Mark DeJesus's Blog, page 134
May 18, 2014
Exposing the Rejection Mindset (New Book Launches May 28th)
We are happy to announce the new book launch for Exposing the Rejection Mindset, a new book by Mark DeJesus!
Exposing the Rejection Mindset
Getting to the Root of Our Relationship and Identity Struggles
Take Back Who God Says You Are!
Your identity and relationships are everything when it comes to living a full life on this planet. But what happens when your lens in those areas becomes distorted or tainted? Discover in this book how the subtle mindset of rejection seeks to alter your thoughts and train you to carry a tainted lens on life. You will discover that rejection is not just something that happens to you, it is a toxic stronghold, set up to prevent you from walking in the love of God and knowing who you are.
Throughout this book, you will learn to see how this root system of rejection seeks to get itself into every facet of relationships. You will understand how to:
- Confront unresolved brokeness and the masks that we wear in relationships.
- End the slave life of performance, perfectionism and people pleasing.
- Walk free from constant busyness and hyper-driven living.
- Let go of relationship burdens you should not be carrying.
- Address the toxic relationships around you.
- Break addictive habits and addict living.
- Love and accept yourself right where you are.
- End the twisted communication that goes in in relationships.
- Take the limits off where you are stuck in breaking free.
- Practical steps on walking free from rejection.
- Develop a healthy lens of God, yourself and your relationships.
- Get out of isolation, get back out there and live an authentic life!
Coming May 28th
Comments: Exposing the Rejection Mindset (New Book Launches May 28th).
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May 14, 2014
#002: What Does Father Mean to You? [Podcast]
In this episode, I want tot help us understand the power of who God is as Father, and how He wants us to experience the Father’s blessing in our lives. Does father mean “blessing” to us, or does it mean something else? For many, they have never received a father’s blessing, so they struggle in relating to God, who wants to bless us as our Heavenly Father.
Isaiah 61:1-2 NKJV
1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God
What is the anointing? Basically, the work of the Holy Spirit through one person to another.
- Its God’s way of touching His creation.
- God’s works through relationship.
- This is ministry: the Holy Spirit working through a person (anointing) a touching another person.
What is the “anointing” of God doing?
First we need to understand the use of the word “Lord” here in the Scriptures.
Understanding the Lord God:
- LORD God = Jehovah Elohim – God the Word
- Lord GOD = Adonai Yehovee – God the Father
The Father’s heart: God’s desire is that that heart of the Father be shown.
Malachi 4:5-6 NKJV
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6 And he will turn
The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.
Key thing that God wants to do in the last days = restoration of relationship.
1. Biological Fathers to Sons.
2. Spiritual Fathers and Spiritual Sons.
3. Most of All = Knowing Father God as His Sons.
Matthew 24:12 NKJV And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
- Lawlessness, or without law, abounds because of a lack of fathering.
- Because of this, love relationship will grow cold with people.
The sin that we see growing in the land is due to the lack of the father’s presence.
There is a lack of the Father’s blessing.
Old Testament showed us the power of “the blessing” that the father releases. Usually through the laying on of hands.
Jesus Received the Father’s Blessing:
Matthew 3:16-17 NKJV 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “ This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Three Things the Father Speaks:
1. “I Love Him.
2. “He’s My Son.”
3. “I Am Proud of Him.”
Question: Do you have an experience of this blessing from your earthly father? Have you experienced this with your heavenly Father?
Comments: #002: What Does Father Mean to You? [Podcast].
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May 7, 2014
#001: Do You Know That You Are Loved? [Podcast]
I am thrilled and excited to be presenting our very first podcast episode!
In this episode, I first give an introduction to my story and what God has done in my life. I share my testimony of healing and transformation, which became the inspiration to starting Turning Hearts Ministries and Transformed You.
I also give an exhortation, asking, “Do you know that you are loved?” Why knowing and experiencing the love that God has for us is the most important thing in life. Letting God love us, loving ourselves and giving that love out to others.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1 NKJV
Key is:
1. Knowing the love of Father God.
2. Knowing that you are Father God’s child.
The Greatest love – knowing the love of Father God.
