Our Reality is VICTORY!

Posted on September 26, 2017 by daaorg1214

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith, because when we come to Him we must believe that He exists. Faith begins our relationship with God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9-10 tells us that when we confess the Lord Jesus Christ with our mouths, and believe in our hearts that Heavenly Father raised Jesus from the dead, we are saved! It is believing with our hearts, and the confession of our belief, that transforms our lives from darkness to light. We receive salvation this way and become born-again. God brings us into His family because we believe the truth in our hearts! This gives us some indication of how important it is to keep our hearts and minds anchored in the Lord through faith.

Faith doesn’t end after we confess the Lord Jesus and believe on him in our hearts. This begins our spiritual journey. Our relationship with God through Christ will grow stronger and tighter as our faith in His ability and willingness to bless us increases as well. We should trust that God will honor His promises to take care of us, but sometimes this trust doesn’t develop as smoothly as we would like. We get discouraged from trying to navigate the rocky terrain of life. It can throw a curve ball in a hot minute, and we become wobbly in our conviction to stand strong in faith. Sometimes it’s not just one thing, but an avalanche of problems and issues that come our way, and we feel bombarded and overwhelmed.

One of the things that we have to remember is that we’re not alone, and God doesn’t abandon us to deal with problems on our own. In Matthew 11:29-30 (NLT), Jesus Christ extends an invitation. He tells us, “29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” A yoke is a farming instrument constructed from a bar of wood. It was used to unite two animals, like oxen, enabling them to be steered and directed for work in the fields. As one might imagine, this was a heavy instrument, and a human being would not be able to maneuver well with this kind of yoke around his or her neck. Jesus Christ makes it clear that the yoke he wants to give us is easy to bear.

There is no question that we desperately need the yoke of Christ. We need to be guided by him. Many people struggle tremendously because they refuse his guidance, but we were never meant to go through life without him and without his help and guidance. Our earth experience is an opportunity to prepare our hearts and minds by growing closer to God and becoming better as we learn more about His love. He wants to be close to us, and he wants to help us.

Jesus Christ doesn’t want to move us about like puppets, but he is Lord! He is the only one that deserves this distinction. He tells us in Matthew 11:29 that when we take his yoke and place it on our lives, he will lead us into the kind of life that will be pleasing to God and fulfilling to us as well. He does this by teaching us about himself, because when we learn to flow like Christ, we move in God’s perfect harmony, and have wonderful communion and fellowship with Him.

God’s love is a magnet that will pull us closer and closer to Him, but we know that we have an enemy, the devil, and he wants to pull us away from God. One of the ways he does this is to bombard us with problems. If you feel as though you’re fighting alone, it can be exhausting, but the Lord Jesus Christ has already won the victory for us. 1Corinthians 15:57(NKJV) tells us, “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In every situation, obstacle, or problem that we will come against in life, Christ has already won the battle. You might think to yourself, “Well, it doesn’t feel like I have the victory. I’m still dealing with the same situation, and I feel overwhelmed by it.” Feelings and reality are two different things. God tells us in His Word to renew our minds to what He says. This means we’ve got to change our thoughts. As Christians, we don’t let our feelings dictate our reality. We believe God’s Word. He’s our Creator, and what He says goes. He has told us the reality of what and who we are in Christ, and our reality is victory!

We have a choice. We can either have faith in what God says about our victory, or we can be fearful and not believe Him; but we can’t be both. We can’t have faith and fear at the same time. The devil’s goal is to damage our faith in God, so that we do not trust in His love for us. When this happens, we sink low in our emotions and heart, and we stop doing things to uplift God’s Kingdom like giving and being a blessing to others. This is why the enemy tests our strengths, and comes at us with the things that get under our skin the most. We must recognize these tactics for the tricks that they are.

The peace and joy of the Lord is a reality! We don’t have to walk around disappointed, disgusted, and demoralized. Heavenly Father will turn our situations around so that He can receive the glory. Yes, what the devil meant for bad, God will turn it around for our good. But we have a part to play. God will not come into our minds and change things up. This is a responsibility that He has given to us. He tells us to change the way we think—to think on His goodness, strength, love, and mercy. If we will pray to Him with this kind of humility and faith, we will see the victory in our lives in every situation. ■

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Stuck, with No Way Out? Not So!

