Be All Woman Blog

The following excerpt is taken from What Guys see that girls Don’t, or do they? by Sharon Daugherty

Why should we responsible for anybody else? Why can’t we just live our lives and others live ther lives? Why should girls and women feel any responsibility for guys who struggle?

Let’s consider the story of Cain and Abel who were the first two children of Adam and Eve. When Adam and Eve sinned and were removed from the Garden of Eden, the only way they could approach God’s presence was by bringing and animal sacrifice would cover their sin.

Abel brought an animal sacrifice as he had been told, but Cain decided to bring his own works of what he had harvested. He did things his own way instead of God’s way. Hence, God could not accept his sacrifice. Then, instead of repenting and doing as God had directed. Cain took offense and became angry, resentful and jealous of his brother who had done the right thing and obeyed God’s directions.

God tried to warn Cain that He could see that the bitterness within him was going to cause him to sin, but he wouldn’t listen to His warning. Eventually, Cain murdered his brother Abel. Afterward, God came to Cain and even though He knew what had happened, He gave Cain an opportunity to admit his sin by asking him, “Where is Abel thy brother?” (Gen.4:9a). Cain’s response was, “I know not [or we might say, "I don't know"]. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (v.9b)

Of course, we know that his response was, first, a lie because he knew where Abel was. Secondly, he did not take responsibility for his brother. But nevertheless, God held Cain responsible because he was responsible  for his brother: God said, “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground” (v.10b). Subsequently, a curse came upon Cain because he would not repent.

Today many people like Cain do not want to feel responsible for anyone else or to anyone else. There’s a desire for so-called “freedom” to do whatever a person wants to do, whether it affects other negatively or not. This attitude promotes the thought that if others are hurt, it’s their problem  and not our own responsibility. If we ignore our conscience that talks to us and tells u when we’ve done right or wrong, we can become hardened  to any sense of responsiblity toward others.

However, God still holds each of us as Christians responsible for others and how we come across to them. “Responsibility” is the state of being responsible or answerable for one’s actions and decisions; being accountable when called upon to report or account for one’s actions or behavior; liable (obliged or bound by one’s conscience, by law or by moral duty); to be called upon to answer for one’s actions or decisions or thinking.

Since we are still in the process of growing in our spiritual understanding and walking with God, sometimes we as Christians fail. However, responsible Christians are willing to see their failure, admit it and correct it. Once they gain the appropriate knowledge and are made aware of their responsibility, they make an effort to do what is expected.

I have nt arrived and neither has anyone else. We are all in the proces of becoming. For much of my life I felt that I would never be OK until I arrived, but I have learned that is not the truth. My heart desires to be all God wants me to be and I want to be like Jesus.

In Romans 7, Paul said the good things he wanted to do, he could not do; and the evil things he did not wanted to do, he always found himself doing. He said he felt wretched. I can relate to that, what about you?

You know, we all have a way to go. I was worried about how far I had to go and it seemed satan reminded me of it daily. I carried a constant sense of failure, a feeling that I just was not what I needed to be, that I was doing good enough, that I should try harder and yet when I did try harder, I only failed more.

So, I heard somebody this  slogan and adopted it for myself as a new attitude: “I am not where I need to be, but thank God I am not where I used to be; I am OK and I am on my way!”

Then we know with all our heart that God is not angry with us because we haven’t arrived. He is pleased that we are pressing on, that we stay on the path. I you and I will just “keep on keeping on,” God will be pleased with our progress. Keep walking the walk. A walk is something taken one step at a time. This is an important thing to remember.

We have been considering how to have a good self-image. One way we do that is by realizing that we have not arrived at perfection, that we have some growing to do, bu that in the meantime we are OK. It is true that we have to keep pressing on, but thank God we don’t have to hate and reject ourselves while we are trying to get to our destination.

