Transformed

Transformed: to change in composition or structure - to change the outward form or appearance of - to change in character or condition - convert - to subject to mathematical transformation - to cause (a cell) to undergo genetic transformation - to become transformed - change

Jeremiah the prophet asked, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard change its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil" (Jer 13:23). This questions is still asked today? The question is honest and thought provoking when you come to think about how people behave. It simply says, that we are to judge people by their action or as I would like to say the content of the book. Looks on the outside can be misleading. You must read the book and know the contents in order to judge the book properly. Yes, people may learn how to put on different behavior and make minor adjustments to their attitudes. Some have even made great changes by suppressing their true nature. This may allow them to become more socially acceptable, but the real answer is not found in the human flesh.

Only God can actually change the human heart and reconstruct the very nature of a man. It is God who brings about real transformation. Over the next few entries I will explore some principles in 1 Thessalonians 1-2. I encourage you to take a few minutes to read these post and share with others. It's time that we understand that we don't have to live a life that is less than what God intended for us and even if we have made bad decisions, we don't have to live with them.

Take a moment tor read 1 Thessalonians 1 -2 and then check back next week for the first post. I promise you...you will be glad you did. ready for a change?

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It Could Happen

When you have vision, there is no one or nothing that can stop you but YOU. Don't expect everyone to see things you see or hear things you hear. Don't expect everyone to pat you on the back and say, "It Could Happen".

A few things you can be sure of true vision is bringer than you and you will need individuals to come along aside you to help the vision come forth. The vision will always look impossible and too big. Often times, it will even challenge you to grow up and mature a bit. Many lessons will be learned during the process. After all is said and done, you will be completely fulfilled!

However, when we are bound by our emotions and fears we tend to shy away from the greatness inside of us. We choose the safe way. We select the easy route because this is where we are comfortable. 

This is the reason why healing is so important. I get it, many times we don't know why we are acting the way we do. That's why it is important to journal and really reflect.

You are Bound No More. 

Pastor Linda Hillman 

(c) 2015 Living Above Hurt Ministries

Get your copy!

Through the scripture and the story of the woman with an issue of blood, Linda Hillman moves past the obvious, more common meaning of the text to a revelatory truth: GOD would not have us live unbalanced and incomplete lives. In her book WILL YOU BE MADE WHOLE, Linda reveals just how crucial balance is in every area of your life. Through scripture, practical principles and faith, Linda shows the reader how to get back on track when life derails. In Pastor Hillman’s own words—“The one thing I have discovered in my life is that the pains I have had to endure were not to take me out of the game but to polish me for the end result.” Get your copy today and be made whole!

Healing the Hurts

Here's a lesson from a recent Women's Conference I attended. Be blessed with this one.

• Emotional Abuse
• Christian wounds
• Hurt in the church
• Domestic Violence
• Harboring negative feelings
• holding grudges. it hurts ourselves more than others

Someone once said that holding a grudge is like drinking poison and hoping that it will hurt the other person. But yet many of us do it and cant see that we are really killing ourselves.

You can choose to hurt or Heal

You can choose your happiness or sadness in life. One way to do this when you choose whether to continue to nurse a hurt you have received in life, or to heal yourself and you relationship with the person that hurt you.

In reaction to our emotional hurts we often erect protective structures to avoid dealing with them or allowing anyone to touch them. Over time these structures become comfortable. Before we cna heal the hurt, these structures must be acknowledged and dealt with. this will often mean honestly facing our pain and anger and resentment choosing to forgive, YES forgive those who have wounded us instead of resenting them, and determining to risk opening our hearts to others again. It also generally involves a slow and difficult process not a quick fix. Like peeling an onion, it usually happens one tearful layer at a time.

Definition

A wounded heart occurs when someone or something brings hurt to your emotions. "The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they fo down into the innermost parts of the belly." Proverbs 26:22.

Sources of Hurts

1. Result of Offense brought to us from others People say things or do things to hurt us. Prov 18:8
2. Result from our won sinful behavior. Not all hurts come from without. sometimes they can be the enemy within. Prov 17:19, Psalms 25:18 II Sam 24:10
3. Result from a calamity where one is overcome by the experience. Job 3:25-26
4. Result from the sins of forefathers (ancestors) Exodus 34:6-7
5. Result from drug and alcohol use. Proverbs 23:29-35
6. results from occult involvement Leviticus 20:6

