Walk Boldly With Jesus

Walk Boldly With Jesus

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Walk Boldly With Jesus episodes

  • The Devil's Greatest Fear

    The Devil’s Greatest Fear

    1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

    This is one of the verses that was covered in my class last night.  In case I didn’t mention this before, I have enrolled in a two year program with the Encounter School of Ministry. This school was designed and established from the heart of Encounter Ministries.  This school draws from the richness of our Catholic heritage as we seek to teach, equip, and activate disciples to demonstrate the love of God through the power of the Holy Spirit in their spheres of influence. In conformity with the teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church, we offer students a dynamic  2-year training program designed to take you to the next level in your ministry.  I am really loving the class so far.  I truly believe that Jesus gave us all the authority to do signs and wonders here on earth when He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit.  I am sure I will be using a lot of the Bible verses from class in the podcast so that everyone can see how powerful the Holy Spirit is.  

    This first quarter is all about Identity and Transformation.  Last night I heard something and I knew I wanted to share that with all of you.  Our teacher asked us a question.  What is the devil most afraid of?  Do you want to take guess?  Maybe you already know, but I don’t think I did.  The enemy is most afraid of confident sons and daughters of Christ.  Did you know that already?  What does that mean?  What she meant by confident sons and daughters is that we are confident in who we are as sons and daughters of Christ.  We have talked before about how the enemy loves to steal our joy with half truths.  He takes a kernel of truth and then twists it into a lie that we believe hook line and sinker.  Why do we believe it?  Because we are insecure in who we are and He knows that.  

    Remember when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and then the Holy Spirit came upon Him and He went into the wilderness for 40 days?  This can be found in Matthew 3 & 4.  In Matthew 3:16-17 it says, “And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Immediately after this Jesus went into the desert for 40 days.  In Matthew 4:1-3 it says, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  Do you see how the devil was trying to get Jesus to question His identity?  God had just said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  Now the devil is coming in 40 days later when Jesus is hungry and trying to get Him to question His identity.  The devil says, “If you are the Son of God.”  Luckily, God had just affirmed who Jesus was and Jesus was confident in who He is.  He was not tempted by the devil.  I wonder if we can say the same?

    Are we confident children of Christ?  Do we let the enemy get in and twist the truth of who we are?  Let's look at this verse and see who we actually are.  The verse says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  It starts out by saying we are a chosen race.  Did you know you were chosen?  God chose you, yes you to be one of His children.  It says so right here in this verse.  If this is something you struggle to believe, post it somewhere you can read it multiple times a day.  We are a chosen race, you are His chosen child.  Next, it says we are a royal priesthood.  I was not sure exactly how to explain this, so I looked it up and found the answer on lavendervines.com.  “We are a royal priesthood, which means we have direct access and fellowship with God like a priest but are also called to expand the Kingdom of God and influence the world like a king.”  I will post a link to her article as she goes into a lot more detail in her article.  Basically we have direct access to God, there is nothing in between us like there was in the old testament.  The moment Jesus died on our cross the veil at the temple was torn in two. (Matthew 27:51)  This veil in the temple was meant to keep the Holy of Holies apart from the people.  Only Priests were allowed to go in there.  However, when Jesus died on the cross that veil was torn in two and we were granted direct access to the Lord.  That is another thing I learned somewhat recently and something that still amazes me.  We now have direct contact with the Lord, we don’t have anything standing in between us.  

    Next, the verse says, “A holy nation, God’s own people.”  We are holy, which means to be set apart, or different.  We are not the same as everyone else.  We belong to God and that makes us different.  We don’t have to do things on our own, or rely on our own strength.  We have the power of the Holy Spirit on our side to help us do what we need to do.  Also in Philippians 4:13 it says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”  We have a loving father who has set us apart from the ways of the world and He gives us the power to resist the ways of the world if we call upon it.   Do you believe this?  Do you believe that God has set you apart and that we are called to live differently?  

    The last part of the verse is one I think we forget often and maybe even the thing we have the most trouble believing or remembering.  It says, “That you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”  Do you struggle to believe you've been called out of the darkness and into His marvelous light?  Right now it may feel like you are stuck in the darkness.  That is a lie the enemy wants you to believe.  Yes, things may seem pretty bleak right now, but you have already been called into the light and you are not stuck in the darkness.  God is shining His light into that darkness you feel, can you see it?  Are you looking for it?  Or are you just falling for the lies of the enemy?  If you struggle to believe who you are in Christ, you are not alone.  We all struggle sometimes.  However, the reason I wanted to share this with you today is because we are so much more powerful when we can believe these things and we can be confident in who we are.  

    When we know who we are, when we are confident in who we are and whose we are, the enemy can’t touch us.  Being confident in who you are doesn’t mean you will never being tempted by the enemy, you will.  He will do all he can to get you to doubt who you are.  However, when you are confident you don’t fall for his lies.  He still tries, but you don’t give him the time of day.  You don’t even listen to His lies because you know he is a liar.  If you go back and read Matthew 4, you will see Jesus didn’t get upset at the devil, He didn’t get flustered, He just answered the questions of the devil with scripture.  This is one reason why it is so great to get familiar with scripture.  If we truly know what the Bible says, it is a lot harder for the devil to use it against us.  It is hard for him to twist it into something it is not if we know what it says.  However, even if you don’t know scripture, you can still ignore the enemy if you just remember this one verse.  This verse above says all you need to know.  

    “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Write this somewhere you will see it often.  Memorize this one scripture if it helps you to believe more in your identity as a child of Christ.  Know who you are and whose you are and the enemy won’t be able to get into your heard.  He won’t be able to make you doubt.  He will be afraid of you because he knows how much power a confident child of God has.  He knows how powerful we become when we step into our identity.  He knows when we fully step into our true identity, we are lost to him forever.  

    Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you and we accept our place as your sons and daughters.  Lord, please help us to step into this identity fully and to not believe the lies of the enemy.  Help protect us against these lies.  We want to be confident children Lord, please show us how.  Give us the strength we need to do this.  We are so grateful you have adopted us Lord, we are thankful you have chosen us and set us apart.  Help us to live into this glorified state.  You are the almighty one, you are Lord of Lords and  Kings of kings.  We are so very grateful for all you do for us 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 spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

    www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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    13 min
  • Divine Power to Destroy Strongholds

    Divine Power To Destroy Strongholds

    2 Corinthians 10:3-6 “For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete."  

    That first line is really powerful, especially with all the controversy over weapons these days.  Yes, we are living in the world and yet we don’t fight like the world does.  Our weapons don’t destroy people and their lives, we destroy strongholds.  Isn’t that a powerful statement that our weapons have divine power to destroy strongholds?  It doesn’t say some of us have the divine power to destroy strongholds, it say our weapons.  It is talking about all of us, you and me.  Are you facing some pretty big strongholds right now?  Are you fighting for custody of your children?  Are you looking at the giant stack of bills and the empty bank account and wondering how this is all going to work out?  Are you struggling with family members or co-workers and dreading seeing them each day?  Are you facing chronic pain each day and wondering how you are going to make it though the day?  God has given us the weapons that have divine power to break those strongholds.  When we face strong holds we might be tempted to give up or to give in.  We may feel as though we are in over our head.  If we feel like this it is important to remember this verse.  

    While trying to write this I was stuck here for a while because I kept wondering if that last part was helpful.  I wondered if I were facing a seemingly insurmountable  stronghold right now, like chronic pain for instance, would I feel comfort by this verse, or would I need some more instruction?  God gives us weapons with divine power to destroy strong holds, that is awesome.  However, what I keep asking myself is how do I find these weapons, how do I use these weapons? I figured if I was asking these questions you might be too.  What came to my mind were a couple of things.  First, the second half of this verse is a clue.  it says, “Take captive every thought to obey Christ.”  When we are facing a stronghold our thoughts can be very powerful and they can help us or they can hurt us depending on what we are thinking.  

    Our thoughts tell us a story, whether we realize it or not.  Our brains listen to everything we say.  When we are facing a difficult situation we need to harness our thoughts and make them work for us instead of against us.  This means we need to be intentional with what we are thinking and even the things we surround ourselves with.  If we are already struggling to feel positive we don’t want to surround ourselves with negative people.  We don’t want to share our problems with someone that will jump into our pity party and help us stay there.  We need to intentionally seek out things that will help us have more positive thoughts.  One way to do this is to spend a few minutes, first thing when you wake up, with the Lord.  Talk to God about all the things going wrong and tell Him that you would like His help in all these situations.  Ask God to be with you throughout the day and to help you with every situation you encounter.  Ask God for the strength to get through this day a little better than you did yesterday.  You don’t have to ask God to fix everything, although you can and He will.  You can just ask God to give you whatever you need to make it though this one day.  

    I think the Holy Spirit and Prayer might be the weapons God is talking about in this verse, or at least two of the weapons.  You can call on the Holy Spirit any time you are in need.  Four simple words and you will have the full power of the Holy Spirit strengthening you.  “Come Holy Spirit Come.”  It is that easy.  When you call on the Holy Spirit He always comes.  I have heard miraculous stories of ways the Holy Spirit has shown up for people when they called upon Him.  If you are looking to break a stronghold, whether it be an addiction, a struggle in your family, a struggle at work, or lack of work, the Holy Spirit can help you.  I remember reading in a book about a minister who felt called to work with teens on the streets of NYC.  He was a preacher from Pennsylvania.  It was a long road but he ended up helping a lot of them break their addictions.  He said he wondered why some kids were able to break their addiction completely and some broke it for awhile and then went back to it.  He said it was the kids that accepted the Holy Spirit into their lives that broke that addiction completely.  The name of that book is The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson.  I highly recommend that book to everyone.  It is such a great book about listening to God’s word even when it doesn’t make sense to us or anyone around us.  

    Prayer is another great weapon against our strongholds.  There are so many different types of prayer.  You can pray in the moment whatever comes into your mind.  You can also pray formal or prescript prayers.  For instance if I am scared I pray the prayer to St. Michael as he is the defender of evil.  He is our protector.  Also, the simple prayer of saying Jesus’ name.  The enemy flees at Jesus’ name.  There are also prayers called novenas.  This is when you pray a prayer for nine days in a row.  You can also have other people pray for you, you can have Mary intercede for you, you can have all the saints intercede fro you.  Prayer is so great.  Oftentimes we see prayer as a last resort.  I have said and I know I have heard a lot of people say, “all we can do is pray.”  As if prayer is reserved for when all else fails.  We should be praying the whole time, praying when you first find out, praying for a solution, praying for peace and wisdom.  Our first stop should be going to our Heavenly Father and trusting the situation in His capable hands.  My hope is that we all realize how powerful our prayers are and they can be even more powerful if we realize Jesus gave us the authority to do greater works than He did.

    I think this verse is another verse that is very important for us to remember.  Yes, we live in this world, but we do not fight like this world.  This world fights with weapons and unkind words.  It attacks people’s sense of identity, it attacks family values, it attacks love.  This world is filled with so much hate and division.  We fight back with our prayers.  We invite God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit into the situation and we let them show us how to proceed.  The Holy Spirit gives us divine power to break our strongholds.  One great way to exercise this power is to pray for all we need and to turn our worries over to God.  Remember we are called to be set apart.  Don’t let the world drag you down, don’t let the world persuade you to fight like they fight.  Pray about whatever your troubles are, call the Holy Spirit into the situation and watch how much better things get.  I will leave you with Romans 8:31, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

    Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want the divine power you give to us to destroy strongholds.  Lord, help us to turn to you every time we are in trouble.  Help us begin to pray at the first sign of trouble, not as a last resort.  Help us to realize the immense power of prayer, so we never again say, “all we can do now is pray.”  But instead say, we don’t have to worry because we have been praying and we will continue to pray.  Lord we are so grateful you answer all of our prayers.  We know they don’t always look like exactly what we want and yet we are grateful anyway.  Lord, you are so mighty and powerful.  You are the Alpha and the Omega.  You are the King of Kings.  We adore 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 spending time with you again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

    www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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    11 min
  • Temptations

    Temptations

    1 Corinthians 10:12-13 “Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." 

    I thought this was a great verse to talk about because we are all tempted.  It can be so frustrating because we are tempted the most when we make a commitment to do something.  We make a commitment to stop eating donuts and someone brings in donuts to the break room at work.  You make a commitment to start running in the morning and someone invites you to do something else in the morning.  You decide you will take a break from drinking alcohol and your friends call up and invite you to margarita Tuesdays.  I am sure you all have your own examples of times when you made a commitment to do something and then were immediately tempted to break that commitment.  It is inevitable and many times we don’t even realize it is a temptation.  We don’t realize we are being tempted away from our commitment.  

    I am not sure what the first line in the verse is saying.  My interpretation is that we need to be careful if we think we are above temptations, or if we start to think we are standing on our own two feet and we have this whole faith thing down pat.  Or maybe we start to think too much of ourselves and our own abilities.  It says, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”  I think what God is trying to tell us is to be careful and to think twice if we feel everything is easy for us and we are doing everything right.  If we start to think we are perfect then we may fall.  Humility is so important.  We can all always learn something, there isn’t a single one of us that knows everything or that does everything perfectly.  There is always room for improvement.  I think this is what the Lord is trying to tell us with this first line, but I don’t know that for sure.  I am definitely not a theologian.  

    The next line is an important one.  “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” In other words, you are not alone.  Temptation is not a new thing.  It is not something that is unique to you.  Temptation has been around since the beginning of time, quite literally.  Look at Eve, she was tempted by the apple.  Temptation is here and it is not going anywhere.  I think this line is put in to reassure us that temptation is normal.  We all get tempted.  There is nothing wrong with us just because we are tempted.  Sometimes we can feel that we are weak if we are tempted.  Everyone is tempted by something at one point or another.  

    The next part says, “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength.”  This is great news.  God is right there with us in that temptation.  He may be allowing the temptation but he will not tempt us more than we can handle.  I wonder if this means we have the power to resist all temptations?  I honestly don’t know the answer to that question.  I know I don’t always feel like I have the power and I know I don’t always resist the temptations in front of me.  Is that because I am not trying hard enough or because I am not using or accepting the power that God is giving to me?  Those are both questions I don’t have the answer too.  I will need to spend some time with God and ponder those questions.  I will ask the Lord to show me what is getting in the way.  What about you?  How are you doing resisting the temptations set out in front of you?  Are you letting those temptations deter you from keeping the commitments you said you would do?  

    The ending of this verse is something I hadn’t really though of before.  “But with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”  This is an interesting way of looking at temptations.  If I am reading and interpreting this correctly, the Lord is saying the temptation can also provide us a way to escape if we are able to endure it.  For instance, if we are a smoker and we commit to giving it up, our ability to avoid the temptation to smoke is our escape, our way out.  Resisting temptation is also a great way to see how dedicated you are to your commitment.  If you say you are going to give up sweets and then the first time you are presented a sweet you eat it, you probably were not that dedicated to giving them up.  

    We usually assume temptations are from the enemy.  We assume the enemy is trying to keep us from doing the good things we have planned.  However, what if some temptations were from our Father in heaven to test us and see if we really meant what we said?  What if some of the temptations were from our heavenly Father to help us get stronger or to help us overcome something we need to overcome?  This verse tells us God will not let us be tempted beyond our strength, remember this the next time you are tempted.  The next time you are tempted whether it is by a cookie, or something a lot more serious, remember God has given you the strength to withstand the temptation.  You don’t have to give in to that temptation, you are stronger than you think.  The next time you are tempted try to pause and ask yourself, what is the purpose of this temptation.  Is it trying to get me off track, is it trying to teach me something, is it trying to build up my resilience or my perseverance?  Also remember that you are not the only one being tempted.  We are all going through it so be kind to yourself.  Temptation is common, you just have to decide what you are going to do with it.  How can you make the temptation work for you instead of against you?

    Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, you are so great and we are so grateful for you.  Lord, help us to recognize the power to resist temptation that you have given us.  Help us remember that power in times of need.  Thank you for showing us we are not alone and preventing us from being tempted beyond our strength.  Help us to endure these temptations Lord, and help us to escape.  Lord, you are amazing. You are the Light of the World, and the Word made Flesh.  You are the almighty one 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 spending time with you again on Monday.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed weekend!

    www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

    CLICK HERE TO DONATE

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    8 min
  • Your Names Are Written In Heaven

    Rejoice That Your Names Are Written In Heaven

    Luke 10:17-20 “The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.  Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

    The verse is very powerful for two different reasons.  The first one is the disciples were sent out by Jesus to spread to good news of the Gospel and they were able to do signs and wonders as Jesus was.  The disciples were excited to come back and tell Jesus how good they did on their assignment.  They were filled with joy because they were able to cast out demons in Jesus’ name.  Then Jesus told them He gave them he authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.  This definitely deserves some time for us to stop and really think about.  Jesus gave them authority over all the power of the enemy; and nothing would hurt them.  Did you know He gave you that same power as well?  

