Father we are gathering together again to study your word. Give us wisdom and fresh revelations on renewing our minds. In Jesus name Amen.
Chapter 6 - Mind Binding Spirits
Those little bu t devastating attacks. That voice in your head, "You're not worthy", "You're not smart", "That wasn't God - that was you", "Who do you think you are?" "God's not going to give you a word of knowledge, there are thousands of people out there that know the word way more than you do". "You have screwed up way too much for God to talk to you."
Sound familiar anyone?
It's a bunch of garbage, lies from the pit of Hades. God has a whole book of promises called the Bible. Those promises are for "Who so ever believes" - then BELIEVE! We are working to renew our minds and flush out the garbage. I've heard the best way to get weeds out of our lawn is to over seed, grow more grass and the grass chokes out the weeds. Well we need to choke out the mined Binding weeds in our brains and the best way to do that is by over seeding our brains with the word of God.
Joyce gave a lot of good scriptures in the book and I would like to add a few for us to meditate on.
John 14:1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God trust also in me."
Psalm 31:24 Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Hebrews 10:35-36 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
Psalm 119:165 165 Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.
Isaiah 50:7 7 “ For the Lord GOD will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Romans 8:38-39 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now here are a couple of scriptures that I want us to confess over ourselves as much as we can but a least once a day. They have been modified to personalize them.
John 14:27 Peace Jesus left with ME, not the worlds peace He gave ME, Let MY heart not be troubled neither will I be afraid.
Galatians 1:9 I will not grow weary in well doing, for in due season I will reap if I do not lose heart.
Listen, God knows the most about each and every one of us. Even if we don't talk to Him about some areas of our life He knows them, and He chose us anyway. Don't let the voices of Mind Binding Spirits have a place in your life.
Be Blessed,
Lynn
13 comments:
This chapter is another reminder of how important it is to study God's word....God's word is truth and the truth will set your free...The more we know and understand God's word the better we will be at detecting the lies of the enemy and exposing them as lies...2 Corinthians 10:5 says:
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of God.
If I don't know God's word - how can I discern the thoughts in my mind?
I thank God for giving us His Word and those who teach and preach His Word.
Hope everyone enjoyed their week-end.
In His Love,
Debrah
Ladies,
I really liked what Joyce said at the first of this chapter "Unbelief always produces misery". This is the key, when we are in unbelief we will be miserable. Goes back to you can not serve two masters. So it is up to us to bring EVERY thought in to captivity. I do have the choice, to believe what the Word says or what the world says. If I believe what the world says about me and about God, then yeah I am going to have mind bending spirits for company. If I choose to believe what God's says, then the mind bending spirits have no place in my mind. And as the old saying goes. You give those spirits an inch and they will take a mile. Strangly enough this is not an area that I struggle with. My problem is that I have been (notice the past tense) very judgemental toward others. And what I was sowing into their lives, I was reaping in my own.
One thing that God has shown me, is that in Ephesians we are told to take up the shield of faith. In the Psalms and the Prophets God mentions several times that He is our shield. So imagine that when you pick up and hold your shield of faith, that God comes in with HIS SHIELD and just covers you over from front to back. Ya'll are gonna think this is corny, but the image that comes to my mind is from the movie the Incredibles. Remember when the daughter was trying to put a shield around them, and she could not get it to stay together? Do you remember what happened? Her mother came and threw her body over them as a shield. I so glad that all I have to do is try, and God can take it and make it more than I can ever imagine.
Have a wonderful week.
Sallye
Debrah and Sallye,
Good thoughts from both. Yes we need to fill up on the word because it is sharper than a two edged sword and like Sallye said we use it as our sheild.
Sallye, I like your so called corny image, I'll share one of mine. I know in my heart if I stay within God's boundaries I am protected, so I have this image in my mind that I am in a play pen or a fenced yard. Sometimes when my flesh wants to speak out I invision myself steping one foot out of the fence and the Holy Spirit gently asks "Do you really wnat to go there?"
Have a great week,
Loves,
Lynn
Ladies,
I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day. I spent most of the day trying to paint some small gourd ornaments (Santas) for Christmas. I was not really feeling very creative today and it was a real struggle. I finally had to just put it down for a while. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.
I just got a kit to make soaps using some of my herbs from the herb garden. I'm going to try my hand at soap-making now. We'll see how it goes.
Now, for the discussion of Chapter 6 - very good chapter!
The scripture in Romans 8:26 brought back so many memories for me. A few years ago, I was going through a particularly rough time and I got to the point I couldn't even express what I was feeling. I tried to pray, but I could not even figure out what to pray. I'm so glad that the Spirit pleaded on my behalf while I was in that deep despair. As Joyce says, "God gives us faith for things that our minds just can't always come into agreement with."
The chapter mentions the shield of faith, one of our weapons in spiritual warfare. It has protected me many times from the fiery arrows that the enemy sends my way. Ephesians 6 speaks of the other weapons that complete the whole armor of God. I find it interesting that it says to put on the "full armor" of God. We will need all of them in this battle against the enemy.
Blessings,
Plant Lady
Ladies,
I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day. I spent most of the day trying to paint some small gourd ornaments (Santas) for Christmas. I was not really feeling very creative today and it was a real struggle. I finally had to just put it down for a while. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.
I just got a kit to make soaps using some of my herbs from the herb garden. I'm going to try my hand at soap-making now. We'll see how it goes.
Now, for the discussion of Chapter 6 - very good chapter!
The scripture in Romans 8:26 brought back so many memories for me. A few years ago, I was going through a particularly rough time and I got to the point I couldn't even express what I was feeling. I tried to pray, but I could not even figure out what to pray. I'm so glad that the Spirit pleaded on my behalf while I was in that deep despair. As Joyce says, "God gives us faith for things that our minds just can't always come into agreement with."