Posted on September 20, 2017 by daaorg1214

A few years back, a very sophisticated looking 37-year-old woman, Phyllis, asked if I would pray with her in confidence. She was adamant that I promise not to divulge her secret before she told me why she was so troubled and seeking prayer. After I had given her my assurance, she confided that she was being severely mistreated by her husband, and had been for the last few years. Although he had not harmed her physically, the emotional and mental abuse had left her barely able to take care of herself, let alone her two children from a previous marriage. Phyllis’s husband, Joe, is a very successful person. He’s not bad on the eyes, extremely sociable, and known to be well-versed about a number of topics. When she first met him, she swore he was her knight in shining armor—the man she had been praying to meet for six years.

Phyllis owned a small professional cleaning franchise, and although it was successful, the insurance she needed to carry on her business and employees was eating into the profit, and she hadn’t been able to keep up with the demands of an expanding clientele. With no time left for herself between her kids and the business, she felt as if she was being swallowed whole. Soon after she and Joe began dating, he introduced her to a friend of his who was an insurance broker, and that connection proved to be extremely beneficial to her business. It didn’t stop there. Joe’s resources were plenteous, and he seemed to love lavishing them on Phyllis.

After a while, she noticed that Joe became increasingly critical of the way she was conducting her business, and when she didn’t take his advice, he’d become angry. It was nothing for him to make an embarrassing comment about her during a social outing with friends, or to ignore her input in conversations all together. His resentment was so out of control that he’d belittle her in front of her children, and he totally withdrew any display of affection towards her. They were both social people, but Joe’s vengeance and jealousy was so unpredictable that Phyllis was too afraid of what he might do in public. She didn’t go out unless it was absolutely necessary.

Joe flipped the script to such a degree that Phyllis was left questioning her own ability to make sound decisions. She wondered how she could have been so wrong about someone that seemed so right in the beginning of their relationship. She was angry with herself for having married this man, and found it incredibly difficult to forgive herself for what she was putting her sons through. She said that she couldn’t remember what happiness felt like, and was so disappointed that her children saw her this way every day. Joe’s connections and money was entangled with her business, and her sons were dependent on his involvement and gifts. She felt stuck, with no way out.

Phyllis kept all of this from her family and friends, but she finally took one of the most important steps that we can take when we’re hurting, and it is to let someone in. When it comes to pain, many of us turn into keepers of a secret. We’re too embarrassed to let others see that we’re hurting, because we don’t want them to think less of us. We don’t want anyone to know that we’ve made a mistake that has caused suffering. In a nutshell, this is shame, and it is the most deceitful weapon in the devil’s bag of tricks.

Shame is a feeling that isolates us, and one of the first steps in its demise is to recognize that its grip is not strong enough to stop God from rescuing us. He’s our Savior and Refuge. Rescuing is what He does. Heavenly Father is never far away from us, and when we make even the smallest move to open ourselves to Him, He will take the ball and run with it. James 5:6 (NLT) tells us to “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” God wants us to know that prayer is effectual, and when a person who loves and honors God prays with and for us, it produces wonderful results. We need to know that it is available to pray and ask Heavenly Father to send someone across our paths that we can pray with; a confidant that will listen and pray without judging us. God is delighted to help us in this way.

Suffering, shame, and guilt will block our view of the Cross of Christ. It will keep us from seeing how much Heavenly Father loves us. We can’t see past the pain because it is a web that seems tangled and endless. It makes us feel as though there is no way out, but this isn’t the truth. It’s a lie that the devil wants us to believe. Jesus Christ tells us in John 14:6 that he is the way, and indeed he is. When we can’t see a door or a window, God will make a way out. He’s God, and He doesn’t need our help to be who He is. If we believe that His love isn’t enough to save us, we’re fearful. He tells us in 1John 4:18 that His love is perfect, and it will cast out fear every time. We just have to trust Him.

We’re so busy doctoring on our mistakes and missteps, trying to make ourselves perfect that we forget He loves us with all our imperfections. He knows the mistakes that we make, and He loves us in spite of them. In 2Corinthians 12:9, He tells us that His power works best in our weakness. So God has our backs, no matter the circumstances.

In John 10:10 (NKJV), our precious Lord and Savior said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Jesus Christ didn’t give his body to be broken, and his blood to be shed so that we would have a life more miserable than it was before we knew him. He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. He wants us to expand and increase, not shut down and isolate ourselves. He knows that when we’re operating from a good place, others will see our light and glorify God.

