Below is a video on how to listen to the Holy Spirit in your life. We’ve been given a tremendous gift in Holy Spirit – but if we don’t tune in and learn to listen – it is a gift left unopened. The Spirit is given to God’s children – to teach, guide, lead, comfort and help. Through the Spirit we gain tremendous insight that helps us in every area of our lives. Please take a few mintues to watch the video.
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The other day, as I fell into bliss thinking about God and all He has done and is doing in my life, a jolt brought me back to the fullness of reality – there is a battle going on.
After talking with an acquaintance who is an unbeliever, God reminded me of the realness of the evil at work and the spiritual battle taking place, in lives like hers; one that I need to always be aware of, ready for, and engaged in – not in la-la land.
The spiritual warfare is strong. It can seem overwhelming when you look at all the evil in this world (blatant evil and evil disguised as good), but He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. 1 John 4:4
As God’s children, we need to realize this power we’ve been given and use it. When we are prepared and fighting, we are more powerful than we know in the methods of spiritual warfare like speaking truth, acting in love (true love), praise, prayer, and fasting. Jesus Christ has given us the power to trample the enemy (the self-will; individually and collectively). He has given us ALL power over the enemy Luke 10:19. We need to use what we’ve been given. How do you use it? Know the truth, know your enemy, and know the power that works in and through you and act on it.
Battling in the Mind
I’ve been learning to fight the spiritual battle that occurs in our minds. The enemy feeds us lies whether through the messages of society, others, religion, and so on. It’s a brilliant strategy on his part, because if we believe those lies we act on them, then WE destroy ourselves. However, if we know the truth, those lies have no power. As I saw on the back of car – Truth, Soul Armor – how true that is!
In our spiritual walks, we come to a point were we “get it”. You can see this in Apostle Paul’s writing. There is a deep knowing of the truth, that gives him an incredible power in his life and over the enemy. Though we are always learning, we come to a point of knowing that the battling in our minds gets easier in a sense, thus us stronger. It reminds me of Neo in the movie the Matrix (movie I recommend full of interesting symbolism). As he understood that the enemies he saw were actually computer code he could alter, he battled effortlessly. His understanding of the truth was his power to defeat the enemy.
Getting to that point of discerning the truth from the lies is a process. We start blinded to the lies and therefore live by them. As we abide in God’s truth, the lies start to become unveiled. As truth takes ownership in our souls, we are equipped to fight the lies we’ve lived by for so long. At first, it’s difficult because they are so “engrained”. Yet, over time as we continue abiding, our clarity and understanding expands and discerning truth becomes easier. Like Neo, the truth gives us power to defeat our enemies. The moment a lie crosses the pathways of our mind, we recognize it for what it is and disregard it. We block every attack with ease and thus victory. 1 John 5:4 Truth, Soul Armor.
What the Holy Spirit reminded me the other day was once people take in the lies; they are opening up to much more.
Battling Spiritual Forces
Without truth, we invite all sorts of evil into our lives. Many, even those named Christians who lack a love for the truth, and are falling into the hands of the enemy. (M’kayla’s Korner) 2 Thessalonians 2:10. And at that point, what are they opening up their spirits to?
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
In the movie, when Neo first learned the truth, the true state of world he lived, the extent of deception, and the real evil that existed – it was hard for him to believe it. It seemed unreal. But it didn’t change the fact that it was very real. This world has done a good job of making the presence of evil non-existence or comical. More and more the happenings of life are explained disconnected from the spiritual, the real spiritual, another clever tactic of the enemy. If we don’t know or recognize our enemy, it doesn’t change whether we are being impacted by it, and it completely affects our ability to “fight” it. Suppose you were in a physical fight. Your opponent was obliterating you, yet you refused to believe he was the reason for your pain. You felt the sting of the blows and the wounds on your body, but you didn’t believe he was attacking you. You intellectually explained it as something else. By not admitting the truth, how could you ever win? You couldn’t. You have to know your enemy in order to defeat him. You have to know how he works. 2 Corin 2:11
It was a good reminder last week of the battle that is raging around us, the realness of it and how we’ve been given the power to defeat it. Realize the power you have in Christ over ALL power of the enemy. Don’t let the distractions of this world distract you from the battle we are in, the battle God is calling His people to fight.