    It says in John 14:12-14, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”  Jesus was able to do a lot more than cast out demons.  He was able to heal people, physical healings and emotional healings, He was able to perform miracles, he was able to inspire and teach others.  In this verse in John’s gospel Jesus is telling us that we will also do the works that He did and we will actually be able to do greater works than these.  Do you believe this?  Do you believe you will do the works Jesus did and even greater works? We read about first the 12 and then the 70 that Jesus sent out to spread the good news and they came back saying they were able to do the works he did.  If we can see it happened just as He said in the Bible, why do we struggle to believe it?  

    Some of us may not think it is possible to do the works Jesus did because we are normal, ordinary, boring people.  It takes extraordinary people to perform miracles.  This is what many of us think.  What could I do, I’m not anyone special?  I have two things to say to that.  First, you are special, we all are, because God made us in His likeness and image and because we are His chosen children.  Second, I’ve got a newsflash for you, none of the apostles were any more special than you or I before they started following Jesus.  If you have not watched the series The Chosen, you really should give it a try.  What I love the most about the series is how human everyone is, even Jesus.  It shows who the apostles were before they were chosen.  They were regular, every day people.  They were not the richest people, they were not the ones that were getting everything right, they were not the ones everyone looked up to.  They were the people who’s hearts were touched when they met Jesus.  They were the ones who knew after spending a very short time with Jesus, that there was no where else they would rather be.  They were the ones that said yes.  

    I love the series because it shows their humanity. It shows how some of Jesus’ followers didn’t know scripture well and so they started to learn it.  The series shows how they all have doubts, just as we do, as to their worthiness to be followers.  In an episode I saw this week, one of the brothers, I think it was James, said he didn’t understand much at all of what was going on.  Isn’t that us so much of the time?  We want to understand what the Bible is saying and yet sometimes it is just above our heads.  If I could get one message out to everyone in the world it would be to “not count yourself out.”  I wish everyone would hear this verse in John 14:12-14, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it,” and accept it as their truth.  I wish everyone would hear this and know that Jesus was talking to them when He said it.  

    I know we don’t feel special enough to think we could perform healings and miracles and yet the Bible says we are.  It also says in Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”  We don’t have to feel we are good enough.  We just have to trust God is faithful and that Jesus wouldn’t say something if it wasn’t true.  There are people all over the world who have made a decision to believe this Word of God and because they believe it they are doing the works that Jesus did and even greater works.  What would it take for you to believe this Word of God?  Why is it you believe other things God has said and yet you struggle to believe this one?  How would your life change if you adopted this word as your personal truth?

    The second reason the verse above is so powerful is because of the last line, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”  How powerful is that?  These apostles have just come back from doing signs and wonders and Jesus tells them not to rejoice over that, but to rejoice because their names are written in Heaven.  Imagine hearing those words from Jesus?  God wants us to spread the Good News of the Gospel.  He wants us to bring others to our faith.  He wants us to build up the faith of others.  One great way to build up the faith of others is to perform signs and miracles.  Even if you are not performing signs and miracles, you have probably seen some miracles in your life time, especially if you have ever prayed for anything then you have received some answered prayers.  Who are you sharing those answered prayers with? How are you using all God is doing in your life to help build the faith of others?

    Evangelization, which we are all called to do, isn’t only about going out and preaching the Word of God.  A lot of the time it is about living your life as a living example of Christ.  Remember what my dad said the other day in his witness?  Other people in our neighbor hood would come up to him and say they noticed he had a different kind of peace around him and they wanted to know how to get it.  That is our ultimate goal.  That right there should be our goal for living each day.  How can we live today so someone will notice it and want to have it? We can keep that in our minds with each decision we make.  When I do this will I being a reflection of Jesus?  If other people saw me do this, would they think of God, would they want to have more of what I have?  How can I take all God has given me and have it reflect Jesus back to the world?  Those are some great things to ponder of this next week.  I want to rejoice that my name is written in Heaven.

    Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to do greater works than you, please help us.  We believe Lord, help our unbelief.  Help soften our hearts and change our hearts and minds so we can believe you will give us whatever we ask.  Help us to believe we can do the works you do.  Lord, we could be helping so many more people if we could just believe. Help us to want to believe as we know you can help us do anything we ask for Lord.  Help us to rejoice that our name is written in Heaven.  Thank you for writing our name in Heaven Lord.  We are so very grateful you are so kind to us.  You love us so much and we are so thankful.  You are our almighty and loving Father.  You are the Prince of Piece and the Lion of Judah.  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 spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus love you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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    11 min
  • Witness Wednesday #30 Michelle V.

    We have all seen God working in our lives, however, we might not all be aware it is God who is working in our lives.  This is why it is so important we start talking about it more.  The more we share our experiences the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us.  If you would be willing to share any experience you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at [email protected] or just click on the link below.  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.  Have a blessed day!

     

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    23 min
  • Let's Go On The Offensive!

    Let’s Go On The Offensive!

    Matthew 16:18 “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

    Father Mike talked about this verse and I thought it was so powerful.  I know not everyone listening to this episode is listening to his podcast and I think everyone should hear this message so I am going to relay his message.  Father Mike said when he was younger and he read this passage he thought, when it says “the gates of Hades will not prevail against it,” it meant that hell will not destroy the church.  Even if the church gets really bad, hell cannot possible destroy the church.  Father Mike said that is not what Jesus is saying.  Jesus says, “The gates of hell/Hades will not prevail against it.” Which means not that the gates of Hades are attacking the church, but that the gates of Hades will not be able to prevent the church from overtaking hell.  The gates of Hades will not be able to prevent God’s power, His Kindgom on Earth from destroying the kingdom of the evil one with His power.  It’s not a defensive position, it’s an offensive position.   You and I have been brought into this church and we have been made members of the body of Christ.  We are sons and daughters of our Father.  

