ABIDE Part 2

Dear precious friends and family,
February has been a month of abiding in ways that have stretched us to our limits. My husband's mother lost her battle with ovarian cancer on February 10 and we began to abide heavily upon our Lord and comforter as we said goodbye. After many conversations in the last year, we have the assurance that she is truly abiding with Christ and that thought comforts us most of all. 1John 4:13 reminds us that ,"God has given us His Spirit as proof that we abide in Him and He abides in us."

To us that still must linger in this world to do what God has called us to do we need to be aware of the fact that we always have a choice as we go about our daily routine.
We can choose to submit our thoughts,emotions and will and renew our minds with the truth of God's word. Sometimes we choose not to do this and instead we choose to believe a lie.
All of us, no matter if you grew up in the best of families and circumstances have developed false beliefs. These lies creep in so subtley. Someone in your family may have said,"You're the smart one and your sister is the pretty one." All of your life,even know as an adult you may still believe that you are ugly. Maybe as a boy your father never told you that he was proud of you so you grew up believing that you must work harder to get your father's approval. His approval never came and so you feel like a failure. But feelings can lie to you. Even your own eyes can lie to you. Think of all the young skinny girls who feel fat and look in the mirror and see a fat girl so they begin to starve themselves. My children will tell you with a chuckle, how I would correct them if they spoke one of these kind of false beliefs. When they would say something like,"I am stupid" or "My face looks horrible", I would always say,"That is a lie straight from the devil."
That usually got their attention and also identified who was whispering these lies to them. I would remind them that focusing on God's word would give them the real truth.
Abiding in God's word is the key to escaping these false beliefs. We must read His word and be able to recall it when these thoughts come popping into our minds. Here is an example: When this thought pops in,"I do not measure up. I am not worthy of love."; meditate on God's truth about you instead."Christ has made me accepted in HIm."(Eph.1:6.Ps.139:13-18),"I am chosen,righteous,holy,a saint:a new creation."(2Cor. 5:17;1peter2:9;1Cor.1:2)

As you ponder these wonderful truths I will be praying John 15:7 for you. " As my friends and family abide in You and Your words abide in them,May they ask of You what they desire and may it be done for them." In Jesus(TRUTH) name I pray,Amen