We Have Been Set Free

Witness Wednesday #103 ESM Boston Healing Service

Today, 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.

1. 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.
2. 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 the kids and hurt her hamstring all up her leg. Her knee was hurting, and it was acting up, either locking or giving out. After prayer, the pain was completely gone; she was so surprised. The pain was gone, but the knee was still acting up. We prayed again, and she was completely healed.
3. A woman was having issues all week with her right inner ear. As soon as the person said the Word of Knowledge for the inner ear, the pain was gone.
4. A young man had pain in his neck. They prayed earlier in the day, and it went down to a 3 or 4. They just prayed now, and it went down to nothing. The pain is completely gone.
5. The woman came in with pain in her rotator cuff. The pain was at a level 8 or 9 when she came in, and after prayer, it is down to a 2.
6. A young woman came to the healing service with pain and restriction in her back. It was so bad she couldn’t sleep last night. The pain was about a level 7 before prayer; after prayer, it was like a 2.
7. A young woman (Erin) had a whole bunch of tension on her shoulders. As soon as Malinda walked over to pray for her, the tension melted away. This young woman also followed up with us in class on Monday and said that she has a lot of arthritis and is in pain a lot. Playing guitar makes the pain worse. She said sometimes she is in so much pain she can’t get out of bed in the morning. However, ever since she was prayed over at the healing service, she has been pain free!
8. A woman had back pain that was a level 8 before prayer, and after prayer, it was down to a 3 or 4. We prayed one more time, and the pain went down to zero. It was completely gone!
9. There was a woman who was praying over someone else, and God completely healed her sciatica issue.
10. Before prayer, a woman had tingling, pain, and burning in her feet at a level of 6. The pain went down to a level 2, and she can stand on her feet now without pain.
11. A man who had ankle pain at level four before prayer was completely healed after prayer. There was no more pain!
12. A woman’s (Kelly) knee has been bothering her for a while now. It was a three down to a one.
13. A woman has a condition called drop foot, where the arch is completely fallen. She also has a lot of arthritis in her foot. The second time the team prayed, she began to receive a tingling sensation through the foot and around the arch.
14. A young man had soreness in my legs before prayer and no longer does after prayer.
15. A woman fell off her bed in the morning and came to the healing service with pain in her leg. After prayer, something was released in her leg, and the pain was gone.
16. A young woman (Erin) gave a testimony of the healing she received at the Encounter Ministry Conference. Before going to the conference, she had a regular check-up with the eye doctor, and they told her she had a hole in the retina in her left eye. She received prayer at the conference. She went to see the specialist after the conference, and they did the exam and said I don’t know why you are here; there is nothing wrong with your eye. There was no longer a hole!
17. A woman (Christina) came in with pain in both knees, and the pain left her left knee.

Isn’t that amazing? Can you believe all the healings that happened in just one night? I am still in awe of God’s awesomeness and all the ways He shows up and works. He loves us so much! I also want to thank Deacon Joe, Ceci, Malinda, Nick and our Worship Team for being so amazing. I want to thank them for saying yes when the Holy Spirit prompted them to bring Encounter School of Ministry to our part of the country. I am forever grateful for all they have taught us and sacrificed to make this school happen. I know the other students feel the same. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

You Are Not Alone

Genesis 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, then the only voices that we have are the enemy’s whispers. However, if we reach out and tell our story to those who love us, they can speak truth into our darkness. The enemy is the father of lies and he speaks half-truths and lies into our ears so that we believe there is no one that can help us. 

