scripture study

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!

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!

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!

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.

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, Janet

Life 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 Christian, continuing to affect lives all around her.

This decision was so much better to live with than if I had terminated the pregnancy.  Life IS sacred from the moment of conception. Creating and bearing a child is one of the greatest gifts God has given women. And for a female friend of mine who couldn’t carry a child, I did it for her.

Thank you for this song.

Shelly: (Click Here) After I accepted Jesus to be my Savior at the age of 24, He laid it on my heart to be a storyteller. In 1996, I remember crying while listening to a pregnancy center’s director speak to the church I was attending. She was sharing God’s work at the center and of how they helped the teen girls who were pregnant. She asked for storytellers.

I was once a pregnant teen who placed my precious baby for adoption. I was 17, in an abusive relationship, with no means of supporting this little one. The father of the baby and I chose an open adoption. On May 18,1989, my beautiful daughter was placed in the loving arms of her forever parents. Fast forward to when she was 16, I reconnected with her through mail and social media. During that time I learned that she had a sister and a loving childhood. I also learned that she grew up living next door to my pastor. Understand that we live in a small New Jersey town outside of Philadelphia and they live about 2 hours away in a small Pennsylvania town on the other side of Philadelphia about 2 hours away. So, for God to plant my pastor and his family in New Jersey is a God story in itself!

In September of 2020, we were reunited in person at her baptism. She shared on Facebook that she and her husband had accepted Jesus as their Savior and were getting baptized. I reached out to her mom and arranged for my husband and I to surprise her. That day, I had also witnessed over 50 people get baptized at the same time (another God story). That day will be forever carved on my heart. God has so richly blessed me with a godly husband and 4 more beautiful children. They are all grown up now. My husband and I celebrated 25 years of marriage this year and I am so blessed! Since the day I heard the speaker from the pregnancy center, I have shared my story with youth groups and high school students encouraging them to wait for sex until marriage. God continues to write our stories for His glory. Thanks for the work that you and your family are doing! My favorite song is Truth Be Told.

Traci: (Click Here) In middle school, I was teased for being a petite black southern girl. I was not popular as a teenager. I have a love of writing and a gift of poetry, which became my voice and my outlet. When I share, I feel fearless and in control of my emotions. This love for poetry never went away even though challenges made me question my gift. I wrote through teasing in middle school, a violent domestic relationship at 16, and rape at 20. I did not realize it back then, but writing poetry was preparing me for my future.

By age 27, I experienced a great loss. I met a guy I thought I would marry. We talked about plans for the future. The last time I saw him was on my 27th birthday.  He died from a brain injury. For the first time, I questioned my faith in God. I was torn inside. I was on an emotional rollercoaster.

For several months, I fought with God, but I finally ran towards him. I gave God all of me. I got closer to God. We grew closer than we ever had before. God reminded me of the poetry I wrote before my boyfriend passed away. The poems were about having a relationship with God. I read those poems during my grieving process. I learned how to be secure in God and in my life. After a year of being single, I met my husband at an open mic at a church. I shared my poetry in front of unfamiliar people. He was there to support a friend and we talked during intermission. We connected on social media. After our first date, we had an instant connection.

Within six months of dating, my husband proposed to me.  It was on my 29th birthday. It felt like a fairytale. He proposed to me at a restaurant, and I was dressed in a beautiful gown with a crown on my head!  My family and friends were all there.  For a happy time like this, I continue writing poetry. By January 2020, I started the Traci Neal Speaker Poet brand. I took a leap of faith and focused on my poetry.

Within six months, I was on 22 radio shows, including iHeart and Voice America Empowerment. God allowed my letter to the editor to be in The New York Times on April 17, 2021. My husband does my videos and photography. We are a perfect match for each other and for the business.

God is faithful. I did not like my life over the years, but I am so glad my love of writing never went away. I am grateful for all God has done in a short amount of time. Trust the process. God knows best!

Thank you to Traci, Janet, Shelly and the person who share witness about sacred life. Testimonies are such a great way to share our faith, and yet they are not easy to share. It takes us to be willing to be vulnerable to share the hard parts of our lives. I am so grateful for those who share their stories because I know they will touch the lives of others. They will help build the faith of others as well. Thank you so much for being brave and sharing your story!

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 wanted to pray for or how my day was. I started this at a time when I was struggling, and so sometimes it would just be me expressing to God my hurts, my confusions, my struggles. Other times I would be requesting help for others or myself. Sometimes I would thank him for all He has done. It was all very conversational; I started it as if I was writing Him a letter. I initially started with Dear Lord, but now I start it with Good Morning Dad.

