Walk Boldly With Jesus

Never Let Anxiety Enter Your Hearts

Luke 12:22-23 “Jesus taught his disciples, saying, “Listen to me. Never let anxiety enter your hearts. Never worry about any of your needs, such as food or clothing. For your life is infinitely more than just the food you eat or the clothing you wear.”

Wow, Jesus could not be more direct with us. He is not calling us to a fear-free life; He is commanding us not to fear. He is not telling us that sometimes anxiety is ok and sometimes it is bad. He is telling us to never let anxiety enter our hearts. Never is a pretty strong word. He is telling us never to worry about any of our needs, like food or clothing. I don’t know if you ever had to worry about these things before. If you haven’t, then I can see why it would be really hard not to worry. I mean, you have to eat to survive, and you need clothes to get through the day. At least now we do. Before the fall, we didn't even need clothes, Adam and Eve walked around naked and were perfectly content. They saw nothing wrong with it. It wasn’t until sin entered the world that shame entered the world. Before sin, there was no shame.

When I was growing up, we did have to wonder sometimes about where our food or clothes would come from. I still, to this day, do not know how my mom was able to pay for all the special shoes and socks that we all needed to go with our cheerleading, football, color guard, or band uniforms. I am 100% sure that I don’t even know a fraction of the sacrifice my parents made for us 11 kids while we were growing up. They are probably still making sacrifices. I am sure there were countless times when they went without so we could have what we wanted. I am so grateful to them.

I feel extremely lucky because my dad is a Deacon in the Catholic Church, and one of their responsibilities or jobs is to give the Homily/Sermon at Mass about once a month or so. My dad often used stories from our home life in his homilies because my dad knew that people learned best when they had real-life examples to help them understand the scripture. I feel lucky because I am not sure if I would know half of the stories that I have heard if it weren’t for my dad recounting them for the church.

My mom and dad were very faithful in counting on the Lord to provide for all of our needs. I am not sure if they prayed, trusted, and worried or if they just prayed and trusted. Either way I do know that the first thing they did when they were in need is they turned to the Lord.  Most of the time, they had little choice as they were desperate for food, clothing, or money. However, there are many people who are desperate, and they still don’t turn to the Lord. My parents always turned to the Lord, and He always showed up in such big ways.

We were one of the biggest families in our small town. There was one family about the same size that had older kids, and there was another family that was the same age as our family. One of my best friends in school was in the other large family in my town. That was it, just 2-3 large families. This meant that we frequently had clothes and other things dropped off at our house. If people had clothes that their kids outgrew, they would drop those clothes off at our house as they knew we probably had a kid that was just that size. Most of us were just a year or two away from the next sibling, so if they didn’t fit one of us, they would fit another one. We never had to worry about where our clothes would come from; the Lord took care of it.

We also never really had to worry about where our food would come from either. God always took really good care of us. I am still astonished at how many grilled tuna melts my mom can make with two cans of tuna! One of my favorite stories is when my mom and dad were talking one morning about how they didn’t have any food in the house, and they weren’t sure how they were going to feed all of us kids. Then they got a phone call, and it was their good friends from a few towns over. They had an emergency come up, and they wanted to know if my parents could watch their kids. Now my parents had about 10 kids at this time, and this family had ten kids as well. My parents had no food in the house, but they knew they needed to help their friends out. They said yes and then immediately started praying to the Lord. They were asking the Lord what He wanted them to do for food. They were telling Him that they were counting on Him to provide the food as they knew He could.

Before they were even done praying, their next-door neighbor knocked on their door. She said that her father-in-law had to move in with them unexpectedly. He had just gone grocery shopping and so he brought all of his food with him. However, they had just gone grocery shopping, too, and they didn’t have room for all of this food. They were wondering if we could use some food. My parents were so grateful, and they said yes, that would be nice. They looked through the bag, and they found several packages of pasta and tomato sauce.

They decided they would have pasta and sauce that night for dinner to feed all those kids. They had the thought that it would be even better if they just had some meat to go in the sauce, but I am not sure if they prayed for it, or if they just thought it. The next thing they know, another neighbor is knocking at their door. He and a friend had gone hunting recently, and they just got all the meat back from the butcher. He said he and his friend had filled their fridges and freezers, and they just had no more room, and they were wondering if my parents could use some of the meat they had left over. My parents gratefully accepted the meat and were able to provide dinner for all 20 of us kids. God is so good!

As I said earlier, if this is not something that you have experienced before, then it might be harder for you to believe that God will provide for you. One thing I have done to help me have more trust in the Lord, especially in the hard things, is to read stories of miracles the Lord has done in others' lives. I love to read about the amazing things God has done for others. It is a fact that if God can do it for them, He can do it for you. That is a promise you can count on. So, if you are allowing fear in your life because of a specific reason, then read stories of how God has helped people through the thing you are struggling with.

For instance, if you are really fearful because of a medical problem start reading all sorts of miracle stories of people God has healed, people God has helped out of impossible situations. I think one thing we forget is that doctors are not God. They are giving you the prognosis based on science and their experience. I am not saying that you should believe what the doctor is telling you. I am saying that God is the only one that has the final say. The doctor may not see any way out, but with God, there can always be a way out.

God is a Way Maker. He doesn’t have to take a path that is already there; He can make His own path. We don’t have to see the way for there to be one. My favorite example of this is the Israelites at the Red Sea. They had this raging sea on one side of them and the Egyptian army on the other side of them. They could not see a way out. Does that mean there wasn’t one? Does that mean they had to choose between drowning in the Red Sea or going back into slavery with the Egyptian army? NO! God made a way where there was no way. God parted the Red Sea and let the Israelites cross over on dry ground. When the Egyptian army tried to cross over, God released the Sea, and the Egyptian army drowned.

What just occurred to me now, which I never thought of before, was how close that means the Egyptian army was to the Israelites. It doesn’t say that Israelites crossed over, and then God kept the sea parted for days, waiting for the Egyptians to try to cross over. The Egyptians must have been right on the heels of the Israelites. What just came up for me was that this is a great example not only of how God is a Way Maker but also of how it is never too late. The Israelites must have felt like they were running out of time. They must have felt like it was only a matter of hours before the army caught up to them. I bet they felt hopeless. I am guessing they were worried and probably not trusting God to get them through, even though He had just done some amazing miracles to get the Pharaoh to allow them to leave. However, God did save them. It wasn’t too late. It is never too late with the Lord!

Dear Heavenly Father, please bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, show us how to not let anxiety enter our hearts and minds. Help us block those anxious thoughts that keep showing up. Help us rely on you for all we need and not worry about where our provisions will come from. Help us look back at all the ways you have helped us in the past and know that you will help us again. We love you, Lord! You are the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. You are the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. With this being Thanksgiving week, I want to let you all know how grateful I am for you taking the time out of your busy day to listen to this podcast. I pray you have an amazing Thanksgiving week!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 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 had this deep sense of urgency that it is so important that we forget about ourselves and that we see to the needs of others. And the more we do for others, the more it will instill in them a sense of gratitude that they will come closer to the Lord because they see that other people care what happens to them”

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Thanks so much for that amazing teaching, Tina. I told you guys that you were going to like it! I don’t know about you, but I don’t know a ton about the angels, and I always jump at the opportunity to learn more about them.

Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember Jesus loves and accepts you just as you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 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 more of a vision from the Lord, “As we were singing the songs, I saw us in a huddle with Jesus. We're all in this huddle, we're all surrounding each other, and He says, okay, and He points to each one of us, and He's given us the play, so what He wants us to do, you go do this, you go do this, you go do this”

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Be Carefree in the Care of God!

