Tag: coping

Discover Freedom

Storms are a part of life

We all experience storms at sometime in our lives. God want you to discover freedom. As Pastor Curtis mentioned, sometimes a storm that occurs in our life is caused from our sin, sometimes it is caused from the sins of others or maybe we have or will experience storms from both causes. The sins of others may have caused trauma in our life that we don’t feel we can get over. God wants to deliver you too. Whatever the cause, God is there with us whether we realize it or not. God also wants to bring us through the storm and help us overcome anything we struggle with or whatever is holding us in bondage because of the storm. He uses everything we go through if we give it to Him.

Desire to see others free

I long to see people be set free from whatever is keeping them from all that God has planned for them. This church service confirmed my desire to help others find that freedom. I have seen what God can do in the lives of those that will follow Him. God’s timing is so amazing. He sends the same message through different channels to those that are seeking. Our Sunday School lesson touched on the idea that sometimes we are our worst enemy. We say we want deliverance but we don’t do our part. Even as a follower we still hold onto things that hold us back.

Helping others find freedom

When we try to help others find deliverance, if they don’t want it, it isn’t going to work. God’s timing is what we need to wait for in this case. God knows how to reach them and what they need better than we do. We just need to watch for the opportunities that God puts before us to be able to help someone when they are seeking. He knows what some need to experience to really get it and what they need to experience to be the perfect witness to help someone else.

Discover Freedom

Finding deliverance for yourself

No matter what you need delivered from, God is bigger than that thing and He wants to help you. No one is exempt from God’s love. If you are sincerely seeking deliverance, God wants to hear from you. He will hear you. You can use your honest words and talk to Him just as if you are talking to a person. If you need help with some words you can read these to begin your journey. Sometimes you may want a person to contact, you can email me from this site. You may also want to reach out to a church, I am sure someone would love to talk with you and put you on a path to recovery. Look for those God puts in your path to help you. You can discover freedom.

Do yourself a favor and listen to this message. You can skip to minute 42:50 if you don’t want to listen through the worship. Just don’t stop listening early because you don’t want to fight through the storm on your own when God want to fight the storm for you.

God is good and He wants to set everyone free. Remember that nothing you have done or gone through is too big for Him. Reach out to God and if you need a person, reach out until you find the help you need. Keep calling to God, He will hear you and will help you walk through the storm.

Allow God out of the box

I love what Pastor Curtis said about how we put God in a box. God does not operate in a box. If you ever think you have figured God out, you are mistaken. He works in different ways all the time and will do more than you can imagine to help you. The only box God has to deal with is the one we put Him in. Let God break out of that box that you have Him in. You can discover freedom. Let Him bless you.

People Do Hurt People

What are you to do with that hurt?

We come to expect that we will be hurt by others at some point in our life. When the hurt comes from “God’s people”, the wounds seem to go deeper. Either way the wounds can cause eternal consequences if not handled properly. These consequences can be experienced by the ones getting hurt or those doing the hurting. We can find ourselves on both sides of the fence at different times of our life. People turn away from God when God’s people misrepresent the true character of God. Don’t allow others to have that power to turn you away and don’t be that person that causes another to turn away.

If your feel you have been hurt by another person, prayerfully answer these questions from Wounded by God’s People by Anne Graham Lotz:

• Where are you in your healing journey?
• Do you remember what your life was like before you were wounded?
• How did you get to this place?
• How is the way you are reacting today going to help you tomorrow?
• Do you want your life characterized by the result of remaining focused on “them” while being blind to your own pride, arrogance, anger, resentment, name-calling, vengeful digs, schemes for revenge, or vicious gossip disguised as prayer requests?
• Are these attitudes working for you and making you happy?
• Do they give you a temporary sense of satisfaction but then disintegrate into a desire for even more revenge? And more misery?
• What are you living for? Instead of living your life to the glory of God, are you driven by a desire to get even, vindicate your actions, prove someone else wrong, justify your opinion, expose the other person, get your own way?
• Consider carefully…do any of these desires truly honor God?
• When was the last time you put your head on the pillow conscious of God’s sweet peace and joy flooding your heart? If your can’t remember, could it be time for you to give your attention to considering your own part in the wounding?

“You might distinguish between forgiveness as letting go of my right to hurt you back and reconciliation as that which requires the sincere intentions of both parties” John Ortberg

Someone needs to make the first gesture to reconcile. You can and probably should make the first gesture but also be aware of any attempt that they may be making to reach out to you. It only needs to be a small gesture. In time, there may need to be an honest conversation in which both listen to each other’s story. Often times the problem was miscommunication or misinformation. No matter who is found to be wrong, the apology and forgiveness need to be spoken. Death to pride is the key to having broken relationships reconciled.

