Walk Boldly With Jesus

Let Go Of Shame

Isaiah 54:4-5 “Do not fear, you shall not be put to shame; do not be discouraged, you shall not be disgraced.  For the shame of your youth you shall forget, the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember.  For your husband is your Maker; the Lord of hosts is his name, Your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, called God of all the earth.”

This verse starts out with some pretty familiar words, “Do not fear.”  Is it just me or do we hear those words a lot?  In this verse it is referring to a specific fear.  The fear of being put to shame.  Shame is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.  I think we fear shame because we know we can be the ones that cause it.  We feel that we will do something that will humiliate ourselves.  Especially in this world where everything is on display for the whole world to see.  Our lives are lived more in the open now than ever before.  It is almost as if we are living in a fish bowl and every else is looking in.  It used to be that you could mess up, make a mistake and the whole world wouldn’t know about it, but now, we worry this is no longer true.  We worry that because we live our lives so openly everyone will see our mistake and we will be humiliated.  Do you ever feel like this?  Do you ever feel like some small silly little mistake you made caused you so much shame because it happened in public in front of others?  Do you ever feel shame over things that once upon a time you wouldn’t have cared less about?

The definition of shame says you have a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior, and yet we tend to take shame on for all different reasons.  Sometimes we feel shame for things we didn’t even do, but that others did to us.  We feel shame for things that other people said to us.  Sometimes we feel shame for decisions we made even though they were absolutely the right decision for us at the time and yet we feel shame due to other people’s opinions of our decisions.  If this is you, and I am pretty sure we have all felt shame before, I hope you take comfort in this verse.  The Lord says, “Do not fear, you shall not be put to shame; do not be discouraged, you shall not be disgraced.  The Lord is telling us that we won’t be put to shame and that we won’t be disgraced.  The Lord is protecting us.  We do not have to feel shame because we are children of God.  Shame does not come from the Lord.  The Lord wants us to repent for wrong doing, but he doesn’t ever want us to feel shame from it.  That is the enemy and he is good at telling us all the ways we should feel ashamed for things.  Ignore him!  He is a thief and a liar.  He is trying to destroy your happiness, your self esteem.  He is trying to pull you away from God.  Don’t let him.  When you are tempted to feel shame for something remind yourself that you are a child of God and that God is protecting you.  Stand up to the enemy and tell him you refuse to feel the shame he is throwing at you.  

The next line is another important line that I think we all need to hear.  “For the shame of your youth, you shall forget.”  Some of us think that we can’t be forgiven for things we have done in the past.  We are ashamed of the things we did and we think God couldn’t possible forgive us for something so terrible.  We hold onto these things and we don’t surrender them to God because we are ashamed.  This verse can bring us some comfort.  If it is possible for us to forget the sins of our youth, then surely God can too.  God does not hold these things against us.  He is up there, just waiting for us to realize that He loves us more than our actions.  He loves us more than anything.  He waits patiently while we learn this the hard way.  He waits patiently while we figure it out on our own because we don’t trust it when we hear verses like this one.  I don’t think I am the first person to tell you that shame is not from God.  He doesn’t want you to be ashamed.  However, I am hoping that you can finally hear it this time.  Let go of your shame.  Release it to the Lord and let Him heal you from it.  You will feel good afterwards.  It will be like a weight is lifted off your shoulders.  You don’t have to carry that weight on your own.  Hand it over to the Lord, He will carry it for you.  

Next the verse says, “the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember.  For your husband is your Maker; the Lord of hosts is his name, Your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, called God of all the earth.” I love learning new names for the Lord, in my prayer group we have several periods of praise during our meeting.  I have a list of various name for the Lord and I recite them during the praise parts of the meeting.  Here are some examples of the things I say:  

You are the Great “I AM”

YOu are the Just One

YOu are the King of Kings

You are the Lord of Lords

You are the Lamb of God

You are the Light of the World

You are the Lord God Almighty

This verse says that you don’t have to be worried about widowhood because your husband is the Lord.  He is the Maker; the Lord of Hosts is His name, Your redeemer, the Holy one of Israel, called the God of all earth.  Those are some pretty amazing titles, and He is your husband.  How great is that?  You can use these titles when you are wanting to praise the Lord for anything.  You can praise Him when something good happens, you can praise Him when something bad happens, you can praise Him when you need something and you can praise Him when you don’t.  He is there for you and He loves it when we praise Him.  It doesn’t have to take a lot of time and you can do it anywhere.  Even in the line at the grocery store, although you might want to be praising Him in your heard while you are in the the grocery store like.  If you are unsure what I am talking about when I say praising Him with these names, I just repeat them.  For instance: Lord God you are the Maker, you are the Lord of Hosts, you are the Redeemer and the Holy one of Israel.  Lord you are the God of all earth.  I love you Lord.  It can be as simple as that.  Just a few seconds and yet makes a world of difference to our Lord who loves our praise.  

This verse is making some pretty big promises but you have to accept them in order to benefit from them.  You have to be the one to decide if you are going to let go of your shame or not.  You are the one that needs to decide if you will let go of the shame of your youth.  Once you make the decision, the Lord will take care of the rest.  He doesn’t need you to figure out how to let go of it, He just needs you to hand it over to Him and release the control of holding on to it.  He will do the rest.  Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could all remember that shame does not come from the Lord and we could reject it when the enemy tries to pile that on us.  We can, if we ask the Lord to help us.  He is waiting for us to invite Him in to all of our troubles.  Can we do that today?  Can we invite the Lord in and turn our troubles over to Him?  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to release any shame we may be feeling.  Help us to see that shame does not come from you and help us to reject it and let it in our lives.  Help us believe that you can help us forget the shame of our youth.  Help us to see that you love us regardless of any shame we may feel.  Help us to understand that there is nothing you won’t forgive.  There is nothing in our past that is beyond your mercy and forgiveness.  Help us to feel how much you truly love us Lord.  We love you Lord, you are truly amazing.  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.  My guest tomorrow will be my friend Corinne.  She has an amazing witness of her faith journey.  She even gives us some stories of angels.  Corinne has an amazing faith.  She has been part of a few different healing ministries, currently she lives in Arizona and is part of a healing ministry there. I know you will enjoy her witness.  I look forward to sharing it with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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

Thirsting For God

Psalm 42:1 “As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.”

