Seeds of Faith...

I am not a morning person by nature.  I have problems sleeping, so morning comes quickly for me, and by then I am in need of sleep.  I have been getting up earlier and trying to start my day by connecting to God.  I will take my dogs out and as they are wandering around the yard, I take a moment to thank God for this day.

I take a moment to look at the sky and the trees around me.  I try to soak in the moment of wonder that is around me.  I try to drink in that very moment and enjoy that time of the day, before the to do list of the day bombards my thoughts.

I have found those moments to be very peaceful, and I can feel God in my heart in a new way.   I know that it is written, we are to seek Him, and seek Him early.  I understood that to be when you rise, you are to seek God, so that you start your day under His protection and guidance.   But there is something about sitting in His presence as the sun comes up.

I can’t promise you this is something I will always do, as sleep is needed, but I can't even begin to explain the fullness and connection to God, that I feel in those early morning moments. 

I like to watch the trees filled with birds and squirrels and see how carefree their lives are.  To see them running around playing with one another, or hear the beautiful songs that the birds sing, it’s a beautiful moment.

Have you ever stopped in the midst of your busy day and just looked at a tree?  Just looked at it in all its majestic wonder, and think how many things this tree provides for us, by just being.  The thought that these beautiful strong, protective structures have come but from one tiny seed, is kind of mind blowing.

If you think about your faith in relation to the tree, you can see what you can become and how you can evolve.  A tree brings shade in those hot days and protection from dangerous weather.  A tree brings shelter to animals and homes to birds.  A tree brings us fruit and nuts and helps recycle oxygen.   There are many facets to a tree… as are there many facets to our faith.

Matthew 13:31-32 Another story by way of comparison He set forth before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.  (32) Of all the seeds it is the smallest, but when it has grown it is the largest of the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and find shelter in its branches. 

Many times our faith starts out as small as a mustard seed, and over time it grows and flourishes into a strong tree.   The mustard seed, as we see is the smallest of the seeds, but the one that produces the biggest harvest.  The one that has the largest return.

We know that we are all given a measure of faith and it is up to us to cultivate, and increase our faith.  It is up to us to take that seed of faith, and allow it to expand and grow into a garden of faith that can help and protect others.

Trees are firmly rooted in the ground and the older the tree the stronger and deeper the roots extend.   This in return means when a storm comes against the tree it is harder to be uprooted because it has deep roots.  The tree weathers the storm.  Maybe it has lost a few branches or a couple leaves, but the tree still stands in the end.

We should be like a tree and be rooted and firmly planted in God’s love for us.  We should be able to weather any storm without losing our footing and remain planted in our faith and trust of God. 

Seeds are amazing things, and when you have a small seed of faith, you grow that faith by learning more about the one who gave you the faith.  You extend your roots by spending time with God and His word.  When you have the word firmly planted in your heart, the roots of your faith are firmly planted in the ground of your Lord.

There is a definite similarity between nature and our lives.  There is a lesson to be learned while sitting in the stillness of nature.  A connection to be forged.  We can look to nature and see how we should be with God.

We can see that God has made all things in His image.   When we learn to come to God with our worries and fears, we allow Him to grow and extend our faith and trust in Him, while He solves our problems.  Or, He changes us in the meantime.

Many times God will not change your circumstances, but He will change you, so that your view of the circumstance changes.  He takes moments, like a verse about mustard seed, to show us the true potential of our lives, and when entrusted in His hands, that we can grow to maturity in Him.

You can have the smallest faith, but if you have complete trust in the faith that has been given to you, you can say to the mountain, move and that mountain will move.   Meaning, if you put your faith in the one that gave you the faith, and not in the mountain, or the movement of the mountain, you will see your life unfold before your eyes.

The physical mountain might not move, but you will.  You will be giving your control and expectations over to the one who deserves them, God.  Placing your life in His hands is difficult at times, but if you take a moment to look at a tree, and know that this too came from a small seed, you can see the wonder that God can do, when He has complete control of your life!

We all come from a seed of some kind, and when you allow God to open that seed and bring forth the potential that is held within the shell, you will begin to grow, and flourish just like a tree.  You will be firmly and deeply rooted in the love and grace of God, with the ability to weather any storm

 

Are you sowing in fertile ground?

Don’t you just love it when the Holy Spirit reveals deeper understanding and wisdom to Bible verses you have read over and over?  It takes a book,  words on a page, and makes them real.  It makes the words that you are reading, become more than words, they become words that are alive and full of power.  They are full of ability, to take you from where you were, before you read them, to transform your mind to a higher level after you read them.

Sometimes I have to sit back and say…wow!

Tonight was one of those nights.  I was reading Matthew 13:4-9 and had a wow moment.  It’s a parable I have heard many times, and truly I can identify with this parable on many different levels, but, but I never looked at it in reference to my circumstances.

Matthew 13:4-9 And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and ate them up. (5) Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil; and at once they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. (6) but when the sun rose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they dried up and withered away.  (7) Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them out. (8) Other seeds fell on good soil, and yielded grain – some a hundred times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much , and some thirty. (9) He who has ears (to hear); let him be listening and let him consider and perceive and comprehend by hearing.

Again, these are verses I have heard, read and even discussed before, so how surprised was I when the Holy Spirit revealed that this parable is like my life, and my current circumstance.

We all obviously want to be verse eight.  We all want to see a return on our sowing or a harvest for our seeds.  I would also expect, that most of us, would like the hundred times as much as we had sown, but wouldn’t complain with the other two options either.

But do we see that there are a couple things we need to do to get to this place of reaping.  The place of harvest doesn’t come easily; we have work we must do to prepare us for this time.

In verse four, we see that if seeds fall on the ground, and birds are around, the birds will eat the seeds.  To me this is like the person whose heart is so hardened to life, or maybe even to God, that they aren’t able to receive anything.  They aren’t able to even take in the seed to give it a chance, because they have become so distant from God. 

God is giving them a chance, just as He does with all of us, but that chance falls on hard ground.  I am sure this person isn’t able to hear God when He calls them, or see God in the beauty around them.  Truly they might not believe in God at all.  Their seeds are not put to good use, to further their lives, or the kingdom of God, because of their hardened hearts.

