What We Dwell On in our mind is our choice!

As we mature in life through experience you come to learn new lessons of life. When you wonder about people and their success typically when you talk to them about their thoughts they think about their success a lot. The dwell on it.. they think on.. they might even obsess over it. Ultimately, you learn in life what you think about most is what you become. This has been very true in my life and the difficult part is knowing how not to dwell on the lies or negative thoughts that come.

I can say most of my negative thoughts in my life stem from a young age. Again words that were said to me, not to ruin me for life on purpose but, none the less they did. The battle of believing in the good of who you are as a person is so hard. My worst enemy is myself. The evil one played a huge part in getting me to believe a lot of those lies but the self talk of mental scrutiny turned from “you are” to “I am.” It was a subtle change but one many of us believe. Then I was reading this book and one of the sentences said, what we dwell on is our choice. That hit me hard because when we are alone we dwell on so many things, many of the negative and a lot of times become overwhelmed. Here is where Jesus comes into play!! Literally, He says ask me for anything and you shall receive it. Well when I am in my head I will find myself focusing on the things I missed or regrets for something I did not do. Instead of the win we have in Jesus. We have the Holy Spirit and we have God our Father. I want to start to dwell on His love for me and what He wants me to experience here on Earth. How he wants me to share what He is in my life with those that I meet.

Why is it so hard for us to dwell on the good things or the power of God. Why is it so easy to believe in the Hollywood version of the evil one’s power. We get so caught up in what we see we choose to not live by faith. It is through faith that we know Christ died for us and defeated death. This, as a Christian, I know!  Then why don’t I live my life with that same steadfast belief? Well if the devil knows he can’t get us into hell they next best thing is to get you so overwhelmed with yourself. When you think about yourself you do not have time to share Christ with others or even live your life that way. We have to choose to be different and be ok with that difference. Yes there will be many that will turn away from you but for those that turn to you because of the Jesus they see in you, it’s worth it.

I am making a choice to dwell on God’s power and His perfect love. He tells us that perfect love casts out all fear. Much of my fears have to do with failure but that also drives me. Now, even though that has helped me with some success I believe I have missed out on the blessings of letting God get the glory! I will choose to do that from here on out.

I will share with you one of the ways I plan on capturing my thoughts and giving them to Christ which is to start and end my day with Psalm 91. It was introduced to me years ago, but as I am reading a book that is dedicated to breaking down the Psalm, I realized this is what I have been missing. I hope this reaches someone who needs to hear this as I needed it. I choose to dwell on Christ and His love for me!

One Love, One King, All Christ!

Christ made us right with God

I started reading 1st Corinthians today and in the first chapter, and a part of verse 30, it says that Christ made us right with God.  There is no more profound statement for me than that today in my life.  We must know our self and we must know that we are created in His image.  When we make decisions, we should take them all before the throne and allow his discernment to guide us.  I make a lot of decisions in my life that I base on logic or in kindness.  I do avoid maliciousness and vengeful decisions, not that I do not think about them for certain situations and people.  In the end, I know how I want to be treated and ultimately, I choose God over everyone.  I know that Christ has allowed me each breath that I take, and I no longer want to be on the sideline watching the game.  I have been in and out of the His game for a long time, but I want in for good.  I want him to be a part of everything I do and not just with me but as a conscious decision I make every day for every decision.  The truth that Christ has made us right with God means so much more than any of us will ever truly know.  That’s the beauty of Jesus, we do not need experience the death because he did.

A lot of my life I listen to the lies and whispers and they guided to battle thoughts of unworthiness.  Then God would come and place me in front of people, children, teens and adults.  It didn’t matter to Him, he would allow me the chance to share how He has worked in my life.  I want more of that in my life.  I want to show that I know that Christ has made me right with God.  I want to be the man that God made me to be and no longer the man I think I am.  The words of others mean nothing, because I know their hearts are hardened and bitter.  There will always be something in me that they want out.  Jesus says differently, and He knows my heart.  He knows that I guide my life based on him and not on any accolades.  Those things are wonderful to accomplish, and they are great to share with others, but none of them are as precious as sharing who Christ is in me.  I remember going on a mission trip and one of my best friends, my brother told me on the phone to make sure I let Christ shine through me.  I thought was an amazing thing to say and the truth was Jesus did it.  

When I have chosen Christ and had him as my first love, it wasn’t that life got easy, it was that He walked with me through the not easy.  He guided me to where I am today, and He will take you from whatever path you are on and he will hold your hand and guide you back on to His path.  He desperately wants to be with us.  He wants to be our friend, our Savior, Our Lord and Our King.  He made us RIGHT with God which means I will never, and I mean NEVER have to be crucified for the wrongs I have done.  He comes and lets me know He is not mad or upset with me, but deeply in love with His Beloved Son.  I need to live as if I am a Beloved son of the Highest God!  When life comes hard we must have faith and I believe my faith has grown.  I believe He has molded me in these recent years, even as I felt away from Him, He was there.  That truth is there for you!!  It truly is and all you must do is give Jesus a chance.  Not religion but a relationship with you and Him.  The easy way to start is to pray to Him and say Hello.  I love that in all my time of knowing Jesus I have always been able to talk to Him.  Now, it is working on learning to listen to Him and then do what He says.  I will Trust Him to be the foundation of all I am.  He will become my Idol, my reason for living the way I should and my reason for life as a Man of God.  Hold true to this my friends, Christ Has Made Us RIGHT With Our Father in Heaven! Amen and Amen!

One Love, One King, All Christ!

Right Here In The Middle

I went to church a few weeks ago and the worship leader said they were introducing a new song.   As he began the song the words hit me at my heart.  You see God has been working on me for a long while, like He does with most of or all of us.  I have been in a battle, a spiritual battle these last few years and it has not been easy.  Most of the time it is my own thoughts and devices that would cause me the pain and of course when they evil one senses weakness he attacks.  The song starts by saying that we can’t go back to the beginning and we can’t change what will happen in the future, but the one thing we know is that God, Jesus, Holy Spirit is right here with us now, Right in The Middle!

That really got me to thinking about how much time I spend in my past or worrying about the future when I can just relax and focus on Jesus and let him deal with all my stuff right here and now.  My past has a lot of dark spots and many of those are things that try to remind me that I am worthless or that I am no good, but with Christ I know those whispers to be lies.  However, even knowing that I must learn to stay away from there.  When those thoughts come I must capture them and give them to Jesus.  As I am doing that, and I am being reminded of the Joy God has for each of His Beloved, it makes the day a bit easier to swallow.  Instead of ignoring or letting the busyness or laziness of the day win, you take a few moments and notice what God puts your eyes on.

Now the future jumping champion of the world is me.  I can take the smallest meeting, situation, occurrence and before I get past hello, I have already seen where the relationship is going to end up.  It becomes so real that my emotions about the future, which I have no control over and do not know, paralyzes me.  I have learned to live moment by moment and again when those future jumping thoughts come to capture them and make them obedient to Christ.  It really is comforting to know that I don’t have to dwell in my past or try and imagine my future.  The truth that Jesus is right here and right now with me, means everything.  I will close with this: a very close friend of mine sent me something she felt like God put on heart to tell me.  One of those things were ” those things you are praying for, worry about, etc. will come to you in my appointed time!) We all must remember God’s timing is perfect and, in that perfection, He only wants what’s best for you!

One Love, One King, All Christ