Be vulnerable, open up, and share your struggles with someone. You will feel better just saying it out loud. Don’t go through things alone when you don’t have to. Seek out people that you can trust to talk to. You may not even know that someone else is going through the same thing until you have the courage to raise your hand and say that you are going through it. If you are in a circumstance where you honestly feel like you do not have a single person that you can talk to, then talk to God. Ask God to reveal to you in your life that you could talk to about your situation. Ask God to bring someone into your life that you can talk to that will help you through. Ask God for the strength to help you through your current circumstances. Ask God for the courage to talk about what is bothering you. God listens to our prayers, He listens when we ask him for the things we need, He is always with us, and he gives us strength when we don’t have any on our own. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are truly amazing. Lord, help us to realize we are not alone. Help us to see that you made us live in a community with others. Help us to recognize the trick of the enemy to isolate us and to speak lies into our hearts and minds. Lord, please put people into our lives who will recognize when we are pulling away and call us back. Help us to open up and share our troubles with others. Help us to hear others when they are trying to speak truth into our darkness. Help us, Lord! We love you, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Mentoring is tonight. I hope to see you there. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group; for more info about the prayer group or these words given, email catholiccharismaticprayergroup@gmail.com. Today’s word came in the form of a vision. Vision: We were singing in tongues of peace. Bits of peace, like confetti, falling down on the entire world because we have asked for it right here. Some of the confetti was falling into the mud and being trodden underfoot. Some of the confetti was being picked up by a young hand and put into a sweater pocket to be brought home. And some, I saw a man looking up at the confetti of peace falling, wondering what it was.

Pure Spiritual Milk

1 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 live in an age of technology that can be bad or good, depending on how you use it. Fact-checking things you hear is pretty easy. You can type it in the search bar and see if it is actually in the Bible. You can read the verse surrounding it to see if it is taken out of context. We know that God is good, and we need to protect ourselves from all the negativity out there. We need to nourish ourselves with only the spiritually pure milk out there.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to notice when we are hearing things that are off from what we believe. Help us to question what we are learning. Help us to go straight to the source, your Word, for all that we learn. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Mentoring is tomorrow night. If you would like more information, click here or go to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com. I look forward to meeting you all here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group; for more info about the prayer group or these words given, email catholiccharismaticprayergroup@gmail.com.  “He calls us to call on His peace. When you are ruffled, when you are anxious, call on my peace. Don't let it stay dormant. It is not the world’s peace. It's not a feeling. It is my peace, and it's an inner peace that only I give. But call upon it, and you will learn to use it. But you must be steadfast and learn how to call upon my peace, and it will pass all understanding. It only comes from the heart, not the mind. (To receive the Word from the Lord in your email inbox daily Click Here)

Radical Trust

Daniel 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 to buy groceries for the week.  She had three small children.  Her daughter was with her.  The store had not opened yet, and they were the only people in the parking lot.  As she made her list of what she needed, she realized she did not have enough money to buy all the necessities.  She prayed to God at that moment, “God, if I just had an extra $50, I could buy all I needed for the week.”  At that moment, her daughter saw something fly past the car on the ground of the parking lot.  Before her mom could tell her not to, she jumped out of the car to get it.  She got back in the car and gave it to her mom.  It was a $50 bill.  

 When reading a few articles about radical trust online, one of them talked about how radical trust is trusting God even when he doesn’t come through.  This is probably the hardest thing to do.  If you are always seeing ways that God is coming through, it is easier to have radical trust.  I think it may be easier for me to have radical trust because I have seen and heard so many examples of how people have trusted and God has shown up in big ways.  But what about if you have a lot of examples of when he has not shown up?  Can you have radical trust when you want a family and don’t have one, lost your job, prayed for your loved one to be healed, and they died or been given a life-threatening diagnosis?  That is when it is even harder to have trust.  Our friends from the bible, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, give us an outstanding example of how they had radical trust when all seemed lost.  Daniel 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.”  Imagine the trust they must have had to say that to the King in the face of death. 

