"You make me so mad!", was a declaration I heard throughout my childhood. It naturally became my own declaration and clearly justified whatever sort of negative behavior accompanied it.
For too many years I believed the lie that some other person was my problem.
Change of thought #1: Empowerment
No one can "make" me mad. My emotions belong to me and I choose the behavior that accompanies them.
Change of thought #2: Understanding/Compassion
Have I ever behaved like that person? If so, what was my motive for the behavior? If not, what could be a motive for that behavior? Have I ever felt that?
Change of thought #3: Release
Allow each person to be who he or she is. It's not my job to change anyone. I cast the care of that person onto God. God created us and God can change us. Therein lies great hope for us all.
Change of thought #4: Love
Love thinks the best of another. I value that person and choose to believe that person values me. Everyone is allowed to have a bad day.
I love this life!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Saturday, May 5, 2012
The Joy of Magnification
Felt a little down today. That rarely happens anymore (THANK YOU
GOD!). When it does, it’s exciting to know I can go to God and He’ll
encourage me in some fresh way. As I magnify God’s goodness, the
negative minimizes.
It’s like clicking the minimize button on my computer. Though a negative circumstance may remain, it no longer retains its influence by filling my view. It has been replaced by a screen filled with God’s glory.
I thought of David and read 1 Samuel 17. David knew to magnify God. When Goliath was causing fear among the Israelites, David took courage in the fact that he had already overcome the lion and the bear in God’s covenant strength. David mentioned Goliath’s lack of circumcision because Goliath had no covenant with God, but David did! Goliath’s presence seemed a hard thing to the other Israelites. This giant would have defined their lives as Philistine servants had he overcome them. However, David remembered his history with God of overcoming hard things. It gave him the confidence to step up with a sling and a rock.
I no longer let the hard things of life define me. Before a history of overcoming was established, if I could run away from hard things, I would. I suppose David was scared the first time a lion came along. Maybe he also wanted to run, but his only choice was to fight. I’ve learned to see hard things differently. Rather than causing me to shrink in despair, something on the inside of me rises up and anticipates seeing how the hard thing will propel me forward. I become stronger and my confidence expands upon each success in God. He is always larger than any circumstance.
Magnify the Lord!
I love this life!
It’s like clicking the minimize button on my computer. Though a negative circumstance may remain, it no longer retains its influence by filling my view. It has been replaced by a screen filled with God’s glory.
I thought of David and read 1 Samuel 17. David knew to magnify God. When Goliath was causing fear among the Israelites, David took courage in the fact that he had already overcome the lion and the bear in God’s covenant strength. David mentioned Goliath’s lack of circumcision because Goliath had no covenant with God, but David did! Goliath’s presence seemed a hard thing to the other Israelites. This giant would have defined their lives as Philistine servants had he overcome them. However, David remembered his history with God of overcoming hard things. It gave him the confidence to step up with a sling and a rock.
I no longer let the hard things of life define me. Before a history of overcoming was established, if I could run away from hard things, I would. I suppose David was scared the first time a lion came along. Maybe he also wanted to run, but his only choice was to fight. I’ve learned to see hard things differently. Rather than causing me to shrink in despair, something on the inside of me rises up and anticipates seeing how the hard thing will propel me forward. I become stronger and my confidence expands upon each success in God. He is always larger than any circumstance.
Magnify the Lord!
I love this life!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Love and Respect in Marriage
Ephesians 5:33:
However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly]. (Amplified version)
If a girl is raised to know she is loved by God and to love herself, not being loved will be foreign to her. She probably won’t marry a man who doesn’t love her. Along the same line, if a boy is raised to know he is respected by God and to respect himself, not being respected will be foreign to him. He probably won’t marry a girl who disrespects him.