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Our enemy’s (our self-governed will) greatest weapon is lies. Therefore our greatest power is truth (the substance of faith and belief). If we believe lies, they have tremendous power over us. If we know and believe the truth, they are powerless. Knowing the truth is how we are able to trample on serpents and scorpions, and have all power over the enemy Luke 10:19. It’s a LOVE for the truth that protects us. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10
Of the lies that abound, some of the deadliest and most pervasive are in regards to devalue. Devalue of ourselves that we are replaceable, worthless, useless, and unwanted. Devalue of others that they are replaceable, worthless, useless, less, and unneeded. Devalue of God’s power and love in our lives. Devalue of the importance of truth. Devalue of sex, marriage, and relationships. Devalue of women and men and various nationalities and who they are as God created them. Devalue of everything. If you take time to look around you will see that lie is eating away at the souls of many people in a multitude of ways, perhaps eating away at your own soul; it has mine . . . until I sought the truth. That is what the enemy, our self-detemined will does – he or she creates messages of devalue sometimes wrapped up in glittering paper of power, control and life. And the lies start the moment we are born.
Further, it’s a lie of our internal enemy telling us want we can’t be or can’t do. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think. Ephesians 3:20 Nothing is too hard or impossible for Him. He knows no boundaries, neither should we.
John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Our lying self hits us from all sides. He or she tries to devalue who we are as well as God. If she can minimize our beliefs in God then she wins for we live by faith – faith in who God is, who He is to us and who we are to Him. Our beliefs are everything. If our beliefs are full of lies, then our lives suffer for it because we think, feel, and act based on our beliefs. This is why God instructs us to get wisdom, to get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 He has given us all we need – His Word and His Spirit to teach us all things. We only need to seek with a heart to know the truth.
Let me tell you who you are. What God told me the other morning.
You are irreplaceable and of infinite value. For God to give His son to save your life shows the extent of your value. Would we give up our precious innocent child for someone undeserving? Even if they were deserving? The fact that you don’t believe in the value you have and therefore act out a life of devalue doesn’t make it truth. Your true purpose is far greater than you can imagine. You were created by a God to be unlike any other. It’s the lies believed then acted upon that corrupt what was good.
God created you with a uniqueness unlike any other. Because of your uniqueness there is a place for you to fill in this world that no one else can. People make up a huge puzzle. No puzzle piece is the same and each one is crafted and shaped to fill a certain place in this world and in the lives of others. Acts 17:26 We are all needed to complete the whole; no piece can fill another’s spot. This is how God made you. This is how you need to treat yourself, others, and your relationship with Him.
Each relationship is different in that each person is unique so when two come together that relationship is unlike any other. A relationship with one child is different from another though you love them both the same. Each one of us has a unique relationship with other people and each one with God because we are different. There is no one that can replace us in any relationship. That’s why God desires all of us to be saved. 2 Peter 3:9 Anyone would be a great loss. This uniqueness and love God has for each one of us is shown in the parable of lost sheep. Luke 15:4-7
We’ve been inundated with lies and owned many of them as our truth. Seek His truth in His Word and learn from Him (not man) and you will find who God truly is and who you really are.
Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
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Here is one more dream instructing me during these wilderness tests . . . I’ve written a lot about dreams lately as God has been using them to show me my heart among other truths I need to know. Where the other two dreams (Preparing for God’s Calling, Wilderness Tests – God’s Care) I shared revealed doubts and fears deep in my heart, this one was a bit different . . .
