Walk Boldly With Jesus

 Today’s witness if from my friend Jess. I have only known Jess for about a year and a half and yet it is clear to see how much the Lord loves her. She has a very intimate relationship with Him and spends a lot of time cultivating this. She spends time talking with Him, praying with Him, and in Adoration with Him. She has been a part of the unbound ministry for 20 years, which sounds crazy to me because she definitely doesn’t look old enough to have been doing it that long. I asked if she started Unbound when she was 10, she did not.  Jess has a very kind soul and is a powerful prayer warrior. Her testimony reminds of of at least two very important things. First, everyone is going through something, and you never know what someone is going through. Just looking at Jess, or even spending time with her and getting to know her, you would never guess she has been through all that she has been through. The second is that we are never too broken for God to use. Sometimes, we think we have been through too much, we have done too much, and God can’t use us. God can and will use any of us if we are willing. Listen to this witness and how, even in really hard times, Jess knew God was looking out for her. I will read her testimony to you.

 There has always been someone watching out for me, sometimes more than one person watching out for me. This is how I know God has big plans for my life and will be using me many times over.

    I have always felt like I am on borrowed time, and maybe I am. Borrowed time to do the work of the kingdom and bringing it to earth. Before I was born, my nana had consecrated me to Mama Mary, that would explain why my birthday is a Marian feast day! My parents divorced when I was a few months old, and When I was about six months old, I was sitting in a chair at my Grammy and nano’s house in the living room. My nano was cleaning his gun, and it went off and missed my head by mere millimeters. I had fallen and split my head open on a brick fireplace by the time I was 1 year old. I started having seizures shortly thereafter. One seizure nearly killed me. My temperature 🤒 got to 104.5*F, at 105- your brain turns to green jello and it literally starts frying from overheating. I was thrown into a cold bath of ice 🧊. It took a long time to cool me down. At this point, I was too “young” to comprehend that I had a spiritual target on my back- because the devil didn’t want me to grow into my full authority and potential in Jesus!  My life over the next 12-16 years was going to be a tug-o-war, a version of a real life Cinderella, physical, verbal, mental and emotional abuse. But I found out how to handle most of it, just let go and let God and Jesus take care of it! But my mom and I wouldn’t get along. My mom was Catholic, she remarried and had two more kids and I got pushed on the back burner. My biological dad was Protestant, and would eventually pass away when I was 19. My mom was the abusive one and still is to me, even as an adult.  Some things my mom did to me were threatening my dad if he didn’t have me home by exactly 5pm on Sunday, I wouldn’t eat (there were many Sundays I didn’t eat because I was home at 5:01 or 5:02 pm), get into physical fights and make me bleed, went to school with bruises and hand prints on my face, walk 15 miles to school as a 13-year-old. There were more, but these were some biggies. They didn’t phase me; they didn’t bother me…. Why, you ask? I lived in the shadow of the most high… all the evil things my mom did to me didn’t affect me because I gave everything to Jesus! But some days, she got to me… and there were a few days that I tried to kill myself just to get away from her. The first time I tried to kill myself, it was a Friday night. I was on 300mg of a certain med. I researched this med, and I knew how much I had to take to make it kill me- I would basically have a seizure that I wouldn’t recover from, and I wouldn’t wake up the next day. In order to accomplish this, I took about 2550mg right before bed. And wasn’t planning on waking up. When I woke up the next day, disappointed, to say the least, that I “failed”, I felt like I was totally drunk. The room was spinning and turning sideways. I got up and walked into the living room, holding onto the wall and walking sideways down the hall. When I got to the living room, I saw my stepdad on the computer with headphones on, and my sisters were watching Barney on TV. I looked to my left and saw the clock on the stove; it read 10:32 am. The next thing I remember is my eyes rolled into the back of my head, and I blacked out and fell backward. I remember hearing a huge thud when I hit the floor. After that, I remember waking up, still feeling drunk. I saw my dad was still on the computer, and my sisters were still watching Barney. No one had noticed me; no one seemed to care if I lived or died… I looked at the stove, and the time was 11:32 am. ONE HOUR HAD ELAPSED! I crawled on all fours back to my room; I was a freshman in high school. The next year as a sophomore, I became a cutter. I cut my arms with glass, broken glass, to be precise. I cut my arms so deep they would bleed all over the place; no one knew. I always wore long-sleeved shirts, so no one knew what was really going on. One night I cut so deep that I could see a few inches down into my arm, and I don’t remember cutting that deep. The next day, there was blood everywhere! All over my sheets, my pillow, clothes, quilt- everywhere! I got nervous and made a promise to God that I wasn’t going to play God anymore, but I was going to make one. Final. Cut. So I would always remember where I came from and where I never wanted to be or go again. I made that Final Cut, and 22 years later, I still have that cut on my arm, and it has always served the purpose of being a reminder. But that day when I saw all that blood, I woke up and was scared, didn’t want to play God anymore, went to confession and mass, and never looked back! There is someone always watching out for me. I have a job that I need to accomplish before I leave this world. It’s a powerful job that the enemy doesn’t want me to complete. And this is why I have to keep going, why we all have to keep going. Every day is a spiritual battle. But every day that is given to God, the more He can use you in His plans for the kingdom! I have overcome much in my life, but without the help of Papa God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, Mama Mary, and all the angels and saints, I wouldn’t be here! My papa always had a saying that rings true; one just has to believe it is true! If God has ordained something for your life, there is nothing on earth, above the earth, or under the earth that can change that! What could be a more protective statement and guarantee than Jesus’ protection? Amen!

Wow, wasn’t that an amazing testimony? Thank you, Jess, for being vulnerable and sharing your story. I know it will touch the hearts of all who hear it. I pray that those who are in a similar situation hear your testimony and see that they are not alone and that they can make it through. I pray that everyone listening hears the message deep in their heart that God has ordained something for each of our lives and there is nothing that is going to get in the way of it. Thanks again for sharing. Feel free to share more of your testimony, as I am sure you have seen God at work in many areas of your life. We look forward to hearing from you again!

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Trust & Thanksgiving In The Hard Times

Psalm 3 “Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.”

Yesterday, I was listening to the Catechism of the Catholic Church in a Year podcast with Father Mike. He was talking about this Psalm. He was talking about how usually we are good at thanking God and trusting God when things are going really well in our lives. We thank God for giving us the answers to our prayers. We thank him when things go our way and when we are seeing success. However, how often do we praise Him, thank Him, and trust Him in the hard times?

David and God have a very intimate relationship. God chose David to be king when he was a very young boy. Even before he was chosen, David knew how powerful the Lord was. He used this knowledge to kill a giant named Goliath. He knew God was more powerful than anything on this earth. David was a great king most of the time, although he made some pretty bad choices as well. He was not a great father, and at one point, he was on the run from his son Absalom. It was at this point that David wrote this Psalm of Thanksgiving.

It wasn’t when he was safe in his castle, and God was giving him everything he wanted. It wasn’t when his armies were conquering all the other nations. It was when his own son was trying to kill him. He was fleeing his castle, his land, and his people, all so he could remain alive. This is when David wrote this Psalm. This is what David was saying about God when he was in trouble.

What do we say about God and to God when we are struggling or when we are in trouble? What about when our child is sick, and it feels like we haven’t had any prayers answered in quite some time? Are we still talking about how God is our protector? What about when we have been out of work for a long time, and there is no money coming in? Are we still talking about how God is our provider? How would we react if we were told that we needed to flee the country because a family member wanted us dead? I don’t think we could truly know how we would act until we were in that situation.

I would love to praise God and say how much he has done for me. I hope to be able to trust that the Lord will get me out of whatever circumstances in which I find myself. Let's take a look at the way David was praising and thanking the Lord. “Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.”

First, David asks the Lord how many enemies he has. How many have risen up against him? Then David explains that these enemies are saying that God will not deliver him this time. I am sure this made God sad. He has saved His people time and time again, and there are some who still doubt that He will show up. David goes on to say, “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. This is a great part of the verse because it shows us that even though David is running for his life, he still believes that God will protect him. He still believes that God will answer his prayers.

I wonder if we can say the same. Can we still say that God is our shield when we feel we are under attack? What if it feels like we have been under attack for years now? Do we still believe that the Lord is our shield? Do we still believe that He answers our prayers? Next, David said, “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.” David is showing us here that the Lord is sustaining him. I believe he is also showing us that he knows if he wakes up each day, it is because the Lord willed it. None of us are guaranteed to wake up each day. If we do, it is a gift from the Lord! David knew this. This part also shows us the trust David has in the Lord. He is being chased by an army led by his son. He has tens of thousands of people on every side of him, and yet he does not fear because he knows he has the Lord on his side.

Do you see how strong and fearless we are able to be when we understand the strength of the Lord and when we turn all things over to Him? David knows that God is in control of all things. He trusts God with his whole being, even to the point of death. He knows that if he dies, God has allowed it to happen. He is not afraid of his enemy.

The last part of this Psalm says, “Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.” In this last part, David is asking God to act in a very specific way. He is not just asking for them to be defeated; he is asking for God to strike them in the jaw and break their teeth.  I looked up online if there was a specific significance to this specific request of David. Here is what I found in the article:  Break the Teeth of the Wicked (Part 3) (Click Here for the article)

“Consider the memorable prayer after which I’ve titled this series of posts: “Break the teeth of the wicked.”  David makes this request twice in the Psalms (3:7; 58:6).  Is David asking God literally to knock out the incisors of the wicked?  Is he hoping that God will deliver a blow to the jaw of the wicked, literally shattering their canines and crushing their molars?  The answer seems obvious.

We must remember that the book of Psalms is poetry.  David is praying in metaphor.  And what does the metaphor of God breaking the teeth of the wicked mean?  It means God takes away the power of the wicked to bite and devour.  Keep them from harming me and others.  Thwart their plans to do violence.  The second instance in which David prays this prayer makes the point particularly clear:

O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord! (58:6)

David envisions his enemies as young lions seeking to devour God’s people.  His request is that God would defang these wicked men.  In short, David is appealing to God to stop the wicked.”

As you can see, David trusts the Lord and is able to praise the Lord even in times of great difficulty. What if we tried this? What if, no matter what we were going through, we trusted that God had our best interests at heart? What if we truly believed this? Think about that for a minute. Would it be easier to trust the Lord if you knew without doubt that God had nothing but your best interests at heart? What if instead of being so angry at the Lord, we took some time to praise him in the hard times? Would that change anything? Would we be more equipped to handle the hard times?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those who listen to this episode. Lord, I pray your blessing on each and every one of them. Lord, we pray you protect us and you love us. We pray that you help us trust you even when times are hard. We pray that you help us praise you even when times are hard. Lord, we love you so much, and we ask all of this in accordance with our will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Tonight is mentoring! The topic for tonight will be why our forgiveness of others is essential. If you would like to join us send me a message and I will send you a zoom link! 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 by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer group in November of 2023. If you have any questions about the prayer group or the words given please email [email protected]. Today’s Word is, “My children, I long to give you my heart that weeps over this world. That weeps over those who are suffering needlessly because they do now know that they have a God who loves them.”

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The Lord Will Fight For You! 

Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”

I heard this verse the other day, and I thought it would be perfect for an episode, as I know so many of you listening are going through some pretty hard stuff right now. Being still is not easy for most of us. We are doers, and we want to go, go, go. This is compounded by the fact that we live in a world that never stops. I know so many people who are doing so much, and they never have time to rest. They have jobs that are so busy they can’t finish all they are supposed to finish in the allotted 40-hour work week.

Being busy is not a bad thing in itself. Benjamin Franklin said, “Idle hands are the devil's playthings.” If we sit around doing nothing, we get bored, and who knows what we might get ourselves into. However, being too busy becomes a problem when we no longer make time for the Lord. Being busy becomes a problem when we stop recharging our batteries with the power of the Holy Spirit and start relying on our own power.

Something we have been learning in Encounter Ministries is that all fruitfulness flows from our intimacy with Christ. Fruitfulness means success. The success of all that we do flows from our relationship with the Lord. Think about this in terms of your other relationships. Let’s look at family life. Doesn’t it seem true that the fruitfulness or the success of your family depends on your relationship with those in your family? What if you never talk to your spouse, you never spend time with him or her, and you just go about your day? It is not necessarily that you don’t want to spend time with them, it is just you don’t seem to have the time. You don’t make the time because there are so many other things you have to do.  How successful would that marriage be?

What if you never had time to spend with your children? They have sports games or dance recitals, but you don’t have time to go because you are always working. When you are at home, you don’t spend time with them because you are trying to catch up on all the things to do around the house. If you never make time to spend with them, if you don’t ever talk to them, how successful do you think your relationship with them will be?

The same is true with your relationship with God. We need to make time for Him, and He will take care of all of our worries. When we spend time with Him, we can tell Him all that is going on. We can give Him our stresses, our cares, and our worries. We can hand them over to Him and let Him take care of them. Who else can we entrust our cares and worries to?

The verse above says, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” After we talk to the Lord about what is going on in our lives, we can sit there in silence and let Him come into our hearts and heal us. The Lord has told us many times in our prayer group that He is coming in during the silence and healing our hearts. It is great to talk to the Lord. It is great to pray to the Lord and to do the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and all the other devotions that we do to grow closer to the Lord. These are all amazing and will help develop a more intimate relationship with the Lord.

The Lord is also calling us to a time with Him that is spent in silence. He just wants us to sit with us and minister to us. God can do all things. He can minister to you anywhere and anytime. Yet, He likes to come in the stillness. He likes to come to us when we make the time just to sit and be still with Him. I know it feels like you don’t have any more time left in your schedule. However, if you spend quiet time consistently with Jesus, I am willing to bet you will see more time open up in your schedule. God can’t be outdone in generosity. If you give him 20 minutes, He will give you 10 hours. He is that good.

God's math is not the same as our math. It doesn’t make the same kind of sense that our math does. If he can feed 5,000 men plus women and children with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, then he can certainly replace the 15 or 20 minutes during the day that you gave to Him in quiet time. My sister Dee gave me a plaque once with a poem on it and I feel like it is the perfect poem for reminding us how important it is to start our day with the Lord. It shows how important it is to check in with God before starting our day. Here is the Poem: 

The Difference By Alan Grant. 

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day; 

I had so much to accomplish that I didn't have time to pray.

Problems just tumbled out about me, and heavier came each task.

“Why doesn't God help me?” I wondered. He answered, "You didn't ask.”

I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak; 

I wondered why God didn't show me; He said, “But you didn't seek.”

I tried to come into God's presence; I used all my keys at the lock.

God gently and lovingly chided, “My child, you didn't knock.”

I woke up early this morning and paused before entering the day. 

I had so much to accomplish that I had to take to take time to pray. 

As you can see by this poem, God is ready to help us, He is just waiting for us to ask. Then, once we ask, He is waiting for us to give Him the time to work on us, to heal us. If you are going through a really tough time right now, I want to invite you to some quiet time with the Lord today. Sit with Him and ask Him what He wants you to do, and then listen for His answer. If you need to be filled up with energy, strength, hope, love, power, or anything else today, just ask the Lord and then sit there for a few minutes and receive it. The Lord says when we ask, He answers, so when you ask for something, expect to receive it. 

I know sometimes, maybe most of the time, it feels like we are all alone in our battles. We feel like we are the only ones fighting our fights. This verse this morning reminds us that we are not in this alone. Not only is God in it with us, but He will fight our battles for us if we let Him. If we turn our battles over to the Lord, He will take care of them for us. Isn’t that amazing? This reminds me of 2 Kings 6:17. It says, "And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” Imagine all the Lord surrounds us with. There is so much we can’t see when it comes to the Lord. 

We can’t usually see His angels, we can’t see the reason He allows some things to happen, and we can’t seem to make sense of things at times. We might be sad that we can’t see these things, and I often wish I could see into the spiritual world. However, we have to remember there are also evil spirits in the spiritual world, and I think we would be very frightened if we saw all that goes on in the spiritual world around us. 

Even though we can’t see God’s horses and chariots of fire ready to fight for us, we can trust they are there because the Bible is the Word of God. It is fact, and it is God’s promises to us. So, when we read in the Bible, “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.” We can take that to the bank. We can count on that. We can be still and watch as the Lord fights our battles for us. Can we be still and allow Him to do that today? 

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you help us to be still and allow us to fight our battles. We ask that you teach us how to be still and that you give us the power to do so because we really struggle with it. Lord, we thank you for all you do for us each day. We thank you for fighting our battles. We thank you for surrounding us with protection and an army to defend us. We want to call on that army, Lord. We want to hand over all of our struggles to you, Lord. You are the almighty one; you are the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. We love you so very much. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen! 

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. This is a reminder that tomorrow is mentoring. If you want to join, you can click on the link below or go to the website at WalkBoldlywithJesus.com. I look forward to meeting you again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day! 

Today’s Word from the Lord was received in November 2023 by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group during one of our meetings. For more information about the prayer group or these words, please email [email protected]. Today’s Word is, “My children, I long to give you my heart. I long to mold your heart to be like mine. That you may see your brothers and sisters and you may reach out to them, pray with them, give them words of hope, pray for healing, give them food if they are hungry. Give them shelter if they have nowhere to stay.”

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Today’s Word from the Lord was received in November 2023 by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group during one of our meetings. For more information about the prayer group or these words, please email [email protected]). The Word is, “My children, I am the incarnate God. Incarnate in the person Jesus Christ, and I continue to be incarnate through the Eucharist in you. I am with you in your joys, in your sorrows, in your sufferings. Place your trust in me. I am full of mercy, love, and help.”

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Mentoring Week #11 How to pray for your children (CLICK HERE for info on mentoring)

Welcome to this week’s Mentoring Session! Tonight I will talk about how to pray for your children. If you do not have children, you can use these suggestions to pray for nieces and nephews. your friend’s children, or all the children of the world. All children need our prayers. We can see how badly our own children or those close to us need prayers. Now, imagine they didn’t have anyone praying for them. There are so many children out there who have no one praying for them. Tonight, I will start with our kids, or those close to us, because I know many of our hearts our heavy with worry for our children.

First, let me begin by saying there is no right or wrong way to pray for your children. What I will be doing today is going over several things I have learned over the years while searching for various ways to pray for my boys. I have three boys who are 15, 18 & 19 right now. They are all stable compared to where they have been in the past, yet they could still all use prayers. I have learned over the years not to worry about them too much as I know God is looking out for them. This trust has come through growing closer to the Lord and also through counseling.

I say counseling because sometimes you need someone else to point things out to you. When my boys were younger I would stress about their future. One of them was physically abusive towards family members and I would worry that would mean he would be an abusive husband and dad. I had another son that did many unsafe behaviors and I was worried he would accidentally kill himself.  You can see how that would be pretty stressful. I had a counselor who explained to me that it doesn’t do any good to worry about the future because so much could happen between now and then.

For instance, at the time, it would be at least seven years or more before my boys were adults. She said a lot can happen in those seven years. They could grow out of the behavior, get help for the behavior, or have someone come into their lives and change. Basically, why worry about something that may never happen? At the same time as I was learning this, I was also learning to trust the Lord more. When I let what my counselor was telling me really sink in and then I also realized God loves my boys more than I ever could imagine, I was finally able to release almost all the worry that I have for my children. It was truly freeing and I pray each of you listening learns how to turn your worry over to God and release it. If you want help, let me know.

Now, just because I don’t worry about my children’s futures doesn’t mean I am not praying for them. I am still praying for them and for the things I would like to see happen in their lives. Tony and I wrote a prayer for the boys about two years ago. We said it daily for a week or two, and then I said it on my own for a bit, and then we slowly forgot about it. I found the prayer the other day and looked through it to see if any of the things we prayed for had come true yet. Almost all of the prayers had been answered. We have seen many positive changes in the boys and many of them were listed in our prayer. I hope you can see the power of our prayers for our children. When we ask, God answers. So start asking specifically what you would like to see. 

I am a big believer in praying specifically because then God gets all the more glory. It is much easier to see when God has answered a specific prayer than a generic prayer. For instance, if you are praying for your kid's behavior to get better, what is the measurement of better? How will you know if it is better, especially if the improvement is there, but small and you are around it all day? How about if you prayed that your child would go a whole hour or a whole day without doing a certain behavior? Then would you notice if that prayer was answered? What about praying that your child would make a really good friend at school? Would you know when that prayer was answered? Do you get what I am saying? The more specific we are with our prayers, the more we will be able to praise God when He answers them.

I also strongly believe that we should write down our prayer requests—not just those for our kids but those others have asked us to pray for as well. When we write down our prayers, we have a record of all the things we ask God for, and then, if we periodically go through the book we wrote them down in, we can see all the prayers He has answered for us. This is extremely helpful when we are going through a really hard time. When we are struggling, and it feels like God isn’t answering any of our prayers, we can look through our book or prayers and see all the ones He has answered for us in the past. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” If He did it before He will do it again.

A few years ago, I started a notebook with prayer requests in it. When I write a prayer request in the book, I leave several blank lines before I write the next request. These blank lines are so that I can go and update the request with a praise report when it is answered. I also highlight all the requests that have been answered so I can go back and look at them whenever I need to be reminded that God answers prayers. I also look back when I am feeling down and need a little pick me up.

Now that you know being specific in your prayers and writing down your prayer requests is important let's discuss specific prayer points.  (SLIDE) I read a book called The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian. This book really opened my eyes to the various things we can pray for our children. She prayed very specifically, and for things, I had never thought of before. I would highly recommend this book. At the end of each chapter, she has a specific prayer written out for the subject of that chapter.  Here are the chapter titles so you can get an idea of what I am talking about.    Releasing my child into God’s Hands, Securing Protection from Harm, Feeling Love and Protected, Establishing and Eternal Future, Honoring Parents and Resisting Rebellion, Maintaining Good Family Relationships. Attracting Godly Friends and Role Models, Developing a Hunger for the Things of God, Being the Person God Created, Following Truth & Rejecting Lies, Enjoying the Life of Health and Healing, Having the Motivation for Proper Body Care, Instilling the Desire to Learn, Identifying God-Given Gifts and Talents, Learning to Speak Life, Staying Attracted to Holiness and Purity, Praying through a Child’s Room, Enjoying Freedom of Fear, Receiving a Sound Mind, Inviting the Joy of the Lord, Destroying an Inheritance of Family Bondage, Avoiding Alcohol, Drugs, and Other Addictions, Rejecting Sexual Immorality, Finding the Perfect Mate, Living Free of Unforgiveness, Walking in Repentance, Breaking Down Ungodly Strongholds, Seeking Wisdom and Discernment, Growing in Faith, Getting Through the Teenage Years Successfully and Praying for Your Adult Children.

Did you hear any titles that took you by surprise? There were several that I would not ever have thought to pray about and yet when I did, I saw changes. One I can think of off the top of my head is the chapter on praying for my kids to have the motivation for proper body care. We had three teenage boys who weren’t that fond of showering, and with all the other issues we had going on in our house, this was the least of my worries. Yet, I didn’t want them to be the “smelly” kid in school. I wanted them to have friends, and that is difficult when you smell bad. Tony and I added this into our daily prayer for the boys for a bit and now they all take better care of their hygiene. I wouldn’t say they are where I want them to be, but they are doing much better and I didn’t have to nag them all the time. I just needed to pray for them.   What specific prayers can you start saying to see changes in your kids?

Another suggestion I have received recently is to pray in my children’s rooms after they go to school. I was told to go into their room and bless it and to bind any spirits that might be there. You have authority over all spirits that are in your house. All Spirits, good and evil, are bound by our free will. If we tell them to leave, they must obey. Your prayer can be as simple as Lord, I bless this room, and I bind any evil spirits that might be here, and I send them to the foot of the cross. However, there is a prayer in the book I mentioned a few minutes ago for praying in your child’s room, and it is really good. You can part of it, or all of it depending on what fits for you.  It says,

“Lord, I invite your Holy Spirit to dwell in this room, which belongs to (name of child). You are Lord over heaven and earth, and I proclaim that you are Lord over this room as well. Flood it with your light and life. Crowd out any darkness which seeks to impose itself here, and let no spirits of fear, depression, anger, doubt, anxiety, rebelliousness, or hatred (name anything you've seen manifested in your child's behavior) find any place here. I pray that nothing will come into this room that is not approved by you, Lord. If there is anything here that shouldn't be, show me it so it can be taken out. Put your complete protection over this room so the evil cannot enter here by any means. Fill this room with your love, peace, and joy. I pray that my child will say, as David did, "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes" (Psalm 103:2 to 3"). I pray that you, Lord, will make this room a holy place sanctified for your glory. In Jesus's name, I pray.” I forgot all about this prayer, and yet I am definitely going to start saying it tomorrow when my boys get on the bus. Actually I will probably start today in the room of my oldest because he will be at work later today. 

Another suggestion was to fill a spray bottle with holy water and bless your whole house with it. We do this before each prayer group meeting. One of us walks through the hallway and the empty rooms of the building we are using, and we ask the Lord to bless the house. We bind any evil spirits that are hanging out and we send them the foot of the cross. We also ask the Lord to protect the space we are in and to prevent anything that is not of Him from entering while we are using that space. You can do this in your house, and you can do this in your children’s homes if they are older and have their own place.

You might be wondering why I am suggesting to bless your house with Holy Water.   Holy Water is a powerful spiritual armor in times of temptation.  St. Teresa of Avila, whose temptations were as terrible as anyone’s, has left us these wise words of counsel: 

   “I have found by experience that there is nothing from which the devils fly more quickly than from Holy Water.  They also fly from the Cross, but they return almost immediately.  Certainly, the power of Holy Water must be great; for my part, my soul feels particular comfort in taking it, and very generally a refreshment and interior delight which I cannot express.” 

   Long before St. Teresa of Avila, Holy Water was a sacramental in the Catholic Church.  Water, which as a symbol of purification held a high place in biblical times, has retained its rich symbolism.

According to the Apostolic Constitutions, a document dating back well over 15 centuries, the use of holy water is attributed to a recommendation issued by St. Matthew, the apostle and Evangelist. The lives of the saints are packed with instances of heavenly protection and blessing secured through the reverent use of holy water. If you want more information on holy water, just let me know. If you are interested in blessing your house with Holy Water, you can go into any Catholic Church and fill up your spray bottle or any bottle with it. It is free and there for all to use. 

The next suggestion that I just learned about, so I have not tried it yet, is to pray over our children’s pillows. When you are blessing their room, spend a minute praying over their pillow. Pray that the Lord grants them good dreams, speaks to them in their dreams, and encounters them in their dreams. Pray that the Lord protects them from nightmares and any evil thoughts. (SLIDE)

Another really important thing that the book talks about that I didn’t even think of before is to pray for our children to follow the truth and reject the lies. The enemy is constantly speaking lies over our children. He is whispering in their ears that they are unloved, they are unwanted, they are not enough and so on. We need to pray that they will reject these lies. We need to pray that the Lord will protect their mind from believing these lies. We need to pray that the lies others tell them will not take root. We need to pray that the Lord will fill their mind with who they are in His eyes. We need to pray that the Lord will replace any lies they believe with His truth of who they really are. 

We also need to pray that they know how much God loves them. Everyone is searching for love these days, and I don’t think it is any different for kids. We live in a broken world, so even if we have parents who love us, they aren’t always great at showing it, and we aren’t always great at accepting it. Kids feel more alone than ever these days; even though we live in a world where kids have constant contact with each other, they don’t tend to have meaningful relationships with each other. Also, with all the constant contact that means those who are mean to you also have constant access to you. We need to pray that our kids can feel our love, but more importantly, we need to pray that they feel God’s love. God’s love is perfect. If they knew how much God loved them, they would have all the love they needed. We can pray that they know no matter what they do, God will always love them. We can pray that they know they don't have to do anything to earn His love; they already have it and will never lose it! 

Most of the things we have covered so far are geared more towards our younger children who are still living at our house. Now I would like to give you a few ideas of how we can pray for our adult children. I am just entering this stage, so I am new to this. My oldest is an adult, however, he is living at home with us. Many of the things I talked about earlier in this session apply to our adult children as well. Meaning that we can pray for them to know God’s love; we can pray God protects their minds from the lies of the enemy and fills them with His truth.  You can spray Holy Water and bless their house if they say it is ok or if you are there when they are not home. However, there are some things you can pray over your adult children that you don’t necessarily have to do for your young kids.

For instance, you can pray over your children’s marriages. You can pray that they are loving and caring spouses. You can pray they are faithful and help each other grow closer to the Lord. You can pray that the Lord is part of their marriage. You can pray for specific things that apply to your children. For instance, if your adult child has a bad temper, you can pray they learn to control their temper. You can pray that the Lord fills them with the peace of Christ. When you go over to their house to visit, before walking through the door, you can say a quick prayer imparting peace on them. Dear Lord, I impart peace on this house and all who are in it. If there is a lot of anger, frustration, and so on in this house, you could walk around the outside of the house and just impart peace on the house and all the land around it. God gave Adam dominion over all created things. This means you can pray for peace into their house; you can pray for peace into the soil around the house, and you can impart peace all around their house, inside and out.

You can also pray for your adult children’s jobs. Pray that they have a job they love, one that lights them up inside. Pray that they have a Godly boss and coworkers who encourage them on their faith journey. If they don’t seem to be on any faith journey, pray that they encounter someone at their job who waters the seed you have planted and helps it to take root and bear fruit. You can pray they have a good work ethic.

I read an article about praying for our adult children. The author talked about how she used to pray generally for her kids. However, now that she knows the Lord more, she realizes how intimately He cares about every detail of our lives and our children’s lives. Here are some of the specific ways we can pray for our adult children, especially if they have fallen away from God.

1. Ask God to show up in their lives in ways they can’t deny. Ask Him for big miracles and little miracles, but most of all, ask Him to open your kids’ eyes to what He’s doing.
2. Ask God to give them peace that isn’t natural. In our world today, it seems like everything is stressful—from the price of groceries to going out in public. We are surrounded by news reports that feed our fears. Feeling a sense of peace in the midst of this is supernatural.
3. Ask God to act specifically. If your child has a need, take that need to God on their behalf. Don’t prejudge if the request is too small or too large. Give it to God and watch what He can do.
4. Ask God to bless them in an exact way. Are they struggling with finances? Ask God to act. Are they trying for a work promotion? Ask God to work that out.
5. Use Scripture to pray for them. God’s Word is powerful. When we pray Bible verses for our children, we can be assured that God is listening.
6. Ask God to show them something. Perhaps they didn’t get the work promotion they wanted; ask God to show them why that was a good thing instead of a bad one.
7. Ask God to draw them to Him. We can ask God to make our children so uncomfortable without Him that they’ll come running back.

The article I read says letting our kids know we are praying for them is just as important as actually praying for them. The author states that it is important to be specific in letting them know how we are praying for them. Here is what the author said: 

1. Tell them you’re praying for an exact answer to something they’ve shared. Perhaps they’re worried about car repairs. Share that you’ll be asking God to provide all they need. By being specific, we’ve primed them to notice a specific answer.
2. Share with them that every morning you pray for their safety. When we let them know when and what we’re praying it makes our prayers more real to them. This is also a great way to model the fact that you spend time with God every morning.
3. Point out the answers to the things you’ve asked God for on their behalf. When your child shares that they received something you’ve prayed for, point it out. It’s not important to make a big deal about the answers, just mentioning how we’ve seen God work is enough. The impact comes when we do this consistently. As our adult children see God answering our requests regularly it can be life-changing. In addition, by letting them know we were praying for that exact answer, we show them how God answers prayers.
4. Share specific verses from the Bible that you’ve been praying. If you’ve been praying for God to make your child’s next steps obvious and the Bible verse you’ve been praying is, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:6, share that with them.
5. Ask your adult children how you can pray for them. As they see the power that comes from spending time with God in prayer, they will often begin to open the spiritual door wider. When that happens, we can ask for ways they’d like us to pray for them.

It is hard to see our adult children heading down the wrong path. Sometimes we can get discouraged and feel helpless. We can say things like, “All I can do now is pray.” Prayer is more powerful than anything else you were doing on your own. Prayer is the most powerful thing you can do. Once you enlist the help of God, you no longer have to worry because He is in control, and He will make sure they end up on the straight and narrow eventually. It is all in God’s time, not our own. God’s ways are not like our ways, and his thoughts are not like our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8)

I have noticed more change in my boys once I started to stop nagging them all the time and worrying about them all the time and started praying more and going to God with my fears. Nagging will not change our children. Telling them what they are doing is wrong will also not change our children. I did not see real changes in my kids’ behaviors until I started leading more with love and prayers. When I could see they were acting out, I stopped punishing them so much and started loving them more. I came alongside them and let them know I understood how they were feeling. I let them know what they did was wrong and yet they are still good kids. I loved them no matter what they did. If they were doing things that scared me or I started to worry, I would bring it to God and pray about it. He would always calm my fears and assure me that all would be ok. You can do this too.

I know you are sure you know what is best for your children, just as I am sure I know best for mine. However, the truth is that only God knows what is best. Often times we let our fears get in the way of what we want for our kids. For instance, we don’t want them playing video games because it won’t lead to anything, and yet God could be using that gift your child has to invent the next best-selling video game. You think he or she is wasting time and yet God is preparing him or her in the same way He is preparing you for your destiny. Turn your kids over to the Lord. Give Him your worries. When you are afraid your kids are making a mistake, bring it to God first. If he wants you to bring it to their attention, He will let you know. If He doesn’t, then He will let you know that too. Take the time to stop and turn to God first. I bet if you do this one small thing you will see your relationships begin to change. I bet your kids will start to seek you out for advice because you listen to them and because you aren’t nagging them. God will prepare their hearts to hear what you have to say if He wants you to say it. He will also tell you how to say it if you ask Him. God is so good!

This Week’s Questions:

How can I best pray for my children this week?

What areas are you calling me to pray over for my children? Some ideas:

Releasing my child into God’s Hands, Securing Protection from Harm, Feeling Love and Protected, Establishing and Eternal Future, Honoring Parents and Resisting Rebellion, Maintaining Good Family Relationships. Attracting Godly Friends and Role Models, Developing a Hunger for the Things of God, Being the Person God Created, Following Truth & Rejecting Lies, Enjoying the Life of Health and Healing, Having the Motivation for Proper Body Care, Instilling the Desire to Learn, Identifying God-Given Gifts and Talents, Learning to Speak Life, Staying Attracted to Holiness and Purity, Praying through a Child’s Room, Enjoying Freedom of Fear, Receiving a Sound Mind, Inviting the Joy of the Lord, Destroying an Inheritance of Family Bondage, Avoiding Alcohol, Drugs, and Other Addictions, Rejecting Sexual Immorality, Finding the Perfect Mate, Living Free of Unforgiveness, Walking in Repentance, Breaking Down Ungodly Strongholds, Seeking Wisdom and Discernment, Growing in Faith, Getting Through the Teenage Years Successfully and Praying for Your Adult Children.

Which one of the following ways are you calling me to pray for my adult children this week? Some ideas:

1. Ask God to show up in their lives in ways they can’t deny.
2. Ask God to give them peace that isn’t natural.
3. Ask God to act specifically.
4. Ask God to bless them in an exact way.
5. Use Scripture to pray for them.
6. Ask God to show them something.
7. Ask God to draw them to Him.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those here tonight and those who are watching the recording. Lord, we need your help with our children, no matter how young or old they are. Lord, help us to release our fears and worries to you. Help us to turn our children over to you for your protection. Lord, you love them more than we ever could. You see the whole picture of their life where we only see a small piece of it. Show us how to pray for them. Lead us in prayer Lord. Holy Spirit teach us to pray as we should. We love you Lord 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. If you want more info on mentoring click here. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day.

Today's Word from the Lord was received in November 2023 by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group during one of our meetings. For more information about the prayer group or these words please email [email protected].  "I am pleased with all of you, my children, more than you might think. I am your God. I love you with a love that you can never begin to feel the depths of here on earth. But you will know me as I know you one day, and we will rejoice together. We will rejoice together to be in the presence of all the saints and angels."

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Witness Wednesday #103 ESM Boston Healing Service

Today, I will witness to you about the Encounter School of Ministry Boston Campus healing service that I attended this past Saturday. I love going to these healing services for many reasons. First, I love the praise and worship. We have adoration, so Jesus is there on the altar, and then there is a live praise and worship band that plays the most amazing music. You can tell the music is led by the Holy Spirit because it moves your soul. Then there is a proclamation of the Gospel, and who doesn’t love to listen to stories about Jesus and how He loved to heal all he came into contact with? 

After that Deacon Joe called up anyone who received a Word of Knowledge about a condition that God wants to heal that night. Sometimes just releasing these Words of Knowledge is enough for someone to be healed. You will hear this later when I am sharing the various healing testimonies. After the words of knowledge, we do corporal prayer, which means that Deacon Joe names a few body parts or a condition, and if you have that condition, you raise your hand. Those who are not raising their hands are the prayer team, and they find someone with their hand raised, and they go over to pray with them. 

This is awesome for a couple of reasons. First, it shows us that anyone can be used by God. Most people at the healing service have not been to the Encounter School to learn about healing. They are at the service because they either need healing or they know someone who does. Yet, they get to participate in the praying over of others. Second, it allows people to pay it forward. I know so many people who don’t want to ask for prayer because they don’t want to be a bother. However, if they have helped pray over other people, they don’t feel as bad asking people to pray over them. It’s also nice because there are always several people who need prayer for each thing so they see they are not alone in their suffering. They also aren’t the center of attention because everyone in the room is either receiving prayer or giving prayer. 

Corporal prayer is also nice because no one has to know what to say except the leader. In Corporal prayer, the leader, in this case, Deacon Joe, says the prayer, and we all repeat after him. The leader usually has us pray over each body part or condition twice because healing can be instant and it also can take a few times of praying. After each time we complete a prayer, Deacon Joe stops to ask if anyone has anything to report. This is important because we want to test things out and see if we are better. Often the healing happens when we take that leap of faith and test out our condition to see if it was healed. Also, the testimony of those who are healed builds the faith of everyone in the room. Hearing the testimonies is my favorite part because the people are usually so surprised. I think that makes Jesus smile up in heaven too. 

After corporal prayer, the ESM students line up in prayer teams of two around the church, and people who still need healing are invited to receive personal individual prayer. If you have never been to an Encounter School of Ministry healing service, I invite you to check one out. Even if you don’t need healing I guarantee you will have so much fun praying over the people that do need healing. God is so good and the Holy Spirit is so present at these services that you will come up with more faith than you had going in. If you are not local to MA, where I live, you can still probably find an Encounter Service to go to. They have 30 Satellite campuses. Also, I believe the main campus in Michigan has its healing services live-streamed, so you could join in that way as well. I am telling you, you want to witness one of these healing services for yourself. They are amazing and so alive with the Spirit. 

I know that was a lot of lead-up to the testimonies. I felt it was important to describe what happened at the services before talking about all the testimonies, and there were a lot this past weekend. I recorded 17 healings, and these are just the ones that I was able to record. I am sure there were others. This also doesn’t include any healings that took place in the days to follow, as sometimes you can receive prayer one day, and then the healing comes a few days later. Here are the testimonies from last Saturday night.

1. A woman walked into the healing service with sciatica pain she had for a few days. It made the ride up uncomfortable. She didn't receive any prayer for it but was healed during praise and worship. She didn't even realize she was healed until she was driving home at night and realized she wasn't in pain.
2. During praise & worship, Deacon Joe got word that God wanted to heal someone’s calf. He asked anyone with leg pain to raise their hand, and a team would come and pray over them. There was a young woman who was hesitant to raise her hand. She said she had just come from soccer practice. She is a coach, and she was working with the kids and hurt her hamstring all up her leg. Her knee was hurting, and it was acting up, either locking or giving out. After prayer, the pain was completely gone; she was so surprised. The pain was gone, but the knee was still acting up. We prayed again, and she was completely healed.
3. A woman was having issues all week with her right inner ear. As soon as the person said the Word of Knowledge for the inner ear, the pain was gone.
4. A young man had pain in his neck. They prayed earlier in the day, and it went down to a 3 or 4. They just prayed now, and it went down to nothing. The pain is completely gone.
5. The woman came in with pain in her rotator cuff. The pain was at a level 8 or 9 when she came in, and after prayer, it is down to a 2.
6. A young woman came to the healing service with pain and restriction in her back. It was so bad she couldn’t sleep last night. The pain was about a level 7 before prayer; after prayer, it was like a 2.
7. A young woman (Erin) had a whole bunch of tension on her shoulders. As soon as Malinda walked over to pray for her, the tension melted away. This young woman also followed up with us in class on Monday and said that she has a lot of arthritis and is in pain a lot. Playing guitar makes the pain worse. She said sometimes she is in so much pain she can’t get out of bed in the morning. However, ever since she was prayed over at the healing service, she has been pain free!
8. A woman had back pain that was a level 8 before prayer, and after prayer, it was down to a 3 or 4. We prayed one more time, and the pain went down to zero. It was completely gone!
9. There was a woman who was praying over someone else, and God completely healed her sciatica issue.
10. Before prayer, a woman had tingling, pain, and burning in her feet at a level of 6. The pain went down to a level 2, and she can stand on her feet now without pain.
11. A man who had ankle pain at level four before prayer was completely healed after prayer. There was no more pain!
12. A woman’s (Kelly) knee has been bothering her for a while now. It was a three down to a one.
13. A woman has a condition called drop foot, where the arch is completely fallen. She also has a lot of arthritis in her foot. The second time the team prayed, she began to receive a tingling sensation through the foot and around the arch.
14. A young man had soreness in my legs before prayer and no longer does after prayer.
15. A woman fell off her bed in the morning and came to the healing service with pain in her leg. After prayer, something was released in her leg, and the pain was gone.
16. A young woman (Erin) gave a testimony of the healing she received at the Encounter Ministry Conference. Before going to the conference, she had a regular check-up with the eye doctor, and they told her she had a hole in the retina in her left eye. She received prayer at the conference. She went to see the specialist after the conference, and they did the exam and said I don’t know why you are here; there is nothing wrong with your eye. There was no longer a hole!
17. A woman (Christina) came in with pain in both knees, and the pain left her left knee.

Isn’t that amazing? Can you believe all the healings that happened in just one night? I am still in awe of God’s awesomeness and all the ways He shows up and works. He loves us so much! I also want to thank Deacon Joe, Ceci, Malinda, Nick and our Worship Team for being so amazing. I want to thank them for saying yes when the Holy Spirit prompted them to bring Encounter School of Ministry to our part of the country. I am forever grateful for all they have taught us and sacrificed to make this school happen. I know the other students feel the same. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

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You Are Not Alone

Genesis 2:18 “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”

I wholeheartedly agree with this verse. We were not meant to be alone. This doesn’t mean that we all need to be married or have kids. It just means that we are all meant to have people we do life with. I have talked a few times recently about how important community is to a fulfilling life. There are very few people who were meant to go through life alone. I know there are hermits out there who dedicate their whole lives to being secluded and spending all their time with God. Most of us are not called to this life. Actually, St. Catherine of Sienna wanted to live this life when she was just a little girl. She ran away from home to go live by herself in the caves outside of her town. An angel appeared to her and told her she was meant to be a light in the world, not separate from it. The same is true for most of us.

However, living in the world can be hard because it is often filled with heartache. How we deal with heartache is the key to our success. When we are struggling, we need to turn to the Lord for help. It also helps to turn to our friends for support. They can build us up and speak truth and light into the lies and the darkness. However, instead of turning to our friends for support, we tend to separate ourselves from others. We tend to pull away because we don’t want to talk about it or we know others won’t understand.

A while back my heart was hurting for several ladies who I know that are struggling. Actually, every time I look at Facebook, there are messages from people who are struggling. However, that week specifically, there were two ladies who do not know each other or live near each other who had 15-year-old children who had to go to court. There are two other women who are not able to spend the holidays with their children for one reason or another. Then, I saw a post about a friend who was really hurting because she could not see her oldest child graduate college. While thinking about all the people who are hurting right now, the one thing I wish everyone knew, like really in the depth of their heart knew, is that they are never alone. I think so many of us think we shouldn’t talk about what is going on because no one will understand or no one else is going through the same thing. People think that they will be judged or that they deserve the bad thing that is happening to them. This is not true!

There are 7 ½ billion people in this world. Whatever it is that you are going through, someone else is going through the same thing right now at this same time. There are also people who have gone through it already and can shine a light into your darkness. They can show you one way to get through your situation. They can also give you hope because if they got through it, you can too! Talking about the difficult things you are going through with people you know and trust can be so therapeutic. Sometimes, we don’t want to talk about our problems because we don’t want to bother people, especially if they have their own troubles. Our friends and loved ones want to help us. It is not a bother for them to hear how you are suffering. Sometimes it can even help them with their troubles as well. You will be amazed how much stronger your relationships can get when you are able to open up and let people in to help. Another reason talking about your struggles can be helpful is because you may be further along in your journey than someone else who has the same struggles. You may be talking with someone who is having the same issue but is afraid to talk about it. Hearing you talk about it can show them that it is ok to talk about what they are going through. I have seen this happen in numerous Facebook groups. Someone is vulnerable and shares their story and then someone else reads it and feels the courage to share their story. 

I truly feel that it is the work of the enemy to make us feel so alone. He is there whispering in our ears all the reasons we should not talk about what is bothering us. He wants us to keep our troubles to ourselves because when we feel alone we feel hopeless. I am not sure if you have read or seen Harry Potter, but there was a scene where the main character, Harry, was really struggling with feeling alone. Every time Harry was with his friends, he would push them away. Harry would tell them they just didn’t understand. They wanted desperately to be there for him, but he would not let them. Harry then went for a walk and ran into another friend. He explained that he felt like he was alone and no one believed him. She said, “I don’t think that is true. Although, I suppose that is how he wants you to feel.” When Harry asked what she meant, she said, “Well, if it's just you all alone, then you aren’t that much of a threat.” I believe it is the same with our enemy. If we are alone and not talking with our family and friends about how we are feeling, then the only voices that we have are the enemy’s whispers. However, if we reach out and tell our story to those who love us, they can speak truth into our darkness. The enemy is the father of lies and he speaks half-truths and lies into our ears so that we believe there is no one that can help us. 

Be vulnerable, open up, and share your struggles with someone. You will feel better just saying it out loud. Don’t go through things alone when you don’t have to. Seek out people that you can trust to talk to. You may not even know that someone else is going through the same thing until you have the courage to raise your hand and say that you are going through it. If you are in a circumstance where you honestly feel like you do not have a single person that you can talk to, then talk to God. Ask God to reveal to you in your life that you could talk to about your situation. Ask God to bring someone into your life that you can talk to that will help you through. Ask God for the strength to help you through your current circumstances. Ask God for the courage to talk about what is bothering you. God listens to our prayers, He listens when we ask him for the things we need, He is always with us, and he gives us strength when we don’t have any on our own. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are truly amazing. Lord, help us to realize we are not alone. Help us to see that you made us live in a community with others. Help us to recognize the trick of the enemy to isolate us and to speak lies into our hearts and minds. Lord, please put people into our lives who will recognize when we are pulling away and call us back. Help us to open up and share our troubles with others. Help us to hear others when they are trying to speak truth into our darkness. Help us, Lord! We love you, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Mentoring is tonight. I hope to see you there. 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 by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group; for more info about the prayer group or these words given, email [email protected]. Today’s word came in the form of a vision. Vision: We were singing in tongues of peace. Bits of peace, like confetti, falling down on the entire world because we have asked for it right here. Some of the confetti was falling into the mud and being trodden underfoot. Some of the confetti was being picked up by a young hand and put into a sweater pocket to be brought home. And some, I saw a man looking up at the confetti of peace falling, wondering what it was.

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Pure Spiritual Milk

1 Peter 2:1-3 “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

I really liked this verse when I heard it the other day. I loved the part where it encourages us to long for pure spiritual milk so that we may grow up into salvation. The message translation says, “So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.” I know I want to grow up mature and whole in God. I liked reading this version as well as I wasn’t really sure what it meant to grow up into salvation. However, I think it just means that we grow and mature in God.

I also really liked the first part of this verse. How amazing would this world be if we could all put away all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander? Can you even imagine a world in which those things don’t exist? What this verse is trying to tell us is that if we have tasted that the Lord is good, then we should be longing for more of that goodness.

Peter also warns them to watch what they consume. This is a great warning for us as well. If we want to grow into mature Christians, then we need to make sure we are consuming pure spiritual milk. This can be hard because the world likes to dilute teachings so that more people will like them. The world likes to take the things written in the Bible and interpret them any way they want to so that they feel ok about how they are living their life. However, the Word is the Word. We can’t change it or interpret it to fit our lifestyle.

Jesus was great when He walked the earth. He didn’t come to condemn people. He hung out with everyone. He ate dinner with tax collectors and sinners. He had plenty of chances to condemn people as well as judge people. He had all the authority to judge and condemn people, and yet he loved them instead. John 3:17 even says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus came to show us that God is love. Jesus came to teach us more about His Father.

However, even though Jesus didn’t come to condemn, He did come to convict us of how we should be living. He didn’t tell the adulterer that it was ok that she was sleeping around. He showed her unbelievable mercy, compassion, and love and also told her to go and sin no more. Jesus gave some pretty hard teachings, even though He knew they would be hard for people to accept. He stood by those teachings even when it meant that many of his followers would abandon Him.

One of these hard teachings was that we are to forgive our neighbor seven times seventy times. We have a hard time forgiving when they hurt us the first time, and now we are supposed to keep forgiving them. This was hard for people to accept. This is probably hard for many of us to accept. Especially if someone is continuing to hurt us over and over again, we might wonder why the Lord wants us to keep forgiving someone who keeps hurting us. One thing I want to make clear is that you can forgive someone and yet still not let them keep hurting you. The Lord is not saying that you need to keep allowing someone to continue to hurt you. For instance, if there is someone who hurts you, intentionally or not, each time you see each other, then it is perfectly ok to forgive that person and yet not spend time with them anymore.

Another really hard teaching was the teaching from John 6:48-51 which says, “I am the bread of life.  Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” This teaching was very hard for many to hear and many of Jesus’ followers walked away.

Jesus let those who couldn’t believe it walk away. He didn’t try to rephrase it to make others accept it, backpedal, or take it back. He stated the truth and let it sit there for people to either accept or not accept. The Truth is the truth, whether people agree with it or not. We need to find the Truth and learn from that. We need to be careful about the information that we are consuming. We need to question things that don’t seem right to us. We need to get our information straight from the source instead of from the world and the news. We need to be in the Bible, learning straight from the source. The verse above says we need to drink pure spiritual milk, and that means we need to make sure the world does not dilute the things we are learning in any way. The best way to do this is to go straight to the source. If you hear something that sounds like it may not be true, look it up.

We live in an age of technology that can be bad or good, depending on how you use it. Fact-checking things you hear is pretty easy. You can type it in the search bar and see if it is actually in the Bible. You can read the verse surrounding it to see if it is taken out of context. We know that God is good, and we need to protect ourselves from all the negativity out there. We need to nourish ourselves with only the spiritually pure milk out there.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to notice when we are hearing things that are off from what we believe. Help us to question what we are learning. Help us to go straight to the source, your Word, for all that we learn. 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. Mentoring is tomorrow night. If you would like more information, click here or go to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com. I look forward to meeting you all here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word from the Lord was received by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group; for more info about the prayer group or these words given, email [email protected].  “He calls us to call on His peace. When you are ruffled, when you are anxious, call on my peace. Don't let it stay dormant. It is not the world’s peace. It's not a feeling. It is my peace, and it's an inner peace that only I give. But call upon it, and you will learn to use it. But you must be steadfast and learn how to call upon my peace, and it will pass all understanding. It only comes from the heart, not the mind. (To receive the Word from the Lord in your email inbox daily Click Here)

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Radical Trust

Daniel 3:17 “If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, oh king, may he save us!  But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up.”

Radical Trust is something that was new to me when I attended a conference in March 2011.  Well, I had seen radical trust in action many times, but I don’t think I had ever heard it called that.  I was instantly in love with the phrase.  I loved the idea of having Radical Trust in our God.  I really enjoyed learning about that concept over the weekend.  The speaker, Anne Trufant, asked us, “Do you trust God?”  Not, do you trust in God, but do you trust God?  Do you truly trust what he says to you, what he tells you?  It was a different way to look at it.  Do I trust all the things that God tells me when I read the bible?  Do I trust that he is saying those things to me?  Do I trust God?  I definitely took some time to ponder that and to pray with that thought.  After that retreat, I started to pray for radical trust a lot more often.  I also tried to implement radical trust in my life.  It’s not just about saying, “Of course I trust God,” it's about truly believing that with your whole being.  Wouldn’t it be great if when we got a bill that we did not have the money to pay, we could say and truly believe, "God’s got this."  "I don’t need to worry because He’s got this."  What about when we see that our kids are doing something that we know is wrong, and we can see all the ways they can get hurt if they continue down that path?  Can we truly say, "God’s got this," and not worry about it?  Ever since this retreat, I have prayed so many times for radical trust because, in my experience, it does not come overnight.  And it is not always universal. Over the years I have found myself having radical trust in one area, but then not in another.  However, every day, I see the benefits in my life of praying for radical trust.  I am much better about radical trust now.  I have a supernatural trust that all will be ok.  I do not tend to feel stressed out about the future because I know that God is in charge and I am not.  Why should I worry when he is the one in control?  

I enjoy reading books about radical trust because every example I read strengthens my trust a little more.  So, I thought I would give you a few examples.  One from the bible is about our friend Peter. Matthew 14:26-31  “When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear.  At once, [Jesus] spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”  Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how [strong] the wind was, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  Peter had radical trust!  He did not think twice before stepping out of the boat onto the unsteady water, which was blowing strongly.  Peter was able to walk on water for a few steps.  So what happened to Peter’s trust?  He took his eyes off Jesus.  He took his eyes off Jesus and looked around at the sea and the wind and became afraid.  

The next two examples I have heard from people close to me.  My mom and dad had 11 children.  My mom stayed home with the kids, and my dad worked.  He had a good job, but money was always tight because of the number of kids in our family.  One day my parents’ friends had to go out unexpectedly.  They asked my parents to watch their kids.  They had 10 kids.  My parents said, “Yes, of course we will.“  Then they thought about how they were going to feed all those 21 children when they did not have any food in the house.  They had a radical trust, and they prayed to God, trusting that he would come through.  They trusted even though they did not have any idea how he was going to show up or come through for them.  A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.  It was a neighbor with bags of groceries.  The neighbor’s father had just moved into their house unexpectedly, and they had nowhere to put the food from the dad’s house as they had just gone shopping.  So my parents gratefully accepted the food.  They looked through and noticed that there was some pasta and sauce in the bags.  They then thought if they just had meat, they could feed everyone spaghetti.  A few minutes later there was another knock at the door.  A different neighbor had a cooler full of meat.  They had just gone hunting and stocked their freezer and fridge with all the meat they could hold, and they did not know what to do with what was left.  Again my parents gratefully accepted it.  Then they immediately thanked God for providing for them as he always does.  Another time a friend was sitting in her car.  She was at the store trying to buy groceries for the week.  She had three small children.  Her daughter was with her.  The store had not opened yet, and they were the only people in the parking lot.  As she made her list of what she needed, she realized she did not have enough money to buy all the necessities.  She prayed to God at that moment, “God, if I just had an extra $50, I could buy all I needed for the week.”  At that moment, her daughter saw something fly past the car on the ground of the parking lot.  Before her mom could tell her not to, she jumped out of the car to get it.  She got back in the car and gave it to her mom.  It was a $50 bill.  

 When reading a few articles about radical trust online, one of them talked about how radical trust is trusting God even when he doesn’t come through.  This is probably the hardest thing to do.  If you are always seeing ways that God is coming through, it is easier to have radical trust.  I think it may be easier for me to have radical trust because I have seen and heard so many examples of how people have trusted and God has shown up in big ways.  But what about if you have a lot of examples of when he has not shown up?  Can you have radical trust when you want a family and don’t have one, lost your job, prayed for your loved one to be healed, and they died or been given a life-threatening diagnosis?  That is when it is even harder to have trust.  Our friends from the bible, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, give us an outstanding example of how they had radical trust when all seemed lost.  Daniel 3:17 “If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, oh king, may he save us!  But even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up.”  Imagine the trust they must have had to say that to the King in the face of death. 

