Showing posts with label heart made whole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heart made whole. Show all posts

Monday, December 18, 2017

Fear and Trust and How to Live

Torah and Christa Black Gifford’s book Heart Made Whole
“Fear and Trust and how to live”


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Tehillim (Psalms) 16:8-11 p 500

Ephsiyah (Ephesians) 2:1 p 883
“And you has he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sin.

Ephsiyah 2:6

Tehillim 139:7-11

Hearing the word is relational
Romans 10:17 

stress  means we have to step back and spend intimate time with YHUH...

Ephisyah 1:18

Intimate relationship with YHUH guards your mind with shalom...
so you don’t have to fear. > it will keep your imagination from running wild... (shutting down those thoughts before they start!)... because you made a better choice!

-  Camping alone in the mountains in Oregon...

Philippians 4:7

Eyes of my heart

Psalm 18:2

Psalm 23:1,5
Psalm 27:4

Psalm 91:4

Psalm 18:6


When I start feeling sorry and shameful and needing forgiveness:

Prodigal son story -

“Every tie my heart sees the truth of this good Father within my heart, it gets easier and easier to actually experience His love and mercy.

Philippians 4:8


“For years I had focused on all my problems, trying to change myself through study, works, and dutiful service.  But concentrating on my problems always left me feeling ashamed, and focusing on all my problems always left me feeling ashamed, and focusing an all my negatives only seemed to produce more negatives.”

“Yet, seeing (Yahusha)  kept making me more like Him.  Each night as I spent more intentional time talking, laughing, resting, and just hanging out with Him, I found that my heart started recognizing His abiding presence during the daylight hours.  In fact, it was as if the overflow of our time together was spilling into everything, and as a result, my thoughts, emotions, speech, and actions were changing - to the point where my husband and family started to notice.”

“The more I communed with the solution FIRST - the presence of the living God - the more His goodness, kindness, and love began to fill up the rooms in my heart and kick out old, unwanted tenants of fear, shame, bitterness, and anger.  It was like i was being stretched and pulled outward and upward, creating more and more capacity inside for abundant life to keep bursting out.”

**

Rostral Prefrontal Cortex - ROPFC

left eye to left eye... right brain emotion

Mom and child brain synchronizes... bouncing emotional signals back and forth 6x per second

“When a baby looks into the face of someone who is glad to be with them, the strengthening body delights it and its joy tank quickly reaches its capacity.... so babies look away when overwhelmed....... as more neural pathways develop - baby can look longer.... like being tickled too much (E  James Wilder).... it’s funny and then it’s not tolerable.
A baby who has reached their joy capacity will break eye contact and look away, and a responsive parent will match their emotion, waiting for the child to look back and connect once again. 

Every time this cycle happens - they are climbing the Joy Mountain (Wilder)
where the baby’s brain exceed capacity for joy, stimulating more nerve development in the brain.  .... as this happens more and more - the ROPFC grows and grows with JOY.
Increasing capacity.

The greater your joy capacity - the easier you deal with problems.

You can only deal with pain to the extent that you have more joy than.

You can only deal with other’s pain to the extent that you have dealt with your own!

If the challenge in front of you is greater than your joy capacity - then you will react in ways you will be sorry about later!

When challenge is greater than capacity, you can get stuck in pain instead of being able to walk through it tot he other side.

“But if you keep your heart connected to Yahusha building space inside for constant relationship,  - then love joy and shalom increase... out weighing the negative emotions. 

BUT many people have  a lot of unhealed pain they are dragging around, and the JOY capacity they have left is very very small....

Graham Cooke says, “If the enemy can’t penetrate your peace, he doesn’t know what to do with you.”

Christa Black Gifford in Heart Made Whole - explains that babies brains develop a lot before birth... and after they are born ... they keep growing - unless there is trauma...

            type B - things that happened to you
            and
            type A - things that are absent from you...

and then growth can stop...and it can even decline.
“The brain development will suffer if there has been a lack of positive emotional stimulation for the heart.”

Christa goes on to say:

“BUT God created everything about us to be redeemable and renewable - especially in the realm of our hearts and minds.  We aren’t stuck with the brain we were born with.  Our brain is neuroplastic, which  proves that our thought life can actually change the physical and chemical structure of our brain.  This is important to understand, because
EVERYTHING THAT WAS LOST CAN BE RESTORED”!!!!


ROPFC - is part of the brain - it knows by EXPERIENCE.

“The right brain doesn’t hear words, but instead computes melodies, intonation, pictures, and rhythms.  Your right brain feels before it understands.  Ad as it fires up inside, it’s much faster than the conscious thought of the left hemisphere.”

“The left brain is what allows you to speak your language and decipher  the words of others.  Yah created our left brains to name and explain things - using logic analysis, and reasoning skills.  It’s the seat of all language an words, factual stories and descriptions.”

“When you experience something, your brain believes and files it away a fact.”

“Which is WHY - when you experience Yah, it sure gets easy to believe Him forming concrete facts about His goodness.”

This is why we need to be spending a lot of time in the Spirit.

So if you have experienced life as unsafe, you MUST have/need a greater experience with Yah - who is protector.... 

You have to have more JOY (positive strength) than negative.

We have to experience YHUH / encounter YHUH!
2 Corinthians 3:17

Galatians 5:1


But if my right brain EXPERIENCED bad stuff  - like abuse, or physical sickness that went unhealed... my left brain locks it away as belief... that this is how it works.

If my right brain has known rejection then my left brain has a huge case against Yah’s love!

But if we are ever going to change - and believe the Truth - then our hearts need an encounter with Truth.

We need to know Yahusha closer than our pain! 

We need to know love greater than our fear!

“Truth is built in a safe relationship”.... and we can have that relationship.

YHUH wants to have relationship so much with us - He gives us a new heart of flesh and His Spirit comes and LIVES inside us!

Christa says “Every part of your brain that might be in a deficit because of your past can be repaired and restored by being in relationship with someone who wants to be with you!”

This means that no matter what trauma you have experienced... or all the trauma you have experienced
            1. Type A - things absent
            2. Type B - things that were in your life that didn’t belong
            and as Caroline Leaf PhD says...
            3. Ruminated on
           
            It doesn’t matter any more because YHUH can heal your brain and your heart!!

so....

A. Pay attention to how YHUH is speaking to you:

1.   Circumstances
2.  The Word
3.  Other believers
4.  What you hear - internally and externally
5.  What you see

B.   “Meditate” on His Word... in order to encounter His Presence

C.    Consider your capacity - is it filled with old hurts not healed, or is it full of shalom so that you have the mercy to deal with circumstances that come up in your life?

D.   Consider - if you can heal... if your brain can change and be transformed by the it’s renewing... are you willing to do this - or continue to do this?

Christa tells an amazing story of a vision with Messiah she had while mourning the death of her infant daughter.... and in it... she is angry... and then collapses in Yahusha’s arms...  and then... she realizes that He is angry... and this is what He said...

            “Feel my scars...  Feel my side....  Who do you think could possibly possess more fury for your loss than Me - the One who bled so that she could live?  Who could be more angry about her death than ME... the one who suffered and died so that it wouldn’t happen!”


Now put that in your story... the story of your hurts and rejections and injustices you have received...

We live in a  place where hasatan is the prince of the air....

and bad things happen.  disasters happen....  death happens... rejection happens... pain past what we think we can bear - happens... 

But Yahusha came and lived and died and rose...
            So that this bad stuff would be overcome!

What if we saw all of our hurts like that ?

that Mashiach hurts more than we do?

Even though Yahusha has the victory....
the battle rages for now....

Remember a few weeks ago - I taught about the anger of Yahusha....  righteous anger....
and maybe our righteous anger is important.

The Word doesn’t say don’t be angry - it says don’t sin in your anger.

