Relationships and the spirit of infirmity

Hey there BCU Family!

As usual, you have the option of listening to our podcast (click the BCU avatar below to listen), reading the notes or BOTH. In any case, we pray the podcast blesses you. If so, please thumbs up or leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy your study!

Many years ago, while talking about relationships, a good friend of mine, Sara said:

“…one thing you DO NOT want to do is get into a relationship with low self-esteem. You will begin to question your boyfriend/husband’s faithfulness, his truthfulness [about being beautiful], and your negative thoughts become power and that power consumes you making you feel like the ugliest being on the planet and that makes you feel alone even when you are coupled.”

WOW!!!!! POWERFUL statement, right? You know, it’s my opinion that as children of God, while many of us are Holy-Ghost filled, we may not be whole in certain areas. Allow me to explain in the following story, shared with permission, *names changed and details to protect the identity of the couple.

*Lea was friends with *Mike for a few years before they decided they liked each other. Lea was saved, in school, working and loving life. Mike was also saved, educated, hard-working guy. They dated for awhile–all giddy with excitement about marriage, kids and maybe even a dog :-). But, they didn’t make it. And it wasn’t all HIS fault.

While Lea was Holy-Ghost filled, she was NOT healed from the hurts from her past relationships– that manifested itself in various ways. For example, Lea had ZERO interest in sports, but would “muster up” excitement while watching ESPN with Mike. Hey, she hadn’t had a date in years and didn’t want to mess this up. When Mike cancelled their dates at the last minute for frivolous reasons, Lea was upset, but rather than talk about it, she pretended she was ok. After all, she didn’t want to seem like a nag and wanted to prove she was Christ-like and able to forgive. She even lied to him about how far she went with past boyfriends so he’d stay interested in her. In short, Lea’s self-esteem was so low, she felt she had to be a certain way in order to keep him around and interested. It was tiring for Lea to keep pretending, but it was the only way she knew to operate so he’d stick around. Eventually one thing led to another as the truth, motives, accusations and distrust came in and the relationship ended.

Lea, (like many other women–and men, too) was so battle-weary from past rejections, hurts, self-doubt, watching friends get boyfriends/married, etc., that when this guy came along, she allowed the whispers of doubt and fear from the enemy to control her thoughts and actions. This is where she needed to allow the Lord to come in and heal her heart.

This reminds me of the woman with the spirit of infirmity found in Luke 13:11-13.

11 And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

For Lea, every rejection, negative comment, the tormenting voices–all that pain began to pile up and weigh her down to a point where she could not lift herself up, like many of us. But just as Jesus saw and called the woman to be loosed from her infirmity, He is calling to us to be healed as well!

Facing up to the things that hurt us is difficult and painful. But so is carrying it around! Jesus NEVER intended for us to be burdened down with pain at all! In fact, Matthew 11:28-30 says,

28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Jesus is calling to us to be made whole in all the areas of our lives, for His glory foremost, and especially if we want to attract whole people! And this goes for all relationships–not just potential mates. Think about how Jesus wants to us exchange our burdens for His light yoke, our heavy for His light, our pain for His healing. It’s an uneven exchange that works for our benefit. All we have to do is take it to Jesus and leave it there. That’s it!

What about you? Are you bowed down with emotional pain, mental torment, decisions you made in the past that you have to face everyday? Today, ask God in faith to lift you up from all areas you are bowed down in, bless you to be confident through Him, and replace the areas of fear with His perfect love (I John 4:18). Take comfort in knowing that it is His pleasure to heal you and then walk upright and see the “whole” bright future God has for you! How do I know any of this is true? God has done these same things for me!

What has your Luke 13 or Matthew 11 experience been? What’s resonated with you in the post? Please leave us a comment in the section below the post, so we can continue our conversation.

In the meantime, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, and  YouTube! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and Apple podcasts!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

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Day 4 and beyond…

 Hey 👋🏾 there BCU Family!

Typically, you have the option of listening to our podcast, reading the notes or both. For this post, because of the conversational story, please tune into the podcast recording and refer to the written post for the highlights and corresponding Scriptures. We pray the post blesses and encourages you. If so, please thumbs up AND leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy the post!

