Walk Boldly With Jesus

Mentoring Week #11 How to pray for your children (CLICK HERE for info on mentoring)Welcome to this week’s Mentoring Session! Tonight I will talk about how to pray for your children. If you do not have children, you can use these suggestions to pray for nieces and nephews. your friend’s children, or all the children of the world. All children need our prayers. We can see how badly our own children or those close to us need prayers. Now, imagine they didn’t have anyone praying for them. There are so many children out there who have no one praying for them. Tonight, I will start with our kids, or those close to us, because I know many of our hearts our heavy with worry for our children.First, let me begin by saying there is no right or wrong way to pray for your children. What I will be doing today is going over several things I have learned over the years while searching for various ways to pray for my boys. I have three boys who are 15, 18 & 19 right now. They are all stable compared to where they have been in the past, yet they could still all use prayers. I have learned over the years not to worry about them too much as I know God is looking out for them. This trust has come through growing closer to the Lord and also through counseling.I say counseling because sometimes you need someone else to point things out to you. When my boys were younger I would stress about their future. One of them was physically abusive towards family members and I would worry that would mean he would be an abusive husband and dad. I had another son that did many unsafe behaviors and I was worried he would accidentally kill himself. You can see how that would be pretty stressful. I had a counselor who explained to me that it doesn’t do any good to worry about the future because so much could happen between now and then.For instance, at the time, it would be at least seven years or more before my boys were adults. She said a lot can happen in those seven years. They could grow out of the behavior, get help for the behavior, or have someone come into their lives and change. Basically, why worry about something that may never happen? At the same time as I was learning this, I was also learning to trust the Lord more. When I let what my counselor was telling me really sink in and then I also realized God loves my boys more than I ever could imagine, I was finally able to release almost all the worry that I have for my children. It was truly freeing and I pray each of you listening learns how to turn your worry over to God and release it. If you want help, let me know.Now, just because I don’t worry about my children’s futures doesn’t mean I am not praying for them. I am still praying for them and for the things I would like to see happen in their lives. Tony and I wrote a prayer for the boys about two years ago. We said it daily for a week or two, and then I said it on my own for a bit, and then we slowly forgot about it. I found the prayer the other day and looked through it to see if any of the things we prayed for had come true yet. Almost all of the prayers had been answered. We have seen many positive changes in the boys and many of them were listed in our prayer. I hope you can see the power of our prayers for our children. When we ask, God answers. So start asking specifically what you would like to see. I am a big believer in praying specifically because then God gets all the more glory. It is much easier to see when God has answered a specific prayer than a generic prayer. For instance, if you are praying for your kid's behavior to get better, what is the measurement of better? How will you know if it is better, especially if the improvement is there, but small and you are around it all day? How about if you prayed that your child would go a whole hour or a whole day without doing a certain behavior? Then would you notice if that prayer was answered? What about praying that your child would make a really good friend at school? Would you know when that prayer was answered? Do you get what I am saying? The more specific we are with our prayers, the more we will be able to praise God when He answers them.I also strongly believe that we should write down our prayer requests—not just those for our kids but those others have asked us to pray for as well. When we write down our prayers, we have a record of all the things we ask God for, and then, if we periodically go through the book we wrote them down in, we can see all the prayers He has answered for us. This is extremely helpful when we are going through a really hard time. When we are struggling, and it feels like God isn’t answering any of our prayers, we can look through our book or prayers and see all the ones He has answered for us in the past. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” If He did it before He will do it again.A few years ago, I started a notebook with prayer requests in it. When I write a prayer request in the book, I l

Witness Wednesday #103 ESM Boston Healing ServiceToday, I will witness to you about the Encounter School of Ministry Boston Campus healing service that I attended this past Saturday. I love going to these healing services for many reasons. First, I love the praise and worship. We have adoration, so Jesus is there on the altar, and then there is a live praise and worship band that plays the most amazing music. You can tell the music is led by the Holy Spirit because it moves your soul. Then there is a proclamation of the Gospel, and who doesn’t love to listen to stories about Jesus and how He loved to heal all he came into contact with? After that Deacon Joe called up anyone who received a Word of Knowledge about a condition that God wants to heal that night. Sometimes just releasing these Words of Knowledge is enough for someone to be healed. You will hear this later when I am sharing the various healing testimonies. After the words of knowledge, we do corporal prayer, which means that Deacon Joe names a few body parts or a condition, and if you have that condition, you raise your hand. Those who are not raising their hands are the prayer team, and they find someone with their hand raised, and they go over to pray with them. This is awesome for a couple of reasons. First, it shows us that anyone can be used by God. Most people at the healing service have not been to the Encounter School to learn about healing. They are at the service because they either need healing or they know someone who does. Yet, they get to participate in the praying over of others. Second, it allows people to pay it forward. I know so many people who don’t want to ask for prayer because they don’t want to be a bother. However, if they have helped pray over other people, they don’t feel as bad asking people to pray over them. It’s also nice because there are always several people who need prayer for each thing so they see they are not alone in their suffering. They also aren’t the center of attention because everyone in the room is either receiving prayer or giving prayer. Corporal prayer is also nice because no one has to know what to say except the leader. In Corporal prayer, the leader, in this case, Deacon Joe, says the prayer, and we all repeat after him. The leader usually has us pray over each body part or condition twice because healing can be instant and it also can take a few times of praying. After each time we complete a prayer, Deacon Joe stops to ask if anyone has anything to report. This is important because we want to test things out and see if we are better. Often the healing happens when we take that leap of faith and test out our condition to see if it was healed. Also, the testimony of those who are healed builds the faith of everyone in the room. Hearing the testimonies is my favorite part because the people are usually so surprised. I think that makes Jesus smile up in heaven too. After corporal prayer, the ESM students line up in prayer teams of two around the church, and people who still need healing are invited to receive personal individual prayer. If you have never been to an Encounter School of Ministry healing service, I invite you to check one out. Even if you don’t need healing I guarantee you will have so much fun praying over the people that do need healing. God is so good and the Holy Spirit is so present at these services that you will come up with more faith than you had going in. If you are not local to MA, where I live, you can still probably find an Encounter Service to go to. They have 30 Satellite campuses. Also, I believe the main campus in Michigan has its healing services live-streamed, so you could join in that way as well. I am telling you, you want to witness one of these healing services for yourself. They are amazing and so alive with the Spirit. I know that was a lot of lead-up to the testimonies. I felt it was important to describe what happened at the services before talking about all the testimonies, and there were a lot this past weekend. I recorded 17 healings, and these are just the ones that I was able to record. I am sure there were others. This also doesn’t include any healings that took place in the days to follow, as sometimes you can receive prayer one day, and then the healing comes a few days later. Here are the testimonies from last Saturday night. A woman walked into the healing service with sciatica pain she had for a few days. It made the ride up uncomfortable. She didn't receive any prayer for it but was healed during praise and worship. She didn't even realize she was healed until she was driving home at night and realized she wasn't in pain.During praise & worship, Deacon Joe got word that God wanted to heal someone’s calf. He asked anyone with leg pain to raise their hand, and a team would come and pray over them. There was a young woman who was hesitant to raise her hand. She said she had just come from soccer practice. She is a coach, and she was working with th

You Are Not AloneGenesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”I wholeheartedly agree with this verse. We were not meant to be alone. This doesn’t mean that we all need to be married or have kids. It just means that we are all meant to have people we do life with. I have talked a few times recently about how important community is to a fulfilling life. There are very few people who were meant to go through life alone. I know there are hermits out there who dedicate their whole lives to being secluded and spending all their time with God. Most of us are not called to this life. Actually, St. Catherine of Sienna wanted to live this life when she was just a little girl. She ran away from home to go live by herself in the caves outside of her town. An angel appeared to her and told her she was meant to be a light in the world, not separate from it. The same is true for most of us.However, living in the world can be hard because it is often filled with heartache. How we deal with heartache is the key to our success. When we are struggling, we need to turn to the Lord for help. It also helps to turn to our friends for support. They can build us up and speak truth and light into the lies and the darkness. However, instead of turning to our friends for support, we tend to separate ourselves from others. We tend to pull away because we don’t want to talk about it or we know others won’t understand.A while back my heart was hurting for several ladies who I know that are struggling. Actually, every time I look at Facebook, there are messages from people who are struggling. However, that week specifically, there were two ladies who do not know each other or live near each other who had 15-year-old children who had to go to court. There are two other women who are not able to spend the holidays with their children for one reason or another. Then, I saw a post about a friend who was really hurting because she could not see her oldest child graduate college. While thinking about all the people who are hurting right now, the one thing I wish everyone knew, like really in the depth of their heart knew, is that they are never alone. I think so many of us think we shouldn’t talk about what is going on because no one will understand or no one else is going through the same thing. People think that they will be judged or that they deserve the bad thing that is happening to them. This is not true!There are 7 ½ billion people in this world. Whatever it is that you are going through, someone else is going through the same thing right now at this same time. There are also people who have gone through it already and can shine a light into your darkness. They can show you one way to get through your situation. They can also give you hope because if they got through it, you can too! Talking about the difficult things you are going through with people you know and trust can be so therapeutic. Sometimes, we don’t want to talk about our problems because we don’t want to bother people, especially if they have their own troubles. Our friends and loved ones want to help us. It is not a bother for them to hear how you are suffering. Sometimes it can even help them with their troubles as well. You will be amazed how much stronger your relationships can get when you are able to open up and let people in to help. Another reason talking about your struggles can be helpful is because you may be further along in your journey than someone else who has the same struggles. You may be talking with someone who is having the same issue but is afraid to talk about it. Hearing you talk about it can show them that it is ok to talk about what they are going through. I have seen this happen in numerous Facebook groups. Someone is vulnerable and shares their story and then someone else reads it and feels the courage to share their story. I truly feel that it is the work of the enemy to make us feel so alone. He is there whispering in our ears all the reasons we should not talk about what is bothering us. He wants us to keep our troubles to ourselves because when we feel alone we feel hopeless. I am not sure if you have read or seen Harry Potter, but there was a scene where the main character, Harry, was really struggling with feeling alone. Every time Harry was with his friends, he would push them away. Harry would tell them they just didn’t understand. They wanted desperately to be there for him, but he would not let them. Harry then went for a walk and ran into another friend. He explained that he felt like he was alone and no one believed him. She said, “I don’t think that is true. Although, I suppose that is how he wants you to feel.” When Harry asked what she meant, she said, “Well, if it's just you all alone, then you aren’t that much of a threat.” I believe it is the same with our enemy. If we are alone and not talking with our family and friends about how we are feeling, th

Pure Spiritual Milk1 Peter 2:1-3 “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”I really liked this verse when I heard it the other day. I loved the part where it encourages us to long for pure spiritual milk so that we may grow up into salvation. The message translation says, “So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.” I know I want to grow up mature and whole in God. I liked reading this version as well as I wasn’t really sure what it meant to grow up into salvation. However, I think it just means that we grow and mature in God.I also really liked the first part of this verse. How amazing would this world be if we could all put away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander? Can you even imagine a world in which those things don’t exist? What this verse is trying to tell us is that if we have tasted that the Lord is good, then we should be longing for more of that goodness.Peter also warns them to watch what they consume. This is a great warning for us as well. If we want to grow into mature Christians, then we need to make sure we are consuming pure spiritual milk. This can be hard because the world likes to dilute teachings so that more people will like them. The world likes to take the things written in the Bible and interpret them any way they want to so that they feel ok about how they are living their life. However, the Word is the Word. We can’t change it or interpret it to fit our lifestyle.Jesus was great when He walked the earth. He didn’t come to condemn people. He hung out with everyone. He ate dinner with tax collectors and sinners. He had plenty of chances to condemn people as well as judge people. He had all the authority to judge and condemn people, and yet he loved them instead. John 3:17 even says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus came to show us that God is love. Jesus came to teach us more about His Father.However, even though Jesus didn’t come to condemn, He did come to convict us of how we should be living. He didn’t tell the adulterer that it was ok that she was sleeping around. He showed her unbelievable mercy, compassion, and love and also told her to go and sin no more. Jesus gave some pretty hard teachings, even though He knew they would be hard for people to accept. He stood by those teachings even when it meant that many of his followers would abandon Him.One of these hard teachings was that we are to forgive our neighbor seven times seventy times. We have a hard time forgiving when they hurt us the first time, and now we are supposed to keep forgiving them. This was hard for people to accept. This is probably hard for many of us to accept. Especially if someone is continuing to hurt us over and over again, we might wonder why the Lord wants us to keep forgiving someone who keeps hurting us. One thing I want to make clear is that you can forgive someone and yet still not let them keep hurting you. The Lord is not saying that you need to keep allowing someone to continue to hurt you. For instance, if there is someone who hurts you, intentionally or not, each time you see each other, then it is perfectly ok to forgive that person and yet not spend time with them anymore.Another really hard teaching was the teaching from John 6:48-51 which says, “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” This teaching was very hard for many to hear and many of Jesus’ followers walked away.Jesus let those who couldn’t believe it walk away. He didn’t try to rephrase it to make others accept it, backpedal, or take it back. He stated the truth and let it sit there for people to either accept or not accept. The Truth is the truth, whether people agree with it or not. We need to find the Truth and learn from that. We need to be careful about the information that we are consuming. We need to question things that don’t seem right to us. We need to get our information straight from the source instead of from the world and the news. We need to be in the Bible, learning straight from the source. The verse above says we need to drink pure spiritual milk, and that means we need to make sure the world does not dilute the things we are learning in any way. The best way to do this is to go straight to the source. If you hear something that sounds like it may not be true, look it up.We l

Radical TrustDaniel 3:17 “If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, oh king, may he save us! But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up.”Radical Trust is something that was new to me when I attended a conference in March 2011. Well, I had seen radical trust in action many times, but I don’t think I had ever heard it called that. I was instantly in love with the phrase. I loved the idea of having Radical Trust in our God. I really enjoyed learning about that concept over the weekend. The speaker, Anne Trufant, asked us, “Do you trust God?” Not, do you trust in God, but do you trust God? Do you truly trust what he says to you, what he tells you? It was a different way to look at it. Do I trust all the things that God tells me when I read the bible? Do I trust that he is saying those things to me? Do I trust God? I definitely took some time to ponder that and to pray with that thought. After that retreat, I started to pray for radical trust a lot more often. I also tried to implement radical trust in my life. It’s not just about saying, “Of course I trust God,” it's about truly believing that with your whole being. Wouldn’t it be great if when we got a bill that we did not have the money to pay, we could say and truly believe, "God’s got this." "I don’t need to worry because He’s got this." What about when we see that our kids are doing something that we know is wrong, and we can see all the ways they can get hurt if they continue down that path? Can we truly say, "God’s got this," and not worry about it? Ever since this retreat, I have prayed so many times for radical trust because, in my experience, it does not come overnight. And it is not always universal. Over the years I have found myself having radical trust in one area, but then not in another. However, every day, I see the benefits in my life of praying for radical trust. I am much better about radical trust now. I have a supernatural trust that all will be ok. I do not tend to feel stressed out about the future because I know that God is in charge and I am not. Why should I worry when he is the one in control? I enjoy reading books about radical trust because every example I read strengthens my trust a little more. So, I thought I would give you a few examples. One from the bible is about our friend Peter. Matthew 14:26-31 “When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear. At once, [Jesus] spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how [strong] the wind was, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Peter had radical trust! He did not think twice before stepping out of the boat onto the unsteady water, which was blowing strongly. Peter was able to walk on water for a few steps. So what happened to Peter’s trust? He took his eyes off Jesus. He took his eyes off Jesus and looked around at the sea and the wind and became afraid. The next two examples I have heard from people close to me. My mom and dad had 11 children. My mom stayed home with the kids, and my dad worked. He had a good job, but money was always tight because of the number of kids in our family. One day my parents’ friends had to go out unexpectedly. They asked my parents to watch their kids. They had 10 kids. My parents said, “Yes, of course we will.“ Then they thought about how they were going to feed all those 21 children when they did not have any food in the house. They had a radical trust, and they prayed to God, trusting that he would come through. They trusted even though they did not have any idea how he was going to show up or come through for them. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. It was a neighbor with bags of groceries. The neighbor’s father had just moved into their house unexpectedly, and they had nowhere to put the food from the dad’s house as they had just gone shopping. So my parents gratefully accepted the food. They looked through and noticed that there was some pasta and sauce in the bags. They then thought if they just had meat, they could feed everyone spaghetti. A few minutes later there was another knock at the door. A different neighbor had a cooler full of meat. They had just gone hunting and stocked their freezer and fridge with all the meat they could hold, and they did not know what to do with what was left. Again my parents gratefully accepted it. Then they immediately thanked God for providing for them as he always does. Another time a friend was sitting in her car. She was at the store trying t

I Will Set Your Prisoners Free!Zechariah 9:11-12 “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today, I declare that I will restore to you double.”This verse was given in a Wednesday morning prayer group that I have joined. If you are an early riser and you are looking for an awesome way to start your mornings, I invite you to join in on this Zoom prayer group. It meets Wednesday mornings at 6:30 in the morning EST. The leader usually starts with a song of praise and worship. Then, sometimes we have a talk on a certain topic, sometimes we pray, and sometimes we share words of prophecy. The leader goes with whatever she feels the Holy Spirit is telling her to do. It is a great way to begin your day. Anyway, I will put the info for the prayer group in the show notes in case you want to check it out. It is on Zoom, so you don’t have to have your camera on if you don’t want to. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. You can just come on and see what you think. Someone on the call yesterday morning typed Zechariah 9:11-17 into the chat. When I checked it out this evening, verses 11 and 12 jumped right out at me. I will set your prisoners free is something that I love to hear. It seems like something I have been hearing a lot lately, and that is usually a sign that God wants you to pay attention to something. This is a good thing to notice. When you start to see or hear the same thing over and over again, it is good to notice it and to stop and ask the Lord if he is trying to teach you something or tell you something.I usually think the verses are pretty straightforward, but I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me to look up its meaning. Guess what? The Holy Spirit actually knew what He was doing. I know, right?! The Holy Spirit, one of the three persons of the Trinity, knew what He was doing when He nudged me to look up the meaning of the verse. When I looked it up, I had a clearer picture of what the verse was saying. The article I read, for which I will put a link in the show notes, did a great job of explaining why they used the words they used and what those words or meanings would mean to the Israelites.For instance, the verses start off by talking about the blood covenant God made with us. I have done a few Bible studies in the past, so I have the benefit of knowing how important a covenant is and the difference between a covenant and a contract. However, not everyone listening has this information, and it is important that we understand why this statement God made is so important.Covenants are something we often find in the Bible. A covenant (similar to a contract) was a binding agreement in which covenant members had certain obligations and could expect certain benefits in return. What differentiates a covenant from a simple binding agreement (a contract) is that a covenant implies meaningful relationships. So, the language used here in Zechariah assumes a relational covenant was made between God and his people-- there was a binding agreement between God and his people.When a covenant was made, an animal(s) would have been slaughtered and cut in half. Both parties would then walk through the slaughtered animals, implying both parties saying, "May the same thing that happened to me that's happened to these animals if I break the covenant made today."In Genesis 15, we find God entering into a covenant with Abraham, promising to make him a great nation. However, a deep sleep falls on Abraham, allowing only God to pass through the slaughtered animals. So, on that day, God promised Abram that he would build him into a strong nation that would eventually bless all of humanity. The shedding of blood validated this promise.I have heard the reason God had Abraham fall into a deep sleep so that He wouldn’t have to walk through the slaughtered animals. Walking through the slaughtered animals would have been like Abraham saying, "May the same thing that happened to me that's happened to these animals if I break the covenant made today.” However, Abraham is human, and he is likely to break the covenant, whether on purpose or accident. If he doesn’t walk through the slaughtered animals, then he is not bound the same way God is bound. So, Zechariah is saying that their deliverance rests solely upon the shoulders of God's faithfulness to keep his covenantal promise.The next part of the verse says, “I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” This small sentence has two very important parts. First, it reminds us that God is speaking to fragile people. He's talking to people who have come out of Babylonian captivity in the past twenty years. The Lord is saying He will set them free. Most commentators agree that He is referring to those still stuck in Babylon as captives. So, God is promising deliverance and freedom to His people.Now, a waterless pit would have been a familiar reference to God'

