February 21 2015

February 21 2015 Greetings My Friend Learning to pray was a difficult journey. A counselor taught me the ACTSS prayer format and that format opened the door to having conversations with God. I even wrote of my journey in a book called “On the Way to Wholeness by Way of ACTSS” found on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. A-accolades, C-confession, T-thanksgiving, S-service, S-supplication. The more I read my Bible, walk in faith I see that these steps are an important part of learning to walk with Jesus. The more I train my mind to think on God and His Holiness the more I see that these steps help me to walk away from dysfunction. I find that as I write my blog and my Facebook page “Letters From Janet” I come back to these steps to living my life. At first I questioned “why?” Today I just do it and know that in just doing it I find answers to life’s questions and struggles. In the 10 commandments God states there is only One God and we shall have no other God before Him. I used to think “great, we don’t literally worship stone god’s and set up altars anymore. As I began my journey I saw today’s equivalent to “other god’s” in money, possessions and the like. Learning to acknowledge God and His greatness helps me to stay centered on God only. Part of my prayer is “Father God You are the only God, the Bible teaches me.” Next I found at the start of my journey that some groups would say “We worship the same God” and I would be confused. Both groups had Abraham as their father and God did appear to Abraham and well the confusion was big. God taught me though one year as I kept reading the Bible and seeing repeated over and over that “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” God doesn’t say this once but many times. The more I read this I understood that God was teaching me the Bible and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was where I needed to focus my faith. Confession, I hear this a lot as I read both the OT and the NT. God wants us to confess for our own good. He does not want to beat us up with our faults. I learned to “name” my sin, pride, lust whatever and in naming it I was able to see the problem. As I was able to see the problem God started showing me ways to walk away from the sin. Thanksgiving is also in the Bible a whole lot. In learning to be thankful I have learned how much I truly have. I started to loose the “sin of comparison” and be grateful for what I truly had. I learned the difference between a want and a need. God gives us what we need. I found contentment with the way I was, what I had, who liked me etc. Service teaches me to serve God. I used to enter into all kinds of serving activities only to find myself exhausted. Today I ask God to show me where He wants me to serve and my service is more focused and the results are much better. It isn’t about how much I do but how well I give my heart to the service. Supplication, teaches me to look outside of myself and to seek God’s help in another person’s life. Agape love is when you are seeking another person’s highest good. This teaches me to quit being an enabler, a taker and to seek each person’s best. First I find my identity in Christ which means I am not seeking love for love’s sake but a person’s good. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet