Walk Boldly With Jesus

Do Sinners Really Have More Fun?

Proverbs 23:17-18 "Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.  Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.”

When I read this verse this morning I knew the Lord was talking to me, as it talks about fearing the Lord again and I mentioned yesterday how I usually stay away from those verses because I think we often misunderstand what it means to Fear the Lord.  Yesterday I talked about a Deuteronomy 10:12-13 which said that Fear of the Lord meant to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees. Fearing the Lord is inextricably tied to loving, serving, and holding fast to the Lord in response to all the wonderful and gracious things he has done for us (Deut. 10:20; 1 Sam 12:24).This statement is from the article I talked about yesterday.  CLICK HERE for the article.

Today’s verse says to not let your heart envy sinners.  This can be hard.  If our hearts are in love with this world and with worldly things it can be easy to envy sinners.  It can seem, by worldly standards that sinners have more fun.  It even says this in that Billy Joel Song “Only The Good Die Young.” The song says: “And they say there's a heaven for those who will wait, some say it's better, but I say it ain’t. I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun.” I know this is just a song and yet it shows the sentiment of many people.  It is certainly the sentiment of my kids, and many other kids.  They don’t want to be in church, they don’t want to be living the life that God wants us to live.  They believe it is much more fun to do whatever you want to do. I mean, who wants to be told what they have to do and yet if they only knew where the consequences, the eternal consequences of their actions, I wonder if their choices would be different.  

This world tends to look down upon Christians.  They don’t understand why we believe in “this imaginary person that lives in the sky” or as one of my kids is fond of saying, “a hippie that lives in the clouds.”  The world doesn’t understand why we believe the things we believe and therefore it rejects those things.  We live in a world that wants to do whatever it wants to do.  We live in a world that wants to believe whatever it wants to believe.  They fight for the right to live however they want to live and yet want to take away the rights for Christians to believe what they believe.  We live in a world where everyone is accepted, all beliefs are accepted, except those of Christians.  

I believe it is hard to be a good Christian.  I believe we are called to a higher standard.  We are called to be the face of Christ to others and that is a tall order.  Christ loved everyone, He was kind to everyone, He did not judge others even though He was God and had the authority to judge others.  Jesus helped those in need.  He gave to the poor, fed the hungry, healed the sick.  We have big shoes to fill and we are all called to fill those shoes.  Not just some of us, but each and every one of us is called to be the face of Christ to others.  We are called to live an upright life.  Romans 13 is a great chapter to read if you are wondering about how we are being called to live.  I am just going to read Romans 13:13-14 which says, “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”

I can see how we could look at those who get drunk or those who are being promiscuous and be jealous.  Things always look greener on the other side of the fence.  When you are at a bar and you see someone who is drunk it may appear that they are having more fun.  However, that is a few hours of their time.  What about when they sober up and realize all the things they have done?  What about when they lose their job, their family, the home because all they do is drink?  What about when they are living on the streets because they lost everything? Would you still be envious of them? What about someone who is sleeping around?  Maybe you have a friend that is not in a committed relationship and is dating lots of people and is having sex with most of them.  They seem to be having a good time and you might be a little jealous.  It may seem like they are having a good time but what about when they start to feel like they are just being used for sex.  What about when they start to wonder if anyone will ever love them?  Would you still be envious of them?

We only see what things look like on the outside.  We don’t see the after math of other people’s decisions and we don’t know how they feel or what they are thinking.  We tend to think they are happy and yet that is often not the case.  They do not have the joy that we can have when we are following the Lord and His ways.  Joy of the Lord is something that does not compare with anything else.  Happiness is fleeting and it is something anyone can obtain for a moment, or for a short period of time when things are going well in their lives.  However, when things aren’t going well, they loose that happiness.  Joy, true joy that comes from the Lord, is something you can always have.  I am not always happy and yet I can always feel the Joy from the Lord.  I can be in the middle of a really hard time, I can be going through something really difficult, like right now with my son in the hospital, and yet I can still be filled with joy.  The joy is not based on my circumstances it is based on my love and hope in the Lord.  Joy is a decision one makes and it is also a gift from the Holy Spirit.  

When we are living the life God wants us to live we will be filled with joy.  When we stop being envious of sinners and realize how amazing it is living a life with Christ we will be the ones that people envy.  When I think of the people that I envy the most, it is those who are the face of Christ to others.  Those who are kind to everyone, those who give to the poor, even when they don't have much themselves.  I envy those who prioritize prayer time and their spiritual life over their social life.  You know the people I am talking about.  I bet if you made a list of the people you really envied, or those you look up to anyway, they wouldn’t be the sinners in your life.

The verse above tells us to, “Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.  Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.” Today we learned that “Fearing the Lord is inextricably tied to loving, serving, and holding fast to the Lord in response to all the wonderful and gracious things he has done for us (Deut. 10:20; 1 Sam 12:24)." So if we are not going to let our heart envy sinners and we are going continue to fear the Lord, what does that look like?  According to Deuteronomy and first Samuel it means we are loving, serving and holding fast to the Lord because of all the wonderful things He has done for us.  Are we doing this?  Are we loving the Lord and thanking Him for all that He has done for us?  Are we serving the Lord?  What are we doing to serve the Lord?  I bet you are doing more than you think you are doing.  Are you praying for those in need? That is serving the Lord.  Are you participating in Mass? That is serving the Lord?  

This verse is not necessarily telling us something new, we are probably already doing the things we are called to do.  It is a great reminder though.  I think we probably all have those moments when we might envy a sinner because it looks like they are having more fun.  This verse is a great reminder of why we shouldn’t do that and what would be a better use of our time.  Next time you feel like you want to envy a sinner, say a prayer for them instead.  Pray they find the joy in the Lord that is available for all who live their life with Jesus Christ.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the episode today.  Lord we love you and we love following you.  We love our life in Christ and we wouldn’t change it for the world.  Help us to continually turn our hearts back to you.  Fill us with the Joy that only you can give us Lord.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  It really is great to know I am not on this journey alone.  I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I!  Have a blessed day.

