Disconnected? Make Some Adjustments and Get Your Focus Back

Have you ever been in a room full of people, excitement happening all around you, laughter ensuing, joy appearing to be on everyone’s face, but yet, you feel disconnected, possibly even lost?

When this happens in my life, which it occasionally does, recognizing these unwanted guests of emotions, which show up uninvited, allows room for God’s healing to take place in those areas within my life. It allows for honest assessment of the adjustments that may still need to take place, so that I may continuously walk in the Victory that is already mine through Christ Jesus.

How do I handle this? I separate myself for a bit, make some adjustments, and get my focus back.

Unfortunately, no matter how you or I may feel one day, the next day has the possibility of getting the better of us when we lose sight of who we are. It does not make you less of a Christian, as this is simply the way of life due to our sinful nature. When sin entered the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, it took away the perfect life on earth that God intended. This is why we must always keep heaven in our view, knowing that this life and its struggles are not here to stay.

From time-to-time, a short disconnect from the things that try to bring us down is necessary so that we are able to, without distraction and interruption, look to the One who can provide clarity and reassurance of who we are in Him. We must turn our attention to the One who comes to bridge the gap between our thoughts and emotions and learn to look to His truth about who we are. We must look to God’s Word and allow Him to do an identity check. We are to permit God to scan our heart and verify who He made us to be.

That may mean needing a quick refresher of sorts, within our memory banks, concerning the truth of God’s Word. Perhaps we must pick up that Bible and dust it off and do a little research to fill our souls with what actually is, versus looking through the filter of our emotions, which simply cannot be trusted.

I am God’s child. You are God’s child.

1 John 3:1a (NLT) says,
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!

Ponder This

(Intentional Prayer)

Pray the Scriptures – My Prayer:

Lord, I have come to realize that obedience is the gateway to my Overwhelming Victory. As I obey You, do Your will, and follow the steps of growth in You, even when the course of my day may not always go as planned, You are seeing about me. Everything that comes to hinder my progress in You must answer to the God of my Salvation. Even when my own thoughts try to turn against me, I can pray to You, O Lord, that every proud obstacle that keeps me from knowing You, O God, is destroyed, in Jesus’ name. For my rebellious thoughts can be captured and they can be taught to obey Christ.

How amazing are Your deeds!

When I delight in You Lord and mature in my walk with Christ, any negative thoughts that come to cause me to look back, I will replace them with thoughts of ALL the good deeds you have already fulfilled.

I shall ponder Your deeds!

Your glory and majesty is revealed in all that You do. Because of Your grace and mercy, you cause me to remember Your wonderful works in my life.

I never have to doubt Your love for me. You made me who I am; therefore, I am built to be used by You. Thank you, Elohim, God, Mighty Creator, for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous and I am enough.

I am more than enough because I have the God who is enough. I won’t look back. I will finish the process.

Preparation

If you have been following the progression of this blog, I pray that You have felt a shift in the atmosphere. I began writing again because I felt a call from God; but, I still had no idea what direction I was truly meant to go in. God birthed in me what I have been calling “Intentional Prayers”, and I believe that connection with God, through Scripture, has brought about a significant move in my life. He is ordering my steps and giving me a true desire and will to obey Him.

I was born and raised in a home where God was first in everything, and I have had my own personal relationship with Christ for many many years. I have been a pastor’s daughter for 38 of those years. Was everything always without fault? Did I, without interruption, follow God’s perfect plan for me? Did I constantly seek Him and His will? That would be a resounding No! But you know what? Because of God’s unfailing love for me and His grace and mercy over my life, and His righteous hand of discipline within my life, He has designed me to be more than enough and someone who can be used by Him. He orchestrated all of this because I am His child. I am enough because I serve the God who is enough. 

He has designed YOU to be more than enough and someone who can be used by Him.

Praying the Scriptures is nothing new, but I believe that God has shown me that what we think is so complicated or only for a special elite group, is accessible and can become natural and easy through the illumination of Him, as He shines His light over all. If God is in it, He will make it so that all may connect with Him.

On my phone is an app that links me to the ministry of Dr. Tony Evans. Occasionally a message of encouragement will pop up. Today’s message said the following.

“God can accomplish in a moment what would take years on your own. Seek Him and His path – watch Him open the doors to your Destiny.”

Wow! And this notification was received AFTER I had posted yesterday’s message regarding, “Watch God Move”. I became so excited. Confirmation! Do you see how God, in His sovereignty, connects things together as His providential will for our lives? What seems like forever for us, is only but a moment with God.

Looking back over some old posts that I originally wrote before knowing anything about the direction that God was and is moving my life in, I wrote about “Preparation”. I had no idea the turn that my life would take nor the many tests and trials that I would endure. My wilderness experience a.k.a. “Nightmare” came out of what seemed to be nowhere. But reading over this post from 2012, I now see that God was preparing me and He had a plan all along.

God comforts us so that we may comfort others.

2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT)
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

If everything in our lives is always on the up and wonderful and lovely, at what point would we need God’s comfort? At what point would we be able to be used by Him to comfort others?

Following is what I previously posted on October 14, 2012. When I wrote it, based on the ensuing challenges that I faced, I really had no idea what I was saying. I just knew that I felt it in my spirit; a time of preparation for my life. Before all of the turmoil, before all of the dilemma’s and stress and chaotic storms in my life, God was aligning my steps so that I could watch Him move.

