“Leave
no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].” ~ Ephesians 4:27 (Amplified Bible)
Father
in the name of Jesus, I come to You thankful and acknowledging Your greatness
and ability. Lord, I come to You asking You to speak to me about this
issue. Lord, reveal this “thing” in my
life as I read this blog and may it be taken from me because of You and through You. Lord, may this be a
healing agent in my soul, spirit and mind. Produce a work in me that no man
could do so only You can get the credit. Holy Spirit show me what You want me
to see, don’t let me skip it, get distracted or miss it and I thank You for
doing this in Jesus name! AMEN!
Face to face to with time, Paul writes something that
outlasts his own life. It’s a statement
that warns the believer that the devil is serious about his job. Among the growing epidemics in the world,
self-harm is one that is skyrocketing.
Many people don’t recognize self-inflicted harm because it can be
covered up with clothing or done secretly. Many teens and young adults are suffering
from cutting and even burning themselves, filled with pain and no outlet, they
resort to self-inflicted harm. Have you
prayed for them today? While this is
an epidemic in every area of life, every race, every religion and every other
facet of life, we find that Jesus can and
wants to deliver and free us from self-harm. However, when we allow the enemy to have an
opportunity, we find that we too can cause self-inflicted harm. Spiritually, we can do this daily and
not even recognize it, we can be face to face with a problem and
whether we know it or not we begin to inflict harm on ourselves because we
don’t know what to do naturally. We can sometimes call someone and we are
inflicting harm on ourselves. Just as in
the natural, so we are in the spiritual.
When we hurt and don’t know how to let God take our pain away, we
inflict harm on ourselves. We might not
know immediately, but sleeping with every guy that shows attention to us is self-inflicted
harm. We might not know immediately, but
refusing to forgive your husband for something he did thirty years ago is
self-inflicted harm. All of this is
taking place in our lives, if you examine your life; something you are doing is
causing self-inflicted wounds. Have you
thought about that? Have you spotted it? Have you ever noticed what happens
when you think of that thing over and over and over again? Have you realized
that the source of your unforgiveness is your inability to stop thinking of why
they did it, who they did it with, how they did it to you and how you were
“always right” and were treated “unjustly” as if you were the only person
who made every decision that benefited the relationship?
Paul gives us encouragement to not only not give
opportunity to the devil, but live for
God. The Epistle to the Ephesians is one
filled with great delight to our spiritual growth. In the first chapters Paul begins to express
who we are in Christ. He tells us
that we are created to do good works. He
tells us we are saved by grace through faith. He tells us that it’s important
to seek God and serve the Lord. We find
in the fourth chapter a twist, we see Paul after
explaining the already done work of Christ and how
much He loves us that we have a duty, we have a job to do. We have a purpose on this earth and we have
to fulfill it by becoming conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and being obedient
to His divine Word of Truth. We have to
learn like Paul to do the will of God.
We don’t always like being obedient, we don’t always like allowing God
to work, but one thing is for certain, in order to grow spiritually, we have to
do it. We have to learn how to trust God
with the circumstances for obeying Him.
You might say “well, if I obey God, I won’t have a mate right now,” yup,
that’s true, but if you disobey, you’ll have a messed up marriage in a few
years. What’s more important to you,
self-gratification or Gods plan and purposes for your life?
It’s hard to accept, but so many times in our walk with
Christ, we have given the devil ample opportunity in our lives. We have allowed the enemy to have free roam
in our hearts, desires, lusts, and even in our ministries. We keep allowing the
devil to send us thoughts about what a person did to us and how bad it was so
we can’t forgive; self-inflicted wounds.
We know God wants us to be single, but we keep begging and screaming at God to
send us a mate; self-inflicted wounds.
We keep hoping and praying that the ex-boyfriend or girlfriend will come back; self-inflicted wounds. We do it both
naturally and spiritually. We compromise our convictions that we know
God wants us to hold to in order to be popular, in order to fit in, in order to
be with the crowd that we think is for us but is against us in actions and
deeds. We compromise our faith when we
stand in front of people and laugh at jokes that are against the nature of
Christ in our life. We compromise our faith and standards when we
allow non-believers to come into our lives in an intimate way, when we begin to
start a relationship with a non-believer; we are in what the Bible calls an “unequally
yoked relationship.” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
Sometimes we go to God and try to slide in scriptural
thoughts and insight into our lust and selfishness. We tend to get super holy and committed when
we see something we want, but know we won’t be able to attain it without the
help of God. We do these things, but
obedience in the wrong motive is
still disobedience. We go to God and say
“ok, God, if You give me a husband, I will serve You and go to Bible Study on
Youth night.” We go to God and say “Lord, if You are real and love me, You will
let me get a new car and then I can pick up so and so for Church.” We claim to
want to be obedient, but inwardly we are lusting for something and trying to
use God to make our lusts a “holy desire.”
