Rejected

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

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 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

Thus, the OLD MAN became the origin of sin that causes the effect of sin in each of us. The OLD MAN is where it all started and where it all ends…unless we are delivered from it.

The Two Counsels

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Accused Angry Bitter Rejected

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

Regardless of which pain you have, the determining question is, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH IT?

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

There is someone who came to bring Heaven to earth, into your troubled heart, into your dark mind, into your dead spirit, into your disease-ridden body, and into your broken life. His name is Jesus Christ, the Perfect Father’s Son.

The Two Counsels
April 05

When Do I Sin?

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I have often pondered the meaning of sin: I am not a murderer. I am not a liar. I do not steal. I do not even kill a spider. So, when do I sin?

DON’T YOU KNOW THAT WHEN YOU OFFER YOURSELVES TO SOMEONE TO OBEY HIM AS SLAVES, YOU ARE SLAVES TO THE ONE WHOM YOU OBEY—WHETHER YOU ARE SLAVES TO SIN, WHICH LEADS TO DEATH, OR TO OBEDIENCE, WHICH LEADS TO RIGHTEOUSNESS?
(Romans 6:16).

I became aware that to sin or not to sin depends on whose counsel I obey, moment-by-moment: the negative, destructive counsel of the father-of-lies, or the Counsel of the Perfect Father. I am not talking about obedience to the Ten Commandments, but the effects of a mutual, moment-by-moment relationship between God and His children.

AND EVERYTHING THAT DOES NOT COME FROM FAITH IS SIN
(Romans 14:23).

You see, when I obey the counsel of the father-of-lies—that I do not matter…that I am not acceptable…that I am not loved—I feel like sinning.  It is when I obey this dark counsel of doom, dread, and despair that I am drawn into the harmful habits of sinful solutions.

MANY TIMES HE DELIVERED THEM, BUT THEY WERE BENT ON REBELLION AND THEY WASTED AWAY IN THEIR SIN
(Psalm 106:43).

Precious One, how often have I called you to refrain from the counsel of the father-of-lies, but you were bent on rebellion. You wasted away in your sin. How often have I wanted to deliver you from feeling unloved, unwanted, and unworthy, but you were set in your own ways. You became a slave to the harmful habits of sinful solutions.

Know that you have a choice: to turn to the oppressing counsel of the father-of-lies…and sin, or to turn to Me, the Most High, in obedience to My Counsel. If you turn to Me, I will deliver you from the effects of the father-of-lies’ counsel and lead you into My Righteousness.

When do you usually feel like sinning—drawn into the harmful habits of sinful solutions? Whose counsel usually precedes this behavior?

What would it take for you to change—to turn to the Lord’s Counsel, in obedience, instead of relying on your sinful solutions to rescue you from the father-of-lies’ counsel?

PRAYER: Lord God, remind me, daily, that You can deliver me from the harmful habits of my sinful solutions and bring me into Your Counsel…if I am not bent on rebellion.

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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Abandoned Rejected Worthless

April 04

Walk in the Light of the Truth

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THIS IS THE MESSAGE WE HAVE HEARD FROM HIM AND DECLARE TO YOU: GOD IS LIGHT; IN HIM THERE IS NO DARKNESS AT ALL. IF WE CLAIM TO HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM YET WALK IN THE DARKNESS, WE LIE AND DO NOT LIVE BY THE TRUTH. BUT IF WE WALK IN THE LIGHT, AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT, WE HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER, AND THE BLOOD OF JESUS, HIS SON, PURIFIES US FROM ALL SIN
(1 John 1:5-7).

 Precious One, you need to know that to walk in the Light means to live by My Truth. Truth turns darkness into Light. Therefore, you cannot be in agreement with the negative, destructive beliefs of the OLD MAN and in agreement with the Truth, at the same time. You cannot heed the counsel of the father-of-lies and My Counsel, simultaneously. 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. As soon as you turn on the Light, the darkness flees, and as soon as you turn off the Light, it is dark. The Light is turned on by the Truth, because whoever lives by the Truth comes into the Light. Be careful, Child. If you are walking in darkness, you are not living by the Truth. If you are living by the Truth, you will not walk in darkness.

