Here are two words that will change your life: “Let go!” I was in a worship service a couple of years ago and God gave me a vision of someone in the church. In this vision they were holding onto the past while reaching towards their future. Their face expressed great straining, pain and frustration because they were holding onto their past. A better future was literally inches away, but they could not bring themselves to a place of letting go. The reality was that this person had been abused. As a result, they experienced a lot of pain, low self-esteem and an inability to move forward in life. God had something better for them but they would never get it unless they let go of the past. What is it that you are holding onto that God wants you to let go? If you want to move forward and overcome the pain and disappointment, you must let go. Even when you are not sure what lies ahead, you have to let go. You will never find out unless you do. Wounded Heart p. 83
Some things in life just don't make sense. Why would we hold onto pain? But the reality is that we often let the past define us or keep us stuck someplace. It is funny how we embrace the familiar even when it hurts. God's Word is very clear to us that He wants to do new things and that He has great plans for us but we have to move forward to get them.
In order to move forward, we have to let go of the past. Even when we have been wronged and life has not been fair - we must let go. When we let go, we let God into the situation and can walk in the path that He has prepared for us!
Prayer: Dear Jesus, help me to let go of yesterday. Help me to not define myself by my past or my past experiences. Today I choose to let go of pain that I have caused or others have caused and I move forward into Your plans for my life. I pray this in Jesus name - Amen!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The True Recipe for Happiness
We are all looking for happiness and a good life. But very few people find it. Psalm 37:4 is a recipe for happiness in our lives: “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” God is the supplier of all good things. In the Old Testament, one of the names that God uses to describe Himself is El Shaddai, which means “the God who is more than enough.” This literally means that He has more than we could ever use; more things, more happiness, more joy than we can even think or imagine. The problem many of us have is that we spend all of our time and energy going after the things we want instead of going directly to the supplier who can give them to us—and much, much more!
When we put God first in our lives, He promises to take care of the rest. God is the source of the things that will make us happy in our lives. A major step in healing and avoiding a wounded heart is having our needs met. As God meets our need to be loved, we can heal. As God meets our needs, we won’t chase after people to meet them. God also promises to give us a peace that is greater than we can even understand (see Philippians 4:7). When we have this peace, we will choose from the best instead of just choosing from what is available at that time. Wounded Heart pg. 79-80
Few people ever experience God as a giver in the way that they could. We often spend so much time going after the thing we want instead of the only One who realy has the ability to give us the things that bring true joy and happiness.
Many also walk away from God or shut Him out if they don't get what they want right away or have to go through hard times. One of the greatest gifts that God has for us is that He will give us peace in all situations. There is nothing else in the world that can do this.
One thing life has taught me is that I can not get the things that I really need or want in my own strength. I have also realized that people can't get them for me either. This can be a painful realilty or a moment of freedom when we understand this. When I have surrendered my own effort or faith in people, I have received peace and then have seen God move in ways that I could not have made happen on my own. Delight yourself in the Lord and watch what He does!
Prayer: Lord, help me not to settle for what my efforts can achieve. Help me to not expect people or things to make me happy. Teach me to trust and delight myself in You. I pray this in Jesus' name - Amen.
When we put God first in our lives, He promises to take care of the rest. God is the source of the things that will make us happy in our lives. A major step in healing and avoiding a wounded heart is having our needs met. As God meets our need to be loved, we can heal. As God meets our needs, we won’t chase after people to meet them. God also promises to give us a peace that is greater than we can even understand (see Philippians 4:7). When we have this peace, we will choose from the best instead of just choosing from what is available at that time. Wounded Heart pg. 79-80
Few people ever experience God as a giver in the way that they could. We often spend so much time going after the thing we want instead of the only One who realy has the ability to give us the things that bring true joy and happiness.
Many also walk away from God or shut Him out if they don't get what they want right away or have to go through hard times. One of the greatest gifts that God has for us is that He will give us peace in all situations. There is nothing else in the world that can do this.