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“Fear of the Lord” What does that even mean?

Psalm 2:11 “Serve the Lord with fear; exult with trembling, accept correction lest he become angry and you perish along the way when his anger suddenly blazes up. Blessed are all who take refuge in him!”

When I was at adoration yesterday I asked the Lord which verse He wanted me to talk about today and then opened the Bible.  I don’t do this often but this was what I felt led to do yesterday.  I opened up to the first page of the Book of Psalms and the ending of the Book just before Psalms which happens to be Job.  I read both pages that I opened to and I was unsure what I was supposed to talk about.  However, when I read the verse above it seemed to stick out to me.  Has that ever happened to you before?  Have you ever been looking for an answer when reading the Bible and a verse just jumps our at you?  This is the verse that jumped out at me last night.

I am always hesitant to talk about the verses that mention fearing the Lord as I struggle with them.  I don’t think the Lord is someone to be feared.  I think when we hear verses like this we go back to thinking we are supposed to think of the Lord as a mean old man sitting in heaven on His thrown looking down at us and judging all we do.  This is not how I picture God and this is not how I think He wants us to picture Him.  When he gives us words of prophecy at our prayer group meetings, this is not the God that He is showing us.  He is showing us a loving God, a gentle God, one who cares more about us than we could possibly imagine.  

If this is the case, why are there so many verses that teach us to “fear the Lord.”  The reason is that “Fear of the Lord” doesn’t mean what we think it means.  It does not mean that we are afraid of the Lord or that we are scared of the Lord.  “Fear of the Lord” means that we are in awe of the Lord.  Fear of the Lord means that we never forget His awesomeness, His greatness.  The Lord is amazing and we should always keep that in our minds. When I just looked up online what fear of the Lord means in the Bible I found an article that really unpacks what that phrase means and I think that may be what the Lord is wanting me to share with you today.  For God’s people, fearing the Lord is a response of reverent awe, obedience, and trust in the Lord. The article I found is called What is “The Fear of the Lord”? and was written by Mitch Bedzyk. Click Here for the article.  I only used a small portion of the article and yet there were so many scripture references about what "fear of the Lord" means.  I highly encourage you to read the article. In the article Mitch talks about what this phrase means in the Old and New Testament.  

Here is what he says at the beginning.  One of the best places to look for a concise unpacking of this concept is found in the book of Deuteronomy: “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees” (Deut. 10:12-13). What a great verse to help us understand what “fear of the Lord” means.  It does not say we should be afraid of him or hide from him, quite the contrary actually.  It says we should love Him, walk in His ways and serve Him with our of our hearts and souls.  It also says we should observe the Lord’s decrees.This is an important one.  I think sometimes we think that because God is so merciful and so loving that we can kinda do what we want.  We come to believe that everybody is going to heaven as long as we are a good person.  We forget that although God is merciful He is also just and that believes very strongly in free will.  He will not force us to love Him or to follow His rules.  This means that we can make our own decisions and yet when we do we also have to live with these decisions.  

I think that might be what He is talking about in the second half of the verse above.  The part that says, “accept correction lest he become angry and you perish along the way when his anger suddenly blazes up.”  God has given us rules to live by and He expects us to live by those rules.  If you want to know the two most important ones according to Jesus, they are found in Matthew 22:36-40, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  So, although there are many laws, they all depend on these two.  

Are we truly loving the Lord our God and are we loving our neighbors?  These are the things we should be doing.  The verse above says to accept correction.  This can be a hard thing to do.  We may feel like we know what we are doing.  We may feel like we are walking in the light and doing a good job.  Then someone we know, love and respect mentions something we might be doing that we didn’t really even notice we were doing.  If they love us and respect us then they are just trying to help us on our faith journey and we can take what they have said and discern it.  Ask the Holy Spirit to put it on your heart to change if that message was from the Lord.  Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to change and to show you what you need to change.  

If you received criticism from someone you don’t know, love or respect, you might want to just throw that criticism away.  The enemy definitely speaks to us through others sometimes and when that happens it might just be to make you feel bad.  The enemy is a liar and what he says is not the truth.  However, I feel I should tell you to take what they say to the Lord to make sure it is not the truth.  Sometimes our loved ones are trying to help us and yet they say it in a way that is hurtful.  Sometimes that could be the enemy using them to get to us and sometimes it could be that they just don’t know how to say it correctly.  If you get criticism or advice from someone take it to the Lord and ask Him if it is something He wants you to act on or not.  

Usually, from what I have learned, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you of something you don’t feel bad about it.  You don’t feel shame about it.  You might get this sense that you need to change something you are doing but it comes as more of a realization that what you are doing doesn’t align with your love of the Lord.  It does not come wrapped up in shame and guilt.  It is more a feeling that you want to change, not because you have to  or because someone told you to, but more because you love God and you want to do all you can to please Him and honor Him.

This verse ends with “Blessed are all who take refuge in him!” I think this is a great way to end this verse.  It is a great reminder that although we are called to fear the Lord, we can and should also take refuge in Him.  He is our everything.  He is our protector, He is our savior, He is our Father, He is our everything.  When we are in trouble, He is where we should turn.  He is the one that will save us if we take refuge in Him.  We don’t have to do that though. He gives us the choice and if we wish to try and save ourselves, He will let us.  If we want to go at it alone, He will let us.  This verse is telling us that if we take refuge in Him instead then we will be blessed.  I don’t know about you, but I can use all the blessing I can get.  I chose to take refuge in the Lord, our God and our Savior.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you and want to fear you in all the right ways.  Teach us not to be afraid of you but to walk in all your ways, to love you, to serve the you with all our heart and with all our soul, and to observe your commands and decrees. Lord, open our eyes and help us to see you as you truly are and not in the distorted ways we have come to see you.  Help us to not be afraid of you and yet to never lose that awe and that reverence for you. 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. I know some of you noticed there was not a Witness Wednesday yesterday.  Someone even reached out to make sure all was ok.  I really appreciate that, it was sweet.  We did have something come up in our family late Tues night and I was at the hospital all day on Wednesday with one of my sons.  He is ok now, thanks be to God however, we could always use your prayers for our boys as they are teens and being a teenager in this day and age is really difficult.  There was not an episode posted yesterday because I was not home to pose it.  I have since posted the Witness Wednesday so it is there to listen to. I look forward to meeting you hear again tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

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Today I want to witness about how the Lord can sometimes work in our lives.  I went to a retreat in January with some of my big life mentoring sisters.  There were about 20 of us there. We spent the time doing cool things like running in the ocean first thing in the morning and dressing in 80s gear and doing jazzercise at a local restaurant.  I had not met most of these people before.  Aside from the cool activities planned we also spent some time talking about what was going on in our lives and where we wanted to be at the end of the year.  This wasn’t easy as many of us had never met and sharing the intimate details of our lives was scary.  Although once people started sharing their stories the strangest thing happened, we realized even though we were all very different, we were also the same in a lot of ways. It was a great experience.

A month or so after the retreat I was talking to one of my new friends from the retreat.  We were talking about our mentoring group and the various retreats our mentor Pamela Crim does and my friend said she could see me doing something like that, mentoring and putting on retreats.  The seed was planted.  I was trying to figure out where to go with my business.

I had thought about this type of thing before, but hearing someone else say she could see me doing it made it all see a bit more real.  I tend to be a slow mover.  I get an idea and I talk myself out of it for quite awhile.  Do you ever do this?  You come up with an idea and then don’t act on it because that inside voice tells you a million reasons why it won’t work?

One day I was at Eucharistic Adoration and I felt like the Holy Spirit told me I needed to plan a retreat for this summer. So of course I obeyed and started planning right away, right?  Wrong.  I did what I always do when the Holy Spirit directs me to do something.  I asked a bunch of questions.  Here are some of those questions: “This summer, are you sure?  This summer is in just a few months. Who will even come to this retreat?” I felt as if the Holy Spirit said, “You just book a place and time and I will get the people there.”  “Ok I said, but what about the theme of the retreat, what do you want us to do there?  What will I talk about?  Will I be the only speaker?”  Again I felt I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Once you book the place I will give you more details.”

I really felt as if the Holy Spirit was wanting me to step out in faith.  I started to call retreat centers to see if there was anyone who had availability this close to summer.  Most places did not and the ones that did were too expensive.  I wasn’t sure who would be attending but I knew I wanted to make it affordable for all.  The price was going to be at least $400 at the places I was finding.  I was getting frustrated and wanted to give up.  I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to email my prayer group and see if any of the would want to go on a retreat and if $400 was too expensive.

I also asked if they even wanted a sleepover retreat.  Maybe I should just do a daytime retreat or a one day retreat.  Many said yes to a retreat most said stay over retreat which I felt confirmed what I felt I was getting from the Holy Spirit.  A few said they could go if it were $400, however many said it was too much, again confirming my thoughts.  I decided to ask a few people if they knew any retreat places.   I am not sure how I happened upon the Holy Cross Retreat Center, and yet I am so glad I did!

This retreat center was affordable and the person I talked to was so nice.  They have many retreats there each year and yet they are always the same type of retreat.  This fall will be the first time they open their doors to outside groups for retreats.  They do not have a minimum number of people I have to have.  They are completely redoing all the rooms with new paint, new beds and new mattresses. They already redid the bathrooms so by the time we get there it will look like a whole new place.

I was so excited that it was all coming together.  I was amazed how the Holy Spirit led me to find the perfect place.  Now that it was really happening I had to start thinking about what the theme would be and who to invite and how much it would cost.  Oh, that is another way the Holy Spirit was guiding the details.  The only weekend that was available except Thanksgiving weekend was October 6-8.  However our prayer group is starting a Life in the Spirit Seminar on the 6th of October.  However that happens to be a long weekend where many people may have Monday off.  So I will be doing the retreat from Saturday until Monday instead of Friday until Sunday.  It all worked out perfectly.

I am still figuring out all the details so that I can open registration in the next two weeks or so.  I am sure I will have another witness after the retreat about all the amazing ways the Holy Spirit worked throughout the retreat.  I know the Holy Spirit will make sure those who need this retreat come to this retreat.  My hope is that anyone who needs this retreat can come, even if they can’t afford it.  I will have a place on the registration page for people to donate extra money towards scholarships so if someone can’t pay they can still come.  

I am excited to watch this all unfold and I’m excited to see what the Lord has planned.  I truly feel as though He just wants to pour His love out on His children.  I feel He wants to fill the up with His love and also provide some inner healing.  I think connection with other people that are also on this faith journey is important as well.

This is one way I have opened up my heart and let the Lord lead me into a new adventure.  It has been an amazing journey so far.  How is the Lord working in your life?

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The Great Commission

Mark 16:15 “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”

I wish I knew what just went through your mind when I read that verse to you.  This verse is Jesus talking to his disciples and He is sending them into the world to proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. I wonder what went through their mind when He told them to go out to the world and proclaim the gospel.  When Jesus told his disciples to go out and proclaim the gospel it was after he had just risen from the dead.  He had just been crucified on a cross for saying He was the son of God and now He wanted His disciples to go out and tell the world all about it.  I wonder how that made them feel?  I am sure they were excited to see Jesus.  I am sure they were probably in shock as they saw Him crucified on a cross just days before this.  Actually it says in Mark 16:14 that Jesus rebuked them for not believing the others when they said they had seen Him.  However, in the very next line Jesus send them out to share the Gospel with the world.  

I can imagine this was a crazy time for them.  I feel like if I had been there I wouldn’t have wanted to leave Jesus’ side.  I would have wanted to hold on to Him and never let go.  I would have been afraid of losing Him again.  I wonder if they felt this way too?  I never really thought too much about the disciples and their feelings until I started watch The Chosen.  This show gave life and personality to each one of the disciples.  It gave me a face to think of when I hear their names mentioned in the Bible.  It made them more personable and more human.  It showed us how they might have felt the first time they were send out.  There were a bit nervous as they didn’t know what to do or what to say.  They had been walking with Jesus and they had watched what He did and heard what He said, but they had never done it themselves before.  

