Walk Boldly With Jesus

I Am A Child of God (Identity Series)

1 John 3:1 “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

This verse is so powerful.  What great love the Father has lavished on us, isn’t that powerful?  Can’t you just picture the Father lavishing us with Love?  Or maybe you can’t.  Maybe you struggle to believe that you are a child of God.  Maybe you struggle to believe that the Lord loves you, and the thought that He lavishes love on you is something that you just can’t wrap your head around.  If this is you, you are not alone.  Love in this world is so complicated, and a lot of things can get in the way of us loving and feeling loved.  There is a song by Matthew West called “Hello, My Name Is.”  This song has the beginning line of the verse above in the lyrics, along with some reasons why we can’t feel this love.  I want to go over some of those lyrics with you.  Also, there is a link to the song in the show notes if you want to listen to it.

The song starts out by saying:

Hello, my name is Regret

I'm pretty sure we have met

Every single day of your life

I'm the whisper inside

That won't let you forget

This is true for so many of us.  We struggle to feel God’s love because we have so many regrets.  Regrets over things we have done or things we have said; regrets over things we didn’t do and didn’t say.  When we have regrets, the enemy takes those, and he whispers them to us over and over again so that we feel like we aren’t worthy of God’s love.  The enemy doesn’t let us forget about them.

Next, the song goes on to say:

Hello, my name is defeat

I know you recognize me

Just when you think you can win

I'll drag you right back down again

Till you've lost all belief

Does this sound familiar?  Things are going well and then we start to get a voice in our head telling us that things will go wrong.  Sure, it seems like all is going well, but things always get messed up in the end.  Things have gone wrong so many times in the past that you start to think you don’t deserve to win.  You don’t deserve the happiness or the love that God has planned for you.  When this happens, we can start to self-sabotage.  We don’t even know we are doing it.  The enemy just keeps telling us that we have failed in the past, so we will fail again.  He drags us back down over and over again until we have lost all belief in ourselves and sometimes in God.

Then the song goes on to say:

Oh, these are the voices; oh these are the lies

And I have believed them, for the very last time

Hello, my name is child of the One True King

I've been saved, I've been changed, I have been set free

Amazing Grace is the song I sing

Hello, my name is child of the One True King

This is a verse that we may want to write down and read often.  I know I say this about a lot of verses from scripture, and you may have a lot of Post-it notes or index cards.  I really think this one could help us all when we are feeling defeated or when the enemy is telling us lies.  As much as we want to believe that God loves us and that we are His children, sometimes, the things of this world get in our way.  Sometimes, we let the enemy's lies get to us and convince us that we are not worthy, that we are not loved, that we are unlovable, and so many other things that are not true.  For me, when I heard this song, I loved it.  I have listened to it a million times or so.  Well, that may be a slight exaggeration, but I have listened to it a lot. And guess what?  Now I hear this chorus run through my head when I need it to.  When I start to feel down on myself, I literally tell myself, “Catherine, you are a child of the one true king!”  When I hear this, I can’t help but smile.  When I start to doubt myself, when I start to have regret, or when I feel any of the enemy’s tactics, I tell him, sorry, but I am a child of the one true king.  You’ve got nothing on my God; He is my one true king.  I have even started saying this to my friends when they are struggling.  When they are feeling down and also when they are feeling attacked, I remind them who they are and who they are.  They are a child of God, the one true King, and He won’t let the enemy hurt them.  He won’t let the enemy win.

The song goes on to say:

I am no longer defined

By all the wreckage behind

The One who makes all things new

Has proven it's true

Just take a look at my life

We all have things in our past that we are not proud of.  We have all said and done things that weren’t great.  Whether we did them on purpose or not, none of us are perfect.  We live in a broken world, and this means that we hurt people sometimes.  Regardless of what you have done in your past, you do not have to be defined by it.  I think it is good to reflect on any areas that you are not proud of.  If there are things you regret in your past, then take stalk of them and hand them over to the Lord.  Ask Him to help you forgive yourself.  Ask Him to help you move past them.  We can not change the past, no matter how much we want to.  If we want to find peace with our past mistakes, we need to turn them over and ask God for help.  As these lyrics say, He is the one that makes all things new.  I also like how the lyrics say that he Has proven it true: just take a look at my life.  I think if we all took a look at our lives over the years, we would see plenty of examples of how God showed us His love, how He protected us from things, how He saved us from things.