You see we have created a very distorted picture of Mashiach (Messiah)... based on the lies we believe... based on our miserable and disappointing and painful experiences...

and that picture says Messiah is far away... so far away in fact - that He will do things for other people, but not for me.

And our distortion has completely lost touch with reality - ...  that he became flesh - and He can relate to every emotion we have.  ...

He feels our pain... and knows exactly what we need when hurt tries to destroy your hearts

Christa writes...
“[Yahusha’s] intention for us as believers is never to suppress the truth of our emotions and put on fake religious smiles, attempting to deal with very natural feelings on our own.”

“When life hurts, we hurt just as He did - and that’s simply okay.”

“He never wants us to beat up our hearts as they bleed, kicking our emotions to the side, quoting Scripture at them in anger, or willing ourselves to change.”
Pain brings deepest brokenness, and a hurting child always wants to run into the consoling, safe arms of a loving parent.” 

“Feeling our pain doesn’t prove that we lack faith - it proves our need for constant connection with YHUH.”

Yahusha taught us...

He sweated blood.
He wept, he sobbed and he groaned.
He was sad.

As we decide to feel everything.
We don’t have to carry the emotion by ourselves to heal our own hearts...


She goes on ...

Wholehearted living doesn’t mean living void of pain.  It means being so alive in every moment that we’re also able to stay present without trying to escape - even when everything hurts like hell.  But the only way to accomplish this is to learn to be with someone inside of that pain - Someone  inside of that pain  - Someone so strong that He takes the pain and exchanges it for constant comfort, healing, counsel, hope and love.”

Definition of JOY according to Christa = “Someone's glad to be with me.”


Yahusha never expects us to be happy because of trauma!
The awful won’t ever make us happy...
but happiness doesn’t come from that....

Happiness comes from the one you are in relationship with!

“Each day as my heart would scream to be numbed, I would turn around and face the truth. 

Christa writes,

“Each day as my heart would scream to be numbed, I would turn around and face the truth. 

And the truth is, I was in agony, not knowing how to survive the death of my daughter.  I would close my eyes and see my bleeding heart - mangled, torn and full of pain -- knowing that without the right medicine, that pain could turn into disease like bitterness, distrust, despair, and unforgiveness.  So instead of ignoring my heat as it screamed, I would intentionally hand it over again and again to my best friend [Yahusha].”

“In those moments of surrender, I learned the unfathomable power of raw acceptance and confession!

and she said she prayed... something like...

“this is where my heart is today and it is a mess.  I am not going to condemn it for being a wreck, beat myself up, try to heal myself, or force myself to change.  I’m going to accept that if this is where I am today -- wounded and broken - then you will meet me right there in my pain and begin to heal me with your love.”

...
and worry comes - as we are functioning so well in the battle...
worry and fear... ideas or pictures of my loved ones getting hurt....

“Remember argument in 2 Corinthians 10:5 are thoughts that haven’t yet become beliefs and strongholds are beliefs that have rooted within the heart. 

So we have to immediately renounce it repent of it and declare the truth...

Fear and bitterness can’t take root in our hearts so long as perfect love reined.
I John 4:18

So when we hurt... over and over again we have to make a choice to turn TO Yahusha!


“For decades my goal was to avoid pain at all cost.”  She writes.. doesn’t that sound like the world?! And ourselves!

“The hell of the experience is miraculously bearable when the kingdom of heaven when the kingdom of heaven is alive within my heart.”

~
So we have to feel the emotion /PAIN with Yahusha. 

“So take a moment with the hurt....  breathe deeply....  and practice the art of raw acceptance.”

“Accepting that you are without shame....  will change everything about your life.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Resilience and Overcoming

Resilience - Overcoming

Our deepest pain can be turned into our greatest healing in the hand's of the Father - Harbour Light Ministries

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Messiah’s blood - offered because our blood is not clean.... H cleanses our blood...
*

Let’s talk about resilience.
We’ve talked about it before... and we have learned that it means...

