W3 Believing GOD
Wow! What a night we had a Summer Shorts last night?! We watched a DVD from Beth Moore’s “Believing God” series. It was incredible. A definite must do Bible Study sometime in the future.
We learned that God wants to take us full circle into victory. The difference between Victory and Defeat is either Prevailing Belief or Prevailing Unbelief in HIM, based on Israel’s experience in the wilderness.
Beth asked us to define what our “reproach” was. You know, what is it that you have been or done in the past that you cannot seem to let go? What is it that you wear, like the scarlet letter, that shows you are unworthy of His love? Could it be Divorce, Victim, Shame, Mental Illness, Pregnant Outside of Marriage, Harlot, Fired?? Beth demonstrated that God tells us as believers to have a spiritual circumcision, the same way that the jews are to be circumcised to set themselves apart . Let God cut away the scarlet letter and begin to heal you. BELIEVE HIM, dear sister! He will redeem you. She says, “often a wounding precedes our full reception of God’s promises, but healing always follows.” Healing in this instance means to live, to ENJOY LIFE and REBUILD!
Oh, how God wants you to circumcise that which holds you back. Believe that:
1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do what God says I can do.
5. His Word is alive and active in me.
Believe Him, Sister. It just might change your life….
Sunshine
Anita said,
September 29, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Has anyone else been upset, distrubed or confused by the Beth Moore Bible study Believing God. I have ran into some difficulty. I am not sure what is going on inside of me but I don’t like it either. I need serious help to get back on track. Please somebody help me.
anita
womenwhoworship said,
September 30, 2007 at 8:03 am
I’m not doing “Believing God”. Are you doing this alone? Or do you mean the “Breaking Free” study. The “Breaking Free” study is meant to stir up the past so it can be dealt with in the healing light of God’s word. I know the first time that I did the study I found several things that I did not know were hindering me in my walk with God. Not only did I have past issues that I needed to let go of with the help of God but there was a monumental spiritual battle raging all around me the slopped over into my family. The pressure NOT to finish the study was incredible! Praise God however I stuck with it and now walk much more freely.
Lord God, you alone are God. There was no god formed before you nor will there be one after you. I pray today that you will help my sister Anita to focus on your word. Whatever schemes of the devil coming against her at this time to distract or hinder her, I bind by the atoning blood of your son Jesus. I believe your word Lord, in it you said, whatever we loose in heaven will be loosed, and whatever we bind on earth will be bound. I ask you to release your healing power in Anita’s life. Wash her with the cleasnsing water of your word. Amen
Love in Christ, Cat
Anita said,
September 30, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I thank you so much for the prayer. That raging spiritual battle I feel right now. I have been wanting to stop this study since week 6. We have had several drop out of it around that week. I have thought that my marriage was ending but I am believing God for a New Covenant. God did enable me to quit smoking. I also found out that as a baby I stopped breathing my uncle and grandmother took me to the hospital while my mother and 10 year old brother held the bible and prayed for me to be ok. I am glad people are still praying for me.
God bless,
Anita
womenwhoworship said,
October 1, 2007 at 10:39 am
Anita, when we last did “Breaking Free”, on week eight, we discussed betrayal. On the day of the discussion group, I found out that my husband had gone back to an old habit that he’d had victory over for many years. Because of the support I recieved from the women in my group I was able to confront my husband in a way that brought repentance and restoration, instead of condemnation.Today he is free of this habit. What Satan meant to destroy our marriage. God meant to set him free. God loves you passionately and will always use the challenges to mold us into the image of his son. Love in Christ, Cat
womenwhoworship said,
October 1, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Anita and Cat, and those in the internet world,
I am humbled by the way God uses our technological advances to admonish and love one another in Christ. As I am reading this post, it is obvious to me that this BLOG is one that women’s ministry in Adrian, Michigan of Crossroads Community Church (www.ilovemychurch.org) is using to reach their own members and help them with the things they are struggling with as we do our Bible studies. It seems to me that Anita stumbled upon this site and since we had wrote about the Believing God series, she felt compelled to reach out.
