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Photo by: Bob Parr
Have you ever found yourself almost overwhelmed with fear? I believe that much of the depression that we experience is both initiated and sustained by fear. So where does this fear come from and how do we deal with it?
II Timothy 1:7 says that “God has not given us a spirit of fear…” so we know that God is not scary, in fact He provides us a remedy for “Fixing Frantic” in His word… please read on.
There are several types of fear mentioned in the Bible. Here is one type to consider;
Romans 8:15 (NKJV) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
It is the type fear that grips you and dominates your thinking, it overtakes your emotions so that you cannot easily experience the positive emotions such as joy, laughter, rest, or peace that comes when we truly know the Father.
Rather you become controlled by this invisible uneasy feeling that grips your gut, robs you of sleep, and sends you into a state of negativity. It can interfere with your appetite, your sleep, your physical health, your daily productivity and hence destroy your life and relationships.
This type fear is Biblically described as the emotional state of one that is in bondage. And the Greek word and definition for this type fear is; Fear – GK ~ phobos {fob’-os} fear, dread, terror
Note the similarity to our “phobia”?
One of the most comforting passages whenever one is struggling with “phobos” is the famous Psalm 91.
- What is it that you fear the most?
- Is this fear controlling your thoughts and robbing your peace?
If yes, why not follow this link and meditate on Psalm 91, letting Father God comfort you by “Fixing Frantic” with His Word?
For personal “Prophetic Prayer Ministry” sessions in our home office, via Skype, or over the telephone please contact us at Freedom Quest International.
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How's your "State of the Heart"?
A healthy “State of the Heart” is a heart that is able to turn worries, concerns, and very real and difficult circumstances over to God. It’s a heart that trusts God’s love, waits for His intervention, and remembers His “Good Father” nature. God’s intention has always been for our hearts to be whole, stable, full of faith in Him, knowing Him intimately, and acknowledging Him in all of our doings. Our hearts are to remain in “one peace” – no matter what our situation or circumstance might be.
But why is it that many of our hearts today still remain in a state of instability, division, indecisiveness, and fear?
James, brother of Jesus, reminds us in chapter 1 verse 8 that “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways”. Hence, divided thinking produces divided feelings, which produces distorted or dysfunctional behavior. If we choose to remain in that state of instability it will destroy our “love, joy and peace” – which is a healthy “State of the Heart”.
We were created by God to have hearts that trust and know how to rest. Trust will always eliminate any fear from our heart. But why do we waver back and forth from trust to fear, fear to trust – causing our hearts to be divided. A healthy “State of the Heart” starts with healthy thinking.
Perhaps you’ve lost your job, a loved one has too suddenly passed away, a close relationship has gone sour or another one of life’s crisis has manifested itself.
What is your “State of the Heart”?
Are you wavering back and forth from fear to trust, trust to fear and find yourself to be unstable emotionally? Where do you go for your counsel, or direction? Consider your thought process. Begin to remind yourself of Who and How BIG your God is. Are you longing for peace to fill your heart right now?
How’s your “State of the Heart”?
The following prayer has the potential to influence your “State of the Heart” today!
“Father God, I often find myself in a state of confusion, wavering back and forth like a teeter-totter from fear to faith, faith to fear. My mind takes me to places of fear and doubt and I am unstable much of the time. I long for Your peace to be the “State of my Heart”. Hear my cry for peace. Help me to see You as my Portion and my Everything. Help me to open my mind and my heart to Your perfect love that displaces fear. Father teach my mind and my heart to rest completely in You and Your abilities despite my weaknesses. In Jesus’ name I pray these things – so be them.
For personal “Prophetic Prayer Ministry” sessions in our home office, via Skype, or over the telephone please contact us at Freedom Quest International.
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"Is that so?"
Presumption is just another wicked tool of the devil to trick us into pride.
One definition for presumption is “to take beforehand”.
This can be applied to physical items, situations, but more often than not, it is a mental/emotional posture that we take before getting the facts.
Let’s look into this a bit deeper.
Physical/Material Presumption in Luke 15:11
In the parable of the “prodigal son”, he was presumptuous about the timing of receiving his inheritance. He got what he wanted, but it was not a blessing as is the purpose of an inheritance. Often, when we are presumptuous, God gives us just what we asked for and it becomes a lesson to be learned.
Situational Presumption in Samuel 8
When Israel demanded an earthly King to lead them into battle, Samuel (the Seer) warned them about the folly of having a king. God said “give them what they want, they have not rejected you, Samuel, they have rejected me from reigning over them.” In comparing themselves with other nations, they presumed having an earthly King to protect them was God’s will.
