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The Most Important Thing In Life Is Your Heart
How are you doing today? I would love to hear your answer right now. Most people respond to a question like this with how their circumstances are or with something about their job. But my question to you today is though “How are you doing on the inside of you; in your heart?” [Read more…]
Out Of The Mouth Comes The Overflow Of The Heart
The Power of Confession
We can learn how to re-write our future with the words we speak. We might not realize it, but God expects from us when we come into the Kingdom that we want to grow and develop. It’s the same as any other profession that you have to learn. First you have to learn the words they speak in that particular arena, isn’t it? Every profession has some words in it that you and I don’t have to use if we are not working in that area.
So, first you have to change your way of thinking, then your way of talking, then your way of looking and then you change your purpose in life. You go from the basics to the advanced and then further and you keep going and going. That is the process that the Word of God takes.
Right now in these times that we live in God is demanding more from us, so that He can put more in us and that more can come out of us and bring more to us.Wow! That is something to think about, isn’t it?
Mat 12:35 says: A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. Do we want good things to come forth? Of course we do. You see, your future is in your heart and you bring it forth, whether you know it or not. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. We can’t change that from happening. It is a principle of the Kingdom and a way we are designed to operate.
Out of the mouth comes the overflow of the heart. So, we can bring forth good things or we can bring forth evil things, like it says in the last part of the verse. You could say instead of treasure, a deposit of the heart, because somehow it has to be deposited in the heart. Whatever is deposited in there will eventually come out.
Babies in Christ desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. You cannot grow on the milk unless you drink it. You have to put it in there. So, the plan of the Kingdom of God needs to come into the heart, so it can come out of you and that it would manifest into your life. There is nothing that can stop you!
That’s why Jesus said “don’t seek after what you are going to eat and what you are going to put on”, that is what the world seeks after. He told us to seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to us. That is the way things will come into our life. Nobody can stop you but you, because your future is in your heart and not in somebody else’s hand. They don’t have your future.
The government doesn’t have my future, my best friends don’t have my future and my parents don’t have my future. My future is in my heart. It has been given to me through the Word of God. The devil cannot stop it. If you have your dependency on the government, the government can stop it.
Pro 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. The word issues means in the Hebrew: boundaries, borders or forces come out of the heart. You keep your heart means that you guard your heart. One translation says that we have to keep our hearts with all vigilance and with all our might. It is that important!
Whatever comes in your heart and especially if it comes in there in abundance; it will control your life. But the good news is that he has put believers in this earth so that nobody can keep us from our destinies but us. God made it that way and that is the good news.
The revelation has to take root in your life that the color of your skin cannot hold you back and the color of somebody else’s skin cannot stop you. Wherever you come from cannot stop you, wherever you were born cannot stop it. You future is in your heart and not somebody else’s hands, so if God is for you and nobody can stand against you.
You have to make a choice to go for it and act on this principle, will you? That way there is nothing inside of you, no bitterness can come into your heart because you are making a great choice to protect and guard your heart will all diligence, right?
When You Take Offense At Someone, Your Spiritual Walk Is Immediately Crippled
Talking you into offense is a major strategy satan uses to get you dig up the Word seed. When the Word is in your heart, satan has no authority to get it out himself. He has to convince you to cast the Word out of your heart. If he can get you offended, you will destroy your own harvest. When you choose to become offended, you stumble and make false steps in life.
The Amplified Bible gives a good illustration of this concerning those who have stony-ground heart: And in the same way the ones sown upon stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once receive and accept and welcome it with joy; And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away. Mar 4:16-17
When a person chooses to take offense, immediately his spiritual walk begins to wither away. The flow of life from his spirit begins to ebb and he begins to dry up inside. The Amplified says “they stumble and fall away”. Becoming offended is a stumbling block.
We never, ever should be drying up on the inside. We are believers! We have the Word. Psalm 119:165 says, “Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them.” As we continually feed our spirits with the Word and keep our roots strong and established, we gain spiritual strength we need to avoid the enemy’s strategy of offense altogether.
Don’t allow offense in your life.
