Today’s Quote: “If God’s feelin’ you, who else you need to feel you?” –Mason Betha
Today’s Song: “Fall Back”- Lecrae
Yesterday we talked about looking for significance in all the wrong places. And how most women are just in a frenzy of doing this.
But how did we all get this way?
When did we start looking at ourselves and eachother through these skewed lenses? Not even recognizing our own value and self worth.
These are important questions to ask if we are hoping to exchange our distorted vision for clarity. For spiritual and mental health.
Personally, I think that our problem has a lot to do with what we are pouring into ourselves. Think about it.
What does your entertainment consist of?
What do the lyrics of your music talk about?
What kinds of TV shows do you watch?
What types of messages about relationships, guys, love and self-value are these things speaking to you?
Has your heart become so hardened to things like perversity, lust, casual sex, greed and swearing that you hardly even notice them anymore?
What are these things that you indulge in teaching you to value?
So much of why we do what we do is because of what we’re indulging in.
Whether we want to admit it or not, so many of our ideas about love, guys, and how we’re suppose to be as women, come from these sources.
What we’re listening to, what we’re doing with our time, and what messages we are allowing to be pumped into our heads- all have A LOT to do with what kind of women we are.
What kind of woman are you?
A lot of us are confused about it.
We don’t even know what it means to feel like a real lady because we're not learning it anywhere.
For many
of us, the older women in our lives who were suppose to teach us how to be
whole, healthy women, are themselves broken, too busy, or they just don’t know
how either.
So in
large part, we’ve become a generation of girls who look to our culture and
media to shape our lifestyle and values.
No wonder most of us are a....
I'm not trying to be a hater. That is not the point.
The point is that we would become more aware of what’s around us and better equipped to take responsibility for ourselves.
Remember we're after a healthy and balanced you here, and in order to achieve that, you really need to start trying to see some things for what they actually are, beyond their initial facade and allure.
Because these things do have a very real effect on you!
I want you to read aloud this excerpt from the book of Timothy, talking about how people are going to be in end times.
As you read it, I want you to think about the cast of any popular TV show.
(Don’t just skim it, read it! And pay special attention to the last paragraph.)
“For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!
They are the kind who work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.” -2Timothy 3:2-7 (NLT)
Did those last few sentences jump out at you like they did at me? The ones about getting into people’s homes and winning the confidence of vulnerable women. Woah. I cannot help but picture our electronic devices as the means of entrance. It makes such perfect sense.
Girls! We need to wise up to the time that we’re living in.
That we are just not going to go along with the things of this culture and grow closer to God. The two just don’t go together.
The Bible makes it very clear that the closer and closer that we get to end times, the more people’s normal everyday habits are going to become more and more evil. More and more self-destructive.
That we are just not going to go along with the things of this culture and grow closer to God. The two just don’t go together.
The Bible makes it very clear that the closer and closer that we get to end times, the more people’s normal everyday habits are going to become more and more evil. More and more self-destructive.
Don’t you see it?
Our generation is swimming in it! Just drowning in that unclear, trance-like state, just absolutely saturated with messages, music, media and constant chatter.
Our generation is swimming in it! Just drowning in that unclear, trance-like state, just absolutely saturated with messages, music, media and constant chatter.
One tell tale sign that you’re swimming in it too is if you can’t stand quiet. You always need to have something on, whether it be music, the TV, your phone; anything but silence.
And then when you do find yourself alone, you gravitate toward things that are self-destructive like immoral TV shows, self-sex, junk foods, maybe even cutting or binging/ purging.
And then when you do find yourself alone, you gravitate toward things that are self-destructive like immoral TV shows, self-sex, junk foods, maybe even cutting or binging/ purging.
Sweetheart, guess who's hand that is on your life? It is certainly not God’s.
Oh, of all the
changes that God has made in my life, I am most grateful and in awe of the ones
IN MY OWN MIND. That when I’m by myself and it’s quiet, I am no longer haunted
by my own emptiness and instability. That in the middle of the night when
nobody is looking, I no longer THINK HOW I USE TO THINK. Oh, I have to write it
in capital letters because that is just HUGE to me.
The ways of the world come easy to us, girls. There’s nothing hard about going with the flow of our peers (whether they are 18 or 80).
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but it LEADS TO DEATH.” (Proverbs 14:12)
IT IS TIME to step back from some things.
Time to get your head on straight.
Time to get your head on straight.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”~ Romans 12:2
We need to begin renewing our minds!
We need some fresh air and clarity for our souls!
We need some fresh air and clarity for our souls!
Lord help us, we need to change some things!
I want to wrap this up with a quick illustrative story that my pastor use to tell:
There once was a man who had two dogs that he use to fight, one against the other.
The dogs were identical in almost every way; size, shape, stature, and they were exact equals in fighting ability.
Every week they would fight in front of a crowd of betting men, and the owner could somehow always predict which dog would win the fight.
Finally after months of watching, an old betting man came to the owner and said:
“What is your secret? Every week I come and watch these dogs who are exact equals fight one another, and every week you somehow predict the winner. How do you do it?”
To which the owner replied:
“Easy. Each week, whatever dog I want to win, I feed twice as much as the dog I want to loose. The dog who has eaten abundantly throughout the week, has more strength than the one who has not. And that is how I pick the winner.”
Ah-ha! So the moral of the story is this:
“Easy. Each week, whatever dog I want to win, I feed twice as much as the dog I want to loose. The dog who has eaten abundantly throughout the week, has more strength than the one who has not. And that is how I pick the winner.”
Ah-ha! So the moral of the story is this:
Whatever dog you feed the most will win the fight.
It has absolutely nothing to do with what you know to be true.
If you are feeding the unhealthy side of yourself (watching TV, listening to perverse music, looking at trashy things on the internet, or whatever other unwholesome things you gravitate toward) more than you are doing things that are wholesome, uplifting, and Godly for your spirit,
then guess which dog will win the fight?
And the opposite is true as well.
Wisdom, girls, wisdom.
Feed the good dog!
Be willing to do things differently, and watch the amazing difference in your life!
Today's Dare: Today I want you to make a list of 5 things that have been feeding the "Bad-Dog" in your life.
Now pick at least a few things on that list that need to go. The ones that you just really know it's time to kick to the curb. I want you to replace those things that you cut, with activities that will feed the "Good Dog" in your life.
It's time to grow up a little today, and say goodbye to a few of those immature, trashy "guilty pleasures", and hello to a healthier, wiser, more mature you!