Many of us just celebrated the triumphant resurrection of Jesus Christ–you know, the recitations (that’s what we called the “Easter” speeches back in my day), the songs, skits, plays and preached word proclaiming the victory now have because Jesus rose, just like He said He would.

What do we do now?

The reason I ask the question is because of those us who celebrate Jesus on appointed holidays, many of us we spend more time in preparing before and cleaning up after. Hence, we miss listening to and applying the message that God is trying to get across to us. Then we’re struggling and/or defeated until Pentecost Sunday, the next convention, revival or seminar as we look from a Word from God. But we’re so busy preparing, we miss the Word. See the cycle?

We’re not doing that anymore!

Let’s apply the Word of God on day 4 and beyond!

Podcast highlights:

  • While preparation is needful, if we’re not mindful, the prep can take our minds over so much so, we can miss out on hearing (see Romans 10:17), and applying the Word of God.
  • When our spiritual bank is empty, we start to draw off the enemy’s account which is full of lies (John 8:44) and accusations (Revelation 12:10), and become paralyzed and overcome with fear, guilt and shame, thereby rendering us helpless in the work of God.
  • Jesus reminds is what He did for us on the cross in the book of Colossians. Applying this word reminds us of how victorious we are LONG AFTER the celebrations are over.

Scripture application

10) And ye are complete in Him, [Christ] which is the head of all principality and power:

11) In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

12) Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead.

13) And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

14) Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

15) And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

BCU Fam, lack of Word application can happen to anyone, myself included. As a matter of fact, my intention was to record this podcast earlier, but I could not seem to get it done. Why? The Lord had to take me through a test where I needed to apply His word over the lies of the enemy. Have you had this experience?  How did you handle it? Please head down to the comments section to share your thoughts so we can continue our conversation!

In the meantime, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, and  YouTube! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and Apple podcasts!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

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How should you handle the scoffers in your life?

 Hey 👋🏾 there BCU Family!

Typically, you have the option of listening to our podcast, reading the notes or both. For this post, because of the conversational story, please tune into the podcast recording and refer to the written post for the highlights and corresponding Scriptures. We pray the post blesses and encourages you. If so, please thumbs up AND leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy the post!

The beautiful story of Jesus healing the daughter of Jarius is a familiar passage of Scripture that serves up a few lessons we can apply to our daily lives. That’s right! Take a listen to the podcast (click on the icon below), while reading the highlights and Scripture text.

Podcast highlights:

  • Jesus had already agreed to heal the little girl by virtue of the fact He was on His way to the house of Jairus.
  • The “delay” to get to Jarius’ daughter was intentional.
  • When you’re on assignment for Jesus, you can’t take everyone with you.
  • Scoffers breed fear–which, in turn produces unbelief in you.
  • There comes a time where you need to put scoffers out!

Scripture text

22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

24 And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.

35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?

36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.

37 And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.

38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.

39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.

41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.

43 And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.

BCU Fam, when YOU KNOW God is doing something for you,  when you know He promised you something, put the unbelievers OUT… of your head, mind, heart, conversation, your presence—–go in the room with Jesus and receive your miracle!

While you are waiting for the Lord to bless you, what lessons have you been learning? Do you talk to the Lord about who should go with you in times of witnessing, ministering or whatever task God has called you to?  Please head down to the comments section to share your thoughts so we can continue our conversation!

In the meantime, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, and  YouTube! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and Apple podcasts!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

 

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Let God arise (and His enemies be scattered)!

Hey there BCU Family!

As usual, you have the option of listening to our podcast (click the BCU avatar below to listen), reading the notes or BOTH. In any case, we pray the post blesses you. If so, please thumbs up or leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy the post! 

For the past few posts, we’ve been talking about betrayal, confrontation, offenses and forgiveness. Part of the conversations we’ve been having were our responses around being confronted or confronting someone–many of us will “fight” (defend yourself verbally) or take flight (shut down or run away). Let’s talk about the latter in terms of trials.

In this life, we will have troubles–Jesus let us know that (John 16:33). He also let us know that He will be with us through every minute of the trouble all according to His perfect will (See Hebrews 13:5).  And part of that perfect will is to help drive us straight to Jesus to pray for guidance, comfort, strength, lessons and sometimes, to remove the source of the trouble. The issue is, when a trial comes that gets progressively difficult  or stays too long (in our minds anyway), rather than go to Christ, many of us run away from God and opt to leaning to our own understanding on how to move the situation along ourselves.

Big mistake.

We really should be running TOWARD God and His Word for how to handle the situation. Here’s my story:

My middle and junior high years was a time I was trying to figure myself out—I was a MESS! Thanks to someone’s prayers, I got it together (well, as much as I could with God’s grace), and was excited to start high school afresh.

Until I got there.

There was a group of four or five girls, a couple of them I knew from the neighborhood, along with some upperclassmen, who took great pleasure in verbally bullying me whenever they got the chance. While I don’t recall all of the horrible incidents they inflicted, one in particular stands out to me.

To get to one of my assigned classes, I had to pass down a hallway past this particular classroom–the teacher left the door open for some reason.  Every time I passed that classroom, a few of the bully-girls would see me and yell out the most hurtful, ugly, vile things to me–in the hearing of their classmates and anyone in the hallway with me at the time.  I don’t know what hurt worse–the remarks, or the embarrassment I felt being the target of their cruelty while others looked on. I’m sure I tried every possible way to get past them, avoid, ignore or even go down that hallway late, but somehow, they seemed to know when I was coming and made sure I had my daily tormenting.

Somehow, the Lord gave me the presence of mind to go to Him for the situation and in doing that, He gave me Psalm 3. Please read this powerful passage of Scripture aloud.

1 Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.

2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.

3 But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

4 I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me.

6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.

7 Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.

BCU Fam, I was unsaved at that time, but that word gave me hope. I read it everyday before school and even had it memorized. Then one day, the jeers slowed down. After a while, I noticed the remarks stopped coming from that classroom.  As more time progressed, I noticed that I had not seen the biggest bullies around school at all. Turned out that they ended up leaving the school.  To this day, I don’t know why.

What I do know? God took care of it.

And if He took care of it for me, He can do it for you.

I encourage you all to go God with every care (1 Peter 5:7), concern, issue, thought—all the “bullies” that are tormenting you. Give them all to Jesus and leave them there without going to check on the bullies. Know that God wants to and is willing to take care of your situation according to His will, His way and in His timing. Amen? Amen.

What are your thoughts about the Psalm? Have a bullying story you’d like to share? Are you encouraged by the Word? Please leave us your a comment in the section below and continue out conversation!

In the meantime, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook, Twitter , Instagram, and  YouTube! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and Apple podcasts!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

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Stopping the replay part 3: The reaction

Hey 👋🏾 there BCU Family!

Typically, you have the option of listening to our podcast, reading the notes or both. For this post, because of the conversational format, please tune into the podcast recording and refer to the written post for the highlights and corresponding Scriptures. We pray the post blesses and encourages you.  If so, please thumbs up AND leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy the post!

In part one of our series,  we talked about how we handled difficult conversations that are left with hurt feelings and unresolved issues, to whit, we often tend to replay the conversation in our heads over and over again. The root of the replay is lack of forgiveness which is importance and a necessity in a christian’s life (See Matthew 18). Last time, we took a look at the need for us to forgive ourselves.  In our final installment, let’s explore the replay in terms of “the reaction”. You know, how the you or the other person re/act before, during or after a conversation.

Podcast highlights:

  • We sometimes rehearse the outcome in our minds because of:

— the actual reaction (usually unfavorable).

–the anticipated reaction (what might happen).

–the inaction (the person didn’t react/follow-through how YOU wanted).

  • These feelings are rooted in pride, fear and/or a lack of trust in God’s Word and direction.
  • Unless there is a victory report, replays are not of God.

 

 

Scripture to consider:

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7) .

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.. (2 Corinthians 10:5).

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2:16).

Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother (Matthew 18:15).

Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, says the LORD (Jeremiah 1:8).

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8).

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14).

What are your thoughts on what we’ve talked about? How are your “self-conversations” going to be different? Let’s talk about it in the comments section!

In the meantime, if you have not subscribed to BlenCouragesU.com, please do so! It’s free and a good place to get the encouragement, inspiration and information based the Word of God! Additionally, you can also see what we are up to on Facebook, Twitter , Instagram, and  YouTube! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and Apple podcasts!

Thank you SO much for stopping by. God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you as you #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

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