Walk Boldly With Jesus

Where Sin Increased, Grace Abounded All The More

Romans 5:20-21 “Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that , as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Today’s episode is one I wrote over a year and a half ago and yet goes perfect with this series on grace so I will re-read it for you today. When I read this verse this morning I knew it was the one to talk about because one of the speakers mentioned it in their talk last week at the conference and I thought he made a really good point.  I will see if I can help you see the beauty in the time we are living in.  Let me begin with the first line of this verse because I didn’t understand it.  It was one of those lines that I just want to skip over to get to the part I can explain at least a little better.  However, my commitment to you is that we will really examine these scriptures and we will gain a better understanding of what they mean.  We can not do that if I skip over the ones I don’t understand.  So, instead I decided to see what those who do Bible commentary have to say about this verse.  

The reason I don’t understand it is because it sounds like it is saying God gave us the law so that we might sin more.  Do you see why that would be confusing to me?  Why would God want us to sin more?  Figuring out what scriptures like this is really saying is why I love doing this podcast.  A few years ago, if I was reading that on my own, I probably would have just moved on, I don’t know that I would have looked it up to see what it was saying.  This is another reason I am grateful for each of you listening to this podcast.  You push me to learn and to grow because you are willing to learn and grow with me.  Thank you!

What I found out about this verse is that ever since Adam and Eve took and ate of the apple, sin came into the world.  It is not that people were sinning more, it was that they were noticing their sin more.  In this verse, Paul is not saying that God introduced the Law because He wanted to make us sin more, but that He wanted us to be more aware of our sins and the fact that we had a totally sinful nature.  We were already sinning, we just didn’t realize what we were doing was a sin.  The analogy I read said its like accusing a kid of stealing a cookie before you even tell him what stealing is.  If there is no law against taking a cookie then he is not stealing it.  However, once there is a law and once he understands it, then any cookies he takes after that is willful disobedience.  God was helping us to see all the ways we were not living how we were meant to live.  They say the first step to change is acknowledging that you need to change.  How could the Israelites be expected to change if they did not know what they were doing was wrong?  This was the point to the law, to show them their sins, not to make them sin more.

The next part of the verse above says, "but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”  This line explains to us that God didn’t just give them the law, but He gave them grace as well.  Here is a quote from an article titled, "Pastor: What the grace of God does in us” by Rev. J. Patrick Street.  I will place a link for it in the show notes (click here for article).  This is what the pastor said about grace:

“You see that the grace of God is more than salvation but also everything we need for life and godliness. The definition of grace could be “God's life, power and righteousness given to us by unmerited favor.” It is through grace that God works effective change in our hearts and lives. Grace gives us a new life which is not condemned by God. Through God's grace we are forgiven, transforming our thinking, resulting in the renewal of our mind and heart. Through grace we live the kind of life that God would like every one of His children to experience.”  The grace of god is essential for us to live the way God wants us to live.  We need God’s grace.  

One of the speakers at the conference was talking about how the world is crazy right now.  He was talking about how the devil is having a hay day with the world and that sin is running rampant.  He also said we shouldn’t be afraid because where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.  God’s grace is alive and well and is within all of us.  We received a word of prophecy almost six months ago in our prayer group and I think it fits well with what we are talking about today.  Let me read it to you:

"How often I tell you my people to listen. To listen to my word, to not harden your hearts, but to listen to my voice. How often I tell you parables, parables that compare to life, to the life you live. You look around you and you think the world has never been in worse shape than it is now. For you that is true for others that have come before you they felt the same. But the world is in the best shape it has ever been in because I was born into this world and I gave my life for each one of you and redeemed you and set you free. So do not look at the world, look at me and do not listen to the world, listen to me, to my voice. I am faithfulness itself and I am faithful from the beginning until the end of time. You have nothing to fear. You have NOTHING to fear. You have a grand and glorious God who has fought the battle and won the victory. Listen to what I tell you. Do not look at the world, look at me. Open your hearts, listen to my Word, and I give you life.

Grace is abounding today just as it has so many times before.  God knows all that will happen.  He is not surprised by any of it.  He will give us grace according to our need.  God knows what we need and when we need it.  We can trust Him to take care of us.  I think it is important to know what is going on in the world.  I think we should be walking through life with our eyes wide open, and at the same time I don’t think we need to be scared of what is coming.  God is prepared, and He is preparing us.  It can be daunting to see all the craziness that surrounds us, all the mayhem.  There is so much we could worry about and yet God is calling us not to worry.  He is calling us to trust him and to rely on His grace.  I believe the reason we are seeing so many people that God is using in miraculous ways right now is precisely because of all the evil in the world right now.  God’s grace is all around us and we just have to rely on that instead of relying on the world.  

God is telling us in the word of prophecy that He gave to my prayer group that we need to not look at the world, but look at him.  He does not want us listening to the world, but He wants us listening to His voice.  He is telling us we have nothing to FEAR, so why aren’t we listening to Him?  Why are we so fearful and anxious all the time?  Why are we so worried about the future when we know the ending to the story?  We know what happened, death was defeated, sin was defeated, the enemy was defeated.  It doesn’t matter what it looks like here on earth.  It doesn’t matter who seems to be winning.  God has already won the war and He as already defeated the enemy.  I will leave you with the Lord’s words today, “You have nothing to fear!”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this podcast today.  Lord, we know you are amazing and we know you have already won the war, so why are we so anxious and scared.  We ask you to take this anxiety from us Lord.  We ask you to fill us with your grace and help us to live the life you want us to live.  We are so grateful for the grace you have already given us and we ask you for more Lord.  Lord, we ask you to help us to see the world through your lens.  Helps us to see what you see.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you haven’t signed up for the retreat yet, please do so soon, time is running out and you don’t want to miss out on all the fun!  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are and so do I! 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, “Unbind yourselves from your past ways. Although this world may try to bind you, do not be afraid. I have unbound you from sin and death so that you may walk with me in my kingdom.”

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What Does Grace Even Mean?

Titus 2:11-12 “God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone. This same grace teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, and it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age.”

I had someone reach out to me and ask me about God’s grace. I talk about it a lot and so I thought I would take the next few days and look at what Scripture has to say about God’s grace. The verse above is a great place to start. It begins with God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person brining salvation for everyone. Jesus was God’s grace manifested in person. Jesus came to bring salvation to all of us. He died on the cross so that we would be saved. He took all of our sins, all of our shame, all that is not right and brought it to the cross with Him. He healed us from our sinful nature. He saved us from ourselves. He set us free from the hold the enemy had over us ever since sin entered this world.

