You Are Free to Leave

You never know where your next blessing is. I believe we have more options in life than we think we do. It’s like we don’t give God credit for having infinite ways to bless us. We place our limits on Him and we tend not to expect much or even muster up the courage to ask for much, but that thinking doesn’t line up with scripture.

I needed a door to be opened for me and God answered my prayers and opened the door. It was a blessing to me, swinging open for me just in the nick of time. I remember feeling wanted and appreciated and so thankful for the Lord showing me something different from the kind of negativity I unfortunately had grown accustomed to and to even came to expect. Shortly after walking through that door though, I realized I didn’t want to remain for a long period of time. As thankful as I was I could think of a few really good reasons why I needed to move on. Just as my reasoning began to take on the form of complaints the Lord spoke very plainly to me and said, “When I opened this door for you I didn’t open it so you could walk in and stay forever. You are free to leave.” I’ve been taking Him up on those words since that day, preparing myself for my next move.

I’m reminded of so many people over the years who prayed for a job, got hired, and then stayed on the job for years even suffering tremendously, refusing to even look elsewhere because they keep telling themselves, “But God gave me this job”.  Even if they have a longing inside for more, better, increase, even if they qualify for it, they would remain and justify doing so because God opened that door for them. As if He can’t open another one. As if He can’t hear and answer another prayer. As if they aren’t capable of continuing to grow and move forward.

God is not limited in the ways that He is able to bless and provide for us. He’s not a one hit wonder or a one trick pony.  The entire universe is at His disposal. With Him the possibilities are endless. We sing songs like, If He did it before, He can do it again, but think we should sometimes stop and do and honest heart check to see if we really believe it. Some of us live our entire lives without opening ourselves up to the possibility of something more or even different.

Do you feel stuck? Are you telling yourself that you have to stay put because God blessed you with what you have, or to be where you are? Are you assuming that just because He opened that door for you that He doesn’t have another one that can be opened if you ask? Are you waiting for someone to die before you think you can move on? Snap out of it! And many of us sadly are simply afraid for one reason or another to take a step outside the casket of our comfort zone. So we complain, and blame God for our unhappiness and accuse Him of not being resourceful enough to take us where the desire He’s placed inside of us wants us to go. Lift up your head, open your eyes, leave your options open, and allow Him to show you just how much He wants to do for you. It will exceed anything you are able to ask or imagine. And remember, unless He has given you specific instructions to stay, you are free to leave.

Purchase my books on Amazon

Emotional Bullying

 

Bullying Definition

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.

 

The Lord dropped something into my spirit a few years ago and I’m reminded of it today.  “Don’t let the enemy bully you in your emotions.”

One thing I’ve learned in my 52 years is that many people who are bullies as children do not grow out of that behavior into adulthood, and people who tend to be easy targets for bullies don’t always grow out of that tendency into adulthood. You can find bullies and victims of bullying even in the workplace as adults.

When discussing bullies one thing that is usually said still rings true, “They do you that way because they know they can. As long as they can get away with it by you not standing up to them, they will continue to bully you. As long as they can get a rise, a reaction out of you they will continue to entertain themselves with your reactions.” Something else I’ve learned about bullies is that when you stand up to them, stand up for yourself, even if you “lose” the fight, you’ll still earn their respect and they will often find someone who will remain the victim.

When you think about it, where do you think the behavior originates from?  God, or the devil? So when we recognize the author of that behavior we can better see how the enemy will do the same thing to us emotionally. 

He knows that he can say certain things, cause certain things to happen, use people to say or do certain things to get a rise or reaction out of us.  When we show him that at the least sign of something we don’t like we resort to complaining and self-pity, [Proverbs 24:10] he learns how to perfectly time his attacks and with every attack he adds in a special little something extra: Some negative suggestion that he whispers to you so you can start repeating it in your frustration. As you agree with him in your heart and with your words you become a perfect target for his bullying. Not resulting in black eyes or other physical bruises, but in your emotions, dragging you down every time you think you might be about to see some type of daylight.  Learn to FIGHT. SPEAK UP. STAND UP. GUARD YOUR HEART BY KEEPING A HANDLE ON YOUR EMOTIONS. There’s nothing new under the sun. Everybody is dealing with mess they’d rather not deal with. Put on your big girl panties or big boy boxers and put your spiritual dukes up and fight. Use that power of life and death that’s in your tongue and come out of the role of being a victim to the devil’s bullying.

