Week 4: A Confident Heart Bible Study. Against Me/For Me Statements.

I am in a season of life where I know great things are coming.  

To go back to my mentor's image of the stonecutter, each day I'm chipping away at the doubts, fears, and bitterness of the past.  When I look at where I was 6 months ago and where I am now, I can see tremendous progress.

• My faith is growing
• My communion/fellowship with God is growing more intimate as I study and apply God's word to my Life
• Peace is beginning to overtake my life in so many areas

Yet there are times when I go back into default mode and begin to believe Satan's taunts and whispers in my ears.

I was talking to my sister this past week about something and right in the middle I said, "You know why I'm saying this?  This is my way of talking myself out of this so that I won't get my hopes up and be disappointed."

Right after that I promptly went and got the scripture from our first week of Bible study and taped it inside of my prayer journal

Isaiah 49:23

Those who hope in the LORD will NOT be disappointed.

Today I decided to write down all of the Against Me (AM) statements I say to myself on a regular Basis and do you know what happened?  All of the For Me (FM) statements ended up being from our Bible study and ones that the Lord has put on my heart in my quiet times with him.

Against Me: Why do I even bother to get my hopes up? I'm just going to be disappointed.  I should just forget it.

For me:  Isaiah 49: 23 Those who hope in the LORD will not be disappointed.

Against Me:  I should give up on praying.   I doubt God is even listening or cares about such trivial matters.  Besides, nothing ever seems to happen anyway.

 For Me:  Matthew 21: 21 Then Jesus told them, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen.

For Me: Luke 18:1 One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must keep praying until the answer comes.

Against Me:  I'm just not good enough.  It will happen for everyone else except for me.  Clearly there is something wrong with me.

For Me: Isaiah 62: 3  He will hold you aloft in his hands for all to see—a splendid crown for the King of kings

Against Me:  Another missed opportunity.  Clearly I don't have what it takes to do something like this.  I have no courage.

^{For Me:  1 Chronicles 28:20} “Be strong and courageous and get to work. Don’t be frightened by the size of the task, for the Lord my God is with you; he will not forsake you. He will see to it that everything is finished correctly.

I will continue to repeat these scriptures out loud to myself several times a day when the Devil starts his whispers and bullying to me.  These thoughts have held me captive for too long.  I am ready to move forward and break these chains so I can walk into the fullness of what God has for me.

All for his glory.

To God be the Glory