DO YOU SELF SABOTAGE? BY MARNESHIA MCINNIS

Marneshia McInnis walks in pursuit of wisdom. And she works hard to exercise what she hears from the atmosphere. This post was the fruit of some strategic soul searching. There is a great exercise at the end! Make sure you do it.

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and this is your own self.” Aidous Huxley

Marneshia McInnis

Do you self-sabotage?

Are you unconsciously destroying everything that God is trying to do in your life? Do you continue to create unwanted results by holding on to your past? Is it your paradigm that you haven’t altered? Certainly. It must be.  Or is it something else that lies beneath that is causing these unwanted behaviors…the brute from within.

These are the questions I sometimes ask myself when I observe my behaviors after I’ve made a mess of things in my life. Yes! Can you believe it?? The perfectionist who has constantly strive for more actually makes a mess of her life.  Yes, I sometimes do! But it’s through my failures and constant self-study that I’ve arrived at this place of self-awareness.  The feeling is liberating.  As you read this, I want you to know that you can do the same thing and feel just as liberated and at peace as I feel even after you’ve sabotaged some things in your life. Rather knowingly or unknowingly.  As we reflect on past relationships, opportunities we didn’t act upon, rejection, overspending, unwanted debts we’ve accumulated and tons of other unwanted experiences we can be certain that we all relate in some way or the other.  So let’s take a quick second to ask ourselves this quick question.

Am I sabotaging what God wants to do in me and through me?

I know this isn’t a question that you hear at Starbucks or at the barber shop, but I want you to ask.  When you’re alone and journaling your thoughts.  If you don’t journal from time to time, please do it’ll help you create a peace of mind as well.  As you are rested and are in a moment of self-reflection ask yourself this question.  What is the first answer that comes in your mind?  Is it no, or is it yes?

If your answer is yes, you can be assured that the fact that you’re now aware of this places you light-years ahead on the awareness track because so many people lay dormant.  They are not aware that their habits, most of which are created in their childhood, are the cause of their problem.  So they go to the grave never realizing why they never broke the chain of debt and lack in their life. Or why they didn’t leave an inheritance for their children’s children. Or why they didn’t write that book or create that business.  Or why didn’t they maintain a healthy body or marriage. These are so many questions that we at times think of rather we’re young or old.  Life is for the living.  So are you going to choose to live today by being honest with yourself about your learned habits or are you’re going to deny the brute from within?

Day 1 Action Plan:

Write down your answer to the question.

‘Am I sabotaging what God want to do in me and through me?’

After you answer the question, write below a few habits that you’ve noticed about yourself that you know they’re not desirable, but you do them anyway. Be totally honest.

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LISTEN UP! After you do this remain POSITIVE! Remember our failures make us that much better. It’s about having a positive perspective.  This is not to destroy or belittle yourself. This is to help redefine the image of yourself. I want to help you create a better Self-Image!

 

 

 

HURTING PEOPLE BY BLAINE MCMAHAN

I have know this guy for going on 10 years now and it is awesome to look back over those years and see the progression of his life and walk with God. This was a post he made that resonated with my heart and I had to share it! Enjoy!

Blaine McMahan

 View on Instagram

Hurting People Hurt People…have you ever heard that saying?!?
I Tend to Lash out out or Snap Back Sarcastically when someone wounds me or takes a Jab at me with their words. Initially I always get defensive even if I don’t say it, I Feel it.
But Eventually I take a Deep Breath, I remember Jesus said “You have my Perfection while you Progress through your life. I knew you were gonna drop the ball. I knew you were gonna let Pride Creep in. Get Back up, I got you. It’s ok Get Back Up.”
I remember they nailed Him to a wooden Cross for NOTHING and He said “Forgive them, for they know NOT what they do…”
Jesus Knew what he was Buying on the Cross…and He still Paid in Full.
Let Him Heal those wounds of your Past or Your Present. He Can Make you feel Whole again. #Jesus#JesusHeals #CallHisName

WATCH YOUR MOUTH!

WATCH YOUR MOUTH!

My tongue has kept me in trouble most of my life. I think I was born with a propensity to say exactly what I thought MUCH to my mothers dismay. My mother’s constant words for me were “Watch your mouth!”

I recall an occasion where several missionaries and deacons had come to have dinner at our house one Sunday after church. We had an old dinette set where the head chairs had arms on each side. Well you guessed it. One of those church missionaries was a bit wider than the arms of that chair. Me being concerned that my dad would have to buy new furniture blurted out something like, “She is too fat to sit in that chair!” (Or something just as bad.)