Luke 12:24-27 “Take the carefree birds as your example. Do you ever see them worry? They neither grow their own food nor put it in a storehouse for later. Yet God takes care of every one of them, feeding each of them out of the abundance of his love and goodness. Isn’t your life more precious to God than a bird? Be carefree in the care of God! “Does worry add anything to your life? Can it add one more year or even one day? So, if worrying adds nothing but actually subtracts from your life, why would you worry about God’s care of you?”

This is a verse that we often hear when we talk about how God will provide for us, and we don’t have to worry about anything. There is a lot in these short verses. First, it tells us to take the carefree birds as our example. We don’t ever see birds worry about where they will get their next meal or if they will be able to eat that day. They don’t grow their own food; they don’t store food. Each day, the bird goes out and looks for what it will eat that day. If it has babies in the nest, it will look for food to feed them every day as well. However, they don’t seem to be worried if they will find food.

What I read in this verse that I don’t remember seeing before is that it says, “Yet God takes care of every one of them, feeding each of them out of the abundance of his love and goodness.” I am not sure if I haven’t seen that before because that is only included in this translation or if I just never noticed it before. However, I think it is a really good thing to think about. God feeds the birds out of the abundance of his love and goodness. Did you know God had an abundance of love for all of His creatures?

This world tends to operate from a scarcity mindset. The world teaches us that we should get what is ours now before it runs out. We should strive to make more and more money because what if we don’t have enough for all we need? When we approach things from a scarcity mindset, we won’t be grateful for the things we have because what we have will never seem like enough. When we approach God with a scarcity mindset, we may think He does not have enough for us. That might be enough love, enough provisions, enough mercy, enough grace. Whatever it is that you think you need.

I like how this verse reminds us that God doesn’t scrimp together all he can to provide for us. He provides for us out of His abundance and His goodness. God will not ever run out of provisions for us. He won’t ever run out of mercy, grace, or love for us, either. God has an abundance of all things.  Next, the verse says, “Isn’t your life more precious to God than a bird?” If God is providing for the birds every single day out of His abundance, don’t you think He will provide for you, too? Humans are God’s greatest creation. He likes us the best. If He is making sure the birds don’t go without, then He is making sure you won’t go without, also.

The last part of the verse says, “Be carefree in the care of God! “Does worry add anything to your life? Can it add one more year or even one day? So, if worrying adds nothing but actually subtracts from your life, why would you worry about God’s care of you?” I think we all know this on some level, and yet we aren’t really sure about how we can change it. The verse reminds us that worry won’t add anything to our lives. It won’t add another year or even one day. So, if it adds nothing to our lives, why do we do it? I think we do it because we live in a society that trains us to worry. All of the news that we watch on TV is designed to get a reaction out of us. It is designed to make us worry so that we will keep watching it. It is also designed to keep us worrying so we will vote for a certain candidate, or vote a certain way on a bill, or anything else they want us to do.

Even advertisements have capitalized on the fear, worry, and anxiety of our world today. When people are trying to sell us something, they tell us how bad life will be if we don’t buy their product. Instead of leading with all the good things their product will do, they lead with all the bad things that happen if you don’t buy the product. I was listening to one of my life coaching teachings the other day, and they said fear of the consequences if people don’t change is a much stronger motivator than the positive rewards they will get when they do change. The world is full of fear, and yet you don’t have to be. You can learn to trust the Lord and know that He will protect you. He will provide for you. He will always come through for you. God has an abundance of love for you that you can count on.

Lastly, something I don’t know if we realized is what it says about worry adding nothing but actually subtracting from your life. How does worry subtract from your life? How many times have you missed out on important moments because you were stressing about something instead of enjoying the moment? How much of your life has been taken away because of panic attacks? When you look back over your life, can you see places where worry or anxiety has stolen your joy, taken away some fond memories, spoiled some great times?

I know trusting in the Lord is hard; isn’t being anxious all the time hard, too? I will never forget the first time I heard someone from the personal development world say to me that life is hard. Change is hard, not changing is hard. If it is going to be hard either way, which way makes it worth the hard? Would you rather it be hard and yet you are happy, or would you rather it be hard and you be miserable? I know it seems like we don’t have much choice in things, but that is a trick of the enemy. He wants us to think we are stuck where we are. He wants us to think we can’t change. He wants us to think we have to be worried and anxious all the time. This is a lie! You can find freedom from this worry and anxiety. You can find ways to trust the Lord. You don’t have to live an anxious life. The Lord will provide you with all you need; we just have to ask and then trust He will answer.

Dear Heavenly Father, please bless all those listening to this today. Lord, we don’t want to worry, we just don’t know how not to. Please help us. We want to trust you completely. We want to believe you won’t let us down, but we have been let down so many times by those around us. Lord, please show us how to trust you. Please give us the strength to believe that you will always be there for us. Fill us with hope, Lord! We are tired of this worry and anxiety, please take it from us and replace it with the peace of Christ. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you are really struggling with trusting the Lord, check out my book Total Trust in God’s Safe Embrace. Each chapter is a different way that I built up my trust in the Lord. You can get a signed copy from my website, or you can also find it on Amazon. I also have a book coming out soon called Abandon Anxiety. I will let you know when that one is out as well. If you would like to read it before it is published, I can send you the pdf version of it. Just reach out to [email protected]. I am happy to send it to you ahead of time. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 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, “Turn to me for life. Help my people see that they will not find life in the dead words that the world gives them. They will only find life in me.”

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

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This morning’s witness is about my day last Saturday. I had the privilege of joining a group of young adults in the Boston area who belong to a ministry called Encounter. This is different than the Encounter School of Ministry that I attended. This ministry is a group of Catholic young adults that get together as a large group on the third Saturday of the month. They meet at a church in Boston, and they gather for Mass. Then, they head downstairs to the church hall for breakfast and fellowship. After breakfast is over, they gather in groups. One group is for those who have been there before and they meet and do formation. They learn a topic or something that will help them when they go out and minister. Last week they talked about Mother Theresa I believe. They also have a group for newcomers where they explain all about the ministry. They talk about what you should and should not do while you are out there. They give you tips about what works and what doesn’t. Then, they show you a video about the group in Colorado that they designed their group after. This group is called “Christ in the City.”

When you go to their website, the first thing you see is a quote from Mother Theresa that says, “Many people talk about the homeless, but few talk to them.” Mother Theresa talks about something called the Poverty of loneliness. The approach of “Christ in the City,” and also this Encounter Ministry in Boston, is Healing through Relationship. These two ministries spend time each week building relationships with the homeless on the streets. It is through seemingly small interactions—the disarming power of eye contact, a genuine smile, stopping to say hello and learn someone's name—that the seeds of friendship take root, and a journey of healing begins.

There are lots of homeless ministries in Boston, and they are all a little different. I know two people from my class who go out on Saturday mornings in Boston and pray over people. They head to Mass Ave and another place where there is a large homeless population, and they pray with them for healing and for conversion. They pray for an end to their addiction, and whatever it is they need prayer for. There are also other groups that bring the homeless food, clothing, or other material things they may need. Encounter’s primary goal is to build a relationship with the homeless. They walk the same paths each week so that they really get to know the people on their path. They become friends with them, and then they pray for their friends during their prayer time.

