A Healthy Love

How to UNCOVER God’s Word:

ASK – God to connect with you here. In prayer, start by slowing down, inviting God to be present. Begin with focus and openness to see what God has for you.

READ – the selected section of Scripture slowly. Take note of the words and phrases that intrigue you, reading them a second time if necessary.

REFLECT – on what grabs you. What connections do you see at this point in your life? How might God be speaking to you through these words? Stop long enough to let this take root and thank God for engaging you.

RESPOND – to the Scripture. Speak directly to God about what’s on your mind and heart. Look for ways to live out what you’ve uncovered – individually and with your church. And look for ways to bring what you have discovered to others.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 ESV

18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

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Become who you are…Outside Comfort Zone

Romans 8:11 ~ And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

 

Comfort Zone:  It’s a trick…there is nothing good about a comfort zone.  I chanllenge you to live in the Uncomfortable Zone!  The Uncomfortable Zone is where you learn, grow, streach, reach, and expand.  Take the 20 second challenge and do something UNCOMFORTABLE and BOLD for the next 7 days.  Tell me what you did, how it felt and what your learned about yourself.  I can wait to hear!!

Prayer: O God and Father of all nations and races, thank you for your guarantee that you will work in my life through the Holy Spirit and raise me up by your Spirit’s power to join you in your presence. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Looking for my UNComfortable Zone…OnPurpose!!

LORD KEEP ME DAY BY DAY, IN A PURE AND PERFECT WAY!

(Romans 13:13-14) (NIV) Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Just because we are believers in Christ does not eradicate the presence of the enemy.

He is STILL on duty, committed to gain access in our thoughts, feelings and actions. He is going to show up, with or without and invitation!! He appeals to us through the things of this world and all he needs is a “crack” to gain access…then he comes in “like a flood”.

He uses any and everything as ways to “slip through”; he causes us to question and challenge God’s will, our intellect, our memories, our emotions and any good thing from God.

He tip-toes around in our mind, with what seems like a “Bright Idea”.  BEWARE! Once entry is granted, his goal is to rob, kill and destroy.

The pleasures of this world satisfy the flesh while simultaneously destroy the soul. How baffling and cunning is the works of the evil one. The Good News is by having Christ, as our Personal Lord and Savior, being in a constant relationship with Him, we have power and authority to crucify the flesh daily. We must keep our guard up and equip ourselves with the righteousness of His Word, His Holy Spirit and perfect prayer available to us DAILY.

Prayer: My Father, Lord Jesus,  I first and foremost come to You giving You all the praise, glory, and honor as the one and only true and living God. I thank You for salvation — sending Your Son to die on the cross for my sins so that I can have eternal life with You in heaven. Please forgive me of my sins, and I thank You in advance for helping me to overcome my weaknesses and shortcomings.

Lord, I come with a special prayer today that You will help me to crucify my flesh daily so that You can rise and reside in my mind, action, and attitude towards others. By Your saving grace, I am no longer a captive of sin. Father, please create in me a clean heart. Though it is not easy to break sinful habits, I thank You in advance for the strength and willpower to grow more and more like You.   It is in the magnificent name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that I pray.   Amen!!

Crucifing my flesh daily…OnPurpose!

Jump Start

(Matt 6:10) …your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Here, we ask and proclaim of God’s spiritual realm; the Holy Spirit, to be with us and to have His way. We surrender our power to Him. To the Saint, He is King also here on earth. Thank you God for teaching us also a lesson in submission with this prayer. This also shows our intent to get out of His way here on earth; an act of relinquishing control to our Father. We can really mess things up when we don’t. So many times we unknowingly think we should help God fulfill His purpose. (When he’s not responding how we want or when we want)  “Check yo’self”!  We have got some nerve. Sit tight and let the Captain do all the driving, “He’s got you..”

I am looking back over my adult life and remembering when I “NEEDED” to help God out with HIS plans for my life. Funny huh? But in every case…I just prolonged HIS plan with my foolishness.  Even if what I wanted was what God had for me – He had to let me see HE IS IN CHARGE…He gives me free will but IT IS HIS WILL NOT MINE!!  The study of EPHESIANS helped me fully understand this.

Prayer:  ‘O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.’ Psalms 139

God is right all the time…I will trust HIM more today than I did yesterday…OnPurpose!

HIS Time not mine

Ecclesiastes 3:11 Msg. ~ True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time – but he’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going.

The definition of TIME: the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole.

The PROGRESSION of Existence – Movement of being.

“Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to used during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course? Each of us has such a bank, it’s name is time. Every morning, it credits you 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you failed to invest to a good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against “tomorrow”. You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health & happiness. The clock is running. Make the most of today.”

Pray this prayer with me: God our Father, you are not so much timeless as timeful,
you do not live above time so much as hold “all times . . . in your hand”, you have prepared for us a time when we will have leisure to enjoy each other and you to the full, and we thank you, I appreciate you and applaud you for  YOUR TIME, Amen!!

