We see throughout scripture, every time Jesus manifested a miracle He went up to the mountain to pray. Here at Let Love Be My Motive we believe that Prayer and God’s Word are two spiritual weapons to destroy the works of darkness. We are passionate about prayer! If you have a prayer request, you can share them confidently with the form down below. If you would like to pray over the phone, this also available. Just leave a way to contact you in the “message” part of the form.
Shame: a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.
“Don’t you ever come near my tribe again”
“The next time I see you…”
“You have delayed your season because of this”
“You’re the reason you’re all alone”
“You are so emotionally unstable…Look at how unstable you are” (After not getting a reaction out of me)
“You have such a victim mentality”
“No one will believe you, you did this to yourself”
These are just a few of the words spoken over me as I finally broke free. By the power of the Holy Spirit I did not fight back but rather, He had me speak a promise.. I would now speak against abuse within the church and help people heal from spiritual abuse.
These last words were a tool to manipulate and shame me into silence, The uncovering of true character and motives had been uncovered. Fruit had been exposed and it was rotten.
With a history of childhood trauma it was easy to believe the lies that were sown. Often abusers use things that you tell them in confidentiality and care as weapons later on. You see, these people knew I had just went through another miscarriage, my husband was deployed, and knew I had went through prior abuse within the church. They used they very things I had asked them to pray about and twisted fears and insecurities I had into what looked like truth.
I finally blocked every single person that had participated in this hurt and began to ask questions. Would He actually hurt me with my husband not home? How could a godly leader threaten me over accountability for their own actions? Was talking about my problems and asking for prayer about abuse I had suffered in the past, really a victim mentality? I am really alone right now. But I was just trying to set healthy boundaries. Was this really my fault? Where is Jesus in all this? Is this how God really feels about me?
The Anointing at Bethany is a well known testimony in the bible where Jesus was at the house of Lazarus, Martha was serving, and Mary took the pound of perfume, pure and expensive and anointed Jesus’ feet with her hair. Judas Iscariot had plenty to say:
“Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray him), said, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.”
-John 12:4-6 CSB
Judas criticized Mary’s extravagant worship to Jesus. Like many abusers He shamed because there as a hidden heart motive at play. He shamed her. But what was Jesus’ response to this?
Jesus answered, “Leave her alone; she has kept it for the day of my burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” -John 12:8 CSB
Jesus spoke up for Mary. He wasn’t ashamed of her actions and He was not afraid to stand up for her when shame was thrown at her to make her feel belittled. He saw the heart of the matter.
I am not sure where you are in reading this, but I do want to let you know that if you have endured shame being thrown at you by an abuser to silence you, know Jesus’ first response is stand up for you. Spiritual abuse can be confusing because it is someone who is supposed to represent God’s character. We can often relate our abuser’s to God’s character. We can fall for the lies and shut up and shut down. I want to let you know today that no matter what was spoken over you, Jesus is not ashamed of you. His grace, His mercy, and love outweighs it all.
More To Chew On:
-The Lord is near the brokenhearted; he saves those crushed in spirit. -Psalm 34:18 CSB
-Be gracious to me, God, for a man is trampling me;
he fights and oppresses me all day long.
My adversaries trample me all day,
for many arrogantly fight against me.
When I am afraid,
I will trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
They twist my words all day long;
all their thoughts against me are evil.
They stir up strife, they lurk,
they watch my steps
while they wait to take my life.
Will they escape in spite of such sin?
God, bring down the nations in wrath.
You yourself have recorded my wanderings.
Put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
Then my enemies will retreat on the day when I call.
This I know: God is for me. -Psalm 56:1-9 CSB
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. -2 Corinthians 1:3-5 CSB
Have a prayer request? I would love to pray for you. Click here.
Today is her funeral and I can’t go, I am 19 hours away. I did not think that the last time I saw your face was going to be the last time. While I am so thankful my family is able to have a small funeral, my heart is personally grieved. I can’t go. I can’t go and it hurts.
