Monday, October 19, 2009

Spoken Word Curses

As a deliverance minister, I am always surprised to learn that many people live their lives with an invisible chain around their necks. It usually takes the form of a spoken word curse inflicted by someone in authority. This individual could have been a parent, teacher, spouse, boss, even a pastor. (You'd be surprised how many pastors curse their own sheep.)

Spoken word curses are easily broken in the Name that is above every name - Jesus. When you break that curse over your life, believe the Word of God which says, "the curse causeless shall not stand." Don't get it twisted! Just because somebody speaks a curse forcefully and with a good dash of spookiness, doesn't make their theatrical show of intimidation potent. A curse can't stick to a child of God unless you put your trust in the power of that curse.

You must recognize a spoken word curse for what it is and decide that this day ends its destruction in your life! Then, declare the blessings of the Lord over your life. You must verbally do this and you must believe in your heart that the same God who wakes you up every day and who has said that he loves you with an everlasting love, would never side with destruction and death against, you, his beloved. The devil is not more powerful than God, folks - He is the one that created the devil!

One of my former leaders once tried to curse me for leaving her ministry. Can you imagine? I thought she had lost her mind. I have taught in the area of deliverance ministry and dealing with demonic spirits for years. She had sat under some of those same teachings. I recognized a curse when I heard one and couldn't believe she had the audacity to attempt to speak one over my life. After I got unmad, I declared her spoken word curse of no effect over my life. I was born in the night but not last night, and nobody gets to curse me and get away with it. I decided a long time ago that only God's Word is allowed to have the final authority in my life!

Whenever somebody tries to use their authority or headship over you to intimidate you or manipulate you into doing something they want, that is witchcraft pure and simple. Know what your rights are in Christ Jesus and refuse to tolerate it. If you let it take root in your life, one day it will be a tree and bear fruit in your life. Words have life and if you allow a spoken word curse to stand unchallenged in your life, you consent to it and walk in agreement with it. Break it now and do it verbally and with conviction.

Monday, October 12, 2009

What's On Your Mind?

All kinds of thoughts bombard the human mind on a moment to moment basis. Not all of these thoughts are good thoughts - even in the mind of a good person. So many of these thoughts are self-defeating, negative thoughts that can become self-fulfilling prophecies if allowed to develop a root system.

This train of self-defeating self-doubting, self criticism and harassing self-condemnation is deadly in that there is no one else besides you who can challenge its reign of terror in your mind. In other words, nobody can defend you against your own harassing self-thoughts. This mental beat down of your own self is secret, mostly brutal, and is hidden to the light and truth of day. Besides being mostly untrue, this private self harassment is also impossible to defend against because when we are angry at ourselves for foolish choices, we seldom consider both sides of the balance sheet in our judgement of ourselves.

So...what are YOU thinking about all of the time? What do you think of yourself? Take a daily check of the kinds of private thoughts that you think about yourself. It is one thing to correct yourself mentally for inappropriate behavior or bad decisions. It is a whole different matter to routinely nourish an unhealthy habit of nailing yourself to the cross in secret. To walk out the purpose on your life in purity and in strength, you must learn to embrace your own vulnerability and humanity. And, you must also learn to put self deprecating thoughts into balance and perspective! Yes it is a good thing to do self-reflection and to evaluate the way you responded to something or the mistakes you made with respect to a failed choice. No it is not a good thing to berate and harangue yourself for something that is in the past. Forgive yourself, rebuke yourself, laugh at yourself, hold yourself accountable, love yourself, celebrate yourself, be gentle with yourself...and keep growing and stretching!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Baby Steps

The Word of God says that "we should be careful for nothing..." - that means that we should not be anxious about anything - no matter how bad it looks. I am convinced that this is only hard to do if you tell yourself that it is. I have found great comfort in quieting myself before the Lord, reading a portion of scripture that speaks to my dilemma, and then prayerfully and quietly placing the matter into God's hands. The fact of the matter is that anxiety is nothing more than fear - and wherever there is fear, there is lack of trust and confidence.

The safest place in the whole wide world is the very center of God's way and will. In order to find it, you must search out his ways and then yield. I wonder sometimes if all of the worrying and fretting we do is not really fighting...that is, fighting against yielding. If you fight against yielding - you are really fighting against submission to God's decision. Why not make a decision to stop fighting against God's decision about a thing and just quietly yield. An old gospel hymn says..."oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, and it's all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."

About Me

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As a preacher and public speaker, Elaine Rose Penn has been described as "bad to the bone!" She has gained a national and international platform as a motivational speaker, trainer, life purpose coach, and an author of two books currently available on Amazon.com. Her novel, "When Kingdoms Fall: A Novel About the Fall of Lucifer" is due for publication in a few months and is a sure winner for readers who love Biblical suspense, action, mystery, and intrigue!