You are Free

October 20th, 2017

you-are-free

You are free! Christ came to set us free from the chains of sin, and He heals us and sets us free inwardly from anything that afflicts us. We can be set free by God in so many ways:

  • Free from the power of sin (this is sometimes instant and sometimes gradual)
  • Free from worry (we trust a God who is sovereign over all)
  • Free from the hurts of your past (see previous post in this series)
  • Free from loneliness (God’s presence is always with us)
  • Free to walk in the Spirit (more love, joy, peace in your life)
  • Free from the love of possessions
  • Free to worship with wild abandon

Yielding to Jesus is so wonderful–it feels free as if I were on a motorcycle because it’s exhilarating. It does not feel oppressive in any way. If you feel that your relationship with Christ is oppressive, you’re doing it wrong. It feels light, free, peaceful and full of joy. You are at rest in your spirit.

Inside this video I mentioned these related videos and articles about grabbing hold of freedom in different areas of your life:

free

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free,” says Galatians 5:1, and you are not to be a slave to the opinions of other people, or other people’s impossible standards that are not based on the simplicity of loving God and loving others. The idolatry for one person (reading novels constantly and neglecting all the other things God wants you to be doing) might not be sin for another person. Watching television causes one person to commit acts of immorality, and another person to become a good cook–it depends what you watch and what motivates your heart. Are you asking God what to do with your time, or are you living for yourself?

You will have way more freedom and joy in your life if you actually live for Jesus, asking Him to lead you in what you should be doing each day. Your days become very interesting, let me tell you! And God empowers you to do whatever He is wanting you to do right in the moment that it’s needed.

free-as-a-butterfly

The easiest way to usher in freedom in your life is to dance before the Lord like the Bible commands us to do. You can do this alone in your room with worship music. I’ve banged my hand against the wall by accident, so pick a large room if you are uncoordinated like me.

  • “Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.” Psalm 150:4 NASB
  • “Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!” Psalm 149:3 ESV
  • “A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.” Ecclesiastes 3:4 NASB
  • “And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might.” 2 Samuel 6:14a NASB
  • “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.” Psalm 30:11 NASB

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Christian Living | 20 Comments »

You are Healed and Restored

October 19th, 2017

you-are-healed-and-restored

You are healed and restored! You can be fully healed by God, and this is especially true about healing inwardly from trauma. God is able to make the pain go away inwardly so that you can have joy, even if your circumstances don’t change.

God is also able to heal physically. “By His stripes we are healed,” says Isaiah 53:5, so Christ died on the cross for all of our sin, and He bore our sorrow and our infirmities. If He bore them, He is able to heal them. While on earth, Jesus healed all who came to Him. We are allowed to ask Him to heal us physically. I have been involved in situations where we laid hands on the sick, and they were instantly healed. Other times we felt the healing touch of God, but the person was not outwardly healed. Either way, we can praise the Lord. How?

Joni Eareckson Tada, for example, was not healed physically, and as a result, she has WAY more joy because she is a speaker and author and her message has healed so many people! If she had been healed instantly, thousands of people might still be suffering who now have inward healing because of her message. The book I mentioned in the video is When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty. It is an outstanding book about suffering that never would have been written if she had been physically healed.

prisoners-of-hope

Every drop of pain that you have, any sickness you might have, if you have asked God to heal you and He hasn’t yet, God is doing something that you can’t see. I promise you that no suffering is for nothing. You will be rewarded for every drop of suffering you have ever endured. That includes physical suffering. God will make all things right and turn sorrow into joy (Psalm 30:5). He will turn anything that the enemy intended for evil into good (Genesis 50:20).

If someone had laid hands on Job while he had boils and prayed for his healing, he would NOT have been healed, not from a lack of faith, but because there was a spiritual reality that was happening between Satan and God.

restored

The angels and demons are watching as you glorify God in the midst of your sickness, and it makes the enemy mad! Woohoo! More glory for God and for us! “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18 NASB)

Please watch the video above to hear my testimony of how I received complete healing from agony in my soul even though my situation didn’t change. It will show you how to functionally grab hold of the healing of God and experience relief.

I hope you understand that you are healed and restored, and that you don’t have to wait around for your circumstances to change. God is our great healer!

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Christian Living | 12 Comments »

You are Powerful Over the Enemy

October 18th, 2017

you-are-powerful-over-the-enemy

You are powerful over the enemy. 1 John 4:4 ESV says “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

When Jesus was on the earth, He gave His followers power over the demonic realm. Any Christian has more power than an evil spirit, because the Spirit of the Living God is inside of us! “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” Luke 10:17 ESV

Jesus said we would do greater works than He did: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12 ESV Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send His Spirit to reside in us, and He would never leave us nor forsake us.

