Walk Boldly With Jesus

Truth, Wisdom, Instruction & Understanding

Proverbs 23:23 “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.”

Well, this is an interesting verse.  I wonder how we would sell truth?  I wonder why God needs to tell us to buy truth and do not sell it?  Then He also says to buy wisdom, instruction and understanding.  I was stumped on what this verse meant or what God was trying to tell us with this verse.  However, when it is put into context of our prayer group it makes a little more sense to me.  During prayer group the leader talked about how sometimes we think about all that we are lacking and we may even ask God what it is that we lack.  This is because we are looking to ourselves to gain eternal life.  We are looking to see what it is that we can do to get ourselves into heaven.  

The leader talked about how we need to trade our self reliance in for reliance on God.  There isn’t anything we can do to get ourselves into heaven.  We will get into heaven only through God’s grace.  After the beginning part of our meeting we also had several words of prophecy that talked about how we are looking for God in all the wrong places.  We are looking for Him in places that He does not dwell.  He dwells deep within our hearts.  He also said that He is there for us, but we are not looking to Him to solve our problems, we are looking to ourselves to solve our problems.  He is asking us to turn our problems over to Him instead of trying to solve them on our own.  

In this context I can see how God would want us to buy truth, wisdom, instruction and understanding.  We need to see the truth that we can’t do anything on our own and yet we can “do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13.  We need to not sell this truth for all the things the world tells us.  We need to not sell this truth in order to believe that we can do things on our own.  We need to not believe that God is too busy to help us.  We need to not believe that God helps others but not us.  We need to buy the truth and not sell it for any of these other false truths that the world is trying to sell us.

Next, we need to ask God for Wisdom to know the difference.  Wisdom is a gift from the Holy Spirit and according to the Catholic Church wisdom is the first and highest gift of the Holy Spirit.  We believe that wisdom leads to an intimate understanding of God’s Word and His commandments.  When we develop an intimate understanding of God’s Word and His commandments then we can better live out our faith.  I believe this is why the verse above mentions truth and then puts wisdom, instruction and understanding in the same line.  I believe wisdom leads to instruction and understanding.  God has given us a lot of instruction in the Bible on how He wants us to live.  

There is no question as to what He says in the Bible.  I think the question comes in when we try to interpret what He says in the Bible.  The Bible was written almost 2,000 years ago.  Well, the old testament was written long before that I believe.  So, reading the bible is not like reading something that was written 10 years ago.  Times have changed a lot.  Although as I write that I wonder, have they?  I mean yes technology has changed a lot, circumstances may have also changed a lot, but have we as people changed a lot?  That I am not sure of.  I think we tend to struggle with the same basic things as people struggled with back then.  The same underlying sins are there, we just have a different spin on them.  That is just my opinion.

So, when it comes to reading the Bible, sometimes we can get caught up in the actual words of the Bible or the situation that they are talking about.  We can read something and think that it doesn’t pertain to us because our situation is so different than that of the person of the Bible.  We can’t really see any connection between how they are living and how we are living.  This is why we need wisdom, instruction and understanding.  We need wisdom to see how the situations in the Bible relate to our own situation.  We need instructions on how we are to live our life right now in this century.  We need understanding to know what is meant for us to read literally and what is meant as a story to teach us a lesson.

There are different writing styles in the Bible.  There are things that are a historical recount of what happened during that time.  However, Jesus also teaches a lot of lessons through parables.  There are also stories meant to teach us a lesson.  If we have a deeper understanding of God’s work we would know the difference.  Wisdom can come in many different ways I think.  For instance, we don’t have to gain this understanding all on our own.  There are many people who have studied the Bible for years and are happily sharing all they know about it.  You can learn from them.

I don’t think anyone gains the wisdom to understand everything all at once.  For instance, I don’t think you will go to bed one day and then wake up the next day with all the wisdom you have ever wanted.  I think the Holy Spirit opens your mind up to wisdom and then guides you to this wisdom.  You may be praying for wisdom and understanding and then you get an email or notice an advertisement for a Bible study in your area.  That is the Holy Spirit prompting you to gain the wisdom you are asking for.  Or, maybe you hear about a podcast that you hadn’t heard of before.  There are several podcasts that have really helped me gain understanding about God’s Word and about the Catholic Religion in general.  

If you are looking for additional podcasts some of the ones I have tried are Father Mike Schmitz Bible In A Year Podcast, he also has another one that talks about all things Catholic.  The Jeff Cavins Show is a good one.  The Big Life Devotional with Pamela Crim is also good.  All Things Catholic with Edward Sri, I haven’t listened to this one a lot, but I have heard him talk and he is really good.  The Elevation Church with Steven Furtick is good.  He is a minister that posts his sermons on this podcast.  I have never heard one that I didn’t like.  Abiding Together is one that talks about three woman’s journey in their faith.  That is also informational.  Your Catholic Life Podcast with Jon Leonetti is also a good one.  He is someone that loves his Catholic Faith so much and you can just hear it in his voice.  And last but not least Exploring My Strange Bible.  This one is so good.  Each episode is like a mini Bible study.  He takes all the stories and goes into a lot more detail so that you understand the Bible stories in a whole new way.  You get such a deeper understanding.  

I didn’t mean to deviate there, but I do think that understanding the Lord’s Word is an essential part of Wisdom.  Not just His word but His instruction as well.  This is why I listed all those podcasts.  They will definitely help with understanding and wisdom.   I know it was a long list.  I don’t intend for you to listen to them all, or any of them right now if you plate is full.  I have listened to different ones at different times.  This is why I am saying the Holy Spirit leads you to the wisdom you need.  If you are feeling you need more wisdom or understanding say a quick prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to the wisdom your seeking.  This list of podcasts is listed in the show notes so you can come back at any time and look through it.  Remember, rely not on yourselves and what you can do, but what God can do through you.  

Dear Heavenly Father I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. I ask that you help us to buy truth and not sell it and buy wisdom and instruction and understanding. Lord we ask that you lead us to your wisdom and not the ways of the world.  Lord we ask you for instruction and understanding in how to live life the way you want us to. Lord we ask for a supernatural wisdom, a gift from the Holy Spirit, that will help move your word and instruction from our brain to our heart. We're asking for an intimate knowledge of your word and instruction so that we can live it with our actions. We thank you so much for all you do for us Lord you are amazing.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name amen.

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Today I decided I would do the Witness Wednesday as it has been a while since I have done one and God has definitely been working in my life. I think it is just as important to talk about the little ways God is working in our lives as it is to talk about the big ways He is working in our lives. Today I will give you an update on how I can see Him blessing me and my life.

First, I will start with Noah going off to school. Noah applied to schools pretty late in the year compared to when I remember applying to schools. He also didn’t apply to a lot of schools. He knew where he wanted to go, so he just applied to a handful of schools. Noah’s dream was to go overseas, and so most of the schools he applied to were in the United Kingdom. (England, Scotland, & Wales). Noah decided to go to Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. He found this out at the beginning of June. This meant we had three months to get all of the stuff in order so he could get there on time.

Going to school in another country is a lot of work, at least initially. We had so many hoops to jump through. We had to do all the regular stuff like find a place to live and register. However, it just seemed so much harder than I remember it being. He also needed to do things I didn’t have to do when I went to school in the states, like get a visa. It was a long and tiring procedure, but the Lord was with us through all of it.

For instance by the time we figured everything out and were able to apply for his visa it was August 14th. However they said the visa could take up to 15 working days to come in. If it took 15 working days then he wouldn’t be able to arrive in country until his first day of classes. This would have been ok, but he would likely have missed at least one day of classes while we got him settled in. However, thanks to the Lord, and the good people at the passport place, we got his visa back in about one week. We were not able to buy plane a plane ticket until we had it back. So once it  came were were able to find pretty affordable tickets as well.

