Feelin' the Birth Pains

I am convinced that the greatest works that the Lord does in our lives comes through periods of intense suffering. Everything in the natural has a spiritual parallel to it. Think of a woman as she begins to give birth to a new baby. Life is within her; Up to this point, it has been growing and preparing to come forth into newness of life. She has went through a season of many months of various forms of pains, sickness, and sufferings in order to receive this precious new gift. Just prior to the arrival of the new baby, the symptoms of pregnancy intensify, and then comes the appointed time of labor. The demand that is put upon the woman's body is so great that many undesirable changes begin to happen. She is stretched and in great pain as a doorway for the new infant is being made. There will be many hours of turmoil in her body and mind. She may even feel contempt and anger toward her very husband that had blessed her by planting this new life within her. Suddenly, the new life springs forth, and all of the pain, agony, and suffering of mind and body are gone. The promise has arrived.

I am convinced that the greatest works that the Lord does in our lives come from periods of intense suffering. I believe that it is the spiritual parallel to giving birth. Whenever we experience seasons of sorrow and suffering in our lives, God is birthing something great within us. We may not always be able to recognize it for what it is because of the intense warfare that our spirit, mind, and body goes through. Sorrow and suffering are not very popular to us Christians, and at times they even appear to us to be our enemy, however, they are actually our friends. They shape us, break us, build us, yield us, and mold us into the image of Christ. Just like the baby will come out resembling it's parents, we begin to take on the reflection of our maker.

Heb. 5:8 says, "Although he was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which he suffered." Even Jesus learned to obey God in order to fulfill his destiny... via suffering. As Christians, we are commanded to be Christ-like, and along with this is being a partaker of His sufferings. Jesus said, "Take up your cross, and follow me." We have to be submitted and yielded to suffer with Him. We must not grow angry with Him when sorrow & suffering comes, but must deem it an honor to be counted worthy to partake in His sufferings. If we are His sons and daughters, there will be times that we will taste of suffering and sorrow, however, they will be the very catalyst that propels us into living life in the Spirit instead of staying in that cozy little womb of the natural. They will cause us to spring forth in the things that he has planned for us. Suffering & sorrow are always a doorway into a new season of life. It's time to come out of that womb of comfort, and into the life that we were created for. When we enter that new season, we will forget the pain of the suffering of the past season until God decides to birth something new in us again. He will take us from glory to glory for the purpose of bringing glory to Him.

Just like the baby who comes out of the natural womb of it's mother and into the unknown, it is time for the Body of Christ to come out of the comfortable womb of the natural world and begin to walk by faith in the Spiritual realm of the unknown. Miracles, healings, signs, wonders, and great exploits exist in that realm. When we begin to walk in that realm as the early church did, multitudes will flock to JESUS, and they will recognize Him as Lord. He will be exalted, and Him alone, for the people will know that no man or woman could do these things.

When Life Gives You Liver, Fast & Pray!

I was sitting here at my computer thinking about the saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," and couldn't help but wonder who would have coined that phrase. I mean honestly lemons are a little sour, but they are so very good. Liver quickly popped into mind, and I thought now that's a pretty disgusting food if I may say so myself. Liver is nasty, it stinks, and you can't cover up the taste or smell of it no matter who cooks it up for you. I am sure that your taste buds have to be deceived in order to even enjoy eating it. I thought... lemons? There are times in our lives when liver is thrown at us instead of lemons! 

I mean seriously...sometimes our minds, hearts, and bodies will go through extreme attacks of the devil in order to cause us to turn back from pursuing the promised life in Christ. The Bible says that the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. There are times in our lives where we go through a very intense buffeting from the enemy. A plan of extreme pressure is plotted against us by our adversary in order to rob us of peace, joy, love, & the promised abundant life in Christ; Times that seem like war is relentlessly being waged against us in the spirit realm, but God... 

Although God is not the responsible party, He still allows these times in our lives. We cannot always see what God is doing beneath the surface of it all. All we can see is the trouble, the pain, the afflictions, however, God is allowing it all for his divine purpose. He is using all of it to shape our character for His use. He has a plan to increase us in His spirit as we go through the decreasing of our flesh that the trials bring. I take comfort in Ps. 34:19 which says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." When life throws something nasty at me, I don't want to take it & build upon it until it becomes something that is acceptable, but I determine to trust God until He delivers me from those circumstances. I was thinking...lemons aren't so bad at all, but if liver were to be thrown at you, that would definitely stink! Well, my life has been given a lot of liver over the past couple of years so I determined not to take that nasty stuff, cook it up a special little way, and try to accept it as good. I say, "When life throws you liver, fast & pray!"  Fast & pray until every hindrance, stronghold, & attack of the devil is destroyed. Fast and pray until the powers of darkness flee! 

Even though we are promised afflictions, persecutions, battles, and a cross to carry, God is on our side. He sees the whole picture and the end of the story. He is Almighty, All powerful, and all knowing. He is the one true living God, and there is none other like Him. I will run & hide under the shadow of His wings, and eat the good stuff from His table!

On Labor Day, I would like to remind you of the scripture found in I. Corinthians 15:58, which says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

For all of you born again Christians out there, I understand just how tiring that it can get at times when you work for the Lord spreading the Gospel. As a matter of fact, the more that you are determined to live & work for Christ Jesus, the more attack it brings from the kingdom of darkness. Always remember that when you have God's attention, you will always have satan's attention also. He will constantly try to destroy those who labor in Christ Jesus. This verse reminds us to be steadfast, which means consistently adhering to a principle or action, unwavering, faithful, firmly fixed, direct, and steady. Secondly, we are told to be unmoveable, which means to firm; to stand firm. Through the trials of life, do not be moved from your right belief in God; do not change your mind and fall away from Him. Last of all, abound in God's work....Be busy in taking the Gospel to the world around you, and that means to those who are at your job, Walmart, the hair salon, etc...etc... You don't have to hold a technical position in a church to preach the Gospel of Jesus, but you are expected to preach the good news to those that come across your path. You will not always be received but many times rejected for the sake of the Gospel, however this scripture encourages to continue on in the midst of it all because we are laying up treasures in heaven. We are not working for the Lord in vain, but we have an eternal reward that we cannot yet see, but will surely possess it when we pass into eternity. Keep on, don't give up...Happy Labor Day!

Will You Receive Him Today?