In verse five we see another example.  This time the seeds fell on rocky ground where there wasn’t much soil.  This time they were able to receive the seed, but the seed sprouted too quickly, and when the sun came up, they were scorched due to the lack of root in the soil. 

We never want to receive something from God we are not ready for.  We don’t want something that our hearts are not tender enough to appreciate, value and nurture.   When God gives you a blessing we want that blessing to stay with us, to thrive with us, and to grow with us.  When you receive a blessing before it’s time, it’s really not a blessing at all.  

This is a learning experience.

This is showing you that yes, you are not hard soil but your depth of soil is not there.  You have not achieved maturity in God, and in your walk with God, to handle the blessing that He is giving to you.   Anything that comes to quickly, or too easily, will burn out as quickly as it came. 

My mom had told me this the majority of my life.  This is the reason she didn’t buy me a car when I was sixteen.  She told me, that I needed to work for what I have, because then I will appreciate and value what I have.  And my mom would love to know, she was right.

When you are handed things, before you are able to understand what you have been given, and what it takes to keep what you have, in the long run it will end up hurting you.  To me, this is God’s way of showing you that life is in His timing, not ours.  That we need to trust Him and His ways so that when we are mature enough to value what we are given, we will handle it appropriately so that it can also mature with us.  We can take that blessing, when we are ready for it, and then bless other people with what we have been given or learned.  This is how we glorify God, and show our good fruit.

In verse seven the seeds have fallen in the thorns, and they grew up among the seeds and choked the seeds.  These seeds are now being planted in a deeper soil, a soil that has matured but hasn’t grown to trust God yet.  This soil is tossed and turned by its circumstances.   This soil will be riding the waves of emotions and their surroundings, allowing negative thoughts and people to steal their harvest. 

I personally have a bit of an issue with this.  It’s difficult to stand on the word of God, and His promises when you aren’t seeing anything happening.  It’s a trust unlike any I have ever known.

What I am learning is this, when I stand on the word of God and His promises to me, and fight back against the weeds, or the evil things of this world, I am allowing my seeds to grow and produce a harvest.  

If I spend time focusing on my situation, and or the lack of what I want in my life, I am giving the power to the weeds, and stopping the growth of my seeds.   We cannot flourish in negativity, and positivity at the same time; we must pick one or the other.  It’s the same as darkness will not survive in the presence of light.  You cannot have both in the same space.   When you enter a dark room and turn on the light, the darkness is taken over the power of the light.

When we give in to the negative thoughts we are extinguishing the light from our lives and our hearts.  We are meditating on the negative and in return allowing that to flourish and grow, to kill any chance we have of producing a harvest, from God.  You will produce a harvest, but not the harvest God has called you for.

Last but not least, the verse we all strive to be, verse eight.   Here we see the seed fell onto good soil and it yielded much grain.   This seed has brought us a harvest and the harvest can be anywhere from one hundred fold to thirty percent fold.   The thing to focus on here is the soil.  The soil has become deep, fertile soil, good for planting and good for reaping.   This soil has reached maturity in their relationship, trust and faith in God, and what He says.  This soil, though they still have doubts, fears and worries, like everyone else, they don’t meditate on them.  They hand them over to God.  They surrender their lives to the Heavenly Father, who created them.

They have realized that their lives are not their own, and they have been put here for a purpose and that purpose will be achieved as long as they stay focused on God, and His abilities, not their own.

This is what every Christian strives for.  The level, the deep level of connection, relationship, communication, and trust has been established on both sides, and that makes for a rich harvest.  This person has come to know by going through verse four, five, six and seven, that surrendering their lives to God is going to be much more rewarding in all ways, then trying to fight every battle on their own.

They have reached the level of maturity I am praying daily to find.

We all have the ability to live our everyday lives in verse eight. 

In verse nine, we see that we all have ears to hear, and the ability to listen, and consider, and perceive, and comprehend, what God is telling us and how He is directing us, it’s just up to us to take the time to hear Him. 

Every day we are sowing and reaping, every single day of our lives we are in these two phases.  Some days the sowing is hard and very obvious and we can enter into self –pity because of all we are giving.  In these times the reaping isn’t so clear and isn’t so obvious, but it is still there.   Other times it’s vice versa and life is easy and we are floating on a cloud, with a harvest coming from all directions.  But again, in those moments we are still sowing.

Jesus has shown us many times over, that it is up to us where our seed falls.  We have the ability to allow our seed to fall on fertile, deep soil and expect the same harvest.   Or, we can choose to stay where we are, or back slide and go back to who you were, and reap the harvest of your sowing into hard soil.

It is up to us how deep we want to go with God.  He will never force Himself on you, but you can’t hold Him accountable, when you get what you give.  God is a gracious God, and He will bless even the ones who have turned their backs on Him, but you can’t expect for God to give you a hundred, sixty or thirty fold in return when you have given Him nothing.

The choice is yours.  You will reap what you sow, there is no doubt in that, so why not reap a harvest worthy of the God you serve!  Why not be, or become, the fertile, deep soil that God has intended you to be!!

 

You speak out of the abundance of your heart

If you listen to the words a person speaks you will hear exactly where they are in their life.  Our words are a direct reflection of our hearts and minds.  You will be able to tell where a person is emotionally, spiritually, politically and independently. 

Our words have power.  They are like little bolts of lightning that we are flinging into the world.  The Bible says that life and death are in the tongue.  This is a statement that I think we don’t allow to carry as much weight as it is needed. 

When you speak death, you are speaking that into existence and asking it to adhere to the situation you are speaking of.  We have an enemy and he is just waiting with baited breath to jump at the opportunity to bring forth evil into your life.  He wants to keep you locked in a web of lies and deceit so that you are unable to see and reach for the love and life that Jesus died to give you.

In Matthew 12:34 we see that our mouths speak what is in our hearts. 

You offspring of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil (wicked)?  For out of the fullness (the overflow, the “superabundance”) of the heart the mouth speaks.