We come to God with alternative motives, we have a reason behind every
prayer and not every reason is one of love and sacrifice. If we are honest, most
of our prayers are devoted to our will being done instead of God’s
will (plans) being done. We give God ultimatums
and say “if You don’t do this by so and so time, I’ll make up my own way; I’ll
find my own husband, I’ll be the Lord of my life, I’ll do my will and not
Yours.” What are we really doing? We are
giving ourselves self-inflicted wounds. We
are hurting ourselves when we walk in rebellion and disobedience to Gods
commands and programs.
How can we stop our self-inflicting
wounds?
1)
Learn to
accept the “no’s” of God – So many times when we are devastated by God not
moving on our favor we tend to get angry at
God. We lash out at God for not doing
our will and we don’t realize that type of behavior is a reason why He says
“no.” Sometimes the “no’s” of God are designed to show us our own pride,
self-will and rebellious spirit and it wouldn’t be seen apart from knowing that
God will intentionally not move and answer our long awaited prayer. Whenever we begin to hear a “no” from God or
just visibly see all the doors closed,
“nope, that’s not the one for you,” “nope, that’s not the career opportunity I
want you to have,” we can say, do and
think things like “well, I’ll just do it my way, I’ll just disobey You, I’ll
reject the teaching that I know to be right.” We get very rebellious when
God openly says “no!” When these feelings arise we can be sure that it’s a
spirit of pride and pride is what God is opposed to. (James 4:6) God doesn’t want
us to be prideful and sometimes the only way God can deal with that pride is to
purposefully shut a door tightly so it can’t
be opened again. Many times we find it hard to accept Gods
“no” because we don’t really think He
is all we need. We claim that He is, we
can stand up in Church and testify about it, but when God doesn’t move we pout,
we get upset, we want to rebel, we want to be stubborn and try again. It’s time for us
to grow up spiritually and accept the fact that God said “no” in every way
possible; the loan was cancelled, the car didn’t come through, the boyfriend
wasn’t the one, the application was denied, how
many times does God have to show you that it isn’t His will at the moment?
Why are we so stubborn? We have to grow out of this. This is a key factor in spiritual death; we
hurt ourselves by trying to open doors that God shut. It’s hard to do, but we have to learn to
accept the “no’s” of God. Rest on the fact that a “no” from God is 1000 times
better than receiving a “yes” from a man or woman or a “yes” from a false god called
pride when it steps in and says “do it your way.”
2)
Pray –
Without prayer when we realize these issues, nothing will change. It doesn’t matter how many sermons we hear,
how many times we played basketball with the Church leader or how many times we
quoted a verse, without prayer it won’t
work. Prayer is designed in such a way
where without it, we fall spiritually, and we can’t live without prayer.
When we lack prayer in our life, we will always inflict harm on ourselves. When we lack prayer we make bad choices, we
start bad ministries, we start doing things and never accomplish them, we
hinder ourselves because of our lack of devotion to the one thing that sustains
us as Christians; prayer. Prayer is
the only thing that will give us the capability to say “ok, this is a problem
in my life, Lord, lets deal with it.” Prayer is the only thing that gives us the
capability to say “ok, she hurt me, but with Christ all things are possible and
I can forgive because of the Holy Spirit
of God.” Prayer is the only thing that
will sustain us in times of what seem to be spiritual drought, when you see no
fruit being produced in your life. When
you’ve prayed and the issue is still there, when you prayed and you still
haven’t won someone to Christ, when you’ve prayed and the family member and
your cousin isn’t saved yet; only prayer will sustain you when things don’t go
your way at the moment. God works
through prayer and without it not only can God not work, our flesh begins to be Lord over our life. We
begin to do things that please the flesh, the world and the devil instead of
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We can’t allow ourselves to drift into a
prayerlessness life; we have to accept that without prayer, we can’t do what
God wants us to do. Have you prayed about it as much as you’ve complained about
it?
