Lord, Deliver Me From Me

 Romans 7:15-20 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Lord, deliver me from me. As Paul so aptly stated, it is our flesh, our carnal thoughts and behaviors that get us into trouble every time.

So many times, I’ve decided to do one thing and end up either doing something else or doing nothing at all. Why, because I allow the thoughts in my mind to override my spirit.

Sin does not always have to refer to an inappropriate behavior. It is whatever we say or do that is contrary to God’s will, His word and His purpose for our lives.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

As I often confess, I am a dreamer and a believer. If it is in the word of God, not only do I believe it, but I expect all of God’s promises to manifest. God’s word is true and will not return void.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

And then there’s me. What is my part? I must put works with my faith.

James 2:17-26 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

What are the works that I need to put with my faith? The works that are the evidence that I have faith in what I believe God has planned and purposed for my life. You see, I believe God wants me to share His word with you and encourage you to Liv by Faith. But what if I believed that is what God wanted me to do and never did it? What if I never shared His word with you? Not only would I not be fulfilling God’s purpose for my life, but my behavior would also say God I don’t trust You to do what You said you would do.

The enemy will use the voices in our head, whether they are our own voices, or the voice of someone else to convince us we are defeated. What we must remember is that the enemy is defeated and he is trying to project his future onto us.

Oftentimes we are our own worst enemy.

Rather than protecting our mind by wearing the helmet of salvation; protecting ourselves from what we see and hear. Taking the shield of faith to stop the darts of unbelief. And using our sword, the word of God to defeat the enemy within. We allow our mind to dwell on thoughts and words that are contrary to the thoughts and words God says about us.

Ephesians 6:16-17 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Thoughts of fear, doubt, anxiety, procrastination, slothfulness. Fear of rejection, fear of failure are not thoughts of peace. They are evil in nature as they are harmful and do not bring us hope. These thoughts do not align with God’s word.

Do not think it, do not speak it, do not believe it. If the words you hear are contrary to God’s will, His word, and His purpose do not give them life.

2Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Focus on who God says you are. You are victorious.

 

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Don't Lose Focus

I pray that any of you that were contemplating throwing in the towel, or quitting are back on track. As you move forward I must remind you to stay focused. Keep your mind on what God says and not what the enemy tries to plant in your mind. Keep pressing forward.

For as we read in Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

How do you plan your day, week, month, and year. What are your short and long term goals? That’s a lot to think about, so let’s back up and take it one plan at a time.

What were your plans for today? Were you able to accomplish them? If not, why not? What distracted you, or interrupted your plan? Were you able to overcome the distraction or interruption and get back on course or will you have to use time allocated for another task to get back on track.

Things don’t always go the way we plan. Sometimes it’s a good thing, and sometimes it may not be a good thing. What’s important is that you don’t allow distractions to side track you, or prevent you from moving towards your goal.

We’ve talked previously about how fear of success can be just as crippling as fear of failure. When you see the doors you’ve knocked on being opened, when you receive what you have asked for, when you find what you have been seeking, don’t become afraid of the success God is bringing your way. Not only is this what you have been diligently praying for it is also your destiny.

Many times when we are getting close to a victorious moment the enemy will cause us to start doubting. He will send those fiery darts towards your mind. The ones that say, this can’t be real, I’m not good enough, they must have made a mistake. He may even try to convince you that the thing you have tried so hard to achieve, along with your efforts to achieve them are worthless. He wants to convince you that you will not succeed.

Matthew 14: 22-32 and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.  But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.  And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.  And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.  And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.

I want us to take a look at a few things here. First, there were several disciples on the boat. Why was Peter the only one that asked the Lord to bid him, or enable him to come to him on the water? Why did Peter want to walk on the water in the first place? Why didn’t he just allow Jesus to come and join them on the ship?

