[Faith-talk] FW: [URCTCPrayerGroup2] Evil forebodings by Joyce Meyer

[Eric Calhoun]

Original Message: 
From: "Donna" <godsgirl54 at att.net>
To: <URCTCPrayerGroup2 at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [URCTCPrayerGroup2] Evil forebodings by Joyce Meyer
Date: 
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:18:15 -0500

 
Evil Forebodings
by Joyce Meyer - posted November 22, 2011 


All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious
thoughts and forebodings], but he who has a glad heart has a continual
feast [regardless of circumstances].
-Proverbs 15:15

Shortly after I began to seriously study the Bible, I felt an oppressive
atmosphere around me. Everything seemed gloomy-as if something bad was
going to happen. It wasn't anything I could explain, just a vague, dreaded
sense of something evil or wrong about to happen. 

"Oh, God," I prayed. "What's going on? What is this feeling?" 

I had hardly uttered the question when God spoke to me. "Evil
forebodings." 

I had to meditate on that for several minutes. I had never heard the
phrase before. God had spoken to me, and I stayed quiet before Him so I
could hear the answers. 

I realized, first of all, that my anxieties weren't real-that is, they
were not based on true circumstances or situations. I was having
problems-as most of us do -but they were not as critical as the devil was
making it appear. My acceptance of his lies, even though they were vague,
was opening the door for the evil forebodings. 

I eventually realized that I had lived in the midst of similar gloomy
feelings most of my life. I was expecting something bad to happen instead
of aggressively expecting something good. 

I felt a dread, an unexplained anxiety around me. I couldn't put my
finger on anything specific-only that sense of something evil or terrible. 

The Living Bible says, "When a man is gloomy, everything seems to go
wrong." That's how I felt, as if something-maybe everything-was wrong or
was about to go wrong. 

As previously stated, I realized that for most of my life, I had been
miserable because of evil thoughts and anxious forebodings. 

As I continued to meditate on evil forebodings, God broke through and
gave me a clear revelation. I was miserable because my thoughts were
miserable-my thoughts were poisoning my outlook. 

My thoughts robbed me of the ability to enjoy my life. I should have been
saying, "Thank You, God, for today. Thank you for Dave and my children and
my friends and all Your blessings." But, instead of being positive, I found
myself even dreading to answer the phone when it rang, for fear it might be
bad news. 

All of this gloom and doom that surrounded me began in my abusive
childhood. I endured a great deal of misery, and most of my life was
unhappy and filled with disappointments. I began to live in a vague fear
and dread of the future. I had not been taught to let go of what was
behind. 

I couldn't rejoice in what I had now and the good things going on in my
life. I focused on the past and what might lie ahead-and what lay ahead was
usually gloom and doom and chaos because that was what I was expecting.
Satan had built a stronghold in my mind, and I was trapped until I learned
I could tear down that negative, evil stronghold by applying God's Word to
my life and circumstances. 

I once had a friend whom I'll call Marlene. She lived in a state of
constant chaos. One day she had health problems. The next day Marlene's son
had lost his job, and they were going to have to support him and his
family. As soon as that was over, another traumatic situation would erupt. 

Marlene was a Christian, but she lived in fear of bad news. Marlene would
not have known how to live a life that was not filled with chaos. All of
her conversation was negative and gloomy. Even her countenance was sad and
gloomy. 

I realized that I had started to become like Marlene-I was miserable
because I had allowed Satan to rob me of the ability to enjoy my life. It
took a while before I was able to be positive most of the time, but little
by little, my thinking changed, and so did my life. 

I no longer live in evil forebodings, expecting to hear at any moment of
a new problem. Now I purposely expect good things to happen in my life. I
realize now that I can choose my thoughts. I don't have to accept Satan's
lies. 

Like everyone else, negative things do happen to me from time to time,
but I don't become negative because of them. I remain positive, and that
helps me enjoy my life even in the midst of the storms. 

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, through so many days in my life, I have been
robbed of my joy and contentment by evil forebodings. As those feelings
come to me, please remind me that You are in control. Help me to rest in
You and rejoice in Your power in my life. Amen. 



Donna K



You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he
trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3