Power of the Mind! How Strong Is Yours?

The mind is a powerful tool that can inspire creativity and free will or invoke fear. Mind games and mental tactics are age old game that was and is used to create a sense of superiority over another. If you allow someone to take away that mental power and will, then a person is reduced to feelings of inferiority, self-doubt, and lack. When you've been reduce to such a basic level of vulnerability, then you believe anything, buy into anything and create a viscous cycle of waiting on another to put one foot in front of the other. 

As a man thinketh in his heart so is He! 

Never allow anyone to sell you a thought or idea about yourself that you know isn't true. Never allow anyone to make you feel inferior just because they talk a good game and walk a good fake walk. Sometimes it's about the other person's insecurity and void. Believe in yourself, speak life to yourself, inspire the inner king and queen that is readily waiting to emerge. 

Be resilient, Be courageous, Be persevering, and most of all Believe in yourself!

Your Gifts

Use your gifts faithfully, and they shall be enlarged; practice what you know, and you shall attain to higher knowledge. - Matthew Arnold

Forgiveness - The Key to Power, Grace, and Peace

Forgiveness helps us because it releases God to do His work in us. I'm happier and feel better physically when I'm not filled with the poison of unforgiveness. Serious diseases can develop as a result of the stress and pressure that bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness put on a person. 

The Father can't forgive our sins if we don't forgive other people. We reap what we sow. Sow mercy, and you'll reap mercy; sow judgment, and you'll reap judgment. You need to forgive, by the grace of God in your life, to leave the door of your heart open to the Lord. 

God's Word is Good Medicine

Many make the mistake of substituting belief in healing for the actual taking of God's medicine - His Word. They say, 'I believe in healing' without actually taking the medicine. How much good can medicine do for us if we don't take it? 

God's Word is His medicine - it's a healing agent, just as natural medicine is a healing agent or catalyst. In other words, the medicine itself contains the capacity to produce healing. Inherent within God's Word is the capacity, the energy, the ability, and the nature to effect healing in your body. 

So how do we take it? It is only as God's Word gets in the midst of your heart and stays there that it produces healing in your body. Head knowledge alone won't do. The Scriptures have to penetrate to your spirit through meditation - attending, hearing, looking, muttering, musing, pondering - to produce healing in your body. But once the Word really penetrates your heart, it will surely bring health to all your flesh. Let the Word of God penetrate deep within your heart today. 

Beginnings and Endings

God is the Alpha and the Omega;  the author of beginnings and endings. As we rejoice in beginnings, we should remember that things must end in order for new beginnings to occur. 

For a new door to open sometimes an old door must shut. When a relationship, a season, or situation becomes fruitless or has no more purpose it might be God's nudge that it's the end and it's time to close the door of THAT situation.  

We are not a failure because a door closes or a situation ends. Winners also know when to quit at the right time and when their purpose is complete. 

Don't remain in a fruitless or purpose-less situation if God has declared the end. This only delays our next blessing and next pitstop on our journey.

Endings do not denote failure, they just push us closer to our divine purpose and destiny. 

Fighting Your Enemy

The Enemy Has a Plan Too 

God has a plan for your life, but the devil has a plan for you too. As a result, the Bible says we need to "be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times." 

Temperate means 'disciplined,' sober of mind means 'serious,' vigilant means 'determined' and cautious means 'careful.' We are to live like this 'at all times.' That's serious. 

But we need to get serious to fight off the enemy. Whenever God shows you an area in your life where the enemy is attacking you, that's not the time to sit back and do nothing. It's time to get serious and fight back against Satan. 

God's plan is for us to be more than conquerors in Christ. We don't have to live enslaved to the enemy's plan. You can decide right now to do what you need to do. Get serious with God, follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and stay on guard against the enemy. Choose today to follow God's plan for your life, not Satan's, and you will defeat the enemy at every turn. 

Prayer Starter: God, I choose Your plan, not the enemy's. Show me the areas where he is attacking me and guide me in defeating him.

Trusting God Through Emotional Trials

Growing into a mature Christian who follows the Holy Spirit is not something that happens overnight, it is a learning process that takes time. Little by little, one experience after another, God tries and tests our emotions, giving us opportunities to grow. 

God allows us to go through difficult situations that stir up our emotions. In this way, you and I are able to see for ourselves how emotionally unstable we can be and how desperately we need His help. 

Jesus exemplified this for us. The night before He died for our sins, He was in great emotional turmoil. He didn't want to die, but He moved past His emotions and prayed to God, "Not my will, but Yours be done." Things certainly didn't get better immediately, but in the end Jesus emerged victorious through the greatest trial possible. 

You can make it through your emotional trials. Jesus wasn't led by His feelings, and you don't have to be either. When God lets things affect you emotionally, seize the moment and view it as an opportunity to step into a place of absolute trust in God. 

Prayer Starter: Lord, I know that I can trust in You when emotional trials come my way. With Jesus as my example, I say, "Not my will, but Yours be done." You know what's best for me and I trust You completely.