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO TESTIMONYWasn’t that a beautiful witness of faith? What an inspiration to all of us on how to not lose heart in difficult times. You can tell how strong Jeanne was and how strong her faith was even after losing so much. Here is the written testimony that lead me to Jeanne’s testimony. The written one is from her brother in law. “Wonderful Life (the Matthew West song) is the same story as my brother and his wife, Jeanne. She passed away this past April 12 – Resurrection week! Jeanne and John both saw ALS as, ultimately, a gift from God. It afforded them an incredible opportunity to look at life differently and continue to talk about how God works in their life. It was incredibly painful, but for me it was probably the greatest act of love I have ever seen. My brother saw this as an opportunity to serve Jeanne. And he did nonstop for more than 3 years, the whole time with love and joy in his heart. Never saw him complain once; he always had a smile, grateful that the Lord gave him the time to be with Jeanne and serve her. John and Jeanne own Sola Coffee Shop in Raleigh Click Here for website – if you get a chance do stop by – unbelievable coffee and atmosphere – it is their ministry (don’t go on Sunday as they are closed). What an amazing story. Thank you Jeanne & John for showing us all how to rely on God and find joy in the middle of awful circumstances. Thank you for sharing your story and for being such great examples of Christ to others.We have all seen God working in our lives. However, we might not all be aware it is God working in our lives. This is why it is so important we start talking about it more. The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us. If you would be willing to share any experience of how God has worked or is working in your life, please email me at [email protected] or click here. It won’t take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today. Prayerfully consider sharing. Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Sowing RighteousnessHosea 10:12 “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will reap a crop of my love; plow the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower salvation upon you.”I heard this verse with this translation, which is the Living Bible (TLB) translation yesterday as the verse of the day for KLOVE radio. The person who mentioned this as the verse of the day yesterday said that often, we think of people who have a soft heart in this hard world as weak. However, she said they are brave. It is not easy to have a soft heart, yet in this verse, we are being called to do just that. Being vulnerable in this world is risky because it is so easy to get your heart broken. When I heard the DJ from KLOVE talk about being vulnerable I thought of Cory Asbury’s testimony is his song Reckless Love. In his song, Cory Asbury is talking about God’s Reckless love. He is talking about how God’s love chases us down and fights till we are found. It talks about how God loves us completely and would do anything to find us and bring us back to him, and yet we hurt Him over and over again. I will let him explain it since he does it best, and it is his song. Here is what Cory says about his song Reckless Love.“Many have asked me for clarity on the phrase, “reckless love”. Many have wondered why I’d use a “negative” word to describe God. I’ve taken some time to write out my thoughts here. I hope it brings answers to your questions. But more than that, I hope it brings you into an encounter with the wildness of His love.When I use the phrase, “the reckless love of God”, I’m not saying that God Himself is reckless. I am, however, saying that the way He loves, is in many regards, quite so. What I mean is this: He is utterly unconcerned with the consequences of His actions with regards to His own safety, comfort, and well-being. His love isn’t crafty or slick. It’s not cunning or shrewd. In fact, all things considered, it’s quite childlike, and might I even suggest, sometimes downright ridiculous. His love bankrupted heaven for you. His love doesn’t consider Himself first. His love isn’t selfish or self-serving. He doesn’t wonder what He’ll gain or lose by putting Himself out there. He simply gives Himself away on the off-chance that one of us might look back at Him and offer ourselves in return.His love leaves the ninety-nine to find the one every time. To many practical adults, that’s a foolish concept. “But what if he loses the ninety-nine in search of the one?” What if? Finding that one lost sheep is, and will always be, supremely important. His love isn’t cautious. No, it’s a love that sent His Own Son to die a gruesome death on a cross. There’s no “Plan B” with the love of God. He gives His heart so completely, so preposterously, that if refused, most would consider it irreparably broken. Yet He gives Himself away again. The recklessness of His love is seen most clearly in this – it gets Him hurt over and over. Make no mistake, our sin pains His heart. And “70 times 7” is a lot of times to have Your heart broken. Yet He opens up and allows us in every time. His love saw you when you hated Him – when all logic said, “They’ll reject me.” He said, “I don’t care if it kills me. I’m laying My heart on the line.”To get personal, His love saw me, a broken down kid with regret as deep as the ocean; My innocence and youth poured out like water. Yet, He saw fit to use me for His kingdom because He’s just that kind. I didn’t earn it, and I sure as heck don’t deserve it, but He’s just that good. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.”Isn’t that an amazing way to think about God’s love? He doesn’t worry if He will get hurt, He opens himself up to us knowing we will hurt him over and over again. What if we were this bold. Maybe not with everyone we meet at first, but what if we just started with God? What if we were just able to open up and be honest with him? What if we let our guard down and invited God into the middle of our mess, into the depths of our hearts?The verse above says, “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will reap a crop of my love; plow the hard ground of your hearts, for now, is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower salvation upon you.” If we want to reap a crop of God’s love, we need to plant some seeds of righteousness. How do we do that?? I saw an article from Bethel AG Church (click here for the article) that said, “Sowing righteousness simply means doing the right thing in the sight of God. It’s obeying the Word no matter what the circumstances may look like. It means showing kindness even when it’s undeserved. It’s walking in love and keeping the peace when you really want to say something different.”The verse goes on to say that if we soften our hearts and seek the Lord then He may come and shower salvation on you! Who wouldn’t want to be showered with salvation? It’s the softening of the heart that is the hard pa

When Prayers Seem To Go UnansweredJeremiah 32:27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me?”I liked this verse for today because this idea has been on my mind lately. The Lord has been telling our prayer group a lot over the last several years that we are not asking for too much; we are asking for too little. Just last November, He said, "My children, I want you to call out to me. I long to bless you, to bless your families, to bless your communities, to bless your world. When you call to me, you open the floodgates of my love and my mercy. Ask for more; you are asking for too little. I have much to give you. I have much to bless you with. Trust in me.” Isn’t that amazing? The fact that God is telling us we are asking for too little. I have been thinking about this a lot lately because I don’t know about you, but I have been asking God for some pretty big things lately.Just recently, I asked God to heal my friend miraculously. He had a surgery that seemed to go well but then when taking the instruments out the surgeons nicked an artery. Then he seemed to be doing better and then all of his organs shut down and he didn’t make it. I was really surprised as God said we were asking for too little, and this definitely wasn’t little. If I can be honest with you, I don’t understand this. I don’t understand when we pray and our prayers aren’t answered. I wonder if you struggle with this too? I wonder if you have some pretty big prayers that seem like they weren’t answered either.When I asked the Lord about this, He told me my prayer was answered, just not in the way I wanted it to be. My friend Brian is completely healed now. He no longer has the disorder that was attacking his body and making life so hard for him. He no longer needs to be on oxygen and have surgery after surgery. He is no longer suffering. I understand that. I also know God could have healed all of that on this side of Heaven also, so that is where I get lost sometimes. I heard a speaker this weekend. Sister Tracy Dugas who is a nun with the daughters’ of St. Paul.She said something during her talk that helped me understand this a little better. She brought our attention to 1 John 5:14, “And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Sister Tracy encouraged us to consult the Holy Spirit and ask Him how to pray for whoever or whatever we are praying for. For instance, before I prayed for my friend I could has stopped and asked the Holy Spirit how I should pray for this person. What should I pray for for this person? She reminded us that God knows so much more than we know. He can see the whole picture, whereas we can only see a tiny fraction of the picture.She reminded us of Luke 11:11-13 “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” The Lord knows what we need better than we do. If we try to give our kids the best we can in our flawed state, how much better will the Lord give us what is best for us?God’s ways are higher than our ways, and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Sister Tracy said God is probably looking down at us and thinking we are asking for a whole lot of serpents. We don’t see all the twists and turns that are ahead of us. We don’t realize that if we get that job we want, then we will be working more than we thought or commuting more than we thought. We don’t know that if we buy that house that we thought we really wanted, we won’t actually be able to afford it and will end up stressed out with no money. We don’t know that if we go on that trip, we will get into a car accident. We can’t see the future; only God can.When our prayers aren't answered in the way we want them to be, it is because God has something better planned for us, or because He is preventing us, or those we are praying for from something. God knows what He is doing. He is working all things for our good. That doesn’t mean that He doesn’t allow bad things to happen. That doesn’t mean that we have to like everything that is happening. It does mean that we don’t have to lose all hope and fall into despair when something happens or when our prayers aren’t answered in the way we want them to be. It means that we can be sad and also be assured that God is in the situation, working it for good in some way.I heard an analogy once from Pamela Crim during an episode of the Big Life Devotional Podcast that really stuck with me. She said God uses all things for our good, but that doesn’t mean he makes that thing that happened good. Her analogy was using crap as fertilizer. It stinks and is not pleasant. Yet farmers use that crap to fertilize their land. It helps beautiful things grow. Fertilizers are applied to replace the essen

Have Mercy on Those Who WaiverJude 22-23 "And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.”I was looking up the meaning of these verses in Jude this morning and I found an article that explained it really well. I will read that article to you this morning. The name of the article is title Jude 22-23 A Call to Rescue the Wandering and the Lost. Matthew Breeden wrote the article. Click Here for the article.IntroductionThe letter of Jude is a letter of warning and of exhortation. The warning is that there are those within the church who are opposed to the truth. Jude spends much of the letter describing those who are threatening the church with their misuse and distortion of the Gospel. But Jude’s primary reason for writing is to exhort the church to stand strong and to contend for the faith.After spending a good deal of time considering the opponents, in verses 17-23 Jude begins to give some attention to what it looks like to ‘contend for the faith.’ In verse 17-21 we saw that we are to remember the warnings that have been given regarding false teachers and then to keep watch on our own hearts; or to use Jude’s words, we are to remain in the love of God.In vv. 22-23 we come to a third aspect of what it looks like contend for the faith. Jude issues this exhortation: Rescue those who are wanderingand lost.How do we respond to those who are tempted to doubt or wander from the truth?We must act with mercy toward the doubting (Jude 22)The presence of doubt– The first thing Jude acknowledges is that there will be those who doubt. Of course, as false teachers infiltrated the church it would be natural for there to be those who would fall prey to their teaching. The same is true today. There will always be those who are tempted to question the truth or to wander from the faith. Responding with mercy– Jude’s exhortation is to respond to those who doubt with mercy. As we consider what it means to show mercy, we should remember that this is the way God has dealt with us. We are all sinners who have rebelled against Him, and yet He has responded mercifully. God sent Jesus to come and die so that we can be forgiven. And even still, as we continue to sin He is mercifully sanctifying us.Understanding this response– While showing mercy is characterized by compassion concern and patience, mercy can also include correction and even rebuke. Showing mercy does not mean that we ignore sin or justify doubts, but it does mean that we approach our erring brother or sister with meekness and love. In summary, we are to deal with others as God has dealt with: hating sin and calling for repentance – all the while showing compassion and care.We must act with urgency on behalf of those who are walking toward hell (Jude 23a) The consequence of unbelief– In order to understand Jude’s exhortation, we must first be clear on what he means by ‘fire.’ The Bible consistently describes the consequence for those who don’t believe as eternal fire (Jude 7, Matthew 5:21-22; Matthew 18:8-9). It’s this ‘fire’ that Jude is calling us to ‘snatch others from.’The seriousness of the situation– While Jude has called for mercy, it becomes clear that our mercy must not negate or ignore the seriousness of the situation. The stakes are high. Those who reject God will be subject to His judgment.The urgency of the situation– Jude’s use of the word ‘snatch’ is an indicator of the urgency of the situation. We must not be complacent or idle – souls are at stake and we must take our call to help them seriously.Application: As a church we believe that we are called to watch out for one another and to help protect one another from the dangers and the deceitfulness of sin. Passages like Matthew 18:15-17 and Galatians 6:1-3 make it clear that we are to be active in helping those around us identify and repent of sin. We are also told that that God uses our efforts as part of His plan for ‘keeping us’ (James 5:19-20)We must act with caution as we show mercy toward those who are committed to their sin (Jude 23b)Garments stained by the flesh– The Scriptures refer to the natural man or the sinful man as ‘the flesh.’ When we are reconciled to God we are given ‘the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:17-21). In this verse Jude describes people who are living in the flesh and indicates that their opposition to God is so prevalent that even their garments are ‘stained by the flesh.’Showing mercy with fear– While Jude has been clear that we are to go hard after those who are wandering and lost, now he adds this caution: show mercy with in fear. We are to be ever mindful of our own weakness and frailty. As we interact with the doubting and the one committed to sin, we must be watchful that we are not tempted (Galatians 6:1).Summary – While Jude is clear that we are to contend for the faith and warns us about those who would distort the truth, here we also see that we are

The Power of SolitudeLuke 5:16 “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”The other day, I was listening to the Abiding Together podcast. The episode was called Living in Tension: Solitude and Community. This was a really interesting idea. It is important to keep in mind that we need both solitude and community. Today I want to talk to you a bit about why you also need time for solitude. No matter if we are an introvert or an extrovert, we all need both community and solitude. The solitude is not where we spend time by ourselves watching Netflix and eating ice cream. We all may need that sometimes too, but the solitude they were talking about on the podcast was that time when you go away from everyone and spend time with the Lord. Jesus did this often in the Bible. He fed the 5,000 and then went off to be alone with the Father. He did this so often in the Bible that people would go after Him and try to find Him. They wanted to know what He was doing.No matter how close we get to the Lord, this solitude will always be necessary. There is always more with the Lord. We can always go further in with Him. We can always grow closer to Him. Encounter Ministries says you can always go further up and further in. This alone time with God is essential. This is the time when He can fill us up. This is a time when He can show us what He has planned for us. God will use us if we allow Him to. God will help guide us in our lives if we allow Him to. If we never stop and spend some time with God, just us and Him, when do we learn about His plan for our life? When do we learn about what He wants us to do?Things in our life will go much better when we spend quiet time with God, asking Him what we should do before we do it. In order to recognize the Lord’s voice, we need to make sure we are spending time regularly with Him. In order to have an intimate relationship with him, we need to spend time with Him. Maintaining our relationship with God is similar to maintaining our relationship with others. We need to invest our time and our attention to it, or it will fizzle out. I found an article that talks about the 6 Benefits of Solitude with God by John (Click Here for full article)Here are 6 benefits of solitude with God1.) Exposure to God’s wisdom God is all-wise and all-knowing. You can’t spend time alone with Him and remain ignorant. Acts 4:13 says that when the religious leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled; and they realized that they had been with Jesus. You can’t spend time with the LORD and not be wiser than you are now.2.) Recipient of divine perspectiveThrough Scripture and time with the Lord, God gives His people the capacity to see all of life from His vantage point. Having God’s perspective allows us to rise above the daily grind of life and the petty actions of others and realize there is a sovereign God who rules over His creation and directs the activities of mankind.3.) Renewal of physical and spiritual strengthWhen you spend time alone with God, you not only gain renewal of physical strength, but you also enjoy spiritual refueling and refreshment. Isaiah 40:31 says “those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” According to Psalm 68:35a, the God of Israel is “He who gives strength and power to His people.” Spend time alone with God, and He will give you power and strength.4.) Beneficiary of Godly guidanceGod promises to guide us all the way through our lives. The psalmist writes, “For this God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.” (Psalm 48:14). But how do we receive this guidance? Psalm 48:9 says: “meditating on your unfailing love.” The secret of guidance is alone time with God – meditating on His word. Wow, what a gift we receive in our alone time with the Lord!5.) Experience conviction and correctionPsalm 17:4-5 says: “I have followed your commands, which keep me from following cruel and evil people. My steps have stayed on your path; I have not wavered from following you.”One of the great proofs that the Bible is really God’s inspired Word is its unique ability to convict men and women of their sins. Often God will use his word to correct us and lead us onto a steady path gently. 6.) God’s great rewardGod rewards time spent alone with him in prayer. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6)God’s will, His nearness, His goodness, His love – rewards freely given to those who commune with him. Make solitude a priority! All of the mon

We have all seen God working in our lives. However, we might not all be aware it is God working in our lives. This is why it is so important we start talking about it more. The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us. If you would be willing to share any experience of how God has worked or is working in your life, please email me at [email protected] or click here. It won’t take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today. Prayerfully consider sharing. Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them.Today’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. (Click Here) If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. I will link it in the show notes: Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today I chose from the Marriage/Family category as I think we all know someone whose family is struggling. There is definitely attack on our families these days.. I have chosen four stories to share with you this morning. Although they all deal with family and marriage, each one is unique. I hope when you hear them, you can see not only how God has helped them in their life but how He is helping you in yours and in your loved ones, too.Janet: (Click Here) God has been so good to me and my family, even through my wrong choices. Quick story: I married someone I chose (not God). I have 2 beautiful daughters, now ages 37 and 34. Their dad walked out of our family when my oldest was 7 and my youngest was 4. He left for my girlfriend who lived next door who also was married. They were having an affair. Eventually he moved into her house and every day, my kids saw their dad pulling into her driveway, not ours. Of course I played the blame game and blamed God. I had a choice: Was I going to trust God or do this myself and walk away from Him? I chose God. I had to get a job, etc. That ride was not easy.A couple of years later, we were in a horrific car accident and I said, “God, when will this end?” I am here to tell you I would not choose a different road. What God did and taught us is my story. I can write a book on miracles through the storm. You really may not see the miracles clearly at first but when you look back at your past.. I can only say, “wow God! You’re great.” By making that choice to trust God and raise my girls in church and pursue Him, my kids never got involved with drugs or alcohol. They were A+ students. They waited till marriage. I am so blessed with 5 beautiful grandchildren and 2 sons-in-law that are wonderful. My family lives right by me. I see them all the time. They are financially blessed.Only God gets all the glory for this story, but the best thing about this story is how much my family loves Jesus. Thank you for allowing me to share a little bit about my story. God bless, JanetLife is Sacred (Click Here)I just listened to your song “Untold” and was greatly moved by emotion. As a young girl, I was raped at 18 by the boy I was dating (whom I met at church). I was so naive. I didn’t even know what was happening to me at the time. It took me four months and a few trips to the library to figure out I was pregnant. My greatest fear was having to tell my parents. When I did, my father refused to speak to me for weeks. I never told anyone about the circumstances of the pregnancy, and my father never let me forget how I shamed the family.Since my mother made it clear that I could not stay at the house if I chose to keep the baby, I thought I would give it up for adoption, but by that far in the pregnancy, I began to feel the baby move. I had always wanted to be a mother, just not so soon. So, I decided to marry the person who did this to me so I could keep my baby and save embarrassment. Abortion was not an option. I had always supported the pro-life movement and never wavered from my stance, even in my current condition.After five years and a second child, we split. Shortly after, I remarried and had two more children, but marriage to an abusive alcoholic proved impossible. At 29, I was single with four children, but I was committed to raising the best children possible. That one decision to keep my baby laid the path for a life of struggle, but with blessings along the way. I have never regretted that decision. I gave birth to a strong-willed, independent baby girl who became a teacher, principal, and leader who has affected the lives of so many people, particularly children. She says she wouldn’t change our life of financial struggles and other challenges as it has made her the person she is today. She has greater compassion for other children experiencing similar challenges in their lives. I often think of what life would be like for the many if she hadn’t been born. She is a strong Chr

