Walk Boldly With Jesus

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO TESTIMONY

Wasn’t that a beautiful witness of faith? What an inspiration to all of us on how to not lose heart in difficult times. You can tell how strong Jeanne was and how strong her faith was even after losing so much. Here is the written testimony that lead me to Jeanne’s testimony. The written one is from her brother in law. “Wonderful Life (the Matthew West song) is the same story as my brother and his wife, Jeanne. She passed away this past April 12 – Resurrection week! Jeanne and John both saw ALS as, ultimately, a gift from God. It afforded them an incredible opportunity to look at life differently and continue to talk about how God works in their life. It was incredibly painful, but for me it was probably the greatest act of love I have ever seen. My brother saw this as an opportunity to serve Jeanne. And he did nonstop for more than 3 years, the whole time with love and joy in his heart. Never saw him complain once; he always had a smile, grateful that the Lord gave him the time to be with Jeanne and serve her. John and Jeanne own Sola Coffee Shop in Raleigh Click Here for website – if you get a chance do stop by – unbelievable coffee and atmosphere – it is their ministry (don’t go on Sunday as they are closed). What an amazing story. Thank you Jeanne & John for showing us all how to rely on God and find joy in the middle of awful circumstances. Thank you for sharing your story and for being such great examples of Christ to others.

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

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Sowing Righteousness

Hosea 10:12 “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will reap a crop of my love; plow the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower salvation upon you.”

I heard this verse with this translation, which is the Living Bible (TLB) translation yesterday as the verse of the day for KLOVE radio. The person who mentioned this as the verse of the day yesterday said that often, we think of people who have a soft heart in this hard world as weak. However, she said they are brave. It is not easy to have a soft heart, yet in this verse, we are being called to do just that. Being vulnerable in this world is risky because it is so easy to get your heart broken. 

When I heard the DJ from KLOVE talk about being vulnerable I thought of Cory Asbury’s testimony is his song Reckless Love. In his song, Cory Asbury is talking about God’s Reckless love. He is talking about how God’s love chases us down and fights till we are found. It talks about how God loves us completely and would do anything to find us and bring us back to him, and yet we hurt Him over and over again. I will let him explain it since he does it best, and it is his song. Here is what Cory says about his song Reckless Love.

“Many have asked me for clarity on the phrase, “reckless love”. Many have wondered why I’d use a “negative” word to describe God. I’ve taken some time to write out my thoughts here. I hope it brings answers to your questions. But more than that, I hope it brings you into an encounter with the wildness of His love.

When I use the phrase, “the reckless love of God”, I’m not saying that God Himself is reckless. I am, however, saying that the way He loves, is in many regards, quite so. What I mean is this: He is utterly unconcerned with the consequences of His actions with regards to His own safety, comfort, and well-being. His love isn’t crafty or slick. It’s not cunning or shrewd. In fact, all things considered, it’s quite childlike, and might I even suggest, sometimes downright ridiculous. His love bankrupted heaven for you. His love doesn’t consider Himself first. His love isn’t selfish or self-serving. He doesn’t wonder what He’ll gain or lose by putting Himself out there. He simply gives Himself away on the off-chance that one of us might look back at Him and offer ourselves in return.

His love leaves the ninety-nine to find the one every time. To many practical adults, that’s a foolish concept. “But what if he loses the ninety-nine in search of the one?” What if? Finding that one lost sheep is, and will always be, supremely important. 

His love isn’t cautious. No, it’s a love that sent His Own Son to die a gruesome death on a cross. There’s no “Plan B” with the love of God. He gives His heart so completely, so preposterously, that if refused, most would consider it irreparably broken. Yet He gives Himself away again. The recklessness of His love is seen most clearly in this – it gets Him hurt over and over. Make no mistake, our sin pains His heart. And “70 times 7” is a lot of times to have Your heart broken. Yet He opens up and allows us in every time. His love saw you when you hated Him – when all logic said, “They’ll reject me.” He said, “I don’t care if it kills me. I’m laying My heart on the line.”

To get personal, His love saw me, a broken down kid with regret as deep as the ocean; My innocence and youth poured out like water. Yet, He saw fit to use me for His kingdom because He’s just that kind. I didn’t earn it, and I sure as heck don’t deserve it, but He’s just that good. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.”

Isn’t that an amazing way to think about God’s love? He doesn’t worry if He will get hurt, He opens himself up to us knowing we will hurt him over and over again. What if we were this bold. Maybe not with everyone we meet at first, but what if we just started with God? What if we were just able to open up and be honest with him? What if we let our guard down and invited God into the middle of our mess, into the depths of our hearts?

The verse above says, “Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will reap a crop of my love; plow the hard ground of your hearts, for now, is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower salvation upon you.” If we want to reap a crop of God’s love, we need to plant some seeds of righteousness. How do we do that?? I saw an article from Bethel AG Church (click here for the article) that said, “Sowing righteousness simply means doing the right thing in the sight of God. It’s obeying the Word no matter what the circumstances may look like. It means showing kindness even when it’s undeserved. It’s walking in love and keeping the peace when you really want to say something different.”

The verse goes on to say that if we soften our hearts and seek the Lord then He may come and shower salvation on you! Who wouldn’t want to be showered with salvation? It’s the softening of the heart that is the hard part. We might have been through some traumatic things over the years and we have put up walls so that people can’t hurt us. The problem with walls is that although they are efficient at protecting our heart from the bad stuff, they also protect it from the good stuff. They are blocking all things from touching our hearts. This means they don’t let in the love, the light, the joy. The walls keep all of this from penetrating our hearts as well.

If you have walls up around your heart, and most of us do in some way, I ask you to spend some time today inviting the Lord in to show you where these walls are and what you can do about them. Ask the lord if it is safe to take the walls down now. Ask Him to come in and repair your heart, heal your heart. Ask Him to rain down His salvation on you! Give your heart fully to God today and see how your life changes. Be reckless with your love towards God as He is with His love towards you!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, we thank you for your reckless love. We thank you that you love us so completely, so freely, with such little regard for your own well-being. Help us to love you in the same way Lord. Help us to love you with such freedom. Help us to care more about you than anything else, including ourselves. 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. Tonight is mentoring if you would like to join me click here or go to my website walkboldlywithjesus.com. Also if you want to check it out before joining send me a message (click here) and I will send you the zoom link. I look forward to seeing some of you this evening. I look forward to bringing you a special witness tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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When Prayers Seem To Go Unanswered

Jeremiah 32:27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me?”