BUT WHOEVER LIVES BY THE TRUTH COMES INTO THE LIGHT
(John 3:21).

Expose the darkness in your mind to the Light.  Lay open the beliefs that cause you to despair.  Bring to light the interpretations you have made about yourself…the assumptions you have made about your enemies…the conclusions you have formed about your friends.  Live by the Truth, so you can walk in the Light.

FOR THE FRUIT OF THE LIGHT CONSISTS IN ALL GOODNESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUTH
(Ephesians 5:9).

 May you walk in the Light of the Truth.

“I am a mistake. I am abandoned. I am fatally flawed. I have disappointed God. I am a failure. I have no purpose. I am invisible. I am not special. I am a disgrace.” Which of these dark interpretations live in your mind?

Embrace these dark conclusions, then expose them to the Light, and they will be exchanged for the Truth, for the fruit of the Light…is Truth.

PRAYER: God of Light, help me to understand that to walk in Your Light means to live by Your Truth.  Your Light is the Truth.  Your Truth turns darkness into Light.

I embrace these painful interpretations that live in my mind, Lord God. I expose them to Your Light. Exchange them for Your Truth, so I may walk in Your Light.

Maintain an Awareness

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

The Two Counsels
April 03

Your Mind

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THE MIND OF SINFUL MAN IS DEATH
(Romans 8:6).

Did you know that God does not deem your mind trustworthy?  Why not?  Your mind is not dependable, because the father-of-lies has had access to your mind since the day you were born.  You are not the only one sharing your mind.  During the disconcerting childhood circumstances of your life, the father-of-lies lured you into deception: false conclusions…wrong interpretations…inaccurate assumptions.  Therefore, when you pull answers from your mind, you are also drawing false answers from the father-of-lies.

SO I TELL YOU THIS, AND INSIST ON IT IN THE LORD, THAT YOU MUST NO LONGER LIVE AS THE GENTILES DO, IN THE FUTILITY OF THEIR THINKING.  THEY ARE DARKENED IN THEIR UNDERSTANDING AND SEPARATED FROM THE LIFE OF GOD
(Ephesians 4:17-18).

Even after you have become a Christian, you must not live in the futility of your thinking, because your understanding is darkened by the father-of-lies.  In fact, he uses your own thoughts to separate you from God’s Presence and His Answers.

THE WEAPONS WE FIGHT WITH ARE NOT THE WEAPONS OF THE WORLD. ON THE CONTRARY, THEY HAVE DIVINE POWER TO DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS. WE DEMOLISH ARGUMENTS AND EVERY PRETENSION THAT SETS ITSELF UP AGAINST THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, AND WE TAKE CAPTIVE EVERY THOUGHT TO MAKE IT OBEDIENT TO CHRIST
(2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

What is your opinion about YOUR mind: that it is good…that it is trustworthy…that it knows the truth? Do you always rely on your mind to find a solution to your problem, your unworthiness, and your brokenness?  Do you run to your mind when things go wrong…when someone insults you…when someone fails you? 

I urge you to treat your mind as a deathtrap that is used by the father-of-lies, at any given moment in time.  Take every thought captive that enters your mind.  Question every belief that lives in your mind. Demolish every argument in your mind that has set itself up against the knowledge of God. Soon, you will notice the difference in your life.

PRAYER: God of Truth, keep me from running to my own mind-set when things go wrong…when someone insults me…when someone fails me.  Keep me from living in the futility of my thinking. Instead, let me look to You for answers to my problems, solutions to my unworthiness, and explanations to my brokenness, for only You know the Truth.

Maintain an Awareness

When you pray and lay your problem before God, give Him the freedom to answer you in any way He wants to, according to His great Mercy and Grace. Push your own preconceived answers aside. Then, HIS Answer will enter your mind and heart.