          - To be able to look at your situation and recognize - “yep this is awful”.... AND then to be able to say... “but it will get better. I have faith/hope that it will get better.”

Isn’t it interesting that it is about FAITH... looking at YHUH?

Okay  - so life is difficult...

But this week I had a moment...

You know those moments... when you have looked at something a thousand times, but in this one instance...  you see it differently?!

We know - life is hard.. it is always hard...
and as I said... “It is always hard...”  I saw something more...

no seriously - look around... 
think about your situations... most things have significant challenge.

And we can be thankful for that challenge because that is what grows us and tests us and refines us and purifies us.... etc...
But most things are hard.

Well - it’s no wonder.... the prince of the power of the air...

Ephsiyah (Ephesians) 2:1-2 p 883
“And you has HE made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 In which in ties past you walked according to the course of this olam, according to the prince of the power of the air.”

No wonder life is hard!  No wonder everything seems uphill!

that is not a complaining or whining statement... it is just the facts!

But let me remind you about negative and positive Hebrew words:

In Hebrew- All words negative words go back to the same root...
          which means  “taking something and breaking it/ crushing it/ destroying so it is not useful for it’s designed purpose - It’s dysfunctional.”

And also in Hebrew - All positive words go back to the same root....
          which means “something that is collected together/ made whole/ gathered together and drawn into echad (one) - functional.”

It is very challenging to remain functional ... in a dysfunctional world.
-    a literally dysfunctional world because the prince of this air is hasatan!



          “None of us finds out what we’re made of when everything is rolling along nicely; we find out who we really are when hell is pressing in from all sides. Trauma burns with such a hot fire that if we have an cracks in our foundation, all of them will be exposed.”

-You see, when bad things happen... we have a choice...
Just like in the Word... when Moshe says...
D’barim (Deuteronomy) 30:15-19 p 162


Interestingly enough....

Yisrael has been defined ....

                    Yisra’el = “YHUH overcomes”

*
In Luke 11 - it is talking about casting out shedim (demons)

Luke 11:22 p 738
“But when a stronger one than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.”

“overcome” = G2538 = nikao

John 16:33 p 772
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have shalom.  In the olam hazeh you shall have tribulation:  but be of tov courage;  I have overcome and conquered the olam hazeh

Romans 12:21 p 848
          “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with tov.”

I John 5:1-5 p 8:33

Rev 2:26 p 912
“And he that overcomes, and keeps My mitzvoth to the end, to him will I give power over the gentiles (nations).”

Rev 2:22 p 912
“He that has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach says to the Yisraelite congregations: he that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”

Rev 3:21 p 913
“To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My kesay, even as I also overcame, and have sat down with My Abba on His kesay.”

Gilyahna (Revelation) 12:17 p 919
“And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her zera, that shomer the mitzvoth of YHUH, and have the testimony of Yahusha the Messiah.”

Gilyahna (Revelation) 14:12 p 921
“Here is the endurance of the Yisra’elite kidushim:  here are those that shomer the mitzvoth of  YHUH, and the emunah of Yahusha.”

Rev 17:14 p 923
“These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:  for He is Master of masters and Melech of melechim: and they that are with Him are called, the chose and faithful people of Yisra’el.


Rev 21:7 p 926
“He that overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his Alohiym and he shall be My son.”

So how do we live/ fight / overcome?

We read many times that it is about keeping YHUH’s instructions.

and...

Gilyahna (Revelation) 12:17 p 919
“And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her zera, that shomer the mitzvoth of YHUH, and have the testimony of Yahusha the Messiah.”

Gilyahna (Revelation) 14:12 p 921
“Here is the endurance of the Yisra’elite kidushim:  here are those that shomer the mitzvoth of  YHUH, and the emunah of Yahusha.”


Let’s look at some tools:

Focusing on = saying and praying Scripture!

I can look at the power of the prince of the air - and all the situations around me....  or I can look up at YHUH and praise Him!

