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June 7, 2015 by Karin Stewart Leave a Comment

Your words have power

return to me Lynn Austin “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth….” (Genesis 1).

God said, “Let there be light….
And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters…” (sky)
And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.”
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from night…”

In the Biblical account of creation, everything came into existence because God spoke creation into being, God said….. Words have power!

At the moment I’m enjoying reading ‘Return to Me‘, a Biblical historical novel by Lynn Austin.
She writes…. “We’re made in the Holy One’s image, so our words also have power. You tell someone they’re ugly or that they’re a fool, and if you repeat it often enough, you might create ugliness or foolishness in that person. You praise them for their goodness or kindness, and your words just might create even more kindness in that person. We must be careful to speak words of life.”

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit”.
Proverbs 18:21
The spoken word has the power of life and death… Many lives have been ruined because of verbal abuse as the person who receives the abuse often believes that to be the truth, rather than that they are precious and made in the image of God. And the consequence is rather sad because our behavior always matches what we believe about ourselves. We have the awesome power to create life in others.

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”.
Romans 10:9.
Did you realize that your spoken word had so much power?

Click here for more Bible references on the power of spoken word.

Filed Under: Bible, Blog

November 18, 2013 by Karin Stewart Leave a Comment

A Lesson from Geese

Filed Under: Attitude, Bible, Blog

May 30, 2013 by Karin Stewart Leave a Comment

Take your thoughts captive …

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‘For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they (our weapons) 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 10:3

What is a stronghold?

A stronghold is any thought or behavior that controls us and no matter how hard we try we just feel helpless and unable to get the upper hand. It is a battle.

We know what God thinks about us, that He loves us with a never-ending love, that Jesus died to save us, so how can we hold onto thoughts that tell us that we’re unlovable and worthless?

But because these negative thoughts about ourselves are in our minds, we presume them to be the truth. Seldom do we wonder what God thinks about what we believe about ourselves. Maybe we should!

The weapon that we’ve been given to demolish these strongholds, these thoughts and behaviors that unmercifully take us captive, is the Holy Spirit. That is the ‘divine’ weapon that we’ve been given. Ask the Holy Spirit about your thoughts, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. It is sin to hold your thoughts in higher regard to the thoughts of God.

I know this from my own depression about 18 years ago. These terrible thoughts were going through my mind and I just wanted to curl up and die. The Holy Spirit then brought to my awareness that my thoughts certainly did not line up with what God thought about me. All I could do was say sorry to God and reject those thoughts. With that I was ‘miraculously’ better and jumped out of bed with a new spring in my step. Oh, the terrible control that our thoughts can have on us!

Without realizing it I was obedient to this Bible verse. I ‘demolished’ the false belief. The verse further says that ‘we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.’

Take every thought captive

Max Lucado in his book ‘Just like Jesus’ says:

‘When a negative thought comes into your head, handcuff the thought and march it down to the Courthouse and present the thought at the judgment seat of Christ. Now imagine saying to Jesus “this thought tells me that I am worthless and unlovable, what do you think?” Jesus will tell you to give that thought marching orders, it does not line up with what Scripture says and it is a lie that comes from the enemy camp’.

Give ‘this method’ a try. I’d also love to hear about your experience.

Til next time, have a blessed week!

Filed Under: Bible Tagged With: change your thinking

April 8, 2012 by Karin Stewart Leave a Comment

Believe the Truth!

 

Flowers of the Western Cape.

A few months ago my husband and I went on holiday to the Western Cape of South Africa to see the wild flowers in full bloom. This was truly a spectacular sight – swathes of color as far as the eye could see!

Beauty on One Side Only!

What struck me was the realization that the colors of the flowers weren’t visible from all angles. The flowers all turned to face the sun and looking at them from ‘behind’ you’d have no idea that there was a flower in sight! Their beauty came from facing the sun, from being bathed in light. The side that faced the ‘dark’, the shadow side, showed no color and no beauty at all.

Light of the World!

That image got me thinking! Today the Christians all over the world celebrate Resurrection Sunday, the day that Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus is also known as the ‘Light of the World’. I then understood the message the flowers were giving me. When we keep ourselves turned towards Jesus, towards the truth, living our lives in the light, we will display His beauty. When we live our lives in the dark, trying to hide what we do, in deception, we cannot show that same beauty. It is the Son that reveals our beauty!

Deception

Deception is when we believe a lie to be the truth and it will always get us into trouble. Many people battling to overcome depression will believe a lie to be the truth. Thoughts like you’re worthless, unlovable, stupid, to name only a few, are actually lies. Our behavior matches what we believe so believing these lies to be the truth will keep a person living half a life, hobbling along. Examine your thoughts for the truth and replace any lies for the truth. The Bible says ‘you will know the truth and the truth will set you free!’ Happy Easter!