Oh well.

How do we bless and not curse? How do we say things that encourage people rather than cut them down? It is really a heart issue. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. So the first issue is what am I allowing to flourish in my heart. Negativity can grow in your heart like algae in a stagnant lake. To prevent that, it is important to keep pure, positive, and powerful WORD FLOWING INTO and going OUT OF our heart. That’s how we can keep the garbage out.

Listen to your own thoughts about a person or situation. When you hear something critical, condemning, or complaining–RESPOND AND CORRECT YOURSELF OUT LOUD! For example, If you find yourself think evil thoughts about someone–STOP the THOUGHT in its tracks with a SPOKEN DECLARATION. Replace something like, “I don’t like his sermons! He talks too long!” with…

“Heavenly father I Bless____. Thank you for ministering to them EVERYTHING you want them to say, how to say it and in what manner to deliver your message. Lord, ___ has your heart and they HEAR you. They nail every sermon exactly as Holy Spirit says! AMEN”

And I love this thought that came from Doug Addison…

“Here’s a prayer that I use: “If my tongue has cursed me, (or someone else) knowingly or unknowingly, I ask forgiveness.”

So, watch your mouth!

WHEN IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT!

When I was traveling, my son would inevitably find something in the refrigerator and stand there wondering “would mom think it was OK to eat this?” I remember on one occasion where he did eat something I would likely have thrown out. Not wanting to alarm him, I kept quiet. I did not want him to think, “Mom says its bad and I ate it now I’m gonna be sick!” And yes he was fine. I didn’t want to made him doubt his choice. It is usually when we get other opinions that we doubt ourselves.

Being a single parent for many years, I wanted my son to grow up comfortable making decisions and feeling good about his choices, even when he didn’t make the best ones. But this scenario made me think about why we make  the choices we do. Consider this, “We act out what we really believe.” It goes with the Law of Belief, whatever you believe to be true, whether its true or not, if you believe it, then to you, it becomes the truth.

Looking at my belief system, I can’t tell you how many times I failed to act or do what I  felt in my gut. I didn’t believe I could do it. I didn’t have confidence to go for it. Even now, at the ripe young age of 52, I still struggle with self-doubt. I wonder if I have missed my best opportunities. I wonder if I am marketing correctly or an I being self promoting? I wonder should I get a lawyer to handle this situation or should I let it go? What do I do? I vacillate between options.

I wonder if I am doing the right thing. I would like to say that I always do. But I would be lying. I constantly have to give myself other options and choices to bolster my self-confidence. I am still learning to really, truly believe that God wants to use me. I am still learning to let my actions reflect what God believes rather than listen to my self doubt.

It is easy to let courage slowly leak out of your heart like air through a pin hole in a balloon. You don’t lose hope all at once, just a slow leaking of confidence and trust in yourself. But God doesn’t accept our doubt as a viable option for not obeying his will and doing what he asks. He lays out the plan in front of you and I had to make a choice.

Would I continue to doubt myself because it feels safe to stay at home and work in my garden and pray for the world ? Or would I trust what God had clearly  spoken to me, pick up my laptop and begin to write what Holy Spirit is speaking? Will I dare believe that God has more for me? Or will I quietly say, “Stella, you are blessed and this is enough?”

When it comes to food safety, the rule is, “When in doubt, throw it out.” I think it would be a good idea to use this rule in matters of faith and obedience in trusting the God who believes in you more than you do. Literally when you are trapped in seasons of self-doubt and unbelief—THROW IT OUT.

Paul put it this way, 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. KJV

God is always thinking about us. He has his ideas about our potential and capacity. What I believe about myself is irrelevant. What matters is what God believes about me. I must learn to over ride any thought in my mind about me that does not exist in the mind of God about me. Anything else is just spoiled thoughts.

3 KEYS TO GOING TO YOUR NEXT LEVEL

For Years, a part of my “stay on track training” was when I heard a WORD that KICKS my faith into HIGH GEAR,  I listened to it OVER AND OVER. I transcribe, review and pray into the scriptures until it becomes a part of my consciousness. This sermon was like that for me. It is Three Keys to go to your Next Level!

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY JUNE 7, 2015

By Patricia King

Three Keys to go to your Next Level

How many of you are ready to go to your next level? The new things are right at hand.

Isaiah 43:18-19 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. KJV

Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” NKJV

It is God’s desire for us to be fruitful and to multiply. If you are going to multiply, it means you are going to move forward. It means you should be accomplishing or going into new levels of fruitfulness all the time. As we move forward we should bear more fruit. God always wants us moving forward and bearing fruit. Like a lemon tree in a house we lived in. It doubled in size and the fruit almost doubled in size the next year.

