There are two schools of thought when it comes to weighing yourself in attempting to lose weight. One is to weigh yourself only once a week and the other is to do it daily.
When it comes to walking with Jesus, we must weigh ourselves moment by moment. The Spirit uses guilt like a scale registers weight gain. It’s to get our attention. “Hey, you’re going the wrong direction.” You can ignore it and continue to stray from Jesus, which only brings further pain through loss of joy, peace, satisfaction and so on.
True guilt, meaning we’ve actually done something wrong/sinful, is the Spirit calling us to repent, change directions, to get back to Jesus, the source of all the good.
Feeling guilty is your choice. You choose it by making the choice to step away from Jesus and then continue by ignoring the Spirit’s call to return. Scripture, however, says if we confess our sins Jesus is faithful to forgive and to cleanse us from all guilt (1 John 1:9).
Choose to get rid of guilt by acknowledging what you’re doing is sin. Asking Jesus’ forgiveness. And then taking action, a faith step empowered by the Spirit, to now do what Jesus said to do. Guilt will be replaced with peace…guaranteed.
Set Fre“E” Now“W”w

Transfer of trust is what the Christian life is all about. Think about it for a second. From the moment you place your initial faith in Jesus to the time you leave this planet, you are constantly challenged to transfer your trust from yourself to Jesus.
At the point of salvation, it’s trust in yourself to punch your own ticket to heaven to trusting in what Jesus did for you to take you home. For sanctification (i.e. becoming more like Jesus), it’s trust in yourself to make changes in your life to trusting Jesus enough to love, listen and follow Him.
It’s a daily battle I know, but what choice do you have? It’s either you or Him. We get comfortable with living our way, even as believers. And yet, we must keep learning to transfer our trust from ourselves to Jesus with each decision we make. It’s the only way to truly find real meaning and satisfaction on this planet.
S“E”t Free Nowww

I was talking with a couple who were experiencing both sides of alcoholism. I could sense they were coming to a stark realization – both were being selfish. One was meeting their needs their way through alcohol while the other was meeting their needs their way by trying to save their alcoholic spouse. Both were selfish as both were trying to solve their problem their way.
Proverbs 28:26 makes this observation about such choices. “Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.” Other translations use mind or heart instead of themselves. No matter what word is used, though, God is telling us that solving our challenges our way is basically telling God to take a hike as, “I’m God now” (Ps. 14:1). We’d never say we’re God aloud, but we sure act like it at times, don’t we?
Choosing to listen to Jesus and then follow Him in any given situation brings safety, which in the Proverb means to make smooth or to rescue from a slippery situation. Think about it, what happens when we all of a sudden walk on something slippery? We usually fall, sometimes quite hard too.
Don’t want to fall and hurt yourself? Then stop acting like you’re God! Slow down the decision making process a tad. Stop and ask for God’s wisdom – the practical how to do. Then rely on the Spirit’s strength to do what He says. Then and only then will you stand on solid ground. That’s God’s promise to you.
S“E”t Free Nowww

My wife, Jan, and I were checking out a new hike. As we faced the mountains, we took a route that would hopefully add mileage to our hike, but still allow us to get to our desired mountain peak following the same ridge line.
As we made our way up the path and over this ridge line, however, we saw we were wrong. The peak where we wanted to go was actually separated by another peak that was behind it.
Was this a failure? No! We learned what not to do next time. We didn’t quit, either. Instead, following my wife’s suggestion, we went around the back peak and eventually made it to our destination.
Failure is only failure if we fail to learn from it. It was not our intention to go the wrong direction, but we did. We could either get angry at having to walk further or chalk it up to a new learning experience and move on. We did the later.
Jesus doesn’t want us to learn through our failures as they bring consequences, but through His grace and mercy, it’s not the end of the world if we do. We never abuse God’s grace; but at times, we will need to use it.
Set Free No”W”ww

There is a word flying around these days – narrative. It means “a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious.” Did you catch the last part? People can tell stories about an event that are simply not true and it’s okay if people are buying it.
This is dangerous territory. Our enemy loves to mix truth and lies together in one story. He loves to get you to believe that because one part of his story is true, so must the rest. Wrong!
Jesus said the truth will set us free from all the negative consequences that fictitious stories bring. We make decisions based on what we hear, like other people’s stories or narratives. In times like ours, it behooves the believer to be careful to run every thought, every story, no matter who is telling it, through Jesus.
Don’t be afraid of doing the hard work of checking out what you’re hearing. It can save you all kinds our hard work undoing bad decisions later.
S“E”t Free Nowww