Treachery Defeated!

The trail is treacherous this morning. The sun should be shining, but instead darkness reigns in its place. The threat of death surrounds me like hungry wolves hiding in the shadows. They lie in wait for the One who covers me to leave. I find myself sensing death and wonder if I will be devoured, yet I have a Savior who is by my side. I must find my strength not within myself, but within Him. I shall not be devoured, He says to me. I stand up and face my enemy, not because of who I am, for I know in myself I am small and insignificant and not a threat to him. It is because because of the might, power and glory of the One who stands tall and secure and completely confident, that victory is ours. It is in that greatness I am able to not only endure, but to win!!!

By the blood of the Lamb

I have overcome

By the blood of the Lamb

I have victory

Love Self

I woke up this morning at 5 a.m. The cat was pawing at my face, which reminded me that my head was still hurting. I needed to get up, tend to the cat and take some Excedrin. I sat up on the couch for a while and my mind started listening to God's heart for me. I had a song about love rolling through my mind like a record skipping. From there my thoughts drifted to the Ten Commandments and finally landed on the greatest commandment. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself." The other morning I awakened saying out loud that the most important thing is to love God and love people. Now today the Lord pointed out another piece to that truth. Love yourself. It is so easy to look right past that, but doesn't it say to love God and self and people. I think we have been trained to believe that to love self would be wrong. It would be thinking too highly of ourselves or not denying ourselves the way we should. It would be a subtle form of pride. Isn't it interesting how we come to believe such lies? It doesn't take much to learn to despise ourselves because when we compare ourselves to what we "think" we should be, we fall so short. Maybe we don't deserve love because of what we feel we have done, or aren't pretty or handsome enough or smart enough. There are a myriad of ways we are conditioned to buy into the lies. It is time to recognize that is what they are. If we believe those lies then how can we receive the love of God because we will think He couldn't possibly love this mess. When we can't receive love, how can we give love? We can only give away what we have. A precursor to loving God is receiving His love. We find out that His love is completely unconditional. While we were still unsaved, He loved us. It wasn't after we got our act together, because that would never happen. He loves us and wants us to love ourselves. When we truly love ourselves we have received the love of God. It is only then that we are able to love Him back and then love others. So how are you at loving self?