Gimme Power!

Despite my doctor reading numbers on a blood test and proclaiming that hormone levels do not indicate I am in menopause, my body, mind, and overall well-being beg to differ.  I feel ... funky.  Funk leads to worry.  Worry leads to bouts of temporary depression.  Temporary depression leads to more worry.  More worry leads to more funk.  You get the picture.

For the last few years, this seems to be a reoccurring cycle.  During these times of "I'm going to scream if I don't start feeling normal!",  I notice that I give power to all the wrong things.  There is validity to my power exchange.

When my Mom was 48 years old, she died.  She had been sick on and off for the last 10 years of her life.  When I don't feel "normal", a head game ensues.  I've recognized that I equate sickness to powerlessness because there is a belief that was discharged in my brain at a young age that sickness eventually leads to death.

As I walk with Jesus, and he teaches me His way of life, I understand more and more the difference between AUTHORITY and POWER.  Because we are a spirit, God told us that we wage war against those things that we can't see - those things that are in the spirit.  In the spirit realm, when Jesus died on the cross, He was given all AUTHORITY.  He disarmed rulers and authorities that had previously ruled supreme - and that means the evil one.

Now, the adversary of Jesus has power.  The Bible says that he is the ruler of this world.  But he, being an unfair and underhanded player of the game of life, uses his power to intimidate us into believing that he also has AUTHORITY over us.

When we are in Christ, we belong under the AUTHORITY of Christ.  That means the enemy no longer has the right to use his power against us.  But what he forgets and wants us to doubt is that the cross removed his authority over us.

That's good news.

But how does that work ... when I'm feeling nuts?  or lose my job?  or suffer injury from a jerk boss?  or fight with my spouse?  or get sick?  or stay depressed?

Walk with me a minute.  Stay with me.  Tony Evans (1) gives a wonderful example that speaks volumes to me.  If a madman comes into your home with a gun and tells you to sit in a chair or give him all your money or empty your jewelry drawer into a pillowcase ... you sit in a chair, give him all your money and empty your jewelry drawer into a pillowcase.  He's got the power.  That gun calls the shots.

But ... what if that gun had no bullets?

Dramatic pause ...

For me, when I'm feeling nuts, I'm learning to hear from Jesus, the author of Truth.  He tells me that HE has AUTHORITY.  When I operate from this point of view, the "feeling nuts" looses power.  I can choose to let feeling nuts scare me, worry me, wonder when normal will resume etc. or I can remember that Satan desires to give this feeling of nuts way more power over me than is necessary.

I'm practical.  I like that God knows that and gives me lots of practical to help navigate life.

This morning as I was dipping into my homeopathic tablets to help balance hormones and wondering when my heart would stop beating against my chest, I opened my Bible.

Don't worry about anything.  Instead, pray about everything.  Tell God what you need and thank Him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God's peace.  Philippians 4

When I realize under whose AUTHORITY I reside, I take a deep breath and tell him, through prayer, what's making me nuts.  I visualize those things being taken from my hands into the hands of a loving God.  And then, that place where I can not see but certainly can feel - my spirit - is made light.

I may need to repeat this recipe several times during my day.  But, its an exercise in reminding myself who's I am ... and under who's AUTHORITY counts.

Just for fun ... let this clip below serve as a visual reminder of the source of your POWER.
You've got the power!

Gimme Power,
Christina

(1) tonyevans.org