Walk Boldly With Jesus

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The title of today’s episode is The Power of Prayer. I have a special guest for today’s devotional.  Today's devotional is from my new friend Whitney for those who didn’t hear the Witness Wednesday yesterday. Whitney feels called to ministry, so she asked her pastor if she could do the sermon this week, and he said yes. She posted it for her sisters in Christ to listen to it on our mentoring page, and I thought it was great, so I asked if I could share it with all of you.  She agreed.  I hope you enjoy this beautiful devotional. 

Whitney, thank you so much for letting me share your talk with everyone.  I am sure they loved it as much as I did.  Feel free to share here again anytime! Thank you, everyone, for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  If you would like to sign up for the retreat, there is still time. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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We have all seen God working in our lives. However, we might not all be aware it is God who is 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 you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at [email protected] or just 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.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow, and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day!

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Why Self-Control Is So Important! 

1 Corinthians 9:25-27 “Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we, an imperishable one. Thus, I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. No, I drive my body and train it for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”

Yesterday I was talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and I mentioned the book set my mom bought me. I grabbed one of the books to get the list of gifts from it, and later, I noticed I happened to grab the Self-Control book.  I don’t think that was an accident, as that is the one I probably see the least in my life.  I opened it up and started reading it and found this really amazing story of self-control in it.  I would like to relay that story to you before I talk about the verse above, although they are all connected. 

The author Robert Strand wrote the devotion series on the Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit. I found this story in the Self-Control book.  However, it is originally from Rober Schuller’s book Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking. It is about a polio victim who required an iron lung to breathe and learned how to breathe without it, even though every muscle below his Adam's apple is paralyzed. Karl Dewayne Sudekum, through discipline, has learned how to breathe like a frog. Here's the story. 

In 1953, while Carl was a lieutenant in the US Navy, he contracted polio. For six years, he could breathe only in an iron lung or on a tilt bed. Then he got mad — really angry. He decided he would breathe. He stopped the rocking motion of his bed and remembered how he used to breathe like a frog as a young boy in Nashville, Tennessee. It was a trick almost all kids knew. He would take air with his tongue and force it down his windpipe. When he exhaled, his lungs let out the air like a deflating balloon. He's been breathing this way ever since. "Science doesn't really know how it's done,” he said. "It's a two-cycle pumping action that some people can do and some people can't. Some people can whistle through their teeth, but I never could. It's like that." He could stay away from the iron lung as long as he remained awake. With his first real independence, Sudeckum decided to become an attorney. 

In 1959 he entered the University of San Diego. His wife, Emerald, drove him to school and wheeled him into class. He couldn't take notes, and a tape recorder was too awkward. He simply listened and remembered. Then he was told he had diabetes. That under control, the doctors discovered an ulcer. For a year, he lived with a mysterious high fever, a reaction to medication. Still, he got his diploma and passed the bar exam.

He is practicing now and signs documents, K. D. Sudeckum. It is too much of a task to write his full name with a pen in his teeth. When he talks too long in court, his face gets very red, but it's nothing to worry about. A cold is something else. It could be fatal. So what does he do? "I don't get colds." If he falls asleep or faints while out on his own, frog breathing, he will die unless someone who knows his condition administers artificial respiration. What does he do about that? "I try to think about it as little as possible.”

Wow, there are no words to describe this man’s self-control. It makes my day seem not so bad anymore.  My challenges with self-control seem so small compared to his. Yet, I still have them, and they are challenging for me.  I am sure your challenges with self-control are hard for you as well.  We need not compare ourselves to each other.  That is not why I told you this story.  I told you this story so you could see what is possible for our self-control.  If he can do it, we can do it.  We just have to figure out what our motivation is.  His started out as anger.  I am not sure if that remained the whole time or if it switched. It doesn’t matter too much. However, it is clear that something was motivating him.  

