I'll leave you with this, then I'm off this site

[downbutnotout]

for good. No crying wolf. It's impossible to be a woman with an opinion up against the bromances/old boy's network going on here.
This is all I have to say.
Ephesians 6:10-18
The Armor of God-
Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the FULL armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the DEVIL. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of PEACE. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view be on alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
Maasalama kheri

[All American Dave]

Take care of yourself and keep on fighting Corrie! May God bless you and keep you safe. Wish you the best in life and hope you stick around lady!

[Blade]

Renewing your Mind

Key Verse:

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.


How many of us feel like we are in a daily battle with the enemy? How many of us walk out the door each morning expecting a battle with the enemy? How many of us FEAR what the enemy will do next? All of this starts with your mindset when you wake up each morning and start your day.

Fear is the bases for someone who is trying to control another in a relationship. Fear is the basis for insecurity. Fear is the basis for self-destruction like drug addiction where you just want to escape from reality instead of facing some truths. Fear will hold you in a struggle when all along it was gone. Your mind can create a struggle and let me tell you this. Sometimes your biggest enemy comes from within, your mind! Fear is the basis of the “enemy” controlling you! God is not the creator of insecurities. God is not the creator of depression. God is not the creator of doubt. God is of love, joy, hope, and peace.

In the book of Mark 10 a blind man asked Jesus to heal his sight and because he was of faith, the man could see. So we can look at this particular story of healing a truly blind man OR we can look at this story of a man that did not have faith, was blind, and when he believed in God by faith his eyes were opened. Jesus opens your faith filled eyes to the point that you will no longer see that obstacle as a struggle or an enemy coming against you. Do you find yourself conforming to what your natural eyes see in this world? Are you going to let the world control what you see? Are you ready for that change?

Change happens when you have an entire renewal of the mind and by this I do not mean renewing your faith. I am talking about renewing your mind set that what may appear to your human eyes as a struggle is only something God is working out in you. I like to refer to struggle as a mere adversity. Just something I am not really strong at that needs to be strengthened. Let’s take boot camp for instance. When one enrolls in the military they can not be sent straight into the battle until they finish their tactical training. Boot camp, by design, is intended to develop your weaknesses into strengths and perfect things to which you may already be strong in. Once you have successfully completed each task, you are then assigned a new task or duty and as each one is completed another assigned designed to which you are best suited. We are all not designed to take on the same duty as another. But each unit is designed to have specialists in each area to develop a team of soldiers that, as a unit, will defeat their enemy. Now if one piece to that unit goes down then there becomes a vulnerable area that is susceptible to an attack. If your Spirit is strong but your mind is weak you become vulnerable. If your body is strong but your spirit is weak you become vulnerable. Spiritual boot camp is designed to make our mind, body, and spirit strong! So when I see an adversity come into my life my first thought is I need more training in Spiritual boot camp! The bible can be used as a reference to reveal to you what direction you need to go to train and become strong. BUT…….

To only learn God’s word is not changing your mind, hearing His word is not changing your mind, reading his Word is not changing your mind, but combine all 3 and become a DOER of His word changes your mind, body, and spirit.

Renewing your mind is setting it to Do to change course by breaking negative thought patterns. Acknowledging that you are in a struggle is a negative thought pattern. Sometimes it’s not the devil that is stopping you rather your own mind is holding your spirit back as flesh controlling the body instead of the spirit controlling your flesh OR it can be from bad choices that were made that did not align with God’s will and quite possibly lead to the adversity you are facing.

[Blade]

We all know most of the popular stories in the bible which are some of the most powerful works and testimonies of God’s work. Let me share with you something God revealed to me after I made it out of my struggle mindset and began to grow more into my relationship with God. Many of us see the story about Job as one of a man with great faith, never wavering, always strong and as the enemy took away all his blessings he never took his eyes off of God. In fact, Satan ended up leaving Job alone quite quickly and never returned to inflict more iniquity into his life (Satan stops in Chapter 2 after the boils). Prior to that Satan never even attempted to attack Job because he felt God had an unbreakable hedge around Job. Satan had to ask permission because of Job was so faithful and obedient it was like he was surrounded by a giant fortress that was unbreakable. God allowed the strife to test Job but Satan never understood why. The only thing God never allowed Satan to do was take his wife and take his life. The old saying comes to mind; he will bend you but not break you. Although God was trying to prove a point to Satan, He was also trying to show us not to acknowledge Satan and than if things happen to us, God already knew it was coming and allowed it to happen to mature us in the body of Christ. After Job completed his spiritual boot camp (rest in God, faith in God, and lover for God). God did not give him back all the things he took from him meaning the very same children, cattle, etc. What God restored which is most important is Job was his JOY. He rehabilitated Job’s joy back into his life and then the blessings follow with his obedience.

Let’s look at sports rehab for instance. When you become injured the first thing the therapist tells you is rest the injured area. Rest is hard because that means I feel like I may lose more if I rest. Sound familiar? The next stage to rehabilitation is to stretch the area to make it flexible again. The final stage is to exercise the area to make it strong again. After all 3 stages are complete your pain is gone and you again have full mobility and back to normal with no more pain or discomfort. With God, he pretty much instructs us to apply that same principle. We get hurt we should rest in Him and His word. We should then stretch our faith and then exercise what steps are needed to regain our strength. Finally the outcome is the pain is gone, the stress if gone, and our JOY is restored! Keep in mind, the number one thing that happens when we feel good again is we stop the very things that made our injury strong and over time, we become re-injured and the joy dissipates as the pain overtakes