Click here to learn more about changing the way you think.

Filed Under: Bible Tagged With: change your thinking

April 9, 2007 by Karin Stewart 10 Comments

Biblical References to Thoughts

Become aware of your thought life.

Proverbs 4:23 (Phillips version) says: “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life”. We don’t really have control over the thoughts that pop into our heads but we do have control over what we do with the thoughts, which ones we allow to run our lives.

Our thoughts do not line up with God”s thoughts.

In Isaiah 55:8&9 The Lord declares, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts”. Maybe our thoughts don”t always line up with the truth.

Do we believe lies to be the truth?

Jeremiah 17:9 says “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” When we are deceived we believe a lie to be the truth. The heart is often referred to in the Bible as the seat of the emotions. God is saying to us `don”t presume what you are thinking is the truth, I am the truth, check it out with Me.’

What can we do to line our thoughts up with those of God?

2 Corinthians 10:5 says “we are to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

How do we make our thoughts obedient to Christ?

We have to know the Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Ask the Holy Spirit to help you judge your thoughts and attitudes.

I read a wonderful illustration of this Scripture in a book by Max Lucado. I think the book was called “Just like Jesus”. When a negative thought comes into your head, handcuff the thought and march it down to the Courthouse and present the thought at the judgment seat of Christ. Now imagine saying to Jesus “this thought tells me that I am worthless and unlovable to Jesus, what do you think?” Jesus will tell you to give that thought marching orders, it does not line up with what Scripture says and it is a lie that comes from the enemy camp.

How do you know if your thoughts are becoming more Christ-like?

John 8:32 says “if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

What does this freedom feel like?

In John 14:27 Jesus says “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” When I am examining my thoughts, I use the degree of peace I have as a gauge as to the truth of my thoughts. If a particular thought gives me peace, I settle for that one.

Battleground of the Mind

As Christians we know our final destiny, we are on our way to heaven if we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. So Satan has no hold over where we spend our eternity but he does want us to be ineffective here on earth. We are the hands and feet of Jesus on this earth and if he can make us ineffective in this role he is happy. Satan cannot read our minds but he knows our weaknesses and will subtly drop thoughts that are lies into our minds that we believe to be the truth. We would not believe blatant lies, but they are subtle and we believe them and act on them.

Ephesians 6:12 says “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.”

There is a spiritual battle on the go. Acknowledge that Satan, who is the Father of all lies, wants you to believe that you are worthless. He drops in these thoughts of you being worthless etc. These thoughts do not come from our loving heavenly Father. Satan gains power when you believe the lie of being worthless, as you will act accordingly.

Peter 5:8 says “Be self-controlled, and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.”
A lion always targets the weak in a herd because the weak are easy prey. Likewise Satan knows our weaknesses and he is looking for easy prey. “Stand firm in the faith”. “ Keep connected to other Christians, studying the Word so that you learn the truth.

2 Corinthians 10:3 “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 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.”

Our weapons are the Word of God and this is why it is so important to know the Word of God and to know Scripture as this contains the Truth. Holding your own thoughts in higher regard to that of God is “a pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God” and is a sin.

Romans 12:2 says “do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

In other words replace the thinking that the world has given you to what scripture says. You renew your mind with scripture, with what God says. If what you believe does not line up with the Word of God you are believing a lie and the only way of knowing what lines up with the Word is studying what it says in the Word. When you believe that you are unlovable just remember whose description of yourself you believe. It is a lie and does not come from our heavenly Father. You won”t find that kind of description of yourself in the Bible. When someone doesn”t like you brush it off with the knowledge of how important you are to God and how deeply he loves you.

God wants you to have the freedom that He can give and He can use all situations for our good. In Luke 22:31 Jesus said to Peter “Simon Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

This verse had personal significance for me because I knew that if my loving Heavenly Father was allowing me to go through this process of being sifted, it must be for the purpose of having something better in the end“ He did. When I had “turned back” I did “strengthen my brothers” through “overcoming depression” groups that I ran. We are often able to help others through what we have learnt in our own difficult times.

Also, always remember how much God loves you. You are in the palm of His hand. Isaiah 43:1-3 reads “Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. You are precious and honoured in my sight.”

I find it quite awesome that the creator of the universe cares for each one of us, cares for all the details of our loves and that He knows you and me by name.

May God bless you and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth be your guide on your journey!

Filed Under: Bible, Depression

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