This is where I think this verse can be helpful. It can be our motivation if we let it.  I remember the first time this verse had a profound impact on me. Father Mike was talking about it on the Bible in a year podcast, and He was talking about the self-discipline the athletes must have to win an Olympic medal, or for that matter, even to be able to compete in the Olympics. It is an unbelievably hard training schedule. They have to exercise, practice, and watch what they eat and what they drink.  It is a lot, and yet they do it because they love it, hopefully, and also because they want to win the medal. The medal that they win is a big deal.  It is something to be honored and something that not many people can say they have done. The odds of winning a gold medal at the Olympics is 1 in 662,000. Yet they train, and they work hard for it.  

The race that we are all running, whether we know it or not, is the one for our salvation. The stakes are so much higher, and yet our efforts are so much lower.  This is not the exact wording of how Father Mike said it, but whatever he did say left me with that thought in my head. I remember thinking about this for days afterward. I wonder if we realize what is at stake. Why aren’t we trying to do all we can so that when we get to heaven, God will not say to us, as he said to those in Matthew 7:21-23? “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.”

Wow, that is definitely something that I never want to hear. However, am I making time to sit with Jesus every day to talk? Do I have the self-control and the self-discipline to pass up sleeping in on a Sunday morning so I can go to church?  Do I have the self-control to put first things first? Why is it I can muster the self-control to work out regularly at times, and yet the self-discipline to say the rosary daily or write in my prayer journal daily escapes me? I think I need to put this verse up somewhere that I will see it daily. When I read it, my heart is convicted to do something, and yet I quickly get distracted and forget about it.  How about you?  Are you doing all you can do to foster your relationship with God, Jesus, and/or the Holy Spirit? Are you using self-control to help you put first things first?  This is definitely something I will need to take to my prayer time, and I hope you will join me in this.  I hope you will ask the Lord to show you the various ways you are struggling with self-control and then ask Him what you should do about it. He will help you out if you ask Him. I want to train as hard as an athlete does to develop my relationship with my one true King.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, please help us to develop our self-control.  Help us to put first things first and help us to grow closer to you.  We never want to hear the words, “I never knew you.” Lord, we want to know you. We want to be close to you, please help us. We thank you, Lord, for all the ways you are already helping us and all the time you have spent with us.  We are sorry we don’t always put you first and that so often, other things get in the way. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. CLICK HERE for retreat info.  It is October 7-9th in Easton, MA, near Stonehill College.  I hope you will join me for an amazing weekend.  It will be a time to get filled up and refreshed. We are 3.5 weeks away.  If you have any questions, please reach out.  I need to let the retreat center know how many people are coming in about 2 weeks, so don’t wait to sign up.  You do not have to make any payment when you sign up.  I will send you an email regarding payment after you sign up. I look forward to meeting you here tomorrow with another witness.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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The Fruits of the Spirit

Colossians 1:9-10 “For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.”

I was at a conference this weekend on Saturday, and the speaker, Walter Matthews, talked about this verse. He started with verse 10, “So that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.” I like this verse as it talks about bearing fruit in every good work as you grow in the knowledge of God.  However, I thought verse 9 was important as it says that they were praying they would all be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  I think this is the key to the verse 10.  If we don’t have wisdom and knowledge, then I believe we will struggle to bear fruit with our work.  

Do you know what it means to bear fruit in your life or in your work?  I am fairly new to this concept, so in case anyone else listening is like me, I will explain.  Bearing fruit is another way to look at the outcome of the things you are doing.  Are they good vs. bad?  Are you getting good results at work?  Do you feel good, do others around you feel good after interacting with you? What about at home?  Are you happy with who you are at home? Are others happy with who you are at home? Is your home and your family growing in a positive way? These would all be good fruits.

When we want to judge if something is truly from the Holy Spirit, we look for the fruits of the Spirit in our work. There are nine fruits of the Holy Spirit. These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. My mom actually got me a box set of books that talked about each of these fruits of the Spirit. It was cool to read about them each in more depth. One day when I was talking to my spiritual director, actually the first day with this spiritual director, he said something that helped me realize I could use these fruits as a gauge to see how I was doing in life.  I can’t remember what he even said, and yet I remember a lightbulb went off in my head.

