A good practice to get into is to write at least 10 things every day that you are thankful for.
So here's some recent things for me. :)
I got a babysitting job! Finally I am working again and it's nice! :) I'm watching one two year old and she has been very well behaved so that is nice.
I took her to a park today and we read books a lot. I've actually never watched just one kid so this is quite different and so much easier than what I'm used to. God is good. :)
At one pre-school I worked at we literally had 24 two year olds in one room. Talk about a tough job. lol :) And two, sometimes three teachers.
Other good things....the Bible study I'm in Tuesday nights is pretty awesome. We are doing the Brave women's study and last night was on fear. Last week was on being undisciplined. I got the most out of that one. She was talking about the struggle of the flesh and the spirit and how it's hard to do what we know we should do. It's hard to be perfectly disciplined in any area of our lives. Very true.
Halloween is tomorrow and my church has a festival thing we may go to. :)
Pray Ben finds a good job with hours that aren't too crazy please. He is still searching. May God open doors.
I am very thankful for our apartment and that my car is still faithfully working lol after 10 years of having it. :) Nothing major has gone wrong on it in the last 9 years. Pretty awesome for sure. :) Yay for Toyotas!
I am thankful for God in my life of course. :) It gives me peace knowing that God will provide and work things out in his time. I know he has his reasons for whatever happens to us, and I trust him. :)
I am thankful that I will be having a daughter soon. I have always wanted a little girl. Working with this little girl just makes me more excited. Little girls are great! :)
I am thankful for Ben and how fun he is to be around. :)
I am thankful for always having enough food etc.
I am thankful that I live in America and that we are still free, for the most part. :)
Amen. God has been good to me!
May God bless you and may you notice it when he does. Amen :)
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
When God Closes Doors
Are closed doors Satan attacking us or God saving us from something? Why does God sometimes close doors? What is his reason for things that seem to hinder us?
Check out this amazing sermon by Joel Osteen! I think it is one of his best for sure. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BAshKeUIm8
He talks about the fact that God has a reason for everything he does, even when things don't make sense to us. We just have to trust God and have faith that he will work things out for us.
I'm sure there was a reason for why my husband's job didn't work out. For all we know, maybe he would have gotten severely injured at that job. There were some aspects to the job that were pretty dangerous.
Maybe Ben will make more at another job or work with better people or be more happy. Who knows.
This sermon made me think of the song by Garth Brooks "Unanswered Prayers." In that song he talks about a girl in high school he had prayed about that he wanted to marry. But years later he met his wife, and he was so glad God did not answer his prayers about the other girl.
We never know what God has in store for us in the future. But we know he does say, "For I know the plans I have for you....plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." Amen! :)
My grandma said to me once, "When God takes something away, it's because He wants to give you something better." And that is often times true. :)
Sometimes God takes things away in our lives to test us. And Joel says if we will have a good attitude despite our trial, God will reward us with something better. Amen! :) Let it be so. :)
I love the song "Blessed Be Your Name" when it says of God "he gives and takes away. He gives and takes away. STILL my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name!"
Sometimes that really isn't easy to still say, "God may your name still be blessed, even though you have taken this good thing away from me." But no matter what, God deserves our praise, because he is always good. He is always God, not matter what we are going through.
James says, "Count it all joy my brethren when you face trials of many kinds." We can't actually be excited when hard times come, but we can have an eternal perspective rather than a momentary one. We can "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal."
We can trust that God will work all things out for the good, because he always does. Amen :)
May God bless you! And may you trust Him still even if you are going through a hard time. Amen!
Check out this amazing sermon by Joel Osteen! I think it is one of his best for sure. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BAshKeUIm8
He talks about the fact that God has a reason for everything he does, even when things don't make sense to us. We just have to trust God and have faith that he will work things out for us.
I'm sure there was a reason for why my husband's job didn't work out. For all we know, maybe he would have gotten severely injured at that job. There were some aspects to the job that were pretty dangerous.
Maybe Ben will make more at another job or work with better people or be more happy. Who knows.
This sermon made me think of the song by Garth Brooks "Unanswered Prayers." In that song he talks about a girl in high school he had prayed about that he wanted to marry. But years later he met his wife, and he was so glad God did not answer his prayers about the other girl.
We never know what God has in store for us in the future. But we know he does say, "For I know the plans I have for you....plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." Amen! :)
My grandma said to me once, "When God takes something away, it's because He wants to give you something better." And that is often times true. :)
Sometimes God takes things away in our lives to test us. And Joel says if we will have a good attitude despite our trial, God will reward us with something better. Amen! :) Let it be so. :)
I love the song "Blessed Be Your Name" when it says of God "he gives and takes away. He gives and takes away. STILL my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be your name!"
Sometimes that really isn't easy to still say, "God may your name still be blessed, even though you have taken this good thing away from me." But no matter what, God deserves our praise, because he is always good. He is always God, not matter what we are going through.
James says, "Count it all joy my brethren when you face trials of many kinds." We can't actually be excited when hard times come, but we can have an eternal perspective rather than a momentary one. We can "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal."
We can trust that God will work all things out for the good, because he always does. Amen :)
May God bless you! And may you trust Him still even if you are going through a hard time. Amen!
The Power of The Holy Spirit
What is the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives? How does He help us? Can we have more or less of God's Spirit in us?
I would say first of all, yes can we have more or less of God's Spirit. The level of God's Spirit inside of us fluctuates based on how we live and what we do. The more we sow to the Spirit and feed the Spirit inside of us, the more God will fill us with His Spirit.
Luke 11:13
"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
We can have less or more of the Holy Spirit, by asking God, and by remaining in Jesus. We are so crippled in our main stream churches since the Holy Spirit is never discussed. He is like our secret super power! We need to always be asking for more of God's Spirit, because that is what enables us to walk the Christian walk the MOST.
When we are saved and put our faith in Jesus, we receive the Spirit. But the level of how much He is inside of us and controls what we do depends on us. How much do we feed the Spirit vs. our flesh?
Ephesians 4:13
"Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."
We are constantly being filled more and more with God's Spirit until one day we will finally reach "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." We can never be totally filled with the Holy Spirit in this life because we will always have our flesh, our sin nature, which detracts from God's Spirit inside of us or wars against it.
It is not until heaven when we will be totally filled to the fullness that Christ was with God's Spirit. But we can grow into this fullness. We can go from "glory to glory" and be filled with an ever increasing measure of God's Spirit as we remain in Him by constantly eating His word and drinking of the Spirit, which I think is best done in worship. :)
How does the Holy Spirit help us?
1. The Holy Spirit Keeps US From Sin
Romans 8:9
"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
3. The Holy Spirit Fills Us with Boldness to Witness
Mathew 10:19
"But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you."
I have heard many accounts of this happening to people when they got up to speak to a group. They are amazed at how it seems like God is speaking through them. They have no idea how they just gave the talk or shared the story that they just did, because it seemed to not be them speaking but God's Spirit speaking through them. :) So cool!
Acts 2:1-47
"When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
This is the same thing that Jesus told his disciples would happen, only this time they are sharing the gospel in other languages. This time they knew for sure had nothing to do with they were saying, because how could they speak in these other languages if it weren't God speaking through them. Amazing for sure. :)
Also, in Revelation Jesus' voice is described as sounding like rushing waters. Here the Holy Spirit coming down sounds like "rushing wind." :)
The Holy Spirit spoke through them and enabled them to share the gospel with thousands of people they would not otherwise have been able to. Acts 2:41 says, "that day about three thousand souls were added to them," the church. Wow. Talk about a huge alter call. :)
Again the disciples and those in the early church were filled with the Holy Spirit. This shows that this extra filling experience comes and goes. The Holy Spirit is always subtly inside of us when we are saved, because we God's temple, but sometimes he comes on us more strongly than others.