I liked this verse for today because this idea has been on my mind lately. The Lord has been telling our prayer group a lot over the last several years that we are not asking for too much; we are asking for too little. Just last November, He said, "My children, I want you to call out to me. I long to bless you, to bless your families, to bless your communities, to bless your world. When you call to me, you open the floodgates of my love and my mercy. Ask for more; you are asking for too little. I have much to give you. I have much to bless you with. Trust in me.” Isn’t that amazing? The fact that God is telling us we are asking for too little. I have been thinking about this a lot lately because I don’t know about you, but I have been asking God for some pretty big things lately.

Just recently, I asked God to heal my friend miraculously. He had a surgery that seemed to go well but then when taking the instruments out the surgeons nicked an artery. Then he seemed to be doing better and then all of his organs shut down and he didn’t make it. I was really surprised as God said we were asking for too little, and this definitely wasn’t little. If I can be honest with you, I don’t understand this. I don’t understand when we pray and our prayers aren’t answered. I wonder if you struggle with this too? I wonder if you have some pretty big prayers that seem like they weren’t answered either.

When I asked the Lord about this, He told me my prayer was answered, just not in the way I wanted it to be. My friend Brian is completely healed now. He no longer has the disorder that was attacking his body and making life so hard for him. He no longer needs to be on oxygen and have surgery after surgery. He is no longer suffering. I understand that. I also know God could have healed all of that on this side of Heaven also, so that is where I get lost sometimes. I heard a speaker this weekend. Sister Tracy Dugas who is a nun with the daughters’ of St. Paul.

She said something during her talk that helped me understand this a little better. She brought our attention to 1 John 5:14, “And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Sister Tracy encouraged us to consult the Holy Spirit and ask Him how to pray for whoever or whatever we are praying for. For instance, before I prayed for my friend I could has stopped and asked the Holy Spirit how I should pray for this person. What should I pray for for this person? She reminded us that God knows so much more than we know. He can see the whole picture, whereas we can only see a tiny fraction of the picture.

She reminded us of Luke 11:11-13 “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” The Lord knows what we need better than we do. If we try to give our kids the best we can in our flawed state, how much better will the Lord give us what is best for us?

God’s ways are higher than our ways, and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Sister Tracy said God is probably looking down at us and thinking we are asking for a whole lot of serpents. We don’t see all the twists and turns that are ahead of us. We don’t realize that if we get that job we want, then we will be working more than we thought or commuting more than we thought. We don’t know that if we buy that house that we thought we really wanted, we won’t actually be able to afford it and will end up stressed out with no money. We don’t know that if we go on that trip, we will get into a car accident. We can’t see the future; only God can.

When our prayers aren't answered in the way we want them to be, it is because God has something better planned for us, or because He is preventing us, or those we are praying for from something. God knows what He is doing. He is working all things for our good. That doesn’t mean that He doesn’t allow bad things to happen. That doesn’t mean that we have to like everything that is happening. It does mean that we don’t have to lose all hope and fall into despair when something happens or when our prayers aren’t answered in the way we want them to be. It means that we can be sad and also be assured that God is in the situation, working it for good in some way.

I heard an analogy once from Pamela Crim during an episode of the Big Life Devotional Podcast that really stuck with me. She said God uses all things for our good, but that doesn’t mean he makes that thing that happened good.  Her analogy was using crap as fertilizer. It stinks and is not pleasant. Yet farmers use that crap to fertilize their land. It helps beautiful things grow. Fertilizers are applied to replace the essential nutrients for plant growth in the soil after they have been depleted. So, fertilizer replaces the nutrients that have been lost so crops, flowers, grass, and whatever you are trying to grow can grow better. However, that fertilizer is still crap. It doesn’t all of a sudden become a beautiful plant. It doesn’t all of a sudden smell better. The crap still remains crap, however the farmer is able to use that crap to make something good grow out of it.

This is similar to the crap that happens in our life. God isn’t turning that bad thing into good. However, he is able to help good grow from it. For instance, I do not look back at all the really difficult times with my boys and think they were good times. I still think they were really hard times. Yet, now I can see the beautiful fruit I got out of those hard times. I am a much more patient person. I can give control over to the Lord much more easily. I have a trust I might not have otherwise had. I have a persistence and determination that I might not have otherwise had.

I still don’t know why God didn’t heal my friend on this side of heaven. I think we aren’t necessarily supposed to understand everything God does. He says we should approach Him as little children. Little children don’t always need to know the why. I do know that although I am really sad that my friend lost her husband and my other friends lost one of their best friends. I know God did answer my prayer. My friend’s husband is healed and no longer suffering. I know God will use this situation for good, and there will be beautiful fruit that comes out of it.

I was talking to my friend the other day, and I said, “God, can’t you give her a break.” And she said He has been giving her breaks all along the journey. She said she could see Him all over this. So, I am looking forward to hearing her testimony as to where she saw God in all of this hardship. I honor her and admire how she can see God in the middle of all her suffering. I pray that we can all be that lucky!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode. Lord, help us to see you in everything. Help us to trust that if you don’t answer our prayers the way we would like, it is because you have something better in mind. Help us to ask for more, Lord, even when we don’t understand. When we feel you haven’t answered our prayers, help us to see how you have. Help us to keep asking for more, Lord. Lord, help us to stop and ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to pray in each and every situation. We love you, Lord! We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk Boldly with Jesus. Remember, if you would like to join mentoring it is Tuesday nights at 8:00 EST on zoom. You can click here or you can go to my website walkboldlywithjesus.com. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Have Mercy on Those Who Waiver

Jude 22-23 "And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.”

I was looking up the meaning of these verses in Jude this morning and I found an article that explained it really well. I will read that article to you this morning. The name of the article is title Jude 22-23 A Call to Rescue the Wandering and the Lost. Matthew Breeden wrote the article. Click Here for the article.