Our mouths tell the story of our hearts and it also discloses the shape of your heart.  If your heart is spiritually sound and beating the rhythm it was created to follow, you will hear that in the words that come out of your mouth.   You will hear the words that speak of truth, life and hope.  You will speak the character of God, when your heart is attached to His.

When your heart is in darkness, you will speak of darkness.  You will speak of things in a way that bring death to your dreams and to your mental self.  You will not speak of prosperity but of defeat.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:34 that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of our hearts and in verse 36 we see how important it is to have our words lined up with the word of God.

But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak.

That scares me!  I don’t know about you, but that truly scares me. 

To think of coming before God and giving an account of every time I have said something that was not uplifting, edifying people or Him, wow, that’s a daunting task. 

We need to choose our words wisely, and know, that whether we are speaking to ourselves or to someone else, we should be accountable for the words we speak.  We should be accountable for the ramifications of our words, and truly we will be accountable for the words we speak.

We should purpose ourselves to only speak words that build up and not tear down.  Speak words that glorify God and follow the character of God, not words that enable the work of darkness in our lives, or the world.

Our flesh wants to be heard, and to be accepted, but our hearts need to be right with God, and we need to be aware of the words we are sharing.   We are a disciple of God’s and we are His representation in this earth, which means, we are accountable for being His reflection to other people.

When you gossip or speak poorly of another person’s reputation you are speaking as a representative of God’s, and we know that God would never tear down another person, He would only build them up.

We need to make a decision to meditate on good things, things that are pleasing to God, so that when we open our mouths to speak, we will be speaking from the overflow of our hearts.

When you submerge yourself in the word of God and spend time in His presence you will begin to see that your heart is being cleansed.  Your heart is changing and starting to be filled with love and hope.  This then is what begins to come out of your mouth, and you are now truly beginning to glorify God, not only with your time, but with your words.

Our words have power, and our hearts is the originator of our words.  We can decide to become beacons of light into the dark world, and help to raise someone up, or we can decide to be pulled right down with this dark world.  

That is up to you. 

But keep in mind that every idle word you speak you will be accountable for!   This makes sitting and gossiping or being judgmental of another person, not as interesting or desirable.   Getting even with someone who has hurt you, isn’t as important when you think that you will have to stand in front of God and give an account for those words.

Be aware, be active, be a positive reflection of God and speak words that are pleasing to Him and to His children.    Remember always the day of reckoning and know that every word you speak you will be accountable for on that day.

Be the bridge of hope and love and allow your heart to bring joy and peace to your tongue.

 

 

Your internal renovation

There are a couple things that happen in the process of becoming a Christian, and not all of these things are told to you beforehand, or even thereafter.  I think they are kept somewhat secret to not scare off the new Christians, or the people who are hesitant to develop a relationship with God.

For me, I would have, and still would like to have a guidebook to what it is to be a Christian.  How the process will evolve or could likely evolve, I think it would be so beneficial, so people know what they are getting into. 

I think there is almost a safety net in knowing that when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, which obviously, I am a proponent for, you, need to know that things in your life are going to change.  

That is a given!

In my walk of being a Christian no one ever said to me, now get ready because A B C & D are going to start happening in your life, and this is normal.  You are not crazy, possessed or less of a Christian if these things happen.    This would have been so beneficial to me and my walk with God.

There are so many things I didn’t know, and so many things I still don’t know, but I can tell you one thing I know for sure, I thought I was doing it all wrong. 

I was convinced, and still have to battle daily, that I was the worst Christian ever, and God is going to through me out of the club because I made mistake after mistake after mistake.  

What I’ve come to know is that is satan’s way of keeping me penned in.  That is satans way of controlling me and not allowing my relationship with God to flourish, so I can’t be an asset to the kingdom of God.

I know there are some people who have been very fortunate to have a family that brought them up in the church, so they have support and knowledge of these things and what to expect, but many of us come to Jesus in a very different way.

We all have our own paths to Jesus, but many of those paths come from a place of pain and desperation.  Many of those times when we finally surrender and accept Jesus as our savior is because, unfortunately, we don’t know what else to do, we have exhausted all we can do, physically, or know to do.  We figure, if we can’t figure it out, then we best give it to God, and finally, allow Him to take care of it. 

The major problem there, is we should have given it to Him right away.

Most of the people who come to Jesus out of hurt, pain and desperation are coming alone.  They are not coming with a support team intact and they probably are not coming with an example they can look up too.  They are alone in this walk and they need to know that the walk is not always easy.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 9:17 how vital change is.  (17) Neither is new wine put in old wineskins; for if it is, the skins burst and are torn in pieces, and the wine is spilled and the skins are ruined. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.

To me verse 17 is telling us that it is vital to not allow us, as Christians, to be filled with God without letting God fill us.  God has to come and almost renovate the house He’s going to live in before He can reside in you.

The Holy Spirit is Holy, it is clean and it is pure.  The Holy Spirit is without sin, and is the Spirit of God that comes to reside in you, when you accept Jesus as your Savior.  The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to help guide you, correct you, comfort you, pray for you and to give you the words to pray.  He is our help mate and He speaks to God on our behalf, so as you can see, the Holy Spirit is a big deal!

I would imagine, when you first move into a new place, apartment, office or home you will clean up the area before you move in.  I would think, depending on the state of the building, would show you the level of your cleaning.  If you move into a brand new home you are probably not going to have to clean as much as you would if you were moving into a newly renovated home.

This is how the Holy Spirit is.

When the Holy Spirit comes to live in you He must clean up the place.  He must remove things about you that are not pleasing to Him, to make room for all the things He brings with Him.  You can’t make a one cup measuring cup hold two cups of sugar, and neither can your spirit.  Your spirit can’t continue to bow down to your flesh when the Holy Spirit is now residing there.

This is why you can’t put new wine in an old wineskin. 

Physically you can’t put new wine in an old wineskin, because as we read, the wineskin will explode.  The reason is the skin has already been treated internally from the prior wine, and when you place new wine in the skin it causes the wineskin to break down and explode. 

This is also how it can feel to be changed from who you were before accepting Christ, to who you are going to be, after the Holy Spirit is done with your renovation. 

