I just released my next issue of Intentional Living! I invite you to take the time to download the e-zine or read the articles, Grace and Faith.
Let me know what you think.
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“Empty space is still a place.” I love this quote from Joyce Meyer.
Did you know that you can choose your thoughts? The Bible talks a great deal about our thought life.
One of my favorite verses is found in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. Paul tells us:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (KJV)
You can choose your thoughts. You can choose what you think about all day long. You do not have to think every thought that pops into your head. When you have a wrong thought, you can stop it.
The key is, you need to replace it with a right thought or your mind stands empty for a time…long enough for another thought to come…perhaps even worse than the last one!
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Luke 11:24-26 (KJV)
Now, this can be a hard passage to understand. We don’t often think of ourselves as having “unclean spirits.” Spirit here is from the Greek, pneuma, and literally means “a current of air.” However, figuratively, it means “the rational soul or mental disposition.” This is talking of our soul—our mind, emotion, intellect, and conscience. Thinking of it this way makes it a little more understandable.
Jesus here is talking about our thought life. When we cast out a wrong thought, we need to replace it with a right thought. If we don’t, that thought roams around looking for someplace to rest. When it finds no place to rest, it returns to it’s former home…your mind. If it finds your mind swept and orderly (but not decorated and filled with right thoughts) it goes to get some of it’s nasty friends and they all come to inhabit your newly cleaned mind. And the last state of that man is worse than the first.
Today take the time to think about what you’re thinking about. This is one thing that separates us from animals. Animals think, but they cannot think about what they think about. If you find yourself anxious, worried, sick and tired, the problem can most likely be traced back to your thought life.
Spend some time in your Bible looking up scriptures that speak to the thing you struggle with the most. Cast out those “unclean spirits” and replace them with God’s Word for your life.
If you are struggling in a particular area of your life and you would like help with what scriptures speak to that area, feel free to email me or leave your question in the comments area by clicking on “comments” below.
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I don’t think that many of us can understand what it’s like to be a slave. In Exodus, the Israelites were in bondage for years when Moses first came to tell them that God was going to bring them out. Let’s take a peek at how they reacted to Moses’ message:
And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped. Exo. 4:31 (KJV)
The Israelites listened to the message that Moses had from God and they worshiped Him.
Pharaoh wasn’t as impressed with God’s message. Instead of letting the Israelites take a break and go into the wilderness to worship God, he decided that they must have too much time on their hands. They were making bricks with mud and straw and until that time, the straw had been provided them. Pharaoh decreed that not only must they continue to make the same number of bricks, they must now gather the straw themselves.
After that, in Exodus 6:9, we see an entirely different reaction to Moses’ words.
And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. (KJV)
The word here translated “for anguish of” means grief, or much discouraged, shortness or impatience. In other words, they didn’t listen to what Moses had to say because they were so grieved and discouraged that they no longer even wanted to hear what he had to say.
Have you ever been there? Have you ever been so discouraged and grieved that you didn’t want to hear the Good News of God’s grace…of the gifts that He longs to give…of the wonders of life when you follow Him. Have you ever been so discouraged that you grew impatient with people who were trying to tell you about God’s goodness? or who were living with the blessings of God evident in their lives?
I’ve been there. It’s not a happy place. I will never go back again.
When bad things happen in your life, sometimes, you can slide into this mentality. You may not want to hear positive messages because it hurts too much. Perhaps you’ve come to the place where you think, “If I don’t expect anything good to happen, then I won’t be disappointed when I’m right.”
It’s so hard to leave that place once you’ve lived there for a time. As miserable as it is there, it is safe. You know what to expect. Reaching beyond that place is fraught with risk.
But, if you are truly ready to leave that place, you must draw a line in the sand. You must fight to pull yourself out of that quagmire.
It doesn’t seem like it will work. And it will take a time to see things differently…much longer than you feel comfortable with.
But, I promise you, life is so much better after you leave that place.
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Isn’t it awesome that God is the God of more than enough?!?
I read this week that they had “discovered” a new species of purple frog. There are 4740 known species of frogs in the world right now.
If my God created that many species of frogs, is He not the God of more than enough? I mean, really…how many species of frogs do you need?
It follows then, if He is so extravagant with creation, He desires to be extravagant with us. After all, we are His supreme creation. We’re the pièce de résistance, the culmination of His creative work. We’re His adopted children.
…he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will Eph 1:5 (NIV)
We all love our children, but think about it. Isn’t there something different about adopting a child? A child that you adopt is a child that you choose. It’s awesome! That is the way God thinks about us.
