We have the mind of Christ

We have the mind of Christ if we have believed and received Him as our savior.  So, we are able to discern the things of this world and we are able to discern the will of God.  If we have the mind of Christ, we have the ability to discern good and evil.  We should then choose that which is good and pleasing to God.   I have posted a lot of scripture to read.  I have also attached at the end a website to challenge each of us to pray.  I believe we need to pray for the Christians to humble themselves and pray.  To ask for forgiveness for the sins of our nation.  We need to rise up by falling on our knees before our God!

1 Corinthians 2 NIV

1 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Romans 12 NIV

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spirituala act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Discernment - 1. The act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment.
Discernment is a term used to describe the activity of determining the value of a certain subject or event. Typically, it is used to describe the activity of going past the mere perception of something, to making detailed judgments about that thing. As a virtue, a discerning individual is considered to possess wisdom, and be of good judgement; especially so with regard to subject matter often overlooked by others.

http://www.greatdanepro.com/Pray%20For%20America/index.htm

Pulling it all together

It all boils down to "Do you believe God or don't you?"  do we BELIEVE what He says?

What is the foundation of our faith/belief/trust - John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.   Look at Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." and vs 18 Jesus says "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

So if I believe in Jesus I am righteous Gen 15:6 and Gal 3:6 says that Abram/Abraham believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.       ( Look at what the serpent said to Eve:  Gen 3:1   Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"  He tempted her to NOT believe what God said)  So how do we know that Abraham believed God because he obeyed God.

So if we believe we are right with God and therefore saved.  No longer will we pay for our sin because Jesus paid for it.  Eph 2:8 ... by grace you have been saved, through faith...

So if we believe what God says, we will do what he says which is obedience.  Obedience is ACTION.    According to 1 John 5:10b ...Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. (No wonder God is so offended by our lack of belief)  But James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.  (don't just listen, DO IT!) 

So what is it we are to do?  We are to be the living word.  Living LOVE letters from God to the world.  We are to be transformed into the image of Christ.  Christ is the Word, he is the way, the truth and the life.  He is the bread of life, the cup of living water.  John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^{& 14}   &; 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  (therefore, Christ is the Wordof God.)

So if this is what we are to do, then we need the Word in us.  Ps 119:105 Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.  
Col 3:16a Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly...    Jeremiah 23:29 "Is not my Word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

According to the word we need to wear the full armor of God  Eph 6:11-17  11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

1 Pet 1:22-23 ; 2:1-2   22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere LOVE for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.    2: 1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,      (The world knows we believe and follow Christ by our LOVE for each other John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you LOVE one another.")

So how do we OBEY?    Luke 10:27 He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'LOVE your neighbor as yourself.'"  John 14:15 If you LOVE me, you WILL obey me.

John 14:3 Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you.  and Ephesians 2:21-22 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

So then we are to GO to the world.  Matthew 28:19-20  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing(immerse them) them in the name (of who they are) of the Father and of the Son (the WORD, truth, life, bread of life, cup of living water) and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. ...

And then it starts over again with the next and the next as they mature and grow up into the likeness of Christ. 

We are building the kingdom of God and becoming the bride of Christ.  We are getting ready for the groom.  We need more bricks for the building.   Each one of us gathering more stones as Christ, the chief cornerstone joins us together so we become ONE in unity.

He is preparing a PLACE.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him for the temple of god is holy, which temple you are," 1 Cor 3:16-17. "…For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people." 2 Cor 6:16

Psalm 139

Psalm 139 (New International Version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcXGq3IeImw&feature=related

1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.   ...  23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

The enemy came in like a flood

Isaiah 59:19 NKJV

So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

On Mother's Day this year, after an evening of ministering to a sister in Christ who had fallen to sin years ago and is living there, I awoke the following morning to a flood in my home.  I wrote about the flood in other posts.  However, a dear sister in Christ told me about the above scripture.  I just had to share it with you. 