· I started praying out loud for people when asked. Yes, I felt uncomfortable, and yes, I felt like I was doing it wrong. Then I reminded myself that there was no wrong way and no one was judging me. I believe God loves it when we step out in faith and step outside our comfort zone in order to show our love to others. The only way to grow is to step outside your comfort zone and try something new. 

· I started reading the bible more. When you immerse yourself in God’s word, the words to pray over people come more easily. It is easier to call on God’s promises to us because you know what God has promised us. If you have tried to read the bible before and could not get through it, may I suggest you try again and start with the Gospels? They are more like stories than some of the Old Testament books.

These are a few ideas of things you could do to start praying more or to start praying differently. I hope you find them helpful. I will cover this topic again, as I know it is something many of us struggle with. Whenever I am praying or trying to serve God, and I think I may do it wrong or I may not be good enough, I think of a word that came to someone at one of my prayer group meetings. I will pass it along to you in case you find as much comfort in it as I have. Here is the word that was given, “My children, I love you to be with me. I do not need your efforts; I do not need your talents, for I alone will make you fruitful. Just relax, be empty, and be with me.” God does not need us to say the right thing; He wants us to come to Him and to be with Him, and He will make your prayers fruitful. It is not our efforts or talents that make our prayers come true. It is by the grace and goodness of God. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each and every person listening to this episode. Lord, help us learn to pray with our whole hearts. Help us not just to say words but to really believe what we are saying.  Help give us the words to say when we don’t know what to say. Help us to know that even if we can’t say anything, you are still there with us, and you know what we need. Lord, help us take the pressure off of ourselves and realize you don’t care how we pray; you want us to spend time with you. We love you so much, 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. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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 not even know they need saving. However, often times, God is asking us to take some responsibility for our own situation. What can you do to save yourself from this current situation that you are in? What is one small action you can take to show God that you are willing to help yourself? Absolutely pray to God and ask him to help you in any situation you are in especially the really difficult ones. I am not saying that we need to save ourselves from everything. What I am saying is that we should pray and have faith that God will save us and then act on that faith and take a step in the direction we want to go. I will end with one of my favorite quotes.“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. ~Saint Augustine

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the episode today. Lord, we want to follow you; please show us how. Please show us the way.  We want to get up and get dressed, and yet some of us are in circumstances that make that really hard.  Please give us the strength to get out of bed and get dressed. Give us the strength to have faith that things will get better. Give us the faith to take that one step, that one small action, so that you know we want to help ourselves; we want to help you. We love you, Lord, and we need you; 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 invite you all to join me in mentoring. So far this year, we have learned about God’s reckless love, God’s forgiveness, Praying without ceasing, prayer journaling, our identity, setting intentions for the year, praise and worship, and replacing the lies we tell ourselves with the truth from God. When you sign up you will have access to all the recordings for these previous sessions. If you have any questions, let me know. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Walk In Love

Ephesians 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 so that you can be able to take care of others. I am 100% behind self-care; it is not a luxury; it is a necessity. However, some have taken it a bit too far. They make sure their wants, not needs, are met, and the heck with the consequences of what that means for those around them.

Sacrifice is a real thing, and it gets real results. Sacrifices can be big or small. Jesus’s sacrifice is not something we could ever live up to, and we are not being asked to. However, I do feel many of us are called to make sacrifices for those we love. For instance, I would like to go to a prayer group meeting this evening to be filled up with the Holy Spirit. Yet, I am sacrificing that meeting and going to a concert with my youngest. The sacrifice is not spending time with my son; the sacrifice is going to listen to music that I don’t like at all because my son really loves it, and I really love him. What have you sacrificed lately? Would you be willing to sacrifice something you want for something a loved one wants more?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to walk in love; we just don’t know how; please help us. We want to not only love those who love us, but we want to love our enemies too. Please help us. Show us how we can do this. Show us how this is even possible. 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 tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day.

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 our lives. The second half of that line said we should seek peace and pursue it. How many of us would love more peace in our lives? How would you like your house to be filled with peace? Did you know you have the power to impart peace to others? Well, it’s not your power but the power of the Holy Spirit living inside you. You can pass peace onto others. You can walk into a house or even into a situation and ask the Lord to bring peace. You can ask the Holy Spirit to impart peace into that situation, or that home, or into that workplace. When Jesus sent the apostles out to go on a mission, He told them in Luke 10:5, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’” You can do the same.