Introduction

The letter of Jude is a letter of warning and of exhortation. The warning is that there are those within the church who are opposed to the truth. Jude spends much of the letter describing those who are threatening the church with their misuse and distortion of the Gospel. But Jude’s primary reason for writing is to exhort the church to stand strong and to contend for the faith.

After spending a good deal of time considering the opponents, in verses 17-23 Jude begins to give some attention to what it looks like to ‘contend for the faith.’ In verse 17-21 we saw that we are to remember the warnings that have been given regarding false teachers and then to keep watch on our own hearts; or to use Jude’s words, we are to remain in the love of God.

In vv. 22-23 we come to a third aspect of what it looks like contend for the faith. Jude issues this exhortation: Rescue those who are wanderingand lost.

How do we respond to those who are tempted to doubt or wander from the truth?

We must act with mercy toward the doubting (Jude 22)

The presence of doubt– The first thing Jude acknowledges is that there will be those who doubt. Of course, as false teachers infiltrated the church it would be natural for there to be those who would fall prey to their teaching. The same is true today. There will always be those who are tempted to question the truth or to wander from the faith. 

Responding with mercy– Jude’s exhortation is to respond to those who doubt with mercy. As we consider what it means to show mercy, we should remember that this is the way God has dealt with us. We are all sinners who have rebelled against Him, and yet He has responded mercifully. God sent Jesus to come and die so that we can be forgiven. And even still, as we continue to sin He is mercifully sanctifying us.

Understanding this response– While showing mercy is characterized by compassion concern and patience, mercy can also include correction and even rebuke. Showing mercy does not mean that we ignore sin or justify doubts, but it does mean that we approach our erring brother or sister with meekness and love. In summary, we are to deal with others as God has dealt with: hating sin and calling for repentance – all the while showing compassion and care.

We must act with urgency on behalf of those who are walking toward hell (Jude 23a) 

The consequence of unbelief– In order to understand Jude’s exhortation, we must first be clear on what he means by ‘fire.’ The Bible consistently describes the consequence for those who don’t believe as eternal fire (Jude 7, Matthew 5:21-22; Matthew 18:8-9). It’s this ‘fire’ that Jude is calling us to ‘snatch others from.’

The seriousness of the situation– While Jude has called for mercy, it becomes clear that our mercy must not negate or ignore the seriousness of the situation. The stakes are high. Those who reject God will be subject to His judgment.

The urgency of the situation– Jude’s use of the word ‘snatch’ is an indicator of the urgency of the situation. We must not be complacent or idle – souls are at stake and we must take our call to help them seriously.

Application: As a church we believe that we are called to watch out for one another and to help protect one another from the dangers and the deceitfulness of sin. Passages like Matthew 18:15-17 and Galatians 6:1-3 make it clear that we are to be active in helping those around us identify and repent of sin. We are also told that that God uses our efforts as part of His plan for ‘keeping us’ (James 5:19-20)

We must act with caution as we show mercy toward those who are committed to their sin (Jude 23b)

Garments stained by the flesh– The Scriptures refer to the natural man or the sinful man as ‘the flesh.’ When we are reconciled to God we are given ‘the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:17-21). In this verse Jude describes people who are living in the flesh and indicates that their opposition to God is so prevalent that even their garments are ‘stained by the flesh.’

Showing mercy with fear– While Jude has been clear that we are to go hard after those who are wandering and lost, now he adds this caution: show mercy with in fear. We are to be ever mindful of our own weakness and frailty. As we interact with the doubting and the one committed to sin, we must be watchful that we are not tempted (Galatians 6:1).

Summary – While Jude is clear that we are to contend for the faith and warns us about those who would distort the truth, here we also see that we are called to deal mercifully and wisely with those who err. Just as God the Father has been merciful toward us, we should be merciful toward others. And we should strive to see those who doubt or wander come to a place of repentance and restoration.

Dear Heavenly Father,I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord, please bless Matthew Breeden who wrote this article. Lord, we ask that you help us to be merciful with those who are struggling to find their way. Let us be patient with those who may have doubts. Let us also be brave enough to snatch out of the fire those who need to be saved. Lord, help us know the difference. We give you permission to direct our actions. Help us know when to be merciful and when to act quickly to snatch someone from the fire. Lord, help guide us. Help us hear the Holy Spirit who is our guide. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.

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

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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The Power of Solitude

Luke 5:16 “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

The other day, I was listening to the Abiding Together podcast. The episode was called Living in Tension: Solitude and Community. This was a really interesting idea. It is important to keep in mind that we need both solitude and community. Today I want to talk to you a bit about why you also need time for solitude. No matter if we are an introvert or an extrovert, we all need both community and solitude. The solitude is not where we spend time by ourselves watching Netflix and eating ice cream. We all may need that sometimes too, but the solitude they were talking about on the podcast was that time when you go away from everyone and spend time with the Lord. Jesus did this often in the Bible. He fed the 5,000 and then went off to be alone with the Father. He did this so often in the Bible that people would go after Him and try to find Him. They wanted to know what He was doing.

No matter how close we get to the Lord, this solitude will always be necessary. There is always more with the Lord. We can always go further in with Him. We can always grow closer to Him. Encounter Ministries says you can always go further up and further in. This alone time with God is essential. This is the time when He can fill us up. This is a time when He can show us what He has planned for us. God will use us if we allow Him to. God will help guide us in our lives if we allow Him to. If we never stop and spend some time with God, just us and Him, when do we learn about His plan for our life? When do we learn about what He wants us to do?

Things in our life will go much better when we spend quiet time with God, asking Him what we should do before we do it. In order to recognize the Lord’s voice, we need to make sure we are spending time regularly with Him. In order to have an intimate relationship with him, we need to spend time with Him. Maintaining our relationship with God is similar to maintaining our relationship with others. We need to invest our time and our attention to it, or it will fizzle out. I found an article that talks about the 6 Benefits of Solitude with God by John (Click Here for full article)

Here are 6 benefits of solitude with God

1.)   Exposure to God’s wisdom 

God is all-wise and all-knowing. You can’t spend time alone with Him and remain ignorant. Acts 4:13 says that when the religious leaders saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled; and they realized that they had been with Jesus. You can’t spend time with the LORD and not be wiser than you are now.

