Breaking Yokes - Part III.
* Just a Reminder *
"Fasting" is about "abstaining" from something. In our case, we are Abstaining or GIVING UP wrong ways of thinking. This is not a "Fast" in the traditional sense where we abstain from food and drink for a period of time- but a "Fast" where we will abstain from having these negative thoughts while the Holy Word and Holy Spirit speaks to us on these issues. So; as you find your mind wandering over to the "negative trail" then with purpose! we will stop our thoughts as they come up and replace them with this study. This is how yokes are broken!
Too often, we make things harder and much more complicated than they really are. Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light." He did the heavy lifting. Now our job is to 'enter into His rest', by believing what He has already done for us.
11. Don't get your hopes up
I hope you're starting to see a pattern of positive, Biblical thinking replacing negative unbiblical thinking! That's what this fast is designed to do-replace long-believed lies with the truth. Thought patterns shape our expectations, and our actions. Like a magnet, our thought life "attracts" the things that our mind is full of.
We're fasting from the thought that says: "Don't get your hopes up".
This mindset has subtly found its way into our heads. We have been trained by doubt and unbelief to lower our expectations- to brace ourselves for mediocrity and status quo.
To hope is to look up-to have expectation! To hope is to live. Hope is like oxygen. It's like light-in a dark and negative world.
Proverbs 13:12 says: "hope deferred makes the heart sick." There are many great truths from this scripture.
When hope is "put off to the side", your heart becomes sick. When your hopes are "dashed to the ground", your heart becomes sick. Most importantly, your heart becomes sick when you STOP hoping. Hope HEALS!
Let's fast from this thought and replace it with these:
A. GET YOUR HOPES UP. No matter what. Ps. 78:7 "That they might set their hope in God."
B. KEEP THEM UP. I John 3:3 FIX your hope on Him, and it will purify you.
C. When you don't see something happening, hope even more. The fact that you don't see it, gives hope a reason to remain alive in your heart. Once you have something and see it, you don't need to hope for it anymore. It's when you don't see it, that your hope has a reason to exist.
D. Get Faith. Faith is not like hope. Faith cannot be deferred. Faith is a tangible force. It is substance. If you are exercising faith, no one will be able to tell you that God's promise will not come to pass. All fear and doubt pass away and you will be thoroughly convinced of God's promise in your life. There are no ups and downs, just a knowing and a sense of his presence. Faith will overcome all opposition. Faith is the fulfillment of your hope; it is the tree of life. Romans 15:4 "Hope comes from the encouragement of Scripture." And Romans 10:17, "faith comes from hearing the Word".
E. Meditate on the love of God. Hope that IS NOT DEFERRED (delayed, or disappointed) comes from Love. Romans 5:5 "...and hope does not disappoint (or leave you with shame), because the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart."
F. Free yourself from people who think they're doing you a favor by "managing" your expectations, or "protecting" you from disappointment. Get around hopers and dreamers and people who are filled with expectation!
THINK IT & SAY IT:
My hopes are up! I eliminate the notion of lowering my expectations. I refuse to accept people's advice to "not get my hopes up". I get my hopes up NOW and I keep them up.
I expect God's promises to come to pass in my life today!
I expect good to come to my life today-In my family, in my home, in my church, in my job, in my relationships, in my body and in my finances.
I expect ideas, favor, and wisdom. I look up, expecting to receive the best of what God has for me today. I have unlimited and unhindered hope and expectation.
12. The victim mentality
Our lives don't improve through external changes. We change from the inside out. This is why it's essential that we connect every day as a Christian body.
When you fast from food, it affects your ENTIRE day. We need this FAST from wrong thinking to be a part of our ENTIRE day. Joshua 1:8 says as you meditate on the Word, day and night, wherever you go, you'll prosper, and whatever you do, will be blessed. That's because the creative power and energy of God is cultivated and released in the soil of your thought life.
Now we're fasting from a "victim" mentality.
This includes thoughts that say, "It's their fault." "I was mistreated." "If someone gave me a break, I could make it too." "It's the government's fault." "It's how I grew up." "It's not my fault.", etc.
Viktor Frankl survived the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz by defining ultimate freedom as the ability "to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to chose one's own way."
The worst prison in the world is the one we put ourselves in - in our mind. Mindsets and victim mentalities strip us of the power God has given us to rule our lives in victory.
This is a thought we need to take time and care to dismantle. Let's go:
A. No one can keep you in your current situation except you. We must begin TODAY to accept total responsibility to become victors, not victims.