I can tell you some days I felt like I was in an all-out war internally.  I was struggling so much with my brain, heart and spirit that there was no peace.  To be honest I am still in that struggle.  Some days it’s easy and then there are other days when I want to put yellow construction tape all around me and just stay indoors.

I think Jesus in a way, is giving us a heads up to not make the mistake of coming to Him and expecting to be the same.  I read an article recently that said that Jesus isn’t magic, and I had to laugh because though I knew Jesus wasn’t a magician it was hard for me not to relate to Him in that way.

He is telling us this is going to be hard, and when you continue to stay in the old man while the new man is trying to be created, you are going to struggle, burst or feel like you are being torn to pieces. 

The hope or goal is to allow the Holy Spirit to come in and start the renovation process and make you clean and prepared for the new wine, Him.   When we submit and allow the Holy Spirit to do the work that He needs to do, we don’t have to worry about the struggle or being torn to pieces.

Now, I want to make it clear, that doesn’t mean you won’t feel pain in the process of change, but what it does mean is that the process won’t be as long because you are working together and not against each other.   

I also would like to touch on what I mean when I say pain.  This can obviously be physical pain but most of the time, the pain comes from submitting to God and not your fleshly desires, or the way you used to do things. 

Example:  You know the person who annoys you beyond no end.  Just looking at the person sends smoke out of your ears.  The old you would avoid this person like the plague, and when you went to lunch, dinner, home or even at the copier machine you would talk about them.  You would speak poorly about them to anyone and everyone and watch out if someone agreed with you because this would cause the conversation to truly flow.   

That all feels good. You vent, release and move forward.  Right, nothing wrong in what you did… Or was there?   The new you will still have the urge to do all of these things but there will be a nudge, a pinch or something inside of you saying nope, this isn’t acceptable to God.  This is not you anymore.   BUT the flesh of the old man wants to have a go at the conversation.  This is an example of the pain I am referring too.  The pain of having to restrain yourself when you really want to join in with your opinions.

When we accept Christ we are a new creature in Christ and when we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in our lives we truly become a new creature.  The old us is torn away and the new man arrives.  There is a process and a reason for all of this and most importantly a major benefit in the end.

Submitting to God and allowing Him to guide you into truth and His light will not only change you, your mind, your spirit and your emotions; it will change the people around you.  You will see that people speak differently to you and they behave differently around you.  This isn’t something to be upset about this is something to be excited about, because they are reacting to seeing God through you. 

It’s really hard to be mean to someone who is being kind to you, and it’s really hard to continue to treat someone one way when you see that they are changing to something else.  We get to represent God in the process of all of this renovation.

It’s time for us to listen and take heed to the words we see in Matthew 9:17, and realize that for us to live the life that Jesus died for us to have, we have to die to our self.  We have to allow the old man to go away and the new man to come, so we can thrive and not be torn to pieces!

Fear... False Evidence Appearing Real

Today I was overcome by fear.  I was taken aback by this strong grip of fear that came over me like a tidal wave washed upon the shore.   The fear stopped me in my tracks and stole my breath.  The fear took control of my body and made my legs feel like Jell-O beneath me.  

The fear took a piece of my day, and I let it. 

The fear took a moment that I might have been able to step out in God, to help someone I care for deeply, but I succumbed to the wave of fear.

Fear is a very strong weapon of the enemy.  Fear has become something that satan uses to stop us from moving forward in the calling that God has for our lives.  Fear can be debilitating for some people and cause them to live by the trappings of fear instead of the freedom of God.

It says in the word that God did not give us a spirit of fear; but of power, and love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)  Fear is not our friend, nor is it the emotion that we should cling too.

We are made more than conquers, which means we have the ability and authority through Jesus Christ, to overcome our fear.  We have the strength and might to walk through the fear and see the other side.

In Matthew 14:27 we see how Jesus calmed the fear of the disciples, once they saw Him walking towards them on the water.  But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage!  I AM! Stop being afraid!

In the midst of my fear today, I didn’t take the time immediately, to reach out to Jesus and say, help me.  I didn’t immediately say to myself Stop being afraid, for He is the great I AM!  I allowed the fear to overwhelm me and engulf me in its power and control my mind, for those minutes. 

Fear is nothing but an emotion that satan uses to keep us away from God.  Fear is conjured up by satan and then released in our minds, usually the worst case scenario, that for the most part never comes to fruition. 

We worry, meditate and reason with the fear, which means we are worrying, meditating and reasoning with evil.  In those moments we are allowing satan to have control of our minds, when our minds should be controlled by Christ.

Some people run when they feel fear, some people are stopped in their tracks without the ability to move forward and lose precious moments of their lives.  Some people do it afraid.  I believe this is how God wants us to react.  I believe the God wants us to do it afraid.

We see in the verse that there are many exclamation points, which means that Jesus is driving home the point.  Jesus is saying strongly, sternly, that we should fight against the fear that we feel because He is in control.

We see him speak out loud to the disciples in the boat and tell them to take courage!  This is something that He is commanding them to do, not something He is suggesting.  He is saying take courage, gather yourselves and use the courage that I am giving you to be victorious over the fear. 

He tells us again to Stop being afraid!                                                                                  

There is a reason we are to stop being afraid, and that is because when you feel fear you are giving up your power and His, to keep you safe.  We are to learn this lesson and start defeating the enemy.  When you are afraid and have given into the fear, you are no longer able to be the one in control of your emotions.

It’s like you give fear the power and it grows stronger in your life.  Satan, also now knows that He has the upper hand.  He now knows the buttons to push to keep you under his thumb and away from God.   But we can rebuke that spirit of fear and put satan in his place, through the power and authority given to us by Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave us a very simple answer to fear and that is … I AM!

Jesus is our shield to fear.  Jesus is our protector against fear, and Jesus is how we win the war over fear. 

I love the acronym for fear.  False Evidence Appearing Real!  I am sure you have heard this before and it is oh, so true.   I know in my situation today that my fear was from satan to steal my moment with God. 

