Chapter 6: Lord, Show Me How To Take Control Of My Mind

I really liked this chapter because it addresses my greatest challenge. Every thing i go through, temptations i get myself in, begins in my mind.Thoughts come into my head that i do not think i can control so i just go with it and before i know it i am putting those thoughts into action. Theres a reason that the bible states to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind". Before anything comes to fulfillment it first starts in the mind. Every great invention first had to be thought up just like every sin, even the impromptu ones, come to your mind first.

Like the author i have had days where i feel really down about myself thinking of what i still have not accomplished in life and comparing myself to the people around me who i feel have accomplished so much more. i enter a state of depression and just let negative thoughts carry me instead of rejecting the enemy. whenever the enemy attacks me or comes to tempt me and i fail i get down on myself that i was just not meant for this christian walk or was not meant to succeed but what i fail to remind myself is that it is all a battle of the mind. I heard a sermon ones that taught me to train my mind a little differently and i encourage you all to do the same. Whenever the enemy attacks you be grateful and start praising God because the truth of the matter is that he would not attack you if he did not feel threatened by you. i don't know about you all but i want the enemy to see me as a threat. him attacking me constantly and trying to always tempt me means that i am hitting a nerve so he wants to get me out of the way. So even during the times that i do fall into temptation i have to train my mind to get up and get myself stronger because it is only when i stay down and give up that the enemy gets his way. You may not see where God is taking you sometimes but the enemy does and he is afraid of who you are meant to be, that is why he is challenging you so much. Even when you fall train your mind to get up stronger, when problems come your way do not be afraid but be prepared. when the enemy comes to your door don't run away scared but  open the door and show him you are already ready for him.

Also, just like we are careful what we feed our body so that we don't become physically unhealthy, we have to be careful what we feed our spirit so that we do not become spiritually unhealthy. For example, i love my Nigerian music but there comes a point where i wake up and go to sleep singing songs that are rubbish to my spirit, spiritual junk food. I know that i am drawing closer to God and feeding my spirit the right foods (you know the expensive organic all natural goods) when i go to sleep and wake up singing gospel, be it Nigerian, American or whatever, and that leaves my body feeling good, physically, spiritually, emotionally etc.

My prayer from this chapter is that God will show me where i fill my mind with ungodly things and help me discern the spirit of the enemy in my life and resist it. And i know that God will do his part so to do my part i will feed my spirit the right things that glorify God and always be spiritually armed for battle.

(sorry that this is so long and all over the place but really hope you guys understand what i am saying and can identify with something :-) thank you very much for this, it really helps to know that the i have a partner in this walk and i am not the only person struggling with it. God Bless tremendously!)

I Am - Youthful Praise

Hello Beautiful ladies,

Here is a song I wanted to share with you all as we are starting a new week; it just reminds us who God is. 
Be blessed !

<3

Chapter 5 : Lord, Strengthen me to stand against the enemy.

An enemy in my own word is something that stands in you way of progress or always want to see your downfall. Just like the author stated most often we turn to think other people are our enemies but we really do not look deep into it and realize is the devils way of bringing us down. There have been so many situations in my life where I just taught people wanted to bring me down, I was stressed and everyone that knows me know I am quick to cry if something is bothering me or I can get something done. Sometimes I felt empty, down and taught I couldn’t pull my way up. A typical example was my sophomore year of college when I was struggling with school. I went to my advisor to seek options and she told me “your people tend not to succeed in the college of science so I think you should find a back plan like changing your major” I went back to my dorm that day very frustrated and actually taught about what the lady told me, I took moment of silence to reflect my decision and I realized I can do anything through lord my God that strengths me and I should let anything pull me down. Reading this chapter made me realize that was the work of the devil. He comes in all forms and in anyway possible to bring Gods children down.

I will also like to talk about the section where it goes “why me I am a good person” God is  not just sitting there to watch the devil bring you down  in my opinion I sometimes think when we are going through phases in our life which makes us backslide from our Christian ways  or relationship with God  , it is just a way of him allowing us to go astray and learning from our experience, also sometimes when we  go through trials and temptations its also a test from the most high to make us firm  and strong  in worshiping him. He will never let us down or let the devil bring us down we just have to have faith in God whiles utilizing patience at the same time.

Last but not the least, in addition to the five weapons against mass destruction you can always use your kindness and perseverance to kill the enemy a.k.a the devil. Do not let anything bring you down for you are strong and can achieve anything in life with the help of God. One important phrase I always go by is that “if at first you do not succeed try again for you shall conquer and never fear".  

