Tag: lies

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Shelter

I am in a rather long season of singleness. Being alone can make you lonely sometimes, but it is in this time of “aloneness” that I’ve found a special relationship with God.

He is my shelter & my foundation. My lack of person, in the wee hours of the night, has lead me to late night talks with the Holy Spirit. I can lean into Him and find my hiding place – my safe place, where I can share those things that no one else know.

Psalm 91:3-6 says “Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stocks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.”

This is the promise for me & for you. In the darkness, he will cover you…when the arrow flies, he will cover you…when the person talks behind your back, when you are overlooked, when you feel defeated, broken or misunderstood, he will cover you.

In those “wee hours of the night” talks, remember to tell the Holy Spirit all that is on your heart & let him wrap you up in himself. You have shelter in him.

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Pressing Reset

Being a Christian does not automatically cause you to stop sinning. Nope…I am a sinner in need of a Savior every day.  Being a Christian also doesn’t keep you from experiencing tough times.  Nope…we go through them like every other human on the Earth.  The difference, though, resides in who we turn to when in those trials.

Here is a major battle I fight often: I feel so inadequate and unworthy at times. I feel very much like I am worthless…like the promises God has placed on my life are not real.  Oh, but those are just lies.  They are lies from the enemy who wants me to cower and not fulfill my life’s purpose; to keep me believing that I am weak and no different than I’ve ever been.

What about you? What are the lies the enemy tells you?  What self-talk do you struggle with?

The greatest way to counter those lies is the word of God. The truth in the Bible is everlasting.  It will not die!

Here are a few truths I consistently remind myself of:

God loves you and me: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

You and I are made new: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

He knew us before He formed us: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

Through Christ, we are made strong: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”(2 Corinthians 12:9)

Believers have been given eternal life: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

We have been bought with a high price: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Peter 1:18-19)

Replacing the lies of the enemy – whatever those lies may be – with the word of God will keep your mind on track. Keeping your thoughts on track will help you stay your course and finish the race set before us.  Don’t ever give up!

There are times, though, where I find myself in a place that I am unsure what are lies and what aren’t. It get confusing because life gets busy, I don’t spend time with God like I should, or I’m just stuck in a mindset that is unhealthy…I will have to pray this simple prayer from Psalm 139:23-24:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

I encourage you to start spending time with God every day. Pray the prayer from Psalm 139,  Feed your mind with the word of God so when the enemy lies, you can remind yourself what God says about you.

Be blessed, readers.

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Table for 1

Alone.  By yourself.  No one with you.  Ever feel that way?  Feel like you are doing life with “me, myself, and I” only?  I’m sure we all have felt this way.  It is a part of life and we go through seasons of time that we must face things…alone.

I use italics because, in reality, we never are 100% alone.  God is with us.  He sees all and knows all.  This is truth for believers and unbelievers (Psalm 33:13, Hebrews 4:13).  God is always there.  No one is hidden from Him.

Regardless of how you live your life, you will go through trials.  It’s reality.  There will be times when it seems no one is on your side.  I want to tell you that this thought is a lie.

You are loved.  It doesn’t matter how many people despise you, you are wanted.  It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, all you need to do is ask for forgiveness from God and he will make you clean again.  Find rest in Him when the world tried to remind you of the things you once did but are now under the blood.  

If you have breath in your lungs, you are not too far gone to receive the love and mercy of our Lord Jesus.  There is hope and you are never alone.  Be blessed, dear readers!!

“Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭68:5-6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:8-9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭41:10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

““I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14:27‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.””

‭‭John‬ ‭16:33‬ ‭NLT‬‬

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Road to You Accepting You, Pt. 2

Have you ever been lied to?  I’m pretty sure you have been…a lot.  If not by people in your life, just turn on the news & listen to someone in politics promise you something.  Good chance, at least one of their promises they have no desire to see it through.  I kid, but really, people lie all the time.

It was the first act if Lucifer did when he met Eve…he lied to her.  His lie caused her to believe something that she knew as truth to be exactly the opposite.  The snake convinced her that God was not telling the truth…that Our Father doesn’t have our best interest at heart.

Deception is Satan’s greatest weapon.  He uses it over and over on us humans and we all too often fall for it.  It’s because we are not exactly sure of who we truly are.  Satan knows this and uses it against us.

