LIES VERSUS THE TRUTH

Welcome to Women Of Valour
which is about
YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

 

God has been showing me lies that I have believed as the truth in my life over the years. Prayerfully, through reading this post today God will use these words to expose some lies in your life. 

 

UNLOVABLE

 

I believed I was unworthy of being loved due to an attempted rape when I was a little girl. A man broke into my home as I slept and came into my room to rape me. As I grew up, there was another attempt in the woods close to my home. God delivered me before anything happened in both instances but the mere attempt took EVERYTHING from me. For the majority of my life, I felt like I was damaged goods. No man would ever want me. They had destroyed any safe place for me. My home was no longer a sanctuary. Their plans were cancelled but the enemies plan was not. This led me into a constant state of FEAR.

 

The feelings of being unlovable led to feeling lonely as a child and adult. This led to wrong relationships in my life. Detrimental relationships to me because I believed I could never have a man love me for me. So my relationships were mainly with married men. As I have stated before if a man complimented me I was supposed to be with that person. Looks did not matter as long as I got my "compliment fix". I kept trying to fill the void in my life with men. I believed a man could fill the void. I did need a man but HIS NAME was JESUS!!!

 

TRUTH: God had to show me that I was lovable so HE gave me HIS Words. If HIS Words are truth then what I had been believing for soooooo many years were telling me lies. I began to repeat these words over and over and over and over again to myself.

 

God has delivered me from the feelings of being unlovable. But still today, I have to remind myself of God's Words and repeat them back to myself. The enemy wants to try and bring back the old feelings sometimes. Since GOD's Words worked for me they will work for you too. If you can see yourself in any of what I am saying HEAR and BELIEVE the TRUTH of what God is saying to you. As you read replace my name with your own.

 

Jeremiah 31:3 New Living Translation (NLT)

³ Long ago the Lord said to Israel:
“I have loved you, Israel (Andrea), with an everlasting love.
    With unfailing love I have drawn you (Andrea) to myself.   

 

John 3:16 New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁶ “For this is how God loved the world (Andrea):

He gave^[a] his one and only Son, (JESUS) 

so that everyone (Andrea) who believes in him

will not perish but have eternal life.

 

UNATTRACTIVE

 

I hated looking at myself in the mirror because I saw this ugly person looking back at me. I became VERY withdrawn and very angry but I did not understand that it was a problem. I just thought this is just the way I am. The scared little girl grew to be a scared young woman. I was stuck and did not know how to get unstuck. I was in church on Sunday and Wednesday, like a good church girl, but church was NOT on the inside of me. I would sit there and be screaming on the inside but no one heard my cries.

 

I would be at home sitting in my apartment with the curtains closed because I could not stand the light. I would still be screaming but no one heard me. I would hear voices talking to me and believed they were mine. I would have thoughts to drive into a wall or drive off a cliff. They were suicidal thoughts that I did not understand at the time. But I knew I was too scared to kill myself.

 

TRUTH: God had to show me who I was to HIM and how HE created me. I am a masterpiece more beautiful than anyone else and uniquely made by HIS Hands. You are a princess as well according to God's Words. It is my prayer that God will make this Scripture real to you. He gave me HIS Words to show me the truth to combat the lies.

 

Isaiah 61:3 New Living Translation (NLT)

³ To all (Andrea) who mourn in Israel,^[a]
    he (God) will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
    festive praise instead of despair.
In their (Andrea) righteousness, they (Andrea) will be like great oaks
    that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

 

Psalm 139:13-16 New King James Version

¹³ For You (God) formed my (Andrea) inward parts;
You covered me (Andrea) in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I will praise You, for I am (Andrea) fearfully and wonderfully made;^[b]
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.¹⁵ My (Andrea) frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

 

 

INADEQUATE (LESS THAN)

 

Most of my life, I believed there was something wrong with me. I did not fit in anywhere. I did not fit with my family, friends, co-workers. I just could not find my place in this world. I just felt inadequate internally and externally about EVERYTHING. I just could NOT do things quite right. When I would mess up at work or with a man I would turn on the tears and give my sob story. This was my defense mechanism. It worked for many years until God placed a male boss in my life that told me the truth.

 

One of my major problems was comparison. I had compared myself to my mother. My mother knows the King James Version of the Bible like the back of her hand. She has a relationship with the Lord and I was jealous of her for that reason. She would preach to me and tell me how good God was but I did not KNOW God like that. So my feelings of inadequacy was used by the enemy to drive me away from her. I just could not measure up in her eyes. But I knew to run to her for prayer when things got REALLY CRAZY in my life.

 

I also compared myself to other women in my life. I just did not measure up or fit in with any of them. I could not dress like them. I could not get my hair to look like theirs. I was not shaped like them. My complexion was not like theirs. I would always find fault with my looks, my thoughts, my clothes. I believed everything about me was a wreck (like the worst car accident you have ever seen).

