WHAT'S BIGGER?

What’s bigger? 

Your problems or your God?

What's bigger? A relationship that parted ways or the God who parted the Red Sea?

What's bigger? The people that are cursing you and throwing stones at you or the God who slayed a giant with a single pebble?

What's bigger? The fiery trial you are in or the God who when called on scorched His enemies with blazing flames from Heaven?

His word is full of revelation of His greatness and majesty. When we have the ability to see Him in His fullness, everything else seems to fade away. When you call on the magnified, glorified King of Kings and Lord of lords, the Alpha and the Omega...then everything else looks a whole lot smaller. Magnify Him, let Him exalt Himself on High in your life, let Him display His power and glory and move you to Awe! Through the revelation of His character in His word and the manifestation of His presence and power in your life!

"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness,

The power and the glory,

The victory and the majesty;

For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours"- 1 Chronicles 29:11 .

Go ahead...call on Him... "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know"-Jeremiah 33:3

God Doesn't Waste A Drop

Just close your eyes and picture for a moment...

Your tears cascading as precious jewels and being meticulously collected by the Abba Father as He watches you from Heaven on His Magnificent Throne...His heart grieving with you, mourning each and every tear with you...tenderly cleansing, healing and sanctifying you through each and every drop.

Could David's impression of our Lord be accurate? I believe so! This is in His Word for a reason! He longs for us to know the measure of His Love for us! He desires great intimacy and involvement in all areas of our lives; we just have to turn it over to Him.

When I read this, I am reminded and comforted that, through His Mercy and Love, He does not waste a single, solitary drop of our suffering. Through our trials and by His Grace, we can gain compassion, strength of character and revelation...if we partner with Him, we become more diverse in ways He can utilize us for His Glory!

Friends, I once cried for myself and my pitiful life, until I actually reached a point where I was so hardened that I could not cry at all. In His Mercy, He took my hand and showed me that He had collected and cried every tear with me. The tears came once again, this time in the form of renewal. And through all my unworthiness, He increased my compassion and love for Him, myself and humanity.

Take heed friends...He knows and feels your sorrow. Cry out to The Lord and ask Him to sanctify and restore you! And one day, He will wipe away ALL our tears...That is a promise! (Rev. 21:4)

Whose Voice Are You Listening To?

Emotions are tied to our thought life. Have you ever stepped back and listened to your thoughts? Have you been surprised by them and wondered where they were coming from? In his book ‚Wild at Heart,‛ John Eldredge wrote, ‚We are being lied to all the time. Yet, we never stop to say, ‘Wait a minute who else is speaking here? Where are these ideas coming from? Where are these feelings coming from?‛

Satan is at war with God’s children.  He is a crafty one and a deceiver and, he knows if he were to show up as a dark, scary figure, with a pitchfork, we would immediately flee, sensing danger. So, instead, he uses our fears, hurts, and insecurities to influence us through our thought life. He knows that if he can control our minds, he can control our behavior and, what is his most used weapon to do so? Lies! When we believe Satan’s lies, rather than God’s truth, it leads to faulty ways of thinking and wrong behaviors that enslave our souls. The only defense we have to protect our minds from being lost in the darkness of lies, is the truth: the inerrant Word of God.

God’s word gives a detailed combat strategy for defeating the enemy. We are to pull down strongholds (rooted lies) and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Simply put, we must replace Satan’s lies with God’s truth. If your thoughts are telling you that you are not good enough that you are unworthy that you are ugly that you will always live in fear that you will never heal or that you will always live in bondage, stop for one moment and ask yourself, ‛Whose voice am I hearing? Who is it that is telling me that?‛

God’s word tells us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and His sheep hear His voice and His voice protects them from the thief who wants to destroy them. Our beloved Savior would never harm His sheep by speaking such lies. If you hear that you will never amount to anything, that’s a lie from the enemy choose, instead, to listen to your Shepherd who says, ‘For I know the thoughts I have towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to bring you a future and a hope‛ (Jeremiah 29:11). The enemy is a liar and cannot stand against God’s truth.

Releasing You

 

Nothing is more grieving than loving someone bent on destruction.  Feeling powerless can drive us to insane levels of trying to save our loved ones from the consequences of their poor choices by fixing, managing, and trying to change and control their lives.

Often we don’t even realize that we may be hindering the work of the Holy Spirit that convicts, and can lead them to a place of brokenness, surrender, and repentance.

Our greatness act of love must be to pray, let go and surrender them to God.  When we get out of the way, our loved ones stop looking to us to be their savior and turn to their true Savior Jesus Christ who has the power to heal, restore, redeem and set free.

Whether it’s a spouse, child, sibling or a friend, we must release them to the care of God, yet it’s difficult to do because many of us have a misconception about what it means to let go and release. The following poem was written byJune Hunt. It’s a beautiful picture of releasing. -

Releasing You:

Releasing you is not to stop loving you but loving you enough to stop leaning on you.

Releasing is not to stop caring for you but to care enough to stop controlling you.

Releasing is not to turn away from you, but it is to turn to Christ trusting His will over you.

Releasing is not to harm you but realizing my help has been harmful to you.