The basic problem with stony ground is that the Word is not rooted because the soil is shallow and full of rocks. Sometimes people get turned on to the Word of God and put it into motion in their lives. But six weeks later – when they don’t see any difference in their situation – they become offended. Nothing has happened. No results. No return. No increase.
We have to be willing to make a stand that the Word of God is true, regardless of how things look and no matter how long it takes to manifest in the natural realm. A lot of times it doesn’t happen because as soon as we want it to and the number one reason why it doesn’t happen sooner is not God – it’s you and me.
Maybe you think, it’s been six weeks since I started believing for my healing and I can’t tell any difference in my body. God must not have heard me. He must not care anything about me.
Be careful! You are offended and you are thinking like stony ground. Don’t let the devil talk you into being offended at God. God is never your problem.
If things are not going right in your lives, we have to look at what we are doing. It is a total waste of time to blame it on God. He is full of compassion. He is always right and he is always good. He always wants the best for us.
When the devil can’t cause us to take offense at God, he tries to cause us to become offended at our pastor who taught us the Word. The enemy whispers thoughts to our minds like, your pastor doesn’t preach right! What he said doesn’t work. That was all just talk!
If you don’t take offense at your pastor, the devil will then try to offend you through your spouse, your children, your neighbor, or your friends – anyone he can find! He wants to get you under his control again so he can put you back into poverty, bondage and sickness. He knows that strife, envy and offense are bog open doors he can walk through to take over your life.
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. Jas 3:14-16
You see, when you take offense at someone, your spiritual walk is immediately crippled. Your faith won’t work, because faith works by love Gal.5:6. No matter what anyone does to you, it’s never all right for you to be offended, you are wrong! Choose to not give offense a place to start. When you get out of love, immediately repent and make it right. Choose to stay on fire for God and to stay in the Word.
We have to start making the right choices; choices that lead us to the life that God has promised, us filled with blessings. We have the power to choose wisely; satan has NO power over us.
Unresolved Issues In Your Life Need To Come Under The Control Of The Holy Spirit
Unresolved issues in your life need to come under the control of the Holy Spirit. We live in a world right now where there is fear, intimidation and abuse going on. We as Christians, if Christ is in us, should have the Holy Spirit working at something all the time ; that way we grow from Glory to Glory and become more like Him. He will change us when He really has Lordship in our lives.
Do you remember Lee Harvey Oswald who killed President Kennedy? His father died when he was born, his mother couldn’t handle him or his brother so she put them into an orphanage. Then she remarried and got them out , but the man that she remarried divorced her again. Lee Harvey Oswald was really a troubled child at school; kids would tease him and boys would beat him up. When he was 17 he joined the marines; he was abused when he was in the military and then, at one point, dishonorably discharged. He moved to the Soviet Union and thought to become a citizen but they didn’t want him and was not allowed to become a Russian citizen, then he went back to the United States. One thing that he was good at was his guns. So, because of all his emotional issues that never got resolved, he ended up killing president Kennedy.
Next is an opposite story.
During the Korean War, a South Korean Christian, a civilian, was arrested by the communists and ordered shot. But when the young communist leader learned that the prisoner was in charge of an orphanage caring for small children, he decided to spare him and kill his son instead. So they shot the nineteen-year-old boy in the presence of his father.
Later the fortunes of war changed, and the young communist leader was captured by the United Nations forces, tried, and condemned to death. But before the sentence could be carried out, the Christian whose boy had been killed pleaded for the life of the killer. He declared that he was young, that he really did not know what he was doing. “Give him to me,” said the father, “and I’ll train him.”
The United Nations forces granted the request, and that father took the murderer of his boy into his own home and cared for him. Today the Young Communist is a Christian Pastor.
Just the opposite of what had happened with lee Harvey Oswald. You can take a troubled teenager that has been rejected by society and bring change into that life. If we can reach children at a young age; we can save them from becoming like Lee Harvey Oswald. If we can reach them with the love of Jesus; their conscious will work in their hearts. Even when they get pulled in by the gangs, that they will be pulled back, because that conscious, that voice will be there to talk to them and draw them back.
