God's Expectations of our Conversations with Him.

In my previous post about my troubles with giving Satan a foothold, I wrote that it began when I started questioning my own prayers. I didn't feel that I measured up to those around me when praying at my ladies bible study group.  Their prayers were beautiful and heartfelt.  When I take the time to write and ponder on my thoughts, I can come up with beautiful words and express myself.  When I am on the spot with others watching and hearing me- my brain shuts down.  Does this happen to you too?  As my prayer progresses I begin to forget what I already prayed, suddenly I will just stop, never knowing if I even complete a thought process.  My prayers just seems to fall short of everyone else.  I know that I am supposed to be talking to God-the one whom I love so much.  I shouldn't be concerned about what others think.  This is a topic that has been talked about many times in various circles I have been in, so I know I am not the only one who struggles with it.  
Now that I know that I need to keep my routine of praying, which as I have designed it, are specific written out scripture prayers.  I asked God to show and teach me what He expects during my prayer time.  The first thing I heard was, "I know the intentions of your heart--just love me with "all of it" and focus on that love." God knows my heart and that I believe with all of it- the power of praying scripture.  He honors and welcomes those prayers as much as any of the others.  When I pray in public from now on, I plan to say a prayer between Him and myself declaring my love for Him and ask that He helps me to keep my focus on that love.  He is there, fully present when two or more are gathered together in His Name.  Keeping in mind too that we all love God and our focus is truly on Him.  When words come from our heart for God and those we are praying for they "ALL" are beautiful.
The other thing I plan to do in addition to reading my scripture prayer, is praying out loud for 10-15 minutes a day.  Knowing how I work- I believe that hearing myself praying out loud will help me to get over my voice and myself.  This will get me into a habit of praying out loud from my heart--Lord willing I will do the same in public.  
I have always wanted to be a prayer warrior, praying on behalf of everyone I come into contact with.  Writing about prayer has renewed a desire to pursue it with determination and to strengthen my skills throughout the rest of my life.  Some people have called me a prayer warrior already, but I want to pursue it from a stand point that God would consider me as one.  I am home all the time and praying for others will take my mind off myself, drawing my heart closer to those within the reach of my life.  I have had bouts in the past with depression and I know full well that focusing on God and others help to defeat the stronghold of depression.  
May you and I both, "today" move into the love of talking to God from our hearts to the point that it doesn't matter what others think of our words, but instead draws them into wanting that love relationship with God for themselves too.  Maybe you don't have that love relationship yet?  God is calling you?  He will take you a simple step at a time.
I love the diversity of learning from others and getting different perspectives.  If you have read this and have anything to add or a different experience that enlightened you to further your Spiritual Growth in regards to prayer, please feel free to post a comment and share. 

I gave the devil a foothold....Oh my!

A couple months ago I completed my book on InnerPeace.  Per a suggestion with Zondervan.com I created an account with authonomy.com.  While there  I discovered some other books for myself to read and one of them was on spiritual warfare. After completing it I was in conversations with God over what I had read.  The thing that stood out the most to me was his emphasis on being sure to say "In the name of Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God."- when you sense, what he called, unclean spirits.  As Christians we are covered by the blood of the Lamb-God protects us daily from our enemy.

Revelation 12:11 says,

They triumphed over him [satan]
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.

Following my folder of things that help me to stay in the midst of peace with God.  I have a prayer where I ask Him everyday to hasten me if I need to pray against any unclean spirits.  I hadn't had any days so far, but I believe we are protected by God--but be warned--only when we follow His commands.  Last week I had a couple days I didn't do my routine.  I started to hear the eloquent prayers of the woman at Bible study--felt that I should be able to do the same.  Rather than reading my scripture prayers, I started to attempt eloquent prayers on my own.  My attention span and praying began to fall apart.  Now- I know I should have prayed from my heart additional prayers, while still continuing with the powerful scripture prayers-as this would have kept me in my routine.  Getting out of the routine led to other bad choices, causing many things to escalate by Saturday.

