The ADD In Me

So I am a little scatter brained…  my husband calls me his “ADD wife”.

I have a tendency to go into a room and forget what I came in there for… or to enter a room to do one thing and get distracted by another thing and then never even do what I came in there for…

My worst one here lately has been the dryer.

I have a tendency to transfer the wet clothes to the dryer and then get distracted and forget to start the dryer.

Then we will go to get clothes out of the dryer

 and there they sit

still all nice and wet…

clean… but soaking wet.

So my husband decided to help me remember to start the dryer… since I did this twice this past week.

 

Yeh a post-it note stuck on the wall in the laundry room…

Just in case you can’t read that it says:

Dryer Favorite Band

Rolling Stones

Favorite Song

“START ME UP!”

 

He’s so silly 🙂

Like that is gonna help, lol!

Surrendering

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Are your hands up in the air yet?

Are you beginning to surrender to Him and His oh so great love for you?

We are going deep again today… get ready.

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Day Twenty-One 

In the book Every Woman’s Battle, Shannon shares a story about a woman who was going through a struggle. The woman shared that she was no longer acting out sexually but was still struggling. She shared how she couldn’t get along with her roommates and how she hated the way she looked in the mirror, how she couldn’t sleep. How she was anxious, stressed, and angry but didn’t know why. She shared how she had been sick for months with one thing or another but the doctors could not find anything wrong… and now she was having suicidal thoughts again.

Shannon spoke with her and asked her to dig deep to see if there was anyone she was harboring unforgiveness toward, but the woman was sure she had forgiven everyone who had ever hurt her. Then Shannon said it hit her. She asked the woman if she had ever forgiven herself… to which the woman burst into tears and cried “No, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to.”   

Regardless of its source, we must surrender the pain from our past in order to stand strong in the battle for sexual and emotional integrity. ~ Shannon Ethridge

That surrender also includes the pain that comes from realizing our own choices have hurt us and no one else… Are you going through what this young woman was going through? Are you walking in self-unforgiveness? 

These are some facts that Shannon shares concerning unforgiveness. According to the January 1999 issue of Prevention magazine unforgiveness causes negative feelings about people in general, failure to recognize and enjoy potentially good relationships, and the following psychological and physical problems:

*chronic anxiety

*serious depression

*general mistrust

*poor self-esteem

*anger and hatred

*resentment

*rush of hormones exhilarate heart rate

*limits or shuts down immune system

*chances of heart attack increase by 500 percent

*risk of high blood pressure and cholesterol

*enhances risk of blood clots and cancer

*a host of other chronic issues

Shannon shares how she herself eventually found God’s grace for every person who had ever left her, let her down, or offended her. But forgiving herself for her own poor choices seemed to require more grace than she could muster.

She shared how when she would reflect on her past choices she would think “How stupid I’ve been!” “I should have known better!”, “No one could possibly love me if they knew all that I have done”

I know what she is talking about… I have been there with those same very thoughts. These thoughts leave you with a constant need of approval. You need someone else to tell you that they love you, to affirm your very reason for taking up oxygen on this earth. Because you hate yourself so much you are almost shocked when someone notices you… and you become an easy target for those who would take advantage of your weakness… you become a weak woman.

 For among them are those who enter into households

and captivate weak women weighed down with sins,

led on by various impulses, 

always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

 2 Timothy  3:6-7

You keep learning and learning but you never come to the truth. To the truth that God has forgiven you… so you ARE forgiven. God loves you… so you ARE loved. God says you are beautiful… so you ARE beautiful. You can’t grasp that God’s grace IS sufficient for you. So you fall prey into the hands of those who will destroy households and the cycle continues…

Ladies, listen closely…

When you believe that you are unable to forgive yourself then you are saying what Jesus did was not enough. You are calling the blood of your Christ insufficient. You also are saying that your own forgiveness of you is more important than God’s and requires more grace than what God is able to give.

For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one,

much more those who receive the abundance of grace

and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.  

Romans 5:17

Satan uses unforgiveness as a tool to bring about our destruction. Forgiveness foils Satan’s plots to stunt our spiritual growth.

Now today’s challenge is to look deep into your own heart and see if you need to begin the process of forgiveness… either toward yourself… or someone else.

I had student once say that she knew she needed to forgive. She knew she was supposed to, but no one had told her HOW. She wanted to be obedient. She wanted to forgive, but she did not know how to do it… so here are some steps in case you have this same question.

*Acknowledge your anger and hurt. It is very real and God knows it is there.

*Realize that holding on to this pain only holds you back

*Consciously let go of any need for revenge

*Consider the source of your pain: Hurting people hurt other people. Put yourself in there shoes.

*Pray earnestly for those who hurt you, asking God to heal the wounds that cause them to wound others.

*Pray that your wounds do not cause you to do the same to others.

As you walk through these steps of surrendering your unforgiveness so that you might be healed of your past emotional pain… you must also work on surrendering your pride.

Pride assumes several things:

*I deserve what I deserve

*My needs should be met at any cost

*Life is all about me and my pleasure

*The rules apply to everyone else but not me

*I’m above the consequences

Here’s the thing about pride… you could take that above list and use it as your excuses to commit sin or you could also take that list and use it as excuses to NOT accept the forgiveness of Christ for your past committed sins or His grace in your struggles in your new redeemed life.

