Category: Religion

How to Know When God is Speaking to You

This past Monday I spent a long time with God, seeking His will, looking for some much-needed encouragement and affirmation, and just abiding joyfully in His presence.

I was celebrating another revolution around the sun, and I wanted to spend the day alone, taking stock of my last year (which was a big one) and peeking (just a little) into the next.

I know a lot of respected Bible teachers believe God has already spoken to us through His word, and that’s it, but I’ve been conversing with Him enough for the last fifty years to know He still—through His Holy Spirit—brings us comfort, direction, dreams and “voices.” All you have to do is read the conversion reports flooding in from around the world.

Maybe some of us aren’t hearing God’s voice because we’re too distracted, we’re not listening for it, aren’t attuned to or sensitive to it, and we really don’t think He’s going to speak to us anyway.

But just exactly how do you know it’s God talking back to you when He does talk?

 

It’s probably one of the biggest and most frequent questions Christians ask: “How do I know it’s God?”

 

Getting some answers—

Guideposts addressed this question in their October/November issue of their Mysterious Ways magazine. They sought answers to “The Big Question: How do you know it’s God?” The answers were compiled by Associate Editor Hilary Ribons. Here’s what she gathered through her research.

 

“It is normal and wise to contemplate if a dream or an impression you’ve gotten in prayer is really from God. Merely ask yourself two questions: 1) Does it line up with God’s Word? If no, the message is not from God because he will never contradict himself. And 2) what feeling does it leave me with? If it is fear, it is not from God. His Word says he has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love.”

—Laura Harris Smith, Pastor and author of Seeing the Voice of God: What God is Telling You Through Dreams and Visions

 

“When people have dreams or visions from God, they’re unmistakable. I don’t think there’s a word in our vocabulary that can describe the feeling of peace and the all-consuming love that visions from God give us. The message will be immediately clear and personally meaningful. There’s nothing ordinary about them. It will be so impactful that it will awaken something inside of you.”

—Katherine “Kate” Hyland, author of 23 Years, 23 Minutes, 13 Angels

 

“The best way to confirm whether you’ve heard the voice of God is to compare it to the Word of God. If what you hard is echoed in the Bible, it’s likely the voice of God. It it’s not in his Word, it’s not his voice.”

—David R. Smith, Pastor and author of Christianity…It’s Like This

  

“We know it’s God because his guidance does not originate with our will or desire. God gives us other options that aren’t in our normal agenda. As we learn ourselves, and who we are, we also learn who we’re not. So when God’s voice comes through our thoughts, we can recognize it.”

—Shawn Bolz, author of Translating God

 

“In the New Testament, whenever God speaks, he confirms it through other people. That’s how we too know we’ve heard—when the Holy Spirit speaks to someone else at the same time. God’s way of confirming is through the safety of multiple witnesses in the community.”

—Tanis Harris, author of God Conversations

 

Spending a lot of time in God’s word reveals a lot to you too, at times when you’re ready to hear what He’s said in that Word and what He’s saying to you right here and right now.

 

My Monday time with Him more than served its intended purpose. Through His word, another believer, and an otherworldly sense of peace and joy, I was lifted up and am better able to face this next year. To move forward in faith, with complete trust in God.

 

Join me on Monday, March 4, when I reveal a little of what I learned. I know many of you will find His revelation to me helpful too!

If you’re reading this early Friday, March 1 morning, I’d appreciate a little prayer for the surgery I’m undergoing to repair a torn meniscus in my right knee and clean up some arthritis I have under my kneecap and on my femur. Thanks

If you’re interested in reading more quotes answering how you know it’s God speaking to you, head over to Guideposts.org/HowDoYouKnow.

 

Until next month, keep searching for His still small voice. The One C.S. Lewis referred to as “the hound of heaven.”

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

4 Steps to Changing Your Defects: Renewing Your Mind and Retraining Your Brain

How are you doing with tackling the process of ridding yourself of pesky defects?