He saved us and set us free and yet it is our job to walk in that freedom. How does one do that? How do we walk in our freedom? The second part of today’s verse addresses that. This same grace that brought us salvation also teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles. If Jesus was the grace that set us free then how can that same grace teach us how to live our lives? Jesus is not longer on earth. He went to be with the Father. In John 14:18 Jesus said, “I promise that I will never leave you helpless or abandon you as orphans—I will come back to you!” Then in verse 26 it says, “But when the Father sends the Spirit of Holiness, the One like me who sets you free, he will  teach you all things in my name. And he will inspire you to remember every word that I’ve told you.”

Jesus was here on earth and yet His time teaching us was not very long. He did a lot of teaching while He was here. He gave a lot of hard teachings that shaped the way we understand God and what God actually wants from us. He also did a lot of signs and wonders while he was here teaching. However, His main purpose for coming was to set us free. His main purpose was to redeem us so we no longer have to be separate from the Father. Once He did that, His job was over and He went to be with the Father. However, you can see in John 14:18 & 26 that He did not leave us alone to our own devices. He asked His Father to send the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

The Holy Spirit was sent to us to help us walk in our freedom. He was sent to us to teach us all the things that we need to know and to inspire us to remember all that Jesus taught us. I don’t know exactly how to define grace. However, I do know that the verse above says, “This same grace teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, and it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age.” I wonder if Grace is the Holy Spirit?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) defines grace as a free and undeserved gift from God that enables people to respond to God’s call to become children of God. The CCC also describes grace as a participation in the life of God. The CCC distinguishes between two types of grace. One is habitual grace: A permanent disposition to act and live in accordance with God’s call. Second is actual grace: God’s intervention, such as when someone is tempted to do something wrong, but God sends actual grace to help them choose what is right.

It sounds to me like grace is a power that God gives us to resist what is bad and to do what is right. Who doesn’t need more of that in their life? It also sounds like grace teaches us right from wrong. We don’t need to look to the world for that, as the world often teaches us the opposite of what God teaches us. Isn’t it great to know that we don’t have to remember everything on our own? Isn’t great to know that when we aren’t sure what to do, which is the right thing to do and what is the wrong thing to do then we can rely on the Holy Spirit and God’s grace to show us what to do.

I find it comforting to know that I don’t have to do the right thing in my own power. In personal development, you often hear a lot about a person’s willpower. Do they have the willpower to stick to the diet? Do they have enough willpower to keep going to the gym? It’s all about a person’s willpower. I love that it is not all up to me. I know that I am weak and if we are just relying on my power, not much will get done. Yet, we aren’t just relying on our own power. We have the power of the one who raised Jesus from the dead living inside of us. This power was given to us so that we could be taught right from wrong. This power was given to us so we could overcome our challenges, our weaknesses, and our chains.

Jesus died on the cross to redeem us. Then He sent the Holy Spirit to be with us to help us walk in that freedom. That means we are no longer captives. We are no longer slaves to sin. We, you and me, have the power to stand up to sin and say we will no longer be letting it run our lives. This is because of God’s grace. This is because God wants us to live in the freedom he sacrificed so much to achieve.

I don’t know if grace is different than the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us or not. I don’t know that it matters. I do know that grace is freely given to us by God. That means that we don’t have to earn it. We don’t have to do all the right things to get it. We don’t have to be strong or perfect to get grace. Grace is given to us freely because we need it. Grace is something you can request from God. Grace is something you can rely on. You can trust that if you need the grace, then God will give you the grace. You can also trust you already have that power living inside of you because we all have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. That is the same power Jesus had inside of Him. Next time you feel like you aren’t sure what to do, look inward and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and teach you. I simply say, “Come Holy Spirit Come.” You can also ask God for the grace to do the right thing. Next time you feel like you can’t overcome the enemy, remember about the power you have inside of you and all the grace God wants to give you and call upon it. We are no longer slaves to sin. Jesus died to set us free, lets live in that freedom!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to understand more about your grace. Help us to lean in and rely on your grace more. Help us to be ok with being weak because when we are you weak you are strong. Help us to rely on the Holy Spirit to teach us right from wrong instead of this world. Rain down your graces on us, Lord, not because we are greedy, but because we are needy! We love you and 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. Remember I am hosting a retreat from Oct. 11-13th. If you would like to join me you are running out of time to register. I have to the let the retreat house know a count of how many are attending in three weeks. There is a link below if you would like more information. I know going to new things can be scary. I promise you won’t regret going to this retreat. Also, retreats aren’t just for super holy people. There is nothing you need to know before coming on this retreat. I promise you won’t be the only person there who things they aren’t holy enough, religious enough, worthy enough to be there. Everyone is welcome and will feel right at home. CLICK HERE for retreat info.

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 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, “You must come, and once you come, and I share with you, go out and share with others. Make me known in love. I count on each one of you, my children. Do not delay to come.”

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Today’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose three testimonies from the Broken Chapter Category. We all have times in our lives when things don’t go as we thought they would. I think we have all had tragedy strike in one way or another. Some are worse than others but I don’t think anyone has had a tragedy-free life. The witnesses today are no different. They have had some truly terrible things happen and yet they are able to testify to how God was with them through it. Often, we can hear our own story in someone else’s story. When we listen to others tell their story, it helps us see that we are not alone. When we hear how God worked in their situation, it gives us hope that He will work in ours, too! I pray when you hear these testimonies, you get the faith and hope to believe that miracles can happen in your situation also. I pray you know that God is there with you, and if you invite Him into your situation, He can help.

Jasmyn: Matthew, I loved getting your letter years ago when I wrote to you! Your music is so awesome! “Me On Your Mind” touches my heart because I was in a near-death experience 2 years ago when I was hit by a car crossing the street with my long white cane since I’m blind and Jesus had me on His mind. I suffered some injuries such as a fractured pelvis, abrasions on my stomach, arms, and legs from where she dragged me on the pavement, a fractured wrist, that were non-life threatening, along with high blood pressure and fatty liver. I had to stay in the hospital for a day to make sure my injuries weren’t life-threatening. I was lying in my hospital bed asking Jesus why did this older lady decide to drive if she didn’t know how to and why me? I had anger towards this older lady for taking away part of my independence, since walking was my only thing I could do because of my visual impairment from glaucoma which means I can’t drive at all. The hospital said I had to be on bed rest and get physical therapy to strengthen my pelvis since it was fractured. I was depressed and angry at this woman for putting me in this situation because I couldn’t go anywhere according to the doctor’s orders . I felt worthless, “Great! Not only can I not drive if I want to get out of the house, now, I can’t walk around independently because I have PTSD that this will happen. Again!”

