Redefine was 2022’s word for me. And it was the hardest year I walked through on this side of salvation. I didn’t realize how painful redefining was going to be. I didn’t know I would be redefined in every area of my life. So much so that at moments I thought I wouldn’t make it.
Tears drenched my pillow many nights with the deep chiseling pain of reassessing, re-examining and reconstruction of my broken heart. But I’m still here by the Grace of God and even though I don’t feel the entire release of this word, I know that I am near the end and entering into this new word. Goodbye.
Goodbye to all that does not belong to me. Goodbye to all the guilt and condemnation. Goodbye to not loving God, myself and others the way I should. Goodbye to regrets, past hurts and anything that is holding me back from being all that I am in Christ. Goodbye to not being my authentic self. (Not in a worldly view) but in being who God created me to be and not watering that down or minimizing myself to make others comfortable. Goodbye to resentments, unforgiveness and any bitterroot that tried to deform and destroy my heart.
Goodbye to any self loathing and always trying to be perfect. Goodbye to not being enough or feeling less then. Goodbye to not measuring up to others expectations and opinions of me. Goodbye to being afraid to let others in. Goodbye to being afraid period. Goodbye to all the negative words that were spoken over me and goodbye to all my pity parties.
Goodbye to not allowing God to be enough and not allowing Him into every crevice of my life to permeate and saturate my entire being.
With all Goodbyes come new Hello’s. Coming soon…….HELLO!!
As I drive into Camden this sunny, bright day in early December, I can feel the heaviness settle over my spirit like a weighted blanket. The spiritual darkness is palpable. I’ve been off for a few weeks for my wedding and honeymoon, so it was more noticeable to me today. As my car shimmies & bumps through the myriad of potholes that make up the City’s streets, I turn onto 7th & State & park my car behind the van that will drive us out to minister.
The Faces of Change Center beckons like a beacon, and as I bound through the gate & up the familiar steps, I feel the heaviness begin to lift. Lucy warmly greets me as she opens the door, and I see that Christmas donations have begun rolling in. The entire middle and left side of the large, open meeting room is filled with red bags containing gifts for our friends on the street that Ashley and Lacey Flenard gather every year from their neighbors. My heart leaps with excitement as I see warm, fuzzy hats & gloves peaking out of the tops of the bags. Having served in this ministry for 7-1/2 years, I’ve seen the happiness of our friends on the streets as they receive these essentials, most donning their hats, scarves, and gloves immediately with grateful, albeit often weary, smiles.
The entire right side of the room is an assembly line of bags, bins, and boxes. There are several bins of toiletries, an entire table of bagged lunches, cardboard boxes full of apples and bananas, a bin full of candy in small ziplocks, our flyers, and bags in which to put it all. Each of these items have been donated as tangible expressions of God’s love, and it is just beautiful. Today we are ministering to the ladies caught up in addiction and prostitution, and the toiletries include toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, razors, a varied assortment of cosmetics, and ladies’ sanitary products.
Alexa briefly explains how many of each item goes into each bag, we pray together, and I get started packing. We pray a lot in this ministry, it’s imperative as the enemy does not want us to do what we’re doing. Oftentimes Alexa leads us in worship before our prayer time, but today the worship music is in the background as there’s so much to do before we hit the streets. I started my morning at the alter, knowing I needed to be prayed up before going out to serve God’s people. You cannot push back darkness without sitting with Jesus in the light beforehand.
Alexa begins gathering the red bags to take downstairs for sorting. Lucy is upstairs working on scheduling detox for a young woman from the community named Vanessa. She’ll be going to NY Hoving Home following detox, and we are each so encouraged to see our toil in the mission field come to fruition. You cannot put a price on the weight of one life, one precious soul.
The hustle to get out on the streets begins, and we’re one team member down so it takes longer than usual. Our blessing bags are filled to overflowing, and they gradually take over 1/3 of the large meeting room. What a wonderful sight to behold!
We begin loading the bags into the van out front, and Lucy finds a wishbone-shaped stick which she and Alexa being tugging on it to see who gets the bigger piece. Lucy’s laugh rolls out easily, and Alexa and I cannot help but to laugh along with her. These moments of joy keep us going throughout the day, and we enjoy each moment of lightheartedness.