How do you resolve conflicts?
First of all, don’t avoid it. King David avoided it; he avoided talking to his son Absalom. The scripture tells us that Absalom had killed his brother, because his brother had killed his distant brother so to say and he had raped his sister. He was mad. Instead of correcting it before he had killed his brother, David never corrected it. He just said something like “you should never have done that”.
Absalom took it in his own hands, he killed his own brother and then he fled the country. David then lost his son that died and now he had lost a son that had run away. David was grieving on the inside for his son, but he didn’t want to ask him to come back. Somebody addressed him on it and he ends up letting his son Absalom come back. After David gets him close to his home; he won’t talk to him. He just didn’t say one word to him.
All this is working on the inside of Absalom who is handsome and has a charismatic personality. He goes after the people, he decides to go after his father’s kingdom. He starts talking to the people, he is getting a group around him and then he begins to revolt and tries to take the kingdom from his father. His father had to leave his throne and Jerusalem for a season. Absalom got killed and David returned back to his throne. The sad thing is that, that relationship never got healed; never got reconciled.
Don’t avoid, don’t ignore a relationship conflict at an early stage when you know that if you don’t deal with it then; it could evolve into something worse and that would affect a lot of different people in a negative way.
Then when you do want to resolve a conflict, be humble. Prov.15:1 says: “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger”. So, be humble, you want God to sow mercy into your life. I can guarantee you when you sow mercy into somebody else’s life you will reap mercy. When you end up somewhere messing up your own life, you will receive mercy yourself. But when you are hard on people, than you will receive that people be hard on you when you fail, when you miss it.
So, don’t ignore the issue; be humble, share the conflict that you have experienced with this person in a kind way and not in a condemning way. When you have talked, allow them to talk and listen. Be willing to admit your own failure in the conflict, if you have done something wrong, even if it is a just little. Tell them that you apologize, tell them that you don’t want to have this conflict.
Phil.2:3 says: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
Make the choice and decide to go into the conversation to keep the peace of God, reconciling with each other and pray for one another. Even when the conversation comes to an end and you’re not totally in agreement; decide to agree to disagree with one another. But make a decision that you come to a place of peace, where you are able to be at peace with that other person. Pray for the other person and pray for yourself.
Let God’s Holy Spirit take control in that situation to turn it around and let God change you. If you leave a conflict and you are not changed, then that thing can happen all over again. Make a decision and say: ”God, change me, if there are things in my life that create conflict with other people, I open my heart to You that You can show me and that You can change me.”
Here is a story of a man that was reached by Victory Christian Center in a McAllister prison, Oklahoma years ago, he made it right with God before he stepped into eternity.
John Duty was executed in December 2010; his last statement was: ”If God can change me, He can change anybody.” Can God forgive? God can forgive where there is a broken heart. A heart that is been broken up before Him, a heart that humbly says “forgive me Lord, I am a sinner, I was wrong and I ask You to forgive me.”
John Duty’s testimony is a tough one, but I want you to know something. The grace of God changed John’s life before he left this earth and I believe that the grace of God can change any life. If we humble ourselves, then God can change us and if we repent and if we let Jesus work in our lives.
“Repentance occurs when our hearts and minds are awakened to God’s glorious potential for our lives.” Tony Cooke
Prayer for Salvation
God in Heaven, I come to You in the name of Your Son, Jesus. I confess that I haven’t lived my life for You. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that He died on the cross and rose again from the dead so I might have a better life now and eternal life in heaven. Jesus, come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. From this day forward, I’ll live my life for You to the best of my ability. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
When you really think about how diverse our society, our communities, our neighborhoods and sometimes even our families are. There are so many people with different backgrounds and cultures around us with different perspectives and approaches to life, it shouldn’t surprise us that we have many opportunities for conflict and that it becomes a part of our life.
Let’s have a look at some examples out of the bible and see what is most important to our conflicts. We can make a choice and let God work on the inside of us so that that particular conflict will not come back any more because it is dissolved by the power of the Holy Spirit.
