Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

What are you feeding your soul?

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What you feed your soul is just as important as what you put in your body.

  • Poison- Things that will kill you such as self defeating thoughts.
  • Junk food-stuff on tv, no nutritional value, making your spiritually fat
  • super food-bible

Most people genuinely try to eat healthy, whether its organic, vegan, more water, shopping at Whole Foods and Trader Joes, etc. You probably are fairly diligent in your exercise program. Making sure you hit the gym a few times a week or do some type of physical activity. However,are you that diligent about what you are putting in your soul? I would hope so, but I don’t always think that is the case. If you only talk to God on Sunday at church then your spiritual diet is probably a little junk food heavy.

If the only time you pray is over your food or when you are in deep trouble then you may want to make some modifications. You don’t want your spiritual diet to make your soul sluggish. You may not be able to hear God because you have a bunch of things in the way.

Do you ever listen to inspirational or gospel music? Or is it secular music all the time? Nothing wrong with secular music. I enjoy a trap beat as much as the next person but with any diet, it needs to be balanced. You can’t just eat Flaming Hot Cheetos and never have carrots. You should try to balance your secular music with some inspirational music. What are you watching on tv? Is it a steady diet of “reality tv?” Fistfights, drink tossing and love triangles? If so, maybe limit how much of that you are taking in. I enjoy escaping into fantasy, especially after a long work week but I caution that from being the only thing you watch.

priority

Just like a diet is a lifestyle change, your spiritual diet should be one too. Just like you always keep a few staples in your diet, there should be some staples in your spiritual diet. Those staples include a quiet time with God, bible reading/studying, and prayer. I would say those are three main things you need to grow your relationship with God. I try to do those things before I go to work in the morning and before I go to bed at night so I am covered in my comings and my going. It doesn’t have to be anything formal or intense. There are a lot plans you can find that will give you structure to your quiet time. I try to do 15 minutes before work and 30 minutes when I get home. I have my quiet time before I turn my tv on when I get off. I want God to know that he is a priority in my life. There is always time to make changes and adjustments. God sees your heart. No matter how big or small, just get started.

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Condemnation vs. Conviction

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Discerning the difference between conviction of the Holy Spirit and Condemnation from the Enemy

-conviction is from the Holy Spirit, prompting us to confess and be restored by fellowship with God. It is to draw us closer to God.

-condemenation is from Satan. Purpose is to keep us away from God by making us feel guilty.

-once you confess you are immediately forgiven, anything after that is guilt from Satan

-if you feel like hiding from God and doubting his love that is Satan, Closer that is God

-the enemy; speaks in half truths, pushes, agitates, emphasizes, do, do, do encourages willingness against Gods ways, encourages complaining, tells us we are inadequate

-Holy Spirit: about whole truth, wants us to be anxious for nothing, emphasizes be,be,be, unites people, emphasizes Gods will empowers us, encourages contentment

-Holy Spirit is specific-fix this me thing and you will be free. He commands you to take a specific action to make a choice of your will.

-The enemy wants us to focus on our feelings. Feelings are false! Speaks half truths. Set your mind on interests above God.

-Holy Spirit speaks facts and truth about you and God. Set your mind on God’s interests.

condemnation-conviction

http://www.tonycooke.org/articles-by-others/condemnation-conviction/

Disclaimer:

(This list is complied research from a bunch of different websites. At the time, I didn’t need to know the source because it was for my personal use. Now I’m sharing with you, I need to give credit because I didn’t know most of this stuff until I looked it up.)

https://marriagemissions.com/discerning-the-difference-between-the-conviction-of-the-holy-spirit-and-condemnation-of-the-enemy/

http://shieldoffaith62.blogspot.com/p/conviction-or-condemnationknowing.html

Often times I wonder if God is convicting me about something or is it the devil trying to make me feel bad. I discovered a few things. Conviction will make you feel bad, but not in a despair, can’ t face the day feel bad, just disappointed in yourself. That’s you grieving the Holy Spirit but it isn’t condemnation. Many times I have confessed things to God but still felt terrible about them, that isn’t God. He doesn’t want us to feel bad when He corrects us, he just wants us to do better.

offers hope

I wrote the words above a long time ago, 3 years ago in my journal when I was doing research on conviction vs condemnation. One thing I never paid attention to in my research is specific. As I was researching to write this post, I finally noticed specific. One blogger talked about God telling her she needed to apologize to someone and it just kept coming up in her mind over and over again. That makes sense. Specific is probably the most important thing that I could take away from my research. If you can’t put your finger on why you feel bad, that probably is not from God. God is not a God of confusion. If he wants you to something the direction is always clear. Even if the direction is to take one step at a time. He won’t just leave you hanging.

