Next live webinar Tuesday, May 13th at 9:30 am (Pacific time) on Chapter 9: Offering Forgiveness
www.instantpresenter.com/nlsr4
Chapter 8 Recording on Forgiveness
http://www.instantpresenter.com/nlsr/EB51D887864A
We spent yesterday on the best subject in all the world – we sought to understand grace in the perspective of a relational Jesus. In other words, we didn’t dissect a theology of grace, we tried to gain access to Him in a personal way. It’s amazing to me how difficult this is, and that’s usually because we bring our own faulty confinements and misunderstandings about who He is. My greatest prayer and desire is that you come in contact with Him in a real way, and that you will taste and experience the goodness and ease of living life in Him.
Many times, we have been the treadmill of effort-based Christianity, believing that like human relationships, we must perform, please and be perfect to be accepted. True change, the kind of change that will bring lasting transformation, will only happen when we learn to engage life through grace. Where do we even begin?
- Make a relational Jesus the priority
- Evaluate your relationship style in accessing your needs. Are you on a treadmill of performance, if so, get off it! Reject, refuse to think you have to “earn” merit and good standing for God to provide and meet your needs.
- Enter into a heartfelt dialogue with God – be honest with Him and begin to speak your needs to Him
- Give Him the burdens, the pain, the sin, the heartbreak, the invalidation
- Receive a full dose of grace and forgiveness for everything you have harbored or ever carried guilt for
- Refuse to allow guilt to reign and rule – speak back to it and declare to it “It is finished”.
Well, there you have it. I gave you a list when I just finished teaching that we can’t live by a list. So let me bring some clarity. This list has no ability to do anything unless it comes by intimately connecting to Him. So really, you can scrap the list at any point and just spend some time in His presence hanging out with Him.
Which reminds me, what does intimacy even feel like? I mean, should you feel Him? Well, lest we make it about emotions alone, I hesitate to say “yes.” But can you feel Him? OH YES! A relationship with Jesus will bring an authentic sense of intimacy – that means you will experience the intensity of His love, grace, protection, power, peace and every other spiritual resource and fruit He offers. If you can experience some of this in a human relationship, why on earth couldn’t you experience that with Jesus directly? It would be cruel if God required that we only have access to a head knowledge understanding of Him and could only interpret Him through our mind. Many Christians have spent their entire lives believing this lie. God wants to jump out of the Bible and be a Person you can experience. If you haven’t yet accessed this, you have an amazing opportunity. So I challenge and ask that you inquire of Him what has been blocking or hindering this from occurring.
Please remember, the enemy doesn’t want you free. He doesn’t want you to come into a deeper understanding of Jesus. If you feel affliction, oppression or other heavy emotions, I also encourage you to use the authority in Jesus name to reject the enemy’s attempt to keep you from God. If you need prayers and encouragement, please reach out to me, someone else in the workshop, a counselor, a pastor or a person you trust.
You CAN be victorious – this is not pretend, and God IS real!
I just found this website and I am so excited to get started, so I ordered the book and I got the wrong one, I ordered the house that grace built and I should of got the other workbook any ideas you have for me to get started sooner?
Hi Mandy! Awesome that you found us! Can you e-mail me directly? Stephanie@spiritofliferecovery.com Thanks!
Reading my devotional this morning was a perfect follow-up to the Authentic Identity chapter we went over yesterday… hope it blesses you all also:
My priceless girl,
I know that you are under great attack as you are bombarded with lies about your worth. You are mine and this Identity crisis is not my will for you. The truth is that you are my treasured possession and my crown jewel. You are much too precious and valuable in my kingdom to allow anyone or anything to make you feel worthless. My daughter does not need bow down to a man-made image to find her true value. I already proved to you how much you are worth–on the cross. Now allow me alone to reveal to you your true value and worth. You’re created in my Image and you’re worth everything to me. It breaks my heart when you let these lies keep you in darkness when I called you to be light.
Love,
Your Father who treasures you
“or you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession. – Deuteronomy 14:2 (NIV)
Today’s devotional is drawn from His Princess: Girl Talk with God – Love Letters and Devotions for Young Women by Sheri Rose Shepherd. All content copyright Sheri Rose Shepherd 2014. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Visit HisPrincess.com for devotionals, books, videos, and more from Sheri Rose Shepherd.
Wow! That’s so beautiful! I haven’t posted the new class quite yet!