How did you do with last week’s first three steps of demolishing strongholds and deficiencies?

 

Are you able to:

  • Focus on ONE defect at a time, or do you get bogged down with every issue?
  • Focus on obtaining victory over one defect issue?
  • Focus on God’s power and not your own willpower to overcome and make those critical-to-a-successful and full life corrections?

I hope we’re all making headway with the process of acknowledging, confronting and dealing a punishing blow to our defects and hang-ups. It can be a lifelong process to conquer some of them. Yet every step forward counts toward healing and growing, so this week we’re going to cover four additional steps we can take to get the healing process moving forward.

 

  1. Focus on what you want and not what you don’t want.

One of the first things beginning writers are taught is to try to write in a positive rather than negative way. The same is true of effectively retraining your brain to master healthful habits. It has to do with reframing, or adopting a new perspective.

It’s easy to come up with a list of why you don’t want to do something, or why it’s hard to change. But try coming up with a list of all of the benefits you’ll receive out of making the change.

For example, some of your reasons, or excuses, for not going to the gym might be:

  • I don’t like getting sweaty.
  • It takes so long to drive there.
  • I have to take the time to get ready to go.
  • I have so many other things I need to do.
  • I don’t particularly like to exercise.
  • Other people at the gym are going to stare at me and judge me because I’m not in shape.

 

Try reframing your thoughts with comments like:
  • The sweat will help rid my body of toxins and I’ll feel better.
  • I can listen to uplifting music in the car during my drive.
  • I can enjoy the preparation process and maybe purchase a special gym bag and workout clothes to use.
  • Working out is important for me to have good health, and I am important—to myself, my family, and God.
  • Getting into an exercise routine may be hard, but I could exercise with a friend or in a class, where I can meet new friends and enjoy the camaraderie and encouragement of working out together.
  • I won’t be the only out-of-shape person at the gym, and others there started at the beginning like me. A personal trainer from the gym can help me get started and be the encourager I need to keep at it.

 

When you focus on the negatives, your thought life becomes a problem. When you catch yourself thinking negatively, stop and turn your resistance into a proactive, positive comment. Believe it or not, your brain will take notice and start thinking in a more positive manner.

 

  1. Memorize uplifting Scripture verses.

Having notecards in your bag, car, or purse and scattered around the house can remind you of good things the Lord has said and promised. Memorizing these passages or verses is even better because you renew your mind with them and affect your heart and spirit.

In fact, Scripture memorization is like good food for the soul! Feed yourself with as much of it as you possibly can throughout the day. And meditate on it at night before going to sleep. God’s word will permeate your thought processes and affect your actions.

 

  1. Focus on doing good things and acting in good ways not on feeling good.

I know, this is a tough one. But believe it when psychologists say that actions can drive feelings, just as feelings can drive actions.

It’s dangerous to wait until we feel like doing something to do it. When we live that way, we get stuck and often miss out on life. I can’t count how many times doing something I didn’t feel like doing ended up turning my feelings and emotions around to the positive.

 

  1. Focus on the people who help and support you in your recovery work and not on the ones who undermine or hinder you.

This step can be very difficult when it’s family members doing the stifling or resisting. But you must surround yourself with like-minded encouragers. Even more so if you live with people who tend to drag you down or feed your weaknesses.

Scripture is very clear about wisely choosing friends and NOT being unequally yoked (as in marriage or business) to an unbeliever. Unfortunately, so many people brush that wise admonition aside and end up living in pain and frustration for rebelling against it.

You are a precious being. Your time is a precious commodity. Pray about and choose wisely! You may find yourself having to pray about leaving a friend and drawing boundaries in order to protect yourself and heal.

 

Finally, wholeheartedly trust God to lead and change you. In our weakness He is made strong. Recognize and accept your current circumstances as they are and trust that God is working right now to help you overcome your frailties and faults; that He is working in you to finish your faith and help you run the race to a successful completion.