I am thankful today that the Lord Jesus has inundated us with His incredible love. His love for us is unwavering, unchanging, undying, and without conditions. God proved His love for us when He gave His only son, Jesus, to suffer and die for a world that did not receive Him nor appreciate Him. He proved His love then. God does not only love us when we do what is right, but He loves us when we are unlovable; He loves us when we are living far apart from Him and His ways. That is the us that He died for. If we are put together in any way, it is because He took the emptiness & brokenness of every one of our lives & put us back together. Everyone has being lost, empty, and broken, and if they cannot see themselves as ever having been that, they are deceived; living in the bondage of self-righteousness. The Bible in Rev. chapter 3 calls this group of people "...wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." We are all continually in desperate need of the power of Christ in our lives in order to live a life of victory. Without the finished work of the cross being received into each of our lives, we will live a life of hopelessness;  in bondage to sin and defeat without ever experiencing victory. The victorious life does not come from the church. The church could not bring you victory if it wanted to. There is only one who can break the stronghold's of addictions, lust, anger, etc...off of our lives, and it is Jesus. The church is vital and absolutely necessary to the work of Christ because we are a conduit that brings the message of the Gospel to a lost and hurting world, however, only Jesus has the power to break the yoke of bondage off of the lost & hurting lives. Going to church is necessary, but having a deep and meaningful relationship with the one who died for us is imperative for our eternity. Many churches are full of people who have religion but no relationship. It is so sad that many will not make it into heaven because they trust in a church and not the living God. Relationship is everything to a Christian believer; without it you're really not a believer, but one who has been deceived into thinking that paying your dues of time and money to a church will get you into heaven. A true Christian is being transformed regularly into the image of Christ because God's Holy Spirit lives within him. One of the saddest things in life to me, is to know some of the most incredible people on earth who reject a relationship with Christ, and choose an eternity in hell separated from the very one who died to rescue them from that awful place. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the only way to get heaven, yet many wonderful people will not go to heaven because they reject a relationship with Him. That makes me very sad. How much more sad do you think that this makes God? He said in the Word that it is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9  He died to rescue you from destruction...Will you receive Him as your Lord and Savior today?

Sometimes Promotion Looks like Demotion

I have a question for you. Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice Issac only to stop him when he had done all that God asked of him concerning this & was in the very act of plunging the knife into his son? The Lord knew before he asked Abraham to sacrifice his son that he would do it. Why then did he make Abraham carry it out...all but the actual death itself? For what purpose would God ask Abraham to put to death the actual promise the He Himself gave to Abraham? This act was asked of Abraham by God not only for Abraham to prove himself to the lord, but also for God to promote Abraham through his obedience. Abraham had to walk out the obedience of the Lord's request of him in order that he himself would know that there was nothing that he loved more than God...not even God's promise. 

Look at what the angel said to Abraham as he stopped him from plunging the knife into Issac in Gen 22: 12. "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." Abraham could have feared  losing what he loved more than fearing God enough to obey him, but he didn't. Verses 15-18 shows us how an angel speaks this powerful blessing over Abraham after he had walked out his obedience to God, "...for because thou hast done this thing, and thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." 

Abraham proved by his actions that he loved God more than what he wanted to keep...his son. Since God is all-knowing, He will always know ahead of time what decisions we will make, however, there is something about making us walk it out anyway. It is really for us. If we love God enough to give up that thing that we love,... even the very promises that He has given us,... He will cause us to walk in a great blessing. In a hard time of my life and in a valley of decision, the Holy Spirit said to me, "What you are willing to walk away from, I will give back to you." 

It is hard to walk away from what you love, but if God asks it of you, He has already made provision for you. He cannot return to you what you refuse to give Him. It may feel like God is demoting us at times, but God will never demote those who love Him enough to be obedient, but rather promote them. God had a plan to increase Abraham's life through this act of obedience and sacrifice. God sees the big picture of our lives, even when we are confused by His seemingly odd requests.

How Are You like a Map Pencil?

When I was taking some courses in Bible college, they taught me to use erasable map pencils in replacement of highlighters when I highlighted scriptures in my Bible. To my amazement, they work better than anything I have ever used. I have a variety of quite a few of these in many colors. As I was studying my Bible last night,  I was really having a hard time making the mark on the scriptures. I had to press harder & use more time to get the results to show. I looked at the tips & noticed that they were past due to be sharpened; they had become dull & unable to perform their duty as they were supposed to. Finally, after continuing to try to use them in that condition, I grew tired of the effort that I was having to put forth without getting the results that I needed.  I decided to spend a little time sharpening all of the pencils. After sharpening them, I was amazed at the effectiveness of the pencils. Suddenly, I saw it! God was speaking to me. Why had I used these same pencils on a regular basis for so long, yet not even realizing that they were slowly regressing into an almost unusable condition; as if they were never sharpened at all? I had even noticed that they weren't working well, but didn't even take the time to look close enough at the lead to see what the problem was. We can be just like those pencils. We come in a variety of styles and different colors set apart for the use of the master, yet if we are not sharpened through the trials, persecutions, and adversities of life we will not be near as effective.When that pencil is put into that sharpener, and the blade begins to rotate around it cutting off the dullness and residue that is clinging to it, if that pencil could talk, I'm sure that it would testify that it did not feel good at all! However, to a true believer, the sharpening process is vital; necessary. If the pencil were never used, it would never have to undergo the process of sharpening. We will be so much more effective for the kingdom of God after we have been sharpened by the master. While living in this fallen world, we pick up so much residue that clings to us and dulls us; it renders us less effective and many times ineffective. In order to be used by the Lord effectively, we must be willing to go through the sharpening process as often as is necessary. I have certain pencils in my bag that I do not use as often as other ones simply because my task at hand requires certain colors. I have a method of doing things as we all do. Therefore, the colors that I use more often require more sharpening. If those colors could talk, they might just say, "Why don't you use another color, this frequent sharpening doesn't feel so great." Although the sharpening process does not feel good for us to go through, it is worth the Master reaching into his bag of this fallen world, and saying, "I have need of this one, today." Through the pain & agony of the frequent sharpening process, I still desire to be a vessel that God would choose to use often. The pain is worth being used by the Master. He has need of you; Are you willing to go through the pain of the sharpening?

As I write this I am reminded of this scripture in II. Tim chapter 2. There are all kinds of sins listed and commands given from verse 14 through 25, and in the middle of them all falls this scripture in verse 21. "Now if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work."

