Join me Tuesday night April 30th at 8pm {EST} for a
FREE Confident Heart CONFERENCE CALL!After the call, I’ll be hosting a Facebook Party at 9pm EST!
We’ll chat about the call, chapter 6 & 7, do some Q&A, connect with each other
and there will be drawing for fun prizes!Sign up for the Facebook Party here.
Conference Call details will be posted on my blog tomorrow afternoon!
Our word for the week: CONQUEROR
Be sure to print it and post it everywhere. You can download in a PDF or in MSWord.
God’s WORD for US this week:
“No, in all these things you are more than [a] conqueror through Him who loved you.” Romans 8:37
This week, in chapter 7, we’re going to identify and learn how to defeat our second most common doubt… “I’m such a failure.” It’s the wicked step-sister of “I’m not good enough.”
My prayer, hope and deepest desire is make sure failure no longer gets the final say in your life, JESUS does! Because YOU ARE are more than a conqueror through HIM (Jesus) who loves us, you can learn to fail forward and grow from your mistakes and full blown sins. That is how you become a women with a God-fident heart.
In today’s video teaching, I want to empower and equip you to stop letting doubt and discouragement beat you up and start letting God words build you up instead!
{Download FREE “AM/FM Thoughts Printable here}
{Download “Video Message Notes” in MSWord or in a PDF.}
Today’s Assignments: Print and post our Chapter 7 word and verse. Pray our Chapter 7 prayer and start {or continue} reading chapter 7.
Let’s Connect: Click “share your thoughts” below and let’s talk about what God speaking is to your heart today through the video and/or chapter 7? What are one or two things you’ll take away today?
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I have really found the last 2 chapters very important. They have really spoken to me and I have had to be really honest with myself about my own doubts. I really spend alot of time worried about what other people think of me. Even my own family. I always feel like I am disapointing someone or that I am being judged and doubting if I am good enough at anything I do and anything I have in life. I have really had to examine where that comes from and that it only matters in life what God thinks of me and that I am His child and worthy of His love so much so that He sent His son to die for me. And that He has plans for hope and a future for me even if I fail at what I am doing it is in His hands.I felt a rush of security and love that I have never experienced before and I know that these chapters are really going to make a difference going forward in how I see myself and others. Thank you Renee for the encouraging words of your book and videos.
Thank you for this video which explains what you wrote in this chapter clearly Renee. I love this chapter, and of course all the previous chapters as well.
I am learning to take my thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ (2 cor 10:4-5)…. for I know HE does not want me to put myself in a bondage by my own thoughts, and not move forward in the Life that he has for me. I have to yet write down the AM and FM thoughts and confess God’s building words upon my life.
Thank you so much Renee. This chapter, as well as your video helps to put what we are learning into prospective–that is –overcoming doubt and allow God to put a confident heart in us.
God bless you…
Renee, this book is without a doubt about me!!!!!!!! Two things I took away from the video and from the start of chapter 7 is 1) God is in control and 2) Satan is a liar, and is always prowling around like a roaring lion (IPeter5:8), but I know God is bigger than all that and will help me persevere and His truth is (Phil 4:1) I can do all things through Christ who stengthens me….I love these scriptures you used. On Page 118 I loved the I QUIT!!! been there….In fact the beginning of Chapter 7 just grabbed me, because I had a bad day on Saturday with my teenage daughter, who is 17, (the enemy is attacking the more I grow and get closer to God and deeper into study), I can usually handle her ranting and raving, but the aggressiveness of saturday just got me to “I’ve had it”….so I started to respond, which is of course what satan wanted, but then my husband in a stern, but loving tone asked me to stop. I did… but I felt like “Shame on You”…yes satan I know…. On Sunday service was amazing and powerful, the Holy Spirit just spoke strongly to me…a couple of things I want to mention about the sermon, Pastor said..”forever calls us to patience and grace” and Forever call us to LOVE! I love my children, and I want my love to say “im here, waiting to wrap my arms aroud you”, Just like our Lord and Saviour says to us….. Page 119 thank you for including the illustration Zig Ziglar used to challenge parents to take their focus off their children’s mistakes and look for the good in them…I could just go on and on, truth is after chapter 4 I feel, like Ive been set free and can honestly share now…..Thanks again, will continue with chapter 7
Thank You for the very encouraging video Renee. I love the AM/FM analogy. I will use this and hold my thoughts accountable to God’s word. I like that this can be share with my daughter. This book is a blessing.
