Walk Boldly With Jesus

There is a right way and a wrong way.  

Proverbs 16:25 “Sometimes there is a way that seems to be right, but in the end it is the way to death.”

Sometimes there is a way that seems right.  I think this hit me when I heard Father Mike talking about it because I can see us all doing it.  He said this verse is talking about sin.  We all know what is right and wrong.  We all know the various things God wants us to do and the things He doesn’t want us to do.  And yet, we still don’t always do what’s right.  Living in the world we live in and the time we live in, it can be hard to do what is right.  It can be hard to know what is right these days.  Actually if you read the Bible, or you read stories of the Saints, I am not sure it was ever easy to live how God wants us to live.  I don’t know if God intended for it to be easy.  

What would be easy is if we had lived as He intended.  God intended His people to be set apart from everyone one else.  Come to think of it, I am not sure it would have been easy even then.  Look at the Israelites once they left Egypt.  They saw miracle after miracle.  And I am not talking about small miracles, if there is such a thing.  I am talking about parting the red sea and being inundated with quail because they were complaining and they were tired of the Manna that God was miraculously providing them each day.  The Israelites were living apart from everyone else.  They were living in the wilderness all together and set apart from all the foreigners.  However, they still struggled to follow God’s ways.  They complained a lot and turned away from God a lot.  

I guess no matter where you live, what time you live in, or who you live with it can be hard to do the right thing all the time.  What made this verse really stand out was how it was saying sometimes there is a way that seems to be right, but in the end its the way to death.  What that makes me wonder is about all the things that I do, even when I know I shouldn’t, because I think God doesn’t really mind.  It is not usually big things, although sometimes it might be.  Have you ever done something you know God doesn’t really want you to do it, but you talk yourself into it anyway because of some logic that makes sense in your own head?  It made me smile when I wrote that because I instantly thought of my boys.  They are master negotiators.  I think most kids are, but since mine are the ones I deal with on a daily basis I am going to say they are extra good at it.  

We will come up with a well thought out rule, that makes complete sense and we know has their best interest at heart.  We know the reason behind the rule, we know why it is a good rule.  We are completely confident this is a good rule.  We introduce it to the kids and 10 minutes later they have us questioning the rule, our parenting, the world.  It’s so crazy how good kids are at coming up with excuses and reasons why what we know to be good for them, isn’t actually good for them.  It made me smile because I can picture God shaking His head just like I do with the boys.  At least God isn’t left questioning his decisions.  He knows He is right and is just shaking His head at our attempt to negotiate or prove wrong the Almighty One.

If you have kids, or have ever worked with kids you might be thinking what we do is nothing like what they do.  However, think about the last time you did something you knew you weren’t supposed to do.  It might have been something small or it might have been something big.  Think about all the justification you did to be ok with doing the thing.  For instance, in the Catholic Church, you are not supposed to eat an hour before you receive the host.  We believe the Eucharist is the Body of Christ and so we are supposed to have an empty stomach before going to Communion.  However, sometimes I don’t do that.  Sometimes I tell myself God won’t mind because I really need my cup of tea so I can stay awake in Mass, or I needed to eat this banana so I didn’t feel hungry at Mass.  I can come up with a million reasons why God doesn’t actually mind if I eat before receiving the Eucharist.  

I do similar justifying when I have something else to do instead of going to Mass.  God won’t mind, He knows how important soccer is, or He knows how important lunch with my friends is.  God knows I am traveling so He doesn’t mind.  I think it is absolutely true that God is understanding.  I don’t think it is the end of the world if you do some of these things occasionally.  And yet, I don’t actually know if that’s true.  I think if we do something long enough it is no longer an exception to the rule, it is a new habit.  Have you made a new habit out of doing things you know God wouldn’t want you to do?  You were able to justify it so often to yourself, now it is the norm, it is a habit.  

I think this can be a very slippery slope.  Yes, God is full of grace and He will forgive any sins for which we repent.  However, does that mean we count on God’s grace and intentionally do something we know is wrong because we really want to do it and because it isn’t “that” wrong.  Also, there is another way to look at each thing you are doing.  Maybe you are telling yourself, as I do often, God doesn’t care if I eat this cookie.  Maybe that is true.  It is not a sin to eat that cookie.  However, what is behind our desire to eat that cookie.  Are we just eating one or are we being gluttonous and eating the whole pack?  Maybe God doesn’t mind if you drinking a coffee or tea before you walk into church.  However, does He mind the fact you know you are doing something wrong and yet doing it anyway?  It might not be the action itself, but the motivation behind the action.  I am sure God does understand how important it is that you go out with your friends for lunch.  However, He may also wonder why you didn’t look up other mass times that you could go to that didn’t interfere with your lunch plans.  There are usually so many mass times at a Catholic Church.  You can even go Saturday or Sunday.  Yes, it takes more time and more planning but you can make it work.  God might not be upset if you miss service while on vacation, and yet think of how happy He would be if you did go out of your way to find a way to attend a service while on vacation.

The ending of this verse is what really has my attention, “But in the end its the way to death.”  That doesn’t sound pleasant.  What if we are justifying all the times we don’t want to live like God wants us to live and then we end up ruining our chances to spend eternity with our Heavenly Father? I am certainly not saying that if you miss mass while on vacation or eat and drink before going to communion then you are not going to heaven.  All I am thinking is, if we break the little rules God gives us so easily, what is to stop us from breaking the bigger rules.  I can see how if we think about his too much we might get anxious.  I don’t think this is what the verse intends for us.  I don’t want to you to finish listening to this episode and be anxious about your actions leading to death.  I do, however, thing this verse is a great reminder to look at our actions and see if we are living according to how God is asking us to live?  Are there things we know God doesn’t want us to do and yet we are doing them anyway?  Can we stop doing these things?  If no, can we pray for the strength and the proper situation so we can stop them.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to follow your ways, please help us.  Lord, if there are any places in our lives where we are doing things you don’t approve of, please show us.  Please give us the strength and/or the plan we need to stop doing those things.  Lord, help us stop justifying our behaviors with excuses and help us to do what is right.  We love you Lord, you are truly amazing!!You are my Aide and my rescue from the enemy. You are our Everlasting Father.  You are the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace.  We love you and we adore you.  We are so very grateful for all you do.  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 guest speaker will be Amber J.  Amber and I are in Big Life mentoring together.  Amber was going through some pretty difficult things in life.  She really didn’t like her job, it was making her miserable and her marriage was really struggling because they couldn’t have children.  Amber did not really consider herself a believer, however, she was desperate and decided to say her first prayer in a very long time.  After seeing God answer prayer after prayer, she could no longer chalk it up to coincidence and she began her faith journey to grow closer to God.  I know you are going to really enjoy her witness.  I can’t wait to share that with you tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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You Shall Be Rescued From It

Jeremiah 30:7 “Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be rescued from it.”

