Fear Makes You Dumb

Fear. It is so prevalent in so many people's narratives. Fear of failure. Fear of punishment. Fear of rejection. 
Did you know when you are in a state of fear, you are not able to think creatively or freely?
Many focus their lives in fear of the future - which can be seen in their continuous worries. 
Fear makes us dumb. We can't think clearly. We run around in circles, accomplishing little.
We have talked before about holding thoughts captive. Can you start paying attention to your thoughts? Are they helping you or hurting you? If it is a thought based in fear/worry/condemnation then I encourage you to, literally, throw it away (I teach the kids to symbolically pull the "brain trash" thoughts out of their head and throw them away).
Then, you need to replace your thought with a completely different thought. The opposite of fear is peace, confidence, and faith/trust. Can you move into that line of thinking instead?
Fear really took so much from me. It had such a stronghold over me. I didn't know I could ditch it. It really impacted every area of my life and made me feel sick.
You are worth the effort to get out of the pattern of fear. Can you become aware of your thoughts? Remember “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid.” John 14:27 
#renewyourmind #letitgo

How to Live in a State of Joy, Peace, and Love

Life, people, circumstances, the words of others, work... so many things can pull us from the natural state God wants us to be in - a state of peace, joy, and love. 

Last night God wanted to remind me of 1 John 4:18, "Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love." (NLT)

I find that I tend to slide into worrying (which is a state of fear). This tendency displays a mindset of wanting to control or "handle" the issues that arise. Perhaps as a child you were taught to solve your own problems, for instance.

But, is that God's view of life and what does all of this have to do with his perfect love? 

Do you understand how deep and wide and full is the love that God has for you?

At one point in my thirties, I read that verse "I have loved you with an everlasting love;Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you."(Jeremiah 31:3, AMP). I suddenly understood God really does love me no matter what I have thought, said, or done. 

What does it look like to not only understand this with head knowledge, but to truly embrace it? 

The bottom line is, you matter to God. YOU do! You are not worthy WHEN. You are worthy NOW.

That, in itself, can be a hard concept to grasp and agree with - especially if you have always seen yourself as a driven person. 

Now, let's return to the initial topic. What is running your life right now? What is running your brain? Could it be fear or worry? Could it be to provide the perfect life for your kids or have your house looking the way it "should"?

What would happen if just chose to stop thinking that way. It isn't easy. Your mind is a battlefield, but what you choose to meditate on really does alter your state of peace, joy, and love. When a thought or something comes up, instead of trying to solve the problem yourself, could you take a deep breath and just ask God for the next step? Or if it is an unfounded worry (such as something the could happen in the future, but is not true or real) could you take any Bible verse you know and say it to yourself instead? Replace the yuck with truth. 

Take a step forward with me to choose joy, peace, and love over worry and control. #renewyourmind #changeyourmindsets #youareworthit

Test Everything

What if you get a word from God? Perhaps someone and shares something with you? You get a vision or a dream? How do you know it is from God?

You must test everything. Do not take it all at face value. 

If you have a dream: go back with prayer and ask God to show you the true nature of the dream in the name of Jesus. 

If you get a prophetic word spoken over you, note it and then look for patterns. Have others said the same/similar thing? Do the words ring true within your spirit?

Does the vision, dream, prophetic words line up with the word of God? You can be sure that if anything spoken to you or that you see that does not line up with character of God it is to be thrown away.

I was the focus of a prophetic pit. I sat in front of 50 people who did not know me and they prayed and asked God what He wanted them to know about me. After several minutes they shared what they had gotten. There were true themes where multiple people got the same thing about me. This is another way to verify what the Lord says. 

Just take a minute now and ask God, "What do you want me to know about you? What do you want me to know about me?" These types of moments can be powerful, but truly life-changing when you step into what God says and believe.

Agree and Do Not Doubt!

I used to wonder why my prayers for healing seemed ineffectual. Then I learned it is not just what we pray, but the belief behind what we pray.
I used to pray for the migraines to leave, while thinking in my head two things: 1)Maybe I deserve these migraines because I have failed God; 2) Praying is nice, but it has never worked before to relieve the pain.
Do you see what was underneath the prayers I prayed? I agreed with the migraines because I thought I had disappointed God. (I didn't know, at that time, that God has never had a bad thought about me.
I also doubted my prayers had any power.
What would happen if you changed the way you thought while you prayed? What if when you prayed (or even declare with authority)you knew what you prayed would come to pass? How would your prayer life change?
What about the passing "I'll pray for you" you state to someone who is sick. What if you really prayed knowing that it is never God's will for us to be sick and prayed with authority?
Can you think about what your thoughts are while you pray? Be in agreement and do not doubt.

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 

God Does NOT Want You to be Sick!

God does not want you to be sick. 
Throughout my adult life, I had migraines. I felt God had allowed me to have this health issue or even given it to me because I deserved it! 
It was a huge revelation to realize that sickness does not come from God. He actually wants us to be healed.

Mark 16:18 states, "They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed"(emphasis added).

What does this really mean? Our great commission as Christians is to go out and lay hands on others, in the name of Jesus, and God will heal them. 

Perhaps the best at explaining this concept clearly is Curry Blake. Please see my page with all of Curry Blake's DHT (Divine Healing Technique) trainings. Watch all of these trainings and then go out and start laying hands on people. It is really amazing to see. Or lay hands on yourself. That is where I began. I put my hands on myself and told my headaches to leave in the name of Jesus. 

