From Pity to Praise

“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth” – John 16:13

The Presence of the Holy Spirit guidance is confirmed through inner peace.

The Bible is clear in the history of the church that if we let the Holy Spirit lead us, our lives will blossom and flourish. But if we neglect or refuse His leading, our lives will languish. Some believers today seem to misunderstand the Holy Spirits leading and how it relates to personal transformation.

There’s something believers call a leading from the Holy Spirit, a “check in your spirit,”or “a gut feeling.” Either way we describe it, it is a prompting from God that impresses itself on us -not as audible words, but a sense deep within our spirits, a knowing that we can’t quite explain.

The best example I can use to explain this is something that didn’t go very well because I didn’t listen to that check in my spirit. I refused the check because I thought I knew better.

One time I a schedule to see a specialist about 3 hours drive away from me. The morning of my appointment I felt something off. They check in my spirit was tells me don’t go. -to call and reschedule. I bypassed the Holy Spirits guidance and went any way. After driving in horrible traffic I arrived in the parking lot of the specialists, when my phone began ringing. The call was from the specialists office telling me they had to cancel due to a medical emergency. I don’t a total of 6 hours in one day for nothing because I refused to listen to the Holy Spirits guidance.

As followers of Jesus and members of His flock, we should be confident that we can hear His voice. We don’t hear him with our physical ears, nor do we process His voice in our minds. Instead, we hear God in our spirits. God, who is Spirit, goes in front of us, and as sheep we know God’s voice.

When we experience that unexplainable sense of knowing, we should not ignore it; it is God, through the Holy Spirit, prompting us to avoid a bad outcome and sometimes danger. We should obey it. How many times have you and I felt that check in your spirit, and chose to ignore it, and gotten ourselves in a mess because you did?

As I watch as our world falls into chaos again and again I am reminded of the importance of having a firm foundation.

The men and women who fight everyday to protect countries truly believe in risking their lives for it. How many of us are willing to give up our lives for something we feel passionately about. We live in a world where it’s now considered acceptable to kneel for our national anthem, where believing in God, having morals and values is considered wrong, where standing up for a faith puts us at risk of being considered hateful and intolerant.

Proverbs 22:28 remind us “Don’t move the ancient boundary stone, which your fathers have set up.” When we start messing around with our foundations, the whole structure shifts. And an unsteady structure is not a safe structure.

Think about it: The foundation is the more important part of our homes. Without a firm foundation, our homes are not safe. Any mistakes in the foundation will only get worse as it is built. The framing, the roof, and the rest of the structure will be completely shifted.

Just like our homes our foundations are important for several reasons.

1. A firm foundation is important because storms will come.

In our homes, without a firm foundation, they would wash away when rain falls and storms blow. The same is true about our faith. We may think it doesn’t matter who or what we believe in, but when life’s storms come, we need strength and structure for our souls.

Jesus told us in Matthew 7:24-27, “Therefore whoever hears these saying of Mind, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these saying of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who build his house on the sand and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell. And great was it’s fall.”

2. A firm foundation is important because our foundation is our core.

There’s a saying that goes “treat the cause, not the symptoms.” Without a firm foundation, we put ourselves at risk of all kinds of surface issues. An example is when we go to the doctor they want to treat the symptoms, not the root cause is the problem. If we don’t cure the root we just cover it up.

Just like mistakes in the foundation of a house, if we don’t have a firm foundation for our souls, we put ourselves at risk for bad influences to creep in.

Paul says in his letter to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:18-19, “Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.” For example, if you’re trying to be healthy, you don’t just exercise. If you’re trying to improve your health, you start with what you eat, because the fuel you put into your body is more important than exercise. The same can be said about our spiritual life – It’s not just good works that matter, it what is in our soul that counts.

“You can’t build a great building on a weak foundation. You must have a solid foundation if you’re going to have a strong superstructure.”

I have found throughout my life that I should have focused on solutions, not problems. When we choose to accept God’s help, it’s easier to become part of the solution.

One thing about us humans is we tend to love materialism. That’s why most of us are in a mess. It’s a trap of self-indulgence.

1 Timothy 5:6 says, “She who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives.”

I read about a mouse in the widemouth glass gallon jar a while ago. It was about a farmer who put out a wide mouth down jar and feel it 3/4 of the way for grain and corn. The mouse was so happy to find the jar full of delicious food. He was in mouse heaven. His pleasure was great. There was so much food. The mouse would never have to look for food again. Life was easy and he was comfortable. He no longer needed to run an exercise. He would eat and sleep in the jar of grain. The mouse freely ate. Then he would sleep. Then he would eat. Then he would sleep. The mouse thought this must be heaven. The mouse never paid attention to what he was eating. The grain level got lower and lower as he got fatter and fatter.