The consequence of their presumption that “this is God’s will” cost them time, resources, and heartache. If we would only learn to stop and ask ourselves “What is God doing/saying?” perhaps we would eliminate unnecessary consequences, and spend more time inside His will.
Mental/Emotional Presumption
We are presumptuous with people probably more often than we are with God. Most of our “stinkin thinkin” is presumptuous.
Examples…
- “Oh great, they forgot about me and they’re not coming at all.” (As their car pulls in the driveway).
- “Where are my mints? I’ll bet she put them in her purse and I’ll never see them again.” (you find them on your table, right where you put them)
- “Why is my boss meeting with everyone but me? They must be talking bad about me.” (a surprise party in your honor was being planned )
Love hopes all things (I Corinthians 13:7) – presumption doubts! Lets learn to stop drawing conclusions without facts.
Because of past rejection & abandonment in our lives, we often take a posture of presuming negative scenarios.
5 Tactics to stop presumption?
- Daily awareness that we are presumptuous.
- Endeavor to get the facts before concluding.
- Ask a friend or mentor to consistently hold you accountable.
- Deliberately focus on “hope” instead of doubt.
- Meditate on Philippians 4:8, Romans 5:5, I Corinthians 13, and I John 4:18.
Presumption is fear based but perfect love casts out every type of fear.
Presumption is an “ancient enemy tactic” to rob us of our “Faith, Hope, and Love”. Let’s route the devil and obey the Word, and watch the enemy flee.
“God does not suffer presumption in anyone but Himself.” Herodotus (484-424 BC)
For personal “Prophetic Prayer Ministry” or “Spiritual Life Coaching” sessions in our home office, Skype, or over the telephone please contact us at Freedom Quest International.
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Hindrance to receive?
In computer terms, there are several reasons for not being able to download a file.
- Insufficient memory/disk space.
- Corrupted files.
The first has to do with the ability to receive; the latter denotes a problem with what will be transferred.
From this perspective, knowing that God is love, if there is a hindrance, who has the problem – the sender or receiver?
Agape’ is always based on the giver not the receiver. In other words, God is completely loving you and I right now, whether or not we are receiving it. But if one can receive this “Agape’ download” on the Givers terms, they will always be overshadowed with joy.
Jeremiah in his writings (31:3) says “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;”.
Gods love is very different than man’s love… which at times is distorted because of a fallen nature. Mans distorted version usually expects something in return, and is based on the performance of the receiver. As Jeremiah points out, Gods love doesn’t fade, it is eternal, it does not change on a whim, or due to our poor performance, or weakness, but rather it is always with a redeeming motive. God is all about building us up. He is more committed to us, than we are to Him!
Apostle John not only encourages the 1st century church with the following scriptures but us as well!
I John 3:1 “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” John is pointing out a distinct type or way of loving that is different and much more pure than our human love forms or practices.
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us”…. this is an “Agape’ download!”
I John 4:16 John the “Apostle of Love” writes… “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” God made His love known to, and believable to the 1st century believers. They personally experienced an “Agape download!” The Father is no respecter of persons. In Him is no shadow of turning. He changes not. His desire will always be for us to receive a perpetual “Agape’ download!”
Are you hindered to receive His Divine Love?
There is always a way to open up a clogged artery, or to prepare ones heart for download. Don’t hesitate or wait any longer, His eternal love for you is for NOW and FOREVER!
• All Bible text is NKJV unless otherwise stated.
For personal “Spiritual Life Coaching” sessions in our home office, Skype, or over the telephone please contact us at Freedom Quest International.
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We encourage you to share this post with your network on Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks, click the “Bookmark” button. Thanks for spreading words and connections that heal! Every Blessing to you!
Passionate Son
PASSION!
- What is it in your life that makes you “pound the table” with great intensity?
- Or is there anything?
Passionate or Passionless?
Jesus passionately took action to preach, teach, heal, raise the dead, and even suffer emotionally and physically unto death. He was passionate to fulfill the purpose of God the Father for His life! I am not saying He had a smile on His face as the soldiers whipped, beat and humiliated Him, but inside His heart, He was passionate to complete the destiny His Father had spoken into Him – His life for ours.
Jesus heard His Fathers voice because of the intimate relationship He shared with His Father.
John 5:19 (NKJV) Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”
Our fathers are to speak destiny into us. So, did yours?
Generally, we all experience highs and lows emotionally throughout our lives. This is partially due to the fact that our lives are made up of a series of transitions; Like Jesus, some exciting, adventurous, and fun, while others are painful, unpleasant, and draining. Without purpose, it’s all but impossible to be passionate in the midst of an unpleasant transition. Again, Jesus was not without purpose! How about you?
Passionate or Passionless?
Passion always precedes action that accomplishes great things! The lack of passion produces mediocrity, with an anemic contentment for life. You are called to great things, that is… your destiny. When you begin to hear your destiny spoken from a father- figure, you will become passionate and that will activate your destiny call to greatness.
If you are “unmoved by feeling” or passionless, perhaps your earthly father couldn’t or didn’t speak destiny into you, or maybe like me, you closed your heart to hear anything from him. Regardless of the why, are you ready to tear down the walls, and open your heart to fathering? Maybe you have closed yourself off to other authority figures that saw your potential, but sensed your resistance.
What better time than Fathers Day week to sow freedom into your relationship with the father-figure/s in your life! If you are ready to become that passionate son/daughter… read this prayer out loud with me.
“Heavenly Father, I acknowledge my emotional wounding that has hindered my ability to feel passion. I am choosing right now to forgive ___________ (say their name/s) for not speaking destiny into me. I ask your forgiveness for closing my heart to dad and/or other authority figures in my life. By faith, I believe I am forgiven, and I ask Father that you would open my spiritual ears to hear you everyday concerning the plans (Jeremiah 29:11) that you have for me.
In Jesus name I pray… Amen!”
You are destined to greatness by Almighty God!
For personal “Spiritual Life Coaching” sessions in our home office, or over the telephone please contact us at Freedom Quest International.
We encourage you to share this post with your network on Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks, click the “Bookmark” button. Thanks for spreading words that heal! Every Blessing to you!
High Visibility Boundaries
When the Fall of the year is mature, landowners re-establish and re-mark their land boundaries with (high visibility), “No Hunting” or “No Trespassing” signs. This is done to help control who is welcomed on the land to take of its bounty, OR NOT! Permission is required by the owner. The signs are usually fluorescent so they are (highly visible). There can be no question “Where is the Boundary Line?”
An abuser of control in our lives, be it a spouse, a parent, a child, a co-worker, co-student or whoever, can often be identified by their “extreme high to low emotions”. They use emotions to CONTROL and sometimes their physic. They establish or set up “illegal” or “unhealthy boundaries” in the relationship! The victims response often is “Oh good, he/she is in a good mood, or Oh no, he/she is angry and I need to avoid or appease them!” Sound familiar? “Where is the Boundary Line?”
Similar to the analogy of the land owner, the “trespasser” establishes control because there are no (high visibility) signs or healthy boundaries used to keep un-welcomed people (controlling abusers) out. In this unruly relationship, mental and sometimes physical molestation is commonplace. The heart attitude connected to this abuse is often rage, division, and word cursing. Lawlessness abounds, joy is manipulated at best, and bondage dominates. Matthew 24:12 “Where lawlessness abounds, the love of many will grow cold.”
Establishing healthy boundaries (high visibility signs) with the said abuser allows you to separate yourself far enough from them, so you can seek God and seek counsel for God to bless them, and heal them at the root of their problems. The question is are you tired enough of fear and intimidation to establish healthy (high visibility) boundaries that can bring change? “Where is the Boundary Line?”
“Healthy Boundaries” is another part of our Quest for Freedom! Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ has set us free…”
For personal “Spiritual Life Coaching” sessions in our home office, or over the telephone please contact us at Freedom Quest International.
We encourage you to share this post with your network on Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks, click the “Bookmark” button. Thanks for spreading words that heal! Every Blessing to you!
Rembrandts Prodigal Son
Jesus tells a story about an ornery “young son” who asked his father for an early collection of his inheritance. We all know this famous story in Luke 15, that when the son had wasted everything, he came to his senses, and came home humbly asking for a place as a slave. What was his fathers response? In return for his “ornery” ways his father highly honored him with a robe, new sandals, and a ring. Jack Frost of (Shiloh Place Ministries) used to say “Completely failed, utterly restored”, re-instated to son-ship! Selah. Jesus also honored his chief betrayer Judas Iscariot by washing his feet along with the other 11 disciples. Are we to honor those whom we perceive as ornery? The real question is, will we choose to honor them? This requires change! Honor is one of the things God is teaching me about in this season of my life! After having grown up in an alcoholic home, there really wasn’t a good model of that for me. Now my father and I have worked through most of our issues, and we are on better terms now than we ever were. We actually honor each other now, more than ever. Could we conclude that when people choose to get real with each other and break the unspoken rules most dysfunctional families practice, “Don’t Trust, Don’t Speak, Don’t Feel”, an environment is put in place for “honoring” to increase!
