I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Think About What You Think About
What you tell yourself every day matters. If you believe something about your identity that isn’t true, then you will struggle to believe what God says about you.
But, when you root your identity in God and allow His Spirit to shape your life, you will begin to see yourself the way He sees you—and this will influence the way you treat people, situations, opportunities, and events around you.
So here are three ways you can guard your thoughts and declare God’s truth over your life:
1. Identify the lies you tell yourself.
Your words and actions reveal the narratives you tell yourself. To figure out if a narrative is false, ask yourself: Is this thought marked by fear, insecurity, pride, bitterness, or a lack of confidence? Is this thought leading me to cynical or self-serving behavior? If you can answer “yes” to either of those questions, then the narrative you’re telling yourself probably needs to be addressed and adjusted.
When you can identify where and when you began believing a lie, it’ll be easier to change the way you think.
2. Shift your perspective.
For every lie, there is a truth that can replace it—and those truths can be found in the Bible. Look over your list of lies, and ask God to show you in His Word what His truth is. Create mental space for the Holy Spirit to clearly show you how He sees you.
3. Declare what’s true.
Turn the truths from Scripture into specific, intentional statements you can declare over your life each day.
Here are some declarations to get you started:
- I am enough because I am a child of God.
- I rejoice in suffering because Christ suffered for me.
- I am not ashamed of Jesus because His sacrifice changes lives.
- I am greatly loved, and so I love others like I have been loved.
- Nothing can separate me from God’s love.
As you practice these steps, keep in mind that if God—whose Word is truth—says something about you, then it must be true. So allow His Holy Spirit to transform the way you think. Let His thoughts about you become your thoughts about you.
“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, ...
Fulfillment of God’s Promises
Hundreds of years before Jesus, the people of God were in trouble.
They were stuck in life, unable to help themselves, and perhaps beginning to doubt that God would save them. Have you ever felt the same way? If so, you might relate to the original audience of this verse—the exiles in Babylon.
The Babylonians conquered God's people and land, sending them hundreds of miles away. Maybe they thought that God had abandoned them, or that He couldn’t hear their cries. But God is always close—especially when His people call on His name.
Isaiah let his people know that God would provide a way out of Babylonian captivity. And God kept His promise, allowing His people to return home.
Generations later, many of God’s people saw themselves as being in a new exile. They were home, but all was not well. So they remembered this verse and its promise—that no matter how dark or desperate our situation might be, God is able to provide a path out of brokenness, ...