We must surrender our unforgiveness and our pride if we are to be free from our past emotional pain. If we are to be able to walk into our future with the freedom that is ours in Christ then we must let go of all this junk that is wrapping us up around our ankles.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us,

let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin

 which so easily entangles us,

and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,

who for the joy set before Him endured the cross,

despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  

Hebrews 12:1-2

Honey, you are loved!

You are forgiven.

You are accepted.

You are secure.

You are significant.

Trust me… His grace is enough.

His blood is enough… it is sufficient for your forgiveness and for your ability to forgive others.

 

 

Names of God: Jehovah-shammah

While preparing to teach on this name of God I was overcome… I couldn’t make it through the preparation without crying. I would have to say that preparing this lesson brought me into a new appreciation for the mercy of our God. This name of God will be one that is added to those etched in my memory from being called on often, the name Jehovah-shammah.

We discover the meaning of Jehovah-shammah in Ezekiel 48:35

 The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about;

and the name of the city from that day shall be,

‘The LORD is there.’”

Yes, Jehovah-shammah, this name of God means the LORD is there.

Now as we see this name, let’s think about how the Lord has showed Israel that He is there. When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt… He was there.

 Then they set out from Succoth and camped in Etham on the edge of the wilderness. 

The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way,

and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light,

that they might travel by day and by night. 

He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day,

nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. 

Exodus 13:20-22

When it was time to enter the promise land the LORD was there. At this time the children of Israel had been in the wilderness a long time. Moses had died and it would be Joshua who lead the children into the land. Yet God assured Joshua that He would be with Him just as He had been with Moses… the LORD was there.

No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you;

I will not fail you or forsake you.

Joshua 1:5

Even all the surrounding nations understood that the LORD was there with Israel. After they had been in the land and they came under attack Israel marched into the battle with the ark of the covenant and their enemy trembled in fear… because the LORD was there.

The Philistines were afraid, for they said,

“God has come into the camp.”

And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.

1 Samuel 4:7

After the temple was built and Solomon came and bowed down before the Lord and sought Him in prayer, the glory of the Lord came and filled the temple and all the children of Israel knew that the LORD was there.  

Now when Solomon had finished praying,

fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices,

and the glory of the LORD filled the house.

The priests could not enter into the house of the LORD

because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’S house. 

All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down

and the glory of the LORD upon the house,

bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground,

and they worshiped and gave praise to the LORD, saying,

“Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

2 Chronicles 7:1-3

It was clear to all that the LORD was there. But sadly… even when they knew Jehovah-shammah… they chose to ignore Him, to defy Him, to blaspheme His name. In Ezekiel 8 we read about the time that the Spirit of God reached down and yanked Ezekiel up and took him to show him all the evil that was going on behind closed doors… in the temple. 

He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head;

and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven

and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem…

Ezekiel 8:3

It was horrible. The elders of Israel had carved images they were bowing down to, they were committing abominations… the women were weeping for false Gods, outside the temple even more abominations were being committed. God was moved to jealousy. He was angry. He was hurt. He was not going to take any more.

So we read further in Ezekiel and we see how the glory of the Lord that fell in 2 Chronicles and filled the temple and the Holy of Holies moved to the threshold of the temple.

Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered,

and the cloud filled the inner court. 

Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple,

and the temple was filled with the cloud

and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD.

Ezekiel 10:3-4

God was going to share His glory with these idols. So he begins to slowly move. He doesn’t get mad and just jet away… He just moves to see if the people will look for Him… but He is not missed… He is not searched for… so He moves further still.

Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple

and stood over the cherubim. When the cherubim departed,

they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them;

and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD’S house,

and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them.

Ezekiel 10:18-19

Can you see how much God loved the people? He did not want to leave them. He just wanted them to return His love… but they had turned to idols… to carved images… to sin. They did not consider Him or His holiness or His heart. They just went on to whatever they saw fit in their own eyes and went through the motions with God but their hearts were far from Him. God doesn’t want our motions… He wants our hearts. So God leaves the temple and He leaves the city. He will not be second.

Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them,

and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. 

The glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city

and stood over the mountain which is east of the city.

Ezekiel 11:22-23

Can you imagine the crushing blow this vision must have brought upon the eyes of Ezekiel? As he watched his God leave the temple and the temple… knowing that He was just in His leaving because God had shown him what all was going on in the temple and in the city… the abominations were just more than God was going to put up with… so He leaves. 

Precious one let me ask you… is God there in your life. Are you aware of His presence in your life? Are you fully His or are you trying to fill your temple with carved images and idols? What is going on in the inside depths of your temple? Is God there? He wants to be… but He will not share you with idols and images. He will back away… but He will never back to far away to not hear you when you cry out to Him because you finally have come to your senses and realized that He is all you need and all you will ever want.

Notice that God does not leave Ezekiel with this vision of Him leaving…

He closes the book of Ezekiel with Ezekiel 48:5

The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about;

and the name of the city from that day shall be,

‘The LORD is there.’”

God was not done with Israel.

God was not done with Jerusalem.

He would return… but He would come in a different way.

More on that when we discuss our next name of God 🙂