by Lucy | Jul 7, 2015 | biblical counseling |
God is good. . .or is he?
Sometimes, you and I are tempted to believe lies about God’s character. We doubt. We pout. Even anger, fear, and depression can stalk us. When this happens, we women of God must fight temptation to think God is anyone other than who he says he is. You discover who he says he is in the Bible, where he reveals his character clearly and beautifully.
His name is a window into his true character and dispels the lies. “Those who know your name put their trust in you,” the psalmist David wrote (Psalm 9:10).
Have you ever doubted God’s goodness? That perhaps he forgot you — and could care less? Or that he sent calamity your way — and got some kind of sick kick from your pain?
Do you know God calls himself “Jealous?” In Hebrew, El qana means he wants you all to himself in a very good way. He doesn’t want to running after desires motivated by faulty thinking. He know that what’s best for you and me — and glorifying to him — is our absolute, exclusive loyalty. He hates spiritual adultery.
Yet I admit to my doubt, this question of God’s goodness, that dogged me for years.
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And I’m thankful he straightened me out.
Doubt Hit Hard
After becoming a believer at age 23. I thought I knew how to successfully apply the truth to my life. I read the Bible nearly every day. I hungered to know more and more and more of him. To pray. To hear his voice, so gentle.
And
then
my world flipped upside down.
In my early 30s, I unearthed a bad memory of abuse I had pushed down since childhood. It surfaced and I was undone.
God didn’t seem so good to me that year or the year after or the year after that. Did he change? Of course, not. God is changeless.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” Hebrews 13:8, ESV
Did I change? You bet. First, I became a self-asborbed shrew stuck in my “poor me” and my “not-enoughedness.” Lies, lies. My poor husband. He got the brunt of my simmering anger that bubbled over.
My problem: I forgot the gospel.
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Oh so slowly, as I turned to Jesus and listened for God’s voice, I heard him and remembered. I recalled the truth that, yes, the gospel is the once-for-all proclamation that “there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). And it speaks truth to believers every day. I forgot that my identity as a beloved child of the most high God is a sure thing. It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with God!
God’s Word Is Trustworthy
My barometer for knowing God’s truth? The Bible. It was tough, beyond tough, to hold up the lies to the truth. Have you ever compared the lies you believe to the truth of scripture? When I bring my counselees through a specific journaling assignment, they usually get excited. Stephanie could find who she is in Christ and who God says he is in nearly every scripture? Even the shortest verse in the Bible — “He wept.” — reveals much truth. I bet you could journal three pages on these two words. Stephanie could.
When I finally realized Satan had deceived me, I fought for my life. Have you fought for yours? Have you become overwhelmed and don’t know where to start?”
When I felt overwhelmed, I dug into John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I come to give you life, life to the full.” This is Jesus speaking of Satan’s bent on death and the Lord’s abundant life promise. During those dark years, as I battled a spiritual enemy in God’s strength, Jesus revived me.
God Is Love
Know that God is love and he wants the very best for you. First Peter 2:9 reads, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Beautiful words, true words, fighting words, comforting words.
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You are chosen. God chose you before the creation of the world, and now as the hard infiltrates your life like mosquitoes at dusk, he has selected you to rest and to fight in his strenth, not yours. His victory, not your. Christ did it all.
An Assignment
1. Which lie have you battled? Think about it. Ask God. Jot it down
2. What truth in the Bible shows the lie for what it is? Flip through the pages. Look in the concordance at the back. Google it.
3. Now decide to remember the truth each time you are tempted to believe the lie.
Tell me how it goes or if you need help or encouragement.
by Lucy | Jan 8, 2013 | biblical counseling, emotions
Imagine a slum on a landfill. Picture craftsmen fashioning musical instruments from trash. Hear music and hope.
Today I blog at BasicsMatters.com, where you can see my other posts “because life happens every day.”
The LandFill Harmonic makes music from the trash people dump.
In a landfill as big as hill.
A slum on a landfill called home to families who live off the trash.
The trash belongs in the landfill. The people don’t.
They are not trash.
You are not trash either.
Whatever nasty name a dad or mom or teacher or a commercial or a bully or jerk said to you, it’s a lie. You are treasure.
See the HOPE of the eyes of these beautiful, intelligent, uncomplaining kids, happy to make do with what they have. So unlike American kids. And adults. Like me. Like you?
Listen to this “butterfly” music, as one landfill girl says.
Do you feel the hope?
Landfill Harmonic movie teaser from Landfill Harmonic on Vimeo.
Question: What do you like best about the video? Please leave a comment. Thanks.
Hope to You!
by Lucy | Mar 18, 2010 | biblical counseling
Enter to Worship, Exit to Serve by Ronald K. Gray holds this treasure, among others:
“If a preacher preaches with gusto and says something loud enough and strong enough, some people will believe it. We base our lives upon feelology and not theology. People ask us today how we feel about something instead of what we believe about it.
