A holy man was having a conversation
with the Lord one day and said:

“It requires but one skill. You see
they have learned to feed each
other, while the greedy think only
of themselves.”

One day a while back, a man, his heart heavy with grief, was walking in the woods. As he thought about his life this day, he knew many things were not right. He thought about those who had lied about him back when he had a job.

His thoughts turned to those who had stolen his things and cheated him.

He remembered family that had passed on. His mind turned to the illness he had that no one could cure. His very soul was filled with anger, resentment and frustration.

Standing there this day, searching for answers he could not find, knowing all else had failed him, he knelt at the base of an old oak tree to seek the one he knew would always be there. And with tears in his eyes, he prayed:

“Lord- You have done wonderful things for me in this life. You have told me to do many things for you, and I happily obeyed. Today, you have told me to forgive. I am sad, Lord, because I can not. I don’t know how. It is not fair, Lord. I didn’t deserve these wrongs that were done against me and I shouldn’t have to forgive. As perfect as your way is Lord, this one thing I cannot do, for I don’t know how to forgive. My anger is so deep, Lord, I fear I may not hear you, but I pray that you teach me to do this one thing I cannot do – Teach me To Forgive.”

As he knelt there in the quiet shade of that old oak tree, he felt something fall onto his shoulder. He opened his eyes. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw something red on his shirt.

He could not turn to see what it was because where the oak tree had been was a large square piece of wood in the ground. He raised his head and saw two feet held to the wood with a large spike through them.

He raised his head more, and tears came to his eyes as he saw Jesus hanging on a cross. He saw spikes in His hands, a gash in His side, a torn and battered body, deep thorns sunk into His head. Finally he saw the suffering and pain on His precious face. As their eyes met, the man’s tears turned to sobbing, and Jesus began to speak.

“Have you ever told a lie?” He asked? The man answered – “Yes, Lord.”

“Have you ever been given too much change and kept it?” The man answered -”Yes, Lord.” And the man sobbed more and more.

“Have you ever taken something from work that wasn’t yours?” Jesus asked? And the man answered – “Yes, Lord.”

“Have you ever sworn, using my Father’s name in vain? ” The man, crying now, answered – “Yes, Lord.”

As Jesus asked many more times, “Have you ever”? The man’s crying became uncontrollable, for he could only answer – “Yes, Lord.”

Then Jesus turned His head from one side to the other, and the man felt something fall on his other shoulder. He looked and saw that it was the blood of Jesus. When he looked back up, his eyes met those of Jesus, and there was a look of love the man had never seen or known before.

Jesus said, “I didn’t deserve this either, but I forgive you.”

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All truth passes through three stages.

First, it is ridiculed.

Second, it is violently opposed.

Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

Daily Battles of the Mind
Joyce Meyer

Did you know that we are in a war? Everywhere we look we see the
casualties. Every day we see people falling from disease, divorce,
and tragedy. Looking around at all this suffering, we may think that
the battles are being lost in hospitals and divorce courts—but, in
reality, we are losing the earlier, more important conflicts on the
battlefield of our minds.
Our minds are being bombarded daily with a constant stream of little
nagging thoughts, suspicions, doubts, fears, wonderings, and
theories. While any one of these can cause defeat and devastation,
many of us are plagued by more than one. Our lives have become
filled with daily mental battles against a variety of aggressors.
Because we fail to identify the battlefield, we also failto
correctly identify our foe. We tend to believe that men are our
problem, or women, the system, money, or religion. In order to
defend ourselves, we build up strongholds in our minds. Strongholds
are areas of thinking based not on truth but lies. These
strongholds, instead of protecting us, actually imprison us and hold
us hostage. Because of the presence of these strongholds, we
continue to believe lies and make important decisions based on our
deception.
Let me give you an example of how strongholds of wrong thinking can
destroy a marriage. Mary and her husband, John, are not enjoying a
happy marriage. There is strife between them all the time. They are
angry, bitter, and resentful. Now their two children are starting to
show signs of being affected by all the dissension in the home. One
of the kidsis even developing stomach problems brought on by all of
the conflict.
Mary’s problem is that she doesn’t know how to let John be the head
of their family. She is bossy—she wants to make all the decisions,
handle the finances, and discipline the children. She wants to work
so she will have her “own” money. She is independent, loud, and
demanding. Mary knows that her attitude is wrong, and she wants to
change. She’s been in counseling, and she is constantly asking for
prayer that God would help her with her anger, rebellion,
unforgiveness, resentment, and bitterness. But she hasn’t seen any
improvement. Why?
Over the years, Mary has built up strongholds in her mind. Mary
can’t control her actions because she can’t control her thoughts.
She can’t control her thoughts because of the strongholds in her
mind—strongholds that were built very early in her life.
As a child, Mary had an extremely domineering father. For years she
suffered helplessly as her father mistreated her and her mother. He
was disrespectful in all his ways except toward Mary’s brother who
could do no wrong. It seemed as if he was favored just because he
was a boy. By the time she was sixteen, the strongholds in Mary’s
mind were firmly established. The stronghold of lies went like this:
“Men really think they’re something. They are all alike, and you
can’t trust any of them. They will hurt you and take advantage of
you.” As a result, Mary’s mind was made up: “When I get away from
home, nobody is ever going to push me around again!”
Before Mary can ever have victory in her life and peace in her
marriage, she will have to tear down the strongholds that areruling
her thinking. Do you see yourself in Mary’s life? Many of us have
given in to these deceptions at one time or another. How can these
strongholds be torn down? We must be willing to receive the light of
TRUTH in our minds. Our search for truth begins in God’s Word, which
says that the truth will set us free (see John 8:32). This means we
can be free from bondage, sin, and the strongholds in our minds. But
just searching for truth won’t set us free, we must be courageous
enough to BELIEVE the truth.
Even though truth is revealed, it’s sometimes hard to accept. It is
a painful process to face our deceptions and deal with them. It’s so
easy to allow our past and how we were raised to negatively affect
us for the rest of our lives. Our past may explain why we’re
suffering, but we must not use it as an excuse to stayin bondage.
You may have some major strongholds in your life that need to be
torn down. Let me encourage you by saying, “God is on your side.”
There is a war going on, and your mind is the battlefield. But the
good news is that God is fighting on your side!