The song ends with:

What love the Father Has lavished upon us

That we should be called His children

Hello, my name is child of the One True King

I've been saved, I've been changed, I have been set free

Amazing Grace is the song I sing

Hello, my name is a child of the One True King, yeah

These are the words from the scripture verse above.  Can you imagine how much the Lord loves us to call us His children?  Think about how much love you have for your children.  Now, multiply that by a bazillion, and that is how much our heavenly Father loves us.  My hope is that when you start to doubt this, you remember this song, you remember this scripture verse, and you remember that you are a child of the one true king.  You remember that you’ve been saved, you've been changed, you have been set free.  You are not who you were, and you don’t have to let your past mistakes define you.  God has saved you, changed you, and set you free from everything.  All you have to do is live in this freedom.  Don’t let the enemy drag you back to your old self.  Anytime he starts to whisper lies in your ear, just tell him, “I am a child of the one true king, I am not listening to you.”  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we are so grateful for all the love that you lavish on us.  We are sorry if we find it hard to accept it sometimes.  Please help us with this.  We want to accept all that you have to offer us freely.  We want to live in the freedom you have given us.  We don’t want to live with any chains that the enemy tries to weigh us down with.  Please help us release anything that we need to release to live in your freedom.  You are so amazing and you give us so much, help us to accept it.  Help us to know that we are your children and that you love us.  Help us not to believe the lies of the enemy.  We are grateful for all you do for us, Lord.  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.

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in July 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “The day is washed in Light, my children, washed and bathed through your hand, an extension of my hand. My hand is kind and full of compassion and love. You are all the extension of me. You are not separate from me. Never do you move alone. I am your guide.”

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I Am Protected (Identity Series)

Psalm 18:32 “God gives me strength for the battle. He keeps my way secure.”
This verse came to me from a challenge that we received in Big Life mentoring this past week.  Pamela Crim gave us a list of 14 Bible verses that tell us who God says we are.  Our job was to read one verse each day and to pray with it.  Read it out loud and really think about what it says.  She encouraged us to go online to look up the verse in many different translations.  Have you done that before?  Have you taken a verse and then checked the other translations to see what words they use?  I do this often, and I am always surprised by the words the various translations use.  I know they are all saying the same thing, and yet some just hit me more than others.  If you haven’t tried this before, or you haven’t done it often, might I suggest you give it a try?  I think you will find you like reading the various translations.  The website I use to do this is Biblegateway.com.  However, there are several different ones you could use.

Today’s verse tells us that we are protected. It begins with the sentence, “God gives me strength for the battle.” This is important to know, as God does give us strength for our battles.  Sometimes, we look at the fight we have ahead of us, and we are sure that we don’t have the strength to fight it.  We might be looking at a really long custody battle, divorce proceedings, a long medical journey, whatever it may be, and we know we aren’t strong enough for it.  Have you ever felt like this, like the road ahead is too hard, too long, too steep, too painful, and that you just don’t have the strength for it?  I get it. Life is hard.  I know so many who are struggling right now.  So many who have way more to handle than any one person ever should.  

The important thing to keep in mind is that we are not in this alone.  You are probably right. Your situation is more than you can handle on your own, which is why you are lucky that you are not on your own.  You have your heavenly Father, who is providing you with the strength you need each day.  I know sometimes it doesn’t feel like He is giving you enough strength.  Sometimes, it doesn’t feel like you have enough to keep fighting, and yet with each new day comes a renewed strength.  He is constantly filling you up so that you can fight your battles.  You might not feel as if you are full of strength, and yet you do keep going; you do keep fighting so you can see He is giving you strength.

He keeps my way secure. I think this means that God always makes sure there is a way.  God is a way maker and so we don’t have to worry about coming to a point where we are stuck at a dead end where there is no way out.  I know it feels like we get to this point sometimes.  I know we can reach a point where we can’t see a way out.  The way out is not always one that we can see or that we can understand.  God can make a way where there isn’t one.  This can happen in several different ways.  

I read about a person who was getting sued because he did not read the contract carefully, and he was going to lose everything.  He knew he didn’t really have a leg to stand on as he did sign the contract and yet he prayed for God to intervene anyway.  The lawsuit just went away.  It was like it never happened and he never heard anything more about it.  There have been people who have been told they or their family members were going to die. They had some illness, like cancer, and there was nothing else the doctors could do for them.  Their family members prayed anyway, and God healed them.  He took away their illness completely.  That is a way forward that we didn’t see ahead of time and we might not have even believed it before seeing it.  

I have heard many stories of people who were stuck in a situation and couldn’t see any way out of it.  There have been numerous times when my parents were in situations where they couldn’t see a way out, and yet they trusted that God had one, and he never let them down.  One time I remember my dad telling me about when God protected him was when a neighbor wanted to fight him. My dad had invited a neighborhood friend to church with our family. She came to church with us, and she was touched by the Lord. She started going regularly and decided she wanted to change her whole life to be in alignment with God.

At the time, she was living with a guy that she was dating, and she no longer felt comfortable with the relationship as it was. She didn’t want to be living with someone she wasn’t married to. I am not sure if she broke up with him or just moved out until they were married or what the exact situation was. I do know that her boyfriend blamed my dad and was really upset with him. We lived in the projects at the time, and so everyone lived very close together, and everyone knew everything about everything. My mom called my dad at work to let him know she heard that this guy was going to fight my dad when he got home from work. My dad got home at the same time every day.

