Grace Place Insights

by Vanetta Stephens

Articles:

1. OVERCOMING NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

2. WALKING ALIGNED AND BALANCED

3. THE IMPERFECT VESSEL

4. EFFORTLESS CHANGE... WELL, ALMOST!

5. STICKS & STONES

6. PEARL OF GREAT PRICE

OVERCOMING NEGATIVE EMOTIONS| By Vanetta Stephens

Emotions are like indicator lights on a car’s dashboard.  When the oil light comes on, for example, you don’t get out the tools and fix the light.  Why not?  Because you have learned that ignoring the oil light, and not checking the source to discover why the light came on in the first place, has the potential to ruin your engine. That could leave you stranded, facing huge expense, and costing you quite a bit of time and effort.

Due to the times in which we are currently living, I thought it might be beneficial and encouraging to use the emotion of fear as an example of what you can do to walk in victory over negative emotions.  Remember, applying God’s Word to your thought-life doesn’t necessarily mean your circumstance(s) or situation(s) will change.  God does, however, promise to change you and me. You can walk in victory in every situation, even if things in your life NEVER change.

Here are some great verses for you to meditate on and read, repeatedly, until you feel like the “aha-moment” has happened.  It takes time.  Remember that everyone has belief systems that have been established since childhood.  Some are great, and in-line with the Word of God.  Others are mindsets that are not helpful. The enemy of our souls has done many things repeatedly to reinforce these mindsets.  Be patient with yourself and know that it may take awhile before you feel like anything has changed. Feelings are much slower at changing than thoughts. This is not an exhaustive list, by any means. This process can be applied to any emotion.  It is coming into agreement about what the Word of God is telling you to do, and then doing it!  Ask God to highlight to you, personally, what it is that you need.  He will, just give Him time.

Romans 8:1 “Therefore there is NOW NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ.” (NASV).    If you are a Child of God, then you are NOT judged guilty, ever!  This is a great verse to apply to the “if onlys” that come to your mind. They go something like this:

“If only I hadn’t taken that job.”

“If only I had seen that coming.”

“If only we lived here or there.” 

“If only I had taken advantage of that investment opportunity.”

“If only I had finished my degree.”

“….studied harder”

“….married this other person”

“….lost some weight. “

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity (fear), but of power, of love and discipline. (NASV).  Children of God have received perfect, unconditional love from God, so now we are to walk in it and give it to others. From this love perspective, Christians have the ability to discern things the way God sees them. 

1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” (NASV).  The New Century Version of this verse says it this way:

“Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love drives out fear.  It is punishment that makes a person fear, so love is not made perfect in the person who fears.”

Understanding the depth, breadth, and height of the kind of love God has for us, NO MATTER WHAT (there are NO conditions on God’s love), is the revelation everyone needs to see the negative emotion of fear leave, and peace move in. (See Ephesians 3:18-19.)

Emotions of fear may continue to arise but knowing that YOU are perfectly loved by God, even if the whole world is against you, is where courage comes from enabling you to take steps needed so that fear is no longer in control. The Truth shall make you free to be all that God has created you to be.

The feelings of fear, or any other negative emotion, may not completely leave; the goal is to make them submit to your will and not let them control you.  Make them submit to your new thoughts that are based on The Word of God.  I love an expression I heard many years ago, and I do not remember who to credit with this saying, but it goes like this:  “We may not be able to make the ‘butterflies’ go away, but we can make them fly in formation”.  This means that you can control your emotions, by:

1. Recognize what you are feeling.

2. Check what your thought-life has been like.  What has been coming to mind?  What are you picturing?  What are you LISTENING to/paying attention to?  (This last one is a biggie, since faith is strengthened by what you listen to and focus on).

3. Ask yourself, “How do I see myself?

4. Evaluate the situation. Are you looking at the result of some actions to determine if what you did was right or wrong? 

Feelings always follow what you are thinking about.  Everyone thinks at lightening-speed or has habits and conditioned responses that were developed over a period of time.  Many times we are just unaware of what is going on in our thought life. When negative emotions, like fear, begin to take over bit by bit, it’s time to look at what you are thinking about or imagining.  It isn’t good to let emotions lead. They are fickle.

The key to experiencing the fruit of a renewed mind, and live in peace, is to believe that God speaks the truth. You have to decide if God tells the Truth, or if He lies.  There is no in-between with God.  He is all one or all the other.  If you believe He tells you the truth, then use that truth to settle the doubts that come to mind and pay no more attention to them.  If they come back, speak the Word of truth and do what the word says.

