Faith and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

I was thinking about how Rick Warren and his wife actually expected their son to commit suicide, which he ended up doing about 3 years ago. They said regarding the incident that the day they had dreaded and feared would happen, did. It makes me wonder if their expectation that it would happen in a way actually brought it about.

There is a good quote, "That which we fear most will happen to us." We fear something so much and so we focus on it, and we then bring about the very thing that we fear. What we focus on and expect usually is what ends up happening.

Whatever we expect in any situation in life, whatever we anticipate will happen, most likely will.

If we think our children will fail in school, then they probably will.

If we think that people won't like us, we very well might do things that would cause them to not like us.

If us women think all men are cheaters, we will most likely end up marrying a man who will cheat on us. Or we will do things that might drive them to cheat on us to fulfill what we already believed about them.

Ultimately, whatever you believe about someone is what they will become. You can speak life or death over people and situations. You can also THINK life or death over people and situations. You can visualize failure so much until you make it a reality. Or you can visualize success so much until you make success a reality.

We have to be very careful about what we expect and where our faith is. As Jesus said, "According to your faith, it will be done to you."

What if instead you had FAITH that your children would always succeed in school; that God would cause them to succeed and give them wisdom? That might then cause them to succeed, because you believe in them.

What if we believed that people in general would like us? Such confidence would probably then cause people to like us.

What if a woman believed the best about her man? What if she believed and had faith that he would be faithful to her forever in every way? That might increase the odds that he would.


We really can create our own reality based on our faith and what we think and expect. Prayer begins in our thoughts really. We show God we have faith by what we think about and what we expect. Expect good things, not bad. In that way, you bless your future. Have faith, that God will bring about good to you rather than bad. Faith, believing, it's very, very key.
 

May God help you to increase your faith in every area of your life. Amen.

God bless! :)

Should Women Teach or Not?

 

Here are two verses in the Bible that seem to contradict greatly. I think this is why there is so much confusion over women in leadership in the church today, or women teaching in general.
 

Proverbs 31:26, "She speaks with wisdom,

and faithful instruction is on her tongue."
 

1 Timothy 2:12-14, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner."
 

However, in the early church when Paul was writing this, women were elders, deacons and even pastors. In Romans 16 he even mentions a woman named Phoebe and that she was either an elder or the pastor of a church. A woman named Priscilla is mentioned in Romans 16:3. She is noted as serving along side her husband and that they are possibly pastors together. In Romans 16:7 Paul mentions a woman named Junia as being even a fellow apostle with him.
 

So are women supposed to be in leadership in the church or not? Paul definitely made it hard for all of us reading the Bible today to understand what he meant by his statement in 1 Tim. 2.
 

This has been a personal issue and life long question for me, because I went to a very conservative Christian college, Biola University. Certain majors were not even allowed for women to enroll in, like a Masters of Divinity etc. A friend of mine was a worship leader in our chapel time but even that was somewhat frowned upon. Biola was very male dominant and discouraged women in general from leading too much. Which I always thought was sad. 
 

Today, a lot of churches don't ever allow women to preach. They might say that a woman can "share" but not preach. 
 

There is a lot of stigma even around Joyce Meyer teaching just because she is a woman, and it is probably all because of these verses in 1 Tim. But are we possiby misunderstanding the verses?
 

What did Paul mean by his statement? It does seem to be a universal statement because he says Eve was the one who was decieved. He seems to say that women are more gullible and so should not be allowed to be in positions of authority or to teach men. 
 

But does that not contradict with what Proverbs 31 says? It says the ideal woman WILL speak wisdom and give faithful instruction. 
 

So the topic is still on the table really. Should women teach or not? And who can women teach? Should women be in leadership in church or not? It's hard to say really. 
 

Feel free to comment your thoughts on this. 
 

God bless! :)

On Imaginary Friends

I was thinking of a movie I saw as a kid.  It was called "Drop Dead Fred."  It was about a woman who had had an imaginary friend as a child that kind of stuck with her into adulthood but she eventually got rid of him. 

I realized that in all my jobs with kids, I've probably worked with about 500 kids over the last 16 years, never once did I see a kid talking to someone who wasn't there.  Praise God too cause that probably would have freaked me out. :)

But I think there is something to the concept of imaginary friends.  I think it's possible when it happens that a kid could be literally seeing and talking to a demon, as creepy as that sounds. Of course it depends on if they are literally seeing someone and hearing someone or if they really are just making up that a person is there. 

But like in cases of Schizophrenia too, I think such people are actually seeing and hearing what they think are people, but they are demons.  Every time I watch "A Beautiful Mind" I think how those people probably were there, they were just demons. 

Demons don't always look like Hollywood depicts them as looking.  Just in the same way that we can "entertain angels unaware" because some angels look like normal human beings, so do some demons also look like normal human beings.  That's another really good reason to always have your discernment antennas up when you go anywhere, because you literally never know if a person that you are seeing is just a normal person or a literal demon.  So be on your guard. 

In the Bible, several times people were mistaken and thought that angels were just men, because they looked like just men.  Demons are fallen angels.  Therefore, some of them can also look like just men. 

So always be on your guard, as Paul says.  May God give us all discernment on this.  Amen.  God bless! :)

Tips to Help Prevent Your Child from Getting Sexually Abused

(In reading about all the sexual abuse scandals with the former pastor at Hillsong church in Australia again, I thought I would write out some ways to possibly prevent your child from getting abused)

Never let your child ride their bike around anywhere by themselves. Always go with them.

Have children play in a fenced in backyard rather than the front yard and sit out in the yard with them if possible.

Be very careful of leaving your child alone with older cousins, unless you know very well that the cousin's character is good.

Never leave your child alone with a doctor or any health professional. (You just never know who you can really trust)

Tell your child to never be alone with any adult under almost any circumstances. Unless they are family members that you absolutely know you can trust.

If your child goes to church, try to work in the Sunday school that they are in. Try to always keep an eye on them and never let them go anywhere in the church alone with an adult or an older kid.

If your child goes to a friend's house, make sure you know the parents very well and that they are good people.

If your child attends a summer camp, try to work at the summer camp so you can always be around.

If possible, get your child into a private school rather than public schools. "About 10 percent of students suffer some form of sexual abuse during their school careers."


If your child sees a professional counselor, see the counselor with them.

When buying a house, pay attention to the crime rating of the city and what the neighborhood looks like. Do people in the neighborhood mow their lawn etc.

