Secrets & Lies - Uncovering the Enemies of Our Breakthroughs
Hello, Cyclebreakers4life family! Today, I want to delve into a critical topic that affects many of us: "Secrets & Lies: Uncovering the Enemies of Our Breakthroughs." This subject is crucial because secrets and lies can hold us back from experiencing true deliverance and breaking free from negative cycles.
The Nature of Secrets
Secrets often stem from feelings of shame, fear, or guilt. They thrive in darkness and grow stronger the longer they remain hidden. These secrets can be personal or generational, passed down like a toxic legacy that poisons our lives and relationships.
Scripture Reference:
"For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light." - Luke 8:17 (ESV)
The Destruction of Lies
Lies distort our reality and lead us away from God’s path. They can manifest as negative self-talk, false beliefs about our identity, or deceptive words from others.
Scripture Reference:
"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." - John 8:44 (NIV)
Unspoken Cycles That Need Breaking
Cycle of Silence
In many environments, silence is encouraged. We are taught to "keep it in the family" or "not air our dirty laundry," perpetuating abuse, addiction, and mental health struggles.
Breaking the Cycle:
Speak up! Share your struggles with a trusted friend, mentor, or counselor. Confession and vulnerability are the first steps toward healing.
Scripture Reference:
"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." - James 5:16 (NIV)
Cycle of Denial
Denial is a defense mechanism that shields us from painful truths, preventing us from addressing the root causes of our issues.
Breaking the Cycle:
Acknowledge your reality. Face your fears and confront the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be. God’s grace is sufficient to carry you through.
Scripture Reference:
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." - 1 John 1:8 (NIV)
Cycle of Shame
Shame convinces us that we are unworthy of love and forgiveness, isolating us and imprisoning us in our past mistakes.
Breaking the Cycle:
Embrace God’s forgiveness. Remember that you are a new creation in Christ, and your past does not define you.
Scripture Reference:
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." - Romans 8:1 (NIV)
Walking in True Deliverance
Walking in authentic deliverance means breaking through barriers!
True deliverance involves not only breaking free from negative cycles but also walking in the fullness of God’s promises. Here are steps to guide you on this journey:
Renew Your Mind
Transform your thinking by immersing yourself in God’s Word. Let His truth replace the lies and renew your mind daily.
Scripture Reference:
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12:2 (NIV)
Build a Support System
Surround yourself with a community that supports your growth and holds you accountable. The Cyclebreakers4life community is here to support you every step of the way.
Scripture Reference:
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." - Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
Embrace Prayer and Fasting
Seek God’s guidance and strength through prayer and fasting. These spiritual disciplines help break strongholds and draw you closer to God.
Scripture Reference:
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?" - Isaiah 58:6 (NIV)
Practice Forgiveness
Forgive those who have wronged you, and seek forgiveness for your own transgressions. Forgiveness releases you from the bondage of bitterness and opens the door to healing.
Scripture Reference:
"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." - Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)
Breaking the Chains Activity
Materials Needed:
Paper
Pen
Scissors
A small box or container
Instructions:
Write down on separate pieces of paper any secrets, lies, or cycles you want to break free from.
Fold each paper and place it in the box.
Pray over the box, asking God to help you break these chains.
After your prayer, take each paper and cut it up as a symbolic act of breaking those chains.
Reflection:
Reflect on how you feel after this activity. Share your experience with a trusted friend or within the Cyclebreakers4life community.
Conclusion
In conclusion, remember that secrets and lies have no power in the light of God’s truth. Step into the light, break those cycles, and embrace the freedom that is yours in Christ. We are here to support you, pray for you, and walk with you on this journey to true deliverance.
Join the Conversation: Let’s continue this conversation in our Cyclebreakers4life Facebook community. Share your thoughts, testimonies, and prayer requests. Together, we are stronger!
Listen to Your Heart
Making good decisions involves a complex interplay between emotions, intuition, and rational thinking. Although we often attribute decisions to the mind, the heart also plays a crucial role in the process. In fact, the heart contributes significantly to making sound choices. Here's a breakdown of how the heart helps us make good decisions:
1. Emotional Intelligence: The heart is a center for emotions, and being in touch with your feelings is a key aspect of decision-making. Emotional intelligence allows you to navigate complex situations by understanding your own emotions and empathizing with others. Emotional awareness helps in making decisions that align with your values and contribute to positive outcomes.
2. Intuition and Gut Feelings: The heart is often associated with intuition or "gut feelings." This intuitive sense can provide valuable insights that may not be immediately evident through logical analysis. Paying attention to your instincts can guide you toward decisions that resonate with your authentic self and align with your deeper desires and aspirations.
3. Passion and Motivation: Your heart houses your passions and desires. Making decisions that are in harmony with your passions often leads to a more fulfilling life. When you are driven by what genuinely excites and motivates you, the decisions you make are likely to be infused with enthusiasm and a sense of purpose.
4. Values and Morality: The heart is often considered the seat of one's values and moral compass. Making decisions in alignment with your core values ensures a sense of integrity and authenticity. When your choices reflect your deepest beliefs, you are more likely to feel satisfied and confident in the outcomes.
5. Listening to Warning Signs: Your heart can act as an early warning system, signaling discomfort or unease in certain situations. Tuning into these warning signs can prevent you from making decisions that may lead to regret or dissatisfaction. Ignoring such signals might lead to choices that go against your inner sense of well-being.
6. Balancing Emotion and Reason: Effective decision-making involves finding a balance between the heart and the mind. While emotions provide valuable input, rational thinking is necessary for logical analysis and weighing pros and cons. Integrating both emotional and rational aspects helps in making well-rounded decisions.
7. Building Meaningful Relationships: Decisions often involve considerations beyond the individual, especially in social contexts. Your heart plays a significant role in forming and maintaining meaningful relationships, influencing decisions that impact both you and those around you. Taking into account the emotional well-being of yourself and others contributes to better decision outcomes.
In summary, understanding how your heart contributes to decision-making involves recognizing the wisdom in emotional intelligence, intuition, and the alignment of choices with your values and passions. Integrating these aspects with logical analysis leads to more holistic and fulfilling decision-making. It's the harmonious collaboration between the heart and mind that often results in decisions that feel right and lead to positive outcomes.
Remember: Cheer often for your success!
Pastor C
What Does Breaking the Cycle Mean?
The reality of what I had done to myself hit me like a ton of bricks! How did I get here? Why didn’t I put down that bag of chips? Why did I press past that satisfied feeling and get that third piece of fried chicken? Day in and day out, eating Reesie cups and whole bags of red licorice in one day, My God! Standing there looking at myself in the mirror, I could no longer see that fit and trim physic. Now pounds of fat and cellulite had moved in and taken its place. I had a problem, and after many years, I had to face the music. I had an eating problem that developed due to trying to cope with negative issues. I had to do something about this NOW! I had to break this cycle!
Breaking cycles means ending a repetitive pattern of behavior or thoughts that have become damaging to the mind, body, or soul. Simply put, a situation arises, and we have thoughts of stress, anxiety, or fear. As a result of those feelings and emotions, we begin engaging in behaviors that negatively impact the situation (in this case).
Change does not come quickly, but to succeed, we have to understand the elements of changing behaviors and breaking negative cycles:
Getting Ready for change - getting resources and avenues for support to make a lasting change
Barriers to change - knowing that there are things that can prevent you from change, like your mindset.
Relapse- know your triggers, those events, emotions, or interactions that could tempt you to return to old behaviors.
Change is not easy, but once you recognize and embrace the fact that you have to break the cycle of negative behaviors (addictions) such as overeating, sex addiction, addiction to alcohol, smoking, lying, being overly critical, abuse, co-dependency, self-sabotage, or a victim mentality, to name a few (this list is long).
No matter what it is, knowing the following six steps to behavior change will aid in your success in breaking out of these negative vicious cycles.
#1 – Pre-contemplation – the person is not considering a change here. People in this stage are often described as "in denial." They feel that what they are doing is not hurting anyone. If you are in this stage, you can begin by asking yourself some questions. Have you ever tried to change this behavior in the past? How do you recognize that you have a problem? What would have to happen for you to consider your behavior a problem?
#2 – Contemplation – When a person becomes aware of a problem and realizes the benefits that the change will bring in their lives as they consider the costs (what they will have to stop or the time it will take to make the change. Here, they may view the change as a process of giving up something rather than a means of gaining control of their lives (emotionally, mentally, or even physically.
#3- Preparation – Here, the person experiments with minor changes (exercising a little, drinking less, smoking less, etc.) before committing to a new regimen of activities that will bring about the needed change. At this stage, it will help to prepare a list of motivating statements and write out goals. Some support groups and counselors can offer further information for encouragement and structure.