My dad wasn’t really sure what to do about this news, so he prayed the Lord would protect him. When he got home, he could see there was a group of people on our front lawn. The guy who wanted to beat my dad up was there, and then a bunch of kids who wanted to see the fight. My dad paused in his car before getting out and asked the Holy Spirit to come into this situation. He asked God to give him the words to say to these guys to defuse the situation. My dad certainly couldn’t see a way out of this situation. He had no idea what to say or what to do. He needed God’s protection and His wisdom.

My dad got out of the car. He walked up to the man who wanted to fight him, and words just came flowing out of his mouth. He didn’t even know what he was saying. This is what he said, “I know you are in a lot of pain. I know you are hurt, and you feel like punching me will make you feel better. If you think that will help you, then go ahead and punch me. I think what you really need is someone to listen to you. So, let's go inside, and we can talk, and I will listen.”  The guy started crying, and they went inside and talked for hours. My dad definitely couldn’t have seen that ending.

This is not something he could have seen coming.  The path was not neatly laid out in front of him.  He knew he was in trouble that only God could get him out of, and so He asked God to protect Him.  I think God likes it when we step out in faith, knowing that He keeps His promises.  I don’t know if my dad knew this specific verse or not, and yet I do know they trusted God to protect him and to show him the way out of this situation.  You can do the same.  You can trust that God is protecting you.  He is giving you strength for the battle and keeping your way secure. That is a promise you can stand on.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to know we are protected by you.  Help us to feel that protection.  Help us lean into you and not to worry about what might happen.  Lord, help us to trust that you have secured our way.  Help us to step out in faith, knowing you will provide a way, even if it is one we can’t see ahead of time.  Help us to trust you, Lord.  We love you. You are amazing!  You have always come through for us in the past, and we know you always will.  We are so grateful, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk Bodly With Jesus.  I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  Just a reminder: if you want to receive my newsletter, you can sign up on my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com. I will also put a link in the show notes.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in July 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I am the God of love. I am the God of joy. I am the God of hope. Spread all that I tell you to the world. Be not afraid to proclaim that I am your God. Make me known, make me loved. Decide today that you will start now.”

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I Am Made New (Identity Series)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in July 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, I call you all by name. I know each one of you. You are to move with confidence when times are hard. Always believe that I am there for you.”

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I Am Known (Identity Series)

Psalm 139:1-4 "O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.”

I read a post on Facebook yesterday that pointed me to Psalm 139.  It was about different verse in the psalm, but when I read the whole thing I realized it was a really good one.  They all probably are great.  I have heard if you are going to start reading the Bible for the first time you should start with the Gospels, or with the Psalms.  That must mean they are pretty good.  These verses stood out to me in particular because they talk about how well God knows us.  Being Known is one of the six stages of Attachment developed by psychologist Gordon Neufeld.  His model presents six stages of attachment that create the foundations for virtually every relationship your children will ever have.  Since we are God’s children, This is important to us as well.  I will list the six stages and then will focus on Being Known.  The stages are Proximity, Sameness, Belonging or Loyalty, Significance, Love & Being Known.

Reading through those I think this verse may touch on more than one of them.  However, let’s begin with Being Known and go from there.  Every single one of us longs to be known.  This is why we get upset when our loved ones get us a gift we don’t like.  It is not necessarily the gift that upsets us, it is the fact that they didn’t know us well enough to know we wouldn’t like it.  God isn’t like that.  God is omniscient, which means he has infinite awareness, understanding, and insight.  Another definition is that He possesses universal or complete knowledge.  God knows everything about you.  He can read your thoughts, he knows your actions and He also knows your heart behind your actions.  God knows why you did all the things you did.  

This can be scary for some people because they feel they don’t want God to know everything about them.  They feel they are not worthy of being known.  Some people might worry that God knows all they have done because they have done some things they are not proud of.  This is all of us actually.  I am sure there is not a single person who has gone through their whole life without doing some things they are not proud of.  We all say the wrong thing sometimes.  We all do the wrong thing sometimes.  We all hurt people intentionally or unintentionally.  The thing to remember is that God is not surprised by our behavior.  He has searched us and He knows us.  This means He knows all of us.  He doesn’t just look at the things we did that we wish we hadn’t done.  He looks at everything we have done.  He knows our motives behind all we have done.  He looks straight into our heart.  

This is a good thing because He sees what we can’t see.  He knows that when we acted out and yelled that we hated our parents, we didn’t really hate them.  He knows that when we yelled at our spouse or our friend it was really because we were hurting inside, or because we had an awful day at work and needed a safe space to let off steam.  He knows that when we yelled at our children when we caught them doing drugs or something else dangerous it was because we were really scared.  He knows that when we were unkind to the person in line it was because of all the stress and pressure at work.  God Knows Everything!  He gets it.  He understands that our actions aren’t who we are.  
He knows that, but do we know that?  Do we give ourselves the grace of examining our behavior after the fact?  Do we allow ourselves forgiveness when we factor in our motives?  I am not saying the things I listed above are good reasons to do those things.  I don’t think we should take our frustrations out on our spouse, friends, or kids.  I am not excusing the behaviors, I am explaining them though.  If your friend was super stressed at work and then you called and asked a question and they yelled at you, would you be angry with them?  Would you want to stop being friends with that person?  Would you realize that was out of character and try to find out what was wrong with your friend?  We tend to have so much grace for other people and yet not very much for ourselves.  I would love it if we could change that.  I would love it if we could all start to see ourselves a little more through the Lord’s eyes.  

