Fear Feeds Fear

Have you ever noticed if you begin to focus on a fear or a worry, it seems to grow? Satan feeds our fears. We have a choice if we want to believe them or firmly put a stop to them. Where does God weigh in on the subject of fear?

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control." 2 Timothy 1:7

If you are feeling fearful, stop and breathe. Center yourself through prayer. Know that fear is NEVER from God. Rather God has given us power, love, calm, a well-balanced mind, and self-control. 

Spend some time with God and ask Him what you are truly afraid of. Then, ask God to show you what he wants you to know about these fears. [Not sure if you know how to hear God's voice? Click here].

Fear does nothing good and seems to lead me away from God. God is always telling me to trust. If I get stuck thinking about a fear/worry over and over again, God's peace seems further away. But, this is not the way it has to be. I have found what works for me to stop whatever I am doing and spend just a few minutes centering in on God and releasing the worry to Him. I actually visualize myself handing him the problem and just dropping it into His capable hands. 

Then I, literally, hold out my right hand and imagine taking hold of His. "For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." Isaiah 41:13. It is true, God is here to be our ever-present help, the great counselor, and loving father. I repeat to myself, "Do NOT fear." For I feel, this is a command of peace from God. He encourages me to let Him handle the worry and to rest in His peace. 

If the fear comes back, I hold it captive and repeat the process above. With stubborn fears, you may have to do this several times. Also, I feel worrying is a bad habit. Therefore, with any habit there will be a learning curve as you break through the pattern and then it is finally gone.

Mindsets -- "I HAVE TO exercise today" or "I GET TO exercise today" - which do you embrace?

Many will say, "I HAVE to exercise" or "I SHOULD exercise."
This approach is a guilt-based mindset. It can lead to exercise, but never to the true joy God meant for us to feel when we exercise.

What if one was to shift away from looking at exercise as a MUST (condemning) and see it rather as a GET TO (joyful, free). Therefore, what about shifting into saying, "Today I get to exercise!"

Applying this mindset shift can be for people who: do not exercise; feel they are in a rut and do the same type of exercise frequently -- feeling bored; and those exercise a lot, but do not feel true joy (exercising out of a sense of duty or routine).

Okay, now how do you change your mindset about exercise?

1. Think about what you used to love to play or do when you were about 10 years old. What types of active activities did you love?
2. Now take one (or more) and think of how to apply them into adult exercise opportunities. For instance, I used to love dancing around in my living room when I was 10. I began by doing low impact dancing (Jazzercise), Aqua Zumba (dancing in the water) and worked my way up to a high intensity dance class (BodyJam).
3. Pray about it. Are you fearful? Do you wonder if you can even do 5 minutes of sustained exercise because you do not feel good or have not exercised recently? Why not just do 5 minutes of exercise? When I first started at Jazzercise, I would go for the first song or two and then leave. That was all I could do. There are many places that are very encouraging and will support you wherever you are at. Look at if from God's perspective -- there is no condemnation in Christ. He is certainly not upset with you. Remember He has never had a bad thought about you and you are His most important. Trust Him to lead you in the journey. Perhaps you are fearful of others seeing you when exercising? Pray and ask God for peace. I find gyms quite accepting of all types. I belong to several right now and do not feel any judgment coming from others. However, you may choose to exercise on your own. Maybe you are able to be self-motivated using a walking app or using a DVD at home to guide you to exercise.
4. As you begin some sort of exercise that reflects your childhood interests, ask yourself, "Am I feeling true joy in your heart as I exercise?" If you are, this is where God wants you to be. If you are not in true joy, then try a different area of interest. Keep trying until you find the one that makes your heart happy!
5. Finally, I just want to speak to the idea that some of us are social exercisers. That means, we love to visit and socialize - exercise becomes a fun way to make friends and interact with others. If you are this type of person (I am), but you feel lost about what type of class would be the best to begin with - please email me. I can help you.