2.)   Recipient of divine perspective

Through Scripture and time with the Lord, God gives His people the capacity to see all of life from His vantage point. Having God’s perspective allows us to rise above the daily grind of life and the petty actions of others and realize there is a sovereign God who rules over His creation and directs the activities of mankind.

3.)   Renewal of physical and spiritual strength

When you spend time alone with God, you not only gain renewal of physical strength, but you also enjoy spiritual refueling and refreshment. Isaiah 40:31 says “those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” 

According to Psalm 68:35a, the God of Israel is “He who gives strength and power to His people.” Spend time alone with God, and He will give you power and strength.

4.)   Beneficiary of Godly guidance

God promises to guide us all the way through our lives. The psalmist writes, “For this God is our God forever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.” (Psalm 48:14). But how do we receive this guidance? Psalm 48:9 says: “meditating on your unfailing love.” The secret of guidance is alone time with God – meditating on His word. Wow, what a gift we receive in our alone time with the Lord!

5.)   Experience conviction and correction

Psalm 17:4-5 says: “I have followed your commands, which keep me from following cruel and evil people. My steps have stayed on your path; I have not wavered from following you.”

One of the great proofs that the Bible is really God’s inspired Word is its unique ability to convict men and women of their sins. Often God will use his word to correct us and lead us onto a steady path gently. 

6.)   God’s great reward

God rewards time spent alone with him in prayer. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6)

God’s will, His nearness, His goodness, His love – rewards freely given to those who commune with him. 

Make solitude a priority! All of the money in the world cannot buy the rewards God longs to give you as you commune with Him. As we get busy in this Lenten season don’t forget to prioritize alone time with God this year. It’s the best gift you will ever receive; one-on-one communion with your heavenly Father. 

You might wonder, with all these benefits, why would anyone avoid solitude? We can avoid solitude because when we think of solitude, we think of being alone, and there are all sorts of reasons why we wouldn’t want to be alone. We might think that when we are alone, our mind will think of all the things we have been trying to avoid. Maybe we have trauma from our past. Maybe we have things in our lives right now that we are trying to avoid. We might be afraid if we have solitude, we might have to confront all the things we are trying to avoid.

However, when we avoid solitude, we are avoiding deep connection with the Lord as well. God is calling each one of us to make the choice to find time away from everyone else and to meet Him there in that silence. Almost all the main players in the Bible spend time in solitude with the Lord. I read an article that had three things for us to consider when practicing solitude. The article was called How to Practice Solitude. I didn’t fine an author. (Click Here for the full article)

Three things to consider when practicing solitude:

1. Solitude doesn’t require silence

Silence and solitude are complementary disciplines that aid our communion with God. But while silence almost always requires solitude, solitude does not necessarily require silence. We can use our time of solitude for prayer, verbal meditation on Scripture, singing psalms or hymns of praise, or any other form of “noisy” activity. Solitude doesn’t require either silence or a hushed solemnity.

2. Solitude requires planning

Our lives tend to be filled with people and events, making it unlikely we’ll accidentally stumble into solitude. Being alone with God requires planning. Choose a place where you can be intimate with God and free from distractions. This “special place” doesn’t need to be special — it just needs to be a place where you can remove yourself from the world for as much time as needed.

3. Solitude requires time

On most days, the best we can do is to get away alone for a few minutes or even an hour. We should cherish these times and guard them carefully. Yet while these solitary moments are necessary, they’re hardly sufficient to meet our need for closeness with our Creator. Commit to finding creative ways to be alone with God for extended periods of solitude, ranging from a few hours to a few days.

Three reasons solitude is necessary for spiritual formation

1. Solitude amplifies other disciplines

We can carry out almost every other discipline in the company of others. We can pray, meditate, and worship almost anytime and in any place. But practicing those disciplines in the context of solitude helps us achieve a greater focus and augments our efforts.

2. Solitude is not about being alone

Normally when we use the term solitude, we’re referring to the state of being alone. But solitude also has the meaning of “absence of human activity.” This is what we mean when we refer to the discipline; the purpose is not to be alone but to experience the absence of human activity so that we can more fully experience the presence of God.

3. Solitude exposes our idols

We might tell ourselves we prefer God’s company to that of any other person or thing in the world. Solitude puts that claim to the test. By being alone with God, we get a clearer view of the idols of our hearts, and we are presented with an opportunity to repent.

As you can see, there are many reasons why we need to make time to be in solitude with God. I pray you will find extra time during this Lenten season to be alone with the Lord and let Him fill you up.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to be with everyone listening to this episode. Lord, we thank you for wanting to be in a relationship with us. We thank you for wanting to spend time with us. We thank you for filling us up in that time alone with you. Lord, we ask that you show each one of us how you want to be in a relationship with us. Show us where and when you want to meet with us. Lord, if we are struggling to find time to be with you, we ask you to put on our hearts when in our schedule we can add more time with you. We want to be with you, Lord; we are just struggling to make it happen. Please help us. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

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

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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

Today’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. (Click Here)  If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. I will link it in the show notes: Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today I chose from the Marriage/Family category as I think we all know someone whose family is struggling. There is definitely attack on our families these days.. I have chosen four stories to share with you this morning. Although they all deal with family and marriage, each one is unique.  I hope when you hear them, you can see not only how God has helped them in their life but how He is helping you in yours and in your loved ones, too.

Janet:  (Click Here) God has been so good to me and my family, even through my wrong choices. Quick story: I married someone I chose (not God). I have 2 beautiful daughters, now ages 37 and 34. Their dad walked out of our family when my oldest was 7 and my youngest was 4. He left for my girlfriend who lived next door who also was married. They were having an affair. Eventually he moved into her house and every day, my kids saw their dad pulling into her driveway, not ours. Of course I played the blame game and blamed God. I had a choice: Was I going to trust God or do this myself and walk away from Him? I chose God. I had to get a job, etc. That ride was not easy.

A couple of years later, we were in a horrific car accident and I said, “God, when will this end?” I am here to tell you I would not choose a different road. What God did and taught us is my story. I can write a book on miracles through the storm. You really may not see the miracles clearly at first but when you look back at your past.. I can only say, “wow God! You’re great.” By making that choice to trust God and raise my girls in church and pursue Him, my kids never got involved with drugs or alcohol. They were A+ students. They waited till marriage. I am so blessed with 5 beautiful grandchildren and 2 sons-in-law that are wonderful. My family lives right by me. I see them all the time. They are financially blessed.

