Consumed By Hats Copyright 2010 Anita D King A Smashwords Edition. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Mark Coker. Smashwords Style Guide (Kindle Locations 1429-1432). Mark Coker.
Book Two in the “Personal Closet” Series
Look for this powerful, life-changing journey to continue in
Consumed By Hats, Book Three, Understanding What God Wants for Us!
Table of Contents
Chapter Two: The Impact of the Way We Think
Chapter Three: Emotions in Motion
Chapter Four: Unveiling the Truth
It is time to fight back! Each day we put on one of those hats mentioned in part one we are daily falling into the traps that destroy our mental and emotional well being. The lies that Satan put in our paths cause us to stumble and fall into new levels in our lives. It is during these times of struggle that our personalities are altered and we become different people. I would like to ask you to seriously pray and think about these next few questions. Were you truly created to be bitter, angry, resentful, emotionally shipwrecked, or emotionally hurt? Do you hide behind statements like “I have been like this all my life, or I got it from my parents?” Do you find yourself questioning why you do some of the things you know are displeasing to God? Do you think God is happy with you? Do you actually believe that God made you that way?
Of course there are many other questions that could be asked of you, however sometimes one needs to just examine the simple ones at face value. I pray that one of the revelations that comes to you in answer to your questions will be that God never made ANYONE to be bitter, or emotionally hurt. He did however give everyone the free will to make choices, and he can never be happy with any of us who do things that displease him. God loves us and God finds joy in us when we turn ourselves over to him and trust him with our lives. Proof of this is found in Proverbs 11:20 which reads, “They that are of a forward heart are abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are his delight, KJV.” So gear up ladies! It is time to face the truth about you. You can do it. Get ready to wash your minds and remove the hats that hold the lies of the enemy and bring forth your anointed thinking to live an abundant life free from the bonds of Satan. It is time to destroy your hats of deceit designed by Satan.
To excel at be a true anointed woman of God we must come to terms with the lies that are consuming and destroying us and replace them with the truth. I entreat you to explore that what you believe as truth can impact your emotions and behaviors each day. You see, that inner head talk that you do may dictate your moods, actions, and maturity levels in life. Many teachers of God’s Word tell us that our most important homework assignment in life is to straighten out our thinking. It is then we will be able to rise above the anger, bitterness, unforgiving, fear, insecurities, and so on. The truth is always hard to face especially if it will not work in our favor, or expose our hidden selves.
Let us look closely at those hats again. The subtle hats of fear, insecurity, struggling, hurt, and abuses began at some point in your life. The same goes for the hard hats of do it all, anger, unforgiving, bitterness, and jealousy. Something happened in your life that placed that hat on your head and it grew and grew until it swallowed you whole. There are some things that are hard for you to get over. Some were traumatic. Some were unjust. Some were done maliciously and some were done innocently, but whatever happened, it affected you in a mighty way. Whether it is fresh in your mind, or something that happened years ago, you still remember it. If it is fresh, it tends to settle in your mind like a rolling movie film and you play it over and over again. You helplessly rewind it to the most dramatic, or traumatic point or points. This occurs especially when various physical abuses take place, but it also happens just about every time we are unfairly treated. Remember, we are learning to live a life of freedom that God has laid out for us without fear and rejection. No matter what, God will never reject you if you put your trust in him and believe in his truth. This is confirmed in Hebrews 13:5 where we are told to let our conversations be without covetousness (envy and longing for what we do not have) and be content with what we do have because God will never leave us or forsake (abandon) us.
It is the extreme opposite with the enemy. The enemy is holding that remote control to your brain and he continues to replay your devastating events implanted in your mind. He is sent to steal your joy, kill your future, and destroy your life as found in John 10:10 which reads, The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life; and that they might have it more abundantly. This is Satan’s way to keep you focused on the dark, unhappy events than to have you free to and open to the light and happiness in Christ. His desire is to keep you from the truths that will set you on the road to freedom. Clearly, Jesus follows with his purpose in John 10:10 for us which is having an abundant life while we are alive to enjoy it. When you begin to look deeper into the real situations you are in and see them for what they really are. You will face the simple truth about those situations and then, you will begin your next step to freedom in Christ.
