Author: Renee Faul

April 15

May You Forgive Yourself

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GODLY SORROW BRINGS REPENTANCE THAT LEADS TO SALVATION AND LEAVES NO REGRET, BUT WORLDLY SORROW BRINGS DEATH
(2 Corinthians 7:10).

Discern that there is a difference between conviction (convincing someone of an error) and condemnation (declaring someone as doomed).  When God convicts you, He provides a way out—REPENTANCE.  This deed of repentance will turn you around to lead you back to the path of salvation.  It delivers from evil.  It harvests Hope.  It results in Holiness.  It provides Forgiveness. It never brings regret.

On the other hand, when the accuser condemns you, he provides no way out.  He will not provide anything to contribute to any kind of deliverance.  His goal is to keep the guilt alive.  His intention is to deem you unwanted, unacceptable, and unworthy to be loved…even by God.  His aim is to drive you away from your Savior, Jesus Christ, with His Love, Hope, and Truth, and dump you into hopelessness, where there is no way out.

Therefore, be alert and distinguish between conviction that comes from God and condemnation that comes from the accuser.

THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION TO THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS…FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS HAS MADE ME FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH
(Romans 8:1-2).

But, when the father-of-lies deems you doomed and damned, the Lord Jesus, your Savior, provides an escape from the enemy’s condemnation. All you need to do is come to Him. Submit the beliefs of doom and damnation to Him. Ask Him for His Truth. And if you cannot forgive yourself for something you have done, ask yourself why and find the belief with which the father-of-lies has condemned you.  When you surrender this belief to the Lord Jesus, His Truth will set you free from condemnation.

IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST AND WILL FORGIVE US OUR SINS AND PURIFY US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS
(1 John 1:9).

Is there something in your life for which you cannot forgive yourself? Why not? What is the underlying reason from the father-of-lies that keeps you from forgiving yourself? For what reason do you have to keep the guilt alive?

Bring these accusatory beliefs to God, and let Him show you His way out—REPENTANCE. Confess your wrong-doing. Then, in faith, accept His FORGIVENESS.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you that Your way out of guilt is REPENTANCE: to acknowledge the wrong I have done. Then, to turn to You to make it right. Thank you that Your Forgiveness makes everything right—it even cleanses from all unrighteousness.

Maintain an Awareness

Know that you cannot be a friend of the Light and be a friend of darkness, at the same time. Darkness and Light do not mix. They are incompatible. You are either in the dark, or in the light.

The Two Counsels

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Guilty

April 14

Put Off the OLD SELF with Its Deeds

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PUT OFF YOUR OLD SELF, WHICH IS BEING CORRUPTED BY ITS DECEITFUL DESIRES…AND PUT ON THE NEW SELF, CREATED TO BE LIKE GOD
(Ephesians 4:22). 

We all have a CORRUPTED PERSON living inside of us: a being, shaped in us by the father-of-lies, filled with negative, destructive beliefs of condemnation, shame, abandonment, and rejection—the OLD SELF.

When these OLD SELF beliefs of condemnation, abandonment, shame, and rejection are triggered, we hurt so much that we want to bandage the pain as soon as possible.  And the father-of-lies stands ready with his SOLUTION: sinful habits and patterns of hiding, running, and blaming others.  THESE ARE THE PRACTICES OF THE OLD SELF.

Some people think that in order to become holy, they only need to put off the PRACTICES of the OLD SELF.  They think that all they need to do is to stop their harmful habits of hiding, running, and blaming in order to become whole and holy.

SINCE YOU HAVE TAKEN OFF YOUR OLD SELF WITH ITS PRACTICES
(Colossians 3:9).

But I have discovered that it does not help to only put off the PRACTICES of the OLD SELF.  You have to put off the PERSON of the OLD SELF, first.  If you only put off the PRACTICES of the OLD SELF, the OLD SELF PERSON is still in you.  This deceived OLD SELF PERSON is void of God’s Love, Hope, and Truth, and feels unloved, unworthy, and unacceptable. The OLD SELF PERSON NEEDS ITS PRACTICES OF DEFENSE, so it can take care of its pain.  If you take its defense patterns away, it will find new ones.  You cannot do this backwards.

Have you noticed the OLD SELF PERSON that lives in you? What are the negative, destructive beliefs that keep it alive? What are its practices—the harmful habits that take care of its pain?