I am constantly wondering if what I am doing is pleasing the Lord. Am I getting this thing called life, right?  Am I hearing what He is saying to me, and am I doing the things He is asking me to do?  These are questions we should all ask ourselves from time to time.  I tend to ask myself this often. After speaking with my spiritual advisor, I realized I could look at my life and see where the fruits of the Holy Spirit are showing up.  For instance, where in my life can I see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? If I am seeing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, then I am doing something right.  

When I look at my life, I do see the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  The extent to which we see them in our lives can be an indication of how well we are doing walking with God if we have a lot of love in our lives, a lot of peace and joy, if we have a lot of patience in our lives, along with kindness and goodness.  If we have faithfulness, gentleness & self-control, then we are probably doing pretty good. There are things that can also show us the areas we need to work on improving. For instance, lately, I have been struggling with self-control.  I used to be doing pretty well, and now I struggle more with it.

The fruits of the Spirit are not something that we can earn with our own efforts.  

The fruits of the Spirit increase when we live according to the Holy Spirit.  The more we listen to the Holy Spirit, the more we do as we feel the Holy Spirit is leading us to do, and the more we will exhibit these fruits.   So, what does this look like for us practically, that is the question I am wondering right now.  How can we increase in these fruits of the Holy Spirit if it is not through our own efforts? First, we rely on the Holy Spirit more.  We stop before we do something and ask the Holy Spirit if that is the path we are supposed to go down.  Or we ask if there is a problem going down that path.  Second, we remember we have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and it can give us courage and strength to do things we might not do otherwise.  For instance, we might speak up against the injustice that we see a little more if we remember that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives inside of us.

Another way to grow in the gifts of the Spirit is to help others.  Jesus told us what we have done for others, you have done for me.  In Matthew 25, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Jesus wants us to help the poor, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked. If we want to grow in the gifts, we can do these things as well.  

It says in Matthew 7:18, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” To me, this is reassurance that even if I am not seeing all of the gifts of the Spirit in my life, or I am not seeing them to the degree that I would like or that I strive for, I am still a good tree.  The same is true for you.  You are a good tree.  Whether you have very little fruit growing on your tree or you have tons of fruit growing, it doesn’t matter as much as it does that you have some fruit. If you are like me and you wonder how you are doing following the Lord, look at your life.  When you see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in your life, celebrate it.  That is the Lord’s goodness showing up in your life.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, I ask you to help people hear what they need to hear in this episode today.  I feel I did not explain it well, and yet I think it is important for people to understand the fruits of the Spirit. Please help each person to hear exactly what they need to hear in the way they need to hear it.  Please help it to make sense and not to be confusing.  We love you, Lord.  We want to follow you. We want to be led by the Holy Spirit. 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 again tomorrow.  Remember, signed copies of my book are still for sale on my website, and the retreat registration is still open.  I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  If you have a witness you would like to share for this Wednesday, please let me know.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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All Sins Are Not Created Equal

1 John 5:15-17 “ If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a deadly sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not deadly. There is sin that is deadly; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly."

I was listening to Father Mike the other day, and he was talking about mortal sins vs. venial sins.  I have heard the distinction between the two before, and yet I felt like he described it really well in this particular podcast episode, which is #247 on the Catechism in a Year Podcast titled The Weight of Sin.  I recommend you listen to this episode if you want more information, as Father Mike explained it better than I can.  However, I am going to try to relay much of what he said and also share my takeaways from it.

The Catholic Church believes there are two kinds of sin, venial sins, which are smaller in nature and do not sever your relationship with God, but they do wound it.  Then there are mortal sins, which do sever your relationship with God, and you must repent and go to confession to repair that relationship.  Father Mike gave an example that showed the difference between these two sins.  I thought it was a great example, so that I will share it with you.  Hearing this helped me to see the effect of our sins.  If you are an animal lover, you may not love this example.  

