scripture study

We have all seen God working in our lives, however, we might not all be aware it is God who is working in our lives.  This is why it is so important we start talking about it more.  The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us.  If you would be willing to share any experience you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com or just click here.  It won’t take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today.  Prayerfully consider sharing.  Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow, and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day! 

Not One Is Missing, Not One Forgotten

1 Peter 1:1-2 "I, Peter, am an apostle on assignment by Jesus, the Messiah, writing to exiles scattered to the four winds. Not one is missing, not one forgotten. God the Father has his eye on each of you and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus. May everything good from God be yours!”

I started to finish an episode that I started over a year ago. Someone had given me the verse, and I guess I never finished the episode. However, when I started finishing it, I decided to check out the rest of the chapter and see what I was missing. I really liked all the verses that came before it in the chapter. So, I decided to start at the beginning of 1 Peter 1 and take this week to go through the first eight verses at least.  I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.

What stuck out to me about today’s verse is that after Jesus left the apostles, they did not all stick together in one place for very long. Yes, they went to the upper room to wait for the Holy Spirit, but then they went out to evangelize and spread the message of the Gospel to the whole world. Christianity was not welcome at that time. The Jewish people were already outcasts, and their God was not accepted by most, and now there is this new person called Jesus. The world was not sure what to do with this, and those who believed were outcasts, and many were exiled. However, this verse tells us that although they were exiled and scattered to the four winds, they were not lost, and they were not forgotten.

These are important words for us to here because we all feel apart from God at times. We feel apart from others as well. Sometimes it may feel like we are exiles scattered to the four winds. Do you know what I mean? Have you ever felt like you were alone or like you were so far away from those around you? You are not physically away. You live among your family, your coworkers, and your friends. Yet, you feel alone. You feel as though you might as well be miles away because you feel like you are in a completely different place than they are. You are not alone. This is common, unfortunately.

This is why these words are so important. No matter what you are feeling right now. No matter how different you feel or how lonely you are feeling. God wants you to know that not one of you is missing and not one is forgotten. God sees you! He knows right where you are at and even better, he will meet you right where you are at. This can be hard to believe because we often feel as though we are lost in this big wide world. We feel far from God, and we are sure that He has forgotten about us. Or, maybe He never even knew of us.

The truth is God has always known not only who we are but where we are. He has not left our side for a single moment. Nope, not even that one that just popped into your head. You know the one I am talking about. That one where you felt most alone. That one where you were so down, and you were sure that no one cared for you. Yes, even that one, He was right there with you. God has NEVER left you nor forsaken you. He has never forgotten about you. You are on His mind all of the time. Even when you are not thinking about Him, He is thinking about you.

The verse goes on to say, “God the Father has his eye on each of you and has determined by the work of the Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus.” This confirms what it says in the first half of the verse. God has His eye on each of you. There is no way you could be missing or forgotten when God has His eye on each of you. In this next part, I was not sure exactly what it meant, “And has determined by the work of the Holy Spirit to keep you obedient through the sacrifice of Jesus.” However, I think it is a bit easier to understand in the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, it says, “Chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.”

Wow, imagine that. Imagine the truth that you’re chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ. Let’s break that down: if God the Father has chosen us and destined us, that means a few things. First, it means He knows us. He knows what our purpose is, and it means we have a purpose. We have a reason for being here. We don’t always feel this way. Our emotions can get the most out of us if we let them. There can be times when we feel so lost we believe the enemy when He tells us we are alone. We believe the enemy when he tells us no one likes us or others would be better off without us. We believe the enemy when he tells us we have no purpose. However, this verse reminds us that we are not alone and that we do have a purpose.

Then the verse says that we are sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ. The word sanctification means being set apart. So we are being told the Holy Spirit is setting us apart so we can be obedient to Jesus. This was essential back in the day as the world’s values did not support the new teachings of Jesus. If they wanted to follow Him, they would have had to live differently. Luckily the Lord sent them the Holy Spirit to help them live the way they were being called to live. We are being called to live this same way. We, too, have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. If we allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify us and to set us apart, then He will.

We are not on our own. Jesus did not come and give us these teachings and then die on the cross for nothing. He died on a cross for our sins. He came to walk with us so He could teach us, and then the Father sent the Holy Spirit to remind us of all Jesus taught us and to give us the power to live that way. I want each of you to remember, when you are feeling lonely, when you are feeling like no one cares, that “you are chosen and destined by God the Father.” Listen to that again, YOU ARE CHOSEN AND DESTINED by God the Father. I feel as though someone needed to hear that today. Maybe we all did.

The very last line in this verse says, “May everything good from God be yours!” The RSVCE says, “May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” Both are great. I will definitely accept all the good God has to offer. I like how the second version is more specific. May grace and peace be multiplied in you. I could definitely use more grace and more peace in my life. Actually, God has increased the peace in my life so much over the last 5 years. There used to be very little peace in my home, and now it is pretty peaceful most of the time. How about you? Do you have peace and grace? Do you need some? This verse is telling us that the Holy Spirit can give us peace and grace. If you need more, just ask. Our heavenly Father is so good, and He will give us more than we need if we just ask. Thank you, Lord, you are so good!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you, and we are grateful you chose us and have a destiny for us. We are thankful for all the grace and the peace that you give to us. We are grateful you do not forget a single one of us. We are grateful you are always with us and that you never leave our side! We love you, Lord!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Happy New Year! I hope you all had an amazing holiday season. If you are looking to grow closer to the Lord in this upcoming year, I have several ways you can do that. First, you can join my mentoring group. The details are on my website. CLICK HERE for my website. Basically, it includes a once-a-week Zoom call where there are 30 minutes of teaching and 30 minutes of small group time. There is also a private Facebook group. If this is a bit more than you are looking for, you could tune in to the podcast daily, and I will guide you through various scriptures. If you are looking for less of a time commitment, you can sign up for my newsletter, where I will send any news that is going on in my life as well as the most popular episode for that week. CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter. If you sign up, you also get an audio teaching on how to incorporate Jesus into your everyday life. It is great. It gives very practical tips. You won’t want to miss it. I hope you all have an amazing New Year! 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, “My children, in the silence of your heart and soul, flowers bloom, and each gives a different fragrance. As you go out in the world, whatever fragrance that is needed for each person will come out because I am the Lord, and all is possible. Be my fragrant vessels of love to each and every person that you meet, whether you think they're nice or not. Let my fragrance of love spill out. Let it overflow so that they will know my love through you. I do not ask much. Just be my fragrance vessels of love.”

Tiny Steps of Trust Daily

Psalm 56:3-4 “But in the day that I'm afraid, I lay all my fears before you and trust in you with all my heart. What harm could a man bring to me? With God on my side, I will not be afraid of what comes.”

Today I decided to read from the Jesus Calling Devotional. I have not done that in a while; I am not sure why. For those of you who don’t know, this is a devotional book written as if God is speaking to you each day. It is really good and often says exactly what you need to hear for that day. Today’s spoke right to me. It reminded me how important it is to trust God in all times with all things. It is just as important to trust Him with the small things, as it is to trust Him with the big things. I will read today’s devotional for you as I think it will speak to you just as much as it spoke to me.

“TRUST ME with every fiber of your being! What I can accomplish in and through you is proportional to how much you depend on me. One aspect of this is the degree to which you trust me in a crisis or major decision. Some people fail miserably here, while others are at their best in tough times. Another aspect is even more telling: the consistency of your trust in me. People who rely on me in the midst of adversity may forget about me when life is flowing smoothly. Difficult times can jolt you into awareness of your need for me, whereas smooth sailing can lull you into a stupor of self-sufficiency.

I care as much about your tiny trust-steps through daily life as about your daily dramatic leaps of faith. You may think that no one else notices, but the One who is always beside you sees everything — and rejoices. Consistently trusting in me is vital to flourishing in my presence.”

Do you see what I mean when I say it often says exactly what you need to hear for the day? I love that it is written as if God is saying it directly to you. This is truly how God talks to us. I am not sure how many of you listening have taken the time to sit and listen to what God has to say to you. If you have not, give it a try today. God wants to talk to each one of us, and yet the world around us is so noisy it is hard to hear him. However, if we sit down and take the time to listen, we will hear what He wants to tell us. This can take time and also practice. The more time you put into trying to hear God talking to you, the more clearly you will hear Him. The more you will begin to recognize what He sounds like to you.

I have a journal, and I try to write in it as often as I can. In 2020 I changed the way I write in my prayer journal. I used to just write the God about my day and what was going on in my life. I still do this, but I don’t just do this. Now, I try to stop and take the time to listen to what God has to say back to me. This has been amazing. I have spent a lot of time listening and have given the Lord time to speak into my life, and it has been life-changing. You would be surprised what the Lord wants to say to you if you only gave Him the time to say it. He is so gentle and affirming.

Sometimes, we think we wouldn’t want to hear what the Lord has to say because we feel we aren’t doing a very good job, and He probably wouldn’t have anything nice to say to us. This is not true. That is what the enemy wants you to think so that you don’t stop and give the Lord time to speak love, light, and truth into your life. When you give Him the time, and you listen, you will be surprised at how nicely He talks to you. You will be surprised at how much He loves you. Even in our brokenness, even in our sin, He still speaks so much love into us. It is truly amazing.

This is why I started ending each episode with the Word from the Lord that He gave to our prayer group. The more we all start hearing the way He talks to us, the more we will start to recognize it when we hear Him talking in our own lives. Here is what I do when I write to the Lord. I write Him a letter, and then I ask Him to answer me using my pen, and then I start to write a letter back to myself. I don’t question what comes to mind; I don’t overthink it; I just write everything that comes to mind. Does that mean that every single thing I write down is from the Lord? No, probably not. However, I asked Him to answer me, and when we ask, He answers, so I trust that what I am writing down is from Him.

After you are done writing it down, you can re-read it and see what you wrote and how it makes you feel. If you wrote anything down that makes you feel bad, shameful, or guilty, that is probably not from the Lord. That is not how He talks to us. Sometimes He will convict us of something if we are doing something wrong. However, He doesn’t use shame and guilt to do it. God does not condemn us. He lovingly points us in another direction and then gives us the strength to go in that other direction. Anything you are not sure of, you can take to discernment. You can ask the Lord to clarify; you can ask the Lord to explain more, and you can always go deeper with what you got in the letter. If you do this often enough, you will recognize patterns. You will see that He tends to say the same things over and over again because we tend not to listen. Yet, He keeps saying them until we do listen.

The verse above says, “But in the day that I'm afraid, I lay all my fears before you and trust in you with all my heart. What harm could a man bring to me? With God on my side, I will not be afraid of what comes.” This is a good verse for today because I know a lot of people who are staring down some pretty big fears. Whether they are worried about losing their job, getting sick, or finding a new job, it is all scary. Several people I know are also sick and are worried they won’t be healed. This can be very scary to think you will have to live with this illness for the rest of your life. This is why today’s verse is so important.

There verse says that I lay all my fears before you and trust you with all my heart. I hope we are all doing this. I hope when something scary comes our way, our first instinct is to turn it over to the Lord. Give Him our cares, and He will help us carry them. He will even carry them for us if we can be brave enough to let go and let Him carry them for us. Often we want to pick them back up again. But if we can fully let go, He will take care of them for us. If we can trust Him to do this, our worries and cares become so much lighter.

My favorite part of the devotional from Jesus Calling is, “Another aspect is even more telling: the consistency of your trust in me.” I also love, “I care as much about your tiny trust-steps through daily life as about your daily dramatic leaps of faith.” These both remind us that although it is important to have trust in the Lord when things are going wrong in our lives, it is just as important to trust Him when things are calm and there isn’t a crisis. Do we do this? Do we trust that God is taking care of all the things, or just the big things? When things are going well, do we still turn to the Lord, or do we try to fix those things on our own?

I think this devotional gives us something to think about this weekend especially going into the new year. What could we be doing differently? Do we need to be more consistent with our trust in the Lord? What are those tiny trust-steps in our daily life that God is talking about? What if you took 20 minutes sometime today or this weekend and sat down and asked God these questions and then wrote down whatever you think you hear Him say back to you? What an awesome way to end this year and begin next year.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to trust you. We want to trust you not only with the big things but the small things too. Please show us how; please guide us. Help us learn how to take those tiny trust-steps into our daily life. Lord, we ask that you help us hear your voice in our head. We ask you to open our spiritual ears so we can hear you more. Lord, I ask you for a special blessing for each person as they enter this new Year. I ask that you bless them and their families. I ask that you bless their jobs, their ministries, whatever it is they do. I ask for you to help them enter this new year with renewed hope and love. We love you so much, 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. I can’t believe this is the last episode in 2023. Where has the time gone? I am looking forward to 2024 and all it has to offer. I know big things will happen in 2024. I hope you will join me for my new mentoring group. We will definitely go into more detail on how to write back and forth with the Lord, as it has really brought me closer to Him. If you want more details, you can go to my website, walkbodlywithjesus.com, and then go to the mentoring section, or you can CLICK HERE. I look forward to getting to know all who join me a bit better. It will be nice to get to spend some time face-to-face with some of you. I hope you have an amazing weekend. I hope you spend some time this weekend thinking about the upcoming year and what you want to get out of it. If you go into the new year intentionally, you will get so much more out of it. Remember, Jesus really does love you, yes you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend.

Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I am the crucified Christ. My blood has freed you. I have washed you clean in my blood. Block your ears to the evil one. He is jealous of my children. His mission is to destroy. I surround my children with my all-consuming love. Love that doesn't skip a beat, and he knows it. Stay strong, stay focused on me.”

God Will Walk Among Us!!!

Revelation 21:3-4 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

This morning, I asked Tony if he had a verse for me, and he gave me this one. His friend Phil gave Tony a picture with this verse on it before I even met him. Tony had this picture hanging up in his room, and then we had it hanging in our house after we got married. The picture must have made a lasting impact on my husband because even after all these years, he still remembers the verse. This brought to mind for me this morning the fact that we never know the impact our actions have on others. I wonder if Phil gave this to Tony so that he would memorize the scripture verse? I wonder if he even knows that he did memorize it.

The same is true for all the things you do for others. Sometimes we do something, and we have no idea the impact that it will have on others. For instance, my family had a reunion this summer. My parents were celebrating 60 years of marriage, and so many family members went away to a house in Maine to hang out together for a few days. We were reminiscing about our memories of our siblings when we were younger, and many times, my siblings said, “I had no idea that meant so much to you.” My brother John has mentioned that he loved when I would come visit. He said he had letters I wrote him when I moved away, and that meant so much to him. I had no idea.

Our actions matter. Sometimes we may not want to say something because we aren’t sure if what we say will even matter. It matters. Even if it doesn’t seem to matter in the moment. If you feel prompted to do it, then God has a plan for it. We heard the testimony last week from my friend Catherine. When she was leaving Rehab, she received a book that she tucked away and did not look at again for two years. However, when she took it out two years later, it changed her whole world. She discovered Jesus. She didn’t really know anything about religion, God, Jesus, or any of it, and yet, in that one moment, she knew she would be okay. She knew her family would be okay, and she knew life would be okay.