My shoulder and back have been hurting me-the plan was to take a couple easy days-letting it rest.  We have Netflix and for some crazy reason I chose to have a marathon day of "Heroes."  Kat and I also went to the library to pick up a couple books the next day.  In this time I started to feel I was in a "dark place".  That is the only way I can describe it.  Saturday morning I began reading one of the books I picked up the day before.  I like Sci-Fy | Fantasy, but you have to be cautious- as I was reminded that day- because this book had some pure evil-real like witchcraft stuff in it.  By the time I got to the third chapter, I put the book down and said to my husband, "I am not reading that book any longer, we have to take it back today."

That day, from the get go, was off to a bad start.  The spirit within me acknowledged that God was worthy of praise and my faith in Him didn't waiver, but I was clearly in a "dark place" and had no ability of anything positive on the outside.  The negativity began even before I started reading the book, continuing for 3-4 hours that day. I was not very nice to my family, unusually worse, than what any of us have done.  Finally it was time for me to take a shower, where I was convicted by the Holy Spirit, to claim the blood of the Lamb, against evil spirits.  I felt freed from being bound, but still in a dark place and quieted to ponder throughout the rest of the day.  We had community group that night,where I only spoke when spoken to and asked a question.  Throughout the evening things gradually became lighter, but it wasn't until we were getting ready to sleep that Owen looked at me and said, "Now that is beautiful."  I had no idea what he was talking about, but I didn't even realize that I had a big smile on my face for the first time that day.  He said, "You are smiling."
From that moment, I was able to talk about what I was experiencing that day.  I said to my husband, "God tells us to think of things excellent and praiseworthy, pure, lovely and put it into practice--for a good reason.  Today I believe its a command, in fact, that is what God convicted me of first thing when I woke the next morning.

I experienced first hand, loud, and clear about the foothold which the dictionary states: "is a firm or secure position that provides a base for further advancement."-boy did satan advance on me for a couple days.  This hard lesson taught me to be very choosy of what I am going to watch and read.  I think back to many times in my past, where I felt in a dark place, but I couldn't explain it.  I know now--the answer is that I was filling my mind with the things that God has warned us not to ponder on.  The horrible show that I watched, was  for Nine hours, yes NINE.  I believe that is why- I had such a strong bond keeping me in darkness.

I care about everyone who reads this entry.  Please take to heart God's command to be careful of what you are filling your mind with.  Ask God to convict you, to stop watching the TV show or reading a certain book, if its needed.  Ask Him to show you excellent and praiseworthy things to replace it with-He will.  Don't give satan a foothold to run havoc in your life.  Today's bible study was on satan's lies and I believe one of his lies is about various TV shows, many of us all watch.  He can convince us that they are not that bad, but they ARE.
The other statement that stood out to me when re-reading the devotion by Proverbs 31 was:

 "God never meant for us to be in control, strong in and of ourselves. We were meant to show His strength in our weakness as He provides for our needs. We were created to live like little children, dependent on the care of our heavenly Father."

Don't rely on your own strength to overcome your desires for TV shows that don't line up with the Word of God, surrender to Him, Who will give you strength.  The same applies to every area of your life.

Go in Christ's strength today!!

What does "God's Names" mean for you?

I came across an online bible study with Suzie Eller, while browsing through utube songs....that was no accident.  I haven't purchased the book yet, that it coincides with, but the title of this series intrigued me so much.  I decided to move forward and listen to the series, then I will get the book later after I finish my current book which is Heaven is for Real.  This title series is called Push Past your Past. I have known for sometime now that I have things that I still hold onto that keep me a victim, because I use them as an excuse or to explain my sinful behavior.  Are you like me and ready to move into victory today and stop holding on to the pain from the past?  One of her exercises included a few names of God and what that means for you and me? The example she used was If God is the healer then I am healed.  Then she left two more blank ones to fill in.
1. If God is my refuge  , then I am safe, protected from danger, I have a helper.
2.If God is my banner  , then I am led by Him.
I decided to take it further and deeper, by adding some more, as there are so many names for God.  I encourage you to come up with some of your own, as well.  Feel free to leave a comment with additional ones you come up with. Learning what I have about afformations, I believe reading some of these with music would be a fantastic idea to imprint them in our hearts-another project coming soon - I am certain.





