What does IMAGINE mean? To form a mental image of; to conceive; to produce by the imagination; to think; to believe; to form images. How do you use your imagination? You sit quietly and you think, you dream, you see yourself doing something that seems impossible or out of reach. Once you’re able to imagine it, you are one step closer to having it.

The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV): “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Look at the illustration of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:6. They were trying to build a tower that could reach heaven (and this was before they had concrete mixers, cement trucks, cranes, power tools) and the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them.”

In other words, if you can dream it, God can do it! The problem is: most of us have stopped dreaming. We’ve stopped using our imagination. I want to challenge you to devote time today to sit quietly and just think. Dream. Imagine at least one area of your life being different. It could be your finances. Your savings account. Your debt being paid off. Your weight. Imagine it.

Make a Dreams Book
Next, I want you to write what you see. Your vision and goals must be on paper! Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision and make it plain on paper.” Something happens when you put your dreams on paper.
I read a story about Jim Carrey that proves the power of writing your vision. In 1990, Jim Carrey was a struggling young Canadian comic trying to make it in Hollywood. He drove his old Toyota up to Mulholland Drive and would look out at the city below and imagine his future. He even wrote himself a check for $10 million, and post-dated it “Thanksgiving 1995”. He wrote in the notation: “for acting services rendered.” He carried that check (his dream) in his wallet everywhere he went.

By 1995 (the year he post-dated the check), after the huge box office success of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb & Dumber, his asking price had risen to $20 million per picture! When his father died in 1994, he placed the $10 million check into his father’s coffin as a tribute to the dad who taught him to use his imagination and dream.

The Bible gives us a major success key in Habakkuk 2:2-3 (CEV), “Then the LORD told me: “I will give you my message in the form of a vision. Write it clearly enough to be read at a glance. At the time I have decided, my words will come true. You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long time, but keep on waiting and it will happen!”

I like to put all of my dreams and goals in a book. I’ve done this for years and finally, it dawned on me, part of my “VISION” is to provide people with the resources to help them pursue their dreams. So, I created a “dreams notebook” where all you have to do is find a picture, tape it in there, write your dream. Be sure to get your copy so you can get your dreams on paper and ready to pursue this year.

Assign Time Daily to Review Your Dreams
When Olympic decathlon, gold medalist Bruce Jenner asked a room full of Olympic hopefuls if they had a list of written goals, every single hand was raised. When he asked how many of them had that list with them right at that moment, only one person raised their hand. It was Dan O’Brien. Dan O’Brien was the one who went on to win the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Don’t ever underestimate the significance of writing your vision and keeping it before you.

Joshua 1:8 (NKJV) says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” YOU have to do the same thing with your DREAMS & GOALS! You have to keep them before you constantly…day and night! Out of sight is out of mind.

Goals Must be Set
Vague goals produce vague results. I learned from Jack Canfield that in order to make a goal effective, it needs to answer two questions: how much and by when? In other words, how much (many): Pages, pounds, dollars, square feet, points, etc. By when? A specific time and day.

For example: “I will lose 15 pounds” is not as powerful as saying, “I will weigh 110 pounds by March 15 at 10:00 AM”. Be specific. Habakkuk 2:2 says to not just write the vision but make the vision plain. So when setting the goal for your life, be as specific as possible. Diana Scharf Hunt said, “Goals are dreams with deadlines.”

Initiate Action Now
We can’t sit around and WISH things would change, we’ve got to DO something! In Luke 5, we read the story of the four men taking their sick friend to see Jesus for healing. The place was packed and there was no room for them to get in. So they went the extra mile. They didn’t conclude that there was nothing they could do. They were proactive.

Luke 5:19 says, “When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

Notice it says, “When Jesus SAW their faith…” How can you see faith? He saw their ACTION. And He gave them what they were after. He healed him. We must be proactive.

James 2:20 (ESV) says,“Faith apart from works is useless.” Abraham Lincoln said, “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle!”

So what do you need to do? Enroll in that class. Call the travel agent. Book the cruise. Meet with the bank. Get the resume typed. Form the business. Write the book. Meet with the Realtor. Save the money (with this week’s paycheck). Join the gym. Propose to the girl. Record the CD. Volunteer at the shelter. Preach the message. Go on the interview. Nothing happens until you take action.

Never Speak Against Your Dreams
The more time you spend in God’s Word and reading good faith-building books, your imagination IS going to expand. Whatever you think about expands. Your image will improve. Ideas will be birthed. Confidence will be gained. You begin to BELIEVE “all things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23).

The Apostle Paul said, “I believed, and therefore have I spoken” (2 Cor. 4:13). When you begin dreaming of new things in your life and you BELIEVE it, you will automatically begin speaking it.

Stop speaking against your own dreams…no matter how impossible they look right now. Remember, some things will NEVER change in your life until you begin speaking them out loud. It’s not enough to think it, you have to SPEAK IT.

Expect it
Before my Dad ever preached a sermon, the Lord put it on his heart to act as if he had a crowd of people listening to him preach. He would go as far as preparing the sermon, praying for the people who would one day listen to him preach, putting his suit on and going into his guest bedroom AS IF he were preaching to thousands of people.

Can you imagine? HE COULD. His imagination could see thousands of faces listening to his every word, lives being healed, saved and delivered. He could see it so strong on the inside of him, and in order to perfect that image, he acted as if it were already happening. Eventually, it actually began to happen.

Getting dressed, studying and praying were all acts of faith to show that he was that determined to reach his dreams. Proverbs 23:18 says, “…and your hope and expectation shall not be cut off.”

Hebrews 10:35 says, “Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward.” In other words, don’t let go of your dreams, your expectations, your faith, your vision. Stay focused and you will be rewarded.

Charles F. Kettering said, “Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.” When what you see on the inside becomes BIGGER than what you can see on the outside, then God begins to bring the ideas, the opportunities, the resources, and the relationships to make it happen. It all begins with what you can or can’t imagine. Remember, “Nothing you have imagined to do will be impossible for you!” If you can imagine it, God can do it.

How are soul ties formed?

1. Close relationships.
When you spend a lot of time with someone, you are forming a bond. Through whatever you do together – eating, traveling, working, talking – the connection strengthens. You have soul ties with your coworkers, your family members, your children, your classmates. Jonathan and David are a perfect example of a God-designed soul tie. In this type of kinship, God’s power increases. The same is true for a wrong soul tie. In that instance, it opens an opportunity for Satan to work on your behalf, and his evil power is intensified.

2. Vows, commitments, promises.
Soul ties can be formed by the words of your mouth. Words have such power over your life! Think of what it really means when you say statements such as: “I will never stop loving you.” “You will always be the only one I love.” “I will never get you out of my heart.” “You’re the only one I will ever give my love to.” “Nobody will ever take your place in my life.” Can you just imagine how much power these words yield?
The Bible says that we can be “snared” by the words of our mouth: “You are snared by the words of your mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth” (Proverbs 6:2 NKJV). A snare means a trap, a hook or a plan. Your very own words could be keeping you trapped to a bad soul tie, which explains why you feel like something is pulling on you, preventing you from fully going forward.

3. Sexual relationships.
Soul ties are formed any time and every time there is intimacy in a relationship. You may have ended a physically intimate relationship months ago, but you still feel a pull toward that person. Why? Because of soul ties.
Soul ties prevent us from moving on to new relationships, even the ones God may be leading us into. This can even happen in situations of divorce. The divorce is over, a new marriage is pursued, but one spouse keeps being drawn back to his or her ex-husband or ex-wife. Their soul is still tied to the former spouse.
James 1:8 says, “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” A double-minded person is one with a divided soul. Do you feel unstable at times? Do you want to move on with your life but are struck in random moments of missing your ex-boyfriend? This is being double -minded and not something God wants you to experience. He wants you free from every sin of your past – even the ones you willfully gave into over and over but still think about.
There are certain things you can do to help you through this trying and uncomfortable process of breaking free from a relationship you feel God wants you to get free of:
A. Decide to please God more than anyone.
You have one life to live., and it matters to God. One day, you will stand before God and give an account of your life and what you were called to do during your time here on earth. You cannot live your life displeasing God in order to please someone else. All that will do is eventually bring you a life of deep regret.
You have to come to the place in your life where pleasing God is the most important thing to you. If He is prompting you to end a relationship that you’re tied to, then you need to end it. Allowing someone to have as much influence as God should have in your life opens the door for Satan to come into your life. He will make it so much harder for you to give up this soul tie. The right time to cut the strings is now. Today. Even this very minute.
B. Build yourself up in the Word.
You must have daily doses of God’s Word in order to develop the strength to sever an ungodly soul tie. You cannot do this on your own. Filling yourself with God’s Word can help you make the right decisions. It must be a part of your strategic plan to be free of your past.
The Bible is your greatest weapon against Satan. He does not want you to break your soul ties. He is desperately working to keep you locked into this situation. The devil will lie to you and convince you that you cannot live without him/her. He will remind you day and night of all the good times, the fun times, the laughter, and torment you into thinking you cannot live without this person. He is a liar.
God’s Word, the Truth, will override Satan’s lies. Just like anything else, you won’t see results overnight. You have to make studying the Word a habit. In my new book, I share simple steps to developing habits of spending time in the Word. You decide your habits, your habits will decide your future.
C. Wean Yourself from that person.
You literally have to wean yourself from that person to whom you have ungodly soul ties. To wean means to deprive. You have to deprive yourself of this wrong soul tie until you no longer miss him or her. And listen to this: there will come a day when you will no longer miss that person.

Psalm 131:2 says, “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with his mother. Like a weaned child is my soul within me ceased from fretting.” I remember when I was trying to wean my daughter off of the pacifier. Every night, it had become a part of our nightly routine to give her a pacifier as I laid her in her crib for the night. An hour or two later, I would remove the pacifier, and her little mouth would still be moving as if the pacifier were still there! It was so cute!

However, when it was time to wean her from it, it was torture. It was unbearable for her and she screamed at the top of her lungs for that “thing” she was used to getting. It was unbearable for me as I could not do anything except let her cry. Oh, it broke my heart. I felt like a bad mom! Finally, what felt like an eternity of torturing my baby ended. She cried herself to sleep.
The next night, it didn’t get any easier! It was like starting over again. The same thing happened night after night. One night, however, the crying seemed to fade. It wasn’t as loud or as long as the previous nights. Eventually, of course, the crying completely stopped. The hours of crying turned into nights of silence. My baby, who is now 13, hasn’t missed her pacifier since!

When you first deny yourself of your wrong soul tie, rest assured that your spirit will throw a fit. Your emotions will scream and fight for the right to stay in bondage. But the more you deny yourself the thing that you are screaming for, the less you begin to desire it. Your flesh will eventually stop throwing temper tantrums and will start being subsided by the Spirit of God.

There are many ways to wean yourself off of an ungodly soul tie. The most obvious and important action to take is to cut all communication. Don’t call the person. Don’t answer their phone calls. Don’t hang out in places where you know they’ll be. Don’t be alone with them. Don’t email them. Delete their emails. You may have to take drastic measures to be free, but I promise you, it’s worth it. Doing this is being obedient to God and you will never regret submitting to your Heavenly Father. God always blesses obedience. Remember this: partial obedience is still disobedience. Disobedience opens the door for a curse to come on your life. Fully obey what you know God is telling you to do.

When you compromise, agony and anxiety become your companions. When you obey God, peace and joy become a part of your life. You can never have total peace when you’re in disobedience to God. The only way to obtain peace is to submit to Him and do whatever He wants you to do. Your feelings will lie to you. You have to shut them up and do what you know you’re supposed to do. As I mentioned earlier, I dedicated an entire chapter on this subject which includes more strategic steps to breaking free. In a very practical way, I show you how to remove reminders of your past from your house and how to break the power of those words that have been spoken.

My prayer is that you will do what you know in your heart God is telling you to do. Lean on Him like never before. When the soul ties are painful, rest assured, your pain won’t last forever. Joy comes in the morning. And when something ends, God always has a new beginning.

1. Goals must be in writing.
“Goals that are not written down are just wishes.” Even God tells us the importance of putting things down on paper. Habakkuk reminds us to write the vision (see Hab. 2:2).

2.Goals must be measurable.
There’s a big difference in saying, “I want to lose weight” and saying “I will lose 10 pounds by March 1.” Your goals must be measured by something; this is what increases your chances of achieving them.

3. Goals must be realistic.
If your goals are completely unrealistic, then you’re setting yourself up for defeat. If your goal is to get closer to God, then you need to be realistic in how you plan to get closer to God. Don’t tell yourself you will pray for four hours every day. Be practical. Set aside 30 minutes of alone time a day instead. It’s important to set realistic and attainable goals so that you are able to reach them.

4. Goals must have a deadline.
Isn’t it amazing how a deadline causes us to work harder? When my sister and I were younger, and we were told to unload the dishwasher, we would look at the clock and see how fast we could get it done, in less than four minutes. We were determined to reach our goal. Why? We had a deadline. Always assign a deadline to your goals. It’s energizing and motivating.

In my new book, ‘Make Your Dreams Bigger Than Your Memories’, I share in detail the six areas that I began setting goals and putting a plan in action.
1. Faith (my relationship with God)
2. Family (my home/personal life)
3. Finances (my income and expenses)
4. Fitness (my health and wellbeing)
5. Friendships (my time with those closest to me)
6.Free time (time for myself)

Goal 1: My Faith
Knowing that faith is the foundation of my life, I knew that I needed to get closer to God. In order to do this, I was focused on hearing the Word. It has been proven that it takes 21 days to break an old habit and start a new one. My plan was to commit to studying the Word for that period of time to build my faith and create that new discipline in my life. Why did I do that? Because the Bible says, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4, NKJV).
It takes faith to overcome defeat. It takes faith to overcome addictions. It takes faith to overcome depression. It takes faith to overcome hopelessness. It takes faith to overcome sickness, laziness, procrastination and painful memories of the past. Whatever you’re facing, it will take faith to overcome it! How do you get faith? “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17, NKJV). I knew that I needed to build my faith because I needed to overcome things in my life. I invested in faithbuilding sermons I could listen to in my CD player and began listening every morning in the bathroom while getting ready. And after those 21 days, I didn’t want to stop. Why? Because it was changing me! And I still do it to this day.

Goal 2: My Family
I wanted to have a peaceful home even though my life wasn’t at peace at that time. A peaceful home meant to me that it would be clean and organized. It was a start. I didn’t realize how therapeutic this entire process was, but it proved to provide more emotional healing than I ever could have imagined. I began writing a daily vision for one room in our house at a time. Each day, one particular room was cleaned out, organized and sprayed with air freshener.
As I cleaned each room, I listened to the Word. I carried my CD player with me and listened to message after message as I opened every cabinet, cleaned out every drawer and wiped off every countertop. My tormented mind was focused on a cleaning project and hearing the life-changing Word of God at the same time. When you are hearing the Word, it’s not like just listening to music or hearing background noise. It is changing you because it is getting down inside of you. Every time you hear the Word, your spirit is being recharged. Not only that but a peaceful home = a peaceful mind. When you start to care about your home, it’s a sign you’re starting to care about yourself.
 
Goal 3: My Finances
It’s going to take finances to do whatever God has called you to do, and if you spend everything you make, then you’re not going to get very far. There are great books in print by intelligent and well-experienced financial planners that you should purchase to help you in this area. It’s an important area to manage in your life in order to get to the place where God wants you to be, specifically, free from financial burdens.
If you make $50,000 a year but you spend $50,000 a year, what will you have at the end of the year? Nothing. If you do the same thing for the next 10 years, what will you have? Nothing. Do you think that’s what God wants for your life? Of course not.
Here are three tips to take control of your finances today:
1. Pay your tithe (10 percent of your income belongs to God).
2. Pay yourself (set a goal to save 10 percent).
3. Pay your bills (set a goal to live on 80 percent).

The first step toward a major turnaround in your finances is to tithe. It is an act of love to God, and it is sowing seed rather than something you owe Him. (Mal. 3:10). It’s a good idea to set some financial goals in giving to the Lord. Let’s say you would like to give $1,200 to the Lord’s work this year through your church and other ministries that you believe in. Break that goal down into measurable steps. Giving $1,200 for the year breaks into $100 each month, which means around $25 each week. Now that’s attainable.
Paying yourself involves saving money. Look at what you can save, and then set a goal for the year. How much do you want to have in your savings by the end of the year or by next year? Is it written down? Is it measurable? Is it realistic? Does it have a deadline? If you can put $10 aside from every paycheck, that’s a start. You may not think it’s much, but over time it will add up. And, hey, if you’re not saving money at all, then you’ll be miles ahead of where you are now.
Look for ways to put something in your savings account from every pay period. Sacrifice one meal of eating out so you can fulfill your goal of putting $10, $20, $50 into your savings. Get into a habit of thinking about your savings account with every bit of income you receive. If it’s birthday money, a bonus check, profits from a garage sale or however you obtain extra money, put something in your savings. It will inspire you in preparing toward your future. Remember, your goal is to get your eyes off of your past and onto your future. “A person with no vision (for their finances) will always return to their past.”

Goal 4: Fitness
There is a correlation between emotional health and physical health. If you’re filled with all sorts of wounds and memories of the past, one of the best ways to support your goals toward freedom and being made whole is to physically take charge of your life. Studies have shown that people feel better when they exercise.
If you don’t spend time working out, I suggest making a plan to do so. Be realistic about it. Start slow. Take your time. Do what works for you. I love walking, and I highly recommend it. When I walk, I spend time with God; so not only does it increase my fitness level, but it also strengthens my spiritual walk (no pun intended). God is a great workout partner. My walks with Him have healed so much in me. I do most of the talking, but it’s still therapeutic. I know I’m not just talking to the sky. I know that He hears every single word I say. I’ve spent my time walking, crying and praying; and by the end of every walk, I’ve felt refreshed, renewed and filled with incredible peace.
I really want to encourage you to start small—to start where you are and build on it. Set a goal to walk for 15 minutes a day. But here’s the key: be consistent about those 15 minutes a day.
Don’t stop! It only takes one diet to lose weight. Which diet? The one you stick with!

Goal 5: Friendships
If you want to see where your life is headed, look at the list of names in your cell phone. Who you hang around has everything to do with where your life is headed. It is very important that you spend time with people who lift you up rather than bring you down. If you don’t know anyone like that, then read books by people you admire and respect. Listen to their messages on CD. Learn everything you can from them. It will change your life.
Scripture tells us, “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment” (Prov. 18:1, NKJV). Like me, you might have a tendency to isolate yourself from people when you’re going through a tough time. Keep in mind that Satan likes to keep you isolated. He knows where you’re weak, and he knows how to play on your emotions. If you keep godly counsel around you, they can keep you strong. They can help you stay focused on reaching your new goals and keep you walking toward your new life.

Goal 6: Free Time
“Plan my free time? You’ve got to be kidding me!” No, I’m serious. When you’re in a mental battle to either go backward to your old thoughts, memories and ways of doing things, you can’t give Satan any territory or he will come barging in and take full advantage of your life. I’m not saying you have to be busy or active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I am saying you have to plan each day on purpose. Do whatever you need to do to quit concentrating on the past. If your plan is to rest, then rest; and don’t feel guilty about it.
Do things that you have always wanted to do but never got around to it because you were weighed down by old memories. Take up that hobby. Rekindle an old friendship. Volunteer for that organization. Get a part-time job. Take music lessons. I like to suggest writing a list of the things you want to do before you die. It doesn’t matter how many items are on that list or how impossible they may seem. Write them down. I read about a man who was featured in a national magazine article because he made a list of all the things he wanted to do. He had been inspired to do this by his grandmother who would constantly say, “I wish I had done that when I was younger.” This man thought to himself that he would never say that when he got older.
So, he began writing his list, which included things like:
• Ride a horse in the Rose Bowl Parade
• Read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica
• Be a missionary in church
• Trace the travels of Marco Polo
• Read the writings of Shakespeare
He was 15 years old when he wrote this list, which included 127 tasks. By the end of his life, he had accomplished 108 of the 127 things he set out to do! Many of us have not accomplished one thing we wanted to do. Many of us haven’t even gotten started by making such a list! Can you finally see the importance of writing down goals and visions on paper? Those who write their goals accomplish significantly more than those who do not.
There is a popular saying: Men decide their habits; their habits decide their future. When you make a habit of focusing on the things you want to accomplish and spend your energy on things that will build up your faith and your emotional, physical and mental wellbeing, it will lead you straight into God’s perfect plan for your life. Why? Because the secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine. It’s what you do every single day that matters. Don’t just think in terms of goals; think habits! You can do it; you just need to get started. Speaker and author Lee J. Colan says, “You don’t have to be great to get started, but you do have to get started to be great.” So, what’s the plan? Get started making your plan for tomorrow morning when you wake up!

If Rodney says, “Was it Mrs. Scarlett with a candlestick in the library” – then I put little RF (his initials) by those clues to show that he probably doesn’t have any of those things he just asked about. (I hope he’s not reading this….). He and Kassidi don’t even realize that they are leaving me CLUES every time they speak! And I usually win!

Well, I believe that God left us clues in the Bible of how to be successful – how to fulfill His plan for our lives. We just have to be looking for them. They could go right over our head and you might say, “I don’t have a clue what God wants me to do!”

For example, Isaiah 43:18-19 says, “Do not remember the former things nor consider the things of old, Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth.”

In other words, God is giving us a success clue: if you want to experience something new in your life . . . stop thinking about your past! He’s finished with it. Don’t even give it a second thought. It sounds simple enough, but boy, have I had a hard time with letting go of the past!

We all have memories of things we did or said or witnessed that we simply wish weren’t there. Whether the past is the remembrance of sin(s) you committed, the pain someone else inflicted on you or the heartbreak of a relationship that still stings your heart, if the past is still being relived in your mind, then it becomes your present and ultimately, destroys your future.

Memories of the past can harass you for the rest of your life – if you allow them to. And the harassing takes place in your mind. You will only keep the memories alive by thinking about them, replaying them, reliving them, rehearsing them, revisiting them…in your mind.

Satan can torment your mind over and over again by something as simple as the changing of the seasons. Maybe Spring time reminds you of a time in your life when something tragic happened and just the atmosphere, the sounds in the air and the climate all take you back to that moment in time. Sure enough, every March 21st when Springtime comes, your mind is back there. Or a song on the radio! That’s a big one! You hear that song played and you can even remember what you were wearing, who you were with and what you were feeling (10 years ago!).

What about the smell of an old ‘flame’s’ cologne! Just one whiff of that familiar smell and it takes you back. Where? In your mind! Photos, clothing, jewelry, letters . . . they all remind us of things in the past.

After suffering through many years of needless torment over some bad decisions in my past, I have arrived at the place of writing my new book, Make Your Dreams Bigger than Your Memories. I’ve devoted an entire chapter on getting aggressive where your thought life is concerned and getting your mind to do what you want it to do! When you find something that ‘works,’ you can’t help but want to tell others. That’s my purpose for writing.

I want you to get to a place in your life where you instantly get a hold of your thought life and make it line up with the Word of God. You need to memorize Isaiah 43:18-19 and confess it out of your mouth frequently and consistently if you want to see freedom from your past. We see from this scripture that “remembering” and “considering” are both mental processes. They both take place in the mind. And God is telling us to not remember nor consider the former things (the past). In order for God to do a new thing in your life, you have to first remove the old things!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten quiet before the Lord and sat with my journal in my hands ready to write anything I might hear Him say, and constantly, over and over again, I would hear in my spirit, “Let go of the past!” I’ve cried out to Him because of the pain and the shame of things I’ve experienced and not known how to make the memories go away. He led me to this verse from the Apostle Paul.
“..But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)

It’s obvious when you read Paul’s famous verse that he knew, in order to “press toward the mark” or to be in God’s perfect will for His life, he had to: #1. forget the past and #2. have a vision. You must have a vision to get up tomorrow morning and pursue something…even if that ‘something’ is to get your laundry done. That’s vision!

I’ve had to make myself grab hold of this concept by typing the statement “you can only conquer your past by focusing on your future” really big and taping it in front of my daily planner. Personally, I have to have action steps in order to comprehend a lesson. So, in each chapter of this book, I have outlined a “chapter challenge” for you to walk out. Every single chapter challenge is something I’ve walked out in my own life one at a time… consequently, I am now writing a book on letting go of the past. In other words, if you really do it, it works!

“A person with no vision will always return to their past.”

The first challenge is to dream. You must have a vision or you will go back to your past. Whatever “your past” means to you. It may mean a life of drugs, alcoholism, crime, not serving God, a wrong relationship, bitterness, anger, isolation, fear, grief, laziness, poverty, debt, insecurity, a series of bad choices and the list goes on.

Whatever you have battled and worked hard to overcome in your life, satan will attempt to bring that exact same temptation, habit, or behavioral tendency back into your life hoping to drag you back to a past you’re trying to forget. He cannot do that if you have vision, if your eyes are focused on a plan. If you’re not focused on something, you’ll be easily distracted by everything. Especially a temptation or habit from your past! You must have a vision, a plan, something to fix your eyes on today.

Another ‘success clue’ is found in Habbakuk 2:2 – “And then God answered: ‘Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.’” Having a vision for your life is vital to living your life with purpose versus just existing. God did not create you for the purpose of taking up space. He hand designed you for a specific purpose. Your job is to discover that purpose, get a plan and pursue it.

The Bible clearly says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish”(Proverbs 29:18). There’s no confusion about that verse. YOU WILL PERISH if you do not have a vision for your life. Perish means die!

You can’t change what happened to you. You can’t change what you did. You made choices. You did things you wish you hadn’t done, but it’s over. And God wants to use you. . . while you’re here. He is incapable of making mistakes. And He made you…for a purpose.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Don’t be like Lot’s wife who lost her future because she looked back! Turn around and start walking towards your vision. You may need to assign a special clean up day at home. You may have reminders of your past just laying around your house and you have no idea what those “things” are doing to your emotions. I never knew just how powerful certain things from my past would be in keeping me tied to it. Satan works through our 5 physical senses. He uses our sense of sight, sense of hearing, sense of touch, sense of taste and sense of smell to tempt us to go back. Go through every closet, every drawer and every cabinet. Throw away anything that has a negative emotional tie to it. There may be things you can sell such as jewelry given to you that you don’t need to hang onto.

I’m not saying that everything connected to your past has to be trashed or every single picture of you and an old “flame” has to be destroyed. I am saying that anything that has a hold on you in some way and is keeping you from total freedom needs to be thrown out of your life. You will experience a certain freedom inside and out — simply by cleaning out your past. What a release!

Deut. 7:26 says, “Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction.” Why is this so important? Why is this so serious? Because God wants to do a new thing in your life and He doesn’t want any old things keeping you back! Satan will use whatever he can find to drag you back to the past! Psalm 101:2 says, “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.”

Get ready for the new thing God has for you and start making your dreams bigger than your memories.

In my quiet time with the Lord one day, I heard these words, “When I know you’re ready, get ready!” I wasn’t sure what all that meant, but I knew I needed to devote more time to getting my vision and my dreams on paper and preparing myself to go after them.

In fact, in a recent study from a professor at Virginia Tech, he found that people who wrote their goals (vision) earned nine times as much as those who didn’t! His research went on to reveal that when asked, “what are your goals for life” – he found:
• 80% said they didn’t know
• 16% said they have goals but they’ve never written them down
• Only 4% said they’ve written the goals but never gone back to look at them
• 1% said they wrote the goals and they review them on a weekly basis
He went on to say… “Do you know who those 1% are?” MILLIONAIRES!

So, one day as I was just sitting quietly at home thinking about my vision, I actually wrote that I would like to make a difference in the nation of  France. When I wrote that, I felt a little ridiculous because I didn’t know anyone in France, I didn’t have any plans to go to France, and I’m just a little redhead in Crowley, Texas with a dream. Where do you even start?

So, I started by sowing seed. I knew of a church that my Dad ministered in, so I gave to the Pastors of this great church because of the impact they were already making in France. Every dream begins with a seed.

Then, I bought a map of France and framed it in my office. I was putting the vision in front of me. (Not to mention that I have “Eiffel Towers” all over my office and home!)
Then, I began to “think” and “pray” about what God would want me to do. During that time, an idea came to me to write a mini-book in French and give it away all over Paris . . . some day.

I began writing the book for the people of France, “You’re Valuable to God” or “Vous Avez de la Valeur a Dieu”. I scheduled time in the mornings to devote at least one hour of writing two days a week. One Saturday morning I penciled in my calendar, “Write French book from 7:00-9:00”. And I kept the commitment.

Habbakuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision and make it plain on paper – for the vision is yet for an appointed time!” You have to ‘appoint a time’ to go after your dreams!

Instead of just waiting for someone to call me and say, “Can you preach in Paris this year?” I began preparing for the dream. I wrote it in less than 2 weeks, and I believed God for an opportunity to preach in Paris so I could distribute this book all over the city. As I was writing the book, I received donations from people who believed in my vision and paid for the printing of the books. Thank you, Jesus! We got the books printed and we were ready!

And you can imagine what happened next: I received invitations to preach in Paris, France! In other words, “When I know you’re ready, get ready.”

Last September, we distributed nearly 2000 books all over Paris! We were ready when God called! When the invitations came, I didn’t have to say, “Oh my goodness, can we postpone the meeting? I don’t have my books written yet because I didn’t think you would call.” We were ready when they called!

When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare! – Henry Ford

There’s something God wants you to do and he wants you to get ready now! You don’t have any more time to waste. I want to share a few simple steps that I believe you need to give attention to in order to be ready. I have applied this to my own life and I am amazed at the dreams that are actually coming to pass right now!

#1. Picture It! In other words – what do you see? You’ve got to SEE something before you can BUILD something. When Rodney and I were building our house, the first thing the builder said to us was, “What do you see?” I just sat there. I didn’t have a clue. Rodney had some ideas about what he wanted, but I didn’t. I hadn’t spent any time thinking about it, dreaming about it, planning it. I was so BUSY with work, etc. I didn’t devote time to planning my dream.

I’ve discovered that the timing of our dreams is pretty much up to us. We delayed our own “dream house” by not being ready! Our builder was so patient with us. He even said one day, “If I didn’t like you so much, I would have told you to leave a long time ago.” Why? We weren’t ready. We didn’t have a “picture in our minds” of what we wanted.

I recently heard an interesting fact about the African Impala. It said that they can jump as far as 30 feet long and 10 feet high! However, the Impala stays securely behind a four foot fence at the zoo and never even tries to get out. Why? Because he can’t see over the fence, he will not even attempt to jump. He has to SEE where’s he’s headed before he’ll jump! You need to see where you’re headed before you step out!

Einstein said, “Your imagination is a preview of life’s coming attractions.” Your imagination, or picturing what you want, acts as a GPS system. Once you begin to see yourself doing what you want to do – your mind begins to head in that direction. It’s like you’ve finally given yourself a “destination” to enter and now, you can begin driving towards it. Rather than just sit there in NEUTRAL for another year – you can begin driving toward your goals!

God wants you to get to your original destination – but he needs you to see where he wants to take you. That requires TIME with Him. Just like it took time to develop the blueprints for that house, it takes time with the Lord to discover His next step for your life. Time with God is not about a clock! It’s about consistency!

God said to Abraham in Genesis 13 – “Lift up now your eyes and look from the place where you are…” In other words, get a vision of where you want to be. And then He asked Jeremiah: “More over the word of the Lord came to me saying “Jeremiah, what do you see?”

God doesn’t want you to stay where you are. You should be able to look back next year at this time and say, “Wow! Look what God has done in my life in one year’s time!” Get a picture of what you want!

#2. Start today. I heard someone say, “It’s not where you start, but whether you start.” In other words, you may have a dream of writing books and publishing them all over the world. If that’s your dream, then what have you written? Have you written the book yet? Are you still waiting for that perfect time to start writing? Start even if it’s 10 minutes of preparing. Be ready when the Publisher calls! More than that, be ready when God says, “It’s time!”

Louis L’Amour said, “The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”

The Message Bible says in Proverbs 6:6-11, “You lazy fool, look at an ant. Watch it closely; let it teach you a thing or two. ..So how long are you going to laze around doing nothing? How long before you get out of bed? A nap here, a nap there, a day off here, a day off there, sit back, take it easy – do you know what comes next? Just this: You can look forward to a dirt-poor life, poverty your permanent house guest!”

Jimmy Lyons said, “Tomorrow is the only day in the year that appeals to a lazy man.” Don’t wait until tomorrow . . . every day that you live is another day you don’t have left to pursue God’s assignment on your life.

#3. Schedule time in your daily agenda. Never set a goal without scheduling a specific time go after it. I believe laziness and procrastination will be one of the biggest regrets of our lives – if we don’t wake up and get serious about going after God’s plan. And that requires scheduling time to do it! “Monday at 8:00 p.m., I will start writing chapter 1 of my book!” And practice having integrity with yourself. I know what it’s like to procrastinate, wish things would change, get mad because things weren’t changing, and wait for things to change! None of it produces results!

“To move the world, we must first move ourselves.” – Socrates

Plan for your success. Set a plan to go to the bookstore Monday after work. Schedule time to start those guitar lessons. Schedule time to begin reading a chapter in the Bible. Schedule time to begin working out – put it on your calendar. Schedule the day you will open that savings account, go to the bank, and deposit the money. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect to begin moving towards your dreams. Schedule time to pursue them.

#4. Sow towards your dreams. Every dream I’ve seen come to pass in my life has required that I sow a seed towards it. If you want apple trees in your backyard, you can’t just wish for them or hope they’ll appear one day. You can’t just speak to the ground and command the apple tree to appear! You have to sow a seed for it. It’s the same with the dreams God has for our lives. We must sow towards them.

What are you doing to prepare for what you believe God has called you to do? Don’t put it off another day, another month, another year. Make this your year to prepare for what God’s called you to do. Get a picture of your dreams and your goals and put them on paper. Start preparing today. And listen for God saying, “When I know you’re ready, get ready!” God wants to do something significant with your life and the time to get ready is now.

I saw the ladies ahead and I warned them, “You’re right. The skunk’s up  there  today.” Later  that morning,  I was  taking my daughter to school and as I drove out of our neighborhood, I looked in the same spot that skunk was in earlier – and there it was….an oval-shaped thing with a white stripe down the center just  laying  in  the grass.  It was a  football! Yes,  I was  scared of a  football! It dawned on me, “All this time – we thought that football was a skunk!” I was allowing a football to scare me and stop me from taking the path I want to take!

It’s  been  said  that  F.E.A.R.  stands  for  False  Evidence Appearing Real! That’s how Satan works! He presents thoughts and  ideas  in  our  head  that  completely  PARALYZE  us  from going forward…when all along – it’s False Evidence Appearing Real.

The interesting thing is that I would still think that football is a skunk to this day and I would still be avoiding my favorite path and settling for a small path if I hadn’t seen that area “IN THE LIGHT”. It was only because the sun came up (the light was on) that I was able to see that I had fallen for a lie.

It’s the same with the Word of God. The more you read the Word for yourself and you let it get down on the inside of you – a LIGHT GOES OFF and you begin to see things you didn’t see in the dark. You begin to see that you don’t need to be afraid. You have nothing to fear!

Satan works through fear just like God works through faith! It takes fear to activate Satan’s power in your  life  just like  it takes  faith  to activate God’s power in your life. The scripture that has brought such peace and confi dence to me when I am facing fears (screaming in my head) is found in these seven little words: “Fear not! There is nothing to fear!” – Isaiah 41:10

Whatever you are going through today – no matter how small or how big it is: Fear not! There is nothing to fear! That’s easy to memorize! I have this hanging in my offi ce and I just glance over at it every time fear tries to stop me from going forward!

As I’m entering this new phase  in my  life of speaking more and more to live audiences and ministering alongside my Dad on the TV broadcast, I can’t tell you how many times I have to “build myself up” to overcome fear and just do it! Some people think,  “Oh,  it  just  comes  natural  to  her!” Ha!  I  stand  in  the dressing room confessing over and over, “Fear not, Terri. There is nothing to fear!”

Why  should we  fear not? The  very next part of  that  verse says, “For God is with you!” Don’t you just feel safer knowing somebody is there with you? When I was a little girl, I would sneak out of my bed and creep  into my  sister’s bed and  sleep with her. I just liked knowing someone was there.

No matter how alone you may  feel  in your  life, you’re not alone. God is with you. No matter how alone you may feel in never having enough money? Fear the opinions of others? Fear being  a nobody? Fear  that  you’ve wasted  too many  years  for God to use you now?

Wouldn’t it be sad to get to heaven and see what all you could have been, what all you could have done, and what all you could have had – but you let fear stop you? Don’t let “false evidence appearing real” stop you from God’s plan for your life!

Henry Ford said, “One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.”

I  never  realized  until  I  began  really  studying God’s Word for myself that the biggest struggles I’ve faced in my life have all been rooted in fear. Insecurity, low self-esteem, a poor self-image,  rejection –  they are all  rooted  in  fear. FEAR does not come from God. So, how do you confront your fears? You fight fear with a plan!

Plan 1: Build your confidence in God’s love for you!
Why?  Because God’s  love  will  drive  fear  out  of  your  life! There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear… (1 John 4:18 NIV)

In other words,  the more  you get  to  know God,  the more confident you become in His love for you. The more confident you become, the less fear you have. It’s like when you fi rst start dating someone, you’re not confi dent in their love for you…yet. It takes time to build that confidence. When you fiist go on a date, you’re not going to give someone your heart – you don’t even know them. You spend time with them. You communicate with  them  (that’s  sending  and  receiving  messages).  When you’re convinced they love you and you love them…..you have confidence in them.

It’s the same with God. The closer you get to Him, the more confident you become in His promises to you that He will never leave you nor forsake you, He will never let you down, He will always provide for you. That confidence is developed the more you receive His love for you.

Plan 2: Build your faith!
Fear and faith are two opposite forces. You are either full of faith or full of fear. Fear is the result of listening to Satan’s lies MORE THAN God’s  truth.  If you are full of fear, that  reveals whose voice is the loudest to you.

In order for anything to live, it has to be fed. If you find a stray dog and you give him a bowl of water and some dog food, he’ll be back back tomorrow. If you feed into the fears that Satan has planted  in your mind  (by thinking about them, talking  about them, worrying  about  them),  they’ll  stay. You have to starve what you want to die and feed what you want to live.

Lester Sumrall said, “Starve your doubts and feed your faith.”

How does  faith  come? Romans 12:2  says,  “Faith  comes by hearing  the Word…” You’ve got  to  start hearing God’s Word more than you’re hearing Satan’s lies which means one Sunday morning message is not enough. I’m speaking from experience. Listening to the Word has to become a part of your daily routine if you  truly want  to overcome  fear and  step out and do what God wants you to do!

What you don’t know can hurt you! The Bible says, “People are destroyed for a lack of knowledge!” Get on a quest to learn God’s Word for yourself. Start with one book and determine to  read  it  this month. Highlight  it. Meditate on  it. Don’t try to hurry through it just to check it off and move on to another one. Study it.

Satan is a liar, and he works through fear! God’s Word says, “Fear not! There is nothing to fear!” Nothing means nothing! You have to educate yourself in the Word. Build your knowledge of God’s promises to you. Nobody can make you do it!

Plan 3: Build yourself up in the Holy Spirit
Jude 20  says, “Build yourselves up on your most holy  faith praying in the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is a gift God has given you to build you up, strengthen you, comfort you, guide you and help you. All you have  to do  is use  the  language He gives you. Make a plan to spend some time every day praying in your heavenly language! No, it doesn’t have to be for 1 hour a day in your prayer closet at 4:00 a.m. Commit to five minutes a day and watch what happens to you inside! It will do wonders for your spirit! It will give you the strength to confront those fears that are intimidating you!

No, it doesn’t make sense to our minds. It seems strange to pray  in  your heavenly  language  and believe  that  courage will come! I’m telling you from first-hand experience, it works! Every time Satan  tries  to  torment me with  fear, I  just go  in another room and walk around praying  in my heavenly  language until that peace comes  .  .  . and  then  I have  to make myself  just do what I know God’s telling me to do (regardless of how I feel!).

Remember, consistency is the key to change in every area of life. As you develop the habit of daily time with the Holy Spirit, you will gain strength, courage and wisdom little by little.

Plan 4: Build up your courage!
How? Speak courage over yourself. Some  things will never change  in  your  life  until  you  begin  speaking  the Word  over them! I have battled with  fear  in many areas of my  life, but I have overcome many  fears  and  this  is how! Speak  the Word! Speak the Word! Speak the Word! Yes, the bible says that you can have what you say, but you will not have what you say if you don’t SAY anything! You have  to  speak  it out!  I have  listed 5 excellent scriptures for you to start confessing today. These are powerful verses that address fear and they are the very ones that I speak over myself daily!

Scriptures to confess over yourself:
I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. – Psalm 34:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; they rod and thy staff, they comfort me. – Psalm 23:4
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. – 1 John 4:18
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? – Psalm 27:1
Fear not! There is nothing to fear, for I am with you… – Isaiah 41:10

Someone  once  said,  “What  you  repeatedly  hear,  you  will eventually believe”. And you believe your own voice more than anyone’s. As you begin consistently speaking faith-filled words over your life, fear has no choice but to leave!

Plan 5: Do it – no matter how you feel!
You can’t wait for the fear to go away – you  just have to do what you know God’s telling you to do! And you have to trust that God is right there with you holding your hand. You can do whatever God tells you to do. Starve your fears and feed your faith consistently. Determine that you will not allow fear to stop God’s plan for your life! Fear not! There’s nothing to fear!

Everything went black. I don’t remember anything except lights coming at me and then waking up later seated totally in the passenger’s side of my car. I thought I was dreaming. I got out of the car and  just stared at my car in the ditch trying to understand. I felt something pouring down my face and when I reached up to feel my head – it was gashed wide open! My head had actually cracked the front windshield.

Next thing I know, I’m sitting in an ambulance and the paramedic is wiping the blood off my face. I couldn’t help but think about him taking my make up off – and how I really wished he wouldn’t! That’s when they knew I was totally conscious!

He asked, “Are you hurting anywhere?”

I  said,  “Yes. It  hurts so bad!”  I pulled up my jogging pants on my  right leg to show him where the pain was excruciating and there it was: a tiny, little scratch across my knee! He simply wiped the blood off. Meanwhile, my head was gashed wide open with arteries hanging out….but all I could feel was the little scratch on my knee!

What I’ve realized is that when we’re hurt in life, we tend to focus on minor things when the real issue is left untouched.
To finish the story, I had to get stitches on the inside and outside of my head, and then they allowed my mom to take me home. I realized through this painful experience that as I began to recover, the healing process can be more painful than the initial injury. As the days went by, my stomach muscles became  so  sore  that  it became more and more difficult to get in and out of bed. The bruises on my face began to turn dark purple. And my right eye turned bloodshot after about three days.

When word got out about my wreck, all my friends wanted to come by and check on me. As each one visited, they all wanted  to  “see  the wound”  and  “talk  about  it”. And  each time I pulled the bandages back and exposed the wound, I delayed the healing process.

And  so  I’ve discovered how  this  accident parallels what we face when we encounter situations that hurt and wound us  in  life. Many times we experience something so painful at one point in our lives and it takes twenty years to recover! We often deal with  the effects of our wounds and not  the cause of  them. And  the  truth  is:  the healing process hurts .  .  .  and  it may  take  longer  than we  thought  to  totally be healed. As long as we keep talking about our pasts, exposing our wounds  to every new  set of ears, we are delaying our own recovery.

Satan works from the day you are born to bring hurts into your life. He sends messages your whole life that say you’re not valuable, you’re flawed, something  is wrong with you, you’re not good enough, you’re worthless! We’ve all been hurt at different times in our lives, some more severe than others. Some hurts are only on  the surface – not  too bad; others go deep and leave a permanent scar in our minds and affect us for years (maybe even a lifetime).

Is  there  something  from  your  past  that  wounded  you emotionally, an experience of rejection, betrayal, or abuse, and although you’ve blocked it out and moved on, you still feel that something isn’t totally right in you? I know I hid all of my pain behind one big band-aid. I just “covered it up”.  Band-aids don’t medicate or heal deep wounds,  they hide the wound and make everything look fine. I went through some  very painful  experiences of  rejection  and  I hid  every bit  of  it behind  a  giant  band-aid  of  activities,  a  big  smile,  and accomplishments — meanwhile I was bleeding on the inside.

When you’re bleeding inside – it’s eventually going to show up on the outside . . . in your behavior, your relationships,  your career, your  self-image, your overall choices. Since I felt so bad about myself inside – I had to do things on the outside to feel better (at the time, I didn’t know this was why I was doing it). You may be thinking, “I’m fine. What I went through was so long ago. I’m over it!” I thought I was too, until God began to show me little by little where I needed some major healing – deep down inside.

Things will never be right around you until they are first right in you. God will change your circumstances, but He’ll change you first. Just because we ignore something doesn’t make  it  go  away. What  happened  to  you  that  wounded your personality? Who hurt you? Who rejected you? Who belittled you? Who made you feel that you weren’t as good as someone else? Did you used to be fun or funny and now you  just go  through  the motions of  life? What memories are you still re-playing in your mind? Did you used to have dreams and goals on the inside?

With  all  that  aside, what  are  you  going  to  do with  the rest  of  your  life? Are  you  going  to  sit  back  and  allow  an experience(s) or  a person  stop  you  from doing what God put you on this Earth to do? You may be crying out, “God, what do you want me to do with my life?” And He’s saying, “Get healed.”

When  soldiers get wounded  in  the war,  they pull  them off the front lines and let them heal. They’re no good to us out there fighting all beat up. You may be trying to fight the devil with one eye shut, one arm in a sling and on crutches. You’re not gonna win! You’ve got  to get healed!  I know  I had to.

Isaiah 61:1 says, “He has sent me to heal the heartbroken . . . and comfort all who mourn.” Luke 4:18 says that Jesus came  “to set the  burdened  and  battered  free…”  In other words, Jesus came to set the captives free; Satan came to take the free captive! Satan wants to keep you trapped in something from  your  past  – what  you’ve  done  or what’s  been  done to you. Obviously, God knew Satan was out  to break our hearts and steal our dreams or he wouldn’t have sent Jesus to be the Healer of the Brokenhearted.

As I began seeking God for my own healing, I discovered that  in order to be healed, you first have to diagnose the problem. You  could be  taking  all  the wrong medicines  if you don’t know where you’re  sick. You  could be  thinking  that a new husband is going to fix the loneliness you feel in your current marriage. Or that a little cosmetic surgery will give you the confi dence you’ve  lacked your whole  life. Or that a promotion will heal your insecurities. Or that having a baby will bring  joy back  into  your  life. Nothing on  the outside is going to change the way you feel on the inside.

It  wasn’t  until  I  began  seeking  God  that  I  discovered my true problem. I used to think that I was just “shy” and that was my excuse for not going to certain events or being around certain people. Or I would think, “I’m just humble. I don’t have to be around the ‘big wigs’ to feel important.” It wasn’t humility, it wasn’t shyness, it was a fear of rejection! As God began to reveal this to me, I had to look back and see where this came from. And the Lord showed me specific times in my life where I was severely rejected and treated as having no value or 2nd best! I had to diagnose my problem! I  had  a major  fear  of  rejection. Once I diagnosed  the problem, I could treat it properly.

How do you discover  the problem? As with any illness, you have to seek out The Physician! In our case, that’s God! He is the Great Physician! This  is  something  only you can do for yourself! Have you ever been so sick that you don’t even want to get out of bed, but you know you need to go to the Doctor? You can’t send your friend, your spouse or your mom. They want to see YOU!

God wants to meet with you privately….just you and Him. You’re going  to need  to get comfortable being alone with God and having no “noise” on in the background. Shut the door,  turn  the cell phone off,  turn  the music off,  turn  the TV off, turn FaceBook off, and get alone with God. Talk to Him. Tell Him everything. Don’t hold anything back.

He wants to pour the medicine of His amazing love into your heart. It is THE CURE for every wound in your life! He loves you so much. He has always loved you. When you had that abortion, He still loved you. When you got in that wrong relationship, He still loved you. When you got out of church for a while, He still loved you. When you got mad and lost your temper, He still loved you. When you stopped talking with Him, He still loved you. When you were hurt, rejected, abused, He loved you.

How do you receive that healing when you’re alone with Him? Worshiping God for who you need Him to be brings healing. If your foot is hurting, you don’t go to the heart  specialist. You go to a Podiatrist.  If  your heart  isn’t beating right, you don’t go  to  the eye doctor. You go  to a cardiologist. Well, if your heart is broken and wounded inside, you don’t need to seek God (only) as your “fi nancial provider”. You seek God, Jehovah Rapha, the Healer of the Brokenhearted, as your healer.

There’s a story in Matthew 8 of a leper who is in need of healing. Verse 1 says, ‘Look! A leper is approaching, He kneels before him worshiping. ‘Sir,” the leper pleads, “if you want to, you can heal me.” Jesus touches the man. “I want to,” he says, “Be healed.” And instantly the leprosy disappears.

Notice 3 things:
#1. The leper wasn’t asking the Lord for a financial miracle. He sought the Lord as His Healer. He actually CRIED OUT to Him. God hears your cries every time you call out to Him. When you’re alone at night, He hears you. When you’re sitting at your desk fi ghting off depression, He hears you. When you’re driving to work in the morning holding back the tears, He hears you.
#2. He bowed down and worshiped BEFORE he got his healing. When we bow down and surrender all of our hurts to God while we’re still hurting, we are showing our faith in God to heal us. Bowing down is a true sign of total and complete dependency on God alone. It means you’re serious. It means you’re tired of being the way you are. It means you want to be healed!
#3. Jesus said, “I want to” — in other words, it is God’s will that you be healed from everything that hurts you. When you doubt God’s willingness, you’re really doubting His love for you. He wants to not only heal your heart and restore your soul, but He wants to make you whole.

What  does  being made whole mean? You can get to a place in your life where there are NO SIGNS you were ever sick before. NO SIGNS of emotional abuse! NO SIGNS of sexual abuse. NO SIGNS of physical abuse. NO SIGNS of  insecurities. NO SIGNS of depression! NO SIGNS of  rejection!

As you begin  to  look  for opportunities  to be alone with God, and lift your hands and begin praising Him for being who you need Him to be  (your Healer), He will send an earthquake from Heaven to brake the chains that have had you bound – possibly  for many years!  It  does  not matter how bound up you may be right now, start praising Jesus, the Healer of the brokenhearted, loudly right there in your bedroom,  in your bathroom,  in your kitchen,  in your car! I’m telling you from 1st hand experience –  the chains will come off! Satan has no power. He cannot stand in the midst of praise!

Don’t spend your  life  in  pain when  Jesus came  to  heal the brokenhearted, to deliver the oppressed and to set the burdened and battered free. You have a calling. You have a purpose. Don’t waste another day of your life hurting over something that happened to you back then. Cry. Let loose. Get free! God wants to use you to set others free! Let Him heal your heart, restore your soul and make you whole. The broken become masters at mending.

My point is this: Satan has a notebook with your name on it! And he has been sizing you up since the day you were born! He has been taking note of everything about you. He looks for any area in your life where you suffer repeated weaknesses and temptations. When he sees you fall for a temptation – he makes note! And you can count on it, he will bring that same temptation into your life over and over until you fall!

Satan  has  a  “tailor made plan” to tempt you, distract you and destroy your life.  His ultimate goal is to create temptations that are custom-designed to pull you away from God’s plan for your life. Just like with the cheerleading uniforms, what fits you (or tempts you) may not fit someone else. He knows that. He doesn’t mix up your measurements with anyone else’s. He has great strategy in tailor-making his plan to destroy your life.

Nothing about his plan is haphazard or coincidental . . . it is well-thought out, well planned out. It is strategic in every way. The timing is  strategic. Where you’re tempted, who you’re tempted with, what  you’re tempted by, why you’re tempted there! Beth Moore says, “There is method to his madness.”

How does Satan size you up?
Step #1. He tests you. He has to find a weakness in your flesh. He brings things  little by  little  to see what you’ll  fall for and what you won’t. He knows it must be something that appeals to you specifically or else you won’t fall. It could be:
something that catches your eye
something that you feel is missing in your life
something you need
something that makes you feel better
something that feeds your desires, needs and attention
something that calms your nerves
something from your past that you used to enjoy

I  think  of  the  fishing  term  “lures”.  Satan  knows  exactly what lures you. Just like a fisherman has tested many different lures over time to see which fish is “lured” by which bait, Satan does the same thing with you. The fisherman knows which bait to use to catch bass fish, a catfish, a stryper.  He dangles different bait in front of those fish to see which one they’ll fall for. He may have to wait a while but he hopes the fish will eventually fall for something!

James warns us: “We are  tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires. Then our evil desires conceive and give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my dear friends.”

Here’s the catch: the very thing that “lures” the fish is the very thing that leads to his death. On the other end of that bait is a hook designed to kill. And it’s no different with Satan. The  very  bait he uses  to  lure  you, to draw you away from God, to distract you… is the very thing that leads to death. It could be the death of your career, the death of your family, the death of your marriage, the death of your confidence, your finances. Death is the result.

Just like James said, “when sin is full grown… gives birth to death.” Death is the result when we give in to those temptations that are screaming so loud in our ears! I know in my own life when I have been drawn away from God’s plan for my life and been easily distracted or deceived, I definitely felt a type of death in my soul. I don’t ever want to feel that again as long as I live. There’s no peace anywhere when we’re outside of God’s covering and we’re just following after the bait. The bait looks good, tastes good, feels good… but it leads to death.

For a moment, step out of the day-to-day struggles, temptations and challenges you could be facing right now. I want you to look at the big picture of your life.  Wake up and see the bait for what it is. Look beyond the bait and see the hook. Imagine that hook getting so deep into your soul that it takes life from you. Don’t fall for Satan’s traps that are tailor-made to destroy you!

If you’re in a situation right now where you’re being tempted to do something that you know deep-inside is not in line with God’s plan for your life – in fact, you flat out know it’s wrong… DON’T DO IT! I do not believe it is a coincidence that you’re reading this today! God is warning you: IT’S A TRAP and you will regret it!

Don’t waste years of your life trying to recover from something you could totally avoid! Look beyond the BAIT and see the HOOK. Satan wants to get his hooks so deep into your life that you literally die inside! That’s exactly what will happen if you give in to this fleshly desire, temptation, lure!

Step 2: He justifies sin. It’s not  overnight  that we  give into temptations. It’s little by little we compromise. How do you think I’m able to minister this message so accurately? Because I understand. When we’re tempted to do something we know isn’t the will of God, our minds have a unique way of justifying why it’s OK to remain in sin.

It’s a tailor-made plan that appeals to your greatest vulnerabilities!

The Bible warns us, “Watch out! Don’t let evil thoughts or doubts make any of you turn from the living God.” That’s Satan’s ultimate hope –  to get you to turn away from God. Sometimes it’s just through guilt over what you’ve done. You keep turning your back on God because you’re too ashamed to talk to Him.  You’ve made  Him promise after promise and you keep letting yourself down – so you just avoid Him altogether! Exactly what Satan was hoping!

I want you to recognize where a door may have been opened in your life through temptation and determine to close it! If you don’t, and you just leave that door wide open for Satan to distract and destroy you, I guarantee that if I were to check back with you one year from now, you would probably cry, “WHY!!!!!!! Why was I so stupid! Why did I do that?” Don’t make regrets. God has a plan for your life. Determine to live beyond how you feel, to resist this temptation and to go on with God’s plan.

#1. Look beyond the lure! See Satan for who he is: a thief, a destroyer, a liar, a deceiver with a plan, a plot and a strategy to tempt and destroy your life!

#2. Know  your weaknesses. If your weakness is sex with your boyfriend, don’t be alone with him. Kellie Copeland says, “The time to decide not to sleep with him is not when you’re in his bedroom. The time to decide is before you even
go out with him.”

You fight fear with a plan! Why? Because you know you’ll be tempted. You’ve recognized it’s a weakness in your flesh. You know the outcome will not be good. Remember: when Satan observes a weakness in your behavior, he makes note of it to bring that temptation back into your life over and over until you fall. He will, on purpose, arrange for you to be alone with him so you’ll be so tempted to give in.

Think back over your life. Where have you had the most struggles? Be honest with yourself. Satan knows your weaknesses, your vulnerabilities – you need to know them!

#3. Get an accountability partner. It’s amazing how having accountability to someone else will help you stay strong. You need someone you can trust and confide in. You need to be able to tell someone, “I have a weakness in this area and I want you to hold me accountable for staying focused”. Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron.” We need each other. Proverbs 18:1 says, “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire. He rages against all sound wisdom.”

We need to help each other and not freak out when someone tells us their weakness. Just because your weakness may not be their weakness, don’t put them down or look down on them. Build them up! Help them stay strong. I’ve heard people say that we are the only ARMY who beats up their wounded when they’re down. We need to build each other up, help each other stay strong, not judge each other.

#4. Value your life. God has given you an assignment and a certain period of time on earth to fulfill your assignment. Satan’s knows that, too! That’s why he must work overtime to tempt you! God has something special for you to accomplish. You have to guard your heart and not allow just anything in there. My mom says, “Don’t let your heart be like a Denny’s Restaurant: Always open! 24 hours a day… everybody welcome!”

Romans 6 (Message Bible) says, “As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end. “But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more life on the way!” God can rebuild anything that’s been demolished!

#5. Pray. Pray. Pray. “Pray so you won’t come into temptation.” (Matt. 26). I saw a billboard one time that read: 7 days without prayer makes one weak! Remember, temptation comes to us all. We never get to a place in our lives where there’s no more temptation. It’s  something we all have to daily guard ourselves against. The best way to stay guarded is to stay focused on a daily plan to spend time with God.

God is available to help you 24 hours a day! He never gets irritated or impatient when we keep coming back to Him. His love is everlasting! If you have to cry out for God 500 times in one day – do it! Spend some time with God today – even if it’s 5 minutes. Be conscious of His presence at all times. The more time you spend just talking with Him, the closer you’ll get to Him. The closer you get to Him, the more you don’t want to disappoint Him. Value the life God has given you. It’s precious. It’s significant. It’s not wasted. It’s not over.

After all, God has the original tailor-made plan for your life. It appeals to your greatest strengths, talents and abilities. He’s been sizing you up for a custom-designed future!

One of my favorite verses is John 17:4 (Message) – “I glorified you on earth by completing down to the last detail what you assigned me to do.”

I truly believe you are here on Earth by assignment, and God is fully expecting you to carry something out during your lifetime. Years ago, I heard the Lord say these words, “your calling is calling”. You don’t have time to waste any longer. Your life is precious. Every single day you live is a day recorded in history never to be relived again. David actually wrote, “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away.” It’s time to pursue God’s calling all the way.

#1 PICK UP THE CALL!
Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t answer my phone much. OK, hardly at all! I would much rather send a text message than talk! And I never answer my house phone! In fact, when people are over and the phone rings, they’ll say, “Aren’t you gonna get it?” The truth is, I don’t even hear it anymore. Why? Because I’ve ignored it for so long.
You may have ignored God’s calling on your life for so long that you don’t even hear Him calling anymore. Other people may see gifts and potential in you and they’re saying, “Aren’t you going to do something with that?” But you don’t even see it anymore.

Don’t let your past keep you from answering the call.
Don’t let other people keep you from answering the call.
Don’t let finances keep you from answering the call.
Don’t let past failures keep you from answering the call.
Don’t let satan talk you out of answering the call.
Don’t let “busy-ness” keep you from answering the call.
Don’t let shame and guilt keep you from answering the call.
Don’t let insecurity keep you from answering the call.

My cell phone has a little button I can push when it’s ringing that says, “BUSY”. My old phone said, “IGNORE”. Don’t ignore God’s call anymore. Determine to not be too busy to take the call of your life! Your decision to ignore God’s plan or pursue it affects you forever. And you are the only one who can make this decision. The first step in pursuing God’s plan for your life is to DECIDE today that you will “pick up the call” and not ignore it any longer.

#2 PRIORITIZE.
Someone once said, “Don’t prioritize your schedule; schedule your priorities.” If you want to fulfill the very purpose you have for being born you have to make time with God the #1 priority of your life! Time with the Lord is THE VERY THING that has brought the most healing to my life. It’s built my confidence where I was terribly insecure and inferior. It’s healed my heart where I was so brokenhearted. It is the most precious thing in my life, and it’s the easiest thing to neglect! Unless you make it a priority and actually SCHEDULE ALONE TIME WITH GOD, you just won’t do it!Spending time alone with God (just you and Him) is the #1 way to discover His next step for your life. Paul spent time alone . . . after the Damascus Road experience. Moses spent time alone on the backside of a desert. Joseph spent time alone in a prison. Jesus spent time alone in the wilderness before He ever launched his earthly ministry. Jerry Savelle (Dad) spent 8 hours a day for 3 months in his guest bedroom studying the Word before he ever stepped out in ministry. Keep in mind, when you pursue God, you are pursuing your dreams!
Whether it’s 8 hours or 10 minutes a day, the key is in consistency. Don’t feel bad if you only spend 5 minutes a day, stick to those 5 minutes and watch what God will do in your life. Spending quiet time with God will cause you to get closer to Him, more comfortable with Him and more sensitive to His voice.

#3 PREPARE.
Bobby Knight said, “The will to succeed is important, but what’s even more important is the will to prepare.” What are you doing right now to prepare for what you believe God has called you to do? Are you researching? Are you reading books about it? Are you taking any lessons? Are you attending a class? Are you saving money for it?
Preparation takes effort! You have to invest in your future. Make time to learn, to grow, to expand your thinking. Get on a quest to feed your faith more today than you did yesterday. Success isn’t something you arrive at – it’s something you prepare for! You have solutions and opportunities at your fingertips. You just need to expose yourself to new things, new people, new books, and new places. Your calling won’t just happen. You have to go after it!
John Wooden said, “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.” My dad said that back in the early 1970’s when he was working for Kenneth Copeland, the Lord told him to “prepare” because the day would come when Mr. Copeland would ask him to preach with him. So, he did. He prepared messages, he prayed over the people who would “one day” come hear him preach . . . and he was ready. Months and months went by, but one day, his phone rang in that little hotel room in Jacksonville Beach, FL and Mr. Copeland was on the other end saying, “Are you ready?” And he was. He prepared for his calling and when opportunity came, he was able to seize it.
Answering God’s calling is not an event, a one time moment, a special occasion, someone laying hands on you, it’s a daily choice and it shows up in your daily routine. Prepare now for tomorrow.

#4 PLEASE GOD – NOT MAN!
When it comes to your calling, you have to decide whose voice is the loudest. Remember, Satan works through people to drag you out of God’s plan for your life. He doesn’t come in a red costume and pitch fork. He comes “disguised” as an angel of light. He smells good, looks good, feels good, tastes good and sounds good! And he can be very convincing and manipulating in his efforts to get you to forfeit the plan of God for your life.
You have to make up your mind that you are going on with God no matter what. Always keep in mind that you will stand before God on Judgment Day and give an account for your life – not their life. You have to do what is right for you!
Col. 3:22 says, basically – don’t be a man pleaser but a God pleaser! Realize the seriousness of “your calling calling”. Determine that if there are attachments that you need to let go of, then you will develop the inner strength to do it. Don’t go another week, month, or year being held back by wrong relationships or ungodly influences. Determine that pleasing God is a life and death matter to you . . . because it is.

#5 PENCIL YOUR DREAMS!
Habakkuk 2:2 says for us to write the vision, make it plain upon paper so you can run when you read it. Write the vision. Write the vision. Write the vision. It’s been said that dreams not written down are just wishes! I feel so strongly about this. It’s been proven that people who write their dreams and goals are more successful than those who don’t. You must put pen to paper. Don’t keep your dreams in your head.
Imagine building a house without blueprints. You don’t just see it in your head and build it. You have to write it out. You have to see where you’re headed. When you stop dreaming, you stop living. The average person who retires dies within 3 years after retirement. Why? They stopped dreaming. If you don’t have a vision in your heart – then you are just existing. God wants you to dream. Determine that you are not going to waste another year of your life wandering and wondering what to do. Think, pray, read, listen and  then write down what you have in your heart. You cannot underestimate the power of writing your vision. Yes, it may change over time . . . that’s why I said, “PENCIL your dreams.” The point is: write it down.

#6 PERSEVERE!
For some reason, I think we have this idea that once we discover the true purpose of God for our lives that everything will kind of fall into place. If we’re in the will of God and we’re not running from God, then shouldn’t it just work out? Shouldn’t we just have “that peace”? I’ve discovered in my own life that you better learn to fight for your dreams! Ecclesiastes 5:3 says, “A dream comes about with much business and painful effort.”
Don’t get it in your head that success or walking in your calling will be easy! If it were easy, everyone would be successful! Peter Daniels says, “Success is the willingness to bear pain.” Just because a door is closed, don’t assume it must be God closing the door! Daniels says, “Kick it open!” He tells a story of a guy who wanted a loan for his dream. He went to one bank and was turned down. He went to another bank and was turned down. Ninety-eight banks later, somebody believed in his dream! Now, he’s made over a billion dollars! How many of us would have gone to 4 banks, been denied and said, “It must not be God! I guess I missed it!” Your calling is calling! You don’t have time to waste! Persevere! Fight for your dreams!