I saw a quote that said, “I got hated on for being myself, so I started hating myself”. When you think about it, doesn’t that describe the enemy of your soul?  He hates you simply because of who you are! A child of the Most High God, a Royal Priesthood, an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. You’re on your way to the place he got kicked out of when he showed his tail. You’ve been promoted into the spot that was left vacant when he lost his position in heaven. Of course he hates your guts and his mission is to convince you to hate yourself just as much by trying to convince you through life’s trials and the lies he tells you about yourself. He wants to badger you to the point that you feel like this is just the way it is, or that you somehow deserve or are the cause of the abuse, so you just join his club. Don’t let him do that to you! He’s doing it because you allow it. He’s doing it simply because he can. It may sound like I too, am accusing you for what he’s doing to you. I understand that feeling. I used to feel that way at first, but it’s really not the case. I’m simply shedding a light on the trick he’s been playing on you and getting the same results over and over. [Hosea 4:6] [2 Corinthians 2:11] If he can keep your spiritual eyes black, blue and swollen shut from his verbal beatings they will never be opened to see him for what he is. If he can keep your attention focused on what he is saying instead of that God has said about you, you will never have your faith increased by hearing the actual truth about who you are.

 

So check yourself before he makes you wreck yourself.  Check your emotions. What are you feeling? What are you hearing when you feel certain things in your emotions?  The things that you are hearing, are they in line with how God says He feels about you in His Word in scriptures like [Jeremiah 29:11] or are they more in line with what the Word says about what the enemy wants to do [John 10:10]? Are you experiencing anxiety or peace? Do you feel abandoned, or loved?  It’s really simple. As we begin to retrain ourselves to think and speak according the Word we will find ourselves spending less time entertaining what the enemy is doing and being entertainment for the enemy, and more time walking in complete victory. 

 

 Purchase books in paperback or kindle

 

What I realize from being the mother of a hard headed child.

1. I used to be hard headed and still am. It's a nature we're born with because when we finally say YES to God He'll use it in the kingdom for His glory.

2. None of us are perfect and none of us were perfect as teenagers. (Even the extra holy ones.) Some were more focused than others, sure. But some of us were just as lost and bull headed as our teen(s).

BUT even if you were obedient throughout your childhood...

Even if you managed to obey EVERYTHING your parents told you to do.

If you NEVER talked back or had even an angry thought toward a parent. (yeah right/eyeroll) If you managed to live your entire childhood without one ounce of disobedience, The fact that you were born into sin and shapen in iniquity means that from the moment you entered into this world, you came here already on your way straight to hell. So before you open your mouth and rip your baby a new one, shut up and pray.

3. Sometimes you want to SAY SOMETHING to that little fart but God won't let you. Well, maybe the reason God won't let you say anything TO YOUR CHILD is because you haven't said enough TO HIM, ABOUT your child.

#thingstoconsider

DELAYED ACCORDING TO WHO?

In recent years it has become more and more common to hear someone say. "DELAY DOES NOT MEAN DENIAL." As I was thinking about my surgery situation, this phrase came to mind and I got to thinking.  When we say “delay” who are we referring to that is or will be affected by this so-called delay?  It’s certainly not God!  We call something a delay when the timing of it coming to pass doesn’t match our expectations. We say it’s delayed when we thought or hoped it would happen by a certain time, but for whatever reason it doesn’t.  For us, things are delayed due to circumstances beyond our control. 

But no circumstance is out of God’s control. God is not affected or impacted by time. He is not governed by it. He created it for us. It helps us to measure life and seasons.

We say something is delayed because we assumed something, but it didn’t pan out the way we assumed. The Lord will tell us that He is going to do something and we begin to immediately calculate a deadline. We begin looking at present circumstances and assume that because of this or that, the promise will or has to come to pass by this time/date.  One major piece of information we neglect to consider though, is that God didn’t tell you when it was going to happen, only that it’s going to happen, so how can we declare something to be delayed when we were never given a due date? Rarely are dates involved in His promises because I believe, a lot of the condition of the fulfillment is our obedience to what He has instructed us to do in order to be positioned to see the manifestation of those things. So then delayed doesn't mean denial, it means somebody disobeyed.

DELAYS ARE USUALLY UNEXPECTED.