We head toward Broadway, each of us taking turns praying out loud over the women we will encounter. Our greatest desire is for them to know Jesus loves them, and He sent us out to search for them. We spot a lady and pull over. She’s wearing a tank top and jeans, no coat. Alexa recognizes her, it’s Melissa, and she quickly engages her in conversation. Melissa begins going through her blessing bag, and she immediately removes her dirty, worn hat and dons a warm, new fleece one. We have three coats in the van that just came in with the Flenard’s donations, and I offer her one.
Melissa is with a bearded man named John, and I offer him a lunch and explain what we do. He shares that he’s been living in an abandoned warehouse down by the riverfront, and it’s getting cold. I ask where he’s from and he tells me all about his family and his kids. I offer prayer, but he says no. He takes the flyer eagerly, and shares that he knows a lot of people who need our help.
Melissa’s boyfriend Rob has joined us now, and they receive prayer gratefully. Her greatest desire is to be certain she can go to Heaven, and Alexa explains the gospel and they follow her lead and pray out loud the words to receive Jesus into their hearts and lives. We invite them to our meetings, and I put their names into my phone. We try to gather each person’s name so we can continue in prayer for them.
I often ask the friends we encounter on the streets where they’re from, and rarely is the answer Camden. Each of these precious image bearers has a story, family members, often children they’ve left in the other towns, cities, states. No one would choose this life. No little girl says as a child, “when I grow up I want to live under a bridge and shoot poison into my veins.” And yet this is where they’ve found themselves, and we want to remind them that their story hasn’t ended and they can choose a different ending by accepting a fresh start. God never gives up on them, never says they’re throw-away people, and we won’t either.
There always seem to be themes when we go out, and they usually don’t repeat. We continue to stop and jump out of the van with blessing bags all along the strip, and today’s theme for many prayer requests is strength. A woman named Rhee begins to cry as I help her into a red wool coat over her jacket which has a broken zipper. She asks me to pray for strength to persevere, and she cries harder as I pray for her. Alexa joins me and we extend a lifeline of hope to her, sharing about the Christian programs we can send her to. She says she’ll think about it. With heavy hearts we get back into the van to search for the next lady.
There are several encounters where the ladies really open up and are vulnerable, often with tears, because they miss their loved ones, especially their own children. It’s heart wrenching. And it all happens so quickly. They don’t stay with us long, as we are interrupting their work day.
We see cars roll up on them, transactions being negotiated. Sometimes we see them get into cars with these strangers, and it is truly painful to watch. Lucy’s friend Madlin was found with her hands bound behind her, and these beautiful women, made in God’s own image, are in just as much bandage as Madlin was. We know there is one answer to Freedom, His name is Jesus. And so we keep going.
Next comes “The House.”
We turn down a nondescript side street, and pull over across the street from The House. There is nothing too remarkable about it from the outside, and we try not to imagine what goes on inside. There is a generator running in the gated side yard, and we notice there are several tents there as well. Some cana lilies are dying out front as winter sets in. It’s quiet, and no one comes out for a few minutes. Finally two men emerge onto the elevated concrete porch, and we tell them we’re there for the ladies. The men start yelling that there’s a van with clothing, although that’s not what we said, and Lucy corrects them that we have blessing bags for the ladies.
A slow trickle of women begin to emerge, and we begin to chat with them. We know many of their names from our weekly visits, but there are always – ALWAYS – new faces. Finally there’s a flood of women and it’s challenging to do more than just get their names and offer prayer as they gratefully accept our bags and head back into The House. One woman asks for a coat, and we realize that the men saying we had clothing was a good thing as we do have coats to offer today. She slips into a warm, long wool coat, and her smile is a reward in itself.
Gradually the crowd thins, and we’re able to engage with the ladies who’ve stayed. Lucy prays with Christina, a beautiful young woman who *almost* went away to detox and Hoving Home back in early September. We met her at the House when she had newly arrived, as Lucy spoke with her she broke down crying and was desperate to get away. She showed up at the Center a day or two later for her assesment, and all of the detox and program arrangements were made.
Lucy and I met at the FOC Center at the crack of dawn to go to The House to pick Christina up, and had to wait for someone to come out so we could ask for her. We watched people meander onto the porch with cups of coffee, noticing the little family-type of community they’d formed. We waited and waited, but eventually the painful realiazation that she wasn’t coming set in. This ministry can crack your heart sometimes.