Because Christians don’t know the authority they have in Christ, they allow the enemy to torment them, lead them into sin, and deceive them. The primary gateway for the enemy is your mind, but he also works through your emotions. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 The key in that verse is to submit or yield to God at all times. Open to Jesus and allow Him to lead you. He will give you supernatural strength to get through your situation.

painting-angel

One day last summer, I was allowing the enemy to discourage me because of my unresolved circumstances. I had no energy whatsoever, and my daughter was wondering if I was going to get out of bed. I felt that I didn’t have enough strength to continue going through the motions of life. No, I was not suicidal. I just had nothing left. I had metaphorically splatted to the floor after giving everything I had, and I’ve lived this way for a couple of years.

The phone rang, and it was my husband. He said that there was a work picnic today, and I was expected to attend with the kids. Plus, I always brought banana bread for his boss. I looked at the clock and there was only one hour before I had to leave. I hadn’t showered. I had no energy. I cried out, “Jesus, please give me the strength to live through another day.”

powerful-over-enemy

Fortunately I saw three soft bananas on the counter. The odds of that happening are slim, because if we buy bananas, they all get eaten right away unless we were planning to make banana bread, and we weren’t. I would not have had time to go to the grocery store to buy bananas. I found my son who I’ve trained to make banana bread, and he got started on it while I jumped in the shower.

I arrived at the work party with my kids at the correct time, and I had supernatural strength to be the life of the party. This is impossible. But God strengthened me. I didn’t have swollen eyes from crying. I looked normal and full of life. That’s because Jesus is my life.

Over and over, God has gotten me through so many difficult situations, and I know He will get me through this one. I will ask God each day what He wants me to do, and I will do it.

Don’t forget, you are powerful over the enemy. Don’t let him discourage you!

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Christian Living | 18 Comments »

You are Gifted

October 17th, 2017

you-are-gifted

You are gifted. If you are a Christian, God has given you spiritual gifts and talents, and you will feel the most fulfilled when you are doing what your gifting is!

When you are around other believers, and you are all transparent with each other and love each other from the heart, you will automatically be using your spiritual gift. It comes out of you when you are walking by the Spirit.

If a woman has sorrow and starts crying, if you have the gift of mercy, water will start coming out of your eyes involuntarily, and you will want to hug her. A second woman immediately thinks of an encouraging Scripture and she speaks life into the person who is suffering, even though she doesn’t cry because God was bringing Scripture and a word into her mind so that she could encourage the person who was suffering. The one who cried and hugged the one in need is not superior to the one who gave an encouraging word. They just have different strengths. The person who gave the hug maybe had nothing to say.

make-your-own-journal

Someone else brings a meal to that suffering person because she has the gift of hospitality. Another person comes over to her house and cleans the kitchen and bathrooms because she has the gift of helps. So the suffering person got comfort and a hug, an encouraging word, a meal, and cleaning for her home. She is built up and feels refreshed and not so squashed as when she first told the women at the church about her sorrow.

If we are true believers, this is what we do automatically. I have known churches that are this way. They are usually smaller churches, but a larger church with a small group might be similar. If you are in a church that is cold and no one loves each other, and you feel like everyone is plastic and fake, ask God if He wants you to pray in a revival at your church, or if He wants you to go to a true church filled with people who walk by the Spirit. No one should ever be in financial need either. The offerings of the church are not for expanding a building or getting a new carpet. The funds are for people in need within the body of Christ, and to support the pastor so that He has time freed up to study God’s Word.

pink-journal

This is just one example of how spiritual gifts can be used in the church. Here are a couple of passages that list some of the spiritual gifts:

  • Ephesians 4:11-16
  • 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

If you would like to know more about spiritual gifts and download a spiritual gifts inventory, I’ve written about it here:

decorated-journals

In addition to spiritual gifts that are supernatural, God has also given you talents that make you unique in the usage of your spiritual gifts. For example, my spiritual gift of teaching ends up having creative expression that is more dramatic than a teacher who is not talented creatively but has the spiritual gift of exhortation. I love the combination of pastor/exhorter because I nearly always feel convicted to change. That type of preacher makes me want to get up and do something!

gifted

Yes, you are gifted! Use your gifts and talents to build up other believers and bring joy to Christ!

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Christian Living | 19 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »