Emily Dickinson

I found this quote quite interesting as I think back to certain times in my life where I made a decision to do something that came back to haunt me for awhile. Fortunately I didn’t get involved in anything that had terrible lasting physical consequences, but I do recall instances where I made decisions that I didn’t feel good about at the time. I just didn’t want to take a stand if it meant being ridiculed for being different.

All Satan is looking for is the tiniest of openings in which to start his work in any person’s life. He will start as small as he needs to and gradually make the opening wider and wider until we sometimes don’t know how everything happened as quickly as it did. In reality, he may have been at work for many months or years and we haven’t noticed at all.

Satan works very smart, is highly organized, and has much patience; many people are hooked deeply before they realize what is going on.

If you have asked Jesus into your heart, you have the awesome power and guidance of the Holy Spirit to always lead you in making right decisions. He will warn you when you are about to do something that could lead you into a trap.

As soon as you feel that something might not be right, or have a doubt about it, ask the Holy Spirit to show you more about what you need to do; then heed his warning immediately.

He will keep you from doing something the first time that might end up causing much heartache and pain in the future.

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People get frustrated and burnt out when they do things that are not what God has told them to do.

But… when you are in the center of His Will, and even if you are not a creative person, the Holy Spirit will pour ideas into your mind that you would never think of otherwise.

The Holy Spirit has led me down some roads recently that I would have never thought of going down on my own. When I look back on what has happened, I can say that the experience has been awesome; however I feel as if I have stepped into the unknown (which I have) and in some ways I still do not see the end of the path. I can absolutely say one thing, though – I HAVE NOT BEEN BORED!

I must say that even though I might not know exactly where I am going, God always does and I can count on Him to lead me down the right path.

Being creative is not a natural gift I have ever had, and I have always been amazed at people who have great ideas that pop into their head at a moment’s notice. I generally struggle to come up with one idea that turns out to be mediocre at best.

I have truly been amazed the last few years at how the Holy Spirit has given me guidance to do things that I truly would never have given a single thought to doing on my own.

I encourage you to start asking God to show you the next step in what you are to do, and take it; no, you probably won’t be able to see the end result at first, but you can trust God to lead you step by step in the right direction.

Get to the point that you consider obedience to Him the top priority in your life. Don’t choose to stay in a “comfort zone” and miss the awesome things God wants to do in your life.

I am continually amazed that God would choose to use me for anything at all, and I wish I had a much greater faith to believe for things that would be totally impossible without intervention from Him.

I think of how many times I have tried to go in my own direction, and traveled far too long down the wrong road before God finally had to close a door to get my attention. The things I was doing were not bad, but were good things that were keeping me off track in getting God’s Best for my life.

There really is a huge difference in getting God’s Best and settling for just “good” – even “very good”. Satan will offer you “very good” to keep you from getting God’s Best.

Decide right now that you will not settle for anything less than being in the center of God’s Will for your life. It is an awesome place to be!

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Abraham H. Maslow

So many times we try to solve a problem using the same technique or doing the same thing we have always done, knowing that way doesn’t work very well or might not even work at all.

People who are inventors seem to be able to think about things in an “out-of-the-box” way. I don’t know about you, but that isn’t my normal way of thinking. I would rather stay in my comfort zone and try to solve the problem in a way where I can be in control at all times.

But when I only let myself think about a problem in one way, the Holy Spirit does not have the ability to work freely. He has all the resources from God at His disposal and is capable of solving the problem in a supernatural way that may benefit others as well as myself. Things work out much better when I turn the problem over to God first and then trust Him to handle it in the way He chooses.

I am always amazed when I look back and see how everything has worked out.

It is easy to mess things up when you do it your own way; then God has to work through the mess in order to fix the problem, and we wonder why it takes so long to receive an answer. At least I have done that in the past.

Make it a point to give your problems to God as soon as they arise. In the end you will be much less stressed and will have grown in a much stronger walk with God during the process.

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But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in my place, to represent Me and act on my behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.

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Growing up in church and becoming a Christian at an early age, I had read this verse many times. In all those times of reading it, though, I never really understood it until one day it seemed my mind and understanding were wide open to grasp its meaning.