I got to go with Noah to get him settled into school. I was nervous about leaving Noah in another country where he didn’t know anyone. I am sure most moms feel this way when their kids go off to school. However, I had the added worry of it being in another country. Thanks to the Lord, I was able to mostly focus on the fact that this was an awesome adventure for Noah and that he was going to have such a great time. However, I still hated that he was all alone. The second day we were there we went to their “Walmart” like store where they have a post office. We had to go here to try and pick up Noah’s residency permit. While we were shopping around we met another student there. He happened to also be going to Napier.

He and Noah talked and they are both engineering majors. Not the same type of engineering, but that meant they would both be walking to the same campus from their dorms. They also found out of all the doors they have at Napier they would be living in the same building, just one floor apart. It was pretty cool! We also met his parents and exchanged info. Now, suddenly I wasn’t doing all of this alone. They were there to help along the way. We both sent text messages at the end of the day with what we had accomplished that day and any new information we found out. It was super helpful. Thank you Lord.

Noah moved into his dorm on a Saturday and I went home on Monday morning. Saturday morning we took and Uber over to the dorm and moved his clothes and stuff he brought from home in. Then we spend the day shopping and getting the rest of what he needed. Then we went out and got some food also as he is living in an apartment and there is no meal plan there. The next day we went to lunch and more grocery shopping. Then I had to say goodbye. That was hard, and yet I know the Lord is with Him and that this is going to be an amazing year for him, and I am so excited for all he will get to experience.

Next I want to tell you all about my new jobs. It is funny how the Lord works, because I knew this fall was going to be some kind of breakthrough. I knew something was going to change, I just didn’t know what. I had been praying about going back to work outside of the home. I decided I would go back to substitute teaching a few days a week. It would be a way where I could help contribute to the family income more than I have been and with Noah in school and Sam having his license, I only really have to drive Ryan around these days.

One morning I was out to breakfast with a friend of mine and she mentioned she was looking to hire more coaches at her job. She told me about the job and it sounded great. I would be coaching people with autism. It was perfect for me as I love coaching and I love helping people. It felt like an answer to prayers as I really didn’t want to give up coaching and get having your own coaching practice takes a lot of time to build and over the last few years I decided I wanted to spend more time with the kids while they were still at home with me. This was perfect because I still get to coach but I don’t have to find my own clients. This means I will have more time to spend with my family.

I was excited about both of these jobs and felt like the Lord had really taken care of all my needs. I did feel like I would still like to do some more ministry type work but that I would figure that out once both my jobs started and I could see how much time I would have left. I begin my coaching job in two weeks, so we will see what kind of time commitment that is. It  is supposed to be 5-20 hours of coaching per week, but depending on how much I am driving it could be more than that. I was happy with how things were going.

One day out of the blue a friend from my Encounter Ministries class reached out and said she had a possible job offer if I was interested in hearing more about it. She said it would be working with women who have a homeless ministry. They live together and go out and do this ministry together. Their is a priest that overseas the ministry, however, they were looking for a woman who could be like a house mom or a spiritual mother to these young women. I was so excited when I heard about this opportunity. I love helping people along on their spiritual journey and I love that they do homeless ministry as the Lord has put that on my heart as well.

I talked with my friend all about it and then she passed my name onto the priest in charge. He gave me a call and we both felt like it would be a great opportunity for me and for the young women. I wondered it if would be too much with the jobs I had just taken and the priest said he was thinking about 3 hours per week. It sounded perfect. One of my passions is healing ministry. I am sure if you have listened to several of my podcast episodes you have heard me talk about healing in one way or another. The priest said he is going to do a study with the ladies in the home using the Bob Shutes “Be Healed” prayer model. This is about healing the whole self. I read the book for my Encounter Ministries quarter on inner healing and it was amazing. So, not only do I get to do what I love, which is walk spiritually with these women, but I also get to sit in on this study and learn more about healing. God is so good. He knew not only what I need, to stay coaching and yet make money, but also what I longed for, which is to walk with people on their spiritual journey.

The last thing I want to witness to is what happened when I was lucky enough to meet these women on Monday. They invited me into their home for evening prayer, mass, dinner, and the start of the Bob Shutes video series. It was such a beautiful time and these ladies are so kind and caring. They made me feel so warm and welcomed. They were happy to see me and that felt so great! They didn’t even know me and yet were so so kind.

After dinner was over while they were clearing the dishes somehow we got on the topic of healing. I mentioned how I prayed over my aunt and the Lord healed the pain in her foot. One of the ladies said she had just been thinking about the pain in her foot and asked if I would pray sometime for her. I told her we could do it before I left. Another one of the ladies said the doctor just confirmed that she had a sprained ligament in her left wrist. It was funny to me as it was the same sort of pain that my son Ryan is having in his left wrist.

First I prayed over her foot. I prayed for just a minute or two and asked her what she was feeling. She said tingling in her hands. I asked her to move her foot around, to walk on it and see if there was any change. She said the pain was gone. She was in awe at the power of God. She really couldn’t believe it was gone. She said it was a really weird feeling. Next, I prayed over the sprained wrist. I prayed for a few minutes and asked what she was feeling. She was honest and said she was feeling skepticism in her heart. I asked if she wanted to renounce that the spirit of doubt and she said yes. then I ask if anything else was coming up. She renounced the belief that Jesus didn’t care about something as little as her sprained wrist. I asked her to ask Jesus where He was right now, and she felt like He said, “in your wrist.” I asked her to test out her wrist. To move it around in the way that previously hurt her. She did and the pain was completely gone. She was in awe, all the ladies were. It was so hard to believe that God cares about our little pains as it wasn’t super painful. Both ladies said the pain was about a four out of ten. So, not unbearable and yet, when we ask God, He answers.

It was such an amazing experience meeting these ladies and getting to spend a few hours with them. In just a few hours I could tell what extraordinary women they all are. I could see Christ shining through them and I could see how much the love the Lord. I am not sure what is in store for me and these ladies and yet I know I will be seeing them again and that God has something amazing planned for all of us. I can see that He is blessing their ministry and blessing them and it is beautiful.

I hope when you hear this you can see how God as working in all of this. I hope this helps you see how God is working in your life as well. It doesn’t have to be in big ways, like getting to witness God healing. It can be in the little things, like getting the visa back in time so we could get plane tickets so Noah could be there for the start of classes. I am grateful for all the ways God is working in my life. There have been so many things even just over the last few months. I will do another witness Wednesday soon, as I have forgotten how great it feels to look back over your life and see all the ways God is working in it. He is such a good good father. Thank you Lord!

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Wisdom For Beginners (Part 4)

Sirach 2:7-9 “Fear the Lord. His mercy is never far away. Don't wander off and get lost. Fear the Lord, but believe in him; your reward is safe with him. Fear the Lord, but look on the bright side; there'll be blessings and mercies galore. You who fear the Lord, love him. He'll light your candles.”

This is a continuation of the section called Wisdom for Beginners in Sirach. I was going to do this verse yesterday, and then I felt prompted to use the line right before this and talk about the various ways the Lord is speaking to all of us. I hope you will spend some time this week talking with the Lord and listening to what He has to say to you. Today I want to talk to you about fearing the Lord. Do you know what that means?

