Ruby for Women April

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Encouragement Then Correction

Encouragement Then Correction?

This seems backwards to me!

However this is how the Lord has been moving in my life lately. And I think I’m beginning to understand why.

I have had a growing desire to share my life and shout the victory to God.  I want to jump and shout – look what God has done in and through me!!  He set me free, He healed me and He gave me wisdom and revelation as I read His word and began having a relationship with Him.

We have had several people (some professional doctors) tell my husband and I we should be doing marriage seminars.

It is the desire of our heart to get God’s word out there, to show people how to use the Word of God to overcome, to find strength during the time of change, to have the peace that passes all understanding, and to know how much God loves them.

God wants us to follow His commands because He loves us not because he is some mean, angry God. Our Father knows what will harm us and what will bless us. He gave us His word for a reason and it wasn’t for it to sit on the coffee table or to open only on Sundays (that’s what I use to do, therefore no victory).

Proverbs 30:5-6  “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

So, if I’m going to share God with people, I need to know His word – not add to it nor take away from it.

Here is where some encouragement comes in for me. 

I have been growing and walking with the Lord, closely for about 5 years. My husband and I read the Word together and pray when we wake (before getting out of bed) and before turning out the lights for our evening rest. We pray over each other before we go places, we speak God’s word over each other. We have a walk with our Father in our marriage of ‘one’.  That is an amazing encouragement to me. We support each other through everything, be it our flesh or the enemy that comes against us.

Since we have been doing this we are hearing from the Lord more and more. There is a boldness rising up in me to share all the junk God has set me free from, there is a freedom from shame, there is a desire for the church as well as the unsaved to wake up and there is a desire for me to go higher Sometimes going higher means you have some cleaning up to do!

The encouragement has been coming from God, from people, from books and from sermons. Actually it is always coming from God (if I know His voice and don’t listen to the voice of a stranger). There again, you have to have that relationship with the Father so you can know His voice.

This encouragement has been in the form of blessings and I have felt overwhelmed to the point of tears on several occasions. I was at one point saying, “God no more, I’m swimming in blessings” and then I stopped and changed my mind!!!  “Don’t stop Lord, keep giving me blessings in abundance so I can give to others.” 

You see I heard the Lord tell me He loves to bless me because I recognize they are from Him. The Lord went on to say, “You are to share these blessings, they are not all yours to keep.”  I began to understand a little better why I was being overwhelmed with blessings.  And it changed my attitude to one of gratitude and joy.  I can’t help but smile, open the door for someone, and serve people.

Now in the midst of this encouragement and blessing from the Lord I’m also hearing and sharing with my husband what the Lord wants me to do.  I shared my discernment and he confirmed I have great discernment.  Here comes a correction through my husband from the Lord. “But even though you are right on with your discernment, you lack patience.”  Ouch! He is right.  He went on to say, “People know you have discernment and they receive it BUT there isn’t always an immediate response or change that will take place, it is a warning and you WAIT for the Lord’s leading, again know what His Word says.”

My husband is so wise!!  And that is another testimony because there was a time, wise or not, I would have been so hateful to him for saying this and would have shut him out for weeks.  I’ve been delivered and I have such a love for my husband and great respect that it gives me joy!

So now on this part of the journey things begin to come against me, against us because my husband and I are one.  And by ‘this part of the journey’ I don’t have one particular one in mind, there have been many, it’s just the Lord gave me revelation recently.   So, you begin to have things come against you that make you question if you heard from God.  Once again know His Word and don’t add to it or take it away.  As long as you speak God’s Word you know it’s the enemy because you’ve made someone uncomfortable.

I remember the days my flesh would scream when someone spoke God’s Word to me, they spoke truth about my situation (and still have that come against me sometimes, and even though I’m not where I need to be but thank God I’m not where I use to be-Joyce Meyer).

So to bring this all together, God gave me step by step direction on what I was to do and told me very clearly, stick with My Word, so I did. When the enemy comes against you he can’t stand against the Word of God.