The effect of this was that they spread God's word even more boldly. They weren't afraid of what man said anymore or what people thought. They preached the word in any way they could. :) Amen. So cool. :)
This power given when the Holy Spirit comes on us is meant to enable us to be God's witnesses even more. I suppose it could be said that I am full of the Holy Spirit when I write these blogs. The effect is that I want to share the gospel as much as I can, so the cause must be that I get filled with God's Spirit more when I write more. Amen. Holy Spirit fill me so I can be more of a witness for God. :)
Acts 4:8
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders..."
This is an example of Peter, one of the disciples, doing exactly what Jesus said he would do. Jesus told him that what he needed to say would be given to him by the Holy Spirit, and it was. Peter had never spoken so boldly. Peter was transformed from one who greatly feared man, to a bold witness for Jesus. He went from denying Jesus three times the night he died, to proudly proclaiming the gospel in front of thousands. This had to be by the power of the Holy Spirit. Anytime you see a drastic change in someone's life where they become more bold for Jesus, that is because of the Holy Spirit inside of them. Amen. :)
I know when I have shared my testimony I get so nervous beforehand, but then this amazing peace comes over me once I start to share. I know that is God. :) I have the hardest time speaking in front of people, as most do. :) But it is God's Spirit who has given me the courage to do so every time. Amen. :)
Once when I was in 5th grade and I had to do a presentation that was video tapped I literally started crying I was so nervous lol. But then, after I was filled with God's Spirit at 14, I shared my testimony in front of thousands literally at Mariners church in CA. That could only have been through God's Spirit inside of me. Me in my natural state would never have done something like that. lol :) God is good.
2 Peter 1:21
"For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
The Holy Spirit spoke through those who wrote the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets. The Holy Spirit spoke through Jesus. And today He speaks through us, God's church. Praise God. :)
Isaiah 61:1
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound."
This was what Jesus did, and this is what we as Christians are to do. We are to "bring good news" to all men. We are to share the gospel, that Jesus can save anyone who puts their faith in Him. We are to help bind up the wounds of the broken hearted. The Holy Spirit is referred to our counselors. He can help heal us from the wounds of our past. And we are to help others heal from their wounds as the Holy Spirit leads us.
We are also to proclaim liberty for the captives. This is to tell people that Jesus can free them from the bondage of sin, from their addictions, from anything they cannot control. Jesus can give them power to defeat the evil one in their lives. Amen! :) We are also to set prisoners free. We are to cast demons out of people as God leads us. I personally have never done this but we can do this through the power of God's Spirit inside of us. :) Jesus said we will do even greater things than he did. The same Spirit that was in Him is inside of us. :)
4. Tongues are Not the Only Evidence of Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
Acts 9:17
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
In this example, Paul did not pray in tongues right after he was filled with the Holy Spirit. There is no mention of Paul praying in tongues in Acts anywhere actually. We only know that he did because he talks about it to the church in Corinth in 1 Cor. 14.
So if you have not prayed in tongues ever, as I have not either, don't worry, it does not mean you have not been filled with the Holy Spirit. :) God's Spirit fills people in different ways and has different effects on different people. Amen. :)
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."
Something to keep in mind in regards to praying in tongues. Love ought to come first. We are not to get in spiritual competitions with each other regarding who is more spiritual or who is more filled with God's spirit. "Judge not lest ye be judged." We are to first and foremost love others. The gifts of the Spirit are meant to express God's love more, not cause us to compete more and divide the church. The gifts of the Spirit are meant to unify and encourage the church. Amen :)
1 Corinthians 12:11
"All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills."
"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts."
Here the gifts of the Spirit seem to be ranked. The "higher gifts" he refers to are apostles, prophets, teachers etc. In 1 Cor. 14 he tells those in Corinth over and over again to desire to prophecy rather than speak in tongues, because then others are edified. We need to be filled with the Spirit in gifts that build up the body. Prophecy and teaching build up others. Tongues usually primarily build up oneself. It is still good, but it not as useful to the church as a whole as prophecy and teaching are.
Also this makes it clear that not all will have the same gift, as Pentecostals like to say. Not all in the body of Christ will speak in tongues. We need all the gifts, not just one. :)
The Spirit is always praying to God for us. He is on our side. He is our helper. When we mess up, as we all will in our Christian walk, the Holy Spirit intercedes to God for us. Or if we have a need, the Holy Spirit will petition what we need to the Father, even if we don't necessarily pray about it. :) I know there have been times where I got something I was wanting but didn't really pray about it really. This was probably because God's Spirit in me knew what I wanted and asked God the Father for it and that was how I got it. Awesome huh. :)
The Spirit helps us to grow more and more like Jesus. That is the whole goal of the Christian life, to become more and more like Christ. The more we are led by the Spirit, the more we accomplish this.
The Spirit leads us from "one degree of glory to another" as we are filled more and more by Him.
Titus 3:5
"He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit."
It is the Holy Spirit who regenerates us, which makes it even more sad that most churches ignore the Spirit and do not talk about Him. He is our source of renewal. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." How are our minds renewed? By God's Spirit that is inside of us. But we have to LET him change us. We cannot change ourselves. We need to learn more and more to rely on God, to lean on Jesus, and to open ourselves up to be changed and transformed by God's Holy Spirit inside of us. Amen! :)
Galatians 3:2-3
"Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"
We cannot save ourselves, and we cannot sanctify ourselves apart from God. We cannot work in the flesh for our sanctification. Instead we need to be filled more and more by the Spirit. Our focus is on the Spirit and falling more in love with God and Jesus, not on legalistically fulfilling the law. We do not do the Christian walk on our own. We need to rely on God's Spirit in us. Jesus said, "Apart from you can do nothing." Amen.
We need to take care of our body because it is now a temple of God. This means taking care of ourselves; sleeping enough, eating right, etc. Don't pollute God's temple. Don't fill God's temple with trash via certain media and worldly influences. Keep yourself pure, because you are now the home of God himself. Amazing isn't it?! If you really think about it. :)
We have a responsibility to keep ourselves healthy, because we are not our own anymore. We have been bought at a price. We need to not let food master us, or to let any substance master us and kill our body.
In the Old Testament A LOT of care was put into God's temple built by Solomon. It was exquisite. It was immaculate. We are called to build ourselves into just as much of a beautiful temple for God's Spirit. The more we purify our temple, our body, the more God's Spirit will fill us, because he will feel more welcomed by us and in us. We need to create a good home for God's Spirit in us. We have a responsibility to do so. It is the least we can do given all that God has done for us. Amen.
Many charismatic people want to say that they have been "baptized in the Holy Spirit" because they pray in tongues, but that all of us normal Christians have not. That is not true. When we put our faith in Christ, and call on the name of the Lord, we ARE saved and we receive, or are baptized, in the Holy Spirit in that moment.
"Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
When we are saved, we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. These happen in the same moment. Don't let anyone tell you that you have not been baptized already in the Holy Spirit if you believe. You have been. Amen. :)
1 Corinthians 12:1-14:40
"No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit."
In order for us to even say Jesus is Lord, which every Christian does proclaim, God's Spirit has to be inside of us. Therefore, any Christian is already filled and baptized with the Holy Spirit. :)
(And I feel a slight sadness now that this massive undertaking of a blog is complete lol because it was fun for me myself to learn more about God's Spirit and all that He does for us! Amen. God is good. :)
In conclusion here is a GREAT song for you. :)
"Holy Spirit you are welcome here. Come fill this place and flood the atmosphere. Your glory God is what our hearts long for. To be overcome by your presence Lord....."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjSynw6fN1U May you feel God and His Spirit in this song as much I do! Amen :)
And may God bless you more and more as you seek to follow Him!
May you be filled MORE AND MORE with God's Holy Spirit!
Grace and peace be with you always. :)
I would say first of all, yes can we have more or less of God's Spirit. The level of God's Spirit inside of us fluctuates based on how we live and what we do. The more we sow to the Spirit and feed the Spirit inside of us, the more God will fill us with His Spirit.
