More Than Conquerors

Your Victories

Deuteronomy 28:13 KJV 
"And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them." 

I must in all humility admit that I have had some great victories in my life. God has liberated and set me free from so many of my old sins, old bondages and bad habits. The thrill of freedom I've experienced since being liberated has been absolutely amazing, humbling and completely undeserved.

This is something God wants for all of us to experience in this life. Every single yoke that the devil has placed around your neck; God wants to see broken. He wants to see His people walk in freedom. To get out from under the bondage that the Enemy has held you in for far too long.

Let's get personal ...

I have been crippled by issues of self esteem most all of my life. Feeling like nothing that I ever did was good enough or important in the grand scheme of things. I always felt that even when I gave it my best that it still could have been done better somehow. I always second guessed every decision I ever made both in my chosen career in Medicine and even in my raising of my children. I'd lie awake at night replaying in my mind how I could have done something different and the outcome be better. I stayed exhausted all of the time. Exhausted from stress and exhausted from lack of sleep. It was truly awful.

It's not so much that I was looking for perfection in everything that I did as I was looking for approval for who I am. Someone or something to validate my existence on this planet. It was years before I finally figured out that the only One that I needed approval from was/is God. It's His opinion of me that counts and not anyone else. My existence in this world is validated simply by the fact that He chose to breath life into me. 

I still have many, many battles that I need to win and obstacles that I need to overcome but; Praise God! we don't have to do it alone. I am sure that you do too. I encourage you to pick one thing you'd like to start working on today. Maybe it is your self esteem. Maybe it is something else but pick something and let's start to work to overcome it. To claim the victory.

Next, start visualizing your victory today. Think about what your life will look like when you're free. No more guilt. No more stress. No more sleepless night worrying about things that you can not go back and change.
 
I use Deuteronomy 28 as an incentive. I encourage you to read the whole chapter. It basically says that if you obey God, He will bless you, and if you disobey God, you will be cursed. Now that's a powerful incentive, wouldn't you agree?

I like working with and cooperating with God to conquer things that the Enemy has been choking me with for too long. I like not letting the enemy rule me. In fact, I think the most exciting journey in life is simply saying, "God, I want to change. I want to please You."

When you get into that frame of mind, you can get free from one thing and go on to another thing and another thing and pretty soon, you'll start to realize that you have some real authority in Christ. All of those chains that the devil has spent years binding around your neck are just gone and now you can walk upright, unencumbered without the weight. It's awesome!

Don't live your life without the thrill of growing and changing or you'll miss out on the good things God can do through you. Take some time today to visualize the person you want to be and start pursuing God's freedom. Because one day at a time, you and God can do anything!

Thinking Good Thoughts

Changing the Way You Think

Romans 12:2 KJV 
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God".

I am sure that at some point in your life you have heard the saying "a mind is a terrible thing to waste'? Well; it turns out that it's true. Our minds have so much capacity for good, to learn, create, think and grow, and it's a tragedy when we don't use them to their highest and fullest potential.

There was a time in my life when I allowed too many damaging thoughts to enter my mind, negative, tormenting, guilty, unforgiving, shameful and accusing thoughts. Someone says something, someone does something and the next thing you know I have a running dialog of thoughts about that person that simply can not be repeated here. I simply assumed that since they were "my" thoughts that I was thinking then they must be mine. My head, my thoughts; right?

Not so. All the thoughts you are thinking aren't always things that you come up with yourself. If it's negative thinking either about yourself or someone else then odds are that they aren't your thoughts at all. Our minds are ripe, fertile soil for the devil to plant his thoughts in. He drops a few seeds of negativity in and all it takes is for us to water them a few times and off it goes.

I had no idea I had the power to control my thoughts and to choose which thoughts I focused on and believed in. I didn't realize that if I was thinking something that wasn't very nice or very true, I had the power to stop. No one ever told me I could actually win the batter with the devil over my mind.

Has anyone ever told you? If not, then I'm here today to tell you that you don't have to let your thoughts control you. You can choose to think and focus on God-thoughts!

Romans 12:2 says to "let God transform you, by changing the way you think." God wants to help you win the battle in your mind. But what does that look like on a practical level?

Here's what has worked countless times for me and what I know will work for you too: The next time you're wrestling in your mind, I want you to stop and find something specific that you can thank God for. Tell Him how grateful you are for His goodness and all the rich ways He's blessed your life. As you're diligent to do this, you will see your life begin to change and things will get better and better.

So often these days when I get a nagging ~not so nice~ thought stuck in my head I will simply start a running mantra of "These thoughts are not My thoughts because My thoughts are ....." (lovely, beautiful, gracious, kind, uplifting, edifying, love affirming etc. - fill in the blank with something positive) It honestly doesn't take long of doing this before the ~not so nice~ thoughts that you had are displaced by something that God would rather have you focused on.

It's my hope and prayer that this short little study will help you will know the power God has given you over your mind and that every day in your thoughts, you will walk in the fullness of God's love for you!