What a great promise from the Lord!  Our God is so amazing.  He acknowledges that it was a time of great distress for Jacob and yet He says Jacob will be rescued from it.  How many of you really need to hear that right now?  How many of you could really use this promise from God right now in your lives?  I know several people who are in suffering.  I know they could really use this promise right now.  They could use the promise that they will be rescued from the situation they are in.  They need to know the pain, hurt and anger they feel won’t last forever.

It is important to remember God didn’t just make these promises to the people living at the time this was written.  He is making this promise to all of us.  You can take the promises you find in scripture and apply them to your own life.  God is talking to you just as much as He is talking to the people in the Bible, just as much as He is talking to me, just as much as He is talking to any of us.  Yes, you are in a terrible situation right now, and yet you will be rescued from it.

Maybe you have recently lost someone close to you.  If this has happened to you I imagine you are feeling a whole range of emotions.  I also imagine your emotions can switch at the drop of a hat.  One minute you are sad and you really miss them and the next minute you are angry they are gone.  Sometimes you can be feeling two competing emotions at the same time.  For instance you can be really sad you don’t get to see them anymore and yet be happy they get to be with Jesus and celebrate the fact they are whole again and no longer suffering.  Whatever you are feeling, let yourself feel it.  Sometimes we can make the situation worse because we tell ourselves we “should” be feeling this way or we “shouldn’t” be feeling that way.  You have a right to feel how ever you feel.  Allow yourself that grace.  This pain you are feeling won’t last forever.  God will rescue you from it.  

Maybe you are having family issues.  Maybe you’re worried about your children.  You aren’t sure what their future looks like.  You aren’t sure if they are safe?  You know they are making bad choices and yet you can’t save them from themselves.  This is really hard.  Trust me, I have been through this.  I have had lots of family issues over the years.  I had a marriage that was falling apart.  I had kids that were making bad choices, getting in trouble, and it seemed I couldn’t help them.  I was doing all I could and nothing was really changing.  I continued to pray, this was the one thing that did make a difference.  I also didn’t give up hope that things would get better.  I knew God was working and yet I didn’t know how he was working and I certainly didn’t know when it would be over, when things would finally get better.  If you are in this situation right now, don’t give up.  Keep praying, keep hoping.  I know hope can hurt sometimes.  Hope hurts because it feels as though we are leaving ourselves open to get hurt if it doesn’t happen.  Try to still hope anyway.  God never leaves us hanging.  He will come through, it just won’t be in our time it will be in His.  I struggled for over 15 years.  I definitely had times when I thought things weren’t ever going to get better.  I had lots of times when I wondered why it had to take this long.  I never got those answers, but I can finally say, after all those years, that I am doing good.  Our family is doing good.  It still feels strange to say because we struggled for so long.  However, I am so very grateful I didn’t give up praying and hoping and I smile every time someone asks how thing are now.  I used to say, “I’m surviving.”  That was the best I could say, now, everything is really good.  Praise God!!

I went to an event on Friday sponsored by American Needs Fatima.  It was where a replica of the Fatima statue comes and visits a house.  The custodian brings the statue to the house and then takes time to explain all about Fatima and what happened, what Mary asked us to do, what Mary promised us, and answers any questions we had.  During His talk the custodian of the statue mentioned St. Monica and I felt as though I was supposed to remind all of you about St. Monica.  St. Monica was a very devout Catholic and her son, Augustine, wanted nothing to do with her faith.  She did not approve of his lifestyle and Augustine moved to Rome one night without telling his mom where he was going.  She tried to follow him and he had already moved on to Milan by the time she got to Rome.  She finally found him and she prayed unceasingly for his conversion.  Finally he did get baptized in the the faith, along with his best friend and his son, whom he had with a woman he loved but never married.  St. Monica prayed for her son for a very long time.  Augustine was 32 when he finally became a Catholic.  She prayed and cried for at least 17 years before she saw a change.  God will rescue you, don’t give up hope!

God hears your prayers.  Sometimes it seems like God is now working in our lives.  It seems like He does not hear our prayers.  If you have been praying for something for a while now and it hasn’t happened yet, I am sorry.  If you have had unanswered prayers for quite some time now I know how hard it can be and how easy it is to get frustrated.  I know how painful it is to watch others get their prayers answered and yet yours seem to go unanswered.  I know all of this is hard.  I know it can get harder and harder to believe God hears you.  I assure you, He does.  He has not left you alone, He has not abandoned you.  He is working diligently on rescuing you.  Remember God’s timing isn’t our time.  What is a year to us could be blink of an eye to God.  Don’t stop praying, don’t stop hoping, don’t give up. God will rescue you just as He rescued Jacob and countless other people before Him.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this podcast today.  Lord, we want to believe you hear all of our prayers, please help us.  Lord, some people listening have been waiting on some answers to some pretty big prayers, please help them continue to wait without giving up hope and without giving in to despair.  Fill them with a renewed send of hope and encouragement that you are working on the situation and help them truly believe you will answer their prayers.  Lord you are amazing!  You are the resurrection and the life, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are our savior Lord and we are so very grateful.  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 wanted to share some exciting news with all of you.  I have writing a book and I will be publishing it on Amazon in the upcoming month or so.  The name of the book is called Total Trust in God’s Safe Embrace.  It is a book about how to build up your trust in God and how to develop a more intimate relationship with Him.  I hope you will check it out once it is released.  I will let you know when it is available on Amazon.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Which Path To Choose?