Satan sent his demons to take a moment that I have been praying for and distract me from the gift that God was giving to me and turn it into fear.  It took me hours, and help from friends to see that this was a God moment, not a satan moment, but I was so close to giving him the power.

I was so close to resigning this to a defeat instead of a victory for God.  I was so close to giving up and saying, obviously this is something I am just not strong enough to do.  And you know what I am not strong enough, BUT God is!

When we are feeling fear try to take a moment and see if you are connected to God in that moment.  Try and remove yourself from the emotion and listen for the silent voice giving you the power to overcome the situation.

It says in Matthew 14:27 that Jesus spoke to them, which means that the disciples had to listen.  They had to stop the fear long enough to hear what Jesus was saying.  This also means that we can do the same thing.  We can stop the fear long enough to hear the words that Jesus has to give us to overcome the moments that satan is trying to steal.

When we look to the source of the fear and acknowledge that it is from the enemy we can quickly and swiftly, turn our backs to the fear, and reach for God.  We can reach inside of us and ask the Holy Spirit to bring us comfort and peace. 

The Holy Spirit, remember is our comforter, He is also there to protect us and to guide us in the right directions. 

Lean on Him, call on Him and listen to Him.

If like me, you have given in to the fear, don’t be defeated and feel like you have failed and are now condemned to always lose, no, go to God and ask God to give you help in understanding of the situation, and how you can overcome it when it happens again, because it will happen again.

When we realize the power and authority we have over evil, through Jesus Christ, we will then begin to step out of fear and into the victory.  We will put the devil under our feet where he belongs!

Satan came to steal, kill and destroy… BUT I CAME that you may have life to the full and abundantly. 

We have the great I AM on our side and like Peter, when we follow His commands and listen to His instructions we too, can walk on water!!

 

Demand your Authority in the Blood!!!

Have you ever heard an alcoholic, drug addict or smoker say they know they can never do another drug, drink another drink or smoke another cigarette?  They say this almost with fear in their voice and in their being.  They say this with the full knowledge that it takes only one slip, one fall or more time for them to fall deeper into the addiction than they were before.

I think this fear that they will be worse than they were, or even possibly die, is what causes many of addicts to finally conquer the addiction, with the help of God.    They finally see themselves in the place of power over the vice, instead of the addiction in power over them.

Many people travel this road after hitting their all-time low.  After bottoming out in life.  Many will lose their jobs, families, homes, relationships, health and possibly their lives over their addictions, and yet they still exist. 

There are still people every day battling some kind of addiction.  There are still people accepting their weakness in the face of their adversary of addiction. 

Addiction hits home with me, as you will be able to see, if you have read any of my other blogs.  Addiction has ravaged a person, whom I love dearly, and to know that I am not capable of helping him, breaks me open emotionally every day. 

When I would hear him speak the words, I am weak.  I am weak to this pill, or to this drug, I would say no, no, you’re not weak to it, you are a strong person, you can do this! 

Spoken like someone who has no idea what his weak feels like.  He would identify himself with the weakness, with the level of destruction that the drugs have taken him too.  He would allow his friends to be friends that would accept his behavior and often times encourage it.

The sadness that was in his eyes at times was enough to take your breathe away and make me want to stand in his place, and fight this addiction for him, but sadly, I know I can't.  I personally am a fixer, so all I wanted to do was fix him, and the problem, but I knew I couldn’t, and still can’t.   I knew and still know, that he has to hit his bottom so that he can claim his new identity in Christ and begin his transformation into the person that God has called Him to be.  

There were so many times I would watch him and wonder what he was thinking, what was going through his mind or how hard was he fighting in that moment to be sober.  I could tell sometimes it seemed like he was being skinned alive to stay sober and then other times, it seemed to be very easy for him. 

Ultimately, he kept going back… and each time he went a little deeper than the time before.    I remember a moment, when he obviously was in pure desperation, and he reached out to me asking me for help.  That he needed me because he was becoming his old self, and he hated it.   The conversation that followed that moment was destructive and dark. 

I could see, touch, and smell, evil around him.  I could feel the battle that he was in at that time and how desperately he wanted to be different, but how much deeper he had gone back into using drugs.   It was as if the hole for him was deeper this time and he knew it, and so did I.

All of this comes rushing back to me in reading Matthew 12:43-45.  All of this comes flooding my heart and my mind, and I can feel the emotions of the time I spent with him.  I can feel how helpless I felt then, and still feel now, months later.  I can see the eyes of a person I love, but yet a person who is lost.  A shell of the person God has allowed me to see through His eyes.

These verses, to me, explain how darkness can take you, and then pull you deeper than you ever thought possible.

(43) But when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it roams through dry (arid) places in search of rest, but it does not find any. (44) Then it says I will go back to my house from which I came out.  And when it arrives, it finds the place unoccupied, swept, put in order, and decorated. (45) Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there.  And the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first.  So also shall it be with this wicked generation.

We see here that it isn’t just our imaginations, to the fact that when people seem to conquer one demon for a period of time, they fall harder and faster, than they were before.  

We see the deception, on part of the unclean spirit, and how it will flee when you put in the effort to make it leave, but it will not stay gone on its own.  The unclean spirit doesn’t care that you have tried to change, or have made a new pattern, or promise to yourself, no, the unclean spirit is only thinking to satisfy itself, and ravage you.  There is no thought in where you are in your life or recovery, its job is to destroy and take pleasure in it.  

This is why the fight is so hard!

We have to be vigilant to roaming’s of the devil.  We have to stay on guard and keep our minds alert to return of the unclean spirit.  We have to be aware of what we put around us, who we interact with and what we do.  We have to keep all areas of entry road blocked for demons, and evil.  

We can’t expect, though we do, that when we get rid of one problem, addiction, or circumstance, that it is truly gone, for good.  We are fooling ourselves if we really think that we have conquered, mastered and removed that evil. 

No, what we have done is great!  We have made the unclean spirit leave and have fought the good fight of faith, in that one battle, and then we relaxed. 

Then we take the victory lap and we let our guards down, and start to slack in the work that we were doing to gain the victory, in the first place, and before we know it the unclean spirit has returned, but this time with seven more.  The situation that we thought was horrible before is now more difficult by seven times.

