Changing Your Mind

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. ~ Philippians 4:13 NKJV

Newton’s First Law of Motion states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion…unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.  The mind can either be at rest or it can be busy at all times.

My mind was in perpetual motion, constantly worried about something. Although things were being taken care of, I was never able to rest. But a wise friend suggested a semester of rest—to stop working and just rest in my Father’s love for me.  That was hard to do.  I was a “doer” and in the midst of the chaos, my identity got caught up in “doing” instead of being…

When I was first told to run as a way to alleviate stress, I really disliked it, but I quickly discovered that running was the unbalanced force my mind needed to shift from doing to resting.  But the enemy was aware of this and began to flood my mind with constant lies, “You’ll never be able to do this.  You’re too tired. You can’t do this.”  Over and over I heard in my head, “I can’t! I can’t! I can’t!”  But then something amazing happened: I opened my mouth and said, “I can! I can! I can!”  Throughout that whole day, and every time after when I felt something come against me, I would open my mouth and say, “I can!”

What has the enemy been saying you can’t do? Refute his lies by saying out loud, “I can!”

©Heather Potts 2016

You Need the Key

Every door has a key and I’ve just found ours.

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it. ~ Genesis 4:7

I can’t believe it’s been a year and a half since God opened my eyes to how this verse applied to a situation in my life.  Because this scripture had been marked in my brain as a reminder about maintaining control, I didn’t realize God was talking to me again about a current situation when this verse began to play like a tape in my mind.

Over the past several months, Brad and I have been praying and believing for God to move mightily in our lives.  Our prayer: Close all the wrong doors so no man or spirit may open them and open the right door so no man or spirit may close it.  After months of frustration and listening to a friend’s testimony, I began to realize that God had been “closing all the wrong doors,” just as we’d asked.  So we began to thank Him that He’d already opened the “right” door and asked Him to lead us to it.

I ran into a friend the other day who said, “You must be missing something.”  I was so frustrated at that comment…but God revealed to me tonight that he was right and that “something” was huge to God.  Our actions and our words can define us.  If we are not careful, sin will master our lives, cutting off the hand of God to bless us.  But as I discovered tonight through talking with God, we can master sin and don’t have to be mastered by it.

We’ve wanted God to shut all the wrong doors and open the right one.  Every door has a key and I’ve just found ours.