This is for those of you that stay at home orders has effected you from not being able to say goodbye to your loved ones. I know it hurts and I am so sorry. I did want to let you know you are not alone. You are not alone with everything else seeming minuscule in comparison to not being able to be surrounded with loved ones and saying goodbye to someone that meant so much. I understand that we both must choose to see past what can seem as selfish desires like getting your hair and nails done or someone not being able to go shopping. But understand, we are all going through something and we should be thankful that nails and hair are all they have to be concerned about.
I will be honest, I am not sure how things will seem when we are able to finally go see family and our loved one just is not there. While everyone seemed to be able to say goodbye, will we be left crying while everyone is laughing? I am not sure. What I do know my friend is that I am grieving with you on top of already grieving our loved ones. There is an entire different process of grief from not being able to say goodbye and I am sorry that you are going through this to. It is okay to feel sad. I am sad too. Grief has a way of effecting everything. This is no small feat, but we will get through to the other side with some help from the perfect helper.
God is with us and his love will never let us go. He is there when we realize that what we are carrying is too heavy and he is there to give us his peace. He is Immanuel, God with us. I know that this grief is a process, so please give yourself grace. Healing from grief is not a race and is not meant to be compared. It is unique to us because the relationship we had with that person and our life experiences are not the same. With this being said, please be kind to yourself and allow yourself to be healed and made whole again.
Today we may not be able to say goodbye and be surrounded with loved ones but what we do have is greater than anything we may face-Jesus. In his presence we will find beauty for ashes, joy in exchange for mourning, and peace that the world cannot possibly give. In him, we have all we need. In him, we have permission to weep and as the tears fall, as we cast our cares, he links us up with his love. In the deep of sorrow Jesus comes besides us and offers us to be an ever-present help in time of trouble. I want to leave you with what has been helping me, understanding who God is by his names spread throughout his word. His names speak of who he is and what he does. God hears us (Ishmael), he see’s us (Elroi), and he is God that is there (Jehovah Shammah). He is the Lord of Peace (Jehovah Shalom) our perfect shepherd (Jehovah Raah). Let us invite the one who heals (Jehovah Rapha) into the grief we feel today, allowing him to make us whole. Let us be reminded that although we cannot be there in person to say goodbye, we are certainly not alone. In his presence we have all we need.
Let’s Walk It Out Together
**Most of reading this have probably came here because you have lost a loved one that you have not been able to say goodbye to. I am so sorry that you have had to deal with this, as I have experienced it is added grief on top of what is already grieving. I wanted to let you know most importantly you are not alone, God is with you and I am personally going through it to.
I want to be a help in any way I can. If you have a special prayer request or need someone to talk to please do not hesitate to email me at letlovebemymotive@gmail.com. You can find more ways to connect on my Contact page on https://letlovebemymotive.com/contact/. You can also find our prayer request page here: https://letlovebemymotive.com/prayer-requests/
Prayer, is a conversation between you & God. We often do not have, because we do not ask! (James 4:3) We are called to intercess on behalf of one another. (Ephesians 6:18)
With that being said…
If anyone has any prayer requests, feel free to comment, or message me personally!
My prayer right now is that I habitually walk in the spirit, always living a life full of love following Christ’s example. I pray that God provided financially to go back to college to get my degree if this apart of his will. I pray I always come to God in prayer with an attitude of thanksgiving. Every good thing comes from above, and I’ve had a lot of wonderful things happen to me!
Hey everyone! For those of you who missed my last post, I uploaded a printable prayer list to keep track of who and what you are praying for! It isn’t anything fancy. It is just a tool I use to see God’s faithfulness on paper, kind of like a keepsake and to be a little more organized. Feel free to check it out at:
It is so beautiful to see how God has used not only myself as a tool to bring people to know him but my husband and close friends. Over the course of January I have saw many people grow in their personal relationship with Abba. There is nothing more beautiful to me to see what they asked for in prayer to be answered and those seeds being cultivated as God keeps on pouring into them. January has been tough but God strength grows so much deeper than the trials I have faced this month.
With all that being said, I would absolutely L-O-V-E to pray for you or if you know of someone that needs someone praying, that is cool too!
There are a couple ways you can reach me…
I have a facebook page with all the recent updates: Speak Life Facebook Page
You can message me on there, comment on this post, or if you want something a little more confidential you can email me at Tanja.Lunney@gmail.com
I cannot wait to see what God is going to do next!