Isaiah 30:21 “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Do you ever wonder why you ask the Lord what you should do and you don’t hear a clear answer?  I was talking with my spiritual advisor one time and I told her I was going to pray about the two choices I had to choose from and see which one God wanted me to do.  She told me not to be surprised if God wasn’t super specific or if He didn’t tell me which one to pick.  She said He doesn’t always tell us what to do.  Sometimes He lets us pick.  Then we talked about how their might not be just one path God wants you to walk down.  We talked about how we don’t have to worry that there is one right answer and all the rest are wrong.

I didn’t know there was scripture to back this up, it was more of a feeling. I truly felt if God wanted you to do one specific thing he would let you know.  He would place the desire to pick that one thing directly in your head.  You would know what God wants you to do.  Then there are the times when you really don’t know which to pick.  You feel you could be happy doing either job, or you could be happy living in either place.  It is in these times, I believe the decision about which to do is left up to us because God is ok with both of them.  Yesterday I was listening to another elevation church podcast and I head Pastor Steven Furtick read this verse and so I wanted to share it will all of you because I know many of you have been in a situation where you were praying for God to guide you one way or the other.  

The verse above says “And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.  God will be with you no matter which you choose.  We know God is always with us, however, that doesn’t mean He always supports our choices.  When we are about to do something that goes against God or something God knows will lead us down a wrong path, He will let us know.  Think back to all the times you made a decision that ended badly.  Did you have a feeling it might?  Did you feel as if God was urging you not to do it?  That’s the thing, we always have a choice.  Even when God knows the path won’t end well, he will warn us against it, but He will not prevent us from doing it.  God honors our free will.

I think sometimes we want God to tell us which way to go so we don’t have to make the decision.  If we let God choose then we can blame Him when things go wrong, when they don’t turn out like we expected they would.  Another reason we would like God to make the decisions is because there are so many decisions we have to make all throughout the day and it can be overwhelming.  Then there are also so many choices for each of those decisions.  Have you ever heard the term analysis paralysis?  Analysis paralysis is an inability to make a decision due to over-thinking a problem. An individual or a group can have too much data. The result is endless wrangling over the upsides and downsides of each option, and an inability to pick one.  This used to happen to me every time the kids would bring home a sheet from their teacher asking for donations for something.  The list would have 50 things we could donate.  I would look at them and they all seemed easy enough.  However, there were so many too choose from I would usually end up frustrated and not get any.  I loved the teachers who would just send home a note telling me what to bring, no choice involved.  

With all the technology we have at our fingertips these days the choices and amount of information can be overwhelming.  For instance if you are throwing a party, instead of going to the local party store and seeing what they have in stock you can google how to throw a party, or you can look up a different themes, decorations, table pieces and more.  Pinterest is also a big thing.  This is a website and an app where people post photos of things they have done, all the decoration they’ve made, all the parties they’ve had.  If you go on Pinterest you will probably get lost in your search and spend hours there, just looking at all they have to offer and yet you will probably make very little decisions.  Because of this, I am thankful to have found this verse.  I am thankful to know that sometimes God is ok with us picking any path.

I want to do what God wants me to do.  I want to follow His will.  This is why I get frustrated sometimes when I don’t know what He wants me to do.  However, what I take from this verse is that He hasn’t just set up one path for us.  He hasn’t just planned our every move, he allows us to decide what we want to do.  The verse goes on to say, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” No matter which path you decide to go down, God will be there to guide you.  You just need to listen to the voice you hear in your ears.  God will tell you when it is time to pivot to a new job, a new house, or whatever the next step is.  I watched a video about this very topic by Father Mike Schmidt.  He said we tend to look for God to reassure us with every step we take.  Our intentions are good, we want to know we are doing the right thing.  We want to please God and to do His will.  Father Mike said when God wants us to move, or to change something, he will tell us.  If God is not saying something, then you are good to keep doing what you are doing.  Why is it we need that constant assurance from God?  We want Him to cheer on our every step.  We want Him to keep telling us we are headed in the right direction.  

One thing Pastor Furtick said that I think is so powerful is, “The important thing is not which road you take to get there, the important thing is how you walk on that path.”  Sometimes we might have to choose between two things and we don’t really feel God is leading us one way or another.  That might be because He is ok with either path.  They both could be good and they both could be bad.  Your success isn’t dependent on the path you picked, it is dependent on how you walk that path.  Are you staying close to God?  Are you close enough to hear that voice the verse is talking about?  Are you checking in with God regularly to see if He is still ok with the path you are on or does He wants you to make a turn down a different road?  How are you walking on your path?  The verse says there will be a voice behind you saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”  Are you listening to that voice?  Are you following the directions it is giving you?  If the Lord is not giving you directions, just continue going forward in the direction you are going and when it is time to make a change God will let you know.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to hear your voice.  Help us to listen to your voice.  Help us to make difficult decisions and help us to know you will be with us no matter what decision we make.  Lord, we ask you to lead us down the path you want us to go and we ask you help us to walk uprightly down that path.  Give us wisdom and discernment Lord, so when we need to make a decision we can make it swiftly and without too much anxiety.  Lord, we ask you help us sift through all the information and all the choices and just focus in on you Lord.  We love you Lord.  You are so great!  You are the almighty one.  You are the Light of the World.  We adore you and we are so grateful for all you do for us.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

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

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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A Fresh Start

2 Corinthians 5:16-18 “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh; even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”

When I read this verse, I really liked it.  I love how it says we regard no one according to the flesh.  The verse acknowledges, “ok, we know, we did this with Jesus,” but we learned our lesson and we don’t do that any longer.  I really like reading the message translation because it puts these verses in terms we would use today and sometimes I think it helps me understand the passage more, or gives me a different understanding of the verse.  It helps me to think of it in a way I might not have thought of on my own.  It’s kind of like these podcasts.  It takes the Word of God and then it shows how it applies to us in our everyday life.  Sometimes it is hard, with some of the language in the Bible, to understand what exactly they mean.  If I have a verse that I don’t quite understand, I will usually go to the message translation and see what that says.  That is usually enough to help me understand it.  I want to read today’s verse from the message translation.  

“Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.”

First, I want to say I wish this first sentence were true.  I truly wish people didn’t judge others by what they have or how they look.  How great would it be to live in a world where we don’t have to worry about what the have or how we look?  How great would it be to know others weren’t judging us? Also, how great would it be to be able to not judge others or compare yourself to others.  I have heard the quote, “Comparison is the thief of joy.”  I know this to be true.  I know so many people who are feeling great, and then they hop on social media and see how well everyone else is doing and they start to feel bad about themselves.  They are judging others based on the small snapshot of their life they post on social media.  When they compare their life to the lives of others and they decide they can’t measure up.  They decide their life isn’t nearly as good as everyone else.  

As much as I know this first sentence isn’t true for the majority of people in this world, what if we made it true for us?  What if we stopped judging people by what they have and how they look?  What if we started to be the change we want to see in the world?  What if we prayed and asked God to work on us from the inside out? What if we asked God to help us stop judging others?  When we read this verse we see this is what God is calling us to.  He is calling us to no longer judge people according to the flesh.  It goes on to say, “Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. When Jesus was alive he was judged by this world’s standards.  He was mocked for his claim to be a king because He didn’t look like a king.  However, He is not longer judged in this way.  We now look at Jesus for who He truly is.  

The verse goes on to say, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.”  I love the way the message translations says, “anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges!”  How many of us have felt that at some time in our lives?  How many of us have felt we just needed a fresh start?  This is possible through Christ.  We don’t have to be the same people we always were.  We don’t have to do the same things we have always done.  We can start again.  We can recreate ourselves.  We might think this is a one time thing.  We found Jesus and now we get to start fresh.  I don’t think this is true.  I think we can choose at any point to start new, to say goodbye to our old life, our old ways and say hello to the new life that is made possible through Christ.  What things in your life need to go so you can have a closer life in Christ?  What things from your past are you carrying around when God wants you to let them go and let your new life emerge?  Is it greed, anger, past hurts, jealousy, judgement?  Whatever it is, you can let it go now.  God doesn’t want you to keep holding on to it.  

Next the verse says, “All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins.”  Adam and Eve corrupted the bond we had with God.  Humanity had to live with the fact for a very long time and its consequences.  However, God fixed this when He sent Jesus to die on a cross for our sins.  God made it so we could be close to Him again, so the veil between us could be dropped.  So why aren’t we closer to Him?  According to this verse God gave us a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins.  This is how we get that fresh start I was talking about earlier.  When we bring our sins to God, He forgives them and we are made clean again.  The problem is we aren’t always bringing our sins to God.  There may be many reasons for this, we may be scared He won’t forgive them, we may be embarrassed or have shame around those sins.  Shame is a huge weapon the enemy uses against us.  If we feel ashamed of something we probably aren’t going to want to talk about it, even to a priest, in come case, especially to a priest.  The enemy knows this keeps us stuck in our old life.  The enemy knows if you won’t confess it, even just to God, then that sin still holds power over you.  If you feel as though you could really use a fresh start right now, confess your sins and repent.  God wants you to have a fresh new life.  He wants to restore His relationship with you.  

One of the last things this verse says is, “God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them.”  We are told this so often.  We are Christ’s representatives.  What we do matters.  People are watching us and judging Christ by what we do.  We are a reflection of Jesus.  What if we were more cognizant of this fact?  What if we examined our own behaviors and asked ourselves, “Am I doing a good job reflecting Christ to the world?”  The verse also says God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their difference and enter into God’s work of making things right between them.  Are we doing this?  Are our words and actions helping to bring others together or drive them apart?  Do we get sucked into the gossip and join in instead of trying to stop the gossip?  Do we get swept us in talking about all our differences instead of finding ways we are similar?  Are we passing along the message of reconciliation or are we condemning those that have sinned or are sinning?  

I think one area that is hard for a lot of people is when they see their children doing things they know God does not condone.  In this instance I think it is important to remember a fresh start is always available.  Although we don’t need to condone these behaviors, I also don’t think pointing them out over and over again is helpful.  We want to bring people together and not drive them away.  If we could look at people through a Godly lens instead of worldly one I am sure we would see the world differently.  God doesn’t love everything we do all the time, and yet He does love us all the time.  Even when we are acting in ways God doesn’t like, He still showers us with love.  We could learn a lot if we echoed this type of love.  The only way to do this is to pray and ask God to teach us how.  

I love the very last line of the message translations.  It says, “We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.”  How great is that?  How awesome is it to know God is friends with us?  Are we friends with Him?  Think of your relationship with God.  Is it like a friendship?  Is it give and take?  Do you listen as much as you talk?  Is your relationship with God one in which you could sit and talk for hours with Him?  Or, is it one where you feel He is the ever judgmental Father and He is just looking for ways to punish you?  This is not what God is all about.  Does He believe in justice, absolutely and also, He believes in Mercy.  God’s mercy is much bigger than His judgement.  God wants to be your friend, will you let Him in?  Will you accept his forgiveness of sins and get a fresh start to your life?  Will you try to stop judging others for what they look like and what they have.  Let’s join together to be Christ’s representative and share the Good News with all those who will listen.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to be your friend, show us how.  Put on our hearts anything getting in the way of this and then give us the strength and wisdom to change it.  Lord, help us to no longer regard others according to the flesh.  Please help us to accept your forgiveness of sins and start fresh again.  Help us to be your representatives to bring people together instead of encouraging this divisiveness.  We love you Lord, you are so amazing!  You are the Messiah, You are the fountain of life, you are the Holy One of Israel.  We are so grateful for all you do and we ask all of this in Jesus’ holy name and according to your will, 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.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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 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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Share God’s Light With Others