Don’t give up, because God doesn’t give up on you!

 

Until next week, list your steps, work your steps, take one step, one day at a time, and rejoice over even the smallest victories!

On a side note: I’m celebrating another complete revolution around the sun today and meditating on the year the Lord has given me. It has been anything but “normal.”

It has been full, it has been revealing, it has sometimes been fraught with snags and obstacles, and it has been life changing. I am spending the day reflecting on it and praying for insight into the next 12 months.

And I humbly request your prayers as I prepare for knee surgery this Friday, fallout from extreme athletics and my Camino journey. I’m hoping this is the last time I have to be cut open for a while!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

The Potential Dangers of Intermittent Fasting and Rapid Weight Loss

As we covered in last Wednesday’s blog, Intermittent Fasting has its benefits, to be sure.

Reducing the number of carb calories ingested and forcing the brain and muscles to run on ketone bodies can reduce brain sluggishness and joint-stressing excess weight. Some medical professionals believe the protein foods eaten on a Keto diet can support thyroid health. And Intermittent Fasting is linked to keeping the body tone and supple when losing weight, rather than ending up with saggy excess skin.

 

But like anything, good things can be taken too far to end up being bad things. Intermittent fasting is no exception.

What happens when you decide to reduce your calorie consumption to 500 calories every day rather than follow the 5:2 plan?

 

Problems with excessive fasting—

Athletes can be prone to living in extremes—extreme workouts and extreme diets. For years this kind of problem has manifested itself in sports and activities like gymnastics, ice skating, and dance, where low weight is highly sought after. After all, it takes a lot to throw body weight around, and the lower the body weight the easier it is to move.

One huge problem is that low body fat often accompanies low body weight, and young girls and dancers who work to stay thin and in possession of a low body fat percentages often wreak havoc with their hormones. Amenorrhea, (cessation of menstruation; or not menstruating by the age of 15), is a condition that accompanies low body fat in girls or women. Long-distance runners can also suffer from this malady.

It takes a certain body fat percentage to become pregnant and support a pregnancy. And amenorrhea can lead to an early onset of osteoporosis, or a higher likelihood of having osteoporosis when you age.

Not having enough body fat to support hormone function messes up other body functions too.

 

And what about the risks of rapid weight loss?

It may seem wonderful that you’ve dropped double-digit poundage in one week rather than the recommended 1-2 pounds, but rapid weight loss can be harder on the heart than rapid weight gain.

Rapid weight loss has been shown to:

  • Slow your metabolism and lead to future weight gain later.
  • Weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to illness and disease.
  • Increase your dehydration risk.
  • Increase cardiac stress and heart palpitations.

 

When thin or athletic puts a mask on body fat reality—

I used to do a lot of body fat measuring as part of my work, both in the clinic and out in the field. I’d often take my skinfold caliper to sporting events, like recreational cycling races, to measure participants’ body fat after their race. I’d always offer foot massages too, which was a godsend for some peddlers.

What I often found was that many of these people weren’t as conditioned, or as toned, as they believed they were.

Thin people were appalled to learn that their body fast percentage parked them in the unhealthy, over-fat or obese category. Big, athletic people found the same discrepancy between their perceived fitness and their actual health. When my husband took the caliper to work one day to measure his friends, they all lined up for a pinch. The skinniest member of the group—a rail-thin administrative assistance—came in at a whopping obese level. She was depressed at the revelation, to say the least.

 

The point is: appearance does not always equal reality—in either a highly-competitive athlete that pushes the boundaries on her body’s capabilities or a thin, sedentary person who sits in a chair in front of a computer all day to work. Or a recreational athlete who believes he can ride his bike 50 miles on a Saturday and then eat as he pleases every day of the week, and even more after the ride.

You need to know your body, select carefully, and avoid the extremes. Be as consistent as possible; don’t starve yourself for days to make up for some over-indulgent ones.

