Tag: affirmations

What’s the Self-Image You’re Holding On To?

A couple of years ago, I became a Certified Professional Coach. I love seeing lives transformed! In working with clients, I’ve gotten to see what an important role the self-image we hold of ourselves really plays. Here’s a “reloaded” post that you may find a bit challenging but I’m sure it will be helpful.

So, I ask you, what are you calling yourself in your everyday conversations…Infertile or Overcomer? Because that determines how you see yourself and it establishes a foundation for your future!



How you see yourself is important in the grand scheme of life. The images that we hold in our minds are typically what we will experience or become.

Do you see yourself as an infertile woman or as an overcomer of infertility? Even if you are currently experiencing infertility, you can choose to hold a positive picture in your mind’s eye of you being an overcomer!

Do you label yourself as an infertile woman when you’re having conversations with your friends or family? Maybe you’ve heard yourself say, “We don’t have kids yet because I’m infertile.” Even in the midst of this difficult season, you can choose to speak words that help you rise above what the Enemy has sent your way.

Yes, your thoughts and your words are really that influential!

One way to tip the self-image in your mind and the words from your mouth toward more positivity is through gratitude. When you choose to express thankfulness, you begin to think of even more things to be grateful for.

How you see yourself - Be thankful

 

Gratitude is also what brings you into God’s presence (Psalm 100:4).

Being thankful on purpose results in a shift from negativity and fear to positivity and faith.

You can be grateful that He WILL finish what He has started in your life (Philippians 1:6).

Being thankful on purpose results in focusing on the good. What you focus on expands!

As you cast all your anxieties onto Jesus, you will experience more inner peace
(1 Peter 1:7).

Being thankful helps you to more easily recognize the gift of GRACE that God has poured out to you.

When  your words carry and reflect more of the power of life instead of death, you’ll find that you think of your circumstances very differently.

How you see yourself–your self-image–is important. It influences your quality of life. Ask God to help you see yourself the way He sees you–> whole, victorious, and loved.

Even if you are currently experiencing infertility, you can choose to hold a positive picture in your mind's eye of you being an overcomer! Click To Tweet
Real Love

God’s Love for You is REAL Love and He Wants You Well

Every human being is searching for REAL love. When you look to Jesus, you will find it. His love is a certainty. God loves you and He wants you to always be well. There is nothing that can separate you from His love or His healing power.

Jesus was the epitome of love. He never turned anyone away that asked for healing. Everyone who came believing in His willingness to heal them got healed–without exception. Jesus never said, “I won’t heal you because this illness/disease has been put on you so God can teach you a lesson and work something out in your life.” If He didn’t say it then, He doesn’t say it now because He’s the same today as He was back then and He won’t change in the future (Hebrews 13:8). If it was His will back then for ALL to be healed, it’s His will for ALL to be healed now, and that includes you.

REAL Love

Real love heals, it doesn’t cause pain. God is love and only desires to see us enjoy life!

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:16

If you know His love, you know there is no pain or sickness caused by love.

If you believe in His love, you are not fearful that He won’t keep His word and uphold His promises.

When you keep His love at the top of your mind, doubt has a tough time infiltrating your thoughts and making you think that God has brought sickness and failure your way.

REAL love heals, forgives, sets your heart free, and desires to only do good.

Jesus’ love is the only real love. Your search for real love can stop right now as you allow yourself to be the object of His affection, blessing, and power. When you tap into His love, nothing can separate you from it (Romans 8:35,39).

What You Say

Tap into His love by seeing what God says in His Word about your circumstances and then start saying the same thing that He says about them.

What YOU say matters. Use the authority of God’s Word to bring about the good He desires for your life. As you speak His words of love over your life, you’ll see how REAL love works.

If you believe in His love, you are not fearful that He won't keep His word and uphold His promises. Click To Tweet

speaking in tongues

5 of God’s Tools You Need to Use to Improve Your Health (Part 5 of 5)

Over the last month, we’ve looked at some very effective tools God has given us to use to help us experience healing in our lives. Today, we’ll focus on Praying in Tongues. You can find the 4 previous posts by clicking the links below.

Here are 5 of His tools that can bring restoration to our health:

  1. His Word (The Bible)
  2. Communion
  3. Meditation
  4. Scriptural Affirmations
  5. Praying in Tongues

Praying in Tongues

There is an experience following salvation in Christ that is called “being filled with the Holy Spirit”. Paul asked the believers in Ephesus, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” (Acts 19:2). They needed to know of this important experience in order to live in their God-given authority and become a more powerful witness for Jesus.

Speaking with other tongues (an unfamiliar or heavenly language) is a supernatural sign of having been filled with the Holy Spirit. Rev. Kenneth Hagin wrote “the more I worship God in tongues, the more manifestation of the other gifts of the Spirit I have. The less I talk in tongues, the less manifestations I have. Speaking with tongues is the door into the rest of the spiritual gifts.”

Yes, speaking in tongues is a good thing; it’s a gift from God. It is nothing fear or look upon as being weird. Even in the 21st century, it is still one of God’s ways of empowering you for an abundant and healthy life. How? By revealing the wisdom of God to your spirit as it communicates with His Spirit. Speaking in tongues puts you in contact with the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 14:4, 2:10). It also allows you to pray God’s perfect will apart from your natural understanding and aids you in interceding for others. According to Jude 1:20-21, speaking in tongues also strengthens you and intensifies your personal relationship with God.

It is a gift supplied by the Holy Spirit and therefore, it is in line with God’s will.  He has come to not only live in us but He also imparts this gift to help us live filled with His power (Rom.8:26, 27).

Science and the Physical Benefit of Speaking in Tongues

The tongue is the most powerful and influential member of the body (Proverbs 18:21; 1 Corinthians 14:2; James 3:1-12). God has provided, through the finished work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection, a way for you to use your tongue that taps into His supernatural power. Praying in tongues is a means of accessing healing. There was a study done by Dr. Carl Peterson, M.D. at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As a brain specialist, he researched what the relationship is between the brain and speaking in tongues. This study revealed that there is a healing power that can be released within our own bodies by speaking in tongues.

Dr. Peterson discovered that as we speak in tongues, there is an activity that begins to take place in the brain. As we speak our heavenly language, the brain releases chemical secretions that directly boost our immune system. These secretions promote healing within our bodies. They are secreted from a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which has major impact on our metabolism.

There’s also been a study done at the University of Pennsylvania by Dr. Andrew Newberg using MRIs to study the brain while speaking in tongues. The results showed that the brain is activated in a different way than when the person was speaking in his/her native language.

Benefits of Speaking in Tongues

  • It is a means of spiritual edification–charging your own spirit’s “battery” with the power of God Himself.
  • It’s your supernatural means of communication with God; your spirit speaking with His Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:14).
  • It is a continual experience throughout life, to assist you in the worship of God.
  • You are more conscious of God’s indwelling presence. Being more aware of Him affects the way you live (John 14:16,17).
  • You are able to live a lifestyle in the Spirit more fully.
  • You build up your faith to trust God for the things you need/want in life (Jude 20).
  • It is a way of trusting God–allowing Him to be in control of what you say.
  • The Holy Spirit, who knows everything, can pray through you for things that you don’t know about in your natural mind. (1 Corinthians 14:2 NLT)

It is a good thing to pray in tongues often! When we pray in tongues, mysteries are revealed to our spirit man. The more we pray in tongues, the more we open ourselves to God, allowing Him to program our spirit with His wisdom. Our spirit will then be better able to influence our thinking and actions. Speaking in tongues is the greatest gift that Jesus gave believers because it activates God’s His power within us. It empowers believers to live the full life that God had planned for them.

Food for Thought

The Holy Spirit lives in us as our Helper and our Intercessor. He helps us pray, but He does not do the praying for us. We are responsible for our prayer life.It’s our choice to yield our mouth and words to Him. I hope you’ll choose to practice the presence of God by daily speaking in tongues. Strengthen yourself through this gift of empowered prayer that God has provided. Yielding the tiny tongue to the power of the Holy Spirit is a huge step toward yielding our whole selves to God.

If Jesus is your Savior, ask God to fill you with His Spirit and give you a new heavenly language. He is faithful to give His children good gifts that empower them to live abundantly and in good health!

“And these signs will accompany those who believe… they will speak in new tongues.” ~Mark 16:17 NIV


How has this series changed how you view your health? How has it impacted the way you use the tools God’s provided for you? 

Please let me know by leaving me a comment below!

Scriptural affirmations

5 of God’s Tools You Need to Use to Improve Your Health (Part 4)

For the past 3 weeks, we’ve been exploring five tools God has given us to use to affect healing in our lives. Today, we’ll focus on Scriptural Affirmations. You can find the previous posts by clicking the links below.

Here are 5 of His tools that can bring restoration to our health:

  1. His Word (The Bible)
  2. Communion
  3. Meditation
  4. Scriptural Affirmations
  5. Praying in Tongues

The Power of Words

God framed the world using His words. He designed our universe to respond to words. He spoke words and big things happened (Genesis 1). That’s why He sent the prophets of the Old Testament— to speak the words that He spoke so that those words would cause His plan to happen within this earth realm.

Throughout the Old Testament, we see so many prophetic words about what was coming in the future through the Messiah. Those prophecies proclaimed specific things to come. Those words would set the things in motion that God included in His plan for mankind. All of those words were eventually fulfilled, accomplished, and completed through Jesus.

God has placed that same significance and power in our words. Our words are able to frame and change our personal world when we speak what God says about our situation. The act of speaking what He has said initiates, strengthens, and builds our faith. Believing and speaking His promises instead of our problems can change our personal world.

If God said it, you can choose to believe it and you can choose to say it. The Apostle Paul encourages us to do so:

“Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe.” 2 Corinthians 4:13 MSG

Paul was conveying to the Corinthians the thought that King David wrote in Psalm 116:10. David, known as a man who pursued the heart of God, encourages us to believe what God said, and then act on what we believe by speaking it.

Affirm God’s Promises

Listen (consent and submit) to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge: for it will be pleasant if you keep them in your mind [believing them]; your lips will be accustomed to [confessing] them. So that your trust (belief, reliance, support, and confidence) may be in the Lord.”  Proverbs 22:17,18 AMP

I am still learning how important my words are. Not only do they let others know what I think, but they are actually vessels filled with the power to change things in my life, including my health!

Tips for Scriptural Affirmations

“My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.” ~ Proverbs 4:20-22 NIV

An affirmation is a definitive statement that you vocalize. It is a statement about something that you declare is already existent, even if you’re not currently seeing it or experiencing it with your other senses. Effective affirmations are positive statements, specifically crafted around the promises found in God’s Word. It’s important that they are framed in the present tense. Creating personal affirmations based on God’s Word is a way of increasing your belief that His promises are true for you.

Here are some tips about saying what God has said about your health. These should make it easier for you to develop the habit of crafting Scriptural Affirmations specific to your circumstances and then speaking them:

  • Find what God has said in the Bible about your specific circumstances—healing/ good health. He only wants His best for you! Read it repeatedly to gain clarity.
  • Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a better understanding of that particular Scripture and how it relates to your health.
  • Declare that Scripture daily by making it a prayerful decree that’s spoken out loud. Hear yourself confess His Word instead of all your troubling circumstances.
  • Humble yourself by putting aside your own point of view (what seems or appears like truth) and look at your situation the way God does–according to His Word.
  • Decide to speak what God has said about you and your health, especially during your everyday conversations.

God’s Word is Truth. Speak it, believe it, and make it your truth.  When you speak God’s Word about how He wants you to experience good health, you are releasing its power through your lips. Speaking it will help you believe what you say and you’ll grow to speak it with greater faith.

What is an affirmation that you speak over your health? Please share it in the comments.


You can read more about how to develop and use Scriptural Affirmations in my book,
Live to Win! 5 Essentials for Your Victory and Success.

 

victory over infertility

3 Reasons to Believe You Will Get Pregnant

Has it been difficult to believe you will get pregnant because you’ve been trying for a while and nothing has happened?

It’s so easy to believe all the negative reports about infertility. We humans are trained through our normal, everyday situations to focus on and remember the negative circumstances of life. But what if there were powerful reasons to believe something radically different from the medical reports and the advice/counsel you get from friends and family? Would you believe?

Believe What God Said

Here are three reasons to believe that you’ll get pregnant and that you are already blessed and empowered to overcome infertility:

  1. God said none should be barren/infertile, not male or female [Deuteronomy 7:14].
  2. God said ALL things are possible with Him [Luke 1:37] and impossible without Him[John 15:5].
  3. God said He is always with you and His Spirit bears witness to the Truth (what God has said) because His Word is truth[ 1 John 5:6; John 17:17].

We’re told in 1 Kings 8:56 that “not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises He gave.” God is truly a promise keeper. Believe what He has said.

Questions

It’s time to be honest with yourself:

Do you believe that God loves you the same way He loves Jesus (John 17:23b)?

  • Yes or No

Are you making requests based on His promises and then expecting Him to do what He promised (1 John 5:14-15)?

  • Yes or No

Are you speaking His Word out loud because He said that it is medicine to your body (Proverbs 4:20-22)?

  • Yes or No

Will you continue to praise Him in advance of seeing your desire come to fruition, trusting that His answer is always YES to anything He has promised (1 Corinthians 1:20)?

  • Yes or No

I hope you answered YES to each of these questions. If not, it’s okay. That just means you’ve got some spiritual homework to do! 🙂

Take time to read all the Scriptures included in this post. Read them out loud to yourself more than once. Read them repeatedly and frequently over the next few days so that they begin to resonate within you. Look for other scriptures that speak specifically to your situation.

Then ask God to show you how to trust Him more. He’ll be sure to say YES.

To help you get started, download my special report, 12 Affirmations of Faith for Fertility. It’s available to you when you request to join our private Facebook group, A Seed of Hope.  It’s a support group of like-minded women, looking to walk this season of infertility with a perspective of faith and hope. I’d love to see you there!

 

 

Affirmations You Should Be Saying

affirmations of trust

Affirmations are a powerful way to express trust.

Sometimes it’s hard to trust and be in agreement with the plans of someone else regarding the impact of their plans for YOUR life. If someone asked you whether you agree with whatever God has said and planned about your situation, what would be your response? Would you express sincere confidence in His plans for you? Your victory depends on trusting His Word and being in agreement with what He has said.

King David of the Bible can be our example of how to be in agreement with God. David, a man who so openly loved and trusted God, knew the power of speaking the Word of God. He said in Psalm 17:4,

“…By the word of Your lips, I have kept away from the paths of the destroyer.”

Similarly, affirmations that you speak should be crafted using Scripture.

Affirm the Word of God by speaking it into your life. Doing so will help keep you off of Satan’s paths that are lined with his burdens and devices of deception.  Most importantly, speaking the Word helps you to keep your eyes and mind on Jesus’ love for you. This enables you to agree with His plans and receive the victory over infertility or any other challenge you face.

Stay encouraged!

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Focus Friday – Believe It

Believe - FaithBelieve.

It means to be fully persuaded by someone or something. Are you fully persuaded by what God has said and what Jesus has done about your situation? Have you cut off all other options and decided  to believe that God’s Word is your truth?

Focus on the following scripture throughout the day because God’s Word is Truth. Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day– by doing so, you’ll encourage yourself!

“I have sworn by my own name;

I have spoken the truth

I will never go back on my word.”

Isaiah 45:23a  [NLT]

Monday’s Marinade – It Takes Courage to Have Hope

Monday’s Marinade is provided to you as a means of “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God at the beginning of your week. Start your week by meditating about having the courage to keep your hope based on God’s promises and not your circumstancesRepeatedly think about this and quietly say it to yourself.  Marinate and season your week with hope and a confident expectation of good things happening!

Here’s your spiritual marinade about courage for this week:

Monday's Marinade - hope and courage

Declaring the End of 2015 from the Beginning with Declarations of Hope

The year of 2015 has begun!

What will you SAY about it? Your words are so important in shaping the daily experiences that ultimately combine to determine the quality of your life.

God has always declared the end  from the beginning. He has always stated what He wanted, not what He didn’t want; and it always comes to pass.

“I declare the end from the beginning,

and from long ago what is not yet done,

saying: My plan will take place,

and I will do all My will.”

Isaiah 46:10

As you go through the process of setting goals for 2015, may I suggest that you include being intentional about declaring the fullness you desire to experience and not the lack you may be currently experiencing? Here’s a quote from E.W. Kenyon that I’d like to share with you:

Kenyon on Confession

 

What Kenyon said reinforces the principle of your words having creative power, as found in Romans 4:17. The NIV gives a clear understanding of that verse:

“As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”

In 2015, how will you imitate your heavenly Father and declare your fullness instead of your lack?

How can you use Word-based declarations of hope (God’s Promises) to call into being the things that don’t currently exist?

Focus Friday

Focus on the following scripture throughout the day. It’s God’s Word and it’s what He desires us to believe. Believe it is true for you because God’s Word is Truth. Use it as an affirmation. Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day. Personalize it by putting your name in it!

Psalm 119-50