Love Yourself

Galatians 5:14  “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

suppose I don’t love myself; or worse, I don’t even know who I am ~Terri

We were made in the image of God; therefore, our identity should come from Him.  We should be an extension of Christ – to see ourselves like He sees us and receive everything He has for us.    As He gives to us, we impart to our neighbors – we can’t give what we don’t have.  We must first love God, love ourselves, and then we can love others.  As our pride decreases, our Fruit of The Spirit (which I’ll post about separately) increases. 

When I worked for a government agency, this one guy would stop by my office every day to chit-chat.  The first few days I remembered seeing a pack of cigarettes in his pocket.  But after about a week, I never saw the cigarettes again and didn’t smell smoke anymore.  About a month later he said, “Terri, since I’ve been coming up to your office around you, I’ve stopped smoking…I haven’t even wanted a cigarette.”  He said he had tried to stop smoking for a long time but couldn’t.  I never knew that about him until he told me.  As I think about it, we worked at the agency for the next two years together and he never picked up another cigarette.

we are not required to perform for God – He performs through us ~Terri

God’s power and virtue flow through us for others when we surrender and allow the Holy Spirit to work.  We are the temple of the Holy Spirit who liberates us to be like Jesus.    We carry the Holy Spirit within just like a mother carries an unborn child.  Just as you wouldn’t drink, smoke, fornicate (…well, you shouldn’t) with an unborn child, you also shouldn’t with the Holy Spirit.   Nor should we carry Him to serve other gods (buddha meetings, strip clubs, liquor stores, etc.) – because it grieves Him.

There are so many Christians (most Christians) who got saved – and was done.  They never went on to become conformed to the image of Christ.  They are living in disobedience and are controlled by sin.  You cannot heal someone else if you are still sick.  If I am not healed and delivered, I’ll give my neighbor (sister, brother, mother, father, children, grandchildren) trash, disguised as treasure. 

liberated to love ~Terri

Luke 4:18  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,…”

My definition of love for myself is liberation: surrendering to God for healing and deliverance so I can impart the same to my neighbor.  When we walk with Christ long enough, He makes us free from the imprisonment and oppression of the addictions of this world.  Satan is defeated, and Jesus has already walked out our liberation, so we must follow His steps to get to the goal.

Most people define love for themselves as: feeding my appetites.  Therefore, they overEat, overSpend, overLust, overImaginate and over-Everything Else.  Since we were born in sin, we don’t know how to love ourselves; if we did, we wouldn’t be self-abusive, self-loathing, and allowing abuse from others.  We also wouldn’t compare ourselves to others – who are also imbalanced. 

When we compare ourselves to others, we live from a place of deficiency and brokenness (shortcomings), which is where our concentration will be.  We will overcompensate in those areas, and even pick-up a few extra addictions along the way (buying, hoarding, people pleasing and running after people).  Since we don’t know how love looks, we define it by how we feel.  We’ve convinced ourselves that self-denial and saying “no” is bad.  Therefore, we say “yes” to our brokenness.

you must know what love is to know what it is not ~Terri

On the contrary, since God loves us, He’ll say “no” in a heartbeat if it is not conducive to our wholeness and His will for our lives.  Our Love for ourselves usually looks nice temporarily on the outside (for others), but God’s love looks good eternally on the inside (for Him).  Once we’re fixed on the inside, it begins to show on the outside.  We no longer want garbage and toxicity.  He changes our wants and helps us see our real needs clearer…so we don’t run after things that hurt us.  If He fixed us on the outside and not the inside, we’ll fall into the same bad situations over and over.  For example, If He fixes your finances without fixing your gambling problem, you won’t be fixed for long. 

Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

give me liberty…

• Liberation is TRUTH

Truth can only come from Christ, so, His view of us is all we should be concerned about.  Loving ourselves involves allowing God to get to the truth of our past and present to bring us into our destiny.  God commands us to not lie; therefore, a liar will never get close to God unless he/she first surrenders to the truth.  God does not work with lies: He doesn’t tell lies and He will only tell you the truth (in love), and teach you to tell the truth (in love), regardless of feelings.  There is a balance between love and truth that makes it digestible (sometimes) – and I’m still trying to perfect the formula.  The truth is not always easy to accept whether it’s from God or others, but it is required for moving forward.  I’d rather someone cut me with the truth than kiss me with a lie.  I can eventually work with the truth, but a lie is useless and serves no purpose.  A lie goes on forever destroying all life in its path.

There have been so many times I thought my opinion was truth, until God stacked it up against His Truth.  Then I saw that mine was merely my heart felt opinion from my limited (obstructed) view.

