True Love

Codependent behavior not only fills us with resentment and anger due to disappointment after disappointment, but it also puts undue expectations on our relationships, which smother our friends, family, associates and neighbors.

It makes us too needy, because we think that if we love others, they will want to love us in return. We look to others for our fulfillment, acceptance, identity, affection and provision; however, they are not humanly able to supply these necessities.

As long as we depend on people, we neglect, or even forsake our relationship with God. This causes devastating effects on our spirit, soul and body. The remedy for this predicament is to totally depend on God alone, as we appreciate what others do for us.

The Trinity fulfills our needs for satisfaction, approval, distinction, individuality, love, cherishing and blessings in body, soul and spirit. As we follow His plan for us, rather than trying to impress other people, our thoughts, desires and plans are for Him alone.

Joy and intimacy in relationships depend on our willingness to be humble, vulnerable, open, honest, and obedient to the Lord's will. Yet, holding back part of our true self for fear of rejection, causes us to miss the unity that could be ours.

Satan wants to destroy our connection with God and our significant others. We accept His lies, and believe them as truth, because he whispers them over and over in our mind. His goal is to steal our contentment, to kill our love for others, and to destroy the unity in our relationships.

Covenants in our affiliations prevent us from giving up or putting conditions on our love. We do not operate out of fear of losing their good opinion of us, but out of the joy of blessing each other every day of the week 

(1 John 4:18).

Prayer:

Father God, remind us to be honest with our self about what we need and who we are - faults and all. Teach us the benefits of taking risks and opening our self up to others. We want to make covenants with our friends, and workmates, as well as our church and natural family - those love-based promises to one another that do not rely on our feelings, but on our commitment to each other.

Help us to focus on our unity with Your Trinity within us, rather than on our human interactions. That way, Your eternal, abundant love and grace influences all of our relationships. Remind us that sharing Your agape love with others can influence their faith in You as well. We love You most, best, and always; and we love others as we love our self (Mark 12:30-31).

Thought for the Day:

Relationships are rocky at best, due to two individuals attempting to meld our choices and viewpoint, when we often disagree; if we focus less on our self and more on God, we learn to believe in, rely on and trust in Him alone, and then we will follow His will and guidance in our relationships.

True Freedom

Many people live life by pushing the envelope. They exist on the edge, take risks, indulge in extreme sports, test fate and laugh in the face of danger. Even as Christians, some people want to dabble in sin and break God's rules to ensure their personal freedom.

However, we actually find more freedom in walking away from sin, than in allowing its devastation to impact our life even to the smallest degree. As Christians we are the best citizen, employee, benefactor and role model anyone could ever meet.

They say that "No good deed goes unpunished." Our motive for what we say and do is often misunderstood, we are rejected or treated with disrespect and animosity, when we do not deserve it. God encourages us to keep on doing good deeds and showing love anyway.

God knows the truth about what happened. He will convict us if we did wrong, and help us to apologize for anything we did to trigger their reaction. Otherwise, we can hold our head high (Psalm 3:3), and dismiss the other person's perception of what occurred as just their opinion.

Jesus suffered every temptation and hardship common to all of us. He was wrongfully rejected and despised, and others spoke evil of the good that He did. They crucified Him unjustly, but it was all in God's plan for our salvation.

Our Savior gives us an example of how to react to unjust treatment by forgiving those who nailed Him to the cross. He realized that they did not know what they were actually doing (Luke 23:34). He did not defend Himself to His accusers, and He did not call His angel army to deliver Him (Matthew 27:14; 1 Peter 2:23).

Jesus suffered in silence, drawing strength from our Heavenly Father to endure the cross. If there had been any other way by which we could be saved, our Father would have answered Jesus' garden prayer to let the bitter cup of God's wrath for our sins to pass from Him (Mathew 26:39).

Prayer:

Father God, there is no one and nothing in this world more important to us than Your Son, Jesus Christ. He is our life, our center, our balance, and our salvation in every situation (Colossians 3:3-4). His wounds provide our healing, His nature replaces our own, and He abides within us - giving us His righteousness, divine nature and spiritual character.

We thank You that our Good Shepherd left the ninety-nine and came after each one of us when we were lost sheep in this painful and scary world. We thank You for giving us Your direction each moment of the day, so that we can dwell in the center of Your will for us. We give You all of the praise and glory for everything that Christ in us accomplishes through us.

Thought for the Day:

The Lord God is a shield to us, He is our source of glory and the lifter of our head when our choices, the world and the devil attempt to cripple us mentally, emotionally, financially, and spiritually; they rob us of the righteousness, peace and joy that we receive from the Holy Spirit. 