What happened?  How did we fail again?  Why did he choose to do drugs again?  Why did they take another drink, even though, they know it could cause them death?

Why?

Because they let their guards down.  They became open to the demons that have brought them the problems, in the first place.  You can say they got cocky, which we all do in life.  We think we have this diet down pat and then we slack and slide and then ten pounds later we are feeling defeated, again.

We decided to not be as dedicated, devoted, on guard and as aware as we were before.  We made the decision, that we had this fixed, under control, and that opened the door for satan to come right back in, and take over the place he once inhabited. 

Part of our jobs as Christ’s disciples is to use what we have been given to win the war against evil.  When we decide to not be as obedient as we once were, we are only doing our job part-time, which isn’t enough! 

We have to be warriors for Christ in our own lives, as well as in the lives of others.  We have to take what we know works, and use it.  We have to take the Blood of Jesus and use the authority that we have been given, through Him and command for change. 

Fighting a battle is hard, it doesn’t matter what you are fighting, but being armed with the right weapons helps you win that battle.  When you come to Jesus, you accept Him as your Savior, you have the weapons you will need to fight any battle and win! 

You are armed with the weapons, the full armor of God, and this will prepare you for your battle.   We are in a battle every day of our lives, some days the battle isn’t so severe, and then other days you are fighting every second.   The key here is to always keep fighting.  To always maintain your stance or position of a warrior. 

Once you let down your shield of the word or take off the breastplate of righteousness you are taking off your protection.  You are allowing yourself to be open for an attack, and one that you are not prepared for.

When people are getting ready to run a marathon, most of the time they train for the marathon.  I wouldn’t think many people just wake up and say ok, today, I am going to run twenty plus miles, without any preparation.   There is training to do, shopping to do, mental preparation and schedules to be adjusted, everything in your life changes.

Your priorities shift to accomplish the goal at hand.  This is how we are to be when we are fighting evil.  When we are fighting against unclean spirits and the demons of the world, we are in a marathon, not a sprint.  You need to train constantly, by spending time with God, praying and knowing His word.

You have to fight off negative thoughts, negative people and negative desires.  You have to change your lifestyle from what you were, to what you want to be.  You have to train your mind, heart, soul and spirit, for the change that is taking place every day.

When you keep your mind on the word of God, in the word of God, and speaking the word of God, you are operating in Spiritual Warfare, and that is, what is needed, to not only defeat the enemy, but keep him gone.

Arm yourself with the word, and then speak the word, out loud.  Start doing this NOW!  Don't start when the enemy is attacking, or you think he is attacking, because he is always trying to find entry into your mind.   Start speaking Gods word Now, out loud, when you are at your weakest, I promise you that is the time the enemy will attack at his strongest.  Be prepared to fight every day and every second of your life, knowing that you are road blocking the enemy from returning, and bringing more evil with him. 

When you are fighting any addiction, problem or circumstance in your life, it is important to not only know the right path but to walk in it.  You can’t decide to stop using drugs on a Monday and be in recovery by Friday.  And you can’t expect your mind, attitude and desires to work that way either.

Arm yourself for the battle that you are in, be aware of what and who you are battling.  Make the changes for success instead of keeping the door open for defeat.  Become the person you were created for and do it by arming yourself with the authority and power of Jesus Christ.

Walk in the word, speak the word, then watch as those unclean spirits flee from you and when they try to return, realize that their once destructive home has been filled and changed with the power and authority of Jesus Christ Himself!    

What seeds are you planting?

I will often feed my dogs apples, and for a long time I would give my lab the entire apple, and let her eat the entire thing.  I never thought twice about the core, or the seeds of the apple, I just gave it to her and allowed her to enjoy her treat.

Not that long ago I read that apple seeds can be poisonous to dogs, and I thought about all the times I had given my dog apples, including the seeds.  I was immediately grateful for reading this article, and have not given her a whole apple since that time.

When I read the information I changed my mind and my behavior, because the information enlightened me on a subject I was ignorant too.  I never once thought about the seeds being toxic for my beloved pet, but now I know.

This situation can also be like the seeds you plant every day with your words. When you speak words that are positive and full of God’s word, and plan for your life, you are planting seeds with an expectation of a positive harvest.  You are putting the words of God into the world and allowing Him to prepare you for your time of reaping.

When we do the opposite we can also expect the same to come back to us.  When we plant the seeds of negativity and defeat, we should not be surprised when we find ourselves receiving negativity and defeat.

I know for me personally, it is very hard for me to speak positive words and have positive thoughts.  I was raised and conditioned to see and speak negatively about my life, decisions and surroundings.  I was in an environment the was stagnate, and growth seemed impossible.

It takes effort, and some days a lot of effort, to be positive and to have positive thoughts.  I can feel and speak that way for other people more naturally then I can when it comes to myself.  I am also finding I am not alone in this problem.

Matthew 12:33 tells us what happens when we speak positively or negatively in our minds, hearts or with our mouths.

Either make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit.

So here is the correlation, when we speak negative words, we have negative thoughts, live with a negative or stagnate heart, and then we produce negative fruit.   Your fruit will blossom from the tree that it is attached to.   When you are spiritually attached to negativity, darkness and God is void in your life, your fruit is going to be rotten and mimic the life that you are leading. 

When you are living a life of darkness, you will see darkness around you.  Your fruit or lack there of, will usually come in the form of darkness, negative thinking, a lack of change, lack of goodness in your life, lack of blessings and favor. 

You will probably live in an atmosphere where there is lack in every area of your life.  Your heart might be hardened to the environment you live in and to your sins.  You are more than likely disconnected from God and any spiritual outlets around you.    All of these things make for a very dark and unproductive life. This all makes life unappealing and distasteful.

When you are connected to the vine, to the tree, to the source and your words, actions, heart and spirit are all in line, you will see this represented in your life.  You will see brightness in your life and that is called hope.  You will have an outlook that will match your spirit.  You will know that All things are possible through Christ Jesus, because they are.

The fruit of the person who is connected spiritually will be abundant.  They will see the ease of life and have rest.  Their minds, spirits and hearts will be given rest, because they place their hopes in the Lord, not themselves, or their circumstances.