How does conflict begin? There are several reasons why conflict and strife happens:
1. Different Personalities.
When people with different personalities come together, conflicts can happen. You might have heard somebody say about another person sometimes that people are prophetic motivated and come across really strong, others are mercy motivated or teaching motivated. Never let you personality be a copout for what God wants to do in changing your life.
I don’t want people to say “that’s just Olga”. Because if that is the fact I have settled into being the way I am and not willing to be changed. Until Jesus returns I need to be willing to be changed from Glory to Glory. I can continue in my personality but I have to let my personality to be tempered by the work of the Holy Spirit.
2. Different backgrounds.
Conflicts happen because of different backgrounds. In Numbers 12: Miriam and Aaron was Moses’ older brother and sister, Moses married a woman not of his race. Miriam addressed it because she didn’t think it was right. There was conflict over an interracial marriage and not only that, but there was a conflict because Miriam said: “does God just only speak to you only? God speaks to me and Aaron too.”
There was a conflict of respect in leadership. Moses didn’t want to argue with her and said: “just let God decide in this conflict.” He took a humble position in it. Miriam got leprosy and she was put outside of the camp. Her attitude ended up separating her from the people that she was called to be with and that she loved. Her attitude separated her. Aaron wanted Moses to pray for her because Miriam was their sister. Moses did that, he interceded for her, Miriam was healed and she came back into the camp.
I can guarantee you that Miriam never had that problem again.
3. Lack of communication.
Lack of communication can cause conflict; this is a biggie! Conflict comes when one doesn’t tell something to the other party that they need to know, when the moment arises that one of the two finds out that he/she doesn’t know about a certain issue or situation. Lack of communication can create a lot of conflict.
Prov.13:17 say: reliable communication can permit progress. Frustration ends where communication begins. That is very good statement that you can use in every relationship. When we do not communicate, people get frustrated. They don’t know what to do or they are not prepared to do something.
Another thing that can really frustrate is “selective communication”. People only give you what they want you to know. Luke 12:2 says that the hidden things will be revealed.
People can hide things, but ultimately it gets exposed. After a while people get sloppy and they reveal themselves. I have seen people cheating on their spouse and after a while it gets revealed. God wants us to have relationships where we are hiding things and there is an honesty and openness.
How you communicate is as important as the communication itself. You have to choose to communicate in the love of God, because what you sow you are going to reap. Choose to communicate with humility and with mercy filled with the love of God
4. Jealousy and Resentment.
Jealousy and Resentment can create conflict. James 3:16 says “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work”. Strife means self seeking ambition, more concerned about yourself and fulfillment of your own wants and desires than meeting the needs of other people.
When there is jealousy, resentment or there is strife; there is confusion. Strife creates a conflict but it also causes confusion in the person.
Genesis 4 tells us about the first conflict between of Cain and Able. They were brothers. God had already given Adam and Eve and their family a way of approaching Him. They had to bring a blood sacrifice; the blood of an animal in order to approach Him. Why? The blood would cover their sin to come into the presence of God.
Cain brought the first fruits of his hands, of his work. Have you ever asked yourself why God didn’t accept his offering? God rejected his offering because God had already given them the way to approach Him was a blood offering. Because ultimately God knew that He was going to send his Son to be the blood offering for our sins, to cleanse our sins so that we can come boldly into the presence of God and if we think we can come with our works to be saved. Then we are missing it, because our works cannot save us. Only the blood of Jesus can save you from your sin.
That doesn’t mean that your works don’t make any difference. Our works do make a difference, because after we are saved Paul tells us that we have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that God now is at work in you to help you. Faith without works or corresponding actions is dead.
Cain brought his offering because he wanted God to confirm his works. It is not works that affirm us before God; it is our humility where we come before God and say: “God, I need you and I offer myself to you. I ask you to cleanse me from my sins so that I can come boldly into your throne of grace.
The conflict was resentment and jealousy on Cain’s part. He killed Abel, because his jealousy ate at him.
We have to let deal with our conflicts on the inside of us. Emotional issues that never get resolved cause conflict. There are children that grow up in homes where there is abuse, control, manipulation, screaming and yelling, harsh words, cursing and critical words that go on. Parents think that it doesn’t matter, but they are creating a time bomb.