God's Provision

1. God cares about your broken heart. Ps 34:18, 51:17
2. God healed David's heart and He will also heal yours. Ps 147:3, Heb 13:8
3. Jesus was sent to heal the broken hearted. Luke 4:18
4. Jesus, Himself, suffered all the hurts that one could suffer. Isa 53:1-12, John 1:11. Luke 22:57, 23:35-37, Matthew 27:46
5. Through the suffering of Jesus, God has provided the healing for your hurts. Isa 53:5
6. It is God's desire to heal your hurts. I Peter 5:7
7. God must have control of your whole heart before He can heal it. Jeremiah 29:13, Rev 3:20

Steps of Preparation

1. You must give your heart to Jesus letting Him become your lord. Roman 10:9, Phil 2:9-10
2. If you have offended someone else, then you must confess your offense and ask them to forgive you. Matthew 5:23-24, I Peter 3:16
3. You must forgive (RELEASE) the person who has hurt you. Matt 6:12, 14-15
4. You must put their judgement into God's hands and then ask God to forgive them for their offense toward you. Luke 23:24, Acts 7:60
5. You must yield your rights to God (possessions, respect, honor, family, expectations). Matt 19:21, I Peter 5:5-6, Luke 18:20, Mark 8:34-37, Psa 119:165

WARNING: A wounded heat that does not receive healing is an open door for evil spirits. Esp 4:26-27, I Peter 5:8, Genesis 4:4-7, Matt 18:21-35

How to Receive Healing

1. Make a list of your hurts (begin with the greatest list)
2. Ask God to cleanse your heart of all wrong attitudes (anger, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, lust, hate, revenge). Isa 1:18, 51:10, I John 1:9
3. Picture your experience ob being hurt in your mind
4. Now picture Jesus suffering the same hurt for you and overcoming it by his own death and resurrection. I Peter 2:24
5. Next picture in your mind the resurrected Jesus offering healing to you. Luke 4:18-19
6. In faith ASK God to heal your heart in the name of Jesus. Ezekiel 36:26, John 16:23.

As God heals your hurts, He will also give you a tender heart that will be sensitive to the hurts of others. Ezekiel 36:26, II Cor 5:18, Mark 5:19

Remember: God can change that which was meant for evil into good. Genesis 50:20, Duet 23:5 Romans 8:28, I Peter 5:8-10 and II Cor 1:6

What Was She Thinking?

Let's get into this. As I mentioned, I have written a book about this precious woman, so I had to do months and months of research squeezing every little morsel of enlightenment out of this seemingly stuffed in account. So let's look at it this way, you have Matthew, who was writing to the Jews, Mark, he was giving a second hand account but he was young, so as teenagers do, he just wanted to get the facts out so he could move on to the next thing, and then Luke, who was a physician so he wanted to bring into play the medical mindset.

I find it interesting that Matthew's version of the testimony is the shortest. as I mentioned he was writing to the Jews. So how were women viewed by the Jewish people. We will need to go back to the Old Testament to get a clear understanding. Let's read Genesis 17:11

"And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you."

This was God speaking to Abram. Notice this is before the law of Moses but this covenant clearly excludes a woman from entering a covenant with God directly. In verse 10 of the same chapter it is clear that "Every man child among you shall be circumcised." So here now we see that women could only have a relationship (covenant) with God through the covenant the men in their lives made. She would have to be related to a circumcised male as a wife, daughter or (depending on stage of life) sister.

Oh but there is more, let's read Exodus 19:1-15 - For sake of space I will just paraphrase for you but here we have God speaking to Moses about "the people" however reading it becomes clear that "the people" are the men of Israel because in verse 15 it states "And he said to the people, Be ready by the day after tomorrow; do not go near a woman." Again, women are to have their relationship through the Man of the house and these men would stand before God.  Beginning to see a pattern forming here?

Now it brings me to the issue this woman was having... an issue of blood. In Lev 15:19-30, again for space I will just paraphrase, it talks about the menstrual cycle of a woman. It speaks of  a woman's “regular flow of blood” according to the priestly laws, the menstruating woman will be unclean for the seven days of her period, as well as seven days following her period. Then, upon the eighth day, she must take two doves or young pigeons to the priest to make an offering before God that will atone for her uncleanness. Man, aren't you glad the law was fulfilled in the New testament. :).

Wait, there's more, during her cycle, anything the woman sits or lies upon (basically anything she touches) will be deemed unclean, as well as anyone who touches the woman. This means that the husband of a this woman is forbidden to approach her for intercourse (Lev 18:19) and, get this, “If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly cycle, he along with her has exposed the source of her flow, both of them are to be cut off from their people” (Lev 20:18). OUCH!