We spend a lot of time believing the worst about ourselves and our circumstances. 2Corinthians 3:5 tells us that God is our sufficiency. He is the only One who deserves this spot, but sometimes we begin to think that another human being can fill those shoes. No man can. God in Christ will forever be our rescue. We need to take a leap of faith and let God take over the reins. It’s easy to trust Him when everything is going well, but when we feel like we’re in the belly of the beast, that’s when we should give Him the chance to prove what a loving Father He is. It might feel as though we’re stuck with no way out, but He will prove that it isn’t so.■

Transformed by God!

Posted on September 13, 2017 by daaorg1214

In the Old Testament, God’s chosen people were often disobedient to His Word. Sometimes they would get so off track that they would worship idol Gods. This was something that goes totally against the grain of God’s love. Our Heavenly Father has laws, statutes, and commandments that govern creation. He’s a Great Big Wonderful God, and He holds everything together with the glue of His love. In Exodus 20:3, He commanded His people that they shouldn’t worship other gods, or have any other gods before Him. He is the Creator, and He is also the Source and Supplier of our needs. Our trust in this truth builds our relationship with Him.

Much like today, when it came to their relationship with God, His chosen people in the Old Testament ran hot one day and cold the next. The thing that we have to remember is that even though they didn’t always stick by God, He still loved them and wanted a relationship with them. In Jeremiah 17:4, He warned that the wonderful possession He had for them would slip through their hands if they didn’t get it together and recognize not only who He is, but who they were through Him. This is what Heavenly Father desires so much from us, that we will see Him as a loving Father that wants to take care of us, and that we will also see the greatest vision of ourselves through the eyes of His love.

Why was this so hard to understand for people living in Old Testament times, and why is it hard for those of us living today? In Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT), God gives us incredible insight about the human heart. He said, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” The heart that God is talking about in this verse isn’t referring to the organ that pumps blood throughout our bodies. He’s talking about the heart of our souls. It pumps life or death into every aspect of our lives. This is why God warns us in Proverbs 4:23 (NLT), to “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” God tells us to guard our hearts because in them contains the potential to bring about good or evil.

We are three-part beings; spirit, soul, and body. The heart and mind are parts of the soul. They are gateways, allowing the soul to receive and give out. The soul hungers. Therefore, you and I must also understand that it needs food. This is a fact of life. We determine the kind of diet it will be fed. Either we will feed it the good food of God’s Word, or we will feed it the stuff that comes from the world. The stuff that comes from the world is mostly toxic. God warns us in Romans 12:2 (NLT), “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

In this one verse in Romans 12:2, God gives us several juicy nuggets on which to feast. One of which is the reality that He will transform us as we change the way we think. God is not going to come inside our brains and begin throwing the bad stuff out and putting the good stuff in. No! He has told us to do this. And when He tells us to do something, He is not going to do it for us. In Colossians 3:10(NLT), through the Apostle Paul, God tells us, “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”

God wants to change our hearts so that we love each other, love ourselves, and love Him from a good place in our hearts; but we must desire this for ourselves. When we learn to love with the love of God, we can abide in His peace. Many of us like the sound of this, but in our hearts, we’re kinda hungering for the opposite of it. We have so much fear, and we tell ourselves that we’re not good enough to receive what Heavenly Father has for us. And some of us even tell ourselves that what God has for us isn’t going to meet our expectations. A lot of women secretly feel this way about their relationships. They hang on to the man when they’re not being treated well, because they convince themselves that they won’t find someone that is going to be truly loving towards them. Some of us just don’t like the idea of change. We want to continue as we have been.

Well life just doesn’t work that way. God designed it to be dynamic and ever changing. Life doesn’t flex and bend to us, we have to flex and bend to it. We must have the spiritual flexibility and strength to stand in the midst of life with the authority of Christ. This is when it becomes the thing of beauty that God intended it to be. But we’re stubborn, and we’ve got all kinds of excuses and reasons to remain that way. So, when life throws a monkey wrench at us, or more to the point, when the devil comes to steal our joy and reap havoc in our lives, we must have confidence that God’s given us a way to stand in victory, and it is to allow Him to transform us through Jesus Christ by changing the way we think.

