Doubts of God

Before this is written I want to quote Jason Upton's song "One Reason"
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I lived my life for a while
Asking for signs to believe in
God played defense in my trial
Quietly hanging there bleeding
While i cast lots for his robe
While i point my bloody finger
He pays debts that i owe
He says "Father, forgive them"
I used to ask for a sign to believe in
But he never gave me a reason to ever doubt Him

Give me one reason to doubt He is Messiah
Give me one reason to doubt He is alive
Give me one reason to doubt i am the apple of His eye

Just one reason now
Just one reason to doubt
Ahh ah ah
Justone reason now
Just one reason to doubt
Jesus Christ

I see the faith of our fathers
Abraham, Issac, and Jacob
They never saw what was promised
But they never once felt forsaken
Through fire, famine, and sword
Tribulation and war
They never asked for a sign to beleive in
So tell me how we stand in judgment and ever doubt Him

Give me one reason to doubt He is Messiah
Give me one reason to doubt He is alive
Give me one reason to doubt i am the apple of His eye

Just one reason now
Just one reason to doubt
Ahh ah ah (x2)
Justone reason now
Just one reason to doubt
Jesus Christ
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In my life, in the past, before cancer, I struggled a lot with doubting my walk with the Lord. Is God really there? I mean, really? I'd be used by God, but later would struggle with doubts. I'd hear others' powerful testimonies of God working but then it was never enough. The enemy would come in and rob the word that was spoken to me (of course, I was pretty undisciplined in my thought life as far as taking these - or much of any kind - of thoughts captive). So I'd hear God work, but because I saw very little of God's power in my life, I didn't grow much.

Essentially, what I was saying was, my feelings dictate reality. My circumstances dictate reality. If I don't feel like God is there, than He isn't. If I don't see Him answer prayer, than He must not. All the while, I have quit trusting God for anything, because, after all, how do I even know if He is there? I figure if anything is going to happen in my life, I am going to have to make it happen. So drivenness, controlling, and manipulating become ways of life, because I have to get what I want out of people and circumstances so I can get where I want to go. And the enemy strikes and makes the bondage of doubt greater and greater...

And this is the antithesis of the Christian walk. The Christian walk is not trying to make God prove Himself to us over and over again to meet our feelings and whims. It is not making God fit my demands. This is the epitome of selfishness. He already had Jesus tortured for me, that is enough sign.

The Christian life works the exact opposite. Instead of Christ needing to prove Himself to me and bless me to a certain extent to keep me from using something else to get me where I want to go (if faith is nothing more than something I use to manipulate me to a "better life," I'll give up pretty quick). No, it is radical abandonment to the Lord. It is throwing myself before Him. It is dying to self. It is not living by feelings and whims and instant gratification. It is forsaking this world. Forsaking the desires of the flesh. It is realizing that there are bigger principles than what culture and feelings dictate. There are truths that transform. Once, through God's power, my heart is seeking radically after Him, THEN I see His hand at work. Then I TASTE AND SEE THAT HE IS GOD!! And this is experiential, this is with answers to prayer. This is me realizing that my way is empty, His way is the only way, and me giving God a blank check. And then radically pursuing Him. Pursue loving His people. ALL of His people. Pursue inner healing. Pursue His will. Pursue real honest relationship with Him. Pursue His glory be revealed not my selfishness or pride. And when this happens, one can only stand back in awe. God shows Himself strong over and over and over. As fear and worry disipate in trust and hope, there will never be any chance for doubt to come in again. Its too late. God has worked too much. All I have to do is look at the log of how He has worked and be reminded of His faithfulness for the future. The Lord is GOOD!

Wow!

Check this out.

Quotes

There's quite a few... but I think they are quite good. The last one is quite long but I find it quite worthwhile. Otherwise, I wouldn't have taken the time to write it... Feel free to comment on any...