The question we all must ask ourselves is – how many things that we inherently believe about ourselves is actually a lie?  Some of the very things we are told by our family, friends, and society actually are  not true.

If you were ever told you aren’t good, you’re not enough, you’re not beautiful, you aren’t important or you’re not smart enough – you were lied to.  You were created for a purpose, a plan and a destiny.  You are hand crafted by the God of the universe.

It’s time to start walking in who you truly are – a Child of the Most High God.  Made for a reason and loved unconditionally.  Anyone who tells you differently is a lair.

Start walking in the authority God has given you.  First step to do that is declare that you are enough & denounce any lie you have been told.  Go to God in prayer and ask Him to heal the parts of your life that were wounded by these lies.

Let’s look at some scripture about how to handle the Lie-maker of the world:

 “Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭10:19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭54:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

‭‭James‬ ‭4:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Let’s humble ourselves before God so He can continue to do great work through us.  In doing that, God will give us authority & power to walk through snakes and not be harmed.

Be blessed my friends!  Remember who & whose you are!!

Prayer: Lord, help me decern the lies from the truth, even from my past.  Start to cleanse me of the scars I carry from the lies I once believed.  Help me understand who you truly made me to be.  I love you.  Thank you.  Amen.

  

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Lies, lies, and more lies

I hate lying.  I have never been good with it.  Most of the time, I get so nervous when I do lie that I know people can read it on my face.  I also hate being lied to.  It happens, though.  That is a part of our fallen nature.  I wish I could say that everything everyone ever tells me is the truth, but I know that is a naive way of thinking and impossible to expect.

The first lie ever spoken to a human being was in the Garden.  It was a lie that we believed almost immediately.  One thing to learn about Satan is he never changes.  He uses the same tactics over and over.  He will always lie to us to make us believe exactly the opposite of what God says.  Even convincing us that He, the one who bled and died for us, is lying to us.  How absurd is that?  Oh, but I can pretty much guaranty that you and I have fallen for his awful lies many times.

Lies are everywhere:

  • Life won’t get better – so you might as well end it now.
  • You are not made right so now you have to change…at all cost – including disfiguring your body to where you cannot go back.
  • No one loves you – no one ever has – no one ever will.
  • You will always be who you were – no one will ever be able to see you beyond who you were when you made that mistake.
  • You will never be as good as you once were – you messed your life up too much now.
  • You are a mistake.
  • You deserved to be treated like that.
  • You were made to be abused and thrown away.
  • You are no longer of value to this world.
  • You will never get married – no one would ever want you.
  • You might as well keep living in and doing that horrible thing.  You will never be good to anyone anymore.
  • Everyone is better than you.  Why do you think so much of yourself?
  • Because you look different, you are not as special as others.
  • Because your skin is a different color, you deserve less.

Unfortunately…I can go on.  Unfortunately, the lies you believe may not be up above.  Unfortunately, you may have lived with those lies a really long time.  But there is always hope!

“For You made the parts inside me. You put me together inside my mother. I will give thanks to You, for the greatness of the way I was made brings fear. Your works are great and my soul knows it very well. My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret and put together with care in the deep part of the earth. Your eyes saw me before I was put together. And all the days of my life were written in Your book before any of them came to be.  Your thoughts are of great worth to me, O God. How many there are! If I could number them, there would be more than the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.” Psalm 139:13-18

“Do not act like the sinful people of the world. Let God change your life. First of all, let Him give you a new mind. Then you will know what God wants you to do. And the things you do will be good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2

“Christian brothers, keep your minds thinking about whatever is true, whatever is respected, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever can be loved, and whatever is well thought of. If there is anything good and worth giving thanks for, think about these things.”  Philippians 4:8

“We do not use those things to fight with that the world uses. We use the things God gives to fight with and they have power. Those things God gives to fight with destroy the strong-places of the devil. We break down every thought and proud thing that puts itself up against the wisdom of God. We take hold of every thought and make it obey Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Find hope in His words of truth.  Don’t ever allow yourself to be overtaken by the words of the eternal snake, but by the One who designed and created you.  He loves you despite your faults, your sins, and all the things that you hate about yourself.

You are His beloved.  No one can love you like He does.  I encourage you to get into His word and see what He says about you!

