Choosing to believe truth

I am so thankful for women in my life who speak truth to me. I am so thankful for a God who constantly showers me in truth. I am a huge feeler who feels things very deeply so it’s easy for me to get carried away with the way I am feeling even if its irrational or untrue. I need people to remind me and to ground me.

The Lord used something amazing to speak to me. I was thinking about a couple of people that I minister to and I was frustrated and thought, “I can tell you about Jesus until I’m blue in the face but ultimately you have to make a choice and I cant make it for you.” No matter how badly I desire for these people to know truth, I can’t force them to.

And I heard God speak these words to me, “Kaitlyn, those are the very same words that I’m speaking to you. I can speak words of truth over you but at some point you have to choose whether or not to believe them. At some point you have to decide that you are going to believe what I’ve said about you, about who I am, and about how I love you.” And If I desire so much for those I love to know and live out truth, how much more does my Father in Heaven desire that I live out of a place of truth and not of emotion?

In life it’s not about what you may feel or not feel at the moment, it’s about making a choice. No one else can make it for you. Others can preach to you, remind you, and encourage you, but only you can decide to live based on truth. You are the one who has to surrender your will. You are the only who has to die to self again and again and again. You are the one who gets to decide that you will live in victory and not defeat.

God has made me someone who feels things deeply and is sensitive and emotional and perceptive. Sometimes I dislike this about myself but I see how God uses these parts of me to make me more compassionate and that He is going to use this in my ministry as a counselor.

But the devil also knows about this part of me. And one of the things he does to trip me up is to make me think that the way that I’m feeling is truth, even if it’s not. This can be damaging because it sows discouragement, insecurity, and indecisiveness.  

I’m not saying emotions are bad, emotions are good things but we need to carefully hold them up to the word of God and see whether or not they are true. We need to not RELY on them, but we need to rely on God’s truth. If the way I am feeling is based off of a lie that the enemy just fed me, then I am not living in a place of freedom and truth. The devil sows discouragement, condemnation, and all sorts of ugly lies. I refuse to let his lies dictate how I feel.

Living based on how you are feeling is not only deceptive it is incredibly exhausting. And I’m too exhausted to do this for even one more day. Tomorrow I am going to get up early and let my knees hit the floor. And if my selfish flesh that wants another hour of sleep wins out, I’m going to get up the next morning and try again. Satan lies and says, “You couldn’t do it yesterday, what makes you think you can do it today? You’ll never be able to do it.” And pretty soon we have given up trying entirely. 

But I’m not going to try out of my own strength because I have seen that fail too many times. I am going to ask God for His supernatural power to wake up because I am confident that His power in me can do that which I am not capable of on my own. I am realizing that pride comes from basing outcomes on my ability or inability. The place of return is the cross of Christ, not a commitment to try harder.

I need to focus more on God and what He can do through me instead of what I can or cannot do. He must become greater and I must become lesser.

I appreciate so much that even though the way we feel changes rapidly, God’s truth never changes. In a whirlwind of emotion, He is the one steady, solid rock that always brings clarity and peace.

I am choosing to declare that what God says is true even if I might not always feel like believing it. I am choosing to believe that He loves me and has good plans for my life. I am choosing to believe that He will never leave me nor forsake me. I am choosing to believe that His grace is sufficient for my weakness.

I am choosing to believe truth.

There is power in the name of Jesus

To me, taking a step back feels like I have failed. Admitting that I’m struggling with something that I’ve had victory over in the past makes me feel as though all the progress was for nothing. But stumbling doesn’t mean that we have failed or are failures.

 It means that we are human.

There are some lessons that we need to learn over and over again. There are some fears, some lies that we have to stand strong against over and over again. Some mornings you need to wake up and forgive all over again. Some mornings you need to proclaim truths all over again. Some mornings you need to ask God for courage all over again.

Sometimes the most difficult person to show grace to is yourself. 

We say, “I shouldn’t struggle with this anymore, I shouldn’t believe that lie anymore, I shouldn’t be that afraid anymore.”

But we are and we do anyway. Because we are not done being made like Christ. We are afraid to share our shortcomings, our backward steps with others, as though they aren’t holding onto any themselves.

But God never condemns. He knows that it’s hard being human; He knows that it’s hard living on this planet. It’s okay to not have it all together, it’s okay to stumble and take a step backward, as long as you don’t unpack and live there.

The good news is that God sent His spirit to live in us, and that alone is what gives us the power to say no to sin and to believe truth. If you have accepted Jesus as your savior, then the same power that raised Him from the dead lives inside you. That is incredible. There is power; all we have to do is call on His name.

Romans 6:11 Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Do not let sin reign in your body so that you obey its evil desires... For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

It’s so easy for us to forget that God’s love for us is not a result of our actions.

I know sometimes I go to God and say, “Look! I don’t do that anymore, I do this more, look at how I’ve changed! Aren’t you proud of me? Don’t you love me now?”

And my Dad shakes His head understandingly and reminds me that He loved me before I even took a single breath.

We remember that we no longer have to be slaves to sin, that sin no longer has any power over us. We may fall occasionally, but we DO NOT have to live there.

The victory we have in Christ is being able to say, “God help me,” and knowing that He will.

Something that I struggle with is forgiveness. Sometimes I just don’t care that I’m supposed to forgive because all I’m feeling is hurt and forgiveness just doesn’t seem right.

I ask God, “How could you possibly ask me to forgive that person? Look at what they’ve done to me!”

And He replies, “Yes, I know. But look at what I’ve done FOR you.”  

If you are the one asking for forgiveness and the other person isn’t able to extend forgiveness, just know that God always will.

There is power in the name of Jesus to break every single chain that could possibly entangle you. There is no sin too bad, no person too far, no pit too deep for God’s power to save, rescue, and redeem. No matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’ve been, no matter how long or far you have strayed, God welcomes you back with open arms. You are not the exception, there are no exceptions. Jesus loves prodigals.

Every day I thank God that I am not dressed in my own righteousness, I am dressed in His. If I had to rely on my own power, my own strength, I wouldn’t make it a day.

I am so glad I can go to God and tell Him exactly how unbearably difficult it currently is for me to forgive. I am so glad that He is not up in heaven shaking His head in annoyance that I still struggle over the same hurt. I know that any time, morning, afternoon, middle of the night I can cry out to Him and say, "Lord help me to forgive, but more than that, help me WANT to forgive." 

What are some things that you need to call out to God about? Where are the areas in your life that you have not trusted in God's power to give you victory?  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uu2RDZdaxc