When you feel negative emotions rising to the surface, look at them as though they are red lights and delve into what caused them to be set off.  Fixing the root problem is the only way to overcome negative emotions.  Make them follow.

© Copyright 2010 by Vanetta Stephens. All rights reserved.

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Walking Aligned and Balanced | By Vanetta Stephens

On the morning of June 25, during a time of quietness, I began to picture myself in the driver’s seat of a car. In my mind, I imagined myself driving a car that kept pulling either to the right or to the left. I could feel the frustration that occurs when this happens in real life. In addition, I thought about how rough the ride would be when the wheels need to be balanced. When both of these things happen, we are in for anything but a peaceful, relaxing ride.

Isn’t this a great picture of how our lives can feel? In these difficult economic times, and with the types of weather disasters that have occurred during the past several years, many people are not walking in peace. Thankfully, in Christ, we already have the ability to walk peacefully in and through all situations. Most of the time, we just don’t know how to access this peace. We don’t know how to experience it in our daily lives.

Here is an acronym that will be helpful as we apply it to a situation we may be facing, or are in currently:

B - A - L - A - N - C - E. 

B – Bring all Your thoughts into the open.

A great tool for doing this is a journal. Your thoughts can, and do, bounce around in your mind. One thought leads to another and so on. Talk about chaos! Taking the time to jot down some things that seem to go around and around in your mind gets them out! Now, you have a way to see what you spend your time thinking about.

A - Analyze what has been written.

Take a closer look at what has been written. Are there any recurring themes?  Are there intense feelings indicated by the choice of words as they were penned?  Some examples might be fear, anger, jealousy, insecurity, etc.

L - Line up your thoughts with the Word of God.

Look up Scriptures that fit the context of what you are dealing with. For example, when you feel afraid, Psalm 27:1-3 says, “The Lord is my light and the one who saves me. I fear no one.  The Lord protects my life; I am afraid of no one. Evil people may try to destroy my body. My enemies and those who hate me attack me, but they are overwhelmed and defeated. If an army surrounds me, I will not be afraid. If war breaks out, I will trust the Lord.”  (New Century Version) This is a great verse that speaks of fears coming from a variety of sources!

Now, if you’ve never had anyone in your life that you felt you could trust, it may be hard to put your trust and confidence in God’s ability to lovingly care and provide for you. Growing in your ability to trust God is one of the purposes for which this ministry exists.  God is FOR each of us, always. Whether or not it feels like He is, believe He is!  Whether or not you messed up ‘on purpose’ or accidentally does not separate you from God’s love and His desire to come to your aid.  (There are some other resources/Bible Studies/articles on this site to help with gaining more knowledge and understanding of this or another topic).

A - Apply the Word to Your thoughts.

To make any change requires each of us to do something different than what we are currently doing. I’ve heard the definition of insanity as “doing the same things but expecting different results”.  I don’t know who to credit for saying that, but it is a great one.

In the Bible, the emphasis is always on changing the way we think about things. Scriptures like:  Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinketh within himself, so he is.” (New American Standard Version)    Romans 12:2a, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” (New American Standard Version) 1 Corinthians 10:5b, “…We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.” (New Century Version), and many others show us that our thoughts are what have to be changed. We cannot change our emotions. In fact, the more we focus on trying to make our feelings change or go away, the stronger they will actually become. Feelings always FOLLOW what we are thinking about. Sometimes it doesn’t seem that this is true. Thoughts pass so quickly through our minds that we may not have paid attention to them. Also, many emotions have become familiar from some thought that we had many years earlier. Now, it’s practically an automatic response and the thought is not recognized, as if the emotion is so tied to the thought that we are only aware of the feeling. Of course, our enemy loves this. His job is much easier once we’ve adopted a habit.

This is why writing down what you are feeling and thinking can help make what seems elusive, or hidden, actually become visible.

N - Necessary Action.

Replace the old thoughts with new ones. You can overcome fear by renewing your mind. Changing the thoughts that feed fear, or any other emotion, to righteous thoughts can cause you to rise above the emotion, move past the emotion, and continue down the right path God has for you.

Right behavior always follows right thought. Again, it takes time. God’s kind of change starts on the inside and can take a while before the changes show up on the outside. But this kind of change is change that lasts!

C - Center Your mind.

