So You Think Your All That?

Every day I am learning that I am not my own. In spiritual warfare you cannot do the things that you used to do, say the things that you used to say, watch the things that you used to watch, or even hang around the people that you used to hang around. In many ways I am stubborn in all theses things and I have to be honest and say that I pay the price mentally for it. As a person who was a day dreamer and fantasizer before I gave my life to Christ, this has been a true battle area for me. I am a thinker, I have always been a thinker, but now God is using my mind for his purposes. He inspires me and gives me things to write down. Lately I have been a very negative thinker. I have been depressed, resenting my place in my life, and finding every horrible fault in the way that I feel I am being treated. In the words of Joyce Myer, I have to think about what I am thinking about. Ya’ll, pride can be a hard demon to slay. Many times we feel entitled and God wants us to drop the attitude and arrogance so we can focus on him. Where I am in life is to humble me. I found this out a long time ago and yet I am guilty of having to learn the same lesson over and over again. I have to learn to submit, be nice when I don’t want to and work my way up to where I want to be. I currently have two jobs. This is a great blessing, but Lord knows I never saw myself doing either one of them. God is stripping me of my self so that I can learn how to treat the people that he cares about. I am grateful for my jobs because I have to learn how to listen, how to care and how to not look down on any one.

Verses that God has shown me over the last few days are:

Romans 12:1-2
“Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him. This kind of worship is appropriate for you. ²Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants—what is good, pleasing, and perfect” (God’s Word Translation)
(This includes your mind and thought patterns)!

Romans 12:3

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment” (NIV)
(With everything that you have accomplished or are trying to accomplish, do you use good judgment?)

Romans 12:16

“Don’t be arrogant, but be friendly to humble people. Don’t think that you are smarter than you really are.” (God’s Word Translation)

Philippians 3:8

“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (NIV)

Comments

Peace Be Still

“ One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marv...

The Process of Faithing It: Trusting Jesus with Your Faith

“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:34 NKJV). Can you imagine Jesus in a crowd? Everyone has a need, but His target in that moment is to go and build the faith of a little girl’s family at the request of her father because they think that she will die. The father is scared, but Jesus was on the way until He felt something. This feeling was different, but powerful. Jesus turns around looking, asking questions, but finds his answer in the form of a woman, standing and looking amazed at what just happened to her. After 13 years of anemia, tiredness, dizzy spells, soiled clothing, and impacted relationships, she is healed. This woman with an issue of blood had spent all of her money, but decided to trust Jesus with her faith, which was all that she had left. Jesus was not too busy to stop and ask, “Who touched me?”. The disciples reminded Jesus of all the people that were around them, but this touch was different. Some...

Fear Can Not Exist Where Healing is Needed: The Authority of Jesus within Mental Health

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” ( John 10:10 KJV). The people of Gadarenes gave the enemy access to their region, not just a man at a tomb. As a bystander within Mark 5, I’ve seen many parts of this scenario played out in real time. I know the broken heart that Jesus had at seeing this man, and I also know the love and compassion that He had for him as well. The people may have feared the man because of his strength, but Jesus understood and displayed that fear could not exist where healing is needed . Working within the mental health field, I’ve seen what was depicted by the man at the tomb. It’s not easy, but Jesus removed the cover of what was happening. The Legion of demons (composed of thousands of demons) thought that they could continue to reign and rule, but the King stepped onto the ground and caused atmospheric shift to happen. “T...

Keep Your Lamp Filled

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept” (Matthew 25:1–5). Everyone had the same mindset to go to the same place for the same reason. Everyone was on their way, but partial action was taken by five of the virgins. The bridegroom had the capacity to care for all ten. Everyone had a lamp, but everyone did not have oil to see Who they were waiting for. The oil was available, but five virgins did not take the initiative to get more oil. What they had was not enough for the journey they were on. Five of the virgins were wise; they did what was needed to obtain more oil. The other five virgins were foolish, thinking that what they had was enough and that getting...

