ARISE: Living the Simply Joyful Life with Amanda K Stout

Do you struggle to remember God’s promises? Here is the key to avoiding doubt!  

Genesis 26:23-25 

  Deuteronomy 7:18-19  

Forgetting who God is leads to fear. So, we combat fear with remembrance. Remembrance of all the things God has already done. Remembrance of who He is. Remembrance. This is how we will fight fear. Bring to remembrance all that God has done. To remember means to call to mind a previous event or information.   

  How? There are two key ways God has told us to keep promises, actions, and commandments in remembrance 

 How to Remember God’s Promises #1: Setting up Memorials.  God set the example in this with the rainbow, the Lord’s Supper, Sabbath, and many, many others. (Exodus 20:8; 1 Corinthians 11:24 are just two of many examples)  

There are different types of memorials: 

Traditions or rituals

 Physical objects 

Declarations   

How to Remember God’s Promises #2: Speaking what God has Spoken/Revealed God tells us in His word to remind Him of His promises. (Isaiah 43:26; 62:6; Nehemiah 1:8-10) 

This is not for His benefit - He knows what He said. It is actually for ours. WE so easily forget, which leads to doubt, giving up, and making poor choices. When we speak what God has spoken, we build our faith and hope. Then, when we act in our faith and hope, we show God that we trust Him and it speeds up how quickly we receive our next breakthrough.  When we focus our minds on God’s word and promises, it renews our joy and peace because faith cannot coexist with fear or doubt. When we fill our minds with God’s word, we push fear and doubt out!   

There are two ways to keep God’s word in your mind: 

Read it daily - you need to be filling your mind with truth fresh every day 

SPEAK it daily - find the promises that resonate with you right now, take the things you know God has whispered to your heart, and write them down. Then, declare them everyday. Memorize them and speak them to whatever situations crop up that threaten to upset your peace.   

Journaling/Application Questions:   

What memorials are you going to institute for yourself and your family?  

What challenging situation are you facing right now that you need to remember and speak God’s promises over? 

Make it a habit to remind yourself of His promises by speaking them daily and watch fear and anxiety melt away!

Prefer to WATCH rather than listen? Click here to watch the video on Youtube. 

Do you ever wonder: How do I know if I’m praying the Spirit? The Bible tells us to pray in the Spirit, so how do we do it?  

Ephesians 6:18 says “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.”  Many Christians have read this, but there is a lot of confusion around what it means to pray in the Spirit. Fortunately, it’s not actually all that complicated. Praying in the Spirit is, simply put, relying on the Holy Spirit in prayer. This can look different for different people and in different seasons  

Romans 8:26: “And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.”

This means that you are praying in faith, even when you don’t really know what you are praying for, and trusting that God will see, hear, and understand you. Prayer is a genuine, heartfelt communication to God, not a fancy liturgy.   

The 3 key things that can help you determine if you are praying in the Spirit or not:   

How Do I Know if I’m Praying in the Spirit #1 - You are humbly and fully surrendered to Christ and you are taking whatever is on your heart to Him in prayer so that He can take it and do what He will with it - you have no specific agenda other than to honor and obey the Lord 

 How Do I Know if I’m Praying in the Spirit #2 - If the Lord has given you a prayer language, you are praying in that language either internally or out loud  

How Do I Know if I’m Praying in the Spirit #3 - Prayer brings peace and spiritual release.

++ C O N N E C T  &  F O L L O W    

Website | Coming Soon! 

Instagram

Facebook 

Twitter | @AmandaKStout 

Podcast | https://anchor.fm/amanda-stout

If you prefer to WATCH rather than listen, click here to watch the video on Youtube!

I used to wonder how to cook with my toddler, but no more! 

I discovered that it can be a total blast to have my toddler helping me in the kitchen!  