I was even asking Jesus, “why did you rescue me? I am worthless now that I can’t walk around and my family has to drive me everywhere because of this accident. What good am I now that I’m blind and physically impaired now?” But I could feel Jesus telling me, “Jasmyn, there is a reason why you didn’t die from being hit by a car, you have a mission to complete on earth which is helping children who are blind and visually impaired to be everything they’re supposed to be through me. I will use you to do this and your story of your accident to help other people in your shoes to get to know me.” I’m glad that I listened to the voice of my Lord and Savior who rescued me because He wasn’t done with me yet. I have been blessed with a new church where I volunteer with children teaching them about Jesus, I am a volunteer Braille teacher at my blind center here in Pennsylvania, I go to the gym and library to take care of my physical and mental health, and I’m in grad school studying to be a teacher for the visually impaired. Last year, my church let me share my experience with God about my accident. My speech touched a lot of hearts in church and I even had some people that were crying. I have had the opportunity to share my story with my blind center to get donations to make it better. My pastor has told me that my accident is a great opportunity to get more people to Jesus and tell people what He could do for them like He has done for me! I feel like I’m living. I feel like I’m letting Jesus use my story for His glory!

Susan: My story is a story of healing and restoration. I accepted Christ at the age of 19 and floated along until I was three days from a divorce. The Lord restored our marriage and we have been married for 35 years. He called my husband to preach and we went to seminary and have been in the ministry since 1998. We have been hurt multiple times by different church members but we have gotten back up.

My mother passed away in 2018 and that tilted my world in a way that I never could have imagined. If only I would have known that my world would totally fall off the axis when my 6 month old granddaughter was shot and killed by her own mother who then shot and killed herself. My son was on the phone with his wife when it happened. I did not see the Lord through that time but I know He was there holding my family up. I see Him in every single moment of my story and I know that no matter what He is there.

It has taken months and months of counseling and anger and tears and crying out to the Lord to get to this point but I have no doubt that He is all I need. He is my story and everything I go through is for His Glory!! Thank you Jesus!

Chloe: My story is also the story of my town. We are a small town of around 1,500. A few miles away, a small village sits. No one would have ever heard of us, unless you had a reason to hear about us. I have always had a fear of storms, although it was getting better. The evening of April 4th, 2023, I heard my parents discussing the chance of storms. I didn’t think anything of it, as I slept safely in the basement until 3:30 A.M when my family came rushing down the stairs, the dreaded alarm sound ringing. Upon further investigation, a tornado warning had been issued. A tornado had been spotted in the village, just miles from my house, and looked to be heading straight for my town. It missed us, but hit three small villages. Grassy, Scopus, and Glen Allen, MO. 5 people died, all from Glen Allen.

Jesus worked in many ways from our town, broken from this disaster. Despite the hurt, people came to Christ. My church helped to rebuild, to clean up the debris, to fix the broken villages, as well as spreading Jesus’s name. But the story isn’t done. On August 14th, 2023, the creek that runs through Glen Allen and my town flooded. Houses filled with water within inches of the ceiling fans. No one was hurt, thankfully, though there were a few close calls. Now, this mess we had just fixed was broken once more. We’re still working, 2 months later. Still praying. Still believing that God will help us through this. Despite the hardships, God has worked through these duo disasters, bringing people back to church, back to Him. We have touched lives that might have never heard Christ because of it. I have found a renewed faith because of the work that has happened because of God.

Thank you all for sharing your testimonies. When we share how God is working in our lives it helps others. It is not easy to be vulnerable and share about a time when things were so hard. We appreciate you opening up and sharing you struggles. It is really important that we all know we are not alone. Thank you!

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He Sees You As Holy, Flawless, and Restored

Colossians 1:21-22 “Even though you were once distant from him, living in the shadows of your evil thoughts and actions, he reconnected you back to himself. He released his supernatural peace to you through the sacrifice of his own body as the sin-payment on your behalf so that you would dwell in his presence. And now there is nothing between you and Father God, for he sees you as holy, flawless, and restored."

There was no way that I could read a verse like the one above and not share it with you. This is something I think God wants us all to know. We usually assume the opposite. We believe when God looks at us all He sees is our mistakes and our failures. We are sure that when He looks at us He finds us unworthy and not enough. How many times have we thought that? How often have we thought negatively about ourselves and assumed God felt the same way? We all do it. Yet this verse says something very different.

I love the word choice in this verse. First, it says, “Even though you were once distant from him, living in the the shadows of your evil thoughts and actions, He reconnected you back to himself.” I love this part because it emphasizes our role in our redemption. It doesn’t say that if we do everything right and fix our relationship with the Lord, He will welcome us back. It says He reconnected you back to himself. God does the hard part. All we need to do is say yes and let Him in.

We don’t need to fix ourselves. This is where we go wrong a lot of the time. We want to do it all on our own. We want to fix ourselves up all nice and pretty before we come to the Lord, and what He is telling us is that He already sees us all fixed up and beautiful. The verse says, “He released his supernatural peace to you through the sacrifice of his own body as the sin-payment on your behalf so that you would dwell in his presence.” Due to original sin we were no longer allowed to dwell in the Lord’s presence. Now, because of His sacrifice we are allowed to. His sacrifice made us worthy. Are we going to accept that worthiness, or are we going to continue to tell the Lord that His sacrifice wasn’t enough to make us worthy?

The last part of the verse says, “And now there is nothing between you and Father God, for he sees you as holy, flawless, and restored.” This part blows my mind. I know the Lord loves me. I know He thinks I am special. I know this because I take the time to sit and talk with Him. You could know this too if you take the time to listen to all He wants to say to you. However, reading this verse in this translation hit me in a new way.

God, the all-powerful, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, sees me as holy, flawless, and restored. Can you believe that? I imagine not. I imagine that is not what the enemy wants us to believe. He whispers lies in our ears all the time about how unworthy and not enough we are. He tells us God couldn’t possibly love us or forgive us because what we did is too bad, it’s too much. The devil is a liar. God sacrificed his only son for you! Jesus died on the cross for you! Are you telling me there is something you could have done that is too big for this sacrifice to cover?

