If you are coming here for the first time, I am hosting a study using the book "Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyers. Click the button on my side bar to go to the intro for join in anytime. So lets get started.
Chapter 16 - Wilderness Mentality #1
"My future is determined by my past and my present"
Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. - It really is that simple, and that hard. If you are stuck in the mindset that this is all you will ever be or have - you are right. But if you think you can conquer the world and have the best of everything - you are right. You can only go as far as your mind will allow you to go. You can not go beyond what you believe you can do. I know some one and they had family members that were brought up the same, but some raised their children in the slums and some went on to be very prosperous. When they asked their father why the others lived like that the Father explained, they were trapped in their minds. They could not see a better life for themselves so they didn't work for a better life.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. If we don't study God's word and find out all the wonderful things that he has in store for us we could live a much lesser life than He wanted to give us. It's like someone putting a million dollars in the bank for us but if we never checked our account we could be hunting pop cans to buy milk for the baby. Find out what God wants to do for you.
Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]--blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he. Once we find out what God has in store for us and what He wants to do for us, then we need to start envisioning it for our lives. Believe and have faith that He will do for you all the things He has promised.
And one of the most important lessons in this is don't run back to the familiar. I think a lot of times we miss blessings and being used by God because we won't leave the comfort of where we are, good and bad. I say that knowing that there was a time in my life I was tempted to go back into an abusive relationship for the simple reason that even though it was bad, I knew what to expect. Thank God I didn't, but I know that there are others that have. God wants to use us all, but we need to be willing to have some change and moving in our life to make it happen.
We may need to leave our Egypt to see our promise land.
Father - Thank you for giving us courage to make the changes we need to. The vision to see a better life than we have now even if it is the best. Lead us and guide us. In Jesus name. Amen.
Have a Blessed Day!
Lynn
2 comments:
Hi Lynn,
Your post today reminded me of the devotion I read this morning on the crosswalk site by Bayless Conley:
http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/answersforeachday/
Here is the gist; a pastor was visiting a woman who was living in poverty. She had been the housekeeper for a very wealthy woman several years previously. She had a framed document on her wall that the minister asked to borrow. The woman assented, but said she wanted it back. “Well, you can borrow it, but please bring it back. Although I can’t read, it is very important to me. It is the only thing that the lady left me when she died. It is very valuable to me. It reminds me of her. So make sure you bring it back.”
The minister has took the document, studied it and had it authenticated. It was the last will of the wealthy lady the woman had worked for. In it, she had left her housekeeper a fortune, but due to the woman's ignorance, she had missed out.
Bayless Conley likens this act to how some Christians treat the Word of God and the treasure He has left us. "That woman reminds me of a lot of Christians. They don’t read their Bible, but they admire it because it reminds them of God. They haven’t taken time to find out the inheritance that belongs to them as believers."
Your post talked to me in much the same way. We need to study the Word of God, we need to work with the Spirit in us to understand the inheritance we have in His word; our specific individual purpose and inheritance. We authenticate it through the Spirit, our experience, and our faith. Then we need to be transformed by it.
Thanks again,
-Karen
Hi Lynn:
Our Thanksgiving was great!...then my computer went down last week...
this is a great post...there are some who will say that we need to feed our spirit with the word of God the same way we feed our bodies with food (point being that while as a nation we are physically overweight we are spiritually lean)...at which point the Lord showed me that not only was I physically (fat) but spiritually fat...I read the word but was not exercising (faith) the word. I was getting physically and spiritually lethargic. God is so good! He doesn't leave us in poor condition.
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