~ Decrease Me to Love Father ~

What is love? My version of love had conditions. If you do this for me that means you love me. Anything you did to hurt or offend me meant that you did not love me. To me it actually meant that you cared nothing about me. My love was so dramatic. As a young girl I had a very warped version of love and I trusted no one. This was because of being sexually abused. I thank the Lord he softened my heart and opened my eyes to such truth and revelation about love. I thank Him he came down and rescued me because I was a hot mess ladies. J

The Lord showed me what love is. Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or it does not hold any record of wrongs. It is not envious and always endures, hoping for the best (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). Love does not wait for you to love back. This understanding was crucial to me when it came to my marriage. Love is selfless, Monique. It is not about you in anyway shape or form! Love thinks about others and not self. It is not prideful. Love forgives and does not hold grudges. Love cuts people slack and does not expect them to be perfect. Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). God is love!!! Talk about a wakeup call!!

 I don’t know about you but I can always use some work on my “love walk”. Joyce Meyer said something to the effect “take your eyes off yourself and put them more on people”. The Lord is the very essence of love. Jesus says in Matthew 22:36-40 to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind which is the first and greatest command. Second, love your neighbor as yourself” If it is the greatest command then I think we should pay attention. Love comes freely when you love the Lord and if you catch the vision he has for you, your love walk changes. You have to have a yielded heart to understand God’s love though. You have to first love yourself with the love of the Lord before you can offer it up like hot cakes. Because God’s love truly lets others be themselves then that means you have to do some changing to let true unadulterated, unconditional love flow.

Good news is the Lord loves to sit beside us and show us his way of doing things. He won’t pressure us because he is a gentleman. But He will patiently wait until we ask him to show us. I challenge you to look up all you can in the Bible about love and write out the verses. Memorize them and get them etched in your heart. Pray that the Lord will help you practice all you have learned. Most of all be patient with yourself. You are growing. Your love walk is vital to growing in Christ, so embrace it.

Be more Sisters! Let’s love others unconditionally, like the Lord loves us.

In Christ,

Monique Smith

Prayer Starter:

Lord, reduce me to love. Help me to decrease so that you can increase. I want to love others unconditionally but I cannot do this on my own. Break my heart with what breaks yours Father so that I can grow into the faith filled, loving woman you need me to be. Thank you for your constant love you show me daily. In Jesus name.  Amen 

We can do no great things, only small things with great love – Mother Teresa

~ Truth Based Thinking ~

For years I struggled with my thoughts and my negative mouth. I talked as if I had no hope or faith. I was able to be happy and positive for everyone else around me except myself. I had major issues with the beliefs I told myself. This type of thinking is what is called “Misbelief Thinking”. This thinking causes you to believe the lies of the enemy. You start to think thoughts of depression, anxiety, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness or self-hate and anything about your past. At this time in my life, my marriage was in shambles, many relationships I had with family members were nonexistent, work was stressful and I relied heavily on my own strength to live life. I was saved keep in mind but I just was not seeing any fruit harvesting in my life. I would just say things that were not true about myself so I was miserable not living anything close to a victorious life. I lived without Jesus but I say I trusted him as my Lord and Savior. 

  I truly believed the lies I told myself. For example, I told myself I was fat and then I started believing it. I ate up so much or at times I did the opposite, I starved myself. I was headed down an ugly path. I thought I need to be free of all this. I must work on this but again tried to do it all on sheer determination, but failed. I refused to incorporate the little the Lord was showing me. I did not know how. 

I so much wanted to live a life full of faith. I seen many do it but did not know what that consist of. Then I starting saying prayers like: “Lord, have your way in me”. Daily I started diving into the word. I wanted my thinking to be changed. This desire, I now know was the Lord moving in me (just did not realize it at the time). I started researching God’s character and his promises such as: 

Psalm 139:14 it says "I am fearfully and wonderfully made". 1 Corinthians 2:16 says "I have the mind of Christ" Romans 5:1 talks about being "justified by faith and that I have peace through Christ Jesus" and lastly Romans 8:28 says "all things work together for my good"  So I thought “Wow, how wonderful is this” Little did I know God was pointing me to these promises so he can start building my faith and trust in Him. He wanted me to renew my mind. One key thing I took away from all of what God was teaching me at the time was that if I speak about how God sees me then my thinking shifts to “Truth Based Thinking”.

Truth based thinking is thinking on thoughts that are pure and good like Philippians 4:8 says. You basically start to see yourself just as the Lord sees you and this is crucial in your walk with the Lord. What was hard started to become easy. Slowly the thoughts become less over time. The more I stored his word in my heart and mind the more I learned how to use the word of God to combat the negative thoughts and misbeliefs I struggled with. I was not paying attention to how I talked to myself before and the enemy used that to his advantage. But today, this is a different story. If the Lord can start to change my “negative thinking” than sisters he can do the same for you.

Today step out in faith. Trust God at his word and every time those thoughts come, start declaring what the word says about you. Watch and see that the Lord is good and he will come to all that truly believing in him. Study his word and ask him to help you. God will never fail you. 

In Christ, 

Monique Smith

Prayer Starter: 

In the name of Jesus, I take authority over my thought life. Even when I walk (live) in my flesh Father, I will not carry on my warfare according to my flesh. I will seek your word and store your promises in my heart. My mind will not wander out of your presence Lord. My life shall glorify you - spirit, soul and body. Whatever is true, worthy and honorable, kind or gracious I will think on these things. Lord, I want more than anything for your will to come to pass in my life, help me to purposely seek after you. I make you the Lord of my life. Amen

  

Wake Up Sleeper!!!

How many times do we fantasize? Dream about this or that? We really have a vision but just waiting for that perfect time to launch it. We do not really share it with anyone for fear of this or that. We pray and ask God to reveal his plans but wonder will his plan truly come to pass. For years I had a vision to help but I did not know exactly what that looked like. I prayed and prayed and asked the Lord to use me and still nothing. One day at church my pastor asked us to turn to Ephesians 5:14 and there it was. She shouted "Wake Up!!!!!!!!!! Wake up sleeper and God will shine upon you". She began to speak and I felt as if God was talking directly to me. "Monique, wake up! I have had a plan for you since the day you were born. Every heartache was not in vain or trial that you faced. I want you to WAKE UP! Arise from the dead. I will breathe life into you and you will become my helping agent".

I have been in school studying for my Master's in Human Service Counseling with a cognate in Life coaching with Liberty University. My desire and vision is to help and be a Christian Life Coach empowering women. I also will pursue another degree in Bible & Theology so I have a deeper knowledge of the word. I love the word and I know I have a gift and I wish to use it for his glory. There is much to be done but I will Wake up! I will arise and God will shine upon me. I have faith and know my steps are ordered and he will work his plan through me. It is my sincere hope that through my personal testimony I can encourage and empower you to be faith filled women with a vision too.

I encourage you to wake up that dormant dream, goal or vision. Tag team with the Lord and let him speak to you. Seek him daily. Pray, pray and pray some more. Wake up Sisters!!!!! You have purpose!

"For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” - Ephesians 5:14 (ESV)