What is a normal, healthy Christian attitude toward self? here are a few thoughts that reflect that kind of wholesome, God-centered self-image:

1. I know God created me andI know He loves me.
2. I have faults and weaknesses and I want to change. I believe God is working in my life. He is changing me bit by bit, day by day. While He is doing so, I can still enjoy myself and my life.
3. Everyone has faults, so I am not a complete failure just because I am not perfect.
4. I am going to work with God to overcome my weaknesses, but I realize that I will always have something to deal with; therefore, I will not become discouraged when God convicts me of areas in my life that need improvement.
5. I want to make people happy and have them like me, but my sense of worth is not dependent on what others think of me. Jesus has already affirmed my value by His willingness to die for me.
6. I will not be controlled by what people think, say or do. Even if they totally reject me, I will survive. God has  promised never to reject me or condemn me as long as I keep believing.
7. No matter how often I fail, I will not give up, because God is with me to strengthen and sustain me. He has promised never to leave me or forsake me.
8. I like myself. I don’t like everything I do and I want to change, but I refuse to reject myself.
9. I am right with God through Jesus Christ.
10. God has a ood plan for my life. I am going to fulfill my destiny and be all I can be for His glory. I have God-given gifts and talents and I intend to use them to help others.
11. I am nothing and yet I am everything! In myself I am nothing and yet in Jesus I am everything I need to be.
12. I can do all things I need to do, everything that God calls me to do, through His Son Jesus Christ.

from Don Gossett’s book What You Say is What You Get regarding The Anointing.
Here’s a list of the points:

• The Anointing teaches-1 John 2:27 says, “But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides [permanently] in you; [so] then you have no need that anyone should instruct you.

But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in, never depart from) Him [being rooted in Him; knit to Him] just as [His anointing] has taught you [to do].”

• The Anointing breaks bondages-Isaiah 10:27 says, “And it shall be in that day that the burden of [the Assyrian] shall depart from your shoulders, and his yoke from your neck. The yoke shall be destroyed because of fatness [which prevents it from going around your neck].”
• The Anointing heals-Luke 4:18-19 says, “The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity], To proclaim the accepted and acceptable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the free favors of God profusely abound].”
• Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit-Psalms 92:10 says, “But my horn (emblem of excessive strength and stately grace) You have exalted like that of a wild ox; I am anointed with fresh oil.”

Acts 2:4 says, “And they were all filled (diffused throughout their souls) with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression [in each tongue in appropriate words].”

Acts 4: 29-31 says, “And now, Lord, observe their threats and grant to Your bond servants [full freedom] to declare Your message fearlessly, While You stretch out Your hand to cure and to perform signs and wonders through the authority and by the power of the name of Your holy Child and Servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they continued to speak the Word of God with freedom and boldness and courage.”

• The Anointing builds up your faith by praying in the Holy Spirit-Jude 20 says, “But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit.”
• Maintain the Anointing by spending time with God, reading the Word and in prayer and meditation-1 John 2:20 says, “But you have been anointed by [you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from] the Holy One, and you all know [the Truth] or you know all things.”

Here is an awesome testimony of the power of corporate prayer. Last year, a church in New Mexico embraced an assignment they received of praying drought out of their entire state. They immediately began to pray during every Sunday morning service and in prayer groups throughout the week for rain and snow.

At first, many people were skeptical about prayer actually having an effect on weather, but they persisted week after week. They enlisted the children to pray for snow, as it seems adults can be resistant to ask for it. The children went after it gung ho!

The first Sunday they prayed, they had a bright, warm day when church began and by the time service dismissed, it was snowing. This was the first of many times the weather forecasters were confounded.

Attitudes of people began to change and faith to ask rose significantly. All through the spring and summer of last year, they had rain. Presently the snow pack in their northern mountains is at 169% of what it was this time last year.

The eastern side of the New Mexico is asking for the rain to move to the western side because they are far ahead in rainfall. People in different areas of the state began to hear about this praying church and requested them to pray for their county too. Perhaps what is most wonderful of all, is that people who were not active in corporate prayer began to see and testify of the difference praying together makes.

The following excerpt is taken from John G. Lake, His Life His Sermons His Boldness of Faith, Kenneth Copeland Publications:
In my ministry in South Africa there was a young lady, one of the most beautiful souls I have ever known. She was baptized n the Spirit when perhaps only seventeen or eighteen years old. One of the remarkable developments in her after her baptism in the Spirit was that the Spirit of God would come powerfully upon her on occasions, and at such times, she would sit down at the piano and translate the music her soul heard. Other times the Spirit would come upon her so powerfully that she would be caused to sing the heavenly music in some angelic language.

Some years later Clara Butts, the great prima donna, came to Africa. She was singing at the Wanderers Hall in Johannesburg. One evening after the concert, while being entertained at the hotel, I was introduced to her. She said to me, “Mr. Lake, I have been very anxious to meet you, for I have heard that among your people is a remarkable woman who receives music in the Spirit, apparently of a different realm than ours.” I said, “Yes, that is a fact.”

