Walk Boldly With Jesus

Arm Yourself With Scripture

2 Thessalonians 3:3 "But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.”

As I was looking for a tea cup this morning I came across one that my sister in law gave me for Christmas.  It has a series of statements on it in two columns.  The first column is all the things we might say to ourselves when we are struggling and the other side is all the things that God says back to our statements.  It got me thinking about how many people I know that are struggling right now.  How many people I know that are wanting to do amazing things with their lives and yet are running into these negative self talk statements at each turn.  When I hear the way they are talking to themselves, I tell them the things they are saying are not true.  However, the enemy wants them to believe those things are true because then they stop trying to accomplish amazing things.  If they believe the things they tell themselves, then they won’t continue on the same path.  

I am sure you know the types of statements that I am talking about as we have all said them to ourselves at one point or another.  I am not smart enough, nobody loves me, I don’t deserve forgiveness, I can’t go on, and so forth.  There are so many defeating things that we tell ourselves.  We tend to doubt ourselves and we tend to think we are not good enough.  However, God created us in His likeness and image so we are perfect just as we are.  I know the enemy helps put these thoughts in our head.  He likes us to feel we are helpless because when we feel like that then we aren’t accomplishing God’s great plan for our lives.  The ladies I know that are struggling the most right now are ladies that have dedicated their lives to the Lord.  They have a light and a fire burning inside of them to accomplish God’s will and to spread His love and His light to everyone they meet.  And yet, they struggle with feelings of unworthiness and inadequacy.  

This is something that is running rampant in our culture these days.  People are feeling more and more alone and they feel as though they aren’t anything special.  Just by existing here on earth, you are special.  You are made in the image and likeness of God, that is another reason you are special.  So, why don’t we feel special, why don’t we feel loved?  I think the reason we don’t feel loved or special is because we are looking for those things in this world and from those around us, instead of turning to the Lord and asking Him to show us love.  When we rely on things of this world we will always be let down because we live in a broken world.  However, God never lets us down.  He is always there for us when we need Him.  The verse above says, "But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.”  I truly believe that the evil one is behind all of our questioning.  He is the one that benefits the most from it.  However, this morning I was listening the The Big Life Devotional by Pamela Crim, and she was talking about how the enemy does get in our way of doing amazing things sometimes.  Do you know what else can get in our way?  Us!  We can get in our own way as well.  

You see, the enemy has no power over you unless you let Him.  Yes, he can persuade you to have these thoughts, maybe he can even put them in your head, to be honest, I am not really sure.  However, you are the only one that can decide if you want to keep having them or not.  “The Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one,” but you have to turn to Him and ask Him.  If you are constantly having these attacks or constantly having this negative self talk, what are you doing about it?  One thing the Lord seems to be telling me in several different ways lately is that we have a part to play.  We don’t get to just sit by and watch as God does everything for us.  We do our part and He does His part.  So what is our part?  Our part is to read God’s word, learn about who God is and how He works.  Our part is to spend time with the Lord, talk with Him and listen to Him.  If we ask Him what He wants us to do and then listen, He will tell us.  

One thing that we can do to combat the enemy and ourselves when it comes to negative self talk is to create a list of scripture verses that dispute the negative things we like to tell ourselves.   A friend of mine said she has a notebook like this.  I forget what she called it, maybe her book of promises, I’m not sure.  She said on the left hand side of the page she has all the things that she tells herself when she is struggling and then on the right hand side she has scripture verses that dispute those things and remind her of all that God has promised to us.  I think this is an awesome idea!  If you are someone that has a lot of negative self talk it is time to change that.  It is time to turn to the Lord and for you to know that He is there giving you strength and guidance.  He is protecting you and you can arm yourself with scripture so the next time the enemy tries to convince you that you are not smart enough, you are not loved, or you can’t go on, you can use the Lord’s word against the enemy, just as Jesus did when He was attacked by the enemy after His 40 days in the desert.  If you want to read about this it is in Matthew 4:1-11 or Luke 4.  

Today I would like to get your list started with the ones that are on my tea cup.  I am sure if you do a quick internet search for “I say vs. God says” you will probably find even more.  I encourage you, if there are certain negative things you are telling yourself over and over again, do an internet search for bible verses about that thing and arm yourself with scripture.  Here are the ones from my teacup:

You say I can’t figure it out. God says I will direct your steps. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

You say I am too tired. God says I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28-30)

You say it's impossible. God says all things are possible. (Luke 18:27)

You say nobody loves me. God says I love you. (John 3:16)

You say I can't forgive myself. God says I forgive you. (Romans 8:1)

You say it's not worth it. God says it will be worth it. (Romans 8:28)

You say I'm not smart enough. God says I will give you wisdom. (1 Corinthians 1:30)

You say I'm not able. God says I am able. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

You say I can't go on. God says my grace is sufficient. (Two Corinthians 12:9)

You say I can't do it. God says you can do all things. (Philippians 4:13)

You say I can't manage. God says I will supply all your needs. (Philippians 4:19)

You say I'm afraid. God says I have not given you fear. (2 Timothy 1:7)

You say I feel all alone. God says I will never leave you alone. (Hebrews 13:5)

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we thank you for all your promises and for all the ways you protect us from the evil one and from all that wishes us harm.  Lord, help us to rely on you and to arm ourselves with your scripture.  If there is a certain scripture you want us to know I ask that you put in on our hearts Lord.  Help us to take action and to create this list and put it somewhere where we will see it often and where we can remind ourselves of it when we are struggling.  God you are truly amazing and we are so grateful for all you do for us.  We thank you for making us in your likeness and image and we ask you to help us appreciate that more.  We love you Lord and 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.  Tomorrow we will have another witness from my friend Anna.  She will talk about her journey to discover the Lord and what he was all about.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow, have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Discipline Yourselves

1 Peter 1:13-16 “ Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.  Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

This is a great scripture for this time of year.  Lent is definitely a time to discipline ourselves.  I really like the first line of the verse.  It says to prepare our minds for action.  This can be hard for some of us.  We can have a lot of ideas, but then we get stuck wanting them to be perfect and so we spend a lot of time thinking about them and how we should do them, but then we don’t do them because we aren’t quite sure how.  Does this sound familiar?  I know I can’t be the only person that does this.  I can’t be the only one that wants to do things perfectly and so then I get stuck and don’t end up doing as much as I know I could be doing.  

