Author: marquitabp

To know me is to accept me, and to love me is to help me.
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Daily Devotion

Blocked by Fear

"For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline."  2 Timothy 1:7

Have you ever had the feeling that you are stagnant?  Or that the things you are praying for aren't happening?  Have you considered whether you are operating in the spirit of faith or in fear? 

Fear is the roadblock when you don't have your license and registration on you, it is the big spider in the middle of the floor, it is rollercoaster that you have always avoided riding.  It's there, ugly as ever, staring you in the face.  And why? Because you have acknowledge that it is stronger than the faith you think  you have.  In your mind, its bigger than anything you've ever done, and its bigger than GOD.  That's right, it is because you gave the same power to it that you could give to God.  The same power that you could give to God to activate that little faith you have could have changed any situation for you.  Your fear can block your progress, and ultimately block God's flow in your life.  It can block you from hearing from Him on a particular situation because you allow your mind to feed on that thought you should have killed, I'm too weak or afraid to do this.  I'm too afraid to go forward or a personal favorite of mine, there are too many unknowns for me.  Well if the same prayers you prayed for a friend worked, won't your own prayers work for you?  If the same faith you are operating in on the behalf of another worked for them, why can it not work for you?  After all, it is your faith.

When I attended World Changers, whenever Dr. Dollar spoke on fear, he would refer to it as negative faith or perverted faith.  He said it was meditation on the wrong–the negative.  And that is exactly what it is.  If you spend so much time believing and focusing on what you will not get, I'm pretty sure you won't pay attention to the opportunities for you to take a step in the positive direction.  You will miss the opened door or window of opportunity for you to move forward.  Fear is a crippling, paralyzing thing, a tool of the enemy to keep you bound to the belief of 'you can't' forever.  Well if you use the tools that God has given you to overcome for the right things, you can allow yourself to move forward.  I didn't realize that I was blocking my own blessings until I started listening to what was playing in my head.  The tape recorder is real, and if you don't change what you are listening to–which is ultimately what you believe, you will be blocked in every area of your life.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love."  1 John 4:18
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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17

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Daily Devotion #3

Believing the Lie
 
"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."  John 8:44
 
We get victory in our testimony…so here goes part of mine.  Growing up I had to be one of the most insecure, lack of self-esteem having young girls.  I sought validation from peers and friends…and when I didn't get it, I was crushed.  Many times I was picked on (I now think largely in part of me being so smart, yep it ostracized me a bit) and I would cry because I didn't understand why, and yep I was a crybaby.  Even as I write this I start to tear up.  I have to thank God for my friend Camisha (smile) .  I will never forget this but in 8th grade there was a girl who will remain nameless that always had something negative to say about me (and in her case she had NO room to talk, looking all manly herself oops sorry lol :p ).  She wrote something like "Marquita Priester-worst dresser" and Camisha made sure I didn't see that…she instead wrote "Best Dresser".  We all go through that period of finding ourselves and I thank God that she was there to intercept that…who knows what would have happened then because by that time I had developed a smart mouth and had no problem fighting since I never got in trouble at school.
 
For a long time even into my adult years, I believed the lie that I had to compare myself to other people, on essentially everything.  School was almost the one area that I did not compare myself because I had always been exceptionally smart.  But as a young woman, I lacked the belief that what I saw in the mirror was acceptable and nagged myself about everything I could find wrong.  So when I got sick in college, it served as a wake-up call to the falsehood of the lie I believed and the key to walk out of the prison of self-hatred.
 
The devil is the father of lies.  A lie in definition is the opposite of truth, an un-truth.  It is also withholding, twisting words around (as he did with Eve in the Garden of Eden), or a gross perversion of the truth.  The devil perverts everything.  He plants that one thought, and feeds it with another thought, until we are so far gone (if we don't have the fortitude to catch it) that we believe whatever he said.  Its not okay to compare yourself to others because God created us all with unique purposes…we all have a different place in His grand plan.  We may have similar stories, similar roles, but when all those things add up under your name it becomes something different.  All of our stories are different, although we may be on parallel roads.  Stop believing the crap the devil tells you, like you aren't good enough–counter thought "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13, I will never get well–counter thought "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers them out of them all."  Psalm 34:19, I'm too weak–counter thought "But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world."
 
Remember that!!! YOU belong to God so stop giving yourself over to lies and be victorious.  Use your authority!!!!  Christ has already defeated the devil so act like you know!
 
"For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith."  1 John 5:4

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"No weapon formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of God and their righteousness is of me," says the Lord.  Isaiah 54:17