This might be you too!  You have heard the Bible stories at mass and yet you have never really shared them with others.   Maybe you have read the Bible from cover to cover and yet you still don’t think you know enough.  Maybe you are just new to the faith and you aren’t sure you know much of anything at all.  Wherever you are on the spectrum of not really knowing much at all about the Gospel and knowing it like the back of your hand, Jesus was still talking to you when he gave this command.  Each and every one of us is part of the great commission.  Each and every one of us has been tasked with spreading the Gospel to the whole world.  Well, the Church as a whole has been tasked with spreading the Gospel to the whole world, you could just start with you circle of influence.  You can start with those around you.  

I heard a cool story the other day when I was listening to a book by Mark Batterson called, “Chase the Lion.”  Mark was talking about how he had gotten a word from God that said something about him reaching the nations. He didn’t understand what this meant.  His church hand not started going on mission trips yet. He wasn’t someone who spoke all around the world.  He had no idea how he was going to reach the nations.  He kept this in the back of his mind and went about doing the work that he knew God wanted him to do.  One day about 10 years later his friend gave him a call.  His friend was traveling for work and was in a book store and saw Mark Batterson’s book on the bookshelf.  His friend said, “Wow, I guess you are reaching the nations.” It finally hit Mark.  He had no idea when he was given this word over 10 years ago that his books would be translated into many different languages.  He was reaching the nations with his books and he didn’t even realize it.  

I wonder how many of us are fulfilling this great commission without even realizing it?  I wonder how many of you are thinking that you are just being kind and holding that door for a stranger and yet what you are really doing is being the face of Jesus to them.  I wonder how many of you just think you are telling your grandchildren a bed time story and yet you are telling them about the hero’s in the Bible.  How many of you think you are just calling to check in on a friend and yet you are showing them a kindness they have not seen before.  

When Jesus came He did not talk about all the laws, He did not talk about religion.  He came and demonstrated love first and foremost.  He also did signs and wonders, which definitely helped spread the word faster.  However, I believe he won them over first with love.  What if we could offer that to all we meet?  What if we could greet those around us with love?  Not just our neighbor and our loved ones, but those we meet that aren’t easy to love. Jesus loved the sinners.  He loved the tax collectors and the prostitutes.  He showed love to all He met.  What if we could do that?  Would we be answering this call?  I believe we would be because we would be showing the face of Christ to all those we meet.

Another way to spread the Gospel is to read scripture.  You can’t spread the word if you don’t know the word.  I don’t think you have to memorize scripture to be able to share it with others, just read it often and be familiar with it.  I heard someone say that when we have good news, we can’t wait to share it.  This is so true.  When you get a new job or a new car, you can’t wait to tell people.  When you find out you are having a baby you are so excited you want to tell everyone.  The same is true about the good news in the Bible.  

Once you become familiar with the stories, once you learn what the stories mean and how amazing God is, you want to tell everyone.  It is as if you have information that is so important you want everyone to know it.  This is how I feel.  I used to dread hearing things like we are all called to share the Gospel.  However, now I can’t help myself from talking about God or Jesus.  I know when the change happened too.  It happened when I started to read scripture more.  I did a “Read the Bible in 90 Days” Study with a friend of mine and her husband about 10 years ago.  Then in 2021 & 2022 I did the Bible in a year podcast with Father Mike Schmitz.  I have also done several Bible Studies and listened to a podcast called “Exploring My Strange Bible,” where the pastor goes through several sections of the Bible and essentially does a Bible Study about each one.  Once I really learned what God has done for us throughout the Bible I couldn’t help but want to share it.  Once I learned what the Bible says about all the various topics such as love, forgiveness, repentance and so on, I wanted to share it with everyone.  

This information was life changing for me and I wanted it to be able to change other’s lives as well.  Suddenly when people would be talking about something, it would remind me of a Bible story and I would share it. When people talked about how hard it was to forgive I could tell them the things I learned and it helped them.  Sharing the Bible doesn’t have to be daunting.  It doesn’t have to be scary.  It can be as simple as mentioning a story you heard, or repeating one of the parables you read that applies to the current situation.  It could also be as simple as being the face of Jesus to all those you meet.  I almost wrote as easy as being the face of Jesus, however, that is not easy.  

Jesus showed love and kindness to all He met. He also showed mercy and forgiveness.  These are not always things that are easy to do.  Sometimes things can be simple and yet not very easy.  I know that Jesus wants us to love and pray for our enemies and yet, what if our enemies really hurt us?  He wants us to forgive, and yet, what if we can’t?  What if what they did was so bad we can’t forgive?  What if we feel called to love someone that doesn’t want our love and is very unkind to us?  What then?  This is why I say being the face of Jesus is a simple way to answer the call to the great commission and yet it is not an easy one.  When Jesus sends us out, He is not sending us out alone.  He is sending us out with the authority and power of the Holy Spirit.  This means all we need to do is rely on that power and that strength and we can do all things, even those that feel impossible.  What is one way you can answer this call to, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation?”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation, please show us how.  Please give us the strength and courage to start with our families and friends.  Give us a holy boldness to speak up to others when we feel your promptings.  Please put on our hearts a deep desire to be in your Word and to learn what scripture says.  We love you Lord, you are amazing and we ask all of this in accordance with your will an in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to Walk Boldly With Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Tomorrow I will have another witness for you.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

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The Goodness of the Lord

Psalm 27:13-14 “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”

What came to mind when I read this verse was that we can look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  It seems like we think we need to wait until heaven to look upon the goodness of the Lord.  We tend to have the attitude that we just have to make it through this world until we get to celebrate with God in heaven.  I am not saying we shouldn’t look forward to heaven, I know I am.  However, we can also look upon the goodness of the Lord here in this world too!

