Letting Go ~ by @emilylaney

Photo credit: Artotem (creative commons)

LETTING GO 

By Emily Walters Laney

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”  
Proverbs 3:5-6

I’m going to start this post out today by confessing something to you all:  I’m a planner.  Okay, if I’m being honest, I’m a bit of a control freak, too.  I am really good at planning out my life, my family’s life, my career, my year, my day.  If you name it, I’ve probably got a plan.  Twenty-year plan, ten-year plan, five-year plan, yearly goals, daily to-do list - Yep, got those.  I really enjoy task lists, plans, schedules, and agendas. 

It’s not bad to be a planner.  It’s not sinful to be organized and task oriented.  In fact, planners help make things happen.  Organizations with strategy and mapped-out plans tend to reach their goals.  Many successful people have goal lists and a personal mission statement and plan.  It’s important to have purpose and goals for your life.

There’s a catch.  When we get engrossed and obsessed with our own plans, we can miss the powerful plan God has for our lives.  I know that I have the tendency to go to God with my plans clenched tightly in both fists.  I pray, asking God to reveal His plan and His purpose, but I refuse to open my hands and drop my ideas at His feet.  They stay clenched at my side, a death grip on the "perfect’" plans that I have.

You’d think that after years and years of God rocking my world with crazy awesome twists and turns that I’d have figured out by now that His plan is so much better than mine.  I’ve gotten better at surrendering, but sometimes it’s easier to stick with what I think is the ‘best’ option.  The irony of this mindset is that usually our plans are not the best.  I’ve just ended a season in my life where I really thought I had a perfect plan figured out.  That plan didn’t work out the way I thought.  I was left wondering what on earth God was up to, and I was disappointed.  

“Lord,” I said, “I really thought I had this figured out.  Why am I sitting idly?  Are you going to come through?” I felt in my heart the Spirit say, “Wait.” 

Well, I waited, and waited, and waited.  I almost lost hope, but in the end, God came through in ways that I wouldn’t have even imagined.  So on the date of this post’s publishing I will be starting a new adventure at a new job, and it is better than I ever would have thought.  It’s perfect really, and God knew all along.  He used that season of waiting to mold and shape me, to show me His provision, and to remind me of the amazing people around me who care about me.  It was stretching, but it was oh so beautiful.

God is so powerful, and the Holy Spirit does amazing works through God’s children.  When we understand God’s power and the power of Christ in our lives, we will fully understand our potential to change the world for the glory of Jesus.  If your hands are clenched right now, loosen your grip, drop your worries, plans, and burdens at the feet of Jesus, and let Him lead you down the path towards a surrendered and powerful life.

Emily Laney is a social worker, educator, and justice seeker.  She has worked with vulnerable populations in the United States and abroad and loves to help startup nonprofits reach their goals.  She is a Passion City Church door holder and leads a team of abolitionists at Not for Sale Georgia.  She loves her husband Brent and their rescue pup Biscuit.  Sunsets and Sushi make her happy.  

You can connect with Emily on twitter @emilylaney or on her blog www.emilylaney.com.

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Go, Satan, go! ~ A Post By @Lori_Kennedy

Go, Satan, go!

ByLori Kennedy 

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:4 (NIV) 

Please pull out your bible and read Matthew 4:1-11.  It is about when Satan tempted Jesus at the end of His forty-day fast.  There are some interesting facts that I would like to share with you about this event and how it applies to our lives today. 

• A person has not shown true obedience if they haven’t had an opportunity to disobey.  If you have never been tempted, then you have overcome nothing.
• Remember that we are all tempted (even Jesus) and that temptation itself is not sin.  We sin when we give in to the temptation.
• We will be tempted where we are vulnerable.  Jesus was tempted with:
• Physical needs – Food when hungry
• Emotional needs – Security when feeling abandoned
• Psychological needs – Significance, power, achievement, as we all struggle with pride
• Temptation may be perfectly normal desires, twisted for personal gain instead of God’s glory.  Eating is good and right and normal, but not when you are fasting per God’s request.
• Memorizing scripture is a great way to stay strong.  It is the tool that Jesus used to abolish Satan from His presence.
• Notice that Satan also used scripture (verse 6).  Knowing scripture is a very different thing than obeying, believing, living, and realizing scripture.
• Talking TO Satan is very different than talking WITH Satan.  Eve talked with Satan in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus, who is a model for our lives, talked to Satan to give him a command to leave His presence and based his command on scripture.
• Satan, however, twisted scripture in his attempt to make Jesus fall prey to sin.  There are many out there that will try to take a verse out of context for their personal gain.  Taking scripture out of context is dangerous.  We, as believers, must read and study the WHOLE WORD of GOD so that we can recognize those that don’t give a complete and true message.  We cannot allow ourselves to be swayed by the world.
• Finally, remember that God calls us to be IN the world but not OF the world.  Make sure that you don’t misunderstand what God is calling you to do versus what the world or Satan is requesting of you.  God’s “greater” plan for you and your life will always focus on eternal significance and may or may not fit into the model of success as understood by the world.  Always be prepared to re-align your viewpoint to include the backdrop of the cross.

Jesus spoke directly to Satan to get him to leave His presence, so that He was able to carry out the task the Father had given to Him.  He did much of this with scripture.  As we try to model our lives after Jesus, please make the time and effort to memorize scripture and be willing to be bold enough to tell Satan to directly “leave your presence” so you may live your life in the glory and grace of the Father.  This model of a victorious life is one where you are continuing to be molded by the Potter on a daily and ongoing basis.

Photo by Lori Kennedy

Lori Kennedy

ALPHA OMEGA MINISTRIES

www.lorikennedy.com

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Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love.  He will rejoice over you with singing."