What if that counselor hadn’t given her the book? What if she felt the Holy Spirit nudge her, but she ignored it because she didn’t want to offend Catherine? I recently wrote a letter to someone that I felt was searching. I felt nudged by the Holy Spirit to write that letter, but then when I told someone I had sent the letter, they said that person would be mad at me. I responded that I felt the Holy Spirit asked me to write the letter, and I would rather have that person mad at me than not listen to the Holy Spirit. However, I did pray that God would prepare his heart for the letter before it arrived. It turned out the person was not upset; they were searching, and they appreciated that I took a step to acknowledge I saw them and was there for them if they wanted to talk or ask any questions. Again, we never know what effect our actions will have. God knows, though, so if He prompts you, do your best to follow through.

Let’s get to the verse above, as it is a great one. It says, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” God is so good. He is so gentle and loving. In the Old Testament, God’s people could only get so close to Him. They couldn’t be in His direct presence. They were separated from Him. There was a veil separating the Holy place from the Most Holy.  The High priest was allowed to enter this area one day a year on the day of atonement.

However, when Jesus came to earth, He was not separate from us. He walked among the people. He was one of us. He spends His time with others. He lived with his apostles for his years in ministry. He also spent time preaching to thousands and healing many others. He lived among us. Then, when Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in two. This was to symbolize that there is no longer a separation between us and the Lord. After Jesus went to be with His Father, He had His Father send us the Holy Spirit, so we would not be left alone. The Holy Spirit came to live inside of each one of us. You can’t get much closer to God than that.

Now we have this verse telling us that God’s dwelling place will be among us, and He will dwell with us. First, we had Jesus dwell with us and among us. He taught us a new way to live. He taught us a new way to think. It was definitely a renewal of the mind. Many of His teachings were hard to hear, and yet they spoke to so many. He stayed with us only a short time, and yet he changed our hearts, minds, and lives forever.

Then the Holy Spirit came to dwell within us. God knew if we were left on our own, we would forget all the amazing things we learned from Jesus. He also knew how easily swayed we were, and if we were left to our own devices, then we would cave when the pressure to forget what Jesus said was applied. God sent us the Holy Spirit to remind us and to guide us. He also sent the Holy Spirit so we would have the courage, the boldness, and the power to spread His word. Without the Holy Spirit, it would have been way too hard to stand up to all those who didn’t believe. It would have been so hard to endure all the persecution and violence. God sent the Holy Spirit, so we would not be left alone.

Now, this verse is saying that we will one day get to live among God. That He will wipe every tear from their eyes. That there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. Can you even imagine a world without those things? There is so much sin, anger, hurt, hate, and so many other things that are not of God on this earth. It will be so nice when all of that is gone, and we can just focus on God. I can’t even imagine what it will be like to be among God. Actually, there is a song called “I Can Only Imagine,” and the chorus explains how I think when I think of seeing God. It says,

“Surrounded by Your glory

What will my heart feel

Will I dance for you, Jesus

Or in awe of You be still

Will I stand in Your presence

Or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing hallelujah

Will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine

I can only imagine”

I think this is great because it is so true. We have no idea how we will react when we are standing face-to-face with God. The image that just came to mind was Adam and Even in the garden and how they got to hang out with and go for walks with God. How amazing is that!? That will hopefully be us one day. Walking side by side with the Lord. That image right there is something I can keep in my mind when I am tempted to sin. When I am tempted to be ugly to someone, I can remember how great it will feel to be walking side by side with God. It is something we can hold all of our actions up against. Is this feeling, is this action, is this thought more important than the ultimate goal of walking with God?

God cares how we act here on earth. He cares how we treat His children. He cares if we are kind or not. He cares if we feed the hungry and give drinks to the thirsty. We are not all automatically going to heaven. I wish that were the case. However, God is very clear as to what we need to do to get to heaven. Love God and love our neighbors. Are we loving our neighbors? Are we kind to everyone around us? If there is love, there is no room for hate, no room for ugliness, no room for resentment and unforgiveness. What if, going into this new year, we all took a look at our hearts and made some intentions to do better in 2024?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we look forward to when you will walk among us. If there is anything in our lives that is hindering us from being able to walk with you, we ask that you show us and give us the strength to fix it. We love you, Lord, and we want more than anything to be with you. We want to walk with you in a place where there is no more death, mourning, crying, or pain. Please help us get there, Lord. We know we can’t do it on our own. 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. There are just five more days until the beginning of my mentoring group. Register now on my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, and go to the group mentoring section. (Click Here) The beginning of the year is a great time to be intentional about growing in your faith and growing closer to the Lord. I hope you will join me! If not, I hope you will take some time to decide on a plan to grow in faith this year. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

The Word of the Lord for today is, “Children of light, children of joy, reach out to the world and share my hope, my joy, my love. There is so much hatred in the world. There is so much distrust. Go out there and share the joy, the hope, and the love that I give you. Be my instruments of light to a world that is in desperate need of them. Remove the anger that is there. Soften the blows of those who are hurting. I am your God who loves. So go out there and love. Love the little ones. Love whoever needs to be loved. I am the god, and I love each and every one of you.”

Help! My Heart And Mind Are Fighting Each Other!

Psalm 25:16-17 “Look at me and help me! I’m all alone and in big trouble. My heart and mind are fighting each other; Call a truce to this civil war.”

Today, it was hard to pick a verse. I thought I would be writing about Isaiah 35, as my friend wrote to me last week and asked me if I take requests for the podcast. She had read Isaiah 35, and it was really hitting her. She was feeling all the feels, and she wanted to see what I thought about that chapter. I was honored as that was the first time someone had asked me what I thought of a passage in the Bible. When I looked at the chapter, I realized I had already done an episode on that chapter, so I sent it to her. It was episode number 611, “A Way Through The Wilderness,” in case you wanted to check it out. After that, I tried to find a verse for today, and I was struggling. I think I am tired from the holidays. This reminds me, I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! I got to spend the day with family, so that is always nice. My kids were not on their computers, and they were talking to everyone. They even played a game of Monopoly Deal with me before their cousins got there. It was a great day!

Today’s verse reminds us that we can turn to the Lord when we are in trouble, even when we are in big trouble. This is important to remember, and I don’t think we can ever say it enough. Nothing is too big for God. There is nothing in this world that He can’t fix for us. There are all sorts of reasons why we may not turn to Him and ask for help when we are in big trouble. We don’t see how He could help. We don’t want to bother Him. We don’t feel we deserve His help, and so on. I am sure you have thought up very good reasons why you shouldn’t go to the Lord for help when you are in big trouble. One that just popped into my mind is, “I got myself into this mess; I need to get myself out.” This is definitely a human way of thinking, but it is not how God thinks. He has gotten us out of plenty of messes that we got ourselves into.

When we get ourselves into big trouble, all we have to do is be humble and turn back to the Lord. Repent and admit what we have done. Ask for His help, and He will help you. I feel as though I can’t stress this enough. God wants us to ask for help when we need it. Yes, I know He knows when we need help, probably even before we do, and yet He is a perfect Father, and He respects our free will. If we don’t want Him to step in, if we want to do it all ourselves, He will allow us to do that, even if it hurts his heart to watch us struggle. When in trouble, stop and ask the Lord for help. His plan will be much better than any plan we can come up with on our own!

I also liked this verse because of the next line, “My heart and mind are fighting with each other; Call a truce to this civil war.” Has this ever happened to you? It happens to me all the time. My heart wants to do something, and my brain convinces me that I don’t really want to do it, and then they fight over it. It is frustrating because I know what the right thing to do is, and yet my brain tries to convince me to do the opposite. I think the voice of God is in my heart, and yet, at times, the enemy tries to invade my brain, so they argue. I wish I could say I always chose the right thing to do, but that is not always the case. Sometimes I lose out to slothfulness and gluttony. This past year or two, I feel like they have won more than I care to talk about.

What do we do when this happens? What do we do when our hearts and our minds are fighting with each other? When this happens, we can turn to the Lord, just as it says in this verse. We can ask the Lord to call a truce. We can ask the Lord to give us the wisdom to know what we should do and the courage to do what is right. Our brains our trying to keep us comfortable so when we try to do uncomfortable things, our brains complain and try to convince us that we don’t want to do the uncomfortable thing. The problem with this is that we won’t grow if we don’t ever do something that is uncomfortable. We grow when we are outside of our comfort zone.

This is true with all things, not just our jobs. When we step outside our comfort zone and try something new with our spirituality or our prayer life, we grow closer to the Lord. When we step outside our comfort zone and try something new with our families, it can help us grow closer. Our brain is not bad; it is trying to save us from uncomfortable feelings. It is trying to help us. However, we all know what happens when we are saved from all uncomfortable feelings. Have you ever seen a child who was protected from all uncomfortable things? Actually, I feel as though I have been doing this to my kids recently.

The kids had a pretty challenging childhood. Mostly because of their behaviors, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was rough. They were very unkind to each other, and it took a long time for Tony and I to figure out how to parent them in an effective way. So, I would try to shield them from uncomfortable situations because I felt like they had enough to go through. However, doing this robbed them of building up the resiliency and tenacity that comes along with doing uncomfortable things. I now have two young adults and a 15-year-old, and in some ways, they are so resilient. Then there are all the things they struggle with because I was trying to protect them from the pain.

The same will be true with you and me if we continue to let our brains tell our hearts what to do. That still small voice in our hearts is our the Holy Spirit. We need to start listening to that voice more than the louder voice in our minds. The voice that, although it is trying to protect us, does not really know what we need.  We need to pray for the strength and courage to listen to and follow our hearts more. We need to pray that the Lord will help us with discernment. We need to pray that the Lord opens our ears to hear what our hearts are telling us to do. We need to ask the Lord to call a truce!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening and their families. Lord, help us to listen to your voice in our hearts. Help us to do what is right, what is necessary, not what is comfortable. Lord, we pray you give us the gifts of discernment, courage, & strength so that we can do the things you want us to do. We love you, Lord, and we ask that you call a truce and help bring our hearts and our minds into one with your will. We ask you 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 remind everyone that my new mentoring program is kicking off one week from today!! I am so excited. I hope you will check out the information on my website and join me. We all spend so much time and energy trying to eat better and look better, but how much time are we investing into our relationship with the Lord and making sure we are right in His eyes? 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, “My children, I have a mission for you. My mission is to love. Every person that you meet today and every day of your life they are sent to you for you to pour my love out upon them. Forgive them, have mercy on them, and do not judge them. I love them, and I want you to love them too.”

God Claims All Who Were Rejected!

Romans 9:25-26 “Remember the prophecy God gave in Hosea: “To those who were rejected and not my people, I will say to them: ‘You are mine.’ And to those who were unloved, I will say: ‘You are my darling.’ And: “In the place where they were told, ‘You are nobody,’ this will be the very place where they will be renamed ‘Children of the living God.’”

Today I was going to go back to the end of Romans 8 and talk about God’s love again. I love to talk about God’s love because love, true love, is lacking in this world. Instead, the world is filled with anger and hatred. However, when I went to flip the page to read the end of Romans 8, I flipped two pages instead, and my eyes landed on Romans 9:25-26, and it really spoke to my heart. Christmas is definitely a time to celebrate. God sent his only son to come to earth for us. This shows just how much He loves us. Mary said yes, that shows just how much she loves God. Joseph said yet too. There is a lot to celebrate.

However, not everyone is celebrating this Christmas season. As joyful as holidays are for many people, there are also plenty of people who are sad and depressed at holidays. This can be for many reasons. First, if you have lost someone you love, the holidays can be really hard because you don’t have that person to celebrate with anymore. You remember all the things you used to do together and this year you can’t do that with them. It is sad to have to come up with new holiday traditions or to do the old ones without those people.

Others are sad because they don’t have anyone to share the holiday with. It could be that they are single, and their family does not live close by. It could be a college student who can’t afford to go home for the holidays. It could be they have no living relatives. They may be in a nursing home, and no one comes to visit. It might be that they are living on the streets and no longer talk to their family. Whatever the reason is, holidays are a difficult time to be alone. Even if you are happy you no longer talk with your family, the holidays can still be a tough time because of all the past memories.

Also, it can be a really sad time for kids who don’t have families. Whether they were taken away from their family for safety reasons and placed with a different family, or they grew up in an orphanage and never really had a family. The image that is in my mind is of children waiting for Santa to come, and he doesn’t. The song, in my mind, is from the movie “Annie,” and the line is, “Santa Clause we never see. Santa Clause…what’s that? who’s he?” Some kids don’t like Christmas because it is another reminder that they don’t have a family to celebrate with. It reminds them that another year has gone by without getting adopted or without moving back home with their parents.

Holidays can be hard for so many people for so many reasons. It can leave people feeling alone, and many probably feel rejected. They feel rejected because they have no one to celebrate the holidays with. I think this is why I was drawn to this verse. It says, “To those who were rejected and not my people, I will say to them: ‘You are mine.’ And to those who were unloved, I will say: ‘You are my darling.’” I mean, how amazing is that? God is claiming all those who are rejected. He is not saying all of you who are perfect are mine. He is not saying once you clean yourself up, then you can come to me, and you will be mine. He is saying those who are rejected are His.

For all of us who feel rejected and feel like we have no one who cares about us, God cares. The Holy Spirit keeps bringing an image up in my mind of all those who live on the streets. I feel as though He is saying, yes, those are mine. All those who have been rejected from society, yes, they are mine. All those who have been rejected from the church, yes, those are mine. All those children who have been rejected by countless parents looking to adopt, yes, they are mine. All those people who have been rejected by their loved ones, you are mine. God doesn’t just say, you are mine; he also says, “You are my darling.” How intimate is that? God doesn’t just call you into His family and then ignore you or treat you like you are just one of the many. He calls you darling.

The next part also really hit me right in the heart. It says, “In the place where they were told, ‘You are nobody,’ this will be the very place where they will be renamed ‘Children of the living God.’” Man, that’s good. I feel like this speaks to a lot of people. I bet we all know someone who doesn’t feel good enough. I bet we all know someone who feels like they are a nobody. Maybe it is us? Maybe we were told this by someone over the years. They might not have come right out and said it, yet their actions, their body language, or their attitude made it clear that is what they thought of you. This actually brings up something I feel I should say: we need to be careful how we treat people. When you walk by a homeless person on the street, avoiding eye contact and pretending they are not even there, this can make them feel like they are a nobody. You don’t have to give them money, but you can look them in the eyes and say hello. You can ask how their day is going. You can ask if they need a prayer for anything.

There is a woman named Mary who attended the Life in the Spirit seminar we hosted in the fall. She gave a testimony about how she was approached by someone outside the grocery store asking her for some money. She said she didn’t have any money to give but asked if she could pray for them. She asked what they needed prayers for, and they said they needed a place to live. So she prayed with them, and the person who approached her was so happy. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Those we just pass by, those we treat as if they are nobody; they are all God’s children. God is saying in the verse above, “This will be the place they are named Children of the living God.”

