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Is your life out of balance? Are you spending more from your spiritual, emotional, and physical account than you’re putting in? I’m examining what we can do to put energy into our reserves, so we don’t live in an overdrawn, out-of-balance condition. We saw yesterday that one great source of energy is joy.
Another source of strength comes from fellowship with other believers and loving relationships with friends and family.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42).
One of the great things about being a marketplace Christian the way your job forces you into daily interaction with non-believers. But living and working with those who do not share your faith and your love of Jesus can be a large drain on your inner resources. You need times of fellowship to give you strength; you need church every week; you need small support groups of Bible study and prayer.
I strongly encourage you to be involved in a small support group. You need a few people you regularly interact with, where you can be open and honest, where you are accountable, and where you are totally accepted. People you could call in the middle of the night, if necessary, for prayer support. If you have one or two people like that in your life, it will pour enormous strength into you, spiritually, emotionally and mentally.
If you don’t, cultivate such a support group. Start it yourself. I’m sure you can find one or two others who feel like you do and need your support, as you do theirs. It will strengthen you immensely.
We also need those personal relationships from which we gain strength. You may be married to someone who truly strengthens you. Marriage was intended by God to be a source of strength.
We need close relationships with friends and family. You don’t have to have a lot, but you need one or two. Do you have that person who really cares about the details of your life, where you can let your hair down and be understood and accepted even when you don’t have it all together? If not, I encourage you to pray for that relationship and be that kind of support to someone else.