Releasing is not to refuse you but to refuse to keep reality from you.

Releasing is not to prove my power over you, but it is to admit that I am powerless to change you.

Releasing is not to stop believing in you, but it is to believe the Lord alone will build character in you. 

Releasing is not to condemn the past but to cherish the

present and commit our future to the Lord. -June Hunt

To let go means to get out of the way, release our loved ones at the foot of the cross and offer them up to the care of of God.

God Heals the Heart

 .

All human beings suffer hurt in their heart. Sometimes the hurt of your heart comes from the circumstances of life like death, accidents, worry, broken relationships, or estrangement. What do we do when we have a hurting heart? What we must do is take our hurt to God. God knows you. God knows what you go through. Your hurt is God’s hurt. 

Remember when you hurt you are not alone. Remember hurt is anti-God. God is about healing not hurting. God detests pain. Pain is not a good thing. God abhors pain. Instead of a heart full of pain, God wants your heart full of joy. The whole being of God is a healing being. The whole being of God is about making the hurt of your heart go away. 

In your quiet times, when your heart is hurting, sit quietly and think about how God is trying to erase the hurt from your heart. God erases the hurt from your heart by holding you, by comforting you, by being with you night and day, and by giving you His kind and tender love every second you are alive.

Take Every Thought Captive

Many struggles in life often are fought on the battlefield of our minds. That’s why James writes “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” (James 4:1). That’s why we are exhorted in God’s Word to demolish any thought that goes against what God says is true about any given situation.

We are in a Spiritual battle and need to take every stray thought captive and repent, correct it and align it with the truth of God’s Word. If someone has hurt us or wronged us, and we are having hateful thoughts towards that person, we need to take that hateful thought captive immediately so that bitterness does not take root in our hearts and defiles us. (Hebrews 12:15)

We need to stop, realize what is truth in the situation, take responsibility for our wrong actions, ask for forgiveness, acknowledge when they are wrong, understand that we cannot change another person, offer forgiveness, release them to God and choose not to hate.

The victory in the battle is won when we discipline our thinking, so it focuses on thoughts that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and are praiseworthy to God. (Philippians 4:8)

Negative emotions like anger, bitterness, hate, jealousy, fear, anxiety can kill us. They are joy stealers. They suck the life out of us and hinder us from living abundant lives in Christ.

The good news is that we are not powerless. God has given us a choice to meditate on life-giving thoughts or thoughts that bring death to our lives and render us defeated. Choose life! Choose victory! Make it a practice to capture every negative thought and choose to replace it with good ones that come from the truth of God’s life-giving Word.

Do You Want To Be Made Well?

 .

People even in the church can behave in very unloving and ungodly ways. They can act out in pride and holier than thou attitudes or lash out in anger, addictions, slander and malice towards others grieving the Holy Spirit in whom we were sealed. It’s easier to judge the sinful attitudes and behaviors on the surface without taking a step back and gain God’s perspective on the matter. But doesn’t Scripture tell us that God judges the heart and not the outward?

People don’t wake one morning with a hardened heart. What could have happened to an individual who acts out so negatively, rudely and hurts self and others? What kind of hurts are they carrying around inside? Please understand that whatever hurts are buried deep inside a hardened heart does not excuse the sinful behavior. God hates sin, and we are allowed to hate it too. Nevertheless, by peering into the heart of God and seeing things through His eyes, it will help us understand the reasons why people act out and will help us gain compassion and not personalize the sinful behaviors of others.

Painful wounds in our hearts can always be traced back to the effects of sin, whether our own or someone else's. Disguising pain with either good or bad habits, or addictions create a vicious cycle of guilt and shame. Whatever the coping mechanism, until the root of the hurt is dealt with the wound will continue to fester allowing sinful negative behaviors to continue. God wants to heal your broken heart. No matter what you have been through, God is bigger than anything you have experienced or are experiencing now. No matter where you’ve been, what you have done or what has been done to you … the Master Healer, Jehovah Rapha, can transform your innermost hurts into conduits of His blessings. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead can heal and restore you. He only asks one thing…”Do you want to be made well?” Healing is a choice.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and tender-hearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:30

Stop Disguising Wounds of the Past

 

People even in the church can behave in very unloving and ungodly ways. They can act out in pride and holier than thou attitudes or lash out in anger, addictions, slander and malice towards others grieving the Holy Spirit in whom we were sealed. It’s easier to judge the sinful attitudes and behaviors on the surface without taking a step back and gain God’s perspective on the matter. But doesn’t Scripture tell us that God judges the heart and not the outward?

People don’t wake one morning with a hardened heart. What could have happened to an individual who acts out so negatively, rudely and hurts self and others? What kind of hurts are they carrying around inside? Please understand that whatever hurts are buried deep inside a hardened heart does not excuse the sinful behavior. God hates sin, and we are allowed to hate it too. Nevertheless, by peering into the heart of God and seeing things through His eyes, it will help us understand the reasons why people act out and will help us gain compassion and not personalize the sinful behaviors of others.

