"Finishing What You Start"--Part II

Gave to dedicate EVERY AREA of life to God:

• your mouth
• thoughts
• ears
• eyes
• entertainment
• social life
• way you dress
• friendships
• appetite
• finances

Need to return to more holiness, not legalism.  There are many things you can do here that won't send you to hell, but they will keep you from living a victorious life.  Maybe even unusable by God?  Maybe hurt your witness?

**We are educated WAY BEYOND our level of OBEDIENCE.**  How many times do we have to hear "Love thy neighbor" before we actually do it??

Hebrews 6:11

**Can't wait to FEEL the right way before you DO the right way.**

**People don't so much pay attention to what we say, but they pay attention to what we do.**

Sometimes we make commitments in the flesh.  We need to either ask to be released from the promise or just follow through with it even though God may not have anointed it.

**Dedicating you reputation to God** (what others think; their opinions)

NOT EVERYBODY IS GOING TO LIKE YOU!!

Will have to learn how to deal with some rejection.

The only way we will be respected by non-Christians is to live the life we say we believe in.

Galatians 1:10  Moses and Noah had folks who thought they were nuts.  Even Jesus' brothers thought He was crazy.

"Finishing What You Start"--Part I

Good majority of people don't finish what they start in the way of spiritual goals.

If you make a decision to do something, DO IT.

We like quick fixes.  But that's not how God works.  Sow, then reap.  Takes time for things to grow.

Romans 7:15-21 

Before, the law controlled people.  Now we have the Holy Spirit to control us.

The difference between flesh and spirit:  If God asks us to do something that's hard, we always try to find an easy way around it.  Many of us have run around the same mountain over and over and over and we never get anywhere because we're not doing it God's way.

"Flesh"=body and soul (mind, will emotions)

3 Stages to Christianity:

1-Baby Stage:  "What can God do for me?"
2-Transition Stage:  "What can I do for God?"
3- Mature Son or Daughter of God:  reap rewards

The flesh is a gambler.  "Maybe I'll be the one to try drugs and not get addicted....."

**God will deliver you by you listening to what He says and then you do what He says.  It's not necessarily God coming in and miraculously delivering.**

MIRACLES DON'T MATURE YOU!!

The flesh starts of with a BANG!  (Light a 4th of July sparkler and see it sparkle tons....for like 30 seconds.  Then it fizzles fast.)

"The Anatomy of a Habit"--Part II

Your body can only love what you allow it to get used to!

Always think about COST first.  But we need to think about the BENEFITS!

"When there's a hill to climb, don't think waiting will make it any smaller."

You really save a lot of time and effort if you just do the right thing first.

1-The God Habit

• time with God and be in the Word
• will help all other things fall into place
• will drive other bad habits out

"The Anatomy of a Habit"--Part I

"Habit"=something we do without even thinking about it.  Did it enough that we made it a part of us.  Miss it if we don't do it.  Have good habits and bad habits.  40% of everything we do are habits!!

Types of Habits:
1-Emotional
2-Physical
3-Spiritual
4-Financial

Got to start somewhere to break bad habits--no time like the present.

Bad habits are your enemy.  Keeping you from being the person you're supposed to be.

Everyone wants good habits, but not everyone is willing to WORK for them.

"I know I shouldn't do this but...."

If you don't follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit, you could not only be harming yourself, but also others.

Can be so much fun to be a Christian if you follow the Holy Spirit for yourself and not for anyone else.  never know what God has in store for you--what GOOD things He has in store.

Hebrews 12:2

God has given you friends called "self-control" and "discipline".

We need to be sorry for our mistakes, but not regret them.

"Overcoming Insecurity"--Part II

Grow up, get over yourself, get with the program, stand up to the devil, don't let what other people think about you rule you, stop living according to how you feel, stop living off the top of your brain, don't be a Christian that sits in a pew and want people to spoon-feed it to you all the time, study the Word of God for yourself...

• God doesn't ask us to do anything He doesn't equip us to do.

• God plants a "God seed" in us and we have to nurture it and make it grow.  Like a fruit seed, it will not grow unless we put it into the soil with water and sunlight.  Prayer and studying is like the soil and water to allow our faith to grow from the seed that was planted in us.  We establish roots, and then eventually FRUIT!  i.e. Godly character.  Like the seed dies, the self dies, but both become something greater.

• Nobody can have your victory for you--you have to have your victory for yourself.  And when it happens, you get the rejoicing--NO ONE ELSE!