After this group time, they meet up in the church again to break into small groups. They usually only have 2-3 people in a group, and they try to have at least one male and one female in a group, as males and females both offer something unique to any situation. Before heading out, the priest will say a prayer. Then, everyone heads out to their specific section of Boston to minister for about two hours or so.

This weekend was my first weekend joining this group. Mostly because I did not know about it before but also because it is for young adults, and I am no longer a young adult. However, I have had the privilege of spending time with 6 of the ladies in this group lately, and so I wanted to see what it is they do for ministry. They invited me to join in this week. I was in a group of four going out for ministry. We decided to walk to our area. As we walked, we talked and got to know each other a bit. Once we got to our area, we decided to split up into groups of two as larger groups can be intimidating, and also, we can reach more people if we split up.

I was with a young man named Duke. He had been doing this ministry for a few years, I believe. He was great at initiating conversations with those we met. I was nervous because I had never done this before and also because I am not always great at starting conversations or keeping them going. However, it was a great day. We first met this man who Duke has seen around a lot. We talked with him for a while, and he seemed happy to have the company and to have someone listen to him. He said he always has a goal each day for what he will spend the money that he makes on, this way, he doesn’t waste it on just cigarettes. I thought this was a great idea. Saturday, he was trying to make enough money to buy a cheap watch as he doesn’t have a phone anymore, and it is really hard getting through the day without knowing what time it is. Especially if he has to be back at the shelter at a certain time.

What I loved about the first man we talked to is that he seemed happy. He talked about how he knew God was always looking out for him. He was thankful to God for all he had. He was grateful that he wasn’t sleeping on the streets and that he had a shelter to stay in. He said he was sleeping on the floor at the shelter, but that was better than the streets so he was grateful. He said he was waiting for disability to go through so he could maybe get an apartment. He seemed very optimistic and that was heartwarming to see. He had hope and that is always nice.

Next, we talked to a woman who seemed sad. She didn’t really want to talk to us until she found out that we were not social workers. Then she opened up a bit. She had a really hard childhood, and that was hard to hear. She had unspeakable things happen to her from the time she was young, and it was so sad to hear her talk about it. She also seemed to be a bit confused as she said a lot of things that didn’t make sense. We stayed with her for a little while, but conversations were hard as she didn’t really answer any questions and just repeated the same things over and over again. We left after a bit. I think she liked that we stopped and said hi, though. I think she liked having someone listen to her.

The next guys we walked by, we almost didn’t stop. I am not sure why, I think it was probably because he was smoking a cigarette, and he didn’t really look homeless. Although you never really know who is homeless. Not all homeless people look a certain way. I am not sure why we didn’t seem to be stopping. I do know when we looked at him and he gave us a big smile, we knew we should stop and say hi. He was very friendly and talkative. He told us how he used to be homeless, and he used to sleep on the street corner right next to where we were. He said he had a good job and was doing well, but then his drinking took over, and he lost everything. He said he was pretty sick from living on the streets. He had to have his toes amputated because he had diabetes. He said it got so bad he could barely walk. He had a walker, and if he walked for more than a few feet, he would be winded.

He had serious health issues, and one day, it all got to be too much for him. He said he got down on his knees and cried out to the Lord for help. The Lord helped him. He went into rehab and gave up all drinking and substance use. The only thing he does now that he doesn’t like is smoking. He said he knows the Lord will help him give that up one day also. He got a social worker who was able to find him an apartment within 3 months. Previously, he had been on a list, but he was too busy with alcohol to go in and check on where he was on the list. He is also taking classes at some centers in Boston. They give him a stipend for transportation so he can get to and from the center. He is learning how to use computers and how to troubleshoot if they aren’t working. It is a 12-week class, and after that, he will enter an Intensive Outpatient Therapy class where they will reinforce what he learned at rehab and help him develop more strategies to stay sober.

He said he has met friends through the center and through rehab who are also trying to stay sober. If any of them are having a rough day or are thinking about having a drink, they will call each other and go out for coffee and encourage each other on their journey. It was so beautiful talking to this man. He also said as soon as he went into rehab, he got on Facebook and reached out to his family, and they were all happy he was in rehab. They were super supportive and happy to hear from him. They were willing to help him in any way they could. He was calling his older brother that day to see if they could have coffee together as he works in the city.

This man said he gets up each morning and stands on the street he used to sleep on, and he talks with the people who walk by or the homeless on that street. He said he does this for the Lord. He wants to thank God for all He has done for him. He also does it so that he can be an example to those on the street who are still addicted to drugs or alcohol. He can be an example of what can happen when you call out to the Lord. He is living proof that things can change, that help is available when you are ready, and that life can get better.

He said he stands on the street for several hours, and then he goes to mass and confession. Then, he will make his way home. He said he is so grateful for his life. He is grateful for God helping him. He is grateful for his apartment, which used to be not that great, but then they started fixing it up, putting rules in place so people can’t be drinking in the hallways and such, and they hired security. He feels safe and secure there now. He has contact with his family again. He is so happy, and you can see it just by looking at him. His smile was so big you could see that he was full of the Holy Spirit!

Then, as we were talking to him, there was another man that came by. We talked to him for a bit. He didn’t seem too interested in talking with us, but he liked talking to the guy we were talking to. The guy that came up to us gave the man we were talking to a pair of brand-new socks. It was nice to see how they cared for each other.

After everyone was done with the ministry time, then they all made their way back to the church. They spend a few minutes in the church individually praying. I thanked God for all the encounters that I had that day. I prayed for each one of my new friends. I asked the Lord what was one thing he wanted me to learn from this experience. This is what I felt the Lord told me, “Remember that we can learn just as much from our friends as they can from us. The people you met today are my beautiful children, whom I love dearly. I am doing good work in them, too, but sometimes it takes longer because they are resistant and they are blocking me. That doesn't mean I can't work, but it does sometimes take longer. I will use all they have been through for their own good. Thank you for your prayers for them. You may be the only one praying for them, so don't forget them. I don't want to see a single one of my children perish. I am grateful to you for going out with Encounter today.”

After they pray in the church, they go downstairs and eat lunch with their group and debrief about their experience for that day. While we were debriefing, God gave one of the ministers in our group a beautiful gift. When we were talking about the man who went to rehab and was doing so great, one of the women in our group was so happy. She had prayed with this man the night before he went to rehab, and she hadn’t seen him since. She had never stopped praying for him and wondering what happened to him. She was overjoyed and so grateful when she heard how well he was doing.

The reason I said God gave her a gift is because it is not often that you get to see the fruit of your prayers. Often, it is our job to plant the seed or say the prayer, but we don’t get to see the seed bloom or the prayers bear fruit. She had prayed with this man, they had formed a special bond, and to hear the Lord not only saved him from his addiction but saved him from living on the streets and reunited him with his family in some way was amazing. She wanted to go right back out and talk with him, but unfortunately, she wasn’t able to. However, I know she will be looking for him the next time she goes out. This provided encouragement for the whole group, too. God is hearing their prayers, their work is not in vain, and they are making a difference. Next, they get in a big circle, and each group talks about one way their life was impacted by the people they met that day. Then, they end with a Thanksgiving Rosary. This is not where they say the rosary. It is where they say one thing they are faithful to on each Hail Mary bead. It was beautiful to hear what everyone was thankful for. I am so grateful I got to be a part of this ministry for a day.