Father Mike said to think of a bullfight.  The first thing that happens in a bullfight is that the picador comes out and uses barbs to limit the bull’s ability to fight the matador.  The picador inserts these barbs in places like the back of the neck so that the bull can’t lift his head up.  The point of these barbs is not to kill the bull. It is just to wound the bull.  It is to make the bull weaker so he won’t be able to put up as much of a fight when the matador comes out.  Our venial sins are like the picador, they do not kill our relationship, but they do wound it.  They also make it so we can’t fight the enemy as well.  The more venial sins we commit the more likely we are to commit mortal sins.  Our mortal sins are like the matador, they kill our relationship with the Lord. Our mortal sins make us turn away and cut ties with our Lord.  We can repair that relationship through repentance and confession.  

My biggest takeaway from that example was that our venial sins make it more likely for us to commit mortal sins. I loved how he described the picador’s ability to limit the bull’s ability to fight back.  It really resonated with me that when we are committing venial sins, we may call them small sins, but they limit our ability to fight back against the enemy.  They limit our willpower.  They limit our strength.  We are left wounded, and so is our relationship with God.  Our venial sins might be small, but they can start to add up.

St Augustin wrote, “While he is in the flesh, man can not help but have at least some light sins.  But do not dispose of these sins that we call light.  If you take them for light when you count them, tremble when you weigh them.  A number of light objects make a great mass.  A number of drops fill a river, and a number of grains make a heap.  What, then, is our hope, confession?” This quote is a great reminder that small things can add up. We might think our venial sins are not that important, and yet they can add up and become overwhelming if we let them. Confession is a great way to repair your relationship with the Lord.  I also learned a few things about confessions while listening to this episode.  

Father Mike said when you are in confession, you want to give some detail about your sins, and yet you don’t want to go into the whole story of the sin.  He said we need to land somewhere in between very vague and too much detail.  There is a Nigerian priest who works with Father Mike, and he says, “Don’t come into the confessional and tell me that you stole a rope, and yet you neglect to tell me that a cow was attached.  You didn’t steal a rope. You stole a cow.” What this priest is explaining is that we need to give all relevant details.  Stealing a cow is very different than stealing a rope.  Father Mike was saying, Don’t come in and say you hit someone. Who did you hit?  It is a difference in level of severity if you hit someone, or you hit your mom, or you hit your mom with your car.  Both of those details, how and with what, are relevant information.  

I liked this explanation because I often wonder how much detail to give in confession. I wonder what it is they want to know and what is not important.  I know we don’t have all day because there are others waiting.  I feel as though this gave me some guidance for the next time I go to confession.  I hope it helped you too!  If it has been a while since your last confession, Father Mike is inviting you to go to confession, repair your relationship with God, and heal those wounds.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we don’t want to offend you.  We don’t want to wound our relationship with you, and we definitely don't want to separate ourselves from you.  Please help us.  Please give us the grace to know when we have offended you and then give us the strength and wisdom to repent and go to confession.  We love you, Lord. You do so much for us, and we are sorry for our sins, big or small.  We are sorry for them, not just because they are wrong but because they offended you, who we should love above all things.  We are so grateful you are always willing to take us back after our mistakes.  We are grateful you are so kind and merciful.  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 wanted to let you know that I will be putting out a retreat schedule soon. You will be able to see what the weekend will look like.  I am so excited that it is coming up in a few weeks.  If you have been thinking about coming, I want to urge you to sign up.  Take that leap of faith. I know it may be scary, especially if you don’t know anyone going.  However, sometimes that is when you meet the best people.  What have you got to lose? I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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The Unforgivable Sin!

Matthew 12:31-32 "Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

This verse was addressed on the Catechism of the Catholic Church in a Year podcast this morning. When I heard it, I thought it was a great reminder of what this verse is actually saying. I am pretty sure I have talked about this before, and yet when I looked this verse up, I could see that I hadn’t used it as the main verse of any other episodes.  I think it is so important that we understand what this verse means because it can be scary if we don’t.

