INTROSPECTIVE

Introspective 
This is a Tough Lesson that God taught me, years ago and I wrote it down & decided to just now share it with others. This was a Lesson, personally addressed to me from God. At this time, I feel it Must be shared, as I see people going thru this same Self Pity also.


The Israelites Whined and Complained as they Wandered around in the Wilderness. Self-Pity and Wilderness Living go together! Self-Pity is Idolatry! That sorta shocked me at first, but allow me to define Pity for you.
Pity- to be sympathetic, or to have kindly sorrow, evoked by suffering, or misfortune of another: Often leading one to give relief or aid to the suffering individual.
God puts Compassion in all of us and sometimes, Compassion translates to Pity. Jesus took Pity on the people, Oftentimes, He felt sorrow for them, but it's not like - Oh God ,Woe is me. Jesus' Compassion moved Him to Take Action.
Matt 14:14 - And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with Compassion toward them, and He healed their sick. 
True Godly Compassion doesn't just have a sorrowful feeling, but it Genuinely has an Action with it. Such as Prayer, Give Understanding, Love, Grace, Mercy & Peace. To be Godly, to have Godly Compassion, you must have an Action destined to help others, not for just Woe is Me. 
Jesus put Compassion in all of us, and the results of His Compassion, were many Miracles that came out of His Heart towards others. Jesus was moved with Compassion. Are we? Jesus put Compassion in all of us, but When we take that Compassion or Biblical Pity that was put in all of us to Flow out to Other People and We then turn that into ourselves, it becomes Idolatry! God Help Us! 
Lets look at the Flesh Sins in Galatians 5:19-21- Now the works of the Flesh are Manifest, which are (these) Adultery, Fornication, Uncleanness, Lasciviousness, Idolatry, Witchcraft, Hatred, Variance, Emulations, Wrath, Strife, Seditions, Heresies,Envying, Murders, Drunkenness, Revellings and such like: Of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in times past, that They Which Do Such Things Shall Not Inherit the Kingdom of God.
You can't find Self-Pity there, but Self-Pity is Idolatry. Because We are taking the Compassion God gave us, to Flow out to Others and taking it into ourselves. 
In Reality, We really need to be Delivered from Ourselves. Self-Centerness & Selfishness, that says WHAT ABOUT ME, WHAT ABOUT MY, I, ME, MY. If you truly want to be unhappy, just get Full of Yourself. You sit around and just think about Yourself and if You really want to just add insult to injury, then start feeling Sorry for Yourself.
Satan throws great Pity-Parties on a regular basis, and he will be Happy to invite You. But, If You have any Brains, you will Not go there! Just say No thank you, I've been to many of those, but I think I will pass today. Don't even have one cup of coffee with Mr. Pity. In the morning, a lot of us want to have a cup of coffee and mull over, how everything is going wrong today. Poor Me, What about Me, Nobody loves Me, I do all the work, They make the mess, I do the work, Woe is Me, I do the dishes, do the laundry, go to the store, cook the meals. Does anyone care anything about Me? - NO!!!!!!
Like I cooked the meal , you came home, ate the meal, didn't even say thank you. Maybe, you even complained about it. Then you go and put up your feet and sit back in the easy chair. You watch what you want on TV all night and poor Zelma, She has to clean up the mess.
When You are in this mind frame, you forget about all the Blessings and all the other things God has done in between there. We do not keep in mind what the Other Person is going thru, and probably They're not having a whole lot of fun either. 
Sometimes we just like to Crab, Crab, Crab, 'cause we are working, Crab 'cause we are not working. Crab, Crab, Crab about Anything and Everything is the Me, My , I. Listen to what is coming out of Your Mouth! Bottom line is we can't keep our flesh happy! So, our Happiness must Depend on God! God will keep You happy If You will go to Him and Do what He wants You to do! 
Idolatry is Turning in on yourself, Concentrating on yourself and your feelings, Perverting the Gift of Compassion that was intended to go Out to Others and Never to be turned into Us, Me, My, I!
Don't use Pity as an excuse for Your Bad Behavior! You may have some Bad Behavior, because of something that happened in you or someone you loved. Don't let that be an Excuse for you to feel sorry for Yourself. A reason is not an excuse. Get that Chip off Your Shoulder! 
God says Zelma, You can be Pitiful or Powerful, But you can't be both. If You want the Power of God to Flow, you must get rid of that Foolish mind set. You may have the Power of God, in Your heart and not have it in the Manifestations of God. 
God is showing us how to get out of the Wilderness and in doing so, we must learn some New Things. It's really simple to figure why the Children of Israel took 40 years to make an eleven day journey. Just look at their Behavior. They did nothing but Whine, Murmur and Complain in their Foolish Hearts. 
Do you agree with me, that If they Had put their Faith in God, Had a Good Attitude, Been Praising God, Thankful and Obedient, Not grumbling, blaming Moses, blaming God, not looking back to Egypt, that they would of made it in a lot shorter time than they did? How long Must we Wander in the Wilderness, before we Come to God?