The next line says, “You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely.”  God knows all your ways.  He knows that you are grumpy before coffee in the morning.  He knows you don’t like change.  He knows you don’t like to stay up late.  He knows you are irritable if you get hungry.  He also knows you are a great mom, dad, friend.  He knows you are a great employee,  He knows you are a great spouse or partner.  He knows the good, the bad and the ugly and you know what, He still loves you.  He loves you not despite all of it, but because of all of it.  

The verse says He knows our words even before we say them. I wish sometimes He would guard my mouth and prevent me from saying some of them.  How about you?  Have you ever wished you hadn’t say something?  Have you ever just blurted something out that felt right in the moment and yet you instantly regretted it?  I know I have.  God knows our thoughts and He knows our words.  Again, he knows the thoughts and feelings behind our words.  He knows the feelings that we might not even know.  Sometimes we may feel angry and yet we are just worried or anxious.  God knows this.  God knows our heart, even when we don’t.  

We are known and loved by God.  We are accepted and loved by God.  God knows us better than anyone we have ever known and He loves us.  I need everyone single one of you to hear that on an individual level today.  You are known by God.  God knows your inner most thoughts and desires.  God knows the why behind your actions.  God sees through all the BS that we put up to protect ourselves and He sees you, the real you.  God loves you!  He loves you right this very second, right as you are.  He isn’t waiting for you to become something else, He isn’t waiting until to you do this or that, He isn’t waiting for you to be perfect.  He knows you and loves you just as you are.  He loves all you imperfections, He loves all the ways you spread His love and His light.  Yes you do, you spread His love and His light just by being you!  God loves you, all of you!!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today!  Lord, I ask you to open everyone’s hearts and minds so they can really hear this message today.  Help each and every listener hear how much you know them and how much you love them.  Help them to feel it down to their core Lord.  We ask you to guard our thoughts and our words.  We pray that our thoughts conform to your thoughts.  Lord you are so amazing.  You know everything about us and you still love us.  Help us to do the same. Help us to know ourselves and still love ourselves.  Soften our hearts o Lord!  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with you will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus! Remember tomorrow is week #3 of the Identity Series in Mentoring. I hope you join me on zoom. It’s not too late, Just head over to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com or click on the link below. I look forward to seeing some of you tomorrow night on zoom and the rest of you you I look forward to meeting you here again again tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in July 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “You must trust me, and allow me to do my work in you and through you. My love is for everyone. You will be sanctified as you obey me.”

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I am Guided (Identity Series)

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

This is a great verse because it explains that we are guided throughout our lives.  However, it can also be misleading. Unfortunately, we can’t really take this verse literally.  We do not have someone whispering into our ears each step of the way.  Although that would be pretty cool.  Imagine if you didn’t have to wonder if you were taking the right steps.  Imagine if you didn’t have to worry about making the wrong decision because you had the Lord whispering in your ear telling you whether you were to turn left or right.

Although we don’t have someone behind us whispering in our ear at each turn, the Lord will lead us in the right direction if we take the time to ask Him and then listen to what He has to say. This can be tricky because many times, we will be good about asking God what we should do but then not take the time to listen to His answer.  Other times, we are so excited about one of the choices that we jump in and choose that one without even pausing to ask God what He thinks. When we do either of these things, we are not giving the Lord a chance to guide us into the life He has planned for us.  

Hearing the word of God is something we can all do. We just have to know how to do it.  In my Encounter Ministries class last night they went over the various ways that you might “hear” God’s word.  There are four ways:

See it: Sometimes people see visions, and that is how they get their answers.  Sometimes, you might see a word above someone's head.  You might see something that is not actually there in the natural world.  I know when learning inner healing our teachers told us sometimes God may ask us to do a prophetic act.  You might be praying over someone for inner healing, and while praying, you see that they have a spear through their heart.  You might feel as though God is asking you to take it out.  You are likely the only person who sees this spear.  That doesn’t make it any less real.  When you are looking for an answer from the Lord, ask Him the question and then close your eyes and see if He wants to reveal anything to you through your sight.

Hear it: Usually, when we hear God, it is not God’s voice.  My teacher last night said she had heard the voice of God once, so that is pretty cool.  However, I think it is rare that you hear the actual voice of God.  In my experience, when I hear the voice of God, He sounds just like my voice.  It is that “still small voice” in your head or in your heart that helps you know what you should do.  I am sure you have heard this voice before. However, you might not have known that it was God talking to you.  When you are seeking answers from the Lord, ask your questions and then sit quietly and listen to see what He has to say.  If you ask, He will answer.  