So I knew what God wanted me to do in several instances, knew attacks would come, didn’t expect my doubt to come or to find I still had fear. But again this was all God preparing me for my next step. So I’m just amazed at how good I feel, how confident in Christ I am and how protected by my God and my husband I am. So I’m just swimming in the joy of the Lord and full of thanksgiving. Actually saying ‘thanks’ just didn’t seem to be enough for all He had, was and is doing in my life – but I couldn’t quit thanking Him and telling Him how much I love Him.

Then, oh no……..I begin to hear a few things here and there from the Lord that are not encouragement, they are warnings, they are showing me where I have not let God have every area of this temple He lives in. I begin to hear – when you pray are your motives right, do they match My Word? Or they are warnings for the future. God wants me to move out and speak and He is showing me things in my flesh that could get in the way. He is showing me there is still some fear and a wall begins to go up, He cannot work with a wall up.

I could tell you more but I think I’ve typed more than I planned already!

These warnings, these corrections, I’m actually beginning to see them as blessings now. Because God is advancing me and He wants me to share His power so these ‘things’ have to be out of me so He can move forward in my speaking, my blogging, in all I do.

I hope I’m more aware of His moving in my life now as I obey Him in my writing, speaking, serving, etc. Because I see how He gives me the joy of the Lord which is my strength and then as He comes in and shows me things to look at and to check in my spirit, there is more of an eagerness to make the changes, to repent and move forward in Him. You may ask, does it still hurt and my flesh cringe?  Yep, sometimes it is a struggle to admit there is something in me that is not of God. Praise God, my spirit overcomes my flesh because God lives in me and my desire is to serve Him!

I will speak the Word of God with boldness and love. I will not back down from His Truth. The Word does not change and God does not lie. But then I will also follow His leading as He is the one that will make the change in someone’s life. They have to go through what I have and recognize it, I can’t make them. But God, precious, wonderful, loving God will help them do the right thing, according to His Word, if they will just trust Him and move through those awful fleshly pains.

I can tell you, check yourself when you find yourself getting angry over the Word of God. I can guarantee you it’s your flesh warring against the Spirit. I’m tired of allowing my flesh to win – no more! I belong to God. I serve God. I believe God.

May God bless each one of you with His abundant joy, strength and peace, as you listen and obey His Word.  You will not regret it and it does get easier!

I am an overcomer in the name of Jesus and so are you!

Proud Of Me? You Bet Ya!

Proud Of Me? You Bet Ya!

You see the Lord has been dealing with me on my health situation. I have been doing better but I started using that as an excuse to eat this or that and some more of this. Really?!  I know better than that. I’m not improving my health and losing weight to celebrate with food and laziness. That’s going backward not forward.

One of the neat ways the Lord began to get my attention has been during the tithe at church. Yep, you heard right, the tithe messages at church.

You see our tithe messages have been on sewing up the holes in our bag and one of those holes are spending too much money at the grocery store on food we don’t really need and/or eating out more than we should.

As we advance in the tithe message we begin to see the sin of gluttony has been left out of many messages in the churches.  (for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.  Proverbs 23:21) Much like adultery, divorce, the Holy Spirit, baptism, and others truths of the Bible are being left out, after all people don’t want to hear that kind of truth they might quit coming to church or tithing. Okay that’s another blog so let me get back to ‘eating’ and my health.

In these tithe messages I began to see just how much food and flavor have control over me, more control than the Holy Spirit and that’s not a good thing. 

Then I began to see how lazy I had become and the excuses I had begun to use. 

It is too easy to fall into this pit when you don’t allow the Holy Spirit to help you. I started bringing junk food back in the house knowing I did not have good self-control and would eat it, sometimes all in one setting.

God is so good and I love the way He equips us to handle temptation. We just have to be listening and willing to obey – to trust Him for the strength.  So today the Lord spoke to my husband and me during our Bible reading and prayer time about our ‘addiction’ to food.  The Lord also spoke about our need for organization in our home. I have a confession here – the Lord has been dealing with me on this for 6 months if not longer – I have repented and that’s another blog story too  lol.