If a person has wounded you or has been wounded by you and you have offered forgiving words or gestures to reconcile the relationship and they reject your effort, take it to Jesus. He understands. He made the ultimate gesture and was rejected. Jesus can heal you even if reconciliation does not happen.

Death to pride and position is the key for reconciliation when a wounder seeks forgiveness. It is necessary to be Christ like.
• Be approachable as Jesus is for you.
• Love those that have rejected you as Jesus loves you.
• Initiate the contact as Jesus does for you.
• Extend forgiveness to them before they ask for it as Jesus does for you.

We can’t force reconciliation or change someone’s heart or mind. The Lord can, therefore we should pray and wait, looking for opportunities and open doors.

No person should have so much power to cause you unpleasant attitudes or to cause any separation between you and God. Take it all to God in prayer.

Jesus always makes the first gesture to reconcile. Are you responding to His gestures? Are you in a relationship with Him and responding to His leading?

Don’t let anyone have the power to keep you from all God has for you. When we don’t have the strength to let go on our own, God will give us the strength that is needed. Let Go!

• Let go of bitterness toward those that caused you to view God differently than His true character. Get to know Him yourself.
• Let go of confusion and fear. These are not of God.
• Let go of your desire to justify and explain yourself. God is your redeemer.
• Let go of your emptiness. He has a plan and a purpose for you. He will fill your cup to overflowing.
• Let go of your desire for revenge. Vengeance is the Lord’s.
• Let go of your hardened heart toward those that have rejected you. Jesus understands. He was rejected like no other.
• Let go of your loneliness. God is the God of the fatherless and of the widow. He is your God also when there is no one else.
• Let go of resentment over the way others have treated you. Consider how Jesus was treated.
• Let go of the injustice. God is Just.
• Let go of unforgiveness toward those that have hurt you. Unforgiveness will hurt you more than them. Forgive as the Father has forgiven you.
• Let go of the hurt. God is your healer. He came to bind up the brokenhearted.
• Let go of the anger toward God for allowing your wounds. Those wounds will bring deeper faith and spiritual fruit. God is more concerned with your character than your comfort.
• Let go of your life dreams and embrace what God has for you. He will give you the desires of your heart.
• Let go of the past to move forward. God has a future for you.

Let go. Give it to Him.

Being an Overcomer

While the Israelites were en route to the Red Sea, they spoke against God and against Moses. Numbers 21:4-5

God sent snakes and some died. Others went to Moses and rebuked and asked that the snakes would be taken away. Numbers 21:6-7

Moses prayed and God gave instructions to overcome the snakes bites. He did not take the snakes away. Numbers 21:8-9

In Revelation 3:7-13, the message to the Church in Philadelphia and Revelation 3:14-22, the message to the Church in Laodicea are powerful stories of being an over comer and the benefits that are in store for those that endure.

May 2014 be a year of overcoming.

Two great videos for a positive outlook and encouragement. Both are worth watching.


Sharing Our Problems With Our Children

If we have struggles in our life, we should share them with our children. The details of those struggles will depend on the age of our children. They need to know that we are not perfect and even if we were, we would still have troubles. They need to know that we will have problems in this life and they need to know how to handle problems by watching and learning. They will learn what works and what does not work. You can even ask them to help by praying for the situation so they know that we take our problems to God and want to have God guide us through the problem and the solution.

God allows problems to enter our lives. Don’t get mad at God. He allows problems so that we can grow in our relationship with Him and our relationship with others. He also allows them so that others can learn from watching us and how we handle the problem. It may be our children that will learn from us or anyone else in our circle of friends and family. Sometimes it may be the difficultly that our child is having that will be what God uses to teach us something.

No one really likes the pain that comes from difficult situations. God does not always take the pain away. God has a purpose for the pain. Seek the resources that God puts in place to help you get through the pain. God makes us more than conquerors. Too many children are turning to the world to escape from pain. They turn to alcohol and drugs and unhealthy relationships as a way to forget they have a problem. This is happening with younger kids than in the past. They see others deal with their problems in that way. They need to see us dealing with our problems in a positive manner. Running from the problem will not solve it. We need to face our problems.

By sharing our problems with our children, they will be more open to come to us when they are having a problem. If we are trusting them to pray for us and be a part of the solution, they will be more confident in knowing that we can work together to bring about solutions to their problems also. Problems are often overcome by people working together. They will realize we want them to overcome the problems they face in life just like God wants us all to be overcomers. When they see God work in the problems that we face, they will develop their own relationship with God and realize that God wants to be the source of our solutions.