B. People may have had something to do with how you got in the situation, but only YOU can decide whether you stay in the situation.
C. The "victim" mentality ends when we TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY for our attitude and direction in life. Deuteronomy 30:15, 19 says, "See, I have set before you this day, life and prosperity and death and adversity...so choose life, that both you and your descendants might LIVE (the victorious, abundant, God-kind-of life)."
D. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Full responsibility doesn't mean, we're in it, alone. God is on our side and He will help us. It's natural to look for help - but let's get it from God. John 16:13 says the Holy Spirit is "Our Helper"! When you have His help, you don't need to blame anyone for anything! We blame when we're helpless - but we're NOT!
E. Understand the root word of "responsibility" is response. We may not be able to control everything that others do to us, but we can control our RESPONSE. In our response lies our freedom and our growth!
F. Don't give away your power. We give away our power to live in victory, health and success - when we allow others to determine how we RESPOND. We have the power to choose; the power to forgive; the power to recover; the power to overcome anything. When we blame others, we give away that power to them.
G. TAKE CHARGE OF WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU. The master said to the servant who hid his talent: "Why didn't you at least invest my money so I could have received interest?" (Matthew 25:24-27) He blamed the master, and excused himself. As a result, he fell to the temptation of resentment and fear. He lost everything because he had a victim mentality.
THINK IT & SPEAK IT:
No one can keep me down.
I am not a victim. I am a victor. I take full responsibility for my responses in life - my attitudes and my decisions.
God has set before me prosperity or adversity. He has given me the power to choose. I choose prosperity!
Holy Spirit, I am asking for your help. You live in me, and you are my Helper! I refuse to give away my power by blaming others. I choose to respond to life with God's Word.
I take responsibility for my thoughts, my actions and my REACTIONS. I abandon the idea that my situation is the fault of anyone else.
I am an overcomer. I am more than a conqueror through God's great love.
13. I'm not that smart
The thought that we're fasting from is: "I'm not that smart'" ("I'm not smart enough." "Everyone seems to figure it out except me", etc.) Some may think this is not that important, but make no mistake, this thought permeates our thinking and keeps us limited in what we can do, and what influence we can have.
It's another thought that the devil uses to try to make us feel inferior.
Most media and institutions of "higher learning" are not as smart as they think. Think about how the media reports on politics, health and the economy. Who understands what they're saying? I don't think they do! This world's system is designed to make you feel you don't know enough about what's going on, so you will be dependent on what they say you should think, feel and do.
If you're born-again, you are brilliant! YOU HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST. His mind is far smarter than the smartest businessmen, educators, politicians and newsmakers of this life. And you have His mind!"
Let's abstain from the thought: "I'm not that smart." We're giving it up for the rest of our lives beginning today! Now let's replace it:
A. You have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:14.) You have the ability to see things the way God sees, understand the way He understands, and choose the way He would choose. STOP listening to any thought otherwise.
B. EXPECT wisdom today. James 1:5-6 says, "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men generously; but let him ask in faith without doubting".
C. Psalm 16:7 "my mind instructs me in the night." Friends, you are so smart that your mind is even teaching you while you're sleeping!
D. If you ever feel foolish or less educated than the mentally "elite", remember: "He takes the foolish things to confound the wise."
E. Don't think small anymore; and don't talk small. You are made in the image of God, with His intelligence, His brilliance, His understanding.
THINK IT & SPEAK IT:
I have the mind of Christ. I think His thoughts and understand His ways!
I will never again submit to the thought that "I'm not that smart" or "I can't figure it out." I am smart and I can figure it out.
I expect wisdom today and I expect MY MIND TO INSTRUCT ME IN THE NIGHT! I make wise and intelligent decisions.
I will never again be intimidated by the mentally "elite." I am made in His image, filled with His intelligence, His brilliance and His understanding.
14. It's no use
We're fasting from the thought that says: "It's no use." These thoughts go with it: "I might as well give up." "It doesn't work for me."
This is wrong thinking. It's a mindset that will defeat you. Some people think this way until it becomes a disease. We 'dis-ease' ourselves with defeatist thinking. Winners don't think like that. People don't want this kind of spirit around them.
Overcome this today by taking these steps!
A. Go into partnership with God, where you cannot fail. Psalm 124:2 says "The Lord is on your side!" This is not religion. This is common sense. You cannot fail when you awaken to the fact that He walks with you!