2 Corinthians 4:4-6 & 15 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.”

The first line in this verse is one of those ones I wanted to skip over because I didn’t understand it.  Do you ever do that?  You read something and you don’t quite understand what it is saying, but you move on because you figure it’s not that important.  I am so grateful I am doing this podcast and I am grateful to you for listening to it, truly grateful.  One of the reasons I am grateful to be doing this podcast is because it is forcing me to examine the scripture a lot more closely.  I am stopping to take a closer look at verses I don’t understand instead of just passing it by.  Honestly, it is a lot easier than I thought to find out the meaning of scriptures we don’t understand.  All I do is put the words, “meaning of scripture 2 Corinthians 4:4” for instance in the search bar and usually get an explanation.  Today I didn’t even need an explanation, I just needed to read the verse in one of the other translations of the Bible.  Reading the same passage in various translations is also a great way to gain a greater understanding.  The message translation and the New Living Translation tend to put the Bible verse in terms more commonly used today.  If I don’t understand a verse I usually start by reading it in the Message translation of the Bible and it usually helps.  The website I use for bible verses most often is www.biblegateway.com  On this website you can look verses up in any of the many translations pretty easily.  There is also a way to list the verse in all the english translations so you can compare them.  I really like it.

Now, back to the verse.  When I read this verse I read, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  What I heard in my head was that God has blinded the minds of the unbelievers and so I didn’t understand why God would do that.  I always struggle understanding the lines in the bible which say, “God’s words hardened their hearts.”  So I thought this was a similar statement and I was going to skip over it.  However, luckily I committed to really understanding the verses and being able to explain them to you.  So, I looked up the meaning of this verse and realized I missed a few key words in this first line.  It doesn’t say “God has blinded the minds of unbelievers.”  It says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers.”  Do you know who the God of this world is?  Satan.  Remember when Pilate asked Jesus if He was a King and Jesus said, “I am a king but my kingdom is not of this world.”  The verse above is saying Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers.  This makes so much more sense.  Of course Satan is blinding the minds of those who don’t believe.  If they could see the light of the gospel, truly see it, there is no way they would remain unbelievers.  

The verse is talking about the light of the Gospel being the glory of Jesus, who is the image of God.  It talks about how we are not preaching about ourselves but we are preaching about Jesus and how we are servants for Jesus’ sake.  We are not preaching our message we are messengers for Jesus and we are passing along His message.  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. God filled us up with the light of the knowledge of God’s glory and it is our job to share that light with others.  Week after week in prayer group God is asking us to share His light.  He is asking us to take His love and pass it on to others.  He is asking us to take His forgiveness and to pass it on to others.  God gives us so much and He is not giving us everything so we can keep it for ourselves.  He wants us to spread His love and His light to everyone we meet.  

The next line says, “All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.”  I love the word grace. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary online, Grace is unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.  Grace is unmerited divine assistance.  God gives us assistance even though we don’t deserve it, even though we haven’t done anything extraordinary.  He gives us grace even if we don’t ask for it.  The verse says His grace is reaching more and more people so that may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.  I know I for one am so grateful for the grace God is showering upon us.  I think between the light of knowledge God is filling us up with and the grace He is giving us, it is hard not to share His light with others.  It is hard not to be grateful and to give Glory to God.  This verse is a great reminder to us that we need to be sharing His light with others.  We should not be proclaiming our story, we should be proclaiming the story of Jesus and talking about God’s Glory.  We are messengers passing along the stories of Jesus and how amazing His is.  When we share the light of knowledge we can hopefully bring non believers into that light and bring them out of the darkness that Satan has cast over them.  The Glory of God is brighter than any darkness from the devil.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you and we thank you for the light of knowledge you have filled us with.  We ask you to help us share that light with all we meet.  We are so grateful for you glory and your grace.  Help us spread your glory to others Lord.  You are so powerful.  You are our aide and rescue us from the enemy.  You draw us out of deep waters.  We are so grateful 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 sharing a witness with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Start With Love

Psalm 63:1 “O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

When I read this verse I thought it did a great job explaining the yearning we have for God.  We all need God in our lives.  We are desperate to have him in our lives.  This verse shows this in a way I don’t think I could.  It also helps me realize how much I need God.  Have you ever read something and then realized that was exactly how you felt, and you didn’t really know it before you read it?  I knew I loved God and I knew I longed for God.  However, I couldn’t put it into words until I read this verse.  My soul thirsts for Him.  My flesh faints for Him as in a dry and weary land where there is not water.  There is no water if God is not in my life.  My life is a dry and weary land when I don’t call upon God.  

Carrie Underwood has a song called, “What I Never Knew I Always Wanted.”  I have not heard this song before and yet I found it today while looking up something.  This song was not written about Jesus.  I believe it was written about her child judging from the other words.  However, the chorus speaks to the way many of us feel about Jesus.  The chorus says:

I finally found what I never knew I always wanted

I couldn't see; I was blind 'til my eyes were opened

I didn't know there was a hole

Something missing in my soul

'Til you filled it up with your love

I think so many people are walking around this world right now and they don’t know God is what they have always wanted.  They know they have a hole, they know something is missing in their soul and yet they don’t know what it is.  I like the line, I couldn’t see; I was blind ’til my eyes were opened.  How can we help them open their eyes?  The next line in this chorus might be giving us the answer to that very question.  I didn’t know there was a hole, something missing in my soul, ‘till you filled it up with your love.  What if we worked on filling people up with love?  What if we showed people so much love they realized that is what they have been missing in their lives?  

We can’t fill them up with our love though.  Our love is broken and judgmental.  Our love is not a perfect love, it is flawed and it can hurt others, even when we don’t want to.  However, if we filled them up with God’s Love, the love of Jesus, then they would feel an unconditional love that would fill the hole in their soul.  I know you are already asking yourself, how do I do that?  How do I love with Jesus’ love and not my own love? I know you are asking this because I am asking this too.  We are all called to be a reflection of Jesus.  We are called to love like He loved.  How did Jesus love?  We can’t be expected to love like Jesus if we don’t know how He loved.  The best way to know this is to look back at scripture.  