The Spirit of Fear: Part 4

The spirit of fear is a tactic of the devil used to bring destruction upon us. If we fear him, we experience defeat; that's why so many times in the Bible when God's people would go out into battle, He would command them not to fear their enemy or tremble. Have you ever had any situation/s where you had fear towards a physical person/s or situations that made you tremble? When I speak of tremble, I mean that your whole body just shakes, and you can't stop it. Now, likewise, have you ever been in a church service or alone at home in the presence of God, and the power of God came on you so strong that you trembled? I have had both of these happen many times, however, I had to recognize that the trembling that was motivated by the enemy had to be dealt with, and I had to begin to take authority over it in my life and walk free of it. Read  Deut. 20:1-4. Verse 3b says, "Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them." He had to warn the Children of Israel before the battle not to get into fear because of what their eyes would see. He told them that their enemy would be larger in number than them and possess horses & chariots. The Law of conquest is found in verse 16-17 of this same scripture. It says, "...thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them...as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee." In order to posses the promised land, they had to obey this command from God. God was telling them not to give life the enemy! In order to walk in the spiritual promised land that the Lord wants us to possess, we have to obey this same command. Notice the command was don't fear, tremble, be terrified, or let your heart faint. It was all fear based! God knew that if they feared the enemy, that they would be destroyed, but if they feared Him, they would walk in the blessing. It is the same today with us as it was then for them. There is no difference. The enemy, the devil, will keep us from possessing our spiritual promise land if we fear him above God. If we look at the situation & say to our self, "This is impossible because the opposition is too great," we are agreeing with the spirit of fear & take on that very feeling of fear, but if we look at the seemingly impossible situation and say, "Nothing is impossible with God," we are honoring the Lord God with fear, the fear of the Lord. This attitude recognizes that God is more than enough...He is able! To walk in the Fear of the Lord we must refuse to allow the spirit of fear to operate over our mind. We must do what God told the Children of Israel to do in the verses above; that is to utterly destroy it...save nothing alive but utterly destroy it. Don't even allow it to exist and have the breath to speak lies to you. He gave them a physical example because He physically dwelt with them, in order to give us the spiritual examples because now He dwells in us. 

 I fully believe that signs & wonders are not seen to the degree that they should be because this generation is full of fear, and not the fear of God. When the children of Israel feared God, and walked in what He said to do, miracles happened. They same is for us today. I told in the first blog on fear that I truly feel that the Lord revealed to me that fear was the greatest form of worship. Think about it...throughout the Bible when God would prove himself as the One True God through acts of His children, great fear would fall upon the kings and pagan people. Some kings would even dump their gods and make new decrees for the people to worship & serve the God of Israel as God. It would be fear of God that would turn them to worship Him as God. Fear is worship, and satan recognizes it, and is doing all that he can to deceive you into unknowingly worshipping him as god. He wants to be feared, and if he didn't, he wouldn't try to get you to fear him. He understands the power of fear where we have been ignorant to those truths. The Holy Ghost is exposing the ways of the enemy to us so that we will step into our promised land. 

Look at the story of Elijah & his servant Elisha found in 2 Kings chapter 6. When Elisha awoke & realized that they were surrounded by a great host of an army, fear quickly set in. Notice what Elijah said first..."Do not fear," and he went on to say "for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Something happen...God moved Elisha from being limited to see only in the realm of natural to seeing in the realm of the spirit. The Word says that as Elijah prayed for God to open Elisha's eyes, Elisha looked and saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around him. God struck the army that had come against them with blindness and delivered them from the hand of their enemy. What do you think would have happened if they had feared the enemy instead of standing their ground & trusting God? Do you think that the outcome would have been different? I do. If you will study the children of Israel and the battles that they fought, you will find it to be so. We are in the last days, and we cannot afford to wonder aimlessly in the wilderness because of fear and disobedience. Fear brings disobedience to God. 

The Bible says that the devils also believe in Jesus & they tremble. They back off when Jesus steps into a situation because Jesus has all authority. satan desires to mimic that same authority with us. He wants us to tremble in fear of him. Many years ago, I had to fight very real attacks of the devil in the night, and attacks of a paralyzing fear that had my undivided attention. I had never experienced anything like this ever before, and honestly was terrified. I will not go into detail of the things that happened. I had heard people speak of these sort of things before, and frankly these people scared me. I thought they they were crazy or something until it happened to me. I could not understand why someone as myself who was diligently seeking and living for the Lord, who was a serious Christian about the things of God, and living a life aligned with Him would have to experience these horrible kinds of attacks of the devil. The Lord showed me that he was teaching me of the authority that I possessed through Christ Jesus over the powers of the enemy, and that I did not have to fear him. I was being trained as if I were in a spiritual boot camp. Although I didn't like it, it was producing results. As I continued relying on God & resisting fear, these spiritual manifestations stopped. Actually they stopped when I refused to fear the devil any longer. I had to come to a place of absolute refusal to fear him, and to rely on Jesus as my help. However, Jesus, has continued to reveal to me other areas of fear that I have had to walk free from as well. 

There are many aspects of fear, and different degrees of fear. He wants the smallest aspect and degree of fear to be utterly destroyed from our lives. It is the little foxes that spoil the vine. The small ways that you fear, which you do not think is a problem can ultimately keep you from walking in the fullness of His plan for your life. Fear is a spirit, it is our enemy, when we do not resist it, we come into agreement with it, therefore, taking on it's characteristics which affects our emotions. That's why we can mistakenly think that it is simply an emotion. When we surrender to God, we take on His characteristics and mindset; it is the same when we surrender to the enemy. When a spirit shows up and we pay it attention...are in awe of it...revere it (even though this is spoken of in a very negative and fearful way)...we connect emotionally with it, and it produces in us a mental disposition of fear. We emotionally feel whatever we revere. Just like when we are in awe of God, there is an emotional experience that comes with it. 

Have you ever set through a praise & worship services & felt so compelled to break out & worship God freely? Maybe you felt strongly compelled to do something unusual like breaking out & running around the church. The first thing to hit your mind will be fear. If you draw back from doing what you know the Holy Ghost is leading you to do, how do you feel in your emotional make up and in your spirit man when you walk away from there knowing that you were disobedient? On the flip side, when you revere God enough to say, "I just don't care what they think of me, I'm gonna worship my God & do what the Holy Ghost leads me to do," and break out in radical praise towards God, how to you feel emotionally and spiritually then?

Ask God today, "What areas of my life do I walk in fear?"  Let's pray this together. " Dear Lord, Jesus, I come to you now & I repent over receiving the spirit of fear in my life. I make the conscience decision to no longer submit to this spirit, but I choose to fear you and surrender to the working of the Holy Ghost in my life. Please reveal to me even the smallest of areas that I am giving control to the enemy concerning fear that I might have the knowledge of the truth and walk in victory. I loose your light into me to expose all darkness of the work of this spirit in my life. I bind the spirit of fear  and take authority over it in the name of Jesus, and I loose the fear of God into my life. I will not be a man-pleaser or fear men, but instead I determine now to fear you in all things. I purpose right now to never fear circumstances or situations that look impossible because I have faith in your ability. I ask you now for the fear of the Lord to be strongly rooted inside of me. I seek after it, and I expect to have the power to walk at all times in a reverent fear of you. I thank you in advance for delivering and healing me in my mind, body and spirit, and restoring me this day to the fear of the Lord. I thank you that I have what I ask according to your Word, in Jesus' name Amen."

