It all starts with yourself. (Christian) Free Dating, Singles and Personals

It all starts with yourself. (Christian) Posted: 6/26/2009 9:36:54 AM
This will be extremely long, but I want to talk about struggle and deliverance. I want to talk about pain and distress. How to deal with distress. How to deal with distress. I look around today and see and hear so many hurtful stories. You're stressed financially, you may be stressed emotionally, domestically, when it comes to your important situation. Stressed. And when you look inward you will feel out of place, not where you're supposed to be. It is interesting because sometimes, God will place a calling on your life, and then he will put you through seasons of character formation. It is not very often that God will let you walk immediately in to what he has called you to possess. Seasons of formations, seasons of maturation, so that you can have the character to match your calling. The enemy knows you are on your way to somewhere, and they are scared of what resides IN you. What God has placed IN you and has been asleep. So one of the things the enemy tries to do during your journey of your character formation, on the way to the manifestation of your calling, what the enemy tries to do is to DISTRACT you from your destiny. He wants to distract you so you don't reach your full potential. The potential that God has already placed inside of you. One of the things the enemy does is cause you to BREAK -- YOUR -- FOCUS. Stick with me for just one minute. See, failure is NOTHING but BROKEN FOCUS. Your adversary, your adversary; that word adversary; the root word is avert. See, the enemy does not have to stop you from goin' where you're goin, all he has to do is avert you. Distract you, give you a detour. And failure is nothing more than allowing your focus, which should be fixed on your future to be broken and distracted by somebody who does not want you to walk in your destiny. So the question that begs for an answer is... what causes us to break or lose our focus? You all remember the story of Jesus and Peter walking on the water don't you? As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, as long as he kept his focus fixed. Instead of being distracted by the winds being boisterous, and the waves bein tossed, when peter is walking on that water. You will see 2 things that people do that cause them to break their focus. They begin to -think-, then they begin to -feel-. Let me see if I can help you. He began to THINK and he began to FEEL. He lost his focus because he was more focused on the STORM and what he FELT about the storm, and what he THOUGHT about the storm, than he was on Jesus who is the storm calmer. He made the mistake of becoming more moved by what he was thinking and what he was feeling than who he was trusting in. And when you become more MOVED by what you think and what you feel, as opposed to trusting in yourself, you will lose your focus and you will start to think and feel that everything in your life is about to fall apart. Because when you start to move based on what you think and what you feel it wont be too long until you start to sink. So what the enemy tries to do is he tries to make you THINK too much about your situation, he tries to make you FEEL too much about your situation, he tries to make you feel STRONGLY about something OTHER than Jesus Christ. Too many of us try to operate our lives based on our emotions, and we dictate and move on how we feel about our situation. We determine our next moves based on how we feel about our situations. If you're not careful you will THINK your way in to depression, and you can think yourself into feeling you are not on your way to where God is trying to take you.You see, Sometimes distractions are not the things that get in our way.. Sometimes WE are our own distractions! Because we spend too much time, thinkin about a thing, worryin about a thing, and then when we do that thing we become stagnant! we're not movin, all we're doin is thinkin, feelin, and worryin. That's why it's critical to keep your focus on Jesus. and Not on your problem, not what you think about your problem, not on how you feel about your problem, see thoughts and feelings will distract you in the BLINK of an eye. The enemy has a way of makin you think the OPPOSITE of what you SHOULD be doin. The enemy knows what God is tryin to do in your life so when God starts movin you somewhere, sometimes God will put you in situations where the fact of the situation suggests you can't move forward. So the enemy tries to distract you through what you think and what you feel. The enemy will never ever give up trying to make you trust your thoughts and feelings. That's why their first line of attack is not against your finances, it's not against your family, it is against your faith. Distressed because of some of the most powerful emotions one can ever have inside of them. In spite of how we feel, in spite of what we thinks, in spite of what we want, you can always encourage ourselves in the lord. God