Truth or Feelings?

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

John 8:32 NET

Interesting thing about our past experiences, they all have a bias. Yep, each one of our experiences is biased, and the further we get in time from when that experience happened, the more biased it is toward our perceptions of the event. What I mean by that is that when we think of something that happened to us in the past, our thoughts become biased to where we look the best, or where we look like the victim. Unfortunately we bring those distorted views of our experiences to present day and apply that to a current circumstance. The result is that we end up being the victim all over again and we get hurt all over again. What we need to do is bring Jesus to the current circumstance. Jesus said that He will show us the truth, and this truth will set us free. That means that whenever you are in a circumstance where you are feeling hurt, or are re-living a past experience or starting to experience feelings that you had from a past event, instead of diving into those feelings, go to Jesus, ask Him to reveal truth to you. Feelings will lie to you, past events and your memories are distorted to the point that they will lie to you, but Jesus will not lie. He will bring truth to you and to the situation. Now you must be ready for what He tells you, because believe your not, you may be the one who is wrong. But whatever He tells you, He will be telling you the truth, and it will set you free!

Take Away: In every situation you find yourself in, don't rely on past experience and feelings to dictate the outcome, ask Jesus to reveal truth to you!

Worship Song of the Week...

Daydreaming

The one who works his field will have plenty of food, but whoever chases daydreams lacks wisdom. (Proverbs 12:11 NET)

When I was a kid, I, along with other kids in the nieghborhood, would go outside and play. We had a forrest behind our house next to a large field, and we would run around the field, hide in the ditches, make trails in the woods, we even built a treehouse. This taught me something. It taught me that there is a whole world outside the doors of my house waiting for me. I chose to step out into that world, I chose to better myself, I chose to follow the course of my life that God wanted me to follow. Unfortunately there are others that stay at home, rarely venture outdoors waiting for something to drop into their lap. Then when it doesn't, they complain about how bad they have it or they make fun of those who did decide to step out the front doors. God gave us a life, and we can choose how we want to live it. This passage of Proverbs says if you choose to do something, you will reap the rewards of it. It also says if you choose to just daydream of what COULD happen and not do anything about it, then you will reap the consquences of that decision.

Take Away: Instead of daydreaming of what could happen and not do anything about it, ask God to guide you to what WILL happen, and then follow His guidance.

Repeat Over and Over Again

Keep my commands so that you may live, and obey my instruction as your most prized possession. (Proverbs 7:2 NET)

Years ago I tried teaching. It was my very first time teaching and I was so excited about it. I thought "man, these students are going to love my lesson!" Much to my surprise they didn't, and in fact I really did a horrible job. I thought "well, I guess I'm not suppose to teach." A few years later a good friend told me that the Holy Spirit was grieved at my decision. I tried teaching again and since then I've been teaching quite often. A lot of us are the same way when it comes to God's word. If we try it once and it doesn't work, we give up. But if you look at Proverbs 7:2, it doesn't say keep my commands once and it doesn't say obey my instruction once. It says KEEP my commands. That means you guard them in your mind and anything that comes contrary to it, you don't allow it to overcome Gods command. It says OBEY my instruction, it means you continually do them over and over and over. And when you are done doing it over and over and over, then do it over and over and over again. Like the shampoo bottle instructions say...REPEAT! When we continually, and I would say habitually keep or guard in your mind God's commands and do what He says to do, we will live and we will have an abundant life!

Take Away: don't just do God's word once and give up if it doesn't work. Keep doing and doing and doing, over and over and over!  

Changing A Person

A worthless and wicked person walks around saying perverse things; (Proverbs 6:12 NET)

Mia Angelo had a saying, "If someone shows you who they are, believe them." When I was single I would see a woman who had a behavior that just wouldn't add up. But you know what I would say? "Oh, she will change" or even better, "oh, I can change her." Has anyone else ever said that? I'm sure all of us at some point has said that. People that are in abusive relationships, how many of them say "oh but he/she is a nice person except when they drink" or "he/she doesn't do that unless I don't do what they tell me." That is a bunch of lies that the devil has put in our human brains. Lets get one thing clear, you can't change anyone. No matter how hard you try, you can't change anyone. Only Jesus can change someone, all you can do is pray for that person. For those in abusive relationships, get some help, because that person is not going to change. Again, only Jesus can change that person.

Take Away: if you are trying to change someone, stop it, because you can't. Onlly Jesus can change a person, all you can do is pray for that person.

How Do You See You?

The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments which I am urging you today to be careful to do. (Deuteronomy 28:13 NET)

We need to have God in our lives, and by that I mean on a day to day basis, not just on Sunday and then the rest of the week we forget about Him until the next Sunday...I mean every day. When we do this, He is able to let us see clearly how He sees us. In this scripture He is telling you and I that we have value, we have affirmation of who we are. If we don't have God in our lives, we will never know how He truly sees us, and if we don't see how He truly sees us, we are left to finding out who we are from other people. This is VERY dangerous! This is where low self esteem comes from and a whole host of other problems. That is what happened to me. Until I knew God, I looked to other people to define who I was. Unfortunately I was looking to the wrong people, and by that I mean humans. I developed low self esteem, codependendy, fear of rejection, etc. After I started living how God wanted me to live on a daily basis, I was able to see how He saw me. It took a while for me to get that I am the head and not the tail, I am blessed coming in and going out, I am the pupil of His eye...but I finally got it. 

Take Away: Put God first in your life, every day and you will see who you truly are, a blessed child of God.

A Level Path

Make the path for your feet level, so that all your ways may be established. (Proverbs 4:26 NET)

We have a choice. We can follow God and His ways or we can do our own thing. Have you noticed that when you do your own thing, it doesn't always turn out so good? Have you noticed that when God gives you an answer you don't like, you tell Him "let me try it my way one more time, and then if that doesn't work, I will do it your way?" I'm raising both hands right here! Yes, I have done the above, and every time I did things my way, the end result was either a disaster, OR it was not God's best. Why do we think we know more than God? He tells us to make the path of our feet level. That means we have a choice to follow Him or follow our own desires. If we follow Him our path will be level. That doesn't mean we won't have problems. We are already promised we will have problems, but if we choose His way, those problems won't shake us. When we choose to follow His ways, our paths will be level, no matter what issues of life rise in our lives. 

Take Away: When you have a choice to do your own thing or follow God's ways, choose to make your path level, choose God's ways. It may be tough at first, but it is the first step to a balanced life.