PIVOT POINTS

Every now and then we stumble across a great truth of God and the Spirit causes it to resound in our hearts and minds with a clarity above all else. It resonates within our spirit and we know our life is going to change because of this truth. It becomes for us a PIVOT POINT. Have you ever experienced that? I have! A number of times through the years, in fact. Many times. My Pivot Points have been life changing "events" . . . spiritual markers . . . things I can look back on and think, "That was a turning point for me. Pivotal!"

You know what a "pivot" is, don't you? I remember my little totally nonathletic self having to practice pivoting in jr. high gym class when we played basketball. I was taught to keep one foot on the floor planted solidly, swivel on that foot and turn myself to a new direction. There have been many pivot points in my journey with the Lord.

A couple that really stand out to me are:

• Back in the 80's I heard Peter Lord preach about knowing God - about seeking His face instead of His hands. He said that we are not "saved to serve" - but rather to please God. Pivot! I turned from being a "doer" to a "BE-er." But a "BE-er" who still "did" plenty. The difference was, I began to serve God simply as an overflow of my love for Him - not out of a sense of obligation.
• In the 90's Neil Anderson's teachings in The Bondage Breaker opened my eyes to who I am in Christ. Pivot! It made a HUGE change in how I saw myself. I realized I no longer had to feel inadequate. I am complete in Christ. I am accepted in the beloved. I am secure and significant in Him.

The book, Change your Habits, Change your Life by Danna Demetre (in the photo on my sidebar) has brought me to another Pivot Point. It has outlined truth - not NEW truth - things I've known for years - but truth that the Holy Spirit has caused to resound in my heart with a resonating clarity that says, "Time to Pivot, Bevo!"

I have commiserated OFTEN about my frustration of losing weight - gaining weight . . . of being unable to maintain a healthy lifestyle where eating and exercise are concerned. I've effectively lost weight in the right way for the right purposes a number of times over the last forty years. And every single time, I've regained the weight I lost in less amount of time than it took to lose it. I have agonized endlessly about why I cannot seem to gain deliverance and victory over this area of bondage. Then I stumbled across this teaching. Stumbled. Yes. I "stumbled" across this teaching because GOD put it right in my path!!

The basic premise is what you believe determines how you behave.

Now, that's not new teaching attributable to Danna Demetre, is it? Psychologists and behavioral experts have been saying that for as many years as most of us have been alive. I've known it for ages. I've taught it for pete's sake!! I taught a whole unit in SS called Self Talk, Soul Talk a few months ago that was based on this very truth. So why hasn't it impacted me like this before?

Have you ever been reading your Bible and come across a scripture that you've known and loved for years and years and all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit causes it to spring to life and jump off the page at you? I love when He does that! It's when the Word becomes rhema to you! There's nothing like it!

Well, that's the kind of enlightenment the Holy Spirit brought about the truth that what I believe determines how I behave. Here's what He showed me with the clarity only His great search light can bring as He shines it in the corners of our heart. All those other times I have lost weight I have changed my behavior. But I have NOT changed my beliefs!!! WOW, Lord!! REALLY???

Time to PIVOT, Bevo! Time to change some of your beliefs. Changed beliefs will equate to changed behavior.

How am I changing my beliefs? Tune in tomorrow and I'll tell you.