If you are feeling rejected this Christmas season, if you are feeling like you are not important to others, if you are feeling like no one cares, please know that God cares. God is calling you to Him. He is saying, You are Mine. He is saying you are His darling. In that very place where someone said you were nobody, he is saying you are not nobody; you are a child of the living God. God is claiming you this day and every day. I feel as if this is speaking to someone in particular today. Someone who has been feeling rejected. Someone who has been feeling they are not enough. Someone has been feeling like no one cares. God cares! You are his darling child.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those who listen to this today. Lord, I pray that whoever needs this message, hears this message today. I pray that each of your children feels loved during this Christmas season. I pray they can feel your love, even if no one else is loving them. Lord, your love is enough! 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 pray each and every one of you has an amazing Christmas. I pray right alongside you for anyone who is praying for a Christmas miracle this year. If you want to reach out and share it with me, I will pray specifically for your Christmas miracle. catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com If not, I will still be praying that your miracle comes true because God knows which is your miracle. I want to take a second to say thank you to everyone listening. Your support means so much to me. I will not be posting an episode on Monday as I will be celebrating Christmas with my family, and I hope you will all be enjoying Christmas as well. I look forward to meeting you here again on Tuesday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend and a very Merry Christmas!

The Word of the Lord for today is: “Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. My children, let nothing steal the peace I have given you as my last enduring gift. It will sustain you in trouble. My power and love are in this permeating shalom. Peace is your strong protection.”


The Power of a Prayer Journal

For Christmas, in 2005, my uncle Jeano gave me a notebook. Inside the notebook was a letter from him that explained all about spiritual journaling/prayer journaling. I had never done prayer journaling before, and my first thought was that it was for people who were holier than me. I am sure you can start to see this recurring theme in my thoughts. I tend to feel like I am not holy enough to do all these different things. I am not sure why it took so long to realize these ideas could be a path to becoming more holy. In the letter, my uncle listed four benefits of prayer journaling. These are: 

1. Deepening your relationship with God.
2. Helping you to see God really does answer your prayers as you look back and see it in your own writing time after time.
3. Increasing your confidence (in God) as you take things to Him in your journal.
4. Having someone to go to and unload on, anytime, anywhere, who can truly “handle it.”

All of that sounded amazing. I was always looking for some way to deepen my relationship with God. “What if I do it wrong?” “What if I say the wrong thing?” These questions popped into my head. I decided to try it anyway. What is the worst that can happen, right? I made my first entry on January 11, 2006. This is how I began my first entry, “I’ve written in a journal before, but not regularly, and not a prayer journal. I don’t know if there are certain rules, but I will just write what I am thinking. I am sure I will get better and more focused with practice.” Then I started to write about my day. That first day I wrote four pages in my new journal. I was so excited to start this new practice and I felt great afterwards.

I would love to say that from that day on I spent 10-20 minutes a day writing to God in that journal. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I just took out that journal to check how often I wrote in it, as I remembered it wasn’t often. It turns out after that first entry, on January 11, 2006, my next entry is on June 4, 2010. What?! I did not write in my prayer journal again for another 4 years. In case you had any illusions that I have it all figured out and this spiritual stuff came easier to me, I don’t and it didn’t. I wrote in my journal for a few days in June and then not again until September. Then it was once in September, once in October, and once in December. Just to give you an idea of how inconsistent my journaling was, my journal had 44 pages and it took me until June 2017 to fill it.

In Spring of 2017 I attended a retreat sponsored by the Military Council of Catholic Women (MCCW). I am not sure exactly what was said at this retreat to give me this conviction, but I came home from the retreat with the conviction that I needed to turn to God for help with my family issues. I struggled with parenting our three boys, as they were very strong willed, and Tony and I could not seem to get on the same page. Our marriage was also struggling.

I had read almost every parenting book out there, as well as many marriage books. A thought came to me at the retreat, that I was looking everywhere but to God for answers. I wrestled with this thought because I had been praying to him all along the way. What I heard in response to my question was I was spending more time trying to come up with my own answers than I was spending time trying to hear God’s answers to my prayers. Wow, that was not what I was expecting to hear.

When I got home from this retreat, I made a resolution to get up before the kids each morning and write in my prayer journal. Write to Him and let Him know all that was going on in my life. I know that He already knows what is going on, but it’s nice when we make time to talk with Him about it. You may know that your child went outside to play on the playground, but wouldn’t you still love to hear them explain what they did out there in their own words?

Talk to God about your day, your wins, your struggles, and anything else you want to talk to him about. I believe it makes God happy when we make time to talk with Him. He is our Father, and He wants to talk with His children. I got up almost every morning after that retreat and wrote in a journal. I talked about my day and what things were going on in our family. I thanked God for whatever I could and I asked for help in the areas I needed help in. I was so thankful I was able to have the discipline to get up early each morning and do this. It was such a change from my past attempts, from June 2017-Sept. 2017 I filled a whole journal.

I felt a great sense of peace while I was writing in the journal daily. I did feel my relationship with God deepening. It is similar to having a best friend you can talk to every day. I have heard from many sources that writing is good for your soul. Think how much better for your soul it is when you are writing to your heavenly father.

There are many different techniques to prayer journal and I have tried a few different ones. While writing this chapter I looked back at some of my journals and was reminded of the different formats I have used. There is no right or wrong way to start a prayer journal. You can just get a notebook and start writing. I hope you do that. My wish for you is to get a notebook, any notebook and just start writing. The only reason I am writing this part is because I know I like to have directions. I like to have an example of at least one way someone else did it so I can get started. If I am just told to do something without an example, sometimes I get stuck trying to decide how to start and I never start.

The first type of journaling I did was just writing whatever came to my mind. I would write as if I was talking to someone sitting next to me. I would write about my day, or what I did the day before. I would write about what I had coming up that day or anything I needed prayers for. I would also list any prayer requests I had received from others.

If I happened to be struggling with anything, and let’s be real, I always was, then I would talk about that and ask for God’s help. I would ask for His wisdom in a certain circumstance, or His patience, or strength to make it through. Whatever I felt I needed on that particular day, or in that particular circumstance. Sometimes I would write for a few pages, and sometimes I would fall asleep after writing a paragraph. It doesn’t matter. I truly believe that God loves our desire for holiness and He loves any attempt at trying to grow closer to him.

The next type of journaling I learned from Dynamic Catholic. I have received it on a prayer card with most of my orders. Also, the description is in the book, The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic by Matthew Kelly. Here is the prayer process from Dynamic Catholic:

Gratitude: Begin by thanking God in a personal dialogue for whatever you are most grateful for today.

Awareness: Revisit the times in the past twenty-four hours when you were and were not the-best-version-of-yourself. Talk to God about these situations and what you learned from them.

Significant Moments: Identify something you experienced today and explore what God might be trying to say to you through that event (or person).

Peace: Ask God to forgive you for any wrong you have committed (against yourself, another person, or Him) and to fill you with a deep and abiding peace.

Freedom: Speak with God about how He is inviting you to change your life, so that you can experience the freedom to be the-best-version-of-yourself.

Others: Lift up to God anyone you can feel called to pray for today, asking God to bless and guide them.

Finish by praying the Our Father.

I would look at my day and go through these 6 steps in my journal. Sometimes, it would just be a sentence for each one; sometimes, it would be longer. I think it is important to note that in step two, it says to notice where you were and were not the best version of yourself. I think when we look back over our day, it may be easy to think about all the times we might have missed the mark. Especially if we are a spouse or parent, we can usually see all the places throughout the day when we could have been better. Maybe we yelled at our children or lost our temper with our spouse. I think it’s important to examine these and see how we might be able to respond better next time.

However, I feel it is just as important to look at the things we did right today. How many times did we want to yell, but didn’t? Did we go outside and play with our child even though we really wanted to stay inside and read a book? If we only focus on the negative we may start to feel like all we do is mess up. However, when we are also looking at the things we did right we see we are not the terrible person we thought we were. If we know we are doing some things right, we can try to increase the number of times we get it right and decrease the number of times we get it wrong.

A third type of journaling I did came from the book called Consoling the Heart of Jesus by Father Michael E. Gaitley.1 He presented this method as an Examination of Conscience. I went through these steps before bed, and I wrote them in my journal during this period of journaling. You would begin by putting yourself in the presence of God. Then follow the steps in the acronym B. A. K. E. R.

B = Blessings. Spend the most time here, praising and thanking God for the blessing of the day.

A = Ask. Ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten you, so you can recognize your sins. 

K = Kill. It was our sins that killed and crucified Jesus. Search for commissions and omissions. (This means what did you do that you shouldn’t have done and what didn’t you do that you should have done.)

E = Embrace. Be sorry for sin and allow Jesus to embrace you with rays of his mercy. 

R = Resolution. Look ahead to the next day, anticipating potential pitfalls and opportunities.

I would think about each step and write the things that came to mind. I would think about all of my blessings for that day, all the things I had to be grateful for, and I would write them down. (B) Then I would write in my journal (although you could just say it), “Holy Spirit, come down and show me my sins,” or “Holy Spirit, show me all the ways I have sinned today.” (A) Then I would write down anything that comes to mind. (K) For the next step, I would tell God I was sorry for my sins and ask Him for His help to keep me from sinning again. (E). Next, I would picture God’s rays of mercy shining down on me. Finally, I would think about the following day and write down one thing I could do to help it go more smoothly and to be a better version of myself. Just that intentional few minutes of planning I found to be very helpful.

Another way a lot of people use their prayer journal is to read a Bible verse or chapter and then talk to God in their journal about what the verse said to them. They explain what it meant to them or what they thought of when they read it. Maybe you could relate that scripture to whatever you are going through on that particular day. I think you would be surprised how the same scripture verse can speak to you differently depending on what you are experiencing at the time. You could also read a daily devotional, you don’t have to buy a book, they have some online. After you read the daily devotional, you could write your reactions to it in your journal. Also, some devotionals have questions at the end of them. You could answer these during your journaling time.

Hopefully, these examples show you that there are many different ways to do your prayer journaling. I have used many of them at one time or another. Currently, I am writing a letter to God each day. I begin the letter with “Hi Dad,” “Good Morning, Father,” or some variation of this. I did not feel comfortable when I started referring to God as Dad, as it felt informal and even disrespectful. However, He is our Dad, and I believe He longs for a deep and intimate relationship with us, so I have grown comfortable with addressing my letters in this manner. You may not, and again that is great. We are all on our own journey. No two journeys will be the same. God made us perfectly equipped for our own journey. You know what you feel comfortable with and what you don’t. He loves you because you are you, not because you are trying to be like someone else. Just be yourself, write from the heart, and I bet He will love it!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, I ask that you bless their families, especially during the holiday season. I ask that you help us to remember the reason for the season. Let our focus not get distracted by all the business. Let us remember why we have Christmas and what we are really celebrating. I 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 hope you enjoyed listening to the chapter of my book today. I will place a link in the show notes in case you want to buy a copy. Click Here to get your autographed copy. You can also go on Amazon. If you click on the link below or go to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, you can get an autographed copy. 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, “Seek me at all times. The more you seek me, the more I will enlighten you and guide you in ways that you never thought possible. Be my light to the world. Reflect in everything that you do that you are mine."

Nothing In This Universe Has The Power To Diminish God's Love Towards Us!

Romans 8:35 “Who could ever divorce us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One? Absolutely no one! For nothing in the universe has the power to diminish his love toward us. Troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. What about persecutions, deprivations, dangers, and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipotent love.”

This is the passion translation again. I decided this morning to just open it and read some of it and see what jumped out at me. I really liked all of chapter 8, but I thought it best to limit it to a verse or two. I will probably stay in chapter 8 for at least one more episode. It was tough to decide between this verse and the verses at the end of this section. This section in Chapter 8 is called “The Triumph of God’s Love.” Can you tell just by the title why I loved all of it? The end of this section was similar to this verse, yet it said it in a different way that was equally compelling. I will probably use those verses on Thursday or Friday, so stay tuned.

I decided on this verse today because it drives home something that I try to help people see. Something I wish everyone in the world knew down deep in the depths of their hearts. God loves us ALWAYS, NO MATTER WHAT WE DO! The verse starts by asking us a question. “Who could ever divorce us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One?” I like that it uses the word divorce as that is a word where, unfortunately, everyone knows the meaning. The verse answers that question with an, “Absolutely no one!” There is so much in that one sentence. That one sentence tells us that no one could ever divorce us from Jesus’ love. Divorce means to separate something from something else. The verse is saying no one can separate us from the endless love of God’s Anointed One. This tells us that the love is endless. It is not fickle like human love. It doesn’t come and go with the changing of the winds or the changing of our moods. God’s love is endless.

The next line says, “For nothing in the universe has the power to diminish his love toward us. Troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love.” The first part was saying no one could come between us; now this verse is saying nothing can come between us. We might agree that no person could come between us and God, and yet we struggle to believe that nothing can come between us. We think our failures make it so God can’t love us. We think our sins make it so God can’t love us. This verse shows us that NOTHING in this universe has the power to diminish His love towards us.

It even says that troubles, pressures, and problems are unable to come between us and heaven’s love. I think it is really important to know this because what it doesn’t say in this verse is no one, and nothing will try to come in between us and heaven’s love. You will find plenty of people that want to come between you and heaven’s love. You will find plenty of things that the devil will use to try to come between you and heaven’s love. If we know that these things aren’t strong enough to block God’s love for us, then we won’t worry so much. We won’t pay them so much attention. The enemy tries to convince us that every little thing we do makes us unworthy of God’s love. He tries to convince us that God could never love us; look at all we have done. This is why it is important to read God’s Word. It is important to know what the Lord is actually saying to us so we can stand up to the enemy and know when He is lying, which by the way, is always!

The last line in this verse says, “What about persecutions, deprivations, dangers, and death threats? No, for they are all impotent to hinder omnipotent love.” This last part is interesting. You might think, why would these things hinder God’s love? I am not doing them; they are being done to me. For instance, persecution is hostility and ill-treatment, especially on the basis of ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or political beliefs. Why would someone being hostile to me get in the way of God’s love? The reason we think this is because of the things they say to us. Their primary purpose is to make us feel like we are not good enough. They want us to think God could never love us. This verse confirms that even if we might feel far from God because of deprivations, dangers, and death threats, He is still right there with us, and He is loving us no matter what.

I love the language the last line uses. It says that all these tactics the enemy uses are impotent to hinder God’s love. Impotent means unable to take effective action; helpless or powerless. I love to think about how powerless the enemy and His tactics are to separate us from God’s love. The only thing is, we have to know this, we have to believe this, and we have to live this. If we don’t know this, then we will believe the enemy's lies, and we will think we are unloved. We will feel like we are unloved. When we believe the lie, we empower the liar. The enemy is convincing many people that the Lord couldn’t possibly love them. We have to get His word out. We have to share what we know, which is that the Lord’s love is endless and unconditional. Nothing we can do or anyone else can do can take it away from us. He loved us before we were born, and He will love us Always!!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening today and all of their families. I ask that you bless their holiday season and that you help us remember the reason for the season. Help us be ridiculously kind this holiday season. Lord, help us hear this message today and let it take root down deep in our hearts. Let us know that we know that we know that you love us always and nothing can change that. We ask that you reach out to all those who feel unloved this Christmas Season and help them feel loved! We love you right back, Lord, just not quite as perfectly as you love us. We ask all of this in accordance with our will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I am so excited because my new mentoring group starts two weeks from today! If you have any questions about it, please reach out to me on social media or with an email to catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com. If you know someone who would love to grow closer to the Lord in this upcoming year, you could gift them a membership for the first month and see what they think. It is just $30 a month for 4 weekly sessions and the private Facebook group. That is about a dollar a day. Also, if you or someone you know wants to grow closer to the Lord and yet really can’t afford the $30 a month, then let me know. I can send them a link to pay what they can afford to pay. I can’t wait to meet some of you in my new mentoring program. I hope you give it a try! I look forward to bringing you a witness from my good friend Catherine tomorrow. She has been on here before, but it was over a year ago, and I don’t think many of you heard her witness. I know you will love it, as it is an incredible testimony. She is a very strong woman. I hope you will tune in and listen tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

The Lord’s Word for you today from my prayer group is, “Even though we are in troubled times, my graces abound for you and yours. Fear not to move forward in trust every day. Do not be anxious. Believe in me. I will take care of you forever.”