Yahusha (Joshua) 1:7-9 p 167
“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may shomer to do according to all the Torah which Moshe My eved commanded you:  trun not from it to the right hand or the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
8 This scroll of the Torah shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may shomer to do according to all that is written in it for then you shall make your derech (path) prosperous, and then you shall have tov success.
9 Have not I commanded you?  Be strong and courageous; be not afraid, neither be dismayed; for YHUH your Alohiym is with you wherever you go.

Tehillim (Psalms) 23 p 503
“... Yes though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,...”

Tehillim 27 p 504

Tehillim 18:1-3, and 21-37 p 501


Ephsiyah (Ephesians) 6:10-19 p 887

Armor ... armor for what?... protection....

Mishle (Proverbs) 4: 1-7, and 18-23 p 551


Christa Black Gifford said it so well when she wrote:

          “You can’t control the storms that pound against the walls of you inner realm, but you can control whether or not your heart chooses to become a shelter of peace during those storms. 
          You can’t control your parents’ decision to divorce, but you can choose whether or not your heart grows bitter and cold.
          You can’t control that you don’t have a job, but you can choose whether o not you move into anxiety or stay steady with trust.
          You can't control the betrayal of a spouse, but your heart can choose to forgive.

          The space inside of your heart is the only place where you will ever have full ownership and authority.  You are the guardian of your heart, and as the final say over your inner realm, you’re the only one who can decide what happens next.

          At this very moment, your life is the sum total of all the choices you have made, because you’re the only one who can make them.  you can either choose to surrender your heart to pain monsters, or to a Healer who died to make everything whole.”

She has a terrible story of losing a daughter... and in her grief...
five months after... she wrote about that particular day... of answering people’s “How are you?” questions...
         
          “Today is the most painful day of my life, but my heart is still thriving.”

She wrote of all that she could have done but chose not to...
I have not shut down like I have in the past
I have not medicated through addiction.
I have refused to live numb.
I have not run to escape.
And I will never turn my back on the pain..

In this very moment, I’m standing inside the most agonizing moments of my life, knowing that if I don’t continue  to deal with the pain that accompanies this trauma, it will destroy my heart and cripple me for years to come.  So each day I choose to confront reality....
and when I sit down in the hottest fire of my life, the unexpected happens: The very place of my deepest pain miraculously becomes the starting point of my heart’s greatest healing.”

“You see, pain itself is not the enemy.  Pain is inevitable in this bumper car life where you will continue to collide with a fallen world that you cannot control.  Unhealed pain, however, will become your greatest foe if  your broken heart is not made whole again after each collision.  And there is only ONE who can take the shattered pieces of your heart and put it back together so that it flourishes even in the worst situations.”

“When you’re living in wholeness with (Yahusha) and your heart is thriving, you can be unshakeable, living fully alive in each moment, taking risks, trusting your heart, fully aware of what you love, remaining yourself in every circumstance, and adoring (YHUH) with every part of your being.  However, if your heart remains broken, even as a (believer) you will experience consistent separation between your heart, soul, mind and spirit that keeps you from living in joyful connection with (YHUH) and others.”

“The enemy knew that if pain lived inside your heart for long enough, it would end up controlling and ruining the abundant life (YHUH) intended for you.
          Plainly put, TRAUMA is any place in your heart where your pain stays greater than you joy.
          The problem isn’t that trauma happens, but that most of us have no idea how to repair it.”

*******
But YHUH does - he created it/ and us!!

Focus on Him... know His Emet (Truth)

and if we are focusing on Him....

Romiyah (Romans) 12:1- 21 p 848

          (focusing on Yahusha and ‘positive thinking’ / choosing LIFE)
~
Tesloniqyah Alef (First Thessalonians) :5:16-18  p 897
16 “Gilah (Rejoice) always
17.   Make Tefillah (pray) without ceasing
18.   In all things give hodu (thanks); for this is the will of YHUH in Moshiach Yahusha for you.”

Sh’ma Yisrael
AMEIN.