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Author: Hope

Choose Life!

Choose Life!

Many people find themselves at a point in their lives where positivity doesn’t really feature at all. They might say there is too much pain and suffering going around, and that there is nothing to be happy about.

Here’s the thing, you can either stay in that state of mind, or you can rise above your difficulties by choosing “life” (Christ Jesus) instead of heaviness.

I would love to share with you how I have walked through my difficult times by choosing “life” over heaviness. In those times, I had to constantly be mindful of what I wanted to achieve in the spirit. My goal was to find peace and joy, no matter what I was facing.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Philippians 4:11

This was my goal, to find contentment in every season of my life.

God used my years of teaching primary school; He taught me and my students how important it was to have a positive attitude in any circumstance. One year, God allowed me to work with 5 students in my class who had many learning problems. It was not an easy task, although they had the same type of learning issues, they had different personalities, so what worked for the one did not work for the others.

I had to drink deep from the Lord and I had to rely on Holy Spirit for intervention and clever ideas to meet each one at their level of understanding.

Gratitude: From Heaviness To Joy And Peace

Most of the time, the atmosphere in the class was heavy. These little ones would come to school in the mornings with strained faces and you could see how difficult it was for them to be at school and try to get through the work set out for them. Every child had a goal to reach daily. For these 5 little ones, seeing the goals that they had to reach was just too much, and it overwhelmed them.

I didn’t know how to lift their spirits so that they could start the day with peace and joy. It was then that the Lord told me to start ministering to their state of mind, to get their focus away from that which weighed them down.

Every morning I would allow each child to name one or two things they were grateful for. It was such a great opportunity for them to speak about things they loved, and they would tell us stories about these things that brought them joy. The funniest things came out! They would talk about their pets or siblings and the funny things they’d do. Quickly, the atmosphere would change and morale improved. After devotions, everybody went back to their seats and peace and joy filled the atmosphere. I noticed a huge improvement in their schoolwork. Everything in class went much smoother than before we started this excercise. Looking for things to be grateful for, and telling each other about them each day became a habit for our class.

Isn’t this what God wants us to do? To look for and find those things that bring us joy? Looking for things that bring life and taking our eyes off the things that are overwhelming.

Approaching Frustrations And Irritations

At about the same time, a friend and I also decided to change how we respond when irritating situations came our way. We decided to immediately take our focus off the situation and to start thanking God for his mercy and grace. To ask Him to use the situation for His glory. We decided to do this to get to that place of peace even when there were things making our lives difficult. It required quite a bit of focus and effort because we had to change our “default setting” – responding negatively.

How do you change a bad habit? You need to reprogram yourself with a new response. This is usually the opposite to your normal response or way of doing things. Depending on the change it may require some hard work, pushing against your normal way of doing things. But soon enough it will become second nature and the change will have replaced the old bad habit with a good one.

Not long after this decision, the tests came. Isn’t that how it always goes? The moment you want to change something within yourself, you get bombarded – without warning – with those things that trigger you. As if someone is trying to make you fail.

The Test

One day, I was in a huge hurry to get home but I had to stop at the gas station first. I took the keys out of the ignition and I hurried into the convenience store. I had to get some bread that I had forgotten to get at the grocery store. As I rushed back to the car I reached into my handbag only to realize I had locked the keys in the car. I had taken it out of the ignition, put it on the seat and locked the door as I got out (back in the days when this was actually possible). Just as I wanted to get mad at myself, I remembered…

I started praying and said, “Okay God, I am here now. You knew it was going to happen. I choose to believe that you are either protecting me from something or someone needs a touch from You. I ask that You send the right people to help me. And I surrender to whatever You want to do. Have Your way.” Immediately, peace fell on me and I was ready for an adventure!

Soon enough, a few guys asked if I needed help. It wasn’t long before we were laughing at jokes while trying to figure out how to get the car open. It was fun! Maybe we all needed some laughter, who knows? All I know is that God uses any opportunity to bless us, we just need to open our hearts and surrender to Him. It’s amazing how the way you approach something negative can turn it into a blessing.

