When you allow God to have his way in your life, especially in the areas that are seemingly unrelated to the things you’re praying for, what God can perform goes beyond what any man has seen or heard.

Have you ever experienced a spirit of heaviness come over you during the day? What if I told you that one of the enemy’s greatest tactics is to create this sort of atmosphere just so you’ll be more willing to receive his lies? In an environment where you’re overwhelmed with these emotions, lies that couldn’t work on you when you were at your best, now have the opportunity to be made manifest. 

Fear has a way of causing you to spiral. It starts with one “what if” and now all of a sudden you are worried about your family, your future and everything in between. I want to remind you that even when the world seems to be falling apart God still has great and mighty things in store for you. God still has plans to give you a future and a hope. God still has exceedingly and abundantly in store for you and He will always do what he said he would do.

Surface-level work is ineffective. Real transformation happens at the root. 

Humility is the ability to come before God and say “this is what I think, this is what I believe, but I don’t know. You are God. You see all. You know all. Your ways are perfect. Your perspective is the only truth. Teach me. Show me the way.” Humility brings you to a place where you are willing to get it wrong by the world’s standards if that means more intimacy in your relationship with God. 

Obedience doesn’t come from a place of performing for God or others - doing things because you think they are right or because you think it’s what a “good Christian” does. Obedience flows from you as a response to a relationship you have cultivated with God. You do what He says because you love Him. You do what He says because He has shown you that you can trust Him. You do what He says because He is the only one that sees your entire life from start to finish and knows precisely what is best for you.

Anxiety can be broken off completely through prayer. Fear can be broken off completely through prayer. Joy can be gained through prayer. Hope can be gained through prayer. Revelation concerning your future can be gained through prayer. Peace can be gained through dedicated and intentional prayer. God transforms us through prayer.

Seeking God’s face is your dedication to the process He takes you through. When God answers a question on your heart by giving you wisdom He is revealing a piece of himself to you. When God calls you to higher and empowers you to step out on a different path He is revealing His nature to you. When God prepares you for His promises by pruning away dead branches in your life He is revealing His character to you. You know you have seen God when you receive revelations causing you to know him more.

How can you know what leads you? How do you know whether you are being led by the Spirit of God or being led by the influence of the world or people in your environment? How can you tell the difference between what appears good and what is God? There is so much noise in the world today. How do you discern what God is speaking? Does it matter to you?

God’s silence is a necessary part of our growth. It is intentional because it is in this silence that your faith becomes what it ought to be.

Your thoughts don’t control you, so you must learn how to control them. Self-discipline and self-control are abilities that have to be cultivated and practiced over time.

Transformation doesn’t happen passively. You have to work daily to become who God called you to be. You have to commit yourself daily to asking for God’s help in illuminating the thoughts that are deceiving you. Unlearning can be scary. It’s almost like taking off a Band-Aid you didn’t even realize was there and leaving an old wound open. It’s an overwhelmingly vulnerable experience, I know. But it’s worth it. It is worth allowing yourself to become undone because that is the only way that God can build you up into what is accurate according to His design.

Think about the moments in your life when you are feeling anxious, hopeless, angry, offended, or hurt. Who do you think is talking to you in these moments? While the feelings may be valid at times, the arguments are not. My point is that these moments are opportune times for the enemy to steal something from you by planting thoughts in your mind or by tugging at thoughts he previously planted.

If you find yourself in a place where you want a relationship with God but you don’t really know what that means except that you should have one, this is for you. One of the most meaningful manifestations of love is consideration. We consider those we love in the things we do.

God has this way of pointing out your flaws in ways that make you feel seen and loved, empowering you to change for the better. As you begin to come undone, unlearning and shedding off old traits, God will show you that you can trust Him. He is with you. He is for you.

When you hand the deepest desires of your heart over to God, who knows the entirety of your life in detail, He will take them from you and give you peace. He will instruct you concerning what He knows you need. He will lead you to the place of preparation where He builds you into the person you need to be to have those desires that fall within His will for your life.

If faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, then having faith is a matter of believing God’s word over us.

The Holy Spirit guides us to the truth and tells us what is yet to come according to the will of God.

As the Holy Spirit moves through your life, He builds you up by speaking to you. He is edifying you. Revealing you to you overtime and by doing so building up your knowledge and understanding of your worth.