    Yes, there is this defensive promise that God is with us, God is for us, that He loves us and cares for us.  Also, there is this offensive posture that we have which is, “Where does His light need to be shined?”  “Where does His grace need to be revealed?”  “Where does His hope need to be proclaimed?”  “Where does His love need to be brought?”  There are a lot of places without love, without hope, and without light within our world.  If we are meant to be on the offensive, if the members of the church are meant to be on the offensive where the gates of hell cannot prevail against it, “where can you and I bring light today where there is no light?”  “Where can you and I bring hope today where there is not hope?” “Where can you and I bring love today where there is no love?”  This doesn’t have to be someone struggling in another country or another state.  This could be someone living next door to you or even someone living in the same house as you.  

    I don’t know about you, but I found this profound.  I was instantly moved by this idea.  I think we usually feel as though we are on the defensive.  There is so much awful in this world and we are constantly feeling like we have to defend ourselves and our loved ones against it.  I love the idea of being on the offensive.  I love the idea of knowing we are brining light into the darkness.  I know it probably sounds silly but I picture wearing these big boots and knocking down evil’s door and shining this big spot light into that darkness.  Father Mike asked some great questions.  Let’s look at those questions a little closer.

    “Where can I bring light today where there is no light?”  Who do you know that is in the darkness right now?  Who do you know is struggling and can’t see the light?  Are there secrets hanging out in the dark that need to come into the light? Start in your own house.  Are there people you are living with that could use a little more light in their life?  Do you have family members that are struggling and you have been too busy to notice?  Or maybe you haven’t been too busy, but you didn’t really know what to do so you were hoping the problem would just go away.  I pray you were doing more than hoping.  I pray you were praying, not only for the one who was struggling but also praying for God to show you what you could do to help.  When in doubt, pray.  God will always show you what to do if you ask Him.  What if we all took this question to God this week. Let’s all take a few minutes and ask God directly where He wants us to bring more light into the world?  We can ask God to show us who He wants us to help and how He wants us to do it.  

    The next question was,”Where can you and I bring hope today where there is not hope?”  This is a great one because there are more and more people losing hope these days.  People are losing hope in our government, they are losing hope in humanity, they are losing hope in everything.  What can we do to renew the hope people are losing?  What can we do to bring them a new hope?  How can we get them to see that hope in Jesus is all they need? One thing I have done for my friends that were losing hope in something, like a deep desire they had, was to keep hoping for them.  Hope can be hard sometimes because if you hope in something there is always the chance you may be let down.  For instance if you are hoping that you get a certain job, and then you don’t, you may be let down.  The thing about hoping in the Lord is, He never lets you down.  He always keeps His promises.  Maybe if we can show people how faithful God is to His promises then we can help them find their hope again?  What other ways can you think of to bring hope where there is none?  This is another great thing to take to God.  Spend some time asking God to show you exactly who He wants you to bring hope to and how?  

    The last question is, “Where can you and I today bring love today where there is no love?” There is a real lack of love in the world right now.  Where can we bring love into our part of the world? Mother Teresa said, “Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action”  Starting with our home, how can we add more love into our home?  How can we bring more love into our work places?  What about our neighborhoods, is there a way we can bring more love into our neighborhoods?  Could we wave hi to our neighbors as we walk past?  Instead of walking by in a hurry, maybe we could take the time to stop and ask them how they are doing?  Maybe checking in with our co workers and asking how they are doing?  What if you were the only person to ask them how they were doing?  We never know what people are feeling on the inside.  I have heard many stories of people who were on their way to taking their own life and then decided not to because someone, completely unaware of their plans, stopped and said something kind to them.  Remember, you never know how one kind word can change someone’s life.  

    Let’s all go on the offensive.  Instead of waiting for the evil one to try and ruin our day, let’s try to bring more light, love and hope into some else’s day.  Yes, we always need to be ready to fight against the enemy as he loves to attack us.  However, instead of just being on the defensive lets go on the offensive too.  That might just knock him off his game.  I don’t know if you have ever played chess, but if you have ever played with someone that is really good, they can anticipate your moves.  They know if they do this, you will likely do this.  Chess players are thinking several moves in advance and they run through several scenarios in their head.  However, when they are playing with someone that doesn’t always do the thing they thought they would do they can get stuck being on the defensive.  When this happens you are in control of the board and they are just reacting to your moves.  If we are spreading love, hope and light to all we meet, the enemy will be stuck reacting us instead of us always reacting to him.  What do you say, do you want to put the enemy on the defensive with me?

    Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode with me today.  Lord, you are amazing and we love how you have already defeated the enemy for us.  We ask you to help us spread your love, light and hope to all those we meet.  Lord, the world is lacking these things in a big way right now and we aren’t sure how to help spread them, please show each and every one of us how to do our part.  We are ready and willing to work for you Lord, show us how, show us where, show us who.  Lord, you are the light of this world and we want to spread that light to others.  You are the hope of this world, help us share that hope with others, You are the love we desperately need in this world, help us to share that love with every single person we meet.  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.  Tomorrow’s guess will be my sister Michelle.  My sister’s witness is about how she was able to trust God in a difficult situation and how that situation turned out better than she could have hoped.  If you have ever struggled to trust God, if you have ever really wanted something and struggled to trust it would come, this is the witness for you.   I look forward to sharing her witness with you tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

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    11 min
  • God Has Chosen You, Yes You!

    God Has Chosen You, Yes You!