I want to follow the Lord’s will and I want to follow His commandments, and yet sometimes I don’t do something because I am not sure exactly how He wants me to do it.  The think is, most of the time, I don’t think He cares how we do it, as long as we are doing it with the right frame of mind and with our heart.  If we let the Holy Spirit guide us then we can’t go wrong.  Why do we worry so much then?  I think it is because we love the Lord so much, we want to be perfect for Him.  I think it is because we struggle to believe that He truly loves us just as we are.  We are used to human love which is fallible and conditional at times.  We feel as though we must earn the Lord’s love and so we want to do things perfectly for Him.  I don’t think we even realize we are doing this.  I know I wasn’t aware.  I was talking to my spiritual advisor about how I felt like I needed to do all these things, and she pointed out that I was feeling like I needed to earn God’s love. We don’t need to earn God’s love!  He loves us more than anything and He has long before we were born and He will long after we die.  I know I have probably said this a lot and I will keep saying it because we struggle to believe it.  We do not have to earn God’s love, He gives it freely and abundantly.

The next two words are words that we don’t always like, discipline yourselves.  This is not easy.  This is one thing that we get to work on during lent.  We get a chance to discipline ourselves by fasting from things that are important to us, or doing things that we don’t normally do.  During lent we get to step outside of our comfort zone and stretch ourselves in the area of discipline.  I remember watching a youtube video of Father Mike talking about why we fast during lent.  He explained it in a way that made me enjoy fasting a little more.  He talked about how fasting is a way of showing God how much we love Him.  Fasting is an act of love.  It’s kind of like that question, what do you get the guy that has everything?  Well, God has everything, He doesn’t need anything.  He loves us completely and one way to show Him our love is to fast, or give something up during lent, or start doing something we normally don’t do.  The thing is, it isn’t really an act of love if we complain and grumble the whole time.  If we go through the motions and we do it just because we have to, then that is showing obedience, but it is not showing love.  How can you show God your love during this lenten season?  What can you fast from, what can you start doing?  Hopefully you have already given this some thought since we are two weeks or so into lent.  However, are you carrying out you lenten obligations complaining and grumbling, or are you doing them out of your love for your heavenly father?  

The next line says, “set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.” To be honest, I almost skipped over this line.  I was not really sure what it meant or how to explain it.  Then I figured if I didn’t know, maybe you don’t either.  Also the point of this podcast is for us to grow on the journey and for us to understand scripture a little more and figure out how we can apply it to our lives, so I looked up the meaning of this line to see if anyone else had already explained it.  The consensus seems to be that we are to hope in the grace that Jesus will bring us, instead of hoping in things of this world, like money, material objects, or even people.  I think we have a tendency to hope in the things of this world instead of looking towards Jesus.  

I found an article that is titled, Two Ways To Fix Your Hope on Future Grace by Jen Wilkin. (Click Here for Article)   It is definitely worth reading.  She talks about how we need to place our hope in the day that Christ is coming because the days we are currently in may be filled with trial and sorrow.  The two ways she talks about in the article to fix our hope on future grace are to prepare our minds and be sober minded.  It is a very good article and I would do it a disservice to try and summarize it for you in a few short lines.  I recommend you take a look at the article if you wish to get a better understanding of this verse and how you can put it into practice in your own life.

The next line says, “Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.”  This is an interesting line.  God is often telling us to be like children, or to have a childlike faith.  It doesn’t just say to not give in to your desires.  It says to not be conformed to the the desires you formerly had in ignorance.  If you are listening to this podcast then you are trying to grow in your faith.  You are trying to learn more about the Lord and His Word.  As you grow you will gain a better understanding of what the Lord is calling us to.  What His commandments are and what He expects from us.  As you grow your may learn that some things you are doing are not in alignment with what God expects from you or how he is calling you to live.  This part of the verse is telling us that it is not ok to continue to do these things because now we know they are wrong.  Once you know, if you continue to do then then you are choosing that thing over the Lord.  One of the conditions of something being a sin is that you have to know it was wrong.  You have to have freely chosen to do it.  Once you know something is wrong, God is calling us to no longer do it.  

Being completely honest with you, I have hesitated on my journey to grow before because of this very reason.  In the past I have stopped to think, “Maybe I don’t want to learn more, because when we learn more we are held to a higher standard.”  If I don’t know something is wrong and I am doing it, God is not holding it against me.  However, once I know it is wrong, then He is.  Maybe you have never thought this, but in case you have, I have two things to share.  First, growing closer to the Lord is worth any hardship you may perceive by learning what He expects from us.  As you grow closer to the Lord, you find you don’t want to do anything that might get in the way of your relationship.  You find yourself wanting to please Him more than you want to do those things you used to do.