 I read about a practical way to grow in radical trust from an article from Laura Fleetwood. (Click here for article)  She said as soon as a fearful thought enters her mind, she takes it captive and hands it over to Christ.  She literally, in her mind, snatches it and gives it to Jesus and says I trust you, Jesus.  It looks something like this…

Snatch…hand it over…I trust in you, Jesus.  Snatch…hand it over…I trust in you, Jesus.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could all do this a little more often and have a little less stress and worry in our lives?  My challenge to you is to practice turning your worries and your scary thoughts over to Jesus and let him handle them.  After all, he is the almighty one, not us.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you, and we want to have radical trust in you. We want to believe that you can do anything. We want to have the faith of Peter when he first got out of the boat. We want to have faith like Daniel in the lion’s den. Lord, we know you can do all things with our minds; help us to know it with our mind, body, and soul. Help us to know it deep in our hearts. Lord, help us to take captive our thoughts and redirect them to you. Help us not to take our eyes off of you. We are so grateful to you, for all, you do for us. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to let you all know that I have started sending out a daily email called Today’s Word from the Lord. This email will have one of the words of prophecy that was received from a member of my prayer group during one of our meetings. My prayer is that in sharing these Words from the Lord, we will all start to recognize how the Lord talks to us and then we will start to see Him talking to us in our own lives. My other prayer is that if you can recognize the Lord’s voice, then you will also be able to recognize when it is not the Lord’s voice talking to you. I pray you will hear the enemy start talking and realize it is not God talking and stop listening. If you would like to receive this daily email, you can sign up using the link in the show notes, or you can send me an email at Catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com. If your email mailbox is full and you don’t want to get any more emails, no worries. I will be reading the Word from the Lord at the end of each podcast, as I was doing last month. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word From The Lord was Received in October 2023 by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group during one of our meetings. For more information about the prayer group or these words, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. “My children, I come daily to give you this peace. I am giving it to you, but you must be willing to receive it. Receive it in your mind, your heart, and your entire being. Peace has to start with you, my children. If you do not have peace, you cannot share it with others. You cannot give what you do not have, my children. So seek more of my peace. Receive the peace that I wish so very much to give you, my children. It is a gift that I give to you, so learn to accept it graciously.”

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's people— it's what Joseph was tossed into by his brothers in Genesis 37. In Genesis 37, Joseph was initially thrown into a waterless pit to die. But, determined not to have Joseph's blood on their hands, they decided to sell him into slavery instead. If you fast forward Joseph's story, you will find that his "deliverance" from the pit was ultimately used to preserve the entire Israelite community. In Genesis 50, Joseph declares, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."

So, similarly, God here is saying that the pit is not the end of the story for God's people. Although they're trapped in captivity, freedom and purpose are on the horizon. Just like he did with Joseph, God will soon free them from the pit of captivity, leading to the further preservation of his people.

The verse goes on to say, “Return to your stronghold.” I really didn’t know what this meant until I read this article. When we consult the Psalms, we see God consistently referred to as their stronghold. So, this is an invitation to return to walking with, trusting in, and finding refuge in their God. And it's an invitation directly tied to a promise of restoration (double restoration). Like Job, God will restore them twice as much as they once had whenever they return to him. He's promising them a hopeful future with him.

The article goes on to say, “On the one hand, this reminds us that a life with God is better than a life away from him. He is our stronghold, our protector, and our provider. When dwelling in a stronghold, you're protected in ways you don't know about. A stronghold protects you from dangers that you can't always see. Brothers and sisters, this past week, God protected you in ways you may never know.

On the other hand, this reminds us that the Christian life is a life of hope. We are prisoners of hope, which means that no matter how bad things may get in this life, we have hope that things will get better. In the same way, no matter how good things get in this life, we also cling to the hope that things will get better. We cling to the hope that God will restore to us double. The lowest sorrows and the greatest joys of this life will pale when compared to the joys we will experience one day in heaven with God. The Christian life is a life of hope.”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today! Lord, we love you, and we thank you for setting the captives free, for filling us with hope for a better life, for your covenant with us, for always being here for us, and for all the ways you protect us, especially for all the ways we don’t even know about. Lord, we love you and we ask this in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO TESTIMONY

Wasn’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 catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com 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.