Renee,
I just listened to your video and it was a blessing indeed, especially about the AM/FM thoughts! That’s an original for sure……one I will remember :-).
You are as beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. I thank God for you as well as all the other women that are sharing, at times, what are painful and hard things they’ve been through, but also knowing they are being encouraged and helped to overcome. One thing that is for sure, we all go through trials and tribulations, but a reminder from God’s Word is that He said to ‘think it not strange concerning these fiery trials which try us, as though some strange thing happened unto us. But rejoice, inasmuch as we are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, we may be glad also with exceeding joy’………….I Peter 4:12-13. God bless each one of you and may we all continue to be edified and perfected by the power of God. He who started a work in us will complete it until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I keep the words and verses for the week posted next to my computer at work. Every time last week when I started doubting my self-worth, I would read…”Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are Mine!” Isaiah 43:1b (NAS). I kept relying on the you are Mine part and it got me through the week.
Hello 🙂
Well my job interview didn’t result in a position so back to the applications. I just received a call about two positions. And immediately I felt for the one job oh no I can never do this bookkeeping job. Yet I know bookkeeping.
The Am thoughts are so upfront and center. You are to dumb, even if you get the job you will never keep it. How can you forget you got laid off. Losers get laid off and you know it.
I just ask for prayer that I will remember God gave me a brain and the ability. I am his child he always sees me. Jesus knows I need a job and soon.
I don’t want to lose faith I realize now that in my last job so much of the time it was all about me and all about money and not about being a faithful servant to the Lord.
It shouldn’t have mattered I had a harsh boss I should have kept my eyes on Jesus.
I have repented of all these things and only pray that when not if I get a new job it will be for God’s glory not mine.
Thanks for listening 🙂
You’re in my prayers. God doesn’t close doors without opening others, so don’t give up! He is your ultimate Employer and Provider, and He will make sure that you are provided for. It’s hard to remember that when I’m at work, I’m actually serving and glorifying God, so I put Colossians 3:22-24 right next to my computer. I look at it each time I get tired or discouraged with something I’m working on. “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
May you find rest and peace in the Lord today!
Thank you! 😀
Thank you so much for this POWERFUL message. It’s much appreciated. It hit my heart just where I needed it the most today. You’re an inspiration. God bless you. 🙂
Renee – I was not able to share a thought when I read chapter 6 – so as I’m reading chapter 7, let me say that I have loved the AM and FM thoughts – It is amazing how just a change in words can change the way you think.
As you shared about the little study guides, that you have written, are you saying that there is more out there than this book? Would love to know about the little booklets as you referred to them.
Thank you, for this study and for being apart of our lives.
You make it so real and make me anyway feel that I’m a friend and you care so much about the thoughts that are given.
May you and all continue to be blessed.
The past couple of chapters are God-timely placed for me. These past 4 days have been filled with “I’m not good enough” “What have I done wrong” thoughts. I have been praying the verses of who I am in Christ Jesus. Such a battle…sometimes. I, too, am grateful for this sharing blog/study. God is good, all the time!
Renee, what an amazing journey this has been with your study !! I have grown so much in my relationship with The Lord, my husband, my family, my job and my friends. There was so much abuse in my life growing up that has affected my adult life. Through your book I have been able to come to terms with some of those issues. And I want to thank you !!!!! I have learned to believe in myself, love myself and have a confident heart. It is AMAZING…..how many people have noticed the change. Thank you
Hi Renee the video is awesome . thank you for sharing. Im going to watch again at home(am at work now). In Christ Love
Hi. One of the lines that really talked to me is “You are the one who focuses on your mistakes and beats yourself up with accusation and condemnation. Those are not My thoughts. I see the gold of My image, woven into your heart when I created you. I want to bring it to the surface so others can see it too.” Just this morning when I was dropping my son off at school I was beating myself up about past mistakes. God has really used this chapter to show me that I don’t need to be doing that! Thank you Renee for showing me how to counter my AM thoughts with FM thoughts! I don’t want any thoughts or times of beating myself up to get in the way of my relationship with my Father!