Pray this with me: Dear Father, who loves me unconditionally, help me determine the truth from the lies.  Heal the parts of me that were wounded from these lies.  Make me into who I am supposed to be – whole.  Tear down the strongholds in my mind, set up by Satan and all his helpers.  Help me accept me as you made me to be.  Forgive me for believing that you in any way made a mistake in making me who I am.  Help me become not only Your follower, but Your servant.  I want to follow you at all cost.  Thank you for being who You are.  I love you.  In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.

Be blessed everyone!

Lies and truth

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Wilderness

The story of the Israelites is interesting – it is apparent that, at some point in life, their condition is our condition. Take, for instance, the Israelites that were delivered from Egypt. They had NO faith…none. Time and time again, after God showed them who He was – they kept on turning their backs on Him. How many times do we turn our backs on God because of lack of trust and faith in Him? A lot! We continue to doubt the promises of God and allow those thoughts of doubt and unbelief cloud how we see who He is and who we are in Him. This, ultimately, leads to a season in the wilderness – wandering aimlessly.

I can personally say that I have just gone through a wilderness season. I lost sight of the promises of God on my own life and let stress, strife, and the lies of my past get a hold on me. No matter how GREAT the things God brought into my life, I couldn’t see PAST the issues of my past. And so, I was sent into the wilderness. I was sent into a place that was very lonely, scary, and I wasn’t sure when I was going to be free from wandering.

My first week “in the wilderness” – God woke me up one morning and said – “Brooke, you need to get excited!” My first reaction was “Um, what?” “Yep,” He continued, “you need to get excited because something great is about to happen!” What was God trying to tell me? He was saying that, just on the other side of the wilderness is my Promised Land. All I have to do is ENDURE it and trust HIM & do what HE tells me to do – not what others think I need to do; not allow others to put me down, get me down, tell me how awful I am because I am in the wilderness; not allow the Devil to tell me I am no good; just do what God is asking me to do.

When the Israelites finally made it to the promise land, they saw huge walls that seemed impossible to tear down. God never ceased to have a plan, though. His plan was that His people were going to get this land and all they had to do was follow His directions, no matter how absurd. He asked Joshua to bring the men of the camp with him and walk around the city six days…just walk. On the 7th day here is what happened:

15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.” 20 When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it. 21 They completely destroyed everything in it with their swords—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys.

Joshua 6:15-21

Don’t let discouragement get the best of you – it is already ours. We just have to let those who currently inhabit it to leave. Am I saying that God is casting people out of your life? Maybe – we may need to have some people cut from our lives in order to move on. We also need to have things cut out of our lives – thoughts, actions, habits, etc. Sometimes that is a hard concept the swallow, but don’t resist. Understand that God has our best interest at heart and will not do anything to us without a reason. (Jeremiah 29:11)

If this stuck a cord with you – if you are going through a wilderness season, know this – God has a solution – just give it all over to Him and let Him fight your battle.

Lord, be with your people. Show them who they are in YOU and now who they are to anyone else. Help them understand that you do NOTHING to hurt us, but do everything to help us. Teach us to let you tear down the walls in our lives that keep us from your promises. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Be blessed everyone!

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The Real Truth

Truth – “the real facts about something” is how Merrium-Webster defines that word. To put that on paper, it seems simple and straight forward. In the real world, though, there is a lot of false things that are disguised as truth.

For instance, you only live once, so why not try it? Or, if it feels right, then it is right. That is our world’s philosophy right now, but I wouldn’t classify us as being in a good place. In many ways, we have lost sight of the truth.

Think on this statement by Christ:
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. (‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ NLT)

To me, this says that the only real truth is in Christ Jesus. Everything else is false. How can we access the truth? By reading His word (John 1:1). The Bible contains life’s road map to how we need to live.

When we stray, when we stop believing the real truth, when lies control our lives, which happens to the best of us – how do we get back on track? Seek His face and notice the things that are going on in our life. Evaluate the quality of your life. Are things going right or wrong? Do you have a love for your life? If things are not all too pleasant, ponder this:

And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the LORD’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. (‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭5-8‬ NLT)

Open a line of communication with Our Heavenly Father and let Him lead you where you need to go. Don’t let lies bring you down. He loves us too much not to chase after us. Let Him catch you and guide you.

Be blessed.

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