I don’t believe we are meant to just muddle our way through this world, suffer tragedy, hang on to life by a thread and then we will have a party in heaven.  I don’t believe this is the life God has planned for any of us!  I believe He wants us to be happy and enjoying our life.  I don’t think he wants us to spend out time anxious and worried about the things of this world, I think He wants us trusting in Him and celebrating every chance we get.  A lot of the Psalms start out with David lamenting, I mean, he had some pretty hard times.  He was anointed to be the next king and yet he was hunted by the current king and found himself hiding in caves.  He had plenty to lament about, and I am sure you do too.  

This psalm did not start out lamenting though.  It started out strong reminding us to count on the Lord. Psalm 27:1-3 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.” Do you see how this Psalm is different?  David is not lamenting about all that he is going through.  He is acknowledging that tough times come and yet he is saying when they do, we can rely on the Lord.  

David is telling us in this Psalm that we don't have to worry, we don’t have to fear our current circumstances because the Lord is our light and our salvations.  He is telling us that the Lord is our stronghold and we don’t have to be afraid of anyone.  David said, “Though and army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear, though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.”  If you don’t know the story of David you might think he is just a really good writing and that it is easy for him to write these things because he was king or because he was writing about these things in the safety of his home.  This is not the case.  David was on the run for a long time.  It wasn’t just a year or two and it wasn’t just one man pursuing him.  Saul’s army was in pursuit of David at various times.  David knows what he is talking about when he says, “an army encamp against him” and “war arise against me.”

You may feel like David did.  You may feel like you have evildoers assailing you and you may even feel at times like there is an army encamped against you.  This life is not always easy.  We all encounter hardships and some of them may seem impossible to get through.  When this is the case we can look back to scripture and find verses like this one.  They can remind us that the Lord is our light and our salvation.  We don’t have to fear whatever situation we are in, we just need to turn to the Lord for that light and that salvation.  

Looking back at the verse above, “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” I picked this verse because of the first line, to remind us that we can see the Lord in the land of the living.  Are we though?  Are we trying to see God in our day to day lives?  Are we looking out for all the ways that God is in our lives?  When you make a prayer request to God, do we write it down and then look for the answer?  When He answers do we share that answer with all those who we asked to pray with us?  This is one way we can start to see the goodness of God in the land of the living.  We can share with each other all that God is doing in our lives.

When I share the stories of those people I have prayed over that have received healing I am not sharing this story to have people look at me and say good things about me.  I am well aware of the fact that I did not do anything except say yes when asked to pray.  God is the one doing the healing, God is the one moving people’s hearts to want to step out in faith and ask for a healing.  I am sharing these stories to help others see the goodness of God here in the land of the living.  God is moving mountains today, every day, we just have to be on the lookout for it.  

The second half of today’s verse says, “Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let you heart take courage, wait for the Lord!” This part is probably a lot harder than the first part.  Waiting is something that is so hard, especially if you don’t have a time frame.  If you know you will be sick for three months and then you will get better, it is easier to wait than being sick and not having any end in sight.  This is the same for many things.  If you know your child is not going to church now but in 15 years they will return to the church, it is easier to wait.  We hear often that God’s timing is the perfect timing.  However, God’s timing is very rarely our timing and so it doesn’t feel perfect most of the time.  

I know a lot of people that are waiting on the Lord’s timing and to be honest, they are really tired of waiting.  Some have been sick for a long time and really want to be healed now, not when God is ready.  Some have had children that are suffering and they are ready for God to heal them now, not in His timing.  Some have been in marriages that aren’t great and they are looking for God to come and in and fix this now.  Waiting in the Lord is difficult, I know that, believe me,I do.  I waited for God to come in and fix my family for over 10 years.  We just kept fighting more and more, things were escalating and I knew I couldn’t take much more of it.  I was doing the best I could waiting on the Lord and yet it felt like He was never going to intervene.

What I can see now that I am out of it is that He was there the whole time.  He was lifting me up and giving me the strength to get though each day.  If He weren’t with me, I wouldn’t have gotten out of bed probably.  I definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep going back to the problem with a fresh new attitude.  I would have given up hope of any change coming if God had not been there every step of the way.  If I did not keep relying on Him.  

I like how the verse says, “be strong, let your heart take courage.”  This reminds us we have a choice.  We can give up, you can give in and yet you don’t have to.  You can give your heart permission to be strong and to take courage.  You can choose to be strong and not be a victim.  You can choose to lean into God and to trust that He will get you through this.  You can choose to see the glory and the goodness of God while you are still here in the land of the living.  It is all about perspective shift and what you are allowing your thoughts to think.  Where is your focus, on God or on your problem?  Where is your focus, on all that is going wrong, or the one that makes all things right?

If we keep our eyes on God, if we keep our focus on God, we will be stronger.  We will be able to wait for the Lord because He will be strengthening us and lifting us up when we need it.  God is there with us each step we take.  Even in the really hard moments, He is there holding us.  I know it may feel like you are alone, you aren’t, He is there.  I know you may be tired of waiting, some of you have been waiting a long time.  I want you to know that God is working in your situation.  I don’t know why we have to go through all we have to go through.  I don’t know why God anointed David to be the next king and then David was running and hiding from the current king for many, many years.  Our ways are not God’s ways and our thoughts are not His thoughts.  I don’t understand most things that God does and yet I trust them and I trust Him.  Turn to God, talk to God, when times are hard, only He can explain why.  Just know that He is there with you and when you wait on Him, He will make you stronger.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we are sorry we get so tired of waiting.  We are sorry we turn elsewhere for the answers to our problems.  We are sorry we don’t rely on you and that we don’t trust in you at times.  We know you are our Lord and savior.  We know you work all things for our good.  We just get impatient at times.  Lord, help us to rely on your more.  Remind us when we forget that you are right there with us.  Help us to feel your presence Lord!  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! I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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Only God Knows What Is Truly In Our Hearts

Proverbs 21:1-3 “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”

This verse came from my prayer group yesterday.  When I read it I was a little unsure what parts of it meant.  I liked what it was saying and yet I didn’t understand it fully until I looked it up and until I read it in other translations.  The message translation is usually where I go to first as it puts the verses in 21st century language and so it makes it a bit easier to understand at times.  

The first line of this verse is a good one.  “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”  This is good because it shows us that God is the one that is in control.  Our heart is in the hand of the Lord and He can turn it where He wants.  To me this means God is gently guiding us in the right direction.  On thing I read said that even if we have our heart set on doing something, God can change our minds.  He can direct us down a new path.  That just made me think of a scene from the TV show Yellowstone.  I don’t know if you have seen it or not but in one of the scenes and I won’t say what scene or when because I don’t want to give anything away, but in one scene they wanted to change the direction of a river that was going through their property.  You might think this is impossible a river is a river.  It has carved out its path over thousands of years.  There is not much you can do about it.  

However, in the TV show, the family does not really take no for an answer.  They have people go up into the mountains and they blow up something and the river now has a new path to follow.  Whether this is something that could actually happen or just one of those things that happens on TV, I have no idea.  However, this is what I thought of when I heard the first line of this verse and when I read that God can change our minds even when we are set on something.  God can do all things.  I think we know this on one level and then when we look at our problems, we seem to forget it.  

We might be in a relationship with someone and we wish we could change their mind about something.  When Tony and I were trying to figure out how to best raise our boys we did not agree on a lot once the boys started to get older and started to struggle with behavior issues.  We were both stuck in our way of thinking and we both wished we could get through to the other person.  I think this verse can give us hope in these situations.  It says that God has our heart in His hand and can change it to His will.  We don’t have to change our loved ones, God can do it for us.  He doesn’t just change them, He changes us too!  God worked wonders in our marriage and with our hearts and He can do the same for you

The next line in the verse says, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.” This one is good because is shows us that although we may think we are doing what is right, only God knows what is really in our heart.  God knows the motive behind the good deed we are doing.  This brings to mind the parable of the Prodigal Son.  The older brother in this story thought he was doing the right thing.  He didn’t ask his dad for the inheritance and he didn’t take off and spend all of the money.  He stayed and he worked in the fields every day.  He did all that his father asked of him.  However, he then got angry when his father had a party when his brother returned.  He was angry because his father never did anything like that for him.  The older brother did not stay for the right reasons.  He was not helping his father out for the right reasons.  He stayed and yet he didn’t have a relationship with the father.  He never asked the father if he could have anything and yet resented the father for not offering anything.  

I am sure we have all done things like this.  I am sure we have all done good things for the wrong reasons. God is not interested in our good deeds if in our heart we are angry, resentful, and hateful.  There are plenty of people that play the part.  They do all the right things when they are in public and yet when no-one is around they are terrible people.  This is what this line is talking about.  Only God knows what is truly in our hearts. Only God knows what our motives are and yes, our motives matter.  If we are helping the poor and yet our hearts are resenting every minute of it, God knows what we are feeling.  God knows our hearts.

The last part of the verse says, “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” I believe what this part of the verse is talking about is that the Lord wants us to do the right thing to those around us more than he wants us to ignore those around us and yet still show up and do the things that make us look like a good person.  For instance how the pharisees would act one way in front of people and then another when in the privacy of their own home.  God is not interested in people who come to church on Sunday, give a lot of money and then go out act terribly to those around them for the other 6 days of the week.  

This verse is telling us that it is more important to God that we treat people a certain way than it is that we try to do the right thing to worship Him or to please Him.  He loves us and He loves when we worship Him and yet it is more important to Him that we treat everyone we meet with love and acceptance.  He has so many children and so many of them are turning away from Him because of the lack love and acceptance in the world.  I just get this overwhelming impression that He is saying it is not about how we pray, what words we are saying, how much we fast or sacrifice, it is about how we treat others.  

How are we treating His children? Are we feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick, helping the homeless, helping the widows and orphans, giving drink to those who are thirsty, visiting the lonely in nursing homes or in prisons?  Jesus is inside each one of us and each person we meet.  How are we being the face of Christ to others?  That is what is important.  That is more important than if we are saying the right prayers and doing the right things as far as sacrifice goes.  The two most important commandments according to Jesus Christ himself are Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and Love your neighbor as yourself.  Are we doing that?  Are we loving our neighbors, our families, those we don’t know?  How could we be doing this better?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to have a pure heart, please help us.  Please search our hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of anything that is not right in our hearts.  If we have un pure motives, if we have any resentment, hatred or unforgiveness in our hearts Lord help us take care of it. Help us get rid of it.  Lord we want to care more about your children, please help us.  Put is on our hearts how you are calling each of us to help.  You have a special calling for each o

e us and we ask that you help us realize that call Lord.  Lord, we realize anything that is in our hearts that is not of you and we ask you to fill that empty space with the Holy Spirit.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk Boldly with Jesus.  If you would like to get an autographed copy of my book head over to my website walkboldlywithjesus.com.  (Click Here)  I look forward to seeing you again on Monday.  Have a blessed weekend!

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Don’t Just Accept The Bad News

2 Kings 20:5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.”

The story of Hezekiah was the story used in the sermon last Sunday on the Elevation Podcast with Steven Furtick.  It was a really great sermon called “Challenge The Shadow.”  In order to understand this you will need to know the whole story of what is happening to Hezekiah.  I chose only verse 5 as the verse for today because I know several people that are really hoping for a miracle.  They are hoping themselves or their loved ones get healed and they need to hear the Lord say to them, “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you.”

The story of Hezekiah can be found in 2 Kings 20:1-7 "In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord: “Remember now, O Lord, I implore you, how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.  I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David’s sake.” Then Isaiah said, “Bring a lump of figs. Let them take it and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover.”