#4 – Action – Direct action to accomplish goals. Here, the person is actively involved in their behavior change, armed with plans, checklists, motivational music and statements, and a made-up mind to reach their goals for change to break out of their negative cycle of behavior. Rewards for steps of success are essential for reinforcing the process of change the person is working through.
#5 – Maintenance – Here, the person successfully avoids old behaviors and keeps up new behaviors for positive change; remember, it takes the average person 21 days to make a new habit. A person must successfully avoid former behaviors while focusing on the recent positive behavior.
If you falter, don’t be too hard on yourself or give up. Instead, remind yourself that it was just a minor setback. As you will learn in the next stage, relapses are common and are part of making a lifelong change.
#6 – Relapse – Triggers. This is a common occurrence in behavior change. Start over. Don’t let setbacks undermine your self-confidence. Change happens gradually, and relapse is a common occurrence. It is a part of the process.
In any behavior change, relapses are a common occurrence.4 . When you go through a relapse, you might experience feelings of failure, disappointment, and frustration.
The key to success is not to let these setbacks undermine your self-confidence. If you lapse into an old behavior, please look at why it happened. What triggered the relapse? What can you do to avoid these triggers in the future?
Do You See It?
There is nothing more frustrating than trying to share with someone about your vision and they just don’t seem to be interested or they simply can’t envision what you are sharing as possible. How about times when you are presented with an opportunity to do something different, but you are excused from said activity because you appear to have some sort of limitation?
I am reminded of a time when I took one of the most amazing trips of my life…to Hawaii! It is breathtaking and full of so much beauty and history. Of course, you know we took many excursions to explore the land, including bicycling down the side of Mount Haleakala (a sleeping volcano, mind you). Well, when we got our assigned bicycles, we were allowed to take pictures before our great adventure down the side of this volcano. Our tour guide demonstrated this pose that we could take, one person sitting on the bicycle while the other partner stood on the back doing a pose. The group was excited as one pair after the other took their picture. When my husband and I stepped up to take our picture, she quickly approached us. As my husband sat down and grabbed the handlebars, she told me I didn’t have to do the pose since I was much older, which would be rather tricky. Something shot through my body (shock!). I took a deep breath, smiled, and politely told her, “Oh, I can do it!
Now, my current situation has become more than just taking a picture! This opportunity had now become a challenge! So, I visualized how I wanted this picture to look; I took the first step, and then what I saw in my mind came to fruition!
You see, having an idea, and setting goals are starting points to success, if you want to really achieve what you have written on paper, you have to see yourself having accomplished your vision (goals).
“Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Anything is possible, seeing is believing!!!
If you want to dig a little deeper into “Goal Visualization”,
click the button below and join me in the Cyclebreakers4life Fire Time Podcast.
In the Zone!
Someone once said, “Don’t be afraid of moving slowly; be afraid of standing still.” This statement caused me to question myself about what I was doing and what I was not doing. Reflecting on what I hadn’t been doing caused me to ask why. That is when I realized I was getting comfortable in many different ways. I was comfortable in my routine, my thinking, and even in my accomplishments. Yes, I was living life in my “Comfort zone.”
We all have a place of ease, a place or situation that does not cause stress but gives you a sense of safety. That in and of itself is not bad; that is a good thing. Your comfort zone is not the enemy as long as you don’t let yourself stagnate in this place. The moment we do, our comfort zone becomes a trap. And that is what was happening to me. I was becoming stagnant. Like me, you may have felt happy and comfortable with your achievements. But deep down inside, you know it’s not true. The dreams that once spurred you on in the past are all gone, suffocated by your comfort zone. You have put more value on comfort over risk-taking and goal-setting. Now you find you are doing the same mundane things, day in and day out.
To live an intentional life, you must start taking measures right now. I want to give you five easy techniques you can use to get out of your comfort zone:
Say ‘yes’ more often
Take baby steps
Meet new people
Get someone to help you out
do it!
Do the things you want to do. Don’t let your comfort zone hold you back. Taking risks is a great way to live life. You will either succeed and reap your reward or fail and learn valuable lessons. Either way, you'll be learning a lot and winning in life at the same time. If you find this information intriguing and want a more in-depth understanding, click the link below. I would love to give you my free “Comfort Zone Killer” teaching. Fill out the form below, and in the message section, type Comfort Zone Killer. That’s all you have to do and i will send you the teaching to get you started on Killing that Comfort Zone!!
If you want to dig deeper, click the link below and get your FREE “Comfort Zone Killer”.
Until the next Time,
Pastor “C”, Your Breakthrough Transformational Coach