No more playing defense! I'm going dragon slaying!!

Yesterday was another amazing session of deliverance and healing. The purpose of these meetings is to go back to a place of extreme emotion. It can be hurt, anger, fear, any of these negative emotions can act as a doorway for the enemy to manipulate and use as a tool of deception. Through memory we access these feelings in the heart and ask Jesus to come in and tell us the truth about the situation and to heal it. Remember the bible says perfect love cast out all fear. It casts out a whole lot more! When you have Jesus filling up that place of pain it no longer hurts, you can look back and still feel whole, unafraid.

One particular memory I stepped back into was one concerning my youngest brother who was less than two years old at the time. It was a horrible memory of me coming home from church and walking into a situation involving my step dad. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it was still a horrible scene. I'm sure you can guess what it is about. In this moment I froze, I didn't know what to do. Confusion set in. I was a child who was trying to protect myself from abuse at home with my mother and thought I had found refuge living with my stepfather that was always loving and protecting of us. I made the decision to leave this incident alone and figured I could protect my baby brother by never leaving him alone when he came to visit in the future. ( Later I did stand up to my stepfather and I did report him to the authorities when I found out the truth about other kids involved and I realized I could not protect myself, my sister, or any other child from this evil man.)

Moving forward....My life coach and I asked Jesus to show me the truth about how He felt about me in this situation. Was it my fault? Should I feel guilty? Ashamed? Was there anything I could have done? The Lord's response was that I was not to feel guilty or carry the shame. It was not my sin and He did not hold it against me. The Lord spoke this directly to me as He moved into my heart to heal the pain with His comforting touch and remove the shame. My life coach also stated to me that I was a child, this circumstance was bigger than me. I had never thought of that and it meant a lot to me to hear someone else say it.

The next step was to see that Jesus was there in the situation. It was hard to find Him this time. When my Life Coach asked me if I saw Jesus there my reply was no, but I could sense the heavenly host in the room surrounding it, but there was something in the middle I could not see. I had opened my eyes to explain to her what I was seeing at this moment. She told me to close my eyes again and ask Jesus to show me what was going on. As I sought the Lord for His response I saw an angel pushing back a beast like two strong men hand to hand. At the same time I felt the Lord saying He was there, He was holding back the enemy, He would not let the enemy have the victory over my brother!! As you can imagine, it was that moment that the floodgates opened. My heart poured out every tear, every emotion tied to that memory and relief in the truth that Jesus was there, fighting to protect my brother from the enemy. Keeping His word that He will never leave us or forsake us! My brother could have suffered a greater atrocity at the hand of the enemy and I know many have. I don't have the answers as to why, but I know the truth that in every situation Jesus was there in one way or another, and He can and will bring healing if you allow Him to.

This new tidbit of truth has empowered me again and brought more confidence and more strength to me. It's just amazing to see how the enemy uses situations to tear at every piece of our soul trying to make us powerless, empty, broken, feeling unloved, and forgotten. None of those things are true! We are so precious to God, He loves us so much that He has given us everything in this world, all dominion over the enemy. That is why the enemy hates us so much and tries to bring defeat upon us. He knows the truth. He is afraid and even jealous of what YOU can do with it.

Psalms 8:1-9

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Revelation 12:13

13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

It's not God attacking you! He meant what He said, "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

This is why we can no longer be ignorant of Satan's devices! We must learn not to accept his lies or emotions as our own. If they don't line up with the fruit of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control(Galations 5:22-23) then we can know whatever the situation, whatever the thought, whatever the feeling is not from God our Father! He is better than that! He has better for you! You have to accept His love and love. Accept His forgiveness and forgive. Give Him your every hurt, give Him your anger, let Him replace the fear with peace. Overcome the enemy by allowing God to be greater than all your pain and fear. Prove God is true and give His glory not to another and see what He will do for you.

I am raging right now! No more playing defense! I'm going dragon slaying!!