I urge you to invite the Lord Jesus to put off the OLD SELF in you, and to put on HIS SELF in you, who is filled with new beliefs of Love, Truth, and Hope.  Then, your harmful habits will disappear, because it is only if there is someone NEW living in you with whole and holy beliefs that you do not need your sinful defense patterns anymore.  Know that you cannot better your SELF from the outside; you need to be exchanged on the inside for a NEW SELF—the SELF of the Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I lay my corrupted OLD SELF PERSON by Your feet. Please come and replace it with Your Self—the NEW SELF. Then, I will not need my harmful habits anymore. Then, I will be new.

Maintain an Awareness

How much of our misbehavior sprouts from trying to PROVE that we are acceptable, worthy, loved, and wanted, because the OLD MAN character, conveniently formed in us by the father-of-lies, christened us unacceptable, unworthy, unloved, and unwanted?

The Two Counsels
April 13

Sometimes, You Have to Walk through the Mud

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LET US FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS, THE AUTHOR AND PERFECTER OF OUR FAITH, WHO FOR THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM ENDURED THE CROSS, SCORNING ITS SHAME, AND SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE THRONE OF GOD.  CONSIDER HIM WHO ENDURED SUCH OPPOSITION FROM SINFUL MEN, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT GROW WEARY AND LOSE HEART
(Hebrews 12:2-3).

I take a two-mile walk, every day, in the mountains where I live.  During the spring, the snow melts and sometimes there is a lot of mud on this dirt road.  One day, I came to a patch of mud that stretched across the whole width of the road.  I stopped short and stared at it in disgust.  There was no way around it.  I did not feel like trudging through the mud and getting my shoes, my pants, and my little white dog soiled with it, but I wanted to see the beautiful view of the mountains on the other side. Suddenly God’s Spirit nudged me, “Child, sometimes you have to walk through the mud to get to the other side, where you can get a better view. You have to ENDURE during unpleasant circumstances, so you may gain a better perspective.”  

Are you facing unpleasant circumstances, at the moment? Do these bring you in touch with dreadful circumstances of the past—childhood abuse and neglect? I encourage you to walk through the mud.  Regard your present circumstances with acceptance and tolerance. Remain firm under your current suffering, without yielding to despair and defeat. Face the childhood abuse.  Look the offenses in the eye.  Confront the mistreatment.  Do not be afraid.  If you stay on this side, you are losing out on the best view—God’s Perspective.  Your Perfect Father wants to accomplish many things in your life, but these are all on the other side of the mud.

You might say that you do not want to walk through the mud, because it will contaminate, corrupt, and stain you.  This is a lie from the father-of-lies.  The pain of the abuse and neglect is already living in your heart, contaminating your soul.  Remember, it is not the circumstances that are hurting you, but your CONCLUSIONS—what you came to believe about yourself, others, and God, as a result of the circumstances. And these CONCLUSIONS live in your MIND, contaminating your spirit and the view of your present circumstances.

Learn to endure. EMBRACE these conclusions, EXPOSE them to the Lord Jesus, and ask Him for His Perspective. His Perspective will EXCHANGE you for a new person.

What kind of “mud” do you have in your life? What has been hindering you from walking through the mud to a great new start?

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, let me take Your hand. Walk with me through the mud that has been contaminating my mind, my heart, and my life for so many years. Bring me to a new place, where I may see a different view—Your Perspective. Then, I will be a new person.

Maintain an Awareness

Since the beginning of our lives, the OLD MAN beliefs of abandonment, shame, condemnation, and rejection have been firmly planted in our minds and hearts by the father-of-lies.

The Two Counsels

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Fearful Hopeless Shameful

April 12

Jesus Did Not Come to be Served…but to Serve

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THE SON OF MAN DID NOT COME TO BE SERVED, BUT TO SERVE, AND TO GIVE HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM FOR MANY
(Matthew 20:28).

Celebrate that the Lord Jesus has been raised from the dead…to become your Life.

Beloved One, I, the Bread of Life, want you to know that, first and foremost, I did not come to be served by you, but to serve you: to care for you…to minister to you…to save you.  Know that in the first place it is not about what you do for Me, but what you allow Me to do for you.  It is not about how useful you are to Me, but how valuable I am to you.  I am offering My Life to you, so you may be unchained from sorrow, discharged from guilt, and unyoked from slavery to harmful habits.