You see years before when my fallen sister was walking with Christ, she had fallen to sin and my family spent time praying with her to be free.  That evening over a decade ago, I returned home to a flooded kitchen.  HMMM  wonder what that is all about?  Not really!  I know that where the Spirit of the Lord is busy, you will also see the enemy trying to come against it.  Although I didn't want to go thru a renovation and all the mess that comes with it.  If it means that a sister will be free on the other side, I find great encouragement in the flood.  Just like the flood brought destruction to my home, the renovation brought order and great beauty.   I look to the day when my sister in Christ is able to look back at the sin that brought destruction in her life and only be able to see the RENOVATION and beauty the Lord made from it.

I look up again at the scripture and where the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. 

Ready for the good guys to win this one!!!!!  Ready to see my sweet sister in Christ to be back up on her feet and walking hand in hand with her savior, her Christ!

One of my Favorite verses!!

Isaiah 40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.(KJV)

So the joy of the Lord is my strength, and if I wait on the Lord my strength will be renewed.  So I can DO for God all day and be exhausted.  OR I can wait and allow the Lord to DO thru me and I can run and not grow weary and walk and not faint.  HMMM  I choose to WAIT on the Lord!!!!!!!!!

• to wait -  look for, hope, expect, to wait or look eagerly for
• Lord - Jehovah = "the existing One" - the proper name of the one true God
• renew - to change, substitute, alter, change for better, renew, to show newness (of tree)
• strength - strength, power, might, human strength
• To mount up - ascend, rise to be lifted up, withdraw, be exalted, to take up, set up,  to be offered up, be carried away, to soar

So we eagerly look for the Lord and in doing that we will change for the better, and show newness in our strength.  We will be lifted up and carried away on wings like eagles in order to run and walk when needed without growing tired.  We will be able to do all that He needs us to do in His strength.  We can do all things thru Christ who strengthens us!!!!!

If you look at my last post, you will notice the continual flow.  We are filled up by the Lord in order to pour out in our walk/run.  But if we seek Him, He continues to fill us up over and over again.  This is right where the relationship is built with God by our faith in Jesus Christ in the power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Look at the eagle as it flies.  It does not continually flap it wings.  I opens it wings wide, flaps several times and catches the wind under its wings and SOARS!  The wind does the work. 

John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

As the eagle gets the wind under his wings he goes higher and higher.  The work for him is holding out his wings and trusting in the wind.

Warning: Construction Zone- Christian under Construction!?!

Looking back over past blogs, I noticed that I had written about having a sick computer and bible study which prevented me from writing here.  Well this has been one of those rides that go longer than you hope. 


I remember when I was a little girl and my family went to Six Flags over GA. for the 4th of July in 1976.  The 200th birthday celebration of the US.  We went to the final ride of the night at closing time.   We all rode the "mo mo monster" which spun around as a whole ride and then each individual bucket also spun.  Little did we know that the fellow controlling the ride was going to be flirting with some teen girls on the same ride.  This ride went on and on and on.   We all felt sick and some expressed that in manners not so decent to share here.  We ended the evening with a LONG ride home from the park to north AL.

The current events have given me flash backs to that event.  I have written regarding the "little flood" we had in our home.  Since then, construction has been ongoing in our house.  The house is a mound of dust and disorganization.  Items are difficult to find and we have had numerous workers in the house daily.   During the renovation and restoration, our family travelled to NC for a soccer tournament.  While there, I attempted to escape the cares that we left back at home.  However, on our 8 hour trip home less than an hour from home, a deer ran into the driver side of our car.  While we were all safe, and we were able to limp home at 9:30 at night, the damage to the car was pretty extensive.  I journeyed once again to the insurance agency to file yet another claim.  I found that many body shops are VERY backed up and it would be about a month before anyone would be able to get to my car.  While small, I was also dealing with issues with a DVD player in the car that has not worked properly for some time.  I discovered that the warranty was just BARELY out on it.  As if this were not enough for the time being, then my Internet connection stopped functioning properly.  In an effort to troubleshoot it, I went from Internet provider, to router company and back.  Each blaming the other and both blaming me.  So here I am up and running again.  I finally contacted a knowledgeable customer service person who immediately identified the issue, sent a competent technician and it was fixed in minutes.  It works better than ever now.  (the problem was a cable connection and a bad modem)


So here I sit today with a new tile floor in my dining room that replaced the damaged hardwoods.  The basement is coming along and looks 10 times better than it did.  The carpet will be installed by Friday and many things that we would not have done to this house for years is now going to be done because of the "little flood".  Am I happy about the flood?  NO!   Can I see how some good came from it?  YES!  