Please allow God to enter your heart and situation by submitting your emotions to Him. Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, ask Jesus to forgive you for accepting the lies of the enemy as your own. Let Him heal you, let Him lead you into His truth and all the blessings He has for you. He won't just take it from you, you have to give it to Him and then learn to cast down every thought and every emotion that tries to exalt itself against the truth and knowledge of God. If you write me I will pray with you. Keep seeking His truth and find someone that will pray with you. God Bless you in the Mighty Name of Jesus!

esther2jwl@hotmail.com

Blessing Your Husband, #6 Sweet Aroma

Back to basics. Before I continue on any further, I feel there are a couple of things the Lord wants me to address. The first is being salvation. There is no greater gift or more important purpose of a believing wife than to seek the salvation of her husband. It can become an excellent journey for you, because as you seek the Lord on your husbands behalf, the more you will learn how to let go of your "control" and let God. The closer you will come to the Lord as you learn to trust HIM for everything, especially that of your spouse. You will find your purposed beauty and suddenly your husband will discover this deep inner beauty in you as well. Guess, what? Nothing can compare to it!

Many a times the Lord brought this verse up to me, "13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy." 1 Corinthians 7:13-14. I did not always understand the importance of this verse until now. I just knew that I had to be obedient to it so many times when I wanted to give up and walk away, but now that I have held onto it and obeyed it, God has begun to bless my obedience to His word. Corinthians 7:16 goes on to say that, " How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?" (P.s here. If your unbelieving spouse doesn't want to line up with God's word he will eventually leave. The light cannot comprehend the dark and the Lord will not make you continue in your sacrifice without some kind of reward, so remain obedient and the Lord will work it out to your favor without judgement against you ) What greater gift can we help give a loved one than to obtain eternal life and all the love and blessings the Lord has to offer? What greater gift can you give to God but to allow Him to use you as a tool to captivate the one that His heart longs for? We've all been called to this kind of ministry. Once again, our sacrifice to unconditional love and obedience will always lead to great rewards. I know it can be hard to separate our need as a wife sometimes to love our husbands as a brother, but we must. Do as the bible says and win him over with your behavior and not your words. There are so many things that this command ties into and we will address, but let me try to keep this short and simple for now. I think I will follow up with a video later.

"Wives, be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they maybe won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives." 1 Peter 3:1-2.

I know, you say but you don't understand, I don't have anything to submit to, he won't take his place and do what he should be doing, or I don't have anything to respect, or I am the submissive wife. First of all there is always something to submit to, you are just going to have to shut up and do it, find something to submit to for now. I don't care if he says you don't need those red vines, put them back. I'm not kidding. I know some of you are going to go irate about this but I am telling you this is how to work things out God's way. I've done it the other way, I did it my way and the worlds way and I was losing. There is a balance and that balance has to be in trusting God at His EVERY word. I was the disrespectful wife. I didn't see myself as being disrespectful though, but to God's standards I was. My actions, my behavior, my lack of respect and love caused my husbands heart to turn hard towards God. I caused my husband to connect every blessing we ever received during our marriage to something negative. He can't even enjoy the good things that came from the Lord because of the bad memories he has connected them to. That is horrible! As a Christian woman there was nothing more horrendous than standing in the way of the cross! I felt utterly ashamed with that realization, but that is what we are doing when we don't respect and honor our husbands the way we have been commanded to. Thank God He promised me new joy and new memories! Now I know why. You have to obey and give God time to work. Again, you must keep in mind there is a great reward. God saying well done, instead of the shame that comes from giving an account to what you could have done and didn't do, because nobody was "going to tell you". You have to fight it through in prayer, not by trying to change or save your husband yourself. I am not speaking to the women that are being sexually or physically abused. There is a balance and you must seek safety for you and /or your children. Keep praying for your husband and being obedient to the Lord and you will get your testimony.