From that moment on, I never thought of the Holy Spirit in the same way. I knew that He became a part of my life from the moment I became a Christian, but for years I never gave Him a prominent place or even thought very much about Him being there.

WOW! what an awesome thing the Holy Spirit is to every Christian. Look at the above verse again. His help and wisdom cover every single area of our lives. We don’t have to make a big decision or stand on our own strength at any time.  We may choose to do so, but we don’t have to.

God knew that there would be times in our lives when we needed a Comforter who could really comfort us in a way that would make a huge difference in our lives. No other person is capable of doing that like the Holy Spirit.

I encourage you to read this verse several times and meditate on what it says. If you have asked Jesus into your heart, then you have this same Holy Spirit so ask Him to help you understand what this verse truly means.

He wants to open your eyes, heart, and mind to truths you have never understood before. It will be an awesome journey!

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This was his story:

I wandered across the moor till I came to a  little cottage where was a sick and dying woman. The priest was just administering to her extreme unction, and when he went out I went in. She was troubled in mind, I told her the gospel, and she believed in Jesus. I found her in a state of nature, I preached the gospel to her until I saw her in a state of grace, and when I came away I left her in a state of glory.

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When your day is planned to the minute, it leaves no extra room for an interruption which might become an opportunity to do good for someone else or tell them about Jesus.

During the three years Jesus ministered on earth, He was interrupted many times by someone who had a great need. Many needed physical healing, and some just wanted to get to know Him on a more personal level; still others had a life that was so miserable they somehow knew He could make it better if they could just get to Him.

We find in the New Testament that the people would sit and listen to Him teach for hours and even days. They cleared their agenda to be in the presence of THE ONE they knew could change their life.

I certainly don’t want to minimize the importance of getting alone with God and having a quiet time with Him each day. You shouldn’t have so many interruptions that you have to spend every moment dealing with them and then have no time for fellowship. Jesus made it a point to get away by Himself at times so He could fellowship with the Father.

But we as Christians should always be open to any opportunity to let our light shine for Jesus. What seems like a distraction to us might be the catalyst that enables another person to turn around and go in a different direction that will eventually change their life for the better.

Remember that God’s open door can sometimes look like just an interruption if you are not tuned in to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

If you are tuned in, though, what a wild ride you will have. Life certainly will never be boring.

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I have never done any really bad things such as breaking the law and getting caught, or things that others would look upon as being really bad. I know I wasn’t the perfect child, but I never lived in open rebellion against my parents and caused them much distress like some children have. In school, my classmates used to laughingly call me a “goody two shoes” because I was too scared to do many rebellious things. My parents have always supported me in everything I have done, and I didn’t want them to be disappointed in me.

I think if you have lived your life being a “good person” it can be very easy to not see yourself as you really are. After all, you haven’t done really bad things so you don’t think of yourself as grieving God or the Holy Spirit with the ordinary things you do each day.

I have already admitted to being a people-pleaser in my younger years, so I was devastated when I realized how much I had taken the Holy Spirit for granted in my everyday life.

I found I had started to take for granted that He would always be there and I could just ask for wisdom and direction when I needed it. How could I take God so for granted when He has and continues to do so much for me? The last thing I ever wanted to do was grieve Him in any way.

Realizing this has changed my life. I don’t ever want to forget these particular words of Charles Spurgeon, so I have copied them off and put them in a place where I will see them on a regular basis. You might want to do the same thing, especially if you see yourself and your own life in these words.

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Oh, my friends, when I think how often you and I have let the devil in, I wonder the Spirit has not withdrawn from us. The perseverance of a saint for a single day is a multitude of miracles of mercy. When you consider that the Spirit is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and yet he dwells in the heart where sin often intrudes, a heart out of which come blasphemies, and murders, and all manner of evil thoughts, what if sometimes he is grieved, and retires and leaves us to ourselves for a season?

It is a marvel that he is there at all, for he must be daily grieved with these evil guests, these false traitors, these base intruders who thrust themselves into that little temple which he had honored with his presence, the temple of the heart of man.