Back to today. I speak briefly with Michelle, a 50-something woman who we gather is sort of a house mother to the younger women at the House. Michelle has gone to California several times to visit her parents, and I always say, “I hope I don’t see you again.” We’ve offered to send her to Hoving Home in California, but she hasn’t taken us up on it yet. We talked with her for quite a while that early August morning when Christina was a no-show, she seems to believe a sober life equals a boring life. Lucy explained how as your brain begins the restoration process from drugs, simple things begin to be much more satisfying. She listened curiously, and
we continue to offer love and prayer to her in the hope that one day she’ll want to go away to a long-term Christian program.
When Christians hear about the Madlin Ministry, often their compassionate response is that they want to come out with us. We keep the team small and consistent so the ladies will begin to trust the familiar faces and, Lord willing, trust us enough to leave what they know and go away to a Christian program. Our hearts often ache as we bear the ladies’ burdens, if only for a brief encounter. We cry often. It’s definetely a calling, this Madlin Ministry, and not an easy one. But, oh, how we rejoice when one little lost sheep responds to the Shepherd’s call! What a privelege to be a part of this Kingdom work.
Today at the House, Shae is very emotional and crying openly. Lucy climbs into the back of the van to move the remaining bags to the front. I speak with Shae for a while about her children, their ages, where they’re living. She’s really crying now. I let her know how much the Lord loves her, how He sent us out to find her today. I offer to pray, and she says, “no, it will make me really cry.” I assure her we’ll continue in prayer for her, and abruptly she says she left something on the table and spins on her heal and bolts back to the house. I think her own vulnerability scared her.
Shae openly had drug paraphernalia in her hand while we were speaking. We see it all the time, some things I recognize and some I have to ask Lucy about. We are done at The House for this week. We share about our different encounters as we drive back to the strip to give out our remaining blessing bags.
Our hope is that as our friends see the van pull up they’ll feel a twinge of hope, and we can bring a ray of joy into their day. And, one sheep at a time, we can introduce them to the Shepherd.
God desires to communicate with us. He is speaking all the time, but we have to tune in, to hear His voice. He usually speaks to us in a whisper. Behind all the noise of this world, our cluttered minds and emotions. Many of us wouldn’t hear Gods voice even if He spoke to us audibly.
Our lives and our minds are on overload constantly. There is no quiet any longer. I think one of the most Holy things the church can do in this day and time is to practice being quiet. To learn how to shut out the noise of life and enter into the quiet rest of God. I wonder what would happen if we had services where we just sat, leaned into the Holy Spirit and waited for God to speak. What a revolutionary idea.
Most of us are extremely uncomfortable with quiet. If someone stopped talking in mid sentence and everything became extremely silent for an extended period of time. I wonder what would happen? Would some us pull out our phones and scroll through our social media pages? Would we start texting a friend? Would some of us start to worry, or think about our to do list?
Noise, and Busyness is killing us. It is one of the enemy’s weapons to keep us distracted from God. I mean what God has to say to us is so important. Yes, God wants to reveal His plans for our lives. Yes, He wants to lead us and show us what to do. He wants to teach us so that we understand. But I believe one of the most important things He wants to say to us is. How much He loves us. How beautiful we are. How valuable, How full of worth. How we are the apple of His eye, His prize possession. How he not only loves us but likes us. He loves who we are in Him. He rejoices over us. I mean He loves us so much that He provided a way for us to be with Him for eternity. His love changes us. His love is where we find our identity. His love is really all we need.
Some of us are afraid to tune in because of what we might hear. Hey, all of us need correction but I guarantee His correction comes so full of love.
I picture God walking around allowing different situations in our lives in order to get our attention. like the At&T Guy on the commercial trying to get a clear signal and saying “Can You Hear Me Now?” Constantly trying to get our attention. Our God is so patient, so kind, so loving, so long suffering, so committed to us. Think about it if we continued to try and communicate, to talk to someone and they wouldn’t listen to us. They just ignored us while We were talking. We would probably give up and go talk to someone else who would listen. But not God he is married to us for better or for worse. He will continue to try and get our attention over and over again.
Let’s take a look at 1 Kings 19:11-12 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lordpassed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. God was in the whisper.