How to Cook with My Toddler Tip 1: Be intentional and let your child help you, even if it takes longer and makes a mess  

How to Cook with My Toddler Tip 2: Give them a snack or drink to munch on to avoid them taste testing the cooking  

How to Cook with My Toddler Tip 3: Narrate what you are doing. This builds vocabulary and verbal skills in your child.   

How to Cook with My Toddler BONUS TIP: Involve your child in clean up as well.  

 ++ If you're interested in the liquid vitamin I give my daughter, check it out here

If you prefer to WATCH rather than listen, click here to watch the video on Youtube. 

Are you ready to learn some mindset shifts that can change your life? Do you want to develop a success mindset?   

Your success is largely determined by your mindset. If you are constantly making excuses, complaining, and focusing on what you wish you had, you will never get anywhere. However, if you take ownership of your choices and actions, choose to be joyful, and focus on what you can do right now to get where you want to go, you will eventually succeed.  All of these choices start with your mindset. I’d be lying if I told you it was easy to change thought patterns. It’s not. But it is worth it.  

 Mindset Shifts That Can Change Your Life #1: Change Begins with Me  

Mindset Shifts That Can Change Your Life #2: I am 100% Responsible for My Life  

Mindset Shifts That Can Change Your Life #3: The Definition of Failure is Giving Up; Falling is not Failing.   

Mindset Shifts That Can Change Your Life #4: There is no Such Thing as Perfect   

Mindset Shifts That Can Change Your Life #5: Breakthrough Doesn’t Happen Overnight

If you prefer to WATCH rather than listen, click here to watch the video on Youtube. 

Have you ever wondered what happens when you ignore God’s voice? Or maybe what happens when you disobey God?  

This is the story of how I learned what happens when you ignore God's voice the hard way. Today I’m going to share with you how I disobeyed, what I did about it, and what I learned from the experience. At the very end I will share three specific lessons I learned that I want to share with you so you don’t have to discover what happens when you ignore God's voice the hard way.   

Set Up: 

- Several years ago I was working as the children’s ministry intern at the church we were attending at the time.  I was hired as an intern with the specific plan that I would step into the role of Children’s Ministry Director within a year. By the time I had been working at that church for about 5 months, I was beginning to sense that not only was the job not a good fit, but that the church itself was no longer a good fit. I began to sense that the Lord was telling me to step down, and to most definitely NOT take the Children’s Ministry Director position as originally planned.  But I felt that I needed the income and honestly didn’t trust that the Lord would provide.  Then, the Director stepped down several months earlier than planned, and despite a very clear prompting from the Lord to refuse the position, I accepted it.    

What happens when you ignore God's voice: 

- I lost all joy and peace. I was absolutely miserable working at the job. 

What did I do:  

- Repented 

- Apologized to the Lord for ignoring his voice

 - Willingly submitted to whatever He would tell me to do next 

- Accepted the consequences and obeyed as joyfully as I could  He told me that I had to stick it out for a couple months until the VBS I was working on was done. Once that was done, I was allowed to leave.   

The Lessons I learned from the experience: 

- Don’t ignore God’s voice. Even if it doesn’t make sense, step out in faith and obey.  

- Stepping outside of God’s will leads to unrest, and often heartache and things being more challenging than they need to be. 

 - Even if you mess up, if you come to the Lord with a humble and repentant heart, he can take that mess up and make something beautiful out of it.

If you prefer to WATCH rather than listen, click here to watch the video on Youtube. 

Have you ever wondered “is it POSSIBLE to be ANGRY and NOT SIN? Do you want to know HOW to handle ANGER as a CHRISTIAN?  

Psalm 4:4: “Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent.” 

 To feel the emotion of anger is not a sin. HOW you respond to the emotion or feeling is what can be sinful.   

There are two types of anger: righteous and unrighteous.   

Righteous anger comes from a desire to please God and love others. It is what you may feel when you see someone being abused or the Lord being dishonored. Righteous anger is zeal for the Lord. Actions motivated by this type of anger are in line with Biblical principles that honor the Lord. Righteous anger is controlled and does not lead to rash actions or words.  