Many people know Christ, but they have not become comfortable with knowing the love of God.
I reference “The Father’s Love” teaching which can be found here.
When you know that you are loved:
1. You Know Someone Has Your Back
2. You Have Nothing to Prove
3. You Have Nothing to Fear
4. You Like What You See in the Mirror
Comments: #001: Do You Know That You Are Loved? [Podcast].
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May 6, 2014
How to Start Each Day Strong
Getting the day off to a healthy start is critical to getting the best out of your day. Most people start their day off on the wrong foot, so they spend the entire day trying to recover their sanity and peace.
For Christians, we can often struggle with being able to connect with God. In Psalm 100, the Bible teaches us how to engage God with the most effectiveness. It lays out the most effective way to spend time with God, but also to start your day off with the right mindsets.
Here are three things that help us engage God with the greatest level of effectiveness so that our days begin with a fresh and powerful perspective.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
Psalms 100:4-5 NKJV
1. Thanksgiving
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving…”
Start off your interactions with God by being grateful. This is quite often the most skipped over practice in our relationship with God and others. We start the day off complaining, murmuring and grumbling. Out of that toxic place, we fall into anger, grumpiness, negativity and selfishness.
True gratitude is a rare commodity in a culture that has so much. The blessings on this nation have created bratty nation of entitle citizens. With so much given to us, we still focus on what we don’t have, what hasn’t happen and what does not seem to work.
Gratitude confronts our bad attitudes and where we have not cultivated a healthy perspective in life. God is not interested in giving us “cushy” lives. He is most caring about seeing us become overcomers in all things. A grateful heart is “must have” for an overcomer.
When we cultivate thanksgiving, we set the stage to engage God’s presence. He says we “enter his gates” by lifting up gratitude. Start your day off by listing out all that you are grateful for. It will set your heart in the right place and it will also drive out mindsets that are holding you down.
God lives in the thanksgiving of His people.
When we cultivate thanksgiving, we start off like God. No matter what comes in the day, you are ready to face it when you have thanksgiving. Because a grateful heart can never be defeated.
2. Praise Him
“into His courts with praise…”
Thanksgiving is a declaration of all that God is and all that He has done. Once we enter into His gates with thanksgiving, we move further into His presence by praising Him.
Praise is the verbal declaration of who God is in His greatness. We let the heavens know who God is and we proclaim His nature. The Scriptures tell us that God is enthroned in the praises of His people. (Psalm 22:3) He works and operates in a people who know how to praise Him.
You and were designed to praise God. Thanksgiving helps us get a better picture of who God is. Praise moves us to declare it with boldness and exuberance! Out o that place of praise, we gain a greater sense of God’s character and nature to work in our midst with power. The greatest thing about praise is the awareness we gain of how great and how big God is in all things!
3. Focus on His Goodness
“For the Lord is good…”
One of the greatest battles waging over our lives is over people truly knowing the goodness of God. In this day and age, we are bombarded with thoughts that seek to challenge and usurp the revelation of God’s goodness. Satan’s desire is to keep us from knowing God’s goodness. In addition, he wants to cause us to react to the evil satan has worked and blame it on God. “If God is so good….” “God how could you?”
We cannot relate to God in His infinite nature and abilities if we do not have a understanding that He is good. Without an understanding of His goodness, we will approach God with hesitance, wondering if He will pull through or even help us. Without an understanding of His goodness, we will blame tragedies on Him or think He causes all the evil in the world.
To start your day off with God on the right foot, seeing Him as a good God, not as what many portray Him to be; will welcome a greater work of His presence in your day and life.
Question: Which of the three do you need to be more aware of in your daily walk?
Comments: How to Start Each Day Strong.
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May 5, 2014
Your Breakthrough May Be Right Around the Corner
On May 5th, many celebrate Cinco de Mayo, which is Spanish for the “fifth of May.” Most Americans treat this holiday as they often do many others – any excuse to go out and party without even realizing what the holiday commemorates.