- Psalm 3:3; Romans 14:17

God's Great Plans for Us

It is possible to release our body to the Holy Spirit's control, just as we already submitted our spirit, and are learning to surrender our soul - our thoughts, emotions and choices. We are God's Temple, and He cleanses us from the inside out.

With clean hands and a pure heart, we offer our sacrifice of praise to the Lord (Hebrews 13:15). His presence permeates every cell in our body, and we trust Him to keep us in good health.

If we eliminate all toxins from our life, we stand a better chance at health 

( www.amymyersmd.com ). Then, we keep our emotions and thoughts positive (Philippians 4:8) when we enter His gates with gratitude in our heart, and into His courts with praise (Psalm 100).

In us, as the Holy Place in the Tabernacle of God, we have Jesus as the bread of God's presence, the golden lampstand of God's light, and the altar holding the incense, which is the prayers of His Saints. Effective prayers focus on the will of God (James 5:16).

Through the Spirit's conviction, we soon identify any idols in our life that we set up in front of God. Money, possessions, people, pets, hobbies, toys, ministries, vocation, etc. can all be idols, depending on our attitude toward them and the priority we give them in our life (Luke 10:27).

Another aspect that blocks Him from using us is the curtain of sin that we erect between our soul and spirit. When Jesus died, He rent the veil in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51-53), removing our sin that separates us from access to God (1 John 2:5).

Prayer:

Father God, we are so thrilled to serve as Your dwelling place, united both with You and with the Saints now and from the past and the future (Ephesians 2:19-20; John 17:20-21). We look forward to spending eternity with You in New Jerusalem (Revelations 21:1-4; Jude 1:21). 

Your Spirit gives new life to our body and soul, as well as our spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17), and Your glory fills our life as Your  Temple (Exodus 29:43); then Your glory shines out of us to the world around us (Isaiah 60:1-21). Thank You that Your presence in us ministers Your love and mercy to us and through us (Luke 6:35-36; 1 John 4:7-8, 20-21).

Thought for the Day:

Anything, which we elevate in priority over God, interferes with the brilliance of the Light of the World within us (John 8:12); these issues block the fullness of God from penetrating into every area of our life.

The Balance of Life

 

Our body, soul and spirit are interconnected. The health of one influences the health of the others. Negative habits, emotions and thoughts reflect in our facial expression, eyes and body language, as well as cripple our spirit and create diseases in our body and soul. 

Psycho-neuro-immunologists show us that molecules exhaled from our body during times of stress, unforgiveness and negative emotions prove that these adverse emotions damage our vital organs, and are even lethal.

Destructive thoughts and emotions shock our body and cause lesions in our nervous system, which interrupts our body's vitality. Repressing and denying our adverse feelings and thoughts simply bottle them up.

This causes the negative energy to attack and damage our body and soul. They also escape and add their fury to current emotions when we express our self during present situations.

Carbonation, chemicals and sugar are in many of our medication, drinks and food. These deplete most of the nutrients that our body needs to stay healthy. We are also allergic to some foods, and do not realize it.

Going on a medical diet: first a full detox diet and then an elimination diet - will give us a clue as to how our body reacts to various foods ( https://store.amymyersmd.com/ ). There are so many things that we eat and drink that are detrimental to our body; and therefore, to our soul and spirit as well.

We also deplete our energy by codependence and neglecting our self. We put everyone else first and ignore our own needs, hoping someone else will come along to care for us. We act like a martyr, and find our value in serving others rather than in walking in God's will.

When we weaken our expectations of joy in our life with negative attitudes and habits, we open the door for Satan to destroy us. God's Word tells us to do everything for God's glory, even in what we eat and drink, and to find joy in every experience (James 1:2-3; 1 Corinthians 10:31).

Prayer:

Father God, please remind us that You plant a seed for a miracle in every adverse situation that comes our way. In this world, we will have tribulation, but Christ abides in us, and He has already overcome this world (John 16:33). Help us to realize that we are not of this world, because our true home is really in heaven (John 17:16; Philippians 3:20).

We are no longer outsiders and refugees, aimlessly wandering on this earth; but we are joint heirs with Jesus and all of Your Saints, as well as members of Your Household (Romans 8:17; Ephesians 2:19). We do not want negative habits, hang-ups, thoughts and emotions to diminish our health, rob us of our relationships, and diminish our ability to serve You in this world. We look to You to teach us to walk in Your ways.