Feel it: Sometimes, the Lord speaks to us with our feelings.  There is a woman in our prayer group who feels things from the Lord very frequently.  She will get a word of prophecy and then will go on to say that she is getting this strong feeling from the Lord that He is sad and wants us to turn to Him more or that He has this deep longing.  Last night, at the Encounter Summer Intensive, we were doing a guided meditation using the parable of the prodigal son, and she said she could just feel this overwhelming love that the Father has for us.  She said she had never felt a love like this before.  It was such a strong feeling.  When you are looking for answers from the Lord, they may come in the form of a feeling, so pay attention to how you are feeling when asking the Lord what He thinks.

Think it: This is when a thought just pops into your head.  Sometimes, it can be when you are sitting trying to listen to the Lord, and other times, it can just be out of the blue.  Have you ever been going about your day, and all of a sudden, you get this thought to reach out to an old friend?  Yep, me too!  This is the Lord prompting you.  A lot of times, we ignore these thoughts.  However, when we obey and reach out to the person we find out that was exactly what they needed.  I had been thinking about reaching out to someone I had met on retreat for several months and I just never did.  I am not sure why I didn’t, but eventually, she reached out to me, and she was having a rough time.  I bet she would have really appreciated it if I had reached out when the Lord first told me to.  Last night, this woman was walking out the door to come to the summer intensive, and she got the thought to bring this specific prayer card with her, so she threw it in her purse.  The prayer card was a prayer about entrusting your children to God and not worrying if they will come back to the church.  Then, at the Summer Intensive, one of the ladies shared that she was worried about her kids never coming back to the church, so the woman gave her this prayer card.  God has a plan, and sometimes, He will put thoughts in our heads to help Him with that plan.  

The teacher who was talking about these four ways to hear God’s voice last night was saying that she was sitting in church one day, and the Lord brought a thought out of nowhere about a funeral she was at where there was a teen suicide.  She did not understand why she would have this random thought in the middle of mass.  Then God revealed to her that the teenage boy behind her was contemplating suicide.  Sometimes, you never know the impact of what you did for someone else.  Sometimes, you might get a prompting to call someone, and you do.  You could have a very nice conversation and yet you don’t feel like there was any great purpose in the call. However, we don’t know the effects it might have had.  There was a purpose for God putting that thought in your head, that I am sure of!

I hope that you find these four ways of hearing the Lord’s voice helpful.  If we want to grow in our ability to hear the Lord’s voice, we need to practice, just like anything else in life.  If you want to be better at a sport, you need to play that sport.  If you want to be better at cooking, you need to cook.  If you want to become better at hearing the Lord’s voice, you need to sit down and listen often.  I promise you the Lord wants to talk to you.  God didn’t just pick a few of His children to talk to. He wants to talk to all of His children.  He wants to sit down with you as you drink your morning coffee or tea and have a chat with you.  A real back-and-forth chat.  Your heavenly Father loves you, and He longs to communicate with you.  Why not give it a try?  What do you have to lose?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to hear you communicating with us.  No matter the method, Lord, we just want to have a relationship with you.  We want you to whisper in our ear and lead us down the correct path.  Tell us whether we should turn right or turn left, Lord.  Help us to make time for you, to listen to you.  We want to hear your Word, Lord; please help us.  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 again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in July 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, my love follows you always to wherever you go. If you fall into darkness, I am there with you. If you rejoice with me, I delight with you. Nothing can break our union. For my love, the love of your good, good God is the bond.”

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I Am Strong (Identity Series)

Philippians 4:13 “ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”


This is truly one of my all-time favorite verses.  I keep a list of all the verses I used as the central point of each episode as there are 31,102 verses in the Bible and I want to make sure that I am not always speaking about the same few that we all already know.  I try not to repeat a verse I have used already as the main verse of the episode.  However, sometimes if I learn something new about a verse or something fascinating I will repeat a verse.  I am sure I have used this verse several times before within the episode, so I  was surprised to see I hadn’t used it as a main verse. We will finish the “I Am What God Says I Am” series this week.  If you haven’t listened in a while we have already done: I am protected, I am forgiven, I am courageous, and I am His.  This week we will cover I am strong, I am guided, I am healed, and I am whole.

I love this verse because I think if we all embraced it, life would get easier.  If we all accepted this, and let it settle into our hearts, we wouldn’t struggle so much.  It is also a great reminder that we can do anything if we are doing it with the strength we get from Christ.  This verse came from Paul in a letter to the Philippians.  Paul has an amazing story. He has lots of amazing stories.  The way He became a believer in Jesus was amazing.  God wanted Him and one encounter with Jesus changed his whole life. Paul did not have an easy life, especially after He started traveling around and preaching about Jesus.  

Sometimes we can think we are supposed to have an easy life.  We believe in God and God will protect us so we get to just sit back and relax on easy street.  That is not what God promised us.   God promised He would be with us.  He promised He would send an advocate to guide us, but He never promised our life would be easy.  Actually, He said the opposite.  In Matthew 16:24, “Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  He is calling us to take up our own cross.  Our crosses will look very different from Jesus’ cross, thank goodness.  Your cross will look different from my cross.  Just because our crosses look different, doesn’t mean we don’t have crosses.  

