Yank the Chains Out!

I heard something on the radio that put in my mind an image of a chain. The radio host was talking about the power of our thoughts and how if we think of something negative and not pleasing to God like hateful thoughts toward someone who has hurt us in some way or derogatory thoughts that put ourselves down and make us feel less than who we are in Christ than we are falling under the influence of the enemy. These kinds of thoughts and others that are not pleasing to God need to be yanked out of our minds as soon as we think them. This takes some intention in reminding ourselves through our prayer time with God that we have that tendency to think things that are not good. Some temperaments will have this tendency even more so but the fact is we are all guilty of negative, sinful thoughts, even the most godly people you know have had thoughts come into their minds that did not make God happy. He knows because he knows every thought, feeling and action we have done and will do. The Bible tells us to guard our hearts and gives us the tools to do that with the Word of God, with prayer and with the name of Jesus. There is power in these to help us conquer those thoughts that want to come into our head that are sinful, negative, degrading, mean and hateful. That first thought that comes in is the first link in a chain that can ultimately bind us and keep us from being all God wants us to be. Take your thoughts each day to the God of the universe who will help you guard your mind from being corrupted.
Romans 6:14  For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 327

I have read some books about listening but the one I am reading now is about listening to the Word of God. The book is called Expository Listening by Ken Ramey. In the first chapter, he discusses how we are by nature not good listeners. It is because of the Fall and Sin that we don’t have the ability to hear God and obey him. Thankfully, we who believe in Jesus have the power of the Holy Spirit within us who will illuminate the Word of God for us and give us understanding and the power to obey God’s Word. This all makes perfect sense because of my study on temperament and how our soul is connected to our spirit but there is a wall up called sin that needs to be broken down with the inviting of Jesus into your heart. He will take a sledge hammer and break the wall down. But those bricks of sin will keep coming back and piling up so we have to call on the Holy Spirit to clean away those bricks of sin to allow our soul to truly connect with our spirit which is the way to connect to the Spirit of God.

Here is a section from the book:

We are all born without this key component (listening) that allows us to hear God’s Word. It’s as if we have been wired with an AM receiver, but God is broadcasting on FM. Without the indwelling and illuminating presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, all we are able to pick up is static.

 

Lord, help us to dial into your FM channel today and all our days to come. With you all things are possible. Amen.

Psalm 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 298

My bible study group is studying the book by John C Maxwell called The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. Although written by a pastor, it was written to the masses so reference to scripture is unfortunately not seen in the book. This was disappointing at first but then I thought why not find the scripture to back up what he is saying. Here is a great quote from the book: “The ‘Greatest Gap’ in the world is the space between knowing and doing” In terms of our spiritual growth a battle is being waged. Though we may believe, it is our growth that Satan will do all he can to stunt because although our growth begins on the inside it will produce fruits on the outside. Satan doesn’t want to see us bearing any fruit because then we are less likely to be helping the Kingdom of God. A great analogy from a sermon on  Bible.org called What Does it Take to Grow? Says this: the bible is like a weapon for a soldier without it you’ll be captured or killed. The sword of the spirit is the Word of God. We must grab onto our sword and use it every day to keep the powers of Satan from influencing us and stumping our growth. Take hold of the power of God and fight the battle.

Ephesians 6:17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 324

Doing something new can be fun, challenging and a bit scary. Yesterday, my daughter and I ventured into a something new adventure in the kitchen. She has been baking stuff from a box and it was time for her to bake something from scratch so we got on-line and found a recipe for easy drop cookies. She had a blast kneading the dough by hand. My new adventure was to try making a soufflé. I got a recipe on-line for a classic cheese soufflé with good reviews. I was totally thrilled to see my soufflés coming out of the oven looking so good. I had to yell for hubbie to come take a picture. Not knowing how our altitude would affect it and being my first time, I probably should have been more worried about it but I chose to let God take care of it and just follow the instructions in the recipe. We have to do that in our journey of faith as well. Our recipe book is the Word of God. He asks only that we follow His directions. He will take care of the rest. The greatest blessing in this was seeing my daughter who has to be the pickiest eater ever to actually take a bite of the soufflé without us harping on her. The best thing was to see her actually take several more bites of it. She liked it although when I asked her she just shrugged her shoulders and said next time I needed to make a chocolate soufflé. Glory to you Lord for giving us directions to live by in your Word. Help us to use the recipe book of life everyday and give up the rest to you. Amen and Amen!