The Significance of Cinco de Mayo
Cynco de Mayo has an interesting history that can bring some encouraging spiritual parallels to our journey. The holiday does not commemorate the independence of Mexico, as many would think (which is Sept 16) and most of the culture in Mexico gives limited observance to this day. It is mostly celebrated in the United States as a way to celebrate Mexican culture and heritage.
Cynco de Mayo marks a remembrance of the unlikely victory of the Mexican army over the French military at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. This particular battle delayed the French occupations of Mexico. Although a year later, the French would still occupy, the French withdrew a few years later.
When All Seems Lost
The significance of this battle can actually apply to your spiritual battles in life. First of all, the Mexicans were fighting in what seemed to be a losing battle. The French army was better equipped, more numbered, and had not been defeated for many years. How many battles are you working through in your process to victory that you just don’t think will turn around?
Facing those fears, moving out of debt, restoring hurts from the past, walking out of infirmity or insanity, getting free from self-hate or bitterness . . . they seem to keep discouraging you from truly overcoming. I watch countless Christians become discouraged and disheartened – and in that place of conflict, they choose to go back to ‘comfort’ or they simply back off because it just seems to hard.
Yet we fail to see the process – the journey that it takes to overcome obstacles and areas of bondage. God is not simply seeking to remove all our strongholds, but to teach us how to overcome them, so He can establish His nature within in us, so that we become rooted and grounded in spiritual identity and power. Revelation speaks the heart of God in that He is looking to train up overcomers – those who will never quit in their journey of transformation and seek to bring that to their region. We can often feel like we are not well equipped, yet that is part of the journey – growing in our spiritual tool belt so that we can truly overcome the works of the devil as Jesus taught. We often need an adversarial attack to wake us up to our equipping and growth to overcome.
Breakthrough that Paves the Way for Others
In addition, the battle was significant because, since the Battle of Puebla, no country in the Americas has been invaded by an army from another continent! Some battles are not just for the present war – but to pave the way for future generations to be effected. What you are building now in your continual pursuit of overcoming, paves the way for others around you and for those who will follow you. Your battles aren’t just about you – they are about what you can do to effect your family, the region and the nations!
Your victory from the enemies standpoint and man’s standpoint could seem bleak – but your victory can be right around the corner! Don’t be discouraged. In the Kingdom of God, sometimes the journey of daily plowing the process of battle and growth doesn’t show immediate fruit, yet the breakthroughs of those who are faithful one day come suddenly. You can never go wrong to keep facing your obstacles and never quitting. You are a soldier in training to fight from victory for your victory!
Question: In what area of your life are you tempted to quit, where victory could be right around the corner?
Comments: Your Breakthrough May Be Right Around the Corner.
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May 1, 2014
The Love that Removes Fear [Audio Teaching]
This teaching will help us experience God’s presence more in our life, by simply experiencing the love of God.
Wherever you are struggling with fear, is a place where you have a love deficit, where you need to be experience more of the love of God.
Learn how the enemy speaks to you in the realm of thought. He can use fear to speak impulses of thought into your life.
See how spirit, soul and body connections relate to the work of fear.
God’s Love Has a Perfecting Work
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8 NKJV
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this:that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him:that he who loves God must love his brother also.
1 John 4:16-21 NKJV
We need to know the love of God by experiencing that love more than just knowing in our minds.
Experiencing the love of God is what makes all the difference in overcoming fear of any kind, including anxiety, stress, worry, panic, phobias and more.
The Bible teaches us that perfect love comes from God. That love has the ability to cast out a spirit of fear from our lives.
Question: Where is God showing you through this teaching on how you need to address the fear issues in your life?
Comments: The Love that Removes Fear [Audio Teaching].
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[Audio Teaching] The Love that Removes Fear
This teaching will help us experience God’s presence more in our life, by simply experiencing the love of God.
Wherever you are struggling with fear, is a place where you have a love deficit, where you need to be experience more of the love of God.
Learn how the enemy speaks to you in the realm of thought. He can use fear to speak impulses of thought into your life.