Jesus Christ set a perfect example of kindness and love. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus showed His love for others by blessing and serving the poor, the sick, and the distressed.  Jesus did not run away from the leapers as most people did at the time.  He touched them and He healed them.  He did not turn away anyone who needed help.  How can we show Jesus’ love to others like this?  How can we bless and serve the poor, the sick, and the distressed?  Some people listening to this can go out and volunteer at a soup kitchen, or a food pantry.  Maybe you would rather volunteer at a hospital or somewhere you can help out with people who are sick.  Maybe you would like to be a hospice volunteer and sit with those that are dying and have no one to be with them?  However, there are others that are listening and you are thinking your days of helping the poor or the sick are over because you can’t get out of the house to volunteer anywhere.  I assure you, your days of helping are not over, they have just changed.  Now instead of going and doing the volunteer work by hand, you can pray for those in need and you can pray for people to answer God’s call to go and help.  St. Terese of Lisieux is the patron saint of missions even though she was never healthy enough to go on one.  She didn’t let her health stop her from praying for everyone who could go on missions.  

Jesus also showed his love for others by not making people feel bad for what they did or who they were.  God didn’t condemn the tax collectors, or the Roman soldiers.  He didn’t condemn the woman who was caught in adultery or the woman at the well who had been married several times and was living with a man she was not married to.  What brought people to Christianity in the very beginning was the Love Jesus had for everyone.  People were finding a love they had not known before when they found Jesus.  They were used to rules and judgement.  They were used to following God’s that required so much of them.  They found this new religion fascinating.  A religion where God just wanted to love you and to be loved.  He did not require much on your part. People could come as they were.  They were not expected to be perfect because Jesus set the bar when he said in Mark 2:17, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”  

The apostles were not going out and only talking to the Jewish people who knew God and were already following the laws.  They were talking to everyone who would listen and they were preaching about God’s love.  Who doesn’t want to be loved?  Who doesn't want to be accepted?  I think we have lost this idea of talking about God’s love somewhere along the way.  Somewhere along the way we started talking more about the legalistic side of Christianity, especially Catholicism, than we do about the love Jesus had for everyone.  Yes, there is a right and a wrong way to live.  Yes, God tells us what that right and wrong way is in His Scripture.  However, we will never get a chance to show people the benefit of living God’s way, if we don’t start with loving them right where they are at first.  People want to be accepted for who they are and they want to be met where they are at.  Jesus didn’t tell the tax collectors He would have dinner with them when they changed their life style.  He loved them while they were sinners and told them He had so much more for them.  

If people feel love and accepted they will be open to hearing what you have to say.  We want people to know all the things Jesus says.  We want people to live according to God’s ways and we want this because we care about their souls.  This is a great thing.  I am not saying we are wrong to care about the way people are living their lives.  I am saying if we want to save their soul, we need to start with loving them just as they are.  The way to get people to want to save their own souls, which is the only way anything will change, is by being a reflection of God’s love.  Love them as Jesus does.  Love them in all their imperfections and all their messiness of life.  Do not continually tell them they need to change who they are, shower them with so much love, tell them about Jesus and how much He loves them, just as they are, and pray for them.  Your prayers will do so much more than your nagging will.  If people feel judged, they will not ask questions, they will not be open to hearing anything we have to say.  I believe what God needs most from us is not us judging others and trying to talk them into changing their behaviors.  What He needs most from us is our loving others like Jesus did.  He needs us to love them so much they ask themselves, “How can I love as much as that person does?  How can I love so unconditionally?  How can I be so accepting of people?  How can I love so freely?”  When they ask those questions, then they will be open to hearing about the Gospel and about a God who loves them completely.  Can we do that?  Can we love others like Jesus did?  Can we lead with love first?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord we long for you just as the verse says. Our souls thirst for you as one would thirst for water in a dry land.  Lord, we love you and we want to bring others into a personal relationship with you.  Help us do this.  Please help us to understand how to love others like you did.  Show us where in our lives we are falling short of this Lord.  Give us the strength to hold our tongue and to not nag our loved ones to do what we want them to do.  We are coming from a loving place Lord, we want to save their souls.  Yet we know you are the only one to do that Lord. Help us to learn to say less to the person and pray more to you. Help us to truly turn them over to your loving care Lord.  You care more about their souls than we ever could.  Help us Lord, we are trying.  We are so grateful for all you do.  You give light to our lamps and you brighten the darkness about us.  You are the word of God and you are the word of live.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with you 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.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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God’s Spirit Dwells in You

1 Corinthians 3:16 “ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

This is a question I think often when I am talking to people.  Whenever I talk to someone who doubts their abilities or their capabilities, I want to ask them this question.  I want to ask most people this question as I think a lot of us don’t know this.  I have heard people talk a lot about our body’s being a temple when they talk bout how we take care of our body.  I have heard people mention “our body is a temple” when they are wanting you to do their workout program, or their nutrition program.  I have also heard people talk about how our body is a temple when they are talking about sexual sin or trying to convince you not to use your body in a negative way.  

I do think it is important to think of your body as a temple, not just any temple, but God’s temple.  Knowing I am God’s temple is quite a responsibility.  Currently I am not acting as if I know my body is a temple.  Right now I am acting as if my body is a waste station and I am throwing all the junk I can find into it.  I seem to be struggling with self control when it comes to eating and exercising these days.  This is somewhat new to me as I have done really good over the past several years to gain lots of self control when it comes to eating and exercising.  I know I don’t need to base my eating and my working out on my feelings.  I know if I get into a good routine, I can workout even when I don’t want to.  I know I don’t have to eat the ice cream just because I want to.  

Even though I know these things, I am still struggling.  Have you ever had this happen to you?  You know what you need to do, and you still can’t seem to do it?  I think this happens to all of us.  Right now for me, I think it is the enemy making my desires stronger than my will power.  I believe God is calling me to so much more in life and the enemy doesn’t want me to hear this call.  He doesn’t want me to live up to my purpose so he is distracting me with social media and other things on the computer.  He is tempting me with all sorts of food that is not all that healthy and he is loving every single time I give in to his distractions.  He has me saying things like, “I just can’t resist, or I can’t overcome my desires to not work out.”  The devil is a liar.