So, the next time you hear someone say it is God's will for them to be sick, remind yourself it is NEVER God's will for us to be sick. He wants us to walk in His glory and power into freedom and becoming who He wants us to be in Christ. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In this blog I have used material I learned at:

 Wind and Fire Mission Base Wind and Fire Mission Base, 3243 Wind and Fire Dr. Marion, IA 5230230

John G. Lake Ministries - Curry Blake DHT Training2

Positive Thinking Only Diet

This is no ordinary diet. There are no food restrictions or specific rules to follow when it comes to eating. Rather this diet is a brain diet.
How positive is your thinking these days? How often do you have a negative thought about anything?
If you find you are having a constant steam of condemnation going around in your head, please read my post entitled "Getting Rid of Self-Condemnation Forever"
Now that condemnation is gone from your brain, how many other negative thoughts do you find yourself meditating on? For instance, what role does worry/fear play in your life? How often do you find yourself complaining? Doubting? Just feeling down-in-the-dumps?
God really wants to free you from this too! So why not go on a diet for your brain.

Steps to Positive Thinking Only Diet:

Your main goal is to make it one entire day without a negative thought. If you have a negative thought, you must begin again to make it 24 hours without one.

1. Pray and ask God to give you wisdom and discernment about when a thought is negative and not beneficial. Also ask for him to help you hold it captive and release it.

2. Begin your day. When a negative thought comes up in your head, notice it is there, then throw it out in the name of Jesus. Just having this thought come into your brain does not count. It is MEDITATING on the thought or PERSEVERATING on it that gives it power. This is where Satan can get a foothold into your life.

3. Replace the thought with a verse. It can be any verse. Or simply say the name of Jesus over and over until you are focused on something new.

4. Build stamina in holding every thought captive just as you do when you build endurance in exercise. It will be hard at first, but do not give up. God will give you freedom from negative thoughts.

5. Do not get discouraged. Whatever you do, do not allow condemnation or anything negative to come into your head when you are unable to hold a thought captive. This is hard. It takes practice. One woman took 6 months of doing this daily before she could make it through one whole day without negativity sneaking into her thoughts. Ask God to strengthen you! You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In this blog I have used material I learned at Wind and Fire Mission Base.

 Wind and Fire Mission Base, 3243 Wind and Fire Dr. Marion, IA 5230230

Who Am I?

If you grew up attending public schools, you probably made one of those "Who Am I" or "I am Special" poster boards for a class project. Remember the parts of the poster that were supposed to demonstrate your worth? (Your likes, dislikes, talents, how many brothers or sisters you had, what you wanted to be when you grew up, etc).

With this philosophy, we are brought up to believe our worth is defined by what we do or what we like. It is no wonder that our self perception is so distorted by the time we get older.
I found that my primary identity came from what I did for a living. When people would ask me how I was doing, I would think about how my job or personal accomplishments in my life. It is interesting to look at that. Isn't the question, how are YOU? Not, what have you accomplished recently; how successful are you in your work or relationships; etc. If we are really engaging in meaningful relationships we should really want to know HOW the person is doing, not WHAT they are doing.

I learned recently that God is not focused on WHAT I DO, but WHO I AM.

God does not determine a person's value by looking at what they have done in life or by his/her good works.

Did you know that you are actually God's treasure? We are His treasured possession! (Exodus 19:5, Deuteronomy 7:6, Deuteronomy 14:2, Deuteronomy 26:18)

Walk in freedom - stop identifying yourself by what you do. Start embracing who God says you are. Start now. Watch this video from Casting Crowns.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In this blog I have used material I learned at Wind and Fire Mission Base.

 Wind and Fire Mission Base, 3243 Wind and Fire Dr. Marion, IA 5230230

Is God Disappointed in You? Is God Punishing You?

I became a Christian as a teenager and grew up knowing Jesus loved me because "the Bible told me so." But, I didn't really think He could love me?  I mean, look at the sins I had committed. I knew that I was forgiven, but really didn't I deserve to be punished? 

Certainly I deserved to have daily migraines because I had really let God down. He was really disappointed in me, right??

It was not until last year, when I was told a life changing message --

GOD HAS NEVER HAD A BAD THOUGHT ABOUT YOU!

I mean, meditate on that statement. All the times you have put yourself down for not meeting man's standards about reading the Bible for such and such amount of time daily or whether or not you prayed hard enough for the people on your prayer list, etc. All of those times I thought God was disappointed in my lack of christianity. 

Just because you have bad thoughts about you or the devil puts negative ideas into your head about who you are, this is NOT what God is thinking about you. 

What does God think about you? Have you asked Him? Why not spend some time alone with God (I like being outside if I can be) and just ask him "What do you want to tell me about me, God?" Then, sit and wait - be still and silent before God. He will give you a word, phrase, vision, or dream. 

Also, look at the word of God. Did you know that He loves you with an everlasting love? ()Jeremiah 31:3). Think about that His love for your is unending. Now, begin to agree with that idea simply by saying it aloud and saying something like, "I agree with how God loves me with an everlasting love."

When a negative thought about yourself suddenly pops up into your head, stop and say, "Thought you leave in the name of Jesus. You are not true. You are not real. God has never had a bad thought about me. I agree with how He loves me forever."

Begin to walk in freedom and remember what God really thinks about you - agree with Him and find true joy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In this blog I have used material I learned at Wind and Fire Mission Base.

 Wind and Fire Mission Base, 3243 Wind and Fire Dr. Marion, IA 5230230