They Will Know Us By Our LoveJohn 13:34-35 “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”This is an excellent reminder of our calling. There are 10 commandments we are asked to follow, and yet, Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Did you catch that last part? If you are doing these two great commandments, then you will be doing the rest. They all hang on to those two commandments. So, our calling is to love.I just went to an awesome Lenten Day of Reflection on Saturday, and the theme was bringing God’s light into the darkness. Can you guess how we can do that? We can bring light into the darkness by being love to other people. This is what people are craving in the world, and they are looking in all the wrong places to find it. I believe behind every cranky, mean person is a child of God craving love. They don’t know how or where to find it, and they certainly don’t know how to ask for it.Often we give love as we received love growing up. If we received a lot of love growing up, then we can give a lot of love. If we didn’t receive a lot of love, or if we needed to earn that love, then we might not have a lot of love to give, and people may need to earn that love. There is a saying “hurt people” hurt people, meaning if someone is hurt, they may lash out and hurt other people. They may not even know they are doing it. They are just doing what they are taught to do. It might be subconscious. They get into a relationship and act like they witnessed it growing up and don’t realize it is hurting others.We need to love people. Not just the ones that are easy to love, but we need to love all those we meet. I was thinking we should think of everyone we meet as our brothers and sisters in Christ. However, I am one of 11, and I know brothers and sisters don’t always like each other. So, instead, let's think of everyone we meet as a child of God. I think we all know the love one can have for their child. Or, if you don’t have a child, I bet you still know the love you have for a niece, nephew, or best friend’s child. We love our children even when we don’t like their behavior. We love them even when they aren’t being kind. This is how God feels about His children.I wonder if we think of everyone we meet as a child of God if that will help us love them more? It may help us see them as more than just what we see on the outside. My kids can seem pretty terrible on the outside at times. Well, they did when they were younger, anyway. However, I always knew they were kind, loving children on the inside somewhere. This is true with all of God’s children too. You may look at them, and all you can see is their sin. However, inside, maybe buried deep inside, is that loving child God created. Can we look past the outside and show them love?The verse above says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” Jesus is not asking us to love one another. He is commanding it. Are we really going to say no to that command? Are we really going to keep doing what we want to do and ignore the commandment to love one another as Jesus loved us? How did Jesus love us? He loved us unconditionally. He loved us with a self-sacrificing love. He gave it all for us.I don’t think Jesus is asking us to give our lives for others in the same way that He did. However, there are other ways we give to others. I think even if we start small and work our way up to loving others better. What if we just started with eye contact and a smile? People are craving love and to feel seen these days. What if we just started looking at people and smiling? This shows them they are seen. This shows them that somebody noticed them. I have heard that this is especially important when you pass a homeless person on the street. So many people walk past them and don’t even look at them. They act like they don’t even see them. What if you saw them? What if you made eye contact and smiled?The verse says that everyone will know that we are Jesus’s disciples if we have love for one another. If people saw the way you interacted with those you meet in a grocery store, those you interact with in traffic, and those who live in your house, would they know you were a disciple of Jesus? There was an episode about this verse on the Big Life Devotional with Pamela Crim, and she talked about how this verse applies to us, too. If we always talk badly about others or about ourselves, do you think people are going to want to f

Is There A Right or Wrong Way to Pray?Luke 11:1 "He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”Prayer has been part of my life ever since I can remember. When I was young, my mom or dad would come to my room at night and say prayers with me. We said the same prayer every night, as far as I can recall. “Dear God, please bless my mother and father, my brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles, and my cousins and friends.” Sometimes, we would add, “Please also bless everyone we know and everyone we don’t know.” This was a very simple prayer, and yet it covered everyone. If you are wondering why we did not name our brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, or cousins, it was because I come from a very large family. There are 11 children in my family, and my mother is the oldest of 10 children. So, if we were to name everyone, I would have never gotten to sleep. Growing up Catholic, prayer was also part of our mass. We say the same prayers at mass every week, so we have plenty of opportunities to learn several prayers to use even when we are outside of mass. These prayers were our staple, and it felt great to have them when we wanted to pray. However, they did not tell us how to pray for specific ailments one might have or specific needs people would ask us to pray for. Well, that is not entirely true. If someone asks you to pray for them, a Hail Mary or an Our Father is an excellent choice. They did not give us much room to personalize them. I would hear other people I knew that would spontaneously come up with a prayer off the top of their head, and I thought that was amazing. Also, when people would say grace, and it was personal and individualized, I loved it. I wished I knew how to do that. I know there is no right or wrong way to pray. The definition I just found for prayer when I looked it up online is the following: Prayer: a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship. So, if we are requesting something from God, or expressing our thanks, how can there be a right or wrong way to pray? Do you wonder, when we are saying thanks to your friend if you said it the right way? I doubt it. Do you question if you requested your combo meal from the fast food worker the correct way? Nope. Then why do we question how to pray? I am asking this question as much to myself as I am to you. Until a few years ago, I felt really uncomfortable praying out loud unless it was a prayer I had memorized, like the Our Father. A few years ago, I joined a charismatic prayer group, and I remember the first time they asked us to put our hand on our neighbor’s shoulder and pray over that person. I felt bad for the person I was praying over because they had me praying over them. I felt like I was not good enough to pray over them and that someone else’s prayers would be better. This may sound silly, but I am betting that many of you know exactly what I was feeling that day. Why do we struggle so much with wanting to say the right thing? I take comfort in knowing that I am not the only one who feels as though I do not know how to pray. Even the disciples, who were in the presence of Jesus, were unsure how to pray. In Luke 11:1, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. I have been listening to people pray out loud at my prayer group for several years now, and I have realized that everyone prays differently. There is not just one way to pray, and there is no secret formula to say the correct prayer so that God will listen more closely. Do you ever feel that way, like God hears other people’s prayers more than he hears yours? No…it’s just me. In my family, we always say that my dad’s prayers go straight to heaven. We think that because he prays more often, that God hears his prayers more than ours. He is a prayer giant, and I am sure you know someone like this. I am sure you know what I am talking about. The truth is God is always listening. He listens to everyone’s prayers, not just those who are faithful to pray every day. It says in 1 John 5:14, " This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." The Bible goes on to say in 1 John 5:15, “And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." God is listening to your prayers, even if you did not word them eloquently, even if your prayer was quick, non-specific, etc. He hears you! Now, having said all that, I do not expect that you will all of the sudden feel comfortable praying out loud just because someone told you that there is no right or wrong way to pray. Here are some of the ways that I became more comfortable praying out loud for people or even just praying to myself, but branching off from the prayers that I had memorized as a child. · I started writing in a prayer journal. I started writing down what I want

Get Up, Get Dressed & Follow Me!Acts 12:6-8 “The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, ‘Quick! Get up!’ and the chains fell off his wrist. Then, the angel told him, ‘Get dressed and put on your sandals.’ And he did. ‘Now put on your coat and follow me,’ the angel ordered.”In this passage, God is telling us three steps we can take to break our own chains. I know some of you may be saying that this is great for some people, but my chains are too strong for such a simple solution. Although this may seem simple, I am not saying it was easy. Peter was asked to get up while he was still wearing the chains. His chains did not come off before he was told to stand. His getting up while he was still chained took courage and trust. He needed to trust that God was telling him to get up for a reason.We all have some responsibility in getting out of our chains. Peter did not know what was coming next. He just knew that he had first to get up before anything else could happen. Can you do this step? Can you get up and get out of bed even if you don’t know what is coming next or what the next step is? Can you trust that God is there with you and that if you get up, he will take the chains off of you?Next, the angel told Peter to get dressed and put on his sandals. When we are in the midst of a challenge, this may be the hardest step. It may take all our energy to get up out of bed and getting dressed is another step that may seem impossible. This is when we need to rely on God. He is there for us, and He is there to give us the strength to get up when we don’t feel like we can. Why is it important to get dressed? Getting dressed means that we are ready to go somewhere. We are ready for God to take us to a new place, a new situation. We need to be ready for anything to happen.Just the act of getting dressed can help change our mood. Even if we accomplish nothing else the entire day, we at least accomplished that. Also, depending on what you wear, it can change your mood as well. Are you getting dressed in clothes that tell your body that you are ready to go for the day, or are you dressing in clothes that tell your body to go back to bed? I have heard many people say that we should dress like we want to feel, not as we do feel. If you want to feel beautiful, then do not wear your yoga pants that are worn and have lots of holes, dress as if you already feel beautiful, and that is how you will start to feel.The last step the angel said is to follow me (God). We may not know how we can get out of our chains or what we can do to get out of the current situation. This is when it is important to be still and listen. Sometimes it is easier to hear God than other times. I have had times in the past when I rarely took the time to stop and spend quiet time listening to God. I talked an awful lot to him, but I struggled with the being still and just listening part. I have worked on this and grown in this area over the last several years. Often times we know what God is telling us by the little voice inside our head that tells us what we should do. Are you listening to that voice on a regular basis, or are you shutting it down?I often do not listen to that voice and then always regret it as it usually knows the right choice. Once you are ready to go, stop and listen and see if you can follow God. Where is he leading you? What does he want you to do next? If we ask God to direct us and lead us, He will. Listen and see what step he is leading you to take. No matter how small that step is, if we take one step after another, we will break free from our chains. There were many instances in the Bible when people had to act first before seeing the results. At the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), they ran out of wine. Jesus told the stewards to fill up the wine jugs with water. Then, he asked them to take to the chief steward. They had to act in faith before they were sure of the miracle. They had to take this cup of what they thought was water to their boss and ask him to taste it. This required their action and their faith. In John 5:2-9 Jesus met a man at a pool, waiting for someone to help him into the healing waters. He had been an invalid for 38 years. Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed. This required the man to answer. Then he told the man to rise up and take up his mat. This man had not been able to walk for a long time. Before he was healed, he was told to rise and take up his mat. He needed to trust that when he tried to stand, he would be able to. His faith and action were required before the miracle took place.God does amazing things every single day. Yes, God could save you without requiring anything from you, and sometimes he does. Sometimes, He saves people who do no

Walk In LoveEphesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”This verse is calling us to a higher calling than we realize. I mean, it starts by telling us to be imitators of God. That is a very casual statement that carries a lot of responsibility. How are we supposed to imitate God? He is almighty; He is all-powerful. He is omnipresent. He is with each one of us all the time. How are we supposed to do that? It would be cool if we were completely present with each one of our kids at the same time. There might be a lot less sibling rivalry if the kids didn’t have to fight over their parent's attention. However, we can’t emulate those qualities from the Father. We are not omnipresent, all-powerful, or almighty. However, the verse goes on to say that we should walk in love. That is something we can do. It might not be something we can do easily, but we can do it. Love is so important. Love is the way to someone’s heart; it can provide God with an opening He can use to go in and heal it. How do we walk in love? Especially if we don’t know what love is or we are surrounded by people who are really hard to love. Walking in love is hard if we haven’t been shown love. Maybe we lived in a family whose parents struggled to love us. They were too wrapped up in their own issues to be able to love us. We might have a husband or a wife who is too wrapped up in what they want to love us. Or, maybe they were never shown love, and so they don’t know how to love either. There is definitely a lack of love in the world. I’m not really sure the reason for this, but if I had to guess, I would say it is because the focus of society these days seems to be personal pleasure. It is important that we are personally happy, and it doesn’t matter who we hurt for that happiness. If we don’t know what love is, we can turn to God and ask Him. We can turn to Scripture and see what it says about love. We can read all about the life of Jesus and see what He did. Jesus definitely walked in love. Every time He interacted with people, He showed them love. He didn’t just show love to those who were upright citizens and those who were obeying God’s laws. Anyone could do that. He was nice, kind, and loving to everyone, even the sinners.This is what the Pharisees and Sadducees couldn’t understand. They didn’t think He should be associating with sinners. Back then, they felt if you touched a leper or someone who was unclean, you would then become unclean. That probably was true for most people back then. If you touch someone with leprosy, then you might get it. However, when Jesus touched the unclean, instead of their disease spreading to Him, what He had inside of Him spread to them, and they were healed.If we are going to be imitators of God, then we, too, need to love everyone, not just those who are easy to love. It says in Luke 6:32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” Verse 35 goes on to say, “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Do you see how we have to love everyone, those who love us, those who are hard to love, even our enemies? Do you see why I say being an imitator of God is really difficult?It is difficult, and yet it is not impossible. Nothing is impossible with the Lord. If we are willing to ask the Lord for help, He will help us discover how to love. He will teach us what love is and what it looks like. God is not expecting us to be perfect at this right out of the gate. He knows our hearts. He knows our history and where we are coming from. He knows what our family life was like growing up. He knows how much we have been loved and not loved over the years. He knows the trauma we might associate with love. God knows it all and is happy to work with us to get through all of it. All we have to do is say yes and be willing to do what He asks us to do.Can we say yes to God? Can we invite Him into our hearts and show us how to love even our worst enemy? Can we say yes, even if it will be hard? Can we say yes and then watch as God changes our hearts? God can do all things. If He could change Saul’s heart in the Bible, He can change your heart. Saul was rounding up all those who believed in Christ, and he was locking them up in jail or worse. He had an encounter with Jesus and had a complete conversion of the heart. You can too.The verse is asking us to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. That is a tall order. Can we sacrifice our needs and our wants to love others? This is something that is contrary to what the world is telling us right now. The world is saying we should take care of our wants first and then worry about everyone else. It is important to take care of oneself

I want to begin today’s episode by thanking everyone who had done a Witness Wednesday for me and shared their story. Today is the 100th Wednesday since I started doing Witness Wednesdays, and it wouldn’t be possible without people being willing to share their stories. So, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I truly feel testimonies really do help people open their hearts to God, and then He comes in and changes hearts! Today I am sharing more witnesses from the popwe.org website. I love that Matthew West and his dad have this website where we can go and read all these testimonies of how God has changed people’s lives! Today, I chose to do healing testimonies because Encounter School of Ministry Boston Campus is doing a healing Service at St. Margaret’s Church in Burlington, MA, at 6:30. So I thought healing testimonies would be good for today. There are five different testimonies, and although they all have to do with someone being healed, they are not all the same. I hope as you listen to more and more testimonies, it will build your faith as to what God can do in your life too. He can heal your loved ones. He can bring your loved ones back to the church. He can take away that illness, that disorder, that anxiety, that alcoholism. Whatever it is, God can help. Bring it to Him and believe He can help. I hope you enjoy the testimonies this morning and if you get a chance, go on the popwe.org sight and read some of the testimonies. Share some on your social media pages so we can build other people’s faith too. God is doing so many good things, and people are not hearing about them.GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE: When I was a baby, I was diagnosed with RSV. If you are unfamiliar with this disease, it is a cold for adults but can result in a baby’s death. After spending a long time on a ventilator in the hospital, the doctors said that there was no hope. They said I wasn’t supposed to live. They said I wasn’t supposed to breathe. They said I wasn’t supposed to walk. Well, guess what? Seventeen years later, I’m a living, breathing, walking miracle redeemed by His love, power, and grace! In the words of Matthew, “We serve a God who turns impossible into living, breathing, walking miracles!”IMPERFECTNESS: Hi! I am a 15 year old (almost 16). I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder when I was in 7th grade. Since then, I have had so many breakdowns and freak-out moments when I spiral and get into my own head and can’t get out. I have obsessive thoughts. I finally got out of counseling, and after much hard work, I have been able to shut off my thoughts. And that makes me very happy. I finally feel like I have some level of control over my life and my feelings.Trusting God and learning about Him always makes me feel better. I turn to him in hard times and pray. He hears me and comes to help me. I listen to Matthew West's songs daily. Me and my twin brothers are big fans. We LOVE his songs, and as someone who wears her emotions on her sleeves, I really feel everything. From his song “Imperfections” to the first Matthew West song I ever heard, which was “Truth Be Told.” At the time, I was going through having obsessive thoughts and breakdowns and a lot of self-doubt. His music really helped. I’m a much healthier and kinder person to myself and others all thanks to fellowship and God and Matthew’s music. And I am always gonna be thankful for music and God.KORINA: My life is one that I am truly grateful for. God, I know He has brought me through many turbulent times, and He has never failed me. I came from an abusive background as a child. I dealt with mental, physical, and sexual abuse. I made it through those years. I married and had my first child at 18. My son suffered a brain injury at birth. I did my best to raise him with little help.I had another child at 21, and life just moved along. When I was 25, I had a lump in my neck that kept growing. I went in to have surgery to have my thyroid removed. They thought I had a goiter. Turns out I had a malignant tumor. Further tests showed that it was Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Cancer! I had little support from my husband through my treatments. Other families tried to help when they could. After many surgeries and treatments, I was cancer-free.I then divorced my husband and started over with my children. I met someone a few years later and had another baby. A girl that the doctors said I would not be able to have after my treatments. But God said, “Yes, you can!” Life moved on. Cancer struck again. I was 45 and was diagnosed with Nodular Malignant Melanoma. I was devastated. “Not again!” I screamed, I yelled, and I had a pity party for myself. I told God I couldn’t do this again. I had already been through enough! I couldn’t do treatments again. I then wiped my tears and moved on. The surgery was all I needed for this cancer. It hadn’t spread! Thank you, God. Today I am grateful for my life. My first cancer was found early enough for survival. It’s been 30 years now! I’m a grandma to 2

Can We Control Our Tongue?1 Peter 3:10-12 “He that would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile; let him turn away from evil and do right; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those that do evil.”I feel like today’s verse is a good lesson for everyone. Yesterday I was talking to a friend who is not really sure what she believes about faith. She has had a pretty traumatic history with faith, and so she is just finding her way back. Anyway, she asked what verse I was using yesterday for my podcast, and when I shared it with her, she said, “The Bible really does have some pretty good life lessons in it.” I thought this was funny because it is so true and yet I don’t think most of us think, “I should check what that Bible says about that,” when we are trying to decide what to do. There is so much wisdom and practical knowledge in the Bible.Today’s verse is good because who wouldn’t want to love life and see good days? I think we can all agree those would be good things. So, let’s see what Peter has to say about how we can love life and see good days. First, he says to keep our tongues from evil and our lips from speaking guile—man, that right there. If we could just do that, I think all of our lives would be improved greatly. I wish my kids could hear this. I wish they could see how much better their lives could be if they talked better in general but also if they didn’t talk about others. They think that they are just venting about other people, but it puts them in a bad mood and affects their lives, too.When we take the time to speak evil about people, then that puts our mind on evil. If we are constantly judging others, then that is where our mind will go to first. If we are constantly saying bad things about others, then those bad things are where our mind is going to focus. Soon, all you start to see is the bad in everyone around you. Imagine if we could control what we say. Proverbs 18:21a says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Did you know your words were that important? Our words affect people far longer than we think they will. Do you remember that old saying we heard when we were growing up, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” It is so misleading. Sometimes names can hurt more than any stick or stone could. If we are hit with a stick or stone, the wound will heal. Sometimes the wounds from things said to us when we are young never heal.Our words have the power to change someone’s life. I still remember that my 8th-grade teacher told my mom I should be a lawyer because when doing a group project, I had a way of getting people to do what I wanted and making them think it was their idea. I still remember every teacher that was kind and built me up. I still remember some very unkind things that kids said to me when I was younger. If you believe in someone and you tell them how great they are, they will rise to the occasion. Likewise, if you don’t believe in them and you tear them down with your words or even your actions, they will live down to those expectations too.We have to do better in this area. We have to stop and think before we say things. We, as a whole society, have to do better about what we are saying to people and how we are treating them. We will not change society with our words. The way that we have an impact on society is by living our life in a way that those around us notice the change and the grace God gives us for changing, and they decide they want that too. We need to lead by example, and we need to lead with love first and everything else second. If you take anything from this episode today, I hope it is that our words are so important, and we need to really think about what we are going to say and how it will affect the other person.Next, it says, “Let him turn away from evil and do right; let him seek peace and pursue it.” We can probably all say that we know if we want to love life, we should turn from evil and do the right thing. However, in this world, it can be hard to know what the right thing is. Also, the world makes is seem like it is so great to do the wrong thing. If we listen to the world, all we hear is that if we want to love life, we need to do what we want to do. We need to do what makes us happy. We don’t need to be concerned about others; we just need to be concerned with our own happiness. It’s ok to have an affair if that is what makes you happy. It is ok to leave your family to pursue your dreams. The world is contrary to so many things the Lord is calling us to.We need to turn away from evil and do what is right. If we aren’t sure what this is, we need to pray about it. We can ask the Lord to show us if there is any evil in our lives, and then we can work to change it. We can ask the Lord what he wants us to do to replace the evil in