You don’t want to run the risk of making an idol out of your diet or dieting. Too often food obsession morphs into disorders like anorexia, binging, bulimia (binging and then throwing up what you’ve eaten), and extreme obsession with healthful foods and “watching” what you eat.

 

Take it from someone who suffered for years with an eating disorder and all the mental and physical side effects that come with it.

Intermittent Fasting is just that—intermittent fasting. Not fasting every day.

Don’t get carried away. Have a plan and work it.

And enjoy the good food God has given us for our enjoyment and health!

Until next week, when we’ll address calorie counting, and maybe worry more about your actual body fat percentage than those scale numbers and that dress or pants size.

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

How to Change Your Defects: Renewing Your Mind and Retraining Your Brain

Are you ready to tackle the process of ridding yourself of pesky defects?

If you read last Monday’s post, you saw the series of questions I asked to focus for this week.

How did you do answering last week’s questions?

Were you able to:

  • Focus on your feelings, how you react emotionally to triggers or life events?
  • Make literal or mental notes on your typical behavior—your autopilot fallback response to feelings and triggers?
  • Identify whether your natural reaction is to yell, get angry, withdraw, self-harm, eat, avoid, give in, shame or shun?

 

As you can see from the list, our thoughts often determine our feelings and feelings determine our actions.

 

Training your brain to develop healthful habits—

I’m reading a great professional manual right now that delves into the reaction-changing process. It’s called Training Your Brain to Adopt Healthful Habits: Mastering the Five Brain Challenges. * Not only does it address habit changing, it addresses problems like addictions, eating disorders, and behavioral responses.

The sections have titles like:

“Learning to Highly Value Behaviors that Promote Wellness and Devalue Behaviors that Lead to Poor Health”

“Enriching Your Life to Tame the Need for Immediate Gratification”

“Enhancing Resiliency to New Threats and Chronic Stressors”

“Training Your Addiction Circuits to Make Healthy Behaviors Habitual”

“Making Flexible Decisions to Empower Your Brain to Make Healthful Choices”

 

If I were to give you a one-sentence overview of the book, I would say,

It’s all about being transformed by the renewing of your mind, so you do not let the world, or individuals, conform you. And it’s a secular book.

The Apostle Paul had it right when he said in Romans 12:2 that making your life the best life it can be—physically, emotionally and spiritually—starts with the renewing of your mind. Research supports his claims.

So what practical steps can we take to make that happen?

 

Think about a defect you have that’s causing you—and your life—trouble. You might want to start with something simple, so you can get some traction and success. That would give you the encouragement and momentum to move onto something more difficult.

But if it’s a serious addiction you need to confront, you would want to start there.

 

Steps to destroying your defects—

We’ll explore three of the six steps today.

 

  1. Focus on one defect at a time!

So many of us run around in a whirlwind, multitasking even our “must improve in this area” behavior. That’s a recipe for disaster. A behavior we might do to sabotage ourselves into failure. Change is hard work. It takes time and focus. Repetition. Our brains aren’t happy when we’re multitasking; and none of us—regardless of what someone brags about—do it well.

Focus, focus, focus. Like a laser beam. On one defect at a time. And make sure that defect is put out of business before moving on to another one.

 

  1. Focus on one defect change and one victory one day at a time!

Moment-by-moment, all of us need to take very thought—and behavior—captive to Christ, the One who created us and knows us intimately. Who better to go to for guidance and help than the One who created you?

This is where the concept of praying without ceasing also comes in, because when we’re hurting or struggling or sputtering along in life, sometimes it feels as though we’re weighed down by every—single—moment—of—every—day.

When life seems to be going well, we tend to slack off on the pray without ceasing admonition. We stand on the mountaintop, euphoric over what we’ve accomplished and conquered. Unfortunately, the descent into another valley can come fast and furiously. And then we wonder what happened, and we’re right back down in the dregs of life, clutching and clawing and moaning and groaning. Writhing around in our failures and pain.