Thought for the Day:

Authentic Believers conduct our self in this world in a routine that is worthy of the gospel of Christ, setting our mind on spiritual, rather than carnal aspects; we can do this since we are already raised with Christ, have the mind of Christ, and no longer need to strive for things of this world, since we are seated with Jesus in Heavenly places at the right hand of God. '

- Philippians 1:27; Colossians 3:1-2 

God's Great Love for Us

God has such great plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11). Out of His glorious riches, He wants to fortify and energize us with His power, wisdom and knowledge in our spirit, soul and personality. He replaces our negative attributes and attitudes with His spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23).

As God's Spirit sanctifies us from one stage of His glory to the next, Christ dwells more deeply in our heart through faith. He roots and grounds us in His love as He helps us, with all of God's people, to understand the width, height, length and depth of God's love for us (Romans 8:35-39).

We come to undeniably experience God's love, not only knowing with our mind that we are loved, but enjoying His love emotionally as well. We feel Him in our entire soul, as His love flows over us like a waterfall.

Now, through Christ in us, by the power of His Holy Spirit (1 John 4:13), we reveal to our world around us this same love and union. We express our faith in God by our works as we live in and by His Spirit each moment of our day.

We experience the richness of our union with Him as He completely floods our being with His fullness (Ephesians 3:16-19, Amplified Bible). Jesus enjoyed and exemplified for us this relationship with our Father God.

He exalted our Father in His thoughts, words and deeds so that we could see that it is possible to walk in this unity with the Father, Son and Spirit (John 17:26). With God's will as our focus, we reduce our trials and multiply our joys in life.

His presence fill us completely, and we live, move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28). We come to fully experience His amazing, gracious, unconditional and eternal love for us. He fills every cell in our body with the totality of His Trinity.

Prayer:

Father God, there is none like You. You are our everything, our all in all (Jeremiah 10:6; Psalm 86:8). We cannot imagine life without You, because Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:3-4). Thank You for satiating us with all of Your being and fullness. Help us to decrease the habit of controlling and directing of our life, and to totally surrender each moment to You, so that Your presence can increase in intensity in us (John 3:30).

As we walk in Your ways, and obey the promptings of Your Spirit and Your precepts in Your Word, we come to prove our love to You. You make Your home in us as Your holy temple (John 14:21-23; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19). Remind us that this allows Jesus to manifest Himself in us, and to reveal Himself through us, to all of those in our sphere of influence in our world.

Thought for the Day:

As we fully surrender every aspect of our life to the Holy Spirit, holding nothing back from His scalpel - and allowing Him to remove all carnality and earthiness from our thoughts, emotions and choices - we come to experience and appreciate God's love, riches, presence and fullness.

- Ephesians 3:19 Amplified Bible

God Did It

People look at me like I have two heads, or sigh in frustration when they see yet another post from me on social media about what God did for me and mine. Of course, this does happen several times on most days of the week.

Few people see God in all things, and rarely give Him praise and public recognition for what He does, so my praising God so often seems odd to most people. I cannot help but to brag about my Daddy God's exploits on my behalf.

They are hugs from Him, and signs that I am a spoiled princess of King Jesus. Everything He does for me is momentous in my life. I could get used to and ignore them, but I thrill at each one. Let me count just a few of the ways He spoils me.

For instance, I was involved in a car accident that totaled my car … two separate times. The first time the car actually flipped, slid down a hill, and the roof caved in several inches with me inside of the crushed vehicle.

God helped me to realize that I could escape by rolling down the window in the opposite direction, since the car was upside down. I went to the chiropractor the next day, as a precautionary measure, and I did not have one cut, bruise or bone out of place.

I had another wreck a year or so later, and also totaled the car. I broke 11 ribs, a little finger, punctured my lung, and had half a face full of glass and a concussion. I was only in the hospital overnight to make sure my lung healed, and I never took one pain pill, because God healed the pain.

Recently, I dropped a Pyrex dish, full of frozen food, on my toe. I suffered intense, excruciating, sleep-depriving pain for about 12 hours; and finally went to bed thanking Daddy God for sleep and no more pain. 

I soon fell asleep and awoke later with no pain. My bones in both of these last two incidents took 6 weeks to 3 months to heal, but I never had any further pain from either one.

God also taught me how to heal from potential bacteria, viruses and germ-related illnesses from our chemical-laden food, cleaning supplies and toiletry products, by eating only organic foods and using essential oils and homemade ingredients (Amy Myers, MD).

Frequently, God makes sure that I encounter sales on groceries, gardening supplies, and other needed items. My "gardening" angels often gift me with lovely butterfly plants for my organic garden, which is also full of organic strawberries.

My indoor roses and amaryllis even bloom during the winter months. God made sure that I found matching, beautifully decorated, metal plant stands for both living room windows for only $10 each at the Thrift Store.