In my bible reading everyday I have discovered that Jesus didn’t come to judge us or condemn us but help us. He doesn’t want you to feel bad about something because you are not always going to change something if you are made to feel bad about it. You will just avoid it.

john317 coffee cup

I have only scratched the surface of this topic. It is definitely something I want to dive into more. You should too. There is a ton of research out there about this topic. Do you feel like you are being convicted about anything? What changes are you feeling prompted to make? Take some time to pray and make sure its from God and not anywhere else.

Greater expectations

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I was at leadership meeting at church and the guy leading the class asked us what God is working on in us. One person said self forgiveness. He said he felt like he was putting expectations on himself that God had not put on him. I have been thinking about that statement all week.

This week was rough. I just have a lot of things going on right now and I felt like I was doing a disservice to God but I couldn’t put my finger on why. It lead me to do a lot of research on condemnation vs conviction, which I will post about next week. I still didn’t feel like I had the answer though. I have been pretty diligent. Usually when I feel this way, I fall into a Netflix of Hulu binge but this time I didn’t. I’m still reading everyday, through the bible in a year plan on YouVerse bible app and having my quiet time. So I asked God, what do you want me to do? What do you expect of me? Just a few days ago.

He gave me the answer today. In Deuteronomy, God says all he wants you do is fear him and do what pleases him. That’s it. Sounds pretty simple. In a way yes, but in a way no. I have been doing a lot of research on what pleases God for quite sometime. There are a lot of things in the bible about what doesn’t please God but I feel like there is less emphasis on what does please him.

deutloveGod

I think that is because God doesn’t want us to work ourselves to death in trying to please him. Loving him with all your heart, soul and strength is not an easy task. This is why he gives us grace. Grace to mess up, grace to mistakes. He sees our hearts and our intentions.

what-is-grace

He just wants us to do the best we can. I lose sight of this because I have placed expectations on myself that God never did. I never noticed I did that before. I have been trying to grow so fast. I want to be as close to perfect as possible, which really isn’t humble. I want God to know I’m paying attention, that I’m not just being a reader of the word but a doer of the word. James 1:22-24.

Are you being too hard on yourself? Try not to be. Don’t run from God when you feel this way, run towards him. He will always give you answers and typically sooner than you think.

Patience

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Patience-the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

I haven’t really been writing this week because it’s been a pretty crappy week to say the least. It sucks but it happens. I spent time with my girls this weekend in a quick getaway which lifted my spirits a bit.

I saw the prompt of the day was Patience. Sheesh! I immediately felt that in my spirit and then the verse of the day from the Youverse bible is about patience.

I’m like ok God I get it. I’m working on it. I just feel like I’m always having to be patient. I’m listening to my girl Joyce (Meyer) and she said something that really struck me. Don’t try harder, get closer to God.

In bible study this week, Beth Moore talked about different types of patience.Patience with situations and patience with people. I find I moreso need patience with circumstances than people but Beth brought up a good point. God is testing your patience with people because he wants to bring something out of you that is holding you back from greatness.

God gives us patience in circumstances to see if we are going to act differently in the same situation. This really got me thinking. I don’t always act differently in the same situations. I am making more of an effort to do so after hearing this lesson.

I don’t want to keep going around the same mountain over and over. I want patience to do a good work in me until it is complete. Philippians 1:6.

Patience is definitely a challenge but there is good reason to wait well. I’m going to stop trying so hard to be patient and seek God more. That way, I am so focused on him that patience is my natural response things.

href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/pa

Be Humble.

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cslewis

God does not like the proud. AT. ALL.

opposesproud

I never thought I was a person that had a problem with humility. I am not a bragger, I don’t take credit for others people work, I am not obnoxious. These are the things I think about when I think of person with a humility problem. As God has been working on me, I discovered that humility is a multilayered concept and once I start peeling back the onion that I wasn’t as humble as I thought I was. I was listening to Joyce Meyer the other day and she had this list of characters traits of people who are humble. Once I heard this list I knew I had some work to do.