There is a song called Flawless by Mercy me and I think the lyrics really get across what the Lord is telling us today. Here are the lyrics:

There's got to be more

Than going back and forth

From doing right to doing wrong

Cause we were taught that's who we are

Come on get in line right behind me

You along with everybody

Thinking there's worth in what you do

This is what we think. We think we need to be good enough to earn God’s love, to earn his mercy and his forgiveness. We think we need to fix ourselves. We need to clean ourselves us and get all pretty before we come to the Lord. This is hard on our own and we do good for a bit and then we mess up again. As the song says, there has to be more than this back and forth. Then the song says:

Then like a hero who takes the stage when we're

On the edge of our seats saying it's too late

Well let me introduce you to amazing grace

Amazing grace, this is what we don’t count on. This is what we many not even know a lot about. I am going to be doing a series on grace soon. I will be using scripture verses to explain what grace even is and why we should all know all about it. I love this part of the song because it reminds us that even when we think it is too late, it is never too late for God. No matter how far gone we think we are, we are never too far gone for God. There is no darkness to dark for Him. There is no place to distant for Him. Wherever you are, however far away you think you are listen to the words of the verse above, “he reconnected you back to himself.” Just call out and He will reconnect you back to Himself! The song goes on to say,

No matter the bumps

No matter the bruises

No matter the scars

Still the truth is

The cross has made

The cross has made you flawless

I know you think I don’t understand. I know you think you have too many scars and too many bumps and bruises to be redeemed. You absolutely believe that God looks at some people and sees them as “holy, flawless, and restored.” However, He knows the truth about you and that is that you are too damaged, to far gone. This is the enemy lying to you. He tells you these lies because He knows you will believe them. He tells you these lies because He knows the truth is too crazy to believe. The truth is that God loves you, scars in all. He allowed those scars so because they made you stronger. He allowed those scars because He knew he could use them to make you into the person you are today. He loves the person you are today.

He doesn’t see the damaged person you see when you look in the mirror. He sees someone who has weathered the storm and is still standing. He sees someone who has had so much trauma in his or her life and yet is still persevering. He looks at you, yes you, and sees his son or daughter whom He loves so much. This scripture verse gives us all the proof we need to see that God doesn’t see us as broken, He sees us as redeemed! The last verse of the song says:

No matter the hurt

Or how deep the wound is

No matter the pain

Still the truth is

The cross has made

The cross has made you flawless

I know this is hard to believe. It is contrary to what the world wants us to believe. The world wants us to think we have to earn everything and that we are only loved and adored when we deserve it. When we do things that earn these feelings or this respect. The enemy tells us the opposite as well because he knows it is easier to believe. He knows it doesn’t take any effort to believe we are worthless and not enough. He has convinced the world to reinforce this over and over again with the media.

However, God’s ways are not our ways. He never meant for us to be like the rest of the world. He created us to be set apart. He created us to live in this world, but not be of this world. He sacrificed His son for us and all we need to do is accept this amazing grace that He lavishes upon on. All we need to do is allow Him to come and reconnect us back to Him. I want to leave you with the verse today as it is powerful and I hope you write it down somewhere and read it often. I hope any time you start to feel like God doesn’t like you, or that He feels you are unworthy or not enough, you will read this verse and be reminded of the truth of how God really sees you!

“Even though you were once distant from him, living in the shadows of your evil thoughts and actions, he reconnected you back to himself. He released his supernatural peace to you through the sacrifice of his own body as the sin-payment on your behalf so that you would dwell in his presence. And now there is nothing between you and Father God, for he sees you as holy, flawless, and restored.”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, I ask that you help each one of them understand how loved they are by you. I ask you that you help them move this information from their head to their heart. I ask that you help us to see ourselves through your eyes. I ask that you help us to know how you really see us. I ask that you help us to understand your amazing grace more! 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 am happy to be back safely from my trip to Scotland. I am sad I had to come home without Noah, but I know this will be an amazing adventure for him! I am grateful we ran into another young man studying over there while we were at a store. They are both engineering majors and both in the same dorm, so I felt a bit better leaving. I just sent out the September newsletter with a photo of Noah and me with all the details about our trip and the various ways I can help you grow in your faith. If you are not on the list to get my newsletter you can click on the link below or email me at Catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching and I can send you that newsletter and you can stay up to date with all that is going on in my world. I want to remind everyone that the retreat is coming up soon. If you have not registered please do so as I have to give the count of how many are coming to the retreat center a week ahead of time. There is a link below for more information on the retreat as well! I look forward to bringing you a Witness tomorrow for Witness Wednesday. Remember Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day and may the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My dear children, I would love for you to see yourself as I see you. I have forgiven you. Now it's time to forgive yourselves. I have made you whole, righteous, pure, and given you dignity. See yourself as I see you, full of love, joy, compassion. See yourself as I see you.”

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Dance Like No One Is Watching

2 Samuel 6:14-16 “And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was belted with a linen ephod.  So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the horn.”

I like this verse because it shows how happy David was that the Arc was coming back home.  It says that David danced before the Lord with all of his might; and that David was belted with a linen ephod.  I am not sure how much you know about David, so let me give you a quick recap.  David is the King.  He is usually dressed as a King in splendid garments.  However, in order to bring the Arc of the Covenant back into Jerusalem David had set aside his royal robes and was “wearing a linen ephod”—a clear indication that he was not naked. The ephod David wore was a garment usually reserved for priests and those ministering before the Lord. As David led the procession of the ark into the city, he humbly laid aside his royal garments and worshiped the Lord, in ecstatic joy, as the representative of God’s “kingdom of priests.”  

There is so much in these 3 short verses.  First, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might.  When is the last time you danced in front of the Lord with all your might?  When is the last time you did anything in front of the Lord with all your might?  What amazes me is that David was the leader, he was the king and yet he humbled himself and set aside his royal robes to welcome the Arc of the Covenant back into the city.  David was the king and yet he didn’t care what others though of him.  He didn’t care that he was wearing very little clothing.  He didn’t care that he might look silly dancing around like a fool.  In fact, in a later verse one of his wives sees him leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. When he got home she called him on his behavior and he didn’t try and defend it, he didn’t feel he needed to explain himself to her, he simply said in 2 Samuel 6:21, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will make merry before the Lord.”  He is basically saying that he doesn’t care what she thinks.  The Lord has done amazing things for him, so he will praise him any way he likes.

I wonder what it would be like to have that kind of courage.  Actually I don’t think it took courage for David.  I don’t think it even occurred to him to stop and think about what others would think.  I bet his love for God was so great, he couldn’t help but be filled with joy!  I love that David was filled with joy.  I have heard it said that martyrs, those who die for the faith, don’t really have a choice.  Their faith is so strong, their love and belief is so strong that the option to stay alive as long as they denounce their faith, is not an option at all for them.  They couldn’t do it.  I think it similar with David and the way he worships.  I think his heart is over flowing with joy of the Lord and so the option to “tone down” his praise, it not really an option for him.  It is not something that would enter his mind.  I don’t think he is thinking of others at all.  I think his eyes are fixed on God and that is all he is thinking about when he is praising.