Anita, as a church, and as a administrator of this BLOG, we have not done the entire study of BELIEVING GOD. Some of us watched one segment of the video series in order to decide whether we as a church should offer it to our ladies. At this time we are currently doing the Breaking Free series. But, I am glad that you were able to come here to find refuge in what we have to offer. I am glad that Cat was able to pray for you dear sister, no matter where you are and how far away you are from us.
It is heavenly for me to see how far reaching this blog can be. Anita, I pray that you continue to find peace and comfort in Christ alone. Please know that we fight a battle with the demonic world daily as they try desperately for Christians to lose faith in the One who Restores. Sister, Let Him RESTORE YOU!! Read Ephesians 6:10-18 and put on the full armor of God so when the day of evil comes again and you feel like you are defeated and confused, the Holy Spirit will be there to guide you.
Praise the Name of the Lord for His faithfulness because He is good and his mercy endures forever. Anita, God is in favor of you. Be strong in Him.
Sunshine
Anita said,
October 2, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Sunshine,
Thank you so much for your kindness. This is the only place I could find that I could post something. I have been torrmented over the last 2 weeks and ended up at the Mental Health center and the hospital. I was so scared of God and everything else. That bible study takes you back over your life to dig things up and remember things. I would have rathered left them alone. I think that if we are forgiven for our past then let dead dogs lie. I am having to retreat from Bible reading right now and have all sorts of doctors lined up to see. I told my husband that I felt as though I was going to make God look bad. See I had been believeing God for a certian thing for over a year and this Bible study got me worked up, I was believeing God but then Satan came and people came and kicked my knee’s out from under me. It’s like I was in a bike wreck. now i am sitting wrapped in a blanket scared of everything and can’t do anything. I have to take nerve pills to sleep. People around me think I am crazy and I am starting to agree with them. My only hope is the scripture that God lead me too before all this happend. In Nehemiah where he tells his people to fight for their families.
He also showed me that I would have victory over this. Adrian Rodgers says the prayer that makes it to heaven is one that starts in heaven. I am believeing that my prayer did start in heaven. Cat I am so thankful for your testamony. That makes me feel really good. and gives me hope. I haven’t done breaking free but it sounds just like believeing God (seriously). Thank you for allowing to talk here this has been better than the doctors. I know that I am not alone.
God Bless you Both, I am asking God right now to give you both the desire of your hearts whatever it may be. Lord bless these people that I do not know but you do and I thank you Lord for them, thank you that they reached out to me someone they didn’t know and helped. Lord, I ask your very best blessing on them right now in Jesus Name I pray amen.
God Bless you,
Anita
womenwhoworship said,
October 2, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Anita,
In sadness I come to you. I am so saddened that one of God’s children is beaten down the way you are. Sister, Fear is not from God. I don’t know how many times in the Bible God tells his people to “Fear not, for I am with thee.” He reminds us that “with God, who can be against us?”
Yes, if we are forgiven of our sins and past, we should not dig it all back up, but we need to know what happened in order to prevent it from happening again. “For there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” God allows everything to happen and he allows it to happen for your good!! (Romans 8:28). He obviously has allowed for you to take this Bible Study for a good purpose for you. Maybe it is so that you can become a child of God. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?
Maybe it is so you can be free from demonic oppression… My thought is that the demonic world is working heavily against you.
Maybe it is so you can believe God in a new way. Sometimes it takes a complete break down in order to allow God to totally transform your life.
Sister, there is no way that you can make God look bad. He is always GOOD! And nothing we do as mere humans can change that.
I know it doesn’t seem to make sense now, and I realize that I do not know you or your history, but I know a God who loves you. He wants to see you restored by Him. He wants to see you Healed, He wants to see you totally reliant upon him.