SO IT IS WRITTEN: ‘THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING; THE LAST ADAM, A LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT’
(1 Corinthians 15:45).

Precious Child, it is not about what you have done in the past that was wrong, but about what I have done in the past…that was right.  I died for you, then became alive for you, to offer you My Self—a Life-giving Spirit.

THEN JESUS DECLARED, ‘I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. HE WHO COMES TO ME WILL NEVER GO HUNGRY, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME WILL NEVER BE THIRSTY’
(John 6:35).

Are you so busy serving the Lord Jesus that you are missing out on Him serving you with His Life? What is it that you need the Lord Jesus to do for you and to BE for you through His Life-giving Spirit, today?

Receive from Jesus, the Bread of Life, so your hunger for Hope may be stilled, your longing for Righteousness may be satisfied, and your yearning for Wholeness may be fulfilled.  Accept that it is only after you have received from Him that you can give back to Him, because without Him you are nothing and you have nothing.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I come to be served by You. I come to receive Your Life, so I may be unchained from the sorrow that has lived in my heart for so long. I come to receive a drink from Your Living Water, so I may be unyoked from the guilt my past mistakes have caused in my heart. I come to You to be my Bread of Life, so that my hunger for Righteousness may be satisfied and my thirst for Love may be quenched.  How joyful I am that You have been raised from the dead…to become my LIFE! How blessed I am that You have given Your Life to me as a Ransom.

Maintain an Awareness

We have all eaten from the fruit of deception—believing and accepting negative, destructive beliefs about ourselves, God, and others that are not true.

The Two Counsels
April 11

But God Intended It for Good

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YOU INTENDED TO HARM ME, BUT GOD INTENDED IT FOR GOOD TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT IS NOW BEING DONE, THE SAVING OF MANY LIVES
(Genesis 50:20).

I am sorry if anybody intended to harm you at any point during your life.  I am sorry about the evil done against you.  I wish I could have protected you against it.  I am sorry about any harsh punishment you had to go through as a child.  I wish that did not happen.  It breaks my heart.  I am sorry about your dad’s or mom’s disapproval and condemnation.  I wish their hearts had been healed from their own pain, so they would have treated you differently.  I feel your pain.

I am sorry for any unjust blame that you had to endure, during your life.  I wish people could have owned their own stuff instead of blaming it on you.  I know how you feel.  I am sorry if you were abandoned by a parent or a friend.  I wish I were there to comfort you and take their place.  I know how much it hurts to be left.  I am sorry for any shame you had experienced at the hand of a smooth criminal.  I am sorry if nakedness was involved.  I wish I could have washed off all the unrighteousness and clothed you.

PRAISE BE TO THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE FATHER OF COMPASSION AND THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT, WHO COMFORTS US IN ALL OUR TROUBLES, SO THAT WE CAN COMFORT THOSE IN ANY TROUBLE WITH THE COMFORT WE OURSELVES HAVE RECEIVED FROM GOD
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Today, I want to comfort you with the Comfort I myself have received from God during times of unjust suffering. Listen to how God comforted my heart: Child, do not despair of the evil done against you—the injury…the depravity…the immorality.  They might have meant evil against you; BUT I, the God of all Comfort, will cancel any evil done against you—any manipulation…any iniquity…..any corruption—if you yield it to My Power and Control.

What evil has been done against you? Have you been abandoned, condemned, or shamed? What are you going to do about this?

I bless you to yield any evil done against you to God’s Power, so He may turn it into Good.  Yield the abandonment to God’s Love, so He may replace it with Belonging.  Yield the condemnation to God’s Holiness, so He may exchange it for Acceptance.  Yield the shame to God’s Truth, so He may turn it into Glory.

PRAYER: Most High, I bring all the evil done against me, to You. I yield it to Your Power. I surrender it to Your Goodness. I submit it to Your Authority. Reverse the purpose of the evil, so it would serve Your Purpose, instead. Turn the evil into Righteousness. Turn the sin into Holiness. Turn the disgrace into Grace. Change the hopelessness into Hope. Change the abandonment into Belonging. Change the condemnation into Acceptance. To You be Glory…forever…and ever.

Maintain an Awareness

Temptations give us many opportunities to be trained in God’s Holiness.