The Spirit of Fear: Part 3

Throughout the Bible, every time an angel of the Lord showed up great fear would fall upon the person(s) that the angel was revealing themselves to, however, the angel would always greet them by saying, "Fear not!" This is proving to us that we are not even supposed to fear the very angels of God...his own messengers...his "get the job done men." It is evident that they are very frightening to look upon, or the people would not be so afraid, and the angel would not have to show up saying, "fear not!" However, the righteous reverent fear of God does not belong to them, and they are well aware of this...it belongs to God. If we are commanded by heavenly angels not to fear them, then this just validates even more that we are not to fear satan or the demons because they also are angels the same as heavenly angels, but rather they are fallen angels. If I asked you, "Who is the opposite of God?" What would you say?... Would you say, "satan?" Many times without even thinking clearly, that is exactly what we would say. satan wants to be like God & this is clear by reading the five "I wills" in Isaiah14:12-15. However, satan could not even be the opposite of God because being an opposite would suggest that he was equivalent to God in power & authority just on the opposite scale. He's not! satan, or lucifer at the time that he was in heaven, was simply an angel that served God like the heavenly angels that still do. He is an opposite of the heavenly angels because he is an angel, a fallen angel. He is not all-knowing or all-powerful, and cannot be all places at once; only the one true Almighty God, Jehovah, can. Look at this scripture with me, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down from the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart,...

1. I will ascend into heaven,

2. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God,

3. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north,

4. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,

5. I will be like the most High....

...Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."

Can you see clearly just how satan thought that he could become like God? He is still doing it today; his attitude has not changed. He desires that you fear him rather than fearing the only one worthy to receive that kind of honor. Now, the fear of God is a good fear. Even when people are afraid of the heavenly angels, it is not a fear that brings harm to them, but rather a reassurance and produces an obedience and a drawing closer to God. The spirit of fear is simply a demon, another fallen angel, that brings torment, and a drawing away from the things of God. Many will even describe having the attitude of not pressing into God because of being afraid of the devil & what he will do to them when they press in & obey God. Has this ever happened to you? It has to me. I had to have one on one training not to fear the devil and plenty of refreshment courses. Where the fear of God brings you closer into blessing and obedience, the spirit of fear will pressure you to be disobedient many times without even recognizing it, and rob you of that blessing. Now, if God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of  power, love and a sound mind, what do you think that you will have if you fear the things of life, people, the devil,etc...?

First, you will be powerless. The word power here in 2 Tim.1:7 is "Dunamis." It means-force, miraculous power, power, mighty work, strength, miracle, might, ability, abundance, meaning, mightily, worker of miracles, violence. To the degree that we fear God is to the degree that we walk in power. To the degree that we fear men or the devil or life, etc...is to the degree that we walk in the lack of power. Honestly, do you think that we would have seen Peter walk on water if he had said or thought..."I don't think I can do it."... "It's not humanly possible, therefore, why set myself up to fail?"..."Nobody else is getting out of the boat, & they will think I'm foolish if I do!"..."I don't want to look like a failure in front of people when it doesn't happen or I sink."... "I don't want people to think that I want to be the center of attention." Peter just trusted Jesus! Peter feared Him enough to step out, and he never failed whatsoever until he looked at the storm and feared it more than Jesus. Peter never failed stepping out and walking on the water. Never! It really happened,... but he sank because of his sudden lack of trust in Jesus. What took that power to walk on water from him? His attention was abruptly divided through fear...the enemy used a spirit of fear, and the dunamis power left. He became fearful, and it was not the fear of God. The fear of God is dunamis, a power that produces effects where the spirit of fear robs you of this kind of miracle producing power.

Secondly, Fear will rob you of love. There are different types of love spoken of in the Bible. This is Agape love spoken of here. Agape is the way that God loves. It shows affection, it gives and gives without conditions or the expectation of something given back. It is the very love that God displayed to us when He allowed His only son to be tortured and crucified so that we could live for an eternity with Him in heaven. It is a deep, and constant love shown to one regardless of the circumstances. When we walk in fear, we will not walk in this unconditional type of love towards people, but we will rather love if the circumstances are right. God says that perfect love casteth out all fear. If you cannot show unconditional love to someone when they hurt you or when you don't like their ways...there is a spirit of fear involved. You see, the opposite of love in this scripture is not hate...it is...conditions! If you are giving your attention to a spirit of fear instead of fearing God, you will give love if the conditions are right to give it. We have to constantly give that spirit the left foot of fellowship out of our lives! It will hold us back if we embrace it.

Last of all, you will be tormented in your mind. The word sound mind, which is sophronismos, also means discipline and self-control. When a spirit of fear is involved, our mind can seriously run away with us whatever the situation is. The enemy will make you believe something that is not... using lies, deception, and confusion. Your mind will create situations that do not even exist. He will make worry about how people view you. He will pressure your mind to take the smallest of happenings and dwell on them until... in your mind...you take that situation and make it different and much bigger than what it really is. For example, you could feel a small lump, and immediately be convinced that its cancer. The devil can tell you that you are going to die or be debilitated & you agonize over it believing that you will be. He can tell you that your spouse is gonna leave you, and you start treating that spouse bad and accusing them of it. Someone close to you can make a decision that affects you that you don't agree with, and you immediately take it personal. You can even hear your name being spoken in a crowd & quickly think that someone is talking about you, when they could be praising you for something. The Bible says that the devil is a liar, and the father of lies. In order to torment you, he lies to you. In this scripture, in Timothy, it is reminding us to discipline our minds, train it to think according to the Word of God and what it says concerning every matter in life. If we fear death...What does the Word say about it? If we think someone is angry at us...what does the Word say and how does it tell you to handle it? etc...etc... We have to discipline every reaction to every circumstance by the Word of God; It is the ultimate authority concerning ever situation of life. If we receive the spirit of fear, we will live a life of torment in our mind, confusion, and an attitude of defeat. Our mind will not be disciplined to press through the lies of the enemy, and we will believe them. Twelve spies were sent out the scope out the promised land. Ten came back saying that it could never happen because there were giants in the land. Their minds were not disciplined because they were not fearing God, but man and the circumstances that their own mind created. They saw themselves failing if they even tried, because it  looked to great for them to accomplish. It was too big for them, but it wasn't to big for God! Only two who had disciplined their minds to trust God even though the circumstances looked different. They were just foolish enough to say, we need to take em' out cuz the grapes are soooo big!... surely this is the place that God spoke of! This should teach us to always remember to not follow the majority...fear of God will not be found in the majority... of even Christians. Peter was the only one who stepped out of the boat while eleven chose to stay in the safety of it.

Remember this, if satan is not intimidated by your walk with God, he will not try to make you fear people, circumstances, or him. If you are struggling with a spirit of fear, he recognizes something within you that is detrimental to the kingdom of darkness, He will try to hold you back from fearing God, by trying to turn your attention towards this spirit, fear. When you fear God and not satan or his tactics, you will have miraculous experiences. Faith is the opposite of fear, the wrong kind of fear. When your attention is not on or is diverted away from the ability of the Almighty God and on your circumstances, you will not go forward in the things of God. If you look at lack, if you expect lack, you will get lack. If you look at God, if you expect from God, You will get what you need from God. God wants to use us to go against the flow so that He can change the nations by displaying His power, His love, & His mindset through His people.