One thing life has taught me is that I can not get the things that I really need or want in my own strength. I have also realized that people can't get them for me either. This can be a painful realilty or a moment of freedom when we understand this. When I have surrendered my own effort or faith in people, I have received peace and then have seen God move in ways that I could not have made happen on my own. Delight yourself in the Lord and watch what He does!
Prayer: Lord, help me not to settle for what my efforts can achieve. Help me to not expect people or things to make me happy. Teach me to trust and delight myself in You. I pray this in Jesus' name - Amen.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Key 8 – Let God Direct Your Life
As we go through life each day, many people influence our choices and decisions. Advertisers spend millions of dollars trying to direct people to their products and people listen, otherwise they wouldn’t spend that money. Infomercials are on TV and radio because people are influenced by them. Some people proudly boast that no one influences them and that they make their own choices in all things. First, this is not true, and second, God warns against making all of your decisions based on your own knowledge and understanding. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
God is teaching us that no matter how smart we are, we won’t get it right if we don’t lean on Him and allow Him to direct us. The reason so many of us are walking around with wounded hearts is because we trusted in people or things with our heart instead of the Lord. Wounded Heart p. 79
I spent 27 years thinking I could figure things out. I graduated high school, college and completed 3 masters degrees at Columbia University. My graduation day at Columbia was one of my absolute emptiest days of my life. I achieved something that people told me was impossible. I was seen as very smart but deep in my soul I knew that I didn't really know what life was really supposed to be about. I knew that in my own efforts, happiness was beyond my grasp. It was a painful reality.
A little over 2 years later, I stopped trying to learn or achieve my way. I began to follow Jesus through His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. This made all the difference in the world. I believe in constant learning and education but the best man has to offer fails in comparison to where God will lead you day 1!
Each day you have a choice. Follow what you think is best, follow what someone else thinks is best or follow God who knows all things. Seems like a simple question on the surface but many people are not following God for many reasons. You can trust Him. I do each day.
Prayer - Lord, I need Your direction right now and every day in my life. Give me ears to hear what You are speaking and the strength and courage to follow Your direction. I pray this in Jesus name - Amen.
God is teaching us that no matter how smart we are, we won’t get it right if we don’t lean on Him and allow Him to direct us. The reason so many of us are walking around with wounded hearts is because we trusted in people or things with our heart instead of the Lord. Wounded Heart p. 79
I spent 27 years thinking I could figure things out. I graduated high school, college and completed 3 masters degrees at Columbia University. My graduation day at Columbia was one of my absolute emptiest days of my life. I achieved something that people told me was impossible. I was seen as very smart but deep in my soul I knew that I didn't really know what life was really supposed to be about. I knew that in my own efforts, happiness was beyond my grasp. It was a painful reality.
A little over 2 years later, I stopped trying to learn or achieve my way. I began to follow Jesus through His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. This made all the difference in the world. I believe in constant learning and education but the best man has to offer fails in comparison to where God will lead you day 1!
Each day you have a choice. Follow what you think is best, follow what someone else thinks is best or follow God who knows all things. Seems like a simple question on the surface but many people are not following God for many reasons. You can trust Him. I do each day.
Prayer - Lord, I need Your direction right now and every day in my life. Give me ears to hear what You are speaking and the strength and courage to follow Your direction. I pray this in Jesus name - Amen.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Living the Overcoming Lifestyle
Jesus is the great overcomer! In His life on earth, He helped people overcome low self-esteem, weakness, failure, sin, sickness and even death. He overcame sin on the cross and death after three days in the grave. He wants to teach you to overcome the issues you are facing also. One of the things that I love about God is that He doesn’t hide reality from us, He teaches us to flourish in the midst of it. Jesus declares to us that we will have trouble to face and overcome. John 16:33 says, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
I often joke that this is the one promise that Jesus makes that I don’t like. Jesus never promises to remove every trouble from our lives, but He does tell us that we don’t have to worry about life’s troubles, we just have to overcome them. Followers of Christ, over time, are supposed to become like Jesus and do the things that He did. If He was an overcomer, then we, too, should become more like Him as we overcome both small and big things in life. The key to becoming this type of overcomer is learning from the greatest overcomer Himself. Wounded Heart p. 75
The whole point of having a relationship with Jesus and being a follower of Jesus is that over time, we are transformed to be more and more like Him! Life can often seem like one trial after another. We can grow weary when we focus on each one of them. Over time it can drain us. But when we focus on Jesus and growing to become more like Him, the issues that once seemed large are now like bumps in the road as we move forward. What once held us back like a road block now can become a small bump that we ride over but keep going.