Plainly speaking, these Laws mean that every menstruating woman is ceremonially unclean for 14 days out of every month—roughly half of every year. Also, the menstruating woman is defiling to her husband and everyone within close proximity to her during this period of time as well. For women who had physical problems that caused constant menstruation, such as the woman with the issue of blood, she would be ceremonially unclean for her entire life and never able to make “atonement” for her uncleanness. this woman was just out of luck. however, knowing all this she pressed in to touch Jesus.

So think about it, this woman was putting herself in a dire situation to even go and approach Jesus, let alone touch him.

In my next blog, we will explore this a bit more and talk about how to overcome overwhelming circumstances.

You are Bound No More. 

Pastor Linda Hillman 

(c) 2015 Living Above Hurt Ministries 

Get Your Copy Now
Through the scripture and the story of the woman with an issue of blood, Linda Hillman moves past the obvious, more common meaning of the text to a revelatory truth: GOD would not have us live unbalanced and incomplete lives. In her book WILL YOU BE MADE WHOLE, Linda reveals just how crucial balance is in every area of your life. Through scripture,    practical principles and faith, Linda shows the reader how to get back on    track when life derails. In Pastor Hillman’s own words—“The one thing I have discovered in my life is that the pains I have had to endure were not to take me out of the game but to polish me for the end result.” Get    your copy today and be made whole!

Loss of Identity - Redefining Yourself through Faith

Having a relationship with Christ is not a religion, it is a lifestyle and identity. You live it, breath it, wear it and eat it day in and day out. It is the very reason we are called Christians.

A Christian is to be Christ-like. It means to have the mind of Christ in you, causing you to live with a higher awareness of love and faith. You operate not as the "normal" would have you respond but as the Spirit would lead you.

The unfortunate things is many of us of us have been indoctrinated into a religion. This indoctrination began at birth or conversion, and continues throughout your whole life. Religious beliefs and doctrines get internalized and adapted into your own identity, often to the point of suppressing your real authentic self in favor of the "group-think identity" of religion. For many who thirst for a more meaningful experience, they must lose fundamental parts of their identity. This can cause an identity crisis of sorts which can be quite painful at times, yet freeing and euphoric in the end.

Because doctrines are internalized to such a great extent, the persecution complex arises quickly and naturally to any information that is critical or challenging to those beliefs or teachings. New information isn't seen as just critical or challenging to the Dogma of religion, but as a personal attack in many instances. This is why you see many fighting over the letter of the law and hating what does not look, believe or think as they do. Once a person decides to stand for authentic relationship with Christ it can prove quite difficult to be embraced by those that still uses the defense mechanisms of legalism. However, it can also leave those of us who do cleave to Christ in relationship to feel a sense of loss with a church shaped hole in our heart and feeling like we don't know who we are anymore. After all, some of the greatest life-questions of philosophers were given to us with surety through great men and women of the cloth. We knew who we were because they told us, where we came from and where we were going after this life, if we followed their path. As long as we dont let the touchy-feely, sloppy agape come near us.
One of the more painful experiences we may have in leaving legalism is losing the identity we so deeply internalized and invested in. For many of us, there is a mourning process that we go through to weep over the loss of our beloved companion, "the church", and all that it fulfilled in us, or that we believe fulfilled in us. It is okay to mourn this loss. Not everyone goes through this though and that is okay too. Mourning can help release some of the religious or church programming and identity though, making room for God's truth to shine through. His truth that church is not a building we attend but who we are and we all are not a islands based on our beliefs but the body of Christ jointly fit together. We are all one!

You see the internalizing of beliefs into our core identity is what gave legalism (Religion) so much power over our thoughts and minds, and also the potential to hurt us on our way out through the loss of identity. Despite all of this potential for hurt and mourning from the loss of identity, you now have an opportunity that many go their entire lives without ever experiencing, and that is being able to consciously define your new identity. This can be a freeing and empowering experience. It can also set you up for further hurt if not done cautiously. When it comes down to the words and phrases by which we identify ourselves, the more emotionally invested we are in those definitions, the more potential and power we simultaneously give them to hurt us if or when that identity dissolves. Any identity-definition can be internalized and believed in so heavily that should it fail, causes us great pain, suffering and further identity crisis. The key to preventing any further identity crisis is to limit how emotionally invested you become towards any one identity-definition you may have for yourself, or that you adopted from outer sources. 

With all that said, the only source that we should look to for a definition of who we are is the one who created us. He thus, created us for relationship with him. To be loved by him and to love him. To allow our faith to accomplish what the world says is impossible. Not be our own strength but the strength that comes from Him. So let go of the religious beliefs that limit the God you serve and you from becoming a new creature in Christ.

Embrace the fact that transformation, requires you to lose your old ways and take on new ways. To think differently and understand your purposes as it pertains to the whole. Strive to be in relationship with Christ. Thus your identity will be made clear and your faith pure!