The Two Counsels
April 01

Love One Another Deeply, from the Heart

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NOW THAT YOU HAVE PURIFIED YOURSELVES BY OBEYING THE TRUTH SO THAT YOU HAVE SINCERE LOVE FOR YOUR BROTHERS, LOVE ONE ANOTHER DEEPLY, FROM THE HEART
(1 Peter 1:22).

Realize that in order to love one another deeply, you need a purified heart: a heart cleansed from shame, released from abandonment, freed from condemnation, and set free from rejection. As long as shame stains your heart, you will have a tough time facing those who have hurt you. As long as abandonment contaminates your heart, you will have a hard time ministering to those who have many weaknesses. As long as condemnation besmears your heart, you will have a difficult time loving those who make mistakes. As long as rejection sullies your heart, you will have a horrible time accepting those who are not perfect.

SANCTIFY THEM BY THE TRUTH; YOUR WORD IS TRUTH
(John 17:17).

Precious One, permit Me, your Redeemer, to set you free from the power of past abandonment: when that important person in your life left…when no-one was around to comfort you…when you had to take care of yourself, because there was nobody else. Understand that it is not the circumstances that are causing the abandonment, but the childhood conclusions you formed in your mind about these happenings. Today, I want to guide you into all Truth.

Beloved Child, allow Me to set you free from the power of past shame: when you were considered a disgrace…when you had to carry all the blame…when you were pushed aside as not being enough.  Let My Truth exchange your childhood conclusions for My Perspective.

Beautiful One, authorize Me to free you from the power of past criticism, disapproval, and rejection: when you could never please your dad…when you were never good enough for your mother…when you were never accepted for being you.  Only I, the Most High, can bring healing to your heart by replacing your childhood conclusions with My Truth.

BUT WHEN HE, THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH, COMES, HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH. HE WILL NOT SPEAK ON HIS OWN; HE WILL SPEAK ONLY WHAT HE HEARS
(John 16:13).

Are you able to love deeply, from your heart? Do you love your blaming spouse, your disrespectful friend, and your hate-filled enemy?

If your answer is “NO,” I urge you to invite God’s Perspective into the spots of abandonment, condemnation, shame, and rejection that still live in your own heart. Once you know His Truth, you WILL be able to love everybody from your heart, even your enemies…that is, if you want to.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I bring my childhood conclusions to You. I want to know the Truth, so I may be set free from condemnation, rejection, abandonment, and shame…and be able to love.

Maintain an Awareness

If you surrender your pain to the father-of-lies, he will coax you into sinful solutions of hiding, blaming, and running. He will take you down that broad road of destruction where he will kill you from the inside out.

The Two Counsels
March 31

Why Do You Run Away?

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I am a runner—I run away from pain.  The other day, my Everlasting Father asked me, “Why do you always run away from pain?  Why don’t you stay?”  It was then that I pondered the question: Why don’t I stay?  Why don’t I stay and face my pain of feeling that I am invisible…of feeling that I don’t count…of feeling that I am a mistake?

I run from pain, because I believe that it is not safe to stay.  I believe that the pain will destroy me if I stayed and faced it.

I run from pain, because I believe that it is a sin to experience feelings of shame, condemnation, abandonment, and rejection; therefore, I need to escape these as soon as possible.

I run from pain, because I believe that if I run away from it, the pain will go away all by itself…and I will be safe. But then I asked God for HIS Perspective, and He answered:

NO TEMPTATION HAS SEIZED YOU EXCEPT WHAT IS COMMON TO MAN. AND GOD IS FAITHFUL; HE WILL NOT LET YOU BE TEMPTED BEYOND WHAT YOU CAN BEAR. BUT WHEN YOU ARE TEMPTED, HE WILL ALSO PROVIDE A WAY OUT SO THAT YOU CAN STAND UP UNDER IT
(1 Corinthians 10:13).

