Victory vs Frustration - You CHOOSE!

John 16:33 - I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

John 17:15 - I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one.  

Having run in Christian circles for many years, amongst good "church people," I have often heard someone say something like, "Well, we just live in this world, we're going to have trials and tribulation. We're just going to have to get through these hard, troubled times." Have you heard something similar? It almost sounds like as a Christian, it is a license to live and wallow in despair and have the "oh, whoa is me" attitude.

In the Greek, "the world", in John 16:33 is described as the following:

kosmos - the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ

Jesus here in John 16 is reminding us that he has OVERCOME the world! He is also telling us how we SHOULD be living since we are IN HIM. We are called to live in peace & confidence. If you look at the word kosmos, in the Greek, it's living alienated from God, BUT as a believer, that is not us! We do not live alienated from God. Jesus doesn't leave us in a place of tribulation, trials, distress & frustration. JESUS says, "BE OF GOOD CHEER!" Jesus wants us to not focus on what the world, the kosmos, has to offer, but what HE HAS TO OFFER. I believe Jesus does not want us to focus on the kosmos living, but in the fact that on the cross Jesus defeated, he OVERCAME the kosmos living! Jesus is telling us to BE OF GOOD CHEER.  He conquered the world! He defeated the world! He wants us to walk in confidence, to be courageous, knowing the battle out there amongst the enemy is already OURS! We have already WON because Jesus fought the battle and came out victorious for US!

What does that mean to YOU and I? What does that mean for our every day living? It means don't focus on the tribulation that "the world" may live in, but focus on what Jesus TELLS US to focus on, focus on whatever you are about to pursue, focus on the VICTORY! If you are in a trying time at work, take your eyes off the tribulation, and put it on the victory! Believe & confess victory! Jesus even conquered this battle for you! Whatever this battle is for you, Jesus already defeated it for you!

Instead of:

trials, tribulation, distress & frustration

CHOOSE:

COURAGE, CONFIDENCE & CERTAINTY!

Put your FOCUS on the VICTORY that is already YOURS! Jesus did it just for you, so CHOOSE to put your focus on what Jesus told you to focus on, being of GOOD CHEER in the VICTORY!

  

Minus the Condemnation!

Romans 8:1 - Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.

Have you ever had a day that one thing after another seemed to not go as planned? Your "To-Do List" piles up with unchecked boxes, glaring out at you the undone nature of each item! The check-list person in you begins to feel guilty about the list, replaying in your mind whether you could have done something different.

Frustration.

Guilt.

Condemnation.

Well friend… I'm hear to remind you that condemnation is from the enemy. Today is a new day! Allow the condemnation the enemy is trying to get you to accept be washed away. Remember that when you became born again, the blood of Jesus from the cross washed away that condemnation. Romans 8:1 reminds us that for those of us in Christ Jesus, those of us who are born again, there is NO CONDEMNATION!

So today, start anew! Have a fresh new start! Like a blanket of snow before it is touched, while it still sparkles and glitters in the light… allow your day to start anew. Lets wash away the undone checklist and start new today.

One thing I like to do before my day begins is ask one question. "So Father, what should I do today? What should be on my list?" Sometimes my list is short. Sometimes my list is long. But at least I know when I ask, not only have I acknowledged Him so He can direct my day but in doing this it's also a way of applying 1 Peter 5:7, casting my cares (including my schedule) on Him. He cares for me! There is NO condemnation! I refuse to allow condemnation to come down on me because I AM IN CHRIST! What a great feeling! What a great reminder! When a day does not go as planned, I can cast it on the Lord and start anew, start fresh. Cast the day, my list and plans on the Lord and start new minus the condemnation!

#113 - Don't STAY Down!

Good morning! We have a full morning and a full day! The boy gets to go play today with his friend Harper! Hip Hip Horray! :) This will be a first for the boy and for mama! I will be going to have lunch with a friend & mentor which I'm excited about! Praise the Lord! Today's Word was much needed and refreshing, I think it will speak to a lot of you as well, so let's get started. 

Psalm 37:3-7a - Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed.

    ⁴Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

    ⁵Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.

    ⁶And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.

    ⁷Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him...