I wish this was me.  I wish I could freely praise God without worrying what the person next to me is thinking.  I wish I could just throw my hands up in the air or dance around the room without the fear of being judged.  I pray for a holy boldness all the time.  However, maybe I need to pray for a deeper faith, or a less distracted faith?  Maybe I need to pray for God to help me keep my eyes fixed on Him so I am not thinking of what others might be thinking.  It seems crazy to me that I would care more about what other people think than I would about what God thinks.  I know God would be smiling down at me if I was to let loose and just worship with a childlike  sense of abandonment.  If I know God would be smiling, why do I care what others will think?  This is my great mystery.  This is the thing I keep trying to tell myself and yet I still get nervous about what others will think.  

I am working on this and I hope to get to David’s level of praise someday.  I pray I will be able to just let the Holy Spirit lead me however He wants to.  I pray I will be able to give up that control and just follow the Spirit as He leads me in praise.  I pray I will have so much joy, like David did, that I can’t help but dance and leap for joy.  I pray I have so much joy I can’t contain it.  Sometimes I stand in the back of the church during praise and worship in my class. This way I don’t have to worry about being judged because everyone else’s eyes are straight ahead focused on Jesus.  I don’t know why I think people will judge me, I am not judging them, my eyes are fixed on Jesus too.  

The last verse says, “So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the horn.”  This is another thing I have been working on over these last few years.  I am learning to praise God out loud.  At prayer group I still use the praise sheets.  They are sheets of paper with a bunch of praise sayings on them.  When I first started going I had no idea how to praise and so these sheets were very helpful.  I still find them helpful, although I also think of them as a crutch sometimes.  I now know that Jesus talks to me.  I know how to praise Jesus and so sometimes when I use these sheets I think I am using it as a crutch instead of listening to see what praise things the Holy Spirit brings to mind.  I like all the things these sheets say and so I keep using them because I figure I am still new to praising out loud.  However, sometimes I do try to “wing it” so that I can practice doing it on my own as well.  I like both ways, but I prefer to read the sheets until I have more of them memorized.  

The thing that stands out in my mind the most about these 3 verses is the joy of David.  He was filled with so much joy it spilled out of him.  He danced so freely.  I just got a sense that the Lord was saying, “He wasn’t worried about what others thought of him because He knew who’s he is.  He knows that he belongs to the Lord God almighty and if God is pleased, then that is all that matters.  What can we do this week to be a little more childlike in our praise and worship?  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all of those listening to this episode today.  Lord we ask you to help us all to approach praise and worship in a child like manner with no fear of judgement.  We ask you to help us care more about what you think of us than what other people think of us.  We ask you to fill us with the joy that David had.  We ask you to fill us with so much joy that it spills out of us and onto others.  We love you Lord, you are amazing. You are worthy of all our praise.  You are the King of kings and Lord of lords.  We thank you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.   Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 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 judge yourself as little, broken, sinful, useless, and you are. And it's a wonderful gift because it makes you rely not on yourself but on me. For I am great and loving and powerful and present and working. I am in you. Let me do my work.”

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Matthew 10:7-8 “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.”

I saw this verse this morning and I thought it was a great verse for today.  As you can tell, from a lot of the verses I have been sharing with you lately, the class I am taking talks a lot about the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit.  I love to share this information with you because I am not sure how many of us really know or believe that the Holy Spirit is still working in a supernatural way in this world.  I am sure we all believe in the signs and wonders that occurred when Jesus walked the earth and the ones the apostles saw and did.  However, it seems most people do not believe these things are still happening today, or that they have been happening ever since Pentecost.  

Through the ages there have been times when the supernatural signs and wonders were less and less.  However, there was never a time where there were’t any signs and wonders.  If you read about the Saints you will see about the miracles they performed all throughout the ages.  I think because the Saints are attributed to a lot of the miracles that we hear about we assume that only Saints can perform miracles.  Do you want to know a secret about Saints?  They weren’t always Saints.  At one point every saint there is was just a regular human like you and me.  They didn’t always know they were going to be a Saint.  You may be on your way to Sainthood  and you might not even know it. All they knew is that they loved Jesus and wanted to do all they could to follow Him.  Do you love Jesus, if so you are well on your way!

In the verse above Jesus is telling us what we need to do. Remember the Bible is a living document, what we are reading in the Bible is just as much for us today as it was for the apostles 2000 years ago.  Jesus is telling you and me to go and proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”  People need to hear this, even today.  Today the enemy wants to fill us with worry and anxiety.  He wants us to spend our time looking around to the world and seeing what a mess it is.  He wants us to look around the world and feel like things are hopeless because that is what it looks like right now.  There is so much violence, so much hatred, so much craziness.  It is easy to get lost in worry and anxiety when we are looking at the world.  This is why we need to affix our eyes to Jesus.  He is our savior, He is our peace.  It is only when we take our eyes off of Him that we get wrapped up in worry and even fear.  

It seems more and more people are giving into fear and anxiety these days.  They are taking their eyes off of Jesus and turning them to the news, to social media and to the newspapers.  We need to be proclaiming the good news of Jesus.  We need to be helping people turn their eyes back to Jesus and what better way to do that than to show them signs and wonders.  Signs and wonders will not necessarily be enough to change the hearts towards Jesus, however, signs and wonders might get their attention and once we have their attention we can tell them all about Jesus’ love.  I think a lot of people are disillusioned with the Church these days.  They see all the division and the scandal and they think that is all the church is.  The Church is made up of people and since we are a fallen people there will always be people that don’t do as they are called to do.  This isn’t a reason to take our eyes of Jesus, if anything it should be  more of a reason to keep our eyes fixed on Him so He can help us not make those same mistakes.  

Be honest, when I mention signs and wonders, do  you instantly count yourself out?  Are you thinking the Saints could do them because they were Saints, but that isn’t something us ordinary humans can do?  Me too!  I used to think like this too.  Well, actually, if I am being honest I still have doubts, but they lessen with each step out in faith that I take.  If you are like me you don’t have doubts that God could do miracles through you, God is God, He can do anything.  However, when I start to think of God doing signs and wonders through me I think, “Why me?”  The enemy gets in my mind and he tells me God wouldn’t use me.  He tells me I am too boring, too weak, too sinful, not holy enough, not good enough and so on.  The thing is, Jesus doesn’t usually use those who are perfect.  He didn’t come to find “perfect” people to start His church.  He used 12 people who most of us wouldn’t have picked.  One of the reasons the Gospels start with the lineage of Jesus is to show us that Jesus did not come from a perfect line of people.  There were plenty of people in Jesus’ lineage that weren’t holy enough, weren’t good enough, weren’t even close to perfect by the world’s standards, and yet they were chosen out of everyone to be part of the lineage of Christ.  