Second, God is calling us to all grow closer to Him.  The very next line in this verse is “ Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”  We have a responsibility to learn about God’s Word and what He is calling us to do.  We are all called to Holiness.  God is not ok with us just living in ignorance of His ways and continuing on doing whatever we like.  He is calling us to read His Word, study His Word and live in a way that is in alignment with this word.  If we purposely refuse to learn because we don’t want to have to live as He is calling us to live then that is not ok and I don’t think we can claim ignorance.  We all have a choice to make.  God is calling us all to holiness.  That may mean something different to each of us.  I think if you want to know what God is calling you to, then all you need to do is ask Him.  He will tell you.  I think the one thing that is the same for all of us is that He is calling us to read and study His Word and also to love Him and love our neighbors.  Will you accept His call?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this podcast today.  Lord, we love you and we want to live in alignment with you.  Help us, show us how.  Lord, help us to set our hopes in Jesus and the graces He will bring when He is revealed.  Lord I ask that you give us a better understanding of the verse.  Please speak to us this week and help us understand it better.  Help us to set our minds towards action and help us to discipline ourselves.  Lord we love you so very much.  You are amazing and we are grateful for all you do for us each and every day.  Help us to show you that gratitude with our actions.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.  

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I Believe; Help My Unbelief

Mark 9:21-27 “Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.  It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.”  Jesus said to him, “If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.”  Immediately the father of the child cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!” After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.”  But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand.”

Today’s verse is part of the same story we had in yesterday’s verse.  There was just too much to include it all in that one episode.  Yesterday started out with the father explaining what was happening to his son.  Today Jesus is asking just how long this has been happening to the boy?  We also find out that the spirit has not just cast the boy down onto the ground, but it has often cast him into fire and into water so that he might die.  I think everyone listening can sympathize with all this boy has had to go through and how his father is at the point where he would do anything for his son.  I can’t imagine watching anyone’s child go through life with this happening the them.  It must have been heartbreaking for the father to see this happening and not be able to do anything about it.  

The father says, “if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.”  Jesus picks right up on the man’s hesitation and says back to him, “If you are able!- All things can be done for the ones who believes.”  I love how the father of the boy doesn’t miss a beat.  He immediately cries out, “I believe, help my unbelief.”  Imagine the level of faith the father must have had to believe that Jesus could save his son.  Also, I love that the man was not too proud to say, I believe, help my unbelief.  He wasn’t too proud to acknowledge that there might be some doubt.  His son had been sick ever since he was a young boy.  When we suffer, or when we see our children suffer for a long time, we start to think we or they always will.  It can be easy to have hope at first that something will make them better.  We have hope in God, in the doctors, in the medicine.  But, what about when that relief doesn’t come?  What about when we continue to suffer or see our children suffer year after year with no relief?  What do we do then? Where does our hope go?

I can see how the father might have struggled to believe that someone could cure his son. That his son might not have to suffer anymore.  It is almost like it was too good to be true and so it makes sense that he may have been a bit hesitant to believe.  I think something we don’t talk about enough, is how scary it can be to hope sometimes.  How painful it can be to hope.  When we don’t talk about it and we don’t acknowledge it we are doing everyone a disservice.  I didn’t understand this before.  I kept telling my friend she needed to keep hoping for what she wanted.  She needed to keep believing that God gave her the desires in her heart and so He was going to fulfill them.  What I wasn’t understanding was how much it hurt her to keep hoping and then be let down each time when it didn’t happen.  I do believe that God gave us our desires and that He will fulfill them.  However, I don’t know this for sure.  I am definitely not an expert on God.  I don’t know if any of us will ever be.  He is so complex and just when you think you have Him all figured out, you realize that you have only scratched the surface.  

I can understand how if you keep expecting something to happen and it doesn’t you could get tired of expecting it to happen. I can see how it would be painful to have hope and then feel like you are being let down over and over again.  I think this happens more often then we are aware of and I think it is something we should acknowledge and start talking about it more.  I think we don’t talk about it because we don’t want people to know that we struggle to have hope or we struggle to believe in the impossible.  We live in an age where most people strive to portray the best side of their life.  We like to brag about the good things that are going on and gloss over the bad things.  We act as though we are fine, even though we are really struggling.  We don’t want people to know we are struggling, we don’t want people to know we need help, we feel sad, we feel angry, we know we should be grateful and yet we just don’t feel it.  I know people who look like they are having the time of their lives.  They are killing it as moms, wives, daughters, they seem like all is going so well.  Then when I talk to them they feel like they are failures, they feel depressed, they feel no excitement, or they feel overwhelmed.  We need to start being honest.  Not with everyone you meet on every street corner, but with someone, with those you love and trust.  