Focus, intently, on the Word of God; on Who God is….Who Jesus is…Who the Holy Spirit is…Keep your mind set on things of God and on the revelation of Truth He’s given for the defeat of your particular struggle, and fight to maintain it. The enemy does not want you to succeed and will attempt to steal the Truth.  Keep your mind focused on the Truth that is taking the place of the old thoughts, because that is where the battle is won! The spiritual battles are in the “head”- or mind. Where the head/mind/thoughts go, the body will always follow. What’s going on in your mind- your thought life- is going to determine the outcome of whether you experience victory or defeat.

Once the Truth has been revealed, you are empowered to defeat the enemy. You are equipped with what you need to overthrow him and his thoughts.

Writing down some specific verses that God has given revelation for on how to overcome any type of thought that wants to defeat me and keep me stuck in some way, is a tool that has helped me over the years. I like to write these verses on 3”x5” cards. I include anything I feel the Lord has shown me, pertaining to that verse. Then, I put them on, or around, my computer screen, bathroom mirrors, over the kitchen sink, on the dashboard of the car, etc. Anything I can do to help enable me to quickly shift my focus is my goal. The enemy wastes no time, so I want to be armed. It takes 21 days of consistency to change a habit. So this is just one of many “practical” suggestions to help keep the new Word in place, instead of the old ones that used to go around and around in my mind.

E - Experience the victory.

As you practice catching the old thoughts and replacing them with the new ones, the victories experienced will enable you to move into a lifestyle of overcoming the enemy.

Revelation that starts on the inside is the key to any lasting change. When we feel out of control, or we can tell by our emotions that something isn’t right, it’s time to take note of them and see what they are indicating. Journaling is just one idea. It has worked great for me for many years.  God may have a specific, unique way that He wants you to capture your thoughts. The tool isn’t the important part; the Truth is.

By aligning your thoughts with God’s through knowledge of Him, His Word, and gaining understanding and wisdom, you can more easily walk a balanced, peaceful life regardless of the circumstances and situations you may have to pass through on your journey.

© Copyright 2009 by Vanetta Stephens. All rights reserved.

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THE IMPERFECT VESSEL | By Vanetta Stephens

Lord, I am Your vessel.

Though my desire was to be clay in Your hands,

I’m afraid I helped You too much with my own hands.

I thought I could see so clearly,

So I helped You with my opinions and thoughts.

You let me help for many years, until finally

The vessel broke with many tears.

I diligently crawled on my hands and knees,

Each tiny piece I wanted to retrieve.

No piece missing, but now a mess,

I lifted the pieces to You and admitted

I had tried too long to be the perfect vessel.

I see, Lord, You knew all along

My plans would never work.

You let me try, by Your great patience.

Now, with having surrendered

All of the broken pieces

I see with greater clarity how valuable

All of the cracks in the vessel are to You.

Each piece, You have placed with great care;

Quite different from my ideas.

In this arrangement, I see that it is all about You-

The Glue-Who holds it all together.

You don’t want perfect vessels.

You want vessels that allow You to do what You desire.

Most important is not what the container looks like,

But how dependent each part is upon You

Holding everything together.

I no longer fear brokenness,

For out of it, I see construction

For a more dependent me-

Upon my Savior.

In You, The Imperfect Vessel is made perfect.

© Copyright 2009 by Vanetta Stephens. All rights reserved.

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EFFORTLESS CHANGE... WELL, ALMOST! | By Vanetta Stephens

“Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”  Psalm34:3

I grew up in a Christian home and had parents who were very involved in different aspects of church ministry .The above verse, and others that are similar, were heard or read often. Singing about magnifying the Lord was not uncommon. However, it wasn’t until many years later, as a young wife and mother, that I finally gave some thought to what I was singing. It is not a complicated thing, but truly I had never given it any thought. I had to change the way I thought about this verse.

Paul said in Philippians 4:8 to take great care in what we think about!  Why?  “As a man thinks within himself, so is he.”  Proverbs 23:7.  All action starts inside. We do the things we do, because what we think feeds what we believe. Actions are just the outside manifestations of an inward heart condition. In order to change anything, our belief system has to be changed. For me, my focus had to be shifted to how magnificent God is.  I had to make Him bigger than whatever negative thing was weighing down my thought life.

In case you are wondering, the word magnify (according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible) simply means:  to make bigger; to enlarge.  In addition, it means to lift up; to advance; to boast; exceed, excellent, grow, increase, nourish, promote.  The idea is to center our attention, and let our thoughts dwell, on how magnificent God is. To make Him bigger than any other thing or person in our lives that is vying for our attention. This includes lamenting over our mistakes or even things we have done on purpose.