I say it can be scary if you don’t know because I was very scared when I first heard this verse.  When I heard there was something I, or someone I loved, could do that would not be forgiven, I was petrified.  What if I did it on accident?  What if I did it one time, would I truly never be forgiven?  Also, the verse says, Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, or blasphemy against the Spirit.  Well, I have three boys who, when they were younger, loved to say inappropriate things just to get a rise out of us.  They would say unkind things about God because they knew that would make me and their dad upset.  What if they spoke against the Holy Spirit in this way?  What if they said something unkind about the Holy Spirit, and then they were never forgiven?  I don’t know if you can understand why I was upset or if that just seems silly to you.  We are all different, and the way we view life, God, and religion is all different.  

I tend to want to be a perfectionist when it comes to religion and my relationship with God.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that I always do the right thing.  How great would that be? What it means is that I strive to do things perfectly.  I want a step-by-step guide to do all things that have to do with God.  I am learning in Encounter Ministries, that is called having a performance mentality.  I am trying to earn my way into heaven.  I will do x, y, and z, and then I will get into heaven.  I know it doesn’t work this way, and yet it takes a while to get out of that mentality. When I hear about something that could keep me from spending eternity without God, I try to pay attention. So, hearing there was something we could do that wouldn’t be forgiven was hard for me to hear.

I don’t think I really understood what this meant until a few years ago.  I was listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, and Father Mike explained what this verse was actually saying.  He explained it again today in the Catechism of the Catholic Church podcast.  CCC #1864 says, “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.” The only sin God can’t forgive is the sin that we don’t allow Him to forgive. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is rejecting the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.  Father Mike says the good news is that God wants to, wills to, and can forgive all of our sins, but He can only do this if we allow Him to do this. God wants us to bring all of our sins to him and repent for them.  

Why is it so hard for us to believe that God will forgive our sins?  Why do we struggle to believe this for ourselves, and yet we would be the first ones to tell someone else not to worry because God has forgiven them?  I think one of the biggest reasons is that we have the enemy, the liar, whispering in our ears how unworthy we are.  He fills us with guilt and shame.  He tells us that yes, God is merciful, but His mercy only goes so far, and our sins have crossed the line.  He says God can forgive a lot, but He can’t forgive us.  He tells us we don’t deserve to be forgiven.  He tells us it doesn’t matter if we are forgiven because we will just do it again.  

Well, guess what, the devil is a liar.  He knows that God will forgive all we do, and he hates that.  He doesn’t want us to be forgiven because then we get to spend eternity with god, and he would rather we suffer for all eternity. It is important we work to believe that God will forgive our sins.  It is important that we confess our sins and repent for them. I know there are some things that we don’t want to confess.  We don’t want to walk into a confessional and tell a priest our deepest darkest secret or what we have done because we are embarrassed and ashamed. However, God already knows what we have done, and yet until we release it to Him, He can’t forgive us.  He is just waiting for us to come to Him.  

If we are struggling to believe that God will forgive us, maybe we need to work on how we see our Father in Heaven. Do we see Him as our Father?  What experiences of Fathers do we have in our lives?  I know many people see God as this judge sitting up in heaven, shaking His head, and waiting for us to mess up so he can punish us.  This is not God.  He is a loving father.  He is up there watching us mess things up and do the wrong thing time and time again with compassion.  He waits with open arms to welcome us back in when we mess up.  