Luke 11:13
"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
We can have less or more of the Holy Spirit, by asking God, and by remaining in Jesus. We are so crippled in our main stream churches since the Holy Spirit is never discussed. He is like our secret super power! We need to always be asking for more of God's Spirit, because that is what enables us to walk the Christian walk the MOST.
When we are saved and put our faith in Jesus, we receive the Spirit. But the level of how much He is inside of us and controls what we do depends on us. How much do we feed the Spirit vs. our flesh?
Ephesians 4:13
"Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."
We are constantly being filled more and more with God's Spirit until one day we will finally reach "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." We can never be totally filled with the Holy Spirit in this life because we will always have our flesh, our sin nature, which detracts from God's Spirit inside of us or wars against it.
It is not until heaven when we will be totally filled to the fullness that Christ was with God's Spirit. But we can grow into this fullness. We can go from "glory to glory" and be filled with an ever increasing measure of God's Spirit as we remain in Him by constantly eating His word and drinking of the Spirit, which I think is best done in worship. :)
How does the Holy Spirit help us?
1. The Holy Spirit Keeps US From Sin
Galatians 5:16
"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."
It is a conscious decision that we make every day to walk in the Spirit as Christians. We can either choose to walk in our flesh, the old man before Christ, or to walk in the Spirit. Non-Christians do not have this choice. They always walk in the flesh and are slaves to the sinful nature inside of them. But when are saved we have a choice. Paul says, "If by the Spirit you put away the misdeeds of the flesh you will live." It is our decision.Romans 8:9
"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."
3. The Holy Spirit Fills Us with Boldness to Witness
Mathew 10:19
"But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you."
I have heard many accounts of this happening to people when they got up to speak to a group. They are amazed at how it seems like God is speaking through them. They have no idea how they just gave the talk or shared the story that they just did, because it seemed to not be them speaking but God's Spirit speaking through them. :) So cool!
Acts 2:1-47
"When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."
This is the same thing that Jesus told his disciples would happen, only this time they are sharing the gospel in other languages. This time they knew for sure had nothing to do with they were saying, because how could they speak in these other languages if it weren't God speaking through them. Amazing for sure. :)
Also, in Revelation Jesus' voice is described as sounding like rushing waters. Here the Holy Spirit coming down sounds like "rushing wind." :)
The Holy Spirit spoke through them and enabled them to share the gospel with thousands of people they would not otherwise have been able to. Acts 2:41 says, "that day about three thousand souls were added to them," the church. Wow. Talk about a huge alter call. :)
Acts 4:31
"And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness."Again the disciples and those in the early church were filled with the Holy Spirit. This shows that this extra filling experience comes and goes. The Holy Spirit is always subtly inside of us when we are saved, because we God's temple, but sometimes he comes on us more strongly than others.
The effect of this was that they spread God's word even more boldly. They weren't afraid of what man said anymore or what people thought. They preached the word in any way they could. :) Amen. So cool. :)
Acts 1:8
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”This power given when the Holy Spirit comes on us is meant to enable us to be God's witnesses even more. I suppose it could be said that I am full of the Holy Spirit when I write these blogs. The effect is that I want to share the gospel as much as I can, so the cause must be that I get filled with God's Spirit more when I write more. Amen. Holy Spirit fill me so I can be more of a witness for God. :)
Acts 4:8
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders..."
This is an example of Peter, one of the disciples, doing exactly what Jesus said he would do. Jesus told him that what he needed to say would be given to him by the Holy Spirit, and it was. Peter had never spoken so boldly. Peter was transformed from one who greatly feared man, to a bold witness for Jesus. He went from denying Jesus three times the night he died, to proudly proclaiming the gospel in front of thousands. This had to be by the power of the Holy Spirit. Anytime you see a drastic change in someone's life where they become more bold for Jesus, that is because of the Holy Spirit inside of them. Amen. :)
I know when I have shared my testimony I get so nervous beforehand, but then this amazing peace comes over me once I start to share. I know that is God. :) I have the hardest time speaking in front of people, as most do. :) But it is God's Spirit who has given me the courage to do so every time. Amen. :)
Once when I was in 5th grade and I had to do a presentation that was video tapped I literally started crying I was so nervous lol. But then, after I was filled with God's Spirit at 14, I shared my testimony in front of thousands literally at Mariners church in CA. That could only have been through God's Spirit inside of me. Me in my natural state would never have done something like that. lol :) God is good.
2 Peter 1:21
"For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
The Holy Spirit spoke through those who wrote the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets. The Holy Spirit spoke through Jesus. And today He speaks through us, God's church. Praise God. :)
Isaiah 61:1
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound."
This was what Jesus did, and this is what we as Christians are to do. We are to "bring good news" to all men. We are to share the gospel, that Jesus can save anyone who puts their faith in Him. We are to help bind up the wounds of the broken hearted. The Holy Spirit is referred to our counselors. He can help heal us from the wounds of our past. And we are to help others heal from their wounds as the Holy Spirit leads us.
We are also to proclaim liberty for the captives. This is to tell people that Jesus can free them from the bondage of sin, from their addictions, from anything they cannot control. Jesus can give them power to defeat the evil one in their lives. Amen! :) We are also to set prisoners free. We are to cast demons out of people as God leads us. I personally have never done this but we can do this through the power of God's Spirit inside of us. :) Jesus said we will do even greater things than he did. The same Spirit that was in Him is inside of us. :)
4. Tongues are Not the Only Evidence of Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
Acts 9:17
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
In this example, Paul did not pray in tongues right after he was filled with the Holy Spirit. There is no mention of Paul praying in tongues in Acts anywhere actually. We only know that he did because he talks about it to the church in Corinth in 1 Cor. 14.
So if you have not prayed in tongues ever, as I have not either, don't worry, it does not mean you have not been filled with the Holy Spirit. :) God's Spirit fills people in different ways and has different effects on different people. Amen. :)
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."
Something to keep in mind in regards to praying in tongues. Love ought to come first. We are not to get in spiritual competitions with each other regarding who is more spiritual or who is more filled with God's spirit. "Judge not lest ye be judged." We are to first and foremost love others. The gifts of the Spirit are meant to express God's love more, not cause us to compete more and divide the church. The gifts of the Spirit are meant to unify and encourage the church. Amen :)
1 Corinthians 12:11
"All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills."
"Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts."
Here the gifts of the Spirit seem to be ranked. The "higher gifts" he refers to are apostles, prophets, teachers etc. In 1 Cor. 14 he tells those in Corinth over and over again to desire to prophecy rather than speak in tongues, because then others are edified. We need to be filled with the Spirit in gifts that build up the body. Prophecy and teaching build up others. Tongues usually primarily build up oneself. It is still good, but it not as useful to the church as a whole as prophecy and teaching are.
Also this makes it clear that not all will have the same gift, as Pentecostals like to say. Not all in the body of Christ will speak in tongues. We need all the gifts, not just one. :)
Romans 8:27
"And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."The Spirit is always praying to God for us. He is on our side. He is our helper. When we mess up, as we all will in our Christian walk, the Holy Spirit intercedes to God for us. Or if we have a need, the Holy Spirit will petition what we need to the Father, even if we don't necessarily pray about it. :) I know there have been times where I got something I was wanting but didn't really pray about it really. This was probably because God's Spirit in me knew what I wanted and asked God the Father for it and that was how I got it. Awesome huh. :)
6. The Spirit helps us to Grow in Our Sanctification
2 Corinthians 3:18
"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."The Spirit helps us to grow more and more like Jesus. That is the whole goal of the Christian life, to become more and more like Christ. The more we are led by the Spirit, the more we accomplish this.
The Spirit leads us from "one degree of glory to another" as we are filled more and more by Him.
Titus 3:5
"He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit."