Beloveds, as children of God we need to find that sweet spot. Being grateful for what we have even in tough spaces. Changing negative situations into blessing by approaching them differently, and moving in the opposite spirit to the negative and irritating things in front of us. We have the power to either agree or not agree with things. Remeber, whatever you agree with, you will have.

Let’s Ponder On This

How do we respond to negative things? Do we get miserable and irritable and go with that flow? Aren’t those the characteristics and fruit of our enemy, the devil? Do we come into agreement with the devil’s way of doing things? If we invite Jesus into the situation then He can turn it into a blessing. We agree with heaven’s way of doing things. We can change situations in our lives by how we approach them and by carrying the fruit of the Spirit, especially self-control.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

Let Us Pray

Abba Father, I have been quite miserable lately and I have been keeping my eyes on all the difficulties I am facing right now. I am responding negatively to every negative thing. Father, I don’t have the strength to choose joy and life. But You say when I am weak, You are strong. Therefore, I am hooking into Your strength right now. I repent for looking at the bad and for only having it in mind. I have not even seen the blessings You have given me, and I have not thanked you for that which I have that blessess my heart. Please forgive me for being stuck here. Please forgive me for affecting others negatively with the cloud of heaviness I carry with me. Please wash me in Your blood and please touch me, in Jesus name. I know I can’t see the blessings you give daily so lovingly because negativity is in my face, but I choose to look for them. Thank You that You will help me to find them because my eyes are open to look for them. Holy Spirit, please remind me daily to look for that sweet spot of finding contentment in whatsoever state I am in. Help me to be mindful of finding peace, daily, even in my darkest hours. I pray this in Jesus mighty name. Amen and amen.

What words?

What words?

Psalm 19:14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Proverbs 10:19 Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues. (This means that when we speak carelessly it ends in sin, but the wise person keep his mouth shut)

Beloveds, today I want us to really take a deep look at the words that come out of our mouths. Firstly, do we glorify God in what comes from our mouths and secondly, do we build or destroy people with our words?

Many times we can lose the plot when it comes to watching our mouths. Anger can so easily take hold of our hearts and before we know it we say things that are very destructive to the person at the receiving end.

What do we do when our hearts are overwhelmed or when we are triggered by something someone has said or done? Do we choose to behave or do we just let rip and lose control over our mouths?

Let’s really weigh our hearts today and let’s be real with ourselves about what our “default setting” (our usual way of response) is towards things that offend us.

Years ago, I had quite a wake-up call when I realized how much toxidity came from my mouth when I was offended by someone or something. I felt the Lord prompt me to listen to what I was saying when I was triggered. That’s when I realized how much pain I could cause others.

It was then that the Lord spoke to me and said that to be an example to others and to make a difference in this world for the kingdom of Heaven, I have to “look” (behave) different than the world. I was actually convicted in my heart by how I was displaying God every time I lashed out and by the way I reacted when I was offended. I read that scripture in Isaiah 60:21 Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.

This was a turning point in my life. I decided that, no matter how hurt or offended I was in the moment, to have the Lord in mind. For His name sake, I will behave myself and I will quickly run to Him with the pain that was triggered. I have decided to first go and report to Him everything that was in my heart before defiling others with the ugly that wanted to come out of me. I usually say to the people I deal with, “Go and unload to the Lord everything that is in your heart. Tell Him exactly what you are feeling about the offence and what you are feeling about the person, even though He already knows. Don’t harm the one that offended you by lashing out and don’t gossip about them either. Move in the opposite spirit.”

How do we move in the opposite spirit? Well, if the person’s words that offended you felt like an attack, don’t attack them back. Keep your side clean. Like the second scripture at the beginning of this post reads, “the wise holds their tongue.” By holding your tongue you won’t say things that you will regret. You want Jesus to help you, and you don’t want to make it worse by using the enemy’s strategies that can harm both of you. The more you respond from that place of pain, (the devil’s way) the more you give him right to ruffle your feathers and keep poking at your pain.