The Two Counsels
April 10

Bitterness—the Heart of Stone

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MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO LIVE IN PEACE WITH ALL MEN AND TO BE HOLY; WITHOUT HOLINESS NO ONE WILL SEE THE LORD. SEE TO IT THAT NO ONE MISSES THE GRACE OF GOD AND THAT NO BITTER ROOT GROWS UP TO CAUSE TROUBLE AND DEFILE MANY
(Hebrews 12:14-15).

Do you have a heart of stone: a heart filled with resentment, bitterness, and animosity?

Some years ago, I went through an experience where someone affronted and vexed me and caused a lot of injury to my heart.  I became bitter…very bitter.  I bristled with resentment and animosity.  My heart became hostile, harsh, and sour, and so did my spirit, soul, and body.

I was going to keep this behavior up for the rest of my life, until the Everlasting Father spoke to my heart and said, “Child, if you don’t look out, this bitterness of yours is going to destroy everything you have: your marriage, your friendships, and your own life.  Is that really what you want?”

I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART AND PUT A NEW SPIRIT IN YOU; I WILL REMOVE FROM YOU YOUR HEART OF STONE AND GIVE YOU A HEART OF FLESH
(Ezekiel 36:26).

The Perfect Father added, “See to it that you do not miss My Grace, because it is enough for you, despite the mega offense that was committed against you. Bring your bitterness to Me. Then, I will remove your heart of stone and give you a new heart and put My Spirit of Love in you.  Are you willing?”

Well, that did it for me.  I recognized that bitterness ruins and tears everything to shreds.  I did not want to lose my marriage, my friendships, and my own life to bitterness.  I confessed my resentment and animosity and allowed my Father to remove my heart of stone…and replace it with His own.

Understand that it is not the stones someone hurls at you that cause trouble and defile many, but the stones that are stored in your own heart: the stones of bitterness, resentment, and animosity.

What stones of bitterness, resentment, and animosity are you storing in your heart? Why do you want to keep these in your heart, even though they are damaging your spirit, soul, and body?

What will it take for you to allow God to remove your heart of stone…and replace it with His own?

PRAYER: Lord God, shine Your Light in my heart so I may see the consequences of bitterness: the desolation it brings to my own heart, the separation it causes in my relationships, and the deterioration it brings to the quality of my life. Bring me to the place where I will ask, “Is this bitterness in my heart really worth the damage it is causing?”

Maintain an Awareness

Woe to us, the rebellious children, when we take counsel from the father-of-lies, and when we cover ourselves with coverings that are not from God. We will add sin to sin.

The Two Counsels

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Bitter

April 09

Forgive from Your Heart

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IN ANGER HIS MASTER TURNED HIM OVER TO THE JAILERS TO BE TORTURED, UNTIL HE SHOULD PAY BACK ALL HE OWED.  THIS IS HOW MY HEAVENLY FATHER WILL TREAT EACH OF YOU UNLESS YOU FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER FROM YOUR HEART
(Matthew 18:34).

I have had many accusers and I have had many accusations hurled at me. On one of these occasions, the accusations hurt so much that they felt like hard-handed lashes slashing my bare flesh. When my accusers were finally done with their tongue lashing, I left, broken and bleeding. In fact, I thought I was going to bleed to death. To make matters worse, the Lord Jesus whispered to me, “Child, I want you to forgive your accusers…from your heart.”

Surprised at His impossible expectations, I answered, “Are you kidding, God, My heart is broken.  How can You expect me to forgive from a broken heart? You are asking the impossible of me.”

“Exactly,” the Holy Spirit answered in my heart, “You can’t.  You can only forgive from your heart if it is healed.  So, let Me heal it, first.”

To allow the Lord Jesus to heal my heart I had to focus on the pain in my heart—the pain the accusations caused me.  Do you know what?  When I examined my heart, I discovered that the pain that really broke my heart was not the condemning accusations my accusers hurled at me, but the fact that I felt so alone, exposed, and unprotected during their tongue-lashing.

I brought the real pain to the Lord Jesus…and He exchanged it for His Truth: Precious Child, I was there when your accusers whipped you with their out-of-control tongues. I was not NEXT to you, but BETWEEN you and your accusers, receiving the lashes for you.  You were not alone. You were not unprotected. I suffered with you.

