Influential, isn't he?

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In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me. He is for me! How can I be afraid? What can mere man do to me? 
What can mere man to do me? That is a powerful question many of us never really take the time to explore. The more accurate question we may want to ask ourselves is, "What has mere man been doing to me?" What is it you have come to believe or accept simply because someone told you, or because of their "threats" you now behave a particular way in response to those threats? There is a fine line between our behavior and our beliefs - we aren't usually too far off in our behavior when it comes to these two things!
May I meddle for a moment this morning? Way too many of us have some "fear". We don't want to "rock the boat" at work because we fear we may lose our job even though we are clearly aware of practices or behaviors that have become "common place" that ought not to be accepted. We don't step up when we see a need in someone's life because we fear how it is they may receive our assistance, perhaps even becoming "too dependent" upon us as their "relief". We have accepted the way others see us and have told us we "are" rather than listening to the voice of God speaking clear truth into our lives as to who we "really are" because of his grace.
It seems "mere man" may be more of a concern in our lives than we might like to admit! There is an influence man exerts in our lives - even if we don't admit it right off, that influence may be what is keeping us "cemented" in certain actions within our daily life. What we accept as truth or "the way it is", even when we aren't really aware we are doing it, makes our choices of behavior that much more dependent upon the actions of others than upon the actions of God in our lives. Therein comes the rub - our god is man and not God! We fear man and don't reverence God by giving him the right place in our lives. His right place? Any place where truth begins to invade the space where the fear of man has occupied!
If the influence of another, or of the circumstances you find yourself in exert more influence in your life than God's Spirit is right now, then this is the wrong influence to be honoring or obeying. It is important for us to get the right perspective on what man or the circumstances can "really" do to us. God is God and he remains supreme to either that human influence or the influencing pressures of the circumstances! If we want to be free of their influence, we start looking to a different source for our influence! Just sayin!

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