Journey of the Heart ~♥~

"You know...how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him." Acts 10:38

I have been pondering this passage and going through scripture trying to get a better understanding of "under the power of the devil" then as I was going through my files I came upon this message that was being sent around a few years ago. In a style very reminiscent of "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis, it gives a very thought provoking scenario of...

B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke

Satan called a worldwide conventions of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Savior. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, but steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ."

"This is what I want you to do" said the devil. "Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!" "How shall we do this?" shouted his demons. The Devil replied "Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds.

Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade them to work long hours so they can afford their empty lifestyle. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!

Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Surround them with non-biblical music wherever they go. Entice them to play the radio or CD whenever they drive. To keep the TV and PCs going constantly in their home. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.

Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mail boxes and inboxes with junk and every concealable enticement offering services and false hopes.

Keep shinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so husbands will believe outward beauty is what's important and become dissatisfied with their wives. Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night. Give them headaches too! That will fragment their families quickly.

Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children about the real meaning of Christmas. Give them the Easter bunny so they won't talk about His resurrection and power over sin and death.

Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted. Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. Keep them busy, busy, busy!

Crowd their live with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!"

It was quite a plan. The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there. Having little time for their God and their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?

Does "BUSY" mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

Are you too busy for Jesus?

Who am I?
That the Lord of all the earth,
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt.

Who am I?
That the bright and morning star,
Would choose to light the way,
For my ever wandering heart.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.

Still you hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,
And you've told me who I am.
I am yours, I am yours.

Who am I?
That the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again.

Who am I?
That the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain,
And calm the storm in me.

Not because of who I am,
But because of what you've done.
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who you are.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1

It seems many times we get so caught up in who am I that we loose sight of who He is. Whether it is the self center search for identity and importance or the self deprecating paralysis of I am not worthy and not capable...they all focus on "self." You hear many times "It's not about me...it's about Jesus." Easy to say not always easy to do. Our "self"... "flesh" wells up at every turn. It's a constant battle. The first step is to recognize your battle.

Are you constantly looking inward trying to find yourself and purpose? Are you too afraid to step out in your calling because you believe your are not good enough. Do you hear the enemy saying "who are you, that God would use someone like you?" Do you battle addictions and compulsions? Do you have analysis paralysis? The enemy knows our weakness. If he can keep us focused on ourselves we can not focus on The Kingdom. I battle everyday...some days easier than the others.

Years ago God spoke to me to pray for the Christians in Lebanon. I didn't even know where that was at the time. I had a horrible vision of Christians being slaughtered. Quickly the enemy was speaking in my ear...you just had a pizza dream..."who are you, that God would use someone like you?" Days later I heard on The 700 Club that all the Christians in Lebanon had been slaughtered. I just shook with regret that I had thought only of myself.

"He who seeks only himself brings himself to ruin, whereas he who brings himself to naught for Me discovers who he is." Matthew 10:39

It is only when we get beyond asking who am I to who I am in Christ we begin to discover who we really are.

Millions of Americans will be celebrating the 4th of July holiday today. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, and family reunions. I wonder how many don't even realize it really is Independence Day. A remembrance of the day we declared our independence from Great Britain. It represents our freedom as a nation. This freedom was bought with the sweat, toil and blood of countless Americans who initially fought to obtain it in the Revolutionary War, as well as those who have fought to secure it over the past 2 1/2 centuries.

As an American I am grateful for my freedom, but I shall be eternally grateful for my freedom in Christ. The freedom bought with the sweat, toil, and blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus' life, ministry, torture and death were planned before the creation of the world in order to redeem the hearts of mankind and demonstrate God's love for us. God in the person of Jesus Christ identified so closely with every human being who had ever lived or who ever would live that all of our pains, sicknesses, failures, sorrows, lies, rebellions, transgressions, hatreds and murders...all the brokenness of humanity...became Jesus'.

"... Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32. This truth brings us the ultimate freedom...freedom from sin and death. Freedom from the bondages of our flesh and the oppression of the devil. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" Galatians 5:1.

On this Independence Day, I am going to declare my freedom! My freedom from sin and death! I Declare my "Dependence" on The Lord, Jesus Christ. I Declare...

