Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Distractions

Sleight of hand is the set of techniques used by magicians to manipulate objects secretly. It is most employed in close up magic, but can also be used on stage.

Sleight means dexterity or deceptiveness (cunning, sly, clever).

The guiding principle of sleight of hand is to be natural. It also depends on the use of psychology, timing, misdirection, and natural choreography to accomplish the magical effect. Misdirection is perhaps the most important component.

Street magicians use this technique to get you to guess which shell the ball is under, or to pull coins out of your ear.

I knew a magician. He was constantly practicing on me. At first, I was amazed. I would always guess wrong. But, after watching him for so long, I began to figure out his tricks and it was not so easy for him to fool me.

The Bible says that we are not to be ignorant of the devils devices. Just like the magician, that ol' devil tries to misdirect our focus. He is very cunning and sly. He entices us with what we think he holds in his hands.

I have been guilty of distractions. I have been focused on the immediate and was not able to look past that distraction to see the big picture. You have heard the saying, "can't see the forest because of the trees"? That was me. I was blinded, I fell for the illusion. Is this where you are now?

Like a game show, we try to guess what is behind curtain number two. We gamble away all that we have for the perceived prize; only to learn that we have been tricked.

We buy that cheap ring only to find that it leaves a black mark on our fingers. Why? Because we focus on the immediate, we hesitate to pay the price for the future. The sad part is that we do this over and over again. Why do we keep doing the same thing and expect different results?

We have been created with a purpose and a calling. Unfortunately, some of us will not fulfill our call because we are distracted with what the sly magician has waved before us.

Some of us have bought the lie that a relationship with a man will complete us. We have fallen prey to one toxic relationship after another. At first we are enamored by the attention, distracted by the high, we ignore the red flags because we try to catch what was never released.

As little girls we are taught that our prince charming will come. We look for the charming, instead of the prince. We expect a man to come along and valiantly slay the dragons, jump through fires, climb towers, find our glass slipper and kiss us back to life. Dear girl, this is make believe.

There is only One who can give us the kiss of life. There is only One who can turn a frog into a prince. And that One is Jesus.

Do not be distracted by clever illusions. Do not settle for cheap imitations that will leave a black mark on your soul.

Set yourself apart for Jesus. Let Him do His work in you. Stay in Him so you will not be deceived. When the time is right He will bring your prince to you. He will do this when you are ready and when he is ready. When this man comes, you will hear His Spirit whisper...this, My beloved, is what I want for you.

Be Free & Stay Free

Monday, June 10, 2013

Are You Hiding?

Do we not know that we must give account to every idle word we speak? We will be justified or condemned by our words (Matthew 12:36,37). We all make mistakes, but if we control our tongues, then we can control ourselves in every other way (James 3:2). We are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God; so that we can show the goodness of God to others, because He has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

We must not be distracted! We must not be controlled by our emotions. If we say that we love God, then we must behave like we do. Take inventory. What are we saying and what are we doing? Are we participating in conversations that we should not? Are we in relationships that we should not be in?

Does your life seem out of control? Is everything coming at you from all directions? Have you lost your peace?

I plead with you, give your bodies to God as a living sacrifice - the kind He will accept. After what He has done for us, is this too much to ask? Don't act like everyone else, quit trying to fit in. Let God transform you, you are now a new person, by changing the way you think, then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will is for you (Romans 12:1-2).

We can not rationalize or offer excuse. Your freedom has been bought with a high price. You are no longer your own, you belong to God.

Let God have His way in you. Be filled with His Holy Spirit. Turn away from your old way of life, old habits and toxic relationships. Do you not remember what He has delivered you from?

You must take captive every thought and arrest every imagination. Whatever you set your thoughts to, that is the direction that you will go. If you have not let go of your past, you will relive your past. Only this time it will be much worse (Matthew 12:43-45).

How do you know you may be slipping? Listen to the words that come out of your mouth. Feel that sting of conviction when you are with certain people and/or participating in things you ought not to be participating in. You no longer seek God, instead you try to hide from Him.