Do you have any kind of Christian counseling where you live (It is at a place called the Christian Mission where I live and it is totally donation based)? Do you have a pastor or Bible Study Leader you can talk to? Can you reach out to those in your group who have been there before?
I wish I had all the answers for you. I wish I could write it all out here and heal your doubts and fears. But, as I have been here before, afraid of God and his judgments and every single move I made, I know the only place I found peace was in the arms of Jesus. The only time I ever felt like I was whole was when I was reading about his love for me….
A verse for you to meditate on, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” Psalm 34:18. Believe this one dear sister. He will save you!!!!!
Father, I pray that our sister, Anita, is fully healed of her fear and weariness. I pray that she hears your voice as clear as day and knows that you are God. I pray that you show her a glimpse of how you work all things together for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purpose(Rom. 8:28). I ask that you bless her and cause all her anxiety to be gone. Praise you Jesus that you have saved me when I was crushed in spirit and I ask that you save her in the same manner!! You are holy and we love you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Take care, sister,
Sunshine
womenwhoworship said,
October 3, 2007 at 9:59 am
Anita, it doesn’t matter where you are located, near or far from us, know that the body of Christ is praying for you. Sunshine is right about the “fear nots” in the word…. God repeated it 365 times! That’s enough for One A Day. You can look them up on http://www.bible.com
During a particularly difficult season in my life God gave me a scripture to stand on. I will repeat it here for you… Revelation 12 verses 10 and 11. I hope it ministers to you as well. Verse 11 is what I stood on, it was Christ’s blood that bought my everything.
10) Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers who accused them day and night has been hurled down.
11) They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink back from death.
Satan loves to accuse us of our past. He has been around a long time and knows not only our past sin, but our past genenration’s sin as well. Remember that no matter how strong he seems, he has been hurled down. If you go further into this passage you will see that he is filled with fury because he knows his time is short. Anytime we dare to draw closer to God he will oppose us. Especially if he thinks we will be a threat to him down the road. Which we all will be. God wants us in his word (2 Timothy 2:15) so we know God and are equipped to take a stand (Ephesians 6:10-15). My last thought for the mornign will be… So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10
You are loved!… Cat
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4
womenwhoworship said,
October 3, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Anita
I second what Sunshine and Cat have written! First, if you have invited Christ into your heart and life , you are sealed. You can’t be possessed by any other, you are His and His alone. God does not condemn, or belittle. His Word says perfect Love casts out all fear. He CAN and WILL work EVERYTHING for your good when you just give it over to Him. It doesn’t mean that He DID it to you, it just means that there is NOTHING that can separate you from God’s love & and there is nothing in your life that He cannot redeem for good for His purpose in your life if you allow Him to. Looking back at our pasts or searching our present heart condition is not meant to condemn us or others, or blame or shame! It is to help us recognize where we need (and long for) Christ to set us free! -or see where we have substituted people or things in our lives in the place where God should be. -Actually, he likes to keep us believing (or not believing) whatever lie shakes us to our very core. For many years I put my husband in the place that only God deserves to be. People will always let us down, even those who love us very much. But God cannot ever cease to be Who He is!
The TRUTH is as Cat said, that Christ has already defeated that enemy and the lie and won the victory over ANYTHING that does not line up with God’s Truth. We learned 2 weeks ago that Christ is the Prince of Peace. The peace that goes beyond all understanding. We get the benefit of that Peace when we submit to God’s authority in our lives. Because Who He is never changes and can always be trusted. He cannot lie, He loves us with an everlasting love, He forgives (and forgets) our sins as far as the east is from the west. He is Good , He is loving toward all He has made. His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts. He will NEVER leave us or forsake us. He knows how you were formed in your mother’s womb before you born, the number of hairs on your head and knows you better than you know yourself. And He longs for you to know Him for Who He really is. He delights in showing Himself and His power through us mere ‘jars of clay’ .