I can resist.  It is not easy, but it is possible.  We have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us.  I don’t think we realize how much power we have living inside of us.  Romans 8:11 is a very powerful scripture to write down and read often.  It is a great scripture to remind yourself of every time you feel like you can’t do something.  Romans 8:11 says, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”  The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead.  Remember when Jesus died on the cross for our sins and then three days later rose again?  The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead.  That same Holy Spirit is now living in you and me, that’s remarkable to me.  

I forget this often.  I often rely on my own will power, my own mind, thoughts, talents, abilities, and so on.  I know God is always there to help me, but I forget the Holy Spirit lives inside of me.  I forget how powerful the Holy Spirit is.  Well, actually, I don’t forget how powerful he is, but I do forget that power is living inside of me.  When I pray for people I pray the Lord sends the Holy Spirit down to be in the situation I am praying for.  I forget the Holy Spirit doesn’t need to come down to be in the situation because He lives here on earth in each one of us.  He is right here inside of us to give us the power we need.  All we need to do is call upon that power.

Are we doing that?  Are we remembering to call upon the power of the Holy Spirit?  I know I’m not.  I have been complaining a lot about my lack of will power.  I have not been running like I want to and I have been gaining weight because I am not really being careful about what I eat.  I get frustrated and I wonder why I was so good before and now I am not.  I was talking with a friend the other day and she helped me figure it out.  When I first moved to MA, home life was pretty out of control.  I was struggling big time with behaviors from my kids, with just having moved to a new community where I didn’t know anyone, trying to work when I kept getting called by the schools, struggling with my marriage.  Everything seemed pretty out of control.  I think I was so good about exercising and watching what I ate because it was the one thing I felt I had control over.  I couldn’t control a lot in my life at that time, but I could control what I ate and when I worked out.  

I think I was also better at remembering to call on the Holy Spirit because I needed his power daily, hourly, sometimes minute by minute.  People who knew me when I was going through the worst of it would comment how strong I was.  I was quick to tell them, it’s not me, it’s God.  He is the one holding me up right now.  The Holy Spirit was my go to because it was obvious I was out of my depths.  The things that were going on in my life were so far out of my control.  I am grateful I had God to lean on and I am beyond grateful He gave us the Holy Spirit.  They say a mother’s love is so strong you can do anything you need to do to protect your kids.  I don’t disagree a mother’s love is strong and also I don’t think it is her love alone.  I think it is our desperate need to protect our children that gives us the courage to call out to the Holy Spirit.  The strength comes from Him.  

I am grateful things have calmed down now.  I am grateful God answered my years of prayers.  I am grateful he provided our family with a miraculous restoration. I love my life and I am so grateful to God for loving me enough to answer my prayers.  I also want to make sure I am not taking this answered prayers for granted.  I think my perceived lack of will power right now is because I am forgetting to call upon the Holy Spirit.  I am thinking I need to do it all on my own, and I don’t.  I am trying to will myself into doing the things I want and I am forgetting to reach out and ask for help.  I have reached out to friends and asked for accountability partners.  I have reached out and asked people to call and check in with me, ask me if I have done it.  I have asked God to help me, but I am not sure I have invited the Holy Spirit into this struggle.  I have been keeping the struggle separate from God.  Telling myself things like, “God doesn’t care if I eat this cookie.”  God may not care if I eat that cookie, however, he does care if I feel bad about eating that cookie.  He does care if I am mindlessly giving into temptations.  He does care about all the little things and He does want to be invited into all the parts of our lives, especially the ones we are struggling with.  

I am grateful I read this scripture verse today.  I am grateful God showed me this small yet powerful reminder this morning.  Today I am going to invite the Holy Spirit into my struggle.  Today I am going to write this verse on a sticky note and place it up somewhere I will see it often.  Today I invite you to do the same.  Invite the Holy Spirit into whatever you are struggling with the most.  Actually invite the Holy Spirit into all aspects of your life, the good and the bad.  Who couldn’t use more power in their life?  Wouldn’t you like the good to be even better and the bad to get better?  The Holy Spirit has incredible power to make things better in your life.  I am living proof of that.  Our family went from an angry and somewhat violent family to a loving and calm family.  Things are not perfect and I am not sure they will ever be as we live in a broken world. However, they are so good and I am so grateful.  Whatever you are struggling with, please believe me when I say the Holy Spirit has the power to change it.  Remember Romans 8:11, The power of the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.  What could be more powerful?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Holy Spirit, we invite you into our lives and give you permission to intercede as you wish.  We give you free rein as we know your ways are higher than our ways.  We are sorry we keep relying on our own power and we will try to remember to call upon your power.  We are so grateful for all you do for us.  Lord, we are so grateful you sent the Holy Spirit to come live within and to guide us.  Please help us remember to call upon the Holy Spirit more in our lives.  Help us to remember we don’t have to do anything on our own, He is always with us.  He is just waiting for us to ask.  Lord, help us to remember our bodies are a temple and the Holy spirit is living inside that temple.  Help us to treat our bodies like a temple.  Lord you are so amazing.  You are my joy, you are my life, you are Emmanuel, God with us.  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 spending time with you on Monday.  Have a blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Is Healing Possible?

James 4:2-4 “You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

This verse came up in my daily devotional “Jesus Calling” today.  Actually it was from August 20th.  The whole devotional for this day was on healing.  I love to read about healing.  I am so fascinated by healings.  I am so curious why some are healed and some aren’t.  I believe God heals people on the daily.  I believe He miraculously cures people daily as well.  I have heard so many recounts of people who have witnessed God’s miraculous healings.  Actually, we just heard an example of one of these healings yesterday.  If you have not listened to this weeks Witness Wednesday, you can find it anywhere you listen to podcasts and also on YouTube.  I will read you the devotional today as I think it has a lot of great info on healing and I know so many people right now who need healing either for themselves and/or a loved one.