I often write about the negative side of “issues” probably due to my “exhorter” gifting. I will briefly mention one opposite of “Honor” which is “ornery”. Are you “ornery” or Honoring? Below is what I found on-line about this word. Ask yourself, would those you call friends or family members, or even you yourself, describe “you” in any of these terms?
Main Entry: ornery
Synonyms:
cantankerous, contemptible, crabby, cranky, crusty, difficult, disagreeable, grouchy, grumpy*, hard-nosed, ignoble, ill-tempered, irritable, nasty, obstinate, quarrelsome, rotten, sour, surly, testy, unfriendly, vicious
How can we transition our soul-ish behavior to a more spiritually rich demeanor? We would do well to imprint the word “HONOR” in the forefront of our minds, and very deliberately pray about, meditate on, and even converse with others about what “HONOR” looks like and ways we can begin to walk this out. The benefits are numerous and divers.
Taking “honor” a step further, I am convinced that if we learn to honor all people, even those who don’t necessarily deserve honor, that the biblical principal or “law” of sowing and reaping will kick in and we will begin to experience being honorable!
I want to give you a definition for honor to help you build a foundation in this journey;
Main Entry honor
Synonyms:
acclaim, admire, adore, aggrandize, appreciate, be faithful, be true, celebrate, commemorate, commend, compliment, decorate, dignify, distinguish, ennoble, erect, esteem, exalt, give glad hand, give key to city, glorify, hallow, keep, laud, lionize, live up to, look up to, magnify, observe, praise, prize, revere, roll out red carpet, sanctify, sublime, uprear, value, venerate, worship
Here are three ways we can initiate this godly and “lives changing” transition.
1. Be very deliberate to honor ALL people.
2. Spend less energy being “ornery”.
3. Ask God to show you the people and ways you can practice “honoring”.
Enjoy the transition!
Definitions credited to; http://thesaurus.reference.com/
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After running 13.5 miles in just over 2 hours, regardless of your age, in order to avoid critical physical damage, you need to “walk it out”! (See pic. to the right - my daughter Johnna and I after the run last March)
In our Christian race, we want to see real and lasting change in our lives, or increase in spiritual maturation. Many of us attend conferences, buy books and resources, take pages of notes, and oooh and ahhhh at all that we have learned, but we miss it when we fail to “walk it out” or put it into practice! James teaches us to be “doers” of the Word, not just “hearers”. This is the essence of “walking it out”. Let me quote AA “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting change”. We must be DELIBERATE if we want increase in the areas of emotional healing, thought life, spiritual walk, and our physical condition!
For me, and probably for many of you, a “critical-pain intake” point straight into my heart are hurtful words from others and how they can affect my day! Do you feel all warm and bubbly when some one compliments you? How about when they point out all your faults and weakness’? We all experience this negativity from time to time and it can be crippling! If this verbal bashing is repeated enough times and especially from those that you love the deepest, it will wear you down to feeling absolutely worthless. We can’t change the perpetrator, only prayer can, but we can change our response!
Here are 3 steps (tried and tested) that we can take in developing this process to freedom, showing us how we can “walk it out”.
1. Believe the truth that “you have value”. John 17:23 says Father God loves you and me in the same way He loves Jesus. We can walk this out by believing this and speaking to God “thank You Father that Your love is not conditional, that my performance does not merit Your love”.
2. Pray for the person that verbally trashed you, not in a blaming way, but rather for whatever issues they are dealing with that causes them to become “Judge” and tear people down. Pray for increase in this revelation of Fathers love for them. (Jack Frost used to pray this prayer often for people.)
3. Choose to forgive them for hurting you. “Hurt People Hurt People” is the title of a book on my desk by Sandra D. Wilson Ph.D. People can only give out, what they have within them. If they are full of pain, pain will flow out? Pray like Jesus did, like Stephen did in the face of death, at the hands of an angry mob. “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” And some of them know exactly what they are doing, they just don’t know why, and how to stop it! Pray for the love of Father God to displace the pain of their experiences.
You already know many principles, it’s time for change, it’s time to “walk it out”.
I hope this blog has helped stir you. If so, please leave me a comment.