The third Saturday is when the whole group of young adults go out and minister. However, several of them go out a couple of times a week in small groups. I know the ladies I have been fortunate enough to spend time with actually live in community with each other so they can help each other grow closer to the Lord, and they also go out a few times a week for ministry. It is amazing to spend time with young adults who are so in love with Christ and who give their time to make sure the homeless have someone to talk to. They do extraordinary work, and if you are a young adult listening to this, reach out to me, and I can tell you how you can get involved. If you are not a young adult and are interested in homeless ministry, I am sure there is something that would fit your needs, too.

Thank you very much to all those involved in Encounter Boston for letting me join you and for all the amazing work you are doing. You are making a difference in the lives of all you encounter!

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Our Heavenly Bank

Luke 12:33-34 “Now, go and sell what you have and give to those in need; you will be making deposits in your account in heaven, an account that will never be taken from you. Your gifts will become a secure and unfailing treasure, deposited in heaven forever. Where you deposit your treasure, that is where you fix your thoughts—and your heart will long to be there also.”

Yesterday after school, I went to the church near me as it is always open. I wanted to sit there with the Lord and ask Him what he wanted me to teach about in mentoring tonight. I took out my Bible and asked Him to give me a scripture verse. I don’t do this too often, but I asked for a verse. I told the Lord I was going to just open the Bible, and I asked Him to show me a verse on the page I just happened to open up to that would either be relevant for mentoring or for life in general.

I picked a random part of the Bible to open up to, and it happened to be Luke 12. What is amazing to me is that there is a whole section on the page I opened up to that is called in my Passion Translation, “Don’t Worry.” the theme for mentoring this month is “Be Not Afraid.” I love it when the Lord does that. He just has you open up the Bible to the perfect page. What was interesting to me is that I have heard and read that section several times before, and yet today, a few things stood out to me that I don’t remember ever hearing or reading before. One of those things is the verse above.

I have heard before that Jesus wants us to sell what we have and give to those in need. He tells this to the young man who asks what he needs to do to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. However, I have never heard of it as making deposits into our account in heaven. I love that imagery. It reminded me of when I was reading a book one time. I think it might have been The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, but I am not sure. Whatever book it was, it talked about how we need to make emotional deposits into our loved ones. The idea of "making regular deposits into our loved ones' emotional banks" means consistently building a positive relationship with your loved one through kind gestures, praise, and supportive actions so that when you need to say something negative or critical, they are more likely to trust your intentions and not feel overly hurt because of the strong foundation of positive interactions you've already established; essentially, it's like having a "reserve" of positive experiences that can buffer against occasional negative feedback.

This is what I thought of when it comes to our heavenly bank. We can store our treasures up there as they won’t do us any good down here. We can’t take our treasures with us. We can’t take our material possessions with us. It makes sense that we could sell those things to make a deposit into our heavenly bank. To be honest, after having this thought, I started to wonder if it was the same as with our kids. We make regular deposits into our heavenly bank so that when we do something bad, we are still ok because we have all the other deposits to cover this thing we just did. However, I don’t think this is what the Lord is talking about. If this was the case, then it would be as if we were earning our way into heaven. It would be as if we needed to do more good than bad, and there was a scale in heaven that was making sure we put in more good than the withdrawal due to the bad behavior.

I know this is not the case because we don’t have to earn our way into heaven. Jesus died on the cross for us so that we may be saved. Our getting into heaven isn’t based on how many good things we do on Earth vs. how many bad things we do on Earth. After realizing this, I wondered why the Lord highlighted this section for me and why he brought that story up about depositing into our loved ones’ banks. First, I think he reminded me of that story because I think we all needed that reminder that it is important to continually be investing and depositing into our loved ones banks. Second, I think God highlighted this section for me because of the last line.

The last line of the verse above says, “Where you deposit your treasure, that is where you fix your thoughts—and your heart will long to be there also.” I think God wanted us to take some time today and think about where we are depositing our treasures. Where we deposit our treasure is where you fix your thoughts. So, where are your thoughts fixed? Are they fixed on the Lord, or are they fixed on the world? Are they fixed on all God has done for you, or are they fixed on all the things going wrong in your life? What about our time? Time is the most valuable resource we have. Where are we spending our time? Are we making regular deposits of our time with the Lord, or are we spending our time elsewhere? For me, I feel as though I am not spending as much time as I would like to with God. I am allowing myself to be distracted by TV and other things.

The verse above says, “Where you deposit your treasure, that is where you fix your thoughts—and your heart will long to be there also.” So, if we are depositing our time elsewhere, then that is where our thoughts will be and, subsequently, where our hearts will long to be. Where does your heart long to be? I believe my heart longs to be in heaven with God, and yet that is not what my actions would do. That is not where I seem to be making most of my deposits of time. Maybe today, we could all look at our time and examine where we are spending the majority of it. We can look to see where our thoughts are and where our hearts are. Is there anything we need to change to be more in alignment with this verse and with the will of the Lord?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening. Lord, help us to focus our eyes, hearts, and minds on you. Help us to put our treasures into the heavenly bank where they will be safe. Help us to make regular deposits of our time into that same bank. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Remember, if you want to check out mentoring tonight for our Be Not Afraid series, you can just email me, and I will send the Zoom link. I look forward to meeting you here again with a witness tomorrow morning. 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 May 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 people need to know that they should not seek the living among the dead. My word alone is life. The word that the world gives brings no life.”

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Sanctify Them In The Truth

John 17:17-18 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  And for their sakes, I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

The beginning part of this was the verse of the day today. I liked this verse because it talks about sanctifying them with the Lord’s truth. I wasn’t exactly sure what this verse meant, so I turned to the “Enduring Word Bible Commentary.” I always learn a lot when I look to the people who write Bible commentary for more information.

The verse above starts with, “Sanctify them in the truth.” Sanctify means to be set apart for God’s special pleasure and use. It implies holiness, being set apart from the corruption of the world and for God’s use. We have all been set apart from this world. Yes, we are all meant to live in this world, but we are not meant to be of this world. I know that probably just sounds like fancy rhetoric that you hear people say but don’t really know what it means. What it means is that although we are living in the world, we must not conform to its ways.

The world’s view and the Lord’s view are very different, and we must be careful not to get lazy and just start believing what the world believes. It can be hard not to fall into the trap of believing what the world believes because what the world believes is so much in our faces. We are surrounded by it. They try to convince us that the things they are doing are not as bad as we think they are. The world will try to normalize all the things that the Lord says we should not be doing.

The world tells us that it’s ok to tell “little white lies” because they really aren’t hurting anyone. The world tells us that it is ok to take what is ours, even if it doesn’t technically belong to us. The world tells us so many things that just aren’t true. Yet their justification seems to make sense to us. This is why I said earlier that we have to be careful not to get lazy and just start believing what the world believes. It takes work to examine their reasoning and their justification and see right through it.

Another thing that just came to mind is that we need to know why God says what He says. We need to know why the church says what it says. Before I started learning more about my Catholic faith, I would have people ask me why I believed what I believed, and they would quote scripture to me and tell me why I was wrong or why the Catholic Church was wrong. Their arguments seemed to make sense, and I would start to question what I believed. This is when I started learning all I could about my beliefs and why the Church teaches what it teaches. I learned so much, and I began to realize that most of the things that my friends were saying about the Catholic Church were not actually true. They had issues with what they thought we believed or what they thought we were doing, but that wasn’t what we believed or what we were doing.

