Set Your Boundaries (Give it to God)

For every good night’s sleep, another tomorrow will come with its own set of challenges. Just like your alarm clock or phone alarm, stress will sound its alarms in your life every day. You can plan ahead, however, and order your life so you are not suffering a constant train wreck of chaos and stress. You can choose to filter stressors so you are not swimming in their aftermath. People who swim in stress all day long find it hard to give it all to God at night and go to bed!

Revelation 21:3-4 ESV
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

How do you set a plan to filter stressors? I have found three important steps that are helpful (and for easy recall, all begin with the letter A): Acknowledgment, Assignment and Alignment.

Galatians 5:1 ESV
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Acknowledge that every situation passes through God’s hands. Bad things that happen don’t originate with Him, but, as I like to say, He is not on vacation when they happen.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 ESV
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Ask Him for insight on them. He will give it. Seek His perspective on stressful situations, and ask Him if He has an assignment for you in response to them. Then carry it out.

Revelation 2:2-5 ESV
I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Finally, align (or realign) yourself with your “first love.” Maybe you have been out of earshot of God’s voice. He might be talking, but you have been on a different radio frequency. Through prayer and His Word, get back to the channel you once heard Him on.

Next, map out your goals. Who or what has been defining the boundaries of your life? Set (or reset) those boundaries according to God’s map for you. Then put the disciplines in place to help you reach your dreams and goals.

Remember to keep your three-part self—body, mind and spirit—healthy. (You might even need what I call a “total-temple detox” to get there.) Eat right physically. Ingest and digest God’s Word. Study out your God-given dreams to see what He is saying to you in the night. Pray about how you respond.

Philippians 4:4-9 ESV
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Understanding the dreams God sends you and acting accordingly can even save your life, or someone else’s. It has saved mine more than once. There is nothing like a prophetic directional dream to set you on the path to fulfilling God’s purposes for you (or for helping others fulfill theirs).

So give it all to God and go to bed . . . and sleep and dream and get peaceful, revitalizing rest.