However, a wife shouldn't depend on her husband to fill her love cup and a husband shouldn't depend on his wife to fill his respect cup. Such expectations are way too much pressure to put upon one's spouse. Our relationships are primarily with God. A woman's love cup should always be full because she is so aware of the fullness of God's love for her. The love her husband shows her is then an additional precious gift from him. A man's respect cup should always be full because he is so aware of the fullness of God's respect for him. The respect his wife shows him is then an additional precious gift from her. Through their relationships with God, neither husband nor wife lack.
This has been one of the most freeing lessons I have learned about marriage. My expectations of my husband were absurd. People love as well as they know how. To know how I expected to be loved, my husband would have had to be able to read my mind. Our confidence in God's love and respect for us frees both my husband and me to enjoy our relationship without condemnation from the other.
I love this life!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Change
People can change in a heartbeat. God has changed me in a heartbeat
on many occasions. All it takes is a moment of revelation to transform
my world.
I love that God will change me since I have often failed in my own attempts to bring about positive change in my life. 2 Cor. 3:18* reveals that the Spirit of the Lord will change me from glory to glory. When I saw that He would bring about change in me, my morning prayer became, “Lord, you said you’d change me from glory to glory into the likeness of your image. I submit to your will in this, expecting to be different tonight than I am this morning.”
It’s fascinating to see the changes occur in me, especially those I never realized were needed. The love and grace of God never cease to amaze me.
Seeing how quickly I am changing gives me hope for everyone. Though someone behaved or spoke one way an hour ago, I’m aware that he or she could have changed since then. Any negative judgment I could have made about someone yesterday, might have no validity today. The freedom from judging others is an added benefit to recognizing this lifestyle of change.
I love this life!
* 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
I love that God will change me since I have often failed in my own attempts to bring about positive change in my life. 2 Cor. 3:18* reveals that the Spirit of the Lord will change me from glory to glory. When I saw that He would bring about change in me, my morning prayer became, “Lord, you said you’d change me from glory to glory into the likeness of your image. I submit to your will in this, expecting to be different tonight than I am this morning.”
It’s fascinating to see the changes occur in me, especially those I never realized were needed. The love and grace of God never cease to amaze me.
Seeing how quickly I am changing gives me hope for everyone. Though someone behaved or spoke one way an hour ago, I’m aware that he or she could have changed since then. Any negative judgment I could have made about someone yesterday, might have no validity today. The freedom from judging others is an added benefit to recognizing this lifestyle of change.
I love this life!
* 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Trust and Respect
I read a book about men wanting respect and women wanting love . This idea is brought out in Ephesians 5:33 regarding marriage:
However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as
[being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she
respects and reverences her husband [that she notices him, regards him,
honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers
to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly]. (Amplified version)
It was no surprise that women want love, but to read that studies
show men want respect over love…that was sobering to me. I had loved
but had I ever respected a man?
Argh.
My main struggle to respect was the shift from the old thinking of
You must earn my respect
to
I choose to give you respect.
I thought about what I had always heard – Respect must be earned.
But earned how? Exactly what and how much service or labor would it
take to earn my respect? As I pondered this question, I realized that
to earn my concept of respect, one would have to read my mind and behave
accordingly forevermore…
Double argh.
I had many conversations with God about this. I’ve found that, for
me, healthy relationship with anyone is dependent upon my relationship
with God and discussing things with Him first. A breakthrough came when
I saw that I couldn’t respect because I couldn’t trust. God showed me
that it was His power on my behalf that I needed to trust first. There
is nothing that anyone can do to me that can overpower the protection
and care of God. Even if my worst fears were to come to pass, God’s
love would still be working everything to my good. What a relief! All
sorts of stressful weights disappear when one learns the freedom of
trusting God! I’m free to trust others because my ultimate trust is in God. That was a huge paradigm shift.
Another breakthrough was realizing it’s because of God’s
unconditional love that He chooses to trust and respect. That’s the kind
of love that has been poured out in my heart by the Holy Spirit.*
Therefore, I have everything within me to trust and respect the people
in my life. My respect was never dependent on them, but dependent on my choice.
Learning to trust and respect has truly transformed my relationships.
I love this life!
*Romans 5:5 (Amplified version) “for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.”
