Enforcing You: Activating Your Kingdom Identity in ChristНамуна

“They said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned, But what do You say?’ …But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.” 

John 8:4-6

I love this story when a woman caught in the act of adultery is brought to Jesus for “judgment.”  Imagine the hype of this scene as she is being dragged through the streets while people yelled and condemned her for her actions. The emotion and noise of the crowd were no doubt high, but I love how Jesus responded. Instead of engaging, He nonchalantly stoops down and begins to doodle in the ground “as if He didn’t hear.” In a moment, Jesus CAUSED a hush to come over the hype. In other words, He pushed the pause button and brought the scene to a complete halt. Talk about taking authority!

I can only imagine how this moment irritated the scribes and Pharisees. No doubt they were relying on the emotion of the people and the urgency of the situation to stir up a reaction out of Jesus. But instead, Jesus responded as if they were invisible. Their noise, their opinion, their emotion was inconsequential. 

Too often, we are interrupted with “the shouts” of life and it can be overwhelming. The world is loud and VERY emotional with its shouts of opinions. Moreover, the enemy is loud and obnoxious, and he is aggressive about his opinion as well. He will use people to stir up emotion and create a sense of urgency to goad you into a reaction. But we learn from Jesus, the power of pushing the pause button.

I often assign my clients to draw a certain number of circles on a page when they feel overwhelmed.  This activity helps to remind us that we don’t HAVE to engage right away. That we don’t have to be taken captive to drama, but rather we can take drama captive. This is our authority in Christ. 

There is power in learning how to push the pause button in life and “creating space” between what is happening and how you will respond. Recognize the power of disengaging from and dismissing voices that crowd you and disarm the enemy’s attempt to fill you will urgency. Cause a hush to come over the hype in your life! When emotions run high, that is your sign to do some doodling to capture the moment and take YOUR authority!  Stop living in urgency and start living in authority.

Let’s declare this for today. “God, I declare that I will not be overwhelmed by the hype of the world, but instead, I receive wisdom to know when I need to stop, take a breath and create some space before I respond. In Jesus’ name, amen.”