The theme of last week’s prayer group was “Thirst.”  The leader asked us if we thirst for God.  She mentioned the verse says as a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.  It does not say that the deer is searching for stagnant water.  As soon as she said this I thought to myself, this is where a lot of us are.  We are stagnant.  We are not moving forward, and hopefully, we are also not moving backwards.  We are just stuck right where we are.  This can be a dangerous place to be because this is where the comfort of the known comes in.  When we get too comfortable where we are, we can lose our drive to keep moving forward or in this case, keep moving closer to God.  Is this you?  Do you feel your relationship with the Lord is stagnant?  Or maybe you don’t think of it as stagnant, maybe you look at it as comfortable.  We are in a comfortable place and it is nice.  Let me ask you the same question our leader asked us, “Do you thirst for God?”  “Do you long for Him, more than you long for anything else?”

Think about a deer in the woods running around.  Think about him/her after running all day and they are so tired and thirsty and they just really need a drink.  Can you picture it?  Now ask yourself, do I thirst for God like this deer thirst for water?  I would love to say the answer is yes and sometimes when I think about it I think it is yes.  When I ask myself that question I tell myself I absolutely thirst for God.  I long to be close to Him.  I would give anything to be close to Him.  Have you ever thought this before?  It feels so good and yet it almost hurts because you want to be that close to God.  I do long for Him, I am sure of it.  However, when I examine my life, do my actions show Him that I long for Him?  I thought to myself that I would do anything to be close to Him.  Yet, there are plenty of times in my day where I could take a break and be alone with Him in prayer, yet, I don’t chose to do that.  There are books and podcasts and music I could read or listen to that could bring me close to Him and yet I don’t alway chose that either.  I want so badly to say that I long for God as much as this deer longs for water and yet, I sadly don’t know if it is true.  

Now, the Holy Spirit seems to be prompting me to say that we can long for God and yet not always act on it.  I feel as though He is telling me that if we feel like we long for Him then that makes Him happy and now we just need to figure out how to put that longing into action.  There was a word given at our prayer group that of course goes perfectly with this topic.  It still amazes me how God not only shows up every week, but how He always gives us words that are right on target with the topic.  It’s almost as if He knew what we were going to say.  Here is the word that was giving last Thursday.  The Lord said, “I do thirst for you, I do long for you. I long that you draw deeper and closer to me, that I may heal those places that you have not given me yet.  I long and thirst that you will draw nearer to me for my heart has more for you, more for you.  This is your time to draw nearer that I may give you more.  Your life is in my hands and I draw you but you must open more to me.  I can only knock, I cannot enter unless you allow me.  There is more of my love to give to you, there is more for you to do for me.  Draw, thirst, long to open those doors to me.  I draw you, I love you, I need your love too.”

I thought I would share this with you for two reasons.  The first is because God shows up and talks to us every week at our meetings and I think He really wants me to share that word with as many people as I can.  The second reason is because I think the answer to how we can put our longing into action is contained in this message He gave us.  First, the Lord is calling us closer to Him.  A great way to get closer to Him is to read His word.  Not just read it, but study it, learn it, get to know who He is and what He asks of us.  Then He says that He wants to heal those places we have not give to Him yet.  You know the places He is talking about.  The things that you keep holding on to because you think He couldn’t possibly heal that thing, or because you are too ashamed to hand it over to Him.  If we want to be closer to the Lord, we have to let him in to each and every part of us.  The more we open to Him and let Him in, the more He can Heal us and make us more able to long for Him.  Next, the Lord says that He has so much for us and that this is our time to draw nearer to Him so He can give us more.  However, there is a catch.  We have to open the door and let Him in.  

I think this is where a lot of us get stuck.  We want the Lord to help us, save us, love us and yet we don’t want to let Him in.  Why we don’t let Him in might be different for each one of us. Some might be afraid of getting hurt, some might have been hurt so much in the past they don’t know how to trust or to love, there can be any number of reasons we don’t open up.  God will not force Himself on you.  He gave us free will to choose if we want to love Him or not.  He loves us regardless of whether we let Him in or not.  If we want to long for God and to put that longing into action, we need to open our hearts, take the risk that comes with stepping out in faith and trust that God will be there for us.  In the word given above the Lord is saying that He has more of His love to give to us and He also says that there is more for us to do for Him.  What is the Lord calling you to do?  Are you doing it?  Could you do it if you knew He was right there with you?  The last sentence the Lord says, is “I draw you, I love you, I need your love too.”  Can we give the Lord our love today?  If you are struggling with loving the Lord, longing for Him, or anything else, pray to the Lord about it.  Talk to Him and tell Him how you feel and I promise He will help you.  He is that amazing!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to long for you as a deer longs for the flowing stream.  Lord, I felt convicted when I heard the comment about the stagnant water, please show all of us any areas in our lives where we are stagnant.  Help us grow closer to you.  Help us to open up those areas we have kept from you.  Help us release them to you for healing.  Lord, help us to see where are actions are not living up to our wants and help us to make things right.  Help us to put you first above all things!  We love you so much Lord.  We are so grateful that you are always here, waiting patiently for us to turn back to you each and every time we turn away or mess up.  You are amazing 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.  Have a blessed day.

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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

Blossom Like A Lily

Sirach 39:13-16 “Listen to me, my faithful children, and blossom like a rose growing by a stream of water.  Send out fragrance like incense, and put forth blossoms like a lily.  Scatter the fragrance, and sing a hymn of praise; bless the Lord for all his works.  Ascribe majesty to his name and give thanks to him with praise, with songs on your lips, and with harps; this is what you shall say in thanksgiving:   “All the works of the Lord are very good, and whatever he commands will be done at the appointed time.”

