Dealing With the Root Issues - Plan For Blessing

Our prayer should be, "God, please show me the truth about myself. I don't want to be at this same place next year, so if I have things holding me back, show me what they are. Help me, Father, to change. Help me to get to the root of my problem."

God is knocking on the door of new rooms in our hearts, maybe rooms that we haven't let Him enter previously. The only way He'll come in is if we invite Him. The doorknob is on the inside. I have discovered that I can allow God in some rooms of my heart, yet keep Him out of other rooms. Some of those rooms can be painful or embarrassing. Hidden in some of those rooms are hurts and wounds from the past. It's where our weaknesses and shortcomings are tucked away.

God continues to knock. If we want to get to the source, then we must look inside; we must allow God to shine the floodlight of His Word in every room of our heart.

Make sure that you're not carrying around excess baggage. If you have areas in your life in which you constantly struggle and you can't seem to get free, then you need to ask God to show you what's holding you back. If God brings something to light, then be bold enough to deal with it.

You can be happier, you can have better relationships, you can break free from anything that's holding you back, but you have to do your part. Be honest and face the truth about yourself. Let's not do as the children of Israel did in the years following the Exodus, thinking our lack of progress is somebody else's fault.

Perhaps you have been spinning your wheels, going around in circles year after year, and are not really happy. You need to be honest enough to say, "God, show me what it is. Am I relying on other people to make me happy? Do I have unrealistic expectations? Am I going to be happy only if I get married? Am I allowing my circumstances to keep me down? God, show me the truth about myself."

One of the first things we must do is to stop making excuses. We have to quit blaming the past. You may have been through a lot of heartache. That may be the reason you struggle with bad habits or why you have trouble in relationships. Perhaps you suffer from low self-esteem. That may be the reason, but don't use that as an excuse to stay the way you are. Take responsibility. Many people have had unfair things happen, and they go their whole lifetime allowing that experience to poison them.

You may have had a negative history, but please understand, you don't have to have a negative future. What's important is not where you've come from. What matters is where you are going.

If you want to become a better you, it is important to put the right actions along with your faith. It's not enough to believe, as important as that may be. We have to take it one step further and start expecting. While we are expecting good things from God, we should be making plans. We need to talk as if what we are praying about is going to happen. We should dare to step out in faith and act like it's going to happen.

God has put dreams in every one of our hearts. We all have things for which we are believing. Here's the key: We have to go beyond believing. True faith puts action behind it. If you're sick, you need to start making plans to get well. If you're struggling in your finances, start making plans to prosper. Lay your faith on the line.

Too often, we say that we are believing God for good things, yet with out actions, we're doing just the opposite. Understand that your faith will work in either direction, positively or negatively.

When you face sickness--and we all have things come against us from time to time--don't just give up and start making plans to live with it. That's not your sickness. Quit taking ownership of it and start making plans to get well. Our attitude should be, this sickness didn't come to stay, it came to pass.

Don't quit dreaming. Keep the vision in front of you. Keep believing for good things.

Speak words of health over yourself. Talk about the long life God is giving you, then put some action behind it.

Old is a state of mind. Your body may age, but if you'll stay young in your spirit, your body will age even better.

Maybe you have a history of serious illness in your family. You must stand against those diseases and believe God for good health. You can be the exception. You can be the one to start a new standard for your family. Here's what you have to do: You must think differently, and you need to take a different tack, take different actions. You cannot prepare for defeat and expect to live in victory. Keep your faith working for you, rather than against you.

I realize that we can't just wish things away; sometimes we can't even pray them away, but we can decide what we're going to plan for. We can plan to get old and lose our health, or we can plan to live a long, healthy, blessed, prosperous life.

Have a big dream for your life. Make provision for abundance. Start preparing for good things; prepare for success, prepare for abundance. Prepare for victory. Prepare for a long life. Prepare for good health. Get your faith going in the right direction. Start making plans to live a blessed, prosperous, healthy, joy-filled, abundant, long life. If you do this, God will do more than you can even ask or think. He will pour out His blessings and favor and you will become a much better you.