There are two main things I love about this story.  The first one is that Hezekiah got some really bad news.  He had a personal relationship with a prophet, someone who has a direct connection with God.  Basically he heard straight from God that he was going to die and yet he didn’t just accept it.  He asked God to remember him and all he had done and then he wept bitterly.  I love this because I think we all accept far more than we have to these days.  I think we accept the word of the doctors when they say we can’t get better, there is nothing else they can do.  We will never walk again, we will never talk again, we will never do the things we once did.  Yet, there have been plenty of people that have fought those odds.  

I have heard many people say that we have to accept God’s will and if it is meant to be it will be.  I get it and yet, it seems like God’s will was for Hezekiah to not recover from His illness and yet he did.  I think this verse shows us it is ok to not just accept what we are told.  I think it is ok to ask and to pray for the things you really want. I think it is ok to beg and cry when something is important to you.  

I have seen prayers like this answered.  My niece was born way too early.  The doctor said she is really sorry but my niece was not going to make it.  We begged God to let her live.  We prayed and prayed even though they said it was too late.  I asked if our parents should come to this hospital or the one she would be transferred to and the nurse told me they were certain she would not be transferred because she was not going to live.  We still prayed, we still asked God to let her live, and He did.  There have been people who had stage four cancer, the doctors said there was nothing they could do and yet they asked God, they were prayed over for healing and the healing came. 

There have been people who had a stroke and were told they would never walk again and yet they are walking.  Doctors don’t know everything, especially if they don’t know God.  God is more powerful than anything.  Someone in my Encounter Ministries class prayed over a friend of hers that hadn’t walked in over 10 years and was in a wheel chair.  When my classmate prayed over my friend Her calf muscles grew out and she was able to walk again.   God can do creative miracles.  He can give you a new heart, he can grow a limb that wasn’t there, He can create anything with just one word.  

I understand that there is something called redemptive suffering.  I understand that your suffering can benefit others.  If you are in pain, if you have something that you would like healed and you are asking and God is not healing it, then offering your suffering up for others is a great way to help others.  I am not saying that good can’t come out of suffering.  I am saying that if you want to be healed, don’t give up the hope that you will be healed.  Don’t feel like you have asked enough and if God wanted it to happen it would happen. I don’t know why God heals when He heals.  I do believe that what we do matters.  I do think He likes it when we ask over and over again.  I do believe he loves it when we look at an impossible situation and ask Him to come in and fix it.  I think He likes that because when it is impossible for us to fix it then there is no way we can take credit for it.  All the Glory is His!

The second thing I love about this verse is that after Hezekiah prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly the Lord changed His mind.  The Lord added 15 years to Hezekiah’s life.  This shows the love God has for His people.  I love that the Lord wanted Isaiah to tell him, “I have heard your prayers and I have seen your tears.”  It is the same for you.  He has heard your prayers and has seen your tears.  He knows you are hurting.  I don’t know why you haven’t been healed yet.  I definitely don’t understand the Lord’s ways.  However, I do know, even when the doctor says it is too late, there is nothing we can do, there is always something God can do.  There is never a point when it is too late for God.  Lazarus had been dead and in a tomb for days and it was not too late.  

I have been telling several people over these last few weeks to have faith in situations that looked hopeless.  I have been praying some pretty big, bold prayers.  Prayers like, God I know the doctors are saying this man is on hospice and will not get better.  We know there is no worldly way for this man to get better and yet there is always a way with you.  We know that Jesus said whatever we ask in his name will be granted to us since He is going to be with His Father.  Lord we are calling on that promise and asking in Jesus’ name for you to heal this man in this world.  There are so many suffering right now and I am praying for so many of them in this way.  I think we need to pray these bold prayers.  I think God loves it when we ask Him for the impossible and I think there is lots of evidence in the Bible.  

We tend to take the word of the doctor’s and accept what they say because they are doctors, and I get that.  What they are saying is not a lie, they are saying there is nothing they can do.  They are saying there is no earthly solution to the problem.  It is ok to accept that and yet that doesn’t mean there is no way.  God is a way-maker and a miracle worker.  He could heal you or your loved one in an instance.  It is ok to keep asking.  It is ok to ask even when it seems impossible.  It is ok to not accept that you will lose your loved one, you will lose your house, your car, your ability to walk.  It is ok to challenge your circumstances.  Hezekiah heard straight from God that he was going to die and yet he challenged it.  

The Bible is a manual of how we should live.  The stories in it are lessons to us to guide us.  This lesson shows us we don’t just have to accept our situation, even if we think it is from God.  We can question it.  God can change his mind, if He did it for Hezekiah, He can do it for you.  We don’t know what God is thinking.  We don’t know if it was God’s will for my niece to die and then we changed His mind.  We don’t know if the doctors were just wrong.  We don’t know and we don’t care because she lived.  You don’t know if the situation you are in is from God.  You don’t know if he just wants you to stay sick and offer your suffering up for others.  So, if you don’t know, why not ask for things to change?  Why not cry out to Him  and ask for what you want.  

I think the enemy had planted the idea that we just have to quietly accept our circumstance in our head.  He has made accepting them seem like we are doing a holy thing.  He has put in our minds that if we ask for more we are ungrateful for what we have. The enemy has got us believing that if we don’t just accept our suffering then we are ungrateful.  This is because he knows how powerful God is and how much conversion of hearts can take place when God works in the impossible situations.  The ripple effect of a miracle and reach thousands of people.  When God does a miracle the people who witness that miracle, or even hear about it later, are never the same again.  The enemy knows this is doing all he can to convince us it is selfish to even ask.  He tried to convince us that there is no hope.  He whispers in our ear, “If God wanted you healed you would be.” The devil is a liar!  Don’t listen to that crap.  God can heal anyone, even when the world says it is too late.  