Silence, deception, and secrets are also lies because they are not truth.  Real peace, joy, justice, praise, surrender, and healing comes when we open our hearts and our mouths, with truth, and lay all the cards on the table and let God deal with them.  Everything that is worth anything begins with the foundation of truth. 

Love yourself enough to learn the truth about who or what you worship.  There are many people in the black community who are running from the church – right into the arms of Satan.  I guess it’s a new thing to worship our African ancestors (and trees and grass, etc.)?  Remember, that’s the same thing our ancestors were doing right before God allowed them to be captured and enslaved for hundreds of years.  Learn who the boss of this world is and worship Him.  Regardless of what church or group meeting you are attending, make sure you are following Christ, first.  If Christ is your goal, He will send you where He wants you.

Whether we believe God or not does not change His truth.  He will change us before He changes His truth.

• Liberation is FORGIVENESS

There is no way in this world you will go to heaven with unforgiveness in your heart.  [Note:  I don’t mean ‘forgiving yourself’ because I don’t believe that is a real thing.  When someone speaks of forgiving themselves, they’re trying to escape the pain of something they did].  Forgiveness of others is what God means; the things that make us want vengeance. 

Unforgiveness keeps you from moving forward in Christ and in life.  It creates a cement wall that prevents you from hearing God and understanding His word.  It restrains you right where you are emotionally and spiritually.  You ruminate – everything that comes out of your mouth has to do with the wrong that was done to you.  Other people can hear it and it is exhausting.   I’ve held unforgiveness and I know others who have – and it all looks alike.  I can even see it on people’s faces (which means it’s also destructive).

Jesus forgives everyone who asks, and daily repentance is essential to our righteous walk.  We don’t have to grovel – just ask – and He does it right there; but He will teach us better as He cleanses us from all unrighteousness.  You will reap what you sow; but you will be forgiven.  God forgives and will teach you to forgive no matter how much you want to hold your neighbor hostage.

Forgiving others does not excuse the sin of others; it just keeps our hearts pure (to reign with Christ).   Forgiving someone right away has nothing to do with your relationship with them, because in the end, unforgiveness in your heart is sin – which is disobedient to God – which does not equal love for Him, yourself, or your neighbor.  The more you repent, the more you can forgive others.

I even forgive narcissistic, toxic people who always bring ‘trash’ and will continue to bring trash(because that’s who they are) unless they surrender to Christ for liberation.  Therefore, unless God tells me to, I won’t allow them (or blatantly, biblically-disobedient people) close to me – they are too destructive.  I can converse with them without hanging out with them.  I can also forgive them knowing that it won’t change them as a person.  But if I don’t forgive them, it will change me.

I have learned to forgive people before they even sin against me because I know they will (they are human).    Jesus knew Judas would eventually betray Him but didn’t treat him any differently because Jesus was never unkind (but He also didn’t allow him in his closest circle, either).  Jesus knew that Judas couldn’t even trust himself (since he allowed Satan to enter him).  People who are led by Satan cannot be trusted – they do what Satan tells them to do.

You’ve often heard that the best revenge is success; but I believe the best revenge is forgiveness – to move on in life.  Vengeance belongs to God.

Galatians 5:24  “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

Liberation is HEALING

Only God can heal – your body, your heart, mind, and soul – and He leaves no residue or evidence of what was in the past.  He can extract the origin of a disease, completely heal a wound, and permanently transform a mind.  God can also tell you what to do or where to go to be healed when you listen to Him.  He heals differently in different situations – sometimes it is a long process, and you must work with Him; but sometimes He does it in a split second.  He can also use people to speak a word of knowledge to get you on the right path.

doctors help: God heals ~Terri

Doctors can help but they cannot heal.  Doctors can only diagnose, prescribe, and perform surgery.  Even if they do surgery, you’re still not healed, you are just repaired or patched up.  Love yourself enough to not be completely dependent upon others for your health but dependent upon God to lead you to wholeness.  Love yourself enough to sit still when He says to; to remove yourself from the people He tells you; and to change your lifestyle.

Sickness is NOT sin.  But sickness can be a result of sin.  Jesus was never intimidated or angry with someone for being sick or broken. Instead, He healed, delivered, and restored them – but he first had to reveal their brokenness (and they had to agree).   God wants every area of our lives “whole”, not just the area that we’re praying about.

Brokenness is usually the result of someone sinning against us – someone misrepresenting themselves to take something valuable from us or dump something worthless onto us. God can liberate us from brokenness regardless of how it originated. We will never be perfect while on earth, but we can be liberated from the stuff that causes us to hurt ourselves and others repetitively; the kind of brokenness that alters our lives and disables our ability to function in a healthy relationship. We need to be whole enough to feed life into others and receive love in response.

Love yourself enough to obey God’s commandments – to not glut, fornicate, adulterate, smoke, drink, drug, etc. – and refrain from the things which He forbids.  These things break down your body, mind, and spirit.  Love yourself enough to be healthy enough to combat pestilences, diseases, famine, etc.  If you’re sick (from disobedience), you won’t survive the times of trouble.  We need an overflow of a healthy life to help our neighbors.

Love yourself enough to not have an adulterous relationship with a married person.  Married people are under covenant with God, and God won’t tolerate a meddler.  You will reap it:  Mark 10:9 “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

• Liberation is DELIVERANCE

God can deliver from any sin:  addiction, demonic oppression, family curses, mental imbalances, emotional traumas, habits, soul ties and anything else that replaces our time with Him.  But we must want to be made free, God won’t force anything upon us.  If we want to be spiritually whole, God will move heaven and earth.  He will never just leave us alone to fend for ourselves.

we cover sin to hide it; Jesus uncovers sin to remove it ~Terri

God delivered me from alcohol and cigarettes in a ‘snap’, but He continues to heal, liberate, and reveal truth to me from glory to glory.  While we are on this earth, we will never be perfect, but we can be whole.

Love yourself enough not to play with Satan.  There are other kingdoms of this world that are not of Christ. When you start meddling in other kingdoms and religions, you pick-up other spirits – and that requires ‘special’ delivery.  There are all kinds of spirits and many mimic Christ – but are not of Christ.  There are wheat and tares living on this earth.  Tares can confuse many Christians (except for God’s elect) by pretending to walk the walk and talk the talk.  With time, the wheat and tares will grow to maturity and our identities will be made known.

Matthew 13:30 “Let both grow together until the harvest…”

• Liberation is GIFTING

Gifting in the kingdom is using your gift to mature other Christians.  When we are born-again, God gives each of us an immediate gift/s to help build His church.  We are to use that gift/s our entire lives and grow them.  There is no such thing as retiring from the Kingdom.  The gift belongs to Christ, and He gives it to us to use for His purpose. 

Each one of us will be responsible for the gift he gave us and whether we were obedient in using it.  Since we are all unique, God tells us where to go (which church (or not) so no church hopping) and how to use our gift in his kingdom. 

When I was born-again at 16, I started hearing music from the Holy Spirit.   I would constantly hear original music playing in my spirit from God; someone could say something, or I could be thinking about something, and it would trigger a song from God.  The songs were coming from God and was complete with music and voices as if I was listening to the radio (it was original music, being created by the Spirit at that moment).  I would spend my spare time (at the piano with manuscript paper) writing what I heard.  I copyrighted some and saved others – God didn’t tell me anything else to do with them. 

Then one day years later, He told me to start reading the Bible on a regular basis.  I was like, “ok”, but I didn’t really because I was spending a lot of time at the piano writing songs.  Then suddenly, He took the music from me.  I was so accustomed to having this music as a part of me, I felt empty.  After a few days I asked God why He took it.  He told me that I can’t write music and be in the word at the same time.  

So, a few days later I was sitting at the piano fiddling around trying to conjure up   something or hear something from Him.  Then He said loud and clear, “That’s mine – not yours!”

I was like, “That’s fine with me…you don’t have to tell me twice!!!”  So, I decided to leave it alone and just do what He said.

It all belongs to Him…

reading the Bible + obeying the Holy Spirit = liberation ~Terri

Liberation is required to even get along with God. If we don’t work well with Him, we don’t work well with others. People who try to manipulate other people will also try to manipulate God into making Him give them what they want. We can’t be effective disciples if we are still in bondage manipulating others, in poor physical health, debilitated by family discord, and mentally/emotionally unstable.

God had to change my perception of who I am by showing me who He is. He gave me truth – to stand firmly upon him – so that I wouldn’t sway with “what the people think.” He had to show me that He intentionally made me the way I am so I could develop respect for myself and others on this earth (that He intentionally made). I eventually realized that God has a destiny for me and for other people, too, who are and will be in His fold. He had to teach me over time that I was not a mistake; neither were my past sins and hurts, nor my destiny that He has created for me. I had to give myself a break and stop trying to mimic other people in the world who didn’t even know who they were.

Before I knew it, I no longer compared myself to other people because there was no comparison.  I didn’t need to “try” to be who He said because I was transformed into it.  I no longer needed the approval of others.  God made me to be who I am from the beginning of time. 

We were all created as unique vessels in God’s image.  He gives us purpose by showing us His plan for our lives and our relevance in His kingdom.  Growing in righteousness develops power and the confidence to know we belong to Him.  His love begins to cast out our darkest fears as we learn that He has overcome this world, therefore, we have the right to be liberated from it. Then we can go where He sends us and affect others – instead of being affected. The power of God trumps all powers and principalities.