So all this to say, although we never desire trials and difficulties in our lives, much good can come from them when in the hands of the ONE trained and ready to renovate and restore our lives.


As I had mentioned in a previous blog, I spoke in Feb at a ladies gathering.  The topic was about maturing in Christ.  Although since then I have been overwhelmed with "STUFF", I plan to begin hashing out the topics that I discussed.  To begin with, I want to really look at the core scripture.  

•1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, … through the living and enduring word of God.

•2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander ... 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation

Break down --

You have purified yourselves (HOW)

By obeying the truth (the proof this is happening will be because)

You have sincere love for your brothers, (YOU) love one another deeply, from the heart.

By it you may grow up in your salvation

So we are to grow up in our salvation.  Some of the things to look at will be unity, being built up, getting dressed, being purified by obeying the truth in order to growing up.


Other scriptures to start off with will be from Eph. 4 and 1 Cor. 1:10 .

On the hills of the tornado and my own Little Flood

As I watched Beth Moore this morning on Life Today, I was overwhelmed with the following scripture that she shared on the hills of the Little Flood I had in my own life and the overwhelming destruction of the tornados in Alabama.

Ps 57:1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.2 I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills [his purpose] for me.

We are blessed when we REALIZE our need for Christ.  We always need Him but when we have trials or become aware of our own sin and short comings we begin to get a REAL glimpse of our need for CHRIST our SAVIOR our LORD.  The trial or sin is NOT a blessing, but the awareness of our need that drives us into the arms of our Lord is!!!!  That is when we receive the love and comfort of GOD!

Trials can bring revival of my soul and my spirit. 

I visited yesterday with folks up in Harvest where I use to live.  I spoke with victims and found stories of hope.  I had one lady tell me that she lost "stuff" (she had lost her HOME)  She said whatever was in her that didn't trust the Lord before, is GONE.  She was praising God.  She was counting her blessing.  She said that there were so many silver linings in this tragedy that she can hardly even see the storm any more.  Can you believe that?  God is real!!!! The stories are such blessings in the midst of such suffering and trials.  The stories of hope, love, trust and renewal.  The overwhelming outpouring of the body of Christ to those in need has been proclaimed OVER AND OVER with everyone I speak to.  Allow this to renew your strength today.  I know it did mine.

Wonderfully timely devotion sent from my sweet Mother-in-law

Sinner or saint, we all fall to worry at one time or the other. I Peter 5:7; Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." Well as Christians, that is pretty easy to understand but as humans, it is a little more difficult. The many cares of the world can quickly overwhelm us and make us think we have to do it all ourselves. We read in Mark 4; "The worries of this life come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful." As Christians, haven't we given our lives to Jesus; the One who is over all Heaven and earth? Matthew 11:28-29; "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Psalm 55:22; "Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall." This sounds so easy, but from an earthly prospective it is hard just to let go of a problem. We all feel we have failed and fallen at some time. But in a Heavenly prospective, in the eyes and hands of God, we may have failed but certainly not fallen from His grace. Romans 8:28; "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Worry can take away our positive thoughts and leave nothing but negative thoughts. We all feel the need to be in control and this makes it hard to turn everything over to God. Well, be in control; just be in control not of the situation, give that to God, but be in control of the negative thoughts. Say, This is God's will and I am God's child! Don't dwell on it, accept it as God's will and a part of His plan for your life. Trust God. It takes humility and that all important ingredient.....Faith.