From My Mom

Here's a text from my mom which is very sweet. :)

"It's such a sad family history we have!  I 'lost' my mom (emotionally) when I was 8.  You 'lost' your mom when you were 2, then again when you were 6, then again when you were 11, then again when you were 17!  I'm so sorry for my anger and detachment when you were growing up.  I'm sorry I didn't nurture and guide you the way you wanted and needed.  I wish I could go back and fix the past but no human being can do that.  Only God's spirit can reach down into my heart and your heart and heal the wounds of the past.  I pray we will allow Him to continue His healing work and restore us."

Awe....that was nice. :)  10 points for my mom! lol

The events she is talking about are as follow: When I was 2 she got her tubes tied and that was when her clinical depression started.  The tying of her tubes really messed up her hormones.  When I was 6 was when my dad attempted to rape me and then he went to jail.  This only made her depression much worse I'm sure.  When I was 11 was when my parents divorced.  Her depression then got even worse.  When I was 17 she married my step dad.  She was finally happy then, but yes I felt abandoned and replaced in a way.  I definitely felt like I lost the only friend I had in the world due to that.  It was just me and her and then he came into the picture, which is probably why I have always not been very nice to him.  Poor David. :( 

But yes we have indeed had a very hard family history.  May God help us to heal more and more every day.  The best thing for that now I think is listening to Rick Warren's sermons as much I can.  No pastor knows as much about mental health as he does, so that is nice. :) yay for Rick Warren!

How Control is Linked to Satan

Some may not like hearing about Jeffery Dahmer, but hearing his life story is pretty interesting.  There are several interviews with him where he very rationally tries to explain why he did what he did.  I think, as Christians, we can't really fight evil unless we understand it. 

The reason that Dahmer murdered several people and did what he did was that he wanted to have total control over his victims.  I think there is something about control, and anytime we try to have control over other people, that is actually very demonic and satanic.

I have heard that control is a spirit of witchcraft, which makes sense because people do witchcraft in order to have control over other people. 

Any time someone has tried to control me, it has seemed very evil.  There definitely seems to be another spirit there with them or in them influencing them to try to control me.  I think innately we all know that other people are not supposed to control us, only God is.  Only God should have complete and total control over anyone.  If another person does have control over you, then they are an idol and they are taking the place of God in your life.

Satan loves to have control over us though.  He does this through sin.  Once we sin it can develop into an addiction and a compulsion.  We can give our minds and hearts over to Satan and Satan can pull strings like a puppet on us and make us do whatever he wants.  This is harder for him with believers, but Satan can still control the minds of believers to an extent, if we let him. 

Satan also causes us to do this with others I think.  If Satan can't control a person directly through sin, he will try to get other people to have control over them.  It is very key that we all understand that I think.  Because it is vital that you don't let anyone have control over you.  Because it might very well be Satan trying to control you through them.  Scary thought but it's possible.  :(

Of course there are relationships like child to parent and spouse relationships where there is an element of control.  But when someone becomes "controlling," it can become demonic I think.  There is a big difference between having control and being controlling.  When someone completely disregards the will of another and tries to force them to do something, through anger, fear, manipulation etc. that can become very demonic.

To control someone is the opposite of loving them, because control involves fear and "perfect love casts out all fear."  Amen. 

To control is to be completely consumed with self and what YOU yourself want.  To control is to totally disregard what the other person wants. 

Leadership is not about controlling others.  Leadership is about leading by example and showing others what is best to do, but it is not forcing or manipulating others to do certain things.  There are leaders like that, and they are called fascist or communists. 

Good leadership gives people freedom.  Good leadership allows people to make their own choices.  Good leadership is not controlling.  When there are good leaders, people want to comply out of love.  Therefore such leaders do not need to use fear to force compliance. 

Be careful of trying to control anyone else.  Understand that the root cause of wanting to control others is selfishness.  Seek to let people be free in all things.  Let God be God to them, and not you.  Amen. :)  God bless!

Control

"Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 2 Cor. 3:17

And where the spirit of Satan is, there is control, or people trying to be controlling.

Take Care of Your Body

"Currently just as many people die world wide from eating too much as those that die from being malnourished."  -Rick Warren

Rick Warren notes that issues that are caused by eating too much such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease etc. are now killing about a billion people every year, which is the same number that die from not getting enough food.  This is the first time in history where this has happened. 

Wouldn't it be nice if those who ate too much supported a few starving children instead of consuming the excess food they don't need that just leads to health problems?  Yes. :)

Warren said how the Bible really has a lot to say in regards to our health and us taking care of our bodies.  Why?  Because it is with our bodies that we are able to serve God.  If we are limited due to how we have taken care of our bodies then that is sad, and we can't do as much for God. 

Warren said we can either reject our bodies, neglect them, perfect them or protect them. 

A lot of people reject their bodies because they compare them to Hollywood stars and feel less than them.  This then causes them to neglect their bodies, because they think, ,"Why even try to take care of my body when it will never be perfect?" 

Others try to perfect their bodies.  They go to the other extreme and work out tons and do everything they can to have the perfect body.  This is not good either because it can lead to pride.  This can lead to narcissism and the worship and idolization of one's own body. 

The best thing we can do is the middle ground, balance.  We need to protect our bodies.  Don't neglect it.  Don't over eat or eat tons of things that aren't good for your body.  But don't worship the body either.  Simply protect it.  Get plenty of sleep.  Eat healthy food.  Try to walk a bit every day and don't just sit all day. 

Warren made a great point, that God cares about your body because he made it, Jesus died for it and the Holy Spirit lives in it.  Therefore, we should do the best we can to care for our bodies and our health.  Amen.  God bless!

On Honoring Parents

One of my pet peeves really is when someone tries to control me. 

I think I know why this is.  When I was a kid my dad was very, very controlling, along with him sexually abusing me.  He literally printed up a huge banner in giant letters that said "Honor Your Mother and Father That it May Go Well With You...."  He hung this around the top of my bedroom wall.  Which is highly ironic and strange if you think about it, given what he did.  He hung this up when I was about 10.  This was about a year before my parents got divorced. 

But that just showed his attitude about things.  That despite the fact that he had done something very, very un-honorable, he wanted to be honored like more than anyone else alive.  Beyond honoring, he really demanded complete obedience, like a fascist dictator or communist ruler really. 

I was thinking in watching a Rick Warren sermon the other day, how do you honor a father who sexually abused you?  It's a tricky thing for sure.  But in Biblical days, my dad would have been drowned to the bottom of the sea after doing what he did.  So if the Bible was followed in regards to him, he wouldn't be alive now. 