I was confused for a long time because I didn’t fear the Lord, and I didn't want to. He is my father, why would I fear Him? Why is the Bible telling me to fear Him? It didn’t make any sense to me. However, when I joined the Charismatic prayer group, they did a teaching on this one day, and I have talked about it several times since then. Fear of the Lord means having awe in the Lord. We are in awe because of who He is and what He does. When I googled what “fear the Lord” means, one of the things that came up said that “Fear of the Lord” is a virtue that results in humble, loving obedience to God because of who he is. That sounds pretty good, too!

When the verse above is talking about fearing the Lord, it is talking about having awe and reverence for God. It is not talking about actually being afraid of Him. We don’t have any reason to be afraid of God, and that is not what God would want either. However, we have plenty of reasons to be in awe of God and the amazing things He does every single day!

The verse above starts out by saying, “Fear the Lord. His mercy is never far away.” I wish everyone knew this. God’s mercy is never far from you. I know AI had it’s downsides, but I am loving its ability to search the whole internet and answer a question in just a few seconds. Here is what it says about God’s mercy “God's mercy is God's compassionate and loving nature to act on behalf of those in need, even when they may not deserve it. The Bible describes God's mercy in many ways, including: God withholds punishment that people deserve for their sins. God provides what people need, such as food, forgiveness, and discipline. God shows mercy by healing and comforting those who are suffering. God's greatest example of mercy is sacrificing his son, Jesus Christ, on the cross to pay the price for people's sins. Could you use some of God’s mercy today? It is right there, ready for you to come to the Lord and ask.

Next, the verse says, “Don’t wander off and get lost.” I love this because it is such a good reminder. Don’t we just love to wander off and get lost? We like to go down all these random paths even though we don’t know where they lead. We might follow this new idea or that one. Maybe something gets our attention and we don’t think it will lead us away from the Lord and then before we know we are lost and need to find our way back. It’s always nice to have the reminder to not wander off.

Next, it says, “Fear the Lord, but believe in him; your reward is safe with him.”  In another version, it says, “Your reward will not be lost.” We can trust the Lord with everything. We can trust that what we are not rewarded for in this lifetime will be in the next. We can trust that God sees everything. He knows all that we are doing, even the things we think no one saw. He knows how hard you are working. He knows how much you are struggling. He saw you help that person who was in need. He sees you and your reward is safe with Him. We can trust Him!

Next, the verse says, “Fear the Lord, but look on the bright side; there'll be blessings and mercies galore.” The Lord has so many blessings in store for us. He has so much mercy for us. God is always telling our prayer group that He has so much more for us, but we are not asking. So, maybe a part of wisdom is asking the Lord for what you need. I talked with someone last night who said he has so many areas in his life where he could use the Lord’s help, and yet He just isn’t asking Him. This is all of us. We know the Lord can help us, and yet we figure He will just jump right in whenever He wants to.

From what I have learned about the Lord, this is not the case. He waits for us to invite Him into a situation before He will jump in and take care of it. If you want to do things on your own, the Lord will let you. Would it be easier and quicker if we asked for help, absolutely! Would we feel better if we asked for help, yup! And yet, for some reason, we don’t. It is the same with God’s blessings and mercies. We don’t ask for them because we don’t want to bother God. He is busy and has much more important things to do. It may also be that we think we don’t deserve His mercy or His grace. There are so many others out there that are more deserving. This is bogus. We deserve His mercy and grace just as much as anyone else does. Also, saying we don’t want to bother God because He is busy with more important things, is saying that there is a limit to God’s power. When we are doing this, we are saying that God can’t take care of everything at the same time, and this is not true. God can be there for you 100% and also for everyone else. He is not bound by the same limitations we are. God has no limitations. Remember this line, there are blessings and mercies galore. Are you asking the Lord for any?

The verse ends with, “You who fear the Lord, love him. He'll light your candles.” We need to love the Lord. It is not enough to just be in awe of Him; we need to love Him with our whole hearts, mind, and soul. This is the greatest commandment. Are we doing it? Are we loving Him? Are we in Love with Him? This can be a hard concept if we have had a complicated relationship with love in the past. It can be hard if we really don’t know how to love. However, if we desire to love God we can ask Him to show us how to love as His love is perfect love.

I also like that the verse ends with “He will light your candles.” I love this! He will light our candles. He will light the spark inside of us that longs to share Him with others. He will light the path for us to follow. He will light our candles so we can be a light to the rest of the world. If you feel like your candle has been blown out, ask the Lord to relight it. He will light our candles, all we need to do is ask. To me, that is amazing! I love the image of him lighting my candle, and then I use my candle to light the next person’s candle, and so on. God is so good! He never leaves us wanting.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, you are amazing, and we are so grateful for your blessings and mercy. We are sorry for all the times we should have come to you, but we didn’t. We love you, and we ask that you help us turn to you each and every day. We ask you to help us ask you for your blessings and mercy, Lord. We ask that you help us to develop a stronger “Fear of the Lord.” We ask that you help each one of us understand what that means to us. You are amazing, and we love you so much!! 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! Retreat is this weekend, so please keep me and those joining me in your prayers. Mentoring is tonight! If you would like to join in, the theme for this month is Dark Night of the Soul. You can email me at [email protected] if you would like to join us tonight. Have a blessed day, and may the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in April 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, you are here to please me, not the world. Fear not what the world says about you. All that counts is what I think of you, my children. Spread my love, spread my joy, spread my values, walk in righteousness, and I will bless you all the days of your life.”

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God Is Talking To You, Are You Listening?

Sirach 2:6 “Respect God and expect one beautiful friendship.”

I love the first sentence in this verse. Respect God and expect one beautiful friendship. Did you know you could have a beautiful friendship with the Lord? Did you know you could sit and talk with Him, and you can listen to Him as well? I think this is something we should spend some time talking about today as I think this is something many people struggle to believe. God is talking to each one of us. I have been told that I am lucky because the Lord talks to me. I want you to hear me when I say He wants to talk to you, too. I know that is hard to believe. I know you are saying to yourself, “Who am I that God would talk to me?” You are a son or daughter of the one true king, that is who you are! Can you imagine having a son or daughter and not wanting to talk to them? God loves you and He wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to have a beautiful friendship as this verse says.

Let’s take a look at some ways you can hear the Lord because I know if you try to hear the Lord, you will hear the Lord. I also know that we can get very caught up in our own heads and dismiss ourselves from hearing the Lord because we don’t think we are worthy or we don’t think we are holy enough. Jesus died on the cross to make us worthy, and we don't have to be holy to hear the Lord, but we do become more holy when we spend time listening to Him.  He leads us to holiness.

The first way I will talk about is how many people “hear” the Lord, and that is by getting a thought in our heads when we are talking to the Lord. For instance, you might be sitting and talking to the Lord, and you ask Him a question. If you stop and expect Him to answer you, the next thought you have in your head is probably from the Lord. It won’t sound like the Lord, and I mean this in two ways. First, most people do not audibly hear the Lord. Some have, and if you do, that is amazing! However, most don’t hear an audible voice it is more of a thought/answer that pops into their head when they have asked the Lord a question. Second, the answer that comes to you might not be in the language you think the Lord would use. It might sound like something you would say. For instance, when the Lord is talking to me, sometimes He will say things are amazing or awesome. It is ok if what you hear sounds a bit like something you would say. The Lord is communicating with you in a way you will understand. It is normal.

A second way that the Lord may communicate with you is through visions. For instance, you ask Him a question, and then a picture comes into your mind that answers your question. Sometimes, it is just a still image, and sometimes, it is like a scene in a movie where things are movie, and it is not just a quick screenshot but rather a scene that plays out for a few seconds. Many people in my prayer group get visions and it is amazing to listen to them describe what they are seeing. I have gotten a few visions but that is not they way I usually communicate with the Lord.