    Isaiah 41:8-10 “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

    Someone told me once, whenever you are going through the Bible and you see the world Israel you can substitute your name in there.  Israel is what God called His chosen people.  We are also God’s chosen people.  I am not sure if you have ever tried doing that, substituting your name, but it makes the scriptures more personal.  In this verse you would probably substitute your name for Jacob’s name.  Let’s all do that right now.  Listen to the first line again putting in your name.  Repeat after me, “But you, Israel, my servant, insert your name here, whom I have chosen.”  So for me it would be, “But you, Israel, my servant, Catherine, whom I have chosen.”  That might even be a good verse to write on a sticky note and put it somewhere you will see it often.  This scripture just happens to be one that is easier to personalize, but all the scriptures are meant for each one of us individually.  God is talking to all His people and at the same time He is talking to each one of His people.  

    This verse starts by reminding us who we are.  We are God’s chosen people.  It also reminds us of where we came from.  God took us from the ends of the earth, from the farthest corners he called us.  He saved us from slavery in Egypt.  He led us out of Egypt and into the promised land.  He took care of us and met our every need while were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.  One amazing part is that He took care of us for all 40 years even though it was never meant to be 40 years.  He took care of us for all 40 years even though we continually turned our backs on Him and complained about everything.  

    Maybe you feel like you are far from everyone else right now. Maybe you feel as though you are in a deep pit and you can’t seem to find your way out.  Maybe you feel as though you might as well be at the farthest corners because you feel so alone and isolated.  If this is you please write this verse down and look at it multiple times a day.  If you feel isolated, if you feel you are in a pit and can’t get out, if you feel all alone, you probably also feel abandoned by God.  You have not been abandoned or rejected.  It says right in this verse, “I have chosen you and have not rejected you.  So do not fear, I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  

    God is there for you.  He sees you in your struggles.  He is there with you in the marriage that is struggling.  He is there with you in that house where everything is chaos right now.  Yes, He sees your husband or your wife abusing alcohol and He is working in that situation.  Yes, He sees your parents getting older or getting sick and He is there in that situation.  Yes, He sees you struggling to get back on track and He is there working in that situation too.  We live in a world that is full of rejection.  There are so many ways we can feel rejected in the world we are living in.  We have constant connection to the whole world.  If we text someone we know when they read our message, so when they don’t write back right away we might wonder why.  We might start to feel rejected like they didn’t write back because they are upset with us, or maybe they didn’t care enough to write back right away.  If we call someone and they don’t pick up we might wonder why they didn’t pick up.  Are they avoiding my calls?  Did I do something wrong?  I could go on.  There are many, many ways we can feel rejected.  

    However, God is not rejecting us.  He is saying flat out in this verse, “I have chosen you, and have not rejected you.”  This is amazing!  If I could be anything in the world, I would want to be chosen by God.  And He reassures us in this passage that we are chosen.  Do you know what is so great about being chosen by God?  We didn’t have to do anything to be chosen.  We just needed to exist and He chose us and will protect us.  That right there, is amazing to me.  Something I learned in my class on Monday night, well, I guess I already knew but God reminded me, is that we don’t have to earn His love.  This is something God keeps reminding me of because as amazing as I think it is, I can’t seem to remember it.  I remember it in my brain.  I will tell anyone I talk to that they don’t have to earn God’s love, it is freely given.  I know this, I truly do, and yet I still try to earn it by doing one more thing in my day.  I wonder if I am doing enough and I hear the Holy Spirit say, “It’s not about doing, it’s about being.”  God doesn’t want us to “do” things as much as He wants us to “BE” with Him.  

    Doing things is great.  I do believe He wants us to go out and do works in His name.  However, those works will not make Him love us anymore and they will not get us any closer to heaven.  God loves us no matter what we do and we were given Heaven by Jesus when He died for our sins.  It’s not something we earn.  If you feel as though you have been rejected or separated from God, please write down this verse and look at it often.  God is talking to you, yes you.  God loves you and He has chosen you, he has not rejected you.  The verse also says “I will strengthen you and help you.”  God will help you when you ask.  It may not look like you imagined it would and it may not be on your timeline.  Help will come though.  God always keeps His word and His promises.  God is already working in your situation in ways you can’t see.  He is lining things up and working on softening peoples hearts.  He is 12 steps ahead of us and we can rest in the fact that He said He will help us and He will strengthen us. He will give you the strength to make it through anything you face.  I will leave you with God’s word’s instead of my own.  Close your eyes and imagine God is saying this directly to you, because He is, “You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

    Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we thank you for choosing us and for not rejecting us.  We thank you for finding us wherever we are and leading us home.  Lord, we don’t want to fear, please help us to realize You are with us and that you will strengthen us and help us. Lord, we ask you to open our eyes and show us how you are working in our current situation.  Help us to not feel rejected Lord.  If we do feel rejected or alone please help us feel your love today.  Help us to know you are there with us.  Help us to lean into you instead of away from you.  We are so grateful for all you do for us.  You are the almighty Lord God.  You are our Savior.  You are the Light of the World.  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 spending time with you tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!  

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    10 min
  • Love God with Your Whole Heart, Soul & Strength

    Love God with Your Whole Heart, Soul & Strength

    Deuteronomy 6:4-5 " Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

    That is a pretty tall order.  First of all, it’s hard because many of us don’t even know what love is.  We only know the love we have been shown, and in a lot of cases, that was not love.  I started writing this episode for Thursday morning and then I realized before writing about how we are called to love God with our whole heart, soul and strength, I should explain what love is.  If you have not listened to yesterday’s episode go listen to that one as it goes together with this one.  Yesterday’s episode titled “What is Love?” talks about how love is defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.  Today the Lord is asking us to love Him with all of our heart, soul and strength.  That sounds great in theory, but how do we actually do that?  