The Spirit of Fear: Part 2

Today, I am just setting a scriptural basis for what I want to talk to you about. In order to understand the spirit of fear, we must understand it's opposition... the fear of the Lord. The fear of God is the scriptural fear that we must live by. 

These are several scriptures that urge us to fear the Lord & has many promises to us when we do.

Throughout the Word of God you will find the Lord giving direct commands for us to fear Him...because He is God. Deut.4:10b says, "...the Lord said to me, 'Assemble the people to me, that I may let them hear My words so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth and that they may teach their children.'  Ps. 86:11 says, "Teach me thy way, O Lord;...unite my heart to fear thy name. Ps. 34:11 pleads, "Come ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the lord."  

Several times in the Book of Leviticus when God is giving the Law to the people, as he is dealing with the subjects of how to treat each other, he ends each with "fear your God." 

Ps.2:11 says, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling." Ps. 5:7 says, "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple." Ps. 22:23 commands, "You who fear the Lord, praise Him..." Ps. 6:9 also commands, " O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Fear before Him, all the earth." When we worship God, it is an open display that we fear Him.

Many times the Bible speaks of the fear of the Lord such as found often in Proverbs. Here are some of the rewards spoken of in Proverbs alone when one has the fear of the Lord... it brings wisdom, causes us to hate evil & to turn away from it, causes our days to be prolonged, gives us strong confidence, is a fountain of life to us, brings riches, honor & life, etc... Ps. 25:14 says, "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him..." Ps. 33:18 states, " The eye of the Lord is upon those who fear Him." Ps. 34:9 reads, "O fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him." Etc... They're are blessings that come upon us when we fear God.

Matt. 10:28 (NAS) says, " And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul & body in hell." Only God has the ultimate authority in our eternity. He is the only one able to meet out the judgment of the way that we choose. Ps. 119:120 says, "My flesh trembles for fear of Thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments. Rev. 14:7 states, "...Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

Ps. 19:9 reads, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous all together." This scripture verifies what so many of us already understand. To fear God is not the same kind of fear that you feel from the devil, or an enemy, or even people that you might have the wrong kind of desires to please. It is a revering of Him as the ultimate authority. He is God, and because of this we trust Him enough to serve Him as our God. He is not a mean, abusing god, but rather the just & one true living God. Even when He corrects, it is driven out of love for us, and not to harm us. When we walk in the fear of the Lord, our heart has confidence.  

satan, however, in his desire to be God, imitates Him by distorting true fear; the fear of the Lord. satan always twist & distorts truth. It doesn't matter how he can get you to fear, but the fact that he can get you to fear. If he can get you to fear people, circumstances, and him he has done his job. satan's kind of fear operates out of plain fear, fear of man, &  man-pleasing. Any fear that it not directed towards God is not an appropriate fear. Here are several scriptures that urge us what not to fear.

The Lord desires that we fear Him only, and not man, our enemies, or the devil. He actually warns us not to fear others. 

Look at Jer.1:17, "Now gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, lest I dismay you before them." Wow...that was a very direct command to Jeremiah to speak to the kingdoms, yet fear no one but God. It came with a warning that if he feared the people, he would be overcome by fear in front of them. He was warning Jeremiah not to trust in man's ability to harm him more than trusting in God's ability to deliver him. 

Ps.27:3 confidently states, " Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me..."

2 Chron. commands, " you need not fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you...fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will  be with you."

Deut. 20:3-4 says, "...Ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you."  We are to trust God in the midst of physical wars with pagan lands, as well as the spiritual battles with the devil.

 Prov. 29:25, "The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe." To fear man is a trap because we are not fully trusting God when we fear man. We are actually saying to ourselves that man has more power than God. He will confound us when we do this; it is a trap of satan. 

Gal. 1:10 asks, "For do I now persuade men, or God? Do I seek to please men? For if I pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." It is evident that Paul was rejecting walking in fear & man-pleasing as he wrote this passage. He was defending truth & the gospel versus going with the flow. Man-pleasing is a form of fear.

I. Thes. 2:4 says, "But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts". It is important to know that we are pleasing God rather than giving men what they seek.

Ps. 3:6 says, " I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, who have set themselves against me round about.

Ps. says, "Be not afraid of sudden fear, nor the onslaught of the wicked when it comes..."

Ps. 56:4 says, "...I will not fear what flesh can do to me."

Is. 35:3-4 commands, "Stengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; He will come and save you.

Is. 41:10 commands again, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee..."

Is. 51:7b says, "...Do not fear the reproach of man neither be dismayed at their revilings.

Eze. 3:9 states, "As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks..."

Heb 13:6 says, " The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me."      

These scriptures are very clear in conveying the message that we are not to fear people whatever the circumstances may be.

Rev. 2:10 encourages us, "Fear none of the things which though shalt suffer." The word promises us in Ps. that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all. We cannot fear suffering for whatever reason; we must trust God in all things.

Ps. 23 is probably one of the most well-known scriptures in the Bible. Verse 4b says, " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. David recognized that satan nor any evil could harm him because God was with him.

2 Chron. 17:38b-39 says, "...Neither shall ye fear other gods. But the Lord your God ye shall fear; and He shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. Chapter 17 tells us 3 times not to fear other gods who we know are manipulated by demon spirits.

Judges 6:10 states, " ...I am the Lord your God,  fear not the gods of the Amorites..."



Can you see from many of these scriptures just how worship & fear are intertwined?

Spirit of Fear - Part 1

I want to begin to speak to you concerning an area that I truly believe is one of the main culprits that keep us from being effective, productive, & obedient in the things of God. As you have noticed, I have been taking a poll on fear. Is it an emotion or a spirit? Well, we need to go to the word of God for the answer; the Word answers all things rightly. We can all form our opinions that come from our own belief system that can seem so right to us, yet still be very wrong. Therefore, we must always seek the Word for every answer. 2 Tim.1:7 holds the most well-known scripture on fear, although the Bible is inundated with this subject; many times not even using the Word fear. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind." If you study out this word 'spirit' in this passage of scripture as it is written in the original Greek language, it is referring to a superhuman being along with the mental disposition of a natural being. 

The word fear simply means timidity; fear, which by the way, both function as nouns, which are persons, places, or things. Timidity & fear are really one in the same because timidity denotes a backing up; a resistance to going forward. Webter's:Timid means to exhibit a lack of courage, boldness, or self-confidence; shy. 1. Fear means an apprehensive and agitated feeling caused by the awareness or expectation of danger, pain, or evil; dread. 2."A state" of feeling an emotion. (state- is a noun, which is a person, place, or thing) 3. Feeling of concern or anxiety 4. Cause for alarm  5. In order to avoid or prevent ***Notice this one in particular. 6. Awe or reverence especially toward God.