People often come to me with what seems like a huge problem, but after we sit down, understand God's will in the situation and take action, many problems are quickly solved or overcome! Let Jesus teach you day by day through His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit to have an overcoming lifestyle!
Prayer: Jesus, help me to grow to be more and more like You. I ask you to transform the way I think and look at the world. I want to have an overcomer lifestyle so that I can live out my life's purpose in joy and strength! I pray this in Jesus' name - Amen!
I often joke that this is the one promise that Jesus makes that I don’t like. Jesus never promises to remove every trouble from our lives, but He does tell us that we don’t have to worry about life’s troubles, we just have to overcome them. Followers of Christ, over time, are supposed to become like Jesus and do the things that He did. If He was an overcomer, then we, too, should become more like Him as we overcome both small and big things in life. The key to becoming this type of overcomer is learning from the greatest overcomer Himself. Wounded Heart p. 75
The whole point of having a relationship with Jesus and being a follower of Jesus is that over time, we are transformed to be more and more like Him! Life can often seem like one trial after another. We can grow weary when we focus on each one of them. Over time it can drain us. But when we focus on Jesus and growing to become more like Him, the issues that once seemed large are now like bumps in the road as we move forward. What once held us back like a road block now can become a small bump that we ride over but keep going.
People often come to me with what seems like a huge problem, but after we sit down, understand God's will in the situation and take action, many problems are quickly solved or overcome! Let Jesus teach you day by day through His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit to have an overcoming lifestyle!
Prayer: Jesus, help me to grow to be more and more like You. I ask you to transform the way I think and look at the world. I want to have an overcomer lifestyle so that I can live out my life's purpose in joy and strength! I pray this in Jesus' name - Amen!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Key 7 - Don't Let the Past Determine Your Future
God's Word teaches us that "because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). Once we have asked for forgiveness and made a choice to live a Christ-centered life, God is not holding our past against us. If God is not holding our past against us, we shouldn't hold our own past against ourselves!
One of the definitions of mercy and compassion is that God forgives us and helps us even when we don't deserve it. Mercy and compassion are a huge blessing because in times of pain we sometimes need help. Mercy means that God overlooks our weaknesses, faults and poor decisions. If we can't get past the pain on our own, God will help us. The reality is that in order to have a great future, we can't let our past or current painful reality define who we really are. Wounded Heart pp. 73-74
One of the things I like to tell people is that God's reality is bigger than our reality. We often get stuck in the day to day business or struggle. God so many times has something better. Even though we are going through our own reality, God has a reality that is better than what we are living in our current lives.
Too many times we just can't see it. But faith means trusting and believing when we can't actually see it! We have to accept God's mercy, healing, guidance and strength to get from our reality to His!
Prayer: Jesus, I know that your reality is better than anything that I can ever do. I receive your mercy and strength right now. Help me get to the better reality that you have waiting for me! I pray this in Jesus name - Amen!
One of the definitions of mercy and compassion is that God forgives us and helps us even when we don't deserve it. Mercy and compassion are a huge blessing because in times of pain we sometimes need help. Mercy means that God overlooks our weaknesses, faults and poor decisions. If we can't get past the pain on our own, God will help us. The reality is that in order to have a great future, we can't let our past or current painful reality define who we really are. Wounded Heart pp. 73-74
One of the things I like to tell people is that God's reality is bigger than our reality. We often get stuck in the day to day business or struggle. God so many times has something better. Even though we are going through our own reality, God has a reality that is better than what we are living in our current lives.
Too many times we just can't see it. But faith means trusting and believing when we can't actually see it! We have to accept God's mercy, healing, guidance and strength to get from our reality to His!