• Everything you already need to be victorious is already in you if you are Born Again.

"conformed"= from the outside in.
"transformed"= from the inside out.

• If we refuse to let go of our "veil", we can never have intimacy with God.  If a bride never unveils her face, she will never have intimacy with her husband.  Our veil is us trying to live by the law and do things ourselves.

• Faith takes the place of feelings.  Need to have faith and not live by feelings.

"Overcoming Insecurity" Part I

*When a person is insecure, you feel like you always have to keep them happy.
*Can't use "insecurity" as an excuse to stay in bondage.
*God wants us to be confident and bold and know who we are in Him.
*If you choose to continue to live by those feelings, you are going to miss most of what Jesus dies for you to have.
*Time to grow up and get over it (like a teen to adulthood)
*It is time for me to read what's in the Bible, believe it, and ACT like I believe it.
It's not about feelings--it's about making a decision.  Make a decision to live a certain way and the feelings will follow.
*Symptoms to look for when righteousness is missing:

• lack of joy and peace
• lack of boldness especially in prayer-- Eph. 3:20--ask for things you know you don't deserve and what you think are impossible.  BOLDNESS!  (Hebrews 4:15-16 & Philippians 3:3)
• None of our worth or value is tied up in degrees or letters behind our names.
• Without Him, we are nothing.
• Tired of phoniness and keeping up with everyone else?

Other symptoms:

• comparing ourselves to everyone else and compete with them.  Or become someone else.  Don't pray by the clock, read by the clock, study by the clock, worship by the clock--and eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full :)
• Why can't we leave people alone and let God deal with them?
• If trying something someone else is doing and start to get frustrated, stop and ask God what HE wants for you.
• If you're insecure, you live in a lot of fear. 
• Easily offended.  Talk negatively about themselves.  They do that sometimes so other people will talk them up.  Need excessive amounts of encouragement.
• Cannot receive correction from God or anyone else.  Touchy, touchy, touchy...people who already feel bad about themselves go berserk when they are corrected.  Correction comes across as rejection.

[CD series: "I'm Okay and I'm on My Way"]

Grace and Miracles

Through grace, I am being delivered.  Through a miracle that I knew would come (but just didn't know it would take 6 months), I am coming out of the darkness.  And it's not just "getting back to normal".  I feel like a whole new "me"--which is what I deep down inside knew I needed.

Like my previous post, I knew that I knew a lot.  I have listened over the last 17 years to sermons and books and friends and my husband, and I've even heard the same stuff over and over and over....  But it just never seemed to sink in.  Now, I think all that is starting to break through the barrier and into my heart.  I can see that time actually IS precious and not just reading the words and trying to believe it.

I've had a lot going on the last 6 months.  I've read like 1/2 my Bible.  Definitely a good start.  Although I don't always process what I'm reading nor do I always understand it all, but it's certainly a good place to be.  Another big tool I've been using is Joyce Meyer videos. I can play them on-line anytime.  It's so nice to scroll through them, pick a topic that I think may speak to me that day and then BAM!  Right between the eyes!  And learning more about her past I understand she was just like the rest of us.  Her timing almost the same as mine.  Mid-to-late 30s just starting to come around even though she had been a Christian a long time.

So since she's been so influential, I've decided to take notes on her videos.  I'm sure I can get any of her books and she's already written on the same topics, but this seems like a good way for me to get down the highlights that jump out at me.  That way, I can refer back to my notes when I need reminded about certain topics.

I thank God for helping me through probably the roughest 6 months of my spiritual life.  It's been transforming.  It's been rewarding.  Even being in a place of peace for only like 2 or 3 days, I can tell you all the pain and tears have been worth it.  It's been a gradual process, but actual deliverance has been instantaneous.  Praise God.

In an effort to "keep on keeping on", I have deleted my Facebook (a worldly thing I've been holding onto with lots of different justifications), I continue to take notes from Joyce Meyer, I'm continuing to read my Bible, and I'm going with my heart on the little things I hear.  I am listening more intently to the nudgings of my heart.  My focus is on God.  And to narrow the focus, I need to get rid of the noise--cable TV, Facebook, secular radio, and any other worldly thing I might figure is "okay" when it's just noise.  Some worldly things are not "bad" necessarily, but they distract from focus.  Going to hopefully keep my focus narrow with my "God blinders".  God is with me and I know He will help.

As long as I ask Him....