Set Free

I've listened to several thoughts from others lately about the result of negative emotions and how they affect our physical lives. The sources do not seem to matter. They all point to the same answer, regardless of their faith background. The answer is this... forgive, release and renew your mind.

These are some of the medical responses that related directly to Christian principles:

• All negative emotions come out of fear
• Unhealthy stress is the result of toxic thoughts
• Too much adrenalin becomes toxic
• These thoughts create a stronghold in the brain that can be measured
• Permanent physical changes take place in the brain
• It takes four days to make a change in the brain
• It takes 21 days to form a new habit

What is the answer?

Eastern religious practice says: yoga, zen, Qi Jong... to name a few.

Clinical answer: drugs, decompress, change jobs or location ... to name a few.

God's answer in Scripture:

• Forgive, trust in the Lord, surrender your life to the living God
• Repent, renew your mind, believe God for the best
• Take thoughts captive, expect a miracle, look up

Bring the resurrection to every situation in life (John 11:40)
Forgive and release others to God (Eph. 4:32)
Think on truth (Phil. 4:8)
Cast down vain imaginations (2Cor. 10:4-5)
Receive Christ as Lord and Savior (John 3:16)

Robert S. McGee said "Lord, daily cause me to agree with what you think is true of me."
By they way, God has nothing negative to say to His children. Any negative thought is not from Him. He is the perfect expression of the Fruit of the Spirit.

Agree with God and be set free.

The imprint

We watched a delightful movie this week called Fly Away Home. It was about orphaned geese raised by a 13 year old girl and how she helped these geese fly south for the winter. They used a method called imprinting. Seems that geese and other birds imprint their lives from birth and everything they learn is through this imprinting. The first living thing they see becomes their parent and they learn by watching the parent, even flying south for the winter. Apparently many birds lose their parents through hunters, climate, or building developments. They have a natural desire to fly south but they do not know the way because the parent who helps with the imprinting is gone. Thus the birds get lost, confused, fall into the hands of unprincipled people or are destroyed by hungry animals. However, once the birds are imprinted they fly south and miraculously return to the origin of their birth.

The story has many amazing aspects. The ability of these small creatures to fly a 1,000 miles a day. Their perfect imprinting that causes them to live the life designed for them. The ability to fly back to the exact origin of their birth. Their innocent and complete trust in who they decided was their parent.

The correlation loomed at me. We have a parent. He is God the creator. We have an imprint. We are created in Him image. We have a direction. It is called life in Christ. We can fly through a lifetime. It is called walking in the Spirit. We fly to a designated home. The home is called heaven. We are asked to completely trust our parent. Our parent is Emmanuel, The Mighty God, The Prince of Peace, The Everlasting Father.

Let His imprint remain on your heart and life now and forever, so that you may always find your way home.

1 John 4:19

We love Him because He first loved us

This week I listened to and read two devotionals on God's unmatched love for us. One talked about how His desire to love us and His desire for us to know the depth of this love is a goal He intends to complete. The other devotional talked about the pleasure of experiencing God's love and how nothing in life can measure up to the personal experience of His touch of love on the soul.

Now I am sure that each one who reads this is similar to myself in that we know the love of God and we seek to encourage others in the love walk. However maybe that love, that agape love, is something we uncover in layers and as we get closer to the center of this love we look back and ask "how did I miss this?"

So let me dig deeper with you and suggest that this love is still beyond our present understanding. For I have no doubt that when we are thoroughly drenched and filled with His love it spills over within and flows from us like a river. Nothing present, past or anything we can experience in the future will ever match the pleasure of His touch. Every addiction, low self-esteem, heartache, bad habits, wrong thoughts, actions or words will be abandoned, for His love heals, fills and completes us. Not to mention the pleasure and joy that comes when we release this love out to others...a love, by the way, He supplies.

I have no doubt that nothing in this life can compare to His love for us and that the only reason we love is because He first loved us and allows us to experience this love.

No Secrets

I Corinthians 4:3-5


I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in the darkness and will expose the motives of men's heart's. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

It is a waste of time to judge ourselves or to judge someone else.
Everything we have ever done will be judged, the motives.
Nothing escapes the eyes of the Lord.
Every thought, action and motive will be exposed to all.
None of us are perfect or innocent

Sobers things up a bit, right? Note the positive ending. It does not say judged and sentenced. For there is no condemnation for us His children (Rom. 8:1). It says at that time each will receive his praise from God. The junk in us will be reveled but God's focus is on the good we did. By the way, the only good we actually do is the good He motivates and preforms in and through us as we trusts our lives to Him (phil 2:13). All the rest is lost.

The Temple

I Corthians 3:16-17,19

Do you not know you are God's Temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

When I sit and meditate on that thought, I realize what a treasure it is to be allowed to have the Living God, live in me. His mind, His spirit, His life, His gifts, the Fruit of His Spirit, His wisdom, HIM.... living His life within. My hands, my feet, my heart, my will, my mind occupied by His presence. Think how different our lives would be on a daily basis, if we thought of this each morning.

He comes on invitation, we surrender heart and mind to Him and He lives through us on invitation. Just as we received Him, we live... through grace, by faith.

He amazes me. What a great idea. What a great plan. What a great love He must have for us that we would be allowed to be HIS TEMPLE.