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I fear I have taken much too lightly what Jesus did for me when He died on the cross and rose again. By going back to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, He made it possible for the Holy Spirit to come and reside in the heart of every person who believes in Him as their Lord and Savior.

If you have asked Jesus into your heart, you have the awesome gift of the Holy Spirit who lives inside you and wants to lead you in the right direction, but He is so much more than that. He is your comforter in time of trouble, the provider of your every need, and He always has your best interest at heart.

First thing each morning, thank the Holy Spirit for who He is and what He has done in your life. Also thank Him that you don’t have to make decisions on your own any more. It is a sad thing to live your life without His leadership and guidance because He is an awesome gift that has been given to every believer in Christ.

Please ask Him to reveal areas in your life where you need to change or grow and be obedient to His direction. Your life will truly take on new meaning.

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The dream was about a lady who was trying to sell me a mask. When I put it on it was supposed to show the “real me.” By that phrase I mean it was supposed to show everything about me deep inside – my thoughts, flaws, all the deep things I maybe knew about myself but didn’t dare want anybody else to know about.

I decided to try on the mask and remember feeling a creepy, scared, sick feeling all mixed together. Everything on my face was covered except my eyes and my face looked different. I got really scared and took the mask off quickly.

Later on I found out that if you left it on for a certain amount of time it would just become a part of you and you could never take it off.

As I lay in bed trying to make the panic feeling go away, the Holy Spirit started to speak to me and revealed that most of us have gotten to the point that we wear a permanent mask to hide who we really are because we don’t want the real person to come out many times. We try to put our “best self” forward so that others will think we are more spiritual than we really are.

I have to admit that I used to be a huge people-pleaser kind of person. I wanted to do everything to make everyone like me, no matter what the circumstances. That is a huge undertaking that is totally impossible and something no one should ever take upon themselves to even attempt.

If you have asked Jesus to be your Savior, then God is the only one you should ever be worried about having favor with. You will never be able to please everyone else no matter how hard you try.

That morning long ago, the Holy Spirit laid it strongly upon my heart to do everything possible to keep the sin out of my life and encouraged me to put on the transparent mask and be as real as possible among others.

I am not telling you to go out and share with everyone in your life every problem you might have. Satan is always lurking around trying to find something to use against you, so you definitely need to ask God for discernment about who you confide in. Again I say definitely use discernment about who you share intimate details or problems with.

I am talking about just “being real” in your everyday life. Have such an intimate relationship with God that the real you spills over into every area. If you live in this way, you don’t have to think first before you act. God will just naturally flow from you in your words and actions.

It will also make you a much happier person to know that you don’t have to put on a “hiding” mask for different occasions. You can just be yourself, let God take control, and see where He leads you. Take it from me (a person who knows very well,) it is very liberating to be able to do what God has called you to do without the guilt and worry of trying to please everyone else.

Make it a point to live so that when the mask shows the “real you,” it will be something you will be proud for everyone else to see.

Live the words of the hymn written by B. B. McKinney in 1924 – Let others see Jesus in you!

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If there is one thing we need more of in the church, it is true discernment that only the Holy Spirit can give.

In Matthew, Jesus warns us about people with whom we come in contact in the church or in our everyday lives who have a set agenda to fool the Children of God in order to cause chaos and destruction. The following verses are part of the famous “Sermon on the Mount” that Jesus gave to His followers in Chapters 5-7. He wanted to give them good, practical instruction on how to live their everyday lives in victory.

Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

We have all done things that we regret and wish we could take back, but most of us don’t sit around and think of ways we can intentionally cause chaos and destruction; therefore, it is hard for us to believe that someone else could ever entertain the thought of doing that. After all, isn’t everybody at least a GOOD person who would dare to step foot inside the doors of the church? That is certainly what we want to believe.

Most of us don’t want to entertain the thought that someone would want to go to church for anything other than the right reason, so many times we can be fooled easily by someone who says and does all the right things, no matter what their motive and spiritual condition.

