Month: September 2010

A friend’s remark challenged me and I want to ask you ladies the question I’ve been pondering on for a week now: How protective are you of your freedom or the gifts God has given you along your journey to freedom?

Maybe you have built a close love relationship with God over the past year by waiting in His presence and studying His Word…
Are you protecting this treasure?

Maybe, like me, you have begged God for wisdom to incorporate daily exercise into your life, and you’ve finally found a way to get to the gym or found a friend who holds you accountable…
Are you taking good care of this gift?

What about your eating? Did you finally get to a place where you’ve gone without the foods that make you binge for a few months, and you no longer dream about food or plan a binge in the back of your head?
How are you protecting this freedom?

What about your dreams? Have you made some strides towards the things that God has placed in your heart? Maybe you’ve felt for the first time in years how the cloak of depression lifted and  joy slowly crept back into your life as you started reaching for your dreams…
Are you guarding those dreams?

I’m asking this question, because I’ve become aware of an arrogant carelessness in my own life the minute I “feel” that I have a handle on something (which is usually a miracle or “gift” from God to begin with).
I’ve also heard back from many women who made huge strides forward in breaking out of bondage and falling in love with Jesus, just to fall right back to where they’ve started.

I don’t mean to be negative at all, but I do want to warn you… YOU HAVE TO PROTECT THE FREEDOM  THAT GOD HAS GIVEN YOU! We can not afford to become careless in our warfare or take back some of the areas that we’ve surrendered to God.

Here are a few exhortations for you as I have received from God while praying about this:

• GUARD YOUR TIME WITH GOD – Fight for it if you have to!

Isaiah 40:31 (Amplified Bible)
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.

Isaiah 30:15 (Amplified Bible)
For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength. But you would not

• GUARD YOUR THOUGHTS – Check every thought:

2 Corinthians 10:5 (New International Version)
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.

Romans 8:6 (New Living Translation)
So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.

• GUARD YOUR HEART – Let God search it:

Psalm 51:6,10 (Amplified Bible)
Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.

Proverbs 4:23 (Amplified Bible)
Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.

• PROTECT YOUR CONSISTENCY – Don’t give up, never mind how many time you’ve fallen!

Galatians 6:9 (Amplified Bible)
And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.

• Protect your abstinence from addictive food/habits! Don’t let the enemy fool you with “others can do it” or “one won’t hurt”. People fight the good fight daily in resisting all sorts of temptation, God will give me and you the strength to resist our specific temptation

Please join us on the forum if you need some extra encouragement or reminders to fight the good fight and stay the course.

Hidden under His wing!
Heleen

Please humor me and give this question a little thought…

What is it that you really want?

I felt the Holy Spirit whispering this question in my ear recently. This question came at a time of great restlessness, anxiety and sadness in my own heart. If I had to be truthful, what I really wanted was for life to be “perfect”. My kind of perfect would include more money so that we can work less and have more fun with our kids… so we can go on vacation…so that we can stop stressing…so we can have more meaningful relationships with friends and family…

I was blurting all of this out while laying in my room, with the window open, looking at the big pine tree in our back yard swaying in the wind. I could almost hear God’s tender voice in that wind, asking again “What do you truly want…”

It made me cry, because I remembered…

I remembered when the only thing I wanted was to get married and be loved… I remembered when all I wanted was to be a great worship leader… I remembered when all I wanted was to please other people… I remembered when all I wanted was to be super Mom… I remembered when all I wanted was to be thin and beautiful…

I also remembered of all the times I became so obsessed with the desires of my heart that I’ve sinned in order to get what I wanted… I remember the emptiness and the sorrow of being separated from God…

God is the one who gives us desires to do certain things. The desire to write a song, open a restaurant, get married, raise children, be a career person, create a beautiful garden, run a marathon, it all comes from God. If we can give these back to him, without exalting it to an unhealthy place of obsession in our hearts, it can be something so beautiful…

What is it that you want…?

What will make you happy…?

Can it be that when you get what you’ve always wanted, it will not be worth it. If you have to have something so badly that you sin to get there, and you lose your relationship with God… how would that work out for you?

Here are some red flags

• Do you think about your “want” all the time?

• Have you lied to keep it alive?

• Have you hurt people to keep it alive?

• Have you sinned to get what you “want”?

• Are you obsessed with getting this “want”, no matter what?

• Does this “want” steal your peace and occupy your thoughts?

How do you let go?
By HOLDING ON to something (or Someone) else… I know, I know, you’ve heard this so many times and it still might not make sense to you. BUT IT’S TRUE – AS LONG AS WE’RE NOT REALLY SATISFIED WITH OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST, WE WILL LOOK FOR REPLACEMENTS SOMEWHERE ELSE.

So let me ask you something else: Are you satisfied with Christ?
I’m not asking if you go to church or have a ministry… I simply want to know, if you were asked the question “What do you want?”  can you truly say (maybe after digging a little deeper like I had to) “Jesus is all I want”

Don’t feel bad if this is not the case. Just know that it can be so for you. It all starts by finding your own quiet spot (maybe where a soft wind is blowing) and ask Him to give you a true desire for His presence and His Word. If we start reading the Word, not out of obligation, but our of love for God, it changes us. When we start praying, not because we should but because we WANT to, a real relationship starts forming and before you know it the power of God is released in your life in ways that you’ve never even dreamed of.

Please email me if you want to talk more about loving God with all your heart. I feel very strongly about the fact that we can not break out of addiction or habitual sin without FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE ONLY TRUE GOD!

In His amazing Love

Heleen

 

An older song of Hillsong “More than Life” speaks of that love for God that IS AVAILABLE FOR ALL!!!

 

 

 

 

 

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