I decided to use the same verse again today because there is so much in it and I only talked about the first line yesterday.  Today we will pick up starting at the second line.  It says, “Send out fragrance like incense, and put forth blossoms like a lily.”  When I read the first part about sending out fragrance like incense I immediately thought of going out and spreading God’s work.  God loves us and He fills us with so much love, hope, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and so many other things.  However, He doesn’t want us to just keep all of that to ourselves.  He wants us to go out and share this with the world.  If the world seems too big for you to think about, consider sharing it with those you love first.  

Can you share God’s love with those that live in your house, or your parents and siblings, or your friends?  Who can you think of that you can share God’s love and mercy with?  What about His forgiveness?  Is there some you know that could really use some forgiveness.  Remember God’s forgiveness is not the same as our forgiveness.  We tend to tie a bunch of expectations or conditions to our forgiveness.  God just forgives, freely, just because we asked.  Can you be an example of this type of forgiveness for someone today?

I have talked a lot about how God wants us to live our lives as a witness to Him.  I have mentioned that He is calling us to live in a manor that exemplifies His values, not those of the world.  The reason I keep saying this is because He keeps saying it.  Each week God tells our prayer group some version of this sentiment.  For instance, this was the word we received today, “You must be the shining light of Christ to each other. Let everyone see your total surrender to God. Demonstrate the surrender by accepting whatever he gives you and giving whatever he takes from you. Your prompt, blind, simple and cheerful obedience will show what loving trust means. Your joyful smile will demonstrate how grateful you are to God for having chosen you to serve him. Let us not forget that our aim is to quench the thirst of Jesus for souls.”  Did you catch that last part?  “Our aim is to quench the thirst of Jesus for souls.”  God doesn’t want any of His children to have to spend eternity apart from Him.  He wants all of His children saved.  Our aim is to witness of his love and show people there is a different way.  There is an unconditional love that they have been searching for and it is found in Jesus.  

The next part of the sentence in this verse had me stumped.  It says “Put forth blossoms like a lily.”  I am not a flower expert and I had not idea what that meant.  I was tempted to skip over it, as I often am when I don’t understand something.  Do you ever do that, skip over something that you don’t understand?  I decided to spend a few minutes and find out why lillies were so special.  What if I skipped over it and it had a significant meaning?  The point of doing this podcast is so that we can all understand the scriptures a little better.  If I skip over all the things I don’t understand this podcast wouldn’t last very long.  I am so glad I took the time to research.  Before I tell you what I found I just want you to know it was in a theology paper or in an explanation of this scripture.  I do not know if this is why this verse says blossom like Lillies but it really resonated with me so I wanted to share it with you.  

The article I found was titled, “3 Fun Facts About Lilies” posted one Freytagsflorist.com.  The first fact about lilies is they come in a variety of different shapes, sizes and colors.  This is true for us and this is true for faith as well.  We are all different, we are all unique.  We all learn about God differently, we pray differently, we encounter God differently.  What works really well for one person, might not work at all for another person.  For instance, I really love music at mass.  It makes me so happy and just fills me with so much joy.  However, my husband is not a fan of music.  He prefers a nice quiet mass where he can pray and just be with the Lord.  One way is not better than the other, they are just different.  So when the verse is saying bloom like lilies, maybe it means we should be ok with being different.  Maybe it is saying that although we may look different in shape, size and color, we are all the same, we are all lilies.

The second fact about lilies is they symbolize purity and refined beauty.  Isn’t that beautiful?  Can’t you just see the Lord asking us to blossom in purity and refined beauty?  Also, the various colors convey different meanings.  For instance, a white lily traditionally symbolizes modesty and new beginnings. An orange lily symbolizes passion. A Lily of the Valley is a symbol of sweetness and a pure heart.  These are all things God would want from us.  It could also symbolize how we are all different and so we bring different things to the table.  Some of us are good at writing, reading, volunteering, singing, being a eucharistic minister, or a religious education teacher.  Just as each lily color represents something different, so do we.  This is to be celebrated and encouraged.  

The third fact was the one I read and though, yep, it was no accident that the author chose lily as the flower.  The oil extracted from lilies actually has been found to have healing and softening properties. The oil has been known to work well for cracked and dry skin.  There is no greater healer than our Lord.  So the fact that the lily has healing properties is perfect.  Do you see why I am glad I took the time to understand more about lilies.  Sometimes we might skip right past things, thinking that they aren’t really that important.  I am sure the Holy Spirit lead me to this article so I could share it with all of you.  Whether this is the exact reason why this language was selected for this verse, I don’t know.  However, I do know it opened my eyes a little more to how we are different and why that can be a good thing.  

The rest of this verse today talks about praise.  “Scatter the fragrance, and sing a hymn of praise; bless the Lord for all his works.  Ascribe majesty to his name and give thanks to him with praise, with songs on your lips, and with harps; this is what you shall say in thanksgiving:   “All the works of the Lord are very good, and whatever he commands will be done at the appointed time.”  I don’t think I could ever really state enough how important praise is.  The Lord does so much for us and He really loves it when we praise Him.  This can be something that is easy to forget.  We don’t forget to ask for prayers, but we can easily forget to praise Him when we get our answers.  It can also be hard to praise the Lord when we don’t see answers to our prayers.  I’ve talked about this before so I won’t spend a lot of time on it, but no matter your circumstances, there is always something you can be grateful for.  There is always something you can praise the Lord for.  If you are feeling down, a great way to get out of that is to start praising the Lord.  