Well, let me set the stage of this mornings devotion. Yesterday, things were going well... all until the evening. Daddy was with the boy, and I teach/coach/lead a class on Monday nights on Health & Fitness. Well... one thing led to another with my evening, what should be a great night because Mama is kind of "off duty" and free to do things by myself after my class, turned into a not so great evening. It all started with thoughts that led to some frustrations. It began something like this..... the need to make decisions of Christmas traditions started coming, thoughts about what we want with our "family" Christmas, how to make Jesus the most important and most evident reason why we celebrate Christmas, gifts, shopping, money, people that I would like to buy presents for, etc, etc, etc. During this spiral of thoughts it was like the devil was just reeling me in, tightening and tightening, causing me to dwell on things that made me not happy. I found myself in Dicks Sporting Goods looking at my favorite brand, Nike, and I was literally almost crying. Just from a series of thoughts. Which, since I was just dwelling on "myself" and "my thoughts" made me completely ineffective in the marketplace. "Ineffective?" You ask. How did that make me ineffective? Well, I know that I am called to be a light in a dark place. I am called to draw people to the light. Draw people to the solution. And I believe I have the solution. I have what people are looking for! Not only from a business perspective for those people who are needing and praying for a way to bring in an additional income stream, but most importantly I have to offer the KING OF KINGS to those who may not know Him. 


So, here I am driving home. You tell me if you have done this before... I'm driving home, feeling bad. Dwelling on things that made me feel even more depressed, and recognized what was going on. I very seldomly allow negative thoughts to penetrate my mind for long, and I realized these thoughts had been continuing. I then began to confess outloud my goals. I have "confessions" that I speak several times a day, and I know that you can not defeat thoughts with thoughts, you can only defeat thoughts with WORDS. (that's worth writing down!) You can not defeat thoughts with thoughts, you can ONLY defeat thoughts with WORDS! So I began confessing my goals. Confessing my affirmations. Confessing the WORD over my life. And after I finished doing it once, I did it again with more enthusiasm. I would like to say that I kept doing that... but I did it maybe several times, then I went back to driving with my thoughts. Negative started weighing me down again. My first thought was, "Who can I call that would be able to encourage me?" Then, from within my spirit, I heard, "Encourage yourself in the Lord." I know that as a believer we can not always count on someone else to "lift us up," sometimes we need to know how to encourage ourself in the Lord. (Don't get me wrong, I'm all about friends and positive people to speak into our lives, and I have them.) This time, I knew it was not a job for someone else. I knew that I needed to encourage myself in the Lord. I had remembered reading a few places in the Bible how to do that, praying in the Spirit, verbally thanking God for all He has done, spending time in Praise & Worship.... all of these things wage WAR against the enemy. 


When I got home, I honestly just wanted the day to be over. I wanted a new day. I didn't go to bed "happy." I was ready for the day to end. Then, this morning when I woke up the first thing that I wrote in my journal that I felt was directed by the Holy Spirit was, "Start over today." Last night, while I was out and even when I got home, I had felt like discouragement had made me loose my "Umph" about life. It got my eyes off of what was important. The Word today is such a perfect reminder! Let's look at it again! "Roll each care on Him" - "Delight yourself in the Lord and HE will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart!" PRAISE THE LORD! 


So, what did I do? I began to do just that. I began to list out each care I was rolling over to the Lord. "Lord, I roll this care on you........ I roll this care on you....... I roll this care on you.......... " And the list went on and on. I wrote it and I did it out loud! I rolled my dreams, my future, my desires, my cares, even my secret desires, I ROLLED them onto the Lord. Then I took a few minutes to listen.... One thing that the Holy Spirit told me that was pretty interesting was this, "Satan will try to use any tactic to get you down. He plays dirty & doesn't play fair. He will attack you at your weakness, not at your strength. He wants to keep you down long enough that you will stay down. To paralyze you, like a lame animal not able to move. You did right by encouraging yourself in Me. I will breathe life into you. I will remind you of what is true." 


Today, I encourage you.... don't let the Christmas obligations get the best of you. Don't let those things discourage or get you down. Whether it be shopping, presents, parties, family, friends.... Encourage yourself in the Lord. Remember that the true focus is Jesus. But also, keep this promise in front of you. Delight yourself in the Lord and HE will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart! HE WILL DO IT! The best is still coming! God has GREAT things in store for you! He has GREAT Blessings in store for you! ROLL EACH CARE onto Him and live in joy. Live a life blessing others and being a light. God has VERY VERY Great things in store for you! Defeat Satan! Don't let him get you or keep you down. Encourage yourself in the Lord! SING SING SING! PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE! THANK THANK THANK! 


I am STARTING OVER TODAY and you can too! 

XOXO,

        Amy J