"To be a spiritual person - its a realm of trust, its a realm of faith, its just believing God is going to do the next thing at hand." - Doug Staton

"It is not good enough for my husband and I to be living out in the light. and see some glory come to God through victory over terrible defeat in our past and seeing some damage come to the kingdom of darkness. I want to see for everybody! ...It is unnecessary for us to be living in the kind of bondage we are... You can take up residency [in the pit early enough]... You start early enough and you stay long enough and it starts to feel like home. And you don't know there is anything different until somebody wearing a cloak of flesh and blood says, 'I was once this and now I'm this [motions to a better way of life] and the only thing that changed was Jesus Christ coming and taking authority over my life and bidding me to freedom.' I tell you it just does not get better than that." -Beth Moore

"I had lived in the pit for so long not realizing I was in a pit but to realize one day through God, and through this love and His Word and through friends this love and His Word and through friends that cared about me that I could get out. There is a way our - because I had just lived thinking that I'll just hang in there." -Betty Robison

"The greatness of this out-of-the-pit life is so great that I can't stand to live it without you." -James Robison

"Devoting a little of yourself to everything is to devote a great deal of your life to nothing." - Doug Staton

"People are waiting for God to show them what to do, but the reality is that if there is something to be done, we do it!" -Doug Staton

"If you are still playing on the edge of your walk with God, if you are not living for God, if your not bearing fruit, if your not leading people to Jesus on some sort of regular basis, if your not laying hands on the sick on a regular basis, if your not testifying and not telling people regularly something God has done in your life, your family, or someone in your church or something you have heard then your back-slidden most severely." -Doug Staton

"I want to be there in the thick of what people call horror and be able to say 'life is beautiful'! Yes, I live here in a corner parched and dizzy and feverish, unable to do a thing. Yet, I am also with the jasmine and the piece of sky beyond the my windows... For once you you begun to walk with God, you only need to keep on walking with God and all of life become one stroll, a marvelous feeling." - Etty Hillesum (a young Jewish girl at Auschwitz in regards to uninterrupted dialog with God)

"I know I was too busy to pray, I once said to somebody - I was traveling everywhere preaching - she said, "When do you pray?" I looked at her and I said, 'I don't pray, I preach, You pray.' Now was that a smart - alleck preacher? You know what that was? That was a sick, defeated preacher that needed to learn how to come into the presence of God, and I'm so sorry." -James Robison

"You can deny the cross and empty it of its power and start to live from... the seen realm or you can declare its power and live in the unseen realm. The Bible says to fix your eyes on the unseen." - Doug Staton

"If you think you are God and you think everything you are doing is going to work chances are God will keep breaking it off you... and frustrate you and keep it just when you thought you were going to there , He'll just move it because He wants you to rely on [Him]." -Doug Staton

"God knows how to look out for you better than us. The blessing that comes from God is better than the blessing you can give Him credit for." - Doug Staton

"One of the most powerful things in religion is that people don't touch GodGod or are not touched by God. And that's why when the supernatural comes, they persecute it, because they want to feel like they have an edge on the market by their knowledge." - Doug Staton

"Words will produce your thinking. Your thinking will produce your emotions or feelings. Your feelings will produce your decisions. Your decisions will produce your actions. Your actions will produce your character. And your character will bring you to your destiny. That's a basic sequence of how life works. But now watch this. Negative words will produces negative emotions... [which will produce negative everything including destiny]. Everything starts with words. The Word of God will produce thinking that will line up with the Word of God. Abraham... got told get away from your father's house and your relatives. I said, 'Lord, is that love to tell a man to leave his relatives?' Well get away from those who are framing your thinking. Get out of that place where they are framing your thinking. Words will frame your thinking. So who are hanging around? What are you listening to? What's framing your thinking? Are you allowing... [negative friends and family ] to frame your the way you think about things? Because folks as a man thinketh so is he. The way you think will determine whether you walk in the Spirit or walk in the flesh. Because when you get down to the bottom line walking in the flesh is a way of thinking that opposes the Word of God. Walking in the Spirit is a way of thinking that goes along with the Word of God.
The Word of God will produce thinking that will line up with the Word of God. And thinking that lines up with the Word of God will produce how you feel - feelings and emotions, that line up with the Word of God. And emotions that line up with the Word of God will produce Godly decisions. And Godly decisions that line up with the Word of God will produce Godly actions. And Godly actions that line up with the Word of God will produce Godly habits. And Godly habits that line up with the Word of God will produce God character. And you know character is doing what's right because its right and you do it right. Character is what people have come to expect from you. And you will never go above the level of your character. So Godly habits produce Godly character and Godly character will produce a Godly destination which will take you where you are supposed to be. Now if you find you are not in a place where you are supposed to be, just back step. If you don't like your destiny, change your character. If you don't like your character, change your habits... [and so forth to words that I am around] that frame my thoughts. See you don't have to be defeated by the devil for one split second. but we've got to take responsibility for our part in this life and do the things we know to do." - Creflo Dollar

Healing and my last two weeks...