During this journey, the one where my husband said he didn't love me anymore, he was no longer attracted to me, you know, the one that brought me to my knees in devastation saying Lord, why should I continue holding on? How will he ever love me again? How can I make him attracted to me again? The Lord took me back to 1 Peter 3:1-7. "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment...Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." Did you catch that? A gentle and quiet spirit is what men and God equate to beautiful. Not a nagging outraged wife. It continues, " For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their HOPE IN GOD used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands. Respecting, loving, honoring your husbands is a BIG DEAL! It ties into so many areas of your life, their life, your children's life, God's purpose and command! If you follow these you earn the right to be called the daughter of Sarah. I will discuss the honor that follows this later. An honor that causes God to move on your husband and remove other women (men) from their lives on your behalf! Hallelujah!

"The love of God in a woman who is fully committed to Christ is irresistible. You won't need to say a word to your man. Your loving actions will speak volumes!" ~ Winning Him Without Words, Lynn Donovan & Dineen Miller

How beautiful! God has given me another chance to show my husband the cross. To prove that God is who He says He is. To allow God to bring healing and change through salvation to my husband by letting Him heal and change me through the gift of salvation. I have never been so thankful! I believed, but never truly realized the extent of God's grace and mercy or the power of His salvation till now. None of us are good without it. None of us can love without it. I want to love, I want to be loved. I want God in the end to say "job well done!" I want the blessing reigning in our lives and I want to see my husband walking out his salvation.I want my husband to see Christ in me. I want to be the sweet aroma of Christ to both God the Father and my husband. I want to smell good!! lol

Let's pray....

Lord, teach me the kind of obedience You are calling me to in my marriage. Help me to be the aroma of Christ to my spouse. Be my strength in the midst of whatever life brings. In the holy and blessed name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ~ Winning Him Without Words, Lynn Donovan & Dineen Miller

Jesus you said that you are the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to my husband to show him that you are the way, the truth, and the life. Thank you Holy Spirit for helping my husband to accept Jesus as his Savior and make Him Lord of his life! In the name of Jesus I pray, Amen. John 14:6

Lord Jesus, forgive me if I have been a stumbling block in my spouse's salvation experience. I turn over my will to Your capable hands and I will trust You to save my spouse in Your time and in a way that brings You honor.

Pour a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit into me each morning to empower me to live my faith authentically before my spouse. Reveal to me the truth of 1 Peter 3:1 and how my words can bring healing or how they can hinder. Let me learn to love my husband with Your love. Let him find Your love irresistible. Remind me daily that You are relentlessly pursuing my spouse and will never give up. Teach me to pray effectively for my spouse, asking for salvation and protection from evil. I ask in the life changing name of Jesus, Amen. ~ Winning Him Without Words, Lynn Donovan & Dineen Miller

"let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:22
Father, I thank You my husband has a heart to draw near to You, and as he does, You draw near to him. Give him the things that are necessary for his life when he submits himself to you in prayer.(A Wife's Prayer, Pamela Hines)

Thank you Father for allowing my husband to come close to You. Help him lay aside the sin and weights of this world and seek Your face in prayer daily. You said You would forgive his sin and heal the land if he humbles himself and prays. Heal the land of my husband's life, my life, and the land of our marriage. Psalm 109:4, Hebrews 12:1, 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I pray now that You, the God of all hope, will fill my husband with faith and hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (The Power To Change Your Marriage, Stormie Omartian)

2 Thessalonians 3:5
5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

I pray you would direct his heart into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. (The Power To Change Your Marriage, Stormie Omartian)

To be continued.....

God's going to do HIM!

Make Me Your Bride

Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, delcares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.
Ezekiel 16:8

Now that's a love letter. Just melted my heart and sent warmth down into the depths of my belly. Talk to me, talk to me some more, the passionate lover of my soul!

Constipated Christians!