Gods voice is in a whisper. Don’t get me wrong He can be loud and shout above the noise if He wants to but most often He speaks in a whisper. The world is loud, and we are loud. Our minds are always thinking, planning, perceiving, creating, controlling, and worrying. We can’t hear Gods Whisper it’s too noisy. We must learn to tune in, to lean in and hear His voice. Like when a friend tells you a secret in a crowded room. You have to drown out everything and listen. Sometimes I will close my eyes to focus.
Turn of the tv. Shut of the phone find a quiet place and just listen. There are times where even words to a song can take my thoughts some where else and I can’t hear what God is specifically trying to say to me. Sometimes I just play instrumental music and sit quietly. And say God speak to me. What do you want me to know? What do you want me to hear?
There are things that harden our hearts and make it very difficult to hear God. See God doesn’t just speak to our minds, He speaks to our hearts. There have been times I didn’t understand what God was saying but I knew my heart understood.
Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.” Hebrews 3:15
And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. Ezekiel 33:26
What hardens our hearts and make His voice so hard to hear?
Most of us know the obvious answers. Sin, Rebellion, and disobedience.
But I want to quickly mention three things that go with the topic at hand.
Noise – All around us. A Generation of Information at our fingertips. Billboards, music, noise. But noise is not always a loud sound. Noise can invade our minds with thoughts, all kind of thoughts of inadequacy, complaining, words that were said, words that hurt, trauma, grief and so on.
Social Media is noise. Scrolling through SM you can go from happy to sad in seconds. Our minds are crowded with information. Sometimes I literally feel sick after scrolling through Facebook.
Our minds are loud and noisy. You ever try to pray, and you can’t get your mind to stop thinking. Your emotions can get pretty loud too. Your emotions can rule you and drown out Gods voice.
Busyness – Being – Under – Satan’s – Yoke. Preoccupied minds. We can be so busy; we can’t hear God’s voice. We can’t hear his Whisper because we are distracted. We can be busy with Good things. God Things, Work, responsibilities, taking care of our families, and even ministry. Doing and Doing but our hearts have grown cold and hardened because we have not sat quietly in the light of God’s presence.
Like Mary and Martha choose to sit at Jesus feet.
Some of us are over achievers and the world applauds us for all our successes. It feels good so keep achieving. We have huge to do list. And we are not happy till its all done. When its not we feel like failures and maybe our list are extremely unrealistic.
One of the big ones is Pain.
Pain is a funny thing. Pain can wreak havoc in your life and leave you like a lifeless ragdoll gasping for air. Like the saying Pain can leave you bitter or better.
We all know there are times God uses pain to draw us close to Him. Pain – Grows us – develops us and when given to God can soften our hearts to hear God Clearly. The Lord is close to the broken hearted. And sometimes that’s where Pain can be the most beneficial. For the record I’m not saying God is causing you pain so you can hear His voice. To be honest I don’t know how it works but I know that in some of my darkest days. God has shown up and poured out His wisdom, sometimes correction, His love, His mercy, His Grace, His forgiveness. He has taught me valuable lessons that I would have never been able to learn outside of that pain.
Like you I would rather avoid it. But its inevitable. Pain will come. Its how we respond to the pain that makes the difference. Many of us have suffered and may be currently suffering very painful times in our lives. Body, Emotions, Mental, Relationships can all be very painful.
Many times, we question God. Why? I don’t understand. I’m doing what you want me to do. Why are you allowing this in my life? Take it away. Others of us try to just endure the pain alone. Or make pretend its not there. We think if we ignore it, it will go away.
When we do not lean into the Lord during these times of pain our hearts slowly and steadily begin to harden. As Christ followers we may not even notice this happening, because we are still coming to church, worshipping, praying and going through the motions but our hearts hardened along the way.
I challenge you to begin to practice being quiet in the presence of God. Some of us mechanically ramble the same prayers over and over. Let’s doless. What a thought right. Do less for God and spend more time with Him. Let’s not go the pace of the world. Let’s slow down a bit and take Him in. Allow Him in to heal us and change us and love us and speak to us. Let’s make appointments with Him. Put it in our calendars. I’m not talking just about devotions that just the beginning. I’m talking about meeting with Him to listen to all that He has to say. That can happen in a walk at the park. Sitting on your deck with a cup of coffee. Even on your couch. But find a place where you can practice leaning into and tuning into Gods voice.
I believe that if you respond to God by quieting your mind and your heart and leaning your ear towards Him, He is going to whisper the most amazing things to you.