We all struggle to believe things will get better sometimes.  We all feel overwhelmed with our problems at times.  Instead of me telling my friend she needed to keep having hope that her desires would come true I told her that I would have hope for her.  Did you know we could do this?  Sometimes we get to a point where we can’t hope, or where we can’t pray.  Sometimes we are so depressed, or have been sick for so long, we just can’t even pray.  When this happens your brothers and sisters in Christ can pray for you.  We are a community of believers, we are not alone.  If we are struggling, we can ask others to believe for us or to have hope for us.  In the Bible a group of friends carried their friend on a mat to see Jesus.  Their friend couldn’t walk and they thought if they could see Jesus, He would heal him.  However, the house Jesus was in was too crowded so they went up to the roof, made a hole in the roof, and lowered him down right in front of Jesus.  Jesus did heal the man and he looked up at his friends and told them that their faith healed him.  Don’t get discouraged if your loved ones don’t believe that the will be healed or that their dreams will come true.  Faith is a gift and if you have faith that it will happen, that is enough.  Keep believing for them, keep praying for them, keeping hoping for them.  If you are having trouble hoping for something or having trouble believing things will get better, ask someone to pray for you, to have hope for you.  Don’t be afraid to talk about your fears as it is only when you bring them to light that they loose their power over you.  Jesus healed this boy after many years of being possessed.  Just because you haven’t received your healing yet, doesn’t mean it is not coming.  Keep hoping, keep believing or have someone else do it for you.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we believe, help our unbelief.  Lord, help us to have the courage to talk to someone if we are struggling with hope or with believing you will help us.  Help us to not be ashamed of these feelings.  Help us to know that he feeling of shame does not come from you.  You are a loving Father who always forgives when we repent.  We love you Lord, so much!  It is truly amazing how you work and even though we don’t understand it all the time, we admire it and are in awe of it.  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!

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O Faithless Generation

Mark 9:17-19 “And one of the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit;  and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.”  And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”  

The verse starts with a father talking to Jesus about how he son is possessed by a dumb spirit.  He asked the disciples to cast it out and they were not able to.  The disciples didn’t understand why they couldn’t cast out the spirit.  They had been with Jesus for a while now, they had seen all that Jesus could do.  I am not certain of what they disciples had done up until this point but I think they had probably performed some miracles before, or they wouldn’t have been so surprised it didn’t work this time.  Then Jesus says,”O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you?  How long am I to bear with you?”  Ouch, that must have hurt.  I wasn’t even there but I still can feel the pain of Jesus saying that to them.  

It is easy for me to think about what kind of disciple I would have been.  I like to tell myself that if I lived back when Jesus lived, my faith would be rock solid.  If I got to follow Jesus around and watch him cure people, there would be no shadow of doubt in my mind.  I would have followed Him anywhere and done anything for Him.  Isn’t it amazing how easy it is for us to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes and say what we would do if that was us?  It is easy to look at the disciples and wonder how they could still doubt when they lived their days surrounded by miracles.  When I stop and think about it though, I get it.  Jesus had 3 years of ministry.  This means that although the disciples did get to spend a lot of time with Jesus, it was at most 3 years.  Think about committed you are to your beliefs.  All the disciples were adults.  Even if they were young adults, that gives them 18 years to form their beliefs. Now Jesus comes along and shakes things up.  He helps them to question everything they know to be true.  I wonder how easily I would have really jumped on board if I lived back then.  

It is easy for me, sitting on this side of Jesus’ coming and say I would follow Him anywhere.  However, I can say that because I have the benefit of knowing who Jesus is and what He did for us.  I am not sure what I would have thought if I lived back then and I had to get to know Jesus.  If I met this man that was turning the world upside down.  In the world the disciples lived in, healing wasn’t an everyday thing.  Before Jesus, if you got sick, you separated yourself so you wouldn’t get others sick and you were alone.  There was no cure for Leprosy, there was no cure for blindness, or for the deaf.  Jesus was curing all of this and the disciples got to witness it.  We would love to think this means they wouldn’t question, they wouldn’t doubt.  However, I am sure it was a lot to take in.  Knowing that God can do anything is a huge mind shift.  It is not something that usually happens over night.  I can imagine that each time the disciples saw Jesus perform a miracle their faith grew a little more.  However, I can imagine how being presented with a boy that was possessed by a spirit capable of throwing the boy down and causing convulsing, they might doubt in their abilities to help him.

There it is, right there.  They were doubting in themselves.  They probably were not doubting this boy could be cured.  I am sure they believed that Jesus could cure him.  They were probably doubting their own ability to help the boy.  I can see how they might doubt they had the ability to save the boy.  And you know what, they didn’t have the ability to save the boy.  Even if whatever they did had worked, it wouldn’t have been them saving the boy, it would have been God’s power working through them.  This is something we can all struggle with.  We struggle with the thought that God would use us for something that important.  Who are we that God would use us?  This is something we ask ourselves often.  Do you want to know the answer?  You are a child of God and you were made in His likeness and image.  That is who you are.  You are a son or daughter of the one true King.  God is using you because you are available, because you said yes when He asked.  You were willing to step out in faith and at least try to be His instruments and that pleases Him.  Sometimes we can get it all mixed up in our heads.  Instead of focusing on our faith in God and our belief that all things are possible for God, we start to focus on our humanness, our weaknesses, our unworthiness.  When we take the focus off of God and put it on ourselves, we aren’t as capable of being used as we are when we are focused on the Lord.  

I am telling myself this today as much as I am telling you.  I have some pretty big prayers into the Lord.  I have asked him to cure a loved one of MS and a friend of a friend of ALS.  These are diseases that have no cure.  These are diseases that can be awful and claim peoples’ lives far too early.  They also severely limit their quality of life at times.  The woman suffering from ALS can no longer walk and she has little boys to take care of.  I am praying hard for a healing for both of them.  I don’t doubt for a second that God could do it.  And yet, I still find that doubt lurking in my mind that this is too much.  It’s too hard.  I can hear the Lord telling me, "O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you?  How long am I to bear with you?”