God can take care of it much better than you or I.

Isaiah 24

The LORD's Devastation of the Earth

1 See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants--NIV

1 Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface And scatters abroad its inhabitants.   NKJV

I was doing an online study with Kay Arthur and chapter 24 of Isaiah was what I was studying the day before the MASSIVE outbreak of tornadoes occurred in Alabama.  I have been struggling with and wrestling with what happened.  Then yesterday, I awoke to my own LITTLE flood.  The kitchen, dining room (both a little over a year old in renovation) and our downstrairs was flooded.  A line to the dishwasher broke loose and we slept right through it.

So in my quiet time with the Lord today, I began to remember a prayer I recently prayed regarding my relationship with Him.  I had felt as if the busyness of life had hindered my time and my walk with Him.  I wanted to be closer to Him.  And THEN the flood.  Yesterday amidst the cleanup and MOUNDS of laundry, I took a break to go see several clients at the fitness center to train, followed by a quick lunch.  While I waited in line at Firehouse Subs, two ladies were being asked in front of me if they wanted to round up their total to give to the tornado victims.  The daughter said you are asking the wrong person.  She just lost her home.  I immediately interrupted the conversation and asked where her house was.  And in common fashion for me, I ended up with a full blown conversation right there in front of the lady waiting patiently to take my order. 

So here is the story I was told.  The lady told me she lived in Anderson Hills.  I told her that I had lived in Harvest (where this subdivision is) back in 95 when the same subdivision was hit.  She said she too had lived thru that tornado as well, but her house was destroyed in that tornado then as well.  My heart was so overwhelmed with compassion yet she was such a blessing to me.  She talked of the goodness of God and said how often does someone GET TO START OVER at 70.   She began to count all the blessing and how good everyone had been in helping her.   I can't tell you how small my LITTLE flood was at that moment.  I asked her for her, her husband, her dog and her daughter's name so I could pray for them regularly.  I saw God's glory in HER amidst great trial.

So as I prayed this morning and as I surveyed the damage of my own home, first I thanked God for my home.  I thank Him that I get to RETHINK my home.  But then as I prayed I began to cry.  I was reminded of my earlier prayer and thought why is it trials draw us closer to Him.  Why is it His glory is so much more obvious in us during the trials.  I began to see the fall in the garden all over again.  It seems in the back drop of the garden we don't full appreciate the wonder, the magnificents of God.  It appears that human nature draws much closer to God in the midst of the storm.  We seem to become more intimate with God and we seem to KNOW Him so much better in the storms of life.

So then, my question is why is it when we pray for our loved ones, we inevidably always pray for the lack of challenge, adversity and pain?  It still doesn't mean that I am praying for hardship on my loved ones, it just means I am pondering this matter and human nature in general.  I want to be close to my Lord in the good times as well as the bad.  I want to fully bask in His glory at all times.  I want to learn to grow in the good times and cling to Him in the absence of adversity.

I sure do LOVE my Lord!

Amen!

Calling all to pray

Today will be short and sweet and to the point.  I am calling you to pray.  Pray for the nation, pray for the church, pray for the individuals in your life and pray for God's spirit to be full in you.  Pray that you will have a growing desire for His word.  Pray that you will allow the word to grow richly in you.  Pray that others will be able to see Christ's reflection in you, and that your life will bring glory (attention to) God.  So that by it, they will want to know Him.  Be blessed today and know that the power of God we have available to us is not at our finger tips, but rather it is just beneath your bended knees.  So for today, GO AND PRAY!!!!!!

This was from Life Today

Disarming Deception


by Beth Moore



Deception is the glue that holds every stronghold together. Let’s reflect on this concept: nothing is bigger or more powerful than God; therefore, anything other than Jesus Christ mastering the Christian’s life can keep its grip only through pretension and deception. Remember, Satan is the father of lies.1 No truth is in him. However, his specialty is twisting a lie until it seems true. The list of lies we often believe when we are held in a stronghold can be unlimited. Consider just a few examples:

I can never be victorious over this compulsion. I’ve had it too long.