My thought is that Peter had faith, He believed that it was Jesus walking on the water. He also believed that because it was Jesus he could command him, or enable him to walk on the water. When Jesus said come, Peter didn’t hesitate. He went down out of the ship and began walking toward Jesus. Peter wasn’t walking towards the shore, or walking around the boat just to see if he was in fact able to walk on water. He had a goal in mind. He was walking towards Jesus.

Are you like the rest of the disciples in the boat, or are you like Peter? Are you bold enough in your faith to say, if it is you bid me to come? Lord, if this is your plan for my life enable me to walk in it. Equip me with the faith that I need to walk towards my destiny, to reach my goal.

To listen to the message in its entirety click on the link below and select Don’t Lose Focus

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No Excuses

Ready, set, go! Welcome to 2016! Now is the time to do anything and everything that you have been putting off. Everything that you said “in January I am going to (you fill in the blank).”No excuses.

What is near and dear to your heart? What is the desire God has placed in you that just will not go away? You fall asleep thinking about it. You wake up in the morning thinking about it. During the day when your mind drifts you catch yourself thinking about it. What is it? Have you written it down? What is your vision or better yet, what is Gods vision for you? What are you doing about it?

I have always had a heart for those that are hurting. Sometimes the signs are obvious while at other times they are not. I yearn to see the broken restored.

As a female quite naturally I have a heart for women, but it doesn’t stop there. In my own quest for self-analysis, and during my own journey I have found that oftentimes my opportunities for growth also involved a male in my life. Male and female relationships involve a females understanding of a male as well as a males understanding of a female. Let’s be honest, if we want any relationship to work we must be willing to make an effort to make it work. If one person desires for a relationship to work more than the other person in the relationship the person that wants the relationship to work most is usually more willing to work on the relationship.

Our makeup is both spiritual and physical. Our spirit resides in a physical body that carries emotions. Our emotions often dictate how we react. We must learn how to balance the spiritual with the physical. We must recognize our battle is spiritual while at the same time recognizing the needs of the physical.

My focus for 2016 is prayer, salvation, healing, deliverance and restoration as you will see when you click on this link http://www.gretahillman.com/#!ssif/dork3  which takes you to a new page in my website or visit us on Facebook www.facebook.com/sisterssteadfastinfaith . Sisters Steadfast in Faith (SSiF) is geared towards women yet offers insight to both men and women. We encourage prayer and celebrate victory. Look for words of encouragement and a study of God’s word when you visit us.

What is your commitment? What is your focus? It doesn’t matter what has happened in the past. Now is the acceptable time. Today is a new day. Maybe you have been working on your vision for years, or perhaps it’s just come to you. It doesn’t matter. It’s up to you to do all you can by the grace of God. No excuses. Set realistic goals and move forward. The only one standing in your way is you. Let 2016 be your year!

From Crisis to Christ

Crisis can be defined as a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person's life. It is when we are in crisis that we sometimes forget or lose sight of what keeps us balanced. But this is the very time that we need to dig deep, grab hold of our faith and rest in the assurance that God is in control, all things work together for our good, no weapon formed against us shall prosper and we are victorious.

If you think about it, someone around you, someone that you know or maybe you yourself may be in crisis at this very moment. When those that we love or care about, even those with whom we may have had only a brief encounter are in crisis we may be impacted. If it’s someone that is close to us we share their pain. If it is someone we know we may be empathetic. Either way we are concerned.

Crisis affects us in different ways. Our first reaction may be disbelief. We ask, how could this happen? We wonder why me. Even if the crisis has occurred in the life of a loved one, we still ask why me? Why did this happen in the life of someone that I love. It’s not as though we would prefer a crisis occur in the life of anyone else, but we still ask why me?

As difficult as it is we must depersonalize the crisis. As long as we are in the moment, we cannot think rationally. Crisis can immobilize. You may have the strongest support system of people that love you unconditionally, but when crisis hits God is the only one that can provide the comfort needed for you to emerge. He may speak directly to you, He may speak through someone in your support system or He may use a complete stranger. It’s not until He gives you exactly what you need to hear that you will be able find peace.