It is the Holy Spirit who regenerates us, which makes it even more sad that most churches ignore the Spirit and do not talk about Him. He is our source of renewal. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." How are our minds renewed? By God's Spirit that is inside of us. But we have to LET him change us. We cannot change ourselves. We need to learn more and more to rely on God, to lean on Jesus, and to open ourselves up to be changed and transformed by God's Holy Spirit inside of us. Amen! :)
Galatians 3:2-3
"Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"
We cannot save ourselves, and we cannot sanctify ourselves apart from God. We cannot work in the flesh for our sanctification. Instead we need to be filled more and more by the Spirit. Our focus is on the Spirit and falling more in love with God and Jesus, not on legalistically fulfilling the law. We do not do the Christian walk on our own. We need to rely on God's Spirit in us. Jesus said, "Apart from you can do nothing." Amen.
1 Corinthians 6:19
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own."We need to take care of our body because it is now a temple of God. This means taking care of ourselves; sleeping enough, eating right, etc. Don't pollute God's temple. Don't fill God's temple with trash via certain media and worldly influences. Keep yourself pure, because you are now the home of God himself. Amazing isn't it?! If you really think about it. :)
We have a responsibility to keep ourselves healthy, because we are not our own anymore. We have been bought at a price. We need to not let food master us, or to let any substance master us and kill our body.
In the Old Testament A LOT of care was put into God's temple built by Solomon. It was exquisite. It was immaculate. We are called to build ourselves into just as much of a beautiful temple for God's Spirit. The more we purify our temple, our body, the more God's Spirit will fill us, because he will feel more welcomed by us and in us. We need to create a good home for God's Spirit in us. We have a responsibility to do so. It is the least we can do given all that God has done for us. Amen.
John 1:33
"I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ "Many charismatic people want to say that they have been "baptized in the Holy Spirit" because they pray in tongues, but that all of us normal Christians have not. That is not true. When we put our faith in Christ, and call on the name of the Lord, we ARE saved and we receive, or are baptized, in the Holy Spirit in that moment.
Mark 1:8
"I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”"Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
When we are saved, we are baptized in the Holy Spirit. These happen in the same moment. Don't let anyone tell you that you have not been baptized already in the Holy Spirit if you believe. You have been. Amen. :)
1 Corinthians 12:1-14:40
"No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit."
In order for us to even say Jesus is Lord, which every Christian does proclaim, God's Spirit has to be inside of us. Therefore, any Christian is already filled and baptized with the Holy Spirit. :)
(And I feel a slight sadness now that this massive undertaking of a blog is complete lol because it was fun for me myself to learn more about God's Spirit and all that He does for us! Amen. God is good. :)
In conclusion here is a GREAT song for you. :)
"Holy Spirit you are welcome here. Come fill this place and flood the atmosphere. Your glory God is what our hearts long for. To be overcome by your presence Lord....."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjSynw6fN1U May you feel God and His Spirit in this song as much I do! Amen :)
And may God bless you more and more as you seek to follow Him!
May you be filled MORE AND MORE with God's Holy Spirit!
Grace and peace be with you always. :)
What is Humility?
Often times people think of humility as thinking little of themselves.
But that is not humility.
Satan tries to sell the lie, particularly to Christians, that to hate yourself is to be humble.
But no, humility is to never think of yourself either for good or bad. Humility is to never cross your own mind at all if possible. To have your mind focused on things other than yourself; on God, on others etc. How can you build others up? What can you do for someone else today?
Satan wants to discourage us. He wants us to hate ourselves because he hates us. But that only ends up preventing us from helping others and renders us powerless, because we wallow in our own mud of self-pity. That is where Satan wants us, stuck on ourselves.
To hate oneself is to have higher expectations for oneself than one ought to. We need to recognize that we are fallen, sinful beings and we cannot be perfect. Hating oneself comes out of perfectionism. We expect ourselves to be perfect and when we are not, we hate ourselves. This is not from God but from Satan. God does not expect you to be perfect, so stop expecting that of yourself. :)
God loves us and he tells us it is ok to love ourselves, in a healthy way. He tells us it is ok to care for ourselves, because we cannot really love others until we learn to love ourselves.
Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as Yourself." Therefore, we are supposed to love ourselves.
If you hear negative thoughts in your head about yourself just know that that is Satan. The Holy Spirit only wants to build us up and encourage us. We cannot be effective for God if our focus is always on ourselves, think about it.
We are supposed to deny ourselves but not to the point where we resent other people or God. Because often times people may deny themselves and then flip to the other side and become even more selfish. One can get caught into an all or nothing cycle. This is how addictions are bred. By saying no to anything and then you want everything. But there should be a balance in everything. Amen :) This is how we can prevent ourselves from being mastered by anything.
We cannot really take care of others unless we first take care of ourselves. This practically means getting enough sleep, eating well, not letting yourself get stressed out by others etc.
To love others out of obligation is not love. That only causes one to resent what they give. We need to love others because we genuinely care about them, because God has transformed our mind so that we really want what is best for them. :)
Humility is to think more highly of others, which does not mean putting ourselves down so that others can be lifted higher. It is putting ourselves at an ok level and elevating others above that.
It is a hard balance to be sure. We do not want to be arrogant or conceited but we also don't want to hate ourselves. We need to be in the middle.
We need to recognize that we are God's creation and he has special plans for us, but we need to not let that go to our head.
Stay in the middle and you will find humility. :) "Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to." But don't think more lowly of yourself than you ought to either.
You are God's dearly beloved child who he sent his son to die for. But you are still a sinner and mess up everyday.
Keep both perspectives in mind at all times. Amen.
May God help us in this! God bless :)
But that is not humility.
Satan tries to sell the lie, particularly to Christians, that to hate yourself is to be humble.
But no, humility is to never think of yourself either for good or bad. Humility is to never cross your own mind at all if possible. To have your mind focused on things other than yourself; on God, on others etc. How can you build others up? What can you do for someone else today?
Satan wants to discourage us. He wants us to hate ourselves because he hates us. But that only ends up preventing us from helping others and renders us powerless, because we wallow in our own mud of self-pity. That is where Satan wants us, stuck on ourselves.
To hate oneself is to have higher expectations for oneself than one ought to. We need to recognize that we are fallen, sinful beings and we cannot be perfect. Hating oneself comes out of perfectionism. We expect ourselves to be perfect and when we are not, we hate ourselves. This is not from God but from Satan. God does not expect you to be perfect, so stop expecting that of yourself. :)
God loves us and he tells us it is ok to love ourselves, in a healthy way. He tells us it is ok to care for ourselves, because we cannot really love others until we learn to love ourselves.
Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as Yourself." Therefore, we are supposed to love ourselves.
If you hear negative thoughts in your head about yourself just know that that is Satan. The Holy Spirit only wants to build us up and encourage us. We cannot be effective for God if our focus is always on ourselves, think about it.
We are supposed to deny ourselves but not to the point where we resent other people or God. Because often times people may deny themselves and then flip to the other side and become even more selfish. One can get caught into an all or nothing cycle. This is how addictions are bred. By saying no to anything and then you want everything. But there should be a balance in everything. Amen :) This is how we can prevent ourselves from being mastered by anything.
We cannot really take care of others unless we first take care of ourselves. This practically means getting enough sleep, eating well, not letting yourself get stressed out by others etc.
To love others out of obligation is not love. That only causes one to resent what they give. We need to love others because we genuinely care about them, because God has transformed our mind so that we really want what is best for them. :)
Humility is to think more highly of others, which does not mean putting ourselves down so that others can be lifted higher. It is putting ourselves at an ok level and elevating others above that.
It is a hard balance to be sure. We do not want to be arrogant or conceited but we also don't want to hate ourselves. We need to be in the middle.
We need to recognize that we are God's creation and he has special plans for us, but we need to not let that go to our head.
Stay in the middle and you will find humility. :) "Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to." But don't think more lowly of yourself than you ought to either.