Exercise is God's natural high. To relieve stress, to relax you, to help you feel peace - exercise is a great, great strategy. Also, you will feel more powerful in Christ as you get stronger and improve your endurance!! Happy exercising!

Stuck in Sadness? Stuck in Sickness?

Are you feeling stuck? Do you feel sick or stuck in pattern of sadness/anxiety? Are you stuck in a job or feel like your relationship is stuck?
God wants to release you into a sense of true freedom. Staying stuck is not his destiny for you at all.
How to get unstuck:
1. Spend some time being still with God to ask Him what He wants you to know about your life. (Not sure how to hear God's voice - click here). How does He see you? (Not sure who you are in Christ? Click here and here).
2. Actively choose to agree with these things God reveals to you. This means you will have to throw away the brain trash of condemnation because God has never had a bad thought about you. Try replacing the negative with a truth God has revealed. For instance, "Oh that was so stupid. I'm so dumb." Instead, grab those words and throw them out the door and say, "I have the mind of Christ. I made a mistake and now I have learned how to do that differently next time."
3. Reach out for help. If you are sick and stuck - I would like you to email me or look at visiting your local prayer center. It is never God's will for us to be sick.
4. Listen to and sing worship music. Praising God is a powerful tool and weapon. Oftentimes chains will fall off simply from freely worshipping God. What if you do not have access worship? Please go at any time of the day to IHOP's live streaming. This is such an amazing place and you really will be blessed simply from listening and praising God through livestream. Or check out Wind and Fire at praise/equipping times 7 AM and PM and 8 AM and PM daily.

In my next blog entry, I will post about exercise. Feeling we cannot exercise is a huge stronghold the enemy holds over us - which actually makes us more sick/sad.

Condemnation vs. Conviction

I just read an excellent article by Dr. Henry Wright of the Be in Health Institute. It was so good explaining the difference between condemnation of the enemy and conviction of the Holy Spirit. I have decided to share the article with you in full here:

Many times we feel like there are areas in our lives we need to change. However, we need to be careful to distinguish between the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the enemy. Is it conviction or condemnation?

Condemnation screams in our ears and makes us feel terrible and afraid. Conviction is a soft, sweet voice that makes us feel good about the changes we want to make to line up with the Word of God.

 

Condemnation is similar to conviction in that it always contains an element of truth. We can discern which one is speaking by asking ourselves several questions:

1.) How does it make us feel? Condemnation will leave us feeling guilty and ashamed. Conviction will fill us with hope and a sense of renewal.

2.) What's the pathway? Condemnation will leave us feeling hopeless and confused about what to do. Conviction will point us in a clear direction of change.

3.) Where's the problem? Condemnation says the problem is actually us - and our identity - to bring us to a conclusion that we can never change. Conviction will declare that the issue is not us and will help us overcome.

4.) What's the resolution? Condemnation will place all the blame on us and drive us into trying to fix everything ourselves. Conviction puts the blame on the enemy and depends on God to help us make the changes we need in order to overcome.

Condemnation is straight from the enemy. It feeds into his plan to keep us from the truth, so we're scattered and confused. When God is leading us to change something, He does it gently and clearly. If we recognize we have been listening to condemnation, we must put the blame back on the enemy where it belongs and take our peace. When we're ready to be changed in an area of our life, God will lead us into overcoming!

Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 

  

Reference: I am Changed newsletter article; Feb. 2, 2015; Dr. Henry Wright 

Releasing Emotional Issues Quickly

This past fall at Wind and Fire Mission Base, I learned a truly remarkable way to release a strong emotion, memory, mindset, and/or pain.

This strategy combines brain research and freedom prayer - it is extremely effective, fast, and powerful. I absolutely love it and use it daily.

