Matthew 6:31) Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we going to have to eat? Or, What are we going to have to drink? Or, What are we going to have to wear?
Joyce believes demons whisper in our ear, "what are you going to do?" I certainly have heard this too many times to count. Well meaning friends ask in crisis, "what are you going to do?!" God wants us to be responsible of course and He leads us to do something just at the right time. Sometimes He even calls us to do nothing! I am not referring to those times. I am talking about the anxious whispers. I know the difference, but many times the true voice is drown out by worrisome static. The only way to improve on deciphering the whispers is to dive into getting to know God. Satan's goal is for us to act on our own without seeking guidance from God. In Matthew 6:31 God clearly instructs us to not worry so when I do it is sin. My previous blog entry was on this very topic.
One way I combat worry is to visualize. When worry grips me I visualize myself kneeling before God's throne. In all my time doing this I have never seen God's face or His body. I have seen what I think are His lower leg and ankles although even that is a fuzzy picture. He is on a throne. I picture myself kneeling before Him. There are no angels, trumpets, or lightening. I am not automatically given answers or some huge new revelation. It is a humbling experience and I am reminded of something bigger than myself. It also helps me focus on Him and not what I am worried about. What I focus on becomes big.
So when Satan whispers in his hateful voice, "what are you going to do?!" At that time I place myself before the throne. I don't even say anything. God knows there are not words many times that can voice the depth of my worry. I am silent before Him just basking in His presence. I am not saying prayer is not important. The Bible says to pray at all times in all kinds of circumstances (1 Thess. 5:16-18). What I am saying is that in those times when you can't find the words or just want to be in His presence I go to my place before the throne. God knows there would be times when we didn't know what to pray. If you are like me you feel like you have said everything there is to say. Your mouth feels empty. God knew there would be days like this (or months or years).
Romans 8:26-27) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
I have placed myself before His throne and recited this verse. I have said, "God, I am out of words...my burden is so deep..." Like I said before I visualize myself literally before His thrown. I have found it is a tremendously peaceful place to be. The connection with Him is very real and it truly feels like my spirit is praying to the Lord without vocal words
Satan's lies start with a whisper and soon turn into a blasting sound. At that point we become frantic. "What am I going to do," we ask in the middle of the night. Face it everything seems more pressing in the middle of the night. Our mind is a battlefield and the most intense wars seem to occur between 10 pm and 7 am! Often times when I would ask my mom how she was doing she would say, "good...really. Those night wolves were attacking though." She meant that she getting along well during the sunlight hours and when the moon came out so did the ravenous wolves.
In closing, I encourage you to spend time getting to know the Lord. It is endlessly rewarding. I do not mean to memorize Scripture just to memorize it, but really invest time in knowing God. My visualizing technique is not the only way to go. You will need to ask God to show you something that can help you. I am nowhere near perfect and I worry way too much, but I am improving battle by battle. I keep confessing the sin and keep moving forward. I am better and quicker at recognizing Satan's hateful whispers and screams and I plan to continue to grow in this area. I encourage you to do the same!
Monday, August 20, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Something More
Ah worry. It is something we all deal with. Some folks even boast about their ability to worry like it makes others think they care more. Or what about worry martyrs? They wear worry on their sleeve like a badge of honor. Some even treat their worry like one of their own children. I tend to fall somewhere in between all of these titles. One thing I am getting better about is telling God when I'm worried. I figure He knows anyway so why hide it. I also have recognized that worry is disobedience to the Father. I am not pointing a finger at you because I tell myself the same thing. It isn't healthy and it isn't Biblical. I get very annoyed when someone says, "oh don't worry..." It's like I am going to say, "oh okay, just because you said that I won't be...thanks." I have found that worry isn't something I automatically switch off and on and it can be a kind of addiction. So let me share with you some things God gave me yesterday on the topic while I did my study. Actually, I completed my Bible study at the pool while Eli swam around. He was the only kid there so the two lifeguards had his full attention. They loved him...threw him in the water, tried to teach him Spanish, and goofed around with him. Anyway, I digress...
Matthew 6:25-27) "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"
I have read this verse like a hundred times over the course of my life. The Word of God is alive and active so each time I read it I am given something new. Let me clear one thing up before we dig in. These definitions will come in handy as we complete this study. Our spirit is where God lives. It is home to the Holy Spirit if we are believers and followers of Jesus Christ. Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions. The soul tell us what we think, what we want, and how we feel.