I had no thought whatsoever that I would be waiting 3 or more months to simply have a surgery that is so common that most of us probably are in close proximity to at least two women who’ve had one. Just like my surgery seems to be getting delayed more and more, a total of about  5 months, we all experience delays in our lives. Flight delays, the start of a concert or wedding, traffic delays due to accidents or inclement weather, etc. We can experience a lot of frustration from these delays, even to the point of rescheduling other things that are affected by the first delay. We are caught off guard by delays and sometimes have to stop and regroup to keep from allowing the frustration of the inconveniences to get the best of us. But God is never caught off guard. He’s never shocked or surprised. He’s never left scratching His head and wondering what His next move will now be. From before the foundations of the earth were laid, He knew the exact moment that each of His promises to you would be fulfilled. He just didn’t fill you in on the date and time details.

Another major factor to consider when thinking about why something in our lives may be delayed is that we have to remember, even though you may be involved, even play a key role, THIS ISN'T ALL ABOUT YOU. These so called delays are making room for so many other things to take place. There really is a bigger picture being painted by our all knowing God. I’m reminded of the birth of my youngest daughter and how I had to wait 14 years to get pregnant with her because the Lord knew that my oldest daughter wouldn’t be born for another 13 years. To me I was delayed over 13 years in getting pregnant, but to God, it was all a part of His master plan and it was all done in PERFECT TIMING.

This “delay does not mean denial” is something I actually have come to dislike because I’ve come to understand that DELAYS DON’T EVEN APPLY TO GOD.

Instead I'm learning to stop and ask God to "Reveal to me what's really happening here. Help me to see anything that I may be missing."  I said to Him even about my surgery, "If you have a specific reason for allowing this, I surrender to your reasons, but if not, I don't want to wait any longer." That's pretty much all any of us can say, "Lord this is what I desire, but if You have other plans, I surrender to Your plans. You know what I don't know."  

Keep in mind that He always has your best interest at heart.  His thoughts toward you are of peace and not of evil. Even though the way His plans play out can sometimes be painful to you and seem to throw a wrench in your plans,  (Isaiah 55:8) they are not motivated by a desire of God to hurt you, but to give you an "expected end". There is a place He expects you to end up in and that's what all of this is about. The expected end result that He desires for you. (Jeremiah 29:11) Another translations says, "a future and a hope". My personal translation says, "something to look forward to".

So how do we handle these delays? Well I've already given you a direction that your prayer to Him can go that will help keep your mind right and attitude right. Another thing we can do, and that I plan to do during my current "delay" is to take advantage of the additional time I may end up having prior to the actual surgery. Any additional time I may be gifted through this delay can be spent working on my weight and anything else that will cause me to feel better going into the surgery and cause my recovery to possibly be better. I suggest you do the same. Make the most of your so called delay, and then prepare yourself for the moment when the Lord shows you that everything was actually timed impeccably in your favor. 

Give Thanks

God sees all and knows all. He sees when you’re in a situation that is not set up to be fair to you or that is not in your overall, long run best interest. He sees every underhanded thing that happens to you and he hears the conversations that bring those underhanded things about. He knows all of the policies that are in place that work against you, that rob you of energy, money, time.

He also sees when in the midst of dealing with those things, you remain thankful to Him. He sees your faithfulness and He’s waiting for the cry of your heart to come up to Him. 

In sending your answer it may even seem like something worse has happened, but as the smoke clears you will see that he orchestrated whatever it was just to free you up to receive the thing that your grateful heart has positioned you to receive. 

Your flesh may scream so loudly that there is nothing to be thankful for in your situation, but that’s not true. (IN everything, give thanks. I Thessalonians 5:18) Notice that the scripture does not say FOR everything, but IN everything, which simply means that no matter what you are having to walk through, there is something to give thanks to God for. When you are thankful for what He has already done, and are bold enough to ask Him for what you desire, you place yourself in the center of obedience to His word (Philippians 4:6) and He HAS to honor His Word because He CANNOT lie. He will come through for you.

purchase books in paperback and kindle

Same Message, Different Wording

If there is a door that you feel you could or even should be able to walk through but for some reason you can’t, then maybe you should consider that the reason God is determined to keep that one closed is that it’s not YOURS. Having the ability to do something does not automatically mean that it’s your actual calling. It’s probably just a gift or set of abilities that is in your life to support your true calling.  Stop crying about the door God refuses to open for you and turn your attention toward whatever door He is waiting to have swing open for you. Having mastered something doesn’t necessarily mean you are to never do anything else.  Mastering something may be the sign you need to let you know it’s time to move on to something else. We say, “When God closes one door He opens another”, but at the same time we spend so much time wrestling with the door knobs of those closed doors. Turn around, open your eyes, and ask God to order your steps to the doors He will refuse to close in front of you instead of weeping at the one He refuses to open for you!

Where to purchase books
My other blog