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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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Photo by Angelo Greco
After having lived in S.E. Asia for 15 years we learned very quickly that an Asian “no” is often times really a “yes”. For example, if I invite my friend to have a bite to eat, they would almost always say “no” three times, and if I was persistent, on the fourth time they would finally smile and say “yes, thank you!”.
Communications are one of the most prevalent areas of relational breakdown.
Misunderstandings of what was really being said or done has always been a tool of division that the enemy (satan) frequently uses. Married couples, although having become very intimate, spending loads of time together, sharing dreams, hopes, fears, and laughter almost always struggle with being misunderstood by each other.
Why is this?
How can we begin to recognize when we misunderstand or when we are being misunderstood? How can we take a new approach to this “tool of division”? This tactic of the enemy is an old one.
One simple approach is to begin to open our hearts. Open our hearts to learn a new language – the language of dialogue.
Our past experiences play a major role in our abilities to interpret concepts, life, love, and emotions. Hence the term “we’re not on the same page”. If I were taught to rotate the tires on my car “front to rear and visa versa”, and you were taught by a mechanic, to rotate them “clockwise”, in order to work together in a healthy way we must learn the art of dialogue! A task as uncomplicated as “rotating the tires” often times can lead into a shouting match or even to the point where one has no voice at all – both parties being misunderstood.
To some people, instead of dialogue they are “stuck” in monologue. Monologue is one voice that says “my way is the only way!”, or “I don’t care what you think!”. This type of communication is base, immature, and bears much negative fruit in any relationship. On the other hand, a dialogue that says “are you saying that…?” or “can you restate that so I am sure I’m hearing your heart?” is one that is taking the more mature stance. This type of communication promotes honor, dignity, harmony, unity, clarity, and humility in which all of these depicts Christ.
May this nugget of truth encourage you both today, and in all of your future communications!
We at Freedom Quest International are launching “EncounterLOVE” which is a series of 3 Saturdays this March 2011. The all day seminars are geared to enhance you Body-Soul-Spirit. For more details go to this link.
For personal “Prophetic Prayer Ministry” sessions in our home office, via Skype, or over the telephone please contact us at Freedom Quest International.
Our NEW – Freedom Quest Introductory Video
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!
There is a Solution!
An “Unchained Heart” is “a heart that is fearless, unhindered, and free to function at full capacity”.
Gods’ intention for humankind has always been intimacy with him, and with fellow-man. He deliberately created Adam from dust, blew in his nostrils, and had accomplished His plan for fellowship with man. God desires to pour out His “perfect expression” of Love into each one of us. The fall of mankind in the garden, through the disobedience and complacency of Adam and Eve created a void and/or schism, not in God’s heart but in mans.
Disobedience established a distorted foundation by which we receive and give love.
If the first Adam had not fallen, we would all live in a perfect paradise, perfect intimacy and fellowship with God and man. There would not be any sickness, shame, or sin. Rather, we are living in a universe quite different from those variables. We have our flesh and sin to deal with perpetually. We experience sickness and decay as we age, and we struggle to truly love and receive love both from both God and man!
Therefore our hearts have been wounded (chained) by diverse variations of abandonment and/or rejection from primary relationships in our lives. This has created a void in many of our hearts and causes us to be in-confident in our true identity. Many of us suffer year after year and sometimes decades striving for “victory” but never getting past singing of it in our church pews!
The “Unchained Heart” is a reality that God has provided for us through His Son Jesus Christ!
• God is love and love covers. (I John 4:16, I Peter 4:8)
• God restores the heart that is humble. (Luke 15:21-24)
• God the Father desires to pour out His love to us, and through us. (Matthew 22:37-39)
Can you identify with the idea of your heart being “chained up”?
Are you limited in the capacity of freedom God intended for you to walk in?
There is hope!
Titus 2:11 tells us that the grace of God that brings us salvation has appeared to all men… and in 2:14 the end result of this revelation is Redemptive!
Jesus is our Hope!
He is the key to us living with “Unchained Hearts”!
For personal “Prophetic Prayer Ministry” sessions in our home office, via Skype, or over the telephone please contact us at Freedom Quest International.
Our NEW – Freedom Quest Introductory Video
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!
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.
Freedom Quest Introductory Video
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!
Major Tweaks & Upgrades
Many of us experience at least two forces working against us throughout our life-times. 1. Our childhood family environment with all it’s quirks and dysfunctions because humanity is full of wounded and imperfect people. 2. Our church family environment (depending greatly on where we landed). We are often taught from childhood (programmed), by example, and sometimes at church, that the character of God is something that it is not! Father God is often misrepresented as a harsh tax-master, performance oriented, or a judge, who at the slightest mistake or set back is prepared to lock your eternity up in a scorching hell where there is no hope, no help, and no water! Yikes!!!! That is not the Father that Jesus tells us about! That may be more like some of our earthly fathers?
Hence we need a “Re-programming” of our mental picture of the very term “Father” (and other authorities) in our lives. And we need a “Re-Programming” of our perception of Who God Really Is? This will provide for us a healthy bridge to “re-entry” into the place that Father God intends for us to find safe haven, comfort, joy, peace, and that abundant life that we know the Bible talks about, but few ever experience it. How about it, do you want to experience that? Are you ready for a “Re-programming” so that you can experience a “Re-entry”?
Here are a few tweaks and upgrades that will help you in this process;
- Know that you were miraculously created and wonderfully made ~ Psalms 139
- Know you are eternally loved by God ~ Jeremiah 31:3
- Know that Father God loves you as He loves Jesus ~ John 17:23b
- Know that Father God is not judging your every move ~ John 5:22
- Know that you have a destiny in God ~ Jeremiah 29:11
- Know that it’s His kindness not “His Law” that draws you to repentance (change). ~ Romans 2:4
Finally, know that your earthly fathers house was probably not a good representation of your Heavenly Fathers House where there is full grown, Security~Love~Acceptance~Purpose available for you now and forever!
