I Have Hope

“I have hope!” Those were the last words a guy said to me this morning as he was walking away from our meeting. Jesus gives us hope. Jesus takes our broken sinful lives and brings healing to our broken hearts. He redeems us and transforms us. He heals us, and sets us free from the things holding us captive. With all the evil in the world, and as broken people we can have hope in Jesus. Jesus is the only person that has never lied to His children, He has never had to apologize for something He has said or done. He does what He says He is going to do. He never leaves us, never turns His back on us no matter what we do. His love is not based on conditions. He loves us with a steadfast love, a perfect love. Jesus is the only person we can have hope in. I have hope, do you?

Sex Trafficking + Hollywood = Taken

This past weekend my wife and I watched the movie Taken starring Liam Neeson. Some friends of ours thought we would like the movie. Liam Neeson plays a retired special agent, whose daughter gets kidnapped in France and he sets out to find her. As soon as the daughter was “Taken,” I started to wonder if the movie had to deal with Sex Trafficking. Sure enough it did. This movie shows the very dark and sad side of Sex Trafficking, which is becoming a major problem all over the world. Statistics show that 32 billion dollars a year is spent on sex trafficking with 9.5 billion being spent here in the United States. Each year thousands of children are at risk for sex trafficking. Take some time to watch the movie Taken, it will open up your eyes.

Feelings are not Facts

Feelings are not Facts. This is something we teach our guys who are going through Refuge. This concept comes from Abraham Low and his Mental Health Through Will Training. A lot of times we feel a certain way, and because we feel a certain way, we will act a certain way. When we act a certain way, we believe certain things about ourselves that is not true. Let me give an example. If I feel unloved, unacceptable, unworthy, I will act as if I am unloved, unacceptable and unworthy. If I feel and act as if I am unloved, unacceptable or unworthy I will believe that I am not loved, not acceptable, and not worthy. Once all three come together in our mind, we make it a fact, I am unloved, unacceptable and unworthy. Dr. Low explains this, “How is it possible to change feelings info facts? It is accomplished by allowing feelings to be bearers of truth. You see, feelings either are or they are not, they are experienced or they are not, they are present but they are never true or false. Thoughts alone possess the quality of truthiness or falseness. So if feelings tell lies about us they do so because an incorrect or deceptive thought is attached to them. The deception is accomplished by the thought, not the feeling.” With that said, the way to control feelings is by controlling the thoughts, to base the thoughts upon solid facts. Scriptural Truth. It is a FACT, I am loved by God, because of this FACT, I choose to BELIEVE the Word of God as truth. I then can ACT on that truth and my FEELINGS will be different. If we keep our thoughts upon God’s truth, and what He has to say about us and recognize that my feelings are not facts we will live so much differently. By understanding this idea and having a firm knowledge of who we are in Christ, a person can stop being controlled by their feelings. “Truth is what God says regardless of how I feel!” Author unknown.