Based on the Word of God, I truly believe that fear is an actual being, a fallen angel, that has a name. After all, if you will study it out, the Word also speaks of a lying spirit, a spirit of infirmity, and other spirits that are called by a name. Heavenly Angels also have names, such as Michael & Gabriel. Now we can much more easily connect with these as being names rather than lie, infirmity, and fear. However, these are names that are used to identify spiritual beings that are able to emotionally, physically, & spiritually affect us if we pay them the attention that they demand.

I don't want to deal with too much at a time so I will bring you how ever many posts on this subject as the Lord lays on my heart to give. I will leave you with this, though...

Several years ago as God was giving me some incredible insight on the spirit of fear, He revealed something to me. Fear is the greatest form of worship that we could give to the Lord God Almighty. It is actually ...
'a form of worship' such as singing, clapping, dancing, etc...   At the time that He showed me this I had not even read the Webster's definitions on it. Notice again the last definition that is written above. ***Awe or reverence "especially towards" God. Note that it says especially towards God....hmmm! Does that mean that we could give that same kind of awe & reverence to someone or something else? Sure it does! This is exactly in line with what the Lord spoke to me years ago. Because satan wants to be God, although he can't be...he produces an imitation for all that God does or is. He doesn't want God to have our attention because he is jealous of God, therefore he produces an imitation in order to get us to pay attention to him. He wants us to be in awe of him. Now, if there is a right 'type of fear' that is a awe & reverence equaling worship towards God, can you see how satan would desire to imitate that? He imitates that awe with a 'spirit of fear.' I hope that I have not gotten ahead of myself. I will share about this & the fear of the Lord tomorrow.

Mercy Triumphs Judgment!

There is one area that I believe we as humans all struggle with, and even when we don't always realize that we are struggling with it, we still are. It is mercy versus judgment.  Have you ever met someone for the very first time, and very quickly formed an opinion of them? Maybe it was a good opinion & maybe it wasn't, but nevertheless, in a very short amount of time, you sort of had them "figured out."  Have you ever saw a brother or sister in Christ struggling in their life with strong battles, and came to the conclusion that it was because their life was not right with God? Have you heard someone talk about just how another had wronged them, listened to the situation, and determined that it was so... without... hearing their neighbor? Have you ever saw someone living in the pits of sin even after knowing the "better" way, yet still choosing to throw their life away? How did you act toward them when you saw them; how did you treat them? How did you feel... in the secret place of your heart... towards them?

These are just a few examples that I have used to help you to apply this to your life personally. We all can be so very quick to judge people or situations; it is the natural reaction of our flesh. We as Christians know that we are not supposed to walk in judgment towards others, and even the lost can quickly remind us of that, however, the Word of God does tell us to judge the... fruits... of people to know whether they are truly in Christ or not. I truly believe that this is because deception is so great, and the Lord does not want His people to be drawn away by wolves in sheep's clothing. He does not want us to be ignorant or taken in by something that's false. Not so quick, though, because there is definitely a fine line here. He says to judge the fruits not to walk in judgment towards people.

About a year ago, after praying for God to reveal to me anyone that I had wronged, the Lord began to deal with me concerning a certain someone that I had just washed my hands clean of per say. I was tired of seeing them destroy their life when they knew better. This was not your average "walking the mile" with someone, but it was walking in countless miles of circles with them, and with no change coming from it...at all! I had developed an attitude of judgment towards them, and actually felt justified by it. Most everyone that knew them felt the same way; they had burned a lot of bridges. The Lord began to deal with my heart & how it was callous towards them. He began to speak to me about walking in mercy towards them; just loving them where they were at. Of course, my flesh yelled, "...but that will make them feel even more ok to continue living the way that they live...they might never change if someone doesn't challenge them to!" God reminded me of the scripture in James 2:13 (NAS), "For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment."  I heard in my spirit man, "If you are going to err, err on the side of mercy." Well, I did repent to them concerning my wrong attitude & behavior of judgment. I chose that day to let God be the judge of their life & not me.

There is no weapon that the enemy could ever use against us that can prevail against mercy because mercy is an absolute act of unconditional love; the God kind of love. Even as Christians who are sold out to walk in mercy, we can still be pressured & deceived by the devil to fall into the trap of judging, but God is calling us just to love people right where they are at. Never at any point should we stop loving them or caring for their souls. Never at any point should we stop walking in mercy towards them. The Lord has often reminded me over the past year of the scripture in Romans that says, "It is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance." It is not our scorning or judging them, or even the quiet disdain in our hearts towards them that makes them want to change. That will not make them want to serve God at all...Not one bit! However, since there is no law against love, continual love & mercy will chip away the hardening of the hearts. It softens them; you may not be able to see that it's happening, but it is. If the world is such a hard place to live in, with so much hurt, pain, anger, rejection, etc...then if we as the Body of Christ are showing a perpetual goodness, which is love & mercy towards someone who is determined to live in the ways of the world, it will only be a matter of time before they need a place to run to. If they are receiving constant mercy & love from you as a Christian, you are showing them in action that Christ will also receive them, and they will know that they have a hiding place in Him. They will then be much more likely to trust Jesus Christ with their lives. If we operate out of judgment & rejection, how could that ever be appealing to them? It can't! If we do not live the Word concerning mercy to the lost and back-slidden, how can we expect them to desire what we have left to offer them???  I need mercy for myself, and so do you. If you sow it, you will reap it. Mercy triumphs judgment... Mercy always wins!

Great Is Thy Faithfulness!

One of the most reassuring scriptures from the Word of God to the masses of imperfect people is found so ever sweetly tucked away in the Book of Jeremiah. In chapter 3:22-23 (NAS) the Prophet Jeremiah reminds us that, "The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness." 

Just before this beautiful piece of scripture that brings so much encouragement to our hearts, Jeremiah is calling to remembrance his afflictions, his wanderings, and wormwood & bitterness that consumes his life. He is referred to as the weeping prophet, and Lamentations is the piece of literature that came from his heart being overwhelmed by brokenness over sin & the destruction of Jerusalem. Out of the abundance of pain and suffering came this incredible passage of hope. There is no doubt that this small portion of scripture has been the very thread that the masses of broken and hurting humanity have held on to through the ages of time; it has brought many through in the midst of their personal pain & suffering.

So many times, when I look at my failures, and then read this, it brings me great hope because God is promising me & you that even when we give up on ourselves, He will never give up on us. We can trust Him when we can't even trust ourselves. He is faithful! He will never cast us away. He is our portion, therefore, we have a reason to have hope!

