Examine Yourself for Tapeworms?

Today I had the opportunity to attend a Beth Moore simulcast at Redeeming Love Family Church in Fayetteville, NC.  There was a wonderful group of women there attending from around the state and we were watching this simulcast with a total of 300,000 women from around the world. Absolutely amazing! Pastors Tony and Louisa McKinney and their conference staff did a superb job in serving all of us. 

The conference was on the topic of insecurity and ridding ourselves of it. One of the examples that Beth shared that I thought would really speak to you was an example about a tapeworm. She shared with us that many years ago women would actually purchase cleansed tape worms to use for losing weight. Can you believe it? They would use tape worms (how they knew they were cleansed, I don’t understand) to eat up the nutrients they consumed. She then likened unforgiveness in the life of a believer to a tape worm. All of the spiritual nutrition we receive as we study the Scripture and listen to teachings is eaten up by the tape worm of unforgiveness and therefore bears no fruit in our lives. 

Friends, if you have received Christ into your life, then you have been forgiven of much that you did not deserve to be forgiven of.  The reality of the grace of God in our lives should empower us to give grace to others. I want to encourage you today that if you have been hurt; if you have been offended; if someone has falsely accused you, betrayed you or ignored you, you need to release forgiveness for your sake and for the honor of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  It is a choice we can make as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so. Let them go and watch the power of God begin to flow through your life again.

Draw Near to God

Last weekend I had the honor to share with my sisters in Christ at the Christian Girlfriends at the Beach Annual Conference. It was an incredible time for me!

The theme of the conference was focused on doing our part as Christians in erasing the line where Christ begins and we end.  In other words, becoming one with Christ in our thoughts, attitudes and deeds.  We discovered that if we are not experiencing change in our lives then we are either “not saved” therefore void of the spirit of the Lord within us OR we are not spending time with God in prayer and meditation in His Word.  If we are asking, “Where are you God?” and we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, perhaps we have not yet come near to Him (James 4:8). Perhaps we are allowing the responsibilities and the challenges of life to become distractions…bosses to please, husbands to support, children to raise and shuttle to activities and household chores to complete. 

If we truly are to change and experience the benefits of our salvation this side of heaven, then we must (1) acknowledge we need to change (2) make the decision to change and (3) Commit to be INTENTIONAL and DO SOMETHING to promote change in our lives.  Without intentional effort applied to our lives to spend time with God, we will find ourselves like the caterpillar that was transformed into a butterfly but failed to eat its way out of the cocoon. Without being intentional about our decision to change and leave our old life, we who have been transformed by the grace of God as a new creation in Christ, will die in that old life just as the butterfly died without experiencing the glorious heavenly flight it had been recreated for.

As we approach our celebration tomorrow of the resurrection of Christ, may we think upon the benefits Christ intends for us to reap from His death and resurrection and the new life available to us as a result of His victory. Christ now dwells within all of us who have accepted His free gift of salvation. He is with us to empower us to grow from faith to faith and glory to glory. He is with us to transform us into His likeness. You can experience the heavenly flight as a new creation if you will just acknowledge you need to change (2) Decide to change and (3) Commit to be intentional about what you do to change.

Please make your acknowledgement and decision public by sharing with us on this blog that you are committed to becoming more intentional about experiencing your new life in Christ which is made more and more available as you grow into His likeness. Thoughts on what we can do to become more intentional about this decision are welcome as are Scripture references pertaining to this topic. Let’s help one another in our journey to Christ-likeness.

Remember, you cannot change on your own but if you will draw near to God, He will draw near to you. He is there always but you do these things acknowledging His presence and your need for Him.