(Decisions Of The Heart Part 2) - Free Indeed - Abundant Living After Abuse

In my previous post, I was focusing on strife, God’s promises and our determination to bring someone with us through a journey that God only ordained for the person that he promised something to. So, for example Abraham, he was promised that he would be a father to A Special People but he decided to take his nephew Lot along in this journey and strife began. Hence, Abraham had to say goodbye and that is when God was able to follow through with His plan.

How do we get rid of strife? First, seek the leading of the Holy Spirit and put those who are causing strife and put you in deep prayer.  Second, ask the Holy Spirit if the person who is causing strife is for you to learn a lesson, for you to help or for you to let go? Third, letting go of people who cause us strife is not about being a Christian or non-Christian but rather, is how we handle letting go of people in a Christ like manner. Of course, we must remember that Satan will put guilt trip on you for letting go of someone who maybe were not ordained to be in your life in the first place.

When God does not give us instructions or ordain us to take someone with us in our spiritual journey there will be strife. I am not directing this statement to married couples that is a different post. When we decide to take it upon ourselves to ask others to go along with us in our journey and when our Creator did not say so, we invite strife. 

If you find yourself in strife with someone who is bringing you down and you seem not to be able to move forward spiritually, mentally and emotionally, maybe it is time to let go. Here is an example, one day I had a girl come to me for counseling and she asked me why she was not being blessed? She had been with a handful of men and they all promise to marry her but they let her go and the one she was with at the time was showing signs that he would also be leaving her soon and this was causing strife in her relationship. This young lady did believe in Christ, she had gone to church when she was a little girl but did not have a personal connection with Jesus. I asked her, what if God has the right person for you but since you have chosen in your journey men who don’t love you as they should and you are with them when the right man comes along, would you be ready for this type of blessing? She replied, no! So you see, you are blocking your blessing. I would love to say that she made positive changes in her life but that was not the case. She has chosen to live the life that God does not want for her. She has blocked her blessing because she chose to have a person be with her that God has not ordained. 

The decisions of the heart are not easy but necessary. Who do you have in your life right at this moment that is causing you strife? Are you seeking the Holy Spirit and our Lord Jesus Christ? If so, we will be placed in situations where our faith will be tried and the trials and strife in our lives may be an indication that we need to let go. Whether it is your mother, father, sister brother or whomever when we choose Christ and follow Him we are now in his grace and his promises he will fulfill. The bible says “If you come to me but will not leave your family, you cannot be my follower. You must love me more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters—even more than your own life! Whoever will not carry the cross that is given to them when they follow me cannot be my follower.” Luke 14:26-27

When choose someone other than what God wants for us and it causes us strife, it is not that we are carrying a cross for Jesus but rather, a cross that we make for ourselves. 

No matter what you are going through if you desire to be saved, invite the Lord and he will give you the power to let go. He will provide for you because with God nothing is impossible. Letting go of strife is important so that you can live the life God has for you.

(Decisions Of The Heart Part I) - Free Indeed - Abundant Living After Abuse

Sometimes the decisions of the heart can be so hard to make especially when your decisions are predicated in strife. Whether one is married or in a relationship, strife can be the major reason that relationships, friends and family need to separate. Strife blinds us, keeps us unfocused and in an unhealthy mental state. I have come to realize as I get older that strife is something that we will never get used to. Let’s look at Abraham, God wanted Abraham to leave his comfort zone and start anew with his family and all his servants. Well, Abraham decided to take along his nephew Lot and his family and servants. 

God did not ask Abraham to take anyone but his family and his servants yet because Abraham loved his nephew he decided to take the initiative to take him on a journey not ordained by God. In time, Lot’s servants were in strife with Abraham’s servants and things did not look so good. God promised Abraham a new life but Abraham decided to share God’s promise with someone who was not really vested in the promise to begin with. Why do I say that? Because you can see that by Abraham choosing Lot it made a mess of what should have been an easier journey. Finally, Abraham had to practically beg Lot to go his separate way and he did. To me, it seemed that Lot was spoiled and had his way. In fact, Lot chose the best land for himself. The strife that Lot created for Abraham was awful, Lot got kidnapped, and his servants fought with Abraham’s servants so on and so forth. Once Abraham released Lot, God was able to bring his promises to fruition. Read Genesis 13 for more information. 

