When
we pray, we often look for earthquakes, fire from heaven, a great rushing wind,
miraculous answers; however, God often comes in the sound of "gentle
stillness" - in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:9-12).
We
meet God in the quiet rest of His presence (Hebrews 4:10) - allowing His peace
to bathe our soul and to heal the sources of our negative emotions. Listening
to His directives for each moment of our day, we live and walk in His Spirit
and His will - the happiest place on earth (Acts 17:28).
Connecting
with patient, non-condemning people who pay attention to us is very healing. They
are not absorbed in their self, their own problems, and their schedule. We can
bond with one another as we chat or sit quietly in companionable silence.
We
learn from God's Spirit, and from physically and psychologically safe people,
to accept our self, to have patience with our flaws, and to find direction for
our difficulties. This helps us to recover from the negative tapes in our mind
of past labeling, criticism and degrading remarks.
In
addition to externally safe environments, we also need an internally safe atmosphere.
A place where we refuse to condemn our self, call our self names, or belittle
our best efforts to follow God in our life.
Instead,
we encourage and have compassion on our self. We accept our self for who we are
in Christ. Paying attention to and meeting the needs of our body, soul and
spirit are paramount pre-qualifications to our positive quality of life.
By
the healing power of God within us, through Christ and by His Spirit, we stop
judging our self, second-guessing our motives, or criticizing and devaluing everything
we think, say and do each moment of the day.
Intimacy
with God, basking in His attention, and listening to His words of comfort and
direction all during the day, keep us joyful even in negative circumstances. As
we wait on Him, He manifests to us His presence within us.
Prayer:
Father
God, please keep us grounded and centered on Christ in us, and on who You are
in our life; so that we keep Your peace in us through every trial and stressful
situation. Help us to find our healing under the shadow of Your wings (Malachi
4:2). Teach us to walk in Your ways and to give You the glory for everything
that You accomplish in us and through us during our life on this earth.
Thank
You for helping us to live free of Satan's lies within our soul, and for teaching
our internal voices to lift us up, have compassion and empathy for our self as
well as others, to accept our self just the way we are, and to watch as Your
Spirit transforms us into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). We look
to You to heal us and to bring us into a more intimate relationship with You
day by day.
Thought
for the Day:
In
order to heal, we think Godly thoughts about our self. Below is a list of who
we are in Christ, developed over the years from various authors I have read:
WHO
AM I IN JESUS CHRIST AS A CHILD OF GOD:
· I am loved (1 John
4:10)
· I am capable; I am
enough (Philippians 4:13)
· I have been
sanctified and called to holiness (1 Corinthians 1:2)
· I have been given
grace in Christ Jesus (1Corinthians 1:4)
· I have been crucified
with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I
am now living is Christ’s life (Galatians 2:20)
· I am a son of God and
one with Christ (Galatians 3:26, 28)
· I am an heir of God,
and co-heir with Jess since I am a Born Again child of God (Galatians 4:6,7)
· I have been sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13)
· I have been redeemed
and forgiven, and I am a recipient of His lavish grace (Romans 6:1-5)
· I have been made
alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)
· I have been raised up
and seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6)
· I am God’s workmanship…His
handiwork…given a new life in Christ to do His work (Ephesians 2:10)
· I am a Saint of God
(Ephesians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2)
· I have been placed
into Christ, by God (1 Corinthians 1:30)
· I have received the
Spirit of God into my life that I might comprehend the extent of what He freely
gave to me (1 Corinthians 2:12)
· I have already been
given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)
· I am God's temple…His
dwelling place not made by humans. His Spirit and His life dwell in me (1
Corinthians 3:16; 6:19)
· I am united to the
Lord and am one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17)
· I am bought with a
price; I am not my own; I belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19,20; 7:23)
· I am called (1
Corinthians 7:17)
· I am a member of
Christ’s Body (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 5:30)
· I am victorious
through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57)
· I have been
established, anointed and sealed by God in Christ, and I have been given to the
Holy Spirit as a pledge guaranteeing my inheritance to come (2 Corinthians