3)
Obedience
– Without being obedient to Gods Word, there is no blessing of God on our
lives. There’s no way God can move in
our hearts and lives with a disobedient spirit; it’s impossible! God can’t do
what He wants to do in your life if all you do is what you want to do. We often say
“I want the will of God to be done,” but inwardly we are saying “not really”
and outwardly, in our actions we show the world that we don’t want that. What’s your
obedience level today? What have you ran
from? What are you hiding in your heart from your husband? What have you done
that you know isn’t right, but you just insist on doing it anyways? When we walk in disobedience to the Word of
God, we open doors for the devil and when the devils gets in, he doesn’t come
in softly, he’s coming to tear you apart.
When the devil gets a door open in your life he is attacking your
marriage, if not through your spouse, through you hurting and abusing your
spouse whether physically or verbally, your health, because you are so stressed
out and freaking out about everything, he attacks your finances, because your
lust is out of control, he attacks your vision, because he places things,
issues and problems in your life in order to block out Christ. Don’t be fooled, disobedience is not a good thing;
it doesn’t have the blessing of the Lord on it. It’s a bad thing, it hinders us. It’s nothing
more than a self-inflicted wound.
4)
Healing –
One thing we must learn to do is accept Gods healing in our lives. Sometimes God will allow us to bump our head
so many times in order for us to finally see it as a problem and not a
solution. When we recognize these self-inflicted
wounds we have to confess them as sin to God.
That’s what they are, sins, we have to acknowledge them. We have to come to God and be honest, we have
to tell God how we feel about things and when we do that, we open the door for
the healing hands of God to not just soothe our sores, but cure our heart, cure
our spirit, cure our soul and renew our spiritual health. God wants to bring
healing and satisfaction to your soul, but it’s our choice to let Him. Sometimes we pray for that, but we keep going
back to someone that isn’t good for us. Lord, help us! All we have to do is
tell God the truth and then He can move in our hearts and bring that freedom from
the captivity of the enemy, the captivity of pride, the captivity of a broken
heart; God can do it, allow Him to work in you! So many times people,
especially men, go to the Doctor and when the Doctor asks what’s wrong they say
“nothing.” That’s what we do with God,
we act like nothing is wrong, we pray and say “Lord, bless so and so, help so
and so” and in reality we are hurting deeply, but we never tell God (the Doctor
and Healer) that we are hurting in this area.
It’s only when our hearts are open, when we are naked before Almighty
God in our feelings, emotions and conduct that He can heal, recover and
deliver. There’s no such thing as
healing before confession and there’s never deliverance without humility. What’s your choice today? Will you allow God
to take that thing out of your way, out of your heart, our of your life. TD
Jakes said one time that he was smoking cigarettes as a backslider and that one
day someone said to him that it was a very small thing that can hinder him from
going where God wanted to take him. Is
that your testimony? Have you allowed such a small thing to hinder where you
are in Christ, where you should be in the Word of God, where you should be in influencing
and impacting your family and generation for Christ’s sake? These small self-inflicted wounds can
be taken from us by Almighty God, but we have to pray, obey,
acknowledge, while humble ourselves by accepting the “no’s” of God; confessing
all to God, knowing only He can do it.
No matter what we face in life, we have to learn how to spot
those areas that we keep “touching the oven on,” usually they are small areas, but they cause big problems. Every time we sin, we affect tons of
people. The Church is filled with people
who are hurting and thus hurt others.
What happens when someone walks past someone and doesn’t speak anymore?
That other person is hurt and if not treated properly, they will
allow the enemy to say “go ahead, don’t speak to her and remember so and so,
don’t call her, don’t pray for him anymore, he did you wrong.” The enemy has a
field day when we re-open wounds that God is trying to heal and set free. Let’s face it, we are faced with these issues
daily, we are tempted to call the ex, we are tempted to cheat on the taxes, we
are tempted to clock in at a different time, we are tempted to have sex before
marriage, we are tempted with these things and they are nothing more than self-inflicted wounds. It’s hard to accept, but the faster we
recognize it, the quicker we are free to work in a new found way for Gods glory and Kingdom. My own personal self-inflicted
wound was revealed to me tonight, about thirty minutes or less ago. I was praying and saying “Lord, what about a
wife?” After a little while I realized God already said “no” and I have to
accept what God allows, I haven’t fully accepted the fact that a “no” from God doesn’t
change overnight. I’m
supposed to be single, by the purpose and will
of God. Do I have a chance to disobey God and find my own mate? Absolutely,
am I stupid enough to think I have the capability to spot a lifetime partner? Fortunately, God has
blessed me with wisdom to see that that’s impossible with the flesh and rebellion. I have to accept the fact that even when I
pray for that, it’s opening a wound that God is trying to close up and
heal. How many times does it take? I
don’t know, but one thing is for certain, I
am sick and tired of having self-inflicted
wounds. What about you?