God Has Infinitely More For You Than Your Most Unbelievable Dream!

Ephesians 3:20 “Never doubt God's mighty power to work in you. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.”

I know I have mentioned it before, yet I will say it again. I really love the passion translation. It gets the point of the verse across in a very passionate way. I talked last week about how the ladies in my mentoring group always pick a word and mantra for the year. This helps them remember throughout the year what they want that year, and then when they have to make a decision, they can hold all the choices up to their wants and needs for the year and see which choices align best. The other thing I recommend you do each year is to come up with some goals at the beginning of the year.

I think it is important that everyone has at least a few goals, as it gives us some direction. I am not talking about New Year's Resolutions that you set on December 31st and have already forgotten about two weeks later. I am talking about taking some time to think about where you want to be at the end of  2024. What would have liked to accomplish? I am not just talking about one area of your life either. Where would you like to be in your job, your relationship with the Lord, your relationships with your family members and friends? Where would you like to be financially? Once you know where you want to be at the end of the year, you set goals that help you get there. Time goes by so quickly, and we only get one life here on Earth. If we don’t live it intentionally, it will pass us by, and we will just go through it on autopilot.

The verse above is a great verse to think about when you are thinking of where you want to be at the end of this year. It is a great reminder that God’s mighty power is at work in you! I think this is so important to remember. Remembering this one thing could be the key to so many of our worries. If we can remember that His power is at work inside of us, then it takes the pressure off of us to think we need to do it all.  We don’t have to worry if we are strong enough to handle this upcoming surgery because God’s mighty power is at work in us, and that is surely strong enough. We don’t have to worry about whether we are good enough because God’s mighty power is at work in us, and He is definitely enough. We don’t have to worry if we are brave enough to do the thing we need to do because God’s mighty power is at work in us and that will make us brave enough. Do you see my point?

There is one catch, though, we need to ask Him to help us. Our heavenly Father believes in free will, and he wants us to ask Him for help. He wants us to give Him permission to work in our lives. Have you done this? Have you given God permission to do whatever He needs to do in your life? What about starting each day with a simple prayer? God, I give this day to you, do with it what you want. Imagine what your days would look like if you put God in control of them. Imagine the amazing things that could happen. Imagine how much less trouble we would get into if we weren’t steering this boat we call life. Yes, God’s mighty power lives in us and works in us, and yet we need to call on that power. If we want to do life on our own and we don’t want God to interfere, then He will let us do that. Unfortunately, that is our choice. I say unfortunately because sometimes I wish we didn’t have free will. I think our free will gets us into all sorts of trouble.

However, without free will, we wouldn’t be free to love the Lord truly. It is not true love if it is not freely given. So, we do the best we can with our brokenness. God is there, and He wants to help us. All we need to do is ask. All we need to do is let God know He is welcome in our lives. We want Him here. We want Him right next to us, guiding us and helping us. If we do this, we can call upon His power to work in us at any time. It is always available without any notice, and it never runs out. What else in this world can you say that about?

The next line of the verse says, "He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination!” I love this!! I know this to be true as it has happened in my own life, and yet I don’t think many others know this to be true. God is telling us in our prayer group week after week that we are not asking for too much. We are asking for too little. Yet, I think we all continue to feel as though we should just be happy and content with what we have, and we shouldn’t bother the Lord by asking for more. We think if we ask for more, then that means we are ungrateful for what we have already received. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

We are honoring the Lord when we ask for more because we are showing Him that we believe He can give us more and also that we know what we have came from Him. Our desires, those down deep in our hearts, came from the Lord; he put them there. He is not going to put desires down deep in our hearts and then not help us achieve those desires. This verse reminds us of this. God will not only help us achieve those desires but also help us achieve infinitely more than we request of Him. Has this happened to you before? Have you asked for one thing and yet received something so much better? My sister was praying for a job once. She wanted part-time, but that is hard to find in her line of work. She made a list of all the things she really wanted this job to have, and yet she knew she would probably have to compromise on some of the things as this job she created in her mind would be impossible to find.

She got offered a lot of jobs, most were full-time, or they required travel, or they didn’t pay enough. She was starting to get frustrated and was getting ready to give up on finding a job that fit her criteria. However, her word for the year was trust, and so she kept asking the Lord for a job that would be perfect for her, and she kept trusting He would provide. Finally, a job became available that was more than she could have asked for. It checked all the boxes she had written down and also had several bonus things that she didn’t even know she wanted, but God did! If we can trust Him long enough, He always comes through. Sometimes, we get tired of waiting, and we choose one of the options that we don’t really want. This verse could be a great reminder to look back to when we are tempted to settle for less than we desire. "He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination!” Write this down somewhere that you will see it every day and read it every day. Remind yourself that you are a child of the one true King, and you don’t have to settle. God has so much more in store for you!

The last line of this verse says, “He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.” This is an important one for us to hear because it seems we could all use some extra energy, especially during the holiday season. We can rely on the miraculous power of God to energize us. I am betting we have all experienced this miraculous power over the years in our lives and yet maybe we didn’t realize where it came from. If you have children, think about how you stayed up all night with a crying baby or teething toddler and then still had enough energy to get out of bed in the morning. Anyone who has lived through that can tell you that is miraculous. How do you think doctors, nurses, police, and firefighters make it through their shifts working overtime? God’s miraculous power gives us energy to get out of bed when we really don’t want to. Think about a time when all you wanted to do was curl up in bed and never leave it. Did you eventually find the energy to get out of that bed? Was it miraculous?

I feel God has tasked me with two missions. One is to help as many people in the world as I can come to know that God is Love. He loves us all unconditionally and freely. There is nothing we need to do or even could do that would make Him love us any more or any less than He already does. Our past does not matter to the Lord. We are always just one good confession away from being right with Him again. Repent and turn back to the Lord; that was the message of all the prophets of old. God’s message hasn’t changed. You have never done something so bad that He can’t forgive you or that would make Him stop loving you. You are in His heart forever!! The second thing I believe He has called me to is to help everyone understand the power they have living inside of them. This verse is a great one for that. I think if we all knew exactly how much power we had living inside of us, it would blow our minds. The enemy wants us to feel we are weak and we can’t do anything. This is a lie. We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. He strengthens us because His spirit is literally living inside of us. How can we be weak with the Holy Spirit living inside of us? Can you imagine what the world would look like if we all started to live in this power?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this today. Lord, I ask you to bless their families too. Lord, we ask that you help us all to realize that you want more for us than we want. Help us to see that we are now asking for too much but, in fact, too little. Help us to believe with our whole hearts that this verse is true. Help us take this verse into this upcoming year and expect great things to happen in our lives. Help us to expect your power to help us. Help us expect the miraculous energy when we need it the most. Lord, help us remember to invite you into our lives each and every day. 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 more boldly with Jesus. As we get closer and closer to the new year, I want to invite you all to think about how you want to grow closer to the Lord over this next year. We must be intentional, or it doesn’t happen. If we are waiting for more time to pray with the Lord to appear, we will still be waiting next year. We need to make time. Do you want to read more books, listen to more podcasts, read the Bible, spend more time with the Lord? What can you do to intentionally grow closer to the Lord? Would you like some help learning to grow closer to the Lord this year? With my new mentoring program, I will teach you lots of ways to grow closer to the Lord. You will also have a set time each week devoted to learning and coming up with a plan about how you will check in with the Lord over the upcoming week. Planning in advance is the key to being successful. If we fail to plan, then we plan to fail. Let’s all go into the New Year with a concrete plan on how we will grow closer to the Lord this year. Whether it is in my mentoring program or some other way, have a plan. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

God’s word from my Prayer Group today is: “I have called you by name into life. I have called you every day by your name because I know you; I love you because you are my friend. My children, I have so much more for you. I have more for you every single day — more for yourself, more for you to give away, and more for you to enrich the world around you.”

Discipline & The Seven Deadly Sins

Proverbs 5:21-23 "For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. For lack of discipline, they will die, led astray by their own great folly.”

Today I couldn’t seem to come up with a verse for the episode. This is unusual, although it does happen sometimes. I decided to go to the proverbs since that is a book full of instructions on how we should live. I figured that would have some good advice for us. This verse came right after verse 20, which says, “Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman?” This is where the verse above begins, "For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. For lack of discipline, they will die, led astray by their own great folly.”

This verse does not just apply when we are talking about adultery. We should remember this all day as we go throughout our days. Everything we do is in full view of the Lord, and He examines our paths. I think we forget this sometimes. I think we truly believe that we can hide things from the Lord. If we aren’t thinking about Him, He is not thinking about us. Kind of like when we are kids, we think if we do something when our parents’ backs are turned then they won’t know what we did. Guess what, they always know. Parents are much smarter than we give them credit for. This is something I don’t think we truly understand until we become parents. Once we become parents and we get an inside look at what it is like, then we gain a much greater understanding of our parents and what we put them through.

I think it helps us to understand our relationship with God as well. When we are a child, we feel as though our parents are just doing things because they can or because they like to punish up. We think they take things away because they don’t want us to have any fun or because we like to see them suffer. However, once we become parents, we realize that they were trying to protect us, or they were trying to teach us important life lessons. Once we have our own children, or maybe we don’t have our own children, but we have the benefit of hindsight, then we can see they were trying to prepare us to enter into the world as independent adults.

The same is true with God. We don’t always understand what His plan is and why He does the things He does. Sometimes it can seem like He is punishing us, and other times it seems like He doesn’t care that we are suffering. We know He could take away our pain, and we don’t understand why He doesn’t. Although, usually, when we have the benefit of hindsight, we can see that we need to go through what we went through in order to become the person we are today. I don’t know if “needed” to go through is the right word or not. Sometimes we allow our kids to go through hard things so they come out stronger on the other side. Did we “need” to let them go through it? Not necessarily; there are parents who shield their kids from disappointment, and yet their kids grow up to become independent adults too. They just might not be as resilient as the kids who were allowed to experience the pain of disappointment.

When we have children, they do not come with an instruction manual, so we are all just doing the best we can with what we have been given. The same is not true with God. He is perfect. He is the perfect father. He knows what is best for us, even if we disagree. He knows when we need to experience the pains of our mistakes, and He knows when it is okay to save us from some of our mistakes. Sometimes watching our children suffer through the pains of our mistakes is too much for us to handle, and we rush in to save them. God doesn’t need to do this. He has the benefit of seeing all the good that will come out of it, so He can watch us suffer in the short term so we can gain all the benefits in the long term. We are not blessed with that foresight. We struggle to see our kids struggle, and we want to save them from it.

I am guessing someone really needed to hear that today, as that is not at all what I thought I would be talking about today. What really stood out to me in the verse above was the last line, “For lack of discipline, they will die, led astray by their own great folly.” This is something no one really wants to hear, especially me. I have been struggling with discipline over the last few years. I was really good at it for a while, and then I think I stopped doing all the things that helped me be good at it. One reason lack of discipline can be so harmful to us is because it lets the deadly sins creep in. You know the ones I am talking about, pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. When we are not disciplined, these creep in ever so slowly and quietly.

I know they have been in my life for the last few years. I tell myself God doesn’t care if I eat this cookie, and maybe he doesn’t. However, is it just that one cookie, or is it half the box of cookies? Is that cookie leading me into gluttony? If I am not disciplined with my eating, I can easily fall into gluttony. I actually believe I have been partaking in gluttony a lot over the last two years, as my clothes just keep getting tighter and tighter. I used to be good about enjoying a cookie at times but not having them all the time. I was good about eating pretty healthy and yet enjoying some cake at a celebration. However, my discipline with food seems to have disappeared in recent years.

If we are not disciplined in many areas, then we will struggle with these sins. For instance, if we don’t take captive our thoughts like it says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, then we can struggle with pride, greed, wrath, envy, and lust. We think that we can’t control our thoughts, and this is simply not true. Yes, you can’t control when a thought comes into your head. However, you can control whether or not you entertain that thought. You can take captive your thoughts and make a conscious choice not to keep thinking about that thought. You can change the thought to one that is not attached to these sins. For instance, if you see a beautiful woman or man, you might first have a lustful thought. However, you can consciously change that thought to an innocent one. If you have a thought about how you envy your neighbor for getting a new car, you can change that thought to say you are happy for them and that God is blessing them. You might not feel that way at the moment, but if you say it, you will begin to think that way.

I am sure all of us want to spend eternity in heaven. I don’t think you would be listening to a podcast named Walk Boldly With Jesus if you didn’t care about God and spending eternity with Him. Do we really want to put our eternity in jeopardy because we aren’t willing to have a little discipline while we are here on Earth? I know that discipline is not easy; believe me, I do. However, the good news is that we are not in this alone. All we need to do is have the desire to do better and then bring it to the Lord. If you are Catholic, bring this lack of discipline to the priest in confession. Bring the deadly sins that are attached to your lack of discipline to confession as well. Ask the Lord for help in overcoming them, and He will give you the strength. If you are not Catholic, you can take your struggle to the Lord and to your minister if you would like. Talk to the Lord about where your struggles are and where you getting caught up, and the Lord will help you.

The first step in change is realizing that there is a problem. I never really put two and two together before that my lack of discipline was leading me into a struggle with the seven deadly sins. I never realized that by not exercising discipline I was allowing those sins to creep into my life and to get comfy and to start directing my life in some ways. I can see where the Lord is talking directly to me this morning. I hope you can see where He might be talking to you as well. We can’t change what we don’t see. I am grateful for this eye-opening message this morning, as I now can start to be more aware of the consequences of my lack of discipline and why it matters if I eat that cookie or not, why it matters if I waste that time or not. Our choices matter. As it says in the verse above, “For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. For lack of discipline, they will die, led astray by their own great folly.” Do we want our lack of discipline to lead us astray?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we thank you for being the perfect Father to us. We thank you for knowing when we need to struggle through and when you can save us from the struggle. Lord, we thank you for waking us up this morning to one big reason why discipline is so important. We repent of letting these sins creep into our lives, and we resolve to be more aware going forward. Lord, we know we can only do this with your help. We ask you to help us develop more discipline. We ask you to give us the tenacity we need to keep trying to be disciplined, even when we fail over and over again. We want to spend eternity with you, Lord. Please help us get there. 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. If you would like to dive deeper into how to walk more boldly with Jesus, I hope you will join my mentoring group that is starting in January. I will go over topics such as prayer, growing closer to the Lord, reading scriptures, hearing the Lord’s voice, walking in the confidence that you are a beloved child of God, and learning what it really means to have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of you. It is going to be a great way to learn how to live your faith more. If you would like more information, click on the link below or go to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!