A third way the Lord may communicate with you is through your feelings. You may be trying to make a decision about something, and you ask the Lord which thing you should do. Then you notice that you feel strongly about one over the other. That could be the Lord guiding you. Also, sometimes the Lord will fill you with peace about a certain decision, whereas the other one you don’t have peace about. The Holy Spirit we have living inside of us is often the still small voice we hear when we are trying to make decisions. Take a minute and think back to a time when you “just had a feeling” about something. It is likely that it wasn’t just a feeling, it was the Holy Spirit leading you to where you needed to be.

Another great way that the Lord talks with us is through Scripture or other things that we read. Did you ever have something weighing on your mind, and then when you read your Bible, you had more clarity on it, or you felt better about it? We can find answers in scripture. The Bible is a living document. You can read the same passage today, two months from now, and two years from now, and each time you read it, you will get something different from it, depending on what is going on in your life at the time. God is so good; He can personal it for each one of us. The next time you have a question or you want to spend some time talking with the Lord, open up your Bible and ask the Lord what He wants to tell you. I know you will be amazed at what He shares with you when you are open to hearing Him!

The last way I will talk about today, although there are probably others, is that God can talk to us through other people. Have you ever been talking with someone, and something they say feels like an answer to something you have been talking to the Lord about? Isn’t that crazy when that happens? I have a friend, Anne, who knew the Lord was calling her to move, but she didn’t want to move. I mean, she wanted to move eventually, but she was pretty happy where she was at the moment, and this move didn’t seem to fit nicely into her plan. She told the Lord that if he really wanted her to move then He would need to make it very clear to her that it was Him orchestrating this move.

The next day, Anne’s friend told her that the Lord wanted her to share a scripture with her. Then, she was at a store, and a random person gave her the same verse. Finally, later that day or the next day, the UPS driver dropped off a package. He handed it to her and started to walk away. Then he turned back to her and said does this scripture verse mean anything to you? He gave her the same verse the other two had given her. She had never talked to the UPS driver about religion or God before. She knew that verse was from the Lord and that He really did want her to move.

You can ask the Lord questions and expect that He will answer you in any one of these ways. Let me just give you one more tip: if you are just sitting there trying to hear the Lord talk to you, it can be a lot of pressure, and it may seem very quiet like you can’t hear anything. What I do to get beyond this is I ask the Lord a question, and then I start writing whatever comes into my mind. I don’t question it, I just write all that comes into my mind. This way I am not just waiting around to hear something. Also, this shows that I have expectant faith. If I am ready to write down whatever the Lord wants to tell me. I promise you He is not going to leave you hanging. Ask the Lord a question and then be on the lookout for the answer in one of the ways I discussed above.

The Lord wants to have a beautiful friendship with us, and that is hard when we are the ones doing all the talking. We want to grow closer to the Lord but don’t believe that He will really talk with us. Trust me when I say He will. God does not talk with me because I am special. God talks with me because I regularly make time to talk with Him and also to sit and listen to what He has to tell me. I ask Him questions and expect that He will answer them, so He does. If you begin to sit and listen to the Lord, I know you will discover how loving He is. How gentle He is. He tells us what we need to hear in the most loving way. He will build you up in ways you never thought possible. Having the Lord of the universe tell you that you are His beloved son or daughter and that He loves you is like nothing else I have ever experienced. You need to put in the time, though. You won’t hear Him if you aren’t even trying. Do you have even just 5 minutes today while you are alone in the car, or in the bathroom even, or where you can get 5 minutes alone and ask the Lord what He wants to tell you today?

Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, I ask that you open their spiritual ears and allow them to hear your voice. Speak to the Lord, they are listening. Lord, help them find time to sit and listen to all you want to tell them. Help them be open to hearing you and to set the perfect time aside to spend with you. 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. 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 April 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 generosity knows no bounds, my children. My generosity, you have not even begun to ask for or receive. The depth of it is so deep, you cannot begin to fathom. And it is there for you, available, waiting. All you need to do is ask. ”

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Wisdom For Beginners (Part 3)

Sirach 2:4-6 “Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in changes that humble you be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him.”

I thought I would continue on in Sirach and cover the whole Wisdom for Beginners Section. It’s interesting because today, I was going to use the Message translation. However, It is not great about numbering the verses; it gives more of a range, and I wanted to let you know exactly what verses I was using. I went on biblegateway.com and it happened to be set for Revised Standard Version (RSV). This translation does not call this section “Wisdom for Beginners,” It calls it “Duties toward God.” I like the first title better so I am glad I started out with the Message Translation!

This verse begins with “Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in changes that humble you be patient.” That first part is very broad and very difficult. It is not easy to accept whatever is brought upon you. Especially if what is brought upon you is different than what you thought would be happening. If you prayed for children and yet you have been unable to have them, this is very difficult to accept. If you prayed for a promotion at work and yet you didn’t get it, that is very difficult to accept as well. I can see how it would be wise to accept whatever is brought upon us and yet I wish it gave a bit more instruction. This is one of those times when we need to look at the whole verse and not just part of it. I will explain how and why it is so important to accept whatever is brought upon you in a few minutes.

First, let's look at the rest of this first sentence. It tells us to be patient in changes that humble us. This is really not easy. I looked up what “changes that humble us meant,” and this is what I found. "Things that humble you" means things that make you realize you are not as important or special as you thought. For example, you might describe an experience as humbling if you work with talented people and feel a sense of awe or admiration. Here are some other examples of things that can humble you: Seeing people be positive about life when they have little, finding someone's heroism humbling, being rejected from jobs and realizing you need to start at the bottom, realizing that your charisma doesn't always cut it in a business, realizing that you need to improve your knowledge base. Do you see why I said this can be really hard. Patience is a virtue that most of the world needs to grow in. It is not one of the easier virtues. Well, I am not sure there are any easy virtues, but most of us struggle with patience. Especially in this fast-paced world we live in. We always want to be going somewhere fast.

Also, any kind of change is really hard. However, if it is a good change, it is a little easier. For instance, if you are moving to a house you really like or a job you really like. Those are both good changes and so it makes the difficulty of moving easier because you know you will be happier in the long run. However, changes that humble us aren’t always good changes. They may be good for us in the long run, but they certainly don’t feel good at the moment.

So, how do we accept whatever comes our way and be patient with the changes that humble us? This is where the next part of the verse comes in. It says, “For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him.” The first part doesn’t tell us how to do it, but it does tell us why we should do it. “For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.” We need to accept what comes our way because God is testing us and helping us grow into the person we are supposed to be.  

When gold is tested in the fire, it is melted down to separate it from any other metals or impurities. How does that relate to us? God might be helping us to separate from other false Gods, idols, or any other things that might be getting in our way of being closer to Him. Humility is a great way to grow closer to the Lord! If we are humble, then we realize that all we have is because of God. We give Him all the glory. However, often, we put other things above God, and we crave all the things of this world instead of craving the Lord and all He has to offer us. Also, when we are not humble, we can think that all we have is because of us. We might think we are successful because of our good fortune. We might think we are the reason for all we have.

This is dangerous thinking because if we think we don’t need God, we will stop inviting Him into our lives and into our situations, and that is when things get really hard. The last line of this verse says, “Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him.” That right there is the answer we have been looking for. The first part of that line helped us to see why we need to go through what we need to go through. Gold is tested in fire, and we are tested through the furnace of humiliation. This can be very painful at times, and yet it is so necessary if we are going to become the person God wants us to be. However, that doesn’t tell us how we are supposed to accept the things that come our way, or be patient when things humble us.