One instance is when they asked why we worship Mary or the Saints. We don’t do either of these things. We definitely give Mary the respect she is owed as Mother of our Lord and Savior, but we don’t worship her. We also don’t worship the saints. We do talk with the Saints, and we do ask them to bring our requests to the Lord, but this is no different than when anyone would ask you to pray for their family. We aren’t asking the Saint to fix our situation; we are asking them to bring out a request to the Lord. The more people praying for our situation, the better!

Back to the verse. Jesus didn’t just leave the disciples to sanctify themselves. He prayed for their sanctification. This process is not left to us alone; it is a work of God in us and through us. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth: The dynamic behind sanctification is truth. The word of God is read, heard, understood, and applied. “Sanctification is not effected apart from divine revelation.” (Morris) “The more truth you believe, the more sanctified you will be. The operation of truth upon the mind is to separate a man from the world unto the service of God.” (Spurgeon)

The verse goes on to say, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”Jesus gave us a mission to go out into the world. The reason Jesus asked for our sanctification was not primarily for personal holiness, although that is included, more so being set apart for God’s service and mission. “He does not merely leave them in the world, but sends them into it, to witness to this same truth of God.” (Alford) “The word ‘mission’ comes from the Latin verb mitto, mittere, misi, missum, which means ‘to send’ or ‘dispatch.’ A mission is a sending forth.” (Boice) Jesus gave us each a mission, and we need to start living out this mission. “Christ was the great Missionary, the Messiah, the Sent One; we are the minor missionaries, Sent out into the world to accomplish the Father’s will and purpose.” (Spurgeon) “Christ’s commission is on a higher scale than ours; for he was sent to be a propitiation and covenant-head, and so came into positions which it would be presumption for us to dream of occupying. Still, there is a likeness, though it is only that of a drop to the sea.” (Spurgeon)

Think of how Jesus came, and connect it to the way that He sends us into the world:

· Jesus did not come as a philosopher like Plato or Aristotle, though He knew higher philosophy than them all.

· Jesus did not come as an inventor or a discoverer, though He could have invented new things and discovered new lands.

· Jesus did not come as a conqueror, though He was mightier than Alexander or Caesar.

· Jesus came to teach.

· Jesus came to live among us.

· Jesus came to suffer for truth and righteousness.

· Jesus came to rescue men.

The verse then says,  “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself:” One should not think that Jesus was unsanctified up to this point. Yet now He was about to enter a new aspect of being set aside for God the Father and His purpose: to complete the work of the cross. It was through that finished work that the word of God and the work of God would become fully effective in the lives of the disciples (that they also may be sanctified by the truth).

Christ died on the cross for us. He gave His life for us, and now we are called to go out and complete his mission. We are called to spread the truth of the Bible to all those we meet.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Jesus, we love you, and we thank you for walking the Earth and showing us how to live. We thank you for showing us how to complete the mission you have given us. We thank you for sanctifying us and for not leaving us alone to do your mission but for sending the Holy Spirit to be with us as we go out into the world. We ask that you continue to be with us always and you continue to lead us on our mission. We ask this in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. If you enjoy this podcast and these teachings and think you want more, I invite you to check out my mentoring program. This month’s theme is “Be Not Afraid.” Who doesn’t need to learn more ways to trust the Lord and have less worry in their lives? I hope you will join me tomorrow night for week #3 of our “Be Not Afraid” Series. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day.

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 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, when you are struggling, call my name. Remember there's power in my name. Fall upon me, and I will help you.”

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You Are Chosen!

John 15:16 "You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.”

This was the verse that the praise leader talked about at the prayer group yesterday. Her talk lined up so much with yesterday’s episode of the podcast. Then we had a bookmark yesterday at a prayer group, and her talk and my episode both lined up perfectly with the bookmark. Our bookmarks are a compilation of the Lord’s Word for the month. The month we happened to be going over was October 2023. I love how God does that. He takes His word that we have discerned from a year ago, and he fits it right in with what we are talking about today. God is so good. I guess that is a good reminder that God’s word is timeless. It is always relevant, no matter when He gives it to us.

What I love about this verse is that it reminds us that we are chosen. We didn’t choose God; He chose us. We are the chosen ones. How great is that? Even if you feel rejected by everyone else in your family or all those who surround you, you can rest assured that you are chosen by God. You are chosen by the one true King. You are chosen by the creator of the universe. God could have chosen anyone, and He chose you. That is something to hold onto. That is something to remind yourself of when you are struggling. God chose you!

The praise leader did an excellent job of explaining what it means to be chosen and what it means to bear lasting fruit. I would like to share this with you today. The audio quality is not great because I recorded it on my phone in a room full of people. However, it is too good of a teaching not to share just because of the audio quality. Here is Louise giving her teaching on the verse above.

Do we really know what it means to be chosen? I did a little bit of background reading in my commentaries, and a particular person that I read mentioned a few things about being chosen, and one of the things that he mentioned was that when Jesus chose us, He chose us for joy, and joy we find in doing the right thing, and joy we find and exhibit when we recognize that yeah, we're sinners, we make mistakes, we do things wrong, but we are redeemed sinners, and that brings joy, that allows us to be joyful in the midst of us making a mess. We are chosen for love.

Jesus wants us to live in such a way that we show love to our fellow men and women, and that's not an easy task, but what we can remember is if we look at Jesus, His whole life, He lived that. He always was showing love to men and women, always. They came first.

He focused on them. He met their needs, whether they needed healing, whether they needed forgiveness, whether they needed a word of encouragement, He met their needs, and that's the kind of life He wants us to live. He's also called us to be His friends, and one of the things this commentary shared, which I've never thought about is, you know, when back in the Old Testament, when He said this to His disciples, this would have really struck home with them, because the Old Testament way of thinking was that to be a slave of God, to be a real servant of God, that was one of the highest honors you could have.

That was one of the highest honors you could have. You know, people strung for it. The prophets, they were called, you know, servants of God, slaves of God.

Well, Jesus then takes it a step further and says, I no longer call you slaves, I call you friends. And being friends and not being a slave means that you know what the Master is about. A slave doesn't. A slave just does what he's told. He doesn't know the intimacy of a relationship with his Master. He doesn't know his Master's thinking. He doesn't know why his Master wants to do something. He doesn't understand. He just does what he's told.

Well, Jesus wants us to be friends. He wants that intimacy with us. And one of the things, too, that I read was Abraham was called a friend of God. He wasn't just called a servant of God. Abraham was a friend of God. And why was Abraham a friend of God? Because he intimately talked with God and listened to God and followed God even when he didn't understand what God meant and how things could happen.

So one of the things we need to remember is that you know what? Jesus didn't choose us for a series of tremendous privileges. Although he does give us those. Joy and peace and you know, they're all ours. He gives them to us. But that isn't the main reason he chooses us. He chooses us to be partners with him. That, when you think about it, is phenomenal. I know I'm not what I consider a good partner with Jesus. But I believe that God looks at each one of us and says, you are a great partner. And you're a great partner because you have an intimate relationship with me. And you try to listen to me. And you praise me when you can. And you try to do what I'm telling you. And yeah, okay, you mess it up. But you're still a great partner. And that's what he wants from us.

He also calls us to be ambassadors. When you think about an ambassador's job in the government, they're there to represent the country that they come from. And to keep things peaceful and to keep things flowing. And that's what Jesus wants for us. We’re ambassadors of him, of his way, of the gospel. And to try to keep things peaceful and keep things flowing and help people when they need the help. Whatever it is, a word, a prayer, whatever.