Our minds and heart must come along for the ride, and go hand and hand with our desire to see the possibilities God has designed life to offer, but we must deal with the reality that we’ve got some baggage, and a lot of it is weighing us down. Sometimes we blame God for the things that happen to us, when we have blocked Him out. We need to change our appetites so that we hunger for the love that Jesus Christ offers. Heavenly Father knows the person we were meant to be, and He promises that He will transform us into this person—a person that will have unlimited capacity for good. Heavenly Father wants to show you what He can do for your life. He’s always wanted to show His people this, and when our faith in Him meets our desire to be transformed, we will be amazed by what He does.■

Behind the Veil

Posted on September 6, 2017 by daaorg1214

If you’ve never known what it’s like to be so afraid that you hide underneath an abandoned car for safety, or to run for your life seeking help from anyone that would aid you; if you’ve never had to survive off ketch-up sandwiches because that’s the only thing in your frig, or you’ve never had to leave behind everything you own to start over again, then experiencing what it’s like to walk in the glorious light of Christ might not seem like such a big deal to you. But if you know what living in bondage feels like, when every day you awaken with an ache in your heart that seems to resonate through everything else in your life, freedom becomes the greatest dream of your existence.

In John 8:36(NIV), Jesus Christ said “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” As a little girl in Sunday School, I remember hearing this verse all the time. I didn’t understand it then, and even when I approached an age where I might have comprehended it on some level, I was too focused on the cares of life to digest it. Like most of us, as the years went by, my responsibilities increased. I was more consumed with keeping all the balls in the air than I had ever imagined. But instead of being occupied with things that made my life more meaningful and fulfilling, I was busy putting out fire after fire. I’d take one step forward and two steps backwards.

For a while, I managed to keep it going, but eventually some really bad choices caught up with me. I spiraled down to such a degree that I didn’t recognize myself anymore. I had so much shame about the condition I was living in, and I just couldn’t see my way out of it. There are so many people in this situation, and when everything you see looks dark, you can’t imagine what life will be when light shines through even the smallest crack. This is life behind the veil, and it’s not God’s best; not by a long shot.

In Romans 12:1, God warns us not to be conformed to the world, but to allow Him to transform us from the inside out as we read and study His Word. The world consists of those who do not yet know Jesus Christ as Lord! They haven’t accepted him as the Savior of the world, and because they don’t know him, they are blind to the life and wholeness that he gives. The Apostle Paul said in 2Corinthians 4:3-4 (NLT), “3 If the Good News we preach is hidden behind a veil, it is hidden only from people who are perishing. 4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”

One of the greatest manifestations of spiritual acumen that we can receive from God is discernment, the ability to recognize the difference between the truth and a lie. This is golden! It is priceless, and it will ultimately yield a life lived well. Jesus Christ said in John 8:32(NKJV), “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” We cannot be free by living a lie. That is impossible. Only the truth can make us free, and this is why the enemy blinds the hearts and minds of people; because he does not want them to walk in the liberty that Christ has made available.

Proverbs 14:12 (NLT) tells us, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” This verse scared me when I first read it. I was concerned that it was possible for a person to be on the wrong path and not know it. I was afraid because deep down, I knew that I wasn’t living my destiny. I was anxious and nervous all the time. Things had slipped so easily out of my hands. I had lost out big time more than once. So, if it happened to me before, I thought to myself, “what would stop it from happening to me again?” Nothing felt sure and solid. Everything was like a vapor that could evaporate before my next breath. I had lived like this for so long, that it had become my normal.

God tells us in 1John 4:18 (NLT), “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.” I was fearful of being punished, and indeed I felt as though I had been. I was not living love. I was not living liberty. I was not living in the light. Jesus Christ is the truth! He is love, liberty, and light! But I was behind the veil, and you can’t walk in the destiny that God has preordained for your life if you can’t see the right path. Most of us think we’re seeing it. We think we’ve got it all figured out, even though we’re suffering inside.

One of the things that the devil doesn’t want us to know is that the moment light is introduced, darkness diminishes. In John 14:6, Jesus Christ told us that he is the way, the truth, and the life; no one can come to the Father unless they come through him. Jesus Christ is the Way-Maker! When we give room to the idea that we might NOT know what we NEED to know in order to see clearer, the veil is torn. And when we surrender in even the smallest way to the idea that Christ will lead us into the light, and teach us the truth, the veil is ripped apart.

