For the word of God will never fail. ”
Luke 1:37 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.1.37.nlt
Another one of my favorite verses. I love a promise from God. He always keeps them. No matter how long it takes. I was wrestling with some decisions I was making and God sent this as a reminder for me. I’m so thankful that God cannot fail. You should remember that as well in your day to day happenings. You may not see but God is always working on your behalf.
What are you afraid of? I just realized that I am afraid of change. I never really thought I was a person afraid of change but one of the ladies in my caregroup asked me yesterday if I was of change and after thinking about it I had to say yes. We are doing a bible study on faith in a larger study on the fruit of the spirit by Beth Moore. Beth asks when you are afraid to have faith what is holding you back. Everyone said fear of disappoint, myself included but after we started talking about prayer requests, I realized I am afraid of change. I haven’t had many changes in my life. I worked in the same department at the same company for eight years. I also worked their in Undergrad, so there was no true change for me there. I lived in the same apartment for 3 years before I got married. I hate moving. As I look back over my life, I realized that I don’t take the opportunity to change very often.
My fear of change could potentially be blocking me from my blessings. An opportunity came up at work and I was thinking of all the reasons that it could be bad. I never thought for a moment of the positives that could come from the change. There is growth in change. I realized that if I let my fear of change hold me back, then I am telling God he can’t be with me wherever I go or whatever situation I face. Its a control issue. The longer you stay in a situation, the more you have control over, you can anticipate the variables. I say God is in control of my life, but if I let fear rule me then truly, I am saying I control my life and not God. That’s not the life I am trying to lead.
One of the girls in the group said that I was just creating a lot of this in my mind. I created a story. It doesn’t have to end that way. I am projecting my feelings onto a situation that had not happened yet. What if it was good? I have never even considered that. I chose to focus only on the negative. What if I chose to focus on the positive instead? I also made a pros and cons list. After looking at the list, the pros were definitely outweighing the cons.
Change is something that is inevitable. I am working hard to embrace change and not run from it. I don’t want to block any blessings because I am afraid. I trust God to work everything out for my good.
I have always believed in the Lord sending me messages in dreams. Often there is lesson or something practical I can take away. I once had a dream that when I use mean tones in conversation with my husband, it hurts his manhood. I knew that in my head but seeing the visual of him crumbled over in my dream after I said something to him really gave me the visual I needed to change what I was doing. Since then I have been working on how I speak to him. A dream inspired this 31 posts in 31 days (1) God told me if I stop treating my writing/blog as a hobby and started treating it like a job I could really start to grow.
I had a terrible dream this weekend but it definitely helped me. My husband was out of town over the weekend and I went out with some friends. I had a good time with them, came back home, got in the bed went to sleep. I had a dream that seemed so real that I was afraid to get out of bed after. I dreamed that I woke up because a man slid in my bed and he wasn’t my husband. He clearly was there harm me. In my dream I immediately started praying please Lord let this be a dream. Then I woke up. I was shook! I needed to check and see if anybody was in my house and thank God it wasn’t but I couldn’t sleep for a long time after that. When I finally went downstairs and checked my house. I realized, I had left my front door unlocked. Not good! That was certainly a warning from God. You better believe I will be checking my doors twice before I go to bed at night from now on.
God uses dreams all the time to speak people in the bible. I used to worry if a dream was from God or just my own subconscious. I believe it can be from both. I recognize God in my dreams because I know his voice.
I saw some really interesting articles online about dream interpretation. I know people who go to dream books and try to see what their dreams meant. I have done it on occasion myself, but I don’t do that anymore. The article I read online says that, the symbols in a dreams are primarily ours. Nobody can interpret them for us except God. There are common dreams that everyone has like falling or being embarrassed in front of a crowd but typically God knows us and uses symbols we will understand. If I have a dream that I feel needs further explaining I will write it down and ask God to explain it me. Lord was there something in the dream I needed to know? Was it a warning? Was it prophecy? Writing them down has been great because I can see things come together later on.
When I was looking for writing prompts for my 31 posts in 31 days (1) one of the prompts was, is your astrological sign accurate, why or why not? I was instantly intrigued because astrology is not something that Christians typically talk about.