Don’t Be Bossy!1 Peter 5:1-5 “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. In the same way, you who are younger submit yourselves to your elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”Most of us have people under our care, whether our children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters, moms and dads, friends, or family. We also have people who aren’t necessarily defined as those under our care, but they do fall within our circle of influence. The way Encounter Ministries has described it is that your circle of influence includes those people around you that you interact with on a somewhat regular basis. Those who look to you for direction. Those who, when they see how you are living, might want to make some changes in their own life as well. These verses give us some instruction on how we are to behave with those under our care or in our circle of influence.The first thing it says is to watch over them not because we have to but because we want to. This can be hard sometimes if you have a loved one under your care that is difficult. It might not even be their fault that they are difficult. Maybe you are caring for an elderly parent they have dementia, and they are difficult, but it is not their fault. They don’t understand what is going on, and they don’t have the mental capacity to remember what you are saying. When this is the case, sometimes it can be hard to want to care for this person. Not because you don’t love them but because it is hard to see your loved ones in that state. You would rather remember them how they were before they got sick.It can also be hard when you are a new mom and you have a baby that cries all the time. You love that baby with your whole heart, but sometimes you are caring for that baby because you have to, not because you want to. What you really want to do is get some sleep. This is similar to the last scenario because, in both cases, the person you are caring for didn’t really have a choice. They weren’t trying to be difficult, and yet they were still difficult. God is asking us for a perspective switch when this happens. He is asking us to change our mindset, so instead of thinking that we have to take care of our loved ones, think of it as we get to take care of them. As difficult as it is to take care of them, we will miss it when they are no longer here with us.Peter reminds us in this letter that we are not to take care of people for false reasons. For instance, we shouldn’t take care of our parents or our loved ones because we expect something in return. It also says we shouldn’t lord it over them, either. The message translations of this verse say, “Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way.” I like that translation for two reasons. The first one is that it reminds us to be tender when we are caring for our loved ones. This can be especially important if we are dealing with our parents.Our parents raised us, and they are used to being the ones to tell us what to do and doing everything for us. Then, as time goes by and they get older, they need to ask us to do things, or we may know how things work better. However, if we are bossy and tell them what they need to do, that doesn’t go over very well, and that doesn’t make them feel very good about themselves or about us. We need to be tender with them and not bossy.The second reason I like that translation is that it reminds us to show them the way. Actually, the translation above is good for this reason too. It says to be an example. If we live our lives in a completely different manner than what we are saying to others, we wouldn’t be a very good example. It wouldn’t make sense to tell our children they are not allowed to do something and they we do it. It wouldn’t be good to tell our children to be kind to everyone they meet and then yell at the guy who cut us off in traffic and be rude to the person in the parking lot. Our words are important, but our actions are even more important.The verses go on to say, “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” All of the things I said are good reminders and yet can be very hard. However, when we get to this line, I think it makes all that hard work worth it. Can you even imagine a crown of glory that never fades away? God never promised us that life in this world would be easy. He did promise us we wouldn’t ever be alone in it, though. When things get

In Old Age They Still Produce Fruit2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.”Today’s prayer point for the healing service is prayer for our old and retired priests. While reading the passages, I got to thinking about all those I know who are getting older. My parents are getting older. They are in their 80’s, although if you looked at them, you would never guess that. They still go out dancing several nights a week; they are on the board of the square dancing group, and they do so much in church and out of the church. They have a busier schedule than most of their kids, who aren’t really kids anymore. I get the pleasure of being around the ladies in prayer group weekly, or sometimes many times a week, and many of them are getting older, too. Well, I guess we are all getting older. Many of them are feeling it more and more.There were a couple of verses that I really liked this morning—the one above stuck out the most. I hear a lot of older people losing heart because their bodies can’t do what they used to be able to do. They are tired more easily, and they might even need to take naps. They used to be able to get up and go first thing in the morning. Now, even though they can’t sleep that well and are probably awake early, they can’t get moving and get out of the house too early. I liked this verse because it reminds us all that no matter what is going on with our bodies on the outside, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. It also says this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure.Can you imagine that? An eternal weight of glory beyond all measure. There is no way to measure how much glory we will encounter if you think of your best day or if you think of your favorite thing. If you think of the prettiest thing you can think of or the most expensive thing you can think of, the glory of heaven is even greater than that. Tony and I are watching a show called Billions. The eternal weight of glory is greater than billions and billions of dollars and all that money can buy you. The verse says the weight of glory is beyond all measure.I know that might not make you feel better about your aches and pains. You may be going through some really difficult medical stuff right now, and it is hard to think about eternal glory. It might be hard to hear the part of the verse above where it says, “slight momentary affliction,” when it feels like you have been sick forever. Or maybe you aren’t sick, but you can’t walk the way you used to, or you can’t get around the way you used to. I am sure it is hard to wake up one day and not be able to do something you could do the day before. I don’t know if this verse brings you any comfort or not, but I thought it was a great reminder that no matter how much our human body fails us, God is renewing our inner nature every day.Another verse that I thought might be helpful to hear is Psalm 92:12-15 “The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age, they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, showing that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” I know some of the ladies question what they can still do for the community. The prayer group I am blessed to be a part of has been around for over 50 years. Many of them joined when they were young and they did all the things they could do. They led the prayer group; they were on all the different teams, they went to conferences, and they did it all. Now, it is hard to do any of it, and they feel bad they can’t do more. I wonder if you are feeling this way too. Your heart wants to help more, but your body won’t cooperate.If this is you, I want you to really hear what Psalm 92:14 says, “They will still bear fruit in old age; they will stay fresh and green.” You will still bear fruit. Your prayers bear fruit; your efforts bear fruit, and you are still bearing fruit after all these years. We often say, I guess all I can do is pray as if prayer wasn’t the most powerful thing we can do. Prayer is more powerful than anything action we can do on our own. Mahatma Gandhi said, "Prayer is not an old woman's amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.” It is ok that you can not do all the things you once did. It is ok that you can’t go to all the things you once went to. It is not the time for that. You have moved on to a new stage. Not a better or worse stage, just a different stage. It is ok that you need to take naps. If we are all being ho

We Have Been Set Free1 Corinthians 6:12 “ All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.”The prayer point for the healing service team today is to free the captives. This instantly made me think of my friend who I am praying for this week. I have asked those I know to give me a Bible verse, and I will assign a different verse to each week of the year. Then I will pray for that person during the week I have assigned their verse.This week, I am praying for my friend, and instead of praying for herself, she has asked for prayers for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and for food and medical aid to reach the sick and injured. When I read free the Captives this morning, I thought of all of those who were captured in the Gaza Strip many months ago. Then, when I started reading the scripture verses we were given, I realized there are many ways that we can be held captive. Some of us are physically held captive, like those in war-torn countries, those who were abducted and forced into human trafficking of all kinds. There are also many of us who are held captive by our own beliefs, addictions, or wants and desires. This morning, while I was reading over the various verses, I asked the Lord to highlight the one he wanted me to talk about. I asked Him to make it clear to me. He actually highlighted two verses. The first one that jumped out was the verse above. 1 Corinthians 6:12 says, “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.” I thought this was particularly fitting for today since yesterday was Ash Wednesday, and so Lent has just begun. Lent can be a difficult time of year because it is a time of sacrifice. It can also be a sad time of year as we remember all Christ went through to save us from our sins, to save us from ourselves.Lent is also a great time of year to show ourselves that we don’t have to be controlled by our wants and our desires. We get the chance to show God that although we love chocolate, wine, alcohol, beer, swearing, desserts, TV, or whatever else we decide to give up, we don’t let them as much as we love HIm. We get to show ourselves that it is ok to deny ourselves something we want and that when we do we will be even more stronger for it. I have a friend named Sarah Jane. I remember she came over to my house one time, and I asked if she wanted a brownie. She said she gave up chocolate for the month. It wasn’t lent so I asked her why she gave it up. She said each month, she gives something up for the month to show herself she can and so that she does not get too attached to anything.This is an awesome idea. I actually did this for a few months last year, but I don’t think I made it past May. I do think it is important that we know that just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should do it. It also doesn’t mean it is good for us. If we want to be holy, we must go beyond the letter of the law. This is what the Sadducees and Pharisees were doing. They were following the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law. They were so focused on doing things perfectly that they lost all sight of what God was really about. They forgot about the love God had for His people. They forgot about His mercy. They got caught up in all the laws and the rules and somehow got lost.What I felt the Lord wanted me to remind you of today is that you do not have to become slaves to things of this world. The second scripture He highlighted to me is Galatians 5:1, which says, “For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” This shows us that we have a choice. Before Jesus came to save us, we had less of a choice. Before Jesus came, we had the laws to tell us what we should do, but we didn’t have the Holy Spirit inside of us to give us the strength to resist the things that were not good for us. Then Jesus came, and He died on the cross to set us free from sin. Then He went to be with His Father, and they sent the Holy Spirit to be with us so we would no longer be left on our own. Because of this, we no longer have to accept the yoke of slavery. Because of this, we have been set free.However, this does not mean that we are all free. We must make a choice to be free. We have to decide that our freedom in Christ is worth more than that cookie, that drink, that drug, that extramarital affair. Christ died so we could be free, but we still have to choose to be free. God has given us free will and He won’t force us to follow Him or to love Him. He won’t force us to choose Him. We have to do that on our own. Well, not really on our own because He gave us the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We can rely on that power. We do need to make the choice, but then we can rely on the Holy Spirit to help us keep that freedom. We can rely on the Holy Spirit to help us stay on th

Website where I found these witnesses: https://popwe.org/category/addiction-deliverance/Katie: So it’s Sobriety Awareness Month, and I feel led to share a testimony. My drug of choice was methadone. I thought it was okay because it was prescribed. I got on it to get off opioids but ended up being on it for almost 6 years. So me, and my mother were in addiction together. A very toxic relationship. When the methadone got too expensive, she turned me to meth. I lost everything within two months…On December 31, 2020, me and my mom were going through withdrawals pretty bad so she begged me to find something. I ended up getting some and split it with her and the last words I remember her saying was, “if this doesn’t help I’m going to sleep.” Two days later, I called 911 and they rushed her to the hospital and I had to make the hardest decision I ever made. I called and told my sister about my addiction and begged her to take my daughter so she would be happy and safe and I could get help. The hardest thing in my life was watching my baby girl get in that car with all her toys and clothes and drive away.Fast forward to January 4, 2021. I was put in St. Bernard’s Behavioral Health and found out over the phone that my mom was on life support and wasn’t gonna make it. I would have to sign to remove care. The dope had cut the oxygen off to her brain. I was taken to see her. She had wires in her head, her hand was cold and stiff, her feet were purple and molded. I couldn’t stay 15 minutes with her. As soon as I got back to SBBH, they faxed me a paper to sign and on January 6, 2021 they removed care. She took one breath and died. Two days later I went to Restoration House Ministries and not only got sober but encountered God and I’ve never been the same. September 17th I’ll be 17 months clean from the bondage I thought I could never escape. This is so hard for me to share but I pray it opens someone’s eyes. I handed my mom her death sentence just for one more high. It ain’t worth it. The guilt, shame, self hatred you feel ain’t worth it. We do recover and it’s through Jesus.“We do recover and it's through Jesus.”Christopher: I was blessed to see you in Beaumont, Texas recently. I live in a town called Lumberton and my youngest daughter was my plus one that night. We got to be part of the blue couch and the meet and greet. The thing is, it never should have happened because I honestly shouldn’t be alive today.For 37 years, I had a severe alcohol problem. I was drinking no less than 2 fifths of vodka a day. I sit here and cry because I can’t remember most of the childhood days of my kids. I have 3 daughters and one son that are all grown today. I got to the point that I could drink what is called Everclear (95% alcohol) straight from the bottle. Only by God’s grace I don’t have any issues or side effects today.The day He turned me around, I had flown into New Orleans, Louisiana for work and landed around 11:00 AM. I bought a bottle of vodka in the airport and finished it before I had walked the 200 feet to the rental car location. At the rental car outlet they told me all they had left for me was a Dodge Challenger called a Hellcat, so I took it. Now here I am in a ridiculously fast car, drunk, and headed for a bad day. I was on the interstate and decided to see how fast this car was. I was driving in excess of 140 MPH and I lost control of the car. It went into a spin. After it came to a stop, I crawled out of the car without a scratch and a voice in my head said, “how much more proof do you need that I have plans for you?”After that I called my wife and poured everything out to her. I was an alcoholic when we got married, so my wife and kids had never seen me sober. Now, today (4 years later) I have 3 beautiful daughters, 2 grandchildren and a son who is an amazing man and a decorated US Marine. I am an ordained minister and I love nothing more than talking to people about my life. If God could take a wasted case like me and do what He has done, there is nothing we can’t overcome with Him.At your recent concert in Beaumont, Texas during the blue couch session I asked you to sing “Broken Things” and you did. You have no idea what that meant to me and my daughter that night. So much of your music centers around how God takes the broken and makes something amazing and you are such an inspiration to me. Sure, I have tough days and it would be so easy to slip back into those old ways, but then I remember my God uses broken things!“God takes the broken and makes something amazing.”Adrienne: In 2014, I began praying to God to remove these addictions from me. My life was a mess and all I cared about was my cigarettes and alcohol. God led me to the right resources, and I did manage to quit smoking and drinking (although not at the same time and I experienced some slips.)In 2018, with the help of God and a stop smoking community, I gave up cigarettes for good. Then on June 23rd, 2020, God helped me once again and both my husband

God Is Our RefugePsalm 46:1-3 “God, you’re such a safe and powerful place to find refuge! You’re a proven help in times of trouble— more than enough and always available whenever I need you. So we will never fear even if every structure of support were to crumble away. We will not fear even when the earth quakes and shakes, moving mountains and casting them into the sea. For the raging roar of stormy winds and crashing waves cannot erode our faith in you. Pause in his presence.”Today we are praying for those with mental health challenges. This covers a wide range of things. It seems mental health challenges are everywhere these days. The world can be a pretty scary place at times. However, in these last few years, I would say it has gotten particularly scary. Most people were pretty anxious during the 2020 pandemic. Everything was so uncertain, and the news was not very helpful. I am not generally an anxious person. However, when I would watch the news during the first few months of the pandemic I could definitely see why so many people were so anxious. I do believe the news was at one time meant to inform the citizens of what was going on in the world. Now, it seems like its sole purpose is to appeal to people’s emotions in whatever way necessary. How else do you explain two competing news channels giving the complete opposite news?The key to us staying sane in this crazy world is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Whenever I see that, I am reminded of the scene in Matthew 14:22-33, which was depicted in the series The Chosen, where Peter steps out of the boat to walk on the water to Jesus. Peter is doing great and actually walking on the water while he is looking right at Jesus. However, as soon as he turns away, as soon as He looks at all the chaos around him, he starts to sink, and Jesus reaches out and saves him. It is when we take our eyes off Jesus that things start to go awry.The first line of the verse states, “God, you’re such a safe and powerful place to find refuge!” God is our refuge. We can always turn to Him, no matter what we are going through. Even if it is something you think He would be disappointed in you for doing. Turn to Him. It says in the Bible that God will rejoice more in heaven over the one sinner who repents than the 99 righteous who don’t need to repent. We will worry less when we realize that we don’t have to be perfect to go to God. We can go to Him always, no matter what we have done.Thinking we have to be perfect to come to God is something the enemy wants you to think. He wants you to think you aren’t good enough to talk to God because He knows how powerful you will be when you turn to God and allow Him to help you. Jesus didn’t wait for us to stop sinning and be perfect to die on the cross for us. He died on a cross for us while we were still sinners. No matter what you are feeling or thinking, you can bring it to God. He is our refuge. There will never be a time here on earth where you can go to the Father and ask Him for help. He loves when His children come to Him and ask for help.The next line says, “You’re a proven help in times of trouble— more than enough and always available whenever I need you.” This reaffirms what I just said, God is available whenever you need Him. It also says you are a proven help in times of trouble. If you look back over your life, I bet you will be able to see this statement is true. Can you look back over your life and see all the ways God has helped in the past? Can you see that He has proven time and time again that He is a great help in times of trouble? When you call upon Him, He will be there.I like how the verse specifies that God is more than enough. Sometimes I think we forget this. We don’t bring things to Him because we think they are either too big, and we can’t see how he would make it happen, or they are too small, and we don’t want to bother Him with it. Neither of these is true. Nothing is too big or too small for God. God wants us to bring everything to Him. He can make a way where there is no way. He is the God of the impossible. He also cares about all the little details of your life, so nothing is too small for Him.The verse goes on to say, “So we will never fear even if every structure of support were to crumble away. We will not fear even when the earth quakes and shakes, moving mountains and casting them into the sea. For the raging roar of stormy winds and crashing waves cannot erode our faith in you.” This shows how deep our trust can go when we have our eyes fixed on Jesus. When it feels like every structure of support is falling away, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and he will be your refuge. When it feels like you are in the storm of a lifetime, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.It occurred to me that saying to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus might not be that helpful. What does that even mean? To me that means keep looking to Him for help. When you are feeling lost, read the Bible. Ask the Lord a question, and then you

For The Lonely, For The Ashamed, The Misunderstood, And The Ones To BlamePsalm 102:1-2, 6-7, 27-28 “Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to you. Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress. Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly. … I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins. I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof. … But you remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”Today’s prayer point is to pray for those with a spirit of loneliness. It surprises me how we can live in an age with so much technology and yet have so many people who feel lonely. It is easier than ever to stay in touch with people. When my mom and dad were dating, my dad joined the military. They would write each other letters and then have to wait for them to arrive in the mail. Now, you can send an email, and the other person can get it instantly. You can also send a text message on your cell phone; you can send a Facebook message, an Instagram message, a Snapchat message, and so many more messages that people will get immediately. Our teens are on their phones all day, every day, and they are on social media often. They have hundreds of friends online, and yet they feel so alone. I was talking to someone the other day who said she can be in a room full of people yet feel alone. Why is this?It is because that is how the enemy wants us to feel. He wants us to feel alone so that we pull away even more. He wants us to feel like no one will understand what we are going through and no one likes us. He wants us to feel like we are different, don’t fit in, and are awkward. He whispers these things in our ears even when we are in a room full of people. That way, we don’t take a risk and meet someone new. He persuades us not to talk about what we are going through for fear of judgment because he knows if we talk about it, we will find others going through the same thing, and then we won’t feel so alone.Even though we have more ready access to communication, it is not meaningful communication. My kids have Snapchat, where you send messages, which they call snaps, back and forth to each other. The app has a streak system to count the days you “snap” back and forth with each contact. The kids obsess about getting and keeping these streaks. In theory, this might be good as it motivates the kids to stay in contact with their friends. However, they aren’t actually writing anything important. They can snap a photo of the wall, the ceiling, or the floor and send that. So, it is not actual communication; it is just something to keep the streak going. I think this is why they feel so alone. They see how many “friends” they have on social media, yet most don’t know them.There has been a song in my head all morning since I read what the prayer point for today was. The song is called God Only Knows by For King and Country. I want to go over the lyrics with you. It begins with:Wide awake while the world is sound asleep andToo afraid of what might show up while you're dreamingNobody, nobody, nobody sees youNobody, nobody would believe youThis is what the enemy tries to get us to believe. He convinces us that we can’t talk to anyone about our feelings because they won’t believe us. And sometimes our loved ones can make us feel this way. It is hard when a loved one tells you they feel all alone and depressed. If they are good at hiding it, we might disagree with or downplay it. We might say they will be fine. We might tell them things will be ok and that they need some sleep. We might tell them things aren’t as bad as they think. We might tell them they have nothing to be sad about. I am not saying these are things we should say; I am saying these are things we do say at times, and they don’t help the situation. They make the person feel more misunderstood and alone. If someone comes to you and tells you they are sad, lonely, or depressed, then they have probably been suffering in silence for a long time before coming to you. Do all you can to take them seriously and get them the professional help they need.Every day, you try to pick up all the piecesAll the memories, they somehow never leave youNobody, nobody, nobody sees youNobody, nobody would believe youThose who are lonely and afraid try each morning to pretend they are fine. They try to get out of bed and put on a happy face so no one knows what they feel inside. They do their best to smile while around others. However, inside, they still have all the bad memories of what happened. They still have all those negative voices from the enemy telling them they aren’t good enough, don’t fit in, and don’t measure up. They truly feel like nobody sees them, and nobody would believe them.God only knows what you've been throughGod only knows what they say about youGod only knows how it's killing youBut there's a kind of love that God only knowsThis is wha

Love Covers A Multitude Of Sins1 Peter 4:8 “Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].”Today’s prayer point for the healing service preparation is to pray to strengthen marriages. This is something that is so needed. Marriages are something that is definitely under attack. Satan is working hard to destroy our families. He is attacking our children, and he is attacking our marriages. I went to a marriage retreat in Germany when we lived overseas. The retreat was sponsored by the Military Arch Diocese but was put on by a German organization. I can not remember their name right now. They told us that Germany was trying to pass a law so that marriages would have a time limit or an expiration date. I don’t remember all the details, but I think they said it because they thought there would be fewer divorces if people just got married for 10 or 20 years, and then they could decide if they wanted to continue being married.This is crazy. When we say “I Do,” we are saying it forever. However, this doesn’t tend to be the case these days. The divorce rate in America for first marriages is 33% within the first 10 years; for second marriages, it is 60-70%. That is pretty high. We definitely need to be praying for our marriages. The reason I say that Satan is attacking our marriages is because I believe he is behind all the pornography in the world. He is behind the normalization of many things that weren’t normal once upon a time. It seems like cheating on your spouse used to be something you did privately and hoped you didn’t get caught. Now, it seems as though “open” marriages are something that is accepted. In an “open” marriage, the couple can sleep with other people.The act of sexual intercourse is no longer a special bond between a husband and wife. It is shared with others outside of the marriage. It seems more common to have an affair. I know adultery was happening long before Jesus came into the world. Back then, it was not something to be celebrated, though. Nowadays, it seems like it is normalized. It seems like if you hear someone is cheating on their spouse, it is hardly shocking. You almost expect it. It is really sad.What I love about the verse above is that it reminds us to have intense and unfailing love for one another. This is something that takes intention and is not always easy to do. When we talk about love, we talk about falling in love. We talked about how we met and fell in love with our wife or husband. However, after you fall in love, you must stay in love; that is where the work comes in. When you first get married, everything is new and exciting. You are deeply in love and can’t imagine anything changing. However, as the years pass, you settle into a routine. You both get busy with work and if you have a family, that keeps you busy as well. If you are not careful, you start to grow apart. There is nothing major that happens and yet you are slowly growing apart.It happens so slowly that you hardly even notice. Your schedules are different, so you don’t see each other as much. You are both working so much you are like ships passing in the night. You make sure one of you is home to be with the kids while the other is working or doing what they must do. You are both exhausted at night and so you go to sleep. There is no time for talking, let alone any intimacy of any kind. When this happens, the enemy gets in there and starts to point out all the annoying things about your spouse. All the things that didn’t really bother you before because you were so in love with this person. However, now you see all the flaws as if they were highlighted.Everyone listening knows exactly what I am talking about. The reason I picked this translation is because of the language it uses. It resonated so much with me. It says, “Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].” Did you catch that last part? It says our intense and unfailing love for one another forgives and disregards the offenses of others. Did you notice when you first met your husband or wife that their little idiosyncrasies didn’t really bother you? You either didn’t even notice them, or you did, but you were so in love that you thought they were cute.We are who we are. I doubt you or your spouse have changed that much since you married. It is more likely that we have forgotten to have intense and unfailing love for one another, which is normal if we are not intentional about it. We need to nurture our love for our spouse and even our kids with intention, just like we would nurture anything we want to grow. This verse is straight out of the Bible. God is showing us what is needed for a good marriage. God is showing us how important love is. Not just any love, either. We need intense and unfailing love. If you have noticed lately that you ar

Our Youth Need Prayers1 Timothy 4:12 “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.”Today’s prayer point for our healing service prep is to pray for the youth. When I read this verse, I liked it for a couple of reasons. First, I like that it instructs our youth not to let people look down on them. We can often dismiss our youth and their contribution simply because of their age. We look at them as children and question what they could know about God or any situation. We sometimes exclude them from the conversation because we assume they don’t know as much as we do. We assume we are wiser than they are because of our years of experience. However, this is not always the case.I also like this verse because it tells our youth to be an example of speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. I love that it does not tell the youth to fight back or stand up to their elders. This verse does not tell them to argue and explain all the reasons why they are worthy or why they should be taken seriously. It tells them to show what they are capable of with their actions. I firmly believe that actions speak louder than words, so I love this idea.Another thing I believe this verse is teaching our youth is humility. It shows them that they don’t have to justify their age. It is ok if people don’t see what God sees at first. It doesn’t matter what others think of them; what matters is what God thinks of them and what they think of themselves. This is hard because knowing others think you are too young can be hard. It is hard when others judge you on what they see on the outside when they don’t really know you.I have run into this often over the years. I have always looked younger than I am. People would look at me and think I was a child, even as a young adult. People would think they knew me just by looking at me. When we were at meetings, people wouldn’t listen as much to me as they would to others because they felt I was so young. My suggestions weren’t always taken as seriously as others were. I did not yell and scream. I did exactly what this verse says. I showed them I knew what I was talking about with my actions instead of my words. Let’s take a closer look at his verse and how it tells our youth to be an example.The verse says, “But rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.” So first, it says speech. We need to pray for our youth when it comes to their speech. Not speech, as in bad language, although I definitely need to pray for my kids to clean up their language. I think it is more important for us to pray for our kid's speech about themselves and to others. We can pray that the youth see themselves through God’s eyes. We can pray that they start to be kind to themselves. Our brains believe whatever we tell them. If we are constantly saying we are not enough, we are ugly, no one likes us, no one will ever love us, then that is what their brains will believe. If teens start changing how they talk to themselves, they will be an example to all of us, as this is not something just teens struggle with.Also, we could pray that teens start paying attention to how they talk to others; how they talk to each other these days is awful. A common saying these days is, “Kill yourself.” They say it nonchalantly as if saying, hi, how are you? It just almost slips out of their mouth. I am sure this is a tactic of the enemy. He has made them think this is not a big deal. He has taken away the shock of this phrase so much that kids always say it and don’t even feel bad about it. Our youth are struggling and they need our prayers!The next thing the verse says is conduct. We can definitely pray for our youth’s conduct. I would love to pray for a return of innocence to our youth. Too many of them are forced to grow up too early. I pray that kids can be kids. We can pray that they make good choices and have loved ones in their lives to help them make those good choices. We can pray for protection over our youth. We can pray their conduct and their actions don’t harm them. Suicide is on the rise in our youth, and we have to pray against this. More than 50,000 Americans died by suicide in 2023, more than any other year on record. These were not all youth, but it shows we have a real problem. We need to pray for our youth. We need to pray they do things to help themselves instead of things that harm them and those around them. We need to pray the find interests and hobbies they can join.The verse next lists love. This is a big one with our youth. They want nothing more than to be loved and accepted, yet this world tells them they are neither. With social media, they are constantly comparing themselves to others. They have constant access to each other yet feel more alone than ever. We can pray they feel the love of God. We can pray they have a personal encounter with the Lord and never again

CLICK HERE to read Jennifer's letter and see the photos.We have all seen God working in our lives. However, we might not all be aware it is God working in our lives. This is why it is so important we start talking about it more. The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us. If you would be willing to share any experience of how God has worked or is working in your life, please email me at [email protected] or click here. It won’t take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today. Prayerfully consider sharing. Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them.I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow, and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Pride Is The Utmost Evil!Jeremiah 9:23-24 “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord.” The definition of pride, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is “a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired." Do you see how it says you have a deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements? We have no achievements that we have done completely on our own. Everything we have is because God is so good. We owe everything to Him.Yet, we often try to take credit for the things that we do. We congratulate ourselves on a job well done, all the while forgetting to acknowledge the part that the Lord played in our success. God doesn’t want us to be unhappy with the things we have done; He just wants us to remember His part in all of it. When we start to take credit for everything we do, we start to think about God less and less. We put ourselves first and Him second, or maybe even further down on the list.This can be dangerous. If we decide we want to do things on our own, God will let us. He is not about to force Himself on us. The reason things go smoothly in life is because God is working all things for our good. He is in the details. He is opening up some doors and windows, and He is closing others. You wonder why that meeting at work went so well. He was there preparing the hearts of the people in the meeting so they were ready to hear what you had to say. What if He hadn’t done that, though? What if we were truly on our own?God is behind the scenes so much of the time. Sometimes, we are aware of what God has saved us from; however, sometimes, we have no idea the things He saved us from. Our teacher mentioned in class yesterday that she thinks she probably doesn’t praise God enough because she doesn’t know all the things He saved her from. She was talking about how joyful and praise-filled the 33 workers were when they were rescued from the mine in Chili back in 2010. They were buried 2 miles underground for 69 days. They truly knew what God had saved them from. They knew their rescue and their survival underground was not their own doing.When we are just going about our everyday lives, we don’t realize all the things that God is doing for us, especially if nothing extraordinary is happening. If we have a disease or an illness, we might get to see the Lord working powerfully in that situation. There can be plenty of times when we can see the Lord working in our lives. However, in the good times, in the times when all seems to be working in our favor, these are the times when we can start to fall for the lies of the enemy that are in all of us. When we are killing it at work, we can start to get prideful and think that it is all because we are really great at what we do. When we are killing it as a parent, we can start to think that our children are doing so well because we are such great parents.When things are going great, we tend to take our focus off of God and put it on ourselves. I don’t even know if we do it consciously or if it is just an unconscious thing we do. I think it is human nature, almost like our default setting. When things are bad, when we are struggling, and when we need something from God, we turn to Him and ask for help. When we receive the help we asked for, we can see it came from God, and so we find it easier to praise Him and give Him the Glory.However, when we are in a good place, we tend to feel like we don’t need God. We feel as though we have it all under control. This is where our pride starts to rear its ugly head again. God is always in control. We always need Him in good times and in bad. It is important to stop and realize that the reason things are going so well is because God is working all things for your good. Yes, you can probably gain some success on your own, but not nearly as much success as you can have if you partner with God. C. S. Lewis said, “According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind…… it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began.” Wow, that is quite the statement. What stood out to me about that statement was that unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that are mere flea bites in comparison. Can you imagine?The article I found (CLICK HERE for the article) said that everyone should read the chapter called Pr

Forgive One AnotherEphesians 4:32 “Has God graciously forgiven you? Then, graciously forgive one another in the depths of Christ's love.”There is a healing service coming up for the Charismatic Renewal Service of Boston. The team for this healing service starts preparing two weeks in advance. The scripture verse I am using today is from that preparation. Today’s topic for the prayer team is “Dealing with unforgiveness.” I know I have talked about God’s forgiveness a lot and also how important it is that we forgive. The reason I repeat this often is because of how incredibly important it is.It is important to know that God forgives us for all of our sins because if we don’t believe this, if we don’t know this, then we find it hard to let Him in. Instead of being able to talk freely about anything, there will be certain things we don’t talk about. We don't talk about them because we are ashamed of them. We don’t want God to know about them. We don’t think He would still like us or love us if He knew what we did. On one hand, it makes sense that we feel this way as the enemy is constantly whispering in our ears that God could never forgive that thing we did. The enemy whispers in our ears that God could never love us. He tells us we should keep that thing hidden in the dark so God and other people can never find out about it. However, on the other hand, God already knows; he has already forgiven you and will always love you no matter what you do!It is also important for us to forgive others. This is the harder of the two. Actually, I am not sure if that is true. They can both be very difficult. The verse above says that because God has forgiven us, so we must forgive one another. How do we forgive one another, though, when those who have hurt us are not even sorry? How do we forgive them when they have already moved on and don’t give what they did to us a second thought? How do we forgive them when we are still hurting from what they did? These are all great questions.Let me take a minute to explain what forgiveness is and what it is not. Forgiveness is acknowledging that the thing happened and that you can’t change it. It is deciding that you are no longer going to give that thing space in your brain. You aren’t going to think about it anymore. Forgiveness is turning the judgment over to the Lord. You don’t have to be the one to make sure that they pay for what they did. Hanging on to that idea will not help you move past it.Forgiveness is not saying that what happened was okay; it wasn’t. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting. Yes, you are not thinking about it all the time, but it doesn’t mean you have to forget it ever happened or that you need to forget all you learned from it. Forgiveness also doesn’t always mean reconciliation. You can forgive someone for what they have done and still not let them back into your life. Forgiveness doesn’t mean you have to trust them ever again.Forgiveness is not about the other person. It is about you. Forgiveness is a gift you can give yourself so that you aren’t holding onto all that anger, revenge, hate, and all the other emotions that go along with it. Unforgiveness eats you on the inside. Yet, the person you are not forgiving moves on with their life. Most likely, the thing you are not forgiving is not causing them any sleepless nights. They hurt you, and then they just moved on. Sometimes they don’t even know that they hurt you.Now that we talked a bit about what forgiveness is and what forgiveness is not, we can go back to the verse above. The verse says, “Has God graciously forgiven you? Then, graciously forgive one another in the depths of Christ's love.” One thing we can do to help us begin to forgive is to accept the forgiveness that God has graciously given to us. When we realize all that God has forgiven us for, it makes it a bit easier to forgive others. A person who cannot forgive has forgotten how great a debt God has forgiven them. I heard this quote once, and it really hit me. Romans 3:23 says, “ Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We have all sinned, and if we want God to forgive us for our sins, we need to forgive others. It is that simple. It’s not that easy, but it is that simple.Another thing we can do is ask God to help us forgive. We can’t forgive anyone on our own. We can just make a choice to forgive and then allow God to come in and do the hard work of changing our hearts. That reminds me of something I forgot to mention earlier. Forgiveness is NOT a feeling. Forgiveness IS a choice. It is totally possible for you to choose to forgive someone and yet not feel any differently at first. This is because, as I mentioned, God is the one who changes our hearts, and He doesn’t always do that instantly. Sometimes it takes time to feel the forgiveness. That is ok. We don’t have to feel it. We just have to decide to do it, and then God will help us with the rest.I get so passionate about helping people see how important forgiveness

Friendship With God Proverbs 27:9: “Sweet friendships refresh the soul and awaken our hearts with joy, for good friends are like the anointing oil that yields the fragrant incense of God’s presence.”I heard this verse last night at my prayer group meeting. The leader was talking about different types of friendships. The first one was an association. You know people through work or your neighbors. You might wave to them or stop and talk to them. Your friendship with these people is not usually as deep. The second is association plus loyalty. These are people you would be willing to self-sacrifice for. The friends, you would offer to pick something up for them at the store or bring the soup when they are sick. You spend more time with them, and your friendship is probably deeper than that of mere association. You have a deeper level of connection. The third is association plus loyalty plus affection. This is often found in family love. It can also be found in other places. This is where you would have the deepest relationships because there is not only loyalty but also affection. I also looked online and found an article titled Aristotle On the 3 Types of Friendship (and How Each Enriches Life) that explained Aristotle also has three “species” of friendship. (Click Here for the article) These are: The friendship of utility. These friendships are based on what someone can do for you or what you can do for another person. It might be that you put in a good word for someone, and they buy you a gift in return. Such relationships have little to do with character and can end as soon as any possible use for you or the other person is removed from the equation.The friendship of pleasure. These are friendships based on the enjoyment of a shared activity or the pursuit of fleeting pleasures and emotions. This might be someone you go for drinks with or join a particular hobby with and is a common level of association among the young, so Aristotle declared. This type of relationship can again end quickly, dependent as it is on people’s ever-changing likes and dislikes.The friendship of virtue. These are the people you like for themselves, who typically influence you positively and push you to be a better person. This kind of relationship, based as it is on the character of two self-sufficient equals, is a lot more stable than the previous two categories.Friendships are important. Especially this last type of friendship. Aristotle says these are the people who typically influence you positively and push you to be a better person. This is why it is important to have friends who are striving to be holy. Friends who are striving to please God and who seek a close and intimate relationship with God. If you surround yourself with people who are moving in the same direction you are, it is so much easier to get to where you are going. You will see what others are doing to move ahead, and you can do the same.Our friends can help make us or break us. If all of our friendships fall into the utility category, then our friends probably aren’t helping us get to where we want to be. If you surround yourself with people who just want something from you or you want something from them, then as soon as they get what they want, they will leave, and you will need to find new friends, or you will be left alone. If all your friends are in the pleasure category, then you may also lose them if your hobbies change, if your likes change. Maybe you always go out drinking with the same group of people, but then you give up alcohol. Do you still stay friends with this group of people? What if you have a group of ladies that you always knit with, and then you stop knitting? This has happened to me recently. I made several friends when I joined Toastmasters, a public speaking club. I haven’t been attending the meetings lately, so I have essentially lost those friends.You are likely to do what your friends do. This is why I said if your friends are moving in the same direction as you, it will be easier to get there. It is hard to go against the grain. If your friends are all going out several nights a week to party, it will be hard for you to stay home and do what you want to do. Many of us wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun. If your friends are all going to brunch on Sunday morning at the same time you would normally be at Mass, you might be more likely to miss Mass because your friends are all going out. However, if your friends are all going to mass on Sunday morning, you will be less likely to skip because you will want to see them. If your friends are all joining a Bible Study, you will be likely to join, too. Do you see how who you are friends with really matters?The other important thing the leader of the prayer group wanted us to know is that God wants to be our friend. Crazy, right?! Why would God want to be our friend? Did you know God wanted to be your friend? She cited many people in the Bible who were God’s friends. First, in St. James 2