My God is incredible... His strength is made perfect in my weakness. Let me explain...

I have been working at Teen Challenge for the last couple of weeks. It is incredible. It is like working at a revival. People seem to constantly be turning their lives over to God, hearts are changed, addictions are broken, bodies are healed, demons flee, etc. A major component of the job is confrontation. It is my job to confront the teen guys when they are breaking the rules. Now, I had always thought of myself as a relatively bold person and thought this was a strength of mine to some extent... until when I started working here. For whatever reason I just felt incredibly, overwhelmingly passive and borderline fearful of confrontation. I was constantly praying about it, taking authority over any enemy spirit of fear, etc. but there was no change. To not be able to confront in a job where my role is to confront is NOT a good thing (thankfully things had not gotten too out-of-hand yet). I was asking people to pray, etc. Now, on Monday I came to the place of brokenness. I gave up and quit and told God it had to be in His strength and for His glory, because in my flesh I got nothing.

And the results were incredible. The boldness came back. Only by His Spirit has He made this former issue, not an issue. And it is clear that there is absolutely no way I can take credit for it. It has been a constant reminding myself that I trust in the Lord for the future and thanking Him for what He is doing.

Now, my first day at TC, God let me have the privilege to be used by Him to lay hands on someone who was sick and see them healed. Often times, when that had happened in the past, I would know not to take credit for it (all I did was be willing to pray/ take authority over Satan (if the Spirit led in this way)/ etc.), but it always seemed like I was fighting against pride. As a result, when pride entered in, the Spirit's flow stops and I am empty. So as a result of the post that the Spirit was working on me to write on Monday, I knew that anytime the Spirit did anything through me, I could take no credit for it; I am powerless to control or manipulate God to do as I want Him to.

Now then, I was watching Richard Roberts (president of Oral Roberts University and puts on healing crusades) talk a few days ago on Sky Angel (which I recommend constantly to everyone). He told how Jesus always spoke at the problem. He commanded healing to occur. He did not simply pray for the person. This is what Jesus taught as well. He said to speak to the mountain. So armed with the knowledge of how helpless I am... to see one healed or to not walk in pride afterwards, but yet with His boldness and Spirit overflowing, I got to pray for a few people at work yesterday. And a knee was healed, a headache was healed, and a cramping in a guys gut were healed, as the Spirit worked through me. His strength is made perfect in weakness. So then my mom's knees and feet seem to be healed today and my car, whose left blinker would not shut off after making a left turn now seems to like shutting off. I drove around and it shut off 5 of the 6 times I made a left turn. God healed my car. It is exciting!! Now if only the allergies I've been experiencing and my brother will be healed...

I tell you God's yoke is easy and His burden is light. He only wants all of our hearts, and abide in Him, and then to quit and let Him do through us what we could never do on our own. May He receive glory from our lives.

Helplessness and quitting

2 Cor. 1:8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

If there is one thing that is foundational to the Christian walk, I am convinced it is helplessness. Nowhere is this more clear than in prayer. There is no eloquent words, no magic style that triggers answer. Rather it is gut level honest desperation for the Lord. To walk in the Spirit, to see God answer prayer, to know Him more - all require helplessness. It is coming to the end of self. Self's clever ways of dealing with things, self's plans to control or push for things into existence. And then the helpless throw themselves on their face before the one that has the power and lets Him do in His time and His way what I could never do on my own. There is a beauty of quitting trying to make life and the Christian life work. The reality is that I am incapable and helpless. The beauty is that that helplessness removes the facade and forces me into quitting. Into giving up control. Into quit trying to do what only His Spirit can do through me. Into complete trust to Him for my future regardless of what I see in the present.

