Dear God’s Beloved One,

I almost lost my life. I was driving down this road and I approached something that looked pretty hideous . It looked like trouble. It smelled like trouble . The Holy Spirit said it was trouble. But me playing the role of the Good Samaritan, had to stop and check on whatever was in the middle of the road .When I got out to check, I found that not only was the thing hideous it was bigger than I had originally thought. When the creature awoke , I saw why everything I sensed , thought , saw and was told by the Holy Spirit said trouble . This thing stood up and it was big . It was so big that it started to grow and block out what was left of the setting sun in the horizon. It saw me and I knew I was doomed . I turned to run to my car but while I was running it caught me by the heel. And from that moment, I became a prisoner of a beast named BITTERNESS .
Now being a prisoner of this monstrous thing is something that is like no other . In the beginning it takes those things that hurt you, caused you pain and have scarred you and it plays those things over and over in your mind until it’s all you think about . You could be at work and not able to work because those mental events consumes your mind. Here are a few things to remember about bitterness that I’ve learned.

1. Bitterness separates you from the grace of God. Hebrews  12:15 says “ See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many”.
2. The devil uses it to capture the realms of our minds. How ? Thoughts . If not careful the devil plants thoughts about the situation in our minds . Then we are consumed with those evil thoughts
3. When you are bitter you allow someone or something else to take the place of God and they continue to have control over your life.
4. Bitterness will prolong the forgiveness process, in turn hold up your forgiveness. In moments of disappointments and mistreatment by people , the Bible says you have to be quick to forgive . Why ? Because if you don’t you leave room for Satan to come in and feed you things that are not of God about the situation. The best thing to do in these situations is to immediately pray and speak to the Father about the event that took place. There is no need to consult with your best friend our even your mother. Consult God first. He will put that thing to rest in you before your friend or mom can
5. When bitterness is rooted it causes a troubled life. Some people are held up in life because they can’t let go of what happened. If you hold on to it your hands are not free to receive from God the solution to your issue. Also all of your good God-given energy has gone into this one grudge . You don’t have energy to start something else or to do anything else. Its been zapped
6. Bitterness will sabotage your goals . What was the last thing you accomplished? Enough said.
7. Bitterness opens the door to other evil things . It’s demonic!
8. And worst of all Bitterness can show up on your face ( Ladies, do you hear me!  More wrinkles)

So let this story  serve as a lesson for  you . Let it go. Give it to God and continue to live your life .He has so much more than bitterness waiting for you. And believe me , it’s better than what you can imagine.

Love,

A past prisoner of Bitterness

Dear God’s Beloved One,

There is a thunderstorm occurring outside.  I want to leave my home but I realize that I cannot leave but will have to wait until the storm is over. What do you do when you find yourself in a storm waiting for it to end?  What can you do when you have been hurt so badly that all you can think about is how bad you hurt?  You just want the storm to be over so that you can move on. I have been there…in fact I am there right now!

I want to point you to  James, brother of Jesus.  He says something that I never quite understood until recently.  In the first chapter of the book of James, he opens by saying, ” Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”(TNIV)  Rejoice? How could he say to rejoice when you need money but you don’t know where it is coming from?  Rejoice? Really?!  When I just lost my job and I need to feed my family.  Rejoice? When I have lost all hope that things will get better and my desire to live.

Yes! You are to rejoice.  I want to give you a few things to remember when you are in that storm, some things that have helped me:

1. God controls everything, even Satan.

Do you remember the beginning of the book of Job? Satan had to be granted access to Job. Even in that, God our Father placed limits on what he could and couldn’t do.  For us, this means that God knows all about what’s going on in our life. He has control over it .Satan can’t do anything to you that was not   passed by God first. So what does this say about God? Does this mean He is unsympathetic, that He gets a kick out of watching us suffer? Of Course not! God does not like to see us suffer.  We  often look at this  fact and say ” How  can a God  so good  allow these things  to happen . My  favorite verse ever is  Romans 8:28  which says ,” And we know  that   all things work   together  for  good  to  them  that  love God , to  them  who  are  called  according to his purpose.”(KJV). God is   piecing all those things together to work for your good.

2. If He Brought You to It You Can Get Through It

1 Corinthians 10:13 says “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more that you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (NLT). I  know  you are  asking ,” What  does this  have to do  with  my  trials? This scripture is about temptation?” Let me explain. The key part of the scripture is “God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.”   It says that anything that you are going through you can make it out on the other side to victory. God knows your breaking point. He knows when enough is enough. The only problem is that we have to endure until He says enough is enough.  Paul says in  Romans 5 :3″ We can  rejoice, too,  when we  run  into problems and  trials ,  for  we know  that  they  help us  develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation”

3. Meditate on your identity in Christ

1 Peter 2: 9-10 says “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, and God’s very own possession. As a result  , you  can  show  others the goodness of  God , For  he  called  you out of the  darkness into his  wonderful light . Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy”. Peter gives us something to think about in this scripture.  If  you don’t know who you are  it is  easy  for  Satan  to plant  thoughts on  who  you are.   There are many people  who  shape  their  identity  on  what  others  have  said  about them ,what happened to them , or  even what  television  says they  have to be . In these cases , we find  that  we  have  a lot of people   confused and  trying  everything to  find  themselves. This is why it is very important to know who you are in Christ. When  you are  going  through a tough time , Satan  will  always  challenge  who  you are in  Christ .  Thoughts like ” This  always  happens to me.”, ” It’s  not fair God.” , or ”  I’m not able  to  make  it  through  this !”    are examples of Satan attempting to challenge your identity. He  wants you  to  doubt that  you are more  than  a  conqueror  in Christ. He doesn’t  want you remember you are  a   royal  priest , a holy  nation, or a  chosen  person of God . When   you  began to doubt these things  then  you have  allowed  Satan to  gain  access to  tell you  who  you are.  It is important to meditate on  who  you are in Christ . I’ve been  challenged  in this  area  recently and  the  best advice  I  can  give is  find  scripture in the  bible that  attest to  who  God  says  you are in  Christ  and  stand on it .

4. Realize God Loves you Too Much to Leave you Where you are

Like parents, God wants  to  see his  children  grow. Some  growth  comes  through  just  getting  older  and  others  come through  trials. Some trials  come as a season of testing  others may  come  as a result of  our  disobedience. However trials come  just know it all comes together to  grow  you .  It’s  to make  sure you  don’t  stay at a  particular  place in life in a specific condition. Some people  have  lost their  lives  staying  in one place  refusing to move. They   became complacent and adapted  to thinking  that it  will always be that  way.   One  thing about  God is that  He is always on the move .  He  says that He is  doing a new thing . Doing a new thing does not mean staying in one place or being  complacent. God  wants to see you move on to bigger and  better things.  Because  we  can’t see the  future and  we are  sometimes scared of the  unknown, God  has  to  sometimes push us  through some painful, hurtful things to get us moving.

Let God HELP YOU through your storm!

Love,

L

Dear God’s Beloved One,

Today is National Prayer Day. It’s the day that everyone is to stop and pray to their God for the state of the nation. We know and believe that our God is the one true God and can do exceedingly above what we can ask. Let’s take this time to lift up in prayer our government, our families, our schools and communities. If you are new to prayer, you can check out the doc “What is prayer” under the Life Foundations page to get  you well on your way to communicating with God.

Love,

L