Tag: Speaking Words of Life

PURPOSE

On January 18, 2018

(THE KIMBERLY JOY SHOW: Live YOUR Dreams Part 2)

SOME PEOPLE FEEL THEY HAVE NO PURPOSE. WHAT SHOULD THEY DO?
A dream is “a strongly desired goal, aim, aspiration or PURPOSE.” Did you know God gave you a purpose? You feel like you’re not like other people, and you’re right! You’re not like other people, and you’re not supposed to be. As a matter of fact, I believe we each have special qualities. As children of God, we are extraordinary.

Unfortunately, some people walk through life feeling they are anything but that! They feel they have no purpose, that no one needs them. They feel worthless! If you are someone who feels that way, then I’m telling you that’s not true! You have to stop believing that! Draw nigh to God through prayer, worship, and the scriptures and allow Him to minister to you. Change how you speak and declare what He says about you in His Word.

Speak His Word until you believe it. Once you believe it, still continue to speak those words of Life to remain strong! Proverbs 18:21a (King James Version) says:

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue…..”

As you change how you speak, it may be uncomfortable at first, not because it’s impossible, but because you’re not in the habit of speaking positively. Then Proverbs 23:7a (KJV) says:

“For as [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he…..”

Cast down the negative thoughts you have about yourself! It doesn’t matter what other people think or say, even if those people are your family members, including your own parents. Just because they raised you doesn’t mean they always know what’s best for you. This statement is not an insult to parents. I salute all parents who love and sacrifice for their children. However, let’s be real! Some parents are abusive and bully their children, making them feel worthless. If you have experienced abuse as a child, please hear what God is saying. “THEY WERE WRONG!!” You’re not worthless! There is hope for you, and that hope is in God!

WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE?
God has given you a purpose and blessed you with gifts. You may very well know what those gifts are. If you don’t know or if you’re not sure, seek the Lord. He will show you!

What are you passionate about? What do you enjoy doing as a hobby? Steve Harvey, a man who wears many hats, such as being an author and a talk show host, says an individual’s purpose is whatever he or she would be willing to do for free. When you think about it, it makes sense. You freely do what you enjoy and what makes you happy. You willingly do what comes natural for you or what you have a knack for.

As a child, I wanted to sing because it seemed glamorous. However, singing didn’t come natural for me. Sometimes, my voice would crack, and a lot of times I would sing off key. On the other hand, I have a knack for writing, and I now write articles for my own blog. I am a skilled speaker, and I now teach and preach the Word of God and have my own radio show.

I also have a gift for acting, and I use that gift in skits and plays to inspire others. Furthermore, I’ve always had an inclination to pray. Even as a little girl, I remember kneeling beside my bed at night to pray. No one made me. I did it because I believed in God, and I wanted to honor God and be close to Him. Needless to say, I am now an intercessor.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE TRUE TO YOUR PURPOSE?
For this new year 2018, God wants you to live your best life by pursuing those dreams or desires He has placed in your heart. Allow His purpose for your life to be fulfilled, so you can live YOUR dreams. I emphasize the word “your” because if you’re not careful, you will find yourself trying to live someone else’s dreams and fulfill a role God did not intend for you. For example, Ephesians 4:11-12 (New Living Translation) say:

“11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”

Some people operate in these roles identified in Ephesians 4 when God did not call them to do so. Why is that? They’re either doing what people say they should do, or they’re simply doing what they want to do for their own selfish reasons. For instance, perhaps they like the recognition it brings, or maybe they see it as a “lucrative business”. However, to be an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher is not something to be taken lightly. James 3:1 (NLT) says:

“Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

Those who teach the Word of God are judged more strictly because souls are at stake. God is serious about His children. Therefore, the last thing He wants is for any of them to be led astray by someone who is giving them false prophecies, who is teaching the Word of God incorrectly, or who is draining them of their money so they can get ahead.

Again God says, “Live YOUR dreams!” Please believe God’s blessings far outweigh man’s blessings. Don’t be concerned about the applause of men. If you just focus on your relationship with God and being true to who you are in Him, as Psalms 23:5 says, He will set a table before you, even in the presence of your enemies or haters. He will bless you in front of the ones who didn’t believe in you, who said you would amount to nothing, who abused you, who bullied you, and who thought they had you all figured out.