I am God’s child - for I am born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, which lives and abides forever (I Peter 1:23)
I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ unto good works (Ephesians 2:10)
I am His elect, full of mercy, kindness, humility, and long suffering (Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12)
I am a believer, and the light of the Gospel shines in my mind (II Corinthians 4:4)
I am a doer of the Word and blessed in my actions (James 1:22,25)
I am a joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17)
I am a new creature in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17)
I am a partaker of His divine nature (II Peter 1:3,4)
I am a spirit being - alive to God (I Thessalonians 5:23; Romans 6:11)
I am a tither, so I have the right to heavenly windows open and poured-out blessings! (Malachi 5:10)
I am alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)
I am an ambassador for Christ (II Corinthians 5:20)
I am an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony (Revelation 12:11)
I am born of God, and the evil one does not touch me (I John 5:18)
I am called of God to be the voice of His praise (II Timothy 1:9; Psalm 66:8)
I am complete in Him Who is the Head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:10)
I am delivered from the power of darkness and translated into God’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13)
I am far from oppression, and fear does not come near me (Isaiah 54:14)
I am firmly rooted, built up, established in my faith and overflowing with gratitude (Colossians 2:7)
I am forgiven of all my sins and washed in the Blood (Ephesians 1:7)
I am free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2)
I am greatly loved by God (Colossians 3:12; Romans 1:7; I Thessalonians 1:4; Ephesians 2:4)
I am healed by the stripes of Jesus (I Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:5)
I am holy and without blame before Him in love (I Peter 1:16; Ephesians 1:4)
I am more than a conqueror through Him Who loves me (Romans 8:37)
I am part of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people (I Peter 2:9)
I am raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places (Colossians 2:12; Ephesians 2:6)
I am redeemed from the curse of sin, sickness, and poverty (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 28:15-68)
I am strengthened with all might according to His glorious power (Colossians 1:11)
I am submitted to God, and the devil flees from me because I resist him in the Name of Jesus (James 4:7)
I am the head and not the tail; I am above only and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13)
I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)
I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 5:21)
I am the temple of the Holy Spirit; I am not my own (I Corinthians 6:19)

This is real freedom...freedom in Christ!

Please join us for our Independence Day discussion on HeartCry.

The third Sunday in June is the day set apart to celebrate and honor Fathers.

"Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise—" Ephesians 6:2.

Let us take this day to honor our fathers and remember we also have a Heavenly Father who is there regardless of whether we have our earthly father in our lives or not. Our Heavenly Father will never leave nor forsake us. He is there in our time of need. He is a father to the fatherless!

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling." Psalm 68:5

Every child, young and old, wants to be the apple of their father's eye...to be Daddy's little girl or boy. Every child wants a father they can admire...a father that will nourish and protect them.

For some of us, Fatherhood, from our earthly experience, may not have been as wonderful as God intended. For others it was beautiful, but is only a memory now with their passing.

Others have never known fatherhood at all. For those not so blessed, there is a Father that is always there for us, never judges us, and loves us more than anyone.

"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" Matthew 15:26

"How excellent [is] thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." Psalm 36:7

"I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings." Psalm 61:4

I was watching Grey's Anatomy "Shiny Happy People" on hulu.com and starting thinking about the insanity of chronic pain. A young girl was brought into the hospital because she tried to scratch her eyes out and commit suicide. She was in so much pain and delirium they thought she was Schizophrenic. It turned out she had pressure induced vertigo from a small hole in her inner ear causing her to hear every sound in her body and every sound outside her body was magnified.

Living with chronic pain is not only an assault on your body it is an assault on your mind. The un-relentless torture of agony, limitations, and lack of understanding brings many people to utter despair. It makes you want to scratch your eyes, tear your hair, or blow your brains out. The mind is more fragile than your body and without a strong faith it is almost impossible to maintain. Even then, it is almost impossible to continue without prayer support. Moses needed Joshua and Aaron to hold his arms up when he was too weak to carry on. And so people with chronic pain need to reach out.

Dear Friends, I am reaching out in the mist of my insanity and pain asking for prayer...asking for help...asking for understanding. It is so difficult for me to write and yet that is the very thing God keeps calling me to do. He keeps giving me all these messages to share and they are stuck in my brain...stuck with a body too painful to spend time on the computer...stuck with fingers that keep typing gobble de goop. I pray to heal my body or stop asking me to write...and He has chosen neither. He simple spoke to my spirit and explained you are here to learn to completely rely upon Me.

