The Boundaries of Self

Opening Scripture:

Ephesians 4:30–31 NLT

And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.

The Church in Ephesus was struggling at the time Paul wrote his letter to them addressing potential boundaries that they had established in which was pushing them further from God instead of drawing the closer to God.

Ephesus was known as a place where people worshiped idols as the temple of Artemis was located there

The Church in Ephesus was made up of both Jews and gentiles — this could have caused conflicts over moral standards, sacraments, worship styles, and traditions.

By the time Paul wrote his letter to the church in Ephesus it had already been in existence for several years but yet they were still struggling.

When we establish boundaries that are rooted in Self we are glorifying Sin over glorifying God.

When we establish boundaries that are rooted in self we deny God access to our lives.

The Boundaries of Your Attitude

Hebrews 3:12–13 NLT

Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.

Sin hardens our hearts towards God. When our hearts become callous towards God we become isolated from God and we allow sin to have dominion over us.

Sin is a result from the boundary of our attitude

If we choose to have a negative attitude towards God we have already given the enemy a foothold over our lives.

We often establish negative attitude boundaries when we are struggling with hurt, uncertainty, or resentment towards God or others

In order to break through the boundaries of a negative attitude you must come to terms with it by 1)addressing the attitude in prayer, and 2) position your heart to be renewed by renewing your mind.

The Boundaries of Your Pride

James 4:6–7 NLT

And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

God gives us grace when we choose to humble ourselves before Him and others.

When we choose pride we choose to worship ourselves — God is a jealous God

Pride will always lead to our down fall if we do not repent

Our pride is based off of us being deceived of thinking that we are able to do what we can do on our own

We overcome our pride by rooting ourselves in the Character of God. Becoming more like Christ daily.

We overcome our pride by making humility a daily practice

The Boundaries of Your Time

We have 24 hours in a day and 7 days a week but yet we always struggle to make time for God

We are quick to meet with our superior, our friends, our spouses, those we are in a relationship with but yet we refuse to make time for the one who loves us far more than anyone ever can.

When we choose to keep God off of our calendar we spend our days foolishly

When we choose to not make the time to seek the Lord we set ourselves to choose our own path

When God is not apart of our schedule we place our selves in danger of gratifying our flesh instead of honoring the Lord

God calls us to be wise… He calls us to trust Him… He calls us to keep Him first place

The more we make time for God the more He will show us through His word and Holy Spirit boundaries that we have established that are not of Him but instead are from ourselves.

Making God a priority in our lives is foundational to establishing healthy, Godly boundaries that produces life.