B. Recognize the problem exists for you to conquer it. When things go wrong, and money is short, or you lost your job, find out what is wrong and conquer it. Numbers 13:30 says "We should by all means go up and possess the land, and conquer it!"
C. Get understanding. Proverbs 3:15 says, "She (understanding) is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire compares to her." Ask for it, and God will always give it. Evaluate what you have, and use it!
D. It does work for you. It works for anyone. Remember, Jesus said in Mark 11:23, "Whosoever will say to this mountain, 'Be removed and cast into the sea', and does not doubt, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted!." THINK this marvelous promise. BELIEVE this marvelous promise!
E. Stop waiting for opportunity to come. Stop thinking that you don't have the opportunities that others have. Fight the fight of faith, and don't GIVE UP until opportunity SHOWS UP! Do it regardless of your feelings.
THINK IT & SPEAK IT:
I give up on, giving up. I am in partnership with God. He is on my side. Therefore I cannot fail.
My problems don't devour me. I eat them for lunch! I have the spirit of might and power.
I will conquer my problems in every way, and by every means. God gives me understanding, which is true wealth.
Things DO work out for me. They work out for whosoever believes! And I'm a believer, not a doubter.
Opportunity comes to me, because I expect it to. I will not waver, give up or quit until God-ordained opportunities come to me!
15. I guess this is all there is
We are fasting from the thought that says: "I guess this is all there is. I'll just have to settle with what I have." To "settle" means to accept something that is not ideal or desirable, because you don't believe it could be better.
Many people settle for less than God's best in their life, not because it can't get better, but because they don't THINK it can. This mindset is destructive because it accepts life the way it is rather than making it the way you want it to be.
For 38 years, the lame man settled by the pool of Bethesda accepting that he would never get better; that he would never get the help he needed to be healed. (John 5:1-10) He was discouraged and beaten UNTIL Jesus showed up in his life and showed him -- he didn't have to settle. And neither do you!
What does it take to change our wrong thinking here?
Desire -- Jesus said in essence, "you have to want it!" Get desire back in your life. Desire to improve. Desire to get better. Desire to make something great of your life.
Eliminate "excuse making." "No one helps me; no one understands; no one gives me a break." "I was just meant to suffer in this way." Shut those thoughts up! The lame man said, "I have no man to help me." (John 5:7) Stop making excuses.
Do something now to make things better. Improve yourself. Learn something new. Take a class. Learn a language or an instrument. Don't let life dictate to you that "this is all there is."
Believe in the God who is able "to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think." (Ephesians 3:20)
Don't settle for less than God's best. Don't settle for that sickness. Don't settle for just getting by. Don't settle for the way things are. In Mark 10:46-52 blind Bartimaeus would not settle for his current condition. He cried out to Jesus and was healed.
THINK IT & SAY IT:
I will never again settle for a mediocre, average existence.
I will not settle for things the way they are. There is more to this life that God has for me, and I expect Him to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that I can ask or think.
I will think big, and ask big. Then I will experience BIG.
I desire to improve, to get better and to make something great of my life. I am NOT an excuse maker. I am always improving; always adding value to my life and the lives of others.
Jesus came to give me life -- abundant in quantity and superior in quality; life to the full; life that overflows.
16. God must not want me to have this
Do you realize that your life is changing for the better, just as the Bible said it would? We are being TRANSFORMED by the renewing of our minds - and we are coming into the perfect will of God. Yesterday we continued our fast from wrong thinking by eliminating the thought of: "I guess this is all there is. I'll just have to settle."
I want to build upon that. Many times our mind (and the devil) tells us that if things don't go our way, that must be God's will. "God must not want me to have this." Or "Whatever happens must be God's will."
Please note, I realize many of us reading this know that God's will is for good. But in our lives, when we face resistance or it seems like God is not responding, we're tempted to give up and let whatever happens happen.
Not anymore! Let's replace this wrong thinking with right thinking:
Mark 10:46-52. Blind Bartimaeus heard about Jesus, and began to cry out "Jesus, have mercy on me." MANY PEOPLE TOLD HIM TO BE QUIET, but he cried out even more.
You must stop listening to the many voices trying to keep you the way you are. There are voices in your head saying, "keep quiet." There are voices from others saying, "Stay the way you are." There are voices saying, "God must not want you to have this." NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. Say "no" to those voices and keep going after what God has promised in His Word.
In verse 48, when people tried to shut Bartimaeus up, he cried out EVEN MORE. When you face resistance, add persistence! Press through!