    Let’s start with our heart.  How do we give our whole heart to God?  This makes me think of a scene I saw last night on the Chosen season 2 episode 6.  Mary Magdalen left the camp where Jesus was and she went to the bar to gamble and drink.  She knew she didn’t want to be doing what she was doing and yet it seemed as if she couldn’t help it.  After she was finally able to walk away she couldn’t go home to Jesus.  She was too ashamed.  Matthew and Simon found her and brought her back.  When Mary talked with Jesus He said He just needed Mary to give her heart to God, which she had.  That was all.  Then He ask her a question, “Did you really never expect to sin again?”  From this scene I think Jesus was telling us, He doesn’t need us to be perfect.  He is not setting these super high standards that he needs us to live up to at all times.  We just need to give Him our hearts.  

    I found an article titled, “20 Ways to Love God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength.” (Click Here)  In this article it talked about 20 different ways we could love God.  One of these ways was to love God with our whole heart.  This is what it said, “We can think of the heart as the place of our spiritual life, thoughts, feelings, motivations, reason, and understanding. Our decisions, our morals, and our will come from it. So, loving God with all our heart is to have a strong desire and will towards Him.”  This seems to line up with what Jesus said to Mary.  Do we desire to be with God. Is our will pointed towards God or away from God?  What does our spiritual life look like?  Are we spending time with God every single day?  What do we think about all the time?  Are we thinking about God more than anything else throughout the day?  Is God behind all of our motivations, reasons and understanding?  Think about these things.  Take some time to ponder if you are loving the Lord our God with your whole heart.  

    Next it says to love the Lord your God with all your soul.  This is what I found in that article.  “The Hebrew word for “soul” gives the idea of the breath of life. The Greek word gives a more global idea of the inner self, the individual, the mind (in the sense of our deep thoughts). We can say that it is the non-physical part of the human being (Psalm 16:10; Ezekiel 18:4). It is what defines our personhood, who we are. So, loving God with our whole soul is to love Him with everything we are, is to find our inner self inclined to Him, seeking Him, having Him at the center of our affections.  What comes to mind after reading that is the question, Are we seeking Him?  Is he at the center of our affections?  When we are sitting around thinking about what we want to do, does God come to our minds?  Do we want to spend time with Him?  Do we want to be near Him?  If we could pick someone to spend our time with, who would that be?  Would it be God?  

    Finally, the verse tells us to love God with our whole strength.  Love God with our whole Strength, what does that mean?  The article said, “We find the word “strength” in the Bible a lot of times, and most of them refer to the power of God. Strength refers to the physical aspect of loving God. It is how we show that we love Him and do everything we can to put our love for God into action. If our inner motivation and desire are to love God, our actions (the strength of our bodies) will show it.  What I think this is saying is that if we want to love God with our whole strength then our actions have to be towards God.  Are we doing things God wants us to do?  When we get to the end of the day would God be proud of our actions?  Did we do things He has asked us to do?  Did we treat people nicely?  Did we share His love and His peace with all the various people we interacted with today?  Did our actions reflect our love for God?  

    I told you at the beginning of this episode the verse was a pretty tall order.  God is calling us to love Him with our whole heart, soul and strength and yet He is not expecting us to do it perfectly.  He knows we are going to mess up, He knows we are going to get it wrong.  Honestly, we will probably get it wrong a lot more than we will get it right.  He is calling us to it anyway.  God wants us to enter this relationship with Him.  A relationship where we do our best to love Him with our thoughts, with our desires and our will.  We love Him with our actions and the motivation behind our actions.  Basically God wants us to give our whole self to Him as He gave everything to us.  Again, He knows we won’t do it perfectly and that is ok.  He just wants us to try.  

    Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to love you with our whole heart, soul and strength, please show us how.  Lord, help us to know where we are falling short so we can do better.  We want to love you as you love us Lord.  Give us the strength and the wisdom we need to love you more fully.  You are truly amazing Lord.  You love us fully and completely even though we keep messing up time and time again.  We are so grateful you never give up on us Lord.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen

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

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    9 min
  • What is Love?

    What is Love?

    1 Corinthians 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

    How many of us have known that kind of love?  How many of us know how to love like that?  When we look at all the things love is, it can be a bit overwhelming.  Let’s break it down and examine it phrase by phrase.  “Love is patient.”  Are we being patient with the Lord?  Are we rushing Him to give us the answers we want, when we want them, or are we allowing things to work out in His time?  What about our loved ones?  Are we being patient with our spouse when they still haven’t done that thing we asked them to do about a hundred times?  Are we patient with our children when they are asking us the same question for the tenth time?  Are we patient with our siblings when they ask to borrow our clothes again?  What is one way we can be more patient with our loved ones? “Love is kind.” Are we being kind to the Lord our God?  Are we being kind to all those who we love? What is one way we can be kinder to those we love?

    “It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”  How about us?  Are we envious of the relationship others have the God?  Are we envious of what God is doing for others?  Are we envious of all the things we see on Facebook and social media?  It is hard in this day and age not to be envious when there are so many people posting about how great their life is on social media.  We all know, on some level, that no one has a perfect life, and yet, when you scroll through facebook it is hard to find someone who appears to have any cares in the world. “It does not boast.” Do we boast about our relationship with God or about how much God has blessed us with?  Do we post things on social media for the sole purpose of bragging about what we have?  Are we boasting about the amazing things we get to do just so others will see it?  What are our intentions behind what we are posting on social media?  “It is not proud.”  When we hear the word proud, we might not understand why this would be a bad thing.  I love my children and my husband and I am proud of them.  In this verse it is not saying love means you are not proud of other people or proud of an accomplishment you might have done.  Proud in this verse is talking about an arrogance we have the we are better than others.  Pride of all we have done, without acknowledging God’s role in all of it?  Attributing our success to our own efforts instead of God’s blessings and grace.  Are we struggling with pride?  According to one definition pride is also a “cynical insensitivity to the needs of others.”  Are we being sensitive to the needs of others?  What is one thing we could do to be less envious, boastful, or proud?