As an encouraging word to you, I want to tell you that change is simple! God’s word to us is simple. The flesh and soul will be at odds with us as we attempt to make changes, but the word is a simple word.  It is this: shift our focus.  Simply put, it means to determine to look at, listen to, and feed our minds with God’s word.  To concentrate on Him and learn more about who He is. 

Have you ever wanted to grow peaches? You would need to purchase a peach tree and prepare the soil. Once planted, the tree would need regular watering. Fertilizing appropriately would be very important, as well as applying some type of bug repellent.  In the right season, what would be your expectation?  If you said, “Peaches”, you’d be correct. You’d have a confident expectation that the tree would bear fruit because of the attention paid to the nurturing of the roots.

I have absolutely great news for you! All of us are just like that tree. Letting the Holy Spirit attend to our roots, taking care of the weeds and pests, we can have the confident expectation that at the proper time, fruit will appear.  How easy is that!

As you choose to change the way you think, I highly recommend the tool provided on this website called the BIRTHRIGHT BOOKMARK.  Read it everyday while standing in front of a mirror, looking at yourself straight in the eye. Something great will happen! You will begin speaking these truths with confidence and boldness, because the Truth will sink deep into your heart.

As you do this daily, gratitude for God will increase. Magnifying Him will begin to flow out of you as the revelation of how truly awesome He is sinks deeper. In time, you will find that the things that weighed you down no longer have the same hold on you that they once did.  Feel NO guilt or condemnation if you stumble. God is not condemning you.  Just get back up and keep going. It is a journey we are on. The destination will be reached. That is the fruit of your spending time with Him. No fruit of the Spirit is ever produced by humans. It is God, Himself, manifesting in your life in the form of patience or peace or love, for example.

What we focus on will develop in our lives. If we dwell on the negative things happening in our economy, as an example, we will find fear growing instead of peace. Success will occur only when our thoughts are on the pure, lovely truths of God and of His kingdom.  Think about these things and enjoy the fruit.

© Copyright 2008 by Vanetta Stephens. All rights reserved.

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STICKS & STONES | By Vanetta Stephens

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

This familiar childhood quote was said many times by me, and probably by you too. So, is this a true statement? Do words hurt?

What I have found in my lifetime is that many of my scraped knees, sprained joints, and bloody noses have actually healed and are quite forgotten. However, when something goes wrong, or when I make a mistake, I find I immediately can hear stinging words of the past replay in my mind. Literally, in seconds, I can be back in the past at the time and place where ugly, hurtful words were spoken. Here, once again, they spill over into my mind and heart, causing pain.

We all have experienced the hurt and wounds of unkind words. So the truth is, words hurt. That’s the bad news. The really good news is that there is something we can do about it.  We do have a choice. Romans 12:2, states, “Do not change yourself to be like the people of this world, but be changed within by a new way of thinking….” I have a choice to learn to think differently from what I have ever thought before. This is crucial to understand, so that I can take my Birthrights, bring them into my Earthlife, so I can experience the KINGDOM LIFE God intended for me to live.

Romans 3:4 says, “God will continue to be true when every man is a liar.” That means anything I speak, anything I read or listen to, that says anything different from what God says, is a lie!

We may not be able to control the words of other, but we have a choice with our own words. Our words have creative power. We can create order and peace for our lives, or chaos and confusion, which is destructive. In Deuteronomy 30:19, God said he sets before us two paths for us to choose. One is life, and the other is death.  Proverbs 18:20-21 says that life and death are in the power of the tongue, and that we will eat the “fruit” of whatever we speak. James 3:6(b), “The tongue is set on fire by hell, and it starts a fire that influences all of life.” This is a powerful scripture that reinforces the truth that what we speak influences everything we do, and everyone we come in contact with.

James is also quick to point out that there is no one who can tame the tongue (3:8), but that doesn’t mean we should not stop and consider the things we say. In addition, it would be good to evaluate what we are listening to, and looking at.  They are speaking to us all of the time. 

I am a new creation. Praise God I am NOT what I do, and I am NOT what I don’t do. I am a child of God, who finds some things easy and some things difficult.  This is why we need each other. I can bring life and hope to you when you are experiencing difficulties, and you can bring life and hope to me when I am experiencing these things

. 