Forgiveness Is Hard But NecessaryMatthew 6:15: “But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” I know a lot of people that are holding on to un-forgiveness. I get it. Forgiving people is hard! It is especially hard if they did something unspeakable to you, and they aren’t sorry and are not even asking for forgiveness. Here is the thing I have learned about forgiveness, though: it is not about them; it is about you. You are not forgiving them so that they feel better. You are forgiving them so that you feel better. You’re not forgiving them because they deserve it or because it is not bothering you anymore. You are forgiving them because each day that you refuse to forgive and hold onto that resentment, it eats you up inside. I heard a saying once that helped me to visualize and understand this so much better. “Un-forgiveness is like drinking poison every day and expecting the other person to die.” When you forgive someone, you are not saying that what they did was okay. It was not. What you are doing when you forgive someone is acknowledging that the event happened, that it is in the past and you are no longer going to let it have power over your emotions. You are moving on from it. Forgiveness is about acknowledging what happened, learning what you can from it, and moving forward so you can live your life in the present.I know this is not an easy thing to do. I know that it takes work and it takes time. It is such an important thing to do, though. I remember the moment I learned that God forgives us as we forgive others. I was sitting in a bible study, and someone mentioned it rather nonchalantly. I was like, “What, hold the phone. What did you just say?” If I don’t forgive others, God won’t forgive me. Is that what you are saying? Matthew 6:15 says, “But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” The reason they said it as if everyone knew it was because any Catholic, or any person who has said the Our Father prayer, has said that exact statement. Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…There it is, as plain as day. And yet, that thought had never occurred to me. I have said the Our Father almost every Sunday for my entire life. I have said that prayer thousands of times over the course of my life. How is it that I never really understood that line? I am writing this because I thought, what if that thought had never occurred to you either? I don’t know about you, but I definitely need God’s forgiveness. I would love God to be very forgiving as I am human, and so I make all kinds of mistakes. So, if I need God to be very forgiving, then I must be forgiving to others. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive others…” How do I forgive others? Am I very forgiving? Do I keep grudges? Am I too hard for people who have wronged me? We have all heard the saying, “Do unto others as you want them to do unto you.” But I feel like this brings it to a whole new level. Do unto others as you want God to do unto you. Wow, learning that was very powerful for me. I set out to learn how to forgive better. If that was the standard I was going to be held up to, I had some work to do. As far as I can remember, I was not really one to hold grudges, at least not for long. However, I would get angry often, and sometimes it was for things that were not really a big deal. I am trying to think about what I did to learn to forgive more easily. I honestly am not sure. For me, I think that just knowing that God was going to hold me to whatever standards I had was enough of a push for me to start working on forgiveness. I prayed that God would help me with forgiveness. I went to confession and confessed when I felt I was not doing well with forgiving. There are lots of resources out there to help people learn to forgive better. I started looking for them and reading them. Forgiveness is something that most people, if not all, struggle with. No one wants to be hurt, and when someone hurts us, we want them to suffer like we suffered. We do not want to forgive them, and we do not want to let go of that pain because we feel like if we let go of the pain and anger, then we are saying that it either didn’t happen or that we are somehow ok with it happening. This is not what you are saying when you forgive. You are saying, yes, it happened; yes, it was awful, and no, it was not ok; and yes, I am going to stop giving it power over me. I am going to stop spending time thinking about the person who did it. I am going to forgive that person and move forward.Forgiving also doesn’t mean forgetting. You do not have to forget what this person did. You should remember all that you learned from this situation. You also don’t have to be reconciled with this pers

Today, I would like to witness to you about my Encounter Ministries project. If you have been listening for a while, you know I am in a two-year program with the Encounter School of Ministry. Year 2 students need to complete a ministry group project before they can graduate. I travel to class each week with 4 other ladies from my prayer group, so we thought it would be best to do our project together since we are always together anyway. We also had another student from class join us who lives close to where we met.When we first got together to discuss what we wanted to do, we all had the same thing on our hearts. We wanted to do something to help teenagers. We had several people in our prayer group who were personally touched by teen suicides last summer. I think there were 6 people in a two-week period. We also have been getting a lot of words of prophecy at prayer group over the last year or two that are urging us to pray for the children of the world. With these two things combined, we knew we needed to do something to help teenagers have a renewal of their minds. We knew we needed to come up with some way to help them see how loved they are by the Lord.This world is a rough place, and it is even harder for teens. With social media today, their bullies have easy access to them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It used to be we might be bullied on the bus, at school, or right after school. However, if they wanted to call us up and bully us, they needed to go through our parents, and they weren’t likely to do that. Now, they can call, text, or send a message on social media any time of day.Then they also have to deal with the need to compare themselves with everyone they see on social media. Social media portrays the best of the best. Very few people put the real stuff on social media. They take 20 photos and post the best one. They act like they just rolled out of bed and snapped a photo when, in reality, that was probably the 10th photo, and it had a filter to put makeup on and get the lighting correct. No one looks unhappy, and everyone’s life is perfect. I know people who seem to be knocking their lives out of the ballpark on social, and then when I am talking to them, they are sad, lonely, and really struggling.I get it. No one wants to air their dirty laundry on social media for the world to see. However, making it seem like all is perfect, when it is the opposite, really messes with people's perception of how the world should be. Imagine if you are a teen and everyone in your social media feed, everyone in your life seems so happy all the time. How do you reconcile that with your life? How does it make you feel to know that your life is not perfect? You are not happy all the time. You don’t roll out of bed looking like a model. You don’t have it all figured out. Then you start to think, what is wrong with me? Why is everyone else so happy, and I am so messed up?I know adults who struggle with comparison on social media. They see everyone posting about their kids, their spouses, their jobs, and their vacations, and they wonder why they don’t have those things. They wonder why they always feel like they are 5 steps behind and the rest of the world seems to have life all figured out. If it affects adults, imagine how much more it affects teens.So, we knew we had to do something. We just weren’t sure what. We prayed about it and talked about it, and we decided to come up with a program to talk about their identity in Christ. We wanted to answer this question for them. Who does God say that I am? We talked with the confirmation formation team, and they were happy to have us come in and talk with the confirmation candidates and their sponsors. It all worked out pretty perfectly, actually. They were looking for a candidate/sponsor event, and we were looking for teens to present to.We typed up a proposal for our teacher of how we wanted to run the event. We decided we would first let the kids know how ridiculously loved by God they are. Then we would talk about the lies that we all come to believe about ourselves. Lies like I am not a good mom. I am a loser. I am ugly. No one likes me. No one understands me. I can’t do anything right. I am not a good Catholic. God doesn’t love me. God will never forgive me. We all tell ourselves lies like this, and we thought it was important to show the kids that these are not true. The world doesn’t get to tell us the truth about who we are. Our identity comes from Christ.Next, we decided we would have the students and their sponsors write these lies down on paper and nail them to the cross. We wanted them to know they don’t have to carry these lies with them. They can hand them over to Jesus, and then they can replace these lies with the truth of who God says they are. After they do this, we talk about the truth of their identity. We talk about where their true identity comes from and how they can learn more about their true identity. We go on to teach the teens and their s

What If We Just Met People With Love And Acceptance? 1 Corinthians 12:3 “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit."I think this is a great verse because I think sometimes we can get too caught up in things that don’t matter. We can get caught up in the religion of it all and forget about the person. We can see someone who is of a different Christian denomination, and we don’t want to talk to them. We are cautious and skeptical of being friends with them because they don’t believe the same things we believe. However, if they are Christian, then they believe in the same God, the same Jesus, and the same Holy Spirit.When Jesus walked the world, He did not just hang out with those who were similar to Him. He hung out with sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and anyone who wanted to hang out with Him. He came to save the lost, not the righteous. In Luke 5:31-32, “Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” We have to have a renewal of our minds if we want to be more Christ-like. We need to think more like He did and less like the world does.The world tells us that we need to get our act together before we can go to Christ. We have to change our ways. We need to stop sinning. We need to be perfect, and then we can go to Christ. This is not the case. Christ wants us to come to Him now, just as we are. Yes, He wants us to repent, but we don’t have to do that before we come back to Him. Repentance is only possible through Him. Philippians 4:23 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” Jesus died on the cross for us while we were still sinners. He doesn’t need our perfection. He doesn’t need us to have it all figured out. He just wants us to come to Him with an open heart, and He will do the rest.According to Matthew 22:37-40, the two greatest commandments are, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” I think we put all of our attention on the first one of these and forget about the second one. However, it says all the laws and the prophets depend on these two commandments, not just the first one. We need to figure out how to see people the way Jesus saw people. If we want to love our neighbors, we need to figure out how to accept people for who they are. Jesus did not put conditions on his friendships. He did not say you could come to dinner with me if you promised to change the way you were behaving. He invited them to dinner and treated them with love and respect. He showed them the love of the Father, and they couldn’t help but change after an encounter like that. The love of our heavenly Father is more powerful than anything else. If we can give people an encounter with His love, He will do all the work.What people are desperate for right now, maybe always, is acceptance. Jesus offered that. He accepted all those He met, even if they didn’t believe as He did. He loved them and accepted them. I think sometimes we think it is our job to correct people when they are living in a way that we don’t believe in or that is contrary to the way Jesus taught us to live. Jesus laid down some pretty hard truths while he walked the earth. It wasn’t as if He was a pushover who said whatever the people wanted to hear. He said some things that were so hard for people to hear that a lot of His followers left after He gave certain teachings, yet He still gave them. However, when He was dealing with people one-on-one, He loved and accepted them as they were. This is what changed people the most. When you feel loved and accepted, you want more love. When you have a personal encounter with the love of the Father, you realize it is like nothing you have ever felt before, and you would do anything to feel it again. To have that love surrounding you.What if we could do this? What if we could be friends with those who are not like us? What if we could see people as the Lord sees people, as Jesus saw people? What if we saw people for who they are and not what they do? What if we started to look at each person we see as a beloved child of God? Would that change the way we interacted with them? What if we took a moment to think about how much we love our children, our nieces and nephews, or our friend’s kids and then realized God loves this person even more than that?We don’t just love our kids when they are perfect; we love them no matter what they have done or how awful they have been. They are our children, and we still love them. The same is true for God. He loves His children no matter what they have done. So, shouldn’t we do the same? I think a lot of people are turning away from the Catholic Chu

Be Specific In Your PrayersColossians 4:2-4: “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.”This year I decided I was going to focus on one scripture verse a week during my morning prayer time. I asked my friends on Facebook to give me their favorite scriptures, and during the week that I focused on the scripture they gave me, I would pray for them in a special way. I was reviewing the verses I received this morning, and the one I chose for this week is John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” I thought this would be a great verse for an episode, as I love reminding people that the enemy wants to keep us in the dark. However, if we bring his lies and tactics into the light, we see him for who he really is. I truly believe there is no darkness too dark for the light of Christ to break into. All we need to do is invite the light into the darkness. While I was thinking about this verse, I looked it up and found out I already did an episode on it. It was episode #568, titled “The Darkness Will Not Overtake You!”After realizing that I had already used this verse, I moved on to the next verse someone gave me, which is the verse above. My friend Lela gave me this verse, which I think is perfect as she was such a great friend when we lived in England. She and her husband were some of the first people we met, and we got along right away. We hung out a lot on Friday nights as we had kids similar in age. We even went on vacations together. It was great! This verse talks about being thankful, and I am so very thankful for their friendship.The verse above begins by saying, “Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” These three things are so important. Prayer is as simple as talking to God. You can do it formally, as in scripted prayers like the Our Father, or you can do it informally like you are having a conversation with your best friend. It doesn’t matter how you pray; it matters that you pray. That time you spend with the Lord is important. Whether it is 5 minutes or 5 hours, it doesn’t matter. Just spend time with Him.After it says to devote yourself to prayer, it says to be watchful. I wasn’t sure what this meant, and I didn’t want to lead you astray, so I looked it up. I am glad I did, as this is something I talked about a few minutes ago, and yet it didn’t even occur to me when thinking about being watchful. We need to be watchful of the enemy. The devil is constantly trying to steal, kill, and destroy us. He doesn’t make a full-on frontal attack, though. He comes at us from all sides, and his attacks are usually masked with lies or with temptation. He temps us with things He knows we want, and he lies to us about things he knows we already questioning. In Matthew 26:41 it says, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” This is us. Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak. We fall for the enemy’s tricks more easily if we are not on the lookout for them.Lastly, the first line says to be thankful. You would think this one would be easy. It isn’t. We often forget to be thankful when things are going well. When things are tough, we ask God to come in and fix them. Then, when He does, we often forget to say Thank You. Gratitude is something that can help us in many ways. If we have an attitude of gratitude, then we are more focused on the positive. We are looking for things that we can be grateful for, and so we naturally notice more good than bad. Our focus is important. Are we looking for all that is going wrong, or are we looking for all that is going right? What are three things you have to be thankful for this morning? I start off each day, well, most days, by writing 5 things I am grateful for. I tried to make them as specific as I could. For instance, instead of saying I am thankful for my boys, I write down I am thankful Sam made it home safely in the snow, I am thankful for the conversation I had with Ryan, I am thankful Noah got to see his friend he hasn’t seen in over a year. Do you see how specific I get? Now it’s your turn.I didn’t want to just stop with this first verse, as I think the next two verses are important as well. They say, “And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” This is important because it shows us something important to pray for that might now have occurred to us. Did you ever think of praying for God to open a door for you to proclaim the mystery of Christ? It’s interesting to me the things others pray for that didn’t even occur to me. In this verse, St. Paul is in prison for proclaiming the Word of God, and yet He is asking for

God’s Way Is Perfect Psalm 18:30 “This God—his way is perfect; the promise of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”I love this verse because it shows us the goodness of God. However, some of us may argue with the first line. “This God —his way is perfect. His ways might not seem perfect if we know someone who is struggling right now. His ways might not seem perfect if we know someone who is sick and whose prognosis looks dire. His ways might not seem perfect if you have lost a child, a spouse, or a family member way too young. My son’s girlfriend said she could not believe in a God who lets little children get cancer. Honestly, I get that. I don’t know what to say to her about that. I do know that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is true. When the Bible says that God’s way is perfect, then I know it is true. The reason it doesn’t seem like it is true a lot of the time is because we can’t see all that God can see. We think God took a job away from us, but really, He was preparing us and freeing us up for a better job. We think God is responsible for our son getting kicked out of school, but really he is removing him from a bad situation. It is also important to remember that in many circumstances, God did not cause the bad thing to happen. God did not give the children cancer. God did not give your loved one the thing that is causing their death. God did not cause you to lose your job. God did not cause you to fail that class or lose that friend. God does not need to make bad things happen to us. We are very good at doing that to ourselves. God does, however, take the bad things that we get ourselves into and use them for our good. For instance, He may not have given you the cancer, but He can use it to make you stronger. He may not have taken your job away from you, but He might have allowed that door to close so you could walk through a better door. This happened with my husband Tony. He was in the Air Force, and for two years straight, he applied to every federal job he could find. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the Air Force; he just wanted to be a civilian and not have to move around so much. He really wanted to be a criminal investigator. However, he could not get hired as a civilian because there were so many others applying who had veterans' preferences. He would have had this if he had gotten out of the Air Force and then applied for these jobs. At the time, we had 2 small children, and I was pregnant with our third. there was no way he was going to quit one job before he had another job. How would we pay our bills? What would we do for medical insurance? Tony decided to stop applying and just stay in the Air Force. Our next assignment was to Germany. We were only in Germany for a little over a year when Tony found out he needed to separate from the Air Force. They had too many majors in his career field. Tony was devastated. He had come to terms with staying in the Air Force and retiring after 20 years of service. Now, at 11 years of service, they are telling him he has to separate. This was devastating to him. However, He was able to pick up a civilian job that was right up his alley. It was actually the perfect job for him, and it was a promotion from where he was in the military rank-wise. We were able to rent a really nice house in England, and everything work-wise was great. God knew what Tony wanted. He knew what would ultimately make him happy. He helped him get to where he wanted to be. He is not a criminal investigator, but he does have a civilian job that he really likes. Sometimes, oftentimes, God’s plan doesn’t look like we would like it to. Tony wanted a transition to civil service that was full of assurances and security. This is not what it looked like. He was let go with 4 months notice. They gave him 4 months to find another job. They also said he could keep medical insurance for up to either 6 months or a year. So, even though it didn’t look like Tony wanted it to, it did provide him with some security.Did something similar happen in your life? Were you looking/searching for something, and you finally got there, but the road to get there looked nothing like you thought it would? Yep, me too. This verse tells us that God’s way is perfect and that His promises come true. God has said in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” We can get ourselves into some pretty interesting situations, and I, for one, am glad that God is there to turn those crazy situations into good ones. I am grateful that I don’t have to fix it on my own. I am grateful that his way is perfect. This takes the pressure off of us to be perfect.The last line says, “He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.” God can and will protect us. He is our shield. However, it is important to point out that this verse says, “For all who take refuge in Him.” It is our choice w

God’s Anger Was Kindled On My Behalf!Psalm 18:7-10 “The earth itself shivered and shook. It reeled and rocked before him. As the mountains trembled, they melted away, for his anger was kindled on my behalf! Fierce flames leapt from his mouth, erupting with blazing, burning coals as smoke and fire encircled him. He stretched heaven’s curtain open and came to my defense. Swiftly he rode to earth as the stormy sky was lowered. He rode a chariot of thunderclouds amidst thick darkness; his steed was a cherub, soaring on outstretched wings of Spirit-Wind.”In the last two episodes, I talked about Psalm 18. I explained that God is our rock and that we call on Him when we are in a time of need, and He is there for us. Yesterday, we talked about how our cries go right up to heaven and pierce the Lord’s heart. Today we are talking about how He responds to that cry.The first line says, “The earth itself shivered and shook. It reeled and rocked before Him. As the mountains trembled, they melted away, for His anger was kindled on my behalf!” Can you imagine that? Close your eyes and imagine the whole earth shaking and shivering. Imagine the mountains trembling and then just melting away. Can you picture it? Now, imagine that all happened just because you cried out to the Lord. His anger was kindled on your behalf. There are billions of people on this earth, and the Lord hopped in a chariot of thunderclouds because you cried out to Him. That is pretty amazing!I think the fact that the Lord cares for each one of us individually escapes us a lot of the time. We think of how big God is and how many people there are in the world, and we think that God loves us in a general way. Kind of like how a priest might say he loves his parishioners. He probably does love the people who attend the church. He would also probably help anyone that came and asked for it. However, the priest probably does not know every detail of every person’s life. This is how we can think of God sometimes. Yes, He loves us. He is our heavenly Father, and also, he has billions of children, so he can’t possibly know me personally. The reason we think this way is because the reality of God is so far beyond anything our mind can comprehend. His vastness is too much for us to understand truly.God created you. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13) He knows every hair on your head. God acts for each one of us at the same time. He can be solving your problem at the same time He is helping someone else on the other side of the world. He is not bound by the same things we are. He doesn’t have to obey the rules around time and space. He made time and space. There was nothing before God; He created all of it, so He is in control of all of it.One line in the verse above that I really like is the one that says, “He stretched heaven’s curtain open and came to my defense.” I like this because it gives me a good visual. The whole verse is pretty easy to visualize, actually. It is a pretty descriptive verse today. However, I love thinking about there being a curtain to Heaven. Kinda like in Wizard of Oz, when the Great OZ was behind a curtain. I like to think of a curtain that God can just pull back to come to our defense. It’s not a wall, it’s not a door, it’s a curtain. A curtain isn’t hard to pull back. It isn’t hard to get through. A curtain provides pretty easy access.I have never seen God, but I like the thought of Him getting so angry on my behalf that he would do half the things listed in the verse above. I think this verse shows us how powerful our prayers are. We call out to God, and He acts on our behalf. This is also a good reminder that we don't have to seek revenge; we can turn that over to God, and He will do what is right. God knows all that is going on in our lives. He knows all that has gone on in the past. He knows when someone offends us or does something bad to us. It angers Him when His children are hurt or mistreated. All we need to do is call out to the Lord, and He will come to our assistance.This verse is a great reminder that we can call on the Lord and that He responds. It is a great reminder that He cares about each of us individually. Yes, God loves us all, and also He loves each one of us. He cares about all the little things in our lives. He knows all about those things you didn’t want Him to know about. He saw that thing that happened to you that you were too ashamed to tell Him about. He sees you, and He loves you. He wants to be there for you. He wants to take care of you. He just needs you to let Him. He just needs you to cry out to Him, and He will come running! That is how much God loves you! I will reread the verses above again. Close your eyes and imagine the verse is talking about you and what God is doing for you.“The earth itself shivered and shook. It reeled and rocked before him. As the mountains trembled, they melted away, for his anger was kindled on my behalf! Fierce flames leapt from his mouth, erupting