I would really like to encourage you to keep in mind something that my husband always says – OFFENSE IS TAKEN NOT GIVEN! What does this mean? If you are offended by someone, the problem is NOT them, the problem is with you. Listen carefully, you can either take the lie that the enemy is trying to tell you or you can reject it. If you struggle to shake it off, you can be sure that the devil has a hold over you; he has something on you. Usually this means that there is pain that you haven’t overcome yet and the devil will use it to scratch you. It is often due to rejection or some self worth issue. When you have unresolved issues the devil knows exactly how to push your buttons so that you fall into his trap.

What is the trap? He uses your negative response to break the other person down. The devil doesn’t always use his demons to come against us, he manipulates us by using our unresolved pain an issues so that we destroy each other. We become tools in his hands and we carry out his assignments to destroy people. If we respond by breaking that person down, the enemy’s plans for destruction have been excecuted on them and you by you.

Why do I say the enemy will destroy you too? Matthew 7:1-2 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” I have seen in my life that when I have accused people of certain things, how that very thing has come back against me. Sometimes it takes hours, days or even years. Usually, I was not guilty of the accusation, but I was guilty because I had judged someone in the same way. This is why you run to Jesus immediately with your offenese and you ask Him to help you with the anger and judgment you have in your heart against that person. Involve Him in everything: the good, the bad and the ugly. With Him, there is safety! Most importantly, stay in repentance and ask forgiveness for wanting to fight the devil’s way.

While I was still working through my self-worth issues, and struggling with weight issues as well. I tried diets, eating right; I did everything exactly the way I should, but my weight did not come down. So, as the devil knew how to scratch me and at my lowest point, he came in to bring destruction. By this time, by God’s grace, I had learned to keep my mouth shut.

Here’s what had happened: My husband and I were discussing having a third child. He argued that we should wait because I was not healthy enough. As He said it I heard the Lord’s voice saying, “don’t take the lie”. What I heard from my husband was, “no we can’t have a baby because you are too fat!” (I heard through the filter of my unresolved pain, not what he was actually saying). Even after the Lord said not to take the lie, I was weak and I took the lie even though I did not try to protect my broken heart by lashing out at my husband. I immediately left the room and ran to Jesus with my broken heart. I had to wrestle with God to get this lie out of me; it took a few weeks. Most of all I had to disconnect my husband from the lie that I believed. I had to work at that which triggered me, forgive my husband and choose to believe that he was not my enemy. After about two weeks, I spoke to my husband about that incident. His response was that because I had been struggling with recurring bronchitis for the last three years, my health should recover before we took the risk. It had nothing to do with my weight and I realized that this was the truth. His intentions were pure. Because the enemy had something on me (my unresolved weight issues) he twisted my husbands words so that we could destroy each other, but because I kept my tongue and ran to Jesus; God could immediately intervene and save both of us from destruction.

Beloveds, are we mindful of displaying God’s splendor in every situation in our lives and are we mindful of the hearts of the people around us?

I don’t know about you, but I want to honor the Lord in everything I do. Yes, we mess up and then we ask forgiveness and we try again. We should stay mindful of Who it is that we want to glorify in everything we say and do. This surely helped me a lot, constantly being mindful of my Saviour Jesus in all I do.

Therefore, let us make this a priority that when we are offended, we seek the Lord first before we respond.

Let us pray: Abba Father, I come to You by the blood of the Lamb because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. I want to repent for where I have fallen into the trap of the enemy by lashing out against …………………………..(insert name), for allowing my unresolved pain to twist what was said or intended. Please forgive me for judging this person and for breaking down their character. I ask that every judgment against them will be broken in Jesus’ name and that every judgment that wants to come back to me will be broken off of my life in Jesus’ name. Holy Spirit, please help me to see immediately when the enemy is poking at my pain and lying to me. Please help me to see when he is trying to use me to do his bidding. I ask that you will give me the strength to shut my mouth, to walk away and to run to Jesus. Father, please deliver me from the pain that has been triggered and set me free from evil. Father, I want to glorify your name in everything I do. Please forgive me for everytime I have not walked worthy of the Lord. I love you Abba Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit. Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done in my life in Jesus name I pray. Amen and amen.