I find it such a weird thing that I know for sure God could do it and yet I have doubt that He will do it.  Lord I believe, help my unbelief.  I know God is a mystery and that we are not meant to know everything.  I know God’s ways are better than our ways and His thought higher than our thoughts.  Today the Holy Spirit seems to be telling me, that I am doubting my ability to cure these women.  I am worried I am not praying the right way, or asking the right way and therefore they will not be cured.  What I feel the Holy Spirit wants me to hear today, and wants me to pass on, is that it is not my fault.  I don’t have the ability to cure anyone.  If God wants to cure these ladies, He can do it through me or anyone else regardless of what they do.  I don’t have to do anything perfectly for it to happen.  I have been taking the focus off of God and putting in on myself.  I need to keep focusing on God and His power and His ability and not my own.  

Have you been doing this lately?  Have you been trying to solve things for others and relying on yourself instead of the Lord.  The Holy Spirit want you to know too, that it’s not your fault either.  If your prayers are not being answered it is not because you are praying wrong, or not praying enough, or not having enough faith.  We are not responsible for answering our prayers.  God is the only one that can make our prayers fruitful.  All we need to do is ask with expectant faith and He will answer.  It is also important to remember that No is an answer.  God doesn’t always say yes.  As much as we would love for the answer to always be yes, this isn’t the case.  I wish I knew why He didn’t always cure people.  I am sure He has a plan and I know His plan is best.  That doesn’t make it easier when our loved ones are sick, however, it does take the pressure off of us to think we need to be perfect for our prayers to be answered.  God said ask and you shall receive.  He didn’t say, pray perfectly and you shall receive.  The Lord loves us, He is hearing our prayers and He is answering each and every one of the.  It may not be in the time frame we would like, it may not be the answer we would like, however, He is answering them.  

Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord we believe help our unbelief.  Lord, help us to keep our focus on you and not on ourselves.  Help us to focus on your power and your capabilities instead of focusing on all we are incapable of doing.  Lord, we know you are amazing and you can do amazing things.  Help us to believe that you could use us to help you do those amazing things.  Help us to know that we are your children and made in your likeness and image.  We love you Lord and 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!

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God’s Plan Will Be Accomplished

Isaiah 55:10-11 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

As soon as I heard this I knew it was a message that I wanted you guys to hear.  This is another great verse.  Sometimes we think we have the ability to mess up God’s plan.  We think He gave us free will and so all the crap that happens in our life is because we messed up, we brought it on ourselves, and now we will miss out on the good life that God has planned for us.  This isn’t  true.  Yesterday’s verse assured us that sometimes we go through hard times to test our faith and to increase our perseverance.  It is not because we have done anything wrong.  The thought that we could mess up God’s plan for us is one that I think a lot of us have.  When we hear it we may think it sounds crazy.  However, I bet if you sat down and think about it, there have been times when you questioned your actions and wondered if you messed it all up.  If your past mistakes ruined the good future God had for you.  Especially if you have been waiting a long time for some of your desires to come true.  You may start to question if your choices have messed up everything good God had planned for you.  

As much as I can see how we would all go down this line of thinking, it is seriously flawed.  If we had the ability to mess up God’s plan, then we would have more power than He does, and we know that is not the case.  God is the almighty.  Yes, God does allow us to feel the consequences of our actions.  Yes, we may be able to through a monkey wrench in his plans, however, we do not have the power to ruin all God’s plans for us.  We are not that powerful.  Actually we have no power, other than that which the Lord gives us.  The Lord can take our mistakes and use them for good.  Think about in Genesis when Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery.  God used that awful action to propel Joseph to the second in command of all of Egypt.  He was able to save his father and brothers from the famine because they had sold him.  Joseph says to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

The verse above is further proof that God’s plans will be carried out.  It says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”  The Lord’s word will not return to Him empty.  It will accomplish what He desires and achieve the purpose for which He sent it.  God knows us, He knows all that will happen.  He is not surprised when we do something to mess up His plans.

I was listening to The Big Life Podcast by Pamela Crim last week sometime and she was talking about how if God wants us to meet someone we will.  If we happen to miss our first opportunity, then He will give us another one.  She gave an example of these two ladies in mentoring that were destined to meet.  God made sure that they could both attend this adventure retreat so they could meet.  However, there were so many people at the retreat and they were in different cabins they didn’t end up meeting.  However, He also arranged it so they were both on the same connecting flight back to their homes.  God wasn’t taking any chances this time though, they were not only on the same flight, they were sitting right next to each other.  God is so good!

Maybe it was God’s plan all along for them to meet on the plane instead of at the retreat.  He could have arranged that they be in the same cabin.  I don’t know.  All I know is that God wanted these ladies to meet and these ladies met and they are both 100% sure that God wanted them to meet.  There is another example of God’s plan working out in the life of another Big Life girl in mentoring.  She was married and had children.  However, that marriage didn’t work out and she has been single for a long time.  Her children are grown and she wanted to find someone to love, however, she always found the wrong guys.  She met this great guy several years ago but the timing was wrong, the situation was wrong, I am not sure exactly what happened, but it didn’t work out for them.  However, they met again about a year and a half ago and the timing all worked out.  They were able to be together and now they are getting married and buying a house together.  They are starting a business together.  God hadn’t given up on them, He was just waiting until the time was right.  I am sure they both wondered at some point if they had missed their chance on true love but God always delivers. He is so good!