Sometimes the perceptions we have of others or the idea of what WE think they are like keep us from seeing and knowing them as they really are.
That’s how my relationship with God was for many years. I had certain ideas about God that were just not true! It undermined my ability to fully trust Him and I had fear.
I read a book called “God as He Longs for You to Know Him ” by Chip Ingrahm. It was a huge stepping stone for me, in my relationship with Him .
Dear God, take Anita into Your strong arms. Restore her peace, speak gently and softly to her heart and her spirit. Renew her strength, give her rest and sleep. Be her strong tower, her Shelter from this storm in her life. Sunshine, Cat and I pray in agreement and ask that you place a hedge of protection around her, restore her health in all areas–physically, emotionally and spiritually. We just ask that You work in this situation –that the lies would be bound and Your Truth would be loosed. Comfort her, bless her, help her to take her stand daily, putting all of her confidence and trust in You. Help her to recognize and exhange anything that is not Your Truth FOR Your Truth. Give her peace like a river that travels with her, holds her up and is always being replenshed as she navigates the twists, turns, and tight rocky places in life. Bring others around her that build her up and encourage her with Truth and Love.
Help her to keep her eyes and her focus on You. Open her spiritual eyes and give her a glimpse of Your Glory and Your love. Work in a mighty way in her life –in such a way that credit can go to no other–we love You and know that if we ask in faith, according to Your will that You will answer. We know that it is Your desire that Anita know You, believe You and experience Your prescence in a personal way. We ask in the name and power of our Savior and Lord, Jesus and thank You for this precious sister Anita.
Amen. Anita, You ARE loved! Deb
Anita said,
October 5, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Deb, how did you finally put God above your husband. I believe that is what I have done and now I am scared that God is very angry with me because of it. I didn’t mean to. I thought that I was doing what the Bible said and honoring my husband and submitting to him. I need God to show me his love in a mighty way. I know that he already has by allowing me to still have my husband and children but I need to feel that love that everyone talks about. I have asked Christ to live in my heart and to be my savior. But something just isn’t right.
Please help,
anta
womenwhoworship said,
October 5, 2007 at 11:16 pm
Anita
) Anita–Your Heavenly Father Loves You. Passionately. He knows your heart and your motives. The Bible says He pursues you, and sings over you. God gives us boundaries because He knows what is best for us. He hates sin because He knows what it does to us and our lives. It makes Him sad. All of our choices have consequences, but the Bible says that God takes no delight in ‘giving us what we deserve’ in fact it is just the opposite. He takes delight in giving us His Mercy and His Grace and His Forgiveness when we mess up. He says there is now NO condemnation to those who are in Christ. The enemy likes to keep us in bondage to lies by using shame to make us feel like we don’t measure up, or that God puts limits on His forgiveness - He made you unique and special and to have a relationship with you! Not to make you feel guilty or bad or unworthy, but to know Joy and Peace that passes understanding.
That is a good question. The way that I made that discovery was that I was looking for my husband and approval from others to fullfill in my life what only God can. That spot in my heart that is ‘God shaped” that isn’t fulfilled by anything else but Him and my relationship with Him. I learned that He is the only Source of the Unconditional love,& approval that I was looking for. I learned about ‘relationship’ not religion. and drawing boundaries within God’s boundaries (His commands in His Word, ) It started when I really started to pursue knowing Him through indepth Bible Study –when I did Breaking Free. I have struggled with a weight problem my whole life. I got my self image and worth all tangled up in the lies that our culture says about thiness. I always had faith that God loved me, and Christ died for me, but I always had it tied in to the thought if I just looked like ____ or weighed ___ that I would be happy and more acceptable for service to Him. I never felt or understood that unconditional love in the way I needed to or should have. I wanted it like you are wanting it. When I did that study, my eyes were finally opened to it–I learned that I am part of the Bride of Christ –and He sees me as beautiul –that started my process of ‘breaking free’.