help me. Sometimes, you gotta LEARN how to take care of yourself. Sometimes you gotta LEARN how to pat yourself on the back. Sometimes you gotta take care of your OWN business. Because sometimes you can't find a good TV show, you can't find a good book to read, you can't find a girlfriend or boyfriend, sometimes you gotta learn how to do it -for your self-! Is there anybody in here who can say they have learned that I can do it for myself? Every every every now and then, when I'm at the moment of crisis, my future is too important to let me go by what I feel! So I gotta get in my closet, by myself, cut off my cell phone, cut off my lights, cut of the TV and get on my knees and I have to encourage myself in the lord. How many of you all know you gotta learn how to lift yourself up. How many of you all know you gotta learn how to encourage yourself. I dare you to tell your friends this is the last time Im gonna talk to you about my problem today, from this point on I gotta get myself together, I gotta handle my business. Say Self, everything gonna be alright, self, your marriage is gonna be allright, self, your money is gonna be allright. Say baby! you might have to cry, but its gonna be allright! baby! you might have some rough days but its going to be allright! People spend their whole lives takin care of other folk. So now God puts you in a position, where you dont have anybody lookin out for you. Because you gotta take care of yourself. And you dont need a man, you don't need a woman, you gotta take care of yourself. Because if you dont take care of yourself, you wont be good to nobody. You cant help SOMEBODY else until you first of all help your SELF. If You dont learn how to care of yourself what good are you gonna be to your children? What good are you gonna be to your wife? What good are you gonna be to your husband? What good are you gonna be on your job? Every now and then you gotta have enough good sense to say Dont call me for a few hours, because Im gonna get flat on my face and Im gonna get in the presence of the lord. Because im one step away from losin my mind. See, you gotta have a "do you moment", Some of you laugh, YES!! do you. You gotta LEARN how to do you. You gotta learn how to pray for you, you gotta learn how to sing for you, you gotta learn how to study for you, you gotta reach a point where you're no longer dependin on other folk cuz you gotta learn how to DO - IT - FOR YOUR - SELF!!! We got people who are so dependent on other people, we become addicted to other people and we drive ourselves crazy when we cant find them. Some of us in here the only reason you start to think and feel youre about to lose your mind is because you become so used to lettin somebody else to tell you what to think and do and when you cant find them you go crazy. God will orchestrate a moment in your life where you cant find a person or the thing that is the focus of your addiction, and he will -make you go cold turkey- so you can learn how to praise me for yourself. Say it, I'm losin my addiction to other people Im losin my addiction to other things, I dont need somebody to always be there, I dont need somebody to always hold my hand, sometimes I gotta hold my own hand, sometimes I gotta talk to my-self. Self, you look good today. Self, god sure put you together well, Self, what you gonna do today? I think im gonna work out today, I think im gonna take self to a movie, self, im gonna get some popcorn and a diet coke and when I get home I will say self? did we have a good time today? Sometimes you gotta be GOOD to your SELF. I know I know this may make some of you uncomfortable because you're addicted to other people, addicted to needin other things, addicted to always needin someone to tell you how to live. And you dont know how to live without that addiction. See, you need their supply to keep you high.. You n eed their supply to keep you encouraged. Sometimes...... You gotta get high off your own supply! Sometimes you gotta learn how to talk to your-self. How to council yourself, how to speak over yourself. Aint nobody lift you up like the lord. Cant nobody pick you up like the lord. Cant nobody restore ya like the lord. Cant nobody dry your tears like the lord, cant nobody give you joy like the lord, cant nobody lift up your head like the lord, cant nobody make a way out of no way like the lord. Everybodies out to get you, you're distressed. But you can shift your emotions. it's easy to be a prayer warrior in peaceful times. but it's in the furnace of affliction that shows a person what he or she is truly made of. For the scriptures state that if you feint in the day of adversity then your strength is weak. There can be no breakthroughs without battle, there can be no triumphs without tribulations. Your problems are your tickets to another level. You will get the character to match your calling, you will move to where God is trying to take you, you will be rewarded for all the hurt and pain you have ever felt because there is sunshine after -every- single storm.