Only God gets all the glory for this story, but the best thing about this story is how much my family loves Jesus. Thank you for allowing me to share a little bit about my story. God bless, Janet

Life is Sacred (Click Here)

I just listened to your song “Untold” and was greatly moved by emotion. As a young girl, I was raped at 18 by the boy I was dating (whom I met at church). I was so naive. I didn’t even know what was happening to me at the time. It took me four months and a few trips to the library to figure out I was pregnant. My greatest fear was having to tell my parents. When I did, my father refused to speak to me for weeks. I never told anyone about the circumstances of the pregnancy, and my father never let me forget how I shamed the family.

Since my mother made it clear that I could not stay at the house if I chose to keep the baby, I thought I would give it up for adoption, but by that far in the pregnancy, I began to feel the baby move. I had always wanted to be a mother, just not so soon. So, I decided to marry the person who did this to me so I could keep my baby and save embarrassment. Abortion was not an option. I had always supported the pro-life movement and never wavered from my stance, even in my current condition.

After five years and a second child, we split. Shortly after, I remarried and had two more children, but marriage to an abusive alcoholic proved impossible. At 29, I was single with four children, but I was committed to raising the best children possible. That one decision to keep my baby laid the path for a life of struggle, but with blessings along the way. I have never regretted that decision. I gave birth to a strong-willed, independent baby girl who became a teacher, principal, and leader who has affected the lives of so many people, particularly children. She says she wouldn’t change our life of financial struggles and other challenges as it has made her the person she is today. She has greater compassion for other children experiencing similar challenges in their lives. I often think of what life would be like for the many if she hadn’t been born. She is a strong Christian, continuing to affect lives all around her.

This decision was so much better to live with than if I had terminated the pregnancy.  Life IS sacred from the moment of conception. Creating and bearing a child is one of the greatest gifts God has given women. And for a female friend of mine who couldn’t carry a child, I did it for her.

Thank you for this song.

Shelly: (Click Here) After I accepted Jesus to be my Savior at the age of 24, He laid it on my heart to be a storyteller. In 1996, I remember crying while listening to a pregnancy center’s director speak to the church I was attending. She was sharing God’s work at the center and of how they helped the teen girls who were pregnant. She asked for storytellers.

I was once a pregnant teen who placed my precious baby for adoption. I was 17, in an abusive relationship, with no means of supporting this little one. The father of the baby and I chose an open adoption. On May 18,1989, my beautiful daughter was placed in the loving arms of her forever parents. Fast forward to when she was 16, I reconnected with her through mail and social media. During that time I learned that she had a sister and a loving childhood. I also learned that she grew up living next door to my pastor. Understand that we live in a small New Jersey town outside of Philadelphia and they live about 2 hours away in a small Pennsylvania town on the other side of Philadelphia about 2 hours away. So, for God to plant my pastor and his family in New Jersey is a God story in itself!

In September of 2020, we were reunited in person at her baptism. She shared on Facebook that she and her husband had accepted Jesus as their Savior and were getting baptized. I reached out to her mom and arranged for my husband and I to surprise her. That day, I had also witnessed over 50 people get baptized at the same time (another God story). That day will be forever carved on my heart. God has so richly blessed me with a godly husband and 4 more beautiful children. They are all grown up now. My husband and I celebrated 25 years of marriage this year and I am so blessed! Since the day I heard the speaker from the pregnancy center, I have shared my story with youth groups and high school students encouraging them to wait for sex until marriage. God continues to write our stories for His glory. Thanks for the work that you and your family are doing! My favorite song is Truth Be Told.

Traci: (Click Here) In middle school, I was teased for being a petite black southern girl. I was not popular as a teenager. I have a love of writing and a gift of poetry, which became my voice and my outlet. When I share, I feel fearless and in control of my emotions. This love for poetry never went away even though challenges made me question my gift. I wrote through teasing in middle school, a violent domestic relationship at 16, and rape at 20. I did not realize it back then, but writing poetry was preparing me for my future.

By age 27, I experienced a great loss. I met a guy I thought I would marry. We talked about plans for the future. The last time I saw him was on my 27th birthday.  He died from a brain injury. For the first time, I questioned my faith in God. I was torn inside. I was on an emotional rollercoaster.

For several months, I fought with God, but I finally ran towards him. I gave God all of me. I got closer to God. We grew closer than we ever had before. God reminded me of the poetry I wrote before my boyfriend passed away. The poems were about having a relationship with God. I read those poems during my grieving process. I learned how to be secure in God and in my life. After a year of being single, I met my husband at an open mic at a church. I shared my poetry in front of unfamiliar people. He was there to support a friend and we talked during intermission. We connected on social media. After our first date, we had an instant connection.

Within six months of dating, my husband proposed to me.  It was on my 29th birthday. It felt like a fairytale. He proposed to me at a restaurant, and I was dressed in a beautiful gown with a crown on my head!  My family and friends were all there.  For a happy time like this, I continue writing poetry. By January 2020, I started the Traci Neal Speaker Poet brand. I took a leap of faith and focused on my poetry.

Within six months, I was on 22 radio shows, including iHeart and Voice America Empowerment. God allowed my letter to the editor to be in The New York Times on April 17, 2021. My husband does my videos and photography. We are a perfect match for each other and for the business.

God is faithful. I did not like my life over the years, but I am so glad my love of writing never went away. I am grateful for all God has done in a short amount of time. Trust the process. God knows best!

Thank you to Traci, Janet, Shelly and the person who share witness about sacred life. Testimonies are such a great way to share our faith, and yet they are not easy to share. It takes us to be willing to be vulnerable to share the hard parts of our lives. I am so grateful for those who share their stories because I know they will touch the lives of others. They will help build the faith of others as well. Thank you so much for being brave and sharing your story!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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They Will Know Us By Our Love

John 13:34-35 “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

This is an excellent reminder of our calling. There are 10 commandments we are asked to follow, and yet, Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Did you catch that last part? If you are doing these two great commandments, then you will be doing the rest. They all hang on to those two commandments. So, our calling is to love.