Thankfully, God’s mercies are new every morning! So we can awaken each new day with the knowledge that we can re-boot. Focus, focus, focus and practice, practice, practice!

He won’t abandon us if we fall flat in our efforts; He knows our weaknesses, and He’s always available to give us the power and strength we need to succeed. To cover and protect us if we need rest.

But in order for that to happen, first we need to:

 

  1. Focus on God’s power, not your own willpower to make those life corrections.

Certainly we can struggle and fight and wrestle with ourselves, but until we acknowledge that we can do nothing without Jesus, our efforts will usually be ineffective and short-lived.

This is the most fundamental and important step to take to enjoy lasting change and victory.

 

But what about them?

But what about other people that trigger poor responses and behavior from you, the ones you think need fixing?

You still need to concentrate on how you behavior in response to their behavior. And sometimes that means stepping away from a certain person or group that weakens your defenses and pushes your buttons.

Setting boundaries with others can be an important part of changing your defective behaviors and responses. Protecting your heart while you’re learning new coping and life skills. Like an alcoholic that needs to stop meeting drinking buddies at the local watering hole on a Friday night; or an alcoholic who needs to get new friends altogether, which is the usual scenario.

That’s not an easy or comfortable proposition, but it’s one you may have to take if you are to enjoy victory.

NEXT WEEK we’ll look at three additional steps to help you succeed in demolishing strongholds and self-defects.

Until then, focus on one defect, focus on one victory, and focus on God’s power—the ingredient that will make all of this happen for you!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

* Authors:

  • Jodie A Trafton, Ph.D.
  • William P. Gordon, Ph.D.
  • Supriya Misra, M.A.

How to Change Your Defects: Part 1

If you’re a Jesus-follower, you know God is in the defect-correcting business. At least you know it intellectually. Enjoying that experience is often elusive, though, because we aren’t always interested—or determined enough—to cooperate with God in His change process.

Or really believe and grab hold of His promise that He can do it.

 

What does God have to say about defect changing?

One of the most well known Scripture passages that addresses this issue is Romans 12:1-2.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

“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” (NIV).

 

I love the way Eugene Peterson said it in The Message:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you. Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

 

Let’s turn these passages into defect-changing bullet points.

  • God is merciful.
  • Our bodies are important to Him.
  • Offering our bodies (that includes our mind) to Him is an act of worship.
  • Thoughts determine our feelings, and feelings often determine our actions.
  • We get ourselves into trouble when we allow the world to conform and mold us.
  • Our mind is the problem—if we want change, we need to start there. We often forget that our mind is a part of our body.
  • In order to change, our mind needs renewing.
  • In order for us to know God’s will for our lives, we must have renewed minds. No way around it.

 

Changing your defects sounds so basic, but it’s so difficult. Why?

The world and its forces are powerful. They don’t take kindly to people that push back against the status quo or current thought wave. We war against the principalities of darkness.

And we war against ourselves, our old, defect-laden nature. It’s hard to fight against yourself. It’s always much easier to give in, at least initially. Then it becomes something like feeding and satisfying the beast, and we find ourselves venturing down a road of darkness and perpetual frustration, anger, and sadness.

 

NEXT WEEK, we’re going to delve into the processes we need to go through to rid ourselves of those defects and effectively change. But for this week, I invite you to prepare.

 

Focus on your feelings, how you react emotionally to triggers or life events.

And then note your behavior. What is your autopilot fallback response to those feelings?

Is it anger, yelling, withdrawal, self-harm, eating, avoidance, giving in, shaming or shunning someone?

 

Behavioral psychologists often recommend that you write these feelings and responses down, so you get a better handle on what causes or triggers you to behave the way you do. It’s like writing down an, if this (happens), then that (happens) chart. I suspect you’ll find it eye-opening.

Then we’ll come back together next week to focus on the steps we need to take to change our defective behaviors, one defect at a time!

Until then, do some mind and feeling exploration. No blaming; just noting.

And remember, God is merciful!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien