Spirit, Soul and Body

I love this!

Our being consists of three parts. We have a spirit, soul and body.

The body is obvious. The soul is that part that is made up of our emotions and feelings. The spirit is the part of us that will live forever.

Upon our salvation, the spirit is sealed and made perfect like Jesus. Our soul has to be renewed to line up with the spirit and our body follows suite. The body is actually amoral and goes where it's told. If you don't renew your mind in the word to line up with your spirit, you will be double-minded.

The Bible is actually a mirror of what we have in our spirit. As we read the Bible, we can see what is already in us. We who are sealed, have raising from the dead power inside of us. That's amazing!

This is just a simple nutshell breakdown. There is soooo much more!

I am fighting the urge to call somebody and vent. I know it is not what I need to do. Im so tired of this time. So tired...

again

I'm back in that place where I'm trying not to worry. I hate this feeling. I know it's a feeling, but I hate it. I need it in perspective. I do not want pity or sympathy, I just want to be done with this. I do not want to go around and around this stupid mountain. I want to get the picture and get it correctly the first time. This sucks.

I am reminded of the promise that we are more than overcomers. We have to have something to overcome to be more than overcomers, right? Well, I'm there - with something to overcome. I know that we are victorious. I know it, but the circumstances don't look at all that way. Bleh, bleh, bleh.

Full circle

I need sleep! I cannot believe how Joshua is NOT sleeping! This is ridiculous...

???

I've got so many things running around in my head that it's just almost silly. Hodge Podge would be a good alternative title for this one.


Josh has been saying he wants to drive the green car. He insists. The conversation usually goes that he wants to drive. He gets asked how old he needs to be to drive and he answers 16. Then he gets asked how old he is and he answers 3. Then he goes on to say how he wants 3 to drive. And he doesn't wanna be 3, he wants to be 16. And then he is 16. And he needs to take off his seat belt so he can drive. He's a good driver. And a good faster driver. And Mommy's not a good faster driver cuz people pass me sometimes. Every.Single.Day.


Anyway, on the way home from the babysitter's yesterday, we went through our conversation a couple of times and it dawned on me that we do this exact same thing to God. We wanna drive. Nevermind that we're 3 and we need to be 16. Nevermind that there's a permit time involved. Nevermind that we don't know the first thing about it except that there's a steering wheel and that we can be faster. Thank you, God, that you have me in a five-point harness in the back seat. That is definitely the safest place for me.


On to other things...

So, I know all the verses and passages about not worrying and all. I really do and I really don't have too much of a problem most of the time. I'm just not gonna go any further with that one.


And other things...

We had to do 5 minute talks this week at school. Scary. But God really worked a number on me. They dropped the 5 min. talk bomb on Monday. It's a "be ready in season and out" kinda' thing. It's supposed to be a surprise. I dodged it pretty hard. And joked about how I was gonna have a coronary. It's really something pretty close to a coronary, I think, when somebody tells me to get in front of a group of people and talk. I can talk from my desk just fine, thank you. I like it even, when it's spontaneous, or a question I need to ask. I just don't wanna stand in front of anybody in any type of a formal type of situation and talk. I mean, who wants to listen to anything I might have to say? They thankfully didn't make it to me on Monday, and I didn't look at the schedule for the rest of the week to see when the next time would be. It's not that I wanted to be surprised, I just didn't think of it.

I love how the Holy Spirit corrects me so lovingly. There is truly no condemnation coming from Him at all. But he doesn't pull any punches either. He showed me that one day in the future, I would be ministering to women. Like in a speaking engagement kind of way. I didn't question it or really think it was silly at all while he was showing it to me. I just accepted it as a gift of Him showing me something to come.

All of a sudden, He put the two together. How can you speak in front of a group of women if you can't speak in front of your brethren? What makes you think that the revelations I give you are for you alone? You are blessed with these revelations to be a blessing to others. What I give you, I give you to share. You're being a bit prideful in keeping yourself to yourself with the things I give you because you are more worried about what other people think of you than what I've given you as a gift to give to others.

Introvertedness is pride. I may have put that on here before somewhere, but it bears repeating. Any time I consider my own opinion of myself above what the Lord says of me, it's pride. Even if that opinion is low instead of the common idea of pride being lofty. Just because I think I'm not interesting or have anything to say doesn't mean that I get to choose to not share what He's given me. It's all about Him anyway, right?

Well, I made it through it without a coronary. And my topic of discussion? I talked about talking in front of people and the work the Lord did in me while I was dodging the situation. Oh, and God's sense of humor...I was dodging the talk in front of one class of about 15 students, so on Wednesday when I did my 5 minutes, the other class combined with ours and added another 8 or so people.

So many things to learn...

Ummm

I really wanna just type, but I need to be careful.

Today I have let my emotions take some control. It is not ok. I know who I am in Jesus and I can't let the cares of this world cloud out that understanding. No matter what things look like, I'm an overcomer. I'm the head and not the tail, the beginning and not the end. I'm blessed and highly favored of the Lord. God loves me as much as He loves Jesus.

I know I've typed all those things on here before, but I'm kinda' having a time of it today.

I allowed some sadness and discouragement in that should not have had any place at all. I know that my spirit is always joyful. I'm always happy and I know all things in my spirit. I guess part of what I need to be meditating on is that I am really who I am in my spirit, not this body. I need a revelation that I am my spirit and not my flesh. I think that's what's missing.

Wow, I can see some differences in how I need to think....

Tic-Tac-Toe, Joshua style

I got nothing really...

I really woulda' like it if today had been a school day. It's funny how things are flip-flopped. When I was at Collin County, I really didn't wanna go in. But if that had been the case, I wouldn't have gotten to give blood this morning. I think they think I'm strange because I never really want the t-shirt. I would rather have something else - pretty much anything else besides a t-shirt. I think we have about 8 of them floating around here. It's nothing to see anybody who lives here pop up with a Carter Blood t-shirt on. Even down to Josh - he sleeps in them.

Have I mentioned lately that God is good? He is. All the time. He's amazing. From our circumstances, right now, it doesn't look like it, but oh, He is. And we're fine. Actually, better than fine. I am blessed and highly favored of the Lord. When you really think about it...wow. It doesn't get any better than that.

Josh is napping. He's getting so big. I know I'm not so great at getting pictures on here. I'll see what I can find for the end of this one since it's been a while since I've posted any. I'll just do a picture post after this one. I've got a cute little video I just found that can have it's own post.

some quotes...

"Just because you start with 'our Father' and end with 'amen', doesn't mean you contacted the Father." - Andrew Wommack

"The more you talk is an indication of how little you believe." - Andrew Wommack

"If God knows our need before we ask it, why do we spend so much time informing God of our situation?" - Andrew Wommack

"If you're not meditating on the Word of God, you're meditating on something else. Everybody meditates." - Andrew Wommack

"If you start with the wrong assumption, you'll end with the wrong conclusion." - Wendell Parr

"For God to judge America, He'd have to apologize to Jesus." - Andrew Wommack

"If you become offended, the Word of God has been stolen from your heart." - Andrew Wommack

"Jesus is the maximum revelation of God. There are no more mysteries - you simply need to look to Jesus. Anything out of character for Jesus would be out of character for the Father. Jesus is who you need to understand the Father." - Barry Bennett

"Just because the Lord inspired the writing does not mean it's a revelation of His character." - Barry Bennett

"Sinners have to work very hard to make themselves accepted. What's normal is easy to accept. You have to be convinced by lies bombarded to accept abnormal." - Barry Bennett

"There has been emphasis on worshipping the Holy Spirit. When in fact, the Holy Spirit does his job, which is to teach us, guide us into all truth, and point to Jesus. We should be glorifying Jesus." - Barry Bennett

"A testimony is a victory you have in your life. If you're not walking in victory, something's wrong." - Ed Devine

"Christianity is the only war you'll ever win by surrender." - Ed Devine

"God will never bring anything into your life that will cause you to fail, but he will bring you to a point where you will discover what's really on the inside of you." - Wendell Parr

"It only takes one good day to rewrite your past." - Ed Devine

"Usually the reason somebody comes to you and asks for prayer is because they feel inadequate to come into the presence of the Lord themselves." - Ed Devine

"Your heart becomes sensitive to whatever you ponder on." - Ed Devine

"Grace and holiness are like breathing in and out. When you breathe grace in, holiness will follow out." - Jim Ertel

"Whatever you gain through compromise, you'll lose in the end." - Jim Ertel

"Most people know more about junk and unbelief than about the simple laws of faith and then wonder why they don't see any results." - Andrew Wommack

"If you don't act in agreement with what you're believing, your faith is dead." - Andrew Wommack

"When Moses tried to kill an Egyptian on his own, it backfired. When he did it God's way, he buried the entire Egyptian army." - Wendell Parr

"God has a plan for our lives, but he won't hunt us down and make us follow his orders." - Wendell Parr

"God has created us with the ability to choose, but he won't force our choice." - Wendell Parr

"God's best is to get you to a place where His Word is sufficient." - Andrew Wommack

"We don't see Biblical results because we don't wanna do Biblical things." - Wendell Parr

"It is an ungodly attitude to not want God to proser you. Prosperity is not for you. For you to be a blessing, you must first be blessed. If you aren't able to help those who need it, you aren't prosperous. Your prosperity isn't defined by what you have, but what you can give." - Andrew Wommack

"We don't do things to be holy, but because we are created holy, we do things." - Wendell Parr

"It is impossible to boldy claim a promise of God that you're not confident in." - Ed Devine

"God never loses!" - Lawson Perdue

"We have as much right to healing as we do forgiveness because Jesus purchased it. We ought to fight sickness like we fight sin because it comes from the same source." - Lawson Perdue

"Religious people of His day doubted His power to forgive sins. Religious people of our day doubt His power to heal the sick." - Lawson Perdue

"You can't be tempted with something you don't think. Stop temptation by quitting thinking of things that bring temptation." - Andrew Wommack

"When Jesus was baptized, He was identifying with humanity. When we are baptized, we are identifying with Jesus." - Lawson Perdue

"The only way you can lose in the Kingdom of God is to quit believing." - Lawson Perdue

"If God ever asks for a sacrifice of something, it either needs to be sacrificed or it's a stepping stone to something greater." - Andrew Wommack

"If God makes it easy, who are you to make it hard?" - Joseph Prince

"Healing and prosperity are not bigger than salvation." - Joseph Prince

"The love of God paid the justice of God...He is the full payment." - Joseph Prince

"You live up to the view that you have of yourself." - Greg Fritz

"If your life isn't awesome, it's because of you." - Andrew Wommack

"If you thought more about others than you do yourself, you wouldn't even notice when they do you wrong." - Andrew Wommack

School

I had a nice long post about last Thursday all written up and saved to finish. I just now decided that I didn't wanna do that.

There is no way to express all the works that the Lord is doing on the inside of me. It has nothing to do with feelings, although the feelings feel good. It has everything to do with revelation of who He is and His love for me. It really all boils down to that.

I've heard the school referred to as a "greenhouse" of sorts. I can see that. It's definitely an awesome environment that fosters major growth. I love our class. We are getting to know people and it feels more and more like family.

God has been showing us so much! We are definitely at the end of ourselves and He's been coming through. He's been allowing people the opportunity to gift money to us. We've had everything we've needed. I know there's still a miracle on our horizon that's coming. I'm not concerned - He's proven Himself faithful on every level.

We've had so many lessons...my head is spinning and we're only in our fourth week. The relationships and truths being built and grown here are beyond belief.

I'm so blessed! Blessed and highly favored of the Lord, to be exact.

Praise God through whom all blessings flow.

I would love to put my notes here, but I don't think I could get them all out. We go through enough material for a full Sunday sermon in about 10 minutes of each lesson. And we have 3-4 lessons per day that are 50 minutes in length.

When asked what we've learned for the day, all I can do is shake my head. There's no way to express it - you can only experience it.

Do you ever

feel chastised by your electronic devices? Seriously. The stupid (well, I guess not so stupid) printer was not powering up. We've had the power go off a couple of times in the last few days, so I thought there might be something up. I pushed all the normal buttons, like "OK" and "power"...all the ones that would normally initiate something. Nothing. So, I pulled the plug and plugged it back in. Still, nothing. So, I pulled the plug from the printer itself and when I plugged it back in, it came on. It came on with a message, though about how it is unsafe to use the plug as a power up and down switch. What? I felt like I had really just ticked off the printer and it was trying to politely tell me.

Another thing about this printer - I believe it will outlive me. It does "device maintenance" more than I maintain myself. Somebody at our printer manufacturer's office is enjoying the fact that they made these to maintain and chastise to the point of driving somebody nuts.

Joshua lied

We had a first today.

Joshua has been having some difficulties...um...aiming...in the restroom. He tends to not pay attention, not pull his underwear down and then pees on the floor and wall. He always comes and tells me and usually he gets in trouble because he knows what is going on. He knows to pay attention, pull his underwear all the way down and "pee in the water".

This morning, he came out of the bathroom and told me that "ummm....Mommy....ummmm....Jacob peed on the wall". Not exactly the truth. And he did get a spanking, followed by a 3 year old level of discussion on lying. He got it. I know it won't be the last time, but he got it today.

In other news, school is still amazing. I am falling head over heels in love with the Word of God.

In still other news, Wayne Keith Terry III "Trey" is here! He was born at 2:54 yesterday afternoon. Julie did great! Keith did great! And Trey is really sweet. Trace was sooo happy with him. I'm honored to have been able to come see him before he was even 30 minutes old. He's gorgeous!

my heart

I wish I could take a snapshot of my heart now and in two years from now. They won't be recognizable as the same thing. It's amazing. Really. I would love to be able to convey the work being done on the inside of me.

What a day!

I love school!

I have tried to type the next line over and over and it never comes out just right. Seriously, I've deleted a line about 10 times. I don't know what to say, but wanna say it all in one long breath!

I feel like I simply cannot contain all that God is pouring in. But it's such an amazingly good feeling! I'm feeling a bit like a junkie. I've got so much to do around our house and all I really wanna do is read Job and 2 Peter. Too funny.

We had 3 lessons today. The first one was Barry Bennett (I think that's his name). The second was Andrew and the third was Lawson Perdue. Barry Bennett is awesome and I loved his lesson. We actually watched him online just before school started, so were really excited that they've added him to the teachings.

Such good stuff!

And God showed us what's missing. We've been praying about it. Specifically for him to teach us - give us knowledge of how to release the blessings and provision that he's given us. It's quite simple, really, but we've missed it all along. We have had the word from God in our hearts about Charis and that he would provide for us once we were here. We've mixed it with faith and actions. But we never released that power in our lives by speaking it. We've got it now, though. And we will continue to seek the Lord and speak it.

Charis Bible College

Well, today was day 2. I'm really loving it, even though we really haven't done very much. There is a feeling of family just as soon as you're there for 5 minutes. Everybody says it will be that way for the rest of our lives. I believe it. I know we're making friends that we'll have forever.

Yesterday we went through a bunch of administrative stuff. Today we did a little bit of admin stuff and then had two lessons. The first was taught by Andrew and it was on prayer. Specifically, a better way to pray. The second one was a survey of the Old Testament. Wendell Parr was the teacher. At least I think that was his name. He went through most of the books of the Old Testament and showed how there are types and shadows of Jesus through-out.

I know the Lord told us to be here. And I know he told us to do it the way we are. I also know His provision is here somewhere, we just haven't seen it yet. We have an appointment to talk to the Director about our financials. Wow, have we got financial stuff to talk about. We're waiting on God. We don't know what else to do.

