Where’s the Bible say “trust yourself”? (part 1)

Where in the Bible does it say to trust yourself?

Prov. 3:5 tells us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.”

The Bible teaches us to trust in the Lord completely and fully.

Proverbs 3:6 goes further: “In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.” This tells us to acknowlege God in ALL areas of our lives, not just “spiritual” ones.

Proverbs 3:7 warns us: “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.”

We are warned NOT to be wise in our own eyes!

So, is the phrase, “Trust your heart” biblical or unbiblical?

Jeremiah the prophet had a better heart than any of us and he said this about his own heart in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?”

If Jeremiah considered his own heart to be deceitful, how much more should we NOT trust ourselves!?!

Trust the Lord. Doubt yourself.

-Mark (trusting God at His Word)

“Pre-forgive me!”

Have you ever had this attitude toward the Lord?

“Lord, please forgive me for what I am ABOUT to do?” I call it the “pre-forgive me” syndrome. People are taking lightly the consequences of sin and the grace of God which abounds so much in our lives when they have this attitude. Our counselees do this all of the time, unfortunately.

Reflect for a moment: do YOU have this type of attitude right now about some sinful area of your life (can be in your thinking, speaking, or doing)?

There is no pre-excuse for what you choose to do. God holds you responsible. Even more so, we are taking Him for granted when we make this type of decision willfully against Him. At the bottom level, we are choosing to believe the lie that sin is good rather than God’s way of righteousness is good and best for us. It is a lack of trusting in the Lord.

-Mark (glad that God does grant forgiveness for all of my sins yesterday, today, and in the future!)

A god of lightning bolts! Ouch!

Some people, even Christians, understand that God is sovereign, all-powerful, and strong but that’s all they understand about God. They miss that He is a God of love (I John 4:8) to us as revealed in the Bible.

These people mistakenly believe God to be a god of lightning bolts – ready to strike them down whenever they do something wrong. It’s a half-truth because God is just and there ARE consequences to sinful choices! For those who are NOT in Christ, they will experience the wrath of God at the Judgment Day. In the meantime, it is the goodness of God that leads to repentance according to Romans 2:4 - therefore, He is even being good to those who are not yet saved by the blood of Christ.

However, not so for us who are committed followers of Christ, trusting in Him alone for eternal life! We will NEVER see the wrath of God! That wrath was poured out on Jesus on the cross! He bore our wrath so that we might bear His righteousness!

What a gift!

So, do I see a god of lightning bolts anymore? No, not now that I am saved by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ!

Now, through biblical counseling, I can share this GOOD news with others every day!

-Mark (thankful for our God of love Who IS LOVE)

1 > 3

I got to play dodgeball at church recently. The format was 3 on 3 and it was fun!

What I learned in that experience was that 1 is greater than 3. Let me explain.

One team won because it played together as ONE. The other team lost because it played as 3 individual players and not as a united team.

1 > 3

It’s the same at Truth in Love Ministries! We know that being united in Christ as two individuals in a biblical counseling session is greater than counseling alone. We do TEAM counseling. In fact, nearly everything we do is in teams of two. When we are united, we find strength in numbers that allows us to defeat our opponent: Satan and the lies of this world’s system.

One is always greater than any number when that ONE is Christ Jesus!

-Mark (teaming together with committed Christians to do the work of biblical counseling and watching God win as He always does!)

Women Understand Men Much Better…

Women understand men much better than men understand women.

In biblical counseling sessions, I have observed this interesting phenomenon: Men are clueless when it comes to understanding women and how they think!

We men must learn how women think. We must be taught. We must be taught by women!

Women, on the other hand, understand men pretty well. Women certainly understand women. That’s for sure. Also, women understand men pretty well, although not 1oo%. Sometimes women get frustrated with men because I think they wonder why men just don’t get it!

Why is that? Let’s look in Genesis 2:22-23: “And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (The Hebrew words for woman (ishshah) and man (ish) sound alike.) – The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001 (Ge 2:22-23). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Woman comes from Man. That’s why she better understands man! But that’s why she wrongly thinks man should better be able to understand her. Man can understand woman but he must be taught!

That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it until someone tells me otherwise.

-Mark (man, oh man, how clueless we are! be patient with us, please, all of you women!)

True Victims don’t WANT to be Victims!

Interesting observation I’ve had through the years in counseling.

Christians who have truly been victims really do not want to stay that way. They want to be victorious through Christ!

Another observation – those who are not true victims of others’ actions but are victims of their own poor choices or failures to be responsible. In other words, these persons often want to blame someone else for their failures and when they do, they THINK they are victims but truly are not.

Obviously, the above scenarios are not always the case but are simply observations!

Why blog this? Because you and I know someone who is MIRED in self-pity and continue to point their finger at the wrong person or thing as the cause of their problems. Really, this person needs to point the finger at SELF, confess their wrongs to God, repent, and cry out for His gracious forgiveness.

That’s what the Lord would have us all do! Saying “I’m wrong” to God leads to freedom. Saying “I’ve been victimized” when it’s truly one’s own fault leads to bondage. Just read about Cain in Genesis 4:1-16 and see how his failure to repent led him away from the Lord.

There is freedom in Christ!

-Mark (experiencing the freedom God gives me in Christ!)

A defeated foe!

Last time I checked, Satan is a defeated foe!

In Luke 10:18, Jesus said “…I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven…” That ought to motivate to trust in God in all biblical counseling sessions for all problems!

Enough said.

-Mark (thankful that God is sovereign and His power is stronger than the evil one)