Humble people:

  • Ask for help, don’t insist that things go there on way-I don’t ask for help because I don’t typically do things I don’t know how to do already.
  • Quick to forgive, slow to offend glad to wait on God for vindication
  • Patient and long suffering with weakness of other people- I work in a high school. I am not always patient with people weaknesses because I hate to see wasted potential. I have students who are in the top 10% of the class not doing anything and it makes me so mad, and then I lose my patience with them. I have to remind myself they are just children.
  • Peace maker and peace lover
  • Romans 12 never overestimate yourself, adapt yourself to other people
  • Knows when to be quiet- I do not know when to be quiet. I talk entirely too much which is not always a bad thing. I am the person that used to always speak first in group settings, but now I try 3 before me. I also try to make sure that anything I have to add is necessary and beneficial to the conversation.
  • First to apologize-I am certainly not first to apologize because I don’t always feel that I am wrong. My husband is always first to apologize even when it isn’t his fault, which makes me really upset. He is one the most humble people I know though.
  • See and admit own weakness-I see them, but its much harder for me to admit them. I am working on it though. I talk about that some in this post. Is fear of failure selfish?
  • Gives credit where it’s due
  • Happily servers other people
  • Very thankful
  • Quick to repent- I am now. I think my problem before is that I didn’t realize I was doing things that didn’t please God. I am thankful for conviction.
  • Treats everyone with respect

I stumbled across this post at the Godly Chic Diaries about humility and it made a lot of sense. She brings up another layer of this humility onion. I will be talking more about as I work through these different layers.

How humble are you? After looking at this list do you see some things you need to work on?

Getting myself off my mind

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I told my friend I was trying not to pray for myself and she looked at me like I was crazy. I am definitely trying to do that though. I have my quiet time in the morning before I go to work. I read the bible for about 10-15 and then I journal before I get in the shower. Recently in that quiet time I have been trying to limit how much I pray for myself and focus more on praying for others. Some days the prayers are focused like I may pray for my husband all day or one of my friends or my mom or little brother and nephew. I say the same short prayer for myself every morning before I get in the shower. Lord help me have less of me and more of you. John 3:30

That’s it. God already knows what I need and what I desire. If I receive less of me and more of him, then I can handle any situation that comes at me. It will help me keep my flesh at bay and respond to things in a way that He would think is appropriate.

This article on Crosswalk speaks to exactly how I am feeling.

Uncompromising

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Uncompromising-showing an unwillingness to make concessions to others, especially by changing one’s ways or opinions

I haven’t been blogging long I definitely don’t consider myself an expert. I just want to be a moral compass that is being drowned out in the Instagram society that we live in today. I had a blog post all ready to go but I hesitated about posting it. It was controversial and I had concerns about how it would be perceived. I asked my husband and he agreed. I may not get the response that I was looking for. So I decided not to post it right now.

I questioned myself though. Sometimes when you have an opinion that’s not with the majority people may not like it. I’m not taking my thoughts and imposing them on anyone. I didn’t make the standard, God did. If I want to continue to be a person that helps people grow, I have to be uncompromising in my beliefs. Easier said than done though. I don’t want to alienate my readers. I don’t want to make anyone feel bad or condemn them. I also have to draw the line in caring what people think. It is a delicate balance. I heard no matter what you do, you will always get 10%  of people who don’t agree.

stand alone

 

It’s bigger than the post though. It’s hard to have an opinion that in conflict with the world. People start calling you a prude and all kinds of stuff. You start to be left out of things. I know I walk the line between advice giving and being judgmental, at least it is perceived that way. In real life I don’t really care what people do. You have to live with choices you made not me. I’m probably not doing a good job of conveying that though. Which is why when my friend asked me advice I told her what the word says, flee from temptation. However when our other friend told her to do the opposite I walked back a little of what I said. Why? I guess I still wanted to be a part of the group. I didn’t want to be seen as this uber conservative person because I’m not. I just want people to use better judgement when they make decisions and think of the consequences before they do things not after.

It’s scary to be the minority opinion all the time. If your thought process has been in constant difference to the people around you do you need to hang out with different people? Some people would say probably. I think diversity is good though. We all shouldn’t look at the world the same way. We also should be open to different points of view. I am not always right. I don’t always take my own advice or receptive to others people’s advice. I’m trying though.

I’m trying to be 100% Authentic on this blog though and in life. Which is difficult, because its risky.  I will continue to do my best and take other opinions into consideration but not too much.

 

 

Meditation

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Meditation is combination of reviewing, repeating, thinking and analyzing. It’s a physical, intellectual and emotional activity, it involves our whole being.

For some reason people seem to have issues with mediation. I’m not sure why. Jesus mediated. We also are told over and over in the bible to meditate so I’m not sure what the big deal is. I guess when people think of meditating they think of someone sitting cross-legged, with incense lit, going hummmm…I’m not sure where this misconception comes from but it doesn’t have to be that way. I feel like meditation is just slowing down your mind and clearing out the junk to let God in.