Besides proclaiming the good news, Jesus is calling us to “Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons.”  This is a pretty tall order. However, Jesus is not going to call us to do something and then not equip us for the call.  John 14:12 says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”  When Jesus went to His Father, he sent us the Holy Spirit and this is the power we need to do even greater works than Jesus did.  It says in this passage “whoever believes in me” this is a tricky statement.  I say that because the faith required to do signs and wonders is not something we can manufacture on our own.  That type of faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit.  

This type of faith can be built up by reading the scriptures and seeing all the signs and wonders Jesus and the apostles performed. It can also be built up by witnessing or hearing about miracles that are happening today.  The more you witness these miracles the more your faith will be built up. This is another reason for doing Witness Wednesdays.  When you hear about how God is still working miracles today, it helps you believe it could happen in your life.  When you see it happening to regular, every day people like you and me, you start to think, “If it could happen to them, why couldn’t it happen to me.”  

There is a documentary called “Fearless” and this is what the executive producer said about the movie, “We have come to realize it is more than a movie, it is more of a movement that the Holy Spirit is using to spark an awakening among ordinary Catholics, like you and me, to be able to live their Catholic Faith in an extraordinary way, in an extraordinary, fearless way.  It has launched thousands and thousands of people on their own God adventures. You can watch this documentary for free by going to fearlessdocumentary.net (click here) You can also watch it on Youtube (click here).  I will put links for both in the show notes.  If you get a chance check it out.  

I am going to continue to talk about signs and wonders and my prayer is that something I say will be the one thing you need to hear to get you started on your journey to discovering what signs and wonders God wants to give you. God wants to call us to greater things.  No matter who you are, where you are, how old you are, God has more for you.  That will look different for each one of us, but He is calling you.  Abraham was 100 when He has Issac.  Whatever age you are, you are not too old to build the kingdom of God.  However young you are, you are not too young to build the kingdom of God.  There is young boy from Italy that was only 16 when he died and He is blessed and is being considered for sainthood.  This is the first millennial too venerated.   God can use you for His purposes, all you have to do is say yes.  I know it may feel scary to say yes to something when you don’t understand it completely, but if you say yes to the Lord, He will use you in amazing ways.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the episode today.  Lord, we are so grateful for all the sign and wonders you have done and are still doing.  We ask you to show us how you want to use us Lord.  We ask you to give us the strength to say yes to you even if we don’t understand what we are saying yes too.  We ask you to give us the courage to step out in faith and trust that we are doing what you called us to do.  Lord, if we can’t hear your call we ask that you help open our ears, our hearts and our minds to whatever you are calling us to.  We ask that you help us be open to you and your will.  Confirm our will to your will Lord.  We love you, you are amazing.  We are so grateful for all you do for us and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.  

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

 Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 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, “Know that I delight in you, my children, that I love you so very much. It's the time to grow. It's the time to take a risk. It's a time to take a leap of faith in me.”

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God Will Make A Way Where There Is No Way

John 16:33 “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”

This is something that we can all take heart in knowing. We will all face persecution, but Jesus has conquered this world.  We don’t have to worry that the persecution will be the end of us. Sometimes it feels like it will.  There are times when the persecution seems like it is too much, like we are drowning and we can’t possible come up for air.  This is when it is important to remember this verse.  The enemy will definitely try to make you feel like he is winning.  He will make you feel like you are in a losing situation and no matter what happens you can’t win.

This is actually his specialty.  He loves to make us feel like we are in a hopeless situation.  He whispers in our ear that there is no way out.  No matter what you do, you hurt someone, you lose someone, you end up getting hurt, whatever it is.  I have had several friends that have been in this type of situation lately.  When we are in those situations the enemy may be right, there is no way out that we can see.  It is those last words that I want you to focus on.  No way out that we can see.  The thing is, we don’t have to see a way out.  God can see things that we can’t see.  He can make a way where there is no way.  God is really good at making a way in times when people thought for sure there wasn’t a way.  

I am sure when the Israelites were leaving Egypt and they were being pursued by the Egyptian army they thought there was no way out.  The army was gaining on them and all they saw in front of them was the Red Sea.  There was no possible outcome that they could see where they lived.  If they tried to cross the Red Sea they would drown.  If they turned back they would be caught and surly be killed for fleeing.  It seemed like they were in an impossible situation.  However, God made a way where there was no way.  In Exodus 14:15-18  it says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.  But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground.  Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”

I am 100% sure that there wasn’t a single person in that group of people that saw that way out.  God can make a way where there is no way.  Maybe you are in a situation where you can’t see a way out, hang in there, God has a plan.  Maybe you are in a situation where there is no good choice, God will show you which to choose if you ask Him.  If you are stuck in a situation and you can’t see a way out, I urge you to read Isaiah 43.  I found Isaiah 43:15-16, “I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.  Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters,” when I was searching for a verse about God making a way where there wasn’t one.  However, when I went to the verse I decided to read the whole chapter and it is really good.  It talks about various things that the Lord has done for us over the years. Isaiah 43:19 says, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

The Bible is full of stories where God did the impossible, where He did something that no one saw coming.  Remember Daniel in the lion’s den?  Daniel continued to pray to our Lord, even when it was outlawed and so he was thrown in the Lion’s pit.  God sent and angel to keep the Lion’s mouths closed so they wouldn’t eat Daniel.  This can be found in Daniel 6.  There was also Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that refused to bow to King Nebuchadnessar’s golden statue and were thrown in the fiery furnace.  God sent an angel into the furnace to keep them from burning up.  This can be found in Daniel 3.  I am sure no-one involved in these two circumstances could have seen these two outcomes.  However, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego all had the courage to stay in the fight.  They had the courage to trust God would get them out of the situation even when they couldn’t see how.  Can we be more like this guys?  Can we keep doing the next right thing, even when we don’t see how it will all turn out?  Can we keep going when it seems like all is lost?

This bible verse reminds us that all is not lost.  Yes, the enemy might be making your life miserable, just he was with Job.  Remember Job?  He lost everything.  His crops, his animals, his children, and eventually his health.  He could not see any way forward that wasn’t filled with misery.  And yet, he stayed in the fight.  He didn’t give up on God.  If you ever feel like your life can’t get any worse and you are sure that no-one understands what you are going through, read the book of Job.  Talk with Job, he understands what you are going through.  He understands what if feels like to suffer day in and day out with no relief.  He knows what it feels like to lose everything.  He will understand.  And if you are struggling to see any light at the end of your tunnel, read the ending of the book of Job.  Spoiler Alert, Job doesn’t end up dying in his misery.  The story ends with Job receiving his wealth back several fold, having another 10 children and living for another 140 years.  The enemy doesn’t win?  Why not?  Because God has already conquered this world.  He is in charge, He is the winner.  