Don’t put yourself on a timeline. Healing for one person may vastly differ from healing for another. It is important however that you do heal. No matter how tragic the event healing is imperative to recovery and growth. Seek counsel. Find someone that you trust. Sometimes you just need someone to listen. Do not hold onto whatever is causing your pain.

I believe no matter how tragic an event your ability to share your emotions, struggle and healing will benefit you as well as someone else who is facing the same traumatic event. It may be uncomfortable in the beginning but each step you take brings you closer to healing and rediscovery of the peace God wants each of us to have.

Some people become bitter, angry and even turn away from God in crisis, but it is imperative that your crisis be what draws you to Christ instead of away from Him. Don’t allow the enemy to use crisis to destroy you. As we read in John 10:10 the thief cometh not for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

It is not Gods desire for us to experience crisis or the damage that comes with it, but it is His desire for us to have the abundant life that He has created for us.

IF YOU CAN START YOU CAN FINISH

When we embark on the journey towards reaching our destiny, we must also realize the journey along with its ups and downs, trials and tribulations, moments of victory and defeat are all part of our destiny.

If we were never down we would never appreciate being on top. There will be times when we may take baby steps and there will be times when we may not take a step at all. It is during these times that we may question our destiny, ask ourselves if we are heading in the right direction. We may even take a break, or pause for a period of time, but then we feel that unction in our spirit that reminds us that we must go on and that we will not be satisfied until we reach the pinnacle of what God has created us to do.

The funny thing about our destiny is that is does not end until all of our work here on earth is finished. We may have completed a project or reached what we may feel is a milestone, but just as we do God places another idea in our spirit, something else that He wants us to accomplish for Him.

I find it interesting that we always seem to know when God has something else in store for us. We start feeling empty even though we may have just completed what seemed to be an insurmountable task. We are able to accomplish the task by the grace of God, we are excited and joyous because it’s behind us, but it’s not enough and we begin to wonder what’s next.

As each of our lives are predestined God has already determined everything we will do. When we look at the life of Joseph we see his brothers wanted to kill him, they led their father to believe he was dead, they sold him into slavery. He was accused of rape, served time in prison, placed in the second highest position in the land and saved those same brothers from famine that wanted him dead.

If Joseph knew what the end was going to be it may have made his journey a little more tolerable. Sure he had some good times during the bad times, but there were also times knowing he had done nothing wrong that he may have wondered why me.

We must think about Joseph as we walk through our predestined paths. We don’t know what our end will be. We will experience trials and tribulations because God told us we would. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers us out of them all. He also said our latter will be greater than the former. Our last days will be better than our first days.

God has instilled in us a desire to have everything He has promised us, that is why we have what seems to be an insatiable desire to serve Him. The desires, visions, ideas that He has placed in us are the service He has called us to. We need to worship Him. We need to praise Him. We need to seek Him and we need to fulfill His plan for our lives.

During our fleshly times of weakness is when we may stray off of His path, but God already knew we were going to stray, so He nudges us and gets us back on track. What a mighty God we serve! Even when we want to give up He gives us just want we need to keep moving.

I recently took a stress test. For those of you who have never taken one you are placed on a treadmill while connected to an EKG machine. Your heart rate and blood pressure are monitored during the test. The incline and pace are increased in intervals. By the time the test was almost over I was thinking what would happen if I just stop. I felt like I could not continue but I did.

God has already provided everything we need to accomplish everything He has ordained for our lives. What we endure is because we are on the mission He has placed us on.When you feel like giving up that is when you must remember 2Corinthinians 12:10 therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Oftentimes the greatest victories occur just as we are feeling we can’t go on. If I’d stopped while on the treadmill I would have failed the test and would need to reschedule. How do I know I would be able to complete the test the second time if I would have quit the first time? I could tell myself I would practice, but would I? Probably not.