I am a God who heals. I heal broken bodies, broken minds, broken hearts, broken lives, and broken relationships. My very presence has immense healing powers. You cannot live close to me without experiencing some degree of healing. However, it is also true you have not because you ask not. You receive the healing that flows naturally from my presence, whether you seek it or not. But there is more—much more—available to those who ask. The first step in receiving healing is to live ever so close to me. The benefits of this practice are too numerous to list. As you grow more and more intimate with me, I reveal my will to you more directly. When the time is right I prompt you to ask for the healing of some brokenness in you or in another person. The healing may be instantaneous, or it may be a process. That is up to me. Your part is to trust me fully and to thank me for the restoration that has begun. I rarely heal all the brokenness in a person's life. Even my servant Paul was told, "my grace is sufficient for you," when he sought healing for the thorn in his flesh. Nonetheless much healing is available to those whose lives are intimately interwoven with mine. Ask and you will receive.

I loved in this devotional when God said we receive the healing that flows naturally from His presence, whether we ask for it or not.  I love that He is healing us even when we don’t ask.  I love that we just need to be close to Him and we experience some degree of healing.  What jumped out to me the most in this devotional was when He said, “You have not because you ask not.” God said he has so much more healing for us and yet we aren’t receiving it because we aren’t asking for it.  The question that came to mind after reading that was, “why aren’t we asking for it?”  I think people might not be asking for a healing because they don’t believe they are worthy of one, or they don’t believe a healing is possible.  I can understand both of these reasonings and yet, they are getting in the way of a healing.  

I can see how one might not feel worthy of a healing, especially if they have lived a life they are not proud of.  Sometimes we get headed down a wrong path, we somehow get all turned around and we aren’t living the way God wants us to live.  I don’t think anyone sets out to live a life of being unkind and mean to people.  I think life happens, people experience things, and react to them the best way they know how and eventually they get tired of things going wrong and they become hard and unforgiving.  I could see how this person might not feel worthy of a healing.  However, God loves them and is willing to give them another chance, all they need to do is be brave enough to ask for it.  Then there are other people who live their lives according to God but also don’t feel worthy of a healing because they feel others deserve it more.  Maybe they feel other are more deserving because they are younger, they have a family, they did more for the community.  Whatever it is they are thinking, it is no taking into account how big our God is.  God is  not limited in the number of healings He can do.  We don’t have to hold back from asking for a healing because others are more deserving.  God can heal others and He can heal us too.  We just need to ask.  

I can also see how we might hold back in asking for a healing because our illness is too severe.  Maybe the doctors have told you there is no cure for the disease you have and so you don’t ask God for a healing because you know the disease you have in incurable.  The doctors are giving you all the information they have and yet just because your illness is incurable with modern medicine, doesn’t mean God can’t cure it.  Remember, our God is a God of the Impossible.  He is a Way Maker.  He cured leprosy long before modern medicine did. He cured blindness and He has even brought people back from the dead.  There is nothing our God can’t do.  He just wants us to ask.  He will heal us to a certain point even without asking.  However, we have free will and so if we want extraordinary healing, we need to ask Him.  He wants to know we agree to the healing, that it is actually something we want.  

I also like how in the devotional it said the first step to healing is to live closer to God.  I liked how it said as we get closer and closer to Him he reveals His will more fully to us and then at some point He prompts us to ask for a healing.  If we are looking to see more healing in our lives, we first need to start living closer to the Lord.  Make growing closer to Him a priority. The verse above also talks about how we need to live closer to the Lord also.  It says if we make friends with the world then we will be an enemy of God.  If we want to be a friend of God we must not cling to the things of this world.  We must try to grow closer and closer to God.  Instead of spending time with things of this world, we must try to replace the things of this world with the things God wants us to do. Spend time with Him instead of spending time with the TV, or the video games.  

He also said something I think many of us wish weren’t true.  He said, “the healing might be instantaneous and it might be a process. That is up to me.”  I think we are all wishing for the healing to be instantaneous.  I know that is what I pray for.  I know I wish it were up to me.  However, when I start to think that way I revert back to Isaiah 55:8-9 ““For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God has a plan, he doesn’t just flip a coin to see if you will be healed instantaneous or if it will be a process.  He has a plan and His plan is great than our plan.  I think sometimes we think God didn’t answer our prayers if we are healed with modern medicine instead of a more obvious miraculous cure.  If our cancer or our loved ones cancer doesn’t just miraculously go away one day, we don’t think God is answering our prayers.  As the devotional says, sometimes he heals instantaneously and sometimes its a process.  Both are God’s healings.  He is present in both ways.  One is not better than the other, they are just different.  

God says in the devotional our jobs are to trust Him fully and to thank me for the restoration that has begun.  I have a friend who just found out her scans showed that some of the lymph nodes are shrinking.  Her doctor told her the chemo is working.  This is a great example of God’s healing being a process.  She needed to try different drugs, she needed to hang in their in trust Him fully and now she can thank Him for the restoration that has begun.  What is on my heart deeply today is to tell all of you to not get discouraged if the process is not what you wanted.  Try not to get discouraged if the healing you are praying for is taking longer than you like.  Try to keep trusting in God completely that the healing you have asked for is coming.  Ask and you will receive, that is what God keeps telling us.  Also, if you are waiting for a healing for yourself or a loved one and you haven’t asked God for it yet, do that today.  God said in the verse above, “You do not have because you do not ask.”  If that is you, take a moment today and ask the Lord for the healing you want.  Don’t just hope for it, ask for it.  Then do all you can to grow closer to the Lord.  He is there waiting for you with open arms.  He is ready to welcome you in and to heal you or your loved one.  I leave you with these words from our Heavenly Father, “But there is more—much more—available to those who ask.”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, you are truly amazing.  We are so grateful for the healings that flow naturally from your presence.  Lord, we are also so very grateful that you offer so much more to those who ask for it.  We are asking Lord, please heal us and our loved ones.  Please help us to know you are healing us and our loved ones, especially if it is process.  If it is going to be a process, please give us the strength and perseverance to not give up hope, to not stop trusting you.  Give us the strength we need to trust you all the way till we receive the healing.  Lord, sometimes things get worse before they get better, help us believe when it looks like it is getting worse.  Help us keep the trust and faith when it doesn’t look hopeful.  Help us to keep the trust and faith when the doctors are telling us there is no way.  Help remind us you are a way maker.  We love you Lord, you are truly remarkable and we are so grateful for all you do. 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.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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 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!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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