Feelings are the energy of motivation. They inspire us, compel us, push us, encourage us, they bring us down and they lift us up. Feelings are typically likened to "a weather" whereas a person's mood could be seen as "the climate" where emotions arise. This "climate" describes what kind of weather (read: emotions, reactions, responses) is typical for a person but, as we all know so well (this may surprise): one can sometimes experience a really hot day in Finland — even though it's not that common! (the science of motivation goes a lot deeper than I mentioned in this paragraph! just saying, it's complex and fascinating!) Why is it important to understand your own feelings? More than being our motivators (for the good and the bad) they help us make decisions and build intimacy. Emotions are from God. He created them. He made us into His own image so emotions didn't just "happen" but the ability to experience them was purposefully crafted into our hearts. We can see Jesus be a pretty emotional guy! I limit my observations to him, for when we see Jesus, we've seen our Father who really, really cares for us. Jesus CRIED when Lazarus died and was sad over the loss of his friend (women like men that show their feelings yes!), he rejoiced when he was happy (like: At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. Luke 10:21.), he got angry when the pharisees were misrepresenting the Kingdom of God, he was loving towards children and women and he expressed compassion without shame. Jesus definitely was moved by what he saw. Emotions are spontaneous. We cannot strategically plan to have them but actors can fake them. Certain environments can stir them up but we can decide to numb them down. A loving act towards me arouses feelings of being noticed, cherished and valued. (Yes, feelings are a fundamental part of expressing and receiving love but there's more to love than the feeling that follows. Love is a very vulnerable, sacrificial decision to be made.) On the other hand, a violent act toward someone can bring that person such pain that they can shut down if they aren't able to process it. Feelings are a precious gift from God! Crying-sadness and laughter-joy are two of the most powerful whole body emotional responses we use daily to process and express what's going on inside us. Positive emotions do more than provide psychological comfort, however. According to University College of London’s Sophie K. Scott and colleagues (2014): I find it fascinating that some Finnish researchers found what happens in our body when we feel different emotions! (Science Daily) All the above is important and good to know about emotions — but the truth has a deeper, beautiful, relieving (!) dimension to it: we are led by the Spirit, not by emotions and feelings. The truth that God loves me doesn't change whether I feel it or not. Haha! That's GOOD news. The Holy Spirit moving is more than a hype. The Holy Spirit leading is not always fun either, sorry. :D Few months after I came to Redding I saw a dream where I had a battle inside of me. In the dream I consciously decided to set the Spirit of God in the throne of my life and to be led by the Spirit. In that encounter I submitted myself to Jesus' Lordship in my life: I surrendered my will to His and it required an intentional decision that didn't "just happen" (this goes to the category "experiences impossible to explain with words"). I'm yet to fully understand what that meant but after that day I've felt it easier to practice spiritual disciplines in my life. In the morning after I found myself just flowing in prayer and wondered how easy it was! What matters is Who leads me and Who gets to influence and fuel my heart where the emotions are born. Emotions can be trained for unrighteousness in which case they can start leading us away from Christ OR they can be cultivated in a redeemed heart for righteousness... when they eventually will serve our well-being and the Kingdom of God! Many people spend their lives being guided by their feelings. When their feelings change they are convinced their heart has changed. But feelings are rooted in emotion, not truth. A virtuous person lives out of their convictions and expects their feelings to follow. Feelings are great servants but terrible masters. If you stop following them, they will follow you. // Kris Vallotton I have an exercise for you to develop healthy self-awareness! This will help you to pay attention to RED FLAGS (such like loneliness, unworthiness, shame, rejection, powerlessness...) that can trigger behavior that you don't wish, such like finding yourself browsing porn sites in search of intimacy? Binge eating to fill up emptiness? Love the journey of getting to know your heart! You have been given a NEW one and it's time to discover what makes your heart flourish. Ah, I'm glad to share these things with you that I have been learning and have found really beneficial over the past year. Check yourself when waking up/leaving the house/coming back home/going to bed/whenever. 1. How am I feeling? 2. Why am I feeling like that? 3. What happened? 4. Ask the Holy Spirit what to do with the information you become aware of. Becoming conscious of your "normal" helps you to meet your needs in a healthy way! It helps you to not to punish yourself for being a human, to love yourself and to love Jesus and your neighbor with all your heart. xoxoxoxo
