Healing Oil

Have you ever faced the same trial over and over again? Have you found yourself in the same scenario...that same scenario you promised yourself you would never return to? Do you have a health issue that is leaving you discouraged? Have you recently lost a loved one? Did someone walk away from you and leave you feeling abandoned? Have you found yourself scraping your pennies up in hopes to buy just a little food? Do you struggle making ends meet? Have you done something that has left you feeling guilty and unwilling to forgive yourself? Do you need to forgive someone else? Are there memories that haunt you and strike up fear and anxiety in your life when remembered? Do you live with shame?

Over the past several years I have struggled with my health. In just the past two years it has become worse and I have had a couple close calls. Sometimes I allow myself to go into these seasons of darkness where I am discouraged and frustrated. I just want to feel better. I just want things to be normal. I become so consumed with my emotions and feelings. There are times I am just angry with God, not understanding why He won't just fix me. Not only have I struggled with my health over the past few several years, I have also struggled with depression. My emotions and feelings have taken precedence far too many times in my life. I have allowed those negative feelings and emotions to dictate what direction my attitude goes that day. It's a very dangerous and slippery slope. Just about a month ago, I found myself in a very dark place. It is a familiar place, as I have been in this pit before. It's a recurring season...just when I think it's been beaten, it comes back with a vengeance. I find myself again very frustrated and sometimes flat out annoyed with God. I just throw my hands up and think, "What's the use? I give up!"

Tonight I decided to open my bible (the actual Bible, not on my handheld device or iPhone)...I was unsure of where I would go...all I did was just ask God to speak to me. I opened my Bible to Jeremiah 29:11, a verse I am very familiar with and one that I love. After I read that familiar verse, I began thumbing through Jeremiah looking at the titles of the chapters and came across Jeremiah 30. Above the chapter number it reads, "Promises of Deliverance". I begin scanning the verses in this particular chapter, trying to allow God to lead me. I got to verse 17 and it says this,

"'I will give you back your health and heal your wounds', says the Lord." 

At the very time I read that passage, a song started playing on my computer on my Kim Walker Pandora station...I kid you not, it was "Healing Oil". Coincidence? I think not. God got my attention. I then immediately looked up the lyrics to this song and this is what it says...

"I could feel Your healing oil, running down my brow
  I wouldn't trade another lifetime for how I feel right now
  In Your presence Jesus
  You healed me, God, You healed me yea
  You healed me yea
  You healed me yea, oh I could feel it"
 It gave me goosebumps. Not only did God speak to me in His Word...He topped it off by then playing a song that confirmed it! I love how He knows each of us so intricately that He knew how to grab my attention! The verse not only says that He will give me my health...He also says that He will heal my wounds!!! Physical and Emotional! Wow! In Jesus' presence I will find my healing. Do I know what it will look like/ feel like? No...all I know is that I must trust Him completely with it all. I have to have faith.

There are many times that the enemy tries to convince me that I do not have a purpose. There are times, many times actually, that the enemy succeeds in convincing me that I am worthless...that I will never amount to anything...that I might as well just give up because God has given up on me. All of these things are lies...HATEFUL lies. God promises this in Jeremiah 30:16,

"But all who devour you will be devoured, and all your enemies will be sent into exile. All who plunder you will be plundered, and all who attack you will be attacked."

Not only will God give me my health and heal my wounds...He promises to put the enemy in his place!! God is giving me the victory! Amazing. It's time I fight back against the enemy and cry out Jesus' name...make him flee by just the sound of Jesus' name. Jesus!!! I am thankful for God's gentle reminders...and well, honestly, I need to learn to thank Him for the not-so-gentle reminders. Ultimately God allows these hard times in my life for one reason and one reason only...to draw me nearer to Him...to trust ONLY in Him...to realize that I have nothing else BUT Him!

Be encouraged friend. Understand that the trial is a tool. The trial has been set in place in order to grow our faith and ultimately usher us into the presence of God - IF we allow the trial to do just that. You are loved. God loves you so much. He is the Lifter of our heads. Stand tall, seek God's face, and enjoy His precious presence.