You are God's dearly beloved child who he sent his son to die for. But you are still a sinner and mess up everyday.
Keep both perspectives in mind at all times. Amen.
May God help us in this! God bless :)
Friday, October 25, 2013
Hard Things
Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is life hard sometimes? Is it punishment for things we have done or just because we live in a fallen world?
“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it."
Mal. 3:8-9
So it turns out my husband's job did let him go after all.
I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around why, as most do, when bad things happen.
These verses are about being under a curse for not tithing. That is a possible reason for all of this, because he/we have not been tithing as I knew we definitely needed to be.
At the beginning of Job God asked Satan if he had seen his servant Job and how faithful he was. My husband could be Job in this situation.
The story of Job was meant to glorify God, because it showed that even though God allowed horrible things to happen to Job, caused by Satan, but allowed by God, Job did not turn his back on God.
It was not because of anything Job did.
Job's friends tried to tell him that there must have been some unrepentant sin in his life. He must have done something wrong to deserve all of that. Which is what people sometimes do with us don't they, when things go wrong for us. :(
Why would Job's friends think that? Well most of the old testament did function on a system of blessings and curses. If you did good, God would bless you. If you did bad, God would curse you and punish you.
My mom thinks maybe this doesn't apply now since we are under the new covenant, but look at Ananias and Saphira, they dropped down dead; God killed them instantly for lying to Peter in the early church. So we still reap what we sow.
Our actions are still somewhat cause and effect.
But on the other hand, "Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against....." Satan and his demons.
Satan wants to oppose us. Regarding my current situation, I know Satan doesn't want people who love God raising a kid.
Satan hates unity. Satan hates marriage. Satan hates babies too I would say. Look at abortion.
He just hates us, and wants to do everything possible to make our lives miserable. :(
So I know all that, but it still is confusing to me why God allows bad things.
One Jewish man I think wrote the book, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" He concludes that either God is not good or he is not all powerful.
But we know God is good. God is love. But the all powerful aspect is harder to understand.
Ultimately God controls everything. Ultimately God can stop anything and do anything. But for some reason he allows Satan to do A LOT huh? Strange isn't it? But we handed our dominion over to Satan when we sinned in the garden. So we only have ourselves to blame; our own selfishness and rebellious nature.
It is not God's fault. But then the question could be raised, as I have thought many times, why did God still create man when he knew we would fall and he knew our lives would be so hard?
That I cannot answer and that will be my first question for God when I get to heaven. :) Definitely.
There are many mysteries and things we do not understand at all because God's "ways are higher than our ways." We cannot see things clearly often, because we only see in one dimension. God sees everything at once.
In regards to my husband's job, it was probably slowly killing him. So I'm sure this will all be for the best. What job requires people to report every morning at 3am? Very strange.
May God open a door where he can work no more than 16 hours a day, because that is only reasonable, and where he can sleep every night. Amen :)
They had him working 32 hours straight sometimes, with very short breaks to nap. :(
Pray for us; that God would open the best door at the best job where he works less hours. Amen. :)
May God's will be done. :)
“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it."
Mal. 3:8-9
So it turns out my husband's job did let him go after all.
I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around why, as most do, when bad things happen.
These verses are about being under a curse for not tithing. That is a possible reason for all of this, because he/we have not been tithing as I knew we definitely needed to be.
At the beginning of Job God asked Satan if he had seen his servant Job and how faithful he was. My husband could be Job in this situation.
The story of Job was meant to glorify God, because it showed that even though God allowed horrible things to happen to Job, caused by Satan, but allowed by God, Job did not turn his back on God.
It was not because of anything Job did.
Job's friends tried to tell him that there must have been some unrepentant sin in his life. He must have done something wrong to deserve all of that. Which is what people sometimes do with us don't they, when things go wrong for us. :(
Why would Job's friends think that? Well most of the old testament did function on a system of blessings and curses. If you did good, God would bless you. If you did bad, God would curse you and punish you.
My mom thinks maybe this doesn't apply now since we are under the new covenant, but look at Ananias and Saphira, they dropped down dead; God killed them instantly for lying to Peter in the early church. So we still reap what we sow.
Our actions are still somewhat cause and effect.
But on the other hand, "Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against....." Satan and his demons.
Satan wants to oppose us. Regarding my current situation, I know Satan doesn't want people who love God raising a kid.
Satan hates unity. Satan hates marriage. Satan hates babies too I would say. Look at abortion.
He just hates us, and wants to do everything possible to make our lives miserable. :(
So I know all that, but it still is confusing to me why God allows bad things.
One Jewish man I think wrote the book, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" He concludes that either God is not good or he is not all powerful.
But we know God is good. God is love. But the all powerful aspect is harder to understand.
Ultimately God controls everything. Ultimately God can stop anything and do anything. But for some reason he allows Satan to do A LOT huh? Strange isn't it? But we handed our dominion over to Satan when we sinned in the garden. So we only have ourselves to blame; our own selfishness and rebellious nature.
It is not God's fault. But then the question could be raised, as I have thought many times, why did God still create man when he knew we would fall and he knew our lives would be so hard?
That I cannot answer and that will be my first question for God when I get to heaven. :) Definitely.
There are many mysteries and things we do not understand at all because God's "ways are higher than our ways." We cannot see things clearly often, because we only see in one dimension. God sees everything at once.
In regards to my husband's job, it was probably slowly killing him. So I'm sure this will all be for the best. What job requires people to report every morning at 3am? Very strange.
May God open a door where he can work no more than 16 hours a day, because that is only reasonable, and where he can sleep every night. Amen :)
They had him working 32 hours straight sometimes, with very short breaks to nap. :(
Pray for us; that God would open the best door at the best job where he works less hours. Amen. :)
May God's will be done. :)
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Effects of Childhood: Anger, Anxiety and Depression
People don't realize how much their childhood affects them today.
They may have a lot of anger, depression, anxiety etc and they don't make the connection to the root cause.
I have read A LOT of Christian psychology books over the years so I would like to share what I have learned on this topic. It has helped me a lot.
On a side note: I had considered becoming a Christian marriage and family counselor someday, but I would have to pass the GRE to get into grad school and that darn test seems to be almost impossible. lol The math on that my goodness. I'm not a math person at all. :( So I will have to just always write to help others and maybe write books about all of this someday. :) That would be nice. May God open the doors amen. :)
Regarding childhood affecting us now, for me, just realizing that a lot of anger I may currently have may not be my husband's fault, but my dad's fault for what he did. My dad sexually molesting me birthed in me an amazing amount of anger and distrust of men.
Both were dormant, or shoved down, swept under the rug, as counselors would say, for quite awhile until I fell in love the first time.
There is something about falling in love that makes you open up, like flowers after a hard rain, and everything that you've been hiding comes out.
Anger is caused by any kind of abuse or neglect. We get angry as a natural way to protect ourselves. Anger is from God. God got angry several times. Just got angry several times. It is not from Satan, as much as we would like to think that it is lol. Anger is an alarm system going off inside of us to cause us to require that people treat us better, to cause us to change something.
It is the fight or flight thing. Either run away from the abuser or fight, not physically hopefully, but that is why people have fights and wars. Someone is disrespected and they need to gain that respect back in order to have a relationship with the other person. Because without respect on both sides there can be no relationship, there can be no real love.
And have you noticed that whenever you fight with someone, via words, texts, e-mails etc, you do seem to gain more respect from them afterwards? That is the reason for anger. To gain more respect for ourselves from others who may be disrespecting us. Those who never get angry and are always nice are the ones who are the most disrespected. There is a funny country song, "Sometimes you gotta kick a little....to be heard." lol very true. Sometimes you have to get angry to get people to listen to you and to be nice to you. Not everyone in every situation will listen to calm reasoning. Why? Because of our sin nature. We are innately selfish and want to only think about ourselves, so sometimes anger is the only thing that will get someone's else's attention off of themselves and onto you. :)
It is the same with kids. Not all kids listen to reason. Some do, but with some you need to be more harsh, more time outs etc. or spanking if it is your own kid. With other kids if you are too harsh with them it will greatly discourage them and cause them to be depressed. Different people have different temperaments and we need to be wise in how we interact with each type of person.