We have either overlooked, or have not had the inclination to take a hard look at ourselves as the individuals we really are for far too long. Those hats you wear are never taken off so you can investigate your freedom because you may not realize that they are there. It is never easy when we take a personal inventory to face our behaviors and attitudes. The undesirable things in our lives are difficult to face. We are instructed by Paul in one of his letters to the Corinthians to evaluate ourselves spiritually. He tells us to “Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —Unless indeed you are disqualified.” (2 Corinthians 13:5, NKJV).
Chapter Two: The Impact of the Way We Think
Are you sure of your faith? When is the last time you thanked God for you being here and living your life? Maybe you need to be reminded that you were fearfully and wonderfully made in Christ. How many times have you been reminded of this? When you heard it did you understand what it meant? Better yet, have you ever read this scripture or heard it read before? I can just imagine that when you heard it you took it in stride and did not examine it closely. Well, you have help here. Look closely at these words of God to get another true meaning. “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:14, NIV)
There you have it. You are extra special to God. He made you and His works are wonderful. You are wonderful! If you are concerned about the word “fearfully,” do not fret. Fearfully means that you were made with great reverence and respect. So, pat yourself on the back and smile confidently! You are marvelous because God took great interest in you when he made you! Give God praise! Now that, sisters, is the TRUTH. Now you know why you were made, and now you know how you were made. Additionally you discovered that you were made in God’s image. So, why do we fail to live in this wonderful creation daily? The answer may be that our consciousness is so packed with the images that we have created for ourselves that we have begun to live as we think we are, not who we are.
Think of the last time you did something you thought you had perfected and it did not work out as you planned. In your disappointment what did you think of yourself? I imagine that you scolded yourself for your shortcomings and used negative words to describe you. You may have even been angry with yourself. Mentally you saw your mistakes as failures. You then talk about it for days, trying to pinpoint where you went wrong. Some women live their lives daily embedded in many of the situations they find themselves in. When you begin thinking this way about yourself and your life, your thinking has become defective. You are exhibiting what some theologians call “stinking thinking.” It is this behavior that turns our difficult situations into full-blown “issues.” Issues are those things that cloud our lives with drama, and unsettling confrontations and thoughts. Issues are simply every day problems that most everyone have, however if the problems are not properly dealt with or confronted with the proper attitude and guidance, they add up and multiply.
So relax, go to your personal closet (your inner self or quiet place) and buckle up. You are going for a ride that is based upon these words by John, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32, NIV). You are about to free up and cleanse your mind from the lies up believe about yourself. When women mentally create fabrications in their minds about themselves they pay for it both emotionally and spiritually. In John 8:44 Satan is identified as the father of all lies and later again in John 10:10 where we are reminded once again that Satan is sent to steal, kill, and destroy. One of the ways the enemy destroys us is through deception. He is on a never-ending campaign for us to believe the lies that we are telling ourselves. When you begin to question your abilities, view yourself as making a dumb or stupid decision, or stump and jerk in your actions angrily about yourself, you set yourself up for anger to take control of your situations. When you become angry with yourself and you never resolve your anger you open yourself for the enemy to slip in and the lies begin. Next, you begin buying into those lies and your life changes from peace to turmoil.
Go back to the movie in your mind where Satan is holding the invisible remote control. The CD remains on “pause” until something, or someone reminds you of the hurt, anger, or abuse. Then all of a sudden, the play button is pushed and you replay the situation over and over in your mind. You are taken back to the day, date, time, place, person, and situation vividly. You relive the moment or moments that stole a large piece of you. You then become quite angry, increasingly worried, and to some extremes, mentally depressed. You remember how you felt, what you did, what they said, and so on. At this very moment you can probably think of a time when you found yourself in such a situation and how difficult it was for you to maintain control of your behaviors and emotions.
