Study With Me - Chapter 19

Hello everyone!

It's a blustery day here in the NW and we have seen more snow in northern Oregon than they have seen in 20+ years. I'm enjoying it but I am not out in it. So lets look at the next chapter.

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 or join in anytime.

Study With Me - Chapter 19 - Wilderness Mentality #4

I can't help it I'm just addicted to grumbling, faultfinding and complaining.

Well that pretty much sums it up for most of us, pack up we can go now. :) Sad but very true, we are addicted to grumbling. We don't like this or we don't like that. And if you don't think you grumble, listen to what comes out of your mouth. Because sometimes even when we think we are being good, we are only being controlled, not good.

After reading this chapter again (probably for the 4th or 5th time) I realized there are at least 3 areas that need to be in check.

First of all and I think most importantly, we need to make sure our thoughts and attitudes are in a positive track. This is so important because what we think on we will act on eventually.

This is where the second area comes into play, our body language. We can be a witness, bad or good, with our body language. Don't think for a moment that how you act without saying a word does not get noticed by those around you. I know it's easy to see the the obvious when someone slams a door or stomps off, but what about when we do the heavy sigh every 30 seconds or the scowl when we look someone else up and down and don't know anyone saw us do it. What about the pout because we didn't get our way. What about the refusal to participate in group activity, just because it is not your thing. God showed me sometimes we just need to be grateful receivers, whether it is our thing or not.

The third area I think comes into play is our mouth. What we say is what we speak into existence for our life. Remember God created heaven and earth with words.

Lets read James, it is such a good reminder for us all. (This is the New Living Translation.)

James 3
Controlling the Tongue

1 Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? 12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.
True Wisdom Comes from God 13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, nonspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.

This chapter in BOTM (as with all of them) is such a good reminder for me that I need to be thankful in all things. That how I act can be a turn off or a turn on to my heavenly Father. If I seek to draw people to him, then I need to act in a manner that will cause others to want what He has to offer.

I got a nice compliment once. A friend at work asked me how my weekend was, and I said "It was great, how was yours?" She said "Lynn you always have great weekends!" That was so nice to know that I was portraying a positive outlook to the point it was noticed.

In all of this as a reminder to myself and to all of you. Watch what you meditate on, watch what you do and how you act, and watch what you say. Others are watching and what you do will affect them positive or negative. But most of all what you do will affect you, because God and the enemy are always watching too. Don't give the Devil even a crack to enter into your life. So with that being said, we need to look at our life, family, jobs, homes, children in a different light.

I used to have a post-it note on my desk for a reminder "K.M.S." It stood for Keep Mouth Shut. which is good, but it's not enough. If I am still grumbling and fault finding inside, eventually I will break down and blurt it out. What's in a mans heart will come out of his mouth. So I think I need to come up with another post-it, something to do with doing an attitude/heart check.

Father God help us! Help us to quit fault finding and pointing fingers. Help us to be more accepting of others and things that are not our way. Most of all help us to be more like you with mercy and grace and compassion for our fellow man. Help us to pray in faith for the things and people we feel need your guidance instead of ripping them to shreds. And Father have mercy on us when we fall short. In Jesus name, Amen

Have a very Merry Blessed Christmas everyone. Not sure when I'll post again could be later today may be tomorrow, or next week. I haven't been on a real schedule with this like I wanted to but that's okay. God Bless you all.

Lynn

Study With Me - Chapter 18

Hi I'm Back! I had to go to the dentist and then my youngest daughter stopped by with my 2yr old grandson so he and I had to play with the ball and eat crackers and make bubbles in the sink, and Mommy drifted off for a quick nap. Full time on swing shift, 2 youngsters and going to College part time catches up sometimes. :) Then we gently woke her up so she could go get big sister from pre-school.

Well in an effort to not let the devil rule me If I can't post two chapters during the week I will post two now, so with that being said I will start the next chapter. If you are trying to catch up chapter 17 is below.

And 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 or join in anytime.

Chapter 18 - Wilderness Mentality #3

"Please make everything easy I can't take it if things is too hard"

I would guess that most of us have our limits and it is different for each of us how much we think we can handle. But God wants us to stretch ourselves so we can grow. He wants us to give it our all.

I heard a pastor say one time that for God to approve of the gift you were giving on His behalf, it needed to cost you to something. He gave the example of the widow giving her last two mites. She gave everything she had. We need to put our sweat, tears and heart into serving God. After all He did that for us and topped it off with His Son. Selah!