I'm convinced more often than not when I run into problems it is because I have quit quitting and start trying to change. Doug Statton says, "The problem with Christians is that we spend our lives trying to fix and change what Jesus came to put to death [the natural man]". The answer to my problems is to let go. Let go of my time table. Let go of my agenda. Let go of everything. And then make His agenda mine. His priorities mine. I don't need to nag God 500 times on the same thing. I'm pretty sure He's already aware of it. I can quit. Put it in His hands and rest, knowing that His plan is better than the plan that I wanted to give myself. I think Galatians makes this clear. The Bible talks of life in the Spirit and life in the flesh. The answer to life in the flesh is not gritting my teeth harder. It is life in the Spirit. Doesn't Gal. 5:16 say as much? "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

There is a huge discrepancy between the two. In life in the flesh, I want but it is never enough. I can listen to my favorite songs. But it doesn't satisfy for long. I can eat my favorite foods. But it doesn't last for long. And more than likely I'll probably overeat because I am trying to get something from them that I was never intended to get from them. In fact, I would venture to say that this emptiness of fulfilled desire is the reoccurring theme of life in the flesh; just look at greed, lust, selfishness, etc. No amount is ever enough. There is no contentment. Only a raging fire burning for more that does not last. Too often, I see my brothers in the Lord determine their whole walk on one issue. If that one issue is going well, than walk in the Lord seems to be good. But perhaps we are not one issue Christians. Perhaps we are trying to put a band aid on cancer rather than completely radically changing what needs to be gutted. And maybe we are trying to fix something that was intended to die.

I cannot kill it. Only He can. There is no amount of effort. No amount of gritting my teeth. No amount of self that can fix self. Ha, self is what is causing the problem, how could more of it possibly help?? No, this is where I quit. And I bow my head. I come broken once again before the One who is capable. The One who has been waiting all along for me to burn myself out, come to the conclusion that I'm incapable on my own, and call for help. A desperate soul-level earnest call.

When I quit, that's when He can start. Cuz then both Him and I will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was Him, and not me. Then He will receive glory, my heart can be pure, and I can be strengthened.

Quitting is my ticket to real relationship. Quitting is the key to knowing Him and who He says He is. Quitting is my key to the throne.

I included the verses from 2 Cor. 1 at the top. I am convinced this is what Paul is talking about. His suffering was due to self-sufficiency rather than dependence on God. This is what he had to learn through his trial.

Dear God, I do not want to go into self-sufficiency!! I ask for only dependence on You and continual trust and life in the Spirit. I do not just want a taste of you, Lord. I want all of You so that You can be glorified by my life. May self become non-existent and You consume and overflow out of me. In Jesus Name, Amen.

2 Things

So I've been in this conversation a few times lately about pride. What does one do to eradicate it from their life? I don't know that I'm prideful enough to think I got this one licked... but I'll share anyway...

I think the main underlying issue is a correct self-concept. Generally, pride seems to be an issue that comes from inadequacy... it's one's way to bring a person to homeostasis (for lack of a better word). A person feels beaten down so they subconsciously go to what makes them feel better.

I think a huge need is to know who we are (http://minnseltzer.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_archive.html - Scroll to Who am I?). Once identity is in Christ, not in my job, my talents, how I look, how smart I am, etc., I no longer have to live comparing myself to others and being prideful.

However, there is more to it than that. Pride by its very nature is independent. It says that it does not need God or others, it is quite capable. The reality is quite the opposite. Apart from God we can do nothing (John 15). In fact, when one looks at that whole chapter what we see is that we are really nothing but leeches. Nothing good comes from me, only from Him through me. I cannot produce the Christian life on my own. To do what the Word commands is impossible. But yet the beginning part of 1 John 5 records that God's commands are not burdensome. The key is abiding in Him. On my own it is impossible... through the power of the Spirit, it is all possible, compliments of being a parasite of the Lord.

Then we truly start to see how pride differentiates from dependence. Pride says, "I can do it myself" and "I hope they recognize me" and "I did a good job". Of course, it is littered with fear, because one knows just how inadequate they are on their own. Authentic Christianity does not curse oneself because of our inadequacy. This putting on of negative word curses should not be seen as biblical, but is truly a false humility, a sin. Authentic Christianity realizes that we are vessels. On our own, we are in trouble. But though we may not look like anything special, Paul records that we are like jars of clay (people would hide treasure in ordinary jars) - ordinary on the outside, but power through the Holy Spirit on the inside (2 Cor. 4:7).

So contrary to pride, which tries to take credit for any gift, ability, or even how God uses us, humility is intimately linked with thankfulness. It acknowledges that we could not have done it on our own. As I Cor. 4:7 notes, "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" Humility recognizes that, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights" (James 1:17). We need only be thankful for His blessing.

A big aspect of pride comes down to motives as well. Why do we do what we do? Is it to get recognition, admiration, or honor? Whose glory are we after? If we are living for His honor and glory, then we won't care where the credit goes. In fact, the last thing we would want to do is rob glory from God. Isaiah 48:10-11 says, "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another." When we live for His glory it is downright exciting what He lets us be apart of. But even then He gets the glory for getting us to a place where we could be used. The more one understands their walk with God, the more they realize just how desperately dependent on them that they are; to live the Christian life on their own is impossible. However, with Him, His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt 11:30).

But how does one get their motives to change and stay changed? Only by an immense amount of time with Him does our heart get changed. That's what is necessary to see ourselves the way He does, to see others how He sees them, and to see sin the way He sees it. He is truly faithful to change us, though, as we get saturated with Him.

Here's the catch though on pride. In order to apply these things, to walk in our identity (as more than head knowledge), to get our motives purified, to live in gratitude, etc. only will happen through His power. To think that we can beat pride on our own is prideful! We need to quit thinking we can apply this part of the Bible (or really much of any part) on our own and depend and trust on Him to do it as we surrender to Him and abide with Him.

Also even, as we know all of these things, something has to be replaced in us. We have to walk close with the Lord and get and stay filled with Him. We need to be walking in overflow of the Spirit's goodness. That is the only way to maintain any amount of humility. It will not happen just by trying to remove the bad, rather we need to be filled with the good. Like I said, we are vessels and will be filled with something, to just try to keep the bad things at bay does not work for very long, it will just creep back. No, staying filled with the good is essential.

The scary thing is how easy and subtly a lie of pride can still sneak back in even when we are seeking Him with all of our hearts. It is nice to have people who will speak truth into your life and hold us accountable in these situations. We all have blind spots and it is essential to have people point out where we are off track...


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On a different note, This is a sweet song that I just love... anyway, here's Sonicflood's Write your name on my Heart. Oh, if you want to see a sweet testimony, watch the lead singer's testimony of being healed from Chron's. (http://sonicflood.com/home.htm) Click Video 3

God above
In You I live and breathe
And You will always be
Son of God
I owe my life to You
Your promises are true
Your love goes on and on forever

So write Your name upon my heart
Burn Your word into my mind
Make a temple of this body
Let Your Spirit move inside
I have wandered through the valley
And I have wondered who I am
So live in me, make Your mark
And write Your name upon my heart

God above
The first, the last, the same
All glory to Your name
My Jesus
It's You who I adore
Lamb of God and Savior
Your love goes on and on forever

Imprint on every part of me
The image of the Son
And complete in me the work
You have begun

Relating Amongst Marrieds

I have been spending a bit of time amongst married people lately and seem to notice some patterns... and this might be dangerous to stereotype so I could be way off, but here goes...

It seems like women, in general, have a natural tendency to please their husbands. And men, to some extent have that tendency as well. 1 Cor. 7:32-35 talks of this so I can't be too far off yet. However, what I tend to notice is that both sides tend to please the other in the way they want to be pleased or the way they think the other wants to - but are not necessarily correct. The other problem is that one side or the other tends to be out of balanced and makes the others affirmation or gratitude into an idol, which causes them to literally burn themselves out for the other and wonder why the other does not give back like they give. The problem seems to not be the giving... rather the motivation for the giving.

Think about it. I think all of us have been around someone before who was absolutely desperate to please us... and the only natural inclination we had was to try to run away or not be pleased. It was actually hard work to try respond in a Christ-like manner because everything in us wanted to run... because it was a borderline co-dependent relationship.

I'm convinced that it is not doing of the things that the "giver" does that is bad. Rather it is the motivation of the heart. The reason for loving one another has to first and foremost be unto the Lord as an offering. Period. Then regardless of the other's response, it really does not matter a whole lot. Yes, it is good to do loving things for the other, but when pleasing someone else in love is a very distant second to doing things onto the Lord, than life starts to change.

Honestly, I'm betting there is a decent chance that if the "giver" did this they would probably "give" far more because it would not be them burning themselves out but rather the Lord's power flowing through them due to the Holy Spirit. This would not leave them chasing the fading treasure of a compliment or "thank you" (and how many of these are enough? And are they really that big of a deal?) but rather overjoyed at the blessing of having the opportunity to be a blessing.

