“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.”  2 Timothy 4: 3-4

With social media, the possibility of ear tickling is at our fingertips.  A quick Google search provides numerous links to people sharing words we long to hear.  Advice is poured out by the gallons, and there is no shortage of tips, ideas, and formulas to lose 10 pounds in 10 minutes.

Okay – maybe the last one is a little over exaggerated, but you get the idea.

You can find the same information in the Self-Help section of any book store.

What was the last self-help article or book you’ve read?  By any chance did you notice how many time the words ‘I’ or ‘you” were used on the pages?  

A recent book of this genre contained 105 ‘I’s’ in the first eight pages alone.  

Astonishing!

Now it is absolutely important to share our stories.  Sometimes this is necessary in helping someone know what they are struggling with is survivable.  

Yet a crucial component appears missing in most motivational/self-help books that everything truly hinges upon.

Know what the missing piece is? 

Or maybe the question is do you know Who the missing piece is?

John 15:5 says, “…apart from ME you can do nothing.”

Nothing.  

Nothing is a very all-encompassing word and means – well – nothing.

If you want a more precise definition, how about: not anything, no single thing, having no prospect of progress, not at all…..

Get the idea?

It does not matter how much we think, wish, dream, work, and plan if we leave Jesus out of the process.  That is the Me in John 15:5.

There are some things no matter how many times we may speak or claim it- the Lord will still say no. 

Need an example?

In Acts 16: 6 -7, Paul is forbidden not once, but twice from speaking and going to a certain area.  Paul’s plan was not the Lord’s plan and was not permitted to go forward.

We don’t like that very much.  

We want what we want when we want it!

As someone said earlier this week, “We want a massage for our ears, not a message.”

Sorry.  This is not a massage.

It’s a simple message.

In all your searching and seeking for advice or how to’s, there is only one self-help book that is truth, and honestly, it has nothing to do with self.

This book actually tells us to deny ourselves, (Luke 9:23).

If we can strip I from our vocabulary and replace with He, our lives might look very different.

Instead of 

•      I want
•      I need
•      I feel
•      I wish

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What if we began focusing on what 

•      He wants for our lives
•      He needs us to do
• How our actions make Him feel 
• What He wishes we would learn

My daughter was learning about consonants and vowels last week.  The textbook described the consonants as the fences that closed in the vowel(s).   

Christ

Notice how the I is fenced in by the conSONates?

What if we allow Him to wrap around and fence in our ‘I’?  

His Word provides the massage desired with the message necessary.

Go to His Word first.  

Seek what He says first.

Nothing can be done apart from Him.

immediately more:

• Read 3 John.
  • Create two lists:  one for Demetrius and one for Diotrephes.
    • What are the differences between these two characters?
    • Do you have any of the traits described in your lists?
      • If so, which one(s)?
    • Do these traits provide you with a good testimony from others?
• Read the following passages writing out everything the Lord does in these verses:
  • Exodus 13: 17 – 22
  • Exodus 14: 24 – 31
  • Exodus 15: 22 – 27
  • Exodus 16: 1 – 7
  • 1 Corinthians 10:1
• Are there areas in your life you were unaware of the Lord’s hand and guidance but now see His provision and faithfulness to you? Thank Him for it.
• Is there something the Lord did for the Israelites in the above passages you are in need of today?  Spend some time in prayer asking Him for this need.