Allowing Satan to overtake our minds with thought of worry, dread, doubt, and concern is an act of my will. I allow thoughts in and decide what I will do with them. Right now is a very hard time for me. It is one the most difficult times in my life. I am SO grateful for a supportive husband, loving family, and Godly friends. I literally feel like there is an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other in regards to my thought life and attitude in how I deal with my challenges. Basing my decisions and what God will or won't do based on my emotions is acting fleshly. Romans 8:8 says living a life of the flesh does not please God. I may be a slow learner, but one thing that I have learned is that I truly want to please God. The verse below is very direct...not much room for personal interpretation there!
Romans 8:8) Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
Living according to my flesh is a very superficial way of living. God is doing so much more than I can fathom on a far deeper level, a Spirit level. When I live on this level I will have peace regardless of my circumstances. To be honest, I am yet to reach this level. I certainly can grow in this, but will never reach perfection this side of heaven. One thing I am sure of is that I am much farther along than I was even yesterday. Joyce Meyer says often I am not where I need to be, but thank God I am not where I was. I love that! As I live faith to faith I get better and better at realizing what I feel is not always based on God's fact.
If I can't trust my human emotions what can I trust? Or whom can I trust? The Spirit. I firmly believe I miss a great deal of His promptings because my soul is so stirred up. I often feel like I live out in the wilderness struggling to hear God. I believe it is because of the static in my soul. Satan lies and says God doesn't care therefore I need to worry. Someone has to worry about this I tell myself! God's doing nothing I say! I see worry, dread, doubt, etc. as static in my soul. The noise drowns out the Spirit's messages for me.
There are much greater things than me getting what I want. Like I said before, I currently am going through some really hard things with my health and I really want to be well yet I know there are greater things for me other than worrying over never getting better. The time I spend worrying can be spent thanking Him for what I do have and for talking to Him about how I can use my experiences for good and to further His Kingdom. Is is possible to resist the lies of the devil. It takes a lot of effort on my part because I have to stand guard. I have to memorize Scripture and say it even when I don't FEEL like it's true. I must vocalize His Word so the I can hear the Truth. I have to stop and talk to God and shut off the world to listen to Him.
I am determined, with God's help, to overcome worry and dread. I will not give in nor will I allow Satan to determine my steps. I am not a quitter. I do not want to live by my flesh because I truly want to please God. I want Him to look upon me with smile. Genesis 50:20 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It assures me that what Satan meant for harm God turned for good. I don't feel it now, but I choose to see the good. So when that devil on one shoulder is noisy I will continue to do the next thing to the glory of God. I claim Galatians 6:9!
Galatians 6:9) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Matthew 6:25-27) "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"
I have read this verse like a hundred times over the course of my life. The Word of God is alive and active so each time I read it I am given something new. Let me clear one thing up before we dig in. These definitions will come in handy as we complete this study. Our spirit is where God lives. It is home to the Holy Spirit if we are believers and followers of Jesus Christ. Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions. The soul tell us what we think, what we want, and how we feel.
Allowing Satan to overtake our minds with thought of worry, dread, doubt, and concern is an act of my will. I allow thoughts in and decide what I will do with them. Right now is a very hard time for me. It is one the most difficult times in my life. I am SO grateful for a supportive husband, loving family, and Godly friends. I literally feel like there is an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other in regards to my thought life and attitude in how I deal with my challenges. Basing my decisions and what God will or won't do based on my emotions is acting fleshly. Romans 8:8 says living a life of the flesh does not please God. I may be a slow learner, but one thing that I have learned is that I truly want to please God. The verse below is very direct...not much room for personal interpretation there!
Romans 8:8) Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
Living according to my flesh is a very superficial way of living. God is doing so much more than I can fathom on a far deeper level, a Spirit level. When I live on this level I will have peace regardless of my circumstances. To be honest, I am yet to reach this level. I certainly can grow in this, but will never reach perfection this side of heaven. One thing I am sure of is that I am much farther along than I was even yesterday. Joyce Meyer says often I am not where I need to be, but thank God I am not where I was. I love that! As I live faith to faith I get better and better at realizing what I feel is not always based on God's fact.
If I can't trust my human emotions what can I trust? Or whom can I trust? The Spirit. I firmly believe I miss a great deal of His promptings because my soul is so stirred up. I often feel like I live out in the wilderness struggling to hear God. I believe it is because of the static in my soul. Satan lies and says God doesn't care therefore I need to worry. Someone has to worry about this I tell myself! God's doing nothing I say! I see worry, dread, doubt, etc. as static in my soul. The noise drowns out the Spirit's messages for me.
There are much greater things than me getting what I want. Like I said before, I currently am going through some really hard things with my health and I really want to be well yet I know there are greater things for me other than worrying over never getting better. The time I spend worrying can be spent thanking Him for what I do have and for talking to Him about how I can use my experiences for good and to further His Kingdom. Is is possible to resist the lies of the devil. It takes a lot of effort on my part because I have to stand guard. I have to memorize Scripture and say it even when I don't FEEL like it's true. I must vocalize His Word so the I can hear the Truth. I have to stop and talk to God and shut off the world to listen to Him.