Intense autumn splendor and cloud shapes in the sky in our new neighborhood in the nation's heartland, random gifts of kindness from others, the numerical arrangement on our clocks during the day, unexpected emails, etc. are all frequent hugs from my Daddy God.

When we opened our Café outreach ministry, God gave me the idea to wear denim as my work uniform. I had none, but our next trip to the Thrift Store provided me with a whole new wardrobe of denim skirts and long sleeve shirts at economical prices.

In fact, all of my beautiful clothes come from the thrift stores. A day after I prayed for another exact need, God even provided a like-new, donated shower curtain at the Thrift store to use for kitchen clean-ups rather than using paper towels.

My "orphan" status grieved me for a while after my last parent passed away. God remedied this by giving me a church family full of "parents". Hallmark movies with wholesome, positive plots, set in delightful towns, with beautiful antiques and amazing nature all around the towns delight my fun-time during the evenings.

Food sales, like avocado for $1.00 all year long, save us money, and give me wholesome food choices.  Needed advice from medically trained church members concerning health issues, often bless me; like when my immune system attacked my vocal cords.  

I pinched a hip nerve, and suffered pain for a week, until God Himself advised me to use the reverse healing method than prescribed on the internet and advised by doctors to several friends. The nerve immediately unpinched.

Minute, detailed, continual moment by moment directions for each day that solve problems, answer questions, give Godly wisdom, and change my focus about an issue causing me stress, are available through God's personal counsel to me.

The wisdom and healing power of this world come from an earthly point of view. However, this is temporary at best, because it is not rooted in a Biblical world view or sourced through Salvation through Jesus Christ alone (John 3:16-18). God alone is powerful.

Prayer:

Father God, it is sad when I realize that worldly solutions work for unsaved friends and family only in this world, and are not completely and eternally transformational like walking in Your Spirit and in Your Presence each moment of our day. When we live, move and have our entire being in Christ (Acts 17:28), our faith does not come from our own life energy, or vitality drawn from nature, but from the Creator of all things (Romans 11:36).

We are not super-Saints or more spiritual than anyone else, but reliant only on You, our awesome God. Christ in us is our hope (Colossians 1:27). Your presence in us, from the moment of our salvation by Your Holy Spirit, provides our inspiration, guidance and intimacy with You. Thank you that Your Spirit gives us joy that is not dependent on this world (1 Peter 1:8), as well as peace that goes beyond comprehension and is lasting and eternal (Philippians 4:7).

Thought for the Day:

As we seek God's Kingdom first, by focusing on His will, truth and Word each moment of our day, He provides us with everything we need for a healthy body, soul and spirit until He is ready to take us home to His presence; did you know that God delights in us coming Home to Him? - Psalm 115:16

We Already Have the Mind of Christ

We have the Mind of Christ; however, God's Word admonishes us to put on the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). This sounds like a contradiction at first glance; yet it is not.

We already have the mind of Christ, because He abides with and in us. We have to put on the mind of Christ, because we usually default to our human reasoning throughout the day, and ignore the mind of Christ within us.

One key to living through the mind of Christ is to focus our affections on heavenly, spiritual aspects of life, rather than on carnal, earthly pursuits (Colossians 3:2). The spiritual issues are higher and more lasting than the worldly ones.

We overcome the temptation to sin by seeking the will of God in each moment of our life. God helps us avoid sin too by giving us a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). As we regulate our thoughts (1 Peter 1:13), we live in victory over negative emotions and behavior.

We can also make resolutions on how we will act in times of temptation, using scripture to renew our mind, and to cement these decisions in our everyday thoughts (Romans 12:2). This is an on-going process that is facilitated by putting on the mind of Christ (Philippians 4:8).

Taking time to look up Bible verses, which pertain to overcoming the sins that so easily trap us, we write the scripture down, and post them in prominent places in our home. This practice enables us to put on the mind of Christ; and God's Spirit will give us the power to defeat sin.

Prayer:

Father God, we are so grateful that You allowed Your Word to become flesh and to dwell on this earth (John 1:14). He experienced all of the temptations and trials of this life that we do, and He is our High Priest within us who enables us to overcome sin as well (Hebrews 4:15). He purposed in His heart to live in obedience to You in all things, and we can too (Luke 9:51).

Jesus humbled Himself (Philippians 2:8) and obeyed You, even to the point of enduring crucifixion and death in the prime of His life. He gave us an example to humble our self and to live in service to those You place in our life (John 13:7 to 14:7). Help us to follow His example by adopting His way of viewing life, instead of our human pursuits.

Thought for the Day:

As we change our attitude, goals and decision to line up with the will of God for our life, we follow the example Jesus gave us to humble our self even to the point of death; we listen to His mind within us rather than to follow the dictates of our earthly, carnal nature.