I want you to think about times when you feel like such a failure in life. Have you ever had days when it seemed that you just made a mess of everything? We all have those days. Just remind yourself that when you have that kind of day, and you feel like you messed up even too much for God, that when you wake up the next morning there is a brand new compassion for you. God lovingly woos us to repentance. He is not this angry father that goes around brow beating us all the time & focusing on our failures, but rather loves us to the extent that we want to do what pleases Him. That is so hard for so many to understand because they didn't have mothers or fathers who parented them in the image of God. The Lord looks deep within us, sees the potential that He Himself placed in every one of us, and draws it out through circumstances that are less than pretty. If we did not have scripture of encouragement such as one's like these, I am convinced that many would not make it, but faint & give up through overwhelming discouragement. 

Aren't you glad that we serve the God of Hope...the one true living God who lovingly encourages us to be transformed into His image; the One who offers us a better way through Him? I am, and I am also very grateful that when I am less than what I know I should be, there's a new day coming in the morning; I will awaken to lovingkindness and compassion towards me. In light of this, aren't you glad that God isn't like us? Aren't you glad that He continues to have compassion on us when we don't have it together in life? His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and His ways far above our ways. 

Praise the name of Jesus! He is a very faithful Lord and savior!!!

A Confession for the Mouth

I Peter 3:10-12 is a very small portion of scripture, but it is power packed. Part of it is actually a rewrite of a section in the Book of Wisdom, Proverbs. I was riding down the road recently with a good friend of mine, and I told her that I had taken this section of the Word and personalized it to use it for a confession. I believe that one of the most significant areas of our lives is what we choose to allow to come out of our mouths. If life and death are in the power of the tongue, then everything that we speak creates; it forms. It is important that we watch the words that we speak because our words do matter, and we will give an account for them. Many times, I have asked God to forgive me for words that I spoke that I shouldn't have, words that did not build up and encourage. We will even answer for every idle word; words that carry no weight and are ineffective. Matt. 12:36 says, "and I say to you , that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment." OUCH! As I sit here typing this, conviction is falling on me. I had to say, "God, please forgive me of every careless word that I have used." Recently, I have noticed so many carelessly doing this; not realizing what negative outcome that they are creating for their future. Some people believe that curse words are only a few mostly four-lettered words, but that is not so. Any words that do not build, bless, and bring life... are tearing down, cursing, and killing. We all have been so guilty of this. "Jesus, Please forgive us & help us to teach & train our tongues to bless, build, and bring life into every person that we come across and into every situation of our lives, and help us to quickly realize when we are falling into this trap." Stop right now and read I Peter 3:10-12. There is a whole bible right here on my blog. Go to the right-hand margin of this page & scroll down a bit. ... Now that you have read it, can you see where our words are vitally important. We need to stop being so reckless with them.  Here is the declaration that I made from this passage of scripture; I pray that it helps you.

I choose this day, (date______________,) to refrain my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking guile. I choose not to use my words recklessly or tear others down with them, but only to build others and speak life into every situation. I choose not to lie, deceive, gossip, slander, speak against, or pass judgment on my neighbor because I am determined to love life and see good days. I will seek peace and pursue it with everyone. Jesus, I ask that your eyes would be upon me because I am in right standing with you, and I ask that your ears would be attentive to my prayers because I make a conscience decision to do what is right in your eyes. I refuse to do any evil works, and I ask that you help my spirit man to be strong and to overcome any evil desires of my flesh. I choose to guard myself from sinning with my mouth this day.

A Ray of Sunshine

We have so many opportunities in life to become offended & walk in unforgiveness, but truthfully not one of them is worth what we have to trade in to remain in that unforgiving state. It's not worth our joy, love, or peace of mind that is required as an exchange. Forgiveness is not only necessary to our spiritual health, but also to our emotional and physical well-being. That is why the enemy so often uses it as a tool to steal from us, kill us, and destroy us and our victorious walk with Christ. Have you ever made the statement, "I just can't forgive them!" or "They hurt me so bad that I'll never be able to trust anyone ever again!"  Really? If you have ever said those words, upon saying them, I would imagine that you weren't thinking of just how bad you yourself have hurt others. When we are hurt, we feel the pain so intensely, however, when we hurt others we don't usually feel the pain that they feel. Sometimes, people can become so callous towards others that they feel a certain enjoyment in hurting them. We may even have felt that those we have wounded need to get over it. I have even heard some pride themselves in hurting others as if they were anointed by God to dish it out. If this is an attitude that you have ever struggled with, it could change if you suddenly find yourselves standing in the shoes of the one who is hurting. God has not called us to go around in life knocking chips off of people's shoulders, but rather to walk in love at all costs. I am reminded of the scripture in PS. 34:14 that says, "Depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it." You may even be someone who purposes within yourself to pursue living in peace with others, but that doesn't always mean that they have the same warm cozy feelings towards you. However, Rms. 12:18 states, "...so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." Wow, this means that  no matter how much you may try to show love to love someone and be at peace with them, if they don't return the same to you, you yourself are still expected as a child of God to be at peace with them. It is our responsibility, with everything in us to do this, and with the love of Christ within us we can.  Hebrews 12:14a tells us to, "Pursue peace with all men...." It can be an incredible emotional struggle when we determine to do this, yet are not received. Notice, however, God didn't promise in this scripture that others would always have an attitude of peace back towards us, but He just commands us to live in peace with others, regardless of their response towards us. It is our responsibility to do this. You may say,..."but Tamra, you don't know how I've tried and it still won't work...there's no hope!!!" Well, you might be right, but I do think I have some understanding of your situation. Be encouraged, though, there is a ray of sunshine in your desperation. It's forgiveness. Sometimes forgiveness is very easy, but other times it can be one of the hardest of tasks especially if it is someone that you must repeatedly forgive. Forgiveness is a choice; a conscience decision that you choose to make. When we choose to forgive, our feelings may not always readily line up with that decision. I have found it to be very helpful to verbally say outloud, "I choose to forgive_____ of doing _____; I make the choice right now to forgive them for that. "Every time that you experience even the smallest of hurt over something, just say it, and when the devil comes to play the ole' tape recorder back to you again & again as he likes to do, just make that decision & say it again. Eventually, he'll leave you alone in that area, but don't get too comfy because I promise you he'll be trying to figure out another area of attack! I have had times when the enemy would remind me over and over again what someone did or said that hurt me, and every time I would say that I forgave them over and over if it was necessary, until my feelings lined up with what I was saying; and eventually they did. Honestly, some people do not care that they hurt, slander, or pass judgment on others. I'm sure that it has always been such a way of life for them that they don't even realize just how they affect others. If you are refusing to forgive, you are not hurting them because they probably really don't care how it affected you anyway. They're are just living life doing their thing while you're hurting. Pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and choose to forgive them and release them. If you won't forgive them, you have built a prison in your mind for them, but guess who's in prison with them??? You are!!! That's no life for a Child of God! One of the best cures for us when we are hurt and struggling to forgive someone, is to think about a time when we went stupid and did something to hurt someone. We've all done things that we have desperately wished that we could have the opportunity to do differently. The Bible plainly states that if we will not forgive those who have not hurt us, He will not forgive us. The reason for it...I believe it is because we all are as guilty as the next person when it comes to this area. If we inspect our lives and can't find those who we have wronged, then it's time for us to take off those rose-colored glasses so we can see ourselves as we really are. We are all guilty, and thank God for His forgiveness toward us. The most important reason that it's worth giving forgiveness to those who have wronged us is that we need it because we also have wronged others! Jesus Christ died for us and forgave us of our sins, therefore, we are bound in covenant with Him, and He is asking us to forgive. Making the decision to forgive until our feelings line up with that decision, will set us free! Unforgiveness is just another tactic of the devil to steal the good life from us. Refuse to let him do it! Love your enemies! Pray for them, do good to them, bless them, and when the wrong you again and again, continue these steps again and again. Aren't you grateful that Jesus forgave you? I have went many times to people when I knew that I hurt them or did them wrong and asked for forgiveness because my heart convicted me. For those who were forgiving and received it, it felt so wonderful to hear, "I forgive you." Likewise, I have had people who have wronged or hurt me come and humbly ask for forgiveness, and as I gave it, I'm sure that it felt wonderful for them to hear that from me as well. It feels so good to walk in forgiveness & get the heavy weight of unforgiveness off of your back. For those who refuse that they have done any wrong when they know that they are guilty, just let God deal with the situation...He has His ways. For you, release them, so that God will deal with them. What we are not willing to give to the Lord He cannot take and fix. For those of you who did hurt others, but you did not intentionally purpose to hurt them, yet they will not receive that... give it to God and take your hands off of it. He is bigger than any of our problems! Just walk in love, and let Him take care of the big stuff. When we try to fix something when others are wrongfully hanging on to unforgiveness, it just magnifies the situation. What God expects of us is to walk in unconditional love and common respect towards all regardless of our circumstances, and when we experience hurt, to not make it bigger than what it really is. If we all would magnify God more than our problems, our problems would get much smaller.