This is found in the very last sentence. “Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him.” If we want to do what we are being asked to do in this verse, we have to Trust in the Lord. We need to trust that He will do what He says He will do. We need to trust that He loves us as much as He says He does. Trusting in the Lord isn’t always easy. It can be hard to trust in what you can not see. However, I am willing to bet if you look back at your life, you will be able to see the Lord working. You will see times when life was hard, and yet you made it through and have no idea how. It was because of God. You will see times when you or your loved ones were sick, and the Lord healed them. You will see times when you thought all was lost, and yet God saved you. It is hard to believe in that which we can’t see, but when we can, it will change our lives!

St. Augustine said, “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” How great would it be to go through life seeing amazing things happen just because we believed they would happen? The verse also said to make straight your ways and hope in Him. This can help us through hard times because if we are doing things that are wrong in the eyes of God, then we are blocking the graces we could be getting from Him. We can trust in the Lord and also place our hope in Him. Hope in the fact that He cares about us and that He will answer our prayers. We can hope in Him because He is our Father, and He will always do what is best for us. He knows us, and He knows what is truly best for us. He wants more for us than we could ever imagine. We can place our hope in that!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we want to trust you and place our hope in you, please help us. We want to accept whatever comes our way and be patient in those things that humble us. Please show us how. We love you so much 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 want to come to the retreat next weekend, I need to know by the end of today. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in April 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, “Prepare for the worst, expect the best.”

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Wisdom For Beginners (Part 2)

Sirach 2:1-3 “So, my child, you want to serve God? Then get your life in order, respect others, and prepare your soul for the trial that will surely come. Tell your heart what to think; don’t go to sleep on the job. Bend, your ear; listen to your mind. When times get rough, keep your cool. Take a tip from God. Join hands with Him. Don’t slip-slide. Don’t go it alone. Do the wise thing; make wise choices.”

Today, we are going to continue to look at the verse we looked at on Tuesday. We didn’t really have time to look at all of it up close, and it had a lot of good things to say. Wisdom is a great thing, and if we can get some tips on how to grow in it, then it’s worth slowing down and taking the time to examine them. Starting where we left off yesterday, the verse says, “Bend your ear; listen to your mind.” I hear that we need to open our Spiritual ears and listen to what the Lord is telling us. We talked yesterday about telling our hearts what to think. This is because our emotions can sometimes lead us astray. Sometimes, we may not want to do the right thing and yet if we listen to our minds we know we should.

The Lord can talk to us in any number of ways. The most prevalent way for me is in my mind. I ask Him a question, and He answers it by putting the thought in my mind. For instance, I may ask him how I should pray for my kids better. Then I sit quietly, and all of a sudden, there will be all these thoughts as to how I can pray for my kids better. You might hear the Lord this way, or you might ask Him a question, and then you might get a strong feeling in your body that you know the answer, but you didn’t hear anything. You might also be led to Scripture after you ask the Lord a question, and you realize that the Scripture is the answer to your question. God is trying to talk with you, your job is just to listen. And sometimes that means listening to your mind.

Next, it says when times get rough, keep your cool. This can be much harder than it sounds, depending on how rough things get. One great way to keep your cool when things get rough is to pray for the peace of Christ. You can actually ask the Lord to fill you with the peace of Christ. I have prayed this over many people, and you would be surprised how peaceful they felt. Some of them were in situations where you wouldn’t think peace was even possible.

That is what is so amazing about the peace that we get from the Lord. It says in Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” God’s peace surpasses all understanding. I like how it also says it will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This is so important. If we can keep our hearts and minds focused on Jesus, we are all set. It’s when we take our focus off of Jesus and we start to think more about how big our problem is. We spend our time thinking about all the ways things can go wrong instead of thinking about all the things that could be right.

We think about the fact that we can’t see a way out instead of focusing on the fact that God doesn’t need us to see the way out or that fact that God doesn’t need there to be a way out. He is a way maker. He can make a way even if there is no way out. He can blast a hole right through your problems. We have a God that can do impossible things. Nothing is too big for Him. Just yesterday, during witness Wednesday, we learned about how God gave a brand new heart to someone. His heart was damaged, and he needed to have stents put in or maybe even a bypass, they weren’t sure. Yet, when they went in to take a closer look, he had a brand new heart. God is bigger than you think He is, and He is definitely bigger than your problems. We can remain cool when things get rough if we keep our eyes fixed on the Lord.

Next, it says, “Take a tip from God. Join hands with Him. Don’t slip-slide. Don’t go it alone.” This is super important. I know I say this all the time, and you may be sick of hearing it, but it is true, and I don’t think we all understand the necessity of inviting the Lord in. If you want to go at this life alone, the Lord will let you. He believes in free will, so He doesn’t enter situations that He is not wanted or invited into. I love how this verse says to take a tip from God. How do we take a tip from God? I can think of two ways. First, stop and listen to Him like I talked about earlier. The second way would be to read scripture and apply it to your life. Scripture is God’s love letter to you. He is speaking to us through His Scripture. It is a living Word that answers our questions and can speak to us if we listen to it. I know many people who find their answers to life’s questions in the Bible.

I also love how the verse says to join hands with Him. I love that visual. I envision myself as a little girl, and I grab hold of Jesus’s hand, and we are just walking through a green field. This line shows us that God is not a distant God. He is a personal God and He loves us and wants to walk hand and hand with us. Why do we shy away from intimacy from the Lord? Why do we try to keep our distance? Jesus died on the cross so that there would not longer be a barrier between us and God. We have full access. Let’s take full advantage of that and join hands with Him. Think about how much easier life would be if we walked through it hand and hand with our Lord and Savior.

Don’t slip-slide to me means try not to veer off course. Try not to be wishy-washy with your beliefs. Try not to be all in one minute and then nowhere to be found the next minute. We don’t want to give our problems over to the Lord and then take them back again, either. We don’t want to listen to the enemy either. Sometimes, we can slip and slide when we let the enemy get into our head, and we start to believe his stupid lies. Let’s just do our best to keep our eyes focused on the Lord. I also just got the idea that if we are holding the Lord’s hand, He will keep us steady so we don’t slip. Thank you, Lord!

This verse ends with, “Do the wise thing; make wise choices.” This is something every mom or dad has probably said to their child, and so it makes sense that the Lord would say it to us, also. Especially since we are His beloved children. He loves us and I am sure it breaks His heart when we make bad choices. I was just talking with someone yesterday about why God hasn’t stepped in when it comes to the mess that is our government. I explained my thoughts on that. I feel God is not stepping in as much as we would like because we are working hard to exclude him from so many areas of life and because we are not inviting Him into these types of situations.

I was explaining that because of free will, God does not “make” us listen to Him. I am sure He is in heaven shaking His head because He knows if we would just listen, we could be in a much better place. However, He is a gentleman, and if we want to handle things without Him, He will let us. I was saying it is like our own children. We may know what is best for them. We may be able to see that they are making a big mistake.  We can even see all the ramifications down the road if they continue on the road they are on. Yet, they are adults, and we can’t make them listen, no matter how badly we want to. This is similar to the Lord. Although He could make us listen if He wanted to, He doesn’t want to force us into it. He wants us to make wise choices on our own, and one of those wise choices that He is hoping we will make is to invite Him into the situation, grab His hand, and, as the verse says, “Don’t go it alone!”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, we love you so much, you are amazing! We are so grateful that you teach us about wisdom. We are grateful you don’t leave us alone and that you are willing to grab our hand and walk through life with us. Lord, we ask you to help us invite you in. We ask that you help us do all the things mentioned in the verse above. Lord, we want more wisdom, we need more wisdom, please help us. We ask all of this in the mighty name of Jesus, 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. Today is the last day to sign up for the retreat next weekend! If you have been thinking about it make sure you decide by end of day today. 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 April 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, “There will be moments in time that you will reach out for me. You will not feel my presence or see me in the circumstances, no matter. I am there. I am there. You never walk alone. I am your God, your shepherd.”