Deutteronomy 1:11 ‘May the LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand-fold more than you are, and bless you, just as He has promised you! NASB

This is talking about moving forward. God wants to increase you from where you are right now. You might be at a certain level of fruitfulness right now, But God wants to increase that. I want to increase!

3 John 2 (God’s Law of Attraction) 3 John 2 Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. NASB

When your soul is in alignment with God’s will for your life, with his promises then you will manifest that which you are aligned to. Here are three keys to to your next level of fruitfulness and to move forward with.

1) What is your Dream for Moving Forward.

You must have a dream. If you have no vision of what tomorrow looks like you will have nothing to move toward. You must have a vision of what your tomorrow should look like. All throughout the bible, you will see examples of God planting dreams into people’s heart to make sure that they have a dream so they can move forward into that dream. God challenged Abraham by giving him a vision of what to move into. God gave him a vision to move into. God planted a dream into Moses to deliver the children out of bondage. What does your future look like? As a couple what does our life look like?

If you are in a transition place and it’s a difficult transition, you need a dream. What is ahead of you? Write down your dreams. What does it look like? What would you like to have in your life if everything is better? What would your life in Jesus look like? What would you like to have in your life? What would your relationships, family, workplace look like? Get a dream. Envision. Ponder. Dream.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee. KJV / “The steadfast mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in Thee. NASB

The word mind here is yetser OT:3336 yetser (yay’-tser); from OT:3335; a form; figuratively, conception (i.e. purpose) purpose, form KJV – frame, thing framed, imagination, mind, work.

This Hebrew word means purpose, form, creative imagination. So he says, I will keep the person who has creative dream ability in perfect shalom. If you have creative imagination, thinking ahead, what does it look like? Your own life in God—what attributes can you dream about growing into? Have a dream board. Put something visual out there in front of you.

God made dream boards for his people. When you look upon it the vision of that thing gets inside of you. He told Abraham to look up at the stars. They were too many to count. That is what I’m gonna make your descendants like. He was planting a dream inside his heart because he did not have his son yet. So every night he saw the stars he remembered the promise and the vision.

(Here is a great resource to help you get clarity about your DREAM. 3 Keys to Realizing your Goals and Dreams.)

2) What needs to be pruned or dealt with in your life?

Ask the Lord what needs to be pruned–or dealt with in your life? As I sense a transition into a new season, I ask the Lord, “What do you want to take care of in my life? Sometimes we get clutter in us and we don’t even realize it unless we ask the Lord. And it can sabotage us moving forward. God wants you to bear fruit and as part of his process for bearing fruit he will prune or take things out of you. Even things that started in him, if they are no longer bearing fruit he will take care of and remove.

John 15:2 “I am the true vine, … 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. NIV

As we go to our next season, ask the lord, what do you want to take care of in my life. There are some thing that when the season is over that have to be cut off. Sometimes we get clutter in us because we never allow the conviction of the spirit to convict us. Over the years I have known many people with tremendous gifting and tremendous potential that never break through because they never allowed the pruning to take place in their life.

They never allowed the conviction of the Holy Spirit to go in and show them what needed to be removed from their life. And what needed to be pruned down and cut off. There are some things that God will call you to do for a season but when that season is over, if you keep trying to make it grow and it doesn’t grow maybe its time to let it go. Cut off the things that need to be cut off. For example, Cut off sin issues. We cannot expect to move forward into greater degrees of fruitfulness if we have sin issues. Sin separates you from God. It is going to hinder our ability to move forward.

Sin issues these separate us from God. These are sins of Commission or Omission. These will hinder our ability to move forward. Speaking doubt and unbelief will keep us from moving to our next level. Everything that is not of faith is sin. Unbelief is sin. Gossip and negative talk will keep you from moving forward. Doubt and unbelief will keep you held back. Sin will keep you from going to the next level. Sometimes sin is omission, it is when God has spoken to you to do something and you haven’t done it. If you are unbelieving of the truth, it can keep you from moving to the next level. God is for you. He is not against you. He wants you to move forward.

Another thing is dishonor. Dishonor will hold you back. I have known some people who were tremendously talented and gifted. In fact, they were way more talented than me and yet they were held back. I asked the lord why aren’t they on a platform and he said it is because of dishonor. They have thought of and spoken of evil against authority. They have talked about authority behind their back. They have dishonored their leaders and complained. They have been negative. When you are negative and complaining, and all you ever see is the problems and the negativity and you never give affirmations you will be held back. I have never known a negative person who prospers and moves forward in the nature and character of Jesus Christ who was negative and complaining. You are not aligned to God if you are like that. This hinders many people from moving to the next level.