We all fail in our daily walk because we aren’t perfect. Nobody but Christ has ever lived a pefect life. The biggest lie that keeps most of us living in fear or keeping us feeling far from God is that He is angry with us or ready to zap us for every infraction . That He is an angry, vengeful God that is just waiting to slap us down when we screw up and that we have to walk on eggshells always wondering if we are ‘going to get it’ That is the root of the first lie that Adam and Eve believed…the serpent said “Did God REALLY say ___” and then He twisted the truth into a lie that still sounded like truth and he made them question God’s character and motive toward them–that He would withold something good from them–.(and remember they walked with Him every day in the garden, according to Genesis–before they made the ‘bad choice’ (as we call it to our grandchildren
I am praying for you dear sister! To see and know God as He really is. Someone you run to knowing that He is on your side– If God is for you, who can be against you? Faith even the size of a mustard seed He will bless and use. and even though your faith may seem small to you at this point, He will grow it as you come to know Him for who He really is. Keep in touch! Love, In Christ, Deb
Anita said,
October 8, 2007 at 11:37 am
Cat, Sunshine and Deb,
Thank you all for your prayers and the advice. I am feeling much better and I did finish the Bible Study. It was very hard for me and I had gotten so out of balance. I am now taking a break. I am also able to rest now and not have so much stress. In our last lesson she said that God was not looking for our perfection or our performance and that was the best thing I could have heard. I had tried to wipe all the sin out of my life at one time and I realized that I can’t. On the today show this morning there was a man, who, for one year tried to live out the Bible and follow all the rules and he wrote a book about it. He said that he did not realize how much he sinned until he tried to up hold all the Bible contained. Thank God for Jesus. I am still praying though that God will forgive me for everything. I know that he will and I hope that you will continue to pray with me that God will keep the demonic away from me. That really causes me stress. Thank you again for all your help and prayers.
In Christ Love,
Anita
womenwhoworship said,
October 8, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Anita,
I’m glad to hear that you are doing better. I have been praying for you daily when I pray for my daughter*, Amber.
*we are her legal guardians.
Ephesians 2:8 and 9 say; For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. If we could do it all, Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die. God’s mercy toward us is new every morning. He knows we will sin and all he asks of us is that we would be willing to ask for his forgiveness. Anything done before Christ is gone, it’s been nailed to the cross of Christ. And though we are to work toward being more Christ-like everyday a sin-less* life is only obtainable because of the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Because of Jesus, we are clothed in his righteousness. When we try to do it ourselves, our righetousness is as filthy rags! Believe you are forgiven and start thanking God for his love and forgiveness. When you trip, quick repentance will keep you walking in freedom.
*Sin-less as opposed to sinless. Sin-less means we sin less than if we didn’t have the Holy Spirit guiding us.
The way to become more like Christ, is to continue to study God’s word and to pray, asking for his will to be done in our lives. Studying God’s word enlightens our minds to what God’s perfect will is. Prayer is dialouge with God. It releases God to work in our lives. By this, I mean that God never forces his will on us. He will respectfully leave us alone until we invite him to help.
Some people think prayer needs to be grand words but I don’t. I try to keep an attitude of prayer at all times. I’m always thanking God under my breath and talking to him in my mind about pretty much everything.
I often pray God’s word back to him. Say in the situation you are having with demonic torment, you could say, “Lord you have given me authority over all the power of the enemy” Luke 10: 19. By that power given me in Jesus Christ, I command any lying spirits away from my mind. Amen! And believe me, prayer like this works. We have just recently begun to come out of a long season of spiritual attack in this house as we fought to bring our daughter out of witchcraft. We still are battling for the souls of her friends also ensnared in wicca. The pressure on us has let up now that Amber truely desires to serve the Lord and is no longer dragging demons into the house every day. God is so awesome! He has not only made a way that we are saved, but he loans us his power to fight with. To God be the Glory!
I need to go. Love in Christ, Cat