1 Last week we saw that there is literally nothing we can do in the course of life that Jesus does not want to participate in with us to show us His designs in all that He is doing in our hearts. We pointed out that the prospect of experiencing Jesus in every aspect of life seems, at first, to be “pie in the sky” aspirations, but then we began to show how we can move into it in a practical way. The only way to ever look at life is to believe exactly what the Scriptures say; that at every moment, the hard as well as the easy, the painful along with the fun times, in everything and at all times, Jesus is working behind the scenes always conforming us to His image – so we should NEVER stress over life.

2 Here is a biblical formula to use when you feel the need to DO something independent from God. 1. IDENTIFY – See situations as God designed them, don’t eject Him and make them a battle between human wills. (Husband/wife, parent/child) Last week we saw that our flesh always looks to commandeer situations of conflict so that it can make the situation about the unreasonable attacks of others and how persecuted we are so that it can draw our attention away from what it fears the Lord has designed in it.

3 Does your flesh tend to take over events that God has designed to deliver you from yourself and make it about the abuse you suffer at the hands of others? If you go back over your last conflict, look and see if you weren’t more concerned about the inequity that was imposed against you, in the violation of your rights, than you were over the influence and power your flesh has over your choices. Do you understand fully what we are saying in this slide? Are you seeing how easy it is for our flesh to make all of life about what it suffers and how unreasonable others are to us?

4 Here is why this is so important. According to Romans 8:28-29 God is always working everything we encounter into the goal of conforming us to the image of Christ. Your flesh knows that for you to be conformed to the image of Christ, you flesh has to die. Therefore it must keep the focus of every event on how you have been victimized by the unreasonable abuse of others to draw the attention away from how our circumstances also reveal our own selfishness. And even when life seems to go well, your flesh wants you to think IT is responsible for success.

5 Either way your flesh is in the fight for its life to stay in control, either by your thanks for success, or sympathy for the abuse it suffers. Naturally it is a lot easier to give it attention in the times that your flesh is suffering because it brings in a lot more of the powerful emotions. Do you know any drama queens? Ever notice how all they want to talk about is themselves? Now you know why.

6 And it’s not just the focus on what others are doing to us that is destructive to us. While we are focusing on what others are doing to make our lives miserable, there is actually a double bang for Satan’s buck. Do you know what it is? While we are processing the very clear and unreasonable, selfish assaults upon us, we are also thinking far more deeply about what we want and we sharpen our determination to have it. And while we are processing all of that nonsense, we are NOT even considering what Jesus is doing.

7 Here is why this is so important. And it’s not just the focus on what others are doing to us that is destructive to us. While we are focusing on what others are doing to make our lives miserable, there is actually a double bang for Satan’s buck. Do you know what it is? While we are processing the very clear and unreasonable, selfish assaults upon us, we are also thinking far more deeply about what we want and we sharpen our determination to have it. And while we are processing all of that nonsense, we are NOT even considering what Jesus is doing. Now that we have seen the potential danger of making everything about “me” let’s go back to our formula on how to escape this morbid fascination with self before greater damage is done.

8 1. IDENTIFY – See situations as God designed them, don’t eject Him and make them a battle between human wills. (Husband/wife, parent/child) 2.ASSIGN – Assign the biblical truth that identifies my circumstances and divine meaning and purpose. 3.MOVE – If I know what the truth is and I believe it, there is nothing left to do but to move or act with my will and my faith in what I know is true, and to direct all of my thoughts and choices according to that divine purpose. Here is a biblical formula to use when you feel the need to DO something independent from God.

9 1. IDENTIFY – See situations as God designed them, don’t eject Him and make them a battle between human wills. (Husband/wife, parent/child) 2.ASSIGN – Assign the biblical truth that identifies my circumstances and divine meaning and purpose. 3.MOVE – If I know what the truth is and I believe it, there is nothing left to do but to move or act with my will and my faith in what I know is true, and to direct all of my thoughts and choices according to that divine purpose. Here is a biblical formula to use when you feel the need to DO something independent from God. Only then will I be able to know and experience what and who – I M A

10 1. IDENTIFY – See situations as God designed them, don’t eject Him and make them a battle between human wills. (Husband/wife, parent/child) 2.ASSIGN – Assign the biblical truth that identifies my circumstances and divine meaning and purpose. 3.MOVE – If I know what the truth is and I believe it, there is nothing left to do but to move on it with my will and my faith in what I know is true, and to direct all of my thoughts and choices according to that divine purpose. Let’s review them one more time to help secure them in your memory for the next opportunity.

11 You come home and your mate growls: “I’m really getting sick of being the only adult in this house.” A whole list of circumstances immediately begins to congeal in your head that prove your spouse is as big a jerk as he or she is accusing you of being. You begin to smile as you consider how magnificently your argument will embarrass the cheap shot when suddenly you feel that pause of the Holy Spirit. What was the first step of our “I AM” formula and how does it work for you?

12 IDENTIFY the situation as God designed it and see Him in it and discover His purpose behind it. Before I share how I see this, let’s work this as a group and practice how you could identify this situation as God probably designed it, because you are sure to encounter a similar situation in the future.

13 IDENTIFY the situation as God designed it and see Him in it and discover His purpose behind it. 1.I’m really angry so my feelings originate in my flesh, not in truth. 2.I falsely believe my value is defined by my mate, not God. 3.My current thoughts are designed to bring my mate down to the level I believe I have been assigned or lower than that level. 4.I’m only angry because I have rejected the value that Jesus put on me and I want to crush my mate’s superior perception of self. 5.God designed this moment to reveal my rejection of the supreme value that He placed on me to force me to reevaluate it. 6.If I depend on pleasing the world to maintain my personal value, I will be its slave, a miserable addict, begging for empty value. 7.God wants me to experience life as He designed it not as some kind of manipulative bait the world can use against me. How is that for clarity?