Precious Child, if you stay and face your pain, you will not be destroyed by it, since I will not allow the father-of-lies to tempt you beyond what you can bear.  Instead, I Myself will provide a way out of your pain, so that you may stand up under it.

Know that your pain is not the sin. Your pain is only the symptom of an oppressing belief from the father-of-lies that serves to convince you to run from Me, in order to prevent you from finding My Answers to his beliefs of shame, condemnation, abandonment, and rejection.   

Understand, Child, that if you run away from your pain, instead of facing it, your pain will only get worse over time and lead you farther and farther away from Me…into sin.  But, if you stay and face it, I, your Everlasting Father, will have a chance to heal your heart with My Love, Hope, and Truth.

I AM THE VINE; YOU ARE THE BRANCHES. IF A MAN REMAINS IN ME AND I IN HIM, HE WILL BEAR MUCH FRUIT; APART FROM ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING
(John 15:5).

What are the reasons YOU run away from the pain in YOUR heart?

I encourage you to bring your reasons to the Lord God, and ask Him for His Perspective. You might be surprised at His answers…or even the fact that He DOES answer.

PRAYER: Lord God, thank you that You are faithful. Thank you that You have Answers. Thank you that You have a way out of all my temptations. Help me to stay and find out what Your Answers are

Maintain an Awareness

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

The Two Counsels
March 25

Steps I Use to Surrender

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Describe the SITUATION that evoked your feelings of sadness, badness, or madness.

Example: Today, while we were driving, I felt very sad when my husband spoke to me in a gruff manner, after I asked him to slow down his driving for me around a dangerous curve.

Focusing on the FEELINGS evoked by this incident, find your PERTURBING PERCEPTION of the situation and the people involved, especially yourself.

Example: I felt intense sadness in my heart during this incident. My perturbing perception was that I did not count, and that I did not matter to anyone, not even my husband.

Still focusing on the feelings, find the PLACE during your life where you felt like this FOR THE FIRST TIME, whether that be this day, last year, or fifty years ago.

Example: Focusing on the sadness, I discovered a memory that matched it: I was about eight years old. I had just cleaned the whole kitchen floor while my parents were out shopping and could not wait for them to come back and be proud of me. But after they returned from shopping, my dad walked over my clean floor with his dirty shoes. When I tried to tell him not to dirty my newly washed floor, he was gruff with me, the same way my husband was with me when we were driving.

INVITE GOD’S PRESENCE AND PARTICIPATION into your feelings, perceptions, and place where you experienced these for the first time. Allow Him to exchange your perception for His Perspective—THE TRUTH.

Example: Lord Jesus, I invite You into this place of sadness in my heart. Although my mind is telling me that I am unimportant and do not count because my dad walked over my clean floor (and my husband does not want to slow his driving down just for me), I surrender my own perception to You and ask for Your Truth.

Allow God to SPEAK into your feelings of sadness and your perturbing perception that nobody cares about you. LISTEN for His voice. LOOK inside the memory and see, hear, and feel if there is anything different there. God speaks in many different ways. Be open, and be patient.

Example: While focusing on the memory where I felt unimportant for the first time, I saw, with the eyes of my heart, a little girl standing in front of her daddy. She was wearing a royal robe and a crown. Then I heard with the ears of my heart: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). I knew that I counted. I mattered. I was important, because I was important to God and I counted to Him. My feeling of sadness disappeared. Today, I know that I count, even when my husband is gruff.

Has there been a situation this week that evoked feelings of sadness, madness, or badness in you? Do not focus on what someone said or did to you. Instead, turn your heart to you own interpretation of the situation, because our interpretations were sold under sin to the father-of-lies. Find out where this interpretation entered your mind for the first time, and surrender it to God to receive His Truth…and a new heart.

Maintain an Awareness

Each time we hear from God, we are changed…or rather EXCHANGED, for the Words He speaks are Spirit and are Life.

The Two Counsels