One of my biggest problems is that I think to much, so mediating before I go to sleep helps me relax and I often wake up more refreshed when I do it. The most common way I meditate is to repeat a verse over and over depending on what was going on that day. Another thing I like to do is put on soft music while I do my devotional or journal. The music doesn’t have words typically. Its not jazz or classical but soft sounds or waves, things that will slow my thoughts down and allow me to drill down more into God, not into myself. I can block out what happened at work or what I saw on tv and just focus on what I’m trying to do. You know how sometimes when you are trying to pray and or read your bible and your mind keeps wandering to everywhere else than where its supposed to be? Listening to this soft music definitely helps. One album I like is Kim Clement Sweet Moments, another is Dreamy Vibes by Spotify. Meditation is way to add some spice to your prayer life and variety. God doesn’t care how you to spend time with him He just wants you to do it.

In doing research online these are some things that I saw about meditation. I do most of these activities on a regular basis but there are few that I would like to do more often such as memorizing verses. I have them written on notecards already but I fall short on the memorization side.

-read a verse over and over

-memorize all or part of it

-personalize it by putting it in first person

-write the verse on a notecard and memorize throughout the day

Do you have misconceptions about meditating? Think about what is stopping you. Meditating could vastly improve your prayer life, your sleep, your overall deposition. When you get a spare 10 minutes try it, I think you will like it.

I just discovered this Abide app through the YouVersion Bible App and I really like it. You have to pay for the longer meditation but I found them on Youtube for free! The guys voice is nice and relaxing and he asks insightful questions to really get you thinking about God, the verse and yourself. I am trying to incorporate these into my quiet time every week. Let me know if you try it.

February wrap up

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I like reading other bloggers February wrap up or round up so I decided to do a monthly wrap up as well.

Favorite posts

Borrowing trouble

Conversant

Things I’m watching/reading

Sarah Jakes Roberts-I just discovered her on Youtube after listening to her husband Toure Roberts. I really enjoy her. She is young and fresh and energizing. She is also very transparent. I am excited about going back and watching her videos on Youtube.

John Gray-I just discovered him on Youtube as well. He is super funny. He may be a bit long winded but I really appreciate his story telling and his laid back approach.

Some personal things with me

I started going to Sunday school. I have not been to Sunday school in years. I go to a leadership meeting at church once a month for the caregroup I am in because I am the maturity coach. In the class we talk a lot about leadership and spiritual growth and I really enjoy it. One week in class, when we were discussing leadership, I asked, “what do you consider a leader?” He said, “Great question, you should come to my Sunday school class where I talk all about that.” He mentioned it like 2 more times before the meeting was over, so I felt like I had to go. I am glad I did. It has been dealing directly with some things that I had been praying about. I almost cried the first class. It was uncanny how much of what we discussed, I had previously been to God in prayer about. The class is about how to be a leader when you are not in charge. It has been very insightful to say the least.

I volunteered at the food pantry our church has the other day. It was really good to give back and just get myself off my mind. It also provided good perspective to check my privilege and social bias. I am going to try and volunteer there twice a month.

I also signed up to work in the daycare the church has one Sunday a month. I haven’t started that yet. I did send in my background check paperwork, so that’s a good start. I am hoping that I will be able to start in March.

Things I’m working on

Balance!

In between, work and church activities my past week was hectic. I was asleep before 9 for crying out loud! I didn’t get to hang out with my husband or do any blogging. My two favorite activities. To prevent this from happening again, I need to be more proactive with my blogging. I always have lots of things I want to write about or posts that are started but I need to spend more time scheduling posts. I also need to be more intentional sometimes about spending time with my husband or hitting him up during the work day.

work-life-balance-chart

Fasting part 2

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We have about 30 days left in Lent. How has it been going for you? What did you decide to fast? Interesting enough for me, it did not start off great. I do enjoy fasting but I just wasn’t in the right mind set when Lent started 2 weeks ago. I ended up fasting social media and fiction books, my old faithfuls. I really wanted to fast something else, switch it up in a sense but those are the two things that distract me the most from God. I think because I had just finished fasting in January and turn around in do it two weeks later was difficult. I enjoy the benefits of fasting but not the fasting itself. I was really had an unsettled feeling in my spirit the last few weeks before Lent start and I really just wanted to wallow a little.

I felt like I was growing weary in doing good. I did some Googling to see what to do when you feel that way but I really feel like it was giving me what I needed. I will talk more about that next week. I was moving close to burn out and I was getting nervous. Things were beginning to become routine and I was just going through the motions. My husband gave me some great advice. He said, take a step back and relax. You don’t have to constantly be doing something. The entire purpose of fasting is to draw closer to God. Make sure you are do it for the right reasons. God doesn’t appreciate lip service. You want to end your fasting period energized and refreshed. I just started fasting last week, but already feel more settled in my spirit.

Check out my previous post about fasting if you want more information.