What could also be causing anger in yourself other another person? Often times it is something from the past. Something that happened to you or them as a child. Maybe another kid picked on them so they still have anger from that. Maybe a parent picked on them. Maybe a parent was too harsh with them. Like Col. 3:21 says, "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." Also lest they have anger bottled up for years that the father gave them. Fathers are supposed to be the disciplinarian primarily, but they need to be balanced so as to not discourage or embitter the child. Fathers have no idea how much whatever they do will affect that kid as an adult. Parenting is a very serious and important role. Parents imprint their kids and set patterns that will stick with the kid for the rest of their lives.
Many people have daddy issues, or issues from a father that was overly harsh. I know my dad was overly harsh with me and especially my brother. This can have a lot ramifications latter in life.
So that is also a source of anger. We always need to understand where people are coming from so we can find the root cause of something. We always need to know the root so that we can help them. Someone will not be healed from the symptoms or by products of childhood until the issues that began in their child hood are dealt with. Amen praise God for that thought of wisdom lol. :)
Next let's look at anxiety. What causes anxiety? It is usually caused by an overly critical parent. Kids who grew up in strict religious circles are ingrained with this anxiety about God and always doing the right thing. This carries over to their human interactions later in life. They may always think they don't measure up. They may always think people don't like them. This either comes from their concept of God or from how their parents were with them, either the mom or the dad. And in reality, however our parents are with us is how we then think of God as an adult, until we read the word and memorize it and those incorrect beliefs are corrected from understanding Scripture. :)
But critical parents can very much instill a fear in kids that may never go away. Some people struggle with fear their whole lives. Fear of being hurt, fear of others not liking them, fear of the future. This can also come from an insecure child hood. Maybe your parents divorced. Maybe your parents fought all the time. Maybe you were abused. Maybe you were neglected by a parent. All of these create a very unstable and insecure childhood atmosphere. This causes the person to grow up with anxiety about life and relationships.
We all grew up in somewhat dysfunctional homes, but some are more dysfunctional than others. :) We all have Satan feed us lies about things in our past. Such as if a parent left we believe the lie, "You are not loveable. People will always leave you." If a parent was critical Satan tells us, "You have to be PERFECT for people to love you." That was my lie for a long time. If we were neglected as children Satan tells us, "You are not worthy of love. You will never get the love that you need so stop trying." Satan uses the hurt and pain we experienced as a kid and attacks us with it the rest of our lives! And that is why he is a jerk lol. :) But we have to overcome these lies with the Word of God. We have to fight him off with the sword of Spirit. :) We have to "extinguish his flaming arrows" with the shield of faith. Don't let Satan lie to you anymore. Fight back! "Draw near to God he will draw near to you," and Satan will flee! Amen :)
Lastly, the other biggest issue that people struggle with is depression. What causes depression? Depression is a counter measure to anxiety. People run around like the show of the spinning plates trying to keep so many plates spinning that eventually they just crash, the person not the plates, well the plates might also. :)
Depression is your body's way of telling you, "SLOW DOWN!" Maybe you need to take more naps. Take better care of yourself. Eat better etc. Depression is a forced bodily response to someone trying to do too much. Like God said, take a Sabbath, rest etc. :)
But why do we try to do too much? Again that was probably caused by an overly critical parent, or spouse, or friend, or teacher etc. Someone that we wanted to please.
I say, give up trying to please people because they will never be entirely pleased. We all know that logically but for some reason our hearts still don't get it. Rather we need to love others as God commands, but forget about pleasing them per se. Love and pleasing are two very different things. Love does not always please the other. Sometimes love means you have to do some thing they don't really like, like ignore them if they are being mean to you. lol Love does not let someone continue in their sin. Love does what is best for the other person. :) This is referred to as "tough love."
When we really love others we find the correct balance of how to interact with them. When we really love others we are loving ourselves as well. Don't you feel bad and somewhat hate yourself when you act spitefully toward someone else? I know I do. :( But when we act out of love we in turn love ourselves more too, because we are proud of ourselves for doing the right thing. So everyone wins. It's great. :) Seek to love others, not please them. :) Amen!
May God make you and I more and more wise in these matters! May he guide us in all things with others amen! :)
They may have a lot of anger, depression, anxiety etc and they don't make the connection to the root cause.
I have read A LOT of Christian psychology books over the years so I would like to share what I have learned on this topic. It has helped me a lot.
On a side note: I had considered becoming a Christian marriage and family counselor someday, but I would have to pass the GRE to get into grad school and that darn test seems to be almost impossible. lol The math on that my goodness. I'm not a math person at all. :( So I will have to just always write to help others and maybe write books about all of this someday. :) That would be nice. May God open the doors amen. :)
Regarding childhood affecting us now, for me, just realizing that a lot of anger I may currently have may not be my husband's fault, but my dad's fault for what he did. My dad sexually molesting me birthed in me an amazing amount of anger and distrust of men.
Both were dormant, or shoved down, swept under the rug, as counselors would say, for quite awhile until I fell in love the first time.
There is something about falling in love that makes you open up, like flowers after a hard rain, and everything that you've been hiding comes out.
Anger is caused by any kind of abuse or neglect. We get angry as a natural way to protect ourselves. Anger is from God. God got angry several times. Just got angry several times. It is not from Satan, as much as we would like to think that it is lol. Anger is an alarm system going off inside of us to cause us to require that people treat us better, to cause us to change something.
It is the fight or flight thing. Either run away from the abuser or fight, not physically hopefully, but that is why people have fights and wars. Someone is disrespected and they need to gain that respect back in order to have a relationship with the other person. Because without respect on both sides there can be no relationship, there can be no real love.
And have you noticed that whenever you fight with someone, via words, texts, e-mails etc, you do seem to gain more respect from them afterwards? That is the reason for anger. To gain more respect for ourselves from others who may be disrespecting us. Those who never get angry and are always nice are the ones who are the most disrespected. There is a funny country song, "Sometimes you gotta kick a little....to be heard." lol very true. Sometimes you have to get angry to get people to listen to you and to be nice to you. Not everyone in every situation will listen to calm reasoning. Why? Because of our sin nature. We are innately selfish and want to only think about ourselves, so sometimes anger is the only thing that will get someone's else's attention off of themselves and onto you. :)
It is the same with kids. Not all kids listen to reason. Some do, but with some you need to be more harsh, more time outs etc. or spanking if it is your own kid. With other kids if you are too harsh with them it will greatly discourage them and cause them to be depressed. Different people have different temperaments and we need to be wise in how we interact with each type of person.
What could also be causing anger in yourself other another person? Often times it is something from the past. Something that happened to you or them as a child. Maybe another kid picked on them so they still have anger from that. Maybe a parent picked on them. Maybe a parent was too harsh with them. Like Col. 3:21 says, "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." Also lest they have anger bottled up for years that the father gave them. Fathers are supposed to be the disciplinarian primarily, but they need to be balanced so as to not discourage or embitter the child. Fathers have no idea how much whatever they do will affect that kid as an adult. Parenting is a very serious and important role. Parents imprint their kids and set patterns that will stick with the kid for the rest of their lives.
Many people have daddy issues, or issues from a father that was overly harsh. I know my dad was overly harsh with me and especially my brother. This can have a lot ramifications latter in life.