We have all seen God working in our lives, however, we might not all be aware it is God who is working in our lives. This is why it is so important we start talking about it more. The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us. If you would be willing to share any experience you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at [email protected] or just click here. It won’t take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today. Prayerfully consider sharing. Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them. I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow, and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

You Are Not Who You WereRomans 3:23-24 “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins.”We have all done things in the past that we are not proud of, and sometimes we get stuck thinking about those things. We replay them over and over again in our minds and think about how different our lives would be if we had not done them. Some of us think that the things we did were so bad that there is no way God could ever forgive us or love us. Regret is a terrible thing. It sucks the life out of the present moment if you let it. Our minds are powerful, and we will believe what they tell us. We may know in our hearts that God will always forgive us if we truly repent. We know in our hearts that God will always love us no matter what we do and that we do not have to earn his love. However, sometimes, that little voice inside of us will listen to the enemy, and our brain will believe the lies that he tells us. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The evil one likes to take this phrase and use it to whisper things in our ears like, “See, no one is good enough,” or “No matter what you do, you will always fall short of God’s standards.” He tells us that we shouldn’t even bother because we are not enough. Do you ever feel that way, like you are not enough? What many of us may not know is what the very next verse, Romans 3:24, says, “Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins.” Yes, we all sin, but God’s grace “makes us right in his sight.” Another way the enemy likes to get to us is to tell us that we will never change. That we are still the same person who did that thing we regret. If we strive to change, he tells us that we can’t change. He reminds us of the things we have done in the past and whispers that we will do it again. There is a song I heard for the first time on the Big Life Devotional, and it is “Slave to Nothing” by Zach Williams. In this song he says:You can tell me what I did You can show me who I was before Where I fell short Hang it over my head But I'm not the same anymore One thing's for sure The shackles have fallen So I'm showing shame to the door Make no mistake I'm a slave, to nothingIf you get a chance to listen to this song, I highly recommend it. click hereJust because you have acted a certain way in the past does not mean that you have to act that way forever. You can decide to repent and change your ways at any point in time, and God will be there to forgive you and welcome you in with open arms. Think about the many saints that have had beginnings that were not so great. One of the most illustrious saints, I think, is St. Augustine of Hippo. He was a man who was known for having not one but two mistresses. He ran around for years before having a change of heart and settling down at 31. St. Augustine went on to become a Doctor of the Church. Then there is also Saint Mary of Egypt, who ran away from home at 12 and spent a dozen years living on the street as a seductress. According to Craughwell in an article in Live Science, “Nothing made her happier than corrupting innocent young Christian men.” Saint Mary went to Jerusalem looking for young Christian boys to seduce. At the doors to the church, she felt a strange force repulsing her, and she immediately changed her ways. There was also Saint Camillus de Lellis, a priest from Italy that founded one of the first healthcare organizations for the needy. He started out as a cardsharp, con man, and mercenary. There are also lots of modern-day examples of people who had a rough start. Jennifer Aniston, who is one of the most famous actors because of her role in the sitcom Friends, had 4 failed sitcoms in a row before she landed the role on Friends. Tim Allen, who starred in Home Improvement, is now starring in Last Man Standing and was also the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story Movies. In 1979, he was caught with many illegal substances and went to jail for over 2 years. Then he got his life together and became the actor we know and love today. Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty and did not have the best childhood. She was molested during her childhood and early teens and became pregnant at 14; her son was born too early and died in infancy. Can you imagine the things the enemy was trying to tell her? What was he trying to tell all of these people? What if these people would have believed the lies that they could not become anything different? If they believed that the version of themselves that was not enough or prone to sinning was all they could ever be? What if they stopped reaching for more because they believed they could never achieve more? What lies do you believe? How much more could you accomplish or become if you stopped believing the lies? You

A Private Audience Psalm 18:4-6 “The hangman’s noose was tight at my throat; devil waters rushed over me. Hell’s ropes cinched me tight; death traps barred every exit. A hostile world! I call to God. I cry to God to help me. From his palace, he hears my call; my cry brings me right into his presence—a private audience!"I loved this verse because it is something most, if not all, of us can relate to. I also like it because it is in words and phrases that we can actually picture. Most of us can relate to a time when we felt like the hangman’s noose was tight around our throats. The situations could be different for all of us, but the feelings were the same. There could be many situations where we felt we were about to suffocate. Sometimes it is the people around us. They are choking all the life out of us, and we feel we may die. Sometimes, it is an illness that has us on the cusp of death, and we have nowhere to go. No matter the situation, it is still a feeling that is scary and unpleasant.Then it says the devil's waters rushed over me. Which one of us hasn’t felt underwater before? This is such a strong feeling. Both the hangman’s noose and the devil’s water deal with us not being able to breathe. This is a common feeling. Things in our life get so crazy, and we feel like we can’t breathe. I just had the thought come into my mind, “Why do we let things get that bad?” Why don’t we turn to the Lord at the first sign of trouble, like we talked about yesterday?This is a fair question for some of us. Some of us sit in our misery, and we complain, and we do what we can to fix it on our own, perhaps, but we do not bring it to the Lord. There are many reasons for this. We may not want to bother Him; we may think we aren’t worthy of His help, and we may be afraid of rejection. Whatever the thoughts are, we don’t bring our issue to the Lord, and we try to deal with it on our own. For all of us who do this, I would say, Yes, why did we let it get that bad? Why didn’t we turn to the Lord right away? Why didn’t we ask Him for help? Why did we suffer in silence for so long?Oh, that is another thing we do. We are suffering, and not only do we not turn to the Lord, but we don’t tell anyone. We may think there are many reasons we don’t tell people what is going on, but there is really just one reason, and that is the enemy. He convinces us of all those reasons we think we aren’t talking about our suffering. The real reason we aren’t talking about it is because the enemy knows when we talk about it, we will be taking it out of the dark. When we talk about it, it will give others the opportunity to speak light into it. The enemy likes our suffering to stay hidden so he can heap on lie after lie. He speaks lies into our suffering. Lies that it won’t ever go away. Lies that no one cares about us. Lies that God must be mad at us, and that is why He is punishing us like this. Lies that God doesn’t love us. Lies that no one loves us. Lies that we are not worthy. Lies that we are not enough. The enemy stacks lies upon lies.When we are struggling, it is easy to believe these lies. When we are struggling, we prefer to isolate and stay in the dark because the enemy convinces us the light will burn us. It is not our fault that we fall prey to the enemy; I mean, He has been torturing people since the beginning of man. However, we need to find a way to break out of the darkness. We need to prepare ahead of time for situations like this. When we are good, when things in our life aren’t as crazy, and we are living in the light, we need to build up our strength so that when the enemy comes, we can recognize the lies and dismiss them. Don’t even let them enter our brains.Think about anyone who is good at their job. They have to anticipate problems that may come up and then prepare for them. What do you think would happen if a basketball player never practiced free throws until he needed to use them? He wouldn’t be very good. If we only call on God when we need Him, and the rest of the time, we ignore Him, how well do you think that will work out for you? He will come as it pains Him to see His children in trouble. It’s not that God won’t come whenever we call. However, if we are walking with Him in the good and the bad times, then He can help us steer clear of some of the wrong turns that we might make without Him.The verse above talks about how death traps barred every exit. Have you ever felt like this? Have you ever felt as if there was no way out? Every way out seemed to end in death or at least defeat. I know I have felt like this. There was a point in my marriage where I really didn’t want to go, and I also knew I couldn’t stay. I had tried all things and couldn’t see any other way. I prayed to God often. I reminded Him of the covenant He had made with Tony and me. I begged Him for a better way. I had been Catholic my whole life. I knew the church’s stance, God’s stance on marriage. Matthew 19:6 “So they are no longer two but one fles

The Bedrock Under My Feet Psalm 18:1-2 " I love you, God—you make me strong. God is the bedrock under my feet, the castle in which I live, my rescuing knight. My God—the high crag where I run for dear life, hiding behind the boulders, safe in the granite hideout.”Psalm 18 was brought up twice in prayer group today. It was not these verses; however, when I started reading the whole chapter, I fell in love, especially with the beginning. I will take a few days to focus on this Psalm. I am not sure how many, but at the very least, today and Monday, as it is so beautiful! This verse starts with, “I love you, God—you make me strong,” what a great opener. We can’t tell God enough how much we love Him. I don’t think He ever gets tired of hearing it from us. Also, what a great thing to remember. God is our strength. It doesn’t matter what kind of strength we need; it can be found in the Lord.Next, it says that God is the bedrock under my feet. Bedrock is the solid rock underneath loose rock or soil. We may have other things that we rely on before God. There might be various ways that we try to protect ourselves; these things would be loose rock or soil. Maybe they work for a bit, but eventually, you will slip, or you fall on that loose grave. Underneath it all is our real protection. God is the solid rock that we stand on. With God as our bedrock, we can rest assured that our footing is solid and we will not fall.It also says that God is the castle in which I live. God is a safe place for us to not only rest but for us to live. He is not just a stopping point, like a safe bench to sit on. We can live in his safety and security. It is always around us, just like the walls of a castle. If we are in a castle, we are surrounded by walls of stone so thick that we are safe from the enemy. The Lord protects us from all our enemies. We just have to live with Him. We just have to let Him surround us with His walls of protection. We just have to ask Him.Next, it says God is our rescuing knight. How many times have you seen this in your own life? When we are struggling, God comes in and rescues us. He loves us that much. He doesn’t always come in right when we want Him to, and He doesn’t always save us in the way we want Him to. This is because He is so much smarter than we are. It is also because He sees the whole picture, and He thinks way bigger than we do. We definitely think our idea is the best idea. But what if what we are thinking is way smaller than what God is thinking? What if He has much bigger plans for us, but they require us to trust Him in these first few steps because we are not ready for the amazing life He has planned for us? We are still growing. We are still learning. If He had just plopped us into this new amazing life, we wouldn’t have been ready for it, and we might have ruined it. God knows what He is doing.The last line in this verse says, “My God—the high crag where I run for dear life, hiding behind the boulders, safe in the granite hideout.” This is another way to show us how safe we are with the Lord. We can run to Him with anything, yes, even if our lives are in danger. This means when we are sick, when we are scared, when we are in danger. We can run to Him, and He will be there for us. He will ALWAYS be there for us, which makes me wonder why we don’t go to Him more often. Why don’t we run to Him at the first sign of trouble? Why don’t we hide behind His bolder and stay safe in the granite hideout?I received a word last night at prayer group, and then at the end, we had a bit of a discussion about it. What my friend said might be the same reason we don’t always run to Him. The words I received were, “I want to be close to you, but you are keeping me at a safe distance. You are keeping me at an arm’s length away from you. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of me seeing? Open it up to me. Let me in.” After the meeting, my friend said she thinks she is afraid of rejection. She is afraid if she lets the Lord into the innermost parts of herself, He won’t like what He sees.She knows this is not true in her mind but is having trouble convincing her heart of it. She said she felt like she heard the Lord ask her, in a very gentle and loving voice, “Why would I reject you? I made you. I made every part of you. I have loved you since before you were born. I would never reject you.” Sometimes we feel like we want to hide things from the Lord. I don’t think my friend is the only one who fears rejection. We wonder what it would be like if God knew the REAL us. The one we don’t let anyone see. What if He knew the ugly thoughts we have sometimes? What if He knew about those things we did when we were younger? What if he knew the demons I was still struggling with? What if…I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but He already knows. He knows everything about you. Every thought you have, every single thing you have ever done, and yet He loves you anyway. He loves you just as you are. He wants to love and

You Get Out What You Put In2 Corinthians 9:6-8 “Here’s my point. A stingy sower will reap a meager harvest, but the one who sows from a generous spirit will reap an abundant harvest. Let giving flow from your heart, not from a sense of religious duty. Let it spring up freely from the joy of giving—all because God loves hilarious generosity! Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace so that you will have more than enough of everything —every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”I was planning to use a different verse today. Then, all of a sudden, this verse popped up in a notification on my phone as the verse of the day. The moment I read it, I felt as if the Holy Spirit said I want you to talk about the concept of “you get what you put into it.” When you first read this verse, you might think of money first. It sort of sounds like they are talking about how much money they will give to the church. In the verses before this section in the Passion Translation, they are talking about a donation they are going to give. I think the Lord wants me to touch on this, but this is not the main point of what He wants me to talk about today. So, let me begin with that to get it out of the way.When it comes to how much money we give to the church, or to the poor, or whoever we are giving money to, this verse is very applicable. This can be a difficult decision to make because we want to make sure we are still able to pay all of our bills and buy all the things we want to buy. However, are we buying much more than we actually need? As the verse says, are we stingy with our giving to the church and yet have plenty of money to waste on things we don’t need? Giving to the church is part of our duty, even if we don’t want to, even if we disagree with all the church is doing. We are all obligated to give to the church. Many churches will recommend you give 5% of your income to the church and 5% to the poor.This is where this verse comes in handy. It is a good thing to remember when you are deciding how much to give to the church. “A stingy sower will reap a meager harvest.” God cannot be outdone in generosity. We sometimes worry if we give too much, we won’t have enough for ourselves. There is no way that God lets you give so much that you don’t have enough for yourself. The more you give, the more God gives. God doesn’t want us to give just because we have to, though. He wants us to give freely, and He wants us to do it with a joyful heart. Think about how you are giving your money. Are you doing it with a joyful heart? Are you being stingy or are you being generous?What I feel the Lord really wants me to talk to you about today is how much of You, you are giving to the Lord. How much are you putting into your relationship with the Lord? How much time? How much effort? How much vulnerability and openness? This is what jumped out at me when I read this verse this morning. If we are stingy with the time and effort in our relationship with the Lord, then our relationship will reflect that. We can not expect to have a close and intimate relationship with the Lord when we don’t put in any effort.I always wondered what people meant when they said they wanted to have an intimate relationship with God or with Jesus. I mean, He is God; how can you have an intimate relationship with the Almighty God in heaven? The idea of it all seemed so foreign to me. I couldn’t even picture what that would look like. I couldn’t picture how that would work and how I could cultivate that. Yet, I still dove in. I joined a prayer group full of people who clearly knew the Lord intimately, and I learned from them. I would like to pass along what I have learned to you so you can have the same thing they have. Let me start by answering the questions that I had because if I had them, then some of you do too.My first question was, what does it even mean to have an intimate relationship with God? For me, it means really knowing Him and for Him to really know me. It means I know without a doubt of His love for me. I can take any problem to Him, and I know He will be there for me. I know He will comfort me and protect me. I know He will help me solve all my problems if I let Him. I also know He will celebrate with me. When good things happen, we celebrate together. When I need a pep talk, He is ready to give it to me. In short, He is my go-to for all things, and He is never too busy and never too upset. He always receives me with loving arms.My second question was, how do I cultivate this type of relationship? This was surprisingly simpler than I thought. The reason it was simpler than I thought is because this is the type of relationship God wants with each of us. The way you cultivate an intimate relationship with God is the same way you would with a person. Think about your person. The one you can always go to with anything. The one who will celebrate with you when you are ha

Jim's Website- SaintsBeToGod.org This is a great place to learn more about Jim, the relics, and how to bring those relics to your church. You can also give a donation here to support his mission. To get more info or to sign up for mentoring, Click Here! To sign up for my newsletter and a free download for an audio training on how to incorporate more prayer into the things you are already doing, Click Here! We have all seen God working in our lives; however, we might not all be aware that it is God who is working in our lives. This is why it is so important we start talking about it more. The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us. If you would be willing to share any experience you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at [email protected] or just click here. It won’t take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today. Prayerfully consider sharing. Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them. I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow, and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

Guard Your Heart and MindProverbs 4:23-25 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.”I really like these verses. I don’t think we realize how important it is to do what they say. Did you know it was important to guard your heart and mind? Did you know when it talks about the heart in the Bible, it also talks about your mind? I just found this out the other day, although it does make sense to me. Our hearts and minds are interconnected. Our thoughts are actually what control our emotions. This is why it is so important to control our thoughts. I know a lot of people who feel they can not help how they feel. Perhaps you agree. I mean, when something happens, you just react. You can not help that. You instinctively feel a certain emotion depending on your past life experiences. However, we won’t all feel the same thing. For instance, you and I could be out for a walk together. We might see a dog walking on the other side of the street. You might be happy because you think dogs are cute and you love them. I might be nervous because I was attacked by a dog when I was younger, so they make me nervous.This can happen with many emotions. My husband gets pretty angry when people cut him off or when we are stuck in traffic. However, most of the time, I don’t really mind either of those two things. So, let me go back to what I said earlier. I agree that when something happens, you may not have control over whatever emotion you immediately feel. However, you can do work so that you have more and more control over how you react to things. Even though you might not have control over the immediate emotion you feel, you do have control over whether or not you stay in that emotion. Your thoughts drive your emotions. We all have stories that we tell ourselves when something happens, and those stories can help us or hurt us. Too often, we allow them to hurt us.For example, someone shows up late to a lunch that you had. They didn’t call and you are sitting there getting more and more mad. You are probably telling yourself a story like this, “I can’t believe they are late. They are always late. They are so selfish. They only think about themselves. They think there time is so much more important than my time. I can’t believe they are doing this to me. I can’t believe they don’t care about me or my time. Maybe I just shouldn’t have lunch with them anymore.” Do you feel the emotions that come along with this story? You are getting yourself more and more upset as you sit there telling yourself all these negative things. Take a minute and think about the emotions that story had you feeling. Now listen to this story you could tell yourself, “I wonder why they are late. I hope they are ok. This happens sometimes. They get caught up in something and lose track of time. I am sure they will be here soon. They have been late before, but they always come. I know how hard it can be getting out the door with 3 kids.” Did this story create different feelings? For me, I felt more compassionate when I told myself the second story. I was able to be more patient.The reason we have to guard our thoughts is because the enemy is actively trying to take control of them. He wants you to have negative thoughts. He wants you to think you have no control over your thoughts or your emotions. He wants to destroy us, and that is the fastest way to do so. He can plant seeds in your thoughts and then walk away and watch those seeds ruin us. In John 8:44, Jesus says, “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.” The devil is the father of lies. Unfortunately, he doesn’t just straight-up lie; there is usually a kernel of truth in what he is saying, and yet he twists that truth to make you start doubting.For instance, you called someone, and they didn’t call you back. The enemy will use this information to cause you to doubt your friendship. He will tell you that this person was home, and they just didn’t want to answer. He will tell you that they are mad at you, and that is why they didn’t answer. It all depends on what your insecurities are. However, the truth is, we don’t know why they didn’t call us back, and we won’t know until they do call us back. This is what I mean by guarding our thoughts. We need to shut the enemy down. It may be true that they didn’t want to talk to us, but until they tell us that, we have no way of knowing. So, wouldn’t it be better to tell ourselves a story that is just as plausible but that doesn’t make us upset? For instance, they are busy right now and can’t answer the phone. They are out running errands and will call back when they get ho

