Overcoming Loneliness
Overcoming Loneliness
Overcoming Loneliness
Are you experiencing loneliness? From experience, I know that loneliness can sometimes be very painful. God our Father had just finished creating all the living creatures that move along the ground. God our Father knew that loneliness was a problem for man. After he created Adam the Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him'" (Genesis 2:18).
By God's design we have an instinctive need to be loved and belong because God created us to have a relationship and fellowship with HIM. Loneliness for whatever reason is rooted in our relationship with God. God created us to be the habitation of God. God not only lives in Heaven, he also desires to take up residence within each of us.
Jesus knew what loneliness felt like. He experienced it in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knew that while on the cross He would bear the sin of the world and God would have to turn he back on him because of the sin. Because of this Jesus was troubled and full of anguish, and asked his closest friends--Peter, James, and John, to stay awake with him and to pray with him. Jesus needed friends around him to relieve the awful loneliness he felt just then. Even though they couldn't stay awake with him because they partied too hard at the Last Supper just the presence of his friends gave him some comfort.
Coping with loneliness begins with our perception. Matthew 6:22-23 shows us the way we see things has a great effect on your state of being.
"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
Single eyed or whole vision is seeing God in everything leaves no room to consider anyone or anything other than God being in control. We must understand that we are lonely not just because we lose friends and family, but because God created us to have a relationship and fellowship with HIM. Loneliness, void in our lives is because God created us to be His habitation. God not only lives in Heaven, he also desires to take up residence within each of us. The bible says in Psalm 34:10that those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. This is the starting and ending point. Have you been connected to God yet through Jesus Christ?
In the Old Testament, men built a tabernacle and temples for God to dwell in (Exodus 25:8-9, II Samuel 7:13). When Jesus died on the cross, the veil which separated God from man in the man-made temple was tore from the top to the bottom. This indicated that God tore the veil. Man could now have access to God through Jesus and God would now have access to live and dwell within the temple of man, himself. Like the Old Testament temple that had three parts, we also have three parts: spirit, soul, and body (I Thessalonians 5:23). The Spirit of Almighty God now able to live and dwell within the spirit of men. Jesus explained to his disciples that he had made peace with the Father on their (and our) behalf (John 20:21). Then Jesus said, "As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you" (John 20:21b). How did the Father send Jesus into the world? He was born of the Spirit of God! "And when he said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John 20:22). At that moment the disciples received the Spirit of the Living God. God took up residence within the disciples. They were born of the Spirit by faith.
If you are lonely and you have never received Him into our heart and life then that is where we must begin. You do not have to wait for a special event. You can simply say "Lord, I am here. I am desperately lonely...I need you as Savior and friend. I confess that and I receive you into my life" And he promises to come and make his home in our heart.
Now for the rest!
Know that you are loved.The greatest tragedy about loneliness is that it often convinces us of things that are simply untrue. When we feel lonely, despair is always there too. Despair can make us believe that not only are we not loved, we were never loved, by anybody, ever, and that nobody will ever love us in the future either. I know from what I speak here. The reality of the matter is that it is simply not true. Even if you believe that you are the most wretched person on the face of the earth, there is someone and that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. When I was going through my time of loneliness after my divorce, it helped tremendously to know that I was loved, if by no one other than God. This made all the difference! I could think on how much God loved me and I immediately had hope. There are others too who love you too it is just that despair is blocking your perception and you cannot see it.
Loneliness and despair can also make you feel insignificant as if there is no reason for you to be on the planet. This is not true either. No matter how you got here or what you have gone through God has a purpose for your life on a daily basis, and you do make a difference even if you do not know it. It does not have to be any thing big or dramatic; it could be to give a smile to child, to hold a door open for someone carrying a heavy load, being a shoulder for your friend as she cries. You would be surprised how these little moments which may seem insignificant to you, can mean the world to someone else.
Then there are times when God will temporarily remove you from friends and family for a season for His own purpose, because He wants you all to Himself. It is during these times He is able to speak to you about things that you might have previously been too busy to hear. Spending time doing some good quality, personal Bible study can be very refreshing during this period. The average Christian may read a passage of Scripture every now and then but seldom actually understand what they are reading so that they can incorporate it into their lives. Every Christian needs to learn to hear God's voice in Scripture exactly from Him what He wants them to hear to live the prosperous life He promised. Through His Holy Spirit, God takes the general principles of His Holy Word, and then applies them to specific situations in our own life.
Loneliness and sense of isolation are sometime self-imposed. This type of loneliness does not develop overnight. It can result from a lifetime of influences that shape our personality or it can evolve after a major transition or trauma. Often we are unaware of the subtle forces that can slowly lead us into self-imposed isolation.We build walls and erect barriers to keep people out of fear of intimacy, rejection or a fear of being hurt. We tend to withdraw and feel sorry for ourselves, become absorbed in our own pain, and play the role of victim.
This is certainly not God's intention for us as the story of Adam and Eve illustrates. God intends for us to share our lives with other people. Both the Old and New Testaments indicate the importance of personal relationships in God's eyes. God has dedicated a lot of space in the Bible to talk about marriage, parenthood, friendship, and church fellowship.
The writer of the 139th Psalm overcame his loneliness when he discovered the wonder of God's presence and love. He tells us that God knows us and has searched us. God knows when we sit and when we rise; God knows our thoughts, our going out, our lying down...God is familiar with all our ways, he says. "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me...Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, you are there..."
There is one sure thing about our Father and that is that He is never too busy to listen. God shows himself to be our ever-present friend in Jesus Christ. Jesus said he would never leave us nor forsake us. He came to reassure us of his love. He died to heal our broken relationships. He died to bring us back into meaningful fellowship with God and with those around us. He died to take away our loneliness. Day by day, through prayer and Bible reading we can experience the wonderful fellowship that God wants to have with each of His children. As God's children, we are members of an incredibly large extended family that encompasses the world. Our brothers and sisters inhabit every nation on the globe. Spiritually speaking, our "immediate family" is the group of believers with whom we attend church. They form an important support group that functions much like our natural family does. Christians who do not go to church or do not get involved in church activities cut themselves off from a rich source of companionship.
If you would like to connect with an awesome group of Christians ask the Lord to lead you to a local church. Ask God to lead you into a deeper relationship with Him and greater involvement with fellow believers.You can also join us in the Save My Loved Ones Community Room our online Christian Social community WHERE EVERYONE IS WELCOMED to interact and discuss matters of the Christian faith in a safe and friendly environment. If you are looking for the best place to make new friends online this is the right place! Join us and see what God has in store for you in the Community Room! http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=134085993273535
If you are in the Atlanta, Georgia area, please accept this invitation to worship with me at:
Total Victory International Ministries
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