This one I like too. He said, he calls us to be advertisements. And sometimes I'm not the best advertisement of the gospel. And I have to admit that. You know, there's lots of times we lose our cool. We get impatient. We don't do the loving thing. We don't think of others first. We're caught up in our own. I do it more sometimes in the way I drive, because I have to get somewhere, and you're in my way. It’s like, you know, you're not going fast enough. Or you're going too fast, and so I'm criticizing you. It doesn't matter. But I'm not always the best advertisement.

But he calls us to be an advertisement. And advertisements are to attract. They're there to attract you to a product, to something, to whatever, to a cause. And Jesus wants us to advertise Him and His love. And so we do the best we can. And as ambassadors and as advertisements, He wants us to bear fruit. And this I was struck with. I appointed you to go and bear fruit. Fruit that will last. When He appoints us to do something, He gives us the anointing to do it also. And He wants us to bear fruit.

So if we keep our intimacy and our relationship with Him, we're going to bear fruit. And He's promised that that fruit will last. That really struck me when I read this this time. It was like, oh, He didn't just say, okay, for today, you're going to bear fruit, and that's it. It's, you know, this fruit, you're going to bear fruit, but it will last. And it will last because it is the fruit of His Spirit of work in us. You know? So that whatever we ask of the Father in His name, the Father will give us. And it just reminds us that there's a prayer of faith. We have to believe that the Father will give us what we ask. Because we're asking in the name of His Son, Jesus. We ask in the name of Christ. And we ask never selfishly.

That's one of the things we can get caught up in. You know, when He tells us that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He'll give you, it doesn't mean God's going to answer every prayer. Especially sometimes, when we ask for things that we believe are what we need or what someone else needs, this would be the best way for the church to do it, so anoint these people, God. And Jesus says, we need to pray; thy will be done. And then the biggest thing is to accept the answer God gives us.

That sometimes is the hardest thing for all of us. But these are all parts of being chosen. And I felt like the Lord gave me this because we're going to honor our brothers and sisters who've gone on before us. They were also chosen. And now they're at home and at rest and at peace in Jesus. They bore fruit that lasted.Touched their families. Touched their communities. Touched our hearts. God is asking us to do the same, but He's also giving us the grace to do it. He will make us holy. We don't have to make ourselves holy. He will make us holy. And that holiness is the fruit that will last. That people will see. That people will be attracted to. So we'll be those ambassadors. We'll be those advertisements. We will be the partners Jesus wants.

Wasn’t that an amazing teaching! Didn’t it go so well with yesterday’s episode where I invited you to be the face of Jesus to all those you meet? God is so good in how He aligns everything. I just want to share the bookmark with you from yesterday too as it went perfectly with both yesterday’s episode and this teaching and yet God gave us these words a whole year ago. The Word’s from the Lord for the bookmark in October 2023 that we read at yesterday’s meeting are, “When you are ruffled, when you are anxious, call on my peace.  Don’t let it stay dormant.  It is not a feeling; it’s an inner peace that only I can give.  It comes only from the heart, not the mind.  I am the song within you and gently my message must go out to the world.  Let it be a melody that touches each heart that you meet.  I am the song, the joy and the hope.  I am the entire well- being of your soul.  I am with you until the end of time and my peace will be ever with you.  A peace so deep within your being; that it will affect everything you do and transform those around you.  See with my eyes the world around you.  I have placed in all of my creation a mark that is truly connected to me.  In some, it’s like a dying ember.  I need you with the gift of the spirit, to breathe on that ember so it will become a flame.

These words remind us of our call to go out and touch the hearts of all those we meet. Just as the verse today and yesterday are calling us to do.

Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening. I pray you put on our hearts how we can be the face of Christ to all those we meet. I pay you show each one of us at least one way we can love someone better today. I pray you show us how we can partner with Christ to bring the message of your love to all those we meet. I pray you show us how to light the ember in other’s hearts so that it will become a flame. I pray all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

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

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 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 have given you everything. I have given you my father. I've given you my death and resurrection and my teachings. I've given you my spirit. I've given you my mother. I've given you the communion of saints. I've given you my church. I have given you everything. You have everything. Will you give me your everything?”

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God Knows You, The Real You!

John 1:47-48 “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

If you have not seen the chosen, I invite you to watch it. The series is amazing, and it helps you to understand the various things in the Bible. I love how it takes something that may seem small in the Bible and helps you to remember it forever.  In Season 2 Episode 2, The Chosen depicts the story of Nathanael. Because it is a show and is also for entertainment, they added things that I don’t know if they are factual or not.

In the show, Nathaneal was a contractor, and he finally got his big shot, He was helping build something, I think maybe a temple, but I don’t remember what he was building. His dreams were coming true, and then something happened, and he got fired. He was sitting under a fig tree, crying out to the Lord. He was doing what we all do when something bad happens. He was asking the Lord, “Why?" He was asking the Lord, “Where were you?” He was asking the Lord, “Why have you abandoned me?” He was lost and sad and searching for the Lord, and he couldn’t find him. He truly felt alone and abandoned by God. Who hasn’t been there before?

I love this scene in The Chosen because it brings these verses to life. The story of Nathanael in the Bible is told in just nine verses. It is something that could easily be overlooked or read and forgotten. However, watching it unfold on the screen, you can see what a powerful encounter it was between Jesus and Nathanael. You can see the love the Lord has for him. The Lord has that same love for you! The Lord sees you in your dark times, too. He knows who you are.

I love when Jesus sees Nathanael coming up and says, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Can you imagine someone you have never met saying something so nice about you? Can you imagine someone you have never met searching for you and seeing the truth of who you are? I can imagine Nathanael was confused, and I bet he probably had trouble believing what this man was saying to him. We always have more trouble believing the truth than believing the lies. Jesus saw right through Nathanael to the heart of who he was and then called it out.

Jesus knows who you are, too! Jesus knows the real you. Not the you that you want everyone else to see. Not the you that you pretend to be so that you can protect yourself from getting hurt. Not the you that you pretend to be so that you can fit in with others. Jesus knows who you really are, the you that you keep hidden for fear of getting hurt. The you that you keep hidden because you are afraid people won’t like you or they will tell you that you are too much or not enough. Maybe they have already said that to you, and that is why you hide the real you so deep down inside.

I wish Jesus was walking around on earth today calling out our identity. I wish when we met Him He would state our identity so matter of factly like He did with Nathanael. What popped into my head when I wrote that is that we can be the face of Jesus to others. What if we called out the good that we saw in people? We had a meeting with the leadership team of my prayer group the other day. I mentioned how great it felt when I first got involved and someone in the group would call out something that they saw in me and invite me to grow in some way.

For instance, they would ask me to join the discernment team because they thought I would be good at it. That meant the world to me. It felt so good for someone to notice something good about me. At the time I joined the prayer group, my family was in turmoil. Everyone was angry all the time, and all I heard at home from my kids and my husband was what I was doing wrong. I heard how everything was my fault; I was an awful mom, an awful wife, a terrible person, and so on. I know they didn’t mean it, and they were just angry, and yet it still hurt.

However, at the prayer group, people would notice the good things in me, and that felt amazing. Have you ever had someone call out the good in you? Have you ever had someone say something about you that you didn’t know or realize before? Has someone ever told you that you were good at something? Have you ever had someone ask you to do something and felt honored that they thought you were capable of doing it? It is an amazing feeling when other people show their faith in us when they believe in us.