You are not to be a bystander to that which seeks to destroy you. You must be an active participant in working out your own salvation. Live a clean and innocent life as a child of God (Philippians 2:14-16).

He never said it was going to be easy (John 16:33), but He did promise to never leave you (Matthew 28:20).
 

Be Free & Stay Free!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Enough

There was once a little girl who wanted to be good enough.

Everything she did, she tried her best. Her hope was to hear her father say that he was proud of her. She tried very hard to please him. She was the fastest runner and she delighted in hearing him say that. She tried to be mothers helper, watching after her younger sister and brother. She tried her best in school to get good grades to earn the approval of her father; to stay in his good graces. But, it seemed, no matter how hard she tried, she was never good enough. Her father was an angry man and very scary. So, this little girl began to learn how to protect herself. This is when that shell started to form around her heart and this is when her foundation began to crack.

The little girl became an adolescent Realizing that she would never be good enough, she gave up trying to please him. Rebellion entered the house and she welcomed it. If she could not be good enough for her father, she would be good enough with her friends.  Her choice in friends were not always good. Even though she was a small girl in size, her outward appearance was strong. But, inside, deep inside... she was scared. She would sometimes look at other girls and imagine if they were happy. Did they have parents who loved them? Did they feel safe at home? She wondered what it would be like to have their life. She longed to be good enough.

As a young woman she made herself good enough; well, kind of, in a distorted way. She felt good enough when a man paid attention to her. When he told her she was beautiful. When he showed kindness to her. She found herself in relationships that she should have never been in. In her search of being good enough, she gave away her most precious gift. She entered each new relationship with hope, only to walk away feeling empty and used. Soon she became distrusting, skeptical, cynical and fed up.  She decided she could not be good enough and realized that men were not good enough anyway.

Yet, there was still that longing, that need to hear the words "you are good enough."

We all have that need. The need to love and be loved. To be noticed and to know that we matter. To not be invisible. We try to fill that need, that void, through relationships, food, addictions, medications, career; anything to numb that pain of loneliness and rejection. If we can stay busy enough we can convince ourselves that we are OK, even if we are not.

Dear sister, did you see yourself in the little girl, the adolescent or the young woman? Were you victim to the very people who were suppose to care for and protect you? What you missed, did you try to find and each time come up lacking? It is a sad place to be in.

You can not change your past, but you can make a choice for your future. You do not need to be a victim, you can be a conqueror. Some of what happened was not your fault. Some of it was. We have all made choices, and sadly, there are consequences to our choices and sometimes others suffer the consequences.  

It is not too late. The burdens that you have, they were not meant for you to carry. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light"  Matthew 11:28-30

When we try to be "good enough" on our own, we will always fall short. When we look to others to validate us, we will be let down. We can not be "good enough" on our own and there is a spot in us that was never meant to be filled by others. There is only One who is enough and through Him we are good enough. In Him we find acceptance and love. In Him we find our strength and freedom to be vulnerable enough to be that beautiful woman He has created to us to be. In Him we find completeness and an intimate love that no one else can give.

I encourage you, my sweet sister, stop running, avoiding, denying, masking, hiding, manipulating and fighting. Cry out to Jesus, for He cares for you. He gave His life for you and in His resurrection you can find redemption. Let Him wash you and trust Him to finish the work that He has begun. You are precious in His eyes.

Even though a wrong has been committed against you, you still have to acknowledge your own wrongs. These wrongs are called sin. No matter what you have done, no matter how bad, He says that if you confess your sins to Him, He will forgive you. He will remember your sins no more and you become a new person. He will call you daughter and He is a Father that you can always trust to provide for you, care for you and protect you. He is the Father who will rejoice over you and will comfort you. In Him you will find no rejection. He will never leave you.

Be free and stay free.





Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Grant Me the Favor of Your Face, Jesus

 
Oh Lord, bless me
& keep me
Cause Your face
to shine on me
Lord be gracious
with the light of Your countenance
Give me peace
for I live only
to see Your face
so shine on me

Monday, June 3, 2013

Break Every Chain


So...You Want True Intimacy?