Please know, that I am not saying, that when you are connected spiritually to God you won’t experience hard days or sadness, because that is not true, you will experience these things, just like everyone else, but your outlook will be different.  You won’t feel defeated because you know that you are rooted and grounded in the one who produces good fruit, Jesus.

Jesus is our tree, He is our source.  He brings us favor, grace, mercy, love and blessings.  When you speak of the positive things in your life, you are speaking of Jesus.  You are calling for blessings and favor to come into your life, because you are calling on Jesus. 

We see in this verse that to be connected to a sound tree that is healthy and good, i.e., Jesus, you will produce good and healthy fruit.  When you are connected to a rotten tree, i.e. satan, you will produce diseased and bad fruit. 

I ask you which one would you desire?

If you were an onlooker and saw two people, one who was receiving good fruit and weathered the storms in their life with ease, and flexibility, and the other was receiving bad fruit, when their storms hit, they crumbled to the ground, whether the storm was a mild one or a severe one.  You saw the struggle of the bad fruit and saw the negativity that was around them.  Which life would you want to mimic?

I am sure, or at least hope, that you all chose the good fruit!  We want the life of abundance and we want to live a happy, joyful life, knowing why and how you are being blessed. 

To know your source, Jesus, is asking your environment to change.  It’s like being blessed with an inheritance you never knew you had coming to you. 

Jesus is the source of your good fruit.  The fruit that will cause people to look and then start asking you how and why you are so blessed.  The good fruit of Jesus in your life brings other people to want what you have, which brings glory and honor to God.

Jesus is telling us to choose which side we are going to be on.  Are we going to choose to produce bad fruit and live a life independently from Him and His love?  Or are you going to choose Him and receive the life of good fruit that will cause people to want what you have.

We don’t get to be luke warm.  We don’t get to live a life of luke warm faith, trust or dependency.  We have to choose one or the other.  Jesus will only let you straddle the fence for so long, before He makes you pick a side.

The decision seems clear to me, good thoughts, good words and a relationship with Jesus, brings good fruit!    

Just like when I didn’t know that apple seeds could potentially harm my dog, when I found out I made the changes needed to keep her safe.  Now, that you know what you sow you will reap, will you also make the changes necessary in your life to live the life of love, safety and abundance?

Let God carry your problems...

Matthew 11:28-30  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you rest.  (I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls). (29) Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. (30) for My yoke is wholesome (useful, good – not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but comfortable, gracious and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

In Matthew 11:28-30 we are being given instructions on how to handle trials and struggles in our daily lives.  Notice here that we are not being told that we won’t have troubles and trials, as we all know, we have been told that we will have trials and troubles, but what we see here is that Jesus is telling us how to handle these hard days ahead of us.

We all have bad days and good days; we all have times we want to pull the covers over our heads and say, not today!   But then we have days where we could sing and dance all day with a light heart and light attitude.  Oh, how I wish I had more of those days then the days of wanting to shut out the world.

One of the things I have noticed is when I am having a bad day; it’s usually because I am focused on negative things or situations.  I am usually either being self-indulgent or I am spending too much time worrying about a situation, or person, I can do nothing about.

There are those days that when we wake up we are in a funk or the opposite life is shiny and new, but those days come far and few in-between.  Normally we have a pretty average mood and then something happens to sway us one way or another.  We allow our emotions to dictate the day and how we will react to it.

Jesus is telling us that no matter what kind of day you are having, you can rest those emotions, those situations on Him.  Not that long ago I had someone tell me that they could handle the situation we were in, because he had big shoulders.  Meaning his shoulders were large enough to carry the load or problem for both of us.   To me this is what Jesus is saying in Matthew 11:28-30.

Jesus says come to Me if you are feeling overtaken by life’s circumstances, bring them to Me and I will give you rest.   Not only am I going to give you rest, I will refresh you, I will relieve your souls.   He wants to take control of what is hurting us or bothering us, or keeping us from Him and He wants to carry that circumstance for you.

Have you ever had to carry a large, heavy object and you had multiple people trying to work together to successfully carry the object?  When one person stops carrying the load it makes the load heavier for everyone else, but it’s not impossible.  When you are one person trying to carry the load of life, relationships, money, children, family, parents, jobs, homes, food, friendships and your relationship to God, you are trying to carry everything and if you don’t distribute the load, it will end up crushing you.  It will overtake you and steal your happiness.

Jesus wants us to hand our lives, including all the to do lists, all the friendships, all the work problems, all the family problems and health problems to Him, so He can be the one who handles everything and you can focus on Him.

Remember, as I’ve said many times, God is a jealous God and He will remove whatever takes place of Him.

In verse 29 Jesus is showing us how to decipher if the yoke we are carrying is His yoke, the yoke of ourselves or the yoke of evil.  It’s important that we are able to recognize these things so we are able to bring whatever situation we are in to Him.  When you see that His character and His yoke is gentle, meek, humble, lowly in heart and that you should find rest in His yoke, if you are not experiencing these things you are not in His yoke.  You have either not handed over your burdens, and allowed Jesus to keep them, or you are being very deceived by Satan.

I am classic for giving God my problems, burdens, people and whatever else I am feeling at that moment, and then five minutes later going back and picking them back up.   I begin the process over and over again, thinking I can figure this out or my worrying about the things I've surrendered to God will make the answer come faster, and it doesn't.  All it does is cause me to lose my peace and happiness and put distance between me and God.

I also have a problem with trying to reason out my problems, I will begin to try and figure out each situation and then reason out the situation and weigh the pros and cons.   This is not leaving my problems with Jesus.  This is letting Jesus babysit them for a couple minutes and me thinking I can do it better than He can.

The truth hurts sometimes, but it doesn’t make it not the truth!

Jesus then in verse 30 gives us examples of what His yoke is not like.  His yoke is not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing, but it IS gracious, comfortable and pleasant.  His burden is light and easy to be borne.