Just real quick, talking about mandates. You know I was given a mandate this year to be strong and courageous and lead God's people into the promised land. I have started to focus on this more and more and the thought came to mind, of course I won't be able to cross into the promised land unless you are with me. That's just the way it works. So come on people and get with me on this! I want to move on into something better already. In my mind the image came across of people behind me pushing me into it instead me pulling them. Kind of chuckled at that notion then something went ding! That's just it! It goes back to the idea of blessing and promoting your leaders before you can experience the blessing and promotion. Not trying to call myself your leader, but I have been mandated to lead others on. Which leads me to the phrase I heard Rodney Howard Browne use,constipated Christians. You can't PROCEED because you are waiting on a MOVEMENT from the Lord. That cracks me up everytime I think of it! Truth is God is waiting on you. Are you with me or not? Let's get moving!!

Raw Emotion

Hello Folks. I said I was going to spend the month of November blessing my husband each day and sharing those with you. Yes, I most definately pray exactly what I am writing and then some. Even if you don't read them it reinforces things in me and blesses me, so it's all good. ;) I knew when I set out to do this I would become a target of spiritual attack. I have been under heavy artillery since January. I had to pray for reinforcements or I would not have been able to make it this far. The Lord is faithful. As you should know by now, I am a very active participant in the spiritual world. I, apparently am a very powerful participant which is why I am under attack so heavily, the enemy for one is scared, two he is losing more and more ground everyday. He doesn't like losing and does whatever he can to re-obtain the ground he lost. I feel compelled to share with you the things I have been battling especially the last couple of days.

Of course things would become more and more of a distraction in my life to keep me from writing about God's work in my life and His word, which is why I started to fall behind in my postings and then completely lose it the other day. Yes, I almost had a break down at the attempts of the enemy yesterday, but a call and prayer with my life coach helped me to get a grip and strength, and direction to help get focused. The bible says that there is power when two or more pray in agreement, that Jesus is in our presence. I am human and the struggle and battle went deep. I needed help and I am not ashamed to admit or share that in hopes it helps someone else. Without telling you too many details right now of the cause, let me just explain what happened. I have been fighting for my marriage like never before as you know if you have been following me on Facebook. During this time I have increased in my knowledge of the enemies tactics.I have been gaining ground in my marriage, self, and inheritance in my bloodline through Jesus victorously! The war isn't over yet, but it's not necessarily just about my marriage. The bible says in John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. Over the years he hasn't been able to conquer me through myself or other attempts, so he decided to beef up his attempts by attacking me through my husband. By trying to remove him from the home again. Hell, all soldiers of combat know military strategy 101. Take off the head, the body will fall. Take the spiritual leader and head of the family's blessing from the home, they suffer all forms of spiritual and emotional devastation, poverty instead of God's prosperity, and lack of protection are the greatest disfigurations of this kind of warfare. I have heard this is supposed to be the year of blessing over the children, mainly daughters, so Satan is attacking families to destroy the children as well. Especially the daughters. They are so much more susceptle to the lack of a father's protection. This is not just about me, this is about my children, and my grandchildren. I can't stop the fight for their sakes!

