It's been nearly a year since I've posted anything here, and over this past year, I've grown tremendously. I've learned so many new things about love, healing, and what it truly means to serve God. I've gone from one city to another for five months, then another for two months, then yet another for three months, only to come back to the place that I started. In all of that maneuvering, God has not only provided for me, but He has also showed me countless things about myself, and I've had to heal from a lot in order to get to where I am today physically, mentally, and especially spiritually.
One thing that I've always striven to do, was grow. I want to grow in every area of my life, but ESPECIALLY spiritually, and it wasn't until I was in Dallas, Texas at Dr. Tony Evan's church (Oakcliff Bible Fellowship) that I learned what being filled with un-forgiveness really results in. I asked God to make me 'not angry' anymore. I asked Him to stop my frustration over the small things, and to help me control my emotions, but what I should've been asking him was to heal all of the deep rooted un-forgiveness that was planted inside of my heart. During worship, Dr. Tony Evan's son spoke about how he had such an anger problem, and how God revealed to him that his anger would not dissipate until he forgave the people he was harboring resentment for. Are you harboring resentment in any way? I know I was, and then he said something else that really helped me. He said 'when you pray and ask God to deliver you from something, BELIEVE that it has been done, and then PROCEED with your life as if you have already been delivered. Don't go around wondering if God is going to deliver you from your sin. Have confidence that it is DONE!
Hmmm...that's some good stuff. So often, we ask God to do something for us, or in our lives, and then we walk around and wait on something magical to happen to show us that it's been done. In James 1:6-8 NIV says 'But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.'
Now the scripture just before this mentions 'wisdom' but I believe that God wants us to make this a practice in all just things that we ask Him for. That's a good word in itself! For me it was so comforting to know that I was able to ask God to deliver me from a bad emotion, a toxic way of reacting to things, and a spirit of un-forgiveness, and then I could BELIEVE that it was done. I'll tell you that since I walked out of that church with my mind made up that I was NOT the same person, I have never reverted back to who I was.
DISCLAIMER! I am NOT saying that I don't struggle with fleshly reactions & anger, but I am saying that I no longer claim that I am an angry or unforgiving person. I fully believe that God has delivered me from those issues, and while I still fall short, it's never to the extremity in which I was before, and as time passes on the offenses have nearly waned off. My un-forgiveness was really stunting my growth in God, and now, I truly understand the importance of giving God all of me. I want to grow, but not in this world. I want to grow in my relationship with God, because it is ONLY through God that I am able to achieve everything that I want to achieve. It is only through God that I am able to go on in the hard, mundane, days. I need God for EVERYTHING in my life, and if I don't know anything else, I know that God will complete the good work that He has started in my life (and yours!)
I hope someone found something useful in this post. There is so much to learn, and I couldn't write all that I've learned in just this past year in one night, but when I look at all that he has done for me...there are no words to express my gratuity. All I can do is get up every single day and try and make it my soul mission to love others just as God loved me.
Thank-you for reading!
Love & Blessings
Candace Taylor
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Strength
Strength is really an amazing thing if you think about it. I hear all the time, people talking about how strong they had to be to make it through something, and how strong they wish they were, but I've realized something about strength. Strength is so amazing, because when you are connected with God, His strength becomes yours, and there is no greater strength than the strength of God. I never just type any old thing on my blog, when I come here to write, I'm writing from experience. I'm writing from a place of surety, and if I'm not sure of anything else in my life, I am sure that God loves me. I am sure that God has a plan for me that it is bigger than my human mind can even comprehend. Only God knows how badly I've suffered throughout my life, but I thank Him every single day for every trial I ever had to encounter. God is so good.
TD Jakes did a sermon a couple of years ago entitled "Nothing in my Hands," and in the sermon he talks about how Samson had an encounter with a lion, and how he defeated the lion with nothing in his hands. Have you ever been faced with a struggle that looked impossible to win, not only because the struggle was so great, but because you also went into the struggle with absolutely nothing. You have nothing, but you're in that struggle anyway, and don't you know that the only thing that you need to survive any struggle is God? Don't you know that he will put things in your life, in your way, in your heart, that you never even asked for, but you need more than you ever even realized? Don't you know that God has infinite knowledge, and that he sees the world on a level so grand that our meek little minds can't even imagine it. This sermon is so good, and it ministered to me on so many levels, because TD Jakes reminds us that after Samson defeats this lion (WITH NOTHING IN HIS HANDS), he looks down in the carcass and finds honey!! In the midst of EVERY struggle, don't you know that God is going to give you honey? He is going to fill up those hands that were once empty, he is going to do something so amazing with you that you won't have the heart to do anything else BUT give Him the glory! God is amazing, and it's vital that you get to know Him! Spend some time with God, worship God all throughout your busy day, and WATCH HIM WORK. I'm so on fire right now, because though I'm in the stormiest period of my life, I feel God's presence not only around me, but within me.
God is giving me a strength that words can't describe. This strength is through Him, and he'll do the same thing for you! If you need strength to get out of a bad situation, or to break a bad soul tie (more on soul ties later), then just call on God, because he will not only bless you out of that situation, but he'll use you for a greater purpose. Submit yourself to the will of God, and when you go into worship, go in with a thankful attitude. When you go into worship, don't ask God for one thing. He knows the desires of your heart. Show Him that you can give Him the praise. God has been so good to me, that is one thing I can say for sure, and I promise if you give your life over to Him, and start living for Him, he can do the same for you!
TD Jakes did a sermon a couple of years ago entitled "Nothing in my Hands," and in the sermon he talks about how Samson had an encounter with a lion, and how he defeated the lion with nothing in his hands. Have you ever been faced with a struggle that looked impossible to win, not only because the struggle was so great, but because you also went into the struggle with absolutely nothing. You have nothing, but you're in that struggle anyway, and don't you know that the only thing that you need to survive any struggle is God? Don't you know that he will put things in your life, in your way, in your heart, that you never even asked for, but you need more than you ever even realized? Don't you know that God has infinite knowledge, and that he sees the world on a level so grand that our meek little minds can't even imagine it. This sermon is so good, and it ministered to me on so many levels, because TD Jakes reminds us that after Samson defeats this lion (WITH NOTHING IN HIS HANDS), he looks down in the carcass and finds honey!! In the midst of EVERY struggle, don't you know that God is going to give you honey? He is going to fill up those hands that were once empty, he is going to do something so amazing with you that you won't have the heart to do anything else BUT give Him the glory! God is amazing, and it's vital that you get to know Him! Spend some time with God, worship God all throughout your busy day, and WATCH HIM WORK. I'm so on fire right now, because though I'm in the stormiest period of my life, I feel God's presence not only around me, but within me.
God is giving me a strength that words can't describe. This strength is through Him, and he'll do the same thing for you! If you need strength to get out of a bad situation, or to break a bad soul tie (more on soul ties later), then just call on God, because he will not only bless you out of that situation, but he'll use you for a greater purpose. Submit yourself to the will of God, and when you go into worship, go in with a thankful attitude. When you go into worship, don't ask God for one thing. He knows the desires of your heart. Show Him that you can give Him the praise. God has been so good to me, that is one thing I can say for sure, and I promise if you give your life over to Him, and start living for Him, he can do the same for you!
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