It is only by His Grace and with His Anointing I am able write anything. Without His Anointing it is like driving in the mist of a raging storm. You can barely see the road, but somehow with prayer manage to get to your destination. Yes, you got to where you were going, but not without a lot of stress and very slowly. Sometimes you just have to stop, pull over, and wait for the storm to pass. That is what my brain is like, dear friends, and my storm never passes. I am grateful for His Anointing. I am grateful I have these moments of lucidity, but I would love to be able to function day to day and just simply chat with my friends.

I have learned to have a grateful and positive perspective. I am being REAL. When you have everything taken away from you it is a choice how you are going to respond. I choose to be thankful for what I have and not to be complaining about what I do not have or can not do. Yes, there are days I am sad and lonely, days when I am delirious from the pain, days I don’t have the strength to feed myself…let alone make it to the store if I am out of food. Yet, with all this I choose to be joyful and content in the Lord. For…the joy of the Lord is my strength. Every day is a struggle, but I will continue to praise the Lord.

In His presence there is joy. In His presence there is peace. In His presence there is freedom from pain. It’s a choice and even though I might be crying on the outside…in my soul there is joy.

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12

Where hatred resides,
Let love prevail.
When hatred prevails,
Have love reside. 

I awoke to the Lord speaking those words to my spirit one morning. It seems there is so much hatred in the world today, whether it is one religion against another, one denomination against another or one believer against another. Even in our own personal life it is so difficult not to respond to hatred with hatred.

Our nature wants validation for the injustice we think has been imposed upon us. As if hating them back somehow childishly takes the pain away or evens the score. You might think I don't hate, but how do you behave when someone cuts in front of you, is rude and inconsiderate, when you are just plain tired and no one seems to care. If you are not responding in love, you are responding in hate.

To respond in love is difficult merely in the fact that it is a choice, a choice contrary to our nature, contrary to our desires, contrary to our logic. It is however, the very nature of God. So where does that leave us? To choose God is to choose love. To choose to overcome the pain of our rejection and draw in those that shut you out. It is so easy to forget that we are the ones drawing the circle around our own life, not anyone else. Therefore, we can choose to make our circle as small or large as we want it to be.

"He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win
We drew a circle that took him in."
-Edwin Markham, Outwitted

One time I passed a person who had been particularly cruel to me and I cried out to God "How can you expect me to love these people." I was overwhelmed by His response. He merely spoke to my spirit and said, "How can you expect me not to love them." Then I realized that to know God is to love His beloved. For where hatred resides there is all manner of evil things.

We need to realize our battle is not against individuals, but a spirit of hate, not only in the world, but our very nature. Only when we allow God to transform our nature can we respond in love. We need to let love prevail and reside in our lives. I don't think we comprehend how powerful love can be, nor what it actual should be! I truly believe that love is the most powerful weapon we have against the powers of darkness.

The problem is that we have to learn what it is and how to weld it. God has been trying to teach me, it has been difficult, but I am learning. I believe Love is about treating people with honor and respect unconditionally, even when they are not loveable. Not sardonically saying "I love you with the love of Christ", then walking away and act unloving.

Love can't operate in un-forgiveness, anger, strife, jealousy, lust, or anything contrary to the love of God. Right now God is teaching me how critical it is to have control over what I say. I believe a significant aspect of love is expressed by our words; therefore, it is imperative that they be under the control of God. As anything, once you learn something you can only grow if you continue to practice it.

"Love is patient,
Love is kind.
It does not envy,
It does not boast,
It is not proud,
It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil,
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
Always trusts,
Always hopes,
Always perseveres."
1Corinthians 13:1-7

Where [a place] hatred [hate-bad temper, to trouble, to dislike or wish to avoid; hatred-a state, condition/strong dislike or ill will] resides [to dwell for a long time, to be vested, have rights, powers], Let [implies power or authority to give or deny consent] love [a deep and tender feeling of affection for or attachment or devotion to a person or persons, a feeling of brotherhood and goodwill toward other people] prevail [be strong, gain the advantage, victory, be more widespread], When [a time] hatred prevails, Have [to own or control, gain possession or control] love reside. 

The love that was lost in the evening time,
Shall be restored again.
The burned out candle in the night,
Shall be ignited again.

To wander through the darkness,
Only draws us closer to Him.
The Love that never leaves us,
The Light that is never dim.

So...Take comfort in the knowledge,
Of His enduring Grace.
To be there right beside us,
To shine upon our face.

by~bren