The word from the Lord today is, “I call you. I encourage you. I thirst for you, yet you do not step forward; you step backward. I urge you to step forward, not hinder all that I have for you. For there is more that I long and ache to give you. This is a time of great graces. I want you to grow in leaps and bounds. My mercies are tremendous. My grace, my call, my gifts to you are great. Don’t refuse any of them. Let yourself be free to become much more than you can ever dream of. I have promised; I have given you my Spirit. I do not renege on my promises or hold back my Spirit from you. Let your light shine for me. There is enough darkness in the world. Let the light that is within you from me shine on others. Be not afraid to speak words of hope, love, and peace. Be my witnesses to the love that I have to give to them.”

The Same Way Fruit Appears In An Orchard

Galatians 5:22-23 “ But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”

My mentor posted this online yesterday for us to read and think about as we all begin to think about our words and mantra for 2024. In the Big Life Mentoring with Pamela Crim, she has us pick a word and mantra each year. First, she has us fill out worksheets that help us pray about it, ask God about it, and figure out what it is we want and need this year. Then, we ask the Lord to give us a word for the year. Sometimes, we have a word in mind, and then after we do the worksheets, we realize God has a different word in mind. Sometimes He will give us a word that we don’t necessarily want but that we really need. For instance, He gave a friend of mine the word stay, when all she wanted to do was go.

God is a good and loving Father. He doesn’t always just tell us what we want to hear, He also tells us what we need to hear. Once we have our word, we come up with a mantra that we say every single day of the year. This is to remind us of what is important and how we said we wanted to live. This is great to have because it is also something to which we can hold all of our decisions up to see if they align with how we want to live our lives. For instance, my word last year was Bold. I knew I wanted to step out in faith more and ask people if I could pray over them. I knew I wanted to live my faith more boldly and not be afraid of what others thought of me. This was going to require me to be more bold.

After filling out the worksheet and finding out everything I wanted next year, I came up with a mantra, and then, at the New Year’s Retreat, my mentor helped me fine-tune it. My mantra for this year is, “I have a divine calling on my life, and I boldly respond, holding nothing back. I’m here to serve God fully and be used as His vessel. I know He is already proud of what I am doing, and I will continue to step out and be BOLD!” This mantra was great because it reminded me of who I wanted to be all throughout the year. Did I always live up to this mantra? No. Sometimes I did not respond boldly, but I believe I responded boldly more often than I would have if I had not had this mantra going through my head.

Now, let's get back to the verse. The verse says, “ But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.” While first reading this verse, I was confused as to what was meant by the saying, “He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard.” How does fruit appear in the orchard? The first thing that came to me was that the tree needs to grow. When the tree is a sapling, it doesn’t have any fruit. However, as it grows up, as it matures as a tree, you will begin to see more and more fruit on it. The second thing that came to me is that the fruit is a gift. The tree didn’t have to do anything to earn the fruit it produced. All the tree had to do was be itself, do the things it was made to do and God took care of the rest.

The same is true for us when it comes to the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to do anything to earn the gifts of the Holy Spirit, they are freely given. However, sometimes we do need to ask for them. God is a big believer in free will, so He does not want to give you something you do not want. However, He is happy to give us gifts when we ask for them. You might know some people who have certain gifts from the Holy Spirit. You might even think to yourself that you asked for that same gift and wonder why they have a much stronger gift than you do. My guess would be that they use the gift more, or they spend more time in communion with the Lord.

Even though our gifts are freely given by the Lord, the power of the gifts we are given flows from our relationship with the Lord. Everything we do flows from our relationship with the Lord. So, we may have the same gifts as someone else, but if they are spending more time cultivating a deeper intimacy with the Lord, it may seem like they have a stronger gift than we do. We all have the same Holy Spirit living inside of us, the exact same Holy Spirit. The Lord has just shown them through that intimacy how to use it more. A second reason it can seem like they are more gifted is because they practice the gift they were given. They exercise those gifts, and so they become stronger.

We were all given the Holy Spirit at baptism and then a refreshing of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation. However, if we aren’t asking for the gifts of the Spirit, then we probably aren’t seeing them in our lives. If we did ask for them and yet we aren’t using them, we probably aren’t seeing the fruits of them in our lives. If you are faithful with little, God will give you more. Sometimes it takes using the gifts in faith for a long time before you actually see any fruit in your lives from them. However, if you ask the Lord for the gift and then you use the gift he gives you, you will grow in it.

The verse goes on to give a few examples- “things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”  How great would it be if we had a supernatural affection for others? If we could be more Christ-like and love everyone, not just those who met our impossibly high standards, we didn’t know we had. I think we could all use a bit more of a sense of compassion in our lives. That is something that seems to be lacking nowadays.

Next, it says we will develop a willingness to stick with things. If anyone needs this one, it is me. I have really been struggling with that this year. However, I have plans in place to help me next year, and they all begin with spending more time with our heavenly Father. I know when I put Him first and make time first thing in the morning to spend with Him, my day goes better, and my life goes better. I don’t know why it is so easy to forget that. Another great thing this verse mentions that I think is important for all of us to have is a “conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.” If we go into a situation or a conversation assuming good, assuming holiness is present, we will have much better results. Usually, we go into things assuming the worst, and then we wonder why it goes badly. Our attitude and thoughts matter!!

The last part of the verse that I want to touch on is where it says, “not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”   If we stick closely to the Lord, this part will be easier. If we are constantly checking in with the Lord, then we don’t have to force things in our lives. God will lead us down the steps He wants us to take. He will lead the way, and we just get to follow. That is not to say following is always easy, but it is not something we need to force. It says right in the verses we will be able to marshal and direct our energies wisely! Who wouldn’t want that?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us follow your ways. Help us ask for your gifts and then use them when you give them to us. Help us to know what to ask for, Lord. Help us to assume the good in others and the good in our situations. 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 have decided that instead of calling my new program coaching, I will call it mentoring. If you want more info on that program, you can find all the details on my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com. The live mentoring nights will be Tuesday nights, and they will consist of 30 minutes of me teaching/mentoring on a topic and then 30 minutes of small group time where you can see how to use what I taught in your upcoming week. I really think the small group time will turn out to be your favorite part, even though you may be apprehensive at first since you might not know anyone. Growing with a community is the best!

The word of the Lord for today is the bookmark that we will go over in the Prayer Group today. It begins with a call, proclamation, promise, and directive. See if you can spot them.

“Come closer to me. Come deeper with me. Come into my presence because I want you, my diamonds, to sparkle so that all those around you will want to come and be in your presence to absorb your light. Your light is my life in you. I am the God who loves you. I am the God who protects you. I am the God who never stops caring for you. I give you my abundant blessings. No matter what is going on in your life right now. I take each step that you take. When you feel you can’t stand, I am there to carry you. What I share with you, you must share with others. It is I who sends you to share my way, my truth, and my life so that others may grow in me and love me. Arise with the name of Jesus on your lips.”

What Is A Life Verse?

Isaiah 50:4-5 “The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to answer the weary a word that will waken them. Morning after morning, he wakens my ear to hear as disciples do; The Lord God opened my ear; I did not refuse, did not turn away.”

While at Encounter Ministries class last night, I was talking with a fellow student. We were talking about how excited we get at the beginning of the year and how much we love a good planner. I don’t really know this classmate that well, as we only see each other for a few hours on Monday nights, and most of that time is spent listening to the teachers. I had no idea she loved planners and planning for the new year as much as I did. We were talking about our plans for the future a bit, and she asked if I had scriptures that spoke to the future I wanted. I told her I hadn’t looked up scriptures for the job I wanted, although I do have scriptures surrounding me that remind me to be bold and remind me that the Holy Spirit is living inside of us. They remind me that we can move mountains with mustard seed-sized faith, and whatever we ask in Jesus’ name will be given to us because Jesus went to be with His Dad.

My friend said she has a few life verses, and one of them is Isaiah 50:4-7. I really liked 4-5 because it talks about what I want to do when I grow it. It is a verse that speaks to the future that I want to have. I thought it would be great to share this with you for a couple of reasons. First, I thought if you could see how this verse relates to what I want to do, you could see how there are verses in the Bible that relate to what you want to do as well. Second, you might really like this verse and like what it says. Although I want to fulfill this verse on a bigger scale, I think we are all called to fulfill this verse in some way. Third, I am hoping this episode will get you excited about asking the Lord to give you a few “Life Verses.” To me “Life Verses” are those ones that we can turn to and rely on no matter what is going on in our lives. They remind us of things we need to remember in difficult times.

The first part of today’s verse says, “The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, That I might know how to answer the weary a word that will waken them.” This is something that might not necessarily be true at the moment, but something I can pray into. We have talked about declarations in the past. Declarations can be affirmation statements, they can be scripture verses, they can be anything that we want to declare over ourselves. The best way to phrase a declaration statement is as if it has already happened. You wouldn’t want to say, someday, I will be a writer. Your brain will hear that and say to itself, ok, we aren’t working on that yet. That is a future goal. However, if you say I am a writer, then your brain will hear that and get to work on figuring out how to make that happen.

The above verse is a well-phrased declaration I could begin to say daily. “The Lord has given me a well-trained tongue.” This is actually a good declaration for all of us to say. Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t say all the things you want to say? Wouldn’t it be great if those you are surrounded by didn’t say everything that came into their minds? How many times has someone said something to you, and you wondered what they were thinking when they decided to say that? It is crazy to me the things I hear come out of my own kids’ mouths at times. I mean, it seems like people are just getting more and more rude and they don’t seem to care. Imagine if we all had well-trained tongues. I bet our tongues get us in more trouble than we even know. Proverbs 18:21 says that life and death are in the power of the tongue. If our tongues are that powerful, it makes sense to pray earnestly for a well-trained tongue.

The verse goes on to say, “That I might know how to answer the weary a word that will waken them.” How great would it be to be able to do this? How great would it be to be able to know exactly what to say to your spouse, your child, your co-worker or your friend when they are weary? I know I have often prayed that I wish I knew what to say to cheer them up or to bring them out of their depression. I will say, if you don’t know how to pray for someone, ask the Lord to give you the words to say, pause, and then say whatever comes to your mind. You might not understand what the words you are saying mean, but the person you are praying over will.

I just got a message from a  friend whom I pray over through text messages. Yesterday I didn’t really know what to pray for, so I told that to God. Yesterday part of my prayer was, “ We ask that you heal anything else that might be going on that we are unaware of. We know that you don’t need us to know, and you don’t need us to say all the right things. You just need us to come to you, and you will do the rest. This is us coming to you, Lord. This is us asking you to help us.” Today I got a reply back from my friend who said even though I sent this yesterday, she didn’t see it until today. Today she woke up with worry and anxiety, and this prayer gave her the peace that she really needed today. The peace that she knows can only come from God. God is so good! He will give you the words. All you have to do is ask.

The last part of this verse says, “Morning after morning, he wakens my ear to hear as disciples do; The Lord God opened my ear; I did not refuse, did not turn away.” This could be another declaration. Who wouldn’t want to wake up and hear like the disciples do? Yes, Lord, please open my ears. I want to hear like they heard. I want your voice to guide me every day in the right direction. Another declaration could be the ending part of this verse. I did not refuse, did not turn away. I wish I could say that I never refused the Lord. I wish I could say I never turned away. However, the truth is I do it all the time. Anytime I sin, I turn away from the Lord. Anytime I know the Holy Spirit is prompting me to do something and I don’t, I am refusing. My friend sure picked a great “Life Verse.” There are three declarations that have been found in these 2 different verses. That is pretty cool. I think I will write these verses down along with the declarations.

When you are reading the Bible, and you find that certain scriptures are jumping out at you, write them down and pay attention to them. The Lord might be trying to tell you something. Also, when you are reading scriptures, and you read some that describe a gift, quality, trait, virtue, or whatever it might be that you really want to have, then you can write down the scripture and make it into a declaration, which is just taking the verse and stating it in a way that says you already possess what was is stated in the verse. Sometimes you will come across a verse that just speaks directly to your soul. That might be a good life verse. Have you ever had a Bible verse that you heard and it just changed your whole life or your outlook on life? I remember the first Bible verse that really began to change my life was Romans 8:11 " If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Learning that we had the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead living inside of us was life-changing for me. I started living more into the power that we all have living inside of us. What is a verse that really means something to you?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, I ask you to give each person listening to this episode a verse that really speaks to their heart and soul. Lord, I ask you to help us come up with declarations about who we want to be, ones that will help us become the best version of ourselves. Help us pick a few life verses so that when we have decisions to make in our lives, we can refer to those verses, and they can keep us on the straight and narrow path toward you! 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! Today I thought I would mention another benefit of joining my coaching program. This benefit is that we know we are not alone. It often feels like we are alone, especially in a world that is tolerant of everything except for Christianity. However, when you are in a group of other people who are also striving to grow closer to the Lord, then you know you are not alone, and you can be yourself more around them. For more information about my group coaching program that starts in January, check out my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, or CLICK HERE. I look forward to bringing you a wonderful witness tomorrow morning. You won’t want to miss it. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day.

The Word from God for today, “My beloved children, now, now is the time. Now is all you have. This is your time, this is your now. My spirit moving among you will help you to be my light to those who encounter you each and every day. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid, but believe. Believe in my love. Believe in my words to you that I am with you always. Now is the only time that I give you. Now is the time I ask you to be my other self to those you meet. Smile at them with my smile. Pray with them with my heart. Give them the hope that I give you. Do not wait, my children, do it now."

The Advocate!

John 14:16-17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,  the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it because it remains with you and will be in you.”

Jesus is talking in this verse. He is telling us that when He goes to be with the Father, He will ask His Father, and God will send us another Advocate to be with us always. Jesus’ plan wasn’t to come and walk among us, teach us all about the new covenant, and then leave us alone to figure out what to do with all that we were taught. Jesus came to set us free from our sins. He came to sacrifice Himself so that we may live. However, when He left, He did not leave us alone.

I love how He refers to the Holy Spirit as our Advocate. Here is the definition I got for an advocate, “one who pleads another's cause, who helps another by defending or comforting him.” Our advocate pleads our cause to the Heavenly Father. Romans 8:26 says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” The Holy Spirit intercedes for us because we don’t even know what to ask for sometimes. I was talking to a woman in my Encounter Ministries class on Monday, and she was saying that she doesn’t even know what to pray for right now with her family situation. My friend is not the only one who doesn’t know what to pray for. I am sure there have been times in each of our lives when we have encountered a situation where we didn’t even know what we wanted or we didn’t see a way out, so we didn’t know exactly what to ask the Lord.

When this happens, it is okay to ask the Holy Spirit to intercede on your behalf. The Holy Spirit knows what is deep down inside your heart, and He takes our deepest desires, even if we don’t know what they are, and He presents them to the Lord in the perfect way. This is why I love the gift of tongues. When you are speaking in tongues, you do not know what you are saying, but the Holy Spirit is speaking directly from your heart to the Lord’s heart/ears. It is a direct communication that no one can intercept. It is between the Holy Spirit and the Lord. Even the enemy doesn’t know what is said when we are speaking in tongues. If you do not have the gift of tongues, it is not too late to begin praying for that gift. If you want me to pray for you for the release of that gift, reach out, and I will definitely do that. If you would like me to pray over you for the release of that gift, reach out, and we will set up a time when I can either do it over the phone, via Zoom, or in person if you are somewhat local.