 

My feelings of inadequacy left me feeling like I was less than EVERYONE else. I needed to be fixed. I did not believe that God could REALLY FIX me because I was too broken. I was the wreck that had been written off as a "Total Loss" by the insurance company.

 

TRUTH: God had to use HIS Words to show me how HE saw me. I was not inadequate He made me a Princess when I chose to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. This is a picture of me and you in Psalm 45 if you will choose to believe it. Put your name in it as you read the verses.

 

Psalm 45: 10-15 New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁰ Listen to me, O royal daughter (Andrea); take to heart what I say.
    Forget your people and your family far away.
¹¹ For your royal husband (Jesus) delights in your  (Andrea) beauty;
    honor him, for he is your lord.
¹² The princess of Tyre^[c] will shower you with gifts.
    The wealthy will beg your favor.
¹³ The bride (Andrea), a princess, looks glorious
    in her golden gown.¹⁴ In her (Andrea) beautiful robes, she (Andrea) is led to the king,
    accompanied by her bridesmaids.
¹⁵ What a joyful and enthusiastic procession
    as they enter the king’s palace!

 

Phillippians 4:13 New Living Translation

 ¹³ For I (Andrea) can do everything through Christ,^[d] who gives me strength.

 

 

I don't know if you realized it as you read but I was ruled by my thoughts and feelings. The Holy Spirit had to reteach me how to think and feel because my thoughts and feeling were lying to me. I had to choose to believe my thoughts and feelings or I could choose to believe the truth. The same applies to you. As God reveals to you more of who you are, You will begin to see more of who God is in your life.

 

Prayer: Lord, expose the lies I have believed to me and give me God's Words to believe and speak the truth to myself.  Bring deliverance to me through YOUR  Words.

 

Question:  What are some lies you have believed in your life?

 (Please share with a comment)

 

 

KNOWING AND BELIEVING (PART 2)



Welcome to Women Of Valour
which is about
YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

RECAP: Exodus 8 - Pharoah was the King of Egypt and his nation was being plagued by frogs. Moses is the person God used to deliver HIS people from slavery (prison). Pharoah asked Moses to pray for the frogs to leave his nation. Moses asks, “When do you want me to pray?” Pharoah answers, “Tomorrow”. In today's reading, we take a look at what happened after the prayer.

When Moses prayed, the frogs died. Pharoah was happy for a moment because the frogs were gone. But he soon fell back into his foolish stubborn ways again and again. God sent 8 more plagues in order for Pharoah to obey. The last plague caused his son to be killed. Then Pharoah surrendered and let God’s children go free. I did the exact same thing time and time again being stubborn. I would pray and ask God to help me out of my immediate crisis. God would help me because I am HIS child. Just as any parent would help their child if they got into trouble and asked for help.

I was in pain and just wanted it to stop. But, I did not REALLY want to change my ways. I was miserable just like Pharoah. Pain was what I was used to in my life. Pharoah had gotten used to the plagues. He knew he could ask Moses to pray and God would stop that particular plague. I knew I could go to the Church building and something would happen to me. I would go to the front of the church for the altar call and "rededicate my life" to the Lord. I would leave different than I came.

What happened during the different times? Someone happened to me. HIS name is JESUS CHRIST!!! When I prayed for deliverance, things and situations began to dry up in my life. They dried up because “I believed JESUS CHRIST died for me and God raised HIM from the dead and I am saved.” (Romans 9:10) I would get excited about the Lord and Church. I had been given a new life. (II Corinthians 5:17) My desires/appetites changed from looking for love in ALL the wrong places to wanting to find the One who had loved on me. I did not want to hang out with the same people. I did not want to do the same things. When I did, it did not feel the same, something had changed. These good feelings I had would last a little while and other times longer.

I was on a rollercoaster with my salvation up and down and all around. Sometimes I would still feel just as lonely, confused, hurt, unloved, etc. as I did before I went to church. My poison may not be your poison. It could be drugs, alcohol, men, wrong relationships, etc. but the same principle applies. You are hurting and want the pain to stop. Many times when we are delivered from a crisis situation we go back to it.

Why do we go back? We do not understand that our feelings and thought processes must be delivered as well. We must get “a new way of thinking” (Romans 12:2) You have been doing the same things over and over again expecting different results. But you cannot change the behaviors and thought processes by doing the same things you have done in the past. I am a witness that it does NOT work. You must do something different to get different results. I challenge you to study God’s LOVE LETTER to you. You can start with John 3:16, Psalm 139:13-16, II Corinthians 5:15 -17, and II Timothy 1:7, and Jeremiah 29:11

There are 2 parts to total deliverance. God's part and your part. God did HIS part when you asked for deliverance. He introduced you to HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST. Now your part is to spend time with HIM studying God's Words. You have been in control of your own life for so long and where has it gotten you? I dare you to let God be in control for just one day and see what happens. This is the only way you will begin to understand this new life you have been given.