The summation of all this is, we've got to give all this Junk up. Just learn to Surrender to God. Give up our Old Mind Sets, because they just Don't Work! You can not make God feel sorry for you by Pouting! I believe all God does when we Whine, Murmur and Complain is say- When You are all done let Me Know and We will go Forward Again!
Martyrs-- What about martyrs? We're not talking about the people that got martyred for their Faith! Martyrs are people who do a lot for other people. But they make sure that everyone they know, knows about it. They are always going to be telling you about how Sacrificially, They live. Martys are people who live Sacrificially, but not for the right reasons. Such as a woman who works hard in her home, who considers herself, Everyone's Slave. The definition of Martyr, is one who makes a great show of Suffering in order to Arouse Sympathy. Let us look at how Jesus deals with a man who feels sorry for himself.
John 5:2-9- Now there is at Jerusalem, by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: Whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been a long time in that case He saith unto him. Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the Pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same was the sabbath.
Now this man took action and rose and walked. He could of remained pitiful and refused to hear Jesus, but he Believed and took up his bed and walked. For quite a few years now God has been trying to bring some changes into the churches. He wants us to be alive and ready and spiritually well when He returns for us. With the Holy Spirit bubbling up inside of us and the Words of God flowing out from us.
Yes, the things that are happening to us are difficult. We have a lot of Trials & Tribulations to go thru. But God is bringing a stirring up of Himself into our Spirits, If we will only let Him. The world wants to suck the energy of God right out of you. But when you learn to stay in the Presence of God, He will take all that the world hands you away. He will give you more of Jesus. Learn to stay on fire for God. Get out of your grave clothes. Do not be lukewarm, do not be sitters. Listen to Jesus, Learn to be like Jesus and learn to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Look at this man who first addresses Jesus as Sir, I have nobody. Do you see Self -Pity here? I do.
You have two kinds of people in the world today. The kind who waits for something to happen or the kind that makes something happen. Do you think you would of found a way to get into the water? Even if it took years, I probably would of fallen in and said here I go Jesus, Save me or Kill me, because I'm not living like this. 
Sooner or later, We must stop feeling sorry for ourselves and get on in our Spiritual life. It is a life worth living and dying for. We must move Forward in this life. No problems in anything will ever get solved by our Self- Pity. It is literally a trap that satan is trying to draw us into: He draws us into it and it will not solve anything. Pain is Pain, Fear is Fear, and we need to make the decision. We need to literally learn to live in the Presence of God, as our Lord Jesus did. 
Helpless & Friendless, do you think Self-Pity? God, someone else always gets, but what about me? When is My Day coming? God says when are you going to stop feeling Sorry for Yourself and Obey Me, Zelma? When will you Stop Whining, Stop Grumbling? When will you Stop Blaming Everything on someone else? When will You pick up your Cross and Follow Me? I answered, God, You don't have to holler, but He has to Holler at me, because I'm Very Thick Headed. 'Takes a two by four to get my Attention! 
Let me ask of you, How long have you been walking with God? How long has God, had to drag you along? Look at Jesus' Compassion, Pick up your bed and Walk! Jesus told him to take up his bed and walk, not to just stand and walk but not to leave his bedding there. Walk!
Let us take a close look at Elijah in his Pity-Party. Please read 1 Kings Chapters 18&19. Learn to read the Bible in a practical way. Elijah had just had a Tremendous Victory in God. He had overcome 450 prophets of Baal. Look at fear here. Learn to take time to rejuvenate yourself. Take time to stay Strong in God. You need Time after any type of battle, to Rest, but Learn to Rest in the Arms of Jesus. He will take you thru Every Valley, Every Storm and Any Problems and bring you thru on the other side. You need to learn How to stay Strong in God, not men, but God and God Alone. Look at Elijah here, he goes running off by himself. He runs to a cave and Hides to have his Pity Party. He went into the wilderness and asked to Die! Now go back and read where Elijah is going to meet with God. Listen carefully, I and only I Lord.
When you are having a Pity-Party, you will turn everything around to the negatives. I Beg you, do Not fall into this Trap! It's a snare, straight from the pits of hell. The little foxes in the vine.
We need to Learn how to Cheer Up and Calm Down. That had been and always was Jesus' Answer to Problems. Being upset, will only Harm you and it is Bad for your Health. Look at your Actions, Honestly. You can't rebuke the flesh, it is not going to die! Learn to live in Jesus Christ and Rest in the Presence of the Almighty God. Let God deliver you from the Battles. Learn to say - I can't be Pitiful and Powerful. I choose to be Powerful. I don't deserve God's Blessing, because I am not worthy. But I am looking at God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Thru them, I am Free from this Bondage of Flesh, that desires to Kill my Walk with God and eventually Kill me. 
Agape
Zelma Pack