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My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 Did you know that God speaks to you in a way that you will actually understand what He is saying? Why would He not do so? And what would ever make you even think otherwise? Our loving Father sacrificed His only Son so that we might have a relationship with Him. The fact that you think that you can't hear from God doesn't mean that you couldn't or you didn't. Anyone can hear from God! In the Old Testament God spoke to Pharaoh through dreams and he was not even "a believer"! Sure, Pharaoh couldn't understand those dreams and needed someone (that is, a man of God) to interpret them. Lectures on "How to hear God's voice" are always fully packed. Why is that? One of the reasons is that we are believing lies about God and ourselves. We are confused with our identity as the sons and daughters of God or/and hold unforgiveness in our hearts, which kind of makes it more difficult to hear Him clearly. Sometimes we haven't been cultivating our relationship with our Father and would therefore love to learn a way to fix the relationship that's been lacking intimacy for years. It's beneficial to learn the principles of hearing God's voice but we don't need to get stuck at looking at the finger (principles) that's pointing to a real Person. Intimacy and trust grow only by time. I can easily read pages of the Bible and not have my heart involved. After finishing my "time with the Lord" on those occasions — I still feel empty. We might have also made hearing from God sound a way too mysterious and difficult too. That's really sad because hearing God is at the core of discipleship and what it really means to follow* Jesus. You simply can't have intimacy without communication. Communion with God has always a positive impact in our lives, such like encouragement, certain behavior, good attitudes, joy, giving, adoration and fulfillment... Jesus is the bread of life that came down from heaven. The Bible also says that Jesus is the Word of God. Digesting God's words leads us to understand what He is like, which eventually will transform our lives! HOW AWESOME IS THAT! Jesus Himself said: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow* me.
For anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him. Hebrews 11:6 When I finished high school I was HUNGRY for God and wanted to get to know Him. I had this thought in my mind that I can't hear from God and I kind of questioned and doubted the whole idea of having a RELATIONSHIP with God. Whaaaaaaat? So, what did I do? The only thing I knew: I started to pray and fast, spend time before Him and read the Bible like never before! I decided to trust that He is who He says He is and seek His face. I told God that I didn't understand Him but that I honestly wanted to get to know Him. I asked if He would start revealing Himself to me through His Word and He did!! Why wouldn't he? One night (during my DTS) He woke me up and I heard a voice saying: "I hear your voice Heidi." WOW!! That, if anything, bleeeew my mind! God of the Universe spoke to me! Sooooo unexpected and yet it was not. OF COURSE He heard the cry of His beloved daughter and wanted to answer me! That experience began to shift my relationship with Him. I started to see myself as a daughter, not a beggar who had to somehow get God's attention. I started to see that He had already set His eyes on me and longed to have communion with me! Discerment? To sum up, when I say "God spoke to me" I mean that I discerned that the thought/impression/whatever I received was from Him. Sometimes some Bible verses jump out of the page for me, sometimes I get an impression (an inspired thought, a feeling in my body, seeing with my eyes) while talking to someone and at times I've received significant dreams where I believe God spoke to me. We must test our thoughts [the Bible encourages us to test the spirits behind the words we receive] to discern whether they were from God, from ourselves or from the enemy. And therefore, because we are not immune to the voice of the evil one, this is why we should practice hearing accountable to our community. Learning is FUN and recognizing the voice of the Holy Spirit is even more! The goal of the Book is to teach us to know God! I bless you with heavenly encounters as you start practicing and going deeper into knowing Him! "As close as I can, as close as it's possible for a man" I wrote in one of my songs. Photo 1. Photo 2. “We must look, and go on looking till we have certainly seen exactly what is there.” C.S Lewis I love testimonies about crazy, fearless courage because they awaken something in me. A warrior. A giant killer. OHHH I can feel the lioness in me arise every time I hear people share about how brave they were in peaching the