BECAUSE HE HIMSELF SUFFERED WHEN HE WAS TEMPTED, HE IS ABLE TO HELP THOSE WHO ARE BEING TEMPTED
(Hebrews 2:18).

I wept as this brought healing to the deepest places of my heart. Suddenly, the tongue lashing did not matter anymore. All that mattered was that the Lord Jesus shared my suffering. Only after I experienced His Presence in my suffering was I able to forgive my perpetrators from my heart.

Have you ever received a brutal tongue lashing that left you broken and bleeding, unable to forgive? The Lord Jesus knows how you feel. He, too, has suffered humility, condemnation, and unfairness. Therefore, He is able to help you feel better, if you let Him in on your suffering. He will share your suffering. He will help you to forgive…from your heart.

PRAYER: Most High, work Your Truth in me, so I may be able to forgive from my heart. Shine Your Light on me, so I may find the negative, destructive beliefs from the father-of-lies that are hindering me from forgiving.  Help me to take my focus off the circumstances and the facts that are causing the pain, but instead, to focus on my own heart and Your Truth.

Maintain an Awareness

Obedient surrender consists of three steps: EMBRACING, EXPOSING, and giving permission to be EXCHANGED.

The Two Counsels

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Accused Angry Bitter Rejected

April 08

Forgiveness Is More than a Decision

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IN ANGER HIS MASTER TURNED HIM OVER TO THE JAILERS TO BE TORTURED, UNTIL HE SHOULD PAY BACK ALL HE OWED.  THIS IS HOW MY HEAVENLY FATHER WILL TREAT EACH OF YOU UNLESS YOU FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER FROM YOUR HEART
(Matthew 18:34).

People often say, “Forgiveness is just a cold decision.  Just disregard your feelings.  Then it is easy to forgive.”  I have tried that.  It does not work.  Deep inside, my heart still remembers the pain.

FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER FROM YOUR HEART

Precious Child, how do you forgive anyone from your heart, if your heart is broken?  Don’t you see?  You cannot!  You need a healed heart, first, before you will be able to forgive from your heart, and there is only ONE who can do this for you—I, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The only way you can forgive from your heart is to stop disregarding your feelings…to stop ignoring your heart…to stop regarding forgiveness as a cold decision.  In fact, you need to do the exact opposite.  Focus on your heart.  Find out what it believes about your circumstances, about you, and about your perpetrator.  Face the pain.

HE HIMSELF BORE OUR SINS IN HIS BODY ON THE CROSS, SO THAT WE MIGHT DIE TO SINS AND LIVE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS; BY HIS WOUNDS YOU HAVE BEEN HEALED
(1 Peter 2:24).

Which oppressing conclusions are causing the pain and lack of forgiveness in your heart? Know that the pain will not destroy your heart if you face it, but these oppressing conclusions will, if you don’t face them. And they will keep you from forgiving from your heart.

FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER FROM YOUR HEART

Therefore, EMBRACE the conclusions in your heart that are preventing you from forgiving, EXPOSE these negative, destructive beliefs to the Lord Jesus, and let Him EXCHANGE these beliefs for His Perspective. Then, you will be able to forgive your perpetrator from your heart.

Have you been trying to forgive someone from your broken heart? Did it work? Are you willing to try something else?

I encourage you to surrender the beliefs that are causing your broken heart to the Lord Jesus, and let Him restore your heart with His personal Words to you. Then, forgive from your healed heart.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, please heal my broken heart, so I can forgive from my heart.

Maintain an Awareness

Capture that the human mind loves to reason WITHOUT the Holy Spirit.

The Two Counsels

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Angry Bitter

April 07

Forgive Them, for They Do Not Know What They Are Doing

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WHEN THEY CAME TO THE PLACE CALLED THE SKULL, THERE THEY CRUCIFIED HIM, ALONG WITH THE CRIMINALS—ONE ON HIS RIGHT, THE OTHER ON HIS LEFT. JESUS SAID, ‘FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.’  AND THEY DIVIDED UP HIS CLOTHES BY CASTING LOTS
(Luke 23:33-34).

Has someone offended you, recently, or long ago? Is this offense still lingering in your heart, stabbing you with each heartbeat?

Understand that your offenders do not know the extent of the hurt they caused you when they lashed out at you in anger.  At the time, they were only focused on their own pain and reacting to their own heartache.  He did not get the full scope of the result of his offense.  She did not know what she was doing to your heart.

FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING

Know that it is not what your offender said or did to you that is causing all the pain, but what you came to conclude about yourself, over the years.  The father-of-lies is responsible for these negative, destructive beliefs of rejection, abandonment, condemnation, and shame…not your offender.

Understand that when someone offends you, the father-of-lies uses this as an open door to hurl all the past rejection, abandonment, condemnation, and shame at your heart that you perceived through your previous offenders.  You do not just perceive the pain of the present offense, from your present offender, but the pain of a lifetime.  The father-of-lies is responsible for this…not your offender.

Sometimes we make mistakes…and others do, too. To make a mistake means to make a wrong judgment. This happens to all of us, even you and me. Please forgive those who made a mistake, because they did not know what they were doing, at the time. They made a wrong judgment. Maybe you did, too. Forgive yourself.

Is there resentment in your heart because of what a perpetrator said or did to you?

I encourage you to investigate the conclusions that got stuck in your heart “because of what your perpetrator said or did.” Surrender them to the Lord Jesus and ask Him for Truth. When you receive Truth, you will recognize the real perpetrator. Then, you will be able to forgive as Jesus did.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, help me to realize that it is not what my offender said or did to me that caused all the pain in my heart, but what I came to believe about myself in response to what he said or did. May I forgive like You do, Lord Jesus, for my perpetrators did not know what they were doing, but the father-of-lies did.

Maintain an Awareness

Since the beginning of our lives, the OLD MAN beliefs of abandonment, shame, condemnation, and rejection have been firmly planted in our minds and hearts by the father-of-lies.

The Two Counsels
April 06

The OLD ME and the NEW ME

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IF INDEED YOU HAVE HEARD HIM AND HAVE BEEN TAUGHT BY HIM, AS THE TRUTH IS IN JESUS:  THAT YOU PUT OFF, CONCERNING YOUR FORMER CONDUCT, THE OLD MAN WHICH GROWS CORRUPT ACCORDING TO THE DECEITFUL LUSTS, AND BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND, AND THAT YOU PUT ON THE NEW MAN WHICH WAS CREATED ACCORDING TO GOD, IN TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS
(Ephesians 4:21-24).

One of the revelations that opened my eyes was the discovery that I had an OLD ME living inside of me, since childhood: a corrupted person, formed by deception…a needy being, shaped by the lies of the father-of-lies…a flawed personality, influenced by negative, destructive beliefs of abandonment, condemnation, shame, and rejection.

The father-of-lies did not necessarily need BIG TRAUMATIC childhood experiences to install his negative, destructive beliefs into our minds. Although he DID use the traumatic incidences in our lives to make sure we believe that “God is disappointed in you” and “You are fatally flawed,” he only needed a little word like “NO!” when we were three years old to tell us that “You are not loved.” This negative, destructive belief, instilled in us during an insignificant event, would have the same adverse effect on our hearts than the one instilled in our minds during a traumatic event.

KNOWING THIS, THAT OUR OLD MAN IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, THAT THE BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE DESTROYED, THAT HENCEFORTH WE SHOULD NOT SERVE SIN
(Romans 6:6).

But then I learned that the Lord Jesus nailed the OLD ME to the cross with Himself.  Then, on the third day, He rose again to become the NEW ME in each of us—Someone who is created without the lies of the father-of-lies, in true righteousness and holiness.

FOR IF, WHEN WE WERE GOD’S ENEMIES, WE WERE RECONCILED TO HIM THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON, HOW MUCH MORE, HAVING BEEN RECONCILED, SHALL WE BE SAVED THROUGH HIS LIFE!
(Romans 5:10).

Are you aware of any childhood incidences during which the father-of-lies formed an OLD ME in you—a needy being, filled with negative, destructive beliefs of “I am not OK”?

Would you be willing to allow your OLD ME to be crucified with Jesus, and then invite Him into your heart to become the NEW ME from whom you may live? This is the only way you can get rid of your flawed personality, forever.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, thank you that I am not doomed to be a needy person, shaped by the father-of-lies, but that there is a NEW ME available to me through You.

Maintain an Awareness

We do not understand what is going on within us and we are too afraid to find out. We are too afraid to live…and even more afraid to die.

The Two Counsels