Is God asking you what it will take for you to fully surrender to HIM? What is your answer? Things will continue to happen because God is drawing you by HIS HOLY SPIRIT to come back home to HIM. Let me encourage you to surrender.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, help to see myself as My Father, God sees me. Open my eyes to see and my ears to hear Your voice through GOD’S LOVE LETTER to me. Change my negative thoughts and feelings.

KNOW AND BELIEVE GOD'S WORDS

Welcome to Women Of Valour
which is about
YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

 

       I concluded my first post with the need for us to learn how to fight with God's Words instead of our own words. This is easier said than done. It depends on the lies you have believed about yourself, the Church, Our Father GOD, Jesus Christ Our Savior, and The Holy Spirit Our Teacher. It also depends on how bad you want to be FREE.


     It took God using what I am sharing today as an opening to begin to reveal to me what was going on in my warped mind. I was going around and around but not getting anywhere in my walk with the Lord. I was a Christian which I believed about myself SOME of the time. Other times, not so much.






     I read Exodus 8 which talks about how God sent plagues to Egypt through Moses. God did this because Pharoah would NOT release HIS people, the Israelites, from slavery (prison). Pharoah got tired of the plagues of frogs, so he asked  Moses to pray for the frogs to leave Egypt. Moses asked a simple but profound question. WHEN do you want me to pray? In my finite mind, I thought that's a dumb question. I want them to leave NOW. What do you mean "when"? I would have caught an attitude just because he asked the question. BUT Pharoah's response was tomorrow. I was thinking what is wrong with him. He is the leader of the nation. He can stop this.

    So, I had to put it in today's terms. This would be like our nation being plagued and President Obama being given an out for ALL of us and answers "tomorrow". The White House is over run and so is EVERYBODY'S homes with frogs. Our president can put a stop to this craziness and instead he says tomorrow.

    Your thought process may be the same as mine. But God revealed to me that Pharoah did not just need the frogs to be stopped. He needed deliverance. God, My Father was asking me: When do you want me to deliver you, Andrea? God made me take a long look at my own life. Like Pharoah, I wanted deliverance in many areas of my life just not right NOW. Why did he say tomorrow?

    WHY? This is a crucial question I had to answer. It was because I still wanted to have my "F-U-N". Bottom line, I wanted to continue to sin. Even though my "FUN" was killing me physically and spiritually. If I said right now then my fun would have to stop. People would look at me differently. People would expect more of me than I was prepared to give. I knew I needed deliverance but I did not want it that bad right now. Right now had a finality to that I was unwilling to surrender to.

    Don't get me wrong Pharoah needed deliverance from the frogs. Just like, I needed deliverance from my pain, hurt, loneliness, tears, people pleasing, etc. Pharoah was the King and did not want to appear weak. Maybe he could figure out a solution of his own in 24 hours or less with his finite mind. I know I could not figure out a solution to my problems and LORD KNOWS I TRIED.

     Since I grew up in church I would read the Bible which are God's Words. But my warped thinking said they really did not apply to me. I was (NOT) "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14) because I believed I was the ugly duckling and black sheep of my family. "I was (NOT) "a new person in Christ." (II Corinthians 5:17) These were two beliefs which were lies from the pit of hell.

     I believed the parts of God's Words where "God was gonna get me," I definitely believed. It was the way I had been trained up in the church. I was going to "hell" for everything from watching movies to wearing makeup to wearing pants. God to me was a disciplinarian and HIS Words were an extension of HIM. There was no freedom only bondage/prison for me.

 

     I kept doing the same sins/things and could not find peace, joy, love, or freedom anywhere. But I knew not to leave the Church building. I would have my fun on Friday and Saturday and then have the nerve to show up to Church on Sunday. Sometimes I would be broken down and repent. This is when I would get saved all over again. Other times I would go to the building and nothing happened. It was business as usual. I was on a hamster wheel and I did not know how to get off. Again, I kept believing this is just the way I am. There is nothing more to being a Christian. By the way, my thought processes were ALL lies. There is hope...Keep reading.

These are the two practical ways God used to bring about deliverance in my life. There are two parts to fighting and winning with God's Words. Both parts can seem tricky but it is a lie the enemy wants us to believe. "HE (the devil) is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44)

     1.You have to KNOW HIS WORD

My struggle with KNOWING HIS Words was the fact that I did not understand the King James Version of the Bible. God led me to the NLT and the Bible opened me up to a whole new world. It was definitely written just for me.