Paul was the Pope at one point.  We might think if He is that close to the Lord, then his life was easy.  Sometimes, oftentimes, the closer we get to the Lord the harder our life seems.  The enemy hates when we get close to the Lord, so he will try to block you every chance he gets.  The devil will make your life a living hell, and then try to convince you it is God’s fault, or if God loved you, why would He let this stuff happen to you?  The enemy can be really convincing too.  He can sound like He knows what he is talking about because He might through some scripture in there, or he will include just enough truth in his lies so that they seem credible.  This is a trick, don’t fall for it.  God is not the reason you are suffering and yet He can be the reason you make it through all that suffering.

Paul says right before the verse above in Philippians 4:10-13, “I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last, you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

The word that jumps out to me first is the word content.  Many of us struggle to be content.  If we are struggling financially, we wish we had more money.  If we are successful then we still strive for more, or we feel lonely at the top.  We live in a society that wants more and more.  I rarely talk with someone who is content with where they are in life.  Paul said he learned to be content in whatever the circumstances.  You might think this was easy for Paul because He was the Pope.  It was not, here are a few things Paul went through in his lifetime since turning his life over to God. Here is a list from 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 about all that Paul went through: 

“Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person.) I am still more, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death.  Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers;  in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.  And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.”

Can you imagine?  I can’t imagine even going through a fraction of what Paul went through, and yet I have walked through some very difficult times and I am sure you have too.  I was not showing you all Paul went through so you could look at your life and compare it.  Comparison is the thief of joy.  I don’t believe we should look at our troubles and compare them to others because then we start to feel guilty for being upset about our problems when they seem so small compared to others.  You still have a right to be upset about your circumstances, even if someone else’s circumstances are worse.  

The thing to remember about Paul is that he was able to endure so much because he had the strength of Jesus, and so do you!  We all have the Spirit of Jesus living inside of us.  That was a gift the Father gave us when Jesus went to join Him in Heaven.  The verse today says, “ I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” It says, all things.  It doesn’t just mean the easy stuff. I know you feel like what you are dealing with is too much.  I know you feel like you are alone and no one is there fighting with you.  I know you might not feel the strength of Jesus and yet He is right there with you.  When I look back I can see how the strength of Jesus got me through the hard times.  

When things were really bad in our house I never gave up hope.  I didn’t wake up each day feeling defeated or depressed, well, not on most days anyway.  I woke up feeling ready to try a new strategy.  Just the fact that I got out of bed was proof of Jesus’ strength.  There were long periods, years actually, where it was crisis after crisis in my house.  I would put out one fire and another one would be right there waiting to spring up.  It was a lot and I had times when I wanted to throw in the towel.  I definitely wondered what would happen if I ran away from it all.  And yet, I made it through.  I not only made it through but I changed the dynamics in our family.  It was super hard work and work I know I couldn’t have done on my own.  

You have the strength of Jesus inside of you and you are stronger than you think.  You can do this thing you are going through right now! You can beat cancer, you can raise your kids to be great adults, you can fix your marriage, you can help your loved one recover from injury/illness, and you can make it through this financial crisis.  Whatever it is, you can make it through because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.  You are strong.  There is a Winnie the Pooh quote that I think we should all embrace as truth, "You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” You are stronger than you seem.  You can do this hard thing, even when it feels like you can’t!  You’ve got this, you have the power and strength of Jesus inside of you.  You can do all things with Him!

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for every person listening today.  I ask you to bless each of them.  Lord, help us to feel your strength.  Help us to see the times in our life when we have relied on the strength of Jesus to get us through.  Show us the times when you were there lifting us and we didn’t know it.  Help us to turn to you for strength Lord.  Help us not to rely on our own strength but to look to you and surrender our problems to you Lord.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I am so grateful to know that I am not on this journey alone. If you feel you are alone on this journey, I invite you to join the Walk Boldly With Jesus Facebook group, where you can be surrounded by other people who also love Jesus! If you want more than that, you can join mentoring as well. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in July 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My strength is sufficient for you. No matter what trial or tribulation you are walking through. I am with you. I will not abandon you. Remain in my love.”

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I Am His (Identity Series)

Isaiah 43:1-2 “But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

When I was looking at the sheet of verses titled “I Am Who God Says I Am,” I saw that it said Isaiah 43:1 for today, which makes sense.  I am His is what God is saying when He Says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine.”  We are the Lord’s. There are several places in the Bible where it talks about how we are His people, He formed us in our mother’s womb, He knew us before we existed, and so on.  That might even make a great Bible study, just looking at all the places where God says that we are His.  However, when I was reading that verse this morning I decided to read the verses that come after this verse as well.