Every Blessing to you as you allow the Truth of the Word of God to transform your mind & thinking, and the impartation of His unconditional love that heals, and nourishes your wounded heart!
* It is imperative that we choose to forgive our dads for their shortcomings. If you need assistance in this contact us below:
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!
Photo by Johnna Brynn Bockover
Let’s look at a more practical, day to day, hour by hour, minute by minute pain remedy that can become a lifestyle instead of just an exercise. I like to call it “pain-shifting”. You’ve heard of “blame-shifting”, well this works in a similar way. “Pain shifting” is like this, “I am starting to feel a heaviness, Jesus, would You please take this heaviness, I can’t and won’t afford to carry it and loose my joy. I have things to do today that don’t include depression. I just want to tell You how much I love You for taking that Lord!” That is “pain-shifting”! It works over and over again throughout your day, and is the remedy for all those little things on your list that make you feel blue!
Bottom line is this. Life is not always easy, much of the negative is only our emotions and thoughts out of control. Some “day to day” issues are very real circumstances that we have to walk through. We are not alone. He cares for us. (I Peter 5:7) The burdens (anxieties, fears) we can give to Him instead of trying to assimilate them, which causes us to be ill. This “pain-shifting” is a way of guarding our hearts (Philippians 4:6,7), and keeping on our Quest for Freedom (Galatians 5:1 NIV)! Happy “Pain-Shifting!”
Here is the protocol;
- Sense the negativity in thought or emotion!
- Talk to God about your feelings!
- Give Him the burden!
- Go on with your day in joy!
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Image by Snæþór S. Halldórsson
How do I cast my care on Him, you ask? For now, take your list (see Part I) in hand, and say Father, these are my very real emotions in a normal day. They bog me down and hinder me in my quest for freedom. I am asking Jesus to take this heavy weight. The devil dropped this package off for me and I don’t want to receive it! I don’t know how You are going to do it, but by faith, I am releasing this burden to You. Please restore to me my joy, peace and intimacy with You. Transform my thought life by the renewing of my mind. Teach me how to experience truth, Your Words, Your thoughts of me (Jeremiah 29:11) So be it!
Now pause for some time and picture The Creator of the Universe embracing you, and gently wiping the tears from your brow, as He kisses your forehead and says “I am proud to be your Father, and I am aware of your troubles. Rest in Me, knowing that these too shall pass.”
God is faithful! Don’t be surprised in what a little time in His presence can have on your day!
I Peter 5:9,10 says this concerning the devil and his packages. “Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Jesus’ primary mission on earth was to reveal the Father, so that we might have a “Safe Place” to run to. (Proverbs 18:10)
Here are 5 Keys to Casting your cares on Him;
- Recognize~ the heaviness and its destructive properties.
- Resist ~ the devil by faith, he must go (James 4:7,8).
- Release ~ releasing is not “sharing the burden”, it is completely giving the worry, anxiety to Him.
- Renew ~ the mind (Romans 12:1,2) be transformed by the renewing of your mind (thoughts – Bible Truths).
- Refreshed ~ continue your day with joy, times of refreshing by the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19).
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Where do you run during crisis?
This is a post from 13 months ago, but as I re-read it today, realized it is still relative to our world-wide circumstances. I hope this text helps you decide where to run in your crisis moments.
December 5, 2008
As we experience the current worldwide crisis in the financial sector we all are effected one way or another. The recent US elections turned out a new Federal Government that promises “Change”, and for many Americans this creates a sense of crisis especially if you did not vote for “Change”. Relational crisis is something that all of us face at different levels throughout our lifetime. Differences and conflicts with parents, siblings, children, special friends, bosses, subordinates, peers, pastors, policemen, strangers too! Sometimes this “fallout” in relationships is devastating. We also need to factor these following (B. G.) statistics into this arena of social crisis right here in emotional America !
58% of Americans suffer mild to moderate mental/emotional health problems.
24% of Americans suffer moderate to major mental/emotional health problems.
Therefore; 82% of America is emotionally unhealthy.
These figures are alarming, but any of us that take into consideration what constitutes mental/emotional issues, know that we ourselves are either a negative part of these stats or we are floating right on the border due to the way we process CRISIS in our lives! Do we struggle with Fears; Anxiety-Depression-Anger-Rage? These are just a few characteristics of fear-based mental/emotional health we might identify in our lives or those near to us.
I John 4:18 tells us that perfect (mature) love casts out all fear! Crisis produces fear, and fear entertained robs us of our peace. In essence mature fear casts out love. “You and I were created by Love, for love, to love!” says Jack Frost, late founder of Shiloh Place Ministries. God is love and if we are comfortable with love, then fear and crisis will not shake us because we can find our peace in the presence of Love. Jesus, in His final and ultimate crisis modeled a healthy reaction to crisis, as He hung on the cross, bleeding and bruised, rejected and mocked, physically dying with His expressed sense of peace through His prayer “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
Let me encourage you in these times of financial, political, relational, and emotional crisis, or whatever your personal crisis may be, to not react in fear by running to false comforts (addictions, eating disorders, illegal sexual pleasures, isolation, or any type of unrighteous behavior), by not walking out fear-based behaviors as listed above, but rather, respond by reflecting your Creator (Love) as you express love back to Him, and give it away to your fellow man. This, I promise will bring you much more peace in these times of crisis which we all are facing.
Where will you run? Love or fear?
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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