THE PRAYER OF SALVATION
If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you can do so right now. I then encourage you to find a good Bible-believing church that will help you grow in your relationship with the Lord.

Romans 10:9 (NIV) says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Please pray the following prayer:

Dear Jesus, I come to You confessing I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe You shed Your blood on the cross and died for my sins, were buried and rose again so I could be free! Please forgive me for my sins and the life I have lived. I confess You Jesus as Lord and accept You as my own personal Savior. According to the Word of God, I am now saved! Hallelujah! I AM FREE!

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF GOD!!!!!

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Words of Death or Life…..What Will YOU Speak?

By Kimberly Joy

On October 16, 2017

In Faith, Words

(THE KIMBERLY JOY SHOW: Teaching Our Youth to Speak Life)

WHAT ARE WORDS OF DEATH?
The longer I live, the more I realize just how important and powerful words are. I personally believe we can accomplish more and see greater things, like healings and miracles, when we learn how to cast down words of death and embrace words of life. What are “words of death”?
The following are a few examples:

“You’re ugly!”

“You’re stupid!”

“You’re worthless!”

“You’re pathetic!”

“Nobody wants you!”

“I hate you!”

“You can die for all I care!”

Some pretty harsh words, aren’t they?! I’m reminded of one of my favorite movies The Color Purple.

The movie, which includes legendary actors Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey, is deemed a classic. I believe it’s a classic because many people connect with the storyline. In the movie, the main character Celie is a woman who endures abuse most of her life, especially from the men who are supposed to love and take care of her. She’s not just beaten down by her husband’s fist, but by the words of death or hate that spew from his lips. Consequently, she doesn’t love herself. She walks around with her head hanging low, ashamed of who she is.

One of the more popular lines from the movie, a line viewers often find funny, is in actuality a very hurtful statement. When Celie first meets blues singer Shug Avery, a woman she happens to admire very much, Shug looks her straight in her eyes and calls her ugly. Now, one would think Celie wouldn’t want anything to do with Shug after that insult. However, she doesn’t seem offended. Why not? She’s accustomed to being verbally abused.

Have you been the target of hateful words or words of death? Maybe your experiences haven’t been as bad as Celie’s, but the words spoken to you still hurt. Pain is still pain! I get it! As a matter of fact, it took me years to get over some things that were said to me. Why? I allowed certain statements, even if they weren’t true, to take root in my heart.

WHAT ARE SOME SOLUTIONS?
Fortunately, I learned how to pray and take my concerns to God. I also became a student of the Bible. I adopted scriptures which ministered to my specific needs, memorized them and spoke them aloud so I could hear them and start to believe. In due time, those same hurtful words were uprooted, and I am now free!

Now that I’m free, it’s my desire and prayer to encourage others, particularly young ladies. After all, I know what it’s like to be a young lady who doesn’t truly love herself.

Personally speaking, I believe we, who make up the body of Christ, need to really encourage our young people and teach them the importance of words.

HOW CAN WORDS OF DEATH AFFECT AN INDIVIDUAL?
Words of death or hate are designed to kill a person mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Such words can also physically kill a person. For instance, an individual can feel so low and depressed because of words which have been spoken to him or her, that he or she doesn’t want to live anymore. If they could, they would just go to sleep and never wake up again. That’s scary! But it’s reality! Words are just that powerful!

Let’s consider our youth. We’re hearing more news reports of children and teenagers taking their own lives. Young people, who have their whole lives ahead of them, would rather die! Some people believe that today’s youth aren’t as tough as they were once upon a time. However, we must consider that we older adults weren’t exposed to nearly as much as they are now. For example, back in the day, if a child was bullied, it was typically at school or on the playground. Unfortunately, now there’s cyberbullying (bullying via the internet). Basically, a person can be humiliated and threatened on social media. “WWW” stands for “world wide web” because information can be spread all over the world. So, a child or teenager, who is very vulnerable, can feel like the ENTIRE WORLD is against him or her simply because of WORDS.

HOW CAN WE HELP OUR YOUTH?
Whatever role you play in a young person’s life, whether you’re a parent, guardian, aunt, uncle, grandparent, older sibling, teacher, coach, mentor, youth pastor, pastor, etc., I believe it’s important to teach our young people that words are indeed powerful and should, therefore, be used wisely. We need to teach them the importance of focusing on the positive instead of the negative. We must teach them how to cast down the words of death that may have been spoken to them, and embrace words of life, which can be found in God’s Word. Such guidance will enable them to see themselves through GOD’s eyes. The following are a few scriptures which can be memorized and recited daily for personal motivation:

Joshua 1:9 (New Living Translation), “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go.”