Chapter Three: Emotions in Motion with Lies
Proverbs, the Book of Wisdom, Chapter 23 verse seven reads, “For as he athinketh in his bheart, so is he.” Also Mark 7:20-23 reiterates this by telling us- And he said, “That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man, KJV.” It is from these words that we discover the first lie Satan tells and is believed.
Lie #1-Blame it on someone or something else. It is believed and satisfied with in us that something around us is makes us feel or behave the way we do. This is the classic Adam and Eve syndrome. Both shifted the blame of the eating of the fruit to the other. The story is found in Genesis 13:3. Adam blamed Eve, and then Eve blamed the serpent. This is a clear picture of pointing fingers at others, or those around us. So now we can add the act of finger pointing to the fall of man. We have the tendency to blame someone or something for what we did. We sometimes have the sheer unmitigated gall to blame God at times. Go back to a time where you blamed your emotions on someone else or some other thing.
Did you make the action the reason for your behavior? Some of you have blamed your partner for making you upset. It could be another situation where a friend was the reason you got hurt. We fail to think that it is something inside of US that caused the problem. The truth is all of us are guilty of blaming someone else or something else as the cause of our problems. Deep down we know that is not correct and you are not seeing the truth accurately. You might have heard a sermon on it, or even read of it in the Bible, but still you struggle with it. It is a serious issue for people to deal with, but if it is not dealt with, you will carry a large price tag for it.
Look at it this way, when we blame our emotions or behaviors on someone or something else, they or it begins to control us. The enemy delights in keeping us tangled up in an emotional mess where we throw blame to everyone else but ourselves. He constantly draws things to the forefront of our minds to cause us to act and think negatively. We can no longer afford to allow this way of thinking to dictate our actions. If we continue, we will pay a larger price for it. We should strive to be spiritual and whole so that the Lord can use us for the purpose He has prepared us for. If we continue to blame the external for our internal flaws we can never personify the Lord and his character. Therefore, our goals as Christian women are to remove the hats and live the abundant life free from bondage. An intricate part of that life is to imitate Christ. Paul tells us, 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2, KJV). And that, my friend, is another truth.
If you carefully read the life of Christ you will find that he never blamed anything he did on people or other situations. In his thirty-three years on earth, Jesus never blamed anyone else for anything he did. He knew he was responsible for his actions and that he was responsible to God, his Father. So you see women, our personal growth is tied to our willingness to stop laying blame on the external factors and start looking into our “cup” or inner selves and ask these few questions.
How do I respond to my circumstances?
Am I the cause of my won misery?
Why am I being drawn further into the abyss of deep-rooted lies and believing those lies?
The way we view our situations and ourselves play a big part in throwing off or adjusting that hat to our benefit to live a life full of joy and peace. The way you think is the key to changing your whole outlook on your living. You will dismiss those lies that keep you open to the control of the enemy and lessening your walk with Christ. There are numerous ways and reasons for why we see ourselves as we do. Often we let people control our actions just by listening to their views of their own lives or experiences. We can destroy our self-images and self esteem by believing the untruths of societal methods.
Chapter Four: Unveiling the Truth
We must gain control of the real truths and leave the world to itself. Again I refer you to the book of Ephesians to read chapter 5:1-20 to hear what Paul requests of us in order to look to God instead of the world for our walk with Christ. Take a few minutes to read it now. Having read what Paul says are you shocked? No need to be. There is hope! You are not condemned! These are pleas to remind you that the world is full of traps to lead you astray and into a dangerous way of living and thinking.
If we are not careful we will fall prey to several unhealthy falsehoods that invade our thinking and make us feel that we must live up to them to be a complete person. These are some of the reasons you have on or carry so many hats. One of these falsehoods is the everlasting idea that we must be perfect. This is a common belief that infects so many women. Paul does say that we are to be Christ-like, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, KJV), but we are not near as perfect as we should be in Christ. Because of the world’s view of perfection in the areas of our looks, our possessions, and our professions, it is no wonder that we can ever leave our homes comfortably. Our thinking then, causes us to criticize ourselves. You beat yourself up emotionally if what you thought was right went wrong, or what you were striving to do did not come out the way you wanted it to. You feel your every word must be accurate. Every area must be clean at all times. Hundreds of dollars are spent to keep up an appearance. Sadly, when we miss the mark in these areas, we become sick with self-arguments that chastising ourselves for not being (let me say it again) perfect. Ladies, this is yet another trick of Satan. If he had his way, he would have you thinking that you are equal to God in his Omnipotence (supremacy), his Omnipresence (everywhere), and his Omniscience (all knowing)!