How To Resolve Conflicts
Wherever we are, whatever we do; anywhere we are together with people, we have opportunity for conflicts. We have a choice to make whether we choose to resolve the conflict or we suppress the issue and go on. It is very imperative that we know how to resolve conflict in relationships, how to resolve conflict in marriage, what are causes of conflict. It is a very important for our own good that we know what to do in the middle of a conflict.
Jesus called us in Matthew 5:9 to be peacemakers. He said “blessed are the peacemakers”, the reward is that people will call you a Christian! So, if you are not a peacemaker, I guess the opposite is true and they won’t call you a Christian.
It says: “you are called the children of God”; that means that you are identified by the world. The world wants to see a difference in us; in our behavior as well as in our words! Hebr.12:14-15 says “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to causes trouble and defile many”. NIV We have to choose to make an effort!
When we get born again and we surrender our hearts to Jesus; we have peace with God and that is an awesome feeling. I remember that feeling very well, it was an overwhelming feeling. After that many of us come to realization though that we are not always that peaceful person that we thought salvation would bring with it. We know that Christ is in us; He is the prince of Peace and he should be governing our life. But there have been times that we have been out of peace.
But he says “make every effort”. You have to make an effort to be a peaceful person, because peace doesn’t just happen just because you got saved. You still have to do something; you still have to make the effort to live at peace.
Be at peace with all men means your spouse, your family, your church and the people you work with. Wherever you are, strangers; you are a peacemaker. You try to create peace wherever you go.
And be holy! This is the part that many people would like to erase out of their bible: “without holiness no one will see the Lord”. People like to just get rid of that. They just like to go with the fact “God loves me and that’s all I need”. But the bible says that without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to causes trouble and defile many.
How do you miss the grace of God? When you choose not to submit to the Lord and allow Him to work in your life. You miss His grace that enables you to work through things and you miss His grace that forgives you if you hold on to unforgiveness. Because you are resisting God; God resists the proud because they are resisting Him.
And without holiness no one will see the Lord. 2Cor.7:1 says:” Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”. What does that mean? You see, the blood of Jesus cleanses you from your sin when you release your faith in God. But in the verse he says that you have to separate yourself from immorality unto God. You have to make a choice and make a decision to cut that off from your life and not to do certain things any more.
For instance when people are living together before they are married, they stop that and make a choice to not do that anymore. They get saved and the light goes on and they know that that is something they want to take out of their lives.
He says: “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit”. What is the spirit part? The spirit part is what is on the inside of you like wrong attitudes, anger issues, unforgiveness, bitterness, resentness, jealousy, pride; those are all inside. That is filthiness of the spirit. You have to get rid of all that stuff. You have to choose your holy direction for your life.
So, you have to choose to make the effort to live in peace with all men and to live holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God. So, obviously you can miss the grace of God even after you are born again.
Peace in the Greek “Irene” means wholeness, completeness, tranquility in the soul that is unaffected by outward circumstances or pressures. People who live at peace are people that have an inner security that comes from their relationship with Jesus Christ; no matter what is happening around them.
Holiness means consecration to God; keeping something you value as precious to you and to God.
When you make a choice that you are going to live in that Holy direction of your heart with God then you see your relationship with God as something more precious than that lust over there. You see your relationship with God as something valuable. You are thinking of eternity; you are not just thinking of the moment.
When you are at peace; you are free from mental conflict and disturbance. When you have peace, you have harmony. There is peace on the inside and harmony with God and there is harmony with you and people.
Col.3:15 Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. Msg.
Ampl says: And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts; where Christ is the umpire and continually calling the calls in your life. Let the peace of God keep you in tune with one another.
The Glory will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea through people. People! 2Cor.3:18 says “as we behold the image of Him”. How do we behold the image of God? In The Word, when you open up your Bible, it is a mirror to you. When you behold the image of Him; you will be transformed from Glory to Glory. God doesn’t want you to stay at the place where you got saved; He wants you to progress. He wants His Glory to be seen in your life.