Letting the Truth that all of us are valued and dearly loved by our Heavenly Father, in spite of our mistakes or our wrong willful choices, is the key to walking in victory over every unkind or hurtful thing that has ever been spoken to us. Since the Creator of the universe chose to love us, while we were still His enemies, (Romans 5:8), how can we not love ourselves, nor love others?  We truly do have a choice.

I have been making some new recordings in my mind.  Now, when things don’t go right for me, or I feel like I made a stupid mistake, I have the new tape that I can choose to pop in, with a new message to replace the old one. The old one was a lie. The new one is the truth! Now, I can choose to live without rehearsing my past, and in this way, it’s like I have a brand new past. It’s as if those ugly things were never said.  But it’s up to me to put in the truth, and it’s up to me to know the truth, so the truth can indeed set me free.

The next time you hear this rhyme, consider that words may not break bones, but they do break hearts and hurt people’s lives.

© Copyright 2008 by Vanetta Stephens. All rights reserved.

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PEARL OF GREAT PRICE | By Vanetta Stephens

"The kingdom of heaven is like a man looking for fine pearls.  When he had found a very valuable pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it."  Matthew 13:45-46.

You have probably heard many teachings on this great passage.  It is referring to how valuable the Kingdom of God is and how we should be willing to give up everything for the sake of pursuing the wisdom of God.  For a few minutes, just to BROADEN our thinking, lets think outside the box. I want to approach this from a little different perspective...

I would like you to consider for a moment that the man looking for treasure, or fine pearls, can represent God (or more specifically, Jesus). 

God knew, from before the world was created, that the enemy would tempt the first man and woman to sin, and that he would succeed. His plan had already been prepared. There would be an appointed time for God to send His Son to rescue humanity from the clutches of the enemy.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish, but  have eternal life."  John 3:16.

The word "so"  in this verse means, there is no more.  There is no more love He could show beyond giving His Son to die in our place, so that we could live. This is extreme love.

Jesus also has this love in Himself.  We read in Philippians 2:6-8,  "...who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Now, as we look back to the passage from Matthew, with the verses from John and Philippians in mind, we can see the picture of God, the Father, and the Son looking at the "pearl" of great value.  I want to encourage you to see that YOU are that pearl of great value and worth to God. The value of something is determined by how much someone is willing to pay for it.

You may be thinking,  "Well that's okay for my friend or family member, but I'm not worthy;  I've messed up too badly;  I'm filthy;  I'm too broken". I could go on and on, but I believe you get the idea. All of us were enemies of God.  In fact, Romans 5:10, in the New Century Version of the Bible, states:  "While we were God's enemies, He made friends with us through the death of His Son.  Surely, now that we are His friends, He will save us through His Son's life."  This is an incredibly wonderful verse. Jesus died while we were still hating Him. Dying for a friend shows great love, but how many of us would die for an enemy?  Not many! 

I know it's difficult to think of God loving you, especially when you read words that are all inclusive like "the world" in John 3:16.  Truthfully, if you were the ONLY one that needed Christ to die for you, He would have come and done everything He did for the masses, just for you!  I am praying for you to hear what the heart of God is saying to you.  You are HIS Pearl of Great Price. He saw YOU, before you were even born. 

Then, Jesus placed so much value in you, that He left heaven. Which means He chose to leave all He had ever known and experienced, and a truly perfect world, to come here.  And for what? To be humbled and mistreated in every way imaginable to "buy you  back", (that's what redemption means), from the enemy. He paid the price that you could never pay to present you to His Father as perfect, blameless and HIGHLY valuable. He wants you for His very own. He considers everything He paid for you worth it. He loves you so much that He has done everything, so that nothing could ever separate you from His love (Romans 8:39).

The desire of God the Father, and Jesus the Son, is that you see the value that they have placed in you. No one can love themselves, or any other, if they don't see the value. To walk in love for others requires you to truly love, value, and respect yourself. Note that I'm not talking about rudeness or haughtiness. Rather, it's the  true worth and value God has given you. You are truly free when you embrace that, and allow others to be how God created them to be.  When you know that the Creator of the Universe loves you perfectly and accepts you AS YOU ARE,  how can you not treat others with that same perspective. This is why it is so important to understand that you are a PEARL OF GREAT PRICE.

Know that you are truly worth everything, and loved dearly by God. Then recognize that God loves everyone with that same love and value.  The outcome will be a deeper relationship with God.  Worship and gratitude will begin to flow from your heart. You will experience a new-found freedom to be all that God created you to be;  truly free to just enjoy God.

© Copyright 2007 by Vanetta Stephens. All rights reserved.

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