Hope you goddesses have a blessed and productive week. God bless and love you all.

Chapter 4 Lord Teach Me

Have you ever had a moment in church where you felt like the pastor's sermon was about you??? Or went to watch a movie and it sort of resembled what you were going through in your life? Wow that's how I felt within a few paragraphs in this book. I will start by saying this walk with God and this relationship I am trying to build with him has not been and IS STILL NOT an easy walk! but with his help I will grow to be what he wants me to be! It's crazy because I've been feeling guilty about not giving enough effort in this walk. As if everything else is so important, I guess at first I felt as though God should understand I just finally landed a job he has to understand how busy I am and how tired I am. Selfish huh???
.

Discipline

This is an area that is the toughest for me not only with the religious aspect but in my overall life! I guess I am better at coming up with excuses and reasons  as to why I don't do certain stuff like I'm supposed to. Such as one Reading the bible: I stopped reading my bible after it broke apart and pages ripped, to me it was better knowing I had an excuse to not read it and God should know my heart bc he should know that if I had the  money and time I would go get it! WOW huh? Another thing I would say that has been difficult especially lately is the fast that my church is doing! to anyone who knows me KNOWS I love food more than anything and holding out to eat ONCE at 4pm everyday has been tough for me! On Monday I succumbed by 12 and I'm telling you I started to binge, eating anything and everything  I could. In my mind I said Oh well! I've already failed God because I couldn't even discipline myself enough to hold out and not eat so much! Let me tell you as a side note though that the DEVIL IS A LIARRRR! He tried to  whisper in my ears telling to just give up because I had already failed, THANK GOD when I went to church, a reverend spoke on the devil making you feel like all hope is lost as soon as you've done something wrong! she said in fact the devil is a liar and when you've done wrong humilie toi (french words) and ask for forgiveness! Tuesday I went back to fasting and asked God to keep me strong and he surely did!
But I really want to learn to be disciplined in my walk with God to wake up each morning and night  having time to speak to my heavenly father, to read his word daily and to just live a pure life. I long for ppl to see God in me! One thing about me is I'm a gossiper and I love a good gossip and most times I made ppl laugh at other peoples expense. This is something I prayed to God FIRST to ask for forgiveness and the second to help me REFRAIN from making fun of ppl and having verbal diarrhea.I feel as if God has such GREAT plans for me but he needs me to be disciplined before he can reveal these plans and so I have to work REALLY HARD!

The bible says obedience is far worth more than sacrifice 1 Samuel 15:22. I dont know about you guys but I need to work on being more obedient. Its not that im hard headed I guess to me I have so many emotions because I know with obeying him I have to let go of certain habits, attitudes, character traits and even FRIENDS that Ive grown accustomed to. But like I tell him let your will be done in my life! It will be tough but I will get through it because I was called to be a light for my family, friends, and the people around the world!

The reverend yesterday kept on repeating that God has his BEST intentions for you! that really stuck to me because whenever things go so wrong and I get so mad and I even get mad at God I really forget that he is NEVER TRYING TO HURT ME! he is the only one who has TRUE,HONEST, and BEST intentions for me! I think this ties into the PERSONAL OBEDIENCE  section because there will be times when he will want me to do something I really don't want to do and I hope with all my heart I will let his will be done! I just have to remember HE HAS THE BEST INTENTIONS FOR ME!

in the section of 10 good reasons to obey God 
I was like WOW COOL PERKS! Not only will our prayers be heard but we also have in him A true friend one who is ALWAYS patient, one who will always be there when I call him, he wont need to put me on hold on the other line, I wont need to worry that I'm bothering me, One who will never get sick of my voice! Now that's a good friend cuz I know even my boyfriend gets sick of me at times lol! I sure wouldn't mind that wisdom shoot I'm trying to go far in life and to get wisdom from God is better than Oprah! The list goes on with the great things that await me when I obey him, NOBODY TOLD ME the road would be easy but I don't believe he brought me this far to leave me! 
For the first time in years I feel so close to God like never before and I will sacrifice and work hard to develop my relationship with him and I'm so glad I have ppl like you around me who are on the same path of righteousness as me!
SORRY SO LONG  I would keep going but I don't want y'all to start sleeping!
GOD BLESS!

Chapter 3: Lord, Help Me To Be a Forgiving Person

**This Post was written by Dorcas Sami**

Le pardon est une force qui libere! (Forgiveness is a force that liberates) When I saw that this chapter is about forgiveness, I thought to myself I'm a forgiving person already so this doesn't apply to me! as I went along reading this chapter, I discovered a lot more bout forgiveness than I thought. This chapter talks about forgiveness in four different dimensions. But I'm gonna talk about what hit me home and opened my eyes.