The mouse was totally dependent on the grain in the jar. The mouse could only survive on the grain in the jar. The more the mouse ate, the lower the grain level fell until he realized he was trapped in the jar. He could see out, but he was trapped at the bottom of the jar. At first, his weight kept him from jumping out. Now he had no choice. His daily choices filled his stomach, but as the grain level lowered, the poor mouse was trapped by his choices, and he had given up all his freedom in the barn.

Self-indulgence can become a death trap. Many wonder why their problems are hurting them so badly. Sometimes the worst thing that can happen might end up being the best thing. Maybe we need to learn the lesson that in our problems, we must fight for a solution. Sometimes the worst thing that can happen might end up being the best thing.

It seems today we have a sense of entitlement and many believe they deserve something. They loved the downhill and easy daily life. Could it be that our trials, problems, and troubles are real blessings that we can’t see? Maybe this negative problem is God stretching and growing our faith. There’s nothing wrong with having pleasure. But pleasure loving can also be a death trap.

We all want things done our way. But materialism and sin has set the trap. We blame the President or ruler of the people and the Preacher. We blame God for our problems when we should be trying to find solutions on earth.

When we choose God, He promises to make a way. Whether we face the Red Sea, a giant like Goliath, or a terrible storm that tries to sink our boat, we must allow our faith in God to be bigger than our fears. God prides Himself to making ways when there seems to be no way.

“Then the Lord God took, the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work and keep it” -Genesis 2:15

I think this principle applies to our life. Everything God has given us, our marriages, our families, and our personal lives, must be worded (cultivated) and guarded. If we don’t take care of what God has entrusted us with, it will not remain the way it began.

The Bible shows that when a field is neglected, it becomes overgrown and broken down. It doesn’t happen overnight but little by little, it falls apart because no one tends to it.

This is exactly how the enemy gets into our lives. He looks for areas that are not attended to, where we have stopped investing and paying attention. These are areas of our lives where, over time, things have begun to weaken. But when we decide to stay engaged, to care for what God has given us, we close the door on the enemy (Satan).

This principle isn’t complicated, but it takes consistency. When we intentionally invest in our marriage, our families, our prayer life, your minds, and our relationship with God. We can strengthen and protect what belongs to us and position it to flourish.

Self talk is our continuous internal dialogue, shaping how we perceive ourselves and the world. Mastering it can rewrite neutral pathways, significantly reduce stress, boost confidence, and even enhance our resilience.

It can serve as a tool to regulate our emotions, improve our focus as well as promoting a proactive approach to the challenges we face in life.

King David used self-talk to encourage himself. A perfect example is Psalm 42:5, when he told himself, “Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise Him for the saving help of His presence.”

There is science behind having an inner dialogue:

• Neuro–plasticity: Engaging in positive self talk repeatedly forges new neutral pathways in our brains, favoring optimism and resilience over time.

• Emotional Regulation: Speaking to yourself using your own name or third person pronouns creates something called psychological distance.’ This helps us process emotions objectively and reduces rumination.

• Physical & Mental Health: According to the “Mayo Clinic,” shifting from negative to positive self-talk is linked to a wider array of benefits, including better cardiovascular health, reduced rates of depression, and improved coping skills during hardships.

There is a danger of negative patterns. If left unchecked, negative self talk manifests as self-criticisms, doubt, and catastrophizing.

Common traps to this are:

• Imposter syndrome: Telling ourselves, that we don’t belong here, everyone else is smarter than us.

• Overgenrailzation: Thinking, ‘I messed up the presentation, so I’m a complete failure.”

• Fear of Failure: When we conclude, “I will never be able to pull this off, so I shouldn’t ever try.”

There are some actionable strategies that you can do that can help us change.

We can actively reshape our inner voices through conscious habit-building:

• Catch: When we notice our thoughts drift into criticism or defeat.
• Check: As can ask ourselves, ‘Is this thought actually true, or is it an exaggerated fear?’
• Change: We can reframe our statement. For example, instead of saying ‘I can’t do this.’ The objective would be third-person encouragement, such as ‘I have the ability to figure this out if I take this one step at a time.

“Be careful how you are talking to yourself because you are listening.”