I just went to an awesome Lenten Day of Reflection on Saturday, and the theme was bringing God’s light into the darkness. Can you guess how we can do that? We can bring light into the darkness by being love to other people. This is what people are craving in the world, and they are looking in all the wrong places to find it. I believe behind every cranky, mean person is a child of God craving love. They don’t know how or where to find it, and they certainly don’t know how to ask for it.

Often we give love as we received love growing up. If we received a lot of love growing up, then we can give a lot of love. If we didn’t receive a lot of love, or if we needed to earn that love, then we might not have a lot of love to give, and people may need to earn that love. There is a saying “hurt people” hurt people, meaning if someone is hurt, they may lash out and hurt other people. They may not even know they are doing it.  They are just doing what they are taught to do. It might be subconscious. They get into a relationship and act like they witnessed it growing up and don’t realize it is hurting others.

We need to love people. Not just the ones that are easy to love, but we need to love all those we meet. I was thinking we should think of everyone we meet as our brothers and sisters in Christ. However, I am one of 11, and I know brothers and sisters don’t always like each other. So, instead, let's think of everyone we meet as a child of God. I think we all know the love one can have for their child. Or, if you don’t have a child, I bet you still know the love you have for a niece, nephew, or best friend’s child. We love our children even when we don’t like their behavior. We love them even when they aren’t being kind. This is how God feels about His children.

I wonder if we think of everyone we meet as a child of God if that will help us love them more? It may help us see them as more than just what we see on the outside. My kids can seem pretty terrible on the outside at times. Well, they did when they were younger, anyway. However, I always knew they were kind, loving children on the inside somewhere. This is true with all of God’s children too. You may look at them, and all you can see is their sin. However, inside, maybe buried deep inside, is that loving child God created. Can we look past the outside and show them love?

The verse above says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” Jesus is not asking us to love one another. He is commanding it. Are we really going to say no to that command? Are we really going to keep doing what we want to do and ignore the commandment to love one another as Jesus loved us? How did Jesus love us? He loved us unconditionally. He loved us with a self-sacrificing love. He gave it all for us.

I don’t think Jesus is asking us to give our lives for others in the same way that He did. However, there are other ways we give to others. I think even if we start small and work our way up to loving others better. What if we just started with eye contact and a smile? People are craving love and to feel seen these days. What if we just started looking at people and smiling? This shows them they are seen. This shows them that somebody noticed them. I have heard that this is especially important when you pass a homeless person on the street. So many people walk past them and don’t even look at them. They act like they don’t even see them. What if you saw them? What if you made eye contact and smiled?

The verse says that everyone will know that we are Jesus’s disciples if we have love for one another. If people saw the way you interacted with those you meet in a grocery store, those you interact with in traffic, and those who live in your house, would they know you were a disciple of Jesus? There was an episode about this verse on the Big Life Devotional with Pamela Crim, and she talked about how this verse applies to us, too. If we always talk badly about others or about ourselves, do you think people are going to want to follow Jesus? If people know we are disciples of Jesus, and yet we are always grumpy and talking about how much we hate ourselves or our bodies, then do you think they are going to want to be disciples of Christ?

If we want others to know we are disciples of Christ, then we need to love people better. We need to love one another. Sometimes it can be easier to love strangers on the street than it can be to love our family. We need to make sure we are loving everyone. Those who live in our house, those we pass on the street, those we see in the grocery store, those who cut us off in traffic. We need to figure out how to love all of those people. One thing that may make it easier is to remember they are children of God, and He loves them. He wants our help to love His children. Can we do that? Can we help Him?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to love your children; please help us. We want to love all those we meet and yet we don’t know how sometimes. It is easier to love some more than others. We struggle to love some. It seems impossible to love everyone, and yet all things are possible in you. We ask for your graces so that we can do as you command. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting some of you live on Zoom tonight. If you would like to join mentoring, you can do so on my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, or CLICK HERE. You can also come to check it out before you join. Just send me a message on Facebook or through email at [email protected], and I will get you the link. I look forward to meeting you all here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day.

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Is There A Right or Wrong Way to Pray?

Luke 11:1 "He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

Prayer has been part of my life ever since I can remember. When I was young, my mom or dad would come to my room at night and say prayers with me. We said the same prayer every night, as far as I can recall. “Dear God, please bless my mother and father, my brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles, and my cousins and friends.” Sometimes, we would add, “Please also bless everyone we know and everyone we don’t know.” This was a very simple prayer, and yet it covered everyone. If you are wondering why we did not name our brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, or cousins, it was because I come from a very large family. There are 11 children in my family, and my mother is the oldest of 10 children. So, if we were to name everyone, I would have never gotten to sleep. 

Growing up Catholic, prayer was also part of our mass. We say the same prayers at mass every week, so we have plenty of opportunities to learn several prayers to use even when we are outside of mass. These prayers were our staple, and it felt great to have them when we wanted to pray. However, they did not tell us how to pray for specific ailments one might have or specific needs people would ask us to pray for. Well, that is not entirely true. If someone asks you to pray for them, a Hail Mary or an Our Father is an excellent choice. They did not give us much room to personalize them. I would hear other people I knew that would spontaneously come up with a prayer off the top of their head, and I thought that was amazing. Also, when people would say grace, and it was personal and individualized, I loved it. I wished I knew how to do that. 

I know there is no right or wrong way to pray. The definition I just found for prayer when I looked it up online is the following: Prayer: a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship. So, if we are requesting something from God, or expressing our thanks, how can there be a right or wrong way to pray? Do you wonder, when we are saying thanks to your friend if you said it the right way?  I doubt it.  Do you question if you requested your combo meal from the fast food worker the correct way? Nope. Then why do we question how to pray? I am asking this question as much to myself as I am to you. Until a few years ago, I felt really uncomfortable praying out loud unless it was a prayer I had memorized, like the Our Father. A few years ago, I joined a charismatic prayer group, and I remember the first time they asked us to put our hand on our neighbor’s shoulder and pray over that person.  I felt bad for the person I was praying over because they had me praying over them. I felt like I was not good enough to pray over them and that someone else’s prayers would be better. This may sound silly, but I am betting that many of you know exactly what I was feeling that day. Why do we struggle so much with wanting to say the right thing? I take comfort in knowing that I am not the only one who feels as though I do not know how to pray. Even the disciples, who were in the presence of Jesus, were unsure how to pray. In Luke 11:1, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. 