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Today’s witness was found online. Someone close to me is having some issues with his heart and so I wanted to find a healing story that had to do with the heart. When we can hear that others have been healed of a similar thing that we are praying for then our faith is built up that we or our loved ones will be healed too. Today I am sharing the story of David and what happened when he went to the doctor for his heart.I pray this story gives you hope that God will answer your prayers too! Here is his story in his own words.

I don’t know if you have personally experienced a miraculous healing, but I have. I was fifty-six years old, and every Friday afternoon that autumn, I worked out with a trainer. Like many personal trainers, Vileka Fisher started each session by checking my weight and blood pressure. Some variations are normal. My blood pressure, however, climbed for seven weeks straight, topping out at 203/143. At that point, she fired me. Literally.

“I’m not going to have you die on me,” Vileka told me. “You have to go to your doctor immediately.” In turn, Dr. Guesly Dessieux quickly ordered two sets of tests. The next day, they took extensive, continuous images of my heart at rest. The following day, they took extensive, continuous images of my heart after a lengthy and very fast-paced run on an industrial-sized treadmill.

The Dreaded Post-Exam Phone Call

On Friday, October 23, 2015, I received the proverbial day-after phone call. On Tuesday, October 27, I met with my “new best friend,” interventional cardiologist Dr. Barath Krishnamurthy, to find out how extensively my heart was damaged and what next steps were ahead for both of us. The damage to the front middle and front lower-right areas of my heart, he said, was significantly worse than expected for a man my age.

Dr. Krishnamurthy scheduled me to report to Salem Hospital as soon as possible. He said he would start with an angiogram. If the damage wasn’t too severe, he planned to insert stents. Then again, if the damage was severe, he planned to perform double bypass surgery.

“When would you do that bypass surgery?” I asked, feeling more anxious and nervous than I’d felt in a long time.

“Right then and there,” he replied. “There’s no time to waste. You could have a heart attack any day.”

That last comment wasn’t reassuring, but he had my attention!

Afterward, I remembered how good it is that we can thank God daily for His sovereignty (greatness), providence (goodness and guidance), holiness (glory), love (graciousness), and mystery (“God alone knows”).

Most of the time during those next few days, I was prayerful and at peace. Then again, I couldn’t forget Dr. Krishnamurthy’s comments that recovery from an angiogram and stents would take a few days. Recovery from double bypass surgery, though, could take six to eight weeks, maybe longer.

By phone, Facebook, and e-mail, my wife (Renée) and I asked those close to us to pray for a routine, boring, and ultimately successful angiogram.

A couple of hours after checking into Salem Hospital on November 5, 2015, I was wheeled into surgery. According to plan, I lost consciousness shortly after meeting the five members of my cardiologist’s team.

Miraculous News Came after Surgery

When I woke up in recovery, my cardiologist walked in looking stunned. “This never happens,” he said. “You heart looks great. I couldn’t find any damage anywhere. Not even plaque.” It rarely happens, he explained, that two separate days of radioactive imaging would clearly, and yet incorrectly, show substantive damage in two separate areas of the heart.

Bottom line: no damage, no stents, and no double bypass surgery.

Renée was quick to call it a miracle. When I confided that I wasn’t ready to use that word, she asked why. “Well, I had just woken up in recovery. What if I misunderstood what Dr. Krishnamurthy told me?”

On November 25, I returned to Salem Cardiovascular to meet with my cardiologist. He had been called away for an emergency heart procedure and asked one of his associates, Masen Martin, to meet with me. I explained the purpose of my visit. Then I told Masen (as she prefers to be called) that when Dr. Krishnamurthy talked with me in recovery, he looked pretty much stunned.

“Stunned?” she exclaimed. “You were the surprise of the year!”

She paused and then went on. “Frankly, it left all of us here pretty rattled. The imaging is proof positive that you needed either stents or double bypass surgery. But the angiogram imaging a few days later is proof positive that your heart has absolutely no damage anywhere. Not even a trace of plaque anywhere in or around your heart.” I had the heart of a teenager again. Medically and scientifically, that’s not supposed to be possible.

In other words, Renée was right. It truly was a miracle. Then again, it was a miracle that caught me by surprise. Yes, hundreds prayed, but not for this outcome.

Louise the Prayer Warrior and Her God-Sized Prayers

That next Sunday, November 29, a super quiet, very introverted, yet lovely older friend of mine named Louise came up to me before church. I was talking with the oldest member of our congregation when Louise walked up, smiling from ear to ear. Radiating pure joy, she said, “It was me!” I didn’t know what she meant, so I didn’t say a word.

Louise told me, “I was the one who prayed for your complete heart healing. I even asked God to prove it was a miracle because they couldn’t find even one speck of plaque anywhere in your heart.”

I felt like jumping up and giving Louise a big hug, but I simply said, “Thank you! Thank you so much!” with a huge smile on my face.

Later that day, though, I wrestled with two tough and troubling questions: Why could Louise pray that God-sized prayer and fully expect Him to answer? And why didn’t I pray for my own heart healing?

My prayer of faith that afternoon has been life-changing: “Lord, please help me to pray like Louise. It’s scary, and I don’t know why that is, but I want to learn how to pray God-sized prayers like her.”

After this experience, God’s grace became much more real and powerful to me. I was and am deeply grateful to God and my dear friend, Louise. Since then, I have been empowered by God and determined to positively impact other lives by sharing my experience and encouraging others to pray more boldly. I tell this story wherever I’m invited to speak. I also take time to pray for and keep in touch with audience members who request prayer for healing.

Yes, sometimes I’m nervous. Sometimes I wonder, “Who am I to pray in this way for this person’s healing?” Then I remember Louise and seek to pray a God-sized prayer the way she would. I then stay in touch to find out what God does. The results have been amazing! There is no question in my mind that we can stand on God’s promises and expect miracles.

Thank you, David, for sharing your story with the world so that we can all see the miraculous powers of the Lord at work in the world. Thank you for learning to pray God-size prayers. Thank you for being brave and praying those God-sized prayers over your audience and over those you meet. The world needs more people brave enough to pray God-sized prayers! I pray blessings on your ministry and I pray that God will answer your God sized prayers in Jesus's name, Amen!

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Wisdom For Beginners

Sirach 2:1-3 “So, my child, you want to serve God? Then get your life in order, respect others, and prepare your soul for the trial that will surely come. Tell your heart what to think; don’t go to sleep on the job. Bend, your ear; listen to your mind. When times get rough, keep your cool. Take a tip from God. Join hands with Him. Don’t slip-slide. Don’t go it alone. Do the wise thing; make wise choices."

The title of this episode is the title of the section where this verse is found in the Message Translation of the Catholic Bible. It immediately resonated with my heart. I definitely feel like I am a beginner when it comes to wisdom. I thought this verse laid things out so easily and helped us to see what sort of things we can do if we want to serve God. I felt as though they are good reminders as to what we should be doing everyday anyway.

Let’s look at them individually. First, it says that if we want to serve God, we need to get our lives in order, respect others, and prepare our souls for the trials that will surely come. When it says, “get our lives in order,” to me, that means we need to know what we are doing. We need to be living intentionally and not just going about our day haphazardly with no plan and no idea of how the day will unfold. If we say yes to the Lord He will use us and when He does it will take time to do what He is calling us to do. If we are not living intentionally it might be hard to find the time to do all He is calling us to do.