When Jesus heard Bartimeaus crying out, HE STOOD STILL. (Now I'm preaching here!) If you don't give up, you will get Jesus' attention!
BELIEVE God wants to fulfill your desires, not just your needs. In verse 51, Jesus said, "What do you WANT Me to do for you?" (Bartimaeus didn't NEED to see. He could still live without sight. But Jesus asked him what he WANTED.) God doesn't just meet our needs. He fulfills our desire. (Provided that our desires are founded in scriptural promises.)
Make up your mind that you will not be denied. The woman with the issue of blood would not be denied. The mother of the demon-possessed daughter would not be denied. Bartimaeus would not be denied. You and I will not be denied.
WE MUST RECOGNIZE that our acceptance and tolerance of our present condition is the result of our acceptance of this wrong thinking.
THINK IT & SAY IT:
I decide today that I will stop listening to the voices in my head and around me that are telling me to stay the way I am.
I will not be quiet when asking God to fulfill His promises. My prayers will not be silenced by doubt, fear or opposition.
At times when I may feel God is not answering, I will stick to His Word, which says, "Call unto Me and I will answer." God says "Yes" to what He has already promised, therefore I will stand on His promises in all areas of my life. And I will not be denied. I will not tolerate a life of mediocrity or status quo.
I believe that God wants to give me the desires of my heart, and not just my needs. When I face resistance I will add persistence.
I will not give up or give in to my present condition. I will press through the opposition and not be denied. I will not tolerate a present condition of discouragement, sickness, poverty or mediocrity - NOT ANOTHER DAY OF MY LIFE.
Psalm 37:4 says, "He will give me the desires of my heart." I will keep thinking this, believing this, and expecting this until something changes for my good, in Jesus' Name!
17. I'm limited by my financial status
We are fasting from the thought that says: "I'm limited by my financial status."
I know that as you replace this wrong thinking, with RIGHT THINKING, you are going to see things change quickly in your finances and your peace of mind!
Today we deal with what I call a "limitation mentality".
The mindset that always tells you that you are limited; that you don't have enough; that if you only had more money you could be happy or do more for God. All those thoughts actually keep us from doing more, and from being happy.
A. Be happy NOW. "Happy is the man who fears the Lord." (Psalm 112:1).
When you THINK that you need more to be happy, you program yourself to stay unhappy until you have more. This is a dangerous attitude. The truth is when you are grateful for what you have, you will become magnetic to more. More will come.
B. We need to recognize that God is not limited by money, therefore you do not need to be. You are made in God's image. He fed them manna from heaven. He commanded water out of a rock. He sent a raven to feed Elijah and a prominent family to take care of Elisha.
C. Believe in the God of ideas! Proverbs 8 says He will give us witty inventions. These are ideas. When God opens up the windows of heaven, He is raining ideas, not $100 bills.
D. GET WISDOM. When offered one request from God, Solomon asked for wisdom. God was so impressed, that He gave Solomon wisdom, and with it came wealth, power, answers. James 1:5 says, "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to ALL men generously."
E. Don't underestimate the power of imagination. We are to cast down "imaginations" THAT EXALT themselves above the knowledge of God. But God-given imagination is a MUST. Ephesians 3:20"He is able to do exceeding abundantly above and beyond all that you can ask, think or imagine." Note the emphasis on: "YOU CAN ASK, THINK AND IMAGINE." You CAN and you MUST! says,
F. Expect open heavens. When God said, He would open the windows of heaven, He wasn't saying He would just dump money in your lap. Heaven has a supply of so much more than money. Expect the heavens to open to you with angelic intervention, wisdom, ideas, hope, words of knowledge, etc.
G. Be "provision conscious", not "need conscious". Make your mind expect that God will provide. Put your thoughts on His generosity and provision, rather than on what YOU NEED or what don't have. EVERY time we give something valuable to God, we prove we are "provision conscious", not "money conscious".
THINK IT & SAY IT:
I fear, reverence and respect God, therefore I AM happy now.
I don't need any more to be happy. I am happy already. This present happiness will attract more of what I need, to my life.
God can work in my life, regardless of my financial status. He is not limited by money, therefore neither am I.
When He needed bread, He multiplied the 5 loaves He had been given. When He needed tax money, He got it out of a fish's mouth. When He needed wine, He used water! I believe God is a God of ideas. He has put His Spirit in me, therefore I expect ideas. Ideas are worth more than money. And I will be a vessel of God-given ideas.