Unrighteous anger is selfish and proud. It is triggered by an offense against you, or by a perceived slight, etc. Actions motivated by this type of anger always result in others getting hurt and relationships being broken. Rarely actions motivated by this type of anger result in anything positive. Unrighteous anger is typically uncontrollable and leads to rash, heated actions and words. 

This is why you need to be so careful and aware of your motives. While feeling the emotion of anger is not a sin, allowing anger to CONTROL your choices is a sin.   

Jesus offers a perfect example of righteous anger motivating a controlled action when He cleansed the Temple at the end of His ministry. 

 - Matthew 21:12-13 and Mark 11:11-17 (Mark gives the most detail).  

He visited the Temple, saw that it was being used as a marketplace. Instead of acting right away, he looked around and then left.  

The next day he returned and acted.    

So, how do we know if we are feeling righteous or unrighteous anger, and how do we experience anger without sinning? 

- How to Handle Anger as a Christian Step 1: Stop. do not act in your anger or make choices out of it. Take a breath, pause (“remain silent”) 

- How to Handle Anger as a Christian Step 2: STAY HUMBLE and BE HONEST with yourself. Really examine WHY you are feeling anger.    

 - How to Handle Anger as a Christian Step 3: “Think about it overnight”. This is the most crucial step. Remove yourself from the situation and take your feelings to the Lord. Ask Him what type of anger you are feeling, and how he would have you respond. Then OBEY.

If you prefer to WATCH rather than listen, click here to watch the video on Youtube.

Does God promise peace to His people? Do you want to know how to live in Godly Peace?

Leviticus 26:6a

“I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear.”

Context:

The Lord is telling His people how He will bless them IF they obey Him, and later states the curses they will experience IF they disobey Him.

Lesson:

As Christians, we have been grafted into Abraham’s family tree. This means that all the promises the Lord gave to Abraham and his descendants are for us as well. So this promise is one for us to rest in. IF we are obedient to the Lord’s instructions and guidance, He will give us peace and we will be able to rest fearlessly.

However, there is a crucial word here: IF. IF we are obedient. As new covenant believers, this means that IF we are obedient to the instructions given in the new covenant, and listen to and obey the Holy Spirit, THEN we will be blessed with peace and rest and no cause for fear.

This does not mean that life will be perfect. But it does mean that NO MATTER the circumstance we can walk in peace, joy, and a state of rest because we know that God is in control and that He will take care of us and our needs.

Application:

If you prefer to WATCH rather than listen, click here to watch the video on Youtube!

1 Corinthians 14

There are many groups of Christians that do not walk in the power of the Spirit, and even suppress Him. This theological belief is called “cessationism”. Cessationism teaches that the sign or supernatural gifts of the Spirit have ceased (see video 2 for more information on this).

But why would the Bible tell us to SEEK the special abilities (gifts) of the Spirit, especially prophecy, if those gifts were going to be taken away and not available to later believers? Why would God say to be EAGER to prophesy and seek the ability to speak in tongues, and allow that to be in the Bible if He was going to cut off the access to these gifts before Jesus comes back? That makes no sense.

There are two forms of prophecy: Foretelling and Forthtelling.

Foretelling: telling the future. What people think of most commonly when they hear the word prophecy.

Forthtelling: the ability to hear from God and communicate it to others. Technically any type of teaching about God or the Bible is a form of prophecy.

Allowing the Holy Spirit to move and have His way in us is crucial to living the life God intended us to live.

All through 1 Corinthian 12-14 the Apostle Paul is commending and complimenting the Corinthians for their eager desire to receive the special (supernatural) abilities of the Spirit.

(11:15 card for pt 1)

NOWHERE in this passage is Paul saying that speaking in tongues is bad, he is saying that it is something that is primarily between you and God because unless there is someone listening to you who has the gift of interpretation, whatever you are saying remains a mystery and cannot help build any one else up.

