"The Lies We Tell Ourselves"

 Reflections4Life™ December 4, 2022

“The Lies We Tell Ourselves”

“...and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation 26:27

Scripture Contemplation: Psalm 31; 120; Proverbs 6; 12; Isaiah 59; 1 Timothy 2...

©Ruthe McDonald.

God desires us to live a life of truth. To live our lives in such a manner, that it is above reproach. However, how many of us live our lives in truth when it came to others but lie to ourselves? Many may not practice lying to others but hold the crown for lying to themselves.

I decree that this week's Reflections will be a continued source of encouragement and inspiration for your heart, mind, and soul. Allow the light of God to shine on those places in your heart that you have tucked away. Let the truth come forth so that you may be free, and live the life that God has ordained for you.

Psalm 51:6 “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.”

It is sometimes hard to accept the truth when it comes to our own faults, flaws, or something that may have happened to us. The truth can be painful, and we will do almost anything to avoid that pain. We will even lie to and convince ourselves that all is well, when in fact, we are nothing but broken pieces of clay, patched and held together by the lies we tell ourselves, and the false portrait we paint for others, suggesting that all is well in our lives. Inside we are crumbling, too afraid to allow the truth to come forth and bring healing, for fear that exposing our truth or dealing with our truth is far too much for us to bare.

Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

For far too long, we have been holding on to issues that have stagnated our lives. Our walk in Christ is limited by our refusal to face the truth and be honest with ourselves and what we have gone through or are currently facing. Too many are hiding from the truth, evading certain issues. We close our hearts to those who get too close to finding out the truth. We hide from who we really are and ourselves. Many carry the fear that not only will others reject them but they will not like what they see or find when truly searching their hearts and facing personal truths.

We lie to ourselves on a daily basis. We tell others and ourselves that everything is fine. That, our lives are great, and we have everything together. When the truth of the matter is: we have been lying to ourselves. Lying so long, that we don't even recognize the truth about ourselves. We have bought into our own fallacies concerning our lives, how we feel about ourselves, and see ourselves.

It is time to stop lying to ourselves and tell the truth! It is time to free ourselves from our past, our mistakes, and our abusers, and confront, that which has been holding us emotionally hostage. We cannot possibly enjoy or receive all that God has ordained for us when in our hearts we do not feel worthy or have not allowed God to heal us from that, which has badly hurt us.

I do not know what your situation or circumstance might be today, yet I implore you to lay everything at the altar, allowing God to mend your broken pieces. There is nothing hidden from God, nothing that will surprise God, nothing that our God cannot handle. You only have to have the courage to tell your truth. Have the courage no to longer lie to yourself, giving it all to God, allowing healing and deliverance to come forth.

Healing and deliverance cannot manifest if we refuse to acknowledge or confront the issues. Freedom from that, which keeps us bound and broken, depends on our willingness to confront that, which has hurt and harmed us. We must have the willingness to bare ourselves before the Lord, releasing all that we have tucked away from our own minds.

At the point of decision, when we are sincerely ready—heart, mind, and soul—we will ask ourselves, what are the benefits of the lies we tell ourselves? What do we get from lying to ourselves? What purpose does it serve to live a lie and not confront that which has hurt us so deeply and profoundly affects our entire lives and relationships?

For many, it is a spirit of fear. Fear of finally confronting and facing what has happened to them. Fear of remembering. Fear of rejection. Fear of someone else finding out. Fear of never being able to move on or have the life that you so desperately yearn for. It is that, the spirit of fear, which keeps far too many crippled. They are bound to a past and all lies that have manipulated who they truly are. It has held so many bound and hostage from receiving all that God has for their lives.

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

The Father wants us free from our pasts and those things that have hurt us and disturbed the course of our lives. In order for us to be free, we first must be willing, to be honest with ourselves; to stop lying to ourselves, face the truth, and do the work that is required to receive the healing and deliverance that is necessary to live the lives that God has ordained for us.

Stop lying to yourself, Beloved. Allow Holy Spirit into those secret places; to touch and heal those wounds that you have been unsuccessfully covering up. Let the anointing power of the Lord cleanse your soul, and bind up every hurt, and wound that you have encountered in your life. Place your life in the Father's hands, allowing Him to turn your broken pieces into a beautiful masterpiece. Tell the truth and free yourself. Walk fully in the blessings God ordained for your life. You ARE worth it. His blood has made you worthy.

My Beloveds, may the spirit of peace and prosperity finds permanent rest in your lives. I decree that every good thing that God has ordained for your life will become evident to you. Allow the cleansing and healing power of God to release and deliver you. Do not be afraid to confront your past, and face your truths. With God, you can do all things because He is your strength. Believe and know with certainty in your heart, that the Father is with you always, and desires nothing but His best for you. Be free. Be healed. Be made whole. You are blessed. Now go...and be a blessing!

©2017. Revised ©2022. Ruthe McDonald. All Rights Reserved.

