Are You Spiritually Bipolar?

This is a summary of Brother Moreno's teaching from Tuesday, April 19, 2011.  Click here to listen to the audio version.
 
Bipolar disorder refers to the cycling of a person's moods between high (elevated energy) and low (depressed) episodes or "poles".  Is your spirit in this condition?  Have you ever felt like you were on the top of the mountain one service and in the lowest valley the next?  This happens much more frequently than it should.  When we're down, we can't seem to get in touch with God.  We get trapped in a self-centered state of depression and all we want to do is have our own little pity party.  Everyone around you might be jumping and praising God, but not you.  You cannot be moved.  Amazingly, you feel so good the next service that you just can't imagine why no one else is running circles around the building like you are.  Ever seen someone like that, or been there yourself?

This usually happens when we lose sight of the big picture and try to get out ahead of God.  We forget that God can answer our prayers in one of three ways: Yes, No, or WAIT.  We say "No God, I don't want to wait, I want it now, I want it now, I want it now!"  We forget that God wants us to take things one day at a time, just like he did when he created the heavens and the earth. 

Genesis 1:31
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2:1-3
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

Many people relate the story of the seven days of creation to the seven dispensations of God.  The sixth day, the day that man was created, is associated with the sixth dispensation, that of grace.  Indeed, man would be entirely lost if it were not for God's grace.  Now notice what happened on the seventh day which is associated with the seventh dispensation, that of Christ's reign.  God sanctified this day as a holy day of rest, just as the seventh dispensation signals completion or rest.

Could it be that God wants you to stop every once a while and give him thanks for what he has done for you?  Maybe take a little time to acknowledge where he has brought you from?  Or maybe God is trying to use you to complete a work in someone else?  Maybe there's a doctor at that hospital you seem to be stuck in that God wants to reach.  Are you willing to WAIT and let God use you the way he wants to?

Sometimes we get so caught up in our own little world, we don't realize that God just wants us to stop for a moment and thank him no matter how you feel.  There's a song that says "I Give You Glory, Just Because of Who You Are."  Not because he blessed you, or because everything is going good right now, just because he is God.  Stop being spiritually bipolar.  Remember, there's a new day coming, another mountain to climb, another lesson to be learned.  Take time to stop and reflect on everything he has done.  Then he'll be able to take you to the next day and give you the rest you deserve.