We don’t understand God’s timing.  We want things to happen on our timeline and when it doesn’t we get upset and question what is going on.  We start to blame ourselves and think that we messed it all up.  Relax, God is in control.  Can we negatively affect our lives, I think so.  If we turn away from the Lord, that has consequences.  However, He is also ready to forgive us when we turn back to Him and repent.  Think about how mad the Lord was at the Israelites.  They did truly awful things to the Lord and He still let them go into the promised land.  Yes, it was delayed 40 years, but He still led them there.  If we have not completely turned away from the Lord.  If we are seeking Him and trying to do His will, no matter how many times we fail, He will keep saving us and He will use what the enemy uses for evil for our good.  If you are still waiting for something bad to be used for good I encourage you to keep praying, keep hoping and have faith that God’s good plan for you is right around the corner.  We haven’t messed up His plan for us, our kids haven’t messed up His plan for them.  We aren’t that powerful.  As this verse tells us, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

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 your will is always accomplished.  We have no idea what we are doing half the time and we are grateful that you take care of us and correct our mistakes and don’t let them ruin our lives.  We are grateful you use what the enemy means for evil for good.  Help us to keep praying and hoping that our happy ending is coming.  Help us to have faith that you are working all things for our good and that we do not have the power to mess up your good plans for our lives.  We love you Lord, you are 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.  I hope you will join me tomorrow for another wonderful witness.  Tomorrow Linda will tell us how wonderful her life was until the fateful day she received devastating news.  She will talk about how she prioritized God and her family, but not in the right order.  She even talks about a healing service she attended and the miraculous experience she encountered.   I look forward to sharing her story with you tomorrow. Have a blessed day!

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Testing of Faith Produces Perseverance

James 1:2 -4 & 12 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”

This is a pretty tall order.  This verse asks us to consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds because we know that testing of our faith produces perseverance.  I understand what the verse is saying.  I understand the concept.  I am just not sure I understand how to do this.   I’m not sure joy would be the word I would use when I am undergoing trials.  I would say words like sad, frustrated, mad, angry, annoyed, scared, lonely and defeated seem more like what I feel when I am going through trials.  So, why is this verse telling us to feel joy?  

We often ask why we have to struggle?  We ask why we have to face various kids of trials? I have learned from Father Mike that there isn’t just one reason why we find ourselves in trials.  Father Mike states several times in his Bible in a Year podcast that sometimes we do find ourselves in difficult trials because of something we have done.  Sometimes we go against what the Lord wants us to do and there are consequences for that.  Other times, the situation we are in is not of our own doing and does not mean that we did anything wrong.  For instance, Job, he was a righteous in the eyes of the Lord, yet he suffered terribly.  Not all suffering is a result of sin.  Another example, of this is found in John 9:1-3 “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”

Do you see the reasons for your trials can vary.  I think a lot of us think if we are struggling, then we must have done something to deserve it.  God must be punishing us in some way.  I have heard that one a lot.  Jesus is telling us right here in the Bible, your trials are not always because of sin. Sometimes your trials are to show the work of God in your life.  It is rare that you know the reason for your struggle while you are in it.  However, even if you did, I am not sure it would make it easier.  Take this verse for instance.  It says that when our faith is tested we gain perseverance.  Perseverance is great.  It is often times the thing that gets us through our trials.  I find it interesting that in order for our perseverance to grow we need to go through trails, yet our perseverance is what helps us get through those trials.   I am glad that I have gained a lot of perseverance over the years.  Even though I know that I will gain perseverance when I go through a hard time, it doesn’t make that hard  time easier.  

The rest of the verse says to “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”  That all sounds wonderful.  I definitely want to be mature and not lacking in anything.  I also definitely want to receive the crown of life.  The problem is, I don’t know how to remain steadfast under trial.  I don’t know how to consider it joy that I have trials.  I know what the Lord wants me to do, I am just not sure how to do it.  I love how the Lord always gives us answers.  I was just thinking that it would be nice if I could give you guys some tips on how to stay steadfast under trials and I did a quick internet search and found some.  The article I found is titled Six ways to remain steadfast during trials and it is written by Dan Panetti.  (CLICK HERE for article)  I will post a link to the article in the show notes, but I will list Dan’s six ideas here as well.

Focus on what you can control—not on what you can’t (Prov. 3:5–6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”)

Live in the moment—refuse to be anxious about tomorrow (Matt. 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”)

Look for ways to break up the monotony—tackle a home improvement project or
learn to play a new card game. One of my sons proposed that I come up with a question for each family member to be researched and presented around the dinner table. It has sparked some of the best conversations we have ever had. 

Relax and take a walk—meditate on the ways that God has provided for you, delivered you from death, given you a purpose, and equipped you for his service (Psalm 116:7–9 “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.”)

Bathe in a book of the Bible—not just read through it, but sit and soak in it! Think of Naaman going down into the Jordan again and again. Read and re-read a passage, chapter, or book—dive deep(er) into the Word!

Memorize and meditate on Scripture—both of which are under appreciated spiritual disciplines. My oldest son and I are currently focusing on memorizing at least one verse from each book of the Bible.

Just knowing that we grow in perseverance anytime our faith is tested might not be enough to help us find joy in our trials.  However, maybe some of these ideas can help us to be steadfast in our trials.  I like how the author even provided a few scripture verses to back up some of his suggestions.  I have not done a lot of scripture memorizing in the past.  However, I did try scripture writing for awhile and I thought it was great.  If you want to give that a try, or even if you want to do the scripture memorizing and are not sure where to start, I started with an internet search of scripture writing plans.  When you type that in you will get a whole list of scriptures, usually with a certain them, such as “wisdom,” “freedom,” “being bold,” all sorts of themes, whatever you might be struggling with the most.  If you want to bathe in a book in the Bible, and you are not sure where to start, I have always been told a great place to start is in at the beginning of the new Testament, in the Gospel of Matthew, or the Psalms is another great place to start.  