1:21; Ephesians 1:13, 14)
· I am blameless and
free from accusation (Colossians 1:22)
· Christ Himself is in
me (Colossians 1:27)
· I am firmly rooted in
Christ and am now being built up in Him (Colossians 2:7)
· I am complete in
Christ (Colossians 2:10)
· My old unregenerate
nature has been removed (Colossians 2:11)
· I have been buried,
raised, and made alive with Christ (Colossians 2:12,13)
· I died with Christ
and I have been raised up with Christ. My life is now hidden With Christ in
God. Christ is now my life. (Colossians 1:1-4)
· I am an expression of
the life of Christ because He is my life (Colossians 3:4)
· I am chosen of God,
holy and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4)
· I am a child of light
and not of darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:5)
· I have been rescued
from the domain of Satan’s rule and transferred to the kingdom of Christ
(Colossians 1:13)
· I have been redeemed
and forgiven of all my sins. The debt against me has been cancelled (Colossians
1:14)
· I have been given a
spirit of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)
· I have been saved and
set apart by God (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:5)
· I am an enemy of the
devil (1 Peter 2:11)
· I have been given
exceedingly great and precious promises by God by which I am a partaker of
God’s divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)
· I am forgiven on the
account of Jesus’ name (1 John 2:12)
· I am anointed by God
(1 John 2:27)
· I am a child of God
and I will resemble Christ when He returns (1 John 3:1,2)
· I am like Christ (1
John 4:10)
· I have life (1 John
5:12)
· I am born of God, and
the evil one…the devil…cannot touch me (1 John 5:18)
· I have been redeemed
(Revelation 5:9)
· In Christ I have been
healed (Isaiah 53:5)
· I am the salt of the
earth (Matthew 5:13)
· I am the light of the
world (Matthew 5:14)
· I am being changed
into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18
· Since I have died, I
no longer live for myself, but for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14,15)
· I am a new creation
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
· I am reconciled to
God and am a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18,19)
· I have been made
righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21)
· I am commissioned to
make disciples (Matthew 28:19,20)
· I am a child of God
(John 1:12)
· I have eternal life
(John 10:27)
· I have been given
peace (John 14:27)
· I am part of the true
vine, a channel of Christ’s life (John 15:1,5)
· I am clean (John
15:3)
· I am Christ’s friend
(John 15:15)
· I am chosen and
appointed by Christ to bear His fruit (John 15:16)
· I have been given
glory (John 17:22)
· I have been
justified…completely forgiven and made righteous (Romans 5:1)
· I died with Christ
and died to the power of sin’s rule over my life (Romans 6:1-6)
· I am now a slave of
righteousness, not of sin (Romans 6:18)
· I am free from sin
and enslaved to God (Romans 6:22)
· I am free forever
from condemnation (Romans 8:1)
· I am a son of God;
God is my Heavenly Father (Romans 8:14, 15 Galatians 3:26; 4:6)
· I am a joint heir
with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him (Romans 8:17)
· Because I am
sanctified and am one with the Sanctifier, He is not ashamed to call me brother
(Hebrews 2:11)
· I am a holy partaker
of a heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1)
· I have the right to
come boldly before the throne of God to find mercy and grace in a time of need
(Hebrews4:16)
· I have been born
again (1 Peter 1:23)
· I am one of God’s
living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5)
· I am a member of a
chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a People for God’s own
possession (1 Peter 2:9,10)
· I am an alien and
stranger to this world in which I temporarily live (1 Peter 2:11)
· I am more than a
conqueror through Christ, who loves me (Romans 8:37)
· I have faith in God's
faithfulness (Romans 12:3)
· I am led by God in
triumphal procession (2 Corinthians 2:14)
· I am to God the
fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing
(2 Corinthians 2:15)
· I am given strength
in exchange for weakness (2 Corinthians 12:10)
· I have been blessed
with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3)
· I was chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and am without blame
before Him (Ephesians 1:4)
· I was
predestined…determined by God…to be adopted as God’s son (Ephesians 1:5)
· I have direct access
to God through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:18)
· I am a fellow citizen
with the rest of God’s family (Ephesians 2:19)
· I may approach God
with boldness, freedom, and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
· I am righteous and
holy through Christ (Ephesians 2:24)
· I am a citizen of
heaven, seated in heaven right now through Christ in me (Philippians 3:20
Ephesians 2:6)