Sowing Righteousness

Hosea 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 part. We might have been through some traumatic things over the years and we have put up walls so that people can’t hurt us. The problem with walls is that although they are efficient at protecting our heart from the bad stuff, they also protect it from the good stuff. They are blocking all things from touching our hearts. This means they don’t let in the love, the light, the joy. The walls keep all of this from penetrating our hearts as well.

If you have walls up around your heart, and most of us do in some way, I ask you to spend some time today inviting the Lord in to show you where these walls are and what you can do about them. Ask the lord if it is safe to take the walls down now. Ask Him to come in and repair your heart, heal your heart. Ask Him to rain down His salvation on you! Give your heart fully to God today and see how your life changes. Be reckless with your love towards God as He is with His love towards you!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we thank you for your reckless love. We thank you that you love us so completely, so freely, with such little regard for your own well-being. Help us to love you in the same way Lord. Help us to love you with such freedom. Help us to care more about you than anything else, including ourselves. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Tonight is mentoring if you would like to join me click here or go to my website walkboldlywithjesus.com. Also if you want to check it out before joining send me a message (click here) and I will send you the zoom link. I look forward to seeing some of you this evening. I look forward to bringing you a special witness tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

When Prayers Seem To Go Unanswered

Jeremiah 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 essential nutrients for plant growth in the soil after they have been depleted. So, fertilizer replaces the nutrients that have been lost so crops, flowers, grass, and whatever you are trying to grow can grow better. However, that fertilizer is still crap. It doesn’t all of a sudden become a beautiful plant. It doesn’t all of a sudden smell better. The crap still remains crap, however the farmer is able to use that crap to make something good grow out of it.

This is similar to the crap that happens in our life. God isn’t turning that bad thing into good. However, he is able to help good grow from it. For instance, I do not look back at all the really difficult times with my boys and think they were good times. I still think they were really hard times. Yet, now I can see the beautiful fruit I got out of those hard times. I am a much more patient person. I can give control over to the Lord much more easily. I have a trust I might not have otherwise had. I have a persistence and determination that I might not have otherwise had.

I still don’t know why God didn’t heal my friend on this side of heaven. I think we aren’t necessarily supposed to understand everything God does. He says we should approach Him as little children. Little children don’t always need to know the why. I do know that although I am really sad that my friend lost her husband and my other friends lost one of their best friends. I know God did answer my prayer. My friend’s husband is healed and no longer suffering. I know God will use this situation for good, and there will be beautiful fruit that comes out of it.

I was talking to my friend the other day, and I said, “God, can’t you give her a break.” And she said He has been giving her breaks all along the journey. She said she could see Him all over this. So, I am looking forward to hearing her testimony as to where she saw God in all of this hardship. I honor her and admire how she can see God in the middle of all her suffering. I pray that we can all be that lucky!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, help us to see you in everything. Help us to trust that if you don’t answer our prayers the way we would like, it is because you have something better in mind. Help us to ask for more, Lord, even when we don’t understand. When we feel you haven’t answered our prayers, help us to see how you have. Help us to keep asking for more, Lord. Lord, help us to stop and ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to pray in each and every situation. We love you, Lord! We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk Boldly with Jesus. Remember, if you would like to join mentoring it is Tuesday nights at 8:00 EST on zoom. You can click here or you can go to my website walkboldlywithjesus.com. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Have Mercy on Those Who Waiver

Jude 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.

Introduction

The 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 called to deal mercifully and wisely with those who err. Just as God the Father has been merciful toward us, we should be merciful toward others. And we should strive to see those who doubt or wander come to a place of repentance and restoration.