"Day Break"

 Reflections4Life^tm September 20, 2020

“Day Break”

“For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:52

Scripture Contemplation: Genesis 32; Lamentations 3; Zephaniah 3; 2 Peter 1; Revelation 22…

©Phil Koch

There are times when our nights seem so long. As though they are going to last forever and morning will never come. Especially during this pandemic that has come and irrevocably changed our lives. It's in these times when we experience much pain, aches, uncertainty, and feel trapped in the darkness of a situation, that we must hold onto the promises of God and our faith.

I pray today’s Reflections brings comfort and peace to your heart and mind. I decree it be a continued source of encouragement and inspiration. May you hold on to the Heavenly Father, and trust Him to lead you through the darkness. Let Him hold you, as you expectantly wait for His promised morning to you.

We patiently wait for daybreak. For, the sun to shine through and expose all that has been going on in the darkness. Or simply to bring an end to the night; to the darkness in our lives.

Sometimes it is hard to believe that morning will ever come. That there will ever be a time when you can be free from all the heartache and pain in your life. Yet in Psalms it tells us that weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Many of us have been waiting for our morning to finally get here. We have been weeping for many a night; just about on the verge of giving up. But we can't. We must hold on!

Don't do it Beloved! Don't give up! Daybreak is almost here. Your morning is about to come. It may not come in the manner you thought, but it is coming. And when it comes with its marvelous light, you will understand why your night—your weeping lasted so long. You will understand and know when you see the plans that God has had for you all along. Yes. Even in and through this pandemic we are facing. God always has a plan. And all we have to do is ask Him what it is, and He will show us.

My Beloveds, may the spirit of peace and prosperity find permanent rest in your lives. I decree that every good thing that God has ordained for your life will become evident to you. Hold on. Do not grow weary. You are closer to your day break than you believe. Trust God. Your morning is about to break forth, shattering every ounce of darkness. You are blessed. Now go…and be a blessing.

©2020. Ruthe McDonald. All Rights Reserved.

"Peace in Chaos"

Reflections4Life™ March 15, 2020

“Peace in Chaos”

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” Matthew 6:25-27

Scripture Contemplation: Ecclesiastes 3; Matthew 6; 1 Peter 5…

Who is your trust in? Do you believe in the report of the Lord, or the report of the enemy, the news media, and social media? At this moment, there are people losing their minds because of the current pandemic, COVID-19 aka the Coronavirus. What’s worse? Those who call themselves believers have been the worst offenders, behaving in unseemly manners; totally forgetting that our peace, our healing, our help comes from the Lord.

There is chaos in these streets. People are forgetting about kindness, selflessness, humility, and helping the elderly, the sick, and those who cannot fend for themselves. God called us to a higher standard; to be the light on the hill in the midst of darkness. To be the salt of the earth that has lost its flavor.

I decree today’s Reflections brings comfort and peace to your heart and mind. I decree it be a continued source of encouragement and inspiration for your heart, mind, and soul. Be present at this moment. Do not dwell in the reports of man. Turn off the news for a while and open your word. Live in this moment with gratitude. Allow God to fill you with His peace that surpasses all understanding.

Before this new pandemic struck, how many of us were worrying about next week or next month? Most likely, only those who know what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck. Those who can only afford one meal a day. Those who rely upon schools as a form of daycare. How often do we stop, and be grateful, truly grateful for what we have been blessed with, and the ability to help someone else? This sudden crisis is not foreign or even sudden if we have been reading and meditating in the word of God. We would have heard the Lord speak to our hearts and prepare us for what was coming. We would be walking in peace and not chaos. Our hearts at rest, because we would have long ago been preparing for what was taking place now.

God is a faithful God. He does not leave His children unaware or unprepared. He knows our thoughts. He knows our hearts. He knows what we have gone through, and what lies before us. He encourages us to take no thought on tomorrow, about what we will eat or what we will wear. He has made it abundantly clear that He will take care of us. Yet, because of the chaos, we do not hear Him because of the fear and panic that have paralyzed us and arrested our faith and belief in God. We are behaving like the world, desensitized to the needs of others. How can we be a witness or a place of comfort and example of peace if we are allowing ourselves to be disturbed and unhinged by the current state we are living? We cannot. Instead, we are adding to the chaos and uncertainty.

At this moment, where are your thoughts? What is your focus on? Are you worried about the pandemic and relying on the reports of the Media? Or, are you fretting about what you have, or how you will make it for the weeks and possibly months to come? Or, do you trust God to see you and yours through these travailing times; trusting Him to continue to be your source and resource? Your anchor in the storm? Your shelter in the rain? Your Peace in chaos?

Be grateful for this moment. You are alive and have the opportunity to not only receive what God has for you but also the opportunity to be a vessel used by God to aid others in their times of need and uncertainty. Who’s going to look after the sick, shut-in, and elderly? Are you willing to share from your stockpile of abundance, believing that God will restore everything to you? Seek to do things the way God would have you to do. Be grateful for this moment.

 My Beloveds, may the spirit of peace and prosperity find permanent rest in your lives. I decree that every good thing that God has ordained for your life will become evident to you. Live in this moment with the certainty that God has taken care of your every tomorrow. Let Him be your peace in the midst of chaos; the peace that surpasses all understanding. Do not miss the miracles of today wrapped up in things you cannot change. You are blessed. Now go and be a blessing.