In my dream, my eyesight started to get blurry. No matter what I did my eyes wouldn’t clear up. My vision became so blurred that people and objects were shapeless blobs. Needless to say it made me anxious. At one point, I was holding my cousin’s new baby and almost dropped him as I stumbled over a chair. Fortunately my aunt was there to brace me. After bumbling around for awhile here and there, it was time to get dressed for some formal function/party I was attending that night. But my eyesight was so poor; I didn’t know how I was going to get ready (hair, makeup, all that stuff). Then a young blonde-hair woman said she would help me. The sweetness in her demeanor and in her voice gave me a peace in my spirit. I didn’t know her, but it didn’t matter. She was very willing to help me out. As we went back to the dressing room, I looked in the mirror and I saw that my hazel eyes had turned a crystal clear blue. There was still a haze covering them as they were still transforming but I stood amazed. A wave of encouragement came over me as I realized they were blurry because they were going through this change.
As I sought out the meaning of this dream the next day during my quiet time, this is what I felt it meant. It’s a reflection of what is happening in my life – a transformation within my soul as God tests, renews and prepares me. Eyes are the windows to the soul. A change in color from hazel to blue reflected God’s work in me through this time of testing. The blurriness inhibiting me from seeing clearly and moving about represented how I feel about my situation, the unknown and the uncertainty, which I’ve talked about in previous posts.
During this trial, as my trust is tested I feel at times like I’m bumbling around. But it’s this uncertainty that beckons me to trust and rest in God’s Truth because if not now then when? Is He my God or isn’t He? Though circumstances seem undefined or uncertain, there is hope because if I look (as I did in the mirror) I will see God is working in my soul and using the circumstances to mold my heart and spirit for His will and purposes. He is breaking my trust in other things, so that it will be in Him as it should be. As He works, He is filling me with His living waters in areas that need a refreshing.
I thought the blonde girl represented an angel helping me as I went through this time. I felt God say that all that is happening is under His watchful eye and care. He is taking care of my needs. He is with me every step. He is working it all out in the perfect way. That morning after my dream I got a deep sense that everything is happening as it should. I’m in my Maker’s hands and He is molding me according to His desire and will, which ultimately is what will most fulfill me as well. My part is to yield to that molding, trust Him and above all believe in His promises to me.
In this trial, my trust is breaking in other things and I know that is so it will be established more firmly on Him. When it’s in Him then crystal blue living waters can freely flow through my soul and circumstances. This dream was more of a look from God’s perspective, which is the perspective I need to focus on.
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A friend shared this with me and I’m passing it along because I found it encouraging and a great description of what I feel many of us are facing in our circumstances.
Jehovah Jireh
Aletha Hinthorn
God gave Abraham a startling command. “Take your promised son and offer him in sacrifice!”
During his three days’ journey to the place of sacrifice, Abram came to the conviction that, if God required him to offer Isaac, He was also able to raise him up from the dead.
So he bound Isaac with cords and laid him upon the altar. Just as Abraham raised his knife to kill his son, an authoritative voice from heaven said, “Do not lay a hand upon the boy.” Abraham looked and saw a ram caught by its horns.
As a result of these events, Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh “the Lord will provide” (Genesis 22:14). Jehovah Jireh is not a personal name of God, but rather, the name of a place where God appeared. Still, it is a name that we ascribe to God. The name means God sees to everything beforehand. We never have a need that is not already met.
The key to discovering God to be our Jehovah Jireh is to give up our Isaac, the thing that is dearest to us. It’s praying, “Lord, You know what I want, and You love me better than I love myself. I choose Your provision over my own.”
When we willingly give up our deepest desire, then, and only then, can we discover that God’s provisions are always better than we could imagine.
For instance, God’s provisions always look ahead much further than we can see. If we were allowed to design our blessings, we would ask for blessings prematurely or for blessings too small. God often withholds what we ask because He has higher plans for us that we can imagine.
He may lead us through what would seem to be unkind, unfair, and totally unnecessary paths. Suddenly He brings us to a turn in the road, where we’re allowed to see His beautiful plan and we glimpse a whole cluster of answered prayers. We then can see that the long and perhaps lonely way God led us was necessary so that He could provide far more blessings than we would have thought to pray for.
I praise You, Father, that all Your purposes toward us end in infinite and eternal love.
“They that know thy name will put their trust in thee” (Psalm 9:10 KJV).
Living Light 