There is a part of the brain called the amygdala. The amygdala processes emotions such as fear, anger, and pleasure. The amygdala is also responsible for determining what memories are stored and where the memories are stored in the brain. This part of our brain thinks that memories are actually going on currently even though they have already occurred. As a result, one might be in a fight or flight mode releasing chemicals into that body that are not needed because one is not in an emergency situation, but the amygdala thinks the memory is in real time. This strategy is fabulous because the tapping actually interrupts the brain signals being sent out. When the signals are interrupted the body is able to suddenly understand "Oh, I am not in a crisis? I do not need to be sending out emergency chemicals??" Then, one is able to come in with freedom prayer and let it all go in the name of Jesus.
This concept is important to understand because we often have strong reactions or huge defensive reactions to things that should really be only a minor blip in our emotional world. Why does this happen? It triggers the core memory and the amygdala - so the body is reliving the emotional trauma or the past even though the current event is minor.

In the freedom prayer world, it can often take multiple sessions to release one area. Through this prayer strategy, which I will call "tapping" for lack of a better name, emotions and strong memories can be released permanently within minutes.

I am going to outline the strategy in this blog entry. Please keep in mind, this is how I am doing it. There is no "right" way.
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To begin, find an issue you are always defensive about or perhaps a trauma in your life (can also be used on specific pain or illnesses). It is best to have someone pray with you through these issues using this technique the first few times, but once you have a handle on it, it is absolutely a strategy you can do independently with God.

For this example, I am going to outline how to do the prayer strategy independently:

Let's say you feel you are unable to do math well in your life overall. When you consult God to try to figure out the core memory, you remember how in 7th grade a teacher had you stand in front of the class and told everyone you were stupid and horrible at math.

Tapping Prayer Strategy - this is a simplified cycle that I use exclusively now, there is a longer cycle I might outline in a later blog entry.

1. First quiet yourself. Take a few deep breaths. Say aloud, "Body, mind and spirit - line up with the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus. My voice be silent and any other voice that is not of God be silent now in the name of Jesus."
2. Your tapping pattern will be above the eyebrow, side of the eye, below the eye, and chest. Begin by tapping above eyebrow saying something to escalate the feelings associated with your bad memory of math in 7th grade. For instance, "In 7th grade I was humiliated in math class." Repeat and tap on side of eye. Repeat and tap below eye while saying something similar and then tap on chest and repeat again.
3. Continue to escalate the feelings. Imagine yourself there. What were you feeling? What was it like? What mindsets were formed that day?  Maybe something like "I felt so dumb." As you tap you can even change into the present "I am dumb. I am so stupid in math." Continue the tapping pattern and going with the emotions or mindsets as you go. Allow yourself to flow in it.
4. Once the feelings associated with the memory/mindset are really strong, you are ready to let them go. So, something like, "I am going to let go of the humiliation." (keep tapping in your cycle and repeating) "I am going to let go of all of the humiliation in the name of Jesus." Go through and repeat the cycle again as you release more.
5. Pay attention if you start yawning or if you had escalated your feelings really high (maybe to the point of crying and you suddenly stop crying) - at this point you are physically and spiritually releasing the strong feelings/memories/mindsets.
6. At this point, hold onto your wrist and take 3 deep breaths and speak "Peace" over yourself.
7. I usually, then imagine the memory and place myself back into the memory. How do I feel now? Do I feel any negative emotions? If I do, I continue. However, more often then not I almost have a flat affect about something that 10 minutes ago had me completely crying over.

I love this strategy to combat mindsets or word curses I had spoken over myself.  One final thing to mention, if you sense something that is not of God, tap the top of your head and command it to leave in the name of Jesus.

It is kind of hard to get the hang of this just by reading a post. Maybe soon I can make a video of it. Or if I know you personally, I would be absolutely delighted to go through a session with you.
I love this. It has really removed so much of the gobbledegook from my brain in a very powerful, tangible way. Thank you, Jesus, for wanting us to be free from all shame, condemnation, fear, and pain. I love you!