Take The Stand I

“And the Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh…” Ex.8:20.

I like using my work out time to listen to a variety of podcasts. I was listening to Dave Ramsey’s podcast and two people called in. The first person, a gentleman said his wife was a spend drift. He wants to take charge of their finances but all she loves to do is shop. Personally, I would say there is nothing wrong with shopping but you have to take charge of your financial future. The gentleman said they separated at some point because of it but because he loves her so much, he went back and made up with her. However, in the two weeks they had come back together his wife had spent over twenty thousand dollars. He wanted to know what he should do. Dave Ramsey said, “you are enabling the dysfunction”. In his defense, the caller said whenever he tries to talk to or stop her from shopping, she makes his life miserable. And the only way to restore peace is to let her shop. Dave asked him, “what peace are you talking about – the peace of bankruptcy?” His final advice was, face her, face the issue and confront the issue. What if she leaves him, so what?

The second caller was a lady, a grandmother, financially sufficient until she began to support her daughter, the daughter’s husband who was an addict, and her grandchildren. She was about to go bankrupt because of all the bills and wants help. And Dave said, “you are funding the man’s addiction, cut off the supply”. And the caller said she did not want her grandchildren to suffer. They will not suffer, cut off the supply. The woman was concerned that her daughter’s marriage might crumble. So what? Am I saying marriages should crumble? Sometimes, that is what is needed. She may just take the Stand and the man will regain his senses and realize he needs to fight for his family. On the other hand, he may never recover. You can never tell but you need to take the Stand.

Many times we fund dysfunction but we complain about dysfunction. The man is beating you but you are excusing it away. If you die, he will move on. I know this is not popular but it is the truth. As long as you continue to enable dysfunction it will continue until you confront it. There can be no transformation without confrontation. Take the Stand!

Prayer: Holy Spirit, empower me Lord to take a Stand for You in every area where I have enabled dysfunction, in Jesus Name.