World War Me
Self-Sabotage | GOATED Vol. 2 | Dr. Dharius Daniels
“We are born looking like our parents, but we die looking like our decisions.”
The devil can’t destroy you, but your decisions can.
When we consistently engage in self-sabotaging behavior, we have unconsciously become the enemy’s assistant.
Mark 4:31-
“When evening came.. then He said..”
Evening represents the end of a day, but it can also represent the end of your self. It can represent a time where you have exhausted physical and emotional resources.
There are some words that God only releases when we are at a place where we are no longer wrestling to receive it.
Following Jesus is a minority activity- most people won’t.
Our desire to feel normal can be the reason we feel stuck.
Divine instruction from God will expose co-dependency on people.
In the text, that experience a storm literally.
Metaphorically storms represent-
Storms represent unexpected seasons of pain, pressure, and perplexity that produce a desire for relief that can cause us to make decisions without wisdom.
Presence of pain- we trade long-term healing for short-term numbing.
Seasons of pressure make us think that speed is better than a strategy, so we make quick decisions to fix a problem. The bad decision then creates a new problem.
Panic- often causes us to make panic moves that produce permanent messes
Perplexity- causes us to make decisions in the dark
All of these make us prone to self-sabotage.
We can’t always have storm prevention, because storms are unpredictable. However, we can have storm management.
How to not self-sabotage in the storm:
Jesus slept thru the storm vs the Disciples- who panicked.
Jesus models the 3rd way for storm management.
Culture’s Way- to react emotionally and act impulsively.
Church’s Way- to mask the pain with platitudes and act like you already are where God wants to use the storm to take you
“I’m strong..” Are you? Or are you asking God to bless what you are pretending to be? God can’t heal with you try to hide.
Kingdom’s Way [3rd Way]- see the storm, face the fear, but submit to the Savior ; I am not going to engage in behavior that the Savior does not endorse in an attempt to get relief from the storm. I will stay submitted in the storm, so that eventually the Savior can make the storm submit to Him.
Biblical Takeaways:
You must get your word on the shore before you venture into the sea. When you get a word, the inventor of the word goes with you. You’ll drown if you try to follow a word that God didn’t give you.
You must trust the word in the midst of the weather. The word isn’t weather dependent- the storm in the sea will challenge the word you got on the shore.
You must conquer your contradictions by refusing to place periods, where God has placed commas.
You must have wisdom for restraint even when you don’t have clarity for action. Even when you don’t know what you’ve got to do, you need to be clear on what you aren’t going to do! - A Word!
The storm can’t destroy you, but you can behave in ways while in the storm that can cause you to destroy yourself- self-sabotage.