Fear, Intimidation, Depression...it may be Jezebel

Ever struggle with depression, loss of vision, fear, intimidation??

I sure have. I've come up against this several times but it's so sneaky and robed in such a "spiritual" attitude that sometimes it catches me off guard.

While doing some research for a project, I ran across this article.
I have studied "Jezebel" in the past, but this article is VERY good at explaining the story and spirit of Jezebel in the world today.

"Jezebel’s witchcraft will attack key leaders in her targeted area through intimidation. Those under attack may awaken one morning to find it takes effort just to breathe.

All joy seems to depart. Spiritual life seems irrelevant. Demonic voices will echo in their minds "something’s wrong with you!"

They may suddenly find themselves in unreasonable anxiety, fearing tragedy or death. Much of what is called "depression" in the ministry is simply Jezebel!"

Here is the eye-opening article:
The Spirit of Jezebel

I thought it was very interesting how he connected the way this feminist-type attitude is the same one working in society and the church.

I don't think it is just about "leadership" though, we all have a call on us to reach out to others and the enemy hates that.

One thing I want to add is that this cannot become about finger-pointing unless we are looking in a mirror because this spirit and attitude can only work against us if we respect what man thinks over respecting what God thinks.

When we know who we are as a child of God, nothing or no one can cause us to be intimidated. When I realize this is happening in my life it brings me to a place of repentance for letting myself get wrapped up in fear (intimidation) instead of trusting God.

Perfect love casts out fear.
Once again, love never fails.

If you know someone who has the characteristics of Jezebel, pray for them, God will take care of others problems, we need to focus on our own.

If you see yourself in this, go to God and He will restore you.

Two shall become One ~ Building Hedges

I've received a few emails over the last year from Facebook friends that have decided to delete their accounts because the tempation to connect or RE-connect with a man online was to strong and they were worried about the direction their thought life had taken.

I commend them for this!

If there is any situation in our life that opens the door for us to build a relationship with someone besides our spouse, we need to be on guard against it and we need to distance ourself from it.

Social media can be a blessing or a curse, the decision is ours.

What starts out as an innocent conversation online could turn into a friendship that we cherish. From there it could become a relationship that we think about throughout the day and look forward to more communication with that person.

At this point, we've gone too far and need to cut it off. If not it could end up becoming something that destroys our family.

I want to share this article with you from "Focus on the Family" that offers really great information on the subject.
Check it out: Building Hedges Around Your Marriage

Also, here is an article that I wrote a while back about the temptation of affairs:
Cute Little Lion Cub

Whether it's through Facebook, your job or somewhere else, be on guard and protect your marriage.

I'm praying for our marriages,
Sue

Don't Look Down!

Matthew 14: 24-31 (The Message Bible)
Meanwhile, the boat was far out to sea when the wind came up against them and they were battered by the waves. At about four o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared out of their wits. "A ghost!" they said, crying out in terror.

But Jesus was quick to comfort them. "Courage, it's me. Don't be afraid."

Peter, suddenly bold, said, "Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water."

He said, "Come ahead."

Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, "Master, save me!"

Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?"

Couple things jump out at me in this story.

1. Peter was fine until he looked down. 'nuf said.

2. Jesus didn't hesitate to help when he cried out.

Stop beating yourself up....God's not mad at you, He's right there ready to pull you up!

Quick and Simple, think about it...

Heb 13:4
Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.
NLT

The word honor is translated as:
valuable
costly
beloved
precious

Sometimes I get busy cleaning up messes and I forget that my marriage is the most important part of my life on this earth and that I need to remain faithful to my husband. I need to guard against anything or anyone that would try to come between us.

Ladies, I feel impressed to tell you today that-that includes ministry. I love WHAT the Lord allows me to do in ministry but I have to make sure I don't forget WHO He created me for.

Gen 2:18-19
And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him."
NLT

I'm praying for our marriages,
Sue

Day 16...how's it going?

Well, you've had four-past-a-dozen days to live up to your New's Years resolutions, how are they going?

Being an over-achiever, I started mine the day after Christmas. Of course this may have been directly related to the fact that when I stood on my new Wii Fit it made the sound that is made when someone picks the wrong door on "Let's Make a Deal". In that moment, dressed as Raggedy Ann and fishing through my purse for a paper clip, I decided that I needed to make some changes.

I've cut back on sugar and decided that moving this body a little more might be a good thing. I've found that I don't miss sugar (except in my coffee) and that moving more hurts a little-sometimes a lot. Don't worry, mochas are not a thing of the past for me, just a slight pause in the action.

Resolutions-smezolutions.
I'm not big on resolutions, I think that 'decisions' are better than resolutions. The word resolute means: 'to be determined to'. So I can be determined to read my Bible or I can wake up and decide to do it.
No matter how determind I am to do something, if I don't decide in that moment to do it, it doesn't happen, not even with "I can do all things through Christ" written on post-it notes all over my bathroom mirror.

It is good to be single-mindedly resolved to do something, but our life is really a pool of the things that we've decided to dive into. And sometimes I'm not so crazy about what goes floating by as I back-stroke through my day.

The most important thing to me is my relationship with God. Religion can cause me to regularly darken the doors of a church or open my Bible and read like a good little soldier does. But my relationship with God draws me like a moth to the flame. Hungry for what it has to offer then suddenly extinguished by the power of His presence and the majesty of who He is. At that moment I realize...that's the point...like the moth, I die, He shines.