Quiet the Riot #operationfightback

I was given one of the most thoughtful going away presents recently. It is a book called "Crash the Chatterbox" that was written by Steven Furtick. The book confronts this inner dialogue that we constantly have with ourselves each and every day. From the time I wake up in the morning until the moment I fall asleep at night, I have thousands of thoughts racing through my head. Most of these thoughts are harmful, non-productive, negative, self-loathing, unnecessary, bold-faced lies. These thoughts have had free reign of my mind...allowed to skip through the fields of my brain and plant their untrue message wherever they would like. This place is called the battlefield of our mind. It's quite clear why it is described as a battlefield. Every single day, every minute, every second, goodness...every milli-second is either bombarded with truth or bombarded with lies. It all depends on our Walk and our time in the Word. It all depends on our relationship with Christ and how much we trust Him and allow Him to influence our every step.

The title of my post "Quiet the Riot" comes from Steven Furtick's book...and yes, that describes my thought life...a RIOT. There are moments of confidence in Christ and moments of knowing that I am His and that He has got my back. There are moments of faith, hope, and love. There are many more moments, however, when I am convinced that I am nothing...unworthy of love...that I am not liked or cared about...that I have nothing to offer. Those are the not-so-pretty moments that start the RIOT in my mind. It's like my thought life could be compared to the scene of a full-fledged water balloon fight that has commenced with 100 third graders running all over the fields of my mind trying to hit the other with a balloon that is filled with negativity, hatefulness, anger, insecurity, frustration, rejection, hurt, grief...the list could go on and on. Each thought hitting its target and bursting and soaking its harmful contents into my consciousness. Those 100 third graders (my raging thoughts) very rarely have anything good inside their balloon...and even if they were positive, there is a negative-filled balloon right behind it ready to burst and cover up any remains of positivity.

The more and more I struggle...the more I give in to my thoughts and "feelings"...the more I allow this unruly balloon fight to happen in my head...the more I become who I was never meant to be. We are called to fight back in this mental war. I can no longer allow my thoughts to determine my destiny. It's just like the Bible says in Ephesians 6:12 NLT, "For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against the mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." This battle is REAL. This battle will and can completely destroy us if we don't begin to fight back with the tools and resources that God has so graciously given to us. We can be encouraged to know that we can and will have victory. The Bible also says in Romans 8:37 NLT, "No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us." There is only ONE way to experience this overwhelming victory that the Bible speaks of...THROUGH CHRIST. Not through self-help books, texting a friend, seeking out ways to escape...only through Christ can we have the victory. Don't misunderstand me, God provides other great sources to encourage us in our walk with Him, but He NEVER wants those resources to trump the Only Source...Jesus!

It is time we start taking back the land of our mind. It is time we allow our minds to be renewed and refreshed and refocused on exactly what God has purposed for our lives. It is going to take time and a lot of discipline to force ourselves to stop thinking about that person who has hurt us, how we don't feel pretty (or handsome) enough, how we wonder if they even know we exist...and start thinking on that which is TRUE. Just like the Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8 NLT, "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."

About a year ago I started using this hashtag...#operationfightback. It's time I start using it again...and maybe you could also use it when you have found a way to effectively fight back against the powers of this world and against the "balloon fight" that goes on in your own mind. You could share verses that have encouraged you along the way. I can attest to the fact that when other people share their stories and their hearts, it encourages the soul of the person who is struggling and hurting! Iron sharpens Iron...we are in this together! Let's start fighting back!

Crying Out and Up

"Listen to my prayer, O God. Do not ignore my cry for help! Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles. My enemies shout at me, making loud and wicked threats. They bring me trouble on me and angrily hunt me down. My heart pounds in my chest. The terror of death assaults me. Fear and trembling overwhelm me, and I can't stop shaking. Oh, that I had wings like a dove; then I would fly away and rest! I would fly far away to the quiet of the wilderness."