Father in Jesus name, I come to You thankful. I am thankful that You are capable of
speaking to me about something that I needed to hear. Lord, I come to You now
confessing I have a problem. Lord, I keep doing this, I want this thing in my
life but it hinders me from receiving the fullness of God in my heart, life,
ministry and family. Lord, I confess it as sin, I confess it as a problem and I
confess that it can be dealt with through the Cross of Jesus Christ and the
Spirit of the Living God. Holy Ghost,
arise within me and cancel out what the devil is using against me. Lord, close
the doors right now please. Lord, show me how to overcome, make me an
overcomer, let me be free so I can have the key to someone’s chains and unlock
them as well. Holy Spirit, be real in my life, show me who You are, show me how
You speak to me personally. Lord, use me for Your glory and Kingdom. Let this
thing go so I can serve in a new found capacity. Holy Spirit heal what is
messed up and take away any unforgiveness or bitterness deeply hidden in my
heart but seen in my motives by You. Lord, I confront my own sin, now I ask You
to remove it by Your grace and power. I thank You that You are able and only
You can free us from pride and these things. Lord, I commit my soul to You.
Keep me in Jesus name I pray that I may help others. AMEN!
_____________________________________________________________
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as
your personal Lord and Savior?
If not, here’s what you are missing.
You are missing satisfaction in life. You are missing the blessings of
God in and through your life. You are missing the blessing of being able to
know God intimately and know Him for the pardoning of your sins. You are missing the blessing of being able to
serve God and impact your community and the world around you. You are missing the beauty of God revealing
Himself to you and helping you in your daily life. You are missing out on such
great things. God wants the best for you
and His best starts with you admitting you have sinned against Him and that you
need a Savior for your sins, that Savior is Jesus Christ. Like me, will you rebel against God’s plan
and will for your life? Will you submit to Gods will so He can save you and
redirect your life? God can get you off
any drugs, any habit or addiction, nothing can stop God and God will stop at
nothing to stop it from stopping you from reaching your full potential for
Christ. God loves you so much, why wait
and why reject His message. If you want
to be saved for-real, just
pray this prayer:
pray this prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I have sinned, I am a sinner, I have sinned and will sin, but I
have sinned only against You. Lord, I am in need of Your forgiveness. I believe
You died for my sins and You rose from the dead. I believe You are God and that
You have the capability to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from my
unrighteousness. Lord, please save me and draw me to You by Your grace. Fill me
with Your Spirit. Baptize me in Your power and help me to live a lifestyle that
is pleasing in Your sight. Give me victory over temptation, Lord, strengthen me
to be all who You want me to be please in Jesus Name! AMEN!”
"God loved the world this way:
He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will
have eternal life." ~ John 3:16 (God’s Word Translation)
"That
if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a
person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting
in salvation. For
the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be [disappointed.” For
there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord
of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the
name of the Lord will be saved.” ~ Romans 10:9-13 (NASB)
These links may help you in your walk with Jesus Christ. I urge you to take a look at some and
remember to draw closer to God through studying His Word and praying daily for
yourself and most importantly, others.
God Bless!
[List of Bible Promises!
http://www.intouch.org/resources/gods-promises?page480=2 ]
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
~ Romans 10:17 (King James Version)
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/PrayerAndCounseling/index.aspx [Prayer
Request; Have someone online pray for you!]
"The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces
wonderful results." ~ James 5:16 (New Living Translation)
http://www.OurPrayer.org [Prayer Request; People from all over the world can
pray for YOU, simple, fast, free and beneficial.]
http://www.Bible.cc [Great site for searching through the Bible and
comparing each version, also charts, commentaries and dictionaries]
"Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to wild living. Instead, be
filled with the Spirit." ~ Ephesians 5:18 (Gods Word Translation)
http://www.biblegateway.com [Great site for Bibles of various kinds and
various languages]
"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the
bones." ~ Proverbs 14:30 (New International Version)
http://www.Christianword.org [Great site for prayers; affirmations,
scripture references etc.]