The last part of this verse says, “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.” That right there is enough for many of us to hear and want to change our ways. Do we want the Lord’s face to be turned away from us? Or do we want His eyes upon us and His ears open to our prayers? I bet we all know plenty of people who are sick. It seems like everyone is sick these days. I am constantly getting prayer requests from loved ones who are not doing so well or who have loved ones who are really struggling. I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to have the Lord’s face turned against me right now. I need Him to hear my prayers. I need His eyes to be upon me so He can see how much I need Him. Therefore, I will do my best to be righteous and to turn away from evil and turn towards God. How about you?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this episode today. Lord, you are the almighty one, and we need you. We want you to hear our prayers, and we want you not to turn your face against us. Lord, if there is any evil in our life, please help us change that. Please help us control our tongues so we are not hurting other people and so we are not spreading more evil around the world. Help us to really understand how much our words matter. 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. The theme or mentoring tonight is The Power of Praying without Ceasing and how that is even possible. If you want to join me on Zoom for mentoring tonight, you can sign up on my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, or CLICK HERE. Or, you can reach out on social media.I look forward to bringing you a witness tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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 really difficult, we can lean into Him, and He will help us and support us. He will lift us up when we think we can’t make it any further. I heard the song “Strong” the other day by Anne Wilson. Two lines of the song have stuck in my head. “Lord knows I’ve tried, but I’m good at falling down. Thank God you’re good at picking me up off the ground.” God is good at picking you up off the ground too. Just ask Him!

The verses also remind those who are younger that they should submit themselves to their elders. Then I love this next part. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Humility is the key to all we do. If we are doing it with a humble heart, we will be doing it for the right reasons, and we will get it right. If we are doing it with a heart full of pride, it will be for all the wrong reasons, and we will get it wrong. God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. This will go easier if you are a humble servant because God’s favor will be upon you. I feel like someone listening is really struggling with taking care of a parent whose health is declining, and I feel God wants you to know that you are doing a great job. Whether you are near or far, you are doing what you can. Just the fact that you are worried if you are doing enough shows how much you care.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to be a faithful, humble servant. Help us to take care of those in our care with gentleness. Help us to be tender examples and not be bossy or to lord our control over their hearts. Lord, help us serve for the right reasons. Purify us of any wrong reasons, Lord. We love you, and we want to do what is right in your eyes. 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. In my quest to help you walk more boldly with Jesus, I have started sending out a daily email that contains the words of prophecy that I put at the end of each episode. My goal for sharing the words of prophecy that the Lord is sharing with my praying group in Chelmsford is that the more you hear how the Lord is speaking to us, the more you will not only begin to recognize the Lord’s voice in your own life but also learn to recognize when it is not the Lord’s voice. If you would like to receive this daily email, you can Click Here or in the comments section, or you can email me at Catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I watch over you. I protect you. I walk with you. I talk with you. You are my children, and I love you.”

In Old Age They Still Produce Fruit

2 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 honest with ourselves, we would all like to take naps. We don’t judge kids for taking naps. Why are we judging our parents, spouses, and friends?

Yes, your body is getting older, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do anything. Yes, your body is getting older, but your inner spirit is getting renewed daily. Don’t waste that. The Bible tells us that we are still fruitful when we are older, so what are we doing with this fruit? I want to leave you with Psalm 73:26 today, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we pray in a special way today for the elderly and for all retired priests and ministers. Lord, we pray you are walking with all who are feeling their age, whether that is young or old. Lord, teach us to appreciate each season we are in. Teach us to be patient with ourselves and to be patient with you. Your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts, and that can be really hard for us. We love you, Lord, and we want to want what you want; it can just be really hard for us to do that. Although we know we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us, so we will keep trying. Lord, help us have an incredible Lenten season. 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. I have been thinking about sending the word from the Lord out daily in an email. If you would be interested in having a daily Word from the Lord coming to your inbox, let me know. We all get a lot of emails, but it is often nothing we really want. I don’t want to be adding to your cluttered mailboxes if you are not interested. I look forward to hearing from you. You can email catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or you can go to my website and click on the contact me tab, or you can click on the link in the show notes. I will also make a post on my Facebook account today. I look forward to seeing you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend! I get to spend the night with my niece tonight, so I know mine will be blessed.

Today’s Word from the Lord is in the form of an image one of our members had. “I could see many people were hesitating, and I could see his hand moving to tell them to come. I got the feeling that the Lord wants to use many people, and he will give them all the necessary gifts for whatever He asks. But people are still hesitant, so I could see both His hands telling them to come, and He was looking deeply and trying to convince them that this was the thing to do, and those who did not answer, I could see how sad that He was.”