First Things FirstGenesis 4:3-5 “ In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.”I heard Father Mike talking about this story the other day, and it really made me think. The Bible really doesn’t say why the Lord had regard for Abel’s offering and not for Cain’s offering. However, many theologians or Bible scholars believe it is because Abel gave of the firstlings of his flock, and Cain did not. In other words, Able gave God the best of the best, and Cain didn’t.This got me thinking, do I give God the best of the best, or do I give Him what is left over? Do I give Him the best of me, or do I give Him what is left over after I have poured out the best of me in my job and in my family? Usually, we fit God in when we can, if we can. We don’t give Him the best time of day to talk with us. We don’t always start our day off with Him. We don’t always offer Him the best parts of our day. Even when I do start my day off talking to Him, I am not usually at my best because I stayed up so late the night before I was just falling asleep during my time with Him.What about our income? Are we giving the Lord the best of our income? Are we giving Him the top 10%, or are we paying all our bills, going out to eat, buying all the things we want for ourselves, doing all the online shopping, and then giving Him what, if anything, is left over? Are we giving the Lord what He wants or what we want? Father Mike told this story about his mother. One year, for her birthday, the kids asked what she wanted them to buy her. She said what she would really like is for them to clean the house for her, so she wouldn’t have to do it. That sounded like a lot of work and not something they wanted to do. So they asked her again, no, Mom, really, what can we get you? She said well, you could cut the grass and clean up the yard for me. Again, this was not something they had any desire to do.The older sisters decided to borrow some money and the car from their Dad, and they went to the store and bought her a really nice gift. Father Mike and his brother, I think, took off on their skateboards, and they learned a cool new trick to show their mom for her birthday. So when it was time to give her the presents, the girls presented what they had bought for her, and the boys showed her the tricks they learned for her. She was very appreciative, said thank you, and didn’t complain. However, later in life, Father Mike realized that they didn’t really give their Mom what she wanted; they gave her what they wanted.How many times have we done this to our Heavenly Father? How many times has he called us to do something, and we counter with something different? For instance, the Lord asks us to volunteer at church, and instead, we pretend we didn’t hear, or we offer to make a donation instead. How many times have we felt called to give money to someone or some organization, and yet we are worried we don’t have enough, so we don’t? Have you ever felt called to offer something up for someone, and yet it seemed like a lot of work, so you did something else instead? I will be honest with you: there have been a few times over the last few months when I have felt called to pray the miraculous rosary for someone and yet have resisted because that is a 54-day commitment.It’s crazy to me to think about what I just said. The Holy Spirit prompted me to do something, and I didn’t. I thought it was too much work. Actually, I don’t know if I made the conscious decision not to do it. I think how it works with me, and maybe with you, is that I plan to do it, and I keep thinking about it and keep thinking I will do it, but then I never actually get around to doing it. I think we do this often. Maybe it isn’t always conscious, and maybe we don’t always want to admit it, but sometimes we just don’t want to do what God wants us to do. If it were easy to follow the Lord, everyone would be doing it. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”Are we doing this? Are we denying ourselves and picking up our cross to follow Him? When I examine my life, I don’t think that I am. I truly struggle with denying myself at times. Sometimes, I do great, and other times, I am not good at all. However, I think I know what the difference is. I think when I am trying to go at it alone, I don’t do well. However, when I invite Jesus into the struggle, I do much better. If we are being asked to do something that we think is going to be difficult, we can invite Jesus in to help us. We can pray for the strength, the fortitude, the perseverance to stick to whatever it is we are trying to do. This is true with all things. If we try to do anythi

Be Bold!Deuteronomy 31:7-8 “Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel: “Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their ancestors to give them; and you will put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”I thought it was interesting that this was a verse that I read this morning. Yesterday at prayer group, we stayed after and did our monthly bookmark meeting. What this means is that we take a look at the bookmark for the month, and we each say what stands out to us. The bookmark is the discerned word for a particular month. Each week at prayer group, we get several words of prophecy from the Lord. We record these words that are given, and there is a team that discerns the words given and picks one: Call, Proclamation, Promise, and Directive for the month. One of our members then types them up and puts them on a bookmark so we can share them with the entire prayer group.Yesterday we did the bookmark from February 2023. That was almost a year ago, and yet the bookmark was similar to the words that we received yesterday. For the most part, the Lord is not saying new things to us. He is saying the same things we have heard time and time again. Sometimes, He says those things in a new way, and sometimes, He uses very similar words. What is striking to me today is how this passage says, “Be strong and bold,” and this is the same thing He was telling us last February and the same thing He told us yesterday.In the February bookmark, the Lord said, “Do all to make me known and proclaim my Name. Be bold and step out. Serve me with all you are each and every day. Go now. Do not delay.” The passage talks about being strong and bold so they can take over the promised land. The passage in the bookmark talks about being bold so we can proclaim the Lord’s name. The apostles prayed for this boldness to preach the word of the Lord at a time when it was very dangerous to preach about Jesus. In Acts 4, Peter and John talk to people about Jesus and His resurrection. The rulers, elders, and scribes didn’t like what they were teaching, and they threatened Peter and John as to what would happen to them if they didn’t stop talking about Jesus.Instead of cowering and obeying when they were told to stop talking about Jesus, they prayed for more boldness to do it anyway. Acts 4:29-31 says, “And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.” They asked for boldness, and they were given it. It is the same for us. All we need to do is ask. God is calling us to be bold in our faith. We sometimes worry that we will be alone in this boldness. Sometimes, it can feel like it is us against the world, and when we think about being brave, we aren’t sure we can do it.In the verse above Moses reminds Joshua that God will be with Him when they go into the promised land. It says, “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” This is reminding Joshua that God will not let them down. He is reminding them that they do not have anything to be afraid of. It is not up to them to defeat the enemy. God will be with them, and He will help them! In the February bookmark, before God told us to be bold, he reminded us, “I am the Lord of the universe.”God is not calling us to be bold on our own. He is right there with us. He goes before us to prepare the way. For instance, if God is calling you to be bold and step out in faith and pray over someone, then He has already prepared that person’s heart to accept that prayer. If God is asking you to be brave and ask for something then He has already softened hearts and prepared them for you. God says 365 times in the Bible, some version of “do not be afraid.” This is another way to say, “Be bold.”My friend Peggy at prayer group yesterday was saying she has learned to be bold just by hearing the title of this podcast. She said it reminds her that she can be bold with Jesus by her side. She said she has gotten much bolder since listening. She gets a daily devotional from another friend of ours. She forwards it to many people. She was brave and took a step in faith and gave her grandson a Max Lucado book called “Fearless.” She wasn’t sure how he would respond. He is a teenager and, in the past, has been resistant to faith. However, recently he said he has been reading the Bible. She took this book off of her shelf and said she thought he might like it and gave it to him. Her grandson sent her a text message wh

I Waited and Waited and Waited Psalm 40:1 “I waited and waited and waited some more, patiently, knowing God would come through for me. Then, at last, he bent down and listened to my cry.”This verse came from a good friend of mine in England. I posted on Facebook that I am trying something new this year. I decided I wanted to learn more Bible verses. So, what a few of my friends do is they pick a verse for each week of the year. Or, they have their friends and family give them verses for each week of the year, and then they write those verses in their planner, and they spend a week with each verse. They also pray for the person who gave them the verse for the week. I thought this was a great idea! I decided to take it a step further and write this verse at least once each day so it helps me commit it to memory. I made a post on Facebook asking friends and family to give me their favorite verses. If you have a favorite verse and would like to email it to me at [email protected] or you could find me on Facebook, Catherine Duggan, and comment on the post and I would be happy to remember you and your loved one and any prayer requests that you have during the week I am praying with the verse you gave me.My friend gave me the verse above, and I instantly loved it. I love that it captures our reality at times, and it also really captures the love of the Father. Sometimes, we feel like we are asking and asking the Lord for something, and yet we wait and wait and see no answers to those prayers. Have you been in a season of waiting? Have you been asking the Lord for something, and yet you are still waiting for the answer to those prayers? This can be really hard. We pray to the Lord, and we want Him to help us right away, or at least I do. I really struggle at times with waiting to see the results of my prayers. This is especially true if I am praying over someone for healing.I struggle because I know how powerful God is, and I know He can heal anyone at any time. I struggle because I don’t believe he wants to see anyone struggle, and yet He doesn’t heal everyone, and He definitely doesn’t heal everyone the second we pray for healing. So, we end up doing what this verse says, we wait, and we wait, and we wait. Sometimes we wait patiently, as this verse says, and sometimes, not so patiently. It all depends on our circumstances at the time. One thing I like about this verse is that it says I waited patiently because I knew God would come through for me. This is important for us all to remember. God will come through. It is also important to remember that His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts.If I can remember this, I think I could wait more patiently. I need to remember that God knows what He is doing and that His plan is better than my plan. He is the creator of the Universe; of course, His plan is better than my plan. If He is not healing someone right away, there is a reason for it. I don’t have to know that reason I just have to know that HE has one.One way to remind myself that God has a plan to trust that God will come through is to think back to all the times He has come through in the past. When did the Lord come through for you? When in the past did you wait on the Lord, and then he answered your prayers? I know for me, He has always come through, and sometimes I ask for some pretty big things. When I asked the Lord to heal my niece and let her live, He did, and we didn’t even have to wait very long. When I asked him to help my son get off of drugs, He did. When I asked Him to take away my dad’s pain, He did. When I asked Him to take away my sister’s pain, He did. When I asked Him to save my marriage, He did. God has come through for us more times than I can count, and this is why I can wait patiently. I know He will always come for me, though. He will always come through for you too! We just have to wait longer than we would like at times.I love that this verse says, “Then, at last, he bent down and listened to my cry.” I love this because it shows the Father as a loving father. It shows that He cares about us. It doesn’t just say they finally heard us. I love that it says he bent down and listened to my cry. What I picture is a loving Father who bends down to listen to me cry. He doesn’t just stand there and let our cries go up to his ears. He bends down to show us we have His attention. I just picture Jesus; since we don’t really know what God looks like, I picture Jesus bending down, and I picture us as little children whispering our requests into his ear. Almost like we are telling Him a secret, one that no one knows.I love to picture the Father like this. I think if we read more verses like this, we begin to see God as our loving Father instead of this stern Father figure who is judging us and just waiting to call us out on all that we are doing wrong. God loves us, and He wants to answer our prayers. However, like a loving Father, He also knows that when w

Click Here for info on mentoring. We have all seen God working in our lives, however, we might not all be aware it is God who is working in our lives. This is why it is so important we start talking about it more. The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us. If you would be willing to share any experience you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at [email protected] or just click here. It won’t take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today. Prayerfully consider sharing. Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them. I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow, and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day! www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

God Can Accomplish Far More Than We Can ImagineEphesians 3:20-21 “Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”Wow, that first line is something I think we all need to hear again. “Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine.” What have you been asking the Lord for lately? Does it seem like you are asking Him for some pretty big things? Does it seem like you are asking Him for more than He can give you? When we read this verse, we see that there isn’t anything we can ask for that is “too much” for Him. He is able to do far more than we can even imagine. I saw this yesterday when I was in class.When I was in class last night at Encounter Ministries Boston Campus, we were praising and worshiping the Lord. Then Deacon Joe said he feels as though the Lord wants to heal people right now. I don’t know what people were praying for while we were praising and worshiping, but I don’t know that anyone was praying for immediate healing. I bet some people were praying for a healing, but I doubt anyone thought to pray for an immediate healing. Deacon Joe asked anyone who had any pain to raise their hands. Then he said if you don’t have pain go and find someone with their hand raised and pray over them.First, I went to a friend in class who has had some heart issues in the past. He said he had a pain in his chest, and he didn’t know what it was from. There were two of us praying over him, and after the first time praying, he said the pain had decreased, and after the second time, he said he no longer had the pain anymore. Later, he shared with the class that he had been at the hospital with this pain over the weekend, and they couldn’t come up with a reason for it. Now, his pain was gone!Second, I went to a friend who has been struggling with shoulder pain and range of motion for quite a while now. There were two of us praying, and then another two joined after a few minutes. We prayed for a restoration of her range of motion and for a release of all pain. As we prayed, she was able to lift her arm further and further. She was also able to put her arm behind her, which she hadn’t been able to do before we prayed. Thank you, Jesus, you are so good!I believe both of these healings were above and beyond what they were asking for in class last night. Yet, that is how good God is; He likes to surprise us! What do you need right now, and yet you have been afraid to ask? Where have you been playing it little in your prayers? Where have you been wanting more than you asked for? Where have you been asking for less than you want because you don’t want to be greedy or you don’t want to bother God?The verse says, “Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us.” I love that last part, too, “by the power at work within us.” I know I say this often, and that is because it is so important. We each have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We have power that is at work within us. This means that we don’t have to do things on our own. We don’t have to limit our prayers. We don’t have to rely on our own strength. We are not in this alone.I believe this verse is daring us to dream big. To pray for those desires down deep in our hearts. When I say we are praying too small, I don’t just mean when we pray for healing or when we pray for others. I mean, even for those dreams that we used to think about and have now tucked away into that neat little box in the back of our mind so we don’t have to think about them anymore. I mean for that thing that you have always wanted, and yet you can’t see any way that it could happen, so you don’t even ask for it.Maybe your sister is in hospice, and even though you are praying for a miracle, you can’t see how one could actually happen. That’s ok; we don’t have to see the way; we just have to keep asking, and God can work through us and in us. Maybe you have had a lifelong dream to do something, and as you get older, you see that dream slipping away. Hear me when I say it is not too late. God can give you more than you ever imagined. God can still make that dream come true. Don’t stop asking for it, and start asking for it if you haven’t already.I know this can be hard to believe sometimes. I have some friends who are asking God for some pretty big things. I have a friend who has lost his eyesight, and he is praying he will get it back. I am sure in this tough time of waiting for God to answer that prayer, he is struggling to believe that God gives us more than we can imagine. I have a friend who is struggling with a sarcoma. She had had it for at least 3 years now. The doctors keep telling her that her condition is terminal, and yet she is still here; she is still going strong. She is able to believe that God can take this from her. She knows He can heal he

Inexpressible and Glorious Joy1 Peter 1:8-9 “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”I asked my friend to choose a verse for me while I was at a retreat. She chose this one. I am not sure I knew this one, and yet I love it. I know I say that a lot. It is true God is so good, and there are countless verses from the Bible that I love. I love this one because it ends with the salvation of our souls, and who wouldn’t love that? As much as I love this verse, I know it is a hard verse to accomplish.It can be hard to believe in something we can’t see. When I first read this verse, I thought it was pretty easy because I was thinking about how many of us haven’t seen God before, and yet we love Him. The retreat I was at was filled with women who all believed in God, and yet we had not ever seen God. We all had different degrees of faith and possibly even different beliefs in God. However, we all believed that God was looking out for us and that He was our Lord and Savior. How is this possible?When I got to thinking about it, I wondered if it is true that many of us haven’t seen God before. Yes, it is true that we have not seen God in person, like those who walked with Jesus did. However, I think many of us see God in our lives often. Maybe not every day unless we are specifically looking for Him, but we do see Him working. Even if it was only once, we have probably seen God. The question is, did we know it was God when we saw Him?Did we know that the kind person who paid for our coffee was the face of God? Did we know the person who held the door of the elevator was the face of God? Did we know the person who was in front of us at the store was the face of God? Did we know the stranger who said a kind word was the face of God? Did we know the breakthrough we received at work was a gift from God? Did we know it was God who helped us through that jam? Did we know it was God who made that awesome thing happen? I am blessed to have had parents who saw God working in everything they did! I am blessed to have parents who saw God everywhere they went. They knew without a shadow of a doubt that God loved them, and they loved Him. However, we are not all that lucky. Some of us didn’t grow up with parents who pointed out all the ways God was helping out their family. Yet, even people who didn’t grow up learning about the faith can still believe in God. My friend Catherine didn’t grow up learning about the Lord, and yet He found her right when she needed Him most. God is good like that. He will come and chase us down and reveal Himself to us when He knows we will be open to it. I am sure God reveals Himself to us more than once, and He keeps revealing Himself to us until we are ready to see Him.I think we are able to love Him even though we can’t see Him because we can see His work in our lives. We can believe in Him even though we can’t see Him because we can see all He has done in our lives, all He has done for us. If you look throughout your life for places where the Lord has been, I know you will find them. Now that my friend knows Jesus, she can see where He showed up for her all throughout her life. She didn’t know it was Him at the time, but now she can look back and see that He was there. I think this is why we can love Him, even though we haven’t seen Him. We have seen Him. We just didn’t realize it was Him.I also love this verse because it says, "You believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” Have you felt this inexpressible and glorious joy? I have, and it is amazing. I had heard people talk about the Joy of the Lord before when I was younger, and I am not sure I knew what that meant. However, now I know. It is this joy that wells up inside of you when you think about Him. It is this joy you feel, even in the middle of some really difficult times. It’s not a happiness. You are not happy you are in the circumstance you are in, but you are joyful because you know God will take care of you while you are in it. It is unlike any other feeling I have ever felt. It is a joy that you can’t explain to others.I know someone who lost their husband suddenly. She said throughout the grieving process, she knew the Lord was with her. She said she had some moments of pure joy over the last 9 months. However, she said she could not share them with people because they wouldn’t understand and would judge her for having joy while she was grieving. It wasn’t that she was happy her husband was gone. She missed him very much. It was a joy of the Lord that she was feeling. God allowed her to feel joy in His presence, and it was a magical feeling.The verse ends with, “For you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Part of the reason for this joy that we feel is because we know that w

A Refiner’s Fire1 Peter 1:6-7 "I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.”In Tuesday’s episode, we talked about 1 Peter 1:6-7. This verse ends with, “The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.” This is where today’s verses pick up. I had to go back and look because today’s verse begins with, “I know how great that makes you feel,” and I couldn’t remember what was making us feel so great. Now that I look back, I agree that thinking about a day when we have it all—life healed and whole does make us feel pretty great. Today’s verse talks about why we have to go through some of the things we need to go through. Or, maybe not why we have to go through them, but the result of going through them.The verse says, “Pure gold put into the fire comes out proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine.” I remember I was at a prayer group meeting once, and the leader was talking about the process of refining silver. I am not sure if the process is the same for refining gold or not. I think this story will give you a good idea of why we must all go through a refining process. Here is the story:The Refiner’s FireAs she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: ‘He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ (Malachi 3:3) She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver were left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.’ I love this story because, to me, it explains why we have to go through some of the things we have to go through. My favorite part is the very last part. I love that the silversmith said it is done when he can see his image in it. Isn’t that beautiful? Isn’t that the same with us? God is refining us and helping us to become not just better versions of ourselves but actually to become more and more like Jesus. God can tell when He is done refining us because he can see his reflection in us. I think that is a beautiful thought.The verse today says that when gold is put in the fire, only the true gold remains. It is also saying that when genuine faith is put through suffering, it comes out proved genuine. Can you see how this would be true? Can you think of a time when your faith was tested? A time when you were sure you believed God worked all things for good. A time when you felt you really trusted in the Lord. Then it seemed like your whole world came crashing down. Maybe you lost your job? Maybe you lost your house? Maybe you lost a spouse or a child? Maybe you lost your parent?Whatever it is that happened, it shook your world and tested your faith. You struggled to understand how the God you loved so much could allow this terrible thing to happen to you and your family. You struggle to trust that He will be there with you through it all. This is hard for all of us. It is easy to have faith when all is going well. It is easy for someone who is doing great in life to tell you to just trust in the Lord, to turn to Him, and He will help you. Those are easy words to say to others when all is going well. However, it is very different when you are the one going through it.This is what this verse is trying to tell us. When we go through a difficult struggle and are able to keep our faith through it. When we are able to turn to the Lord in our confusion and our anger and talk with Him, that is when our faith is proved. That is how we can prove our faith is genuine. This isn’t just proving it to the Lord either; it is proving it to us as well. We may wonder if our faith is true and genuine, and when we hit a hard time, we get to see if it is or not.The last line of this verse says, “When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.” This can be a very important thing for us to remember because it is so contrary to how the world thinks. The world only seems to care about how much stuff you have. Do you have the nicest house