Psalms 139:14 (New International Version), “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…..”

Philippians 4:13 (New King James Version), “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

As men and women of God, we have been given authority to speak life. We should therefore speak life over our children every day. We can declare what will and will not happen to them. For example, around this time last year, my brother and his wife were given some bad news regarding their two sons. One was said to have an enlarged heart, while the other was said to have a rare, bone disease. When I got the news, the auntie in me wanted to fall on the floor, cry and beg God to heal my nephews. However, before I could shed one tear, the Holy Spirit stopped me! He said, “Don’t cry and have a pity party, but stand and declare their healing!” I heeded His Words, and our parents did the same. As a result, a week later, the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with either one of my nephews!

Hallelujah! Glory be to GOD!!!

I encourage you, as a son or daughter of God, to speak life in every situation. Don’t allow what you see or hear or the current circumstances in your life to intimidate you. Realize and understand that YOUR words have POWER!

THE PRAYER OF SALVATION
If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you can do so right now. I then encourage you to find a good Bible-believing church that will help you grow in your relationship with the Lord.

Romans 10:9 (NIV) says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Please pray the following prayer:

Dear Jesus, I come to You confessing I am a sinner in need of a Savior. I believe You shed Your blood on the cross and died for my sins, were buried and rose again so I could be free! Please forgive me for my sins and the life I have lived. I confess You Jesus as Lord and accept You as my own personal Savior. According to the Word of God, I am now saved! Hallelujah! I AM FREE!

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY OF GOD!!!!!

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I Am Whom GOD Says I Am

By Kimberly Joy

On October 24, 2016

In Love Yourself

I am whom GOD says I am IF I believe what GOD says!
In order to believe what God says, we have to have knowledge of what He says, and that comes from learning His Word. The scripture says in II Timothy 2:15 to “Study to show thyself approved unto God…” Everything God wants us to know is in His Holy Word. However, God’s Word is no good to us if we don’t believe it. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Although the scripture seems pretty self-explanatory, I find that there are times when we as Christians fail to do what it says. Instead of leaning on the Lord, we lean on what WE understand. We lean on what we see with our natural eyes, what we hear with our natural ears, what we understand with our human minds.

What does OUR understanding look like?
OUR understanding may look something like this:

“I UNDERSTAND that I was mistreated as a child, abandoned, called names, ridiculed, belittled, rejected, abused, molested, raped…..

I UNDERSTAND my hurt was caused by family, friends, classmates, teachers, coaches, law enforcement, employers, missionaries, church mothers, ministers, deacons, pastors, church folk, and so…..

I UNDERSTAND myself to be ugly, poor, worthless, unloved, undeserving, stupid, and as a result…..

I UNDERSTAND that I am ashamed, confused, hurt, lost, angry, discouraged, sad, depressed, indifferent, lonely, bitter…..

That’s what I UNDERSTAND!”

What does GOD say?
My brothers and sisters, I hear your pain! But again, what does GOD say?

“Trust (rely on, depend on, have confidence in, believe) the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto (do not depend on) thine own understanding,” (Proverbs 3:5).

OUR understanding is knowledge outside of God, knowledge that doesn’t come from God. Instead, this knowledge may come from negative experiences involving jealous, bitter, ignorant, confused, hateful, wicked hearts. Consequently, we believe such experiences more than we believe God. You may not agree, and I don’t blame you. Once upon a time, I didn’t believe it either when God first pointed it out to me. I said to God, “Oh no! That’s not true! I’m saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost! I BELIEVE!” However, it wasn’t about my conduct during a Sunday morning service. When the service was over, I demonstrated my lack of trust in God by the choices I made, by my actions, by the words I spoke, by the thoughts I had about myself. I came to the realization that I was believing my circumstances–past and present–more than I was believing God’s Word, all because I was holding onto MY understanding.

God wants us to trust in Him with everything, to trust Him with our lives and His decisions for our lives. However, in order to do so, we have to relinquish OUR understanding.