#7 PROPHESY YOUR FUTURE!
What’s coming out of your mouth has everything to do with what happens in your future! Proverbs 18:21 says, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.”
Think about David facing Goliath. He prophesied Goliath’s defeat and his own destiny before he ever released the stone. In 1 Sam. 17:42 we see the story of David coming up against the greatest barrier or obstacle of his life and everyone made fun of him and said he couldn’t do it. Verse 44 says, “The Philistine (which represents Satan) said to David. . .” In other words, SATAN TALKS TO US! It goes on to say, “Then David said to Goliath . . .” In essence, you need to TALK BACK TO THE DEVIL!
You need to do it out loud! You need to declare what you are believing for out of your mouth! Some things will not happen in your life until you begin speaking them out loud. Yes, you will feel ridiculous. I have faith goals that I spoke out loud just this morning as I walked around my house and they look absolutely impossible. But that’s exactly how God spoke this entire world into existence – with the words of his mouth. Faith is the substance of things you hope for; it is the evidence of the things you do not see (Hebrews 11:1). Remember, anything God wants you to do will be impossible. If it were possible, then it wouldn’t require faith.

#8 PROCRASTINATE NO MORE!
You can be your own worst enemy by procrastinating on your calling. Evangelist Dwight L. Moody was asked which people gave him the most trouble. His response was, “I’ve had more trouble with Dwight L. Moody than any other man alive.”
Sometimes, we tend to think that there’s a perfect time to do everything – so we wait. If you wait for the perfect timing, you’ll wait forever. If you’re waiting for all the money before you step out, if you’re waiting until you feel anointed, if you’re waiting until you feel forgiven, you’ll wait and wait and wait and ultimately, miss out on God’s plan for your life. Don’t wait for the 1st day of the month to start reading that book. Do it now. Don’t wait for your birthday to start the work out plan. Do it now.
Don’t wait for 2 more semesters before you take that class. Do it now. Don’t wait until all the conditions are perfect! Do it now!
We’re talking about your future. Your calling. Your dreams. Don’t let another year go by without doing something to pursue your calling. Time is going by. Days are going by and you’ve got much to accomplish. Someone once said, “You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great.” Your calling is calling. I’m pretty sure you hear it.

Well, it’s no wonder that Isaiah 41:9 means so much to me. It clearly says, “I have chosen you and have not cast you away.” I want you to think about that verse applying directly to you. God has chosen you . . . no matter what you’ve done, no matter what has been done to you… and He has not and will not cast you away! That’s a good scripture for you to memorize and confess out of your mouth every time Satan puts insecure thoughts in your mind! “God has chosen me and has not cast me away!” In other words, you are the per-fect person for the job, the promotion, the marriage, the family, the dreams that are in your heart!You might be thinking, But my husband cheated on me… “I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”But my dad abused me… “I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”
But I was raped and rejected… “I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”But I was dumped by someone I loved… “I have chosen you and have not cast you away.” But I didn’t get the job… “I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”But I’ve really made some huge mistakes in my life… “I have chosen you and have not cast you away.”In order for you to fulfill your life assignment or to do what God has put you on this earth to do, it will absolutely require that you know that God has chosen you – no matter what. And I have discovered that God chooses the least likely people to do the most amazing things through. Look at some of these flaws in people that God chose and used in a powerful way throughout the Bible (taken from The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren) – and see if you can relate to any of them:“Abraham was old, Jacob was insecure, Leah was unat-tractive, Joseph was abused, Moses stuttered, Gideon was poor, Samson was codependent, Rahab was immoral, Da-vid had an affair and all kinds of family problems, Elijah was suicidal, Jeremiah was depressed, Jonah was reluctant, Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist was eccentric to say the least, Peter was impulsive and hot-tempered, Martha worried a lot, the Samaritan woman had several failed mar-riages, Zaccheus was unpopular, Thomas had doubts, Paul had poor health, Timothy was timid… Misfits.”But God used each of them in His service. He will use you, too, if you stop making excuses!I don’t know about you, but I can relate to many of those ‘misfits’. At the same time, if God can use them then why can’t He use you? Why can’t you go after those dreams that are in your heart that seem so impossible right now? Jer-emiah 1:5 says, “Before I made you in your mother’s womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work.” God has a special work for you to accomplish during your time here on Earth and He is fully expecting you to carry it out. You have to have a positive self-image if you’re ever going to fully carry out your assignment.Andrew Carnegie said, “Men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold, but one doesn’t go into the mine looking for dirt. One goes in looking for gold.” I believe you are more than an ounce of gold. God sees your potential. You need to see your potential. God sees what others don’t see. Look at the story in 1 Samuel 16 where God was going to anoint David to be the next King. Jesse brought all of his sons in to be chosen – EXCEPT David! Right away Satan was trying to belittle David and make him feel insecure in the fact that they wouldn’t even consider him as a possibility. But God saw what other people didn’t see! They brought the oldest son (who was big and powerful) and said, “Surely the Lord has anointed him.” “But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”I want you to know that God is truly looking on your heart. You may have messed up pretty bad in the past and Satan has convinced you that you could never be used of God now. He told me the same lies! He still tells me those lies – that’s why stories like David’s are so encouraging. God chooses the least likely. And God is not looking at your per-formance once you’ve repented – He is looking at the con-dition of your heart. He forgives you. He’s not mad at you. He’s not punishing you. He wants to use you.God knows that you will never fulfill your destiny if you never see yourself chosen. If you continue to wallow around in all of your mistakes and continue replaying all those neg-ative words that have been spoken over you, His hands are tied. I love the story in the Bible where Jesus told the disci-ples, “gather up the fragments that nothing be wasted.” You may think that your past was nothing but a fragmented waste! All those years were wasted. Your childhood was wasted. Your marriage was a waste! God is saying, “Gather up those fragments that nothing be wasted.” He chose you with your past, your weaknesses, your temptations, your struggles. Rick Warren goes on to say, “Other people are going to find healing in your wounds. Your greatest life message and your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts. The things you’re most embarrassed about, most ashamed of, and most reluctant to share are the very tools God can use most powerfully to heal others.” – Rick WarrenGod chose you …just the way you are! Now once you’ve accepted that, you need to do 2 more things to improve your self image: know how to think differently and know how to speak differently about yourself! Nothing will change in your life until you begin thinking differently. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” If you see your-self as a loser, you are. If you see yourself as insignificant, you are. If you see yourself as trashy, worthless, crazy, psycho, messed up, used up – you are!

But if you see yourself as forgiven, loved, valuable, chosen – you are!Norman Vincent Peale tells a story about a tattoo parlor in China where American sailors would get tattoos. He noticed one tattoo in the window dis-play that he couldn’t believe anyone would really get. It said, “Born to Lose”. He walked inside to ask the tattoo artist if people really got that tattoo. In bro-ken English the man answered, “Before tattooed on body, tattooed on mind.”Well, how do you change the way you’ve thought for 10, 20, 30 years? Ro-mans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” What do you renew your mind to? The word of God! That must be settled in your heart. Renewing your mind is a two-step process. It’s getting rid of the old way of thinking and replacing with a new way of thinking… about yourself! What you desperately need more than anything is to hear the Word consistently. The more you hear God’s Word, it starts to override all those lies Satan has told you. The Bible says that the entrance of God’s Word brings light. What happens when the light comes on? You begin to see things you didn’t see when you were in the dark. If your mind is tormented with fearful, insecure, de-bilitating thoughts, then you’re not hearing enough Word. If you lay down at night and your mind is racing with hopelessness, fear, anxiety, painful memo-ries, then you need to get a plan to hear the Word more today than you did yesterday.Next, you need to begin speaking differently about yourself. It doesn’t mat-ter if someone else has said, “She’s the wild one. She’s the quitter. He’s crazy. He’s a loser. She’s prone to making bad choices. She’s a failure.” God’s Word is final authority! You need to decide whose words have more power over you? God’s? Or some person? And stop agreeing with the devil! How do you change the way you speak?1. Stop putting your own self down! If you saw a person yelling insults at another person, you would probably want to tell them to stop. Why do you accept that kind of behavior from yourself? You may think it, but don’t say it.2. Avoid exaggerations – “I’ll never get that job.” “I’m always the last one chosen.” “I always make that mistake.”3. Accept compliments. Practice saying, “thank you.”4. Start speaking God’s Word over yourself.You have to “pick up your sword of the Spirit” which is the Word of God coming out of your mouth and speak it out loud over yourself. Yes, you’ll feel like a nut the first time you do this, but it works!!! I promise you. Every time rejection tries to consume your mind and prevent you from stepping out, speak this verse out loud: “I have chosen you and have not cast you away: Fear not, for I am with you: be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you (and harden you to difficulty), Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:9-10I highly encourage you to do the following 3 things if you want to improve your self-image and walk into God’s will for your life:1. Make a list of positive confessions to speak over yourself. (i.e. I am con-fident and courageous. I am disciplined spirit, soul and body. I am highly fo-cused. I am creative. I do not procrastinate.)2. Make a list of Bible scriptures to speak over yourself. (To the right I have listed some of my favorites) 3. Do it consistently. (You can’t do something 3-4 times and expect to see changes. Make it a part of your daily routine.)Remember consistency is the key to change in every area of your life. As you consistently hear the word and speak the Word over yourself, your self-image will be completely transformed… and as you change your self-image, you will significantly change your future! If God can use me, the least likely, He can use you, too.