Christ extended his hand of mercy to me many times before I reached out and took it. When I did, things became immediately clearer. There were still battles that I endured, but I was victorious through them all because of him. I didn’t lean on my own strength; it had failed me in the past. I decided not to expect a man to fill my cup, because I started to get it through my head that it wasn’t possible for another human being to do that. I leaned totally on God through the Lord Jesus Christ. I did it then, and I do it now. It is our prayer that you will do the same. You will discover, as I have, that He is all you need to rip the veil from your life and walk in the brilliance of the light of Christ. ■

Spirt-Soul-Body Connected

Posted on August 23, 2017 by daaorg1214

I remember the first time I heard Janet Thompson say that she was saved. We were sitting in third period Math class, and she sat in the desk in front of me. Everyone knew that something about her had changed. Janet’s mother was an entrepreneur when it wasn’t all that common for a woman to be one. She sold cosmetics and jewelry. Janet and her two older sisters were notorious in school for having extremely long, beautifully manicured nails; adorned, no less, with two or three rings on each hand. It wasn’t the real stuff, but pretty just the same. They loved their jewelry, so when Janet came to class without any on, and no makeup, everyone took notice.

After three or four days without her usual embellishments, one of my classmates asked Janet if she had gotten saved. She responded, “Yes, I got saved.” I had been in church all my young life. Being born-again I knew, but ‘saved’ meant something different at that time. At fourteen, I had learned to do what I saw a lot of other people do. I had learned to compartmentalize. I placed my faith in one compartment, and pulled it out on Sunday’s. I put the rest of my life in a compartment that allowed me to pretty much do as I pleased the rest of the week. I always had a certain sense of do-rightness, and I didn’t stray too far from it, but on the occasions when I did, I felt that God would give me a pass. To be honest, I just didn’t think that He was concerned about small details.

We all have those awakening moments in life that call us to a higher level of consciousness, most of them brief and far between. They serve as markers, and measure how synchronized we are to the destiny God has called us to. My sisters and I had never missed Sunday School, so I knew about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I didn’t quite understand it, but the knowledge that he gave his life for us was etched in my mind. However, that he would require anything from me, or anyone for that matter, was foreign to my thinking. So, the visual of Janet’s sacrifice coupled with her confession, “I got saved”, rattled my senses.

Why was she giving up something she loved in order to be saved? This is a question facing many people that are in abusive relationships. Saved and born-again are synonymous, but Janet’s willingness to let go of something in order to gain something greater resonates with me to this day. Her example changed the trajectory of my life. It spoke to my higher self, and planted a seed that would lift me out of forgetfulness and cause me to remember a love that never hurts, never condemns, and never fails. The love of Christ is our rescue. Some of us learn this quicker than others, but it took me quite a while to learn that a love that is real and true never hurts.

1Thessalonians 5:23 (NLT) tells us, “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” In this verse, Heavenly Father informs us that He is a God of peace, and He wants to make us holy in every way. He also gives us another very important piece of knowledge when He tells us that there are three parts to our total being; spirit, soul, and body.

In Genesis 1:26 (NLT), He lets us in on the dialogue that He’s having with His Son and the Holy Spirit. He said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” Heavenly Father created us in His image. The Godhead is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; three persons, three functions, one God. He created us to be three parts as well, spirit, soul, and body.

When Jesus Christ was in the earth, one of the Holy Spirit’s functions was that of helping Christ stay connected to the Father. This is how Christ, as a human being, was constantly infused with power and received communication from on High. The Holy Spirit helped Jesus Christ to accomplish the mission that God appointed him to carry out. The Holy Spirit helps us in this same way. John 3:6 tells us that the Holy Spirit gives birth to our spiritual lives. Through the Spirit, God endows us with power, strength, and ability.

Our souls house our minds and hearts. Our souls allow us to respond to God and to one another. They also receive information from the Spirit. Your body is a house. It is the temple that God calls ‘home’. 1Corinthians 6:19(NLT) tells us, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,” So the Holy Spirit and our human spirit are constantly communing and communicating, and our human spirit gives the soul this information when the soul will allow it. We can receive spiritual information in a way that will guide us in our choices and decisions and help us remain spiritually fortified. This is an incredibly precious and powerful connection, and God has given it to help us live the life of peace and love that He wants us to have.

Jesus Christ doesn’t require us to give up things that benefit us. It delights the Father to see us looking and feeling good, but the more we grow in Him, the more we will want to surrender the things that injure our souls and keep us from responding to the Father with faith, joy, and gratitude. The more we love ourselves through Christ, the more eager and ready we are to release anything that blocks the soul from receiving and giving out a Christ kind of love. It is a journey that we can begin at any time. The important thing is that we understand how overcrowded our souls become with internal and external noise. We need to make space for the love of God through Jesus Christ, and we can do it by getting quiet in prayer with the intention to perceive and receive what we need from the Spirit. ■

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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