Someone came to me the other day and said he was sure he found a flaw in Gods word. (He said it half joking) I said oh whats that, he said "God said he wouldn't give you more than you could handle". God was so quick and so good I said it before I knew what came out of my mouth I said "Sounds like you're trying to handle everything on your own, instead of giving it to God, cause He can handle it all." I'd like to take credit but that was from God. :)

See nothing is to hard if we know when to put up, shut up and lift up, but not give up. Have any of you Mothers been in a hurry trying to get the children ready and you're running late and you are ever so gently speaking loudly to your children to get their socks and shoes on. When all the sudden they plop down on their butts on the floor start crying and say - But I can't do it! God shared that vision with me. That sometimes that's how He sees us - throwing our little fit. Meantime He could really use us to help him and we throw up our hands and say I can't. Ouch! Then next week we ask God, but why don't you ever use me? Hmm gee I'm not sure, I tried to by it was too hard. :) That principle is not limited to helping God it extends to every area of our lives. We we show ourselves worthy in one area, the we can move to another.

I was at a conference one time and I was really into the worship, I was singing and praising and praying - arms raised high. Tears were running down my face, not scrunched faced crying, just tender in the presence of God. My arms started aching, but I wanted to still be submissive to God and show Him I was surrendering to Him, so I said softly I'm still surrendering my arms just hurt. But before I could sing another word of the song, it was as if I heard an audible voice say in my spirit. "You don't have to put them back up but I stretched mine on a cross for you?" He wasn't trying to make me feel bad, just wanted me to think about how much we want, but how little we give. How easy we are to just give up. I put my arms back up. Not out of guilt or condemnation, but out of love and respect. When they first started to ache again, I told myself too bad I'm doing this for the Lord. Guess what, that was the last time I felt them.

Again our attitude will play a huge part of our success and failure in all that we do. Like the story above when I did it out of love, I had purposed to show Him honor. Had I been doing it to please the people around me or out of a feeling of obligation, it would have been easy to cave in.

Father help us to seek you when we feel weak. Show us that nothing is too hard when we lean on you. Remind us to use your word as our weapons to fight, when we are being bombarded and feel like giving up. We thank you and praise you for never never ever giving up on us, for never saying we were too hard of a task for you. Thank you! In Jesus Name. Amen

And remember when you don't feel like doing something - stop feeling yourself. :)

Be Blessed,

Lynn

Study With Me - Chapter 17

Hi everyone,
Well it seems like ever since I said I wanted to post a couple chapters a week I have been busier than normal. However, I will not let the devil win this battle so I will be posting at least 2 maybe more chapters today and you can read and enjoy them at your own pace. :)

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.

Chapter 17 - Wilderness Mentality #2

"Someone do it for me I don't want to take the responsibility"

Well I don't care who you are at some point in all of our lives we have to choose whether or not to take responsibility for something or not. Sometimes we take it when we should, sometimes, we don't. Sometimes we take it when we shouldn't. Opps!

Now when something good, great or spectacular has happened, and the question is posed, "Who is the responsible party?" it's easy to draw a group of volunteers that want to take the responsibility. However when someone spills the milk, the beans, or there is a ill effect of any sort, the crowd tries very hard to fade into the wood work. Or perhaps we start the ever popular finger pointing contest. That seems to be a favorite past time that most all of us have partaken at least once in our life.

One of my favorite when I was younger, was to let everyone around me make the decisions, then if it didn't work, it wasn't my fault right? Wrong! I had my responsibility in the fact that I didn't stand up and make the decision that was right to begin with. Then to put icing on my little cake, I could play the martyr and victim card. Poor me look at what I've had to endure. Well God and I talked a lot and He agreed to grow me and make me strong, and I agreed I would take responsibility for my actions in every situation. Yes bad things have happened in my life, now what role did I play in allowing them to happen. Yes it hurts but it feels so good in the end.

Joyce often tells about a time when she was whining to God, "Why do other people get to do this or that and you won't let me?" God told her "Joyce you have asked me for a lot, do you want it or not?"

See God was showing her, with every blessing, comes a responsibility. And everything produces after its own kind. If we want a job, we need to work. If we want friends, we need to be a friend. If we want people to treat our children right, then we need to be kind to other peoples children.

Father,

Help us to see our part in everything. Show us how to accept our responsibility in everything we do. When we ask for things, help us to see what we will need to accomplish to have what we desire and the strength and determination to complete that which you give us. Father help us to be honest with you and ourselves. In Jesus Name, Amen

Be Blessed,

Lynn

Study with Me - Chapter 16

Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving. We had lots of food, children, grandchildren, and lots of love flowing. It was truly a wonderful day.

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