My heart has been extremely heavy the last couple of weeks. I know that across our country we are dealing with a severe opioid epidemic that is taking lives every day.
I can only speak about what I see in my community, and my heart is breaking and angry all at the same time.
The state of individuals using drugs has become completely ridiculous. I say this as one who was addicted in the past myself and who has been working with those caught in addiction for fifteen years. I am not being insensitive. I have dedicated my life to helping individuals find freedom from addiction through the only one who can transform a life, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our team is constantly on the streets loving and ministering to those whose lives have been ravaged by sin and addiction.
Even when we are about our daily routines we see people all over the city completely out of it, holding onto poles to not collapse; sitting and nodding until their heads have hit the ground; frozen in the middle of the sidewalk without moving; women walking the streets involved in prostitution to support their habits, and the guy who once was just someone to keep her safe has now become the one she needs protection from. It is a sad situation. It’s not only in downtown Camden, it is throughout our city and surrounding areas.
It is like literally living out the TV show “The Walking Dead.” It has been very troubling to me to know that this is becoming the norm for our children to see people so high that they can’t hold themselves up. This in no way is a hate statement against those using, because I was there at one time in my life.
My heart aches that people are so hurt that they would rather live life in a coma state because their realities are so bad. I’m angry because our children are becoming accustomed to drug addiction being part of their everyday lives.
I believe, as a Christ Follower and one who believes every word of the Bible is true, that we are living in the last days. I believe that there is a God and there is a devil. I would have never thought that drug addiction would play such a big part of the enemy’s plan to steal, kill, and destroy us, but it is happening all around us.
The world is doing the best they can to try and combat addiction with all of their methods and I am not against them; some of their methods have saved people, but those methods are not enough. The only way for real transformation is to introduce individuals to their Creator.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
My hope is for each person to understand the profound love that God has for them. To understand the plan that He set into motion so long ago to save them from not just the hell that some live on this earth but the hell that is waiting for eternity if the simple yet profound choice of believing in Jesus and the cross is not made before departing this earth.
It is with great urgency that I call out to all the believers who truly know God, who believe that He is able to transform, heal, and deliver. Please do not stand idly by while Satan kills our children and sedates them to sleep, while life passes them by until suddenly they are lying on the ground fighting for their last breath while Narcan is being administered to try and save their lives.
We have the answer, Jesus came and died on the cross for All of us.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Yes, even the one who is living on the street and hasn’t bathed in days and smells like hell because all he/she does is get high, Jesus loves him or her. They are part of the All.
For all Christ Followers, it is time to come out of our comfort zones. Whatever the cost. Open your mouths and share the Gospel. God is ready to pour out His spirit. We have the answer.
“‘In the last days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Acts 2:17
We can no longer watch from the sidelines and say nothing. Let’s begin to share the truth of God’s word and set the captives free.
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” Luke 4:18
It is believed that in the last days, as the world is getting worse and evil seems as if it is winning, a great revival will explode. That revival begins with you and me seeking God in prayer and sharing the Gospel with all whom we come in contact.
Please intercede with me in prayer for those who are lost in addiction. Yes, they need our practical help, but more then ever they need a spiritual touch from the only one who can save their very souls.
Last night at our FOC addictions meeting, we continued with our “Taking Inventory” lesson. We have been taking a look at The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in our lives.
What does the word inventory mean?
The dictionary defines it as a complete list of items, such as property, goods in stock, or the contents of a building. Synonyms: list, listing, catalog, record, register, checklist, log, archive; make a complete list of.
We were challenged to make time to be alone with God and allow him to search our hearts and bring to light areas in our lives that he is pointing out to us.
I have taken inventory many times and every time I do, I am always amazed at all of the things still there that I didn’t see before. Either I ignored them because they were too painful, or I was blind to the truth. Many times we have blind spots.
Recently I had a dream that I was living in a large house with many rooms, but I was only living in some of the rooms. There were other rooms filled with things, but I was afraid to go into them.
The Lord showed me that those rooms were hurtful memories from the past that I had closed the door to so I would never look at them again because they were so painful. In the dream, I was no longer afraid, and I was able to go through the rooms and salvage all of the good stuff I could use today and leave the bad behind.
There are good treasures in the past that sometimes we lock away with the bad.