“It has become rare for doctrine to be the greatest importance in our churces. Experience cannot take the place of doctrine.
“Scripture tells us that the truth sets us free. We need the truth today. What we believe will change our lives and the lives of others.
“The world says that it does not matter what a man believes so long as he does right. That is a lie. The Bible teaches us in Proverbs 14:12 that there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is death. It is imperative we know the truth.”
Truly, knowing and believing His truth is the only way to disentagle ourselves from lies we believes, lies that hold us captive to depression and fear, addictions and unwise choices.
This is an excerpt of an interview with the author:
What do you think is the most important chapter of the book? In over 35 years of full time ministry, I have never heard anyone else teach about porters. In Nehemiah 10:39 it lists porters between priest and singers. I thought that was very interesting and researched porters. It is basically a janitor. So between priests and porters are janitors. Servants that do the basics. People who do ordinary things to keep ministries going.
God wants servants. That is a concept that is lost in the big time world of church ministries today. Jesus came to serve. I believe that we can make a difference in our community, our neighborhoods, and our world if we are willing to lay our lives down to serve God.
What do you hope to accomplish with your book? I hope that ordinary believers will recognize they have something to offer. We can bring our monies and touch the nations. We can bring our gifts and see the power of God touch people and their needs. We can offer our fruit and not wait for the pastors or elders, but be instruments to bring life to those around us who are seeking a relevant relationship with Jesus.
The five-fold ministries of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher were never supposed to do everything in the church. The church is supposed to be equipped for ministry. Everyone should be able to proclaim the message and everyone should have praise for the God we serve. That should not happen just on Sunday mornings between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. We should be able to give God praise in our homes and throughout the week. I truly believe this can be the church’s finest hour.
Interested in obtaining this book? Go to www.RonaldGrayMinistries.org.
You Are Loved,
by Lucy | Dec 17, 2009 | biblical counseling |
Want to lose weight? Or keep it off during the holidays? Take a peek at a page in my new eBook Crush Your Food Idol Like an Oreo. Get the eBook at my webstore. Only $7 for a fast download. If you don’t like it, tell me. I’ll return your $7, no questions.
To stop ugly self-talk, you need to do three things: Recognize the lies, identify your triggers and replace them with something very, very good.
Recognizing the lies isn‘t as easy as it sounds. If you‘ve accepted them and repeated them to yourself, they may appear truthful.
Don‘t be duped. Line up what you say to yourself with God‘s truth.
A helpful Bible verse: “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.” (Philippians 4:8)
Another is, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful. I know that full well.” (Psalm 139: 14)
As an example, let‘s take a common lie women struggle with. “I‘m ugly.” Ask, Is this true according to God? Really think about it. Would God say, “Lucy, you are ugly. Eeeww.” Down deep you know he‘d never say this because God is love and all his works are wonderful. Including me. Including you.
Try it with another lie, such as “No one wants to be around me because I‘m overweight.” Would God agree? No. God is in you; clearly he wants to be near (Colossians 1:27). And consider Oprah. This mega-star has gone up and down in weight her whole life, and everyone wants to get on her show, be seen with her, watch her in person, share an elevator, anything.
You‘re probably thinking, “Well, I‘m no Oprah.” Bingo! You are uniquely the woman God made you: hair texture, eye color, height, general body shape, and skin tone, and God loves this about you. Even better, he loves you just as you are. And if he has put it in your heart to love yourself thin, you will succeed.
You Are Loved, Lucy
by Lucy | Aug 6, 2009 | emotions, whole health wellness |
“Fatso.”
“Chicken legs
.”
“You’re ugly.” “You’ll never be pretty.” “No one wants to be seen with you.”
“How can God even love you?”
You would never say these horrible things to a friend, even a stranger.
Chances are, you trash-talk yourself. Between your pierced ears, your mind entertains lies of your beauty and worth, or lack thereof. Satan tempts you to lie to yourself; sadly, unless you resist him, he’ll con you. You’ll believe the lies and tear yourself to pieces as a wolf rips apart sheep.
I know I have.
So have the women who’ve attended my Inside Out Beauty workshops. In fact I’ve never met a woman so comfortable in her skin that she accepts herself just as she is. Yet God accepts her. God accepts you.
At the workshop, I ask the question, What’s one thing you’d like to change about her body? Sadly, at my latest one, a woman wrote: “Everything.”
Everything?
I hurt for her. Chances are her eyes shone pretty, or her eyebrows had a nice arch, or her skin looked healthy or something, anything. I KNOW she trash-talked to herself. And I don’t know her name.
I want to hug her hard and tell her:
“You are precious just the way God made you. . .a pearl under pressure. . .but a pearl.
“Exquisite!”
You Are Blessed, Lucy