~Psalm 55:1-7

David was such a complex person. He did a lot of good and a lot of bad in his life, yet no matter what he was called "A man after God's own heart". He was loved by God - unconditionally. God's love never waivered. David was a musician. If you are a musician also, you will know that we are a different breed of people. We tend to operate on the creative side of our brain. We tend to be more emotional and sensitive. (This is not a blanket statement. Not every musician or creative person is sensitive and emotional) Generally, a musician goes by the beat of his own drum and some musicians would define themselves as having a "free spirit".

I can identify with David on so many levels. When I read through the Psalms, I can empathize with the feelings that David so openly and honestly conveyed. He was "REAL". It is hard to come across people who are willing to be brutally honest and real with what they are feeling or what they are going through. Sometimes the fear of what other people will think hinders a person from truly showing who they really are. That is when the facade starts. That is when the pretending begins. The healing process doesn't begin until the mask of denial is unveiled and destroyed.

"Everything is falling apart;" ~Psalm 55:11a

Have you ever lost your hope? Have you ever just sat down in the middle of your crisis and given up? Have you ever felt like everything is falling apart?

Welcome to life, my friend. Goodness, life is so difficult sometimes. We live in a society that promotes the comforts of convenience, instant gratification, and multiple ways to numb or mask any type of pain we may be feeling. We almost feel entitled to a stress-free life and when it isn't stress-free, well...we panic. The fact is, God never once told us that our lives would be stress-free or easy. What God did tell us is that He is our Everything, our Healer, our Comfort, our Instant Gratification, our Restorer, our Uplifter, our Rock, our Fortress, our Shield, our Father; He is to be the One and only One.

If you haven't ever read through Psalm 18, I really encourage you to do it. It is one of my favorite passages of Scripture because it exemplifies God's love as our Father and to what lengths He will go to in order to protect us. It is a passage of ACTION.

First off, David begins the chapter acknowledging everything that God is:

" I love you, O Lord, my strength.

2  The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

3  I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,

and I am saved from my enemies."

David then begins to express the anguish and fear that he is experiencing. He is being REAL. He is scared, afraid for his life, and feeling as if he will be overwhelmed by his enemies...mentioning "the cords of death", "the torrents of destruction", "the snares of death"...these are all his fears that he is expressing freely and openly. No masks. Just real.

Then David does the most important thing he could do...

"In my distress I called upon the Lord;

to my God I cried for help."

What happens next gives me the chills EVERY SINGLE TIME I read this passage of Scripture. I become overwhelmed with how much God loves us...to what lengths He will go to protect the very ones He has formed and created in His image.

"From his temple he heard my voice,

and my cry to him reached his ears."

Ok, this part of the verse alone is mind-blowing in itself. God hears our voice from His temple...God's ears hear our cry...He knows the very sound of our voice! Wow! And once He hears our cry, He goes into action. Watch what happens next,

"Then the earth reeled and rocked;

the foundations also of the mountains trembled

and quaked, because he was angry.

8  Smoke went up from his nostrils,

and devouring fire from his mouth;

glowing coals flamed forth from him.

9  He bowed the heavens and came down;

thick darkness was under his feet.

10  He rode on a cherub and flew;

he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.

11  He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,

thick clouds dark with water.

12  Out of the brightness before him

hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

13  The Lord also thundered in the heavens,

and the Most High uttered his voice,

hailstones and coals of fire.

14  And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;

he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.

15  Then the channels of the sea were seen,

and the foundations of the world were laid bare

at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils."

WOW! God is a Mighty God! He is the God of action. He loves us so much that He would go to those lengths just to rescue us out of the mire; the sinking sand. It absolutely blows me away! And as a result of God's mighty acts,

"He sent from on high, he took me;

he drew me out of many waters.

17  He rescued me from my strong enemy

and from those who hated me,

for they were too mighty for me.

18  They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

but the Lord was my support.

19  He brought me out into a broad place;

he rescued me, because he delighted in me."

Psalm 18:1-19 ESV

There is so much more from this chapter left to share, but I will save it for another time. I just want to emphasize to those who may be hurting or completely overwhelmed today that God does hear you. He hears your very voice; the sound of your cries; the urgency of your pain. He wants to rescue you today and show you His love for you. All it takes is action. Call unto God and ask Him for help. Watch what God can do.