I hope each of you will write these ideas down so that next time you are going through trials, they can help you remain steadfast.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be mature and not lacking in anything.  If so, we need to let perseverance finish it work in us.  In order to do this, we must make it through all the trials.  In order to do this we must figure out a way to remain steadfast in our trials.  I know it is difficult going through a difficult time and not understanding why you have to go through it.  However, this verse gives us a little hope.  One reason we are going through it is to test our faith.  Are you going to remain steadfast?  Do we want the crown of life?  The choice is ours.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you and we ask that you are with us in our times of trial.  We ask that you give us the grace to find joy in our trials and that you help us to stay steadfast also.  Lord, we want all you have to give us and that includes the crown of life.  Help us to not drown in our difficult time.  Sometimes it feels like we are drowning and we are asking that you save us before that happens.  Lord, even if it is not the right time while we are going through it for us to know why it is all happening, please give us the grace to understand that if its not the reason, we will grow in perseverance while we make it through to the other side.  Also, help us to feel your presence while in the trial and know that you are with us.  We love you Lord, you are truly amazing.  We are so very grateful for you.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on your 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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He Will Restore You

1 Peter 5:8-11 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever.  Amen.”

I like this description of the devil.  I think it portrays his true nature.  Think of how much destruction a lion can do.  He could devour a whole person, until there is almost nothing left.  This is similar to what the enemy can do if we let him.  He can tear us down and make us think we are nothing.  He can make us feel all alone and cut off contact from those that actually make us feel better.  There was a scene in a movie once where the boy felt all alone.  He felt like no one understood him and everyone thought he was a liar.  He told this to a friend and she said she didn’t think that was true.  Then she said, “although I suppose that is what he wants you to think.” (He meaning the villain of the story)  The boy didn’t understand what his friend meant.  She went on to explain if he was all alone, he wasn’t that dangerous.  It is much easier to defeat one person than it is to defeat a group of people.  The boy realized the enemies trick and let his friends in, he opened up about how he was feeling and let them help.  Has the enemy been trying this with you lately?  Has he been trying to separate you from your pack so he can attack?  Don’t let him.  Stick with your pack.  You are not alone, there are people that care about you.  Don’t the the lion find you alone and vulnerable.  

The next line tells us to resist him, but then it also tells us how.  It says to stand firm in your faith.  This is not always easy to do.  It is easy to have faith when all is going well.  When things are coming up in our favor, and we have no worries and no cares.  However, what about when things aren’t coming up in our favor?  What about when everything seems to be going wrong and all seems lost.  How do we have faith then?  This verse says, we can stand firm in our faith because we know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering.  I think one of the most important things I ever learned was that everyone is going through something.  We can stand firm in our faith because we know we are not alone.  There are approximately 2.38 billion Christians in the world.  There are people that are going through the same kind of suffering you are going through.  I know this doesn’t seem possible.  It seems like your situation is unique and no one else would understand.  Please hear me when I say this is a lie of the enemy.  He wants you to feel alone, he wants you to feel abandoned, he wants you to pull away from the pack.  This is when you are most vulnerable.

I have a friend that I met in my mentoring group who was going through something unique.  She didn’t think anyone else would understand.  Then when we went on a road trip together, she saw how similar our situations were and that even though I wasn’t in her exact situation, I could understand her pain.  She no longer felt so alone.  Then she found the more she talked about it, the more people were actually experiencing something similar, they just weren’t talking about it.  I know I have said this before, and I know it is not easy, however, it is so important that we talk about our struggles.  Other people need to hear them.  It gives others hope when they hear someone else is also going through a tough time.  It gives mothers of young children hope to hear of more experienced mothers who went through similar situations and yet lived through it.  I was at a women’s conference and everyone kept saying that our story is our super power.  I think this is true.  There is so much power in our story.  It helps unite people, it gives people hope, and it even gives them the strength to get through their situation because you have shown them that it won’t last forever and that they will make it to the other side.  I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but I feel so strongly that God wants us to share our struggles as well as our victories.  

The verse ends with “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever.  Amen.”  This is reassuring us that our suffering will not go on forever.  Yes, we will all suffer.   God never promised us a life without suffering, however, He did promise to never abandon us.  God is with us in our suffering.  This verse says “after you have suffered a little while” however, we don’t know what a little while is.  A day in our life can be a blink of the eye for our heavenly Father.  No one knows how long their suffering will go on for.  The one thing we do know is that our God is a God that keeps His word.  This verse says that after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace will restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.  

The God of all grace, the one who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ.  All grace comes from the Lord.  His grace is required to do all things and He gives it to us freely.  It also says, the one who has called us to his eternal glory.  Isn’t this amazing.  The God that has called us to eternal glory is going to restore us, and make us strong, firm and steadfast.  Many times when we are in the middle of a hard time, we feel abandoned.  We also feel as though we will never be the same again.  We feel as though we are broken into a million pieces and there is no way back to our old selves.  When we are struggling and feeling like this we can take out this verse and remind ourselves that we will be whole again.  We can read this and know with certainty that our God, the God of all graces, will restore us, and make us strong, firm and steadfast.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord we love you and we are grateful that you always restore us.  Lord, we don’t understand why we have to suffer and sometimes we feel like it will never end.  When we feel like this we ask that you fill us with your love and with the grace of hope that an end is near.  We ask that you remind us of this verse and remind us that we are never alone.  Remind us that we not only have you but we have the family of believers by our side to help hold us up when we feel we can’t stand.  Lord, help us resist the enemy and all his lies.  Help us to be bold and share our story so others know they are not alone.  Help us stand firm in our faith together against the enemy.  Lord you are amazing and we are so grateful you never abandon us and that you restore us and make us strong again.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

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

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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The Lord Has Been Good To Us

Psalm 116:5-7 “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.”