I am determined, with God's help, to overcome worry and dread. I will not give in nor will I allow Satan to determine my steps. I am not a quitter. I do not want to live by my flesh because I truly want to please God. I want Him to look upon me with smile. Genesis 50:20 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It assures me that what Satan meant for harm God turned for good. I don't feel it now, but I choose to see the good. So when that devil on one shoulder is noisy I will continue to do the next thing to the glory of God. I claim Galatians 6:9!
Galatians 6:9) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Comforting Others
2 Corinthians 1:3-4) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Satan has many tricks up his sleeve and all are very dangerous. Based on a few conversations I have had over the last few days I want to focus on one in particular. Satan is brilliant at making us feel alone and isolated especially when we are going through a difficult time. There have been times when I have questioned why I am the only one struggling with this or that. Everyone else seems to be getting along great. What is this based on? My opinion is based on how much people smile or say they are doing great. I have even thought this while I am sitting in church! Deep in my heart I know this isn't true and I know Satan is doing a number on me. It's a battle to remember that.
I know for certain one reason that God has allowed pain in my life is so I could gain compassion. Christians are supposed to be witnesses for Christ. Here is what a witness does NOT do. They do not tell others what they can and cannot do. They DO tell others their story and where their hope comes from and are not afraid to share what the Gospel has done for them. For example, I look back to the time when Mom was dying. I firmly believed she covered a lot of her struggle up as to not upset or worry Christy, Dad, and myself. There came a point where she could no longer hide things. We knew the end was near and we knew the Lord was not going to heal her on this side of heaven. I can't tell you the pain we experienced watching her suffer. I think back to that time in my life and truly cannot explain how I made it through. I can't speak directly for Christy and Dad, but tend to think they would agree with me. That time was a complete blur and was totally surreal...like we were all part of a movie that ended sadly. The only thing I can tell people when they ask how we made it through is that God carried us. He really did. I don't know why He allowed her to suffer so much or why she had to die. I have learned since that time that I don't need to know. What I do know is that He provided the strength we needed. Dad, Christy, and myself were all going through huge personal struggles too that had nothing to do with Mom's dying. We had God's strength, each other, and some REALLY good friends. That is my testimony and I am not afraid to share it.
I know there will come a time when a friend will lose a mother. I will be able to understand their pain. I won't be able to give them all the right answers and really a person doesn't need words then. What they need is to know someone else cares and has endured that type of pain. Face it, just knowing someone else has experienced something similar helps. God comforted me and I am supposed to pass it on. Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. We should not keep the comfort for ourselves. There is a fine line between being comforting and trying to one up a person in their pain. Let's not be know-it-alls! It sounds weird to say, but a person needs to know you think their pain is special...it's all their and very personal to them. I hope that makes sense.
Another conversation I had at the gym really made me think too. One of my best friends in the whole world is going through a challenge within her family. This causes her great stress and emotion. What she is going through is very similar to something I had gone through prior to my mom's passing. My relationship with my mom had many facets and some were well, a bit challenging to say the least. I can offer my friend Godly wisdom because I have been there. I have walked her path and I simply get it. I have also completely blown it so I can offer ideas of what NOT to do! She can ALWAYS talk to me about what is on her heart. God has blessed both of us with each other. I'm so thankful to God that I can pass along some of the things I learned through my time of dealing with trouble.
Our church is a large church so it is crucial to get involved in a small group if you desire any sort of connection. This is where you really can build relationships. Pastor Bobby says we do life together in our small group. We were talking about this topic at our last meeting which was last Thursday. Building relationships takes time and effort. It takes making investments in people's lives. It takes getting out of our own heads. If your anything life me you also find that to be a challenge! Quality of relationships is so important. Of course having a new friend is different than our old faithfuls, but my point is we need to invest ourselves into them new or old.
We also cannot be afraid to be real with people. We can be real with those people we deem "safe." When two people invest into each other they both can be real with each other and get beyond the surface. I don't have to be stoic all the time. I hurt. I get discouraged. My heart gets heavy at times. Things bother me and I have a few close friends that I can share those hurts, discouragements, and heavy times with. They can always share their troubles with me. I want to be a safe person to them and I want to never be too busy for them.