We Have Been Set Free

1 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 the path we want to be on.

When we feel like we want to be free of something and yet we don’t think we can, we can’t see a way to give it up. We can call on the Holy Spirit. We can ask the Holy Spirit to take away the desire for this thing. We can ask the Holy Spirit to come and give us strength. We can say, “Come, Holy Spirit, come.” The enemy wants us to think we don’t have a choice. He wants us to think we can’t do the hard thing. We can’t give up drinking. We can’t give up the drugs, the affairs, the food. The devil is a liar. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It doesn’t say some things, and it says all things. You can do all things because you have the mighty power of Jesus living inside of you. All you have to do is call upon that power.

So, this Lenten season, let’s remember that we are no longer slaves to our desires. Whatever you gave up for lent, it may seem like it is going to be a long 40 days. You might be thinking about it and thinking there is no way you make it 40 days without that thing. If so, remember that you are not dominated by anything. You are a free son or daughter of Christ and of the one true God. You can do anything with Christ! You have been set free!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are truly amazing. We are so grateful you sent your son to set us free. We owe you a debt we could never pay, so we offer you these 40 days as a small token of our love for you. Please help us through these next 40 days. We ask that you help us every day. Lord, remind us when we forget that nothing will dominate us. Remind us when we forget that we do not have to accept the yoke of slavery. Remind us of your love and mercy each time we forget. We love you so much, 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 seeing you again tomorrow. If you are interested in receiving my monthly newsletter so you can be the first to know what is going on or when I am planning an event, please CLICK HERE or go to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com. I will be sending out a newsletter in the next day or two, and it will have a link to watch the retreat I just did last Saturday on Zoom. I did a talk on God’s reckless love for us and I did a talk on God’s unfailing, never-ending forgiveness. I hope you check them both out! Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Be not afraid to say yes to the Lord. When the Lord calls, He equips. He will give you everything necessary to fulfill what He asks of you. Be bold. Do not fear to answer the Lord. He loves you, and He will take care of you. You are His children, and He is your God, so go in boldness and answer the Lord's call.”

God Is Our Refuge

Psalm 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 can open the Bible and read whatever you find. Another way would be to sit and talk with God. You can even yell and scream if you want to. I think sometimes we think we have to always be on our best behavior with God. We don’t. He can handle our anger and our yelling. He knows what we are going through. He knows what we are thinking even before we say it. Although I think He likes it when we say it because we are being honest with Him and trusting Him with what we are feeling.

Jesus got angry when He was in the temple, and they were using it to sell stuff and other things. He got angry, flipped over tables, and yelled at them. He wasn’t yelling at God, but I think God understands when we need to let off some steam. Isn’t yelling at God better than yelling at family or friends? At least we know God can handle it. Another great thing to do when all seems like it is falling apart is to listen to praise and worship music. There are so many songs out there reminding us of all that God does for us. There are so many people who have seen God turn things around, and they have written great songs about it to encourage us and remind us that God will be there for us, too. If He was there for them, He will be there for you!

The very last thing this verse says is, “Pause in his presence.” This is so important, especially in a hard time. Sometimes we just need to pause in his presence. In the quiet is when God enters in and heals us. If we are keeping so busy that we don’t think about our troubles, then we aren’t giving God any time to come in and heal us. Something I am just learning is that we don’t always have to be doing something when we are spending time with the Lord. He likes it when we invite Him into the quiet as well. He likes it when we sit there with Him and let Him do His thing. What if we each just spent 5 minutes in quiet with the Lord today?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, there are so many people anxious and worried these days. Please help us. There are so many who are struggling with mental health challenges, and we ask you to be our refuge. Lord, help all the suffering see that they can rely on you. Help them to see you and that you love them. Help them to feel your presence so they know that you are not alone.  Help us to trust you and rely on you, Lord. Help us to come to you. 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. I hope everyone is staying warm and safe wherever they are listening. We are supposed to get more snow today. Schools and workplaces were canceled last night in anticipation of the story. It just started snowing now. I am hoping it is not too bad out but I do like the snow. Tonight is mentoring, so if you would like to join, CLICK HERE or go to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com. You can also send me a message on social media if you would like to check it out before officially joining. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Look, my children, look. See with My eyes. See the world around you. See those that I love who are living in a way that is not what I have come to deliver to them. Pray for them. Pray for them. Pray for them continually. I have placed in each of my beloved people all of my creation, a mark that is truly connected to me. They need to have that mark stimulated, excited, and brought forth. In some of them, it's like a dying ember. I need you with the gift of the spirit to breathe on that. To breathe new life on that, that the ember will not go out that the ember will become a flame. I need you to see my people in a way you have never seen before, and I alone can give you those eyes to see. I alone will give you a heart to feel. I alone will give you the grace that your Will will say yes because you will feel my love for them.”