Let’s Talk About Sex

Tonight, I thought about sex. I thought about the beauty of it and I thought about the reasons that God created it. Sex can be beautiful and pleasurable, but sex can also be very dangerous if you don’t know the truth behind it. As a young girl, no one sat down with me and talked to me about sex. I never got the “protect yourself” talk and I never got a real run down about what people will do just to have sex with you. I lost my virginity at the age of 14. I didn’t even really know the guy, but I thought that I would spend the rest of my life with him because that was the story that he sold me. I don’t blame him, and I don’t resent him for anything anymore, but I wish that I had been wiser and that I understood the value of what I was giving away. In my 20s I learned that sex is not only physical, but it is spiritual also. I learned what soul ties were and I began to understand why it was so hard for me to break away from people after the “relationship” had ended. I ha...

The Barrel of Meal Shall Not Waste, Neither Shall the Cruse of Oil Fail: RESET

This morning as I was thinking about the fact that God gives us a new start each year, the word reset came to mind. I tried to figure out why that word came to mind, and I began to look up its meaning. I have listed the meaning in the noun, verb, and adjective forms. Reset- set again differently, cause to enter the state representing the number 0, a plant that is planted again, to restore, a plant that has been recently transplanted, adjust again after a failure, set anew. Once I found the meaning of the word reset, I began to look for synonyms associated with it. Words like order, switch, replace, shift, changed, corrected, reformed, prepare, recondition, make ready, modify, do over, reappraise , and rework came up. At this point, I got a little excited and began to wonder how the Lord reset His people in the bible and what that word means concerning me. One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind pertained to the prophet Isaiah and the time that hot coal was placed over hi...

My Personal Truth

I remember sitting on the bus in middle school and this guy who was older than me told someone that when I started having sex I wouldn’t be able to stop. I was always very quiet, but I thought to myself, how could someone who didn’t know me say such a thing? He was in a sense, speaking over me. I was kinda rebellious as a teen. I lost my virginity at the age of 14 and I had already been on most of the depression medications that were out at that time. I was in love with love and that led to a lot of heart ache. I even left home for a little while when I was 17 because my mother found a pregnancy test in my bathroom. It did not look like I would graduate from college. It did not look like I was a smart young lady. It did not look like I would amount to anything, but God saw different in me. I got saved for the first time when I was16. I did not understand God or how he operated. Even when I was saved? I just knew that I was on my way to hell. During that time, I battled depr...

HOPE

I believe that God sends us prophecies to offer us hope. I received my first prophecies around the age of 16. I was pretty aware of how God used his people to speak into the lives of others, but I would always hide at church when God started talking. I used to be afraid of people who had that gift because I was scared that they would know what I was thinking. Many times, although our thoughts are uncomfortable, when God lets you know that HE SEES YOU, there is a comfort in that. Wow, God sees me. I don’t remember who or what the first words were that God used someone to speak to me, but there are still so many words that He has released to me that offer me hope. Hope can be hard to hang on to in the storms of life. There are many times that I feel alone and forgotten, but I have to remember that GOD SEES ME. God will send a word of hope to you to comfort you in the times that you feel hopeless and lost. The irony in this is that some words may come before you think you need the...

Through the Fire

“Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them ” (Daniel 3: 26-28 KJV). The enemy starts a fire with the intent to keep you there, consume you, make you lose focus, and eventually take you out completely. God allows you to go through a fire with the intent of showing others His glory. Although the fire that you are dealing with in your life may be hot and although you may be faint and feel as if you are about to die; trust God and refuse to allow your enemies to make you perish. There is a blessing when you wait on Go...

Onward and upward: Positioned on God’s Spiritual Launching Pad

2018 is not over just yet, but so far it has been a year full of heartache, challenges, growth, and blessings. The heartache came from the passing of my little brother exactly 1 month ago. It was a surprise and my heart breaks because he is no longer here, but my comfort is in Jesus. I know that he is in heaven happy, smiling, pain free, and worshiping at the feet of Jesus. I still cry and I still miss him, but I know that God is in total control. God knows what He is doing at all times and I am learning to respect His will in this situation. Aside from the pain of losing my brother, God has been growing me up in ways that I am learning to be comfortably uncomfortable with. God can use any situation to position us in Him. Some of those situations involve challenges, but those challenges are meant to evolve us, not destroy us. I am a person who hates conflict, but I have had so much of it as I get closer to reaching the personal goals that I have set for myself. I have had ...

JaNina B.

Search This Blog