He doesn’t want us to be just satisfied. He wants us to yearn for Him and tell Him that we want to be changed so that His Glory can fill your temple that the Glory of God can flow through us towards other people that are around us, that the Glory of God can be revealed through our lives, through us being healed or other miracles.
You see, God wants His Glory to be seen. It can’t be seen when we choose to walk in our own lust or that we choose to go in our direction instead of His divine direction.
We live in a world right now where there is conflict in the nations of the world, governmentally. There is conflict right now in homes and marriages. If you watch the news you will see a lot of conflict on a regular basis. There is an intensifying of the enemy as well as there is an intensifying of God in the day that we are living in.
There is that spirit of conflict and strife that we have to be aware of, so that we do not enter into that direction of that spirit and that we say: “The spirit of God lives in me, it is greater than my problems and I am going to choose to submit to the spirit of God, I am not letting those spirits that are in the world around us influence me”.
Until Jesus returns we need to be willing to be changed from Glory to Glory. When we make a powerful choice to be changed on the inside by God, we will experience that that is the only way to resolve our issues. God loves us so much that He doesn’t want us to stay the same. I want to encourage you to come back tomorrow for part 2 and you will gain even more insight on how to resolve conflicts.
See you tomorrow:
Olga
Acceptance Or Rejection
When we choose to reject ourselves, we should understand that rejecting ourselves does not change us. It actually multiplies our problems. Have you ever thought why we as humans reject ourselves? Isn’t it the most foolish and thoughtless thing to do? We reject ourselves and then we run after people and beg them more or less to accept us; such contradiction.
Acceptance causes us to face reality and then begin to deal with it. We cannot deal with anything as long as we are refusing to accept it or denying its reality.
Webster’s defines accept as “1. To receive (something offered) willingly 2.a.To consider as usual, proper or right b. To consider as true.”
We have to engage our will to make the right choices. Wouldn’t you say that rejecting ourselves causes death to come into our lives? If I like to apply this definition to self-acceptance, I see that I can choose or not choose to accept myself as I am, but I have a free will and can refuse to do so if I choose.
People who reject themselves do so because they cannot see themselves as proper or right. They only see their flaws and weaknesses, not their beauty and strength. This is a very unbalanced attitude, one that was probably instilled by authority figures in the past who majored on what was weak and wrong rather than on what was strong and right.
The word acceptance from the same dictionary is defined in part as “approval” and “agreement.” If we have problems accepting ourselves as we are, I suggest that we need to get into agreement with God that what He created is good and that includes us.
In Amos 3:3 we read, Do two walk together except they make an appointment and have agreed? To walk with God, we must agree with God. He says He loves us and accepts us; therefore, if we agree with Him, we can no longer hate and reject ourselves.
We need to agree with God that when He created us, He created something good.
Once again let me emphasize that I realize everything we do is not good, but at this point we are discussing ourselves, not our behavior.
Rejection is a mean spirit. You know, satan was rejected by God when pride came all over him. God rejected him out of heaven. The very essence of sin is rejection. Rejection is etched into the cells of the human mind. The disease of the devil has spread to every person born on the earth until He Who was perfect was born of God; Jesus Christ. He wants to make sure that we feel rejected by God; if we feel rejected by God, we reject God isn’t it? Well, that’s his plan. If we feel rejected by God; we want to reject ourselves.
The fact is that everyone on this planet has been forced to experience the painful consequences of what happened in an uncounted eon far from here and long ago.
Maybe you are in a place right now where you feel rejected. You see the things in yourself that need to be changed and it is very difficult for you to think or say, “I accept myself.” You feel that to do so would be to accept all that is wrong with you, but that is not the case.
I personally don’t believe we can even begin the process of change until this issue is settled in our individual lives. I, myself have been dealing with rejection for a very long time. One of the things that I would recommend is to sit in the presence of God and tell Him what is going on. Be honest and open to God. Choose to acknowledge the thoughts that He has for you; He loves you no matter what you do or have done. There is nothing we can do to make God love us any less or anymore; only to receive that He loves us no matter what we do.