Dear Heavenly Father,I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, please bless Matthew Breeden who wrote this article. Lord, we ask that you help us to be merciful with those who are struggling to find their way. Let us be patient with those who may have doubts. Let us also be brave enough to snatch out of the fire those who need to be saved. Lord, help us know the difference. We give you permission to direct our actions. Help us know when to be merciful and when to act quickly to snatch someone from the fire. Lord, help guide us. Help us hear the Holy Spirit who is our guide. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend.

The Power of Solitude

Luke 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 God

1.)   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 perspective

Through 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 strength

When 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 guidance

God 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 correction

Psalm 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 reward

God 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 money in the world cannot buy the rewards God longs to give you as you commune with Him. As we get busy in this Lenten season don’t forget to prioritize alone time with God this year. It’s the best gift you will ever receive; one-on-one communion with your heavenly Father. 

You might wonder, with all these benefits, why would anyone avoid solitude? We can avoid solitude because when we think of solitude, we think of being alone, and there are all sorts of reasons why we wouldn’t want to be alone. We might think that when we are alone, our mind will think of all the things we have been trying to avoid. Maybe we have trauma from our past. Maybe we have things in our lives right now that we are trying to avoid. We might be afraid if we have solitude, we might have to confront all the things we are trying to avoid.

However, when we avoid solitude, we are avoiding deep connection with the Lord as well. God is calling each one of us to make the choice to find time away from everyone else and to meet Him there in that silence. Almost all the main players in the Bible spend time in solitude with the Lord. I read an article that had three things for us to consider when practicing solitude. The article was called How to Practice Solitude. I didn’t fine an author. (Click Here for the full article)

Three things to consider when practicing solitude:

1. Solitude doesn’t require silence

Silence and solitude are complementary disciplines that aid our communion with God. But while silence almost always requires solitude, solitude does not necessarily require silence. We can use our time of solitude for prayer, verbal meditation on Scripture, singing psalms or hymns of praise, or any other form of “noisy” activity. Solitude doesn’t require either silence or a hushed solemnity.

2. Solitude requires planning

Our lives tend to be filled with people and events, making it unlikely we’ll accidentally stumble into solitude. Being alone with God requires planning. Choose a place where you can be intimate with God and free from distractions. This “special place” doesn’t need to be special — it just needs to be a place where you can remove yourself from the world for as much time as needed.

3. Solitude requires time

On most days, the best we can do is to get away alone for a few minutes or even an hour. We should cherish these times and guard them carefully. Yet while these solitary moments are necessary, they’re hardly sufficient to meet our need for closeness with our Creator. Commit to finding creative ways to be alone with God for extended periods of solitude, ranging from a few hours to a few days.

Three reasons solitude is necessary for spiritual formation

1. Solitude amplifies other disciplines

We can carry out almost every other discipline in the company of others. We can pray, meditate, and worship almost anytime and in any place. But practicing those disciplines in the context of solitude helps us achieve a greater focus and augments our efforts.

2. Solitude is not about being alone

Normally when we use the term solitude, we’re referring to the state of being alone. But solitude also has the meaning of “absence of human activity.” This is what we mean when we refer to the discipline; the purpose is not to be alone but to experience the absence of human activity so that we can more fully experience the presence of God.

3. Solitude exposes our idols

We might tell ourselves we prefer God’s company to that of any other person or thing in the world. Solitude puts that claim to the test. By being alone with God, we get a clearer view of the idols of our hearts, and we are presented with an opportunity to repent.

As you can see, there are many reasons why we need to make time to be in solitude with God. I pray you will find extra time during this Lenten season to be alone with the Lord and let Him fill you up.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to be with everyone listening to this episode. Lord, we thank you for wanting to be in a relationship with us. We thank you for wanting to spend time with us. We thank you for filling us up in that time alone with you. Lord, we ask that you show each one of us how you want to be in a relationship with us. Show us where and when you want to meet with us. Lord, if we are struggling to find time to be with you, we ask you to put on our hearts when in our schedule we can add more time with you. We want to be with you, Lord; we are just struggling to make it happen. Please help us. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to seeing you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!