Another line that really helped “But we need to remember that accusation doesn’t come from God; it comes from our accuser.” I sure don’t want the enemy to control my guilt and thoughts!
I also loved “Although you may condemn yourself for your failures, Jesus never will.” And “God’s Spirit will convict you, but His heart will never condemn you.” I feel so happy knowing that Jesus is not condemning me for my past mistakes!
Renee you could hae written this book just for me! I am so glad to know that I am not the only one who struggles with past and present mistakes!
I enjoyed Chapter 7 where the distinction is made between conviction and condemnation. I’m quick to condemn myself because it’s easy thing to do. It is very easy to make blanket statements like “I’m a total failure,” or “I’m always messing up,” or “I’m just too stupid.” But God created us to be much more complex than just one or two blanket statements. It takes time to get to know someone and pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses. I have trouble getting to know myself sometimes! Thankfully, God is revealing things to me about myself and teaching me not to just dismiss something as one way or another. The Holy Spirit takes care to point out the things I’ve done wrong but also offers faithful instruction, without blame or condemnation. Failure is not fatal, unlike how I was raised to believe. Mistakes are learning opportunities and failure doesn’t get the last say, God does. So thankful to be going through this chapter!
Hi Becky Im so glad for you and pray that you contuin to grow in Gods love. I too am learning a lot from the study and book as I grow closer to God. God mat you keep helping us grow closer to you daily In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. thi s is for all the lady’s here. In Christ Love
Amen. I thank God for the beautiful stories He is writing in the lives of the women here, for the transformation that He is accomplishing and will continue until the stories are complete in Him.
Just watched the video, and it is a beautiful summary of what God has been impressing on me through this study: ours is not a passive faith, but an active one. Though our works will not save us, we have work to do to live in the victory of our great salvation. The points that especially stand out:
“…we need to get INTENTIONAL about tuning our thoughts into God’s thoughts toward us every day.”
“Let’s ask Him daily to clean out the clutter of insecurity, pride, and Satan’s against me thoughts and replace them with the clarity of Truth.”
Listen to our thoughts. “What we think determines how we feel, and our feelings often determine how we live.”
I guess when it comes right down to it, the Bible never depicts the Christian life as a tea party, but often as a battle. But with God fighting for me, and me cooperating with Him, how can I lose?
I am finally posting on last weeks study. I read each chapter twice. I came here and read what others have been sharing. I have been working on my time line (ouch). I have been praying the scripture prayers at the end of the chapters. I have been preaching the Gospel to myself, as encouraged in the book The Gospel Primer. I have gotten a better grasp on some things in my life and heart.
I am actually really excited about the discoveries that I have made about my messed-up thinking!
One is that my total distrust of my dad (justified) and my Pollyanna personality (God-given) have contributed to my keeping my distance from God, without animosity, but without a great deal of trust. What futility! But I realize that, while I have no actively hostile thoughts toward God, and I love my Savior and am thankful for His Father’s sacrifice, and I am aware of the activity and working of the Holy Spirit in my life, I have had a hard time trusting my Father in heaven. It mirrors my relationship to my earthly father: I have forgiven him for many things, and I am the only one of his 5 first children who will maintain a relationship with him, but I do not trust him, and rightfully so. I am so excited to really grasp that I have been superimposing my relationship with my dad on my God and on my husband so that now God and I can sort this thing out!
Second, what we tell ourselves really, really does form us. I have been “talking trash” to myself for far too long. The first 10 years of being a believer, I knew what a problem I had in this area, and really worked hard to talk to God, and speak His truth to myself. The past 10 years, I have slipped back into the habit of negative thinking, and I am ready to quit that. I really appreciate the message of the last couple chapters that we have a CHOICE to DO and SAY and THINK and LIVE what is good and true and pure and uplifting. Ours is not a passive faith, but an active one.
So, some truths that are really coming home to me are:
1) God saved me from a life of slavery to sin in July of 1989.
2) I have a God-sized void in my heart that is made only for God. If I try to fill it with other things, those things will be like a drop of water in the vast empty basin of the ocean ~ they will not even begin to wet it, much less fill it, and will be totally unsatisfying. But if I allow God to fill that vast ocean with His love, then the other things, like the love of my husband, the pleasure of blessing my family and friends, will simply make my “ocean” overflow. Until God has filled that void with His own love, the other things, as good as they are, will never satisfy, and will in fact disappoint.