First, we tend to think that to hurt or wrong a person it has to be because of something dramatic or painful. No! Even the little things we say or hear sometimes said in a joking way can have an effect in our lives for years and to undo the damage you will need this simple word that we tend to neglect and minimize its power... which is forgiveness. Sometimes we are affected by things that happened years ago without realizing that it affected us, without realizing we have been holding on to it . This chapter took me back and a few people came in mind that I need to forgive.  Just like Stormie said she had no idea she had to forgive her dad.  That is why like she said we need to ask God to reveal our unforgiveness to us.

Secondly, forgiveness is an excellent choice to make and practice daily. I learned that forgiving doesn’t depend on the other person’s apology or admitting that they were wrong. I can relate to this how? I’ve been wronged by so many, called and judged by so many among them.  I still talk to some and forgave some simply because they apologized. I told myself the other ones I don’t have a problem with them but just won’t to talk to them because they haven’t apologized.  Reading this chapter shows me the reasoning that I had did not qualify me as one who has a forgiving heart.  Forgiveness doesn’t depend on ones apology and we surely aren’t doing it for them. It is a choice we should all make to set ourselves free and restored.

When unable to forgive you are actually giving the other person power over you.  For example, you could be in a room chatting with others as soon as the one who has wronged you enters the room happy even says hi to you and the reason for that the majority of the time is they don’t know that they’ve wronged or hurt you but you on the other hand are frowning, anger starts building up, and you immediately stop talking etc.. All of that is affecting you and not them and it’s giving them power over you.  You’re imprisoned.  That is why forgiving should be the easy thing to do and right choice to make. It could be hard but with prayers God will soften your heart to forgive them by doing so u are setting yourself free and letting God freely work in u and deal with them.  Like the Bible says, leave revenge for God. 

Forgiveness should start at home, with yourself and most importantly with God. Often we tend to blame him for circumstances that have occurred in our lives without realizing that. We tend to ask question like “why God, why me, why did you let that happened, don’t you have the power to heal, to not take a way who we cherish dearly” etc.  Some of you probably heard this before, after my dad’s death I rebelled, blamed God, resented him, asking open ended questions, and stopped believing.  I was born and raised in a Christian family.  When my father was ill I was told God is our healer if I keep praying my dad would be healed I did that but he still died.  As a result I had anger in me.  I didn’t want to let go, to repent not knowing that I was hurting myself and not God.  I was imprisoning myself and giving the enemy access into my life.  Not knowing that God is sovereign. For ten good years I imprisoned myself, hurting myself until two years ago I came to accept his death, I had to repent to God and ask for his forgiveness. After that I was relieved, saw some changes in my life, got closure and peace.  

I could go on with examples on why forgiveness is important but I’ll give just one more on why it is important to forgive yourself.  It is important because we can be own enemy.  After having my kid, it took me a while to forgive myself.  I was constantly blaming my kid who didn’t ask me to bring my pants down, open my legs, and bring them in this world, constantly blaming myself and them for the struggles and pain I was going through, and the crying, shame, humiliation, having my family against me, name-calling, etc. in my life.  For years, I was bitter, always on the defensive because of lack of forgiveness, etc.  Until my Pasteur and Lety helped and support me in prayers encouraging me to forgive myself and plead for God mercy and forgiveness in order to set myself free and go on to make it short I did just that and I feel no condemnation, no more shame, guilt but now I’m able to tell my stories to other with no guilt when then it was a subject taboo it couldn’t never happened but through the power of forgiveness.  Like I said in the beginning forgiveness sets u free and restores you.

Forgiving can be hard but it is possible with God's help. Forgiveness should be a daily decision and not a feeling because feelings do change from time to time we should forgive as many times as we can. How do we expect God to forgive us if we can’t forgive each other? All of us is here aren’t perfect and I’m sure we all have wronged someone as much as we have been wronged therefore we should not only receive it but we also have to be able to forgive. Why jeopardize a great future, promise that God has for us because of lack of forgiveness? Best believe unforgiving heart puts a barriers between us n God. (blockage)

That is why I encourage all of us to ask god to reveal us any bitterness, resentment or unforgiveness that we are not recognizing.  Also when you ask God to forgive you for a bad past  or anything you need to accept that He has forgiven you and has thrown that sin in the sea of forgetfulness and His blood washed away all your sins that the devil has nothing to hold against you.