Do you believe or practice astrology? Do you read your horoscope in the paper or online? I have never been one to really get into astrology but I do look at my birth sign and try to see if the traits attributed to me are accurate or not. I hate to admit they are pretty accurate. I am a Virgo. My birthday is September 13. When I look up characteristics of my sign, I am not surprised by what I find.
– Analytical
– Observant
– Helpful
– Reliable
– Precise
– Skeptical
– Fussy
– Inflexible
– Cold
– Interfering
I am definitely 90% of these things.
These traits go well together and fairly accurate in their position. The bible is not a big fan of astrologers however. God is not into it at all. There are several verses that speak openly about astrologers, diviners, etc.
” data-hasqtip=”4″ aria-describedby=”qtip-4″>Leviticus 19:26
‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying.
” data-hasqtip=”6″ aria-describedby=”qtip-6″>Daniel 1:20
As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm
” data-hasqtip=”11″ aria-describedby=”qtip-11″>Deuteronomy 18:9-12
“When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. read more.
“For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you.
I personally don’t think it is that bad to know about your personality, and why you do certain things. I don’t personally believe it is a gateway to other dark spirits or things like that. I take it for what is and leave it at that. I have never believed in my horoscope because they are just to general to be true. As I have been digging deeper to figure out why I act the way I do, I have realized that a lot of things are based on nurture or how I was raised. I don’t want pass down any negative behavior down to my children and I will not be using when they are born to determine their personality. When I need answers to things I turn to God not to the stars.
Additional resources
https://www.thoughtco.com/astrology-from-a-christians-perspective-207246
Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. Interlude
Psalms 4:4 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.4.4.NLT
When you get mad do you instantly snap? Do you let it boil under the surface, simmering until you are ready to explode? It takes a lot to make me mad, to which I am very grateful. When I do get mad I can’t say I remain silent and think about it overnight.
This is of course the best option to handling any situation where someone makes you angry. I never saw this scripture before. I have always heard the one from Ephesians.
While this verse is different from Psalms the concept is similar. Don’t be controlled by anger. Try to resolve things while you are upset, don’t let your anger linger but if you can’t handle it sleep on it before you say something you regret.
Offer sacrifices in the right spirit, and trust the Lord .
Psalms 4:5 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.4.5.NLT
What are you trusting God for? Are you making any sacrifices? You all know that I have been trying to get pregnant for a while. I have definitely sacrificed a lot of things, time, money, vacations, jobs, my skin. I know all of us have made sacrifices as we attempt to accomplish our dreams.
As you are trusting God and making sacrifices are you doing it in the right spirit? I came across this scripture last night and it was a great reminder. God doesn’t just want our sacrifice, he wants the right attitude as well. Your sacrifice doesn’t mean much if your attitude is not right. Sacrifices suck while you are in the midst but you know everything is for your good. I say that a lot but it’s a good thing to remember while you are working toward a goal. When you get what you have been working toward it will feel much better if you had a good attitude along the way.
How do you know if your spirit is right? Are you complaining about every missed opportunity? Are you jealous of other people who didn’t have to sacrifice as much as you have to get to their goal? Do you only do a half job at one you are trying to do because you are tired of working towards a goal and seeing no results? I have some point have definitely done all of these things. Here is a prayer to help with that.
You can just pray that line and let God change your attitude. He wants to help us and he would rather we admit we need the help to change then grumble our way to accomplishing our hearts desires.
In less that a year, one of my friends has gotten married, bought a house, got a new job and had a baby. She is definitely having the best year.She is living her best life. All the things that many women are trying to accomplish she had it happen in no time, so it appears. It looks like she has everything. How many people do you know that have everything? I used to believe that you couldn’t have everything. Life just cannot be that good. Even Paul one of the greatest biblical figures of all time, had a thorn in his side that he prayed that God would take away, and God didn’t.
I wrote before about being happy but not really being able to enjoy it because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I feel like that is a pattern in my life that I can be really happy but I don’t have everything. I am still wanting for something. I am not wanting like that never satisfied wanting but really truly waiting on God to answer prayer. Although I have never seen God show up like that in my life yet, I now believe you can have 90% of what you want.