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Understanding
Matthew 6:22-23 New King James Version (NKJV):
22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Verses such as these made me want to learn Greek and Hebrew. I hope that your reading of these verses immediately communicate layers of revelation knowledge but reading them made no sense to me. So, I read them in different bible versions and read commentaries of experts...nothing.
Then came a revelatory moment. The lamp of the body is the eye can refer to how we see things. We use the word 'see' all the time to mean understand. If we understand something through God's love (our eye being good), that understanding will be worked out through the whole of our life bringing the glory of His love to earth. However, if we have been deceived into a viewpoint that does not recognize God's love (eye is bad), the more that viewpoint is worked out through our life, the more the deception feeds on itself (great is that darkness).
That understanding flew off the page at me one day as I read those 2 verses. And that's just one layer of many possible layers of understanding that I believe can be found in any lesson of the Bible.
I no longer think that my understanding of God's Word is limited because I haven't studied Greek and Hebrew (though I respect those who have). The Holy Spirit is an amazing teacher who leads us into revelation knowledge of God. The Word of God is a living book and its life is meant to be imparted to those who seek it.
Referring to the Israelites teaching their children God's words, Deuteronomy 6:7 reads, "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." This is often how I see the Holy Spirit teaching me about God. It doesn't always have to involve hours of study (though I love to study), but can be simply paying attention to the teacher as I go about my day.
I love this life - Leah
22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Verses such as these made me want to learn Greek and Hebrew. I hope that your reading of these verses immediately communicate layers of revelation knowledge but reading them made no sense to me. So, I read them in different bible versions and read commentaries of experts...nothing.
Then came a revelatory moment. The lamp of the body is the eye can refer to how we see things. We use the word 'see' all the time to mean understand. If we understand something through God's love (our eye being good), that understanding will be worked out through the whole of our life bringing the glory of His love to earth. However, if we have been deceived into a viewpoint that does not recognize God's love (eye is bad), the more that viewpoint is worked out through our life, the more the deception feeds on itself (great is that darkness).
That understanding flew off the page at me one day as I read those 2 verses. And that's just one layer of many possible layers of understanding that I believe can be found in any lesson of the Bible.
I no longer think that my understanding of God's Word is limited because I haven't studied Greek and Hebrew (though I respect those who have). The Holy Spirit is an amazing teacher who leads us into revelation knowledge of God. The Word of God is a living book and its life is meant to be imparted to those who seek it.
Referring to the Israelites teaching their children God's words, Deuteronomy 6:7 reads, "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." This is often how I see the Holy Spirit teaching me about God. It doesn't always have to involve hours of study (though I love to study), but can be simply paying attention to the teacher as I go about my day.
I love this life - Leah
Journal Love
I’ve been going through some old journals. I was remembering the days when my journals were spiral notebooks filled with my anger and frustration.
One day, I heard a wise man say that he had 40 years worth of hand-written journals that his great grandchildren could read.
Ouch!
I didn’t want anyone to read the rants I had recorded. I thought about David’s psalms. He speaks of his troubles however there is a “but God” segue that recognizes God as his triumph over trouble.
I bought me a fancy new journal and threw out the old spirals. My journal became a treasure chest of lessons I wanted to remember, something my progeny could read.
I still had times of anger that I would release on a spiral notebook but I would throw away the rants and record the truths I was gleaning.
Haven’t written in a spiral in a long time.
I love this life!
One day, I heard a wise man say that he had 40 years worth of hand-written journals that his great grandchildren could read.
Ouch!
I didn’t want anyone to read the rants I had recorded. I thought about David’s psalms. He speaks of his troubles however there is a “but God” segue that recognizes God as his triumph over trouble.
I bought me a fancy new journal and threw out the old spirals. My journal became a treasure chest of lessons I wanted to remember, something my progeny could read.
I still had times of anger that I would release on a spiral notebook but I would throw away the rants and record the truths I was gleaning.
Haven’t written in a spiral in a long time.
I love this life!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)