I really like this verse.  I know, I say that a lot.  It’s true though.  There are so many good verses in the Bible.  The last line in this is my favorite part of it, but I don’t want to skip straight to the end so let me begin at the beginning.  The Lord is gracious and righteous; our god is full of compassion.  This really doesn’t need any explaining.  I think we all know these things to be true.  However, maybe you are going through a rough patch right now.  Maybe you are sitting at the bottom of a pit and you can’t see the way out and you are questioning God.  Maybe you are not seeing God in your situation and wondering is this true?  Is He gracious and righteous because I am not seeing that in my life right now?  

In case someone listening is in the position that we have all be in at one point or another I will give a few examples.  God saved the Israelites from Egypt, he freed them from slavery and led them to the promised land.  Shortly after He freed them, they rebelled against him by making a golden calf.  Yet, he was gracious and showed them mercy.  When David sinned against the Lord,  God was gracious and showed him mercy.  There are numerous examples in the Bible where the Lord was gracious.  An example of God’s righteousness is when God told Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham asked the Lord if He would spare the cities if there were 50 godly people in the city and God agreed.  He agreed several times as Abraham kept lowering the number of godly people until Abraham got down to 10 people.  God agreed to spare the cities if He could find 10 Godly people in them.  God knew that He was going to destroy the cities because there weren’t any godly people in it.  However, He took the time to talk with Abraham and help him understand.  

When I read God is full of compassion, the story that came to mind was the story of the woman who was healed just by touching His cloak. You can find this story in Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8:43-48.  As soon as she touched His cloak Jesus felt power leave Him.  He asked who it was and She stood up and admitted what had happened.  Matthew 9:22 says, “Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.”  I can just imagine the compassion in Jesus’ eyes.  Also when Jesus talked to the woman at the well.  This can be found in John 4:4-42.  This woman had to go and draw water at the hottest time of the day as she was not welcome in the mornings when all the other woman collected their water.  Yet, Jesus came when He knew she would be there to talk to her and to save her.  There are plenty of other examples in the Bible of Jesus’ compassion.

Can you see times in your life when God has been gracious, righteous, or compassionate?   Times when God showed you mercy even when you didn’t deserve it?  Can you think of times in the past when God loved you when you felt unlovable?   Even if you are in a place of questioning right now, can you look back and see times in the past when God has been gracious and righteous?  

The next line says, “The Lord protects the unwary.”  This first part says something different than I thought.  When I first read it I thought it meant that God protected the weak, which He definitely does.  However, when I looked up the definition of unwary it said, not cautious and not aware of possible dangers.  I don’t know about you, but I think I like the verse even more knowing this.  I already knew that God protected those that can’t protect themselves.  I knew he protects the weak as His power is made perfect in our weakness.  However, I never really thought about God protecting those that aren’t aware  of possible dangers.  I am happy that I know this as there are so many possible dangers out there and we can’t possibly be aware of all of them.  I feel as though knowing this can take some of the pressure off us to think about all the possible dangers of every single thing we do.

You know this pressure I am talking about.  We can sit and think about a million ways that everything can go wrong.  We can worry ourselves sick about things that may never happen.  God is always telling us not to worry and yet we still worry.  We feel as though we can’t help it.  I wonder if knowing this will help us worry less?  I wonder if someone hearing this episode will hear these words and realize that they don’t have to worry about all that may happen because God has got us covered?  He protects he unwary.  He protects us even when we are not cautious and unaware of possible dangers.  When I read this, I hear God saying, “I’ve got you child.  You do not need to worry.  I am in charge.”  What do you hear God saying when you hear these words?

“When I was brought low He saved me.”  We can all look back on our lives and think of a low time when God saved us.  No matter how wonderful our life has been, we live in a broken world and so we have all had bad things happen.  Whether it was when we were a kid in school and others were mean or maybe we have had other tragedy and trauma in our lives.  Either way, if you look back can you see how God has saved you from it?  He still wants to save us more from it as well.  Even if He has saved us from the situation, we still might need to be healed from it.  I really felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to write that last sentence.  God is speaking to us directly and telling us that even thought the trauma is over, we might not be completely healed.  He wants us to know that He is not done yet.  He will keep saving you until you are 100% free.  Free from hate, free from unforgiveness, free from worry, free from feeling unloved, free from feeling abandoned, free from resentment and jealousy.  Whatever it is that you are still feeling the Lord wants you to know that He is still saving you.  He is not done with you yet.  

The last line in this verse is my favorite, although now that I have examined the other lines more closely, I really like them too.  This line says, “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” I love this because I can just picture someone saying this to their soul almost as a parent would to their child.  It is like we are reassuring out soul that it is ok to rest as the Lord has been good to you.  The image I get is of a child that doesn’t want to go to sleep because they are anxious about everything.  The parent lays them down in their bed, rubs their back and tells them, “return to rest, my child, all is ok.  You have nothing to worry about.”  I feel as though this is what the verse is saying.  Our souls can rest, knowing that the Lord has been good to us and so we have no reason to fear anything.  Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to look back and see all the ways you have been compassionate, righteous, and gracious to us over the years.  Lord, help us to worry less knowing that you protect the unwary.  Lord, we thank you for saving us every time we were brought low.  Please help us continue to turn to you and to let you continue to save us and to set us free from all the things you want to set us free from.  We are so grateful that our soul can rest knowing that you have been good to us.  We love you Lord, you are 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.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

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