You may feel beaten down, but you will not be broken.  You may feel as though you have been stuck in this impossible situation for a long time and you see no way out.  Hang in there, God will make a way out.  You may even wonder if God is hearing you or if God is there with you.  He is.  He is always right there with you.  He will not always take our struggles away from us or even prevent us from our struggles and we learned yesterday why that is.  In Romans 5:3-5 we learned that our struggles produce endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope.  We need to have struggles in our lives.  This is how we grow, this is how we learn.  This is how we learn to lean into and rely on God.  Think about the really great times in your lives.  Did you feel really close to the Lord?  Did you rely on Him and thank Him for all that good that you have?  If you did, awesome!  I bet you would be in the minority.  Many times when things are good, we forget about God.  We think we don’t need to rely on Him because all is going well.  Often times we feel the closest to God when we are in a place of suffering because this is when all other comforts are stripped away and we remember to turn to Him.  If you remember nothing else from this episode today I hope you remember God can make a way where there is not way.  You are not defeated, keep going, this struggle will not overcome you!  You can do this!  You are strong with the Lord by your side.  Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, help us to know in the depths of our heart that you can make a way where there is no way.  Help us to trust that you have already conquered this world.  We will not be defeated.  When we forget help us to remember these incredible stories of those that came before us that trusted you would save them when they didn’t see a way.  Help us to not listen to the enemy who tells us that we are not strong enough, that there is no way out and that you will not save us.  Help us to only listen to you Lord.  Give every person listening to this episode a desire to read Your Word and find comfort in it.  You have done so much for us Lord and we are so grateful.  We thank you for giving us strength when we have none.  You are so wonderful.  You have done the impossible time and time again and we couldn’t be more in awe if we tried.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

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

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I am the font of life, my children. Draw closer to me and drink of my rich treasures that I give each and every day. Just the fact that you wake up is a bonus. Think of me during the day. Spend time with me. The more time you spend with me, the more you will grow.”

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Struck Down, But Not Destroyed

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

I saw this verse written on a page in my book today and thought to myself, man if there was ever a time that we needed to hear this.  The world is crazy right now.  There is so much tragedy and pain.  It seems like it all keeps coming in waves.  It is like one thing after another.  Life seemed like maybe it was beginning to calm down a bit and then all the violence in Afghanistan and now the hurricane in Louisiana.  It seems to be nonstop these days.  If you watch the news a lot you can easily get overwhelmed and scared.  I think it is important to stay inform and I also think that we need to protect ourselves at the same time.  

If you find that watching the news makes you anxious and fearful then maybe watch less of it.  You can be informed without having the news on 24 hours a day.  Remember that we are in charge of protecting our thoughts.  We get to decide what we allow to influence our mind.  There needs to be some balance between the craziness of the world and the grounding influence of God.  For instance, if you are watching an hour of the news, maybe watch an hour of something that makes you remember all is not bad.  Maybe listen to a podcast or read a spiritual book.  

Anyway, back to this scripture.  It does seem right now like we are “hard pressed on every side.”  It seems like bad things are coming at us from all sides.  Like in those movies when the walls start closing in and the room gets smaller and smaller.  Life can often feel like that.  It can be hard to breathe sometimes because we feel squeezed on all sides.  It is important to remember when we feel like this that although we feel pressed, we are not crushed.  We are still here, the trouble has not gotten the better of us.  God will not let that happen.  He may let us fall down with the weight of it all, but he will not let is crush us and he will be there to pick us back up again if we do fall.  

The next part says perplexed, but not in despair.  I don’t think there is a single person in the world, or at least in this country that is not perplexed right now.  Trying to understand what is going on in the world right now leaves us all confused.  A global pandemic, how does that happen?  Why does that happen?  All the systemic racism in this country, how did we let that happen?  How do we begin to change it?  Why all the natural disasters, the wild fires, the hurricanes & earthquakes, the flooding?  What is going on in this world?  Although this is all very confusing, hopefully we are not in despair.  

What is despair?  Despair is the complete loss or absence of hope.  I can see how it could be easy these days to fall into despair.  I could see how many could be starting to question if we have hope.  What about the people that are in Louisiana right now.  The last two years have been awful for everyone and I feel as though our country was just starting to come back to life a little.  People seemed to be looking towards the future with a little more light and hope.  Then this hurricane comes and devastates so many people.  Or what about those that have lost people in Afghanistan, or what about the refugees of Afghanistan.  It is easy to understand why people might be falling into despair. We must fight these feelings of despair.  Yes, times are incredibly hard right now.  Yes it seems like it is coming at us from all angles and we can’t seem to catch a break.  But there is always hope.  If God brought you to it, He will bring you through it.  

The last part of the verse says persecuted but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  Is this how you are feeling?  Are you feeling persecuted?  I know many in this country are feeling this right now.  If this is you, know that you are not abandoned.  God never leaves your side.  He is there with you even when you are feeling persecuted.  God actually told us in the bible that we would be persecuted.  Matthew 5:10-12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  God is there with you through this all and He even states that your reward is great in heaven.  

If you are feeling struck down right now, know that God will not let this situation destroy you.  It may feel like you are destroyed, but God won’t let that happen.  You may be down, but you are not down for the count.  God will help you get back on your feet again.  Trust that He is there for you and lean into Him when you feel like you don’t have the strength to do it on your own.  He is strong.  He can handle the weight of your problems.  Sometimes we don’t have to lean on God because we feel like He is too busy or because we don’t want to bother Him.  He is your heavenly Father, He would like nothing more than for you to “bother Him” with your problems.  He is up there just waiting for you to do just that.  

You may be thinking to yourself, that all sounds well and good, but you don’t know my situation.  You don’t know what I have been through, or what I am going through.  How can I not be in despair when I have lost someone, or I have lost my home, my job, my health, etc.  You would be right.  I don’t know your situation.  I don’t know what you are feeling.  I do understand how easy it is to fall into despair and lose hope that things will change.  I can tell you a few things I did to keep myself from despair when things seemed really bad.  Hopefully you will find something useful in these ideas to either keep you from despair, or help you climb out of it if you already find yourself in despair.  

First, I prayed a lot.  I kept a journal and I wrote to God a lot telling Him all the things I was thinking, wondering, praying for, wishing for, all the things.  

Second, I listened to praise music that reminded me of God’s promises and that He is always there for me.  It was uplifting praise music that would lift my spirits when I was sad.