See how spirit, soul and body connections relate to the work of fear.
God’s Love Has a Perfecting Work
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8 NKJV
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this:that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him:that he who loves God must love his brother also.
1 John 4:16-21 NKJV
We need to know the love of God by experiencing that love more than just knowing in our minds.
Experiencing the love of God is what makes all the difference in overcoming fear of any kind, including anxiety, stress, worry, panic, phobias and more.
The Bible teaches us that perfect love comes from God. That love has the ability to cast out a spirit of fear from our lives.
Question: Where is God showing you through this teaching on how you need to address the fear issues in your life?
Comments: [Audio Teaching] The Love that Removes Fear.
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April 29, 2014
Tormenting Fear is Not From God
On the authority of God’s Word, I can freely tell you this with complete confidence: tormenting fear does not come from God. Let this truth become a personal revelation as it sinks deeply into your heart and brings illumination and peace. For me, receiving this realization in my heart brought a sense of peace that breathed fresh air into my life. Allow the Holy Spirit to remind you of this when fear of any kind is knocking on your door: it is not from Him.
As simple as it seems, this thought is something that many fail to utilize in their battle against fear. Your first line of defense when fear rears its ugly head is that you can say with great assurance, “This is not from God!” God is consumed with how much He loves us, not by how he can sadistically torment us, yet many are still perplexed on this matter.
Anxiety, panic attacks or worry are not in God’s nature, nor does He use it to speak to people or motivate them. From that understanding, we have an advantage against our enemy’s deception with a greater level of discernment.
Too many Christians get confused in their war against their spiritual enemy because they blame God for calamities He never sent and they give Him credit for fears that He did not send. God designed the “fight or flight” response system in our bodies, but He did not intend for it to be abused by stress and tormenting anxiety. His desire is for us to walk in faith, hope, love and peace.
Too many blame God for their anxiety, panic and even sickness. Because so many are struggling to obtain victory over fear, they end up saying that God put it on them to teach them something. They end up changing their beliefs based on their lack of triumph over fear. In the end, God’s character and power are compromised and diluted in their lives.
God is not the author of evil, nor does He tempt humanity with evil. He loves the entire planet. Before we ever loved Him, He loved us so much that He sent His Son to die. It is imperative that we do not disgrace His character by blaming fear and anxiety attacks that come our way upon God. He is a loving Father who only wants good things for His children.
It is also important to remember that God has certainly placed us into a spiritual battlefield to establish His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. As a part of this battle, fear presents itself as one of our foes.
The good news is that God through Christ Jesus has given us the spiritual weapons and artillery to stand up against this adversary and defeat it. In addition to spiritual authority, God has given us His all encompassing and unconditional love that has the power to cast out fear and its effects. Unfortunately, too many souls have lost the battle against fear at the starting gate because they do not even know who their enemy is and they have become ignorant of satan’s devices.
Question: Where do you need to take a stand against fear in your life?
Comments: Tormenting Fear is Not From God.
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April 24, 2014
The Father’s Love [Audio Teaching]
What does love mean to you? What does the word “father” mean to you?
Based on Romans 8, allow your heart to receive the blessing of this life changing message on the love of God.
Quite often, people do not understand the love of God, because they do not have a healthy understanding of who God is as Father. Your life will never be the same after listening to this message!
We have an identity tragedy in the world today, coming out of the lack of fathers demonstrating the love of God.
Romans 8:14 (NKJV) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
God created the whole family structure and the world of relationships to help us understand see Him better.
Especially the image of father to children.
Romans 8:15 (NKJV) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Spirit of bondage Again to Fear / Spirit that makes us a slave to fear = REJECTION
You have been given a spirit of adoption.
The Significance of Roman Adoption:
The adopted person was given a new name.
This person lost all rights in his old family and gained all rights as a fully legitimate son or daughter in the new family. In the eyes of the law, the person was literally and absolutely the son of his new father. Period. No arguments. No disputes. No strings attached.