When we let go of people that cause us strife God can do miracles in our lives but not until we choose to let go of the very thing that causes the strife. God has great plans for us as mentioned in Jeremiah 29:11 and sometimes they don’t include certain individuals (i.e. father, mother, sister, brother, etc.) When we choose God we know that we will be tested and we may be rejected by our loved ones. Abraham needed to learn this for himself. 

And by the way, just because we separate ourselves from people who cause us unnecessary strife in our lives does not mean that we are not being good Christians. That is far from the truth!

 

(STANDING -A Learning Heart Part 3) - Free Indeed - Abundant Living After Abuse

In the previous posts in this series, I covered how we can build a relationship with Christ. The first part mentioned Lazarus’s sisters Mary the one who sat at Jesus feet to learn and Martha the busybody. Mary chose to sit and learn from the Master. Then the second part of the series is about walking with Jesus and building a relationship with Him through the leading of the Holy Spirit. As with any relationship, we communicate, spend time with each other and learn from each other. The same applies to our relationship with the Holy Spirit and Jesus.

When we have a true deep relationship with both the Holy Spirit and Jesus, our lives can only change for the better. You see, when we have the leading of both Son and Spirit we can fully understand grace then and only then we can be able to bear the fruit of the Spirit “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

It has been my experience as I work with different churches and organizations that focus on helping survivors heal from abuse that most of the individuals who say they have been healed, still hold grudges toward the people that have abused them or hurt them. They have become bitter instead of better in character. When we have a true and deep relationship with Christ through the leading of the Holy Spirit change is bound to occur. When we are in true relationship with Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit we have the power to STAND with confidence.  

Stand & Learn

As we stand and learn through the leading of the Holy Spirit, know that Christ the (Bridegroom) is also standing in a place that no human being can stand and heal us. The Bible says of Jesus “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Revelations 3:20 

Speaking of bridegroom, for most individuals when they are about to propose to the future significant other, they consider the cost of giving up their single life. They also consider if they know the person long enough, if they can live without this person for the rest of their lives, and they usually know that the person is the right person because they have built a relationship. The same applies with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our relationship with him. Interesting is that by nature we would never on our own accord choose Christ and say (I Do) give of myself to him completely, because we all have carnal minds “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:7-8 and Satan knows this, this is why he does his best to entertain us in many ways so that our focus will not be on the Lover Of Our Soul Jesus Christ. 

When we have been abused our perception of God often than not have been corrupted. The longer we remain angry because of our abuse the more we are prone to be angry toward our Creator. Hence, the more Satan will make us doubt the Love of God for us and in time believe a lie. In time our minds will be programmed to believe all sorts of lies and negative thinking. Our minds need to be reprogram from Satan’s lies to God’s truths and the only way that we can do this is to allow the Holy Spirit to move in our hearts by sitting, listening and learning while walking with Jesus. When the Holy Spirit moves in our hearts and we surrender all to Christ we are no longer living by the flesh, the Bible says “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” Romans 8:9 this shows that our lives do change for the better because of Jesus Christ.

  

The healing journey requires that you surrender all your fears, your strongholds, your pain, your hurts, past memories and all that keeps in you in bondage. When you are free then you can STAND firm and rooted in Him because your power heal is drawn from His strength “I [you] can do all things through Christ who strengthens me [you]” Philippians 4:13 just knowing this should give you comfort to know that you can be free indeed through Christ. 

The battle for our mind, body and soul is fierce but we must STAND firm and the only way to achieve this is to give it all to Jesus because in our own power we cannot do anything. Brother Paul tells us in the Bible that we can draw power from God but we must do our part “Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness,” Ephesians 6:10-14

To really heal from our past abuses and prepare us for future trials, we must have a deep relationship with Christ and rooted in His strength. 

Are you ready to sit, listen, walk with Jesus and stand in truth so that your healing can begin? 

If so, ask the Holy Spirit in Jesus’s name to lead your footsteps so that you may Stand against the schemes of the devil, Stand your ground and Stand firm in Christ.