I know Joyce Meyer bought a house for her dad in his old age and actually took care of him, despite everything he did to her.  I don't think I would do something like that for my dad.  I don't really plan on ever seeing him again for the rest of my life.  I certainly will never, ever let my daughters around him. 

It would seem that there are limits to the command on honoring mother and father.  If your dad is a serial killer or child molester, it would make sense that that would pretty much exempt him from the status of father. 

Don't Be a Miser

"It is no wonder that the word miserable comes from the word miser."  Amen.  -Rick Warren

Jesus said "whoever wants to save his life WILL loose it."  The more we try to hold on to our time, our money, our energy, our talents etc. the more miserable we will be. 

Often times people don't serve others because they think it will cause them more stress, but the opposite is true.  It is in giving that we receive.   It is more blessed to give then to receive.  As in it will make you much more happy to give of your money, energy, time, talents etc. than to just receive things from someone else. 

Don't be a miser.  Don't cling so tightly to anything you have or own.  We are to hold everything, our whole lives, out with an open hand to God.  As Jesus took a few loaves and fish and multiplied it, so he can take anything that we give to Him or to others and multiply it.  But if we give nothing, he can't do anything with our lives or in the lives of those around us. 

The more greedy we are, the more miserable we are.  The more our focus is on ourselves, the more miserable and depressed we are. 

The more we think about how to make other people happy, the more happy we will be. 

If your recurring question is simply "What can I do to make myself happy today?" you will NEVER actually be happy.  If your continuing thought is, "How can I make someone else happy today?"  Then you will find happiness.  Like Mother Theresa, the more we serve, the more at peace we will be and the more joy we will experience in life.  Amen.

Happiness is elusive; the more we chase after it, the more unattainable it is.  But the more we chase after service and seek to serve others, the more we will then find happiness.  Amen.

So go find someone else to serve today!  Like the book "The Giving Tree," give yourself away, and then you will be happy.  :)

God bless!

The Act of Projecting

One of the biggest things that causes issues in interpersonal relationships is the act of projecting.  This is why people say you can't really love others until you love yourself.  Because whatever bad things we feel about ourselves we will often project onto others. 

For example, when it came to my high school basketball team and many of my college classes I felt like a failure.  I didn't perform as well in games or in my class discussions as I had wanted to.  I then projected that onto my team mates and class mates and thought that they all viewed me as a failure as well.  Also there have been times in my walk with God where I felt like a failure, as we all have I'm sure, and so I projected that on God.  I thought God viewed me as a failure at times.  But I was just projecting on him what I felt about myself. 

This can go for any negative feeling that we have about ourselves.  If we think we are ugly, we will think everyone else thinks we are ugly too.  If we think we are a bad person, we will think everyone else thinks that too. 

Whatever you think others think about you, there is a good chance that you actually just think that about yourself. 

So the solution is to build yourself up and encourage yourself.  Don't rely on others to build you up.  Also pray that God will help you to combat the lies inside your own mind.  If you ever feel like a failure, try to focus on the things you do well instead of focusing on any failures.  If you feel ugly, stop comparing yourself with Hollywood models and be happy with how God made you.  If you feel like a bad person, try to remember all the good things you have done in your life time rather than the bad. 

This is why the Bible says, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."  This includes whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy about yourself as well.  This may seem like pride, but really it is just the pathway to peace in your own mind.  If you don't want to be plagued by feelings of insecurity or discouragement from Satan, focus on the positive always and never the negative, about yourself and others.  Amen. 

God bless!

Rick Warren on His Grief

This sermon is GREAT! It's the first sermon Rick Warren gave after his son committed suicide about two years ago. His wife speaks too and it's very touching. Love these two! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaQ_oTp7tKY

The 6 Purposes of Marriage

(my notes from a sermon by Rick Warren)

The number one purpose of marriage is to make you HOLY not HAPPY.  Amen. :)

Marriage doesn't solve or create problems.  It magnifies problem that were already there. 

If you are selfish, your marriage will reveal it.

Don't see certain things about yourself when you're still single.

Marriage magnifies problems that were masked when you were single.

No one today knows all of the purposes of marriage. 

1. Marriage was created for the ultimate connection of men and women

We need each other because men and women each hold part of the image of God.

Marriage is also an antidote for loneliness, nothing like the companionship you can find in marriage.

Marriage is God's idea, for a man and a women, and it is meant to last forever.  Amen :)

2. Marriage was created for the continuing of the human race. 

God commanded humans to "be fruitful and multiply."  That was the only command that the human race has been able to keep.

God wants our marriages to produce godly children

3. God created marriage for the protection of children.

God intended for a mother to care for the children and a father to provide. 

Children who don't grow up with their mother and father staying together are more likely to....fail in school, not graduate from college, get into drugs or alcohol, have a greater risk of depression, anxiety, possible suicide, getting in jail, and have children out of wedlock later in life

Kids develop BEST with both a mother and father always around them.

Their home is meant to be a place of refuge and security. 

4. God created marriage for the perfection of our character. 

We learn best how to love and be unselfish in marriage.

Marriage provides countless opportunities everyday to think of someone else and not yourself. 

In marriage it's NOT ABOUT ME anymore, but WE.  amen :)

The best way to learn how to serve and become more like Jesus is in a marriage. 

5. God created marriage for the best construction of a civilized society. 

The health of the marriages in a nation will determine the health of that nation. 

America is falling apart because we don't value marriage anymore. :(

6. God created marriage to give us the best picture possible of how Christ loves us, the church. 

It is the best model to show us how God wants our relationship to be with him. 


God bless!

How I Can Relate to Dahmer

I keep thinking about Jeffery Dahmer and his life story.  I guess the most chilling thing is how normal he seems in his interviews.  It makes me think how really any person alive is capable of such things.  Well I'm 99% sure I would never do such things because I have been saved, sanctified and sealed with the Holy Spirit.  And where God is, evil cannot dwell.  Praise God.  But for anyone who isn't saved, such things are possible, because really any non Christian can become full blown possessed at any time.  If they open doors to Satan, through drinking heavily or drugs or horror movies, any non- Christian could become possessed.  I firmly don't believe Christians could ever be possessed. 

Dahmer's childhood actually wasn't that crazy.  There isn't any actual record of him being sexually abused.  His dad says that he never was.  He wasn't beaten by his parents at all.  There isn't any mention of him being bullied at school.  The only factor going against him was that his mom had a very bad temper, which I can relate too.  My mom as well had a very bad temper.  It was actually quite, quite scary at times.  Like I was pretty afraid of her on several occasions from the time I was 10 up through till recently actually.  Her anger is quite scary. 