For The Lonely, For The Ashamed, The Misunderstood, And The Ones To Blame

Psalm 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 and

Too afraid of what might show up while you're dreaming

Nobody, nobody, nobody sees you

Nobody, nobody would believe you

This 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 pieces

All the memories, they somehow never leave you

Nobody, nobody, nobody sees you

Nobody, nobody would believe you

Those 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 through

God only knows what they say about you

God only knows how it's killing you

But there's a kind of love that God only knows

This is what we need to help our loved ones understand. God sees them. God knows what they have been through. He knows how they feel. God knows the depths of what they are going through, and He is there for them. We need to help them realize they are never alone. God is with them now, then, and forever. There was never a time when God wasn’t with them, and there will never be a time when He is not there. They can always talk to Him, and He will always listen. They can invite Him into any situation.

You keep a cover over every single secret

So afraid if someone saw them, they would leave

But somebody, somebody, somebody sees you

Somebody, somebody will never leave you

God sees them. God sees you. If you are listening to this and know exactly what I am talking about because you feel like you could be the person in this song, I want you to know that God sees you. That God will never leave you. He knows what you are going through. He hears you crying out, and He is working on your situation. He is right there by your side. We learned in Encounter School of Ministry that we can ask God to show us where He is right now. You can ask Him where He was during a particular memory. You can ask Him how He is loving you right now. You can ask God anything you want to ask Him, and if you are willing to listen, He will answer.

For the lonely, for the ashamed

The misunderstood and the ones to blame

What if we could start over?

We could start over

We could start over.

This part is great because it asks if we could start over. What if we could begin again? What if we did things differently? What if we spoke up? What if we didn’t pretend we were fine? What if we let people in? How would things be different? It is also a great question for those of us who have loved ones who are lonely, feel ashamed, misunderstood, and the ones to blame. What if we could start over, too? What if we believed them? What if we supported them? What if we got them the professional help they needed? What if we loved them through all of it?

God only knows where to find you

God only knows how to break through

God only knows the real you

There's a kind of love that God only knows

This last part is really important. God knows where to find you. You are never hidden from God. You may not want Him to see you. You may not want to share your innermost thoughts with Him, but nothing is hidden from God. He sees them, and He is crying with you. God knows how to break through to you and how you can break through the darkness to the light. Turn to Him, ask Him. If it is a loved one in the darkness, ask Him to give you the wisdom and knowledge to help your loved one break through. God is the answer!! God knows the real you. The enemy will try to get you to believe lies about yourself. He will try to convince you that God couldn’t love you. That God couldn’t forgive you. That God doesn’t like you. These are all lies. You are a beloved son or daughter of God, and He loves, forgives, and likes you. He knows the real you. Not the you that you show everyone else, the real you. Who you are down deep inside. He knows the real you and loves all of you!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask you to touch all the hearts of those listening today. Lord, we ask you to reach out in a special way to the lonely today. Lord, fill their hearts with love. Help them feel your presence today, Lord. Help them to see the lies the enemy has been telling them. Help them to know that you are with them and that they are never alone. Help them to see that it is never too late to start again. Help them know how loved they are. Lord, we ask you to show their loved ones how to be there for them. Show their loved ones what to say and how to support them. We need you, Lord; they need 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. Reminder: tomorrow is mentoring day. If you want to join, you can go to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, or click the link in the show notes. I hope to see some of you tomorrow night, Tuesday, at 8 P. M. EST. 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 is in the form of an image someone received. “I saw a large pit, and thousands and thousands of people were around that pit. We, as believers, were surrounding the people who were headed for the pit, and we were trying to convince them not to go there. Not to go there. So, every prayer we say, every lifting up of a soul that we do, we actually turn them around and bring them back to the Lord instead of falling into the pit. No matter what you do, if it's a phone call if it's saying hello to somebody, you change their hearts in mind just by being in their presence because you are His disciples. So your presence is Magnificat to those who have fallen.”

Love Covers A Multitude Of Sins

1 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 are taking offense to what others are saying to you, you may need to nurture your love for that person.