The term “inner healing” often times gets a bad rap in many Christian circles. The Biblical support for this negativity is often II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he] [is] a new creation ; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new . (NKJV) The context of this verse is all about the “Reconciliation” of man to God. Many believe that this means we are somehow automatically free from fleshly passions, lusts, addictions, and other sin and tendencies upon our “born again” experience. If that is the case, why do many Christians fall back into old addictive patterns that once before controlled them? Why then do so many of us still deal with “anger” issues at home with our spouses, or children, to include friends or colleagues when they are not around? I believe that our “Born Again” experience opens the door for that much needed healing of our emotions. We need to process our past experiences through releasing forgiveness towards those who have abused us. We are to mimic Christ Jesus, whom Paul talks about in Galatians 5:1 “It was for Freedom, that Christ has set us free!” (my paraphrase). He set us Free through forgiveness of our sins. We can mimic Jesus by setting those people free that wounded us by forgiving them for the pain inflicted on us. Really, the nuts and bolts (or essentials) of “Inner Healing” consists of walking out forgiveness, renouncing and repenting of judgments and false expectations we place on people! To me, this seems very Christ-like!
After we release comes the increase in our spiritual maturation process! When we are hurting, we hurt others, when we are free, we free others! First comes the healing process in our hearts, then comes an accelerated character building, or the “transformation of our inner man” as John Sanford entitled his Best Seller.
Here is a worthy statement to ponder; “The “healing of emotions” is different than the “building of character”. We are talking about inviting Father God or “Perfect Love” to come and heal us of (take) our pain, and then we begin to see more clearly to make decisions better or more healthily. ”
I pray that you have had an “Ahaaaaaa” moment from this blog post and would you like to further explore these freedoms and accelerate the maturation process in your spiritual walk.
Please leave us a comment by clicking “Comments” above this article! Thanks!
Time alone does not heal, God does! Recently I attended my 29 year old Nephews funeral. Patrick left behind his wife Carrie, his 4 year old son Joshua, my older brother (his dad), and their immediate family, and a host of other people that knew and loved Patrick.
This huge loss for my brother Hal and his wife Patty, stirred up some memories of my losing my youngest son Robert Jr. back in December of 2005. As I contemplate that reality, and remember the waves of grief that I experienced, and the boat loads of tears that I shed, I realize more and more that it is NOT time that has brought me healing, but it is GOD and His mercy that has done that.
Most of us have experienced loads of pain in our lifetime. We were not ever in a position to choose when we would suffer it, it just happens usually when we least expect it! Unwanted infants experience rejection verbally, and at times through physical abuse, and often times leading to murder. Adolescent children suffer rejection from peers, parents, strangers, and often times other relatives. Teens almost always suffer multiple broken heart experiences due to the frailty of romantic relationships and their unhealthy boundaries, and then again parental, peers, educators, bosses, etc. And then there is adult pain! When life becomes incredibly serious, and responsibilities increase, the potential for traumatic experiences comes with the progression. Failed marriage after decades, death of a spouse, death of a child, business wiped out. All of these and more bring a sense of failure, shame, confusion and fear into ones life. And the question is, “Where do we run to?”.
If one goes through all of these mentioned stages of his/her life experiencing diversities of pain along the way, and believes that “time will heal”, guess what? One is still not only carrying their pain from childhood, but has layered it, and sometimes added to the magnitude of it due to improper processing (example; “time will heal” or “it really wasn’t that wrong” or “that was a long time ago” or “it will fix itself” or “I’m not sure now if it really happened that way or not”) or no processing at all. Whether or not we don’t process pain due to ignorance of “how to” or plain old “denial”, EMOTIONAL PAIN DOES NOT JUST GO AWAY WITHOUT AFFECTS!
If you wrestle with depression, oppression, obsessions, addictions, inferiority or superiority complex, marital issues, relational issues on any level, or just realize the excess of “drama” in your life, often initiated by you or often involving you, perhaps you have some emotional pain (baggage) that you will want to unload.
At times like these when the economy is in a crunch and politics, jobs, relationships, and our future seem to be unpredictable, many of our buttons get pushed and we learn a lot about ourselves in terms of our frailty.
If you have been reading this, shaking your head yes and saying to yourself “Bob is reading my mail” then I would like to comfort you with these two facts; 1. You are in good company, much of the population of the planet is wounded emotionally. 2. There are many ministries available that are called to and are committed to seeing people not only get some healing emotionally, but learn to love God, others, and themselves at levels they have not yet experienced.
Contact us at info@freedomquestinternational.org for either scheduling your personal prayer ministry session/s with Kelly and I, or for a referral to someone in your geographical area.
Don’t put it off until another time, time does not heal, God does!
May the God of all comfort chase you down and express His love to you in a way you can receive it!
Bob