Don’t give up on Him.  I know it is hard to keep asking.  Hezekiah only had to cry out once and he was healed.  I know many of you have been crying out for years.  I know it is hard to keep having the faith.  It is so worth it when it does happen though.  When you are healed.  When your loved one is healed.  I understand if acceptance of your circumstance is the only way you can survive in that circumstance.  If this is the case, reach out to me.  I will continue to pray for you when you can’t.  I will have others pray for you when you can’t.  We will have hope for you when it hurts to much to have hope for yourself.  Let’s do this together!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we love you and we need to come into our lives and do the impossible.  So many listening are either hurting or have loved ones that are hurting.  We need your help Lord.  We need you to come and heal ourselves and our loved ones.  We need you to give us hope again.  We need you to show us that we can continue to ask for your intervention even when the world says it is too late.  We need you to show us it is ok to keep asking.  We need you to heal our hearts and minds Lord.  WE NEED YOU! We need you in every area of our lives Lord.  Give us the strength, the persistence and the hope we need to keep asking until we see the answers to our prayers.  We love you so much and we ask all of this in accordance with our will and in Jesus’ holy will, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I went to check out the retreat house yesterday and it was great.  They are completely redoing all the rooms with new paint, new beds, & new mattresses.  They just redid the bathrooms.  It is going to be a great retreat full of the Holy Spirit and God’s love.  I hope you can join me.  The dates will be October 7-9th and it is in North Easton, MA.  I look forward to seeing you 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!

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God Is Holding Your Hand

Acts 18:9-10 “One night, the Lord appeared to Paul in a vision and said, “Do not be afraid. Continue with your preaching, and do not be silent, for I am with you. No one will attack you or try to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.”

I always get a bit jealous when I hear verses that say the Lord appeared to so and so in a dream or they were visited by an angel.  Then I remember that although I am not getting visited by an angels that I am aware of, although if you listened to he episode on angels last week you know we aren’t always aware when we are visited by an angel.  Although I am not aware of any visits from angels or the Lord in my sleep, the Lord does show up and talk to us each and every Thursday during prayer group.  He also talks to me during my prayer time, so I really have no reason to be jealous.  I don’t know if you ever felt like I did.  Have you ever been jealous that some people seem to hear the world of the the Lord and you can’t?  If this is the case I want to assure you that He wants to talk to you.  God is always talking to His people, we just struggle to listen sometimes.  

If you are struggling to hear the Lord.  If you wish you could ask Him a question and really hear an answer I want you to know you can.  It is possible.  If you cannot hear Him it is not because He is mad at you or because He is punishing you.  There could be a number of reasons why you can’t hear Him.  Maybe you are harboring unforgiveness to others, that can block all kinds of graces.  Maybe you don’t believe you can hear Him so you are afraid to sit in the silence and give Him time to talk?  Maybe you don’t have any quiet time in your day?  Think about how hard it is to hear someone that you are intentionally try to hear when you are in a crowded restaurant or on a subway train.  Look through your day.  If someone was following you around trying to talk to you all day, would there be any times when you would hear them?  

The world we live in is busy and noisy.  It is not often that we sit and listen to the Word of God.  This can change.  If you want to start hearing from God all you have to do is listen.  He is already talking to you.  I know that this may sound weird to some of you and yet I think it is important to tell you.  I often talk with the Lord.  I write Him a letter and then I write one back to myself and let the Holy Spirit lead what I write in the one back to myself.  I feel the Lord is constantly telling me “Thank you for listening, not many do.”  God is not mad, He is not punishing you, He is patiently waiting for you to come to Him and ask Him what He thinks.  He is waiting to tell you how much He loves you until you take a minute to listen.  Can you give God 5 minutes of your time today to just listen.  If you are quiet, if you are asking the Lord to talk and you can’t hear anything then you can command the spirit of deaf ears to leave immediately.  You can command your spiritual ears to open.  You can ask God again and expect that He will answer as He always does!

I am not sure that had a lot, or anything to do with the verse, and yet when I feel led by the Holy Spirit I just agree and go along for the ride.  Back to the verse.  It says, “One night, the Lord appeared to Paul in a vision and said, “Do not be afraid. Continue with your preaching, and do not be silent, for I am with you. No one will attack you or try to harm you, for there are many in this city who are my people.”  I think this verse is a testament to God’s love for Paul.  He knew He was afraid and He came to talk to him and to reassure him.  It sounds like Paul wanted to leave the place where he was.  Paul was in Corinth and that was not a nice town.  It’s nickname is “sin city.”  I have heard Father Mike liken it to parts of Las Vegas.  Paul was preaching at the synagogue to the Jews & the Greeks but they didn’t really want to hear what he had to say.

When they started to oppose him and hurl insults at him he decided to leave the synagogue and search out the gentiles.  In case anyone listening is like me and you are not sure who the gentiles were or what that word means, let me explain.  You were considered a gentile if you are not Jewish.  It is not a certain race of people, or a certain tribe of people, it was all people that were not Jewish.  God came to Paul in his dreams and told him not to be afraid, that He was with him and that he would not be attacked or harmed. God is saying this to us too!  He is with each one of us and He is protecting us from all evil.  I was typing up the minutes for my prayer group and we had several prophecies that see to confirm this.  There were two that I thought were especially good to go with this verse.

The first one says, “I watch over you my children. All of you are my children. I break the sword of the enemy who would come against you. You have nothing to fear for I am there for each and every one of you in each and every trial. I will never forsake my children or leave my children. I will defend you in battle. I have sent you the power of the Spirit and He will give you all that you need to do what you have been called to do.”  Isn’t that amazing?  God is telling us that He is here for us.  He will defend us in battle and any other situation.  You may be thinking you are not in a battle, you are not in the military.  Each one of us is in a battle whether we know it or not.  Each one of us is in a spiritual battle and sometimes the enemy can take it out on our family members.  We need to stand firm and hold onto this word from God and all the other words He has give us.  God will not let the enemy win.  He will protect us.  All we need to do is turn to Him.  

The second word I thought went along with this verse says, “My children take my hand. Realize that I am with you. Go into the world without fear. I am holding onto your hand. There is no need to fear I am your God. I will protect you, I will defend you. Smile that you are mine. Smile my children. I am with you till the end of times. Come closer my children, come closer that I can reveal my mysteries to you so you in turn can share them with the world. I am your Lord, I am your God and I am all powerful. I hold onto your hand. Move forward, move forward with joy for you are mine.