If God is  My Abba Father: then I am in a complete loving relationship with Him.
If God is Author of my life: then my life had already been written and determined.
If God is Author of my Faith: then I have faith because he wrote it for me as a free gift.
If God is my Branch: then I do bear good fruit.
If God is my Comforter: then I am comforted when I hurt, so that I can comfort others.
If God is my Counselor: then I am given advice and direction when I need it.
If God is my Creator: then all that I am was determined and known by Him.
If God is my Deliverer: then I am delivered from my enemies and trouble.
If God is Faithful: then I can always count on Him and He will never leave me.
If God is the Gentle Whisperer: then I can hear His loving voice when I am still, peaceful, and quiet.
If God is my Guide: then I am always led in the best way to go.
If God is my Hope: then I never have to lose heart. 
If God is Love: then I am complete and He covers all my wrongs.
If God is LORD of my Righteousness: then I have a King that rules over me and works Righteousness into my every day.
If God is Merciful: then I am shown mercy every day.
If God is my Peace: then I have peace.
If God is my Potter: then I am molded and shaped, broken and re-shaped until I am made into exactly what He wants me to be.
If God is my Purifier: then I am pure.
If God is my Redeemer: then I am paid for and forgiven of my sins.
If God is my Shield: then I am protected from the fiery darts of the enemy.
If God is my Teacher: then I am taught by perfection and can learn to be more like Him every day.
If God is the True Light: then I am never in total darkness again.
If God is Truth: then nothing God has said, to and about me, is a lie.

Challenge to all my Facebook Friends!!

Hello I am delighted you decided to look closer at my challenge for you today! It is a great new principle that is moving my life in ways "unimaginable".  Are you ready? I would like to see this happen for you too.  I have created a new MP3 that I listen to everyday.  It is using a concept that I have been talking about in my last few posts, called Afformations. It comes from the book The Secret Code of Success by Noah St. John. He shows people how to make more money by not working as hard as you do today, but the same principals can be applied to everything in your life.  Living a life of success in God's eyes is my goal, how about you?  My challenge is for you to do the same for one full week, it takes less than 4 minutes.  Then come back here and comment on this post on how it has changed your life.  I look forward to hearing the praises!!  This is only a small portion of afformations that I came up with that I figure most people could use.  If it does for you what it has done for me, I am certain you will be running out for Noah's book ASAP. 
p.s It probably would help if I point out to you, where the MP3 is?   Its on the right of my blog and its titled "Who am I" it plays right on my blog for you with no need to download anything.  Bookmark my blog to come in every day....maybe even set aside the same time every day as that is how I remember things better.  Why am I doing this for free? Because its a program that was designed by Noah and I don't have rights to it.  I made the mp3 for myself and now would just love to share it with you.
p.s.s. Could you also do me another favor and comment to let me know that you are up to the challenge so that I can pray for you.

Who Am I Lord?

God is amazing when it comes to all the intricate ways in which he made us.  Our mind works best within a realm of questions and searches diligently for the answers at a subconscious level.  Most of the time because of sin we tend to lean more towards the negative.  We either - have been rejected, or people have put us down, it could even be through various failures of achieving what we set out to do.  We develop a negative image of ourself that I know for myself is at times conscious, but it starts in the subconscious part of our brain.  What if we can use our brain in the way it was created to work, but from a positive point of view?  I have fantastic news for you,  we can!!