I am not talking about prosperity gospel or any name it and claim stuff. I am just saying that I believe God wants us to be happy on this side of heaven.The bible has lots of scriptures about having an abundant life. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20
I say 90% because I think about Serena Williams who people would consider to have it all, nice husband, daughter, tennis champion but she cried because she missed her daughters first steps because she was out practicing. That Oprah quote really resonates with me. I want as much as God has to offer for me and I want to be in a position to give back to others. That is why we are blessed, not for ourselves but to be a blessing to others. So when we have it “all” we can be in a position to help someone else get their “all”.
Do you treat God like a genie in a bottle? Do you expect God to answer your prayers immediately? I think I do sometimes. I don’t set out intentionally to do this. I guess I take this scripture literally sometimes.
It says everything, so I pray for everything. I believe God cares about the big things as well as the small things. To him everything is small so I don’t feel any issue I have is to small to bring to him. Small could be, help me find a parking spot or my missing keys or a cute outfit for cheap at the mall. I do this all the time as if it were nothing.
I was on vacation in Chicago for the 4th of July and my friend and I got caught in the rain for the second time after the movies and mis-accurately timed our departure so we were just waiting out the rain in the lobby. I was praying like God, can you slow down the rain so we can walk to the car and not get drenched? Then it started really pouring! Raining sideways and I’m like God this is the exact opposite of what I asked you.
Then I was like God,I apologize you are not my personal genie who answers prayers at my beck and call. That kind of behavior does not show spiritual growth. There should be a balance in our prayers. The expectation should be that God hears our prayers and he cares but he is going to answer in the best way he sees fit. I may not agree with the way he answers my prayers but I can do nothing but respect it. I should not get mad because he didn’t answer in the way I wanted him to, whether what I prayed for was big or small.
God is awesome so the rain did let up just enough for us to run to her car. If it didn’t though, it would have still been for my good because I would not have went out again without an umbrella or a hoodie or something.
I will still continue to pray for everything, big or small but I will remember that God is sovereign, not me.
When you wake up in the morning what’s the first thing that comes to mind? I used to think about about my to do lists, what I needed to get done at work or at home. I read a devotional that said the first thing you should be thinking about is thanking God. Not thinking about how the day is going to go or what you have to do but just thanking God for waking you up today.
I am not talking about doing a devotional this is even before you get out of bed. I thought I was doing ok because I got up every morning and did my devotional but sometimes it would take my brain time to slow down from whatever I was laying in the bed plotting about before I started doing my devotional. This way I am in position to receive the word from God. I am not rushing through my devotional as much and it helps me connect more to the material. This literally takes no time but it changes the entire perspective of my day.
Next time you get out of bed, just thank the Lord for waking you up and for new mercies,then go do your devotional or carry on with your morning routine. See if that makes any differences for you. Let me know how it goes.
Dominique
Do you believe in generational curses? They are rampant in the old testament. God tells the Hebrews over and over again I will punish your children for your bad behavior. That seems a little bogus and contradictory to the character of God that we know. He also says that no one is responsible for anyone else’s debt. So this seems confusing.
‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
I have always been interested in generational curses because I couldn’t figure out why the things happening to me where happening. Was I being punished for the sins of my parents or grandparents or great grandparents?
In my research I discovered that wasn’t really the case.
Each person is responsible for his or her actions. It may be harder to not do something if everyone in your family does it but not impossible. You can break the cycle. God says if we repent and come to him we are forgiven and we can start new. It doesn’t matter what my parents did or didn’t do. I don’t have to be like them.
Isn’t that refreshing? You may seem like you are stuck in a endless cycle but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can decide today, right now to do something different. After you decide you then have to be intentional about making those changes. Fight everyday and speak positivity over yourself and your situation. Once you start changing and breaking the cycle you may influence others in your family to change too.
Prayer:
Father help me do the best I can not to pass down bad habits to my future children. Help me be open to changing through you and not my own willpower. Help me a blessing to someone else and stop this curse from impacting anyone else. Break these strongholds the past has on me and my family and show me something different can be done. In Jesus name. Amen.
Research used and further reading:
Always finding the silver lining 