Rather than quit when you are almost there push! Give it your best shot! You will never cross the finish line if you stop just short of it. If you start you can finish. Finishing is the end that God has predestined for you. It may not be what you think it should be, but it will always be what He has chosen and what He has determined as completion.

 

 

 

Who’s In Your Corner?

I have viewed a few boxing matches on television and wondered about the roles of the people in the fighters corner which led me to do a little research.

There are usually four people in a fighter’s entourage which include a manager, a trainer, a cut man and a corner man who enter the fighter’s corner during the one minute intervals between rounds.

The manager is responsible for the direction of the fighter’s career. The trainer works with the fighter on a day to day basis. He is responsible for developing the fighter’s technique, physical conditioning and tactics. He provides motivation and tactical advice as the fight progresses. The cut man obviously is responsible for providing first aid as needed for the fighter. The corner man may also be the fighter’s trainer and in most cases is the physical support system during the fight. He wraps the fighter’s hands to protect them during the bout and has a deep knowledge of the physical mannerisms of the fighter. If he believes the fighter is struggling or at risk of physical harm should the fight continue can signal the referee to stop the fight by “throwing in the towel”.

Our corner consists of the trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one as we read in 1 John 5:7. Our entourage leads and guides, teaches and trains, knows our moves before we make them and protects us from our opponents.

In boxing the battle is waged by the fighter alone. As a Christian the battle is God’s as we read in 2 Chronicles 20:15 and the victory is ours as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:57 which prevents the need for ever “throwing in the towel”.

Who’s in your corner? Are you trying to fight your own battles or are you casting your cares on the Lord as instructed in 1 Peter 5:7?  Are you laboring and heavy laden, or are you following Matthew 11:27:28-29 which reads come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Why fight a battle that is not yours and has already been won? Rely on your corner.

 

 

Victim or Victor?

I am an optimist, a dreamer and expect happy endings. I always have and I always will.  Life is full of highs and lows, obstacles stumbling blocks and hiccups. Sometimes the trials and tribulations that affect our lives are created by our volition. It’s all about choices. We choose certain paths, relationships, jobs, homes, neighborhoods, etc. On the other had as Solomon said time and chance happen to us all.

Whether we have made a decision that has adversely affected our lives or the adverse affect was not caused by anything we have done ourselves how we choose to react to the consequences determine whether we are a victim or victor.

It’s easy to blame others whether it’s their fault of not for the things that we feel have adversely affected our lives. Sometimes it makes us feel better to place blame on others and the fault may belong to others but we are responsible for determining how we will react.

Have I always made the best decisions? No I have not. Have things occurred in my life at the hands of others that I could not avoid? Yes they have? Have I considered my self as a victim? Yes I have. Was my life, were my emotions or my state of mind improved or did I find solace when I saw myself as a victim? Perhaps momentarily, but being a victim prevented growth as well as helping me determine how or even why I found myself in the role of being a victim.

Once I decided to take an objective look at the circumstances which I felt caused me to be a victim I was able to change my status from victim to victor. I learned from decisions I’d made. I forgave those that hurt me and made a conscious decision to change my life.

Perhaps you have been hurt by someone you love and thought loved you. Maybe you were abandoned, lied to cheated on or stolen from. Maybe you were the offender and have caused family or friends to turn against you or could there be an offense you feel guilty for committing that no one knows about but God?

If you fall into any of these categories the first thing you need to do is determine what has caused you to feel like a victim. Once you have determined the cause if repenting is required repent, if forgiving is required forgive. Forgive yourself and forgive your offender. As long as you have not forgiven you are still a victim, victory comes with forgiving. Do not allow your offender whether it’s someone else or your own thoughts to hold you captive. Make a decision today to be victorious. Victory is yours. All you have to do is choose to be a victor rather than a victim.