Kingdom, sharing the Gospel, fighting for justice and loving the one in front of them. Testimonies remind me of my identity. I'm really in a season of new courage in my life and have begun to see that God really comes to back me up when I take new steps in faith. I think that courage is an overflow of God's love in our hearts. Yeah, the Holy Spirit WANTS to come out! I wonder if He ever kinda gets a change if we keep on feeding and resurrecting our fleshly desires, which make & keep us empty and never full and never ready to serve and love truly. We are called to love one another like we love ourselves and like we love God. We are called to love one another in the same way that God loves us. If we never encounter the love of God and receive it for ourselves — we don't have much to share. God well of love will never run dry (unlike ours). Christmas 2012. We were praying with my dear friends and asking: "MORE OF YOU GOD. OWERFLOW!!!!! OVERFLOW! We want to be FILLED WITH YOU and fill this earth with the knowledge of You!" once again. "The waters are longing for to be walked on again." Bill Johnson So... on my way back home to Turku by train a guy sat before me and asked me about my guitar. I don't have anything to lose, I realized. What if I didn't hide who I really am? The conversation led to a point where I got to share this man (who happened to be just finishing his doctoral thesis on philosophy) about a God who LIVES and was thrilled how interested that (obviously a wise and thoughtful) guy was in my view of life and how I saw Jesus and ethics. I shared to him how God had just recently healed my back in a service where the preacher got a word of knowledge of someone's back being healed. It came up then that the man had a back problem so I suggested if I could pray for him (there were other people in that wagon with us but I can't remember how many exactly.. because I wasn't paying attention to them). I placed my hand on him and prayed... something? And the next moment the man stood up and started stretching himself and trying out his back. What happened? he asked. It felt sore this morning and the other mornings before. YEAAAAH GOD. I wrote him back a month and then a year later to ask how he was doing and got an understanding that his back is still fine. Wow, it might have been a miracle. :) The fun didn't end there. After I left that train and changed for another, the train conductor of the new train came to check my ticked, noticed my guitar (THANK GOD FOR MY GUITAR!) and asked if I could come to play to the restaurant wagon. (I had played in a train once before but then the conductor asked me to stop-- which is also a funny strory!) Hmmmmm seriously, I asked him, Does it matter if I only know gospel songs? Well, apparently it did not :D I ended up playing and singing in the restaurant wagon for the train conductor and some other people who were buying sandwiches & beer and eating them there. WOW! "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis This courage theme is one of the reasons I like Todd White so much. I came across a clip on Youtube where he was preaching and the following is what I wrote down from his message. You will love it! It's about the Kingdom-lifestyle. What does it mean to follow Jesus anyway? <<Jesus didn't say: "I am the way to Heaven." He also didn't say: "I am the truth about Heaven." He said: "I am the way, the truth and the life." He didn't say: "No one gets to Heaven but by me." He said: "No one comes to the Father except by me." So, Jesus is not just the "way to Heaven" but to the Father. "And this is eternal life that––!!" ..they might go to Heaven? Absolutely not. "And this is eternal life: that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." I (quoting Todd White here) think that Jesus' definition of Heaven is better than the one we've made up. We preach to people: "Get your name written to the book of life and live like hell 'til you get there." But it's not just about praying a prayer to get to Heaven! It's about putting off the old nature and taking on the brand new one. So that you can become a son again. Jesus came because you are a son who lost his identity.>> First pic is from my own instagram. Pic 2. Pic 3. Testing is good! And we don't have to be afraid of trials. Even the greatest challenges we face can be faced with JOY because we know that God will work our testing out to mature us. Who wouldn't like to GROW IN FAITH and STEADFASTNESS? When we chose Jesus we chose pruning and the path that leads to righteousness and holiness! That is awesome! Though God never said that testing wouldn't come or it didn't hurt — He promised that trials would force our faith to show its true colors (MSG). Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. James 1:2—6 Confusion has its roots in lies and temptation comes from our sinful desires, which try to drag us away. We should never say: “God is tempting me” because God is never tempted to do wrong and He never tempts anyone else (we should know this by know, right?). All lies originate from the father of lies that is the devil who only comes to kill, steal and destroy. If anything in our lives starts to destroy us and steal our faith, identity and security, that would be the devil — not God. Jesus said that He has come to give us life. One thing I love about trials, is that they really get you (back) to the center of what's truly important. In the mids of confusion you will find yourself leafing though the pages of the Bible and every word seems to just SINK IN to your soul. AH and you squeeze and squeeze those verses until the emptiness gets fulfilled. I heard Jesus one time speak to me: The Word belongs to me until you eat it. Oh, that voice!! I want to feast on Christ and His words the rest of my days. (Jesus is the Word of God and the Bread of Life.) Don't hesitate to receive the words that He speaks. Eat them, own them, digest them and let them transform you! A Bible that's falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't. Charles Spurgeon Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial! Having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. Life and more life! Don't be afraid, God will never leave you! Pic 1. Teksi löytyy suomeksi loppupuolelta sivua! Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: “To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man." (Proverbs 8:1—4) Did you notice WHERE wisdom is calling people? She is crying out at the crossroads, beside the gates and at the entrance of portals — in another words — at places where people make their decisions. Who wouldn't like to use some wisdom in choosing your future-spouse, education or work to apply to? Proverbs meet our burning questions by showing how God is right where we are and fully ready to pour out His wisdom into our hearts to make good decisions. Yes, He is literally CRYING ALOUD to the children of man. You and me. One of the most prayed prayers in the world, I suppose, is to ask God to tell us what to do next. We would love to know that LOUD AND CLEAR. But what if it's on God's heart to give us permission to dream and plan our future WITH Him? There is a mystery hidden in wisdom and dreaming coming together. Why would He want us to acquire wisdom if we were just supposed to receive all instruction to our lives without using our transformed minds? --like machines? That would be the spirit of stupid right there. :P What if He created us to live in fellowship with Him! One of my passions is to help people find their calling and I whole-heartedly believe that God has an unique purpose for each and every one of us, but I also think that it is in our Heavenly Father's heart to include us and our desires in getting us into our destiny. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements-- (Acts 15:28.) (With all that being said, we know that sometimes God gives incredibly clear directions to us! I've experienced that the clearer we hear the more difficult the "task" might be and more responsibility will we have to do it! The wildest and wisest thing I've ever done is that I left my job to follow Jesus' voice. That was crazy! I would have lost my hope in that process if I hadn't heard Him so clearly. The story ended well and He proved Himself true! YAY! Special thanks to my dear Jenni M., who supported me soooo much in the middle of my adventure!) Proverbs 13:12 reveals the way God created us to function as humans: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. God created man into His own likeness and our ability to dream is one of His creative aspects. In joining ourselves to Him, His power will begin to empower our dreaming and give us wisdom and insight, which will ultimately result in supernatural outcomes, that is, something that is far beyond human asking or imagining. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (Eph 3:20.) Giving ourselves permission to dream won't take away God's amazing voice and our yieldedness to His Spirit. In fact, it is our yieldedness to Him that enables us to dream and lifts it up into a whole new level. It fascinates me every time I realize how enthusiastic Jesus gets when I share my small dreams with Him! WOW HEIDI! He says. That is _AMAZING_! That is so beautiful! Our Father will love this! I can't wait to see what it will look like! Would you like to get some wisdom to do all that's in your heart? I would love to pour out my Spirit upon you and empower you to accomplish it! We may have experienced many disappointments along the way that have caused us to swear not to ever dream again and that is one of the first things God begins to free us from when we come in close intimacy with Him. We serve a Living God and fears and doubts won't be able to paralyze us when we focus our eyes on the perfecter of our faith, JESUS. WOW! Let us listen to God's voice, ASK FOR WISDOM and then make our move. He will make our paths straight! Pic 1. Pic 2.
Lupa unelmoidaEikö viisaus kutsu, eikö ymmärrys anna äänensä kuulua? Kukkuloiden laelle, tien viereen, polkujen risteyksiin hän on asettunut. Porttien luona, kaupungin portilla, oviaukoista hän huutaa: "Teitä minä kutsun, miehet, ihmislapset, kuulkaa minun ääneni. —" (Sananlaskut 8:1—4) Huomasitko MISSÄ viisaus kutsuu ihmisiä? Hän huutaa porttien luona, polkujen risteyksissä ja oviaukoissa — toisin sanoen — paikoissa, joissa ihmiset tekevät elämänsä päätökset. Niin, kukapa ei haluaisi hieman viisautta valitessaan tulevaa puolisoaan, opiskelu- tai työpaikkaansa? Sananlaskut vastaavat palaviin kysymyksiimme näyttämällä, kuinka Jumala on juuri siellä, missä mekin olemme ja TÄYSIN valmiina kaatamaan viisautta sydämiimme, jotta voisimme tehdä hyviä päätöksiä. Hän kirjaimellisesti kutsuen huutaa ihmislapsille, minulle ja sinulle! Luultavasti yksi maailman rukoilluimmista rukouksista on pyytää Jumalaa kertomaan meille, mitä tehdä seuraavaksi. Me haluaisimme kuulla sen KIRKKAASTI ja SELKEÄSTI. Mutta, mitäpä jos Jumalan sydämellä olisikin antaa meille lupa unelmoida tulevaisuudestamme hänen kanssaan. Viisauden ja unelmien yhteen tulemisessa on kätkettynä suuri salaisuus. Miksi hän haluaisi meidän tavoittelevan viisautta, jos meidät olisi luotu vain koneen lailla ottamaan vastaan valmiita ohjeita siitä, mitä tehdä joka tilanteessa? Meidät on kutsuttu uudistumaan mieleltämme ja todella käyttämään tuota uudistunutta mieltä. Jumala loi meidät elämään suhteessa ja yhteydessä hänen kanssaan. Rakastan auttaa ihmisiä löytämään oman kutsumuksensa ja uskon koko sydämestäni siihen, että meillä jokaisella on ainutlaatuinen tehtävä ja tarkoitus maan päällä, mutta samalla koen myös, että Taivaallinen Isämme kutsuu meitä mukaan rakentamaan elämäämme. Pyhä Henki ja me olemme nähneet hyväksi, ettei teidän päällenne ole pantava enempää kuormaa kuin nämä välttämättömät asiat — (Apostolien teot 15:28) (Ja tietysti, Jumala antaa meille myös suoria, kirkkaita ohjeita. Mutta minusta on alkanut tuntua, että mitä selkeämmin kuulemme, sitä haastavampi "tehtävä" monesti tuntuu olevan ja sitä enemmän vastuuta meillä myös on sen toteuttamiseksi. Olen oppinut iloitsemaan niin "tarkoista" kuin "epätarkemmistakin" kuiskauksista ツ. Oman elämäni villein, mutta viisain päätös oli jättää työpaikkani seuratakseni Jeesuksen ääntä. Se oli oikeastaan todella hullua ja olisin kieltämättä ajautunut toivottomuuteen, jollen olisi kuullut Jumalaa niin selkeästi. Tarina kuitenkin päättyi hyvin ja Hän osoitti olevansa todellinen! Suuri kiitos rohkaisustasi sinulle, Jenni M.!) Sananlaskut 13:12 paljastaa jotain siitä, miten Jumala loi meidät ihmisinä toimimaan: Pitkittynyt odotus tekee sydämen sairaaksi, mutta täyttynyt halu on elämän puu / elämä elpyy kun toive täyttyy. Jumala loi ihmisen omaksi kuvakseen ja meidän kykymme unelmoida on yksi hänen luovista ominaisuuksistaan. Kun tulemme liitymme yhteen hänen kanssaan, hänen voimansa tulee meihin ja vapauttaa meidät unelmoimaan, mikä johtaa yliluonnolliseen lopputulokseen, eli johonkin sellaiseen, mikä on paljon kysymäämme ja toivomaamme enemmän. Mutta hänelle, joka voi tehdä enemmän, monin verroin enemmän kuin kaikki, mitä me anomme tai ymmärrämme, sen voiman mukaan, joka meissä vaikuttaa -- (Efesolaiskirje 3:20) Se, että annamme itsellemme luvan unelmoida, ei vie elämästämme pois Jumalan ääntä ja hänelle antautumista. Itse asiassa, vasta antauduttuamme Jumalalle hän voi voidella kykymme unelmoida ja nostaa sen uudelle tasolle. Minua ihmetyttää joka kerta kuulla, kuinka Jeesus innostuu kun jaan hänelle pieniä unelmiani. VAU HEIDI! hän vastaa. Tuo on aivan MAHTAVAA! Niin kaunista! Meidän Isämme tulee rakastamaan tätä enkä malta odottaa, että näemme, miltä se tulee näyttämään! Haluaisitko viisautta toteuttaa tuon kaiken, mitä on sydämelläsi? Haluaisin niin paljon vuodattaa Henkeni sinun yllesi ja antaa sinulle voiman lähteä matkaan! Meillä saattaa olla monia epäonnistumisia takanamme, jotka ovat saaneet meidän vannomaan, ettemme enää koskaan unelmoisi, ja tämä onkin yksi niistä kahleista, joista Jumala alkaa vapauttaa sydämiämme kun tulemme hänen lähelleen. Me palvelemme Elävää Jumalaa eikä mikään pelko tule halvaannuttamaan meitä kun pidämme katseemme kiinnitettyinä uskomme täydelliseksi tekijään, JEESUKSEEN. Vau! Kuunnellaan Hänen ääntään, PYYDETÄÄN VIISAUTTA ja tehdään sitten päätöksiä. Hän tekee polkumme suoriksi! Kuva 1. I want all my dreams to flow out from this kind of a heart! A heart that is at rest in Him. Tahdon, että unelmani kumpuavat tälläisestä sydämestä! Sydämestä, joka lepää Jumalassa. What can I do for You? What can I bring to You? What kind of song would you like me to sing? I'll dance a dance for You Pour out my love to You What can I do for You beautiful King? 'Cause I... can't thank You enough. I can't thank You enough
Näitä jättipallovideoita löytyy Youtubesta sydämen kyllyydestä, haha olkaa hyvät! Muutama viikko sitten kirjoittamani teksti MIND-BLOWING! Kuka mittaisi Jumalan? kertoo myös tästä aiheesta: Jumalan ihmeellisyydestä. Itse ainakin oon ihan fiiliksissä kun kuljen ulkona mun SkyView-applicationin kanssa ja ihmettelen kuin hullun kaukana kaikki tähdet oikeasti onkaan. Jotkut on niin monen valovuoden päässä, että se valo, joka me nyt nähdään, on lähtenyt sinä päivänä niistä tähdistä kun Aabraham itse katseli taivaalle! THINK ABOUT THAT. |
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