Jesus calls the Advocate the Spirit of truth. This reminds us that the Holy Spirit speaks the truth. In John 14:26b, Jesus says, "—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you. The Holy Spirit not only speaks the truth, but He can teach us everything and remind us of all that Jesus told us. It is important that we realize that the Holy Spirit we have living inside of us isn’t just something that sounds nice and yet doesn't really mean anything. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit, the one living inside of you, is powerful, and it is capable of helping you do incredible things. This is why it is important to work with the Holy Spirit. It is important to consult the Holy Spirit and to invite the Holy Spirit into whatever you are doing. Did you ever wish you knew what God wanted you to do in a particular circumstance?

Have you ever asked someone to pray for discernment for you because you really didn’t know what to do? I have too! When we are in this situation, we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is discernment. The Holy Spirit knows what we should do and can tell us if we make the time to ask and then listen for an answer. Sometimes there is not just one thing we can do. It is important to pray and ask the Lord what the best option is. However, sometimes the Lord doesn’t tell us because He is ok with either option. Sometimes there are multiple paths that would all lead to the same place. It is not necessarily which path we choose, it is more what we do on that path or with that path that matters.

When I actually sit and think about how incredible it is that we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, it just boggles my mind. I am just in awe. I mean, we have the same Holy Spirit inside of us that Jesus had inside of Him. Can you even imagine that? I also struggle to understand how everyone is not blown away by this information. It says right in the verse above that the world cannot accept the advocate because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it because it remains with you and will be in you. I guess if you don’t really believe in Jesus, then it would be hard to believe in the Holy Spirit, especially since Jesus walked the Earth. There is definitely proof that Jesus lived. There are so many people who don’t believe in Jesus or even God. I can see how they would now know the Advocate. The verse says that we know it because it remains with us and will be in us.

So, what about those of us who do know Jesus? We do know God. Do we know the Holy Spirit? Do we know the power and love that we have inside of us? Are we calling on that power? Are we talking with and praying to the Holy Spirit? Are we asking the Holy Spirit to pray for us and intercede on our behalf? The Holy Spirit was a gift from the Lord to help us stay on the straight and narrow path. The Holy Spirit was a gift to help us remember all that Jesus taught us. It was a gift to help us do the right thing. Why are we not using that gift? Why are we not calling on the power of that gift? There are so many gifts of the Holy Spirit, and Truth is only one of them.

I wonder how amazing our lives would be if we called on the Holy Spirit more often. I wonder what it would be like if we prayed to receive all the gifts of the Spirit and then we stepped out in Faith and used those gifts. There are so many gifts, and so many of us are just letting them go to waste or just lie dormant. Imagine how different this world would be if we all started leaning into the gifts of the Holy Spirit more. If we had more people spreading peace, love & joy. If we had more people being willing to be an instrument of God in healing the sick and spreading the Word of God. What if we all took a minute today and asked the Lord what gifts He wanted to reveal to us, and then we took those gifts and practiced them? This is a big part of my Encounter Ministries class. We learn about the gifts, but then we practice them in class, and we have homework to practice them outside of class as well. You can do the same. The Holy Spirit will help you. I am happy to help, too, if you want to reach out to me. Your life will never be the same when you start to discover the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to call on the Holy Spirit more. Please show us how! Please help us to have the courage to ask for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Help us grow in these gifts. Help us to understand why you sent us the Holy Spirit. Help us to pray with and learn from the Holy Spirit. 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. I am so excited about the group coaching program starting up in January. It is a great opportunity to grow closer to the Lord, learn more about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and how to walk more boldly with Jesus. It will be a time to get to know others on this same journey. It will be a great opportunity for growth. And the best part is, it is only $30 a month. That is $1 a day. We definitely spend more than that on things that are not nearly as important as our faith journey. I hope you will join me in this new program so we can get to know each other and grow closer to the Lord together. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!

The word from my prayer group for this weekend is one of my favorite ones. It is, “If you move more in trust each day, all can be. Trust in the secret. Trust in me, trust in my love, trust that I will give you the grace to meet whatever there is in life. As you move forward in trust, you will see things that you never thought were possible. All can be as you trust me more and more.”

Where Does My Help Come From?

Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

I heard this verse while I was listening to the Big Life Devotional by Pamela Crim yesterday, and I instantly thought of this song. The song is called Shoulders by for King and Country. I will place a link for the song in the show notes if you want to give it a listen. It is a really good song, so I do recommend checking it out. For King and Country is a great group of artists. They moved to this country from Australia in 1991 when their dad accepted a job here. I love this song because it reminds us where our help comes from. It also reminds us of various ways that God helps us. It also says the words from this verse. They both start the same way. 

I look up to the mountains

Does my strength come from the mountains? 

No, my strength comes from God

Who made heaven and earth, and the mountains

When we are struggling and suffering, we look around for strength anywhere we can find it. We look to TV for distractions, we look to food for comfort, and we sometimes turn to alcohol or drugs to numb the pain. We look everywhere for something that will take away the pain or help us get through it in some way. As long as we keep searching everywhere but where God is, then we will never find what we are looking for. God is our strength. He is the one that can get us through the hard times. We just need to turn to Him and ask Him. We just need to seek Him out instead of all the other things that we turn to when we are struggling. 

When confusion's my companion

And despair holds me for ransom

I will feel no fear

I know that You are near

Think about what it is we do when we are confused and the feelings of despair set in. Do we turn to the Lord, or do we turn away? Do we have hope that the Lord will bring us out of this despair? I love the line that says, and despair holds me for ransom. That is such an accurate visual of despair. You feel like you can’t do anything but sit in it. This verse ends with I will feel no fear. I know that You are near. My prayer is we can all say this. My prayer for each of us is that we can look to the Lord when we feel confused and full of despair. We can look to the Lord and not be afraid because we know that our strength comes from Him. The one who made the heavens and the earth. If He can create all of that out of nothing, think about what He can do in your current situation!

When I'm caught deep in the valley

With chaos for my company

I'll find my comfort here

'Cause I know that You are near

How many of us are in a deep valley right now? How many of us feel like we have been in this valley for a long time, and we see no end in sight? I love that it says with chaos for my company. Have you ever had chaos in your company? I am one of 11 children. Chaos and I are old friends. However, how often have we had comfort and chaos at the same time? This verse says I’ll find comfort here because I know You are near. When we find ourselves in a valley and we are surrounded by chaos, it helps to remember that the Lord is always near. We are never alone, even when it feels like we are.

My help comes from You

You're right here, pulling me through

You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness

All on Your shoulders

Your shoulders

Our help comes from the Lord. It can be easy to forget this because sometimes He uses human means to help us. For instance, we may think our help comes from the person giving us the things we need. For instance, help came from my neighbor when I was younger and my dad needed a car. Yes, the neighbor did help us out, and yet even he acknowledges the Lord led Him to do so. He had no way of knowing my dad needed a car, except that my dad prayed for a car, and God worked it out for him.  I like the image of this verse. You’re right here, pulling me through. Have you ever felt like God was pulling you through? Like you for sure wouldn’t have made it if He wasn’t pulling you through. You didn’t have the energy or will to walk or even get out of bed, and yet you felt something pulling you out of bed and pushing you to keep going.

The next line is great, too, because it reminds us that we are not carrying our load along. It says you carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on your shoulders. God has some pretty broad shoulders. He can handle our weakness, sickness, and brokenness. We don’t have to carry it on our own. That is just something the enemy tries to get us to believe.  We can give these things to the Lord, and He will carry them for us. All we need to do is ask.

My help comes from You

You are my rest, my rescue

I don't have to see to believe that

You're lifting me up on Your shoulders

Your shoulders

The Lord is our rest. We can just sit and rest in him. Whenever we want, whether we are weary and we need to rest, or whether we just want to rest in His love, mercy, and forgiveness. We can always rest in Him. He is also our rescue. He will rescue us from our circumstances, or He will give us the strength to get through them. I don’t have to see to believe that you’re lifting me up on Your shoulders. This is an important thing to remember. We don’t have to see it to believe it. We often worry because we can’t see the outcome ahead of time. We can’t see a way for the Lord to work things out. We don’t have to see it. We just have to trust that He can and will work things out. He is a Way-maker. He can make a way where there is no way.

You mend what once was shattered

And You turn my tears to laughter

Your forgiveness is my fortress

Oh. Your mercy is relentless

This verse talks to us about some of the things God does for us. He mends what was shattered. Can you think back to a time when you thought all was lost and things felt so broken you thought they would never go back together again? I know I can. A few years ago, my family and my marriage felt so broken I couldn’t see how it could be fixed. However, I never gave up on the Lord, and He came in and fixed what was once shattered. Our family is whole again, not perfect, but whole. God can definitely turn tears into laughter. I have seen Him do this many times. Especially when I go to visit my college roommate Kath. We spend the whole time laughing and crying.

The next line I am actually surprised it is in here, as the verse I was going to use today talked about God’s mercy and forgiveness and I didn’t use it as I had already used that verse in an earlier episode. This song verse says that God’s forgiveness is my fortress. Take a moment to think about that. What is the point of a fortress? It is to protect you and to give you a safe place to be. When I looked up the definition, it also said it was a place of defense and protection against attacks. Isn’t it interesting that the song says your forgiveness is my fortress? Did you know that God’s forgiveness can be your fortress? It can provide you protection against attacks from the enemy. The enemy wants you to believe that you are a sum of each and every one of your mistakes. However, if we rely on God’s forgiveness, we know this is not true. We know that He forgives everything when we turn back to Him and repent. Also, I want to restate what the song says, that God’s mercy is relentless. He will chase you down just to give you that mercy!! 

That is such a great song. I pray you all take the time to go and listen to the song. This song does a great job of reminding us of where our strength comes from and why we need it. Our strength comes from God! 

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we know our strength comes from you. Please remind us when we forget. Lord, we thank you for all you do for us. We ask you to help us remember all the ways you are there for us. We ask you to pull us through all the hard times. We ask you to pull us out of the valley of despair. We ask you to be with us every step of the way! 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. I want to remind everyone that I am starting a group coaching program in January. If you have ever desired to know the Lord more intimately, to go deeper into your relationship with the Lord, or to walk more boldly in your faith, this is the right program for you! I will help you get to know the Lord better, come up with daily routines that help you grow closer to the Lord, and teach you how to step out more boldly in your faith. We will learn all of that while having fun and getting to know each other. I pray you will join me on that adventure too! I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day! 

Today’s word of prophecy from my prayer group is, “There is no demon who can touch you. There is no one who can steal my children from Me. You are ALL My children. I have given you a package of seeds. Those seeds will be scattered by each of My children. Some in small ways, some in big ways but not one seed sown is insignificant. It is all part of My forever plan. I am a part of you. Rest in My love and My peace. You are a chosen people. Chosen for me from the beginning of time. I cannot for the times. I cannot. You are whole in Me.”

Why Share Words Of Prophecy?

1 Corinthians 14:3 “He who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”

I have been talking more lately about hearing the Lord’s voice and how if we keep giving the Lord a chance to talk to us, then He will. Last night was a really exciting class at Encounter School of Ministry Boston Campus. Both year one and year two students were practicing receiving and sharing words of prophecy. It is always a lot of fun and also a bit intimidating because we always think when it is our turn to get a word, we won’t hear anything. As year two students, we have been learning to listen to the Lord’s voice for a year and a half now, and yet we still get nervous when it is time for us to get a word and share it.

I say this to encourage you. If you have started making time to listen to the Lord and yet you feel you are not hearing anything, I want you to know you are in good company. If you have not started making time to listen to the Lord because you know you won’t hear anything, you are also in good company. Many of us think we won’t hear anything. I mean, who are we anyway? Why would the Lord our God want to talk to us when He has more important things to do and more important people to talk to? I get why you would feel this way. We all kinda feel this way at first. As I said, my classmates and I have been doing this for a year and a half at least, some of us for a lot longer than that, and we can still feel that way at times.

However, God wants to talk to you. Yes, you! He is actually already talking to you. You just can’t hear Him because the noises of the world are so loud, and you probably aren’t spending the time to sit and listen. To answer the question, “Who am I that the Lord our God would want to talk to me?” You are a son or daughter of the one true king. You are His beloved child whom He made in His image and likeness. Yes, God is busy, and yet He is never too busy to sit and talk with you. God is not human. He does not have the same constraints we have. We each have his full attention at all times. He can be fully with us and whatever we are going through at the same time as He can be with everyone else. 

When we ask the Lord for something, we are not taking anything away from anyone else. I think this is a really hard concept to understand. We tend to shy away from asking God for things because we know He is busy, and we don’t want to bother Him with our problems. This is limiting God, it is putting Him in a box. God is bigger than this idea that He can only help so many people, so we better not burden Him with our problems. God wants us to come to Him with everything. Not just the really big stuff we can’t handle on our own but the little things too. The bad stuff and the good stuff. He wants us to bring it all to Him and invite Him into it. Ask Him to help us with the things we need help with, ask Him for advice on the things we can do ourselves, and share with Him the good things that are happening. Yes, of course, He already knows, but it is not the same as when you tell Him about it. 

God is our heavenly Father. Although He is not limited by our human constraints, such as time and our ability to be in only one place at one time, He does have feelings like we do. After all, we were made in His likeness and image, and Jesus was fully human. The difference between our emotions and the Lord’s emotions is that His emotions were not affected by the fall. God’s emotions are perfect. His love for us is a perfect love. He truly loves us unconditionally, which is a hard concept for us to understand as our love usually comes with conditions.

The verse above talks about words or prophecy. I have talked a bit lately about how God is talking to each one of us, and if we listen, we will hear what He is saying. I have also talked about how important it is to not only listen to when God is talking to us but also to get familiar with what He is saying to us in the scriptures. I mentioned how important it is to be familiar with God and how He talks with us because then, when the enemy tries to whisper his stupid lies in our ears, we will know it is not the Lord. I gave the story of the bank teller and how if they want to spot a fake bill, they have to be intimately familiar with what the real thing looks like. The same is true with God. If we want to be able to spot a fake, we have to be intimately familiar with the One true God and the way that He talks to us. This is why I have started to end each episode with a word of prophecy from our prayer group. If you are hearing a word from the Lord each day, then you will start to get intimately familiar with how He talks to us. Then when you hear the enemy's lies, you will know it is not from the Lord because He never talks to us like that.

The verse above explains why God shares words of prophecy with us. The verse says, “He who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.” This verse tells us why someone would share words of prophecy. If someone is sharing a word they received from the Lord, it is meant to be upbuilding, encouraging, and consoling. The reason I thought this was an important verse for you to hear today is because it can help you discern if what you are hearing is from the Lord. This verse gives you a measure to hold the word up against. When you receive a word, either from the Lord or from someone else, you can ask yourself these questions. Does it build me up? Does this word encourage me? Does this word provide me with consolation? If the answer is no to all three of these questions, then the word is probably not from the Lord. If you receive a word from someone and it leaves you feeling uneasy, anxious, or ashamed, that is not from the Lord. Shame is not from the Lord.

This is not to say that the Lord won’t ever convict us or let us know when we are doing something wrong. He definitely will, especially if we are asking Him to help purify us. He is a loving parent, and He will correct His children. However, the Lord always does it in a loving way. He never comes at us with condemnation. He convicts us of our wrongdoings in a gentle and loving way. We are not left with any shame, we are just left with a deep desire to change.