What if you were that person for someone? What if we all started trying to be the face of Jesus for those around us? There are enough people in the world to tell us what we are doing wrong. What if we all focused on calling out the good we see in people? What if we had a goal to say one nice thing about each person we interact with throughout the day? I wonder how different our day would be? I wonder what an impact we would make on other’s lives.

I was in the car talking to one of my sons the other day. He has a friend who comes and asks for free food while he is at work. He always says yes because he wants to be nice. However, he only gets one free meal, so if he gives it away, he doesn’t get to eat. Sometimes, that is ok because he isn’t working too long anyway. However, sometimes, he has a long shift and needs to eat. The other day, he told the girl he was sorry but that he had a long shift and he needed to eat. I told him I was proud of him for standing up for himself and making sure his needs were met. He said it was the first time he heard me say I was proud of him in a long time, and it felt weird. I was shocked, but I was glad he said it because now I know to be more intentional about telling the boys I am proud of them because I am proud of all of my boys.

It can be easy to think of nice things and not say them out loud for one reason or another. Maybe we don’t want to embarrass someone, maybe we don’t want to feel embarrassed ourselves. Maybe we are afraid they will reject our compliment, I am sure we all have our reasons. Maybe we just don’t think to say it out loud. I want to invite each one of you to start saying the nice things you are thinking out loud. If you like someone’s shirt, hair, scarf, whatever, tell them. If you see something good about someone, tell them. I invite you to go out of your way to find something nice to say to each person that you meet.

I have a friend named Kimberly, and this seems to come so naturally to her. I am in awe of how she tells perfect strangers all the time that she likes their shirts or their smiles or that they are beautiful. Whatever it is, she doesn’t hesitate, she just says it. I wish there were more Kimberly’s in the world. We tend not to hesitate to speak up when we notice something annoying about someone or something they did that was wrong. Let’s follow the advice of Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” If we wish the world to be a nicer place, let that start with us! I challenge you to find five people today that you can compliment in some way. You get bonus points if you know them and can call out something about who they are down deep inside! If you can show them that you really see them!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, I ask you to speak to each person’s heart today and show them one thing about themselves that you love about them. I ask that you either speak to their heart or speak through someone else and let them know something that they are doing right. Lord, I ask you to help us inspire others. Help us to see others through your eyes and share your joy in them with them. Help us express what you love about your children. Help us be your mouth here on earth. Help us to focus on the positive and not the negative. You tell us that often at a prayer group. Help us to listen. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you know someone else who could benefit from this podcast, please pass it on. Also, if you are on Facebook and have not joined the Walk Boldly With Jesus Facebook group, I invite you to do so. I will post the episodes and the daily word from the Lord. It is great to have a community of people surrounding you who love Jesus too! 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 May 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 just asked God what he was saying to us, and he said, “Right now, I am singing in your souls.”

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The witnesses today are from the Global Awakening Website. Randy Clark is An international itinerant minister birthed from a 4-day meeting in Canada; Randy Clark illustrates perfectly the aphorism, “Don’t despise small beginnings.” The son of an oil field worker, Randy, like most from his generation, learned the importance of perseverance. After his miraculous healing from a car accident when he was eighteen, he felt led to go into the ministry. 

Since that day, November 20, 1970, Randy’s involvement in ministry soared. Shortly after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies in 1974, Randy went on to receive his Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, in 1977.

Randy Clark travels all over the world to conduct healing services and teach people the power of the Holy Spirit. This morning, I went to his website and pulled some witness testimonies to share with you. There are so many; I just chose a few that I thought you would enjoy. The Lord truly is still miraculously healing today, and the more we hear about it, the more we will believe it. I pray when you hear these witnesses, you will know it is possible for you and your loved ones to be healed, too.

Lucas was blind in the left eye. completely blind. He was at a healing service, and there was a word of knowledge. He closed his eyes and said Jesus, please open my eyes I want to see. Then, when he opened his eyes, he didn't feel anything, but he could see. They checked back in four years later, and they were told this healing really caused ripples not only there in that state in Brazil but in other states as well,

Another man was shot in the chest, and then he had a problem with his spine, and he couldn't walk. He was in a wheelchair. He went to a healing service on a Friday night with Randy Clark. The man prayed over him, and he couldn't feel anything. And then he just stood up and gave them a hug, and now he's walking again. He hadn’t walked for 2 months. When I was healed, I was relieved because I could stand.

There was a woman at a healing service with Randy Clark. He had a word of knowledge about a motorcycle. He asked if that meant anything to anyone, and a woman raised her hand. Randy went over to her to pray for her and she was shaking and shaking. She had been in a motorcycle accident, and her foot was so bad the doctor said in one week they would need to amputate it. Her foot was healed. She was up on the stage dancing and jumping around.

There was a young girl who was run over by a motorcycle a month and 8 days before the healing service. The paramedics said she was dead for 30 minutes. Everybody around the girl said she was done, and prayer wouldn't help. The mom refused to believe it. She touched her daughter's chest and said I rebuke the spirit of death. She touched her daughter's hand and commanded the Spirit of life to come back into her. Her mom asked the Holy Spirit to please breathe life into her again. As soon as she said that, her daughter took a breath and came back. When the girl went to the healing service, she came in a wheelchair. She had an open wound on her head, she had pain in her head, and she had double vision. After prayer, the wound and her head closed up. She had no more pain in her head; she had no more double vision. She was also able to walk again without the wheelchair.

Next, Randy Clark interviewed a man who has seen over 100 resurrections. He talked about the last one he saw. He and his wife went into the hospital, and they saw a woman who was lying there with her eyes open. She had her mouth open too, and she had food in her mouth that she had eaten two days ago, and there were worms all in the food and coming out of her mouth. The man and his wife prayed over her. Then, just as the man was about to go get someone to move this woman's body to the morgue, she coughed out all the food and worms and was alive again.

Beverly | Birmingham, AL said, “I was healed of a voice infirmity known as spasmodic dysphonia (SD) identified by a Word of Knowledge as a sharp twisting of the muscles around the larynx. I knew the Word was for me because the disorder is very rare. I actually experienced a creative miracle. The nerve from the brain to my larynx was regenerated. It grew back!!!! SD is a neurological condition in which the nerves affecting the muscles around the larynx deteriorate and stop working. Loss of the nerve stops muscle flexibility of the laryngeal muscles thereby preventing ordinary identifiable speech/language sounds. The voice quivers and has spasms. I had reached a point in my life such that I was ashamed to even talk. People could not understand my speech. I happen to be a preacher and trainer… so needless to say I became so discouraged that I had stopped preaching and became afraid to teach. SO PRAISE BE TO GOD for the healing. I had been experiencing progressive deterioration for 14 years!”

Darenda | Harrisburg, PA – Physical Healing said, “I sat next to a blind man on the plane on the way over who was also going to the conference. He was called out by Bob Hazlett and prophecied over in his main session. Then, on the way back, I again was seated next to the same man, still blind. Have you ever been seated next to the same person twice on two different airplane trips? Well, I never have. So I prayed for him to receive his sight, and progressively, over the two hours, he did. He has been completely blind for 4 years (diabetic retinopathy) in his right eye and all but some light shadows in his left. Before deboarding, he could see his hands, some things in front of him, my eyes, and my hair. He mostly wants to see his 4-year-old grandson’s face, whom he’s never been able to see. In a follow-up text this week, he said his grandson’s face is getting clearer and clearer. Praise God for this wonderful creative miracle so amazing to witness.”