I think wisdom, and ask for wisdom. God richly supplies me with wisdom, every time I ask for it. I will ask, think and imagine what God can do, and He will exceed my expectations and imaginations!
I do believe that the heavens will open over my life. I choose to be "provision conscious" rather than "need conscious".
I believe by changing the way I think, I become a magnet that attracts God's provision for my life.
18. I Could Succeed if I Had the Right Surroundings, the Right People or the Right Breaks
We are fasting from the thought: "I could succeed if I had the right surroundings, the right people or the right breaks."
Nonsense! Yet many people believe that if their surroundings were better they would succeed. If they just moved to a different city or had a better boss or if someone gave them a chance, they would prosper. They use these thoughts as excuses for why things don't get better, or why they don't reach their goals and improve their life. This way of thinking makes people blame others and their circumstances for why they don't change.
Replace that thought with this thought:
A. It's not what surrounds you, but what's inside you that causes success!
2 Corinthians 4:16 says, "Therefore, we do not lose heart. For though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." Notice, Paul is saying, even when things go the opposite direction on the outside, something good can be happening on the inside.
When things go wrong on the outside, deal with the inside! This is the key to success. And what does God say we should do on the inside? Be renewed, day by day. Be filled with the Word day by day! Absorb these scriptures day by day, and the INSIDE with OVERTAKE the OUTSIDE!
B. Success or failure in life is created by how you think. Joshua 1:8 says "...but you shall meditate on the Word of God day and night...for THEN you shall make your way prosperous and THEN you shall have good SUCCESS."
C. Understand the source of blessing. Psalm 1:1-3 says, "Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly...but he meditates on the Word day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, whose leaf does not wither, who bears fruit in his season, and whatever he does, prospers!"
D. The root to true success is a prosperous soul. 3 John 2 says, "Beloved I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers."
E. Remember Joseph...thrown into a pit by his brothers and sold into slavery. Genesis 39:2 says, "But the Lord was with Joseph, and so he became a successful man." Notice, even though his surroundings were terrible, HE STILL BECAME A SUCCESSFUL MAN. He had bad surroundings, bad breaks, was surrounded by bad people, and yet still succeeded BECAUSE GOD WAS WITH HIM.
F. We create our surroundings and we create our breaks by the thoughts we think and the choices we make. Deut. 30:15, 19 says, "I have set before you life and prosperity; or death and adversity" Choose life!
THINK IT & SAY IT:
It's not what surrounds me that determines my success. It's what's inside me.
I will not lose heart. Even when things go wrong on the outside, I am being renewed on the inside by the Word of God, which will bring success in every areas of my life.
My success is created by how I think. I agree with God's thoughts, and meditate on God's Word day and night. Success follows me. I prosper in my soul - in my mind. I fill my mind with the richness of God's Word, and therefore it spills over into every area of my life.
Like Joseph, I will not allow my negative circumstances to determine my success or failure. I AM A SUCCESSFUL and PROSPEROUS MAN OR WOMAN, because God is with me. I create positive surroundings and I create good breaks by choosing life today!
19. Prosperity is defined by how much money we have
Over the past couple of studies, we have focused on fasting from wrong thinking where success is concerned. And the truth is, success or failure in life is created by how we think. So let's create some success with right thinking. Today, I want to give you a little more of an impartation, as this is a subject that is often misunderstood.
We are fasting from the thought that says, "Prosperity is defined by how much money we have."
That is wrong thinking. The prosperity God emphasizes is the PROSPERITY OF OUR SOUL. 3 John 2 says, "Beloved I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health, even as your SOUL PROSPERS." As our soul goes, so goes every area of our life. Therefore, true success or prosperity means TAKING CARE OF YOUR SOUL.
"What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul." In our pursuit of "gain" many people forget to take care of their soul. This is the key to real success.
Let me share with you several things that will make your soul prosperous, which in turn will bless every other area of your life:
A. Meditate on the Word of God.
It's not just meditating on "financial" verses, though this is fine, and there are many. It's meditating on the riches that are yours in Christ - not financial riches; BUT "soul" riches: such as wisdom, grace, righteousness. The result will be: your soul will prosper; and then your outside will catch up with your inside.
The great missionary Hudson Taylor was approached by his wife on the missionfield when they were out of money - "What is left, Hudson?" she asked. "We have 25 cents, dear", he responded, "and all the promises of God."