From this one short verse we learned that we need to nourish our mind, body, and souls.  We learned we need to spread God’s love and His message to one and all.  We learned that we are all different and that is how we are meant to be.  That is a good thing and we all bring something different to the table.  And finally, to praise the Lord.  Sing Him songs, be grateful and tell all the world how awesome He is.  Isn’t it incredible how much we can get out of 4 short verses in the Bible.  God is amazing!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to bring others too you, please help us.  Lord, we say yes to all you ask of us.  Lord, help us to recognize our differences bring us together.  Our differences help the church to grow.  Help us to praise you Lord, with every breath we take.  Help us to blossom like lilies.  Help us to learn you healing properties so we can pass them on to others.  We love you Lord 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 seeing you on Monday.  Have a Blessed weekend.

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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

Nourish Your Mind, Body and Soul

Sirach 39:13-16 “Listen to me, my faithful children, and blossom like a rose growing by a stream of water.  Send out fragrance like incense, and put forth blossoms like a lily.  Scatter the fragrance, and sing a hymn of praise; bless the Lord for all his works.  Ascribe majesty to his name and give thanks to him with praise, with songs on your lips, and with harps; this is what you shall say in thanksgiving:   “All the works of the Lord are very good, and whatever he commands will be done at the appointed time.”

I thought this was a beautifully written verse.  It sounds so poetic.  I like the symbolism as well of us blossoming like a rose that is growing by a stream of water.  I wonder why He specifies that the rose is growing by a stream of water.  What would be different about a rose that was blossoming by a stream of water versus a rose that is growing elsewhere?  Why was this an important detail to put in?  Was it just added to make it more poetic?  I don’t think so.  I think it was added to demonstrate a more accurate picture of how fully the Lord wants us to grow and blossom into our faith.  

Roses need water to live.  If we have a rose growing in the desert it is relying on whatever water we give it.  We have to remember to water our plants.  However, roses that grow in the wild, ones that grow next to a stream, they don’t need anything from us.  Their roots can grab the water straight from the stream.  Roses growing next to a stream of water have an abundant source of water for nourishment.  What about us?  Do we have an abundant source of nourishment?  What are you doing to nourish not only your body, but your soul?

This is something that I think is really important to talk about.  And I am not here to talk to you about diets, or some new health fad that is here today and gone tomorrow.  What I want to talk to you about is how you can nourish your mind, body and soul.  The enemy can attack us more easily when we are weak.  When we are not taking care of ourselves.  There are so many choices of food out there, some of it is good for us and some of it is bad for us.  We tell ourselves that the food that is good for us tastes bad and the food that is bad for us tastes so good.  This isn’t always the case.  This is something the enemy has planted in our minds and we buy it hook line and sinker because it is easier to eat whatever we want.  We tell ourselves that we deserve to eat that cookie because we have had a stressful day.  So we do, we eat that cookie, and the next one, and the next one.  We may or may not feel better in that moment.  However, what about the next day when we go to put our pants on and they are don’t fit anymore because we had a few too many bad days where we ate cookies, candy, fast food, whatever your comfort food is.  Then we no longer feel better, we feel awful about ourselves and so we eat the cookies to feel better and the cycle continues.

We need to figure out what type of food nourishes our body.  It could be different for all of us.  We are all created differently and some things that my siblings can eat I can’t eat and vice versa.  It is up to you to figure out what food make you feel good and nourish your body and what ones don’t.  The next thing we need to do is stop eating whatever we feel like eating.  Believe me when I say I am talking to myself most of all.  On Mother’s Day they had cheesecake on sale for a riduculously low price, because that is what the enemy does when he sees you trying to make changes.  So we buy this cheesecake with 12 pieces.  Actually we buys two because who can pass up a 75% off sale, right?  Luckily it was Mother’s Day so we left one of the cheesecakes with our parents.  I decided I was only going to eat sweets on Sundays from now on because I crave them all day every day.  Well, I ate not one, but two pieces of cheese cake on Monday, and candy at the movies on Tues.  Just because we want to eat something doesn’t mean we should or that we have to.  We are stronger than we are giving ourselves credit for.  We say things like, “I just couldn’t help it,” or at least that is what I say.  That is a lie.  I can help it, I just don’t want to.  I wonder if it would help me stop eating so much crap if I thought to myself while doing it, “You are making the devil so happy right now.”  I honestly think that is a true statement.  I don’t think the enemy wants us to have will power.  He prefers when we act on our impulses.  If we rely on our feelings we are not going to make the best choices.  

When we eat badly we are giving the enemy free ammunition to use against us.  When we eat badly the enemy starts to tell us we have no control, how can we be in charge of our life when we can’t even be in charge with what we eat.  He tells us we are powerless to our cravings, he makes us feel bad about our weight, he fills our heads with negative thoughts.  However, when we are nourishing our body with food that are healthy, he quiets down.  He has less to use against us because when we are nourishing our bodies we tend to feel good about ourselves.  We are less vulnerable to attacks from the enemy when we are nourishing our bodies instead of filling it with junk.

It is also important to nourish your mind and your soul as well.  This can be just as important and yet it is less talked about.  We also have cravings in these areas that can lead us to fill our minds with stuff that is not nourishing us.  For instance, how many hours have you spent watching TV that is not nourishing your mind or your soul?  Some TV shows are to your mind and soul what donuts are to your body.  They make you feel good in the moment but then afterwards you feel bad.  The enemy starts to say things to make you feel bad about yourself.  He says things like, “You wasted so much time today.”  “ You could have been doing something productive with your time.”  “You will never get the project done because you can’t stop watching TV.”  It doesn’t have to be TV, it can be whatever you are filling your time with that is not serving you.  Maybe it is social media.  It may feel good when you start scrolling but inevitably you will see something that upsets you, and if not you will start to feel bad because now you have to work late because you spent 2 hours scrolling on social media today.

As you can see, there are lots of things to distract us from nourishing our mind, body and soul.  This is why I like this verse so much.  It talks about the roses that are growing right next to the river.  How can we be more like these roses?  How can we be so close to the thing that helps us grow?  We can read the word everyday.  We can surround ourselves with things that build us up.  We can pray that God gives us the strength to not eat that donut or watch that TV show today.  Our lifeline, the one and only thing we need to help us grow is God.  He will provide the rest.  Stay close to Him, call on Him every day, ask Him for the help you need to get through each day.  Call upon Him in difficult moments when you need to make a hard choice, even if that hard choice is just whether or not to eat a cookie.  God loves when we come to Him with the big things in our lives, and he also loves it just as much when we come to Him with the little things in our lives.  Stay close to God and He will help you not just grow, but flourish, like the roses that grow by a stream of water.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord we love you so much.  We want to grow and flourish in your company.  Help us to stay close to you. Help us to learn to nourish our mind, body and souls.  Help us to not give in to our cravings.  Lord, help us to see we have the power to resist our cravings.  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  Also, we have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us and that makes us more powerful than ever!  We ask that you remind us of this when we feel weak.  We ask that you help us to see that we are stronger against enemy attacks when we are nourishing our mind, body and soul.  Lord we are so grateful that you care for us so much.  We are grateful for all the strength and wisdom you give us.  We love you, you are amazing and we ask all of this in accordance with your holy 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

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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

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 HERE).  It won’t take up much of your time and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today.  Prayerfully consider sharing.  Everyone has a story and the world needs to hear them.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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

Let Your Life Be A Witness of Jesus

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men;  and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

Verses like the one above always make we feel a little uncomfortable.  I hate to admit that but it is true.  I feel as though there is extra pressure put on us to live our lives a certain way.  Do you know why I feel this way?  Because we are called to live our lives a certain way.  We are called to a higher standard.  This can make us feel uncomfortable because we are afraid we are not living up to this standard.  We want to fit in and just do what everyone else is doing.  We don’t want to be different because if we are different then we might stand out and if we stand out we might be vulnerable. God didn’t make us to fit in with others.  God made us to be set apart.  

This is not a new problem.  Ever since the beginning of time God has been trying to keep us set apart so that we would not be corrupted by the ways of the world.  This has been a constant struggle. Every time the Israelites would conquer a new land they would inevitably start to adopt the practices and the culture of the land they conquered.  This is often why God would order them to kill everyone living it that land.  He knew how weak our hearts were and He knew we wouldn’t be able to stay set apart from them.  The other people worshiped many Gods at this time and some of them even required human sacrifice.  They were not good customs that they were adopting.  

We are called to be examples of God’s love, light, peace, forgiveness and kindness.  We are called to higher standards.  When people look at us, they should be able to tell, just by how we are living that we are Christians and what that means.  I had a friend on a few weeks ago that gave her witness about going back to church after being away for a long time.  One of the things that drover her away in the first place is the hypocrisy that is found in churches.  The hypocrisy of many people that go to church on Sunday and then do whatever they want the rest of the week.  The Christian faith is not one that is meant to be lived on Sunday and then forgotten about the rest of the week.  It is not ok to be one person at church on Sunday and a completely different person everywhere else.  This is not only important for the community, it’s even more important in your home.  

What do you think you are teaching your children if you are going to church each week, volunteering and being so helpful there and then when you are at home you are yelling and swearing and not helping out around the house?  Do you think you children will grow up loving God and Jesus if they see you acting two different ways, one way at church and one way at home?  Consistency is the key.  We need to decide our values and then hold these values in every circumstance.  We need to start at home and show all of our love and kindness there before we can branch off to others.  Did you ever notice how sometimes we are kinder to those at work than we are at home?  We are really nice at work because it is work and we need to be professional and we need to keep our job.  However, we are tired and cranky when we get home from work so we take that frustration out on our family.  We probably don’t even notice it a lot of the time.  We just slip into the habit because we know our family will love us no matter what.  It’s kind of like when our kids are little and they act out for their parents, but are really well behaved at school.  They say it is because they feel safe, they know their parents will always love them  no matter what.  

We must strive to be better than this.  We must strive to be Christ like in all circumstances.  God is calling us to an amazing life of blessings and grace and all we have to do is strive to be more Christ like.  He is calling us to share Him with the world and he is equipping us with all we need to do this, we just have to say yes.  One way to live more Christ like across all setting in our lives is to live more intentionally.  When we just come home and slip into our comfortable routine, this is where we can start to live inconsistently. It can be really helpful to set intentions before you walk through your door at night.  If you drive to work, sit in your car for and extra minute or two when you get home and set your intentions for who you want to be when you walk through that door.  Do you want to be calm and confident?  Do you want to be patient and loving?  Do you want to be helpful?  Who do you want your spouse and/or kids to see when you walk through that door.  If you have a lot of stress from work still maybe take a few minutes and just breathe and try to release that stress.  You can do the same before you walk into work in the morning too.  Decide before walking through the doors of your office who you want to be at work.  How can you be your best self in each circumstance?

Living more intentionally will help us be more Christlike.  If we have this as a goal and we remind ourselves of this goal every day, multiple times a day, then this goal can become a standard we hold all of our decisions up against.  For instance, if I wanted to watch a movie that was inappropriate, I can ask myself if watching that movie fits in alignment with my goal to be more Christlike, and also if it fits with my values.  I can look at how much I am giving to the church or other charities and see if that is in line with my values and my goal to be more Christlike.  You can ask yourself this question for all that you do and then you will be living more intentionally.  God will give you all you need to imitate Christ if you ask for it, if you strive for it.  God is calling us to be His image in the world.  He is calling us to be His hands and feet in the world.  He is calling us to witness to His love and mercy, not just with our words, but with our actions too!  Will we answer this call?  Will we say yes to the Lord and then do our best to live intentionally and try and share His love, light, peace, forgiveness and kindness with the world?  Our world really needs more Jesus right now, can we try to reflect His goodness in our lives?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode this morning.  Lord, we want to live a good Christian life.  We want to live a life set apart from the things of this world.  Help to break our attachment to the things of this world.  Help give us the strength to live the life you want us to live.  Help us spread Jesus to one and all.  Help us to reflect His goodness in our day to day lives.  Help us live more consistently throughout our days and weeks.  We love you Lord, you are amazing.  We want to answer your call.  We want people to know we are Christians just by looking at us and how we are living.  We want to be your ambassadors Lord.  Please give us the strength to do that.  You are so good to us Lord and we are so very grateful.  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 witness is given by Catherine C.  She talks about her struggle with faith, her struggle with alcoholism, and struggle with family life.  Catherine is an amazing woman who decided to open up, be vulnerable and share her story with hopes that her story will help others.  If you know anyone that is struggling with any addiction, or anyone parenting teens, please share tomorrow’s witness with them. It is a beautiful witness of how God can save you when you least expect it.  It is a beautiful witness of someone yearning and searching for something and yet not knowing what they are searching for.  It is also shows how God is there for you, helping you and guiding you, even before you have found Him, even if you didn’t know it was Him.  I know you are going to love the witness tomorrow and I am so grateful I get to share it with you.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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