Speaking in tongues is a sign for unbelievers, prophecy is a gift and sign for believers.

Speaking in tongues is a blessing and a gift from God, but it is rarely appropriate to exercise in public.

Moving and obeying in the Spirit is crucial to living a victorious life.

The supernatural or sign spiritual gifts still exist. Not only that, but we are specifically commanded in the Bible to seek them and ask God to give them to you. And when you ask, He will give it. With each step of obedience in the Spirit, your gifts will be increased and strengthened.

Stepping into a life of connection with the Holy Spirit leads to a peaceful, strong, powerful, victorious life.

Living in the power of the Spirit isn’t a salvation issue, but it is a quality of life issue.

If you prefer to WATCH rather than listen, click here to watch on YouTube.

As Christians, it is so important to know what the Bible says about the HOLY SPIRIT & His SPIRITUAL GIFTS. It is also essential that we are operating in LOVE when using the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 13 (Previous chapter talked about spiritual gifts.)

Some groups teach that the supernatural gifts do not exist anymore, & some even say that those who practice these gifts aren’t saved. Many use this chapter as one of the supports for their position. This is a misinterpretation of what this chapter is saying. What this chapter is saying is that Love should be the motivator. It doesn’t matter WHAT you do if you are not doing it in love. It’s not saying these gifts don’t exist, it’s saying that these gifts are worthless without love. If you are not motivated by, serving, and using your gifts from love, that gift becomes a weapon. What is love? God is love.

Love is: Patient, Kind, Humble, Polite, Forgiving, Rejoices in truth & justice, Holds onto faith & hope, Endures

Love is NOT: A doormat, A martyr, Spineless, Boundary-less

(I highly recommend the book Boundaries by Drs. Cloud & Townsend to learn more about this. You can get the book here)

Love needs to be the motivator & mode of operation when utilizing and using spiritual gifts.

Cessationism (supernatural gifts are dead) hinges on the interpretation of “the time of perfection” or “the perfect” in verse 10. This passage says that until we reach “the time of perfection” we NEED the supernatural gifts to receive God’s leading, direction, and clarity. So, what is “the time of perfection”?

What I believe: The time of perfection is when Jesus comes back. Because the world is still full of sin, we CANNOT see things with perfect clarity. We won’t be able to see things clearly until we no longer have carnal flesh and sin.

What the college I attended believes: The time of perfection/the perfect is the closing of the cannon of the Protestant Bible. They say that once the Protestant Bible was put together, God stopped speaking & we entered the time of perfection. 

This really doesn’t make sense in light of the context of the whole Bible. Nowhere does the Bible  say that God will stop speaking before Jesus' second coming. It actually says that the Holy Spirit is in us, always teaching us & guiding us and speaking to us. We NEED the Holy Spirit to speak to us & teach us how to apply the principles of the Bible to our specific & unique lives.  This ability to hear the Holy Spirit & act on what He tells you is a form of prophecy. When Jesus comes back, sin will be removed from the world & there will be no need for the supernatural gifts because Jesus will be with us & we will be perfect.

We don’t HAVE to live in the power of the Spirit to be saved, but if we want to be truly fulfilled and walk out our calling to the fullest, we do. What you believe about the Holy Spirit IS a how you live out your faith issue.

Regardless of what you believe about the supernatural gifts, love is essential. You need to be constantly checking your heart & choosing to operate from a place of love. Without love, gifts (supernatural or natural) are worthless.

Determining whether or not you are operating in love is between you & God. Take the time daily to connect with God & ask Him to help you stay in love.

If you prefer to WATCH rather than listen, click here to watch on Youtube!

Have you ever asked “Do I HAVE to read my Bible?” Do you want to learn how to LOVE reading the Bible?

If you prefer to WATCH rather than listen, click here to watch on Youtube.