Good to Go (or How to Say 'No') +

Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.
Matthew 5:37 NLT

Confession time. I can be very hard-headed. If you know me personally and you're reading this, you probably just fell off your chair in a fit of laughter and disbelief that I would actually admit it. Here's something else that goes with that - I have a hard time saying 'No' and it's not because I'm a weak personality. In fact, the opposite is true. But you see, before Christ, I could also be a mean person, and I don't want to be that person ever again. Nor do I want to be perceived as mean, although sometimes that happens regardless of what I do. (I have learned that I can't control people's perceptions.) You may be asking why the confession time...

My life has gotten hectic again to the point that I'm rarely home before 9 or 10pm every night of the week. My friends say, "You need to slow down." I reply, "I gotta go." My co-workers say, "You're living in the fast lane - you might want to think about slowing down." I tell them I would think about it, but I don't have time in the fast lane. My employer said, "You have to learn how to say 'no.' " I asked him, "How do you choose who or what you'll say 'No' to?"  I told him when he learned how, then he could teach me.

However, this week, I found myself at the doctor's office, and his report is that I have pleurisy and a touch of pneumonia in my left lung... again. Praise God, I didn't wait so long this time, and we caught it early. Lots of prayer, a few prescriptions, and we should be good to go... figuratively-speaking...but not literally. His strongest suggestion? "Rest. Stay home. Rest some more. You're not getting any younger. Your body doesn't recover as quickly as it did when you were in your 20s and 30s."  Hmmmm... perhaps if he had stopped before saying I was getting old.

At church tonight, my pastor's wife (who is also my mentor) prayed for me to be healed quickly. I was/am totally in agreement with that. As soon as she said 'amen' she asked me, "Are you running every night? Always on the go? I heard the Lord just tell me while we were praying that's your problem. You have to learn to say 'no.' "

How do you argue with that? You can't be flippant with God or His emissary. I asked her the same question I sincerely asked Chris, "How do you choose who or what you'll say 'No' to?" She said, "Ask God." We go into service and the associate pastor is teaching his part of the "You Make Me Crazy" series... How to Say No... Seriously, that was the subject matter. He actually asked, "You want to know how to say 'no'?" Then he quoted Matthew 5:37 as one of his references. Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

I think I got the message. I think I'm good to go on how to say 'no.' I'm sure there will be a test...

Prayer:

Father,
           We want to be obedient to Your will. We pray as Samuel prayed, "Speak, Your servant is listening." Help us to hear and understand Your will for us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen