Walk Boldly With Jesus

Do We Trust Jesus?

Luke 5:4-5 “And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word, I will let down the nets.”

I like this verse because it reminds me that I am not the only one who argues with the Lord. I am not the only one with a reply other than “Yes” when Jesus asks me to do something.  Simon had been out fishing all night and had not caught any fish. He was tired and, I am sure, very discouraged. Then Jesus asked him to push his boat back into the sea a bit so that Jesus could stand on it and talk to all those on the shore. Simon did so.

Then, after Jesus had finished teaching those on the shore, He told Simon to go out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch. Can you imagine how frustrated Simon felt and how tired he probably was? He was washing his nets out to call it a day when Jesus climbed on His boat, and who knows how long Jesus preached before telling Simon to go out into the deep. Then He tells Simon to put his net out into the water again. Jesus is a carpenter, and Simon is a fisherman. I am sure He didn’t understand why He should do what this man said, and yet He did it anyway and yielded more fish than their nets could hold, and the nets began to break. There were so many fish that they filled both boats so full that the boats began to sink.

Have you ever been in a situation like this before? Have you ever felt like God or Jesus was asking you to do something you really didn’t want to? There could be many reasons why we don’t want to do what He asks us to do. Simon was tired and frustrated. He might have also felt that his efforts were in vain. But despite all these, he obeyed. This story reminds us that even when we are tired, frustrated, or feel like our efforts are in vain, we should still obey God's word, for He has a plan that we might not understand.

In this verse, the Lord knew that if Peter obeyed him, he would catch more fish than He could have imagined. God knows the same thing about you and me. He knows that if we obey Him, he will provide more than we need, whether in our jobs, families, or friends. Where is God calling you?  What has He been asking you to do, and yet you have been ignoring Him because you have tried it before many times, and so you figure it won’t work this time either? What areas of your life are you desperate to see change?

In this verse, Peter is desperate to catch some fish and has tried all night with no luck. When he listened to the Lord and then saw how many fish they caught, he finally recognized Jesus for who he really was. Peter recognized Jesus as Lord. It says in verse 8, “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Has Jesus ever helped you come face to face with your sinfulness? Has He ever answered one of your prayers in a way that there was no question it was God who answered that prayer?

I have had this happen many times. I am grateful to my parents because they told us about times in their lives when this happened to them, and so I began to be aware of when it was happening in my life, too. We miss so much when we are not looking for it. When you intentionally try to see God working in your life, you will see God working in your life. Notice I didn’t say you might see God. I am 100% confident that you will see it if you intentionally look for where God is working in your life. This is the main reason why I do Witness Wednesdays on this podcast. If you hear how God works in other people’s lives, you will become more aware of how He works in your life, too!

I can see how God worked his miracles in my son Noah’s surgery and recovery. Actually, how we even discovered he needed surgery. Noah was having headaches, and they were treating them with medicine, and that wasn’t really working. The neurologist ordered an MRI to ensure it wasn’t too serious. If she hadn’t ordered the MRI, she would have never found out that he had a Chiari malformation. You can only see them on an MRI. Then we were supposed to have surgery at a hospital that was an hour and 40 minutes away from our house. The surgeon could not get Noah on his surgical calendar until July. Noah wants to go to college in Europe at the end of the summer.

We asked if they could put in a referral for Mass General Hospital, as it is less than an hour's drive. They put in the referral, and after we got the records transferred, they set up a pairing with a surgeon who does both pediatric and adult surgeries. They were able to get him scheduled within a few weeks. Also, they scheduled him for after spring break, so I was able to take Noah to England to look at some colleges. It was amazing timing that only God could have arranged.

Then, on the day of the surgery, Noah had an awesome nurse who happened to be his birthday twin. She was so kind and distracted him from thinking about the surgery. The surgeon said it was an excellent surgery, and he thinks Noah will be very pleased with it. Noah was in the hospital for four days and was not really in much pain at all. He could walk the halls, get up and use the restroom, talk to the nurses. He thought he would be in bed for the first week or two when he came home. But he has felt great. He has had to sleep more than he wanted also, yet he was happy he was able to sit up in his computer chair for long periods of time without pain. He said he felt much better than he thought he would and that he is glad they did the surgery as he can feel that there is more room in the back of his head now.

Praise God—He is so good. He not only helped arrange the surgery, the timing, and the doctor, but He also ensured a successful surgery and a painless and speedy recovery—just what we prayed for! I don’t know what you are praying for or what you are waiting for. Whatever it is, I want you to know that God knows what it is, and He is working on it for you. He is figuring out how to get that for you in His perfect timing and also in accordance with your plans as well.

God knew that Peter needed fish that day. He knew he was discouraged, tired, and probably angry. God cared about Peter’s needs and Peter’s wants. This miracle happened for two reasons. First, God cared about Peter and his needs and wants. Second, Peter let down the nets. Peter said yes. He didn’t understand why he was doing it. He didn’t know what Jesus knew. He did it because Jesus asked Him to, and because of that obedience, Jesus made it fruitful.

What is Jesus calling you to do? Has He given you the answer to your problem, and yet you are afraid to let down your net? What if the answer to your prayers is on the other side of your obedience to do what Jesus is telling you to do? What if the thing getting in the way of you catching all the fish is your reluctance to obey Jesus? What if you took that step today and did what He has asked you to do? What could you catch in your net?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, please show us what things you are calling us to do and then give us the grace to accomplish them. Help give us the courage to take that step of faith, trusting that you will fill our nets. We love you, Lord, and we are sorry for not doing as you ask. You are Lord of Lords and King of Kings, 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. Week 2 of our “Come as You Are” mentoring series is tomorrow. Last week, we looked at several scriptures showing that Jesus does not want perfection before He wants us to come to Him. He wants us to come to him just as we are. If you join mentoring today or tomorrow, you can join us for Week 2 of this series, and you will also get a link to watch previous mentoring sessions as well. I hope you will join us today! We had a great discussion after the mentoring session last week. 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 June 2023 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “My children, when you are full of worry and fear, come to me. Give me your hand in trust, and I will help you. All your cares that you give to me I take care of in my time, not your time.”

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Invite God Into Your Heart

Psalm 24:7-8 "Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors! That the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of Glory?  The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!”

Psalm 24 was given at Prayer Group last night. Then, afterward, someone gets a word or prophecy that goes along with it. The word of prophecy is, “The Lord was just saying, yes, He is the King of Glory, and He deserves all the praise, all the honor, adoration, all the worship, all the fanfare that we would give in worship. But that He desires something even a little more than that. And what He desires is that He wants each of us to invite Him to be the King that sits on the throne of our hearts.” Psalm 24 came at the beginning of the meeting, and this Word came a bit later. I honestly didn’t put the two together.

One of our other members confirmed this Word and said she didn't quite get those exact words, but she had a real feeling about that individual invitation to the Lord into our hearts. If the Lord takes the time to tell us the same message through three different people, we should probably pay attention to that message. The message the Lord wants us to hear is that we need to open the doors of our hearts and invite Him in. The Lord is a gentleman who will not come unless you invite him.

In my Encounter Ministries Class, we looked at this method of evangelization called Jesus at the Door. There is a picture of Jesus at the door, and yet there is only a door knob on the inside of the door. Jesus can not come through the door unless you open it. There is a heart around the picture. When we show it to people, we tell them that Jesus is knocking on the door to their hearts. We ask if they want to invite Jesus in. That image is really powerful, and it is also very anointed. Many people have accepted Jesus into their lives just by looking at this picture and answering the few other questions that are asked with the picture.

One thing we ask them to do after they see the picture is to imagine they have a backpack on their back. Now we tell them to imagine the backpack is filled with their sins. Would it be heavy? Most of us can say yes to that question. Then we asked them to imagine they owed the bank $100,000. What would happen if we gave them a check for $100,000 and they took it to the bank and deposited it? Their debt would be gone, right? This is what Jesus did with our backpack full of sins. He paid the price. He wrote a check out for our sins and signed it with His blood. Our sins have been forgiven, and we are no longer in debt.

Isn’t that an incredible way to explain how our sins are forgiven? Jesus paid our debt for us. He took our sins to the cross with Him. So, why are we so afraid to come to Jesus and invite Him into our hearts? We were talking about this yesterday at prayer group, and we said that sometimes we don’t want to invite Jesus into our hearts because we know that Jesus will call us to live our lives differently, and we may not be ready to do so.

If this is you, or if you know someone who might be struggling with this, you can take heart and remember St. Augustine of Hippa. He was an amazing Saint. He was also infamously known for saying, “Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet!” This infamous prayer of the young Augustine of Hippo (354-430) reflects the inner conflict of any soul who recognizes the virtuous thing to do yet fears the demanding struggle against human urges and passions.

The first step is to invite the Lord into our hearts. He will take care of the rest. God is gentle with us, and He will not instantly expect a 180-degree change from you. Or, if He does, He will give you the grace and the power to do it. Look at Saul from the Bible. One day he was headed to a town to round up any Christians and put them in jail. Then he encounters Jesus, is blind for a few days, and completely transforms. He is a completely different person. His name was even changed. I don’t think this is the way that it works for most of us, though.

Most of us struggle with the temptations of this world. We know what we should do, yet we don’t. God understands this. He knows that we get caught up in the wrong things and make the wrong choice more than the right one. He understands this, yet He calls us to invite Him into this struggle. He is calling us to invite Him into our hearts.

Last week for mentoring, I was studying what scripture says regarding coming to the Lord as we are and not feeling that we need to change before we can come to God. This is what I talked about yesterday in the devotional as well. One scripture verse I found goes well with this idea that we want to follow Jesus, but we don’t want to stop doing everything we want. Jeremiah 13:23 says, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.” What the Lord revealed to me when I heard this verse is, why would we think we could change without Him? In other words, we think we will wait until we want to give up our current lifestyle until we invite God in, and God is saying, you will need my help to give up that lifestyle. You will need my help to stop drinking. You will need my help to stop sleeping around. You will need my help to be a better mom or dad. Whatever it is you think you need to change before you invite God in, He is saying, it will go quicker if you invite me in first. You don’t need to change on your own. I can help you. I can give you the strength you need. I can be there for you.

The verse above says, "Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors! That the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of Glory?  The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!” The Lord is calling us to open the gates, the ancient doors we have closed in our hearts, and invite the King of Glory in. Who is this king of glory? He is the Lord. He is strong and mighty. He is mighty in Battle. God can help you fight your battles. He is not expecting you to invite Him into your life, and you instantly become a Saint who never does anything wrong. God knows us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He isn’t expecting more from us than we can give Him. We are the ones who put crazy expectations on ourselves, not God. He wants us to come as we are and invite Him into the mess that is our life. Can we invite Him in today?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each one of us listening to this today. Lord, I know so many people who are afraid to invite you in. So many who know you and yet haven’t invited you into their hearts and lives. Lord, please help them trust you. Please give them an encounter with you that changes their lives as you did for Saul. Lord, so many of us think we have invited you in; we walk with you every day, and yet we still have secret places that we haven’t invited you into. Help us to invite you in Lord. Help us to see those places and those situations that we haven’t invited you into, and then give us the courage to invite you into them. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name; amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If this podcast has blessed your life in some way, would you consider making a donation? There is a link below in the show notes, or you can also go to my website, Walkboldlywithjesus.com. I appreciate you and your faithfulness in listening to this podcast. I look forward to seeing you 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 January 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is “I ask you, bring them (your roots of brokenness) to me, so that my faith in you will grow, and people will see, not only hear, but see. You have more to do for me, but I want you whole. Come, ask, and we will grow closer and closer. I need my only strong part of my army. You are the captains that will show up. Give me more of you, and allow me to heal more of you.”

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Truth Be Told

Luke 5:30-32 “But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

The theme for my Tuesday night mentoring group is “Come As You Are.” I chose this because too many of us feel we aren’t worthy to come to God as we are. We think we need to get it all together before we come to God. We think we need to clean up our lives and then we can come to God. I can see why we would think this because that is what society tells us. That is what it looks like on Social media. It looks like everyone else has it all together, so we need to get it together before we are good enough to ask God for anything. We can’t attend mass or church service because our kids don’t behave, or we don't have the right clothes, or because we make bad choices.

I love a song called Truth Be Told by Matthew West. Let me read you some of the lyrics because I wish we all knew the truth.

Lie number one you're supposed to have it all together

And when they ask how you're doing

Just smile and tell them, "Never better"

Lie number 2 everybody's life is perfect except yours

So keep your messes and your wounds

And your secrets safe with you behind closed doors

Truth be told

The truth is rarely told, now

I say I'm fine, yeah I'm fine oh I'm fine, hey I'm fine but I'm not I'm broken

And when it's out of control I say it's under control but it's not And you know it

I don't know why it's so hard to admit it

When being honest is the only way to fix it

There's no failure, no fall

There's no sin you don't already know

So let the truth be told

How true is this song. We think that we need to keep it all together because everyone else is keeping it all together, but that’s the thing, they aren’t keeping it together either. We are all just pretending. I love it when it says, There is no failure, no fall, there’s no sin you don’t already know. Why do we think we need to keep our mess from God when He already knows about all of it? There isn’t anything we can keep from Him, so why are we so ashamed to admit it? The song goes on to say…

There's a sign on the door, says, "Come as you are" but I doubt it

'Cause if we lived like it was true, every Sunday morning pew would be crowded

But didn't you say the church should look more like a hospital

A safe place for the sick, the sinner and the scarred and the prodigals

Like me. Well truth be told The truth is rarely told

This is where Matthew West reminds us what Jesus said in the verse above. Not what the world says, but what Jesus says. Come as you are. Imagine how filled churches would be if everyone knew they could truly come as they were. If we all knew that God wants us, even when we don’t have the right clothes or did the wrong thing. Even when we yelled at our kids or our spouse, even when we stayed out too late drinking, God wants us just as we are. No matter what it is, you can come to the Lord. The songs ends with…

Can I really stand here unashamed, Knowin' that your love for me won't change?

Oh God if that's really true Then let the truth be told

This is the truth that I wish everyone knew. The truth that God loves us completely and fully before we are even born and that love never changes. It doesn’t matter what we do or even what we don’t do. He still loves us the same. We can do nothing to make Him love us more or less than he already does.

When we see how the world sees us, we think God is the same. We think that we're not worthy of his love until we get it all together.

However, in the verse above Jesus tells us something different. God sent Jesus to die on the cross for us while we were still sinning. If you want to know how much God loves you, it says in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Hear that again while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

This is how God demonstrates his love for us. This one statement shows us that we don't have to be perfect to come to God. Jesus didn’t wait for us to have our lives together before he died on the cross for us, so why should we wait until we figure things out to come to Him?

The verse above says that those who are well have no need of a physician. Those who are righteous, those who are not sinning, those who are praying perfectly, and those who are getting it all right have no need for Jesus.

Jesus died for us, for you, and me, and he did it strictly because he loved us. He did it because the Lord wanted us to come to him. The Lord didn't want anything to be in between us. When Adam and Eve sinned, there had to be a separation, and God hated that. He hated that we couldn't be with him.

He hated that they brought this upon themselves and wanted to redeem them. God could have done that in any number of ways, and the way he chose to do it was to become human and to take all of our sins upon himself, and when he did that, when Jesus died on the cross, the veil between us and God was broken, and that means we don't have to be perfect to come to God. We don't have to get it right before we come to God. We can come to God just as we are, and God loves us just as we are.

If we look through the scriptures, we will find God repeatedly telling us that we don’t have to have it all together to come to Him. He is calling us to come to Him just as we are, in our brokenness and woundedness, and He can fix us and heal us. When we look at the people that Jesus was drawn to in the Bible, it wasn’t the most religious people or the people who were doing everything right. It was the tax collectors and the sinners. If Jesus can use those he chose to use in the Bible to do amazing things, then we can come to God and lay our problems at His feet, and He will help us. All He wants is for us to invite Him into our mess. Will you invite God in today? Even in the mess?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening to this today. Lord, we are sorry we don’t come to you more often. We are sorry we let our shame and our guilt put up a wall between us. Lord, we invite you into our mess right now. We invite you to sit with us in the mess and help us clean up our mess. Lord, we want to be with you, and we want to come to you. Please help us. Show us how you think of us instead of how the world thinks of us. Lord, we ask you to take away our shame and our guilt. We ask you to remove anything that is getting in the way of us coming to you. We love you so much, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If this podcast has been blessing your life, would you consider making a donation to my ministry? Click Here to donate. I have placed several links in the footer of the show notes. One of them is to make a donation. Please pray about it, and if you are led to make a donation, I would really appreciate it. 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 January 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or these words or would like to join our group, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is “Do you know that you were born for this time? Do you know that you are the first of many? Do you know that everything I do is for you, for the kingdom? Do you know how much more I'm going to do from the tip of your toe to the top of your head so that I can use all those little roots that are your brokenness?"

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We have all seen God working in our lives. However, we might not all be aware it is God working in our lives.  This is why it is so important we start talking about it more.  The more we share our experiences, the more people understand how God works and how much He truly loves us.  If you would be willing to share any experience of how God has worked or is working in your life, please email me at [email protected] or click here.  It won’t take up much of your time, and your story could be just the story that someone needs to hear today.  Prayerfully consider sharing.  Everyone has a story, and the world needs to hear them.

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

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God Will Give You The Words

Luke 21:13-15 “This will be a time for you to bear testimony.  Settle it, therefore, in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”

I like this verse because it assures us that we don’t have to have all the right answers. The verse right before this one says, “But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake.” People will persecute you. People you love will question your beliefs. Sometimes the people that give us the hardest time are those in our family. I have many friends who feel persecuted by their loved ones.

We expect our family to be loving and to treat us with respect. We expect that even if they disagree, they will still be kind and loving to us, and yet that is not what many people experience. Sometimes, our family members think they are doing us a favor. They think if they give us the cold, hard truth maybe we will forget our foolish ways and realize they were right. Sometimes they are just not kind people. We live in a broken world, and so just because someone is family doesn’t mean it is guaranteed that they will treat you well.

Right after the verse above it says, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.” The Bible even tells us that some of our loved ones won’t understand. It says we will be betrayed by them. Most of the time our loved ones are not trying to hurt us. They do love us and they are doing what they think is best for us. They think they are saving us from delusional thinking, or false hope, or whatever else they are telling us. They think they know what is best.

The verse above is telling us that we don’t have to know what to say to our family members and those who persecute us. The verse tells us that the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say. The verse says, “This will be a time for you to bear testimony.  Settle it, therefore, in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.” Have you ever tried to defend your beliefs on your own without asking for the Lord to give you the words? How did that work out for you? I always seem to get drawn into an argument and end up getting upset. However, when I stop and ask the Lord to give me the words to say, things always go better.

God is telling us that we don’t have to spend time planning out what we will say to this person or that person. We don’t have to spend time figuring out what we will say when our brother asks about this aspect of the church or when our sister asks us why we believe Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. When our friend asks why we don’t believe we are saved or why we believe in purgatory. Or whatever it is that your family and friends always ask you about. We don’t have to plan our responses. What we need to do is to invite the Holy Spirit into our responses. When we are asked a question that we would normally get defensive about, we can ask the Holy Spirit to come and put the right words in our mouths. The words you use with your sister might not be the same words you would use with your brother or your friend.

I love where it says in the verse, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.” How amazing would that be? How great would it be to talk with someone and have them not be able to contradict what you have to say? Most of the time, it is a back-and-forth, never-ending conversation where we each say the same thing over and over again, and neither one of us sees where the other person is coming from.  I have had so many conversations like that with my boys. Conversations when they contradict everything I say. It would be great to have the words that they can’t contradict.

It’s interesting that the first line in the verse says, “This will be a time for you to bear testimony.” There was a speaker at one of my Encounter Ministry classes. She said one thing people can’t contradict is your testimony. If you experienced something, they can’t tell you that you didn’t. You are not saying it is true for everyone. You are saying what is true for you. When you are talking about Jesus you can tell people what He has done in your life. What He means to you? What He has done for you? They can’t contradict these things because they are your experiences.

The other important thing the verse said that I don’t think we realize is that God can give us wisdom. God can reveal things to us that we would have no other way of knowing. I remember a speaker who came to another one of my classes at Encounter said that someone asked him once where he got his PhD because he knew so much about the topic he was talking about. Most of the knowledge he had came from the Lord. He gave us a tip that has stuck with me, and I would like to do it more often. This speaker told us to ask the Lord, before we go to bed, to give us wisdom about whatever topics we would like more wisdom. He said the Lord can use our sleep to give us that wisdom.

There have been so many Saints who have spoken so profoundly about the church and yet did not go to school to study. St. Catherine of Sienna is a doctor of the church, yet she received very little education. You do not have to be well-educated to learn more about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. You do need a desire to learn more, and you need to spend time with the Lord. You need to ask Him for what you want and then accept the information that He gives you. The Lord tells us in the verse above we don’t have to figure out what we will say, He will give us the words and the wisdom. We can rely on that promise. The next time you are confronted about your beliefs or about anything really, stop and invite the Holy Spirit into that conversation. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words to say, and then speak the words you are given.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we thank you for giving us the words to say when confronted or persecuted. We thank you for the wisdom you give us. Lord, we ask for more wisdom. We ask that you fill us with wisdom so we can go out and proclaim the good news to all we meet. We thank you that we don’t have to have the right words to say. We thank you that you are always equipping us for each and every situation that we find ourselves in. 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. The theme or topic for this month’s mentoring is “Come as you are.” Too many of us don’t know that God loves us just as we are. He is not waiting for us to become perfect before he will love us. He does not want us to get our acts together before we come to Him. He loves us completely, just as we are. He waits with open arms for us to come to him just as we are. This can be really hard for us to believe. The concept of unconditional love and unconditional forgiveness can be really hard to wrap our heads around, especially if we have never experienced it before. This is why I am taking this whole month to explore this topic. My prayer is that by the end of this month, you will know how much God loves you, and you will feel confident coming to Him just as you are. 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 January 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words, please email [email protected].  Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Decree and declare boldly now. For the heavens are open, truth is coming, and truth is coming big. Keep on decreeing. Keep on declaring. I hear your voice. I am answering your call. The Holy Seraphim are all around you. Decree and declare boldly. For truth and justice to come now.”

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Grace Empowerment 101 Devotionals

Today’s episode will be a bit different. My friend and fellow Toastmaster has just published a book titled Grace Empowerment 101 Devotionals. You can find this book on Amazon, and I will place a link in the show notes if you would like to purchase it. I met Marina through The New Life Toastmasters Group. She started this Toastmasters group over 10 years ago, and I am so thankful for it, as I learned so much from it.

For those of you who don’t know, Toastmasters is an organization that trains people to do public speaking—or any kind of speaking. It is also really good for people who need to learn to communicate better at work or learn to be more calm giving work presentations. Marina is a volunteer work coach for many people, including college students just finishing up their degrees and looking to go out and find a job. Marina is also an integral part of her church family. She studied at the Chinese Semlink Theology Seminary College Certificate Program for four years and is now the Sunday School Coordinator at her church.

Marina is a talented woman who loves Jesus. She has such a passion to bring Jesus’s love to everyone she meets. She also runs Alpha courses at her church. Alpha emphasizes the essentials that all denominations agree on. Alpha creators believe that what unites us is infinitely greater than what divides us. I hope you enjoy her devotionals as much as you do. She is a phenomenal woman of God. If you are on Facebook and would like to follow her you can find her at Author Marina Grace: Life Lessons, Panda Flash Cards. I will place a link for that in the show notes as well. Today I will be reading 5 of her devotionals to you so you can get a sneak peak as to what you will find in her book.

#69: Just Believe

In Luke 8, a synagogue leader named Jairus came and fell down before Jesus. He pleaded with Jesus to heal his dying daughter. Without hesitation, Jesus rose and accompanied Jairus to his home. As they approached, someone informed Jairus that his daughter had already passed away, and there was no need for Jesus to see her. But Jesus comforted the grieving father, saying, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” Ultimately, Jesus miraculously restored the daughter to life.

Reflecting on this story, I realize that my faith in Jesus is essential for my job. When I encounter challenges in my projects, my heart sometimes feels overwhelmed. However, I remember that God, my heavenly Father, has a purpose for assigning these tasks to me—even when they are not easy. If the projects were straightforward, there would be no need for a Senior Principal Software Engineer like myself. This is my career journey.

Dear God, please grant me unwavering faith in You. Open doors to help me resolve the issues I face. I trust that You will never abandon me, even in the most challenging situations. Your purpose is to shape me into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

# 70: My sole priority

"When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He said: 'This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ (Matthew 6:9, NIV)

This prayer sets the direction for my remaining life. Since God is my heavenly Father, He will provide all my needs on earth. I don’t need to worry about my possessions, my job, or my service for Him. My sole priority is to serve His kingdom so that His will is done on earth. May everyone hear His word and follow His teachings, leading them to be baptized in the name of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Dear God, please empower me through the Holy Spirit to speak the right words at the right time and be Your hands and voice. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

#71: Little faith

Jesus taught His disciples not to worry:

“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!” (Luke 12:24, NIV)

As I grow older, I find myself easily succumbing to worry. The realization that so much is beyond my control weighs heavily on my mind. I meticulously plan, fretting about work, time management, church responsibilities, and even my health.

Two weeks ago, I reached out to my church’s prayer team, seeking their intercession for three sequencing Sunday events: facilitating a Sunday school class, delivering a children’s ministry sermon, and hosting a Toastmasters Club meeting. But life took an unexpected turn—I tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. Suddenly, I was confined to my home, relying on online conference tools. Yet, remarkably, everything unfolded smoothly. My church family rallied, setting up laptops and equipment to ensure the events proceeded seamlessly.

In this experience, I learned a profound lesson: God anticipates our needs even before we voice them in prayer. He orchestrates every detail of our lives, weaving together circumstances beyond our comprehension. There’s no need for excessive worry; instead, we can trust in His providence.

Dear God, grant me unwavering faith to rely on You fully. As I strive to do my best, I surrender the rest to Your capable hands. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

#72 Answered prayer

Jesus taught:

“So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9, NIV)

I am a mother of two daughters. Before they entered college and decided on their majors, I did not force them to choose any specific field. I provided them with one guideline: they needed to select a major that would lead to job opportunities after graduation. If they were interested in an art major, they had to choose a second major to enhance their employability.

After that, I sealed my lips and prayed for them every day. Now, my elder daughter has a business administration major with a concentration in operations management. My younger daughter followed our advice and pursued two majors: biomedical engineering and biology.

It is entirely by God’s grace and mercy that both daughters successfully graduated. They both found jobs within a few weeks after graduation.

Dear God, thank you for hearing our prayers. Please give us strong faith to pray to You for guiding and protecting my family. Pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

#73: Be a faithful servant

When the apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith, Jesus told them the story of a hardworking servant returning from the field. The master immediately instructed the servant to cook and wait on him. After the servant completed all tasks, they should humbly say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” (Luke 17:10, NIV)

Related to me: I recently worked from 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM. When I returned home, my husband asked me to cook, and I found myself resisting. How could I transform my attitude into that of a humble servant?

Reflecting on Jesus’ actions during the Passover feast, I am reminded of His profound love for us. He stood up, poured water into a basin, and washed His disciples’ feet. In doing so, He set an example for us—to serve one another with humility and love (John 13).

Dear God: Please grant me a humble heart to serve others for Your sake. Increase my faith, knowing that every task You assign has a purpose to shape me into the likeness of Jesus Christ. I pray in His name. Amen.

#74: Peaceful Heart

Jesus said: “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27, NIV)

In this season of life, I’ve come to understand that very little is truly within my control. As a software engineer, my job demands quality results, and achieving that involves constant testing and ensuring everything meets the mark. Additionally, I strive to complete my work early, allowing room to handle unexpected surprises.

Yet, I despise last-minute surprises.

Recently, God has been teaching me to loosen my grip on life—to trust Him fully and embrace a more abundant existence. Each morning, I begin with a simple prayer:

"I ask God for success, as Jesus Christ did.

I seek good surprises from Him."

And remarkably, this practice has granted me a peaceful heart throughout the day. I can focus on my work without fear of uncertainty.

Dear God, grant me unwavering faith to pray to You each morning. Thank You for bestowing upon me a tranquil heart and entrusting the entire day to Your care. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Thank you so much, Marina, for sharing your expertise and your love of God with us. Thank you for being real and sharing your life with us. Thank you for all you do for Toastmasters, for your church, and for all those you career coach for free. You are remarkable! If you want Marina’s book, CLICK HERE to purchase the book. Please also follow her on Facebook or LinkedIn. CLICK HERE for her Facebook page.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to the episode. Lord, I also ask you to bless Marina in a special way. I ask you to bless all she is doing to bring others to you so they can come to know your love. Lord, help us all have this deep desire to bring others to you. Help us share your love and light with others as well. We love you, Lord, and 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 hope you enjoyed hearing a few devotionals from my friend today. Also, thank you all for your prayers for Noah yesterday. It was a long day, but the doctor said the surgery was excellent. It went better than planned, and he thinks Noah will be very happy with the results. We know this is all thanks to God! Please continue to pray for a pain-free and speedy recovery. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in January 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is “Come closer to me, my children. This year, come much closer, and I will reveal my heart to you. I will show you where you need to go.”

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Honestly, I Think We Just Need Jesus!

Acts 2:40 “And he testified with many other words and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”

I chose this scripture verse today because where it says, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” There is a song that I have heard on the radio more and more recently, and these last few days, it is running repeat in my mind. I can’t seem to get it out of my head. I am not sure I want to get it out of my head as the words that are running through my head are Honestly, I think we need Jesus by Terrian. Since I can’t seem to shake this song, and then I read the verse above this morning, I think the Lord wants me to share it with you. I will place a link for the song in the show notes, as she does a much better job singing it than I do. I also love that she is young and yet can still see that we need more Jesus. I will go over the lyrics of the song with you today.

The song starts with:

I got a front-row seat to the madness

I pick up my phone every mornin' out of habit

I've been fiendin' for the drama, yeah, I said it

I'm addicted to the rush, need a medic

How many of us pick up our phones or turn on the news first thing when we wake up? How many of us want to know what is going on in the world before we even stop and spend our time with God? I use my phone for an alarm, so I would turn off my alarm, and then I would check my messages, emails, and Facebook before I would sit down with the Lord and spend time with Him. I have gotten better; now, I just check my messages, mostly to make sure my kids got home safely. Sometimes I still check my emails, but I am getting better and usually save that for later. 

I love how the songwriter points out that we usually pick up our phones out of habit. This isn’t just first thing in the morning. We do this all throughout the day. I bet we all spend more time than we would like on our phones. I also like how they bring our attention to the fact that we are “Fiendin’ for the drama” and “addicted to the rush.” It seems we are drawn to the conflict and the drama more than the good things that are happening. I don’t know if that is because we crave drama or because that is all the news tends to show us. Either way, there is good and bad going on in the world, and it is up to us to choose which we seek out and focus on.

The song goes on to say:

When I take a step back, I can see it

All the pain, all the fear we've been feelin'

Losin' sight of the thing that we're needin'

That we're needin’

This is a great reminder that sometimes we need to take a step back. When we do we see that we are focusing on all of our pain and fear that we are feeling instead of focusing on the one who can take all that pain and fear away. When we watch the news or listen to all that is going on in the world, we tend to get overwhelmed. We can also start to feel a sense of hopelessness. We can feel a sense that the world is going crazy, and there is nothing we can do about it. However, we are never hopeless because we are children of God, and we can always turn to Him, and He can save us. There is nothing too hard for God to handle. 

Next, the song says:

Honestly, I think we just need Jesus

Honestly, I think we just need Jesus

Have we all gone mad? Have we lost our minds?

What used to be wrong, we say that it's right

Honestly, I think we just need Jesus

This is the part that gets stuck in my head. I can’t think of a truer statement. I can see how our country is falling apart because we keep removing God from more and more things. This country was founded with God. He was a part of the government; yes, Church and State were separate, and yet God and State weren’t. God was invited into the Constitution; he was invited into the Pledge of Allegiance. He was invited into our courtrooms. God was welcome everywhere. Now, it seems He is welcome nowhere. 

I also love how the song says, “Have we all gone mad? Have we lost our minds? What used to be wrong, we say that it’s right.” We have all thought this for a long time now and it is nice to hear it in a song so we know we aren’t the only ones who think it. This world does seem to have gone mad and it does seem like we are all losing our minds. Some of the things that seem to be ok in the world today still shock me.  I think this song points out very real and honest questions. Have we all gone mad? Have we all lost our minds?

Take a good long look in the mirror

Search my heart and soul, make it clearer

Help me take your love, trade the bitter

Leave it in the dust, help me leave it in the dust, Lord.

I think it would be a great idea if we all stopped and took a good look in the mirror. What are we doing? Not what is the world doing, what are we doing? Are we staying true to God in this crazy world? Are we staying above all the drama and walking in the light of Christ? Are we being love and hope to everyone we meet? We are all called to be “little Christs” to all we meet. Are we doing so? Are we loving everyone, even those who aren’t like us? Even those who aren’t living their lives the way we think they should? Even those who we don’t like. God said to love our enemies. Are we doing that? 

The next line says, “Search my heart and soul, make it clearer.” Do we want God to search our hearts and souls? What would He find? I do like how it says to make it clearer. With all that is going on in this world, and all this world says is ok, the water we wade into can get muddy. I don’t think the world makes it easy or clear how we should live our lives. We need to focus on God and ask God to help make it clear to us what He wants from us and how He wants us to live. 

It also says, “Help me take your love, trade the bitter. Leave it in the dust, help me leave it in the dust, Lord.” It can be easy to become bitter. We live in a broken world, and people offend us all the time. Things aren’t fair, and sometimes good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people. This can make us bitter. We need God to come in and replace our bitterness with His love. We need His help to walk away from the bitter and leave it in the dust.

We've been preachin', we've been drinkin' in the vanity (in the vanity)

Now it's got us questionin' our sanity (sanity)

And we wonder how we get all this anxiety

It's clear to me

Yep, I think we have all probably questioned our sanity at some point over the last few years. I definitely think there is a lot of vanity in this day and age as well. With everyone having phones and taking photos every moment of every day, we have become obsessed with how we look and what we have. We want to make sure our life looks as good online as everyone else’s life does. This leads us to do and say things that aren’t always true. We act online like our lives are perfect and yet so many of our children and adults are hurting inside but don’t reach out and get help because everyone else seems like they are doing so good. This definitely makes us question our sanity because our life is falling apart, and everyone else seems to have it all together. I love the line that says, “And we wonder how we get all this anxiety.” Exactly!! All of the things I just talked about, along with the news, the decline of our country, the division in our country, and we wonder why everyone is so anxious.

After the song repeats the chorus about us just needing Jesus, it goes on to say:

We turn away (we turn away)

We're running back to you (oh-oh)

Covered in grace (covered in grace)

God, You can make us new (make us new)

Yes! We are like a revolving door. We turn away from the Lord and then turn back to Him, then we turn away, and then we turn back. I love how the author of this song understands that even when we do this, we are covered in grace. God will always accept us back in. He is not angry with us that we have turned away, He is happy that we have turned back. God is always there with open arms waiting for us to turn back to Him. God is the only one that can make us new. We may think we have done too much, we have really messed up this time, and there is no hope for us. There is always hope in the Lord. He can make us new, He can make our country new, He can make our world new. We just have to invite Him in and ask Him.

The song ends by repeating the chorus. I will leave you with those words.

Honestly, we need, we need You, Jesus (we need You, oh)

Have we all gone mad? Have we lost our minds?

What used to be wrong, we say that it's right

Honestly, we need, we need You, Jesus

Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

We need You, Jesus, Jesus

Oh, Jesus

Jesus, Jesus (we're running back)

(We're running back to You) Jesus

We're runnin' back to You, oh (Jesus)

Yeah, Jesus, Jesus

Make us new

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you, and we are sorry we turned away; please help us to turn back. We are sorry our country is falling apart. Please show us how we can help to bring you back into our country. Please put in our hearts what you are calling us to do. Please help us to stop searching for the drama and start searching for you. Help us to be your love and light to others instead of spreading the drama and the worry. 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 would like to ask a favor. I have been talking about my mentoring program for a while now. It is on Tuesday nights at 8 PM EST on Zoom, and I record it, so if you aren’t able to make it live, you can watch the recording. Maybe mentoring is not for you, and yet you may know someone who might benefit from it. My favor is that you pass the information along to them. CLICK HERE for mentoring. You could just copy it and then paste it into a text message or email. Also, you could just direct them to the walkboldlywithjesus.com website, and the link is right on that first page. If you would like to join mentoring, but just don’t have the $30 per month, please reach out to me. I don’t want a lack of money to hinder my ability to grow closer to the Lord. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Also, can I please ask for some prayers? My middle son Noah is going in for surgery today. Please pray for a successful surgery, healing of all headaches, and a speedy and pain-free recovery. 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 January 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is “I am here for each one of you, my children. I never abandon you. You are precious in my sight. You are my great delight.”

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Today is a short witness, however I think it is a very powerful one. This whole month in mentoring has been focused on Praise and Worship. I have gone to the Lord a couple of times over the last few years, asking Him what has increased my faith the most. What has increased my trust in the Lord? The answer He always gives me is praise. I am grateful He asked me to spend this whole month on praise because each week, I keep finding more and more reasons why we should praise the Lord. I was researching praise I found a miracle story of praise that shows us the importance of praise and that God really wants us to praise Him just as much as we pray to Him. I found this story on the Good Samaritan Health Center Website. I will post a link for it in the show notes. 

Here is the story: (Click Here for original article)

“Miracles happen [when] we praise God. I once heard a story about a woman missionary in China many years ago. She contracted a deadly disease and was given up to die. For days she lay quarantined in her bunk, with no medical help—it was a hopeless situation. 

The only thing she could do was pray. So hour after hour, she pled with God to heal her. Then suddenly, the Lord gave her a vision. She saw an old-fashioned scale, the kind often seen on justice statues, with a fulcrum and plates held by chains on each side. This scale she saw was heavily weighted on one side, while the other side was way up in the air because it was empty. The scale was clearly out of balance. 

The Lord revealed to her that the heavy side was her prayers—she had certainly prayed many prayers—while the empty side was her praise. God quickened her that the praise side needed to be filled to outweigh the trouble she was facing. When the scale was balanced, her healing would manifest. 

So this desperately sick woman stopped pleading for her healing and started praising God. She praised Him for His greatness. She praised Him for sending Jesus and for all His benefits. She praised Him for being her savior, her healer, her provider, and for everything He’d ever done for her. 

At first, she was so weak that her praises were mere whispers. But as she continued to do nothing but praise and worship God all day and all night, she grew louder. As the people outside her room heard her fervent praises, they feared for her life, thinking that maybe she was delirious with fever. You can imagine how amazed they were several days later when she walked out of that room on her own, totally healed! She had taken “the praise cure,” and she was completely made well. There is power in praise! When we shift our focus from our troubles to God’s greatness by praising Him, miracles can happen.”

Isn’t that amazing? Doesn’t that give you a visual of how important praise is? When I read this, my first instinct was to share it with everyone I know. I think most of us know to pray to God when we need our prayers answered. If we are sick, I think most of us turn to the Lord. If you don’t pray to the Lord when you are sick, I want to encourage you to do so. He really is a miracle worker, and He wants to heal his children. Now, we have another thing we can do when we are sick, and that is praise the Lord. Actually, not just when we are sick but anytime we feel we need answers to prayers. If we got in the habit of praising the Lord daily, even when we didn’t need something from Him, I wonder how different our lives would be. I bet our faith and trust in the Lord would increase exponentially. Let’s give it a try. 

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

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The Ephesians 4 Gifts

Ephesians 4:7, 11-12 “But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”

This was something we learned about in my Encounter Ministries class last week, and I wanted to share it with you this morning. We talked about what the nature of these gifts are and who gives them to us. Jesus is the giver of these gifts, and they represent the fullness of His ministry. He had all of these gifts. Jesus was the perfect example of all of these gifts. Let’s first look at what gifts I am talking about and go into a bit more detail on each of them. Then we can talk about the purpose of these gifts. 

The verse above says, “And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Let’s go through each one of these individually. The first one mentioned is apostles. Some of us are called to be apostles. Apostles are those sent by God and given a major mission to advance the kingdom, God’s kingdom. If you have been given this gift, often you have also been given the grace to break through opposition, as you will definitely encounter opposition to your mission. The enemy does not want us to advance the Kingdom of God. He will put every sort of opposition he can in your way. However, if you have been given the gift of apostles, then you will also be given the grace to break through that opposition. 

The second one mentioned above is prophets. Prophets are those given a very strong prophetic anointing and operate at a high level of precision and accuracy. Peter Herbeck is one of our Modern-Day prophets. He has a prophetic gift and is often proved accurate. The Lord is talking to each one of us. We can all hear Him if we take the time to listen. However, that is not the gift of a prophet. A prophet is hearing words not only for himself or herself but they are receiving words to share with others, and those words are often proven accurate.

The third gift is Evangelists. Evangelists are those anointed with the grace to seek out the lost and bring them to salvation in Christ with great effect. I like this definition because it puts evangelization in such a good light. Before taking this Encounter Ministries class I would hide when I would hear the evangelization. The thought of going up to people and talking about God or Jesus would make me so nervous. I would be worried about how they would feel and what if I was bothering them. This is why I love this definition so much. It shows us the real results of evangelization. We are seeking out the lost and bringing them home, bringing them to Salvation in Christ. People with this gift are really good at this. What it means when it says “with great effect” is that when they talk with people to try to bring them to salvation in Christ, a majority of people they talk with do come to Christ.

The fourth one is Pastors. Pastors are those given the grace to disciple and accompany disciples into greater spiritual maturity. Again, we may all have some ability to disciple and accompany people into great spiritual maturity. However, that may not be our primary goal. If your gift is pastor, you will be more successful than most at this.

The fifth one is the Teacher. Teachers are those given a special grace to instruct others in the Word of God and bring a renewal of the mind. These would be people who know the Bible, they know the Word of God and they use it to bring about a renewal of the mind. If we want to be good followers of Jesus, we need a renewal of the mind. This world has us all crazy, and if we watch the news, we aren’t sure what to think these days. However, God is raising up teachers who can instruct us in the Word of God and, therefore, bring about a renewal of the mind.

Now that we have gone over what the gifts are let's talk about the purpose of these gifts. The verse above lists the two purposes of these gifts. We are given these gifts, for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. The first purpose of these gifts is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. John 14:12 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.” The 'greater works' here refer to the potential for each of us, through the empowerment of these gifts, to reach more people and have a greater impact than even Jesus did during His earthly ministry. We are all meant to do the work that Jesus did, and even greater works than He did. However, we need people to teach us and disciple us as Jesus did for His followers. This is one reason for the Ephesians 4 gifts.

The second purpose of these gifts is to build up the body of Christ. God wants to see all of His children saved. He wants us to help Him build up the body of Christ. These gifts can help us do that. For instance, a pastor may disciple a new believer, who is then equipped by a teacher to understand the Word of God, and then an evangelist may guide them in sharing their faith with others. These gifts work well together. It is a collaboration of these gifts to help build the kingdom of God. When they were explaining this to us in class, they said the way this works is that God pours out special gifts on some of us, and they equip the rest of us.

As I mentioned earlier, we all may have these gifts to varying degrees. However, the gifts I am talking about today are the gifts that are given to people who are then given the mission to teach them to others. They are given not only the gift, but the desire to help others be fruitful in the gift as well. If you want to know if you have received one or more of these gifts, you can sit with the Lord and ask Him these two questions. First, Is there a mature and demonstrated fruit in one of these areas? Second, Does your heart burn to see the church equipped to do the works of ministry?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening today. Lord, we ask that you help us discern which gift you have given us and help us steward that gift. Lord, help us grow and be fruitful in any areas that you are calling us into. We want to be your disciples, Lord. We want to be used by you to further the kingdom of God here on earth. Let us be your hands and feet, Lord. 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. Week 4 of Praise and Worship mentoring is this evening. If you haven’t joined, it is not too late. CLICK HERE  to sign up. I look forward to seeing some of you tonight on zoom and meeting the rest of you here 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 December 2023 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is,“Bring my light and words to others. Do not hesitate to tell them that I am the way, the truth, and the life. In me, there will be no darkness. I am the light. I am their hope.”

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Remember The Lord Is With You

Nehemiah 4:14 “And I looked, and arose, and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

In case you are not familiar with this story, as I only recently learned more about it. Nehemiah felt the Lord called him to go and lead the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem. He got permission from King Ar-ta-xerx′es to go and to do this. But when Sanbal′lat the Hor′onite and Tobi′ah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they derided us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” These people wanted to stop the rebuilding of the walls.  They threatened to harm those building the wall. This is why Nehemiah is reassuring his people in the verse above.

What stood out to me most about the verse above is the statement, Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible. I thought this was an interesting word to describe God. I have never thought of God as terrible. I was thinking maybe it meant he is great for His children, but terrible for those who are against His children. However, when I looked this verse up in various translations, it says other words. The most common wording is “Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome. That I can totally understand this wording. God is definitely awesome.

I also looked up the wording from the translation we use at the Catholic mass and it said, “Do not fear them! Keep in mind the Lord, who is great and to be feared.” I can see this as well. There are actually two meanings to this phrase. First, we should all fear the Lord, meaning have awe and reverence for Him. We don’t need to fear Him as be afraid of Him, but we can look to Him with Awe. The second meaning of this phrase is the traditional meaning. Yes, those who are trying to hurt His children should fear the Lord. They should be afraid because He will stop at nothing to protect and take care of His children.

In the verse above, Nehemiah reminds the people of Jerusalem that they have no reason to be afraid. He is letting them know that they can rely on the Lord and that He will keep them safe.

This verse is a good one for us to look to when we need to be reminded that the Lord is fighting for us as well. He is on our side. Sometimes we can forget this. Sometimes we can think we are in this alone. I mentioned something in my episode last week that I think is worth repeating. God is not surprised by anything we go through. He doesn’t look at our situation and say, “Oh no, Catherine is struggling; what should I do?” He knew I was going to be struggling, and He knew how I would get out of it. He will help me out of the situation I am in just as He will help you out of your situation. He is a good, good father, and he will not leave us alone in our struggles unless we ask Him to. Unless we push Him away.

It is possible to close doors to God’s help. God respects our right to free will, and so if we decide we want to fight our battles on our own, He will let us. This is one reason it is so important to ask God for what we want or what we need. Yes, He knows what we need, but He is waiting for us to ask, for us to give Him permission. He is waiting for us to invite Him into the situation. God does not go where He is not wanted. He will not go against your free will.

This verse above says, “Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” This is a great reminder that we need to fight for our families. It is a great reminder that there is a war going on for our souls—not just our souls but those of our loved ones as well. We need to be on the lookout and on the offensive.

It is a great reminder that we are not in this fight alone. We have the Lord on our side. The Lord who is great and awesome, who is great and powerful. He is fighting with us. He is fighting for our children and for all of our loved ones. Whenever we feel like we are struggling, whenever we notice our loved ones are struggling, we can call upon His mighty name, and He will be there to fight for us. I first was going to write alongside us, and He will do that, but did you know He can fight our fights for us too? Did you know you can hand something over to Him, and He can take care of it? God doesn’t need your help to fight your battles.

That doesn’t mean we don’t ever have to do anything. Sometimes He is calling us to do our part while He does His part. However, sometimes, especially those times when it is too big for us to fix or when we don’t even know where to begin, He can fight those battles for you. He can either take care of it completely without our help, or He will lead us to the first step, then the next step and so on. All we need to do is remember to turn to Him and ask Him. If you are struggling today if you are in the middle of a battle right now, can you take a moment and invite God in? Can you ask Him to come and fight this with you or for you? Honestly, what have you got to lose?

Dear Heavenly Father, I love you and ask you to bless each person listening to this episode. Lord, we want you to fight our battles with us; please help us. Lord, we want you to fight for our loved ones with us. Lord, we invite you into all of our battles. We invite you into all of our struggles. We invite you in to protect our loved ones. Lord, we turn to you. We want your help. We want your protection. 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 want to remind you all that mentoring is tomorrow night. I will be finishing up the series on praise and worship. Tomorrow we will discuss various places from the Bible where God shows us the power of praise and worship. I hope you will join us. I just want to encourage you if you have been on the fence about joining mentoring but aren’t sure you want to spend the money. I want to encourage you to invest in yourself. Invest in your faith journey. We are often so willing to spend money on everything else but not our faith journey. Why is that? If you are local and have not joined because you really don’t like Zoom, reach out to me. If I have a few people interested, I am happy to do an in-person mentoring group as well.  I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in December 2023 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “You are the delight of my heart, my children. That is why I sent Jesus my son to you. I sent you my greatest gift. Treasure him always. Follow in his steps. Emulate him and you will continue to be my delight.”

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

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

CLICK HERE 🎧 Get My Free Audio Training + Join My Email List

Click Here 🌐 Visit Finding True North Coaching