. My flesh was saying, “PUSH…SHOVE.” The Holy Spirit was saying, “Rejoice and GENTLE.”
Do you see? Do you get it?
I can’t do this Christian walk on my own. I need all the help I can get from the Holy Spirit. We are told in scripture that the Holy Spirit is our Helper for a reason! “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you,” (John 14:26). If I had not been in the word that very morning, would I have shoved the nice lady? I really don’t think so…but I know I would have said the WRONG thing…and the opportunity to be “light” would have been completely lost!
A missed opportunity to react against my flesh and comply to the Holy Spirit’s prompting….with Gentleness and Rejoicing in the Goodness of God.
I am really learning and am enjoying recognizing the Holy Spirit when He speaks or impresses in my spirit. A month ago, over and over again, the Holy Spirit brought a short command to me, “Don’t whine, complain or explain!” And just last week it was, “I defend and I deliver.”
This may sound crazy but the Holy Spirit does prompt us. We just need to be listening.
I want so much to encourage the readers of Back 9 to get in God’s word. To get still and to pray. To learn to recognize God’s gentle but commanding voice in your life. It is there and there alone that you can not only experience victory, but you will be enabled to be the “light” He calls all of us who proclaim to know Him to be!
“We are 100 percent responsible for the pursuit of holiness, but at the same time we are 100 percent dependent upon the Holy Spirit to enable us in that pursuit. The pursuit of holiness is not a pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps approach to the Christian life.” ~Jerry Bridges