"You Don't Fit In"

Today, I would like to share with you the dangers of Fitting in. It sounds like a topic that is needed predominantly for kids, but this isn't so. Many more adults than you could imagine struggle with the desire to fit in and be accepted by certain people. I remember many years ago at a certain point in my life, a place where I was at in my spiritual walk with Christ that I will always cherish. The way that God used me on a daily basis; outside of the church, just in every day life, at work, out to eat, etc..., meant something precious to me. God would always out of nowhere ask me to do special things for people, give me a particular specific word to speak to them, or to go talk to people about Him. It would be such a strong heart-pounding burden upon me that I would just do it. God would even use me to lead people to the Lord right there in the back room of the beauty salon where I worked at. A minister friend that I worked with at that time recognized this and said to me,  "Tamra, God asks you to do these things because He can trust you with them." I know that this was true looking back at some of the conversations that God and I would have together. Even though I had to fight reason and fear to obey God, the outcome was always worth it. Moving forward just a bit, I remember being at church one day & observing a group of friends having fun. Now a couple of these ladies would tell me all the time how they respected & looked up to me, but when it was time to run around together and do "fun stuff," I wasn't their choice, and I had always been o.k.with that because I was always a more serious minded person anyway. This particular day however, was a trap of the enemy that I would not recognize for what it was until many years later. I'm sorry to say that I took the bait & was trapped! I still remember that day so vividly. Everyone looked so happy; their faces beaming with joy, laughing and playing. The words, "You don't fit in" ran through my mind. I began to agree that I didn't. I didn't have buddies that I did fun stuff with all the time. I began to long for that, & from that day on I began to pursue "fitting in" with people. After all, what was wrong with that, they were Christians; church people?  I began to spend more and more time having good clean fun with people without noticing that it was taking away from my time with God. Please know that I am not in any way speaking against Christian fellowship with each other. I understand & know that this is vital & necessary to our walk as Christians, but this was different. I did fellowship with others before this day, however, my level of "fellowship" greatly increased, and in reality, it was really more a matter of my heart that was out of balance. How could I have looked at this fellowship that I had with Christ & longed to trade it in for something else? How could I have thought for a single moment that I was somehow missing something in life? How could hanging out & being accepted by people look better than the times that I was experiencing with God? I didn't realize the trade that I was making. You see, the devil is a liar & the truth is not in him; he is a master at deceiving...not to give him an ounce of glory, though! It was a trap to deter me from continuing down the path that I was on. If only I had seen it for what it really was. I spent a lot of time just fitting in to what the people around me were or expected me to be. Making them happy with me; pleasing them. Then, a few years ago, I was by myself and the Lord revealed something great to me; something I desperately needed to hear. I realized for the first time that I had accomplished what I pursued...I finally "fit in" with those that I desired to fit in with, but  no longer did I "fit in" with God... Not like I once did. I was changed, and it was not a change that I was proud of either. I got what I sought after, and it was not really what it appeared to be and surely not what I wanted either. It felt good to my flesh, but agonizing to my Spirit. No longer did I have the regular assignments spoken into my ears by God; not anywhere on the same level. Sure, I could go visit a sick person or do many good deeds, etc...which we should do anyway, but it wasn't the same as walking through a parking lot and having God point out a perfect stranger to you and whisper in your ear so clearly, "Go tell that person that I love them; go tell them about me." You see, its the smallest of things like this that keep churches everywhere full of people having more religion than relationship; and you have to be on guard all the more when you hold positions in a church. I don't care how you cut it, if you are spending more time taking care of your "position" in church than just relating to God for no reason at all....it's religious! If you're studying or praying to get a message for the class you teach or the sermon you preach, you must be on guard to not substitute that as time spent in relationship with God. To have depth in our relationship with Christ, we must spend much time with Him that brings no motive with it, but rather just ourselves. I don't want to fit in with people anymore. If you tell me that I should be like everyone else...I won't even listen to you. I am not a cookie cut from a Christian cookie cutter, and neither are you! I choose only to allow Christ to tell me who I am, and delegate to me what He has called me to do. I choose to fit in with Him even if I am the odd ball with man. We can trust that we are on the right path when it is He that is leading us. If we, as the Body of Christ would truly begin to operate out of what God has appointed us to do through relationship with Him, there's no doubt that we would see miracles, signs and wonders all the time. If  our churches are not operating out of this, I believe that it is a relationship problem. If we don't have this happen in our personal lives as individuals, it surely won't happen in our church services either. I pray that as I have written this, that it speaks to you; that it changes something within you. Our power is in our relationship to the One True Living God, Jesus Christ, and in Him determine to fit.