The second reason for the attack as I stated in a previous blog is to steal the word and the seeds that have been planted in me. My time of harvest has come and it's huge! Enormous! More than I could have ever thought or imagined.The enemy knows more about my call during this time than I do and he is scared! I have to allow myself to be disclipened by this testing.I am being promoted to the next level. Jesus said in the rest of John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." He says James 1:12 "God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." I am enduring this testing and trying of my faith because He is working a completely new foundation in me that is bringing about new life as He promised me last October 31, 2011. New life, new joy, new memories. Things that my eyes have never seen, things that my ears have never heard, things that my mind could never conceive. Only I didn't know what it was going to take to get there, nor did I think I would be caught off guard the way I was, or that the enemy would use my husband the way he did. What better weapon than someone that knows me intimately, someone I trusted more than anyone and trusted to meet my insecurities, someone's insecurities and weaknesses I trusted in (that's a good one, see how the Lord works? He knew my heart, and He wanted to refine it, because that wasn't right either. We are to trust only in God, find fullment in Him first! Have NO other God's before me He says!). As a woman and wife everything my husbands says to me goes straight to the heart and it embeds in my very essence of being a woman. My smile, that I had always been complimented on and became my trade mark and learned to use as a blessing, my age and body of course, my personality, my sacrifices as a wife and mother, you name it he attacked it. He took my very confidence in a way that I had never experienced before. Did God warn me ahead of time? Yes, He knew what was coming, I didn't listen because I wasn't staying completely plugged in. He told me more than once to fireproof my marriage, get the walls built up. (Sure Lord, I will...Ill start working on that more...tomorrow...the next day..) He then showed me in a vision (read my blog,Sound The Alarm and my dream analysis about this house on FB. Had I only understood what it was revealing to come!)to keep my eyes on Him. Solely on Him. He would become my confidence and the battle was His. God is always in control. He allows things to happen to teach us, to allow us that freedom of choice, to push us into the next level of understanding and blessings! I have learned through this how subtly the enemy can deceive us into thinking and feeling and accepting his choices as our own. Through this I have been learning how to overcome the enemy in new ways and greater levels. God is faithful to His word. He said if we endure the trials we will be lacking in nothing and will have the reward of life and more life! I am no longer lacking certain wisdoms. I am increasing in spiritual power through knowledge. I am gaining the freedoms that I was promised in His word and inheritance and these things bring about my new life!

Believe it or not, it took the enemy a long time to get things into exact position to attack the way he did. He doesn't have the power of God to just make things happen or to read our thoughts, he has to wait and watch our behaviour and feed us thoughts and lies after lies and negative emotions and line people and things up just right. I began to learn along time ago that the battlefield begins in the mind. I began to accept God's word into my mind and believe only in His word, which is what helped save me in the beginning of this battle. Because I know that God is His word!! If you get His word, you get Him! There is no separation of the two. I first knew I could trust God to help as He always promised.I knew anything not inline with God's word was of the enemy. The bible says we do not wage war against flesh and blood but against princes and principalities. Principalites work through our personalities. I knew the things my husband was saying did not all come from him because somethings he said attacked the desires I had been harboring in my heart, certain desires I had not expressed to my husband, he would not have known. Then came physical evil manifestations, not only to me but to my daughter. That's when I started becoming more bold. You don't mess with a momma bears' cubs! Of course during this time I am learning and God has brought me more people to pray with and be supported by and I begin to see some breakthrough, positive changes in my husband.

In the beginning I could not do much. I was paralyzed by fear. All I could do was hold onto small words and a scripture or two. One of the scriptures I first held onto was Psalms 25:3 "No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame." I knew God said that whatever I trusted in Him would be done, whatever I asked for. Now I was being tested on that. I shook uncontrollably for months. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. I had to call different prayer lines throughout the day just to keep sane enough to make it through work. Everyday, he said and did things to me that were beyond me. I held on to the promises of God. I fell down, He picked me up several times. One time my husband said something so horrible to me that I could only picture my hand holding onto the foot of Jesus. All I could say in my mind is I am holding onto You Father. Over and over. I couldn't let my heart grow cold. I had to survive this God's way to win. I had to forgive. I had to endure. Another time I lay there shaking uncontrolable and I felt the Holy Spirit move through me saying "He is faithful. He is faithful." I held onto those words. I knew who I was in Christ and I knew who He was to me. Now, He gave me this promise, Isaiah 16:4 "The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land(my land meaning my home, my family)" Halelujah!! This is when my marriage started going through deliverance. That very next day I started going through deliverance of the strongholds that had been in me for so long, such as anger and anxiety. Now I am learning who Christ is exactly in me.