How We Ought To Fight!

How We Ought To Fight!

Something to remember is that we are always at war with the enemy of our souls, the devil. We have to daily be mindful of the fact that our enemy is looking for an oppertunity to devour us. Therefore the most important thing to remember is that how we approach our battles will either make or break us.

The word of God says in 1 Peter 5:8 NLT Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

I had to learn the hard way that it is not up to me to try to sort people out for the wrongs they have done to me or someone I love. Especially for injustice or for an accusation that we were not guilty of. I had to learn that God is the one who will vindicate me and that He is the Righteouss Judge that deals with injustice exactly the way it should be dealt with.

Isaiah 50:8 The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me!

It can be really difficult to stand back and allow God to sort things out for us. The moment we feel threatened by something or someone we go into survival mode where we need to protect ourselves immediately. What do we do? Either we put up our fists ready to fight, or we freeze and go into a “give up” mode, or we run away and don’t face it at all.

In my life whenever I felt threatened, I would immediately respond with anger, trying to justify myself, fists ready to fight back. But the result was always a terrible mess. It was here where I had to learn to shut my mouth and wait a day or two before I decided on what to do.

I have learnt that God justifies me, all I need to do is to run to Him and ask Him for help without trying to fix things myself. Something I have learnt from my husband that has been very useful to me is to first take a step back and get out of emotion before I respond. To put aside the emotions and to think logically about the situation and not what I feel.

I use this advice when I run to God to wait on Him for answers too. You have to put a bit of effort into this and be very disciplined to get your thoughts back into order. I would get my emotions back into peace, usually by repenting and asking forgiveness for my anger, bitterness, dissappointment (or whatever it might be) against that person. I would then wait on the Lord to give me direction on how to handle the situation.

We have to understand that when we are triggered, our hurt emotions will usually betray us and we should rather not respond or say anything in that moment. It will only bring harm to you and the other person.

Psalm 37:7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Romans 8:33 Who will bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One justifying

When our daughter was in her first year of High school we had to face injustice against her in a big way. One day at school, in break time, she and her friend saw smoke coming from the back of a building and the smell of the smoke was completely different from what cigarette smoke smells like (our daughter knew what cigarette smoke smelt like because her grandfather was a smoker). They went and reported it to their register teacher. After break this teacher called the whole class together and started smelling each childs hands. When he smelt her hands he made a remark and he went on to the the next child. She did not think much of it because she knew she was not guilty.

It was Friday and after the “smelling”, school came out. When she got to the car and she switched on her phone she received a message from her best friend saying, he can’t believe she did it. Now, this friend of her’s was the little brother of the register teacher. Immediately fear took hold of her heart and the enemy started tormenting her.

My mother’s instincts – to protect her baby, kicked in and anger rose up within me. I wanted to let this teacher have it! Our daughter was distraught. She was crying, had anxiety and I got angrier by the minute. I started praying and asked the Lord for help and then I heard: “You cannot feel sorry for her because anger will rise up in you and it will make your prayers inaffective”. This wasn’t nice to hear, how can I not feel sorry for her? She was not guilty and this was injustice. She was tormented by the fact that so many people at school will find out and she would be bullied.

I had to stay in repentance for my angered heart the whole of Saturday because every time I saw her I could see the strain on her face and how sore her heart was. By God’s grace I got it together, I could forgive this teacher and I hung unto God with everything in me. I decided to fight this battle the way the bible prescribes to us. I had realised that it was not the man that I had to fight against, but the demons operating through him.

Ephesians 6:12 For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

God is the Righteous Judge, the Judge of all Ages and I focussed my prayer on Him judging the situation and giving us a righteous verdict.