I have been listening to people pray out loud at my prayer group for several years now, and I have realized that everyone prays differently. There is not just one way to pray, and there is no secret formula to say the correct prayer so that God will listen more closely.  Do you ever feel that way, like God hears other people’s prayers more than he hears yours? No…it’s just me. In my family, we always say that my dad’s prayers go straight to heaven. We think that because he prays more often, that God hears his prayers more than ours. He is a prayer giant, and I am sure you know someone like this. I am sure you know what I am talking about. The truth is God is always listening. He listens to everyone’s prayers, not just those who are faithful to pray every day. It says in 1 John 5:14, " This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." The Bible goes on to say in 1 John 5:15, “And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."  God is listening to your prayers, even if you did not word them eloquently, even if your prayer was quick, non-specific, etc.  He hears you! 

Now, having said all that, I do not expect that you will all of the sudden feel comfortable praying out loud just because someone told you that there is no right or wrong way to pray. Here are some of the ways that I became more comfortable praying out loud for people or even just praying to myself, but branching off from the prayers that I had memorized as a child. 

· I started writing in a prayer journal. I started writing down what I wanted to pray for or how my day was. I started this at a time when I was struggling, and so sometimes it would just be me expressing to God my hurts, my confusions, my struggles. Other times I would be requesting help for others or myself. Sometimes I would thank him for all He has done. It was all very conversational; I started it as if I was writing Him a letter. I initially started with Dear Lord, but now I start it with Good Morning Dad.

· I started praying out loud for people when asked. Yes, I felt uncomfortable, and yes, I felt like I was doing it wrong. Then I reminded myself that there was no wrong way and no one was judging me. I believe God loves it when we step out in faith and step outside our comfort zone in order to show our love to others. The only way to grow is to step outside your comfort zone and try something new. 

· I started reading the bible more. When you immerse yourself in God’s word, the words to pray over people come more easily. It is easier to call on God’s promises to us because you know what God has promised us. If you have tried to read the bible before and could not get through it, may I suggest you try again and start with the Gospels? They are more like stories than some of the Old Testament books.

These are a few ideas of things you could do to start praying more or to start praying differently. I hope you find them helpful. I will cover this topic again, as I know it is something many of us struggle with. Whenever I am praying or trying to serve God, and I think I may do it wrong or I may not be good enough, I think of a word that came to someone at one of my prayer group meetings. I will pass it along to you in case you find as much comfort in it as I have. Here is the word that was given, “My children, I love you to be with me. I do not need your efforts; I do not need your talents, for I alone will make you fruitful. Just relax, be empty, and be with me.” God does not need us to say the right thing; He wants us to come to Him and to be with Him, and He will make your prayers fruitful. It is not our efforts or talents that make our prayers come true. It is by the grace and goodness of God. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each and every person listening to this episode. Lord, help us learn to pray with our whole hearts. Help us not just to say words but to really believe what we are saying.  Help give us the words to say when we don’t know what to say. Help us to know that even if we can’t say anything, you are still there with us, and you know what we need. Lord, help us take the pressure off of ourselves and realize you don’t care how we pray; you want us to spend time with you. We love you so much, Lord. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.

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

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Get Up, Get Dressed & Follow Me!

Acts 12:6-8 “The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, ‘Quick! Get up!’ and the chains fell off his wrist.  Then, the angel told him, ‘Get dressed and put on your sandals.’  And he did. ‘Now put on your coat and follow me,’ the angel ordered.”

In this passage, God is telling us three steps we can take to break our own chains.  I know some of you may be saying that this is great for some people, but my chains are too strong for such a simple solution. Although this may seem simple, I am not saying it was easy. Peter was asked to get up while he was still wearing the chains. His chains did not come off before he was told to stand. His getting up while he was still chained took courage and trust. He needed to trust that God was telling him to get up for a reason.

We all have some responsibility in getting out of our chains. Peter did not know what was coming next. He just knew that he had first to get up before anything else could happen. Can you do this step? Can you get up and get out of bed even if you don’t know what is coming next or what the next step is? Can you trust that God is there with you and that if you get up, he will take the chains off of you?

Next, the angel told Peter to get dressed and put on his sandals. When we are in the midst of a challenge, this may be the hardest step. It may take all our energy to get up out of bed and getting dressed is another step that may seem impossible. This is when we need to rely on God. He is there for us, and He is there to give us the strength to get up when we don’t feel like we can. Why is it important to get dressed? Getting dressed means that we are ready to go somewhere. We are ready for God to take us to a new place, a new situation. We need to be ready for anything to happen.

Just the act of getting dressed can help change our mood. Even if we accomplish nothing else the entire day, we at least accomplished that. Also, depending on what you wear, it can change your mood as well. Are you getting dressed in clothes that tell your body that you are ready to go for the day, or are you dressing in clothes that tell your body to go back to bed? I have heard many people say that we should dress like we want to feel, not as we do feel. If you want to feel beautiful, then do not wear your yoga pants that are worn and have lots of holes, dress as if you already feel beautiful, and that is how you will start to feel.

The last step the angel said is to follow me (God). We may not know how we can get out of our chains or what we can do to get out of the current situation. This is when it is important to be still and listen. Sometimes it is easier to hear God than other times. I have had times in the past when I rarely took the time to stop and spend quiet time listening to God. I talked an awful lot to him, but I struggled with the being still and just listening part. I have worked on this and grown in this area over the last several years. Often times we know what God is telling us by the little voice inside our head that tells us what we should do. Are you listening to that voice on a regular basis, or are you shutting it down?

I often do not listen to that voice and then always regret it as it usually knows the right choice. Once you are ready to go, stop and listen and see if you can follow God. Where is he leading you? What does he want you to do next? If we ask God to direct us and lead us, He will. Listen and see what step he is leading you to take. No matter how small that step is, if we take one step after another, we will break free from our chains. There were many instances in the Bible when people had to act first before seeing the results. At the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), they ran out of wine. Jesus told the stewards to fill up the wine jugs with water. Then, he asked them to take to the chief steward. They had to act in faith before they were sure of the miracle. They had to take this cup of what they thought was water to their boss and ask him to taste it. This required their action and their faith. In John 5:2-9 Jesus met a man at a pool, waiting for someone to help him into the healing waters.  He had been an invalid for 38 years.  Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed. This required the man to answer. Then he told the man to rise up and take up his mat. This man had not been able to walk for a long time. Before he was healed, he was told to rise and take up his mat. He needed to trust that when he tried to stand, he would be able to. His faith and action were required before the miracle took place.