So with this information I bring it back to my blog title ‘Proud of Me? You Bet Ya’ …..

because chocolate chips cookies were calling out to me all night!

I had a meeting at church and the person having this meeting brought in pizza, potato chips and soda, and thankfully a vegetable plate; someone else brought in homemade chocolate chip cookies – did you hear what I said ‘homemade’ ! 

So my flesh was all up in this….you have to have at least one and I hear my mind already reasoning for a second and  a third because I knew if I had just one I’d eat several more. So I walked away. Okay, I walked up to it again and almost gave in the second time...almost but I didn't, I walked away again.

They had 6 or more pizzas and I did have 2 small slices – one was just cheese and the other pepperoni. But I did NOT have potato chips, soda or CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. That is why I’m proud of me. I remembered what my husband and I talked about this morning,  it was truly from God and I resisted the temptation to give in to the food that causes high blood pressure, high cholesterol and an oversized stomach So even though the pizza was not the best choice I only had 2 pieces, water to drink and several carrots and cucumber slices.

The neatest thing about all this – my husband and I heard from God this morning and with this confirmation I was able to turn away from overeating and the temptation of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t have to unbutton my pants or come home feeling tired and bloated. I gained strength from being in God’s Word, in prayer with my husband and then in our talking about what we heard from the Lord. How awesome is our God!

Be willing to make the change God is telling you to make.

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. Romans 12:2 Amplified

Are You Eager?

there's a couple places where the sound cuts out - I don't know what is wrong with my laptop, sorry - but you will get the message. God worked on me for weeks before I sat down and received what He had for me.
One of these days I will learn to listen, sit down and do it the first time!
Blessings

Pride

Yes I am very proud of Benjamin Mosier and my husband Rob Hammes !!

Why you ask......

Their first CD is on iTunes !!!!

I (Christena with Has Breath Publishing LLC), asked Benjamin Mosier how he came up with the lyrics for one of the songs on this CD.  'Come Let Your Fire Fall' and this is his reply: " The inspiration for "Come Let Your Fire Fall" came from meditating on the Life of Jesus. I was just thinking about His word and the Holy Spirit dropped those lyrics in my heart. For me that song is truly my hearts cry. I want God's love and power to explode out of me onto the world around me." Benjamin Mosier and this is what Rob Hammes (robhammessongwriter.com) added:  "Ben has never sung for anybody and was pretty nervous about showing me the song (with lyrics and melody) to me.  After some encouragement he sang the song into my computer, and we discovered a very natural sense of pitch and timing that even Ben didn't realize he has.  The astonishing thing was that in putting harmonies and chords to his melody, I found that the chorus was not in a "normal" time signature.  Since Ben kept singing it the same way every time he sang it, this must have been God's time, not Ben's.  While the rest of the song is in "four-four" time, the chorus uses a "six-four" time signature."  Rob Hammes http://www.reverbnation.com/robhammes Benjamin Mosier is the Youth Pastor and the drummer on the worship team at LIFE Church and Training Center in Indianapolis, IN Rob Hammes is guitarist on the worship team at LIFE Church and Training Center in Indianapolis, IN LIFE Church and Training Center

Pinning Pictures

Okay, anyone else out there addicted to 'Pinterest'?

It's a site where you can have a 'board' of favorite movies and then put pictures of these movies under that boards title.

You can have a 'board' for anything you want to title it.

Here's the link to my pin site

Christena's Pin Board

Leave your link in the 'comment' section of this blog and I will follow you.

A picture is worth a thousand words.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Something To Think About

February 14th Valentine's Day

Here is something to think about.

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:27-36

On this Valentine's Day, why don't you reach out in forgiveness and mercy to those that have hurt you. Someone you see as an 'enemy' leave them a special gift or card today. You don't have to sign your name, you can just put 'someone who wants to bless you' or 'Jesus - John 3:16'

Think outside the box and lift Jesus up on Valentine's Day!!  Give him the glory, honor and praise and watch what He will do in your life and the life of the person you are blessing in His name.