Credit to my daughter: Shakarra

Appreciating HIS time…OnPurpose!!

Receit your A B C’s

A – Avoid negative sources, people, places, things and habits.
B – Believe in yourself and succeed.
C – Consider things from every angle.
D – Don’t give up and don’t give in.
E – Enjoy life today, yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come
F – Family and friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches.
G – Give more than you planned to.
H – Hang onto your dreams.
I –  If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.
J – Just do it
K – Keep trying no matter how hard it seems.
L – Love yourself.
M – Make it happen.
N – Never lie, steal or cheat. Always strike a fair deal
O – Open your eyes and see things as they really are
P –  Practice makes perfect.
Q – Quality not quantity in anything you do.
R-  Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
S – Stop procrastinating.
T – Take control of your own destiny.
U – Understand yourself in order to better understand others.
V – Visualise it and focus
W -When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
X – Xcellence in all your efforts.
Y – You are unique, nothing can replace you.
Z – Zero in on your target, and go for it.

Please share…OnPurpose!!

A Paradigm Shift

Ecclesiastes 3:11 New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Do you see a RABBIT or a DUCK?

We all have “learned” what we know. But what happens when you wake up one day and everything you’ve known makes NO SENSE…it looks different?  Books you’ve read several times have new and different meanings?  Scriptures you can quote verbatim mean something so different…a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions, also known as a paradigm shift!!

Romans 7:15-20 New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

I have been acting like a “Cra-Cra” person.  I was really strugging with this.  If I am going to be honest…I STILL STRUGGLE WITH IT!!!  I have done a few things that I think are good and healthy for me but this morning in my quiet time – I received these words of comfort:

Paradigm shifts are scary.  You may go into a crisis of faith, because you can’t trust what your know to be accurate. You may not have a clue who you can trust or believe anymore. But the one thing you can trust and believe is the teachings of Jesus– HE is everything you need and more!!

This is what I have been doing during this current SHIFT:

I have created a safe space – couple of people who I can share, cry, pout and trust with my heart and struggles while experiencing the growing pains.  These people have the same passion for following Christ as I do – they are my accountability partners.

I have identified TOXIC RELATIONSHIPS and set healthy boundaries with them.  I don’t love them any less, but I don’t buy into their controlling patterns for ME & MY LIFE.

I don’t feel guilty for embrace my time alone – God put something in me that I want to invest time with HIM to excavate, cultivate, prune, water and grow HIS plan and purpose for my life.

I LOVE to READ – I LOVE to LEARN – I LOVE to STUDY and I do these things OnPurpose and I ENJOY doing so.

I AM SHIFTING.
I HAVE SHIFTED.
I WILL CONTINUE TO SHIFT.

When the student is ready…the teacher will appear!!  God is all-knowing, all-power and the creator of EVERYTHING – there is nothing new under the sun…in His time, He makes everything beautiful.

God is taking everything I have ever known and making all things new!!  I have new sight, new touch, new smell, new tastes and new hearing.

In my case…God has put me in a place where I cannot relay on what I know because it doesn’t fit the situation…I have to FULLY RELY ON GOD [FROG]- to see, touch, smell, taste and hear FROM HIM and not myself or my limited knowledge.

Pray this prayer with me: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.  I turst Your plan for my life, I trust Your way for my life…I know You know the plans for my life, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans for hope and a future and I submit and surrender to YOU, in Jesus might name…AMEN!

Written by: The “Butterfly”

Shifting…OnPurpose!! 7/29/16

 

My Reflection…

James 1:23-25 ~ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

God is showing me so much of where I need to be better. The reflection is sometimes ugly on the surface but He’s revealing to me the beauty and grace He has reserved just for me. A new thing,  a new perspective, a new peace and understanding engrossed in the ills of the world and my surroundings, He’s tapping in and saying look at yourself girl,  all that’s happening around you,  YOU need to change the things that aren’t of me before you can expand beyond your immediate circumstances. It’s not often a comfortable place but it’s a necessary one to impact change and open the door to the promises we sabatoge. I’m starting now, battered but empowered. For His glory. He is able. Declaring victory and peace in my life. It’s already done. Love and blessings!

Prayer:  Most Precious Lord Jesus, Gentle And Wonderful God, Truly Awesome And Ever-present Holy Spirit, Precious Lord Jesus, I love you. I praise your name even when the chaos of my life means I don’t know whether I am coming or going. My life is a harried and pressure-filled mess right now. Help me live more at peace with myself, with others, and most of all, with you. When I start to lose hope amidst the pressures of my life, stop me for a moment and call upon my heart to look up to you. When I start to lose hope amidst the pressures of my life, stop me for a moment and call upon my heart to listen to your sweet voice telling me how much you love me. When my harried life afflicts me hour after hour, remind me how your peace is just a prayer away. All these things I humbly pray in the name of my most Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, my Mighty God, and my Ever-present Holy Spirit upon whom I can rely. Amen!