I also think it means that we should get our lives in order before we can go out and make a difference in other people’s lives. If we are struggling to take care of our house, our family, and our friends, then it might not be the right time to go out and try and take care of other people. Sir Thomas Browne said, “Charity begins at home.” Mother Theresa says, “Love begins at home.” It’s not ok to be unkind to your family and then go to church on Sunday and treat everyone else as sweet as pie. If we want to serve God first, we must get our own lives in order. Then the Lord will send us out to help others.

Next, it said, respect others. It makes me sad that we would still need to be saying this. There is such a culture of disrespect right now, and it makes me so sad. When I listen to not only my own kids but the kids at the various schools where I sub, or I read comments on social media from other adults, I am in shock at the lack of respect. If we want to serve the Lord, we need to respect all of His children, not just the ones who look like we do, believe as we do, and love as we do. God made all people, and we must respect all people, whether we agree with them or not. We are called to love our neighbors, and that begins with respect.

This next one was something I was a bit worried about when I was going through the Life in the Spirit seminar for the first time. The people who had been in the Charismatic Renewal told us to be careful what we asked for because if we asked for the Holy Spirit to use us, He would, and we might use it in some ways we didn’t expect. They said sometimes it is a wild ride when the Holy Spirit is leading. The verse above says, “Prepare your soul for the trial that will surely come.” This would also frighten me. I didn’t want to endanger myself or my family by working for the Lord. Although the enemy will indeed attack you when you are working for the Lord, you also have the Lord protecting you.

You have the Lord building you up and giving you the strength to make it through whatever the enemy is throwing at you. Sometimes, He will allow the enemy to come at you, but He will never let you face it alone. He is always right there with you, helping you withstand it. Give you what you need. It says in 1 John 4:4, “Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Yes, the enemy may come after you or your family but the Lord won’t let Him destroy them.

I feel the enemy has come after my family because He knew I wouldn’t believe His lies. He knew I had the armor of God on, and when we know who we are in the Lord’s eyes, the enemy can't hurt us. However, I do feel he has attacked my family with drug addiction, depression, anxiety, anger, and so much more. However, I know that the enemy will not win. My children will be saved, my family and my marriage will be saved. My marriage was already saved. We were so close to splitting, and the Lord came in and gave us renewed minds and hearts for one another. God can do this for you too!

We don’t have to be afraid of what the enemy might do to us or our family if we are serving the Lord, but we do have to prepare for it. We do need to be on the lookout for it so that when we see something happening to us or those around us, we can call upon the Lord to come and protect us and give us the strength to get through all that is happening.

Next, it says, “Tell your heart what to think.” I love this because our emotions are a product of the story we tell ourselves. We need to be careful of our thoughts, and this is where the enemy can gain access to our hearts. He can tell us lies, and if we believe them, they can start to turn our hearts cold. He tells us things like, “God doesn’t love you, your family doesn’t really like you, you shouldn’t forgive that person, they don’t deserve it, and so on.” We need to tell our hearts what to think. We need to remind it of how loved we are by God and those around us.

Next, it says, “Don’t go to sleep on the job.” This is a good one: when the Lord is calling us to do something, we need to do it. I was just thinking about several things I felt the Lord said I could do to increase prayer for my boys that I haven’t done yet. I feel like this line might be for me personally today, although I am sure I am not the only one who is sleeping on the job. We may think we have all the time in the world to do what God is calling us to do, and yet none of us know if we will even have tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us. Do what the Lord is asking you to do when He asks you to do it. This is a great reminder that I really needed to hear today!

I think I will finish this verse tomorrow as this is getting long, and I don’t want to rush through the rest and miss anything the Lord wants me to say. I think we all long for wisdom and so if we can get some tips and tricks from scripture to help us learn about wisdom then that is great. I wouldn’t want to rush it.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening today. Lord, you are amazing, and we are so grateful for all you do! Lord, thank you for sharing with us about wisdom. Thank you for teaching us what we need to do if we want to serve you. Help us to listen, Lord. Help us to learn to serve you better, Lord! We love you, 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! Three more days to sign up for the retreat! I look forward to meeting you here 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 April 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, “Look at the cross where once there hung a man beaten and bruised and condemned. It is now empty. It can no longer hold me. Remember that, my friends, when your cross seems too heavy for you, when your cross seems unbearable, it cannot hold you any more than it held me. Victory is ours.”

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All The Guilt And Power Of Sin Has Been Cut Away

Colossians 2:11 “Through our union with him we have experienced circumcision of heart. All of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ, the anointed one, has accomplished for us.”

I really like this verse and thought it was a great reminder for a Monday morning! Who wouldn’t want to start their week off with the reminder that all of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ, the anointed one, has accomplished for us? That is amazing. Christ is so good. He came down and died a horrible death just so that we could be free from sin and shame.

What keeps coming to my mind is, then, why do we all have so much sin and shame in our lives? This verse doesn’t say that there will no longer be any sin in this world. We are human, we are flawed, and we will continue to sin. However, this verse says that the guilt and power of sin have been cut away. The verse starts by saying that through our union with him, we have experienced circumcision of the heart. This means that our hearts have been changed. They are no longer like they once were. Before Jesus died on the cross, we had shame and guilt for our sins. Before He died on the cross, we were separated from the Lord because of our sins. After He died on the cross, we were reunited with the Lord.

The verse goes on to say that all the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ did for us. You may be looking at your own heart and seeing that you still have some guilt from past sins and may be wondering why. Why do I still have guilt when Jesus cut it away with His sacrifice? Why do I feel guilt and shame over my sins when Jesus took that guilt and shame to the cross and then to the grave with Him? The reason for this is that we need to let go of it. We need to release this guilt and believe that Jesus truly died for our sins and that His death was enough to cover our sins.

God gave us free will. He did not want to create creatures that had to love Him. If we didn’t have a choice whether or not to love Him, then it wouldn’t truly be love. He wanted us to choose freely to love Him. Some of us think that is where free will stops. We think we have the choice to love God or not, and he governs all of our behavior outside of that. This is not the case. God takes our free will seriously. This means He does not come into a situation that He is not invited into. If you want to handle everything yourself, He will let you. Not because He likes to see you suffer because He doesn’t. I am sure it breaks His heart when He has to watch us suffer when He knows it would be so easy for Him to help us. The reason He lets us do things on our own is because He doesn’t want to overstep. He doesn’t want to enter a situation He hasn’t been invited into.

Giving us free will and watching how we use it must be so hard for the Lord. I think back to when my kids were little, and they were in that stage where they wanted to do everything on their own. Watching them is painful sometimes because you know it would be so much easier to do it for them, and yet you know they want to do it by themselves. Especially when they are learning how to walk. You know they are going to fall down several times before they get the hang of it, and yet you let them because you know it is the only way they will learn to walk on their own. However, we are usually right there by their side so if they do reach out their hand we are there to grab it and help them.

This is similar to the Lord. He watches us, walks right next to us, and yet He waits patiently for us to reach out our hands and ask for help. I think this must be especially hard for Him when it comes to our guilt and shame over sin. I can imagine it breaks His heart when we allow sin to have power over us. God sent His only son to earth to die a painful death for us, and yet instead of embracing this freedom, we act as though His sacrifice wasn’t for us. We don’t believe the Lord when He says that sin has no power over us anymore.

What it really should say is that sin has no power over you anymore unless you let it. If you let guilt and shame live in your heart, then it will gain power over you. The enemy is going to try to get us to believe the lie that we should feel guilt and shame for our sins. He is going to try to get us to believe that we are unredeemable and that our sins are too bad. The enemy won’t deny that Christ died on the cross for the sins of humans, but He will try to convince us that our sins are too bad. Yes, He died for some people’s sins, but not for ours. He tries to convince us that we can never be forgiven. And unfortunately, we often buy into these lies.