    “Love does not dishonor others.”  Are we honoring those we love?  Have we gossiped or spread lies about them? Maybe you didn’t know they were lies, someone told you something and so you told someone else.  Gossip is an awful thing.  Even if it isn’t a lie, other people’s business is not ours to share.  Let’s honor people enough to not spread information about them to others.  Let’s honor people enough to stand up for them when we hear information we know isn’t correct.  Next time you catch yourself gossiping, or you hear others gossip, I hope this sentence comes into your mind, “Love does not dishonor others.”  How about God? Have we talked badly about God?  Have we talked about how He hasn’t answered our prayers yet?  What is one thing we can do to honor our loved ones more?

    “Love is not self-seeking.” Have we only been looking out for ourselves?  Have we been spending all of our time talking with the Lord and not bothering to stop and listen to what he wants to say?  Have we been asking and asking from the Lord and not giving Him anything in return?  What about our loved ones?  Have we been looking out for their best interests and trying to serve them, or have we been asking them to serve us?  Have we been spending time with them or are we just doing what we want to do?  “Love is not easily angered.”  Wow, that is a tough one.  Have we been getting frustrated and angry more easily with God?  Have we been easily angered with our loved ones?  “It keeps no records of wrongs.”  This is one I think we struggle with.  In our human love, we do keep records of wrongs.  I hear people saying all the time, “My brother did this and my sister did that.”  I bet if I asked you to tell me something your siblings did when they were younger, you can come up with a whole list of things.  This can be also be true in marriage.  Although Love doesn’t keep score, we sometimes do.  I did the dishes three times and he only did them once.  I put the kids to be 5 times this week and she only did it twice.  Are we doing this with God too?  Are we keeping score? Are we comparing how much He has helped others vs how much He has helped us?  What could we do to be less self-seeking or less easily angered?  How can we learn to not keep score?

    “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”  This one we would think would be an obvious one.  Obviously love doesn’t delight in evil.  Why would we want something evil to happen to a loved one?  However, if we are struggling with envy, sometimes we can get some delight when something goes wrong for someone who we think has everything.  It is not the best side of us, and yet it happens.  If you have a friend and everything always seems to come up in her favor.  She tries her hand at several different things and it always works out.  It’s as if luck is always on her side.  Meanwhile, you are struggling to make ends meet, you try things and everything seems to fail.  It seems as if you are the unluckiest person in the world.  Sometimes when we are in this situation, as much as we hate to admit it, we like to see others struggle a little.  We like to know we are not the only one having a difficult time.  When is the last time we rejoiced in the truth?  What can we do to learn to be happy for other’s success?  How can we realize, someone else’s success doesn’t take anything away from us?  

    It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  This right here is a pretty big statement.  I always tell my kids, “nobody always anything.”  For instance they will say, “he always hits me,” talking about their brother.  Or, “you always say no to everything,” talking about their parents.  However, this verse is telling us that love always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always preservers.  This is how we know that God’s love is different from the love we are used to.  There are parents that love their children and yet they don’t protect them, they abuse them.  There isn’t always trust in a loving relationship, there isn’t even always trust in a marriage.  I would like to say there is hope in all loving relationships, I am just not sure if that’s true in many relationships.  Love always perseveres.  This is another one I would like to say is definitely true and yet I am not sure it is with all human love.  We are a broken people and we don’t know how to love like our heavenly father does.  However, we can keep trying to learn.  

    Today’s episode asked a lot of questions and did not give you a lot of answers.  The reason for this is because I don’t have a lot of answers for how you love.  We have all had very different experiences with love over the years.  I feel lucky in that I had great experiences with love growing up.  I always felt loved and cared for.  This isn’t the case for everyone.  Today’s episode is meant to get you to examine two things.  First, what is true love?  Sometimes we think God can’t love us because of all we have done, or because we are looking at love through our own past experiences with love.  God loves us with a perfect love that transcends all of our limitations and unworthiness.  Second, how do you love?  The love you are sharing with the world, how does it compare to true love?  If we are thinking more and more about what love is meant to be then we can start to change the ways in which we are getting it all wrong.  We can start to love more like Jesus did.  This is what God wants from us.  Not to share our broken love, but to share His love with one and all.  

    Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you and we appreciate you laying it all out for us.  We are grateful you explain to us what love is so we can see how we are getting it right and how we are getting it wrong.  Lord, we want to spread your love to others and we can only do that if we know how.  Thank you for showing us how.  That you for being such a great example of perfect love.  Thank you for loving us the way you do.  Help us to receive that love God.  You are so mighty and so powerful.  You are the Light of the world.  We love you, we adore you, we glorify you.  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 spending time with you tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus love you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

     

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    13 min
  • Witness Wednesday #29 Pierre D.

    We have all seen God working in our lives, however, we might not all be aware it is God who is working in our lives.  This is why it is so important we start talking about it more.  The more we share our experiences the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us.  If you would be willing to share any experience you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at [email protected] or just click on the link below.  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.  Have a blessed day!

     

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    CLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

    22 min

About Walk Boldly With Jesus

From the publisher's feed

Does life feel extra hard right now? Is it difficult to find joy in your day to day living? Do you feel like something is missing? I did. I was struggling with all of it. Life seemed so hard. Then one day I realize what was missing. I needed more Jesus in my life. Our home needed more Jesus. This may be just what you are missing too! This podcast will give you tips on how you can become closer to Jesus. It will talk about scripture and how those stories can relate to your everyday life. It will help you find joy in life again and teach you to be bold with Jesus by your side. If you would like to reach me you can email [email protected] or go to my website findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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