God has created sex between a husband and wife to be pleasurable. To be an act of worship and submission to one another. This is an adoration that is pleasing to God. This is a deep recognition of the gift that God has placed before you, the gift of a lifetime love and lover.

There is a time and a season for all things.

Courtship is ministry to the heart. If God is the center of your relationship, this will be a time when your heart can safely open without fear. This is a time to establish trust and friendship with the one that could possibly be your spouse. This is when the foundation is laid. Without this foundation, when the storms come your house will be destroyed if all you have based your affections on is the lusty desires and immediate, but temporary, satisfactions.

Intercourse causes soul ties. This is why you are tore apart after a break-up when you have been physically intimate with someone outside of marriage, because you have given that special gift away to someone who has not made the commitment to love you forever and to forsake all others.

Sex outside of marriage leads to distrust. Can you truly trust someone who has given themselves to you? If that person claims to love you, yet will not wait until marriage, can you truly trust them to have the self control and integrity it will take to maintain a marriage when adversity comes?

The value and integrity of marriage has been compromised in our society. You see it in the movies, hear it in music lyrics, read it in print, and yes.... you may even see it in the church.

The truth of the matter is this; God did not create us to be alone. He created us for fellowship and relationships, first to Him and then to our spouse. This is why woman was created. In all of His beautiful creation, and He saw that is was good, He knew that man can not be alone. We were created in His image and He is a God of intimate relationship.

He created woman from the rib of man, flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, so that we can truly be one. This does not mean that woman is below man, or even to be above man, but we are to be his helpmate. We have been created with intentional purpose.

Have you ever put something together and afterwards found that you have extra screws left? Yes? Assuming all of the tools and parts needed were there, nothing more, nothing less, and you are left with some extra screws in your hand, you can know that somewhere something is missing. Sure, you may have put whatever it is together, but it is not going to be sturdy or as strong as it could have been had everything been in place. This is the same in marriage. Can we truly reach our fullest potential if we are not rightly joined?

We make excuses. We deceive ourselves. We say, "but we love each other so what does it matter?" or "We are friends with benefits and this will not hurt me." My dear sister, it does matter and it will hurt you. It will destroy you.

After the newness of the relationship, after you have given him all that you have, when the relationship ends, he will take a piece of you with him. He will move onto someone else, you will move onto someone else and the cycle will continue. Before you realize it, you will find that you have given so many pieces of yourself away to others, that when you do meet that someone that is suppose to be your forever someone, you will have nothing left to give him. Chances are, you will not even recognize him or appreciate him, because you will be so scarred and blinded by your past, that your past will destroy your future.

You will not recognize him because he will not speak the same language as the men of your past. He will not offer to tarnish you with his touch that he is withholding for his wife. Because you have let other men "validate" you through sex, only to tear you down, you will not recognize the true intimacy that he offers. You will feel uncomfortable with it. Because he will not stroke your sexual ego. He will tell you that you are beautiful, but you won't be able to hear it, because when other men have said that to you, they were looking only at your outward appearance. This man will acknowledge  your physical beauty, but he will recognize and desire the true beauty that does not come from the outward appearance.

This man will want your heart and to give you his. But, such a gift can not be cradled with dirty hands.

I say this not to condemn you or to destroy hope. I say this so that we, as women, can really take an inventory and know where we are lacking. To know our motives and our desires. To fully understand our callings and learn what we must do to walk in the integrity that our calling and our namesake demands.

If you have been and/or are in a relationship where you have compromised, recognize it for what it is. Sin. You cannot sugar coat it or excuse it, it is what it is. It is death.

I encourage you, get your heart right with God. Submit yourself to Him and let Him complete the work that He has begun in you. This is the only way you will ever be able to experience the true intimacy that He desires you to have.

When you have done this, set yourself apart for God (not from God) and allowed Him to heal you, then when that righteous man enters your life, you will recognize him and he will give you his heart and be worthy to receive yours.


If you want true intimacy, then I submit to you... abstain from physical intimacy.

"...do not awaken love until the time is right." Song of Solomon 2:7