I pray this episode has helped you understand a bit more about hearing the Lord’s voice and what the purpose is for words of prophecy. I hope the verse will help you to be able to discern if you should share a word that you have received and also if a word someone else has shared with you could be from the Lord or not. The gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as receiving words of prophecy, are open to all of us. The more you try and use that gift, the more you will receive that gift. Set aside 5 minutes today and see what the Lord has to say to you. I promise you will not be sorry you did!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those who listen to this episode today. Lord, we want to hear you talking to us. Please help us set aside the time to sit and listen. Lord, we want to share your words with others. Please give us the courage and boldness to do so. We want to know you, Lord. We want to know you so well that we recognize when the enemy is telling us lies. Please help us. Give us a desire to read your word and spend more time with you. Help us to give up less important things so we can put you first in our lives. 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. If you are still looking for Christmas presents for your loved ones, Click Here to check out my book. I will even autograph it and write them a special message before sending it out. I look forward to bringing you another witness tomorrow. I would like to urge all of you to consider giving a witness. It doesn’t really take a lot of time and yet could change someone’s life. Email me at catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com if you would be willing to share your story. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s word of prophecy from my prayer group is, “My children, I am giving you new eyes, but just like your human eyes need time to adjust to the light or the darkness, your new spiritual eyes that I bestow upon you need to adjust to the light of My Glory. You will grow in this ability to see the glory around you. To see glory, even in pain. Be patient but keep looking.”

Our Father's Love (Part 13) Why Praise Is So Important

Psalm 103:22 “I will bless and praise the Lord with my whole heart! Let all his works throughout the earth, wherever his dominion stretches—let everything bless the Lord!”

This is the last episode in this series. I have really enjoyed taking a look at this psalm and breaking it down to examine it. I have not actually spent a lot of time in the Psalms, and it was beautiful to take the time to go through Psalm 103. Today’s topic is one of my favorites. I think my top 3 topics to talk about would be praise, forgiveness, and God’s love, not necessarily in that order. These are my favorites because I think they are some of the most important. God has really been showing me over the last few years how important praise is to Him. He often gives us a word of prophecy at our prayer group that talks about how much He loves that we come together to praise Him each week.

He has also been telling me over the last few years that praise is a big part of the reason I have been able to grow in my faith so much and that I am able to trust so much. When I ask what I am doing differently, He tells me that I am praising more. I am praising God, not just when I feel like it and not just when all things are going my way. I am praising God every single day, whether it is a good day or a bad day. I actually praise Him more on a bad day sometimes because when I listen to praise music, it can help me change my mood.

If you have not discovered any really good praise music, I recommend you go to Spotify and search through Christian music. My mentor, Pamela Crim, put together an awesome playlist called The Big Life Mornings playlist. It is a public playlist on Spotify, and if you type Big Life Mornings playlist into the search function, it will come up. It has a yellow background with someone walking in red shoes. Some of my favorite artists, in case you are not into playlists, are for King and Country, Lauren Daigle, Elevation Worship, Phil Wickham, TobyMac, Cory Asbury, and so many more of the artists that are on that playlist. There are several reasons that I recommend you find some great Christian music that you like.

First, listening to Christian music has helped me learn even more how much God loves me. I have included some of my favorite songs in various episodes over the years. However, if you have not heard the song Reckless Love by Cory Asbury, you are really missing out. If you do not do Spotify, you can check out YouTube as well. There is actually a playlist on my channel, WalkBodlyWithJesus, on YouTube that is called Prayer Group, and that is a great list of praise songs. It would be a great place to start. Whether you are on Spotify or YouTube, you can save songs to a playlist, and then you can listen to that playlist whenever you need to.

Another reason I recommend you find some good Christian music is because it can change your mood or your focus. Anytime we are anxious, angry, scared, mad, frustrated, or any other feeling, it is because of the story we are telling ourselves. If we are anxious, we are probably focusing on what may or may not happen. If we are angry or frustrated, we might be looking at a situation we can’t change. Listening to this music can help shift our focus from our problems, our worries, and our situation to our God. There is a saying that says that instead of looking at how big our problems are, we can focus on how big our God is.  Music can help us do this. If you are listening to songs about how God is a miracle worker and a way-maker, it shifts your focus and helps you praise God in tough times.

A third reason I recommend listening to praise music is because it fills your head with God. God will be on your mind more because the things you listen to are the thoughts that will be in your head. Have you ever noticed that when you hang around someone a lot, you start to talk like them? This is because you spend so much time with them, and you are constantly hearing how they talk, so your brain picks it up. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on what they are saying. When I first learned this, I was a bit discouraged because the people in my house, with whom I spent the most time, were very negative and used very bad language. I did not want to start talking like they did. I needed to figure out a way to surround myself with different voices. This is when I started to listen to Christian podcasts and was able to find more Christian music. Imagine if you are listening to songs each day that talk about how much God loves us, how much He forgives us, and that talk about who God is. If you are hearing this over and over again, these will be the thoughts that fill your mind, and these will be the thoughts that come to your mind in times of trouble.

I feel I could go on and on about why I love listening to praise music. However, I will end with this last point. Praising God helps us become more grateful people. I know sometimes it doesn’t feel like we have much reason to praise God. It is not as if my life has been perfect over these last few years, and so that is why I have been able to praise God. I have had some really difficult times over these past few years, actually over the past 20 years. There have been lots of ups and downs in my marriage and in my parenting. My kids have really struggled over the years, and there have been several times in the last six years that I could have gotten really depressed and lost hope. However, I didn’t, and I truly believe it was because I have learned to praise God even in the hard times. I was able to do this because there are so many songs out there about people who have made it through really dark times, and God brought them through to the other side. I was able to do this because the thoughts in my mind from constantly listening to praise music are that God is there for me, He will always be there for me, and He can make a way where there is no way.

God is so good. He is there for us in good times and in bad times. There is always a reason to praise Him. When we are in a tough time, and we can’t find a reason, we can look back to all the times He has provided for us in the past. We can look forward to all the good things He will bring from this hard time. We can look at all the beauty around us and praise Him for that. You don’t have to praise God for your situation, you can praise Him for other things. If you want to, you can praise Him for the good that will come from your situation at a later date because we know God can use all things for our good. (Romans 8:28) I challenge all of you to begin to praise God more, and then let me know if you find that your trust in Him is also growing. I know it did for me, and I know I am not the only one. It can help you trust more too. If you are in a season where praising God seems too difficult because of your circumstances, then find some good Christian music to listen to and let them praise God for you while you listen. It will change your life, I am sure of it.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this today. Lord, I ask that each person listen and find some music that praises you that they really like. There are so many different genres of Christian music out there, and I pray each person who listens finds the ones that make their heart happy. Lord, I pray they find songs that fill their soul. I pray this music helps us to praise you when we don’t feel we can. I pray this music helps us to shift our focus from our problems to you and how big you are. Lord, help us to find that music that speaks to our hearts, minds, and souls. We want to praise you, Lord. Please show us how. We love you, 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. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s word of prophecy from our prayer group is: “My love conquered death for all of you. I laid my life down out of this tremendous love that I have for each and every one of you. You are so precious to me. You have no idea how precious you are. You cannot fathom to what depths I would go for each and every one of you. Please remember that I love you through all things. I am with you. You have a line that stretches to my heart and cannot be broken. It is a fishing line, and it cannot be broken. I am on one end, and you are on the other. I love you all. I love you all. My passion was very difficult. I suffered greatly. But I did it for each and every one of you, and I will not see you snatched from me. I love you.”

Our Father’s Love (Part 13) The Heavenly Angels

Psalm 103:20-21 So bless the Lord, all his messengers of power, for you are his mighty heroes who listen intently to the voice of his word to do it. Bless and praise the Lord, you mighty warriors ministers who serve him well and fulfill his desires.

These verses are talking about those who help the Lord. It is talking about the angels who listen intently to the Word of the Lord and then carry out their assignments. The Lord does not need anyone or anything. He created the entire universe out of nothing. He does not need us to help Him, He does not need the angels to help Him, and He doesn’t need the saints to help Him. Yet He allows us to help Him. He includes us in His great plan.

I have talked of the angels before. However, I don’t talk about them often. This is mostly because I do not know a lot about the angels. I have learned about them over the years. There was a two-part class that I went to about angels at Theology on Tap. I find angels interesting. Each person has their very own guardian angel. This is an angel that is assigned to look out for you. This angel is bound to our free will. So it can not do something that we do not want it to do. All creatures, demons, and angels alike have to obey our free will.

This is great news with demons and spirits because that means if we tell them to leave, they have to leave. If you are feeling depressed, angry, anxious, or any other feelings you don’t like, it could be a spirit causing that feeling. If so, you can say, “In the name of Jesus, I command the spirit of…(insert the feeling) to leave right now.” The spirit must leave. It can’t stay without permission. The problem is that sometimes we inadvertently give spirits permission to enter our minds or our thoughts. When we partake in occult activities, like having our futures told, tarot cards, and reiki, then we are opening a door to the enemy and inviting him in. Also, if we hear the enemy whispering words in our ears, and we partner with those lies, and we accept them as truth, then we are empowering the liar. This is giving the enemy power in our lives that we don’t want him to have.

Another way we allow the enemy access to our lives is through hate. When we hate people, when we refuse to forgive people, we are inviting the enemy to live in that hate and that unforgiveness. We are giving the enemy power over us to keep us in that hateful state. Each time we think bad things about people, we talk about them, or we spread rumors about them, we partner with the enemy. Sin is not of the Lord; it breaks our relationship or at least damages our relationship with Him. When we do this, we are partnering with the enemy. When has partnering with the enemy ever worked out for our good?

This is one reason why the angels and saints are so important. They can help us resist the enemy. They can protect us from bad things happening to us. I have heard some amazing stories of people who have been saved by angels. I mentioned we all have guardian angels. It is nice to acknowledge your angels and thank them for all they do for you. Of course, we don’t see most of what they do for us, but you can bet they are not just sitting back and relaxing. Another good thing to do is to tell your angel that you give it permission to act on your behalf and to do whatever it takes to protect you. Let your angel know you give it permission and that if it protects you, it will not be against your will. Accept your angel into your life.

You can talk to your angel, although I don’t think they talk back like God does when you talk with Him. You can also send your angel on assignment. For instance, a friend told me your angel can be in more than one place at a time. So, when she sees an ambulance go by with its lights on or she sees an accident on the road, she will ask her angel to go and be with that person who is hurt. She will ask her angel to keep that person company and to provide them comfort and love, at least until their family gets there. I thought that was beautiful, and now I have started doing that.

You can also ask your angel to talk to the angels of other people. Saint Padre Pio used to do this before any big or important meeting that he had. He would send his angel to the other people's angels and ask them to prepare the person's heart for what he was going to say. He found he had incredible results when he did this. This could be useful to all of us. We all have conversations we don’t look forward to. Whether it is our boss, certain family members, certain co-workers, or a stranger, we all have to have conversations that make us nervous. From now on, before we enter one of those conversations, we can send our angel ahead of us to prepare the way. This is also true when you have a certain outcome you would like, and you aren’t sure the other person will agree. Not that sending you an angel will guarantee that you get the answer you want, but it will certainly help prepare the other person in advance. They will be more open to hearing you out, at the very least.

Aside from our guardian angels, the Lord has legions of angels who act on his behalf. I certainly don’t know all that they are capable of doing. 2 Kings 6:15-17 gives us one example of when the Lord sent an army of angels to help Elisha. “Early the next morning, when the servant of the man of God arose and went out, he saw the force with its horses and chariots surrounding the city. “Alas!” he said to Elisha. “What shall we do, my lord?” Elisha answered, “Do not be afraid. Our side outnumbers theirs.” Then he prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes, that he may see.” And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant, and he saw that the mountainside was filled with fiery chariots and horses around Elisha.”

There was another story I heard of this woman who was walking down a dark alleyway, and she saw a man at the end. She was scared, and she prayed to the Lord for protection. The mad did not do anything to her. The next day she found out that there was another woman who was attacked in that same alleyway that same night. When she went to the police to give a sketch of the guy, she was able to ask the guy why he did not attack her. He said it was because she had a tall man with her. That was an angel, as she did not have anyone with her.

God is amazing! He protects us and helps us in so many ways. I only touched on a few ways in this episode. However, I recommend we all take some time and learn a little more about our guardian angels, the legions of angels, and the Saints and how they can help us. It can’t hurt to be prepared and to know about all the various ways we can call on protection and help from the Lord. One very powerful prayer of protection is the St. Michael the Archangel prayer. I gave it to a friend who was suffering with anxiety the other day and she found instant relief. Here is the prayer if you want to give it a try. "St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we thank you for all the different ways you help and protect us. We ask you to help us be more aware of the angels in our lives. Those who are heavenly creatures and those humans who are angels to us as well. Lord, help us see our blessings more, especially in this advent season. 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. I look forward to meeting you here on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!

Here is the word of prophecy from our prayer group for today: “My children, I love you, I love you, I love you!  Can’t you hear me crying out my love for you? The world is trying to mute me, silence me. But I love you, I love you, never doubt it. Whatever your condition is, I love you, I love you. I love the people that you reach out to. I love them as much as I love you. I want you all. I am not happy unless I have you all with me in my heart.”

Our Father’s Love (Part 12) Trust Enough To Ask For The Impossible 

Psalm 103: 19 “Yahweh has established his throne in heaven; his kingdom rules the entire universe.”

God has established his throne in heaven. This doesn’t mean that is where He stays. His kingdom rules the entire universe. There is nothing that the Lord can’t reach. I think we forget this sometimes. We know God is all-powerful and all-sovereign, and then sometimes we are having trouble with something, and we don’t ask God for several reasons. We don’t ask Him because we think He is too busy to deal with our little problems, and we don’t want to bother Him. We don’t ask Him because this is a worldly problem, and what is He going to do about it anyway? We tend to put God in a box, and we think we know what He can do. We have an idea in our heads about what God can do for us, and we tend to keep our requests in alignment with those ideas.

This may seem silly when you hear me say this. We all know that God is all-powerful and He can do all things. We don’t limit God. Think about the last few things you have prayed for. Have they been for the same type of things? Do you pray for God to help you with things even when you don’t see a way that He can help you? Are you taking all of your problems to God, or just some of them? I know a lot of people who seem to get annoyed with me because I often say, “Well, let's pray about that.” If something is bothering us, then God wants to help us. It doesn’t matter how big or how small it is. He cares about everything that we care about.

The verse above says that His kingdom rules the entire universe. It does not say that it rules our health and our spiritual lives, but not our material lives. It does not place any restrictions on God. So, why do we? When was the last time you asked God to help you out of a bind that had nothing to do with health? We tend to pray to the Lord when we or someone we love needs healing, but not necessarily when we need material things. For instance, would you pray to the Lord if your car breaks down on the highway, or would you just call AAA? If you need money to pay your bills, do you think you should pray to the Lord for it? What if you ran out of food, would you pray to the Lord, or would you try to figure it out on your own? Do these sound like things the Lord can help with?