3) While my salvation was secure the day I trusted Christ as my Savior, my living in the victory of God’s gift of salvation is a daily, moment by moment thing. I need to remind myself of God’s truth at all times. Than you, Renee, for all of the scripture prayers, the AM/PM thoughts, the scriptures for when I am feeling *whatever*.
4) Mine must be an active faith, not a passive one. I must CHOOSE: to think God’s thoughts; to read God’s Word; to walk like I believe it, which I do, until my feelings conform to His truth about me; to pray at all times; to be thankful in all things for the salvation He has given me and the hope I have for my future; to trust Him to replace the ashes of my past with the beauty of Himself. Thank you, Renee, for so eloquently teaching me this truth. I have heard it many times, but it is taking on greater meaning through this study.
Thank you, Renee, for the real encouragement that this study is, and the safe place to share with others who are walking this with me. May God richly bless you and your efforts!
Powerful reflections, Becky, thank you so much for sharing. I agree that we must have an active faith. As Renee pointed out in the video, the verse from 1 Peter 5:8, the devil is prowling around like a lion! He is very active so we need to be on our defenses and anticipate his attacks before he strikes. And what better way than to use the word of God, Sword of the Spirit, which is our only offensive weapon in the Armor of God. I’ve always known that memorizing scripture was important, but realizing it’s only tangible offense we have, that makes it so much more important. Living a Godly life is a daily struggle, may He continue to strengthen you each day!
Thanks for your feedback, Julie. I never intended to share on this site, being used to keeping my family of origin struggles to myself for the most part. But God has blessed me with this safe and comforting and painfully challenging place for sharing, and I have felt His prompting to be more transparent than usual 🙂
The timing for this in my life is interesting to me. The first 24 years of my life were living in darkness in a family that was far, far from God, where neglect and abuse were prevalent. I am now 48, so the 2nd half of my life has now been lived in the Light of God’s gift of Salvation, but in and out of the shadow of doubt. These past 24 years have been glorious on many levels: godly, faithful husband, 4 fabulous daughters who love the Lord, a great marriage, the fruit of much labor, and I could go on. But I have missed out on so much joy because of my lack of trust in God and men, including my husband, and my fear of rejection, etc. I have been held captive to doubt and fear, and have struggled on and off with depression. I can now see how God has been molding and shaping me and preparing me for this time of hard work, cleansing, and healing ~ emotional and spiritual surgery without anesthesia. He is using this study to show me some essential truths, including that He and He alone can make me whole and make me FEEL whole. Until I let Him do this in me, all other things will leave me still feeling empty.
Praise God for His obedient servant, Renee, and all of you blessed women who are willing to share and pray.
I really appreciate you being so transparent, Becky. Thank you for sharing yourself with all of us.
Thank you, Renee, for this uplifting message:) You are precious ~
It is a wonderful message; that we all can use in our daily lives. I love the point that our thoughts determine our feelings. I celebrated my birthday on May 7th with two dear girlfriends. One of them came to the lunch table with a lot of negativity and gloom. Mind you she is a Christian woman, but when I listened to what she was saying, I thought to myself “where is the power of Christ in her life” does she not realize that ONLY Jesus can change our circumstances. I now know what I will do; I will give her a copy of Renee’s book. Thank you again, may the Lord bless us and help us to have thoughts of his goodness and grace!
I love the AM/PM thoughts! I have them posted everywhere including my home screen on my IPad! They uplift me every time I open my IPad. Thank you for helping everyone to find ourselves in God.
The video only plays for 58 seconds. 🙁
Hi Mindy, I just watched it and it went all the way through. I think it may have just needed more time to buffer and load on your computer. Hope you’ll try again 🙂
plays all the way through for me, too. 🙂 amen, and amen again! God is in control, even when it doesn’t look that way. He was in control when He said Lazarus’ sickness was not unto death, He was in control when they laid Lazarus in the tomb, He was in control when He raised Lazarus up. He’s still in control today, even when it doesn’t look that way at the moment.