How do we let go of OUR understanding?
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, and MORE PRACTICE! We practice what we want to become, which should be what GOD wants us to become. We practice or exercise Biblical principles.

James 1:21-25:
“21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the Word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

22 But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

23 For if you listen to the Word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.

24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.

25 But if you look carefully into the Perfect Law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”

As the book of James states, it’s not enough for us to just read the Bible or even recite scriptures from memory. We must practice God’s Word until it becomes a part of us, much like athletes who practice before playing in a game. Having raw talent and knowledge of the game is not enough. They have to practice how they want to perform against the opposing team. As a ninth grade track runner, I was privileged to be on the varsity 400 meter relay team. Although I was excited, I was still nervous at the same time. Being a freshman, I didn’t want to let the older girls on the relay team down. The first time I ran with them I did a great job. Everyone, including the boys track team, congratulated me. So, when I ran the second time, there were high expectations for the four of us. We were only worried about beating one team in order to win first place.

Unfortunately, this particular race had a different outcome. When I passed the baton to my teammate, in a flash that same baton was on the ground. Quickly as possible, she swooped down to pick it up. This mishap took us from first place to sixth place! I was so ashamed and embarrassed that I refused to return to the stands with the rest of the team. My father eventually found me hiding underneath the stands with my face wet with tears. Later the coach said that the baton dropping wasn’t my fault but that of the other girl. However, now that I’m older and have more knowledge, the baton mishap was due to a lack of practice! We weren’t even taught the proper baton exchange until the day before the meet. But, anyone who is familiar with sprint relays understands that baton exchanges take practice. A successful relay team is not based on having the fastest runners, but having runners who have MASTERED the exchange!

When a person accepts Jesus as Savior and Lord, some ungodly habits are easy to give up, while other habits take a little more time and effort. I’m not just referring to the obvious like alcohol, drugs and fornication, but I’m talking about inward struggles. For instance, I possessed what many would describe as low self-esteem for years, even into adulthood. I was constantly comparing myself to others.

“I wish I was pretty like she is!”

“I hate my skinny legs!”

“I’m not as smart as they are! Why am I even in this honors class?!”

“If only I had her personality, maybe then I would have more friends!”

I had to allow God to build my confidence by learning to see myself through HIS eyes. I could no longer depend on people to make me feel beautiful, special, and important. I had to know that I was all those things whether or not anyone else believed it.

Speak God’s Word
In addition to practicing the Word of God, we must also speak His Word and words of LIFE that promote positivity, hope, and strength. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” We can choose to speak death or life. The classroom behavior and school performance of a child who is verbally abused at home is, more than likely, going to differ from a child who receives love and praise. The old adage says, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” I have to disagree with this saying. With the right medical attention, a broken leg or arm heals. Whereas, hateful words can cause mental and emotional damage for years to come.

God knows the pain you’ve suffered, the lies you were told, the words of death that were spoken over you. You can be dead inside while still breathing and walking about the earth every day. That’s exactly why God has given us His Word, for us to speak it and live it. Speak the Word until you believe it and know it to be true, even if you have to stare at yourself in the mirror while doing so. The Bible tells us to profess the things we want to happen (Romans 4:17) and to encourage ourselves just as King David did (I Samuel 30:6). Encouraging myself was a skill I had to learn to master. Prior to that I was accustomed to throwing pity parties. But, who wants to be around a person who is always “pitiful”?

In 2001, I decided that it was time to become the woman God says I am. However, I understood that this transformation had to begin inwardly. So, I wrote a letter of affirmation filled with scriptures and words of life that I read aloud to myself daily. In order to become, I first had to believe. In order to believe, I had to hear. In order to hear, I had to speak. The following are some scriptures I professed and am still professing today:

“…I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” (Psalms 139:14)

“… [I am] more than a conqueror through [Christ] who loved [me].” (Romans 8:37)

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (II Corinthians 5:17)

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (I Peter 2:9)

“I can do everything through Christ, Who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

In addition to professing scriptures, I have also learned to profess words of life:

“I am a child of God.”

“I am blessed.”

“I am intelligent.”

“I am successful.”

“I am healthy.”

“I am holy.”

“I am righteous.”

“I am………………..”

You will find that as you declare God’s Word and speak words of life, your beliefs, thoughts and actions will change, and you will become the person God has already said you are!

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