Like I said, I have learned how the enemy works through our minds and gains control of our emotions. I have become keen to the attacks on my mind now. It doesn't take me as long to figure out the thoughts that come across are not my own. Monday I was being attacked with thoughts against my husband. During my second deliverance meeting I had participated in something called a judgement seat. I had to vision myself and my husband being opposites in a courtroom. God the Father as the judge and Jesus was standing behind my husband. I was allowed to confront my husband with all that I held against him in my heart of pain. Jesus just kept his hand on my husbands back as he sat there. Then I was told that this court was illegal. I had no right to hold anything or to judge my husband in anyway. Only God could do that. At this time I had to forgive him on all the accounts I brought up against him. After that, I was asked what I wanted to happen. I walked over and kneeled before him because I could feel my error, I could feel his pain. I didn't seek vengenance I just wanted his pain to be gone. I didn't want him to hurt anymore, that hurt kept him from loving and receiving God's love.I wanted him to feel loved. I learned during my journey that hurting people hurt people. That is why it is so important to forgive, people also act out when they feel a lack of fulfillment, they need to seek the right kind of fulfillment, and we can help them find it. At this point I see and sense Jesus pouring love into him and then my husband is standing next to Jesus, with a smile and Jesus' arm around him. You have to understand, Jesus is a loving and ever present being.

Oh, yes, back to Monday, I was being bombarded with thoughts against my husband, I just kept saying no, I forgave him of that in the name of Jesus, and then another one would come. After the fourth one it stopped. I snickered to myself. Haha, I beat the enemy this time. Then Tuesday came and something my husband did really got to me because it showed me the corrupted him was still in operation. Fear started settling in because my feelings were hurt, but I tried to put them before the Lord. When we came home he retreated to his computer and I secluded to prayer in my room. Lord spoke to me and told me to go give him a kiss goodnight and say I love you. Really Lord? He replied don't wait and allow the enemy to put distance between you because of your emotions remember. Don't give him any weapons to use. You reap what you sow. Go sow some love. So I did. Surprisingly as I turned to leave he got up and hugged me. That's all I wanted and much more than what has been going on. I went to bed in peace. Wednesday morning came, I felt led to fast. I felt some distance in my husband and wondered why again. He left and I could feel the onslaught of emotions. I began to dwell on the things that had happened that night and the things that have been going on. I knew this was dangerous, but because I was so hurt the enemy used that as an open door, I couldn't fight it off and soon it had over taken my emotions causing me to feel great pain, bringing up more memories to dwell on, and then I started searching for more truth and found things that haven't yet been confirmed but lead to more suspicion and confusion, so my mind and heart went crazy trying to figure it all out and piece things together, which caused me to sink further into raw emotions of hurt, fear, confusion, jealousy, inferiority,and unfairness. These can be called demons. It can be there identities. They still have to bow to the name of Jesus. I was supposed to meet my coach that day and of course the maintenance guy and such started showing up so I couldn't meet with her. Another tactic of the enemy. Didn't want me getting to someone that could help me, so I got her on the phone. We discussed what I was feeling, my actions, the consequences that could happen from my actions,(because I was acting out of the flesh and operating out of the will of the enemy and not trusting in God. That's where the accountability lies, and most people don't understand this right now, but the enemy does.) Of course we prayed together and after hanging up I prayed the prayer of war fare calling each of those things out by name and putting the blood of Jesus between me and them. There is so much power in the blood of Jesus. The enemy has no power, no authority. He likes to trick people and that is all he can do. That's how he operates. We have to stay plugged into God to be able to operate in His wisdom, and knowledge, and love. We can be so easily blinded and influenced if we don't. There are so many more details I will have to break down and share piece by piece. So I am doing better and will continue in my quest until I have fully obtained all success.