His Word is life. It changes me. It makes me want to decide to know Him better. I want to know, what does He think about life? What is His take on the messy reality of all that is today. How do I fit? How can He possibly love everyone? I mean, look at us...really?

I resolve to decide to grow closer to Him. I want more of Him and less of me, so off to the flame I flutter and brace myself for the landing.

So it's day 16...how's it going?

The Freedom of Forgiveness

Did you know that unforgiveness and holding on to anger increase your chances of a heart attack five fold? It also increases your risk of cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other diseases. Not only that, but our emotional health is at risk too. Anxiety and depression go hand in hand with unforgiveness, it’s medically proven.

But love on the other hand brings forth healing, peace and joy.

Mark and I were at a friend house and their 4 year old little girl wanted to go swimming. Much to our surprise she proceeded to strip naked right there on the porch. She had no shame whatsoever! I looked at her and said, ‘Emma, what are you doing?’
She responded bluntly, ‘I’m putting on my bathing suit!’ As if to say, 'duh, I can’t swim in my blue jeans!'

I thought about this story recently when I was reading Colossians 3. It talks about stripping off our old evil nature and all those old attitudes, then clothing yourself with a brand new nature and new attitudes. Those attitudes include mercy, patience and humility.

Col 3:12
12 Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
NLT

I believe that humility is the key that opens the door to forgiving others. It was complete humility that Jesus modeled for us when He went to the cross, and that was why His response to their hatred was love. With humility comes love.

So what does all that have to do with Emma’s lack of modesty? Well, we need to strip off our old sinful ways so that we can put on God’s clothing of love- because you can’t swim in God’s river with the heavy weight of sin and unforgiveness. We need to take it off and put on the proper attire so that we can ‘swim’ in all that God has for our future.

There is freedom in forgiveness!

Col 3:13-14
13 You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love.
NLT

The Bible says that we should bless those who curse us. One way to do that is to pray for our enemies. I don’t mean just saying a nice little, ‘God bless them’ prayer while teeth are clenched. We all know that is not love. The prayer that I’m talking about is the kind that says, ‘I pray that they would be blessed in all they do, that they would come to know You more intimately, that they would have favor in their lives with all men.’ Basically, praying for them like you would pray for your loved ones. Speak blessings over their family.

If you are faithful to do this, your heart will start to change. You will begin to have compassion for them and see them as God does.

Then you will feel the freedom of forgiveness!

What are you running from?

I'm over at the cafe today, stop by and see me and leave a note on the table!

”I've been there. Something or a bunch of "somethings" start happening and before you know it all you can think of is "Get ME Out of Here!!!"

Maybe it's a literal move, or just pulling out of a situation. But you just know that you are -SO over- the present situation.

If you're experiencing this right now, let me ask you...what are you running FROM? Or even, what are you afraid of?”

Here's a direct link to the article...
What are you running from?

January Praise and Coffee Winner!

The winner of the January Praise and Coffee monthly giveaway is:
Rose of " Mahoney’s Musings "!

Congrats Rose and thanks to everyone that entered!

You Will Walk Through Fire

Psalms 9:9-10
The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You Lord have not forsaken those who seek You.

That is powerful! He is a refuge (a place of safety and shelter), for the oppressed in times of trouble. If you are troubled today, He wants you to run to Him for safety. Run to Him before running to anyone else; do not run to your closest neighbor or Christian sister until you have first gone to Him in prayer. He is there waiting for you to trust Him, and He says that He will not forsake those who seek Him.

When you seek someone out, you search for him or her diligently as you try to discover them or something about them. God wants you to seek after Him and His heart.

So many things in this world distract us from running after and seeking God. Sometimes we are tempted to turn to a drug, alcohol, food or some other vice to numb us from the pain. There have been times when I have felt the strong desire to “escape” the hurt and not face it head on.

But when we "escape" and run instead of walking through it with the Lord, I believe that often we miss a part of Him that He wants to reveal to us.

Isaiah 43:1-3
But now, this is what the LORD says —
He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
NIV

How powerful is that?!

WHEN not if you walk through the waters and fire, I will be with you.

This tells us two things.
• First, we will have hard times to go through.
• Second, we will go THROUGH them. They are not in our life forever, just a season.

And, my favorite part of those verses, is verse 1:

‘I have called you by name you are mine.’

We are His, why would we go anywhere but Him for help?

God is our only true refuge.

January 2010 Praise and Coffee Giveaway!!!

I hope you had a fabulous Christmas and New Year, I've missed you all and hope to get back to a regular schedule of blogging again after all the holiday woo-ha is over with!

It's the first Praise and Coffee Giveaway of the Year!!

This month's Praise is:

It only seems appropriate to start the year off with this one!

AND....you'll also get some very yummy
"Praise and Coffee" label coffee!!

TO ENTER DRAWING:

~> Post a comment to THIS post.

~> Please make sure that I have a way to contact you-PLEASE!

~> If you have one of my "Praise and Coffee Giveaway" buttons on your blog, let me know and you will be entered twice! Here is a link to all my buttons: Blog Buttons

That's all! And feel free to blog about the giveaway or tell all your Facebook friends!

Happy New Year!
Sue