I can’t help the mess I'm in. I'm caught, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

It may be a stronghold, but I really need it to get by.

I am absolutely worthless nothing but a failure.

I'm in control here. This is not controlling me.

This isn’t doing me any harm. I can handle it.

I’ll know just when to stop.

After all I’ve been through, I deserve this.

There’s nothing wrong with this relationship. People just don’t understand us.

Everyone thinks these kinds of thoughts most of the time. I'm only human.

God may work for other people, but He doesn’t work for me.

I’ll just have to wait until heaven to get over this. Real victory isn’t possible on earth.

God can’t possibly fill the void in my life. I need something more.

I am too emotionally handicapped to ever be OK.

It’s hopeless. I'm hopeless.



Sometimes we’re very aware of tolerating or even fueling a lie. Other times, we are caught in such a web that we can no longer see ourselves or our situations accurately. It’s not always clear when we’re being deceived, but one sure sign is when we begin to deceive. All you have to do to locate Satan in any situation is look for the lie. How do we recognize a lie? Anything we believe or act on that is contrary to what the truth of God’s Word says about us is a lie. Second Corinthians 4:2 tells us how to respond to such things: “Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God.” This passage helps us identify four of Satan’s specialties that must be renounced and rejected by the believer in order for him/her to walk in victory: secrecy, shame, deception, and distortion of Scripture.



As you consider each one, you can readily imagine how deception permeates all four and how interrelated they are. Satan’s plans toward the believer are always the antithesis of God’s. Our Redeemer wants to loose us from the closets of secrecy and bring us to a spacious place of joy, freedom, authenticity, and transparency. Satan wants to keep us bound in secrecy where he can weigh us down in guilt, misery, and shame. Oh, beloved, I know from experience that so much of the shame we experience is wrapped up in the secret. In fact, the enemy knows that once we expose the secret places of our lives to the light of God’s Word, we’re on our way to freedom.



I'm not suggesting that the only way to be free is to stand up before our congregations and tell every detail of every sin we’ve ever committed or considered. The King James Version translates James 5:16 far more accurately than several other versions: “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed” (emphasis mine). Some of the other translations say, “Confess your sins to each other…” (emphasis mine). The original word translated “faults” in the KJV and “sins” in the NIV is paraptoma, which means “fault, lapse, error, mistake, wrongdoing.” Contrast 1 John 1:9 where we are told, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” The original word for “sin” in this verse is hamartia, meaning any way in which we miss the mark and any “aberration from the truth.” James 5:16 refers to the confessions we make to others, while 1 John 1:9 refers to the confessions we make to God. Please notice the slight contrast between sharing our faults, weaknesses, and mistakes with others and confessing every detail of every sin to God.



If we’re going to live in freedom, we have no choice but to renounce every single secret place of sin in our lives to God, exposing even the smallest detail to the light of God’s Word. This is the means by which God injects truth in the inner parts.2 I have also found incalculable help and freedom in confessing details of my past sins and strongholds to a few other trustworthy, mature believers for the sake of accountability. There are a couple of people I really trust who basically know every detail of my life.



Living a consistently victorious life takes courage! But this courage leads to a glorious, indescribable liberty! What relief awaits you if you really decide to let God’s truth set you free…then keep you free. Be willing to ask God on a regular basis if you are overlooking or denying a stronghold in your life. Because of my past track record, I’ve had to learn to dialog openly with God about areas of my life that are at risk: areas where I’ve been defeated before or circumstances that suddenly result in anger or insecurity. I also ask Him to help me discern the very first signs of Satan’s deceptions in my life.



Let’s reiterate, however, that the most effective way to veer from deception is to walk in truth. Third John 4 says, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” The wonderful news is: the joy that results from your walk in truth won’t just be God’s. It will be yours, too. As Christ said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”



1 John 8:44

2 Psalm 51:6



Adapted from Praying God's Word: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds by Beth Moore, © 2000 by Beth Moore, Broadman & Holman Publishers.