Get Real! The truth is that God, safe in his grace, and perfect in his sight, loves us. Therefore, rid yourself of the hats of do it all and insecurity. While you should aim for perfection in Christ, you should also remember that you are to surrender all to Him and he will make you perfect. Our focus should be in pleasing God. Give God your best. We are subject to mistakes and imperfections. We all have struggles that take our time, joy, and peace; however our faith in Christ keeps us from falling into the pit of despair. You are striving to be comfortable in who and what you are. Remember, you are wonderfully made. Be thankful for the grace and mercy of God. When you miss the mark—pray and ask for forgiveness and strength. When you struggle-pray for God to see you through. When you did not get it right-pray and ask for guidance for the next time. Above all, thank God for creating you and making you his child. Give him praises for the person he is designing you to become or illuminate.
Another thing that is untrue in women is the feeling that you must have everyone’s approval. You feel that everyone must like you and approve of you. Some of you may even be so caught in this web of deceit that you change yourself to fit in with every situation. You try to give everyone what they want all the time simply so they will like you. Friend, do you want God’s approval or everyone else’s approval? Be careful of this wayward thinking because you could easily lose sight of who you really are and become someone else. You will never gain the approval of everyone, but if you live your life filled with the fruit of the Spirit, validation comes easily. Make sure you understand that you do not need anyone’s approval or validation but God’s.
Another lie is that feeling you may have of your worthiness is based upon performances. Is Satan making you believe that you must live your life as an actor and you must perform each day to prove your personal worth? LIAR! He would have you acting or performing out of character at church, home, work, parenting, as a friend, or in your moral behavior. The truth of the matter is that your worth as a woman comes completely from being made in the image of God. Being made in the image of God means you will operate in a stability that does not allow you to change to another person to match your surroundings. Your purpose is to know who you are in Christ and to let him dictate your actions to you through his Holy Spirit. If you continue to move from scene to scene as a different you will never find a way to be anchored in God’s presence and comfort.
Prepare to be set free further with the truth. These and other lies of Satan destroy us and increase the state of bondage in our lives, but the truth will make us free. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32, KJV). You have just read God’s words, not mine, therefore, believe it, and take him at his Word. God has provided us with truths that we are to think on each day. If we focus on the truth, know the truth, and live in the truth, we will be set free of those hats of worry, and rage and anger. We will not fall into depression, loss of self-control overeating, or outbursts of unhealthy language. Satan’s list is a long list of lies that destroy. We must challenge the enemy and those lies he hands out to us each day and replace them the Truth of Christ and learn to think like Christ by reading and studying scripture
The journey continues in Book Three in the Consumed By Hats Series, Understanding What God Wants From Us. Look for it soon!
List of Sources Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture verses are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Versus marked by NIV are taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide
Versus marked by NKJV are Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
About Anita Anita King lives in Tennessee with her husband and proudly acknowledges that their son represents the United States in the Armed forces.
Profession: Educator of fifteen years in public schools. She is currently an Instructional Coach in her school system and has held the title for six years.
Education: Master of Education-Professional
Certified Christian Counselor with The American Association of Christian Counselors, Member since 2003. Activities: Christian Educator and Counselor, CEO of The Circle of Freedom Counseling Ministry, Event Speaker and Workshop Teacher, Author and Curriculum writer and presenter.
Author and Owner of The Personal Closet Ministries Website and Book Series.
Poet and Artist
Inspiration and Likes: Reading all genres. Writing and creating inspirational and self-help for all and teaching and creating curriculum for both Christian and Educational audiences
Other joys: Romance: Watching movies and enjoying the holiday season watching and sharing love and peace.