Proverbs 16:20 Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD.

I will post the faithbooking page I create as soon as I can get it done. My studio needs a thorough clean-up but I was thrilled to make this connection of our baking time to the Word of God.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 317

My awesome God gave me another classic analogy that is 21^st century relatable. We are like cars. Each car is unique with its own way it runs, looks and is. Every car has certain needs to make it run properly, look good and be right. Every car needs gas. For us our gas is love. Without it we will be running on empty and eventually get stuck, we won’t be moving forward. Love makes the world go round and is what every car craves. Secondly, every car needs oil. It makes all the parts in us run smoothly. The oil in us is the Holy Spirit.  And thirdly, every car needs to be washed. The things of the world will make it dirty. So, it is with us. We need to be washed in the grace of God everyday so we can be made new, clean and right. So let’s go back to gas/love. If we don’t make the choice to go to a gas station and fill up our gas tank we are not going to get what we need. We have to make that choice to go to the gas station and fill up our tanks. We have to seek it out and connect with the source. Now the oil/Holy Spirit is something we have to ask for. Can I get an oil change, please? The Holy Spirit will give us the things we need like strength, patience, kindness, peace and so on. The better we are at getting our oil checked regularly the better off we will be running with all those fruits of the spirit in us. Lastly, we need to take the grace of God that he has given us and let that wash over us each and everyday. Make ourselves clean, new and right with God. Cars cannot just run on their own. They need a good driver, a complete owners manual and a good trusted mechanic to keep it running well. First off, to be a good driver, one needs to be taught well. We have to get our wisdom, guidance and be prepared for what the road ahead of us will bring by going to God who is the Master Driver instructor. Secondly, we come with owners manuals like our cars. The Word of God is the universe’s best and only complete owners manual for everything our cars need. We have to be in our owners manual to ensure we are operating our cars correctly and doing what our cars/selves need to maintain them and keep them moving forward. Lastly, Jesus is our ultimate mechanic.  He loves to love and serve and will give us all that and more if we take our cars/selves to Him to get our oil changed, our plugs checked, our radiator flushed and so on.  If you are feeling stuck in life, perhaps your car is stuck on a road somewhere. What do we do if our cars fail us and leave us stuck on the side of the road. We get out and call the mechanic to come fix us and than get back into our owners manual to ensure we don’t get stuck on the road somewhere again. We strive to learn from our Master Driver Instructor how to be a clean car that runs smoothly and is always moving forward. Today wash Your car, get an oil change and connect with our Master Driver instructor for another driving lesson.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 257

I am a sucker for a happy ending. I just don't like much the bizarre or negative endings that movies and books can come to. As I was finishing up my book yesterday, I wasn't sure what the ending was going to bring. It ended up being a happy ending or maybe I should say the ending that I wanted it to be. Our life is like that with God. We will go through lots of struggles, illness, grief throughout our life but in the end our story has the happy ending. We will go to be with Jesus and no longer live with pain, fear or stress. Our life will be the fairytale ending we always want for ourselves in heaven with our Lord. Are you like a book with a bizarre ending or a negative ending? Don't know what the next life will bring you or do you even believe in the next life? You can change the way your story is written and change the ending simply by looking to and believing that Jesus came to earth to save us from our sins and is the son of God. Living your life knowing you have that happy ending won't take away the fear, pains and stress of our lives but it becomes that much easier knowing you have a God who loved you so much he sent his only son to save you so you could have eternal life in the happy-ending place.  It's your choice how you want the ending to be and like all choices it should be done thoughtfully and with all the information you need to make an informed decision. Go to the Word of God in the bible and find what you need to make your decision if you haven't already.

Revelation 21: 6 He said to me: "It is done." I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give the drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.