Painful wounds in our hearts can always be traced back to the effects of sin, whether our own or someone else's. Disguising pain with either good or bad habits, or addictions create a vicious cycle of guilt and shame. Whatever the coping mechanism, until the root of the hurt is dealt with the wound will continue to fester allowing sinful negative behaviors to continue. God wants to heal your broken heart. No matter what you have been through, God is bigger than anything you have experienced or are experiencing now. No matter where you’ve been, what you have done or what has been done to you … the Master Healer, Jehovah Rapha, can transform your innermost hurts into conduits of His blessings. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead can heal and restore you. He only asks one thing…”Do you want to be made well?” Healing is a choice.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and tender-hearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you." Ephesians 4:30

He Will Never Leave You

 

Loneliness can be described as a feeling of emptiness in the pit of your stomach when someone you love has left you either through death or broken relationships. You may feel abandoned, unwanted, or unneeded as if you’re all by yourself when you are actually surrounded by all kinds of people. You may feel like no one really cares.

These feeling can intensify if you begin to believe that your loneliness is a result of something being wrong at a core level with you – that you are somehow unacceptable, unworthy, don’t measure up, or unlovable.

When this happens, you may feel hopeless and have nothing to live for. Your pain can erode your self-worth, and drain you of strength.  Loneliness puts a huge wall around your heart and prevents you from allowing others in including God.

When you feel as if the entire world has abandoned you, and that no one understands your pain and sorrow God’s Word promises that the Lord is with you and He will never leave you.

In your loneliness and despair, have you distanced yourself from the Lord?

It is never too late to draw near to Him again. You are His precious child. And when you return to Him, you will be welcomed with open arms. You will have heartfelt joy when returning home to the shelter of God’s unconditional love and acceptance. You are never alone!

A Relationship Shouldn’t Drain You

Challenge you? Yes. Show you areas of your heart that need to be worked on? Yes. Teach you patience and compassion? Yes.

But completely drain? No.

Yes, it might be hard on some days. It might take work. It might take understanding and learning how to communicate better. It might take humbling and knowing when to say sorry. And on some days, you might want to throw something at the other person's head and just give up. That is all very normal. But, it should not be draining you, day in and day out, with no changes in sight. It should not be slowly sucking the life out of you, and every day, constantly being entangled in an argument, defeat, or a fight. And making you into someone you don't want to be.

The mind games are not okay. The abuse (in any form), is not okay. And there needs to be boundaries or something in place to facilitate change, or you need to walk away (if you are not married), until change does happen. Until (or if) BOTH parties want to change and make it happen.

I am not saying to give up on people if you know God has placed you their life. I am reminding you that you are a child of God, and how you are treated, matters to Him. Your relationships matter to Him. You, matter to Him. And I am reminding you that this kind of behavior isn’t okay to Him.

Is this a friend? Boyfriend? Or maybe a marriage where some boundaries or counseling need to be discussed?

You CAN break free from this way of living. If this is a pattern in your life, well, maybe you have some issues that need to be addressed. If this is something new, and somehow you have gotten sucked into some unhealhty relationship, maybe you just needed this reminder, that you don't have to stay in it. Wherever you are, be honest with God, and friend? Invite Him into it.

Some of you are in a relationship right now and you know it isn't the right one. Some of you have a friend in your life, and they aren't treating you like one. Some of you might be married, and just don't know what to do anymore. Friend? Invite Him into it. Bring it all to Him, be honest with Him and yourself, and listen when He tells you what to do.

The Ban Aid of Bitterness

When we are hurt by others, the fastest way to stop the emotional bleeding is to put on the band-aid of bitterness. It keeps us from feeling the pain and on guard of being hurt again. It also keeps us from feeling God at work in our lives or His call to do His work.

God’s word warns “Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springs up and cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.” (Hebrews 12:15) Once bitterness has taken root it causes the wound to fester and grow. Anger, depression, anxiety…all grow out of bitterness.

To get rid of the ban aid of bitterness we need to allow God to come in and clean the wound so that it can heal properly.  Because even though it’s been covered up through various coping mechanisms, is still there and it still hurts. Just like a cut that got infected, emotional wounds have to be cleaned so we can get rid of the infection and heal.

Like poison bitterness can slowly kill us. It can harden our hearts to where when God points it out to us we turn our back on what we need to do to get rid of it. The good news is that we have a Savior who can heal our broken hearts and bind up our wounds so that we no longer have to pretend that everything is okay and stop putting on a happy face when we are crying on the inside.

Take your hurts to Jesus. He can clean out the wound causing the infection of bitterness that is making you heartsick and preventing you from giving or receiving forgiveness and living in the fullness of His love and grace.

Above All Else Gaurd Your Heart

 

Conflict can arise in the best relationships. People are flawed and often will do and say things that wound us. Holding on to bitterness and unforgiveness cause walls to go up around our hearts that separate us from God, self and others leading to intimacy issues. Give and receive forgiveness.

Don't let your heart get hardened. It will effect every area of your life. Are you carrying around a stony heart? Run to the only One who can soften, change, heal, and shape it. He will leave His fingerprints all over it. 

“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.”

Mathew 15:18

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”

‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭11:19‬ ‭

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:14-15‬ 

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139:23-24‬ ‭

#