When you are walking outside of God’s yoke, you are going to experience the heavy feeling, the anxious feeling; the I need to solve this right now feeling.  You are going to feel pushed and pulled and unsettled.  You will not have a sense of peace; in fact you will have the opposite, you will feel as if everything is falling apart. 

We all know this feeling and it is a horrible, heart breaking, gut wrenching moment or moments.   But again, Jesus was so gracious as to tell us how we will feel when we are not following His yoke, or His instructions.

Handing over the problems in our lives to anyone, who isn’t us, is hard and even harder I think to hand them over to God.  When you ask a friend to help you with something you can physically check on them, you can, to some extent, continue to have some control over the situation. 

When you truly release a problem over to God and don’t go back and pick it up, it takes great faith to walk away and enjoy the rest of your life, while God is taking care of the problem.

That is what we are to do to everyday.  The way we are created is not conditioned to handle problems.  We are created to surrender the problems to the one who knows exactly what we need, Jesus.

Jesus is asking for you to hand over your worries, fears, anxieties, money issues, family issues, health issues, all that you are, the sum of you, and let Him have them. 

He wants to you drop off the problems and then walk away, and enjoy your life, while He takes care of changing either you or your circumstance.  

Just a secret here between us, usually it’s you that changes and not your circumstances.

When we are walking in the rest of God we will feel exactly as the word states, rest.  We will not feel the “rat race” of life, or maybe I should say it won’t affect us, because we are living for God, and not ourselves.

We were born to commune with God, to have a relationship with God and one of the things that come with a relationship is trust and compromise.  God is asking us to trust Him with our lives and to compromise our own need to control our lives and allow the master of creation to take over!

I will take feeling refreshed, comfortable, pleasant and rested, over feeling burden, heavy laden, harsh, hard and pressing!!   

Now all I have to do is learn how to hand over my life and keep it in the hands of the one who created it!!

Suddenly

The word suddenly, a word that I am quite fond, of has been playing over and over again, like the number one song on the Pop Charts.  This word is everywhere in my head today.  I try to shake it out and again, it just reappears…suddenly.

I like this word for many reasons.  I like the sound of it when someone speaks of their “suddenly” experience.  I like to imagine my own “suddenly” and also relive them in my mind.

I like the anticipation that comes with “suddenly” the build up to a moment that is life changing.  To that moment that you have waited so long for and then finally or “suddenly” it happens.

Suddenly, as we know, can also be filled with a negative connotation.  Suddenly doesn’t always have to be happy and positive, though in my mind, it is!  Suddenly, can be an opportunity, a life lesson, the opening for a chance to change and evolve.

I have had many suddenly moments that were not happy and joyful, in the beginning, but in the end the lesson and change that was brought about was usually worth the suddenly. 

I don’t know if anyone else has realized this yet, but our lives are just a string of moments put together leading up to the suddenly.  The pinnacle moment that changes everything, but truly if you think about it, suddenly isn’t suddenly at all.

Suddenly is what happens after you have waited and waited and waited some more.  I think, or I have myself convinced, that the reason why suddenly is so amazing, is because the waiting is over. 

We have received what we have been praying for, what we have been waiting for, and it seems like it happened suddenly, out of the blue, one early morning or whatever your experience is, but truly we all should know, that’s not at all how it has come together.

We have to know that there is a behind the scenes to everyone’s life.  There is a director behind the camera calling the shots; there is a great and powerful OZ behind the curtain, and He is the one who is bringing us these suddenly moments.

Our lives are a million moments put together and framed by the suddenly that we remember.  The moments of pain, tears, loneliness, praying, arguing and begging are washed away buy that moment of euphoria you feel when you’re suddenly arrives.

Suddenly to me can be compared to the Blood of Jesus. 

Before the Cross we were all sinners destined to Hell.  We were all living by a law that was impossible to keep, trying desperately to live a life that was out of our reach.  It’s like telling me I can knock out Mike Tyson with one punch,trust me, it can’t be done.

Our suddenly happened when Jesus Christ went on the Cross and shed His precious blood for us.

That opened the door and suddenly walked in.  

Suddenly, we were made clean.  Suddenly we didn’t need to live by the law.  Suddenly we had access to the Throne of God.  Suddenly, we received the chance for eternity.  Suddenly, we received the gift of healing.  Suddenly, we received forgiveness.  Suddenly, we received authority.  Suddenly, we received overwhelming life changing love.  Suddenly, we were whole.  Suddenly, we belonged.  Suddenly, we were adopted.  Suddenly, we received an inheritance. 

Suddenly…

I can’t help but comparing suddenly to the Blood of Jesus.  I can’t help but believe that all of my suddenly moments, I have been longing for; the moments I have held my breath for, all of those moments happened because my savior Jesus Christ, she His blood for me.

My opportunity for suddenly happened on that day. 

Because of Jesus I can experience a life filled with suddenly.  I can know that because of His supreme act of selflessness I can look forward to answered prayers, favor and blessings in abundance.

Because of Jesus I will never ever know the taste of Hell.  I will never have to sacrifice my child or my animals to make atonement for my sins. 

Because of Him I live. 

I am sure to the disciples, traveling with Jesus ,His arrest and being crucified appeared to be sudden.  I am sure it all happened in warp speed to them, but to Jesus it wasn’t.  To Jesus He saw behind the scenes.  He saw the threads being woven together to create the picture of our future.  He knew His purpose and He understood His call.

Suddenly changes our lives.  Suddenly alters the projection of the day, moment or year.  Suddenly will take the life you have become used to and twist it completely around and leave you changed in the aftermath.

Suddenly is God’s way of redirecting us, of showing us His plan and exposing all His behind the scenes work.  Suddenly might have only been a series of eight letters put together, before you read this, but I hope now when you experience a suddenly you will take a moment and follow the connecting threads to that experience.   And give thanks to the Lord who supplied all of those moments.

I hope that you can see all the behind the scenes work that your Heavenly has lovingly done for you, to get you to the place you are now.  I hope that even if your suddenly is a life changing suddenly that hurts your heart, you can still look up to the sky and know that your loving Father is there to comfort you.

Suddenly are just moments strung together by threads that leads us to the moments in our lives that we remember…suddenly!