Your Desires

What are your desires? Bring them before the Lord. Talk them over with Him. Your desires can be a dangerous thing if not placed in the hands of your loving God. Prayer. It is in prayer that you pour out your desires before Him. It is a place of reality. A refuge from falling into dillusionment. God is reality. Let Him be your greatest desire and you won't wake up feeling so disappointed. I promise you if God is not your greatest desire you will be disappointed. Jesus, it's all about You.

Your Reaction to Temptation

The first video for the Book Club will be posted on Tuesday...just to give you all a little more time who are in the process of getting the book. If you get it later then we started, no big deal...just go back and watch the previous videos to catch up! Again we will only be going through one chapter a week.

This morning this scripture stuck out to me. Be greatly encouraged by it!

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it."

What is the thing you turn to in your flesh when pressures arise? Does the enemy have a "temptation button" in your life that he can push to guarantee a trip up? Do not be alarmed as if this was only happening to you. We all are tempted and battle specific faults and failures. But please do not settle there. Recognize an area of temptation where the enemy always has victory. Search out the scriptures concerning it and cry out to God. He will break down the stronghold. Be persistent and persevere. Train your mind to turn to the scriptures instead of your fleshly reaction. I have a feeling the enemy will reconsider tempting you in that way when your every reaction is prayer and the Word. I know he doesn't want you to do that!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An Abomination

Hey Everyone! I read a proverb this morning and just thought it was awesome. It put a little fire in me. It's Proverbs 29:27 and it says, "An unjust man is abominable to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked." AMEN! I want to be ABOMINABLE to the wicked! I want the enemy to be afraid and scramble. My God is SO powerful and mighty. He "gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist" (Romans 4:17).
We naturally use our reasoning to talk ourselves out of a life of faith. Why don't we take the truths of WHO GOD IS...think about it, He created the universe with His words...and use our reasoning to talk ourselves INTO a life of FAITH! It is illogical to doubt and not believe God. Really...that's why Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
Lord help us today to have FAITH and use the brains you gave us to meditate on WHY we believe you. If we would love God with all our heart, soul, MIND, and strength (Mark 12:30)...we leave little room for a defeated day. Walk today in the "upright way" and be an abomination to the wicked. To God be the glory!

Sweet Freedom

Thank you Lord! Oh the FREEDOM that comes with not taking ourselves too seriously! Hahaha! Let's take a break today from being overly introspective and examining ourselves WAY too much. Let's just take this day and enjoy the Lord. Take a deep breath. Smile. Relax. Pray. How sad it is when we forget to just love Jesus. Reach out to someone. Send them an email or word of encouragement.
Self-focus and self-absorption is death to us and those around us will suffer the consequences as well. Enjoy those relationships God has given you. Be thankful. Be still and know that He is God. We all aren't good enough, wise enough or qualified enough. But we all know the One who is. We all are saved by grace through faith and help us when we think otherwise!
Last night Luke was crying for me and I went up to check on him and found that his little, one year old chubber thighs were stuck in the crib. They weren't really wedged in, but he wasn't in a position to get them out. I then went back to bed and was trying to sleep but was suffering the consequences of magnified self-examination. Oh how I LOVE Colossians 3:2. It's the EASIEST verse to memorize and it immediately puts my mind in the right focus and perspective. It says, "Set your mind on things above, not on things on earth." I was feeling stuck and I just had to do the same thing Luke did, cry out for help. God was faithful this morning to give me those scriptures that cut to the heart...and though they are painful...they are life and liberty.
Jesus...YOU are awesome.

You Have the Right

Galatians 4:6-7 "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God."

Are you still in bondage? Are there areas the enemy still has a strong grip on in your life? Remember your daily battle ground is your mind. Are you taking those thoughts captive? Your life shows what you believe. What are you believing? Do you believe you have been set free? Do you believe you are an adopted child of God and now you have rights? Before Christ you were a slave of unrighteousness. The blood of Christ, which has justified you, purchased all the rights of your inheritance. You know what you inherited? Freedom. When the enemy torments you with ways of bondage and preys on your fears to cripple you, choose to believe the truth of your right to freedom. No, you don't deserve it and you did not earn it. But it is yours!!! Christ purchased it for you. Show gratitude and thankfulness to God today for the freedom that He bought for you. I don't know about you but this sounds like the greatest Christmas gift of all. And the most expensive one by far.

Spiritual Warfare Discussion

Click HERE to watch a discussion between Cheryl Brodersen and Sharon Ries on Spiritual Warfare. I was so well reminded and learned a lot about this topic during this discussion. I really encourage you to take the time to watch it!

http://www.hischannel.com/streambird/2000/2007tue/vodtv.php

Treasures from Psalm 119

Be refreshed with these sweet reminders...

Is the Word of God alive to you?
Pray Psalm 119:18 "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law."

Are you entangled in sin? Make God's Word your treasure...then your heart will be attached.
Matthew 6:21 "For where your is, there will your heart be also."
Psalm 119:11 "Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee."

Held in bondage by unguarded eyes?
Psalm 119:37 "Turn my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Thy ways." If your focus is on the treasures of this world and what the world craves after regarding success, beauty and satisfaction...your character will be shallow because all of these things are here for a moment.

Affliction can be good
Psalm 119:67 "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Thy word."
God is faithful.

Remember your responsibility
Psalm 119:101 "I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Thy word."
Oh the pain we can avoid! Remember how weak we are and be wise in your daily decisions. See sin for what it is. Call it what it is.

Remain faithful
Psalm 119: 130 "The unfolding of Thy words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple."
Be faithful to be in God's Word and you will day by day, month by month, year by year and God will open you eyes to truth more and more. You may not understand a lot now but He will be faithful to give you understanding.

Broken is beautiful
Psalm 119:136 "My eyes shed streams of water, because they do not keep Thy law."

Don't want to stumble? Love God's Word.
Psalm 119:165 "Those who love Thy law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble."
It doesn't say those who read or know God's law, it says those who LOVE it. Set up your life around treasuring God's Word, then your heart will be attached...you will LOVE His Word. Love is most powerful. Guard your heart with God's Word and the enemy will be restricted in your life.

A SOUND MIND

Thank you Lord! The Holy Spirit has been bringing to mind this morning 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." So often in times of heavy emotion, little sleep and/or trial we are tempted to allow every thought that knocks on the door of our mind to enter in and have a seat! Lord help us! I so want to grow out of that. God enables us by His Spirit to have self-control and not have to be enslaved to tormenting and depressing thoughts. It is so sweet to go through your day in victory and joy...being an over-comer in the battle against your flesh. We are all in this sisters! Do not think you suffer days of intense emotion or negative thoughts alone! What an opportunity to witness the power of God working inside of you. Ephesians 3:20 NASB "Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all we ask or think, according to the power that works within us." And how encouraging it is to know "that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). Remember...God has given you a sound mind. The word for "sound mind" in the Greek derived from a word that means "heal, preserve, save, do well, be whole." The battlefield is mostly in our minds and that is where we need God to come in and take over. Be in God's Word. Read it, meditate on it and memorize it. Be in it all throughout the day. Fill your thoughts with scripture. Psalm 107:20 says, "He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." Apply the ointment of God's Word to your mind because it is God's will for you to live your life with a healed, whole and preserved mind. He died on the cross to give that to you. Thank you Jesus! Comment with any other thoughts or scriptures that God has given you concerning your thought life.