B. Develop a righteousness consciousness - this is irreplaceable. Fill your mind with the blessings of being the righteousness of God. The devil is called in Acts 13:10 the enemy of righteousness - that's what he opposes; because that's what changes us. When we awake to righteousness, we will sin not. (1 Corinthians 15:34)
C. Confidence in the love of God. Mark 1:11 says, "You are His beloved son or daughter."
D. Develop covenant relationships. This is a term that is often misunderstood. It means connecting with people of like mind and spirit, who are going in the same direction with God as you are. I gladly extend my covenant with you. When we have the strength of covenant partnership we will be able to handle anything - that is success and prosperity.
E. Don't take things personally. This is one of the great forces of "soul-poverty." When you become the victim in someone else's drama, your soul becomes poor. Clear your heart and mind of all that I call "people guilt." This is where we carry around with us the responsibility for how everyone feels toward us; we feel like we have to be the "host" at everyone's pity party; etc.
F. Stop comparing yourself to others. This will rob your soul of prosperity, as you languish in what you don't have, rather than meditating on what you do have. 2 Corinthians 10:12 says that we are without understanding and without happiness when we compare ourselves to others.
THINK IT & SAY IT
I live a life of meditation on the Word of God. I am blessed with the wisdom of God, the grace of God, and the righteousness of God.
I have all the promises of God - which makes my soul prosper. I awake to being righteous in God's eyes, through the blood of Jesus, not by anything I can do.
I put my faith and confidence in God's love for me. He loves me and is on my side. Therefore I am satisfied by His love.
I open myself to covenant relationships that will bring strength and blessing to me and those I am in covenant partnership with. My soul will continue to prosper as I refuse to take things personally. I will not absorb people's guilt or manipulation.
I choose to stop comparing myself to others, as this robs my soul of its health and well-being. I am grateful for what God has done in my life, and choose to focus on what I already have.
20. I just can't hold it all together
We're fasting from (abstaining from and eliminating) the thought that says: "I just can't hold it all together"
This thought can be paralyzing. It gets us thinking about how hard things are, how many things depend on us, and the possibility of things falling apart.
How many of us think that about our jobs, our daily responsibilities, OUR EMOTIONS? How about our families, kids, and all the activities: school, extra-curricular stuff, etc.?
Thoughts feed into expectations. Expectations feed into manifestations. Manifestations become imprinted in our minds, forming our habits of expectation, and our character (our consistent patterns of behavior).
That's why it is vital to FAST from WRONG THINKING, and replace wrong thoughts with right ones. Let's do it:
A. Let's go back to Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." The way to turn this thought into a reality is through the decision to believe it. DECISION is the doorway into reality. We take a wrong thought captive, by bullying it with the right thought. Make this new thought PRESS against the wrong one, until there's no room in your head for the wrong one.
B. You are not alone. You're not in it by yourself. Fill your mind with this thought. Hebrews 13:6 says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." When the thought comes, "I can't hold it all together", RESPOND to that thought with this: "I'm not doing this by myself. God is with me. And He will never leave me alone!" Whether you are a single parent or a single person, God is in this with you - married or divorced. Struggling financially or wealthiest man alive - He is with you in your struggle and in your daily responsibilities.
C. God holds together the things we turn over to Him. 2 Timothy 1:12 says, "I am persuaded that He is able to keep (hold together) that which I have committed unto Him." You see, whatever we COMMIT to Him, He will keep, guard and hold together for us. If there is an area of your life, that seems like it's falling apart, COMMIT it to Him, and He will get involved.
D. Fill your mind with this thought: "The Lord will accomplish that which concerns me." (Psalm 138:8) He will accomplish, complete, perfect...He will get involved with the things that concern me, and He will add His grace to my situation!
E. "God upholds the universe by His Word..." (Hebrews 1:3) If His Word can uphold (keep together) the universe, IT CAN uphold your stuff! Get the Word into the deep core of your being. Make God's Word the base/foundation of everything you think, decide and do.
THINK IT & SAY IT:
Even when I feel I can't keep it all together, I declare that I can do all things through Christ. He gives me the strength I need, when I don't have enough.
I decide to believe in His strength. I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
I am not alone, because He will never leave me nor forsake me. I am not a victim. I am a victor. I have committed my life, my body, my family, my money to God, THEREFORE, He will hold together the things that I have committed to Him.
He is EVEN NOW involved with AND accomplishing those things that concern or trouble me.
His Word upholds the universe, therefore I will think, believe and say His Word throughout my day, which is MORE THAN ENOUGH to hold my world together. In Jesus. Name!