Michael | Richmond, VA, , “I stood after Randy had a word of knowledge that God was healing hearts. I had been treated for AFib for over 14 years and on medication. I believe God has healed my heart. I am 72 years old and am no longer on any heart medication. My heart rate is normal, I go to the gym regularly, and I have no problems doing yard work or any other activity. God is Good!

Gineff | Woodbridge, VA  “I took a step of faith and came to the conference being released from the Hospital on the previous Friday. I was radically healed at VOA. My tribe(VOA attendees) were encouraging me and praying over me. I received multiple healings. The first was the ability to walk(Bookstore Bob was there), inner healing with the Agape Freedom Fighter team, and the word of knowledge from Dr. Clark about lower left abdominal pain(this specifically was for me as I had left the hospital with a drain tube in my lower left abdomen). I will tell you that I was in shock when He said my condition. My niece and those around me were like that’s you. When Dr. Clark called up those to share their testimonies, I ran up to the stage. While I was on stage, something amazing happened. I felt like I was being straightened and felt this rod on the right side of my body. It was amazing!!! I left there healed, and I write this looking forward to my appointment tomorrow when I get to see the doctor's faces!!”

I am grateful to Randy Clark and everyone else who goes around the world, showing people that Jesus is still healing today and bringing the Lord’s love to them. I am grateful to all these people for giving their testimony so it can help build the faith of everyone around them and all those who hear it. 

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God Is Holding My Hand

Isaiah 41:13 “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”

Since the mentoring theme this month is “Be Not Afraid!” I thought I would look up some verses along these lines and talk about them. Today, I found the one above. “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” I think we hear this a lot. Either from church or from our loved ones, we hear that God will help us, so we don’t need to be afraid. I wonder how many of us believe this. How many of us believe God is there for us and will help us when we need help?

Today’s verse says that He is the Lord our God who takes hold of our right hand and tells us not to fear because He will help us. I like this because it is so gentle. The Lord our God is taking us by the hand and protecting us so that we don't have to be afraid. This morning, I was reminded of a word of prophecy that we received at our prayer group about the Lord holding our hand. The word was received in January 2024. Here is the word, “I am He who can help you each step of the way. You need only to hold my hand, and I will pull you through everything that bothers you in life, no matter what it is. Continue to trust, for I am your God.”

God is there for us each step of the way. We don't have to worry about anything. We just need to hold His hand, and He will take care of everything else. God tells us this again and again, but we struggle to believe it. Today, instead of me talking about why we should not fear, I am going to let the Lord tell you. The following words were all received in the same month at my morning prayer group. These were received in May of 2024. My prayer is that one of these words will speak to your heart about whatever it is you are afraid of right now.

We all fear something, but it is not the same for each one of us. In these messages, God addresses many different things we might fear. If one or more of these words from the Lord speaks to you, feel free to pause the episode and write them down. There is a transcript of this episode, so you could go there and read them and copy down whichever ones speak to you. Here they are:

“Trust more, surrender more, love more, and I will make you stronger.”

My Holy Spirit falls upon all peoples of all times. My Holy Spirit seeks a resting place. Open your hearts and souls to provide fertile ground for my Spirit to plant and bring forth fruit for your times. Let go of your wounds and hurts. They are covered by my Spirit who is doing new works in you and for your world.

Sacred children made in my image, I love you so desperately. You can never understand the depths of my love. You are mine, mine. I am here with you in this room, in this moment, in this day, hour, minute and second. All will come, I promise you, all will come. You will see. Never feel abandoned, never. It's not possible. I am with you every step. Remember every step. I am a complete God, complete. Fear nothing. My Spirit is your warrior, your strength.

Fear not, my children. Move forward. My Spirit will lead the way and He will tell you what to say and what to do. If you move forward, you will find joy. Do not be a coward. Do not lay back. Know that I am the Lord and my Spirit is there to bring joy as you do what He says. Be convinced that I am with you. Fear not. Again, I say, move forward.

I got the impression that there are people the Lord is telling them to do something, but they are timid and they are afraid. But the Lord is telling them that He will be their strength and that the Spirit will guide them and there is nothing to fear if they do what the Lord says.

I am your daily bread, so you can also be the bread for others. I use you so they may come to me, become the bread of hope, joy and peace to others. Fear not to be broken in pieces so that you can bring my unity to all. My children, I love you and I count on each one of you to become the bread of life to others. As I give life to you, you in turn must share this life with all those you meet.

Some of you are too hard on yourselves. Immerse yourself in my all-encompassing love. Walk in confidence. Walk proud. You are children of the King, the sons and daughters of the Most High God. You've nothing to fear. You are sealed in the blood of the Lamb. Your Father loves you. He loves you. You're His babies. His. His. Remember that always. No matter what you face, you are my sweetness. My sweet song of love. Precious children, remain in my love.

I keep getting, you are the blessing that I send to the world. Spread my joy. Fear not to partake of all that I offer you so you in turn can share it with others. Again, I tell you, you are my blessing to the world. If you do not move forward, others will not receive the blessing that I wish to partake with others through you.

I got the impression that we each, in our way, a blessing. And there are certain things that he wants to use each one of us to bless others. But if we stay in our own little cocoon and don't do anything, other people will not receive this blessing that God has given each one of us. We don't have the same blessing, but each person has a certain blessing that God has given that we are to share with the world. And we have to not be afraid. He keeps telling me not to be afraid to move forward so that we can be of use to others. Others may not grow if we don't do our part.

The Lord is so good. He keeps reassuring us that He will be there for us. He doesn’t just tell us every now and then. He tells us almost every week, and I think this is because He loves us, and He knows how hard it is for us to believe. It is so hard for us to believe because it is so contrary to what the world is telling us. The world is telling us that we should be anxious, that we should be worried, and yet the Lord is telling us that we don’t have to fear because He is with us, and He will protect us and guard us from our enemies. He will even protect us from ourselves. He is that good! I pray you enjoyed listening to the Words from the Lord today. If you want to start your day each day with a word from the Lord, you can sign up below to receive it in your email inbox each morning. I also post them on my Facebook Page, Catherine Duggan, and my Facebook group, Walk Boldly With Jesus. If you would like to join that group, you can find it on Facebook. It is great to be surrounded by other people who also love Jesus, and that is what the group is all about.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to the episode today. Lord, we thank you for reassuring us again and again that you are there for us, that you are holding our hands, and that you are protecting us. Lord, we ask that you help us to believe this with our whole hearts. We ask that we not only know it in our mind but that you help us move that knowledge to our hearts. We want to trust in you, Lord. We want to believe you will be there for us and protect us. Please show us what is getting in the way of that trust and how we can overcome it. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. This month in mentoring, we are focusing on the theme Be Not Afraid! I would love to invite each and every one of you who is listening to this episode to join us for mentoring. We meet on Tuesday nights at 8 P. M. on Zoom. However, if you are unavailable to meet on Tuesday nights, you could still join mentoring and watch the replays. If you would like to check out what mentoring is all about, you can click on the link below. Also, I will include a link in the show notes to last week’s session in case you want to check it out. Click Here for Week #1 of "Be Not Afraid."  I look forward to seeing some of you tonight on mentoring and the rest of you here tomorrow for a new Witness Wednesday. If you have a witness you would like to share, I invite you to contact me at [email protected]. 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 May 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, “Be open. Open your hearts. Open your minds. Open all that you are. Come before me. I want to continue to rain down my Spirit upon you. I want to continue to pour out the life-giving water and refreshment of my Holy Spirit within you. Please come. Please accept this gift. I so want you to be fully and completely mine.”

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