I feel like this is a blog that may be hard to follow my point. I'll try and sum it up better than I wrote the above paragraphs. Satan wants us to feel like we are the person in the world with trouble. He wants us to feel alone and isolated. He also wants me to feel like if I had any faith at all I would not be struggling. Lies! All lies. We are not alone. God carries us through tough times. I know for a fact that is true. Part of the reason we go through pain and God comforts us is so we can do the same for someone else. We have to be safe for people, be real, and genuinely care. We can't be afraid to share our story and how we made it through or are making it through. I must remind myself often to get out of my own head and to reach out to another. Pastor Bobby said Thursday that we have to make investments in people with authentic hearts.
Satan has many tricks up his sleeve and all are very dangerous. Based on a few conversations I have had over the last few days I want to focus on one in particular. Satan is brilliant at making us feel alone and isolated especially when we are going through a difficult time. There have been times when I have questioned why I am the only one struggling with this or that. Everyone else seems to be getting along great. What is this based on? My opinion is based on how much people smile or say they are doing great. I have even thought this while I am sitting in church! Deep in my heart I know this isn't true and I know Satan is doing a number on me. It's a battle to remember that.
I know for certain one reason that God has allowed pain in my life is so I could gain compassion. Christians are supposed to be witnesses for Christ. Here is what a witness does NOT do. They do not tell others what they can and cannot do. They DO tell others their story and where their hope comes from and are not afraid to share what the Gospel has done for them. For example, I look back to the time when Mom was dying. I firmly believed she covered a lot of her struggle up as to not upset or worry Christy, Dad, and myself. There came a point where she could no longer hide things. We knew the end was near and we knew the Lord was not going to heal her on this side of heaven. I can't tell you the pain we experienced watching her suffer. I think back to that time in my life and truly cannot explain how I made it through. I can't speak directly for Christy and Dad, but tend to think they would agree with me. That time was a complete blur and was totally surreal...like we were all part of a movie that ended sadly. The only thing I can tell people when they ask how we made it through is that God carried us. He really did. I don't know why He allowed her to suffer so much or why she had to die. I have learned since that time that I don't need to know. What I do know is that He provided the strength we needed. Dad, Christy, and myself were all going through huge personal struggles too that had nothing to do with Mom's dying. We had God's strength, each other, and some REALLY good friends. That is my testimony and I am not afraid to share it.
I know there will come a time when a friend will lose a mother. I will be able to understand their pain. I won't be able to give them all the right answers and really a person doesn't need words then. What they need is to know someone else cares and has endured that type of pain. Face it, just knowing someone else has experienced something similar helps. God comforted me and I am supposed to pass it on. Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. We should not keep the comfort for ourselves. There is a fine line between being comforting and trying to one up a person in their pain. Let's not be know-it-alls! It sounds weird to say, but a person needs to know you think their pain is special...it's all their and very personal to them. I hope that makes sense.
Another conversation I had at the gym really made me think too. One of my best friends in the whole world is going through a challenge within her family. This causes her great stress and emotion. What she is going through is very similar to something I had gone through prior to my mom's passing. My relationship with my mom had many facets and some were well, a bit challenging to say the least. I can offer my friend Godly wisdom because I have been there. I have walked her path and I simply get it. I have also completely blown it so I can offer ideas of what NOT to do! She can ALWAYS talk to me about what is on her heart. God has blessed both of us with each other. I'm so thankful to God that I can pass along some of the things I learned through my time of dealing with trouble.
Our church is a large church so it is crucial to get involved in a small group if you desire any sort of connection. This is where you really can build relationships. Pastor Bobby says we do life together in our small group. We were talking about this topic at our last meeting which was last Thursday. Building relationships takes time and effort. It takes making investments in people's lives. It takes getting out of our own heads. If your anything life me you also find that to be a challenge! Quality of relationships is so important. Of course having a new friend is different than our old faithfuls, but my point is we need to invest ourselves into them new or old.
We also cannot be afraid to be real with people. We can be real with those people we deem "safe." When two people invest into each other they both can be real with each other and get beyond the surface. I don't have to be stoic all the time. I hurt. I get discouraged. My heart gets heavy at times. Things bother me and I have a few close friends that I can share those hurts, discouragements, and heavy times with. They can always share their troubles with me. I want to be a safe person to them and I want to never be too busy for them.
I feel like this is a blog that may be hard to follow my point. I'll try and sum it up better than I wrote the above paragraphs. Satan wants us to feel like we are the person in the world with trouble. He wants us to feel alone and isolated. He also wants me to feel like if I had any faith at all I would not be struggling. Lies! All lies. We are not alone. God carries us through tough times. I know for a fact that is true. Part of the reason we go through pain and God comforts us is so we can do the same for someone else. We have to be safe for people, be real, and genuinely care. We can't be afraid to share our story and how we made it through or are making it through. I must remind myself often to get out of my own head and to reach out to another. Pastor Bobby said Thursday that we have to make investments in people with authentic hearts.
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