Written by: Cybill

Living at peace…OnPurpose!!

T I M E

Ephesians 5:15-17

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Planning for tomorrow is time well spent; worrying about tomorrow is time wasted. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference. Careful planning is thinking ahead about goals, steps, and schedules, and trusting in God’s guidance.

When done well, planning can help alleviate worry. Worriers, by contrast, are consumed by fear and find it difficult to trust God. They let their plans interfere with their relationship with God.

Don’t let worries about tomorrow affect your relationship with God today.

Think about this: Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong…Galatians 4:8-20

Pray this prayer with me:  Most Precious Lord Jesus, Gentle And Wonderful God, Truly Awesome And Ever-present Holy Spirit, Precious Lord Jesus, I love you.  You know how impossibly difficult things have gotten for me.  You know how my future does not look good at the moment.  In your love and grace, help me include you for just a moment in this present moment and in the moments of my future.  When the chaos and strife of the present time gets to me, help me include you for just a moment so I get a clear perspective on what is going on around me.  I do not leave you out of my life on purpose.  Yet, I am so bombarded by problems right now it seems like something or someone is driving a wedge between us.  So, for just moment, when I am in the store waiting to check out, place your angel on my shoulder and tickle my ear.  For just a moment, when I am eating and begin to think how things will never be better, pour down a little rain of your love and distract me from thinking in hopeless terms.  For just a moment, when I am watching television and I get to thinking how things will never change or how things will get worse, give me your vision of a time when all things in my life are made new.  All these things I humbly pray in the name of my most Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, my Mighty God, and my Ever-present Holy Spirit upon whom I can rely.  Amen!!

Written by: The “Butterfly”

Managing my time…OnPurpose!

Toxic People & Relationships

Read:  John 13:1-17

When you look for toxic people in the gospel, your eyes might land on Herod, Pilate, the religious leaders or Judas.  There is something horrifying about Judas – he is a disciple, Jesus chose him as one of the twelve, he is a friend, a companion over the three years of Jesus’ ministry.

Toxic people are inevitable. How do you deal with them? How did Jesus deal with Judas?

Jesus’ way of dealing with toxic people was to serve them, show them love, and welcome them in.  If we are to follow Jesus, this is how we should deal with toxic people!  Jesus says: “do this in remembrance of me” as He ate with a toxic person.

What is our purpose? Is it to change the toxic person or is it to be like Jesus?  No, It is not to change people – it is right after this that Jesus frees him to betray Him.  It is our goal to be like Jesus and let God change your Judas (toxic people.)

How do you identify or recognize  your Judas (Toxic People)?

1. Toxic People – keep you guessing about which version of them you’re getting.
2. Toxic People – manipulate.
3. Toxic People – won’t own their feelings.
4. Toxic People – make you prove yourself to them.
5. Toxic People – never apologize.
6. Toxic People – are there in a crisis but never ever share in your joy.
7. Toxic People – leave a conversation unfinished – and then go offline and hide.
8. Toxic People – use non-toxic words with a toxic tone.
9. Toxic People – bring irrelevant detail into conversations.
10. Toxic People – make it about the way you’re talking, rather than what you’re talking about.
11. Toxic People – exaggerate.
12. Toxic People – are judgmental.

It doesn’t have to be all these things…It could be just one.

What you should do?  How to I graud myself from Judas (Toxic People)?

1. Squash Negative –Talk
2. Set Limits (Especially with Complainers)
3. Rise Above
4. Stay Aware of those Emotions
5. Establish Boundaries and STICK WITH THEM
6. Don’t Let Anyone Limit You Joy
7. Don’t Focus on them as a Problem—Focus on you as a Solution
8. Use A Support System – Surround yourself with positive uplifting people who show you love and support.

Pray this prayer with me:

Father God, I blind my own role in any and all toxic relationships.  Help me see the truth about myself. Apply the healing power of Your Word to my heart and mind.  Deliver me from any stronghold that causes me to harm people with my words and actions.  Save me from self-destructive patterns.

I struggle in my relationship with ______. I need You to give me wisdom on how to love ____ well.  You are my shield and defender. Show me how, when and where to erect boundaries in our relationship.  I believe You are my healer and I trust You to guard my heart and mind.

I need Your specific directions on how to interact with ______.

I want to love _____ with a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5)

Help me to love ______ courageously.  Fill me with Your truth and compel me to fearlessly tell the truth with love. Let Your perfect love cast out all of my fears related to our relationship.

I forgive ______ for hurting me. I ask You to forgive me for _______ and _______. I acknowledge my emotions: _______, _________, and _______. And I invite You to steady my heart so my emotions do not rule my decisions.  I surrender what I think our relationship should be. Please transform it so that it honors You.

In Jesus matchless name, I pray. Amen!!

Written by: The “Butterfly”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good…OnPurpose!