Joshua's Pull-ups

Joshua has reached the age where he's no longer needing night time diapers. We've moved on to night time pullups.

I went to Target two nights ago and bought, for the first time, a pack of night time pullups, size 3t-4t. I came home and at bedtime opened them up. We were surprised to find the beautiful Disney princesses on them. And the pink. Man, are they pink. I thought it was pretty funny, so of course, I facebooked it.

Well, I put one on him because they were already opened and he had to wear something to bed. Plus, I figured, there's only one package and then they'll be gone. And nobody will see them unless they look in his pajamas. For kicks, though, I sent Josh in to the bathroom to "show Daddy his butt".

David took one look at them and said, "Well, that's just not right". I thought that was hilarious.

This morning, my sweet boy got out of the bed and came to our room to find me. Every morning he does this and announces that he's wet. I always ask him if his pajamas are wet. His answer this morning was, "No, I just peed on the princess".

It was really funny.

One week from today...

I'll be a Charis Bible College student! We're really, really excited.

Lots of changes on the horizon.

David's resigning from the police department today. Surprisingly, I'm not afraid at all. I know we'll be alright. There's alot that is going to have to happen this week, but it's all going to work out.

We went to Charis' kick-off party yesterday. Soooo cool to meet a few of our classmates. I felt like we were heading out to meet our new family.

There are so many like-minded people there. It's amazing.

We met with one of our pastors, Jeff, this past Saturday evening. It was good to get Godly counsel and some validation from him. He said he does not think we're crazy. It was so good to hear that because we've heard from so many family that we are. They'll see...

We have a couple of leads on some income for David.

Crippled Christians

I was just reading a blog about a set of quads that I follow. They are amazing, beautiful boys and I enjoy reading about them. Their Mom writes a chronicle of their daily lives and previously wrote of their journey with infertility. I had not read them all, so was spending some time this morning going through some older posts. At one of the older posts, she had a link to their old blog before it got too big for blogger to handle and they moved it all to wordpress.

Anyway, it had a link to their church. I followed the link and started reading their statement of belief. Everything was all good until they got to the parts on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. They believe that the gifts of speaking in tongues, the working of sign miracles and healing in the first century church were temporary sign gifts and are not for the church today.

That is so very sad. In my mind, I saw a stick figure walking with a cane. I realized that it was the picture of a crippled Christian. That's how the Christian without the Holy Spirit lives. They are in the race, but they are never able to run. They will always be tired. They are saved, yes, but well, crippled.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Believers is critical. I cannot imagine trying to run this race with a cane.

Some things...

are really hard to blog about.

I am learning so very much right now. I don't like putting some of the things on here because they sound "proud", but sometimes being prideful is not putting things because I'm more worried about what people think than posting the truth. Maybe that makes sense. I should be saying whatever God says no matter how that makes me look.

I've learned that humble people state things like they are, they tell the truth, no matter what people think. It's like asking a room full of people who the best person for a certain job would be. Would I really raise my hand if I thought it was me? I don't know, because I would be worried about what people would think.

Also, extreme shyness is prideful. Sounds crazy, huh? It's true. Think about it. Shyness is just another form of esteeming other people's opinions higher than your own. If you worry so much about what somebody thinks of you that you just won't talk or interact, that's a form of pride.

We should be so in love with the Lord that we believe and speak whatever he says about ourselves.

That being said...

I am a child of the King of Kings! I am blessed beyond measure. He will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I am the head and not the tail. I am redeemed. He loves me as much as He loves Jesus! I am 1/3 wall-to-wall Holy Spirit. My spirit is sealed, perfect and without blemish.

We are in an exciting place. Exciting.

Wow! We received our conscience when man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God didn't create us with one! Lots of people blame the Holy Spirit for making us feel guilty and condemned. He doesn't do that. We do that to ourselves. We are no longer under sin or law, so he won't make us feel guilty or condemned. I cannot WAIT to start Bible School!!!