 I read about a practical way to grow in radical trust from an article from Laura Fleetwood. (Click here for article)  She said as soon as a fearful thought enters her mind, she takes it captive and hands it over to Christ.  She literally, in her mind, snatches it and gives it to Jesus and says I trust you, Jesus.  It looks something like this…

Snatch…hand it over…I trust in you, Jesus.  Snatch…hand it over…I trust in you, Jesus.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could all do this a little more often and have a little less stress and worry in our lives?  My challenge to you is to practice turning your worries and your scary thoughts over to Jesus and let him handle them.  After all, he is the almighty one, not us.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we love you, and we want to have radical trust in you. We want to believe that you can do anything. We want to have the faith of Peter when he first got out of the boat. We want to have faith like Daniel in the lion’s den. Lord, we know you can do all things with our minds; help us to know it with our mind, body, and soul. Help us to know it deep in our hearts. Lord, help us to take captive our thoughts and redirect them to you. Help us not to take our eyes off of you. We are so grateful to you, for all, you do for us. 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 let you all know that I have started sending out a daily email called Today’s Word from the Lord. This email will have one of the words of prophecy that was received from a member of my prayer group during one of our meetings. My prayer is that in sharing these Words from the Lord, we will all start to recognize how the Lord talks to us and then we will start to see Him talking to us in our own lives. My other prayer is that if you can recognize the Lord’s voice, then you will also be able to recognize when it is not the Lord’s voice talking to you. I pray you will hear the enemy start talking and realize it is not God talking and stop listening. If you would like to receive this daily email, you can sign up using the link in the show notes, or you can send me an email at [email protected]. If your email mailbox is full and you don’t want to get any more emails, no worries. I will be reading the Word from the Lord at the end of each podcast, as I was doing last month. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

Today’s Word From The Lord was Received in October 2023 by a member of the Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group during one of our meetings. For more information about the prayer group or these words, please email [email protected]. “My children, I come daily to give you this peace. I am giving it to you, but you must be willing to receive it. Receive it in your mind, your heart, and your entire being. Peace has to start with you, my children. If you do not have peace, you cannot share it with others. You cannot give what you do not have, my children. So seek more of my peace. Receive the peace that I wish so very much to give you, my children. It is a gift that I give to you, so learn to accept it graciously.”

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I Will Set Your Prisoners Free!

Zechariah 9:11-12 “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.  Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today, I declare that I will restore to you double.”

This verse was given in a Wednesday morning prayer group that I have joined. If you are an early riser and you are looking for an awesome way to start your mornings, I invite you to join in on this Zoom prayer group. It meets Wednesday mornings at 6:30 in the morning EST. The leader usually starts with a song of praise and worship. Then, sometimes we have a talk on a certain topic, sometimes we pray, and sometimes we share words of prophecy. The leader goes with whatever she feels the Holy Spirit is telling her to do. It is a great way to begin your day. Anyway, I will put the info for the prayer group in the show notes in case you want to check it out. It is on Zoom, so you don’t have to have your camera on if you don’t want to. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. You can just come on and see what you think. 

Someone on the call yesterday morning typed Zechariah 9:11-17 into the chat. When I checked it out this evening, verses 11 and 12 jumped right out at me. I will set your prisoners free is something that I love to hear. It seems like something I have been hearing a lot lately, and that is usually a sign that God wants you to pay attention to something. This is a good thing to notice. When you start to see or hear the same thing over and over again, it is good to notice it and to stop and ask the Lord if he is trying to teach you something or tell you something.

I usually think the verses are pretty straightforward, but I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me to look up its meaning. Guess what? The Holy Spirit actually knew what He was doing. I know, right?! The Holy Spirit, one of the three persons of the Trinity, knew what He was doing when He nudged me to look up the meaning of the verse. When I looked it up, I had a clearer picture of what the verse was saying. The article I read,  for which I will put a link in the show notes, did a great job of explaining why they used the words they used and what those words or meanings would mean to the Israelites.

For instance, the verses start off by talking about the blood covenant God made with us. I have done a few Bible studies in the past, so I have the benefit of knowing how important a covenant is and the difference between a covenant and a contract. However, not everyone listening has this information, and it is important that we understand why this statement God made is so important.

Covenants are something we often find in the Bible. A covenant (similar to a contract) was a binding agreement in which covenant members had certain obligations and could expect certain benefits in return. What differentiates a covenant from a simple binding agreement (a contract) is that a covenant implies meaningful relationships. So, the language used here in Zechariah assumes a relational covenant was made between God and his people-- there was a binding agreement between God and his people.

When a covenant was made, an animal(s) would have been slaughtered and cut in half. Both parties would then walk through the slaughtered animals, implying both parties saying, "May the same thing that happened to me that's happened to these animals if I break the covenant made today."

In Genesis 15, we find God entering into a covenant with Abraham, promising to make him a great nation. However, a deep sleep falls on Abraham, allowing only God to pass through the slaughtered animals. So, on that day, God promised Abram that he would build him into a strong nation that would eventually bless all of humanity. The shedding of blood validated this promise.

I have heard the reason God had Abraham fall into a deep sleep so that He wouldn’t have to walk through the slaughtered animals.  Walking through the slaughtered animals would have been like Abraham saying, "May the same thing that happened to me that's happened to these animals if I break the covenant made today.” However, Abraham is human, and he is likely to break the covenant, whether on purpose or accident. If he doesn’t walk through the slaughtered animals, then he is not bound the same way God is bound. So, Zechariah is saying that their deliverance rests solely upon the shoulders of God's faithfulness to keep his covenantal promise.

The next part of the verse says, “I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” This small sentence has two very important parts. First, it reminds us that God is speaking to fragile people. He's talking to people who have come out of Babylonian captivity in the past twenty years. The Lord is saying He will set them free. Most commentators agree that He is referring to those still stuck in Babylon as captives. So, God is promising deliverance and freedom to His people.

Now, a waterless pit would have been a familiar reference to God's people— it's what Joseph was tossed into by his brothers in Genesis 37. In Genesis 37, Joseph was initially thrown into a waterless pit to die. But, determined not to have Joseph's blood on their hands, they decided to sell him into slavery instead. If you fast forward Joseph's story, you will find that his "deliverance" from the pit was ultimately used to preserve the entire Israelite community. In Genesis 50, Joseph declares, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."

So, similarly, God here is saying that the pit is not the end of the story for God's people. Although they're trapped in captivity, freedom and purpose are on the horizon. Just like he did with Joseph, God will soon free them from the pit of captivity, leading to the further preservation of his people.

The verse goes on to say, “Return to your stronghold.” I really didn’t know what this meant until I read this article. When we consult the Psalms, we see God consistently referred to as their stronghold. So, this is an invitation to return to walking with, trusting in, and finding refuge in their God. And it's an invitation directly tied to a promise of restoration (double restoration). Like Job, God will restore them twice as much as they once had whenever they return to him. He's promising them a hopeful future with him.

The article goes on to say, “On the one hand, this reminds us that a life with God is better than a life away from him. He is our stronghold, our protector, and our provider. When dwelling in a stronghold, you're protected in ways you don't know about. A stronghold protects you from dangers that you can't always see. Brothers and sisters, this past week, God protected you in ways you may never know.

On the other hand, this reminds us that the Christian life is a life of hope. We are prisoners of hope, which means that no matter how bad things may get in this life, we have hope that things will get better. In the same way, no matter how good things get in this life, we also cling to the hope that things will get better. We cling to the hope that God will restore to us double. The lowest sorrows and the greatest joys of this life will pale when compared to the joys we will experience one day in heaven with God. The Christian life is a life of hope.”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today! Lord, we love you, and we thank you for setting the captives free, for filling us with hope for a better life, for your covenant with us, for always being here for us, and for all the ways you protect us, especially for all the ways we don’t even know about. Lord, we love you and we ask this in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

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

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