Yes the title of the post reads 'strategic' for a reason; it takes strategy to change our thought process. It takes strategy to learn how to regroup as [life] happens and as stress rises and falls. Strategy: A high level plan to achieve a goal under uncertain conditions. I think the term fits the bill perfectly!
The first order of matter in our strategic plan to blow through the bars of fear and the kinds of feelings that hold us down and keep our minds imprisoned under a wall of insecurity, is to understand Why we keep falling victim to 'anti-peace' to confusion, & anxiety which lead us to actions/decisions that carry us right back through the same door of chaos; right into satan's lair! :O
[ LET'S CUT THOSE STRINGS and free ourselves from being Satan's puppets! ]
Satan is the master of confusion period! He's here to play us, to get us under his thumb so that we become his willing puppets. You see, he's an Expert at this, a Master Manipulator. It's why we THINK we're the one's in control, but we're only playing a part in satan's 'reality'! He wants to keep us staring in his 'reality programs' so we are never really prepared for what life gives us, so that we loose our connection with God's programing. Here's how his plan works:
* Isolation: When we are disconnected from our creator, our Lord we are isolated and right where Satan wants us! [ It's easy to slip into this frame of mind with our varied and busy lives! Guilty here too!! ] Our Father God who is our God Father; our (Don) so to speak :{}. He's promised to cover us, Jesus God's ONLY son sacrificed for our sin wages. Our slate wiped clean. Satan hijacks our minds and brainwashes us (on the subtle!) :{} that we are still worthless, bad, that Gods knowledge and ways are irrelevant, outdated for modern times, that we must forego Gods gifts, be our own boss so to speak, and start networking with him and his army!
* Having NO strategy: from failure to connect/form a relationship with God. Our Father is Omnipresent; he is the Supreme Strategist who's strategies provide us with the SOUND frame of reference to base our lives on. Our bad decisions and or overblown reactions, our angry/fear based actions, all stem from falling for Satan's strategies! There is no contingency plan, only plans laid by
God! :()
[ We all go through periods where we're feeling better or worse about our selves & our place in this world, even when we're depending on God; but we must allow Him to keep teaching and leading us into what real confidence is. Janine struggles with this and has become the LivingThruGrace Crew house [s@#t] starter because of it! :{} :O Her lashing out and provoking the other ladies stems from not understanding who she really is in God In Spite of her PAST circumstances; we're ALL a work in progress... ]
* Self-Confidence: this doesn't mean that we can't feel good about ourselves, but that we should Recognize this confidence is brought on through and by God. I know this world teaches us differently, but the fact remains all our confidence is God given, it comes through him, it's for him! Man recognized confidence leads to pride. Godfidence is where it's at! Always has been.
[ Violet's been through a lot and used to get in scraps with the other ladies like Janine, but she's come a long way in the Lord! It's been hard, hard work for her; but she's worth it! ]
* Trapped in the past: We all do it; EBD - Emotional Based Decisions :() Here is where we really need to have God centered [based] strategies!! As people, we seem to have that Default setting to act before we check in with our 'Life Coach' [ Our Lord ]!! If If had a dollar for every time this happens... I'd be a billionaire! :-[] Emotional actions often lead to 'me' based decisions instead of what's best for our entire current situation. Or, we get stuck on actions and reactions that have always been effective in our past; [ Guilty of this one! Hand raised! :() ], but it no longer applies to our present. This will be a lifetime struggle, but just like committing to changing eating habits, quitting smoking, working out etc...we can honestly recognize our actions and commit to working through it with our Lord's help. All is Not lost, (don't give up!!!) :)
[ Learn to break free and to depend on our Lord!! ]
* Expectancy: Instead of asking God for his help we've become dependent on the 'others' in our lives. In order for us to learn to make better decisions which will lead to God's Peace we need to learn to need him. He is our advisor, our friend, our discipliner. We won't necessarily be ok with God centered decisions, but we will have the PEACE of knowing we are living and acting in ways that please
him!!!! :()
[ We're apart of God's army! We WILL win this war!! ]
There's a distinct pattern here; All of these behavior paradigms lead to one, the only one who CAN help us in a way that we cannot help ourselves. Peace from God isn't the [hippie induced] peace from the world :{}; it doesn't mean we'll live in some man made utopia where we're always happy. Remember, we are Transformers! I'll keep saying this because it's true!! God is concerned about our Character not so much our comfort. This is a difficult concept for me because I always atempt to seek comfort through 'micro-managing' the situations in my life so that everyone's happy. That NEVER works and it leaves me exhausted!!!! :() There's so much more refining through the fire to go through for our own good...Let's keep our determination to walk with God, to walk together, so that we can keep on keepin' on and not fall into the pot holes of our lives! We Can Do It!!!
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