One way to do this is to ask the Father to give you his heart for that person. I have heard two stories in the last week of people who have been given the Lord’s heart for someone. They said it was strange because they didn’t really know this person well, yet they had this overwhelming love for that person. It was a love that made no sense to them. They couldn’t explain it, and yet it was there anyway. You can do the same for anyone in your life, especially if you are taking offense easily or if the little things they do annoy you. Just ask the Father to give you His heart for them.

Something else you can do to help rekindle this intense and unfailing love is to spend more quality time with your spouse. What do they like to do? Can you do that with them? What do you like to do together? What did you do while you were dating? When was the last time you had a real conversation with your spouse that was not about the weather or the kids? I have also found regular physical contact is so important in a relationship. I still remember one time when I was upset, and my neighbor hugged me. I had no idea that was what I needed, but I will never forget how it made me feel.

Sometimes, we get stuck in our routines and forget to make time for one another. We forget that intimacy is always important. When we were little, we used to be grossed out by seeing our parents kiss. As an adult, I see that has helped them stay married for over 60 years. We can’t let the little things like kissing, hugging, and holding hands slip away. When we do, we will grow apart even faster. We might think we don’t need these things, but we do! I notice that when Tony and I do those things regularly, we complain less. We are less nit-picky. This verse is a great reminder. “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].”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, we ask you to bless all of our marriages. Lord, strengthen our love for our spouse, children, and loved ones. Lord, we ask you to give us your heart for our loved ones. Let us see them as you see them, Lord! Lord, help us to fall more in love with them. Help us not to take offense or get annoyed. Fill us with so much love for them, 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. I wanted to mention a retreat I am speaking at tomorrow morning. It will be on Zoom from 10-12 EST. The theme is God’s Reckless Love. If you aren’t busy tomorrow morning, what better way to start your day than learning about how much God loves you and how much He forgives you? It will be a great time. I hope you can join me. CLICK HERE  for the Zoom link. I will put a link in the comments section if you watch this on YouTube. I look forward to meeting you here on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I!  I pray you have a very blessed weekend!

Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I have a path. I have a direction for each and every one of My children. You will not wander in the desert. You will have My Voice and My Spirit to guide you. So fear not; I am present always.”

Topic: Watchmen Retreat God’s Reckless Love
Time: Feb 10, 2024 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82241775665?pwd=OU5oRzdTdG8rWC9lL0wzNzhIb2VpZz09

Meeting ID: 822 4177 5665
Passcode: 966517

Our Youth Need Prayers

1 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 feel alone because they know they always have the Lord with them! How great would it be if each teenager knew that no matter what friends or family they had, they were still never alone because God was always right by their side? This seems impossible, yet we know all things are possible through Jesus.

The fourth thing it says in this verse is faith. Yes, please. Lord, we pray that these youth find faith. Faith in the one true God. Faith that hope can be found. Faith that you can use all things for their good. Faith that God does not make mistakes, so they are not mistakes. Faith that people can be good. Faith that it is ok to love. Faith that not everyone will hurt them. Faith that they are good. Faith that God has a future planned for them full of hope and good things. Faith that things will be ok. Faith that they are loved and accepted for who they are. Faith that they don’t have to change who they are to be liked and accepted.

The final thing the verse talks about is purity. This is another one we really need to pray for. Lord, we pray for the purity of our youth. We pray that you protect them from the wickedness of the world. We pray that you help them see how valuable they are so they don’t give themselves away to try and gain value. Help our young people see they have so much more to offer than just their bodies. Help our young people to see the benefits of living in your kingdom far out weigh any benefits of sin. Help our young people to see that they are enough. Help them to see they are worthy. Help them to feel your love, Lord.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask you to protect our youth. We ask you to take back our youth from the grasp Satan seems to have on them. We know they are your children. Lord, protect our youth from suicide. Protect our youth from speech and conduct that will only lead them to trouble. Help them to find faith and love, Lord. That is what they are really searching for. They are trying to fill that God-sized hole they have. Help them find you, Lord! We love you, Lord, and 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. Today’s episode was a bit different. We are preparing for a healing service on February 18th from 3-6 at St. Jude’s in Waltham for local people. Today, we are praying for the youth, so I thought I would have you all join in. 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 is, “How often would I have gathered you into my bosom, my children? Follow your elder John into my bosom. There I have consolations for you. There, I have whispers for your heart. There, I have easing of your burdens. There, I have a profound love to flood you with.”