This is why it is critical not only for leaders, but every member of God’s Church to ask for discernment.

fruit – that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result

Jesus said in the verses above that we will always be able to know what people really stand for by the fruit they bear. Especially in matters where the church is involved, we must learn to ask guidance from the Holy Spirit so that we know the absolute truth.

Even though a person’s life might look good from the outside for awhile, if they are not REAL it will eventually show. The Holy Spirit can put a “check” in your Spirit about that person, though, way before others might be able to see it physically and possibly save you heartache.

Make it a point to ask Him for discernment at the beginning of each day so that you can make decisions that will only have good consequences for the future; then when the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart about a certain matter, be obedient to what He tells you to do.

The Holy Spirit always has your best interest at heart and will never lead you down a road to destruction like Satan would love to do. Don’t try to navigate life’s rough seas with your strength alone. Let the might power of God be your guiding force. That is the only way you can live in victory.

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We use the excuse that we don’t have a degree in theology or Bible, or the Pastor is the one who is supposed to make sure we know these things. There is no possible way he can do that in a couple of hours a week. You must read and study the Word for yourself – then if you have any questions you should ask your pastor or another mature Christian to explain what you don’t understand.

If you don’t really know the truth, it will be easy for Satan to make you believe a lie. Usually he will give you just enough truth to make you think that everything he says is the truth.

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If we sometimes looked a little more to the connection of sentences, we should be kept from very dangerous errors. The Bible ought to be treated in conformity with common sense, as you would use any other book. If you took the writings of any author, however carefully he might express himself, if you picked out a sentence here and a sentence there, [you] might make the man to say what he never believed; nay, even make him to be the supporter of opinions which he abhors. So it is with the Bible: if you pay no regard to the connection and general run of the passage, you miss the mind of the Spirit of God, and rather thrust your own mind into God’s words than bring out God’s mind from the words of the Holy Ghost.

From a sermon entitled “Working Out What Is Worked In,” delivered July 12, 1868.

The Daily Spurgeon

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No matter what version of the Bible you read, you will never truly be able to understand it without the Holy Spirit opening your mind, comprehension, and ears to hear the real truth – not just the truth as you have always perceived it to be.

If you don’t read the Bible with the determination that you want to know the truth, your mind will filter the parts that make you uncomfortable, telling you that the changes you need to make are far beyond your grasp or helping you justify why you don’t need to change.

*  If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, make it a point to read the Bible for a few minutes each morning. You can start out with 5 or 10 minutes, asking the Holy Spirit to show you truths that you have never seen before. It won’t take long for you to look at the Bible differently. It will change your life to the point that you will never want to go back to where you were before.

Don’t let Satan make you believe the lie that the Bible is boring or just an old fashioned irrelevant book that is out of date for today’s times. Its Words are life, health, and well-being for the one who reads it and applies its words to their life.

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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What does it really mean to surrender every dream and every single part of your whole life to God?

For much of my life, I thought this kind of surrender meant that God would tell me to do something I didn’t want to do; then I would be stuck in a miserable existence, forcing myself to be obedient to Him day after day but wishing I had chosen another path.

My perception of God was so wrong. How could I have ever believed that my loving Father who created me would ever want anything less than His best for my life? My only answer is that I felt I was smart enough to do things on my own. It’s funny how we always try to make ourselves believe that we are in complete control of all situations when, in actuality, there are very few things we have any control over at all.

It is a scary thing to make the decision to turn your life over completely to God if you don’t already know something about His Character. His dreams for you are much better than any you have ever had, but you will never understand Him with head knowledge only. You must read the Bible and let its words soak into your heart to change your way of thinking.

If you have come to the conclusion that you don’t have everything under control and can’t make things right no matter how hard you try, give up your own way of doing things and give God the steering wheel. He will meet you exactly where you are at this moment and start to direct your ways.

Once you start to see His Character, you will find that you can fully surrender every area of your life to Him and know that He is leading you in the right direction.

Total surrender is just being obedient to the leadership of the Holy Spirit (God living inside the Christian.) You don’t need to have all the answers when God already knows them.

John 16: 13-14

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall  he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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