You are Bound No More!

Pastor Linda Hillman

(c) 2015 Living Above Hurt Ministries

Pastorlindahillman@hotmail.com

Lost And Searching For Answers: Love and Faith is the key!

I want to talk to you today about a subject that touches every one of us, young, old, male or female...LOSS.

Sometimes we are faced with things we think we just cant handle; the death of a beloved father, mother, sister, brother, child, spouse etc... but what happens when the loss we feel is the loss of self? What happens when we lose who we are? Whether it is beaten out of us, snatched from us, or we give it away. How do we recover from this loss?

We may strive to find the reasons behind it, but when those reasons don't make sense or add up, we question God. We look up to the heavens and say, "God, how could You do this to me? How did You allow this to happen? Why do I have to suffer with so much pain in my life? How can You put so much on my plate? Why do I have to suffer at all? Why Me? What did I ever do to You to deserve this?" We might even go as far as becoming angry with God and blaming Him for the evil that has befallen us.

The real point is this... we don't operate on God's timetable nor do we have a true understanding of His ways and thoughts. We allow the fear of the unknown to cloud our judgment and even the most logical theories fly out of the window. We would rather think a loving God is punishing us, and that a God that gave up His own life so that we might live, somehow hates us. Even though His word is true and He speaks only of how much He loves us. 

In the world we live in, how could we even begin to understand His plans and purposes for our existence? So we look to other things to add value to us. Thus, we lose ourselves even more. OH, we say, we are trying to find our purpose because somewhere we have lost our worth. That tragedy, we survived, has stripped away our happiness, left us with no joy, scattered our peace. We are lost, broken and devalued.

My friend, let me tell you, this is where FAITH comes in and begins to play a huge role in our healing and restoration. Faith helps us to see His message in the darkness of our caves of despair. Faith beckons us to believe again, to hope again, to search for the truth of God's love for and toward us. Faith requires us to love through the pain of loss. Faith tells us that God's message has never changed. This loss is there to teach us not to take the ones we love for granted while they are with us. To love hard and deep. It is there to teach us that we should love ourselves enough to want better for our lives. We should love ourselves enough to search for the treasures God placed in us the moment we were conceived and not to let anyone speak over us what He has not already spoken.

Faith says even the mundane has purpose. Even the fleeting moments are to be cherished. The solitude that comes in those glimpses of hope, should be embraced. As I reflect on the pain we feel when we lose who we are in a hurricane of issues and strife, I am reminded what Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Faith breeds love. First, love God with your very being, Secondly, love yourself unconditionally, and then it spills over to mankind. It also reminds me that God is love; therefore there is no ill will in Him concerning you. He desires to see you prosper and walk in your expected end even if you never had a relationship with Christ. You cant be angry with a God that only wants the best for you. All He has is love to give.

He only requires us to love as fiercely, as bravely and as compassionately as we can and in that love, that human love, to allow faith to grow. Faith that allows us to forgive, and to continue to love unconditionally. As we find the peace of who we are once again, the pain of loss lessens and the joy of live emerges.

Today I challenge you to take a chance on FAITH and LOVE. Let your life begin again.

You are Bound No More. 

Pastor Linda Hillman 

(c) 2015 Living Above Hurt Ministries  

Pastorlindahillman@hotmail.com

Get Your Copy Now!

Through the scripture and the story of the woman with an issue of blood, Linda Hillman moves past the obvious, more common meaning of the text to a revelatory truth: GOD would not have us live unbalanced and incomplete lives. In her book WILL YOU BE MADE WHOLE, Linda reveals just how crucial balance is in every area of your life. Through scripture, practical principles and faith, Linda shows the reader how to get back on track when life derails. In Linda’s own words—“The one thing I have discovered in my life is that the pains I have had to endure were not to take me out of the game but to polish me for the end result.” Get your copy today and be made whole! 

Get your Copy now!

In today’s microwave society, we want everything in an instant. And we want it now. Between instant gratification and a sense of entitlement, we often forget that GOD is GOD and HIS will be done. We can’t lag behind HIM and we surely can’t jump ahead of HIM. Linda Hillman’s new book, IN THE MEANTIME, addresses this very subject—waiting upon GOD. 

Through vignettes of the Prophet Elijah’s life, Linda reveals GOD’s plan for waiting upon HIM. This concise but rich study provides insight into the character of GOD and how HE takes us through steps of preparation, motivation and confirmation in getting us through our seasons of waiting. The beauty and truth of Linda’s message is that you can have the same glorious breakthrough as Elijah had.