It is essential that we begin to see the Father for who He is. It is essential that we figure out how to believe that we are forgiven, that our sins are forgiven. Our sins wound our relationship with God, and the worse the sin, the deeper the wound.  We need to repent for hurting the Lord, and we need not to let those sins determine our future.  If we want to spend eternity with our heavenly father, we have to learn how to accept his forgiveness. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is rejecting the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Is this what we want, or do we want to accept the forgiveness being offered and accept the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you, and we ask you to help us accept your forgiveness.  Lord, we give you permission to work in our hearts.  Please work on softening whatever is in us that can’t accept your forgiveness.  Please don’t let us miss out on eternal salvation.  Please put on our hearts whatever it is that we need to change and then give us the strength to change it.  We love you, Lord, and we don’t want anything to get in the way of spending eternity with you.  You are too amazing.  We are so grateful that you are willing to forgive our sins, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name. Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to meeting 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 who is 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 you have had of how God has worked or is working your life, please email me at [email protected] or just 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.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow and I will have another witness for you next Wednesday.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Don’t Worry, The Disciples Doubted Too!

Matthew 28:17 "When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted.”

I saw the Verse of the day this morning, and it was Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This is a great verse and the one I thought I would be talking about today.  However, when I read the whole section the verse above really stood out to me.  I find it interesting that it is the verse right before verses 18-20.  The Bible says that when the disciples saw Jesus, they worshiped him, but they doubted.  Then, in the very next line, Jesus sends them out to make disciples of all nations.

I think this is important for us to pay attention to because I think at times we feel like we are “less than” if we don’t believe or if we have doubts.  For instance, I have prayed for all sorts of miracles over the years.  Some, even though I know and believe without a shadow of a doubt that God can do it, I doubted that He would do it.  It is just not something I can picture, or I can wrap my head around.  For instance, I prayed for a friend of a friend who had ALS or  Lou Gehrig’s Disease.  This is a terrible disease that usually starts in the hands, feet, arms, or legs. Then it spreads to other parts of the body. Muscles get weaker as more nerve cells die. This eventually affects chewing, swallowing, speaking, and breathing. It is a scary disease.  I have had two friends for friends who have died from this.  I prayed for both of them a lot.  I knew God could do it, and yet I struggled to picture what that would look like.  I doubted He would do it.

When we know God can do something, and yet we also have doubt, it is not a great feeling.  However, I do suspect it is a normal feeling.  Our brains are limited, and God’s power is not.  We can only comprehend so much.  We tend to need to have experienced something similar before we are able to believe certain things.  For instance, we would never really believe that we could cash ourselves out of a store without a cashier, and now we have self-checkout lines.  I am betting that our grandparents would not have believed we would be using computers or cell phones as much as we are.  There are some things you just have to see to believe.  

Oftentimes times miracles are similar to this idea.  We might have head knowledge that Jesus is capable of all things, and yet we need to see it to believe it.  The apostles knew it was Jesus in front of them.  They saw his wounds, and in their hearts, they knew it was Jesus, and yet they doubted.  They doubted, not because they didn’t want to believe.  They doubted because they didn’t understand how this could happen.  Their beloved teacher and friend was crucified and now has returned to them.  How does one wrap their head around that?  How do we explain that to ourselves?  We are people who need explanations.  We tend to be people who need to see something to believe it.  They could see Jesus and His wounds, and yet their brain was still searching for an explanation that made sense to them.

This is why I believe so strongly in the power of witnessing our faith.  This is why I believe so strongly that our testimony, our story, has to be shared.  Our story can help build the faith of others.  I was just talking to a friend from class last night about the amazing miracle God did in my marriage.  She was fascinated, and I believe her faith in what God can do, grew because of what she was hearing, not because of anything I did but because of the way God’s love was manifested in my marriage.  You have been through things too.  Maybe you had a sibling die way before their time, maybe your parents got divorced, and you were traumatized, or maybe you lost a child or a spouse.  Maybe you were miraculously healed, or you saw someone else miraculously healed. Whatever your story is, it is unique to you and yet could also help others who are in a similar situation.

I heard this quote one time and felt as though the Holy Spirit said, this is for you.  The quote said, “Maybe you were given this mountain to climb so that others would know they could climb it too.” When I heard this, suddenly, my suffering, my trials, the impossibly hard time I was going through seemed to make a bit more sense.  It seemed to have a purpose. I was able to see how my suffering could be used for good.  However, if I don’t talk about my story if I don’t talk about the mountains that I have climbed, then others won’t know they can climb them too. I know I say this a lot, and that is because it is true.  We all have a story, and the world needs to hear our story.  

I have talked to many of you, and you have told me you don’t have a testimony.  Your life has been pretty normal. Nothing extraordinary has really happened.  First, God is in the normal too.  Second, something that seems completely ordinary to you might be difficult for someone else. When I witnessed the births of my children, there was nothing spectacular about them, and yet someone who is pregnant and about to give birth in another country could be listening.  She might hear my testimony, see that I did it and my baby was okay, and it might help ease her worry a little.  Someone might have heard about how my son Noah was in the NICU for a bit, and yet he was perfectly fine afterward and realized that their baby could be fine too.  You never know what other people need to hear.

The verse says, “When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted.” I have certainly doubted, and I bet you have too. I love how God puts in the Bible so many examples of how human and normal the disciples were. They were ordinary human beings whom Jesus took under His wing and helped them become extraordinary.  The disciples questioned Jesus. They didn’t understand all He said. They doubted.  This is normal.  You are not “less than” if you doubt.  You are actually right alongside all of us.  We all doubt at times.

There are a few things that can help us doubt less.  The first is to read, watch, and hear as much as possible about the thing we are struggling to believe.  So, if we struggle to believe that God is still healing today, do a  search about healing testimonies online.  Read books about healing.  If you are struggling to believe God will help you in your circumstances, then read testimonies about how He has helped others in similar circumstances.  Another thing we can do, actually the first thing we should do, is bring our doubt to God.  Ask God to teach us. Ask Him to show us what we need to see.  We can even ask God to change our hearts, to change our minds.  We can let Him know we want to believe. We just don’t know how.  Whenever I am praying for something that I can’t really wrap my head around, I always end my prayer with I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.  

God doesn’t expect us to be perfect.  He is God. He knows we will mess up and will not get it right much of the time, and yet I believe He loves when we come to Him with our weaknesses and ask Him for help.  I believe it makes Him smile when we finally realize we need Him to do all things.  Yes, there are things we can do on our own, and yet even those things would be done better if we invited the Lord into them and partnered with Him to do them.  What if we started our day with a simple sentence, “Lord, I want to partner with you today in all that I do” I truly wonder how different our days would be.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you, and we want to believe in all the miraculous things you do.  We believe, Lord, help our unbelief.  Dad, you know what, in particular, each one of us is struggling to believe today.  We ask that you show us one thing that can help deepen our belief. Show us how to build up our trust and our belief.  Help us not to doubt.  Lord, give us a renewal of the mind so we can think more like you and less like the world. You are so amazing, and we want to be more and more like you with each passing day.  Help us, Lord!  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 wanted to address something today that will probably come up for many of us.  You might hear me talk about the retreat, and it sounds fun and like something you would like to go to, and then there is a voice in your head telling you, you won’t know anyone, you aren’t holy enough to go, you would be alone, you would be out of place, they would see right away you don’t know as much, you don’t pray as well, you are too busy, you can’t leave your kids or your husband for a few days.  Guess what, we are all thinking the same thing, and those thoughts are not from God.  That is the enemy trying to convince you that you shouldn’t go.  Do you know why he is doing that?  Because He knows how good going on a retreat is for you spiritually and emotionally, and he doesn’t want that growth for you. He doesn’t want you to grow closer to the Lord.  I know it can be hard to do something by yourself and doubly hard to do something new.  The first retreat I went to, I went all alone, and it was in a foreign country I had only lived for a few months.  I pushed through all the obstacles to get there, and it was an amazing retreat and helped put me on the path I am on.  If you are considering coming to the retreat, I ask you to push past the fear and the doubts and just sign up.  You will not be sorry you came, I promise you that much. 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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