Next, I think part of the problem is that both sides tend to appreciate the other/please the other in a way that is not that big of a deal for the other side. For example, it seems common that many men practically become workaholics to provide for their wives and children out of love, when the wife and children want nothing more than there husband/dad present and alert to relate/spend time with. He views that his 60 hour work weeks are because she is a high priority in his life while she feels like work is a higher priority than she is.

The problem partially is communication I think. Think about it. Do you really want to have to tell someone how to love you? I don't think many women want to have to tell their man how to take them out on a night of romance. If she has to spell out every detail of how he is to act and every aspect of the date/their time together, it just becomes a programmed robot that she is with. On the same side, a man does not want to have to tell his wife every detail about how he desires to feel loved. She is just supposed to know those things. And so we have a problem because both sides are just supposed to know how to love the other side, but do not know how. And so both sides, it seems, tend to give love in the way they would like to receive it, but start to not feel a whole lot of love coming in.

O.k. I just made a ton of stereotypes. But I do think there is some truth here. Does this make sense?

Adequacy, beauty, pride, self-worth, etc.

I seem to have got into this conversation MANY times recently. Here goes...

John Eldredge wrote the books Wild at Heart and Captivating (books I highly recommend, btw). In them he talks how each gender has a question that they ask, "Do I have what it takes?" and "Am I captivating/beautiful?" The gist of the books are that we need to go to the Lord to find the affirmative answer to that question, not members of the opposite sex, the world, friends, etc.

However, this is where I have an issue with the book. When I had cancer back years ago and life had fallen apart, I realized I do NOT have what it takes. I had spent my life before that point in an incessant bondage to what people thought, "am I smart/athletic/successful/

fill in the blank enough?" and felt like I CONSTANTLY had to prove myself. I remember even back then that I had asked myself. How many people are enough? At what point can I stop? Why do I have to never endingly compare myself to others and consequently vacillate from pride to insecurity depending on whether I viewed myself as more capable then them? Does it really matter how I compare?

This bondage/game came crashing down during cancer. I lost everything. My health, my athletic ability, my friendships, my job, my everything. It was actually quite liberating, though. Because now I could see how stupid it all was. Was I a loser because I could no longer play frisbee or do the things that I thought I was good at? I don't think any of you would think that. So I started to realize my value had absolutely nothing to do with how smart/athletic/successful/capable etc. that I am. It had nothing to do with whether or not I had friends or a girlfriend. And anyone who thought that it did, who would have thought that I was loser while on chemo because I did not play frisbee, we would think is weird.

So if my value does not come from all of those things (or physical appearance for women), where does it come from? It can only come from one place. There is only one safe place for it. It comes from God. He is the only one safe, unchanging source for security in identity (or really anything). Once this is taken care of, than I will no longer try to get things out of frisbee, my relationships, etc. that I was never meant to get from them - only from God. Frisbee goes back to being something fun to do with friends - not a measure of who I am. Life no longer has to be a never ending self-obsessed focus, but God lets one actually pay attention to others more than just how they are paying attention to me (i.e. they are my audience).

So I came to the conclusion that my self-worth has to come from the Lord. I then came to my conclusion on my question, "Do I have what it takes?" No, I do not. I am incredibly, incredibly week. Cancer taught me that pretty quickly. I can't even do basic things like walk in love on a consistent basis without God. When Jesus said in John 15 (I think v. 7?) that "apart from me you can do nothing" that is so true. Apart from God I can do nothing that really matters with pure selfless motives. But the beauty is that rather than walking around in pride that I have it all put together or putting up a facade that I do, I can whole heartedly seek the one that allows me to do "all things THROUGH HIM who gives me strength." It is not that I can do all things. Apart from him, I pretty much am doomed. But through Him, there is nothing that cannot be done. And the same is true for you.

The books advocate guys and girls listening to the still, small voice that will tell them that they have what it takes or that they are beautiful... something that I view could be dangerous (i.e. opening oneself up to other spirits that will speak to them). Besides I don't believe that is biblical. Rather than God speaking that we are capable and beautiful, I think the message of the Bible is "THROUGH ME, you are capable and beautiful." The Bible talks of beauty and says that real beauty does not come from outward adornment, but is an inner quality (1 Peter 3:3). I would venture to say, that just like a man and being capable, true beauty is something that is only produced through a life controlled and consumed by the Holy Spirit.

Thoughts?