What I realized is that the very next verse tells us not to fear, which I found interesting since that is what we talked about yesterday.  I didn’t want to talk about verse 1 without also talking about verse 2 because I think they go hand and hand.  I think verse 2 explains what verse 1 means for us.  In verse one, God is telling us that we are His.  He is saying that he has redeemed us and summoned us by name and that we are His.  Let’s stay there for a moment.  First, God says that He has redeemed us.  Redeemed in the Bible means having been saved or delivered from sin or its consequences. I wonder if we understand what that means.  I wonder if we are even capable of grasping the vastness of that statement.  God has redeemed us.  This means that the mistake that you made, the one that you keep beating yourself up for, God has already redeemed it.  This means that those sins that you have committed, you have been delivered from them.  All those negative things the enemy keeps whispering in our ears about ourselves, the Lord has already redeemed them; he has redeemed us, all of us.  He has delivered us from ourselves, from our sinful nature.

The next part says He summoned us by name, in other words, He called us.  Do you know what this means?  It means that God knows our name.  He knows your name, and He knows my name.  He is calling us, not as a group, not as a whole, He is calling each one of us, by name, to Him.  Almost every week in Prayer Group, we get at least one word of prophecy that says, “Come closer my children, again I say, come closer my children.” God is calling us to be close to Him.  He is calling us to sit with Him daily and have a conversation, pray with Him, and tell Him what is going on in our lives.  He is calling us to Him because He wishes to have a relationship with us.  

Earlier I said I think verse 2 explains what verse 1 means to us.  What I meant by this is that verse 2 tells us all the ways God will protect us because we are His.  He gives us an idea of the lengths He will go to so that He can protect His children.  That is what you are, you are a child of God.  The second verse starts by saying, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.” This tells us that God is with us always.  Even when we are passing through waters, He will be there.  He will not only be there but He will protect us from these waters.  He will make sure they do not sweep over us.  

I think this is important to remember because how many times in life have you felt like you were treading water?  How many times have you felt like you were going to drown?  This verse is meant to reassure us.  It is telling us no matter how high those waters get, we won’t drown.  We belong to God and He is here protecting us always.  We heard all those words of prophecy yesterday telling us not to fear anything because God is right there with us.  Now, today, we hear the same thing.  I get the feeling some of us are fearful about something now.  I am not sure what you are going through or what you might be afraid of, and yet I know that God is trying to reassure you that whatever it is, He is right there with you and that you don’t ever have to be afraid because He will never leave your side.

The last sentence in this verse is an even more dramatic statement of God’s love for us, His people.  The verse ends with, “When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.” This is a pretty vivid picture and yet I think we can all think of a time in our lives when we felt like we were walking through fire.  God is reassuring us that although we may feel like we are in a fire, we may feel the heat of the flames all around us, He will not let the flames set us ablaze.  I am sure we hear this, and we take it figuratively.  We think about the things going on in our lives and how it feels like we are walking through fire.  However, I want you to know that God saved three of His children from a literal fire.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were three of God’s children.  They loved God, and they wanted to serve Him and only Him.  Then King Nebuchadnezzar created a statue made of gold and said everyone needed to bow before it.  These three young men refused as they said they would only bow to the one true king, our Lord God.  King Nebuchadnezzar ordered these three young me to be thrown in the fiery furnace. God saved these men from being touched by the fire.

When King Nebuchadnezzar looked through the window to make sure they had died, he saw four people in the furnace instead of three.  God had sent one of His angels into the fiery furnace to protect them.  There is one line in the story of these three young men that I just love.  This story can be found in Daniel 3.  My favorite line, though, is found in verses 14-18, " King Nebuchadnezzar questioned them: “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you will not serve my god, or worship the golden statue that I set up? Now, if you are ready to fall down and worship the statue I made, whenever you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, dulcimer, harp, double-flute, and all the other musical instruments, then all will be well; if not, you shall be instantly cast into the white-hot furnace; and who is the God who can deliver you out of my hands?” Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “There is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us!  But even if he will not, you should know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up.”

Wow, can you imagine saying that?  Can you imagine the faith they must have had?  They knew God could save them from the flames of that furnace, and yet even if God didn’t save them, they would still be faithful to Him.  I wonder if we can say the same.  I wonder if we would be willing to stake our lives on our faith in God.  God is telling us with this story, as well as with the verses today, that He will be there for us, no matter what.  He will protect us from drowning in the waters in our lives and He will protect us from burning in the fires in our life.  We belong to God, and He will protect us from all that we encounter.  He is there with us each step of the way, even in those really hard times.  God wants us to come closer to Him and have a relationship with Him.  He wants us to share with Him all that is going on in our lives so He can help us with it all.  God loves you, and You are His!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we thank you for protecting us from the water and the fire in our lives.  Thank you for calling us by name, thank you for redeeming us.  We love you, Lord.  Help us to draw closer to you.  Help us to learn how to have a relationship with you.  Help us not to fear anything because we have you in our lives protecting us.  We are so grateful for you and all the ways that you protect us.  You are so powerful, and we are so grateful we are Yours.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk body with Jesus.  Tonight is mentoring if you have night signed up yet, I encourage you to check it out and sign up today. If you want to see what it is all about before joining, send me an email, and I will send you the link. If you would like to join mentoring but don’t have the $30 a month, send me an email, and I will send you the link. I hope you will consider joining us.  I look forward to meeting you here again on tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in July 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My dear children, I love you. I will never stop loving you, no matter what you have done. My love is never-ending. My love is inexhaustible. Come and drink of the fountain of my love.”