Third, I didn’t dwell on the situation.  I did not spend a lot of time thinking about what may or may not happen in the future.  I dealt with the immediate problem at hand and tried to plan for what may come up but I did not focus on all the ways things could go wrong.  There is always time to deal with that if it happens.  Although, most of what we worry about never happens.  Even if it seems like you know where the situation is headed, things may change.  So much can happen in a short amount of time.  I did not try to predict the future.  

The fourth thing I did was to study scripture and I was reminded about all the things the people in the Bible went through and how God was always there for them.  If He did it for them He will do it for me.  After all, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” Hebrews 13:8. 

The last thing I did was I chose to be hopeful.  I don’t think hope is just something that you either have or you don’t have.  I think Hope is a choice.  Actually at our prayer group we were giving a word that said just that.  I think I will leave you with these words from our Heavenly Father.  "Trust in Me, do not be afraid. You must choose to hope and trust in Me. It is a choice, it is not a feeling. When darkness comes choose hope, love, and trust. Choose me.

Dear Heavenly Father I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord we ask that you bless everyone that is struggling right now. Lord we ask you to help us know that we may be persecuted but we are not abandoned.  We may be stuck down but we are not destroyed.  Lord Jesus, please keep us from despair.  When darkness comes help us to choose you Lord Jesus. Help us to choose hope and love and trust. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Help us to feel that strength Lord.  Help us to not feel defeated.  Lord we pray for all those affected by the natural disasters going on in the world right now.  We also pray for those in war torn countries.  Lord our world is hurting and we need your help.  We thank you for all that you are doing for us Lord.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 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 beloved children, let me transform your minds. Let me change your ways of thinking. I am pouring into your minds my graces. As I do, your minds will start shifting from old ways of thinking to new ways of thinking.”

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The Tree House

2 Corinthians 1:20 “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”

All God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “yes!”  How great is that? All God’s promises have been fulfilled.  There is not one thing that God promised that He has not followed through on.  That is amazing.  I wish I could say the same.  There is a house down the street from us that just got renovated.  The new owners built a whole new second floor to this house.  They also did a lot of renovations on the outside of the house and in the yard.  One thing they built in the yard is a beautiful tree house.  It looks so awesome and even has a climbing wall on one side so if they didn’t want to take the stairs, they could take the more difficult way up.  

I feel like life is like this.  I feel like God provides us the stairs to make it to the top, but often times we choose the climbing wall.  We could choose the path that was pretty well laid out for us where we just need to put one foot in front of the other and climb one step at a time.  We know the next right step and we continue to take each step until we reach the end.  However, sometimes we choose the difficult path.  Sometimes we choose the climbing wall.  We chose the path where we don’t know what the next step is.  We need to feel our way through and look for where each new step is. We can’t find the next step until we take the first step.  And depending on where we step, we will have limited options for our next step.  

The reason I thought of this tree house when the reading was talking about promises is because we told our middle son, Noah, that we would help him build a tree house.  And yet that never happened?  Has this ever happened to you?  Have you ever told someone, promised someone, that you would do something, and then not done it.  It is an awful feeling to not keep a promise and to let someone down.  I am not sure why it never got done.  I am sure I can find a whole list of excuses.  However, none of them make me feel better when I see the beautiful tree house this family built.  

Regret is a terrible feeling.  I am definitely not a fan.  It is definitely an opening for the enemy to get in and destroy some people.  I have seen it numerous time on TV and movies.  Can you think of anyone you know that just can’t let go of something that happened in the past?  Sometimes we can get stuck on something in our past and we let it bother us for far too long.  I am not saying we shouldn’t feel bad if we broke a promise to someone.  I wish we were like God and we could keep every promise that we make.  Unfortunately, we are a broken people and so occasionally, we will break promises.  

What is important is what we do after we break a promise.  Do we repent and ask the person for forgiveness?  Do we forget about everything and start over again?  Do we pretend it never happened and just move on?  What is the right protocol in this scenario?  I would say we should go back to the golden rule.  How would you like someone to act towards you in this scenario.  I think repentance is important.  Tell the person you are sorry you did not follow through with the action you promised you would do.  Try to make it up to them in some way.  If you can’t make it up to them then apologize and move forward from there.

What is not a good idea in this situation is to sit and think about what you did over and over again.  Regret is not good because it eats away at you slowly from the inside.  I read a book once called Miracle Mornings.  It is a book by Hal Elrod.  It is an excellent read in case you have not heard of it before.  It is a book about how to start a really helpful morning routine.  Anyway, the author talks about a 5 minute rule that I feel could be really helpful here.  He used to see Cutco knives.  He would get really upset when someone would cancel their appointment with him because he worked off commission.  His boss told him about the 5 minute rule.  This is a way to not get stuck in the negative feelings.  He said when something upsets you take a minute and think about whether or not you can change the thing that just happened?  For instance, someone calls up to cancel and appointment with you at the last minute.  Can you change the fact that this customer canceled?  No.  In this case, where there is nothing that you can do to change it, you set a timer for 5 minutes and that is how long you allow yourself to be upset.  You have 5 minutes to yell, scream, cry, etc and then you need to move on.  

Hal found this 5 minute rule to be very helpful in his life.  At first he said it took longer than 5 minutes.  He said after 5 minutes if you still can’t let the emotions go, set the timer for another 5 minutes.  Eventually you will train yourself to let things go sooner.  If there is nothing you can do about a situation then there is no reason to keep dwelling on it.

This is what the enemy wants.  He wants us to dwell on what is going wrong in our lives.  He wants to keep us in a state of unhappiness.  Unhappiness with who we are and what is going wrong.  When we are thinking about all that is going wrong, then we are not praising God for all that is going right.  When we are focusing all our energy on what we did  and who we let down then our focus is inward on ourselves instead of our focus being on God, which is a much better place for our focus.  The next time you are regretting something you did or did not do, take a minute and think about the 5 minute rule.  Can you change the situation?  If not, give yourself some time to be upset and then move on.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I know you love us and don’t hold our mistakes against us.  Lord, I ask that you help us to forgive ourselves.  Why is it that we can forgive others more quickly than we can forgive ourselves.  Lord, we ask that you teach us to not regret past mistakes.  We ask that you help us learn any lessons we need to learn from it and then move forward.  Father, we ask that you help anyone that is suffering from regret right now.  We ask that you free them from this feeling.  Lord, we know the enemy is looking for any way to get into our lives and we don’t want to give him an open door.  Close all doors of regret and cover us in your protection oh Lord.  Lord we thank you for being so amazing and wonderful.  You are the God of all things and we are nothing without you.  Living a life without regret is not easy, but we know it is possible because all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us.  We love you Lord and we ask all these things in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 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 take you in my arms as a father caresses his child. I find so much joy just being near you. I whisper in your ear, I love you.”

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