Prayer: Jesus, I know that your reality is better than anything that I can ever do. I receive your mercy and strength right now. Help me get to the better reality that you have waiting for me! I pray this in Jesus name - Amen!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
An Ounce of Prevention
An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Cure!
God is very concerned about our well-being and our happiness. He made us with a tremendous ability to feel. You may wonder why God even allows pain. My answer is He has to! You wouldn't know what hot was unless you could compare it to cold. You wouldn't know that something was bad unless you had something good to compare it to. I think that you are only capable of feeling pleasure to the same degree that you are capable of feeling pain. You can't have one without the other. So does God want us to feel pain? I don't think so, but He has made us with the ability to do so. God also uses pain to teach us things. He doesn't cause it, but allows it. From Proverbs 4:23 we can see what God's advice is about our heart. Guard it! It is actually a command. It is not a suggestion or gentle advice, it is very clear.
If you are anything like me, there are times when you don't like being told what to do! But when God tells us to do something, it is always for our benefit. He knows everything about everything. Wounded Heart p. 69
On our journey of healing it is so important that we learn to live by God's Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. His Word says that the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. The truth is absolute and the best reality! If we want these things, we must follow God's direction in our lives!
Prayer: Lord, I pray that you help to give me a passion to spend time each day in Your Word and in prayer. Open my heart and mind to receive your direction. Make my time with you a time of prevention so that I walk in a path of healing not of additional pain. I pray this in Jesus' name - Amen.
God is very concerned about our well-being and our happiness. He made us with a tremendous ability to feel. You may wonder why God even allows pain. My answer is He has to! You wouldn't know what hot was unless you could compare it to cold. You wouldn't know that something was bad unless you had something good to compare it to. I think that you are only capable of feeling pleasure to the same degree that you are capable of feeling pain. You can't have one without the other. So does God want us to feel pain? I don't think so, but He has made us with the ability to do so. God also uses pain to teach us things. He doesn't cause it, but allows it. From Proverbs 4:23 we can see what God's advice is about our heart. Guard it! It is actually a command. It is not a suggestion or gentle advice, it is very clear.
If you are anything like me, there are times when you don't like being told what to do! But when God tells us to do something, it is always for our benefit. He knows everything about everything. Wounded Heart p. 69
On our journey of healing it is so important that we learn to live by God's Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. His Word says that the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. The truth is absolute and the best reality! If we want these things, we must follow God's direction in our lives!
Prayer: Lord, I pray that you help to give me a passion to spend time each day in Your Word and in prayer. Open my heart and mind to receive your direction. Make my time with you a time of prevention so that I walk in a path of healing not of additional pain. I pray this in Jesus' name - Amen.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Key 6 - Learn to Guard Your Heart
Once we have identified and stopped the action or behavior that wounded us, the next step is learning to guard our heart from further damage. This is necessary so that our wound can actually heal. Remember that God's Word teaches us that the "most important" thing we need to do is guard our hearts. "Above all else, guard your heart" (Proverbs 4:23). This tells me two things. First, there are people and things in our world that will damage our hearts if we let them. Second, guarding our heart may not come naturally to us. If it was an automatic instinct that was important to us, we would not have to be told to do it. If we did it naturally, God would not put a priority on it by saying that we should protect our heart "above all else."
It's not realistic that we go through life with no pain or disappointments, but I think that we go through a lot more than we need to. Would you rather learn from a little pain or go through a great deal of pain? We do have a choice. Wounded Heart p. 67
It is amazing how much people fight changing or don't even know that our lives could be different, could be better. We often accept our current reality as just how things are. As I write this, I am thinking of a successful businessman who carries around low self-esteem even though he is successful in so many ways. I think of young adults who define themselves by the past, teens who have their whole lives in front of them but look to the future in despair.
Sometimes we have to guard our hearts in the present, sometimes we have to guard them from the past. We have to understand that today is a new day and yesterday's pain, mistakes or bad situation are in the past. Moving forward means letting go of pain, hurt and disappointment either caused by ourselves or others. We must guard our hearts from reliving and rehearsing these real and painful memories.
Guarding our heart is a present tense action that needs to take place every day.