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I Am Chosen (Identity Series)

John 15:16 “God has chosen you and has set you aside for a special purpose.”

God has chosen you, yes, you! Sometimes, it is hard to believe that statement. We can clearly see why God chose some people, but cannot see why he would choose us. We are broken, we’re not worthy, and we are not enough. We believe that the saints were extraordinary people, and so, of course, God chose them. We see movie stars, musicians and speakers and think that they have an incredible life because that is just how they were made. Something I am constantly hearing in the personal development world is that you should not compare your beginning to someone else’s ending. This means that you should not compare where you are at in your journey to someone else who is further along in his or her journey. If you look at the beginning of some of the saint’s lives I think you would be surprised where they started. 

I have been watching a series on YouTube lately that is called “The Chosen.” It is a portrayal of Jesus’s life during his three years of ministry. You get to see the apostles in their lives before they were called to follow Jesus. It is amazing to me to see the apostles as regular people, people like you and I. I believe we tend to put famous people up on a pedestal.  We think that we could never be like them. But the thing is, they were not always like they are now. They made a choice to say yes and to follow Jesus. Jesus is the one who transformed them into who they are now.

While watching the series, I saw Simon, who was a fisherman, argue with his wife, try to cheat his in-laws in a fight, and turn in fellow Jews who were fishing on Shabbat, and he was very behind on his taxes. He did not seem like the type of person that one would pick to be the leader of God’s Kingdom on earth. Jesus saw Simon and Andrew fishing and asked them to come and follow him. Matthew 4:19 “And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” What I like best about watching this on screen is that you get to see how the apostles reacted. Both Andrew & Simon looked at each other and then followed Him. They did not think for more than a minute before they left all that they knew to follow this man they had just met. Later, they are retelling the story, and they admit that they have no idea what it even means to be fishers of men, yet they are all in. There are many different translations of this verse, but they all have the phrase “I will make you…” I think this is important to note because it reminds us that the apostles did not become changed men on their own. They made the choice to follow Jesus, and then, through him, they were changed. 

I know some of you may be thinking that whatever the apostles or saints did before they became saints could not be as bad as some of the things you have done. I mean, they are holy people, so how bad could they have been? Whenever I think like this, I am reminded of Paul. There are 13 books in the New Testament that are attributed to Paul. Not to mention, he was one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age. But do you know the story of Paul? I find it an amazing story of how God can choose anyone to do his work. Paul was originally named Saul. The story of his conversion is found in Acts 9:1-19. If you don’t know the story, you may want to read it.  Saul was not nice to Jews who were calling on Jesus. He was actually on his way to Damascus to bring back in chains any men or women he found that might belong to Christ. On his journey, he was struck by a light and a voice asking him, “Why are you persecuting me?” Jesus told Saul what he must do. When Saul got up, he could not see, and for three days, he remained this way. Then, the Lord sent Ananias to go and restore Saul’s sight.  “So Ananias went and entered the house; laying his hands on him, he said, ‘Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately, things like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength.”  Saul was not looking for Jesus. Actually, he was actively persecuting him and everyone that believed in him. If God can take Saul and make him into a man who is known worldwide as one of the greatest Christian missionaries, then just think what he can do with you. 

Every single one of us has a past, and there is not a single thing you may have done or had done to you in your past that is too great for God to overcome. He chooses you! He gave you the same invitation that he gave to Andrew & Simon. Come and follow me. All you have to say is, “Yes, I will follow you,” and then hold on, and God will take you on an amazing ride.

Dear heavenly Father, I ask that you bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you help us to say yes to following you. We ask that you help us to see ourselves through your eyes. Lord, sometimes it is easy for us to see the good in others and for us to believe that others are good enough to follow you or to be used as your instrument. However, it is so much more difficult to see that in ourselves. Lord, fill us with love for ourselves.  Help us to say yes to you even when we don't understand what we're saying yes to.  Lord, you are amazing, and we trust that if you are choosing us, you have a reason. Give us the courage to say yes and to follow you.  We love you, Lord, and we ask all of that 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 want to remind you that it is not too late to join our Identity series in mentoring. We will have week #2 for the series tomorrow night. I hope you will join us. It is at 8 PM EST on Zoom. There is a link below with details. I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I. Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in July 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “As we give our hearts to the Lord, I just get a sense he's healing them.”

CLICK HERE ✨ JOIN WALK BOLDLY WITH JESUS MENTORING (Live Tuesdays + recordings available — $30/month)

CLICK HERE 📖 Get the Daily “Word from the Lord” Email

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Click Here 🌐 Visit Finding True North Coaching