Just Around the Corner

God used someone yesterday to demonstrate a few things to me and I would like to share it with you.

Peeking my head, just so, around the corner of my wilderness view, I see a hint of “SON” just over the horizon. I feel the power of God manifesting over my life, as I continue taking the necessary steps to my Overwhelming Victory. On this journey toward my promised land, I have some idea about how I believe God wants me to proceed and I am anticipating the move of His victorious hand over my life. Nevertheless, I know that His ways are not my ways and God has no limits. I need to seek Him for HIS direction and the ordering of my steps. I cannot rely on any other source to be my guide, as I continue to venture forward. I mustn’t look to the left or the right, but straight ahead to the God who brings order and direction according to His plan for my life.

Proverbs 16:3 (NLT) says,
Commit your actions to the Lord,
and your plans will succeed.

God, Use Me

(Intentional Prayer)

Lord, as you work in me, giving me the desire and the power to do what pleases you, provide me with the renewed strength that I need to wait on You. God, I want to cooperate with Your well-constructed and thought out plan for my life. As Elohim, God, Mighty Creator, You have arranged all that I need to get through this life, and in Your perfect sovereign will and kairos moments, El Shaddai, God Almighty, You allow these resources to flow in and out of my life. My connection with You has ameliorated the former condition of my life.

Simply put, God, you have made things better!

El Roi, the God who Sees Me, as I aim to be a light for others that leads directly to You, I want to follow your instructions and do everything without complaining and arguing so that no one can criticize me. Aid me in living a clean life as Your child so that I may shine like a bright light in a world full of evilness. As I read and study Your Word, shower me with the know how to hold firmly to the word of life; then when Christ returns, I will be satisfied that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.

A Love Like This

(Intentional Prayer)

Pray the Scriptures – My Prayer:

Lord, thank You for loving me with an everlasting love that draws me to You. With loving-kindness, You have brought me out of a sin-filled life in order to get me back to what You intended for me. Your great love would not allow me to stay in that horrible pit. Your grace and mercy located me and changed the direction of my life. Thank You, El Shaddai, for being an Almighty, THE Almighty God.

God Almighty, You have been wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient with me, even during my times of impatience with You.

Yes, Lord, this means everything to me!

Thank You for never giving up on me. Thank You for wanting me to be delivered from my old nature so that I could become a new creation in You. Because I belong to Christ I have become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

Don’t Give Up, Believe

The thought, “Don’t Give Up, Believe” has really been in my spirit for the last several days. It seems, at times, that we are flooded with the cares of this life and so much is coming at us at one time. We can start to drag and the thought of giving up may enter our hearts and minds.

At my desk at work, I have several flip calendars with Scriptures and words of inspiration on them. Today’s word from the “God’s Got It” Tony Evans Inspirational Dayspring Daybrightener says, “When Satan attempts to overwhelm you, remind him that you overwhelmingly conquer through Jesus Christ.” That really lifted me up today and solidified that giving up is never an option. Though this thought may cross our minds from time-to-time, we must push forward and persevere to receive the promises of God.

Hebrews 10:36 New Living Translation (NLT) says,
Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.

After all that you have endured on this journey, don’t you want to follow through with patient endurance, doing the will of God, so that you will receive ALL that he has promised?

I know that I do. Too much time has passed, too many resources have been invested, too many steps forward have been taken to turn back now. I will not give Satan that satisfaction. I am more than a conqueror and I will have OVERWHELMING VICTORY!

God, I Trust You

(Intentional Prayer)

Pray the Scriptures – My Prayer:

Lord, I am choosing this day to trust you. The promises in Your Word are true. God Your Word says in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

God, this year, you have sent forth your prophetic Word into and about my life. A year of OVERWHELMING VICTORY is mine, if I am willing to position myself for transition, grow in You, and have a “right now” faith, in a “right now” God, for a “right now” miracle. God, I believe it and I receive it.

As Promised…The Importance of the Spirit Filled Life

So, here it is…my panel presentation, as promised. If you are not sure what I am referring to, please read my post entitled Wilderness Experience.

Theme: “The Importance of the Spirit Filled Life”

Topic: “Undertaking the Spirit Filled Life”

There must be a willingness to:

1. Separate from all sin – 2 Corinthians 6:14-17
2. Surrender to his service – Romans 12:1-2
3. Saturate with the Scriptures – Psalm 1:1-2
4. Stand upon his saying – John 7:37-39

There are those special preachers, teachers, missionaries and evangelists of the Gospel who are called to lead a larger group of individuals; then there is this group called “us’s” who God uses in our smaller circles of influence and that is the direction or focus that my topic has taken for this evening. So, I hope that it is beneficial to someone in the room.

My Topic is: Undertaking the Spirit Filled Life.

In order to undertake the Spirit filled life, there must be a willingness to SEPARATE FROM ALL SIN.

2 Corinthians 6:14-17 (NLT) says:

The Temple of the Living God
¹⁴Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? ¹⁵What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? ¹⁶And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
¹⁷Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,
and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.
Don’t touch their filthy things,
and I will welcome you.

When we confess our sins to God and accept Jesus as our personal Savior, we are free and separated from a sinful life. We are not someone who cannot sin, but someone who is no longer a slave to sin. We belong to God. We have chosen to turn from sin and to accept the gift of Salvation that is offered to everyone. True repentance of sin means to turn 180 degrees and not look back. It is a change of heart and we need the Spirit of God to cause that change to occur.