In the United States we think we have a right to speak negative about the government. This is not Godly. If the church is cursing who is going to bless? We do not affirm the negative things the Government does but we can’t speak curses. Out of our mouth needs to come blessing. We have the freed to petition the government. You do not have to badmouth the country and if you do you will not move forward.

Running from discipline. At every point the Lord will attempt to lovingly discipline you for your good. Discipline is to disciple. The reason he disciples you or brings you into discipline is for your good. This is good for us. But I have seen people go through life year after year after year with no breakthrough and nothing breaking forth for them simply because they did not embrace the discipline the Lord was trying to give them. When god is trying to get to issues in our lives he is trying to get to areas in your life so we can be fruitful. Christians have such low emotional intelligence, we cant change. We have to be disciplined to growth. God wants us to grow in his character and his nature. Sometimes he will use your enemy to test you so he can promote you.

He wants to prune off you the immaturity. When we repent and he prunes us back down into the basics. Embrace the discipline.  When God is dealing with you, he does not care what the other person has done. Ask him to convict you. God wants us to grow. He wants us to grow up in his character and his nature. Sometimes he will use your enemy.

Hebrews 12:11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. NASB

3) Sowing into your future.

Sow the word of God. Frame the next season with the word of God. You can frame the next season with the word of God. You can step into the framework you have created. Use the power of decrees.

Sow your time and effort in to your dream. So if your next season requires new skill, sow time and effort into growing and mastering that new skill.

Sow tithes and offerings. Sow extra seed in times of transitions. When you are sowing a seed for a specific purpose and name your seed. Sowing could be time and energy into that area. Name the next level of faithfulness. With “intention-ality” sow with purpose.

God is moving you into a new season. We have just finished a season of warfare. But it has ended. We had to face some warfare. Warfare is good. We have to face bigger giants into our tomorrow. I end my battle today. I go into my new season today. Come inside and explore my heart. We are going to walk inside his heart. We have dreams that God wants to fulfill all of our dreams. God answers all of our dreams. Yes it is time to move into your new season.

Make sure you do these three things

1) Have clarity about your DREAM.

2) Allow God to prune your life and deal with things.

3) Sow the WORD of God, time into developing yourself and finances into the kingdom.

Here is the Link to the full sermon! XP Shiloh

GOD CAN USE YOU

This hit me this morning like a ton of bricks…

God can use you in one of two ways in the life of another person. And we get to choose which way.

He can use you to strengthen them through your words of encouragement, moral support and holding them up. He can use you to coach them along like an athlete. He can use you to inspire them to be better when they are not performing well. He can use you to cheer them on from the sidelines of their life. He can use you to speak just the right words they need to hear as they are going through a tough time. He can use you to shore them up when they fail and fill in the weak places when they are not at their best. He can use you to celebrate them when they succeed and pat them on the back when they don’t. He can use you like Jonathan. He was a true friend to David. He had David’s back through the best and worst times of his life.

Yes, God can use you like this.

Or God can use you in another way.

He can use your hateful words as something to drive them into the secret place where they have to seek him for healing. He can use your mean-spirited comments to challenge them to be better in spite of your opposition. He can use your criticism as a way of increasing their capacity for over coming hardships. He can use you as an enemy to strengthen them and make them better. He can use you to prune off their immaturity. He can use you to drive them into repentance and there he can prune them back down for future growth.

He can use you as a tool to discipline and toughen them.  You can be mean and hateful. You can treat them badly. You can dog them out. But God won’t let them hate you. He wont let them retaliate against you. God will keep the focus on them and their development and he will deal with you later. God will use you as a tool in their life to convict them of sin and wrong attitudes of the heart–even towards someone who deserves anger and hatred. God will demand of them to forgive you, because either way, God wants us to grow. He wants us to grow up in his character and his nature. Sometimes he will use you, as an enemy like Saul was to David.

But God does not decide which way he will use us in that person’s life. We do. We decide if we will be a supportive friend or challenging enemy. Either way, God will use you to help them grow.

So how do you want to be used?

Just a thought.

Stella

All About Words…

Don’t recall where I found this, but I love it… Here’s to a play on words…

As a “chronic” W O R D — a-holic I loved this email I got about the English Language! Enjoy!

I think a retired English teacher was bored.

THIS IS GREAT!

Read all the way to the end……………..

This took a lot of work to put together!

You think English is easy??

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.