It took many years for me to understand that the Bible is actually our LOVE LETTER written to each one of us. It took many years for me to understand that the Creator of the universe and My Creator loved me and wanted to talk to little ole me. I am NOT special Your Creator DESPERATELY wants to talk to You as well.
    

     2. You have to believe HIS Words
 

It was also hard for me to believe something that seemed to contradict EVERYTHING I had been taught or believed. It is easier to think negatively about myself than it was to believe the truth: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made". (Psalm 139:14 KJV) and "Since I belong to Christ I am a new person. My old life is gone; my new life has begun." (II Corinthians 5:17)

I had to keep saying it over and over and over again. I did not get on the hamster wheel in one day it was a process. Getting off the wheel was a process as well. The negative words continued to bombard my mind but I would replace them with God's Words about me. I am fearfully and wonderfully made AND I am a new person in Christ. I choose to believe it this second, minute, hour, day. Jesus Christ was showing me how to fight. This is the same way each of us must learn to fight.

__________ 

NOTE : Our technological world has made #1 null and void. If you really want to read and understand, you can get a version you understand by clicking on your app store. Search for a Bible app and download it onto your device. Once it downloads open it and keep clicking through the versions until you find one which is easy for you to understand. My personal favorite is the New Living Translation (NLT). Ask the Holy Spirit to open up God's Words to you and HE will because HE is the Teacher.
 

Prayer: Lord, lead me to the version of Your Word that will speak to my heart. Then teach me to believe Your Love letter written to me.

If you have been blessed by my blog. Please "share" my blog. www.womenofvalour15.blogspot.com

 

 

   

GOD LOVES ME TODAY

This is my first time writing a blog. I have always been a person who journals. So, now the Lord is stretching me to use my journaling/blogging to help me and others. I have found over the years that when I write things down it:

• Allows me to get them out of me and onto the paper.
• Keeps the thoughts or feelings from poisoning my system, if allowed to stay inside.
• Gives me a point of reference when I go back and read what I wrote a day, week, month or even a year later.
• Allows me to see where my thoughts processes and behaviors have changed.
• Shows me where I have grown and where I have remained stagnant.

         "Women of Valour" is all about freedom in Christ, setting the captives free, experiencing the love of God, and opening blinded eyes. Isaiah 61:1 states:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,

for the Lord has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to comfort the broken hearted

and to proclaim that captives will be released

and prisoners will be freed.

     God has and is taking me though the healing process in my mind, body, and spirit. God is doing it to me so that He can use me to help others in the very same practical ways HE has helped me. I was hurting emotionally and mentally and not realizing I was hurting. I was hurting other people in the midst of my pain. I thought this is just the way I am.

     How can I hurt and not know I was hurting? Pain was soooo familiar to me it was like my pet. I held onto my pain/pet even when freedom was offered to me. My mind was so warped with lies that I believed the freedom that was offered was for everyone else but me. You may be feeling this way too but there is hope. Keep reading...

Let me give you some background. I was saved or accepted Christ into my life when I was a young girl. I kept getting "saved" over and over again as the years passed. I believed I was saved which meant I was going to heaven when I died. But there was no freedom, peace, joy, or love operating in my life or through my life. I thought I was the ugly duckling and the black sheep of my family. I believed I was unlovable.

My very real scenario: I would literally go to church, women's conference, revival, Bible study, etc and would hear the speaker talk about freedom, blessings, love, peace, joy, prosperity, etc. I would sit in my chair or pew and the thought/lie would hit me "those things are not for you but others." I would rehearse the thought in my own mind how those things were not meant for me based on my past or current mistakes. If I tried to believe it even more negative thoughts would crowd my mind. Has that ever happened to you?

As a child of God, you are loved and have been set free from the prison of sin and lies. The very first Scripture or lesson God taught me was Jeremiah 31:3:

Long ago the Lord said to Israel (Andrea):

 "I have loved you, my people (Andrea), with an everlasting love.

With unfailing love I have drawn you (Andrea) to myself.

 

God had to make His Word real to me so HE had me insert my name in the verse. This way I KNEW that HE was talking to me. It took me saying it over and over and over again before I started to believe it. My own mind fought me because of what I had believed for so many years.

 

I said there is hope. Hope has a name and it is Christ Jesus the Resurrected One. God, the Father,  loves you so much that HE gave you the perfect, ultimate gift.

 

For this is how God LOVED you.....

HE GAVE HIS ONE and ONLY Son (Jesus),

 so that everyone who believes in HIM will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

 

The enemy has been having a field day with us as women, especially, in the area of love. It is time to take back the ground that has been taken from us. We have used our words to fight in the past and even now. But we have to learn to use the Words of God to fight the enemy that is hindering the love, joy, peace and blessings in our lives.

 

Prayer: Lord, show me Your love for me everyday. Let me experience Your everlasting and unfailing Love in very real and tangible ways. Make Your Love for me more real than anything else.