I hope you all had a chance to be in service with us last Sunday. God has really been touching me through our current series. It's all in the mind. This Sunday Joel taught on Truth or Snare.. the way the enemy gets us to believe his lies and the way it affects our life. I have been currently going through a very hard season since January, due to some lies the enemy had spoken into my life. Many of you may not know but I have been struggling with severe depression for over 6 months and it has been a huge battle. Why am I telling you this? For 3 reasons, the first is because God promises me that if I confess my faults I will be healed. The 2nd is so that you will pray for me, because your prayers are dynamic in working on my behalf. The 3rd is so you that you know that you are not alone in the struggles you face, but that we all have our battles no matter who, what or where we are.. in other words, just because you are in leadership it doesn't mean you are superhuman.

James 5:16 (New International Version)
16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

I love the way this verse reads in the Amplified Bible:

James 5:16 (Amplified Bible)
16Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].


Some points from Sunday's message that hit me right in the face like a bucket of cold water were these:

A LIE BELIEVED AS TRUTH WILL AFFECT YOUR LIFE AS IF IT WERE TRUE.

The devil:
When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44

Jesus: Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

I realized in that moment and from a conversation with my loving and supportive- but- I'm- gonna -tell- you -the- truth husband this weekend that I had been taking lies as truth and my point of view was being filtered through an exagerated negative lens that was blurring my ability to focus on reality. I had to renounce any agreement with those lies the devil had been telling me and take away their power over me. Once I had that lightbulb moment ( I know, I've been in this a long time... I should be way past this!!!) I said .. ah ha! I see what you are up to!
Not anymore..

See the enemy is sneaky-he'll find a way to wound you that cuts the deepest because normally the wound comes from relationships and people that matter to you the most. Think about it, your childhood wounds come from parents, family members, teachers or best friends. As adults our wounds come from people whose opinion we value and people we love and trust. But undoubtedly the wound will come from someone who you think is telling you the truth-even though we don't realize the enemy may be filtering added nuances into what we are hearing.

The second point that really woke me up was this one:

RECOGNIZE THE EMEMY’S LIES.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12
Actually it was this specific point where the light bulb clicked on:


This was the actual root of the problem and I had to get past it. It doesn't matter what people think of me if I know that my God sees my heart and my motives are right and pure. I tend to be a very sensitive person, while this is a good quality at time it can be a problem as well because you can be easily wounded. I am so thankful that God has helped me re-focus my attention off of a few negatives to see the over all whole picture which is extremely positive, exciting and lifegiving. I've determined to not allow negativity or negative people rob me of anymore of my time or my joy. I've installed a spam filter on my mind-- and junk goes directly to the recycle bin to be deleted. Life is just to short to be spent focused on the wrong things.