So that is also a source of anger. We always need to understand where people are coming from so we can find the root cause of something. We always need to know the root so that we can help them. Someone will not be healed from the symptoms or by products of childhood until the issues that began in their child hood are dealt with. Amen praise God for that thought of wisdom lol. :)
Next let's look at anxiety. What causes anxiety? It is usually caused by an overly critical parent. Kids who grew up in strict religious circles are ingrained with this anxiety about God and always doing the right thing. This carries over to their human interactions later in life. They may always think they don't measure up. They may always think people don't like them. This either comes from their concept of God or from how their parents were with them, either the mom or the dad. And in reality, however our parents are with us is how we then think of God as an adult, until we read the word and memorize it and those incorrect beliefs are corrected from understanding Scripture. :)
But critical parents can very much instill a fear in kids that may never go away. Some people struggle with fear their whole lives. Fear of being hurt, fear of others not liking them, fear of the future. This can also come from an insecure child hood. Maybe your parents divorced. Maybe your parents fought all the time. Maybe you were abused. Maybe you were neglected by a parent. All of these create a very unstable and insecure childhood atmosphere. This causes the person to grow up with anxiety about life and relationships.
We all grew up in somewhat dysfunctional homes, but some are more dysfunctional than others. :) We all have Satan feed us lies about things in our past. Such as if a parent left we believe the lie, "You are not loveable. People will always leave you." If a parent was critical Satan tells us, "You have to be PERFECT for people to love you." That was my lie for a long time. If we were neglected as children Satan tells us, "You are not worthy of love. You will never get the love that you need so stop trying." Satan uses the hurt and pain we experienced as a kid and attacks us with it the rest of our lives! And that is why he is a jerk lol. :) But we have to overcome these lies with the Word of God. We have to fight him off with the sword of Spirit. :) We have to "extinguish his flaming arrows" with the shield of faith. Don't let Satan lie to you anymore. Fight back! "Draw near to God he will draw near to you," and Satan will flee! Amen :)
Lastly, the other biggest issue that people struggle with is depression. What causes depression? Depression is a counter measure to anxiety. People run around like the show of the spinning plates trying to keep so many plates spinning that eventually they just crash, the person not the plates, well the plates might also. :)
Depression is your body's way of telling you, "SLOW DOWN!" Maybe you need to take more naps. Take better care of yourself. Eat better etc. Depression is a forced bodily response to someone trying to do too much. Like God said, take a Sabbath, rest etc. :)
But why do we try to do too much? Again that was probably caused by an overly critical parent, or spouse, or friend, or teacher etc. Someone that we wanted to please.
I say, give up trying to please people because they will never be entirely pleased. We all know that logically but for some reason our hearts still don't get it. Rather we need to love others as God commands, but forget about pleasing them per se. Love and pleasing are two very different things. Love does not always please the other. Sometimes love means you have to do some thing they don't really like, like ignore them if they are being mean to you. lol Love does not let someone continue in their sin. Love does what is best for the other person. :) This is referred to as "tough love."
When we really love others we find the correct balance of how to interact with them. When we really love others we are loving ourselves as well. Don't you feel bad and somewhat hate yourself when you act spitefully toward someone else? I know I do. :( But when we act out of love we in turn love ourselves more too, because we are proud of ourselves for doing the right thing. So everyone wins. It's great. :) Seek to love others, not please them. :) Amen!
May God make you and I more and more wise in these matters! May he guide us in all things with others amen! :)
My Father's Glory
(First poem I've tried writing in awhile :)
I close my eyes in worship
And imagine God high above me in the clouds
I imagine him huge, radiant, awe inspiring
I see his purple robe flowing all around him
I see light beaming from behind him and a smile on his face
I see that his posture is confident, in control
I see angels around him kneeling before him
And I hear him say to me, "I am so proud of you. I have so much for you to do.
Keep doing what you are doing."
I fall down to worship him
But he picks me up in his arms and holds me like a child
I curl up against his chest
I tell him how much I love him and how thankful I am for everything he has given me!
He rubs my back and tells me he is happy to give me good things
Because He loves me :)
THANK YOU GOD FOR EVERYTIHNG! YOU ARE SO AMAZING!
I close my eyes in worship
And imagine God high above me in the clouds
I imagine him huge, radiant, awe inspiring
I see his purple robe flowing all around him
I see light beaming from behind him and a smile on his face
I see that his posture is confident, in control
I see angels around him kneeling before him
And I hear him say to me, "I am so proud of you. I have so much for you to do.
Keep doing what you are doing."
I fall down to worship him
But he picks me up in his arms and holds me like a child
I curl up against his chest
I tell him how much I love him and how thankful I am for everything he has given me!
He rubs my back and tells me he is happy to give me good things
Because He loves me :)
THANK YOU GOD FOR EVERYTIHNG! YOU ARE SO AMAZING!
Behold God
(A poem written by my friend that I really like. :)
Behold him as king sitting high on His throne
Behold him as your savior who for your life he gave his own
Behold him as a friend who will never leave your side
Behold him as a counselor in whom you can confide
Behold him! He is Jesus! God's one and only son
He came and lived among sinners, and yet, he wasn't one
His sacrifice saved our lives and set the captives free
Behold him! He is risen!
And he will come back for you and me!
(woot! She's such a great writer! May God inspire her to write more Amen!) :)
Behold him as king sitting high on His throne
Behold him as your savior who for your life he gave his own
Behold him as a friend who will never leave your side
Behold him as a counselor in whom you can confide
Behold him! He is Jesus! God's one and only son
He came and lived among sinners, and yet, he wasn't one
His sacrifice saved our lives and set the captives free
Behold him! He is risen!
And he will come back for you and me!
(woot! She's such a great writer! May God inspire her to write more Amen!) :)
Obey God
(Here is an amazing blog written by one of my friends in my Bible study group. You can check out more of her blogs at http://tabbytub.blogspot.com/ :)
I am having a hard time lately getting my 2 year old son to listen.
He doesn't listen, he gets in trouble, I get angry, and they cycle repeats.
I find myself getting down on my knees at eye level with him and telling him "if you will just listen to mommy and do what mommy says, you won't get in trouble."
I said these words today and then something, (we will call it the Holy Spirit, which is most likely what it was)hit me hard, like a spiritual smack in the head and told me "if you are disobedient, there will be consequences."
I am fighting with God right now. Maybe it is not ok to say that, but it is what is going on. I am fighting him like a stubborn child in the an area where he wants me to be obedient. I keep messing up and there are certain consequences, and yet, I won't stop doing what I am doing (or not doing what I should be doing in this case.)
When I am obedient, he will bless me. When I am disobedient, there will be consequences.
Why will I not just listen and do what he says? Why do I think that my way is best? Why do I think that he will reward me for giving into my flesh and doing what I want?
I read a quote by Joyce Meyer that said "Obedience becomes the natural fruit of the love that you have for God." If obedience is the natural fruit of my love for God, what does disobedience say about my love for him? Does being rebellious mean that I don't love him? If I give into my flesh instead of being obedient to God, am I saying that I don't care what he wants? In a sense I believe I am. I am saying that what you want doesn't matter to me, I am going to do things my way anyway.
That is extremely convicting and makes me feel horrible. I strive to be obedient, but I cannot seem to be successful.
Paul said in Romans 7:15-20 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it." Basically this is saying that I want to do what is right, but because I am a sinful person, I cannot do what I want to do. My heart is for God. I love God. I want to live for him. I want to serve him. I desire to do what he wants for me, and yet my sin and my flesh get in the way and make it difficult. Notice I did not say "make it impossible."
We are in a war, and we have to fight our flesh and the enemy (satan) to be able to do what is right. We may lose some battles, but as long as we don't give up and let them win the war, we still have a chance to do what is right. This gives me hope. Every day that I get up and choose to fight, and choose to be obedient, there is still hope for me. Obedience is always the best choice. Not always the easiest, but ALWAYS the best.
(Amen!!!)
I am having a hard time lately getting my 2 year old son to listen.
He doesn't listen, he gets in trouble, I get angry, and they cycle repeats.
