manipulation, seduction and deceit...

one of the curses of a woman is manipulation... we see it as a gift... it aids us in getting our way... the better you are at it... the more you get your way... but it turns out to be a stumbling block in the kingdom of God...

Jezebel's main sins were manipulation and seduction... now we all know what a horrid woman she was... we pray in the name of Jesus that we never have a spirit like hers... yet we all do... we all use these things to get people to do what we want... I think we are taught this as a very young girl and it just gets bigger and bigger...

so I think that I have given my will up to God... in all honesty... I want God's will.. not mine.. but I find that I get tired of waiting on God sometimes and I use these two tools to try to move things along... I am learning though that all they do is set you backwards...

when God tells you something is wrong for you... do not allow yourself to be confused by what someone else believes... trust what God said to you and stay away from it... sometimes we allow someone who is larger in christ than what we think we are... to tell us that something is not sin or that it isn't QUITE the way we heard it from God and we get led into sin... sin is sin is sin... we need to repent... which means to acknowledge to God that we have sinned and we are sorry and will do our best to stay away from the sin in the future... (praying fervently for His strength within us...) and then to stay away from the sin... turning from it... and that we will do our best to TRUST what God has said to us individually regardless of what someone else thinks about it...

this is the art of the enemy's deceit... see he knows the bible just like we do... better than some of us... and he will twist things that are not part of the big 10 and confuse us to think maybe it isn't wrong because of this or because of that... then we fall prey to it and later on God reminds us what He said from the very beginning... I think we are too hard on Eve... thinking that she messed up life for us till the end of time... yet we tend to make the same mistake she did... just in a different form...

Father in the name of Jesus... your Son.. the Risen Savior... I ask for the gift of wisdom... to be able to see situations from the eye of the mind of God... so that I will not be deceived... manipulated or confused... allow me to not use seduction and the ways of the world to try to obtain what is mine in the kingdom of God... remind me continually that You will bring Your will to pass with no conniving from me... amen.amen.amen.

death...

we seem to be as a people so afraid of death.. so hurt by it... I don't understand this.. when I was just a little girl... maybe 5 or 6 I remember asking Jesus couldn't I die so I could be with Him instead of here with the people I lived with.. but He didn't grant my request... I have never had fear of death...

I think death within us is a much greater thing to be afraid of yet we are rarely afraid of it... what about the death of your dreams... what about the death of your relationship with God... what about spiritual death...

I told someone this morning that in the past... I was afraid to walk into God's will for my life... now I am afraid to walk away from it... I have lived life where I brought death unto my own spirit... and if I walk away from God's plan... then I am walking into death of my own making... so I walk forward... and while I am afraid of His plan too... I know that I may die of a broken heart... but I will not die of a rebellious spirit as I would have in the past...

true love of God is manifested in obedience to His word... His will... His way...

true beauty

1 Peter 1Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. 3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

it is amazing to me the things that God will use to convict me to change... about 2 weeks ago a female came into the church with her dress about 2 inches from her 'hoo ha' and I was REALLY IRRITATED... I was irritated because I knew her intention... not so much about her dress...

this is not meant to condemn anyone... trust and believe... not so long ago I wore dresses just as short but as God is changing me... He has changed what I feel comfortable in... and if you are in relationship... He will do the same for you... no one needs to make you feel out of place or wrong just because they are not in the same place as you...

so yesterday... I am at church... and one of the ministers (a woman) had a cloth across her legs and it convicted me.. that I also have no business showing my knees either... while standing up the dress hits my knee but when I sit it rises... it seems I am so quick to see fault in someone else and then it turns out to be a fault I have too...

I went to the car and got a wrap from the car (wrinkled as could be) and put it across my own legs... I have determined to be submissive to the will of God and keep something across my knees also...

there was a time that I thought my beauty was in my appearance... I have found as my physical appearance is not as wonderful as it used to be... that the beauty that comes from within... comes from the Spirit... and it is ageless and timeless... that is what I need to be striving for...