Prayer: Lord, help me to guard my heart. Teach me to avoid people and situations that will hurt me. Help me to let go and not to relive the pain of yesterday so that I can move forward today. I pray this in Jesus name - Amen!
It's not realistic that we go through life with no pain or disappointments, but I think that we go through a lot more than we need to. Would you rather learn from a little pain or go through a great deal of pain? We do have a choice. Wounded Heart p. 67
It is amazing how much people fight changing or don't even know that our lives could be different, could be better. We often accept our current reality as just how things are. As I write this, I am thinking of a successful businessman who carries around low self-esteem even though he is successful in so many ways. I think of young adults who define themselves by the past, teens who have their whole lives in front of them but look to the future in despair.
Sometimes we have to guard our hearts in the present, sometimes we have to guard them from the past. We have to understand that today is a new day and yesterday's pain, mistakes or bad situation are in the past. Moving forward means letting go of pain, hurt and disappointment either caused by ourselves or others. We must guard our hearts from reliving and rehearsing these real and painful memories.
Guarding our heart is a present tense action that needs to take place every day.
Prayer: Lord, help me to guard my heart. Teach me to avoid people and situations that will hurt me. Help me to let go and not to relive the pain of yesterday so that I can move forward today. I pray this in Jesus name - Amen!
Monday, August 3, 2009
Don't Get Stuck on Stupid!
In your life, how many things would you go back and do differently? If you are like me the answer is plenty. Today, you are probably a lot smarter than you used to be and have probably stopped some bad habits or stopped repeating things that you used to do that were not good for you. You have already gotten off the "stupid treadmill" in some areas of your life. It may be time to get off the "stupid" and get on the "wisdom and smart" path in some other areas. What's strange in life is that we can have 95% of our lives in order and just 5% stuck on stupid. The unfortunate reality is that depending on what areas of life we struggle with, the 5% can ruin the 95% that is going good. Let's face the 5% of stuck on stupid so we can really enjoy the 95% that is going good. pp. 59-60
I break this down more in the book but please don't get insulted. We have all done some dumb things in life and done some of them more than once! The other aspect that I talk a lot about is not to get stuck on someone else's wrong or unwise actions. We often carry around the pain of someone else's actions towards us long after they care or even remember what they did. We should never let other people's sin and brokeness influence or control us. It is amazing how many of our behaviors follow patterns and cycles. Too many times, we accept our lives based on what someone else did instead of seeking and finding God's will in all areas of our lives!
The Bible talks about how God wants to renew our minds, leave old patterns behind and do new things. If we are not careful, we can define ourselves by our past. We can also just continue doing the same things, hanging out with the same type of people or expecting the same results in our lives. God is always progressive. He always wants us growing, leaving the old dead things behind and giving us new life. Let's get unstuck and keep moving forward!
Prayer: Jesus, I thank you because your mercies are new every morning and you delight in doing new things. Help me get unstuck of unhealthy memories or patterns of behavior. I choose to let go, move forward and receive the better things that you have been preparing for me! I pray this in Jesus name!
I break this down more in the book but please don't get insulted. We have all done some dumb things in life and done some of them more than once! The other aspect that I talk a lot about is not to get stuck on someone else's wrong or unwise actions. We often carry around the pain of someone else's actions towards us long after they care or even remember what they did. We should never let other people's sin and brokeness influence or control us. It is amazing how many of our behaviors follow patterns and cycles. Too many times, we accept our lives based on what someone else did instead of seeking and finding God's will in all areas of our lives!
The Bible talks about how God wants to renew our minds, leave old patterns behind and do new things. If we are not careful, we can define ourselves by our past. We can also just continue doing the same things, hanging out with the same type of people or expecting the same results in our lives. God is always progressive. He always wants us growing, leaving the old dead things behind and giving us new life. Let's get unstuck and keep moving forward!
Prayer: Jesus, I thank you because your mercies are new every morning and you delight in doing new things. Help me get unstuck of unhealthy memories or patterns of behavior. I choose to let go, move forward and receive the better things that you have been preparing for me! I pray this in Jesus name!
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