By making this choice to accept God for who He is and accept yourself step by step for who you are; it is a wonderful process, really. It is such a blessing to experience a change in yourself that only God could have done. Choose to say: “I accept myself.” There you go! Say it many times a day! Make the choice!
Remember, God loves you!
Source: How to Succeed at Being Yourself by Joyce Meyer
Limitless Strength
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isa 40:29 -31
It is time for you to soar with eagles and ride upon the high place of the earth. Isaiah was saying in these verses, “God never gets tired. He has unlimited strength and wisdom.” In fact, strength is found in the wisdom of God. Weariness isn’t necessarily tiredness of the body.
The weariness most people experience is in their minds and attitudes. When a person becomes burdened, he carries “the load,” which includes worry, fear, anxiety and problems.
Perhaps you are in a place of weariness and fainting. You have thought about giving up on what God has called you to do. There is good news for you. God does not run out of strength. There is no end to His wisdom and understanding. The good thing about strength and ability is that He wants to impart it in your life. He gives power to the faint because He intends for you to be powerful in the earth.
Born-again believers need to daily recharge their spiritual reserves to face the difficulties, temptations, pressures, stress, demands and schedules. If you try to be strong in the arm of the flesh, you will come to a point where you will want to give up on life.
Many people who were once in church have gradually lost their communion and close fellowship with their God. Their zeal for God has lessened to the point that the things of this world have become more attractive to them.
When you lose your desire for God, something else takes place in your heart. As you draw close to the Lord, the things of this world will lose their power and influence over you. It is time to wait on the Lord, renew your strength and mount up with wings as an eagle.
Sometimes people have experienced great things that have happened in the past; they hold on to a past that is filled with pain and regret. It is time for us to forget those painful memories and lay aside the things that keep you from moving forward.
If you are holding on to things of the past, it’s impossible to receive the fresh and new. Your future is going to be better than your past. You have everything to look forward to, because you have been given the power of choice. YOU can choose what you want to do; look back or have your eyes on the future. I know what I choose for; what are you choosing for?
2 Major Steps towards Your Breakthrough
Are you believing God for a breakthrough in your life? Come and see what you need to do to stop the problem and bring God-desired end-results into your life.
Psalm 91:1Ampl. HE WHO dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]. He who abides in the secret place; when we are abiding, we are obeying! When we obey the word of God, we are abiding in the secret place.
We chicken out and just say ”this is just too hard for me” and go do something totally different from what we know that God is telling us. We never know if the breakthrough would have come. Breakthrough comes when you make a choice, an unwavering choice to stand on the Word of God and believe God. You need a good partner and God is the best partner you can get.
If we give God just a little piece of what we have; he gets involved in our life. I rather give Him a big piece of my life, at least 10% of everything that I do. Our spiritual life and day to day life should be separated any way. But here are 2 major steps towards a breakthrough and if you are not applying them already, I like to encourage you to take action.
1. Tithing of your time
When we give God the best part of our day, which I believe is the first hour of your day. You can do several things during the day: listen to a message, pray in the spirit, make you confession and minister to somebody in need. Do things that glorify God during the day.
2. Tithing of your money
When people set aside a set portion of their income for the Church, this is known as tithing. God Himself is speaking in Mal.3:10 and He is saying, “Prove Me in this.”This is the only time in the Word where God instructs us to prove Him, and it is the one area where most people have withdrawn from proving God.
God has a system in place and what we all should do it get off from the world’s system and get over in God’s system. It involves faith, it involves believing God for things you need, it involves saying the right words.
You know you are in debt and you are not able to pay your bills you want to talk about it; you want to talk about your problem. Every time, you catch yourself talking about the problem, you know you are going in the wrong direction. Start talking the answer, the Word of God. Talk the Word of God, put God’s word in your eyes, in your ears, let it get down in your heart and it will come out of your mouth. That is the way to live free!
Here is our part Psalm 92:2 I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust! So, we have a part “we say”. We say “He is our Fortress, our Protection, He is our Source, He is the One that gives us increase, He is my Healer and He is my Deliverer.