Jesus is bigger than the Facts

Luke 8:50 “While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore. Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

Pastor Steven Furtick gave an excellent sermon on this passage a few weeks ago.  If you want to listen to it you can check it our on the Elevation with Steven Furtick Podcast.  The title of the Episode is The Facts aren’t Final.  Steven Furtick explores this passage in a lot more detail then I can do in this short amount of time as his podcast is close to an hour long.  However, I really liked his messages surrounding this verse.  There are usually several messages in his sermons.  They are really good.  The main message for this episode is revealed in the title, Facts are not Final.  

This verse is about a man who went to see Jesus because his daughter was dying.  He found Jesus and he fell down on his knees and asked Jesus to come to his house and to save his daughter.  Then in Luke 8:50 it says, “While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader.  “Your daughter is dead,” he said.  “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.  Hearing this Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”  Can you imagine being in this circumstance?  Have you heard those words before, “Just believe and she, he, they will be healed?”  This can be so hard.  It can be so hard to believe on a good day, but when you are faced with facts that don’t give a lot of room for hope.  

This man just received news that his little girl died.  Not that she was sick, but that she had died.  Imagine how hard it was for this man to believe.  It says that Jairus was a synagogue leader.  They synagogue leaders at the time of Jesus did not know what to make of Jesus.  Even in this passage they refer to him as the teacher, no the son of God, not the healer, not the resurrected Christ, the teacher.  Jairus must have wondered if Jesus was a healer because he did go to Jesus and ask Him to save his daughter.  I wonder if he believed that he could heal his daughter or if this was just what some may call a “Hail Mary” attempt.  A “Hail Mary” in case you don’t know is when you try something that you are pretty sure will not work, but you don’t have any other chance so you give it one last shot anyway.  Hail Mary is actually a great name for that type of circumstance because she is definitely someone that we can rely on when all else has failed.  

The facts of this case seemed bleak.  Jairus wanted Jesus to save his daughter but according to the facts Jesus did not get there in time and his daughter died.  Jesus was on his way to Jairus’ house when he got stopped by a large crowd of people.  One of those people was the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and no doctors could help her.  She went up to Jesus in the crowd and touched his cloak and was immediately healed.  Jesus stopped to acknowledge this and while He was still talking to this woman, who’s story is amazing and deserves a whole episode of her own, Jairus got new that his daughter had died.  I don’t know about you, but I feel like I would be super angry at this point.  I feel as the my grief would have over come me and I would have started to yell at Jesus.  I would have told Him my daughters death was all His fault. If he hadn’t have stopped to talk to that lady, my daughter might still be alive.  

Can you picture the scene?  It seems when we are angry and hurt we lash out.  It makes us feel better, even if just for a moment, if we can blame someone else.  This is a normal reaction, however, there is no mention of any such reaction from Jairus.  Jesus hears the man from Jairus’ house tell Jairus that his daughter died and Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”  The question is, “How do we believe when we are faced with facts that dispute that faith?”  How does this man believe that his daughter will be ok when he was just told that she was dead?  Do you have a circumstance in your life where the facts don’t leave room for much hope?  

Do you have a situation where the facts tell you that there is no way out?  For instance, maybe you have too many bills and not enough money.  Maybe you have a diagnosis and the doctors are saying there is no cure for.  Maybe your child is facing a situation and you don’t see a way out of it for them.  Maybe your marriage is in trouble and your spouse has said there is no way to fix it.  In all of these circumstances, the facts say that your situation is beyond hope.  The facts say that you can’t change they things.  If a doctor says you have a terminal illness, that is a fact.  You can’t dispute that fact on merit, as you do in fact have an illness that there is no human cure for.  If your spouse has made up their mind that divorce is the only way, then it will take divine intervention to save that marriage.  So, how do we have faith when the facts are telling us there is no hope?

One great way is to look back at scripture.  This Bible verse is not the only time it looked liked Jesus arrived too late.  In John 11 Jesus’ friend Lazarus got sick and his sisters wrote to Jesus asking him to come home and heal their brother.  Jesus stayed where He was and finished what He was doing and then He went back.  By the time Jesus got back there, Lazarus had been dead and in a tomb for 4 days.  The facts in this chapter would tell us that Lazarus was not coming back.  He had already been dead for 4 days, his body was probably starting to smell and maybe decompose.  However, Jesus came back and raised Lazarus from the dead.  What about the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years?  The facts told her she would never get better, there was no cure.  The doctors couldn’t help her, they only made it worse.   I am sure she had to fight her mind reminding her of these facts the entire way to see Jesus.  She fought through the voices telling her the facts that she would not get better and that there was no hope.  She stepped out in faith, touched His garment, the hem of his garment, and she was cured.  

In the story above, the facts said Jairus’ daughter had died.  He no longer had a need for someone to come and heal his daughter.  The facts said it was too late.  However, Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”  And Jairus went with Jesus to see his little girl.  In Luke 8:54-55 it says, “ But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.”  The facts said it was too late and Jesus said “Do not be afraid, just believe.”  