And, don’t we love to give gifts to our children? Did you know that God feels that same way about you?
Jesus said,
…what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Matt 7:9-11 (KJV)
God loves you so much. He sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross for your sin and to obtain life, hope, faith, healing, prosperity…every good and perfect gift. (James 1:17a says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…ASV)
And, He desires for you to have a wonderful life filled with extravagant gifts from Him.
Praise Him for His Love! Praise Him from whom all blessings flow!
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Have you ever noticed that much of the book of Ephesians is in the past tense?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. Eph 1:3-6 (KJV)
What does that mean?
Sometimes, it’s so easy to read over things in the Bible. Many of us are so familiar with the words that we don’t even see them any more. That’s why lately, I’ve been reading from different translations during my study time. It jars me and makes me see the Word anew.
I love the book of Ephesians because it is a book that illustrates what Christ obtained for me and for you when He died on the cross. It is a book full of revelation of what already resides on the inside of us, in our spirit. It is a book that encourages us to appropriate what Christ obtained for us and cause it to manifest in physical realm.
Won’t you take some time in the next few days to read through Ephesians and see what I mean?
God Bless you on your Journey!
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Did you know that there is only one thing in this life that you can control? Do you know what it is?
It’s that person you look at in the mirror every morning.
You cannot control world events. You cannot control the weather. You cannot control your hubby…or your kids…or your dear mother-in-law.
But…you can control your reactions to all those things. You can control what hours you are awake and how you use your time while you’re awake. You can control how you take care of yourself: whether you exercise, eat right, get enough sleep (unless, of course, you have a little one deciding this point for you). You can control the things you read, the things you see, the things you think about and focus upon.
So often in my life, I have found myself railing against those things I cannot change. This, as I’m sure you know, is incredibly exhausting and unproductive.
If you’re tired and bogged down, I encourage you to take a few moments to examine your life and assess whether you may be struggling to control things that you really cannot change.
“How do I do this?” you may ask. Well, it’s really not as hard as it may seem. All you need is a pen, a piece of paper (or your journal) and several minutes of uninterrupted time. If you work outside the home, take a few minutes during your lunch break. If you’re a full-time mommy, take blanket outside and sit on the ground while they’re playing near by.
Write at the top of the page: “What is REALLY bugging me about my life right now?”
Then, just begin to write. Don’t censer yourself; just write whatever comes to your mind. Give yourself a good amount of time; at least twenty to thirty minutes of continuous writing. The longer you allow yourself to write, the more effective you’ll find this exercise.
Now, some of you are so conditioned not to complain, this may be a hard exercise for you. 
If you have a hard time starting, begin by just simply writing, “I don’t know what to write…This is a stupid exercise…There’s nothing wrong with my life…Everything is wrong with my life, where do I start…I never did like that Tamera…” Whatever comes to your mind, just write. Don’t worry about your handwriting or punctuation. This is called stream of consciousness writing. There’s no mystery about it. It is simply writing down every word that comes to your mind as you’re thinking about a specific topic…like “What’s REALLY bugging me about my life right now?”
This is a powerful exercise and if you take the time to do it, you will discover powerful truths concerning how you’re truly feeling about some of the different aspects of your life.
So, I challenge you to “just do it.” It is so easy to read something like this and think, “I bet that would be interesting,” and then go on about your busy life. Put it on your “To Do” list. Purpose to fit it into your schedule some time in the next few days. Don’t put if off.
(This is a reposting from a couple of months ago, but it’s been on my mind again. I encourage you to perform this exercise intermittently. It really helps me to refocus.)
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The book of Ephesians is written to remind us that all things are accomplished in Christ. However, most Christians don’t live their life that way. We spend our entire lives asking the Lord to heal us; to deliver us; to bless us; to prosper us. We’re always asking God to do something.
Most of us believe that God can do anything, but we don’t truly believe that He has (past tense) done very much; or we believe that God can do something, but we doubt that He will do it for us.
And yet, the book of Ephesians is written from the exact opposite perspective. It’s all about what God has already done. As victorious Christians:
What we should be doing is fighting a good fight of faith to get rid of our our poverty mentality and begin believing that we’re blessed, start acting like we’re blessed, and start talking like we are already blessed. As we do these things, we are just appropriating what God has already provided for us through Christ’s death and atonement.This requires a big change in thinking for most of us.
I’ve been writing to you about faith and that you already have all the faith that you are ever going to have in your spirit. If you aren’t seeing that faith manifest, it’s a matter of changing your thinking; your focus.
I’ll be writing more over the coming days so look for that.
God bless you on your Journey!
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