The Sunday morning the Lord told me to take her for a drug test at our clinic (I was devestated, I knew she wasn’t guilty, but I had to take her). They tested her for 5 different drugs and all 5 tests came back negative. Monday morning after a lot of prayer we went to school to speak to the headmaster. We did not go in with guns blazing. The headmaster had started an investigation and would contact us as soon as she had all information.

That week at school was hectic for our daugter. The register teacher’s cricket team members started bullying her by making remarks like she was a druggy and how bad she was. The anger started brooding in my heart again. I had to pray for myself constantly to let go and let God do this. The headmaster did come back and she did speak to the teacher and according to her all were resolved. The bullying did not stop and everyone that was either taking sports or were in this teachers classess would keep on making hurtful remaks toward her.

The Lord said to me to keep praying for our daughter to be vindicated by Him, to break off the curses being placed on her by the people bullying her and to wait until He tells me to go and speak to this teacher. I had to keep my heart right before God. I knew I couldn’t ask God for vindication if our attitudes towards this teacher were in the same spirit (the devil) as those that we were standing against. God can only fight for us if our hearts are right before Him.

A few days later as I woke up, the Lord said to me that today is the day to speak to this teacher. I made ready, prepared my heart and I asked Holy Spirit to take charge over my mouth and to speak through me. I gave the report with the negative test results to the teacher and I said to him that the bullying will stop now because she is proven not guilty. It was all that was needed, there was no need to scream or shout or get angry. I knew I was drawing the line in the sand in the spirit against the enemy and that God had already judged the enemy for accusing our daughter injustly. In less than a day all bullying and torment had stopped. Her friend that accused her also came and asked forgiveness for believing the accusations.

Romans 8:33 Who will bring an accusation against the elect of God? God is the One justifying

Isaiah 33:22 For the Lord is our judge,The Lord is our lawgiver,The Lord is our king; He will save us

I have gone through this more than once in my life – where I had to completely trust the Righteous Judge to vindicate me or someone I love, His way. Many times I just wanted to say my say, to lash out. Many times I wanted to talk behind their backs about their behaviour to others. But then Holy Spirit was always faithful to help me to stay in repentance, to fight another way – by not allowing my heart to be hardened, by staying in repentance and by asking God to truly help me to forgive so that He could interfere in the situation and let justice be done. It is a different war – it is not against flesh (a person). We are fighting against demons and principalities. We have to learn to fight Heavens way.

Psalm 89:14 says: “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; love and faithfulness go before You.”

God is righteous and just, He is Holy, there is no wickedness in Him. He cannot fight for you when you are operating in sin. When you are cursing someone, or when you have bitterness in your heart, or gossipping. These are the fruit of the enemy (the devil). If you try to fight evil with evil, justice will not be done. Be carefull of this.

I want to encourage you by saying that The Righteous Judge, Our God, the God who created heaven and earth has never let me down when the enemy came in to try to devour me. He has always shown that He is just! So, beloved, stick in there and keep your heart right before God so that He can give you a righteous verdict!

Let us pray: Father, I come before you by the blood of The Lamb, Jesus Christ. I repent, for my hardened heart. I am in survival mode and I want to fight my way. I want to say what I want to say so that I can feel better. Father, I am telling you everything that’s going on in my heart because You see it anyway. I am so angry because of this injustice. I am angry that nobody is fighting for me and that I am standing alone. Please forgive me for believing that I am alone because Your word says that You never leave me or forsake me. Forgive me for not having love like Jesus has. He was spat on, He was accused of being the devil, He was hated, but He still loved. Not one ugly thing came out of His mouth or was found in His heart. There are many ugly things in my heart and I repent and ask forgiveness, I choose to lay it down, I choose to grab hold of what is righteous. Holy Spirit, I can not do this by myself, please help me to daily forgive and to daily repent so that I can overcome. Righteous Judge, will you please take charge over this situation, I stand back and I allow You to let justice be done for me. Please show me what must be done and guide me in Your truth. Let Your will be done. In the name of Jesus the Christ I pray. Amen and amen.