In law, the old law of the person was completely wiped out. For instance, all debts were canceled. They were wiped out as if they had never been. The adopted person was regarded as a new person entering into a new life in which the past had nothing to do with him anymore.
Also, this adopted son would become heir to his father’s estate. Even if he had new brothers who were of blood relationship, it didn’t matter. It did not affect his rights. He was co heir with his brothers.
. . . but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father”
Abba = “Daddy”
Word Abba was used 3 times in scripture . . .
Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
Mark 14:36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
Romans 8
Here’s the problem . . . we don’t get this. When we hear the word Daddy, it makes us squirm and get tightened inside. Our image and experience of father has been damaged.
Dad was unapproachable
Dad has a really bad anger problem
Dad only pointed out what you did wrong and not what you did right.
He never said the words, “I love you” (80-90% haven’t)
You have some traumatic experiences with your dad.
Dad was an addict – drugs, alcohol, sex, abuse
So what we end up with instead of a spirit of Adoption is Rejection . . . Rejection: makes you feel unloved and unaccepted –
you have to earn love
Makes you feel like you don’t fit in.
Makes you feel unwanted.
Rejection kicks in when someone doesn’t say hi to you in the hallway.
Rejection causes you to make vows – “I will never be hurt again.”
Makes you feel like you have to earn love
Makes you REJECT others . . .
Rejection makes you get used to being rejected . . . .
Rejection makes you feel separated from God’s love and the love of others.
He wants to heal your broken heart . . . GOD IS LOVE
Comments: The Father’s Love [Audio Teaching].
Comments policy
[Audio Teaching] The Father’s Love
What does love mean to you? What does the word “father” mean to you?
Based on Romans 8, allow your heart to receive the blessing of this life changing message on the love of God.
Quite often, people do not understand the love of God, because they do not have a healthy understanding of who God is as Father. Your life will never be the same after listening to this message!
We have an identity tragedy in the world today, coming out of the lack of fathers demonstrating the love of God.
Romans 8:14 (NKJV) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
God created the whole family structure and the world of relationships to help us understand see Him better.
Especially the image of father to children.
Romans 8:15 (NKJV) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Spirit of bondage Again to Fear / Spirit that makes us a slave to fear = REJECTION
You have been given a spirit of adoption.
The Significance of Roman Adoption:
The adopted person was given a new name.
This person lost all rights in his old family and gained all rights as a fully legitimate son or daughter in the new family. In the eyes of the law, the person was literally and absolutely the son of his new father. Period. No arguments. No disputes. No strings attached.
In law, the old law of the person was completely wiped out. For instance, all debts were canceled. They were wiped out as if they had never been. The adopted person was regarded as a new person entering into a new life in which the past had nothing to do with him anymore.
Also, this adopted son would become heir to his father’s estate. Even if he had new brothers who were of blood relationship, it didn’t matter. It did not affect his rights. He was co heir with his brothers.
. . . but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father”
Abba = “Daddy”
Word Abba was used 3 times in scripture . . .
Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
Mark 14:36 And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
Romans 8
Here’s the problem . . . we don’t get this. When we hear the word Daddy, it makes us squirm and get tightened inside. Our image and experience of father has been damaged.
Dad was unapproachable
Dad has a really bad anger problem
Dad only pointed out what you did wrong and not what you did right.
He never said the words, “I love you” (80-90% haven’t)
You have some traumatic experiences with your dad.
Dad was an addict – drugs, alcohol, sex, abuse
So what we end up with instead of a spirit of Adoption is Rejection . . . Rejection: makes you feel unloved and unaccepted –
you have to earn love
Makes you feel like you don’t fit in.
Makes you feel unwanted.
Rejection kicks in when someone doesn’t say hi to you in the hallway.
Rejection causes you to make vows – “I will never be hurt again.”
Makes you feel like you have to earn love
Makes you REJECT others . . .
Rejection makes you get used to being rejected . . . .
Rejection makes you feel separated from God’s love and the love of others.
He wants to heal your broken heart . . . GOD IS LOVE
Comments: [Audio Teaching] The Father’s Love.
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