http://www.e-sword.net [Great site to download Bible software; commentaries,
dictionaries, maps, charts, various Bibles]
"A patient person [shows] great understanding, but a quick-tempered one
promotes foolishness." ~ Proverbs 14:29 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
http://www.twft.org [Pastor Chuck Smith's Through The Bible audio sermons]
http://www.c28.com [Christian Clothing, etc.]
http://www.intouch.org/itrn?utm_source=ITM&utm_medium=Web&utm_campaign=Home_top_slider
[In Touch Ministries 24/7 Radio Broadcast Online; Free Streaming]
http://www.intouch.org/resources/gods-promises?page480=2 [List of Bible
Promises! (Easy to Print)]
"In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And his children
will have refuge." ~ Proverbs 14:26 (New American Standard Bible)
http://www.wmpress.org [FREE Christian Tracts] [Shipped to your doorstep for
free.] [Pass out, leave somewhere (school, bus stop, grocery store, mall,
shopping center, etc.), send in a Birthday, Holiday or Christmas Card; Simple
ways to plant seeds of faith in people, even without speaking.]
[ORDER FORM for WMPRESS.ORG] http://www.wmpress.org/booklet_order.php [BOOKLETS/STUDY GUIDES/ GOSPEL TRACTS
AVAILABLE TO ORDER FROM WMPRESS.ORG]
http://www.wmpress.org/bksavail.shtml
http://www.wmpress.org/bksavail.shtml
http://www.intouch.org/about/in-touch-messenger/messenger-downloads
[Download 35 POWERFUL sermons from Charles Stanley in less than five minutes,
compressed ZIP FILE.] [3 Languages; Pray for the Ministry of donating, giving
and supplying these handheld devices to spread the Gospel to the remote areas
of the world and throughout the 'known' world.] [Pray!]
"For, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." ~ Romans 10:13 (American Standard Version)
http://www.thruthebible.org/site/c.irLMKXPGLsF/b.4104233/k.BFE1/MP3_Download_of_5Year_Series.htm
[Dr. J Vernon McGee's Through The Bible 5 Year Series; Free downloads]
[THREE Great Biblical Prayers Ephesians 3:14-21, Ephesians 1:16-20 &
Colossians 1:9-14, pray them for you and others!]
http://www.biblegateway.christianbook.com [Buy Christian Bibles, great
selection of Study Bibles, commentaries, audio sermons, books, clothing, music,
gifts, art; etc.]
http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/today-on-radio [Charles Stanley's daily
radio broadcast; also clicking 'Audio Archives' can allow you to search years
back and download more of his radio broadcasts]
"I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and
peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the power of the
Holy Spirit." ~ Romans 15:13 (New Century Version)
http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/this-week-on-tv [Charles Stanleys 'This
Week on TV' site; clicking 'Video Archives' can allow you to search back and
find older Television shows; He also has sermon notes available on each
show/segment]
"And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." ~
Romans 5:5 (English Standard Version)
http://www.twft.com/?page=C2000 [Pastor Chuck Smiths c2000 Through The Bible
series; free downloads of book by book, verse by verse Bible study/commentary]
"May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your
knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord." ~ 2 Peter 1:2 (New Living
Translation)
http://twft.com/?page=Radio.Main [Pastor Chuck Smiths Radio Broadcast; 25
minutes of study on the Word of God. c3000 edition]
[Study Bibles I suggest looking at; at CBD.com] 'Life in The Spirit Study
Bible' 'Zondervan Study Bible' Nelson KJV Study Bible' and 'ESV Study Bible.'
Christian Books; "Disciplines of The Holy Spirit" by Tan/Gregg;
"How to Listen to God" by Charles Stanley; "Living Waters"
by Pastor Chuck Smith; "Handbook for Christian Living" by Charles
Stanley;
"That I may KNOW Him" ~ Philippians 3:10
Start your day off with a Word from God; Prayer and a Song of Praise/Worship
THE ROYAL PRAYER LINE
Every Wednesday Morning
6:15 a.m. - 6:30 a.m.[EASTERN USA TIME]
Dial-in# (712) 432-1001
Access Code: 491276491#
Just Listen and Be Blessed!!!
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/royal-baptist-sunday-services [PAST SERVICES
OF ROYAL MISSIONARY BAPTIST; SUNDAY SERVICES 8 AND 11 AM; Special Events and
Bible Study as well] Enjoy!
http://royalmbc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=109
[My Churches Live Streaming; Sunday's at 8 AM & 11 AM. Thursdays for Bible
Study 7 PM; Enjoy, there IS a Word from The LORD!]
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