Not all of our past was bad. If we look close enough we have plenty of good memories. Many times the bad ones taint our perceptions and we can see no good. God doesn’t want us to live in the past, but He doesn’t want us to ignore it. He wants to heal it.
Many think that by ignoring the past they are fine or can deny that the past had major effects on them.
It is only by sitting in the presence of Jesus and allowing Him to begin the work of truly exposing our hearts that we will ever be healed. Jesus wants us to live healed and be made whole so that we can live free, abundant lives here on earth.
That doesn’t mean a pain-free life, because to be quite honest, good, bad and ugly happen every day. However, when we are connected to the healer, the Lord Jesus Christ, we can make our accounts short by taking daily inventories and not allowing hurt to fester too long.
Hurt that lies dormant will turn to resentment and bitterness. We will not be able to live abundant lives if we are weighed down with hurt.
We cannot fulfill our true purpose if we do not allow God to heal us.
Jeremiah 29:11 says “He has plans to prosper us..for hope and a future. ”
But many still will not allow God to walk through the rooms of their lives and expose the hurt and damage that was caused.
For some of us who have had vices in our lives, whether addictions, habits, or habitual sins, we know that the root is so much more than the exposed problem.
That is exactly what inventory does. It gives God the opportunity to check us. I like to say, “Check yourself before you wreck yourself.”
Today would you sit and make a commitment to God and someone else that you will find time to sit quietly with God and allow him to show you areas that he wants to heal.
Our group is starting with a small task. This week we are writing down ten things we like about ourselves and ten things we don’t.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.
(Romans 12:2)
Do you remember in school when the Health teacher would say GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT? This saying has stayed with me for as long as I can remember and it is still true today.
What we put or allow into our minds forms us and makes us who we are. Another saying is YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK.
We have all been shaped by our thoughts and our experiences.
We all have what I like to call inroads or perceptions of what we think is reality.
Many times we take our past experiences and bring them into our present.
As soon as an experience is familiar we assume that this situation is the same as the one from our past. This is not completely bad because our minds store information that help us identify things in the present by our stored memory from the past. Great information like how we remember the taste or smell of something. Unfortunately perceptions are not always correct.
This is why when we come to the Lord seeking transformation or seeking help to overcome an addiction we must allow time for him to renew our minds. Change our STINKING THINKING. Your thoughts were not formed over night and they won’t change overnight. RENEWING is a PROCESS.
Our thoughts have also been shaped by the world’s opinions ideas, and ways. They are contrary to God’s.
For example God says love your enemy. (Matthew 5:44), Or it is better to give than receive. (Acts 20:35) We know that this is not the way of the world.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
(Isaiah 55:8)
That is why the only way to renew our minds, change our thinking is through the LIVING WORD OF GOD. Positive talk won’t do it in and of itself. Yes we should learn to be more positive, many of us are extremely negative, but the only thing that cuts to the core of who we are and what we think is the active living word of God.
The bible has been around for a long time, many have read it and even think it’s a great book, but it is so much more then a good read. This book has power.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
The heavens and earth were even created with the word. There is power in the word not only to change our thinking but even our circumstances.
Having a vibrant, active relationship with Jesus Christ, spending time in prayer and meditation of His word will bring the change we are looking for.
For many of us including myself my thoughts have harassed and tormented me many times, paralyzingly me from moving forward, letting go or just having peace.
Remember!!
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we TAKE CAPTIVE EVERY THOUGHT to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
The moment we accept Christ into our lives the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. The Holy Spirit has many functions but for today we will see him as our teacher. You can count on him to point out faulty thinking as you read God’s word. He will guide you into all truth.
(John 16:13)
THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT. Then take those thoughts and match them against God’s word to see what God has to say about it.
This is how we take every thought captive.
DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK.
Some thoughts are old thinking patterns. Some are worldly thoughts, some are the enemy’s lies.
The second part of Romans 12:2 states that when our minds are renewed we will then be able to know God’s will for our lives.
When our thoughts have NOT been renewed it is impossible to hear God’s voice leading us. It is too cloudy with our old ways of thinking. God desires your thought life to be healthy.
Today make a conscious decision to ask the Holy Spirit to EXPOSE your thoughts so you can begin to allow God in and start the process of changing the way you think. When your thinking changes your life will change because your thoughts will now go towards the things God has for you.
Faces of Change 