©2020. Ruthe McDonald. All Rights Reserved.

"Naked"

Reflections4Life™ February 23, 2020

“Naked”

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13

Scripture Contemplation: Genesis 2; 3; Ezekiel 16; Romans 8; Hebrews 4; Revelation 3...

Just the thought of being naked before anyone used to terrify me. And, I definitely did not want anyone to see all my “bits & pieces”! I'm laughing at myself right now, so you can also! It's just something about exposing yourself that way. To have people seeing every part of you and making judgments. So not into that! Yet, the Father wants us to come before Him naked—baring our hearts and souls. Laying EVERYTHING at His feet—without shame—so that He may cover us, and we can receive the healing we need and deserve.

I decree that this week's Reflections will be a continued source of encouragement and inspiration for your heart, mind, and soul. May you have the courage to come before the Lord naked; baring your heart and soul. God knows it all, but He desires for us to come willingly. To, lay our all—no matter how excruciating painful or embarrassing—lay it at His feet and trust Him to take care of you.

Every day someone is making a judgment as we are exposing ourselves to the world, whether it is intentional or not. Some of us are overexposed—people know excessively much about us. Whereas, the people that should know us well, know hardly anything at all.

Each time we open our mouths; every action we take—we are exposing something about who we are, or who we think we should be. Some expose themselves to gain attention. For whatever reason, there is a void in their lives. Any kind of attention they can garner, whether it is positive or negative is filling a void, but they still feel empty inside and seek ways to fill it.

I give credit to my husband for opening this line of dialogue and inspiring today's Reflection about being “naked”. Our conversation, in short, was about being totally honest with one another. Sharing our heart and soul; baring our truths—good, bad, ugly, or indifferent—to one another without the fear of judgment or offense being taken. But, with the intent to bring healing, revelation, and an even stronger bond.

He brought up Adam and Eve, and how in Genesis they were naked before one another, and before God without any thought or shame to their nakedness. In fact, they did not even know they were naked. They just were. They were being who God ordained them to be, and they were free. Then sin happened. The first thing they did was to cover themselves. As if, clothes could cover the darkness of our hearts or the shame of our actions. Sin made them feel exposed, as it does to every one of us; causing us to want to hide, to cover up.

The Father desires for us to come before Him naked. He wants us to come before Him fully exposing what is in our hearts, confessing to Him every thought, fear, plan, question, concern. No matter what it is God wants to hear it. He wants us to be free. Free to live the life that He has ordained for us, without the fear of thinking that God will not accept us or love us.

Yes. God already knows it all. The confession, the baring of our heart and soul is for us. It is for us to be free again, and to strip the enemy of any power he thinks he has over us. Coming naked before the Lord and confessing—baring every part of our heart and soul is not punishment, judgment, or condemnation. It is to free us, and release any hold the enemy may have over us through guilt and shame, and to bring healing to our wounds.

Romans 8:1-2 (MSG) With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.

You have nothing to lose but everything to gain when you bare all to the Lord. There is nothing that God has already known or heard, and has not made provision for. We just have to trust and believe that what God has and what God will do His best for us—always.

The shame of their sinful actions caused Adam and Eve to cover themselves. They were not so much covering their nakedness but trying to cover their guilt and the shame in having sinned against God. That's where many of us live today: in a cloak of sin and shame and also of guilt. We are afraid of someone exposing us, or seeing the truth about who we think we are, instead of knowing and believing who God says we are.

With God, we don't have to be ashamed of who we are or what we did. He already knows. He has made a way for us to be free and to change our lives in the process. We may feel remorse, make a confession, and ask for forgiveness, but we no longer have to feel condemned when we accept Christ into our lives.

Yes. There are always consequences to our actions. That is the price of the actions that we take upon this earth. Yet, even in that, we are liberated in our hearts and minds by laying it all before the Lord, and being honest with ourselves, with God, and with those in our lives.

Nothing hidden every stays hidden. Lies always have a way of coming out. We can run from the truth for a while, but sooner or later it shows up, and wants payment in full. I always say and believe with my whole heart that I'd rather be told the truth and be hurt, than to find out a lie and be devastated. With truth, you can rebuild and there is healing. With a lie, there is no trust and broken promises, along with relationships.

Whatever it is that lies within your heart, and in the recesses of your mind, I implore you to bare it all before the Lord. Confess it to the Father and be free from the bondage and manipulation of the enemy. God desires us to walk, and live in truth, and to receive all that He has ordained.

My Beloveds, I decree that the spirit of peace and of prosperity has found permanent rest in your lives. Come naked before the Lord. Allow Him to cover you with His love and heal your wounds with His touch. Exposing yourself to the Lord will only bring you strength, healing, and deliverance from the lies, condemnation, and taunts of the enemy. When you tell the truth, there is nothing left for the enemy to use against you. You are free. You are blessed. Now go...and be a blessing!

©2020. Ruthe McDonald. All Rights Reserved.