In my previous post I spoke of afformations, which are "positive" questions that allow your subconscious mind to start working on the answers, and of course, I allow God to do the leading.  His leading - is what I consider to be the greatest key - in being certain that everything lines up to his will.  There have been several afformations that I have recorded myself reading, included some uplifting music in the background that I listen to everyday. In addition, to what I listed in my previous post, the last set of afformations in Noah St. John's book, "The Secret Code of Success" are:

• Why did I find my purpose?
• Why am I living a purpose driven life?
• Why do I know why I am here on Earth?
• Why did I find my Ultimate Why-To?
• Why is it so easy for me to focus on what I really want?
• Why am I on course and on target?
• Why did I never, ever, ever give up?
• Why is everything going according to plan?
• Why does God bless me with unprecedented favor today?
• Why am I fundamentally unstoppable?

One of the first things my mind began working on was who am I?  I needed to know why I was here, so that I could live within the purpose God has for me.  I have wondered those things before, but I never felt like I found the true answer.  Listening to the afformations began to really drive me to find the answers.  This has made me an instant believer in them, they really do work.  I didn't have to wait until I had enough energy, or motivated, I woke up motivated and on fire for some answers.

God led me to a blog that morning suggesting to sit down with a blank piece of paper. Then Start writing down ideas that come to mind of what you think is your purpose, and keep writing until you start to cry. I had to be still and quiet for 45 minutes of writing down ideas and even came to the point of crying out to God wanting the answer around the 1/2 hr mark. I know now why he suggested writing until you cry.

When you truly discover what your purpose is you can't help, but cry because God built it into our heart.   In my case I have been starving to know what God truly wants me to do. I was always close, but it never felt right on the mark. I never would have come up with this on my own. "To use my strong faith in the Lord, to encourage others to believe in Him, with faith that doesn't waiver, letting them know that there is always HOPE."

To confirm and seal the deal with me there was a bracelet sitting on the floor in the living room I hadn't noticed before, it was yellow my least favorite color, but I picked it up and it said strength on it....right then I started crying again and got the biggest hug I have ever experienced from God. I love Him so much.

I never saw myself as a woman of strong faith....He gently said to me, all that you have been through...the rejection...the unknown....pain...I have strengthened you so that you can strengthen others.  You have no idea- the bubbling over with joy- I can hardly contain it... that I have been experiencing ever since.

God has made me creative, which opens up unlimited possibilities on how I can live this out.  I can write, create art, work with music, and who knows how many ideas I am still yet to discover.  He is amazing!  There are no words- that can describe or grasp all that he is.

One thing I do know, writing is a huge thing that makes me happy because I get to share my heart with you and others.  I get to come along side you, strengthen , and guide you to a place where you can have some of the same things in your heart.  Reaching out to others I can take what I have learned and experienced, reaching out to someone who, might be going through the same thing, sharing the hope I so joyfully hang onto.  God is never-failing, your circumstances may seem like... nothing good is going to happen, but in the end that is all that God is capable of doing for you--"Good".  You can send me a comment if you struggle and I will believe enough for both of us until God can show himself faithful to you.

I recently heard about another contest to win a scholarship to the She Speaks conference in July.  This would be my second contest opportunity that I am applying for.  Financially going there on our own budget would be impossible, so this scholarship would be such a blessing.  I am trusting in God, that if I am supposed to go, he is going to make a way- however he sees best fit.  What is impossible for man is SO Possible for God!!

The conference would help me to grow as a writer, encourage me to be a leader.  Being in the same room with 1000's of women, who share with me a love for God sounds fabulous.  A time to learn other's testimonies, to gain wonderful tools to improve myself, and draw closer to God.


Link to She Speaks contest by A Holy Experience.  I enjoyed my visit with A Holy Experience, with relaxing music and be sure to get to know her more by clicking on Meet Ann Voskamp.  Thank you for this opportunity.