I learned a saying in Encounter that I love because it is so powerful and it is so true. When you believe the lie, you empower the liar. When you believe the lies of the enemy, you give Him power over your life. When you believe that your sins weren’t counted in the ones that Jesus took to the cross, then you allow guilt and shame to creep in. You allow sin to have power over your life. This is not what God wants; this is what the enemy wants. Do you know how to fight against the lies of the enemy? You fight lies with the truth.

The truth is Jesus’s sacrifice was big enough for my sins and your sins. The truth is that God loves us whether we deserve it or not. The truth is that God wants us to be close to Him, and before Jesus came and set us free, there was always a barrier between us. The truth is right here in this verse. “Through our union with him we have experienced circumcision of heart. All of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ, the anointed one, has accomplished for us.”

If Jesus took all of the power and guilt of sin with Him to the cross, why do we still cling to it? Why do we still let it have power over our lives? Sin will always be a part of our lives, and yet, through Christ, our sins can become less and less. Through Christ, we can release all the guilt associated with our sins. We can just come to the Lord, repent for what we have done, and allow Him to forgive us. This part is the hard part, but the Bible tells us that our sins are forgiven, so we need to believe that and release them to the Lord. Whenever we start to feel sin have power in our lives, or we start to allow the guilt to creep in, we can repeat this verse and watch the enemy flee. “All the guilt and power of the sin has been cut away!”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing! Thank you so much for cutting away all of the guilt and power of our sin. Thank you for sending Jesus to take our sins to the cross. Thank you for being such a loving Father that you allow us to make our own decisions. Lord, we invite you into all aspects of our lives. We want your help. We want you to intervene. We know that your ways are higher than our ways, and we need you, Lord! We ask you to help us to release all the guilt we feel from our sins. We ask you to help us break free of any power we have given sin over our lives. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen.

Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you want to come to the retreat, you are running out of time to sign up. Just a few more days, and then I have to close registration. I hope you will join us; it is going to be an amazing time! I look forward to meeting you here 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 April 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 friends, I call you my friends, for you are my friends. Even as I train you to become my soldiers in battle.”

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Tapestry of Love

Colossians 2:2-4 “ I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we’ve been shown the mystery! I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.”

I chose this verse for today because it is sort of a continuation of yesterday’s verse. Yesterday, we talked about the secret surprise and how that secret was Jesus living within us. Today, we are talking about Jesus again. I also chose this verse because I loved the language used in it. I was going back and forth between this translation, which is the message translation, and the passion translation like I used yesterday. I think, overall, this translation explains this in a way that is easier to understand. The first sentence is the one I loved the most. Here is what is said in the passion translation, “I am contending for you that your hearts will be wrapped in the comfort of heaven and woven together into love’s fabric.” Isn’t that a beautiful image? Our hearts are wrapped up in the comfort of heaven. That is wonderful.

The message translation says, "I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God.” I loved this one, too, as picturing a tapestry of love is great imagery. It was also similar to the passion translation, which said, “woven together into love’s fabric.” So, besides nice language and fancy imagery, what does this all mean? It begins by saying that we are in touch with everything there is to know about God. So, no big deal, right? I don’t think he means that we need to actually know everything there is to know about God, as that is impossible. None of us could possibly know everything there is to know about God.

The next line clarifies this a bit. It says, “Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery.” Do you know who God is? Have you spent time in the scriptures, have you paid attention at church when they are reading the sacred Word of God? When you know who God is, you can be confident and at rest with the knowledge you have. You are confident because you know the truth. You can be confident because your eyes are focused on Jesus Christ. God has revealed this mystery to you and you are confident in this knowledge.

This verse confirms that God’s great mystery is Jesus. Just like we heard yesterday. The next line says, “All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else.” This is an important one for us to hear and remember. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in Jesus and nowhere else. This is important because we tend to look everywhere else. How many times have we looked to the world for wisdom and knowledge? How many times have we read books that have nothing to do with Jesus in search of wisdom and knowledge?

I have found in my own life that I go to the Lord if I need prayers for something. If I need a miracle to happen, a mountain to be moved, someone I love to be healed, or things to go smoothly, I turn to the Lord and pray for His help. However, when I need wisdom and knowledge, I turn to books, and my go-to is not usually scripture. I will search online for books that have to do with the topic I’m struggling with. I ask friends or family what they think I should do. I didn’t know that I could go to the Lord when I needed knowledge or wisdom. That may seem silly to you, and yet I don’t think I am the only one that didn’t know this.

It wasn’t until I went to the Encounter School of Ministry that I realized that if you needed wisdom and knowledge, you could go and sit with the Lord, and He would give it to you. What really cemented this in my mind was when I started to examine some of my favorite Saints. Saint Catherine of Sienna is a doctor of the church, and yet she did not have any formal education. She was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, and through her personal influence, thousands of people returned to the church. She did not spend time studying theology. She didn't spend time online researching all she could about the Lord and about Jesus. She went right to the source. She spent time with Jesus himself in her prayer time. She spent a long time in her room, just her and the Lord.

St Thérèse of Lisieux was unable to attend a university or engage in systematic study. She died young; nevertheless, from this day forward, she will be honored as a doctor of the Church, an outstanding recognition that raises her in the esteem of the entire Christian community far beyond any academic title. She loved Jesus; she spent time in prayer with Him. She went to the Lord to gain all the wisdom and knowledge she needed. She relied on Jesus for everything, and He, in turn, gave her everything. She died at age 24. Can you imagine contributing so much to the world in your short 24 years here on earth that you become a doctor of the church? I barely knew who I was at 24, never mind being so sure of who God was at that time.

These are just two examples of so many examples. If you look at a lot of the Saints, they weren’t necessarily the most educated people, and yet they had so much knowledge. The verse above ends with, “I’m telling you this because I don’t want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or “the Secret.” The Lord is where we can get our wisdom and knowledge. The world may try to convince us otherwise. They have plenty of things they are trying pass off to us as knowledge and wisdom. I think what this verse is telling us is that we can know if someone is leading us off on a wild goose chase if they are trying to tell us something that goes against Jesus and what He is telling us. If all knowledge and wisdom can be found in Him, then if something we learn contradicts what He is saying or what He stood for, then we know it is not the truth.

If you need more wisdom and knowledge in your life, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t, then the answer is to spend more time sitting with the Lord and ask Him to give you the answers you are looking for. I have started a journal where I just ask the Lord, what would you like to tell me about… and then I usually pick a topic to put in. For instance, I have asked Him to give me more knowledge about His love and forgiveness. I have also asked about what He wanted to tell me about the sacramental graces in a marriage. I ask the Lord what He wants to tell me, and then I just write down whatever comes to my mind. I have really enjoyed it. I invite you to give it a try. If you have unanswered questions or you wish to have more knowledge in a certain area, sit with the Lord and ask Him to help you understand it better or fill you with more knowledge in that area. I am sure you will be surprised by what you hear when you sit and listen.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we thank you for being all we need. We thank you for filling us with wisdom and knowledge. Lord, we ask for more. We ask for more wisdom and more knowledge. We ask that you help us to come to you when we are struggling and when we are searching. Lord, we ask that you help us to open our spiritual ears so that we can hear you. Help us to be open to your wisdom and your knowledge. 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. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! May the grace and favor or our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you. Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in April 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, “Move in my ways and you will grow at the speed of light. Only if you move with what I tell you will you grow. Come, my children, and I will show you my love.”

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