I am saying about the Lord what the Lord is saying about Himself, right? Every time you do that, your faith will come up. Every time, you talk depression, sickness, lack, and you are calling everybody you know and talk about how bad your situation is. You understand now that you are going into the wrong direction, isn’t it?
Get your bible out and see what Jesus said about you healing. He said that He bore your sicknesses and diseases and by His stripes you were healed”. That is the truth of the matter. Why should you feel old and sick? You don’t have to! Why? Because of what Jesus did for us. We should refuse the bear the curse that He died for. We say NO to sickness “you have no right to come upon our bodies”.
Believe the word, speak the word and obey the word! You just have to choose; am I going with God or am I going with the devil? When you choose to go with the devil, than your future is not very good. But when you choose to go with God, He can undo every mistake of the past, he can bless you in every situation and your future is bright! Your future will get better and better!
Why do some people succeed in life while others fail? You know the answer. For the most part, folks fail because they did not do what they should have done back when they needed to do it. They may also not be doing what they should be doing right now.
See, we all know the road to success. Do what you must do when you must do it. Not what you want to do. Not when you get around to it. Do what you must do when you must do it and the world is yours.
For some people it may mean adopting then keeping to a healthy diet from this moment. For others it could mean doing whatever it takes right now to protect and nurture a marriage. It could mean taking immediate and necessary steps to rid oneself of an addiction. For many it means finding a job, finding a second job or starting a business—today!
This is all really very simple. Do what you need to do when you need to do it. Unfortunately, however, this simple but true formula leaves us utterly baffled by a perplexing puzzle. If the road to success is so well marked, why do so many of us fail at so many of the things we consider truly important?
It takes another question to best illustrate ancient Jewish wisdom’s explanation for why so many of us fail at doing precisely what we know so well we ought to do.
Read this verse: I call heaven and earth today to bear witness for you that I have placed before you life and death, blessing and curse; and you shall choose life…(Deuteronomy 30:19)
Here’s the question: If life and death are the choices before us, who in his right mind would choose death? What sane individual would choose curse over blessing? Why should God need to sagely recommend that we choose life and blessing? Who would do otherwise?
In reality, we face these choices many times each day. Frequently the wrong path is the more appealing one.
God has put us in a world with not only physical gravity but also spiritual gravity. Yes, it takes far more effort to climb up the stairs than down. It takes far more effort to lift a weight than it takes to drop it. It takes far more fuel for an airplane to attain cruising altitude after takeoff than it takes for the same aircraft to descend back to earth prior to landing.
Similarly, it is far harder to keep to a diet than it is to let oneself go. It is far harder to stick to a project that needs doing than to abandon it for an evening’s entertainment. It is harder to keep a marriage going than to walk away and it is harder to do one’s work when it needs to be done than it is to make excuses.
Yes, most of us know what we ought to do. The problem is that God built a system of spiritual gravity that resists our every attempt to improve ourselves and our lives. We should be happy about this for the same reason that weightlifters and athletes are happy that gravity exists. Without it, everyone would be able to bench-press four hundred pounds and run a four minute mile, but these bogus accomplishments would achieve nothing. In His kindness, God gives us opportunities to confront spiritual and moral challenges allowing us to grow and thrive.
Knowing the secret to success is far different from traveling that path. Rarely do the divergent paths of life or death confront us head on. Instead, we make choices during countless, seemingly unimportant, daily moments. Being aware that small actions lead to a critical finish line makes it easier to steadily move in the right direction. Choose life!
Financial realities dictate that we raise the price of the 5 audio CD Biblical Blueprint Set. We will do so next week in order to give you a last chance to purchase them at the present low price. Take some time to explore the treasure trove of wisdom found in these CDs and discover the fuel they provide for making wise choices.
Thought Tools
by Rabbi Daniel Lapin
This is such a great article; right @ the core of this blog! I was so excited to read this great wisdom from the rabbi!
The Power of Choice has been given to us. I pray for you that you will walk in the wisdom that God gives you each and every day to make the right choices that will bring abundance in every area of your life.
Olga
