Set Your Boundaries Now

(Joshua 24:14-15) “Now you must fear the LORD and serve him in faithfulness and truth. Throw away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Instead, serve the LORD.”

“If you think it’s the wrong thing for you to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve—the gods whom your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose territories you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

One of my roommates in boarding school shared with me the advice his dad gave him regarding girlfriends. His advice was to set his limits on how physical he wanted to get with his girlfriend beforehand and to completely commit to that limit. In the heat of the moment, he would not be able to think rationally and would end up making wrong choices. This is so true for all areas of our lives.

Set a limit to the number of hours you will watch TV, the number of times you will go out to eat with your friends, how much you will exaggerate in order to get a sale, and how much of your personality can you compromise in order to please your clients, or how angry you will get when someone challenges you…etc. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you with this homework and stick to it.

In the book of Joshua, we see how Joshua decides for himself and his family that they will not chase the gods of the world but will only serve the true living God. We need to make such commitments regarding our decision to follow Christ and not be distracted or attracted by what the world offers us. Without boundaries, we will take the easy way out when things get tough.

We need to learn from the mistakes of our parents as well as from their advice. Just because they blindly followed the traditions of their parents regarding their faith, does not mean that you should limit yourself to what they did or did not do. Our walk with Christ is personal, and Christ relates to each generation in a different way and through different means but always pointing towards holiness.

We used physical Bibles, now the modern generation uses tablets; we needed to be in a church to worship, now they carry worship on their mobiles; we needed to physically be with brothers and sisters in a church to feel God’s presence and receive the Word of God, now online services are just as effective and full of anointing. The means and the messengers might change, but the message will always be the same.

(“Commitment grows! You can’t make big commitments until you first make small ones. The three Hebrew children in the book of Daniel couldn’t have said ‘no’ to the king’s idol if they hadn’t first said ‘no’ to his food. You don’t get this kind of courage suddenly.” – Bob Gass)

If you don’t know how to set up boundaries for yourself, the devil will do it for you.

Prayers

• Heavenly Father, You are the Righteous Judge, Righteous and Upright God, He who increases the harvest of our righteousness.
• Forgive us for following the gods and desires of our ancestors that were not according to Your will.
• We ask You, Jesus, to help us discover our personal relationship with You and to understand Your will for us.
• We declare that my family and I will serve the Lord and that in my home we will make You a priority.
• We declare that all our relationships will be based on holiness and Your divine purpose.
• Allow us to make serious commitments early in life in order to avoid making the mistakes we will regret in the future.
• Help us to get back to You, Jesus, if we have drifted away from our calling.
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• We ask in Jesus’ Mighty name. Amen