God does amazing things every single day. Yes, God could save you without requiring anything from you, and sometimes he does. Sometimes, He saves people who do not even know they need saving. However, often times, God is asking us to take some responsibility for our own situation. What can you do to save yourself from this current situation that you are in? What is one small action you can take to show God that you are willing to help yourself? Absolutely pray to God and ask him to help you in any situation you are in especially the really difficult ones. I am not saying that we need to save ourselves from everything. What I am saying is that we should pray and have faith that God will save us and then act on that faith and take a step in the direction we want to go. I will end with one of my favorite quotes.“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe. ~Saint Augustine

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the episode today. Lord, we want to follow you; please show us how. Please show us the way.  We want to get up and get dressed, and yet some of us are in circumstances that make that really hard.  Please give us the strength to get out of bed and get dressed. Give us the strength to have faith that things will get better. Give us the faith to take that one step, that one small action, so that you know we want to help ourselves; we want to help you. We love you, Lord, and we need you; please help us! We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I invite you all to join me in mentoring. So far this year, we have learned about God’s reckless love, God’s forgiveness, Praying without ceasing, prayer journaling, our identity, setting intentions for the year, praise and worship, and replacing the lies we tell ourselves with the truth from God. When you sign up you will have access to all the recordings for these previous sessions. If you have any questions, let me know. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Walk In Love

Ephesians 5:1-2 “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

This verse is calling us to a higher calling than we realize. I mean, it starts by telling us to be imitators of God. That is a very casual statement that carries a lot of responsibility. How are we supposed to imitate God? He is almighty; He is all-powerful. He is omnipresent. He is with each one of us all the time. How are we supposed to do that? It would be cool if we were completely present with each one of our kids at the same time. There might be a lot less sibling rivalry if the kids didn’t have to fight over their parent's attention. 

However, we can’t emulate those qualities from the Father. We are not omnipresent, all-powerful, or almighty. However, the verse goes on to say that we should walk in love. That is something we can do. It might not be something we can do easily, but we can do it. Love is so important. Love is the way to someone’s heart; it can provide God with an opening He can use to go in and heal it. 

How do we walk in love? Especially if we don’t know what love is or we are surrounded by people who are really hard to love. Walking in love is hard if we haven’t been shown love. Maybe we lived in a family whose parents struggled to love us. They were too wrapped up in their own issues to be able to love us. We might have a husband or a wife who is too wrapped up in what they want to love us. Or, maybe they were never shown love, and so they don’t know how to love either. There is definitely a lack of love in the world. I’m not really sure the reason for this, but if I had to guess, I would say it is because the focus of society these days seems to be personal pleasure. It is important that we are personally happy, and it doesn’t matter who we hurt for that happiness. 

If we don’t know what love is, we can turn to God and ask Him. We can turn to Scripture and see what it says about love. We can read all about the life of Jesus and see what He did. Jesus definitely walked in love. Every time He interacted with people, He showed them love. He didn’t just show love to those who were upright citizens and those who were obeying God’s laws. Anyone could do that. He was nice, kind, and loving to everyone, even the sinners.

This is what the Pharisees and Sadducees couldn’t understand. They didn’t think He should be associating with sinners. Back then, they felt if you touched a leper or someone who was unclean, you would then become unclean. That probably was true for most people back then. If you touch someone with leprosy, then you might get it. However, when Jesus touched the unclean, instead of their disease spreading to Him, what He had inside of Him spread to them, and they were healed.

If we are going to be imitators of God, then we, too, need to love everyone, not just those who are easy to love. It says in Luke 6:32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” Verse 35 goes on to say,  “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Do you see how we have to love everyone, those who love us, those who are hard to love, even our enemies? Do you see why I say being an imitator of God is really difficult?

It is difficult, and yet it is not impossible. Nothing is impossible with the Lord. If we are willing to ask the Lord for help, He will help us discover how to love. He will teach us what love is and what it looks like. God is not expecting us to be perfect at this right out of the gate. He knows our hearts. He knows our history and where we are coming from. He knows what our family life was like growing up. He knows how much we have been loved and not loved over the years. He knows the trauma we might associate with love. God knows it all and is happy to work with us to get through all of it. All we have to do is say yes and be willing to do what He asks us to do.

Can we say yes to God? Can we invite Him into our hearts and show us how to love even our worst enemy? Can we say yes, even if it will be hard? Can we say yes and then watch as God changes our hearts? God can do all things. If He could change Saul’s heart in the Bible, He can change your heart. Saul was rounding up all those who believed in Christ, and he was locking them up in jail or worse. He had an encounter with Jesus and had a complete conversion of the heart. You can too.

The verse is asking us to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. That is a tall order. Can we sacrifice our needs and our wants to love others? This is something that is contrary to what the world is telling us right now. The world is saying we should take care of our wants first and then worry about everyone else. It is important to take care of oneself so that you can be able to take care of others. I am 100% behind self-care; it is not a luxury; it is a necessity. However, some have taken it a bit too far. They make sure their wants, not needs, are met, and the heck with the consequences of what that means for those around them.

Sacrifice is a real thing, and it gets real results. Sacrifices can be big or small. Jesus’s sacrifice is not something we could ever live up to, and we are not being asked to. However, I do feel many of us are called to make sacrifices for those we love. For instance, I would like to go to a prayer group meeting this evening to be filled up with the Holy Spirit. Yet, I am sacrificing that meeting and going to a concert with my youngest. The sacrifice is not spending time with my son; the sacrifice is going to listen to music that I don’t like at all because my son really loves it, and I really love him. What have you sacrificed lately? Would you be willing to sacrifice something you want for something a loved one wants more?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to walk in love; we just don’t know how; please help us. We want to not only love those who love us, but we want to love our enemies too. Please help us. Show us how we can do this. Show us how this is even possible. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!

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

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

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