She inquired if it would be possible to meet her, and so a meeting was arranged. One evening we went to her hotel and as we sat down, Clara Butts said to the young lady, “I wish you would sit down and play some of the music I have heard about.” She did not understand that such music only came at such times as the Spirit came powerfully upon the woman. However, the young lady sat down at the piano.

I said to the company, “Let us bow our heads in prayer.” As we did and waited, presently the Spirit of God descended upon her, and then there poured through her soul some of that wondrous, beautiful, heavenly music. I waited to note the affect on the company. When the song was finished, I looked especially at Clara Butts, who was weeping silently. She arose to her feet, and coming forward to the piano, she reached out her hands saying, “Young lady, that music belongs to a world that my soul knows little about. I pray every day of my life God may permit me to enter. In that realm is the ultimate which my soul sometimes hears, but which I have never been able to touch myself.”

Beloved, in the Christian life, in the heart of God, there is an ultimate note. That note which is so fine and sweet and true and pure and good that it causes all our nature to respond to it, and rejoices the soul with a joy unspeakable.

There is a Christianity that has that high note in it, bless God, into the heavenlies. Indeed, Christianity in itself, real Christianity, is in that high note of God, that thing of heaven that is not of earth and is not natural. It is more than natural. It is the note of heaven. It comes to the earth. It fills the soul of man. Man’s soul rises into heave to touch God, and in touching God receives that glorified expression and experience into his own soul, and it is reproduced in his own life and nature.

The hunger of my soul for many a long day has been that I might be able to so present that high true note of God, that the souls of men would rise up in God to that place of power, purity and strength where the presence and character and works of Christ are evidenced in and through them. There can be no distinction between the exercise of the real power of God as seen in Jesus and its reproduction in a Christian soul. There is a purity, the purity of heaven, so high, so holy, so pure, so sweet that it makes the life of the possessor radiant with the glory and praise of God.

When you have a poor self-image; you feel very insecure and it certainly affects all your relationships. It even affects your future. If you have a poor self-image, it has already adversely affected your past, but you can be healed and not allow the past to repeat itself. Let go of all what lies behind, including any negative ways you have felt about yourself and press on toward the good things God has in store ofr you.

God has a plan for each of us, but not all of us experience it. many times we live far below the standard that God intends for us to enjoy. Most Christians don’t exercise their own rights and privileges as a child of God. This is because most of them don’t even know they have rights and privileges. Although they are Christians and they believe they are going to heaven  when they die, they don’t know that anything could be done about their past, present or future.

Then as second reason they live far below the level of life God intended for them was simply the wrong way they perceive and feel about themselves. They have a poor self-image  and it is affected by day-to-day living, as well as their outlook for the future.

God has plans for you!
God does not have a bad attitude towards you and you should not have one toward yourself! Shake of the past and set your sights on the future. The apostle Paul wanted to do things right and yet realized that he was growing and learning and would not always manifest 100 percent perfection.

Press on!
Philippians 3:1 says: “Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (The Messiah) has laid hold of me and made His own.

In the next verse, Paul went on to say that he forgot what lay behind and strained forward to what lay ahead.
We see this principle in many places in Gods Holy Word. The prophet Isiah had the same revelation when he brought forth the message of the Lord: Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:18,19)

Almost everyone of us could use some improvement in our self-image. It takes time to grasp the hope for ourselves that God has for us. To realize how much hope God has for us, all we need to do is remember what we were like when God called us into His family. It is so wonderful and comforting to know that when everyone else only sees our faults, God sees our possibilities.

The Lord doesn’t wait for us to get all fixed up before He got involved with us. He starts with where we are and takes the responsibility for getting us to where we need to be. He does this everybody, so laso for you!

God chooses the Unlikely like you and me!
God purposely chooses those who are the most unlikely candidates for things He needs done. By doing so, He has a wide open door to show His grace, mercy and power to change human lives. When God is using ethe unwise and the less educated, we realize that our source is not in ourselves but in Him alone.

Each of us has a destiny and there is absolutely no excuse not to fulfill it. We cannot use our weakness as an excuse, because God says that His strength is made perfect in weakness. We can not use the past as an excuse because God tells us through the apostle Paul that if person is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away and all things have become new. (2Cor.5:17)

How God sees us is not the problem, it is how we see ourselves that keeps us from succeeding. each of us can succeed at being everything God intends us to be.