Where do you need to hear that in your life right now.  The Bible is not just a collection of stories that give us historical data but don’t really pertain to our lives.  The Bible is just as relevant today as it was back in that day.  When Jesus is telling these parables to the people in the Bible, He is also telling them to you.  Where in your life are you struggling with the facts?  Where in your life are the facts not leaving much room for hope?  Where in your life do you need to hear these words, straight from Jesus’ mouth, “Do not be afraid, just believe.”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help those that are struggling to believe that the facts aren’t final.  Help those facing some very scary facts.  Lord, we know you are amazing and you are God of the impossible.  Please give us the strength to not be afraid and to believe.  Lord we believe, help our unbelief.  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 seeing you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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

Take Care of Yourself

1 Timothy 4:16 “Attend to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in both tasks, for by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.”

Attend to yourself is what stood out to me in this verse.  Why is that such a hard thing to do?  Why do we struggle with that so much?  There are a couple ways I can see this being hard for us.  The first way is taking care of ourselves.  There are a few people that I know that do this very well.  They make sure to take time for themselves.  They love their family and do a great job taking care of them and yet they have learned that they can be better at taking care of their family if they take care of themselves too.  Most people I know tend to take care of everyone else and sort of forget to take care of themselves.  Is this you?  Do you do everything for everyone else and then you are left worn down and tired with no energy and not feeling great about yourself?  Are you always giving and never receiving?  You are not alone.  I think we all do this.  The problem is, this is not healthy?  This is not what is best for those around us.  

We can’t be our best for those we love if we wear ourselves thin.  If we are always giving and never receiving then we may start to feel resentful of those around us.  We are not at our best if we are tired and worn out all the time.  If we are always doing and never resting then we can start to feel unhappy inside.  Once we start to feel unhappy inside it can be really hard to get out of those feelings.  Depression and anxiety seem to be at an all time high right now.  We must start to take care of ourselves if we want to change this; if we want to show up for ourselves and those around us in a way that we can sustain for the long haul.  Some of you may be hearing this and thinking that is easier said than done.  Some people might have the luxury of taking time for themselves, but that is just not possible for you in your circumstance.  I get why it feels that way.  I have been there before with three young boys all close in age.  It felt like they needed me every second of every day.  However, I was lucky and my husband was able to take care of them so I could take a break.  

What if you don’t have a spouse to take care of the kids?  What if you are a care giver to a child or spouse?  What if there is no one to help?  My answer to this is pray about it.  Recognize that you need a break and figure out how to get one.  Do you have extended family that can help out?  Do you have a friend in a similar circumstance and the two of you can trade off services?  Can you hire a babysitter or a house cleaner?  I know we feel selfish if we do something for ourselves.  It is not selfish to take care of yourself.  It is actually the opposite.  We need to take care of ourselves so we can continue to take care of those that need us.  What good are we if we are burned out?  Sometimes taking care of ourselves can be as simple as taking a bath, taking a long walk, talking a short walk, putting on some music and just breathing for 5 minutes.  There are lots of ways to take care of yourself.  Find something that brings you joy, gives you a chance to feel good, and helps you recharge.  You will not be sorry you did.  

The other way I see that we struggle to “attend to ourselves” is with respect to our spiritual journey.  Oftentimes it is just so much easier to look at everyone else’s journey.  It is easier for us to judge others than it is for us to judge ourselves.  We are quick to point out where other people are falling short and yet we fail to see all the ways we are.  This verse is telling us to attend to ourselves.  God tells us this again in Matthew 7:3-5 when he says, “ Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”  I did an episode in the last few weeks about judgement so I won’t address that today.  However, if this is something you struggle with, and we all do, then go back and listen to episode #210 if you haven’t heard it already.  

Today I want to just take a minute to talk about how we can attend to ourselves.  How can we make sure that we are living the way God wants us to live?  First, we can figure out how God is calling us to live.  The best way to do this is through reading His word.  If you have not made this a daily practice yet, I challenge you to start today.  Even if you just read one verse a day, or one chapter a day, or maybe you set a timer and just read 5 minutes a day, you will see a change.  Immersing yourself in His word is so powerful and equips you with the words you need to fight off the enemy.  Another way is to read spiritual books.  We all struggle in life.  It is a given and yet we don’t all struggle with the same things.  Whatever it is you are struggling with, there is a book out there that helps you deal with it.  There are spiritual books that help you deal with things like anxiety, anger, depression, and other struggles of the mind.  There are also spiritual books that help us with the struggles of our soul, like living out the virtues, using the gifts of the Holy Spirit, how to pray more, how to pray better, if you have a struggle, or a question, there has been a book written about it.  Reading or listening if you enjoy audiobooks can be a great way to learn all you want to learn.  

I love the last sentence in this verse. “persevere in both tasks, for by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.”  I love the word persevere.  I think it is a great goal for all of us.  I also like that it says we will not only save ourselves but those who listen to us.  However, we can only save those who listen to us if we are teaching them the correct things.  This is why it is important to know how to live.  We can live in a manner such that those around us see how we are living and want to live that way too.  Let’s all try to be a reflection of Jesus.  When we are people will want what we have and they will do what we do.  First, we need to attend to ourselves and then others will follow.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the episode today.  Lord, help us attend to ourselves and our teachings first.  Help us to save ourselves and those that listen to us.  You said in Matthew 18:6, “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”  Help us to not cause others to stumble.  Help us live a life in a way that reflects you and your ways back to the world.  Help us be your light in the world.  We love you Lord, you are amazing.  Help us be amazing through you.  Help us to not judge others.  Lord, I ask that you help everyone listening to this episode take care of themselves.  If they do not know how, I ask that you open doors for them.  We are so grateful for all that 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 seeing you again on Monday.  Have a blessed weekend.  