I find myself getting down on my knees at eye level with him and telling him "if you will just listen to mommy and do what mommy says, you won't get in trouble."
I said these words today and then something, (we will call it the Holy Spirit, which is most likely what it was)hit me hard, like a spiritual smack in the head and told me "if you are disobedient, there will be consequences."
I am fighting with God right now. Maybe it is not ok to say that, but it is what is going on. I am fighting him like a stubborn child in the an area where he wants me to be obedient. I keep messing up and there are certain consequences, and yet, I won't stop doing what I am doing (or not doing what I should be doing in this case.)
When I am obedient, he will bless me. When I am disobedient, there will be consequences.
Why will I not just listen and do what he says? Why do I think that my way is best? Why do I think that he will reward me for giving into my flesh and doing what I want?
I read a quote by Joyce Meyer that said "Obedience becomes the natural fruit of the love that you have for God." If obedience is the natural fruit of my love for God, what does disobedience say about my love for him? Does being rebellious mean that I don't love him? If I give into my flesh instead of being obedient to God, am I saying that I don't care what he wants? In a sense I believe I am. I am saying that what you want doesn't matter to me, I am going to do things my way anyway.
That is extremely convicting and makes me feel horrible. I strive to be obedient, but I cannot seem to be successful.
Paul said in Romans 7:15-20 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it." Basically this is saying that I want to do what is right, but because I am a sinful person, I cannot do what I want to do. My heart is for God. I love God. I want to live for him. I want to serve him. I desire to do what he wants for me, and yet my sin and my flesh get in the way and make it difficult. Notice I did not say "make it impossible."
We are in a war, and we have to fight our flesh and the enemy (satan) to be able to do what is right. We may lose some battles, but as long as we don't give up and let them win the war, we still have a chance to do what is right. This gives me hope. Every day that I get up and choose to fight, and choose to be obedient, there is still hope for me. Obedience is always the best choice. Not always the easiest, but ALWAYS the best.
(Amen!!!)
Advice for Moms
(Something on Facebook. Might as well start thinking about this stuff now. :)
TIPS FOR A WORN-OUT MOM
1. Lower your standards for cleanliness and order.
Yes I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to things being clean etc. so I will have to ease up on that a bit once I have kids. But girls generally are clean so I might be fine lol. :) Unless we decide to have more and have a boy lol. :) May God guide us about that. :)
2. No matter how many baskets you buy to contain toys, they will always be visible. Embrace the Toys ‘R Us/ frat house-chic decor.
Or read the book Too Many Toys and get rid of some toys! I think I will only allow my kid to have 5 toys for each stage of their life. And if they stop playing with something, it's going to Goodwill. lol that is the standard I have for my own things so it will be the same with my kid. If I have clothes I don't wear, I get rid of them!
There was a challenge I heard of to live your life with only 100 things. I would say I generally already do. Simplicity in all things is key and will help you not be so stressed. :) Less to clean up, less to worry about. It's great! :)
3. You can never have too many Popsicle in the freezer. How many bad moods have been fixed by a simple Popsicle?
Very true. I especially love fudge bars! It seem to be true that if you have a headache and eat ice cream or a popsicle it will go away. There is as theory of one doctor that if you put something cold on your back molars the head ache will go away. This works for me, but it might be because I still have wisdom teeth growing in so they cause my head aches. :( Pray for me about that please. They actually really hurt and it's quite annoying. :( But I have no desire to get them taken out and have surgery. Yep. :) May God heal me supernaturally in the name of Jesus amen! :)
4. If you can’t change them, change your perspective. For example I read recently that toothpaste is great for cleaning things like faucets. So now when I go into the bathroom every day and see toothpaste splatter all over the bathroom faucet I think about how my children have done half the chore of cleaning for me. How considerate of them!
haha that is funny. The same goes for your husband. :) We all have to take the good with the bad. Such is life. :) Sure other people make messes, but aren't you glad you have those other people around? It's better than being by yourself all the time. :) Amen. Praise God for the good things and try not to complain about the annoying things.
5. Those chores that no one ever wants to do. Decide if you would rather do it yourself, badger your child to it, or let it go.
I am hoping that if I set a model of diligence and non laziness for my kid that they will follow my example. LEAD BY EXAMPLE is the best rule with children I think. If you want your kid to do something, do it yourself and they will follow your example.
The cutest thing I have ever seen was when I worked in a preschool in the one year old room. One of my the babies I was in charge of, my most difficult one ironically, would try and help me wipe the tables after lunch. It was the funniest thing lol. I just thought it was so cute! But it was because she saw me working hard so she wanted to as well. She was following my example. Rather than badgering our kids to do something we don't want to do, be an example and be a hard worker and then they will be as well.
6. No one cares what is stuffed under your child’s bed, why should you. Unless it is old food. In that case, you should get a dog.
I would disagree. If it's under their bed and they never use it anyways take it to Goodwill. Someone else I'm sure can find a use for it. :)
7. If you have boys, your bathroom will always faintly stink like pee. Invest in some Febreeze and count down the days until they move out and you can go visit them and pee on their bathroom floor.
LOL that one is hilarious! This is quite true. Or have your husband teach them the correct way to pee so that they don't miss and pee on the floor. Guys understand these things, women do not because we have never had to worry about it lol. :)
8. Don’t buy white furniture. Unless you enjoy screaming at your children every time they go near it.
Oh dear :( Well don't scream at your children obviously, because they will loose respect for you. But yes black things are much better because no one knows if they get dirty. :)
9. Be okay with letting your kids stumble sometimes. Like turning in an assignment late etc.
Yes have grace with them. Nobody is perfect, including you the mom lol. This would help us be more kind to our kids, and everyone really, if we always remember how imperfect we ourselves are. "He who is forgiven much, loves much." :) Amen!
10. Noise cancelling headphones are great for blocking out whining, bickering and the endless episodes of Sponge Bob.
Or just don't watch Sponge Bob. I will probably only show my kids Veggie Tales. All other TV is useless really and will teach them nothing but to have a short attention span and to think they always need to be entertained. :( And if they are whining, tell them to stop. I would sarcastically say to kids I've worked with, if they tried to complain to me about something, "I'm sorry are you complaining?" As in, please don't. lol :) If they are arguing, try to mediate and solve the problem, BEFORE it escalates. That will make everything easier on everyone. :)
11. Your children will not die from eating the occasional hot dog or frozen pizza
Very true. :) As long as they eat plenty of fruit too. :)
Ah parenting. No one does it perfectly but we can all try to be better parents with each new day. Amen :)
May God give us all wisdom when it comes to our kids. :)
Halloween
Put on a ton of God's armor for Halloween!
I really think there is a lot more demonic activity around that time so be on your guard. ;)
Pray, etc.
A praise report, my husband's job took him back yay! lol :) God is so good. Nothing to be worried about. :)
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Prayer Request :)
I need prayer please.
There was a bit of an accident last night at my husband's job and as a result he may have to find another job. They are pretty strict about things like that.
So pray that either his current job will have grace with him or that God will open a door for him to work at another company.
Amen!
I know God will provide. :)
Seeing this cheered me up though. lol this is so cute! :)
It's so ironic that I wrote that blog about Job last night, pretty much right as the accident was happening.
At first I was quite scared when my husband told me the news. I got a little short of breath lol. We need his job for sure for the health insurance.
But then my faith kicked in and I was like, "Ok everything will be ok." haha.
Ah life. It's crazy isn't it.
I know God has a reason for this. So I will trust Him. :)
Seeing this cheered me up though. lol this is so cute! :)
It's so ironic that I wrote that blog about Job last night, pretty much right as the accident was happening.
At first I was quite scared when my husband told me the news. I got a little short of breath lol. We need his job for sure for the health insurance.
But then my faith kicked in and I was like, "Ok everything will be ok." haha.
Ah life. It's crazy isn't it.
I know God has a reason for this. So I will trust Him. :)
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