One time my dad’s car broke down, and he really needed a car if he was going to get to work. Before he even had time to tell my mom his car had broken down, a neighbor was at the door giving my dad a car. My dad hadn’t even told him he needed one. The man just said he had this feeling he was supposed to give my dad his wife’s car as she no longer needed it. One of my friends was sitting in her car waiting for the dollar store to open so she could buy groceries. She made her grocery list and realized she didn’t have enough money for all she needed. She prayed to God and told Him that if she just had $50 more, she could buy all she needed that week. The next thing she knew, her daughter had jumped out of the car to chase something that had just flown by. It was a $50 bill. One time, my parents ran out of food, and they really didn’t know how they were going to feed us that night for dinner. They prayed to the Lord for help, and a neighbor came over with all this extra food he had. His dad had to move in with them all of a sudden, and they couldn’t fit all his groceries into their house, so they asked my parents if they wanted the extras. God is so good!

These are all things where the people couldn’t imagine how God was going to answer their prayers, and yet they asked anyway. There is no way that my dad would have imagined a neighbor would just give him a car or bags full of groceries, yet it happened. There is no way my friend could have imagined that if she asked God for $50, she would randomly find a $50 bill in an empty parking lot. Nothing is beyond the reach of God. Nothing is impossible for God.

I think it is really important to remember this when we are praying for healing as well. We might not see any way that it can happen, and yet we can still pray to the Lord, even if we can’t see a way. For instance, there was a woman at the healing service who said she had several heart issues and had a pacemaker but would need a transplant at some point in the future. When she was prayed over, she felt heat in her heart, which means the Holy Spirit was working on it. She asked how that works if she has a pacemaker already. She couldn’t see how the Lord could heal her heart when she had a pacemaker. The deacon said he didn’t know either, we would have to ask Jesus. Here’s the thing, we don’t have to know. We just have to trust enough to ask and then wait and see. If God can create the entire universe, he can certainly figure out how to heal a heart with a pacemaker in it.

I don’t think we mean to place restrictions on God, I just think we aren’t accustomed to asking for big things. God tells us in our prayer group all the time that we are not asking for too much. We are asking for too little. When we ask for big things, miraculous things, things we can’t imagine how God will make them happen, then we are glorifying God and showing Him that we trust He can do all things. I have seen God do miraculous things, and I have heard about God doing miraculous things, so I believe God can do miraculous things.

A friend of mine has a nephew who has brittle bone disease. He cannot really go out and do things because he breaks bones so easily. He is also in a lot of pain. I was talking with my friend about praying for his nephew, and he said, “It’s not like God can give him a new body.” This is what we would probably all think. We would struggle to see how God could heal this young boy. What would God do, replace all his bones? Could he even do that? Yes, He is the creator of the universe. There is nothing he can’t do. However, we most likely wouldn’t think to pray for that because that seems so crazy to think about. Jesus restored sight to the blind, he helped the lame walk, and He literally brought people back from the dead. If He can do all of that, He can heal this young man.

If you are in need of a miracle, if you are in need of anything, ask the Lord for it. Ask God, even if you can’t see how He can fix it. Ask for it even when you don’t see a way through it. God can make a way where there is no way. I am sure God’s people did not see a way when they were caught between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea, yet God made a way by parting the waters. I bet no one knew that was coming or even thought of that as a possibility. The same is true for whatever you need. God’s kingdom rules the entire universe. Nothing is too big and nothing is too small for Him. You are never bothering God. He loves it every time you come to Him. I think sometimes He likes it more when we come to Him for the little things because it shows we are trusting Him more.

Think about who you ask to help you with the little things. If you just meet someone, you won’t want to bother them with little things. However, you wouldn’t think twice about asking your best friend or perhaps your family members to help you with something small. You wouldn’t hesitate because you know them and you know they would be happy to help you. The same is true with God. When you bring everything to Him, it shows Him that you trust Him and that you feel comfortable with Him. Let’s all take some time today and examine our prayers to God. Are there things we haven’t been asking Him? Is it because we think they are too big or too little? Have we been subconsciously putting restrictions on God? How can we change our prayer to reflect the fact that His kingdom rules the entire universe? There is nothing that is too big or too small for Him.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you, and we are so grateful you care about us so much. We want to turn to you first in all situations, please help us. We want to ask you for all things, big and small. We want to trust you in all situations.  We can only do this with your help Lord. Please remind us to pray. Please help increase our trust and our faith so we can believe in you more. 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!

Here is today’s word of prophecy from our prayer group: “All come to me be of good cheer. I see you all. I see my spirit burning within each of your hearts. I know your innermost secrets and desires because I created them for you. I live in you, you in me. What have you to fear? Why do you fear? Cast out all fear because you live in me and my love and abiding presence. I will care for my children. I am yours, you are mine, we are one. My heart beats within you, my precious ones. There is nothing to fear, ever. Believe no matter what comes. Believe in me and my love for you. It exists all and into eternity. Wash yourself in the blood of the Lamb. Stop. Stop worrying; I command it.”

Our Father’s Love (Part 11) Endless Love, Unbroken and Unrelenting

Psalm 103:17-18 “But Lord, your endless love stretches from one eternity to the other, unbroken and unrelenting toward those who fear you and those who bow facedown in awe before you. Your faithfulness to keep every gracious promise you’ve made passes from parents to children, to grandchildren, and beyond. You are faithful to all those who follow your ways and keep your word.”

Today’s verse is uplifting, especially after yesterday’s verse which had us thinking about how short life is. Today we get to go back to thinking about how much God loves us. We could think about this all day, every day, and would still never really comprehend how vast His love for us is.  The other day we talked about how God separates us from our sin as far as the sunset is from the sunrise. Today we are talking about how much He loves us. The verse says that His “endless love stretches from one eternity to the other, unbroken and unrelenting.”

This world doesn’t seem to understand endless love. Love seems to end every day. The divorce rate in this country is so high. Actually, it is high all over the world. We live in a throw-away society where we want the newest and the best things, and we get rid of the old things. We don’t seem to want to work to keep the things we have. When things get difficult, when they get broken, we throw them away and start again instead of trying to fix them. This is not the same with God. His love is endless.

Can you even imagine what that would look like? Endless love, love that doesn’t end. Does that mean He still loves us after we mess up and hurt Him? Yes! Does that mean He still loves us even after we keep doing the same stupid things over and over again? Yes! Surely He will stop loving us once He can see that we are unfixable and unredeemable? Nope! There will never be a time when God’s love will stop. He loves us when we can’t even love ourselves. He loves us even when we don’t deserve it. He loves us even when we don’t want Him too! He created us with this endless love that goes from one eternity to the other. I love the adjectives this translation uses. They are unbroken and unrelenting.

I love unbroken because that is such a difference from our love. We live in a broken world, and so our love is broken. We struggle to love unconditionally. We struggle to love each other the way the Lord loves us. If I’m being honest, sometimes we struggle with just liking other people, never mind loving them. We love people when they do this or that. We love people who act like us, talk like us, look like us. Sometimes we love people because of what we can get from them, which is not actually loving them but using them. God’s love is not broken. He loves us unconditionally. He loves us for who we are, not what we do. We do not have to do anything to earn His love.

I love unrelenting because it is such an active word. When I hear the word unrelenting, I don’t think about a God who sits up in heaven just waiting for us to come to Him. When I hear that word, I picture a God who will stop at nothing to save His children. I picture a God who chases after them and does not let anything get in the way of finding them. God loves us, He wants us to be with Him forever in paradise. He is unrelenting in that pursuit. Why do we fight it so much?

The second part of this verse says, “Your faithfulness to keep every gracious promise you’ve made passes from parents to children, to grandchildren, and beyond. You are faithful to all those who follow your ways and keep your word.” There are two really important things in that first sentence to highlight. The first is that it reminds us that God is faithful and He keeps His promises. It doesn’t just say that God keeps promises, but it says that He is faithful to keep EVERY gracious promise He made every promise! This means when you read a promise in the Bible, you can be assured that God will keep that promise.

The second important thing it says is that those promises are passed down from parents to children, to grandchildren, and beyond. This shows us that the promises made in the Bible aren’t just for those people who were living at the time they were made. They are for you and for me too. It can be easy for us to read through the Bible and think of it as a great story about something that happened a really long time ago. We can think it has nothing to do with us, especially if we are reading a translation that is hard to understand. There may be a lot of words for things, and we don’t know what they mean.

The Bible is not just talking to those who lived back then. It is talking directly to each one of us, you and I. Before we sit down to read the Bible, we should ask the Lord to show us how what we are reading that day applies to our lives. I bet if we all did that before we read anything, we would be surprised at what we learned. The Lord wants to reveal the secrets in the Bible to us, we only need to ask Him. The Bible is not only relevant today but it could be called our handbook for how to get through life. It tells us what we should and shouldn’t do. It tells us all about the Lord. The book of Proverbs teaches us right from wrong. The Gospels tell us all about Jesus and are also full of parables that teach us how we should live our lives. We get to read stories of what happens when we don’t live according to God’s ways.

The verse ends with, “You are faithful to all those who follow your ways and keep your word.” This is a nice reminder to read the Bible and make sure we are following the Lord’s ways and keeping His Word. There are plenty of examples in the Bible to illustrate this point as well. You can look back throughout the Bible and see what happened to people who did not follow His ways. When we do not follow His ways, He allows us to feel the consequences of our actions, and sometimes that can be a pretty painful lesson. The good news is as soon as we turn back and repent, God is right there to welcome us back home with open arms.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you, and we are so grateful for your endless love. We are thankful your love is unbroken and unrelenting. Thank you for pursuing us. Thank you for chasing us down until you find us. Thank you for all you do to save us. Lord, help us accept your love. Fill us with your love, and help us pass that love on to others. Lord, help us to follow your ways and keep your word. Help us to read the Bible, put in our hearts a deep desire to read the Bible. We want to know your promises, we want to know how you want us to live. 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. I apologize for my voice these past few mornings. I have been struggling with a cold. Usually, as soon as I start to feel better, my voice starts to sound worse. I think I am almost through with the cough, so hopefully, my voice will come back soon. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Our Father’s Love (Part 10) What If This Time, Was The Last Time?

Psalm 103:15-16 “Our days are so few, and our momentary beauty so swiftly fades away! Then all of a sudden, we’re gone, like grass clippings blown away in a gust of wind, taken away to our appointment with death, leaving nothing to show that we were here.”

Wow, I was surprised to read that when I sat down to write this episode. It is something we all know, and yet we really don’t like to think about it. It is also strange that this is the verse for today because I just turned off the TV after watching an episode of The Closer. In this episode, a man helped get his son and daughter ready for school and then had to go to work. After he left, someone came in and shot his wife, mother-in-law, and two children. It turns out the person who shot them went to the wrong address. This man had a normal morning with his children and left to go to work, just like he always does, and yet his life will never be the same again.  At the end of the show, they showed the chief detective at her house. The day before, she had left for work, and her cat was eating breakfast. When her husband came home at lunchtime, the cat had thrown up the breakfast, so her husband brought the cat to the vet. The cat was not doing well. She couldn’t understand how she had just seen the cat eating, and now she may never get to see the cat again.

This seems like a strange way to begin a devotional, and yet I think it demonstrates an important fact that we really don’t like to think about. We never know when it will be the last time we get to do something. If we knew it was the last time we were going to get to do something, we would probably do it very differently than we did. For instance, if you knew it was the very last time you were going to breastfeed your baby, you probably wouldn’t have been in such a rush for them to finish so you could get on with your day. If you knew it was the last time you were going to talk to your loved one, you probably would have said very different things. If you knew it was the last time you were to get to eat pizza, you would have savored it more. Do you see where I am going with this?

If we knew it was the last time, we would do it right. However, we rarely know it is going to be the last time. There are things we are blessed to get to know. For instance, if we get to be sitting with a loved one right before they pass on. At the end of the year, we know it is the child’s last day of whatever grade they just completed unless they get sick that last day. We don’t usually know when it’s the last time we will get to see our child crawl or the last time they will say that cute phrase they always say. We don’t know when it'll be the last time we will get to hug them or kiss them. Anything can happen at any time.

There are a couple of important things this verse can bring to our attention. The first one is that life is short, and we need not to take it for granted. What if we started approaching every interaction we had with people as if it were our last? What if we stopped leaving things unsaid? What if we were deliberate with our interactions and stopped to think before we acted and definitely before we spoke? Imagine what it would be like to leave each interaction with others without any regrets. Imagine being so present every single time you were with your loved ones that if that were the last time you saw them, you would be proud of your interactions. What is one way you can take what this verse says and apply it to your life and/or your interactions with others?

The second thing this verse shows us is how short this life is. The verse says, “Our days are so few, and our momentary beauty so swiftly fades away! Then all of a sudden, we’re gone, like grass clippings blown away in a gust of wind, taken away to our appointment with death, leaving nothing to show that we were here.” Our days here in this world are so few. We think we are here for a long time, so we do what we can to fit into this world. We focus on things that aren’t important, as this verse points out. Our momentary beauty so swiftly fades away. Yet that can be our main priority at times. Often our focus is on things of this world even though we are just here for a short amount of time. We spend a tiny amount of time in this world and, hopefully, eternity with our heavenly Father. So, why are we spending all of our time focusing on the things of this world when this is not where we will stay?

We need to keep our eyes fixed on the one above. When we put God first in our lives, we not only please him but also improve our lives here on earth. When we make time to pray or add prayer to the things we are already doing, our lives are blessed beyond measure. Usually, when things start going sideways in our lives, we can see it’s because we stopped putting God first. For instance, we stopped asking God to lead the way, and we took over the driver’s seat. If we want to take the lead, God will let us. That is how strongly He believes in free will. He will let us make a big old mess of our lives, and then He will be there to help us put it back together again. Wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to keep putting it back together again, though? This is where prayer comes in; this is why it is so important to put first things first. When we put God first and we stop to talk with Him before we make decisions, then life goes so much smoother. If we want to spend eternity with God, we need to remember this in all of our interactions here on Earth.

The last thing I don’t want to miss is the very last line that says that we are “taken away to our appointment with death, leaving nothing to show that we were here.” We all have an appointment with death, and yet none of us know when it will be. I just want to mention something that my mentor Pamela Crim mentions a lot. You need to be in the photos. This verse says we are taken away, leaving nothing to show that we were here. This is only true if you are not getting in any of the photos. Many of us listening are the ones that usually take the photos. Sometimes, it is because we really like to, sometimes because no one else will, and other times it is because we are too ashamed or embarrassed by our bodies to be in the photos. Regardless of what you look like, your family will be happy you got in the photos. When you pass on, these photos will tell the story of your life. They can’t do that if you are not in any photos. I am not going to go on and on about this. However, I felt I should prompted to mention it. Get in the photos, be intentional with each interaction you have, and put God first. I believe if you do these three things, you won’t have to worry about not knowing when it will be the last time you do something or see someone. You will be prepared.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you, and we appreciate you. We are sorry we take so many moments you give us for granted. We are sorry we take people for granted. Please help us change this, Lord. Help us to put you first. Help us to pay attention and be in the moment and intentional with each interaction we have.  We are so grateful that you love us and you protect us. We are grateful that you don’t take us for granted. You are so wonderful, and we are so blessed by you. We thank you for all the graces you have given us, and we ask you to continue to bless us as we try to figure out this crazy thing called life. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!

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

Today’s word of prophecy from our prayer group is: "How precious you are each and every one of you. I know every detail of your life and I hold it deeply in my heart. I hear your prayers in the silence of my heart. They echo and reverberate through me. Fear not; I am always with you, thinking of you and leading you.”