The chapter mentions the shield of faith, one of our weapons in spiritual warfare. It has protected me many times from the fiery arrows that the enemy sends my way. Ephesians 6 speaks of the other weapons that complete the whole armor of God. I find it interesting that it says to put on the "full armor" of God. We will need all of them in this battle against the enemy.
Blessings,
Plant Lady
All,
Lynn, love the image of the play-pen, and it is so true.
Plant Lady, I will be praying that God moves and the creative juices flow. God may be wanting the gourds prayed over again. Yes, Eph says to put on the whole armor of God, but the Sheild is the only piece that can be "linked" together with others to form a solid line, which can be used to hold a line, or push back the enemy. I keep going back to when Jesus said that if we have the faith of a mustard seed.
Debrah, If I do not stay in the Word, I am discovering that I am lost and at lose ends.
Like Lynn said this was a short chapter, but it was packed full of stuff that God is really dealing with me about.
Sallye
Thanks Ladies for your comments. I needed a reminder about that armour and sheild.
Plant Lady the creativity will come back. I love crafts wish I had more time for them.
Quick question to all are the storms close to any of you? I've been praying for you all and any other bloggers that may be close.
You studiers are moving right along so I better get going with chapter 7 soon. :)
Have a great day!
Lynn
Greetings to all,
So good to hear your thoughts on Chapter 6.
I have had a long holiday weekend. I was at work for most of it. I am also going through some struggles with my husband and God right now. Hard struggles but good in a Godly way of looking at it. I am learning not to look to my husband as my completer, the one who gives me purpose and meaning. I feel joy and peace when we are humming the same tune or on the same page...when I feel that he is loving me well. But when he doesn't I am feeling unworthy, unloved. Some of these wounds are from my past but the huge issue is, I have made my husband my idol. The work I am doing and being convicted of is who my real God is, my Lord and Master. Its painful and hard but God is so faithful and loving and is teaching me to love my husband in the way I was created to.
I am so grateful for this study, at this time and will all of you.
Thank you Lynn
Katrina
PS Plantlady I love those gourds!!!!
Katrina,
Thank you so much for your openness. Because my husband was who helped me to lean more on God and seek God more, I too need to make sure I don't make him the idol. His strength, encouragement and patience has been inmessurable. Always urging me to be my own person confident and secure because I have God. So it can be easy to let that get out of balance and I find I too need to keep it in check.
Thanks again,
Lynn
Hello everyone,
I received a reply from Donna (5designs) and thought I'd pass it along. I let her know about the book study and invited her to join or at least to keep in touch. Her computer crashed but here is her e-mail
MandDplus5@yahoo.com
Hi Katrina!
I haven't heard from you in so long, i'm terrible with writing e-mails! I haven't been on my blog now for almost 2 months and its really been because of my personal life. I've been going to counseling now for about 3 months and i've been completely involved in healing my emotional being. I'm doing a lot of reading and by the time I get done with me I just don't have anything left for my blog. We also lost our "mother board" in our computer so the internet is a mess. I send my letters on my phone.
You said you are involved with a bible study? Is it with Lynn? Do I have to be online to do it? Let me know. I miss talking with all of you. Please give my best to everyone. Give them my e-mail address I don't mind. Please keep in touch, my heart is still with you all, its just my brain that needs a break :) Talk to you later...God Bless
Love Donna
Katrina,
Thank you for the update on Donna. I know at one time she wanted to be part of this study, but I also know how important it is for her to build herself up too. I think she said she had the book, and I believe the things in here would be helpful. If she is up for it we could e-mail the post and comments.Give her my love.
Lynn
Hey all,
It's been a busy couple of weeks and it will be a busy month of September, but I will join you all when I can. I too really liked Chapter 6. I really related to what Salley said "Unbelief always produces misery". This is the key, when we are in unbelief we will be miserable. Goes back to you can not serve two masters. So it is up to us to bring EVERY thought in to captivity"
Here is some more food for thought:
“Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.”Deut. 23:23(NIV)
So once again we utter things into existence! when we make promises or commitments to God, we need to follow up on them or we become a "noisy gong" or a "clanging symbol" (1 Corinthians 13:1)
I too love the verse in Romans 8:26. The power of the Holy Spirit is so important to us as Christians. He intercedes for us in prayer, and He brings the fruit of the spirit which is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. If we can tap in to the Spirit, we can live such enriching lives!
If you have time, pop on over to this blog. Ir was a posting that really spoke to me....
http://unequalmarriage.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/the-chain-of-ef.html
"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 2 Peter 1:5-8 (NIV)
God is working in me. He is telling me that His ways are all planned out way in advance. He waits for us to catch up so He can continue with His plan. He lays the foundation in His Word and He rejoices when we catch on!
"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (zeph. 3:17)
Every day, as I meditate on His Word, I find more truths to explore. I really value all you all bring to me and I am greatful to be taking this journey with yo!
Blessings to you all!
-Karen
Hello All,
Well, I have Tropical Storm Hanna bearing down on me tonight and in the early morning hours of Saturday.
From all reports, it won't be too bad, but they said it might strengthen into a hurricane later tonight, but I expect it will weaken quickly when it makes landfall. Landfall is expected somewhere between the NC/SC border.
That's where we are located, about 30 miles inland. The danger is from the winds and possible tornados spawned from the storm in the upper right quadrant of the storm. If it comes ashore in SC, we will get those strong winds. If in NC it will not be as bad, hopefully, because the stronger part of the storm will be above us.
Please say a prayer for us and others that are in its path.
Blessings,
Plant Lady
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