Blessing Your Husband Day 5, Image Is Everything

I was listening to a testimony from a man that I cannot remember his name or the title of his book, but he talked about having an addiction to pornography for 9 years. He prayed and church pastors and members prayed for him and nothing seemed to help break his addiction, until he was finally able to receive a new understanding of his identity from God. He learned he, as a man was purposed to protect women, not lust after them. I found that to be some key information as I sought more knowledge and wisdom about a mans self image. Like I said, I could not remember his name or title of the book but I found some very important key points and examples in the Power of the Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian.

She writes, " How your husband see's himself as a man greatly affects your marriage and your lives together. You, as his wife, can play an enormous role in how your husband see's himself, because your prayers have great influence and power in his life. We women have no idea of the influence and effect we have on our husbands. Our rejection of them in any way can hurt them deeply and even ultimately beat them down. On the other hand, our open and gentle acceptance of them can encourage them to rise up and feel confident. As a wife, you may be feeling that you would certainly like the same kind of support from your husband that you are giving to him, but even if your husband doesn't pray for you in the same way- and many do not, so do not feel alone- God will reward you for your faithfulness to pray for him. Not only will you see answers to your prayers, but you will also sense a greater closeness with the Lord." ~ The Power of a Praying Wife, Stormie Omartian.

I have to say that men can be just as sensitive as women if not more. Be careful what you say to them and how you approach them. One, they do have a tendency to misconstrue our attempts to help them and comfort them. This is why it is so important to learn how to perceive and communicate with each other through patience and the willingness to forgive quickly. I had said some things to my husband over the years in anger and hurt, even jokingly. Some things were just references to the jokes and comments that were being made by himself. I had NO IDEA how deep he had buried those things in his heart and was allowing them to affect his own self image and confidence. He never told me how he felt. He just kept it inside and one day....POW! Blindsided with the truth of a hardness in his heart that had developed. I was shocked. I was more shocked that he refused my apologies. That's what happens with a hardness of heart. We take something into our hearts and let it sit there instead of handling it the right way and over time it turns us hard. We will discuss more of that topic later. I still asked my husband for forgiveness whether or not he would, because I truly was remorseful and because that is what the Lord ask us to do. If we have wronged someone we should ask for them forgiveness. It was another eye opener of how sensitive my husband was. That made me want to protect him more. It also showed me how strong he was because even though he held onto this hurt, he never treated me unkindly, until the enemy used it as weapon against me these many years later. That is also why its so important to reaffirm them with positive words, loving kindness, and prayer. You never know what is building up inside of them or how the enemy will use those things as weapons against you, don't give the enemy any tools. You have the opportunity to determine what bricks you are going to build up your husband with. That's what I am trying to get you to understand. We have been given a great power and opportunity regarding our husbands and even children.

Let's take 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 seriously;

12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

This verse causes us to take accountability for what we use to build up or tear down. The word of God gives us many instructions regarding the use of our words because words, spoken in faith, have the power of life and death. He has commanded us to choose life and speak with love and blessings. Let's bless the self image of our spouses. :))

Father, I ask you to reveal to my husband that "he is the image and glory of God" (1 Corinthians 11:7). and he is "complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:10). Give him the peace and security of knowing that he is accepted, not rejected by You. Free him from the self-focus and self-consciousness that can imprison his soul. Help my husband to find his identity in You. Help him to see his worth through your eyes. Enable him to see who You really are so he'll know who he really is. May his true self image be the image of Christ on his soul. Make my husband to be the man you created him to be. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen!

I am standing on this promise 2 Corinthians 3:18;

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

I pray it with thanksgiving saying...Thank you Lord that my husband is being transformed into the mirror image of Jesus, from glory to glory! Amen

(Think of it this way, if he becomes the image of God then he will love you like God! And His word says it can be done! We are created IN...HIS..IMAGE!)

How bout these..

I Declare my husband is predestined by the Father to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus! Romans 8:29

My husband has put off the old man with his deeds, and has put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who ceated him. Colossians 3:9,10

Arise, shine, for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
Isaiah60:1