The other thing that resonates with me about him is how much he reminds me of various family members I have had that really could have had anti-social personality disorder.  In high school, my brother had all the signs and symptoms of it.  He could have actually ended up doing some of the same things.  Praise God he didn't.  But he had candles with skulls on them and burned incense like Dahmer intended to.  He would listen to Marilyn Manson in his room for hours.  He drew pictures on the board in his Sunday school class after church of various ways to kill himself.  Needless to say, that's all why I have been scared to have a son.  But granted he had the dad that we did.  I think since he was a boy that fact affected him a lot more.  Maybe part of him felt destined to follow in my dad's footsteps, who knows.  Or just the fact that my dad was so messed up predisposed Nate to end up more messed up.  My mom had a temper, but for the most part she was a godly kind woman with her act together.  So I had a good role model to follow, for the most part. 

But the main reason Dahmer turned out like he did is it sounds like he was neglected a lot as a child.  It seems that his mom probably had Narcissistic personality disorder and so only cared about herself and no one else.  I would say my mom has the same aspects to what she was like as a mom, in her interpersonal skills, which is probably partly why my brother turned out the way he did. 

I don't know how I turned out relatively normal.  Then again, I was headed on a bad path with traits of anti-social personality disorder as well when I was in Jr. High.  I shoplifted about 4 or 5 times.  I was a pretty deviant young kid.  I snuck out a lot at night.  I was somewhat fascinated with night time and loved the thrill of being out at night.  It's like I liked being scared.  I was a dare devil.  I did risky things.  I egged houses with friends and sprayed ketchup on houses, as silly as that sounds.  But I was all about doing things that I shouldn't do, to get attention I'm sure, but also just for the thrill of doing things wrong.  My mom was so much like a vegetable in that time.  It was really seemed like she didn't exist almost, so my brother and I were free to run wild and do whatever we wanted to do.

I have no memory of our family ever having dinner together or me ever having a conversation with her in that time.  I actually don't remember conversing with my mom my entire life until I was in high school.  She just was never talkative at all.  She hid in her room most of my life due to her clinical depression.  She says that it began after she got her tubes tied, after I was born, and that affected her hormones.  But I definitely felt neglected.  So with what my dad did and being neglected by my mom, it truly is a miracle that I ended up as well as I did.  I never got into drinking or drugs and I graduated from college.  Praise God!  I could have easily ended up in prison for something if my grandma wouldn't have intervened in my life and inspired me to follow God and be a better person.  Praise God for her!


Dahmer also lived with his grandma for a long time.  His dad sent him to her and was hoping that her Christian influence would get him on a better path.  He actually went to church with her for a time.  But it was too late for him.  He had already killed his first victim by that point.  He said the compulsion was already set in motion and nothing could have stopped it really.  Except a deliverance.  He really needed to have an exorcism done on him by someone.  It is very ironic that his movie that he watched all the time was Exorcist 3 actually.  


I think it's good and humble to admit that any of us could be capable of insane and crazy things.  If you aren't willing to admit that, then the chances that you could do something crazy are higher I think.  "Pride comes before a fall."

But also I wanted to look into Dahmer's story to hopefully understand my own dad's story and why he did what he did to me.  The only thing I know about his upbringing was that he was picked on a lot by his 4 older brothers.  But other than that I don't know much.  I also know he was molested by an older male cousin at some point.  But he had a great, absolutely wonderful mom.  He was raised Catholic in the church.  He was popular in school I think.  I don't think he ever had a hard time making friends.  He had ADHD so I think he did struggle with his grades some.  He converted to Christianity after high school.

Actually, he also had a fascination with biology growing up, as Jeffery Dahmer did.  He had a neighbor man that would take him on hikes and point out what different tree names were to him etc.  So there is the science thing that they had in common.  My dad has always been very much into science.  Maybe that made both of them view people as objects more than human beings, who knows.  I wonder if evolution and biology really does shape a person's perception of the world more than we realize.  If my dad grew up believing in evolution then he had the same basic concept as Dahmer, that life doesn't matter or have as much value because we just evolved from lightning and random cells fusing together.  hm....That is very interesting for sure. 

I heard once that Hitler was also very much into evolution; that his main influence was Darwin and that was largely why he didn't seem to value human life and had thousands or millions of Jews slaughtered. 

So evolutionary beliefs have led to a lot of evil for sure. 

Also I wonder if there is a kind of a curse on anyone who is of German decent now because of the Holocaust.  There is the O.T. verse about the sins of the fathers lasting up to 5 generations I think. I find it interesting that Dahmer was of German decent.   Also, half of my family is of German decent hm....of course any curses are broken for those who are saved, but there were people in my family history who weren't saved that were German and were quite evil.  My great grandpa actually raped his own daughter, my grandma, the grandma who helped me get on the right path actually.  A curse is possible I suppose.  Maybe my great, great, great, grandpa worked in the concentration camps.  I wonder.....

Jeffrey Dahmer

 

Here's something odd. After looking into the traits of a serial killer today, because I read there are similar traits between serial killers and child molesters, there was a show on TV shortly after called "Confessions of a Serial Killer." It was an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer and with each of his parents. What's really crazy is he's Christian now, or at least it genuinely seems like he converted. He said his dad gave him some Creation Science videos, Kent Hovind's I'm guessing, and that made him finally believe in God. Before he just believed in evolution and he thinks that was the main reason why he did what he did. Because if we believe all humans came from soup we don't have any value. 
 

Also his mom was interviewed. Apparently she had a lot of seizures when she was pregnant with him. She was prescribed a lot of medications and was even given shots of morphine when she had her seizures. That obviously could have had a major effect on his developing brain.
 

Also his parents fought a lot, which messed him up as a kid and made him have a lot of anger.
 

Not that there is any excuse for what he did, and he takes full responsibility for it, but it's interesting to see what may have led up to him doing what he did. 
 

His dad claims Jeff was never sexually abused, but the odds are that he was. He was homosexual and only went after male victims. Most of the time when men become homosexual it was because they were sexually abused by a man at some point. 
 

Also it sounds like he may have been into witchcraft. I think he was probably full blown possessed when he was killing the men and boys. He said he used to watch Exorcist 3 before killing people, so to any of who you who like watching horror movies, DON'T. It can really mess with your head. 


I can kind of tell this as well because of a testimony I saw of a guy who was into Santeria.  He talks about how he would run out in the street and get blood from people who were just shot.  He would use this in his ceremonies and Satanic rituals.  Sometimes he would drink the blood, because he said it gave him power.  This was the same thing that Jeffrey Dahmer said about eating parts of his victims. 

Here is that testimony....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I11L71PD3Lw
 

Jeff said the progression to just seeing people as objects was what happened first. He looked at porn a lot so I'm sure that had something to do with that mindset. 
 

His ultimate motive was to have complete control over a person. Because he felt like things were so out of control in his childhood. His parents' constant arguments made him very angry as a kid and very insecure. 
 

It sounds like his dad was messed up in some ways as well. As a kid his dad would fantasize about killing boys that would pick on him and he liked starting fires etc. He was also very shy and introverted the same way that Jeff was.

 

His mom was definitely an atheist. She said that after she found it all out she asked "the universe" why all that would happen and didn't get an answer. When people say "the universe" that means they obviously don't believe in God. 
 

His dad admits that he had fallen from his faith in the time of raising Jeff. He says he thinks that was a main reason for Jeff getting into what he did. He wishes that he would have instilled a belief in God with him as a child. 
 

So, very interesting for sure. He didn't say too much about witchcraft in his interviews, but I'm sure there was more of that.
 

His last victim was quoted as saying that Jeff's face contorted when he was about to kill him so that he was almost not recognizable. Sounds like possession to me. And the prescription drugs that his mom was on while pregnant with him probably opened a door to demons in him even as an unborn infant. It sounds like maybe she was possessed somewhat as well, with how angry she got in his parent's arguments. 
 

I don't think people in their normal selves would do things like what he did. I think only someone who was possessed would, and possession happens when doors are opened to Satan. The main way doors are opened is through drugs, which is why I am very anti any form of continued use of drugs, prescription or not.

Here was the interview....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPMBfX7D4WU

A Life Goal

For some reason, child molestors typically seem to be church people. So here is a goal of mine that I just came up with. Someday, after our kids are mostly grown up, I want to travel around to churches all over America and speak about sexual abuse and the traits of people who might molest children. That way I can warn parents and if there are any child abusers in the audience maybe they can get help before they abuse a child. Kind of like the movie Minority Report. What if we really could stop crime before it happened? The facts are, we can kind of tell the warning signs of what a person looks like before they molest a child. What if we could warn them and encourage them to get counseling etc. or go to support groups? That would be amazing.

I think it is typically people in church because they go to church to get help, but then the churches don't help them. :( They know they have a problem, or problems, and they are seeking God for help, but it doesn't work most of the time. I think the reason it doesn't work is because typically church people are fake, but when it comes to getting mental and emotional help, you can't be fake. Most church people are not comfortable with the deeper things in life, but maybe if I speak around at churches I can help raise awarenes and get people to look at the deeper things.

I think Joyce Meyer is already doing that to an extent in being so open in talking about her dad who rapped her. But I think she should cover more his character traits and things to look out for in others and how to get people help before they sexaully abuse a child.

What if child abuse could be prevented? What at amazing thought. :) Even if just a percentage of them could be, that would be so cool.

Well when the timing is right may God open doors so that I can do something like that. It would be awkward I'm sure but hopefully it could help a lot of people and kids. :) Amen. God bless!

The Psychology of a Child Molester

Here are some typical characteristics of people who may end up molesting children.

These are just some that I thought of from observing my own dad, who was a perpetual child molester, and a guy I worked with for a year who turned out to be a child molester. Also reading a couple articles about this helped.

This might be very helpful for other parents out there on what kind of people to watch out for and look for. The main thing really is watch out for adults that seem like, or act like, they are still children. If there is someone who is 30 but they seem like they are still 12, that is a good warning sign.

　

Child Molesters are typically:

　

Extremely insecure but actually come off as overly confident. Often times the most insecure people cover it up with a mask of appearing super confident, but in fact they feel very small inside.

The biggest and most notable trait is that they are highly IMPULSIVE. They have a hard time with self-control and cannot keep themselves in check. They don't think before they speak etc.

Lack of empathy in general. Can be very callous and unable to care about the feelings of others.

Very selfish. Very seldom ask others how they are doing. Tend to dominate in conversations.

Seem very child like; they get along with children better than fellow adults

Seem to be insecure in the adult world, but fit in well with children. When with children it might appear like they are just one of the kids.

They are probably behind developmentally; socially and mentally behind. They seem like half their age in many ways. (which might explain why they are attracted to children because they are still like a child themselves :(

In men, they might have overly high testosterone levels.

They might feel insecure in adult relationships and so pursue children for relationships because it seems "easier." As in children don't judge and typically are much nicer than adults etc.

In many ways, they are still a child themselves. Might have a very high energy level like a child.

Other areas of their lives are out of whack; not eating or sleeping enough. Generally not taking care of themselves very well.

They may have a high stress working environment or lots of stress at home.

They might feel powerless in adult relationships and so try to feel powerful through sexually abusing children.

They might be drawn to other things that give them power or make them feel powerful; jobs of power, positions of leadership etc.

They were often abused as children themselves and never worked through their own abuse. Can be sexual or physical past abuse. Might have a lot of unresolved anger that they don't realize. This anger can be seen in sarcastic remarks, trying to control others, a short temper etc.

Typically they are not in touch with their feelings; have an inability to be open and communicate with others, so their bad feelings and "evil side" stay hidden and get worse. As sin hidden in darkness always gets worse and festers but when shared and brought into the light the chains are broken and healing can take place. Amen :)

Have a lack of mentors or anyone to speak into their life and hold them accountable for things

Lack of close friends in general

Not very close with family; parents or siblings. Somewhat alienated from family of origin.

　

So those are some things to look out for in anyone who you might have your kids around. Not that we should be paranoid about everyone and anyone, but it's important to not be too naive and gullible about people either.

Most of the time NO ONE would suspect it when someone is a child molester. They blend in pretty well with society actually, but these are some things that are different about them.

They are actually generally quite personable and charming so they come off as being a very nice and good person. But it is only a cover or a mask. They are simply just very good at pretending. Perhaps it's a way to over-compensate for how bad they feel to come off as overly good.

Hopefully my general observations will help some of you and will help prevent some children from being molested in the future. As Jesus said, we should always be "as wise as serpents but as innocent as doves." Amen. God bless!

And related to all this, here is one of my favorite Bible passages. :)

Eph. 4:11-15

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become MATURE, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ."  Amen! :) 

Brian Houston: Live Love Lead

I love this interview. It's about a book that Brian Houston, pastor of Hillsong church, just wrote. Like it literally was just released this month.  Pretty cool. :) The book has a lot of his testimony in it. His story is somewhat similar to mine. I'm excited to read it. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re6GlQzHbFs

It's funny how Brian Houston seems ultra confident when he gives a sermon but in interviews he seems kind of nervous and awkward. It's the same with Joel Osteen too actually. They have to get their game face on when they're preaching I guess. But naturally I think they are both somewhat shy and introverted. How cute. :)

My story is somewhat like Brian Houston's; we both have child molesting fathers. He says in the interview that he didn't find o...ut about it all until he was 45 and he went through a time of PTSD and depression due to the knowledge of that. He was saying that is probably the worst thing you can find out about your father. And yes, it probably is, aside from someone's dad being a serial killer I guess. Poor guy. :(  I wonder if it was better in my case to always know what my dad was like. As opposed to him growing up seeing his dad a totally different way and then finding out the truth about him. That would be quite shocking.

I find it interesting that his dad was an Assembly of God pastor at the time when he was molesting children. He molested tons of kids over a period of 10 years. Pretty crazy. But I wonder if something about that denomination causes things like that more. It's something to do with power I think. People typically molest children because they want to feel powerful. It is those who are the most insecure that do such things. There also seems to be a draw to people into Assemblies of God churches for power. They promise power to the believer, healing power etc. hm. Very interesting to say the least. And likewise my dad was involved in something called "the local church." It was somewhat similar to charismatic, assembly of God churches actually.

But praise God that Brian Houston was able to overcome after finding out about his father. And praise God for the amazing church leader that he is today! :) And for the awesome worship music that comes out of his church, which is no doubt inspired by his great sermons. :)  May he continue to grow and influence the world for Jesus! Amen!

Worship is Healing

I Surrender   - by Hillsong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcnfT4arZtI

Healing Through Worship

 

Joyce Meyer always prays that people will be healed physically while she is preaching the Word. I don't know about that lol Maybe it happens. Also Joseph Prince talks about us getting healed when taking the Lord's Supper. I don't know about that either lol :) But I bet there is a lot of healing that happens when people listen to Hillsong worship music! Well I know because I saw it once. And I know because I feel more healed inside every time I listen to them. :) I think something about worship, good and true worship, really can cast out demons, and really heal people mind, body and soul. There really is just nothing as amazing as some awesome worship! And Hillsong has the most amazing worship I have heard or seen in my life! I love Hillsong so much. They got the Spirit. :) More than anyone in the world it seems. Go Hillsong!

This interview proves even more how amazing Hillsong Church is! :)  This is the pastor of Hillsong, Brian Houston, interviewing Mark Driscoll.  You can just tell Brian Houston has the most amazing and kind heart ever from this video.  His eyes are very kind, understanding and compassionate. :)  I love what they discuss regarding women in leadership in the church too.  Great interview!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSnqty0RUbU

Pride

Mark Driscoll was accused by his leadership of having too much anger, pride and being too domineering. 

Psychologically, he probably had a lot of anger because it sounds like he had been sexually abuse in his past.  Maybe he didn't work through that enough and so it came out in his preaching style.  He had displaced anger, and instead of it coming out on his childhood abusers it came out on his congregation and mostly his fellow staff.  It's possible he was molested by a woman too because it seems he did have some anger towards women. 

He was accused of having too much pride.  He was the ASB president of his school, which can lead to pride.  He was also the captain of his baseball team in high school, which can also lead to pride.  And he was the editor of his school newspaper.  So he was smart, popular and a jock.  I can relate somewhat because I was the Senior call vice president, on Varsity basketball and in tons of AP classes.  Also Mark was voted most likely to succeed.  All of that might have gone to his head a bit. :) 

Then he started Mars Hill Church when he was only 25.  He had just converted when he was 19 to Christianity.  Paul warns that promoting new believers too soon can make them too prideful.  I think he realizes now that he should have waited to be a head pastor but oh well. 

And then pride can lead to someone being domineering, because their focus is on themselves rather than on others. 

It sounds like he had a pretty good track record too as far as not getting into drugs or sleeping around.  So that could have led to him being self-righteous and quick to judge others.  Being pure and righteous is good, but not when it makes someone think they are better than other people. 

But his heart is in the right place.  He said his goal has always been to encourage young men to step out in faith and be great Christian leaders.  That is awesome!  We need strong men to lead the younger men of America and the world. 

I think mostly the drama at his church was Satan attacking him, through his staff, and trying to take him out of the game.  Satan didn't like that he had a heart to help the young men and so he tried to stop him. 

But hopefully he will rise again, out of the ashes. :)  And hopefully he will keep trying to affect and change the world, but maybe in a more humble way in the future.  May God bless him.  Amen. :)

Time of Brokenness

I hope Mark Driscoll has some great days ahead in ministry.  Maybe God will use this time of brokenness for him to really cause him to flourish in the future.  Jesus said, "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."  Amen!

My brokenness time was the death I experienced about 3 years ago of my fiancé.  I think since then God has caused me to flourish and produce many seeds, or at least he has given me more revelation than I ever had before and more wisdom.  Now is Mark Driscoll's time of being broken. 

I heard a great quote regarding this shortly after my fiancé's death, "God cuts a tree down so that it can grow back better."  Amen!  We all may get cut down at some point, but it's only so that we can grow back better. :)

Sad Church News

I just read some very sad news about Mark Driscoll.  One thing that I like about him is that he isn't afraid to piss people off. In his sermon on sexual sin he noted that people just kept getting up and leaving. How sad. Can you imagine being a pastor and that happening? The fact is though, in preaching the truth, people will get pissed off, just like the Pharisees did with Jesus. But that shouldn't stop us from preaching the truth. Amen

Granted he had some scandals with plagiarism related to his books. I think he just got too ambitious. He wanted to be known as great. I can understand his competitive nature. But he still was and is a very, very good teacher.

I was very sad reading his bio on wiki. It sounds like he really got screwed. His books were even pulled from book stores. My goodness. He even was rejected from speaking at the Hillsong conference this year! But the only reason he was asked to step down as pastor was because of his "domineering" leadership style. That just means he was a strong leader to me. I don't see anything wrong with that. But some people are threatened by people that are stronger than them, which is sad.

It sounds like people on his staff teamed up against him. I think it was just jealousy. They were most likely jealous that he had so much success as a young pastor. Jealousy can certainly lead people to do horrible things. Now we have this amazing pastor not using his talents all because a few people were jealous of him or offended by the truth that he spoke. He now lives in Phoenix, AZ with his family but with no church to pastor and I doubt his publishers will let him write many more books. The poor guy! His life has been completely messed up by his haters. I really feel sorry for him.

But may God open some doors for Mark Driscoll in the future and may his reputation be restored somehow so that he can keep preaching awesome messages. May he find some way to serve God, even though things seem to be cut out from under him. May he persevere and keep fighting the good fight. May this attempt of Satan to shut him up not work and may he press on. Amen.

Charismatic Addiction

There seems to be a link between how alcoholism works in a person and how Charismatic thinking and teachings work in a person.  Both seem to be an addiction that can have a hold on a person.  They try to walk away, but keep getting drawn back in. 

I saw the alcoholism issue with an old friend.  He effectively stopped drinking entirely for a year, but then seemed to start fantasizing about alcohol again, as odd as that sounds.  He seemed to be drawn to it and I was afraid that there really was nothing I could do to keep him away from it permanently.

This same irresistible attraction seems to be there with Charismatic teachings.  I suppose the reason for this is because both alcoholism and Charismatic teachings appeal to the flesh.  They both promise to make you happy and elated.  They both promise to take all of your troubles away.  So when life gets hard, they are like a Siren's call pulling people back to them. 

Everyone has their own Siren's call when life gets hard.  For some it's something healthy.  For me, it's just writing.  This is my coping skill and what I keep coming back to over the years that helps me.  For others it's drinking, or Charismatic concepts, religious addiction, or food binging, or drugs. 

I worked in a group home once with teen girls who had gotten into drugs etc.  They talked a lot about coping skills.  Each girl even had to wear a lanyard at all times that listed her coping skills.  Wouldn't it be funny if every human being did this.  The point was that when she started to feel out of control, she could look at her list of healthy coping skills and do one of those to calm herself down.  Most had lists like "go for a walk, go to the gym, journal, watch a movie, drink some hot chocolate" etc.  I think more people need to think about this concept of coping skills so they go to things that are good rather than destructive things. 

Obviously alcoholism is destructive, but not many realize how destructive things like Charismatic teaching can be.  I'm all for the gift of tongues, when it's done properly, and I like teachers like Joel Osteen, but there are extreme things that can be very destructive to a person's mentality.  The more people listen to such teaching, the more they think they deserve everything.  They start to think they deserve to always be happy and have everything they want and that God wants that for them.  But that simply is not the truth about God.  That God is not the God of the Bible.  People start to think God is their genie and they can get anything at anytime. 

It's kind of cute to have such confidence but it's also foolish.  It's not looking at reality.  It's living in a fantasy world where you become God and you can call the shots about anything.  This is very sad. :(

The fact is Jesus said that once we become Christian we WILL suffer and we WILL be persecuted for our faith.  The opposite of Charismatic teaching is true, when we get saved life becomes harder, not easier.  It is much easier to do everything that Satan wants you to do when you aren't saved.  You are simply flowing with the current.  But once you are saved, he starts opposing you and trying to stop almost everything you do.  When you're not saved, you don't have any enemies really.  When you are saved, you have all the forces of darkness trying to stop you, trying to discourage you, and trying to do everything they can to take you out.  They don't want you to tell people the good news and free people from their trap, so they are set against you. 

To think that life will get perfectly easy when you become a Christian is a terrible lie.  You simply will not have perfect health.  God will not necessarily make you rich.  And God will NOT give you everything you want.  We follow God not for such things but simply because it feels good to know you are a child of God.  It simply feels good to know that he approves of you now and you are his forever.  That is it.  Yes God is God, but don't expect too much from God, because the Bible has not promised us much more beyond offering salvation to us.  But isn't that enough?!  I would think so. 

Teaching such lies about a perfect Christian life can cause many to walk away from the faith, because when things do get really hard, and they WILL, they will be disillusioned with God.  They will think "But God isn't like that right?  I'm supposed to have a perfect life now right?"  But that is because people taught them lies about God.  People made false promises about what living the Christian life is really like.  The world will ALWAYS be hard, Christian or not, because we live in a fallen world.  We may wish that we could make it all better somehow, but the fact is, it won't be until heaven.  One day, God "will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."  But that day has not yet come.  One day it will, but not yet.  And that is the truth. 

Mark Driscoll

Wow Mark Driscoll is an amazing teacher! Not many people can preach like he does. One interesting thing he talks about in this sermon is how Hugh Heffner helped to fund sex education in schools. Wow. And his whole reason to do so was to get kids interested in sex at an early age so they would get into looking at his material at an early age. So crazy. Yeah sex education in schools is definitely not needed and happens way too early. :(  This is a great sermon! Check it out :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxSU-_eskho

Our Narcissistic Generation

Francis Chan said that sociologists agree that our society is by far the most narcissistic society that has ever lived.

I suppose the main reason for this would be because of the technology that we have. No one has to wait for anything anymore. We don't have to wait for mail; we can just send an e-mail. We don't even have to wait for our computers to dial up a connection; as soon as we open our computers a world of information is at our fingertips.

Our cars run way better than cars used to. We never really have to cook anything anymore because there are so many instant meals now and fast food available everywhere we go. We have endless channels on our TV to entertain us so we never have to be bored. The majority of people have a good central AC and heating so we rarely have to be too hot or too cold for very long.

Discomfort is very rare in our modern society. That might be why have become so narcisisstic.

There was also a big kick from psychologists about self-esteem and how importnat it is that we feel good about ourselves. They pretty much encouraged parents to spoil their children in any way they could, and so now we have the most narcissistic generation that ever lived. It's good to encourage kids, but too much encouragement goes to their heads and makes them thinks they are gods and goddesses, so parents need to be careful of this.

"Spare the rod, spoil the child" but there was such a scare against physical abuse that my generation was almost never spanked or forcefully corrected. This is even worse with every passing generation. So kids are extremely spoiled now. In most homes, it's now the kids calling the shots rather than the parents.

There are so many broken homes in our modern society, so rather than parents focusing on correcting behavior, they try to get their kids to like them better than the other parent, which leads to major spoiling of kids.

Kids are allowed to grow up way too quickly now. Little girls are wearing make up and clothes that only adult women should wear. This can go to their head and make them think they deserve all the freedom and priveledges that only adults should have.

And now the narcissism has even creeped into the church. "God wants you to be rich!" "God never wants you to be sick!" etc. "Christian" teachers now say what our itching ears want to hear rather than the truth. Now we have a generation that was so spoiled by their parents and they think God will function the same way with them and give them everything they want.

We are certainly in the last days, when most are lovers of themselves for sure. May God help us.

Sexual Abuse Book

Here's something strange. I was watching ESPN, which I never do, and this girl's story came on about how she was rapped. She was a track star and they told her whole story. She was at a Christian school right here by me in Dallas, TX. She had gone to a party one night a few blocks from her college. While walking home three guys grabbed her from a van and rapped her. I wish that girl would have had a car. :(  But women walking anywhere at night are at risk for things like that really. She wrote a book called "Kill the Silence" so I just bought it and maybe God wants me to read it or something. Check it out too if you like. God bless! :)

Here's the book....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804139628?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

Also here is the book I wrote on my experience and how I recovered etc.  http://www.amazon.com/Sexually-Abused-Christian-Lisa-Bedrick/dp/1500280569/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1442410926&sr=8-17&keywords=lisa+bedrick+books

Charismatic Lies

How the Charismatic movement fulfills this verse:

2 Tim. 3, "There will be terrible times in the last days. ² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power."

"People will be lovers of themselves."
"God wants you to be perfectly happy and never have any discomfort." 

"Lovers of money."
"God wants you to be rich!"

 "Boastful, proud"
"You need to pray in tongues because I do.  This is the gift to have." 

"Abusive."
"You aren't getting healed because you don't have enough faith."

"Disobedient to their parents."
"Don't listen to your unsaved parents.  Listen to us.  We know better than them."

"Ungrateful."
"I'm just waiting for my miracle."

"Unholy"  a person's gifts matter more than a person's fruit and character.....

On Whether to Have a 3rd Child

Deciding how many kids to have is a very hard decision.....

I have had incredible pelvic and leg pain in this pregnancy.  I didn't have any pain like this last pregnancy, but my dr. said it's something that gets worse and worse with each pregnancy.  So that makes me wonder how much I would really want to do this again.

The decision on how many kids to have is a huge one.  I heard a pastor talking about this in an interview, how Paul's advice was that Christians remain single.  He then said that could apply to how many kids we have too, because the less earthly responsibilities we have, the more free we are to serve Christ. 

But on the other hand I greatly admire moms who have had 5 or 6 kids.  Especially if they all turn out great, then what a wonderful contribution to society! 

But pregnancy is very, very hard.  I can't imagine having two kids to watch and feeling this much pain and not being able to do much. 

Another issue is that I think one of my biggest fears has always been having a son.  (We currently have a girl and I'm about to have another girl.)  But this fear is primarily because of how my dad and brother turned out.  Granted not all men turn out like my dad, I know.  But most teenage boys do turn out like my brother did, getting into drugs and sleeping around, at least in the U.S.  I just would hate to produce a guy who would hurt dozens of women in his lifetime, even if it was just in something as harmless as dating and rejecting them. 

My brother put my mom through SO much.  He kept stealing her car in high school.  He even hinted that he might hurt her at some point.  I just think that would be more than I could handle. 

In addition, almost every boy I worked with in my 10 jobs or so of working with kids was very difficult. 

Bottom line, boys need their fathers.  Boys don't do very well with just their mom or other women.  They need a strong man to guide them and turn them into upstanding citizens.  But the way the world works now, boys hardly get to see their dads. :(  Which I think is why generally boys get into more trouble than girls.  It used to be that boys went out to work in the field along side their dad, while little girls stayed with their mom and baked or sewed etc.  Now we have little boys staying with their mom too, which just doesn't seem to work very well.  Little boys don't listen to women very well, in general.

So those are all things to consider.  Of course our next kid could just be another girl, which would be easy, but you never know.

May God guide me and my husband in this decision and give us wisdom.  Amen. :)

Recommended Books

If any of you are looking for a good book to read here are some I've read that I highly recommend. :) The ones in capital letters are the ones I really, really recommend lol

　

Battlefield of the Mind

Celebration of Discipline

BEAUTY FOR ASHES

Every Young Woman's Battle

Every Woman's Battle

Love and Respect

CRAZY LOVE

Wild at Heart

Captivating

SACRED MARRIAGE

Sacred Pathways


Boundaries

A Woman After God's Own Heart

Don't Count Things

I just got a revelation from a Joyce Meyer sermon. God said to her years ago, "Stop counting things." I actually have gotten caught up in that lately with counting likes on Facebook. It seems silly but that's just my competitive nature.

We're always comparing how we are doing compared to how others are doing. But all that matters really is how God says we are doing. Amen. :)

But also we need to stop counting things like how many hours or minutes we pray every day, or how many chapters we read in the Bible. Stop counting how many sermons you listen to etc.

I would even say stop counting calories and things like that. Because any counting is following the letter of the law; it's legalism. It's our attempt to take control and reign in the flesh and force ourselves to do good things. But instead we should be led by the Holy Spirit. We should do good things because we want to and it's a joy to, not because we are forcing ourselves to. "God loves a cheerful giver" and this includes giving our time or anything. Amen.

Stop keeping track or keeping score of anything. Just live. Just be free. Just do what God puts in your heart to do and don't worry about what anyone else is doing. Amen. :) God bless!

How to Know if it's God's Voice

 

(my notes from a sermon by Rick Warren)
 

1. Does it agree with the Bible?

God's will is always the same as God's word.

"If it's new, it isn't true."
 

2. Will this thought make me more like Christ? Have more of the fruit of the Spirit?

God's main purpose is to make you more like Christ

God is more interested in your character than your comfort. (amen!)
 

3. Would this idea hurt anyone else? (then it's not from God)
 

4. Get godly council about the thought or idea

Do other mature Christians confirm that this is from God?

If mature believers question it, you should too
 

5. Is it consistent with how God shaped me or made me?

Our shape consists of our spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences

Our shape determines our purpose.

God's leading will not lead you to do something that he hasn't gifted you already to do.
 

6. Does it concern me and my life?

Is this for someone else or for me?

Be careful of saying to someone else "God told me to tell you...."

God can tell that other person directly

 

If God does give you a word about or for someone else.....

1.Be patient and pray- God might tell them directly

2. God can use you to confirm what he already said to them

3. Most of the time this is done anonymously, where you don't even realize you are speaking for God to someone else
 

7. Is this thought convicting or condemning?

If it's condemning it's from Satan and not God.

Conviction from God exposes what's wrong and says "this needs to change." But condemnation from Satan attacks your value and says to you "you're worthless." That isn't God. 
 

8. Do I sense God's peace about this thing?

God will never confuse us. If it's God we will have peace about it. 
 

Amen! Hope that benefitted some of you. :)