Triumphant Victorious Reminders

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Seething anger, detailed thoughts of how to get revenge and the thoughts of "How dare they?" Has this ever happened to you?  Perhaps you are going through this right now and even rightfully so. Maybe you've even had the worst of the worst take place in your life and you can't see straight.  Hurt, grief, and the pain of betrayal has you in a choke hold.  You don't even want to get out of bed. This life is not at all what you had hoped for. Your hopes, dreams have all seemingly come crashing down and the "If only" begins to plague your thoughts, mutilate your demeanor and curse your very actions. Then suddenly a "dare to be blessed" opportunity comes your way.  It's a dare that changed my life back in 2005.  A friend showed me the scripture and I lashed out at her with expletives and all she did was laugh and say, "One day Teresa, you will see

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Merry Christmas from our family to yours... I pray you experience Christmas in a way that the world could not market; the retail stores could ever slash in prices or the feat of the many lines you weathered this year - I truly pray each of us experience Christmas - MORE of Christ not just this month, but every month, every week, every day and every moment. May the fragrance of His presence lead us out of the miraging deceits of nostalgia and into intimacy with the ONE who calls us son, daughter, friend, and lover...Our God is the Lifter of our heads so we don't just lift our heads but that we lift our heads as our eyes gaze upon the Most Holy One - The Great I Am! During this season and time of where we see yet again marketing intensified; greed magnified and nostalgia wooing us back to the "good ol' times" or even those moments of shame - I must intentionally &quo

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell How do I know if I'm walking in my ways or GOD's? Here's how I know when I'm walking in self, humanistic, prideful, egotistical, fleshly ways...are you ready?  It's pretty ugly...here we go: - I get hurt easily by people; - constantly wanting to control others so I'm not hurt; - it's about me, myself and I (The trinity of humanism); - trying to get others to side with me; - being disappointed by others; - when I allow others to hurt me, I see all THEIR faults and how THEY need to improve; it makes me feel better when I can say I made the wrong decision because I was protecting so and so; - I allow disloyalty from someone else to cause me to be disloyal to GOD; - planting seeds of discord into others by saying, "Did you notice what they did, or was it just me?"; - I forget about how much He has forgiven me and in that I end up not extending HIS fo

Triumphant Victorious Reminder Inspired by Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell It was that moment where panic tried to stir when SUDDENLY I heard in my spirit, "Praise Me now..." - and so I began praising God right there (Here I was at a stoplight on my way home in my vehicle that I call my JESUS car as it was a gift from HIM through some very special people in my life)! Let me not forget to point out that the whole week the engine light had come on and I ignored it and not only did I ignore it but I also didn't tell my husband on purpose (We'll go there later). So fast forward to the moment as the light turned green, I stepped on the gas pedal and my car would not go more than about 10 miles an hour when I noticed my car was revving. As I looked down at the dashboard I noticed my RPM's were going over 7,000 while simultaneously I noticed cars were fast approaching behind me as they didn't realize I was almost at a stop. At first my "k

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by The Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell I am reminded today to remember it is not a bother to ask people for help, because personally many I know want to. What to really remember though is that the only time it's a "bother" is when we reach out and people can't help and we get offended and hurt. It becomes an unnecessary bother or splinter to our peace of mind and it just needs to stop, do you agree? Here's what it may look like at times...perhaps we get offended and then suddenly we become haughty and prideful when we chose to help while others didn't. Or how about those moments when others helped when those you originally asked didn't and there were the intentional or subtle "rubs" directed at the ones who didn't help...but guess what we end up falling into? It's called the trap of manipulation and we even end up robbing those of who did help. Today's reminder is to simply

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Stevens Criswell Isn't it incredible to realize how time seems to fly right through us? Looking back on past blog entries, I am so glad I jotted this one down...simply click here to read all the way back to November 2009, almost 7 years ago...and then come back to check out my new YouTube channel  - thank you for subscribing and sharing as I give you my word, my channel will improve every upload...thank you bearing with me in the journey! As every upload improves and I now have my set somewhat complete; there will be a video uploaded at least once a week. Some will be funny, random posts and others will be things I share from my heart and The Word of God; my daughter and friends will also be involved as well. Don't let your dreams die by giving up...keep pressing into The Father, Who is the Author of your faith - He will complete what He started because He knows all about the power of f

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by Teresa Criswell "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" ~ II Corinthians 5:17 ~ It was July or August, 1986 I received my first pair of glasses, at age 11, about to enter the 6th grade (Almost 30 years ago to this moment). August 10, 1998, my life would lead to change like I never imagined in which I married the man of my dreams.  The protector and provider and the hilarious man of my life. March 27, 2000, my world, our world would forever change as we met our world changer; our bold, brave warrior Tristin Keelea (Pronounced Key-lee) October 2002, My parents flew to Michigan as dad made a ring for each of his daughters - and wanted to personally give it to me and pray over me even while I was not walking with the Lord and then five months later that ring became a point of contact fo

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell For those who need pithy/short version: GOD IS FOR YOU AND NOT AGAINST YOU! He has proven it by Holy Spirit Who is within you - more powerful than every evil combined! Detailed version: Holy Spirit whispers His rest and bids you to know that He has you, your family and if there are any "next steps" - as you walk in Him, the steps will be unveiled upon movement all the while trusting and your mind being still KNOWING HE IS GOD. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Nothing. You have more favor than you know what to do with - there is a "plenty" mindset replacing all "poverty" mindsets in Jesus name. Your declaration in life will be, "Is His arm too short for this?" And with laughter, you will rhetorically say, "NO WAY!" Simply declare the Pleading of the perfect Blood of Jesus over your (As our pastor Chris declares) faith, family, finances

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell "While I was partying and high on cocaine, I was browsing through my phone and would read Triumphant Victorious Reminders." - JJ (Sober for 3 years) To hear the testimony of this man is like that from a movie - he is likened to a legend of sorts. As I spoke to him yesterday, he gave me permission to share what I was led to and as I look back at every moment, every twist and turn - God was wooing JJ back to Himself. Then going further back and seeing this God who would utilize JJ's friend Jon from California, an unassuming man who was all about Jesus and for 25 years came alongside JJ. Jon being a true friend while he lived a life that was set apart with few words spoken and yet demonstrated the character and integrity of Christ.  For 25 years, no matter what JJ did - Jon was there for him - through thick and thin - the highs and lows - he would minister the love of Jesus.

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Have you ever prayed to God about someone or something and it seemed things only got worse? This is when I realized this is the beginning of a breakthrough not broken dreams. The very thing meant to break them - to break you, is actually a sign of impending breakthrough. For instance, have you ever bumped something really hard and the pain was intense, yet the first day there was only redness in the effected area?  Yet a few days later that area turned yellow, black and blue...it looked far worse than the first day of impact.  What looks discouraging and really bad is truly the body miraculously attempting to heal that area.  From the outside it looks really bad, yet from the inside there's healing taking place. This Triumphant Victorious Reminder is to remind us to not grow weary as we must now allow the outward move us out of our place in speaking life over those that we were me

Triumphant Victorious Reminders  Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell I apologize as the other day I was thankfully notified by a few of our readers that they only saw a blank screen...the reason is because the picture was not properly uploaded...so let me try this again... Tactics of the enemy: Hardship - to be seen as defeat and to only see how the enemy is attacking and how he is after you. In this mindset it causes us to fight from exhaustion and we even begin to declare, "What's the enemy going to do next?" BUT...when we see from the perspective of what is already accomplished from God's perspective: "Strategies of God": Hardship - to be seen as VICTORY and the beginning of our breakthrough.  The mindset is seeing the Deliverance of God as we declare with authority and speak with effortless power, "I can't wait to see what God is about to do next!" How are we seeing? From beneath? O

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell As the Holy Spirit flowed, I was learning even more as a mouthpiece of His message of faith through last night's  Girlfriends 2016 Women Conference in Belton.  One of the many reminders while speaking and sharing my testimony of waywardness to redemption, was in regards to how my incredible parents prayed prayers of faith for over a decade over me, even in the times when they didn't know if I was dead or alive. The reminder that came forth was when we pray by faith, it doesn't mean we don't recognize the "facts". Think about it, my parents knew the painful, hard hitting facts. They wept and were distraught especially when they heard what people were saying about my lifestyle - but PRAISE GOD, my parents even in those moments did not allow those "facts" to replace God's TRUTH in changing how they prayed. They continued God's declarations of fait

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell "Without faith it is impossible to please God." ~ Hebrews 11:6 ~ Have you ever been in awe of a child's imagination?  The world of colors and wild adventure - no boxes, just open skies, open atmosphere...creativity revealed in pictures, words, movements, songs and so much more. (Photo, courtesy of my sister, Mary Kay McCall) Imagination geared to The God of PURE imaginations is one of the tools to walk by faith in HIM! Here's an example of what I mean by this.  I have to believe my parents did this over me as they believed in God, no matter what I did - they believed God more so than what they saw me doing. I truly believe this is how they prayed for me...may this bring encouragement and may your soul be refreshed as it aligned with the spirit of who God intended you to be - for your spouse to be - your children - your friends - your acquaintances - those you pray

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Persistence. Perseverance. Tenacity. Never give up. It was in 1976, on a Tuesday evening yet another knock on the door. It was like clock work. Every Tuesday night for a couple weeks, Ray and his counterpart were on their Tuesday evening "visitation" route as a particular couple's home was part of their route every week for the last few weeks. Of course, on the other end, the couple knew who it was as they had a routine drill of their own. Whenever the couple heard the knock on the door, they would slowly get on the ground, crawl on all fours to make the outsiders think no one was home.  The only problem? Ray knew they were home because one, their car was in the driveway and two, he could hear the floors creaking as they tried to quietly move away from the front room.  If I remember the story correctly, Ray would knock on the door, hear the creaking sounds and then say some

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Based on the goodness of God and His wisdom - God has reminded me in my mess ups the reason we are called to "confess our sins one to another" - it is to remain in unity with the Holy Spirit of God - and when we do this, we know it comes with a call to pray for one another and even have the ability to pray for one another's healing (James 5:16). Notice, it does NOT say, "confess OTHER people's sins to one another" because that is called, Gossip and it brings division amongst one another. What does division actually do? It dismembers; cuts off limbs; mutilates...this is what happens in the spirit when we get caught up in division of any sort  - we end up taking the "ax of the enemy" and dismembering and mutilating others. This picture in and of itself is alarming and will help us to not fall prey to the schemes of the enemy - his scheme is to get us

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Stevens Criswell When you walk into a situation...do you add negative insight to an already difficult situation? Or do you provide an atmosphere of hope? A safe place for others to thrive? As we ponder those personal questions - here's how to activate God's faith, hope and love...be aware of God's character - how He is immovable and unchanging - no matter pop culture or circumstances or even other people's annoyances or shortcomings - just because we recognize those things does not mean we were ever meant to focus on them.   This is a Triumphant Victorious Reminder that God is not moved by our ever changing moments of despair or joy - nor is He moved by our current status - He is not even "fickled out" by our upbringing or lack thereof - nor is He moved by whether you worked hard all your life or if you are just plain lazy...He is compelled by Himself because He is f

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Note to my soul: Teresa, when you are reminded of the obedient, submitted sacrifice of your Jesus - even Him knowing all that you would do against God and others; He willingly took every torturing, tormenting whip to where tissue and muscles were torn to shreds - the tormenting pain of being stretched across the remains of a tree to be nailed, and when He was thirsty they mockingly "refreshed" Him with something equivalent to vinegar...from there Jesus uttered the Words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" If that wasn't enough, He even musters the strength to speak to the thief on the cross to declare that he has been forgiven and today, he would see him in paradise. Yet even beyond that, He placed on Himself every kind of sin, sorrow, grief, infirmity, sickness and disease upon Himself to where His own Father had to turn His head and the