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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

Discerning God’s Will

Hebrews 13:20-21 “ Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

This is a prayer that is found in Hebrews.  I love that it reminds us of what God did for us.  God raised Jesus from the dead for us.  I also like how it says that our Lord Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep.  I love picturing Jesus as our shepherd.  To me that seems so loving and tender.  Jesus looking over us and guiding us to where we need to go.  Then the verse reminds us the God sealed our eternal covenant with the blood of Jesus.  God sent His only son down to die on a cross for our sins.  A reminder of just how much the Lord loves us. Next the verse is asking the Lord to equip you with everything good that you may do His will.  We are praying that God will work in us so that we do what is pleasing in the sight of Jesus Christ for the Glory of Christ.  

This seems like a pretty tall order.  The first hard part is knowing what is the will of God.  This is something prayer can help with.  We can pray daily that our will conforms to the Lord’s will.  We can also pray that the Lord show us what His will is and to give us the strength to follow His will.  You may be wondering why we would need strength to follow God’s will.  Doesn’t God want what is best for us?  If so, why would we need strength?  Yes, God wants what is best for us.  However, it is not always an easy road to get us to where God wants us to get too.  We do a lot of things along the way that are not what God wanted us to do and sometimes God lets us feel those consequences before we can get back on track.  Also, sometimes the way to get to where we need to be is filled with suffering.  We need strength to make it through that suffering.

There are two main things that I can see would be tough for us to understand in this prayer.  The first one is knowing what is God’s will.  What is it that God put you here on this earth for?  This is something that I think we all want to know the answer too.  Sometimes in life we feel as though we don’t have a sense of purpose.  We don’t feel great about ourselves because we don’t feel we are doing anything with our lives, or we don’t think we are doing enough.  This is something I think we all go through at some point in our lives and some of us go through more than once.  We can struggle at each new stage in life.  Every time we start something new it takes us time to figure out what we are doing and time to get into a routine with a new normal.  During this time it is important to lean into God and to spend time sitting with Him and asking Him what He wants you to do.  

We often complain that God is not talking to us or that we don’t know what He wants us to do.  However, we also don’t spend time just sitting with Him and listening to all He wants to tell us.  God does talk with us, we are just usually too busy to hear it.  Even if we spend a lot of time in prayer, it doesn’t mean we are spending time listening.  Do you ever get to the end of a long prayer time and notice that you did all the talking?  I know I do.  I will spend 45 minutes spilling out all I have been up to and all my needs to the Lord and then sometimes I don’t have time to listen to what He wants to say.  Other times I do listen, but certainly not for as long as I talked for.  If we want to know God’s will for us in our lives we need to spend the time with Him listening and letting Him lead us.  Our sense of purpose if found when we are doing what we were created to do.  My favorite quote is from St. Catherine of Sienna and she said, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”  I want to set the world on fire for Christ and so I try to remind myself that I can only do that if I spend time listening to what God wants me to do and then do what He says.

Doing what He says is the second thing we may struggle with when we read this prayer.  This prayer is asking the Lord to equip us with everything good to do His will.  When you sit and listen to the Lord and ask Him what He wants for your life you find out He wants incredible things for you, especially if you turn over your life to Him and tell Him you will do whatever He wants you to do.  It can be scary to hear what He wants you to do.  I have heard a lot of people say that you shouldn’t invite the Holy Spirit into your life half heartedly.  If you give the Holy Spirit permission to have free reign in your life, you never know where it will take you.  You never know what He will help you do.  The only thing that is for sure is that it will be an amazing ride, so buckle up and enjoy it!

It can be very intimidating to hear what God has planned for you.  I think this is why he often times doesn’t reveal your whole life plan at one time.  We usually just know a step or two and once we step out in faith and take that step, the next step is revealed.  I think why it is usually scary for us is because we forget that we are not doing it alone.  We look at what God is asking us to do and we know we aren’t qualified.  We know we can’t do that on our own.  God may be calling you to do something that you don’t even know how to do.  I remember one time a few years ago, I was asking the Lord, why I was the only one in my family that couldn’t write.  I have two brothers that have self-published books, my dad has self published books, my sisters write the most beautiful poems, and yet when I tried to write a poem all that would come to mind was roses are red, violets are blue.  So, imagine my surprise one day when I felt God calling me to write a blog about His word.  I didn’t know what I was doing, but I trusted God to help me.  Then He asked me to write a book about how I grew in my faith.  I said yes, but I was honest with Him and told Him that I didn’t know what I had done and also I didn’t know how to write a book.  I explained I would show up to write each day, but He would have to give me the words to write.  He did and I wrote that book in just a few months.  Each time I sat down to write it wasn’t a struggle.  He showed up in a big way every time.

God isn’t calling you to do anything on your own.  He will equip you to do whatever He is calling you to do.  I know a Catholic speaker and singer.  She said she was sitting in her car in college and she saw a sheet with words to a song just appear in mid air right next to her.  She thought she was crazy, as that is not a normal occurrence and she ran inside and hid under her blankets.  However, the next day she woke up with a different voice.  God gave her a voice so she could spread His message through song and through speeches.  That is an extreme example, and that is the point.  Whatever it is God is calling you to do, He will equip you to do it.  You are not doing it on your own, with your own strength and with you own talents.  The Lord will give you all that you need and He will be there every step of the way as well so if you get stuck you can call out for help and he will be there.  Spend some time this week sitting quietly with the Lord and ask Him to lead you.  Ask for your will to conform to His will.  And if you are brave enough, give the Holy Spirit free rein in your life.  Commit to saying yes to the Lord no matter what He asks of you.  It may be scary, but the amazing life you will have when you do far overshadows any doubt or fear you may have.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you and we are so grateful that you equip us for your call.  Today we ask you to give us strength to answer that call.  We ask that you help us find the time to sit with you and listen to what you are calling us to do.  We ask that you help us trust that you will equip us for that call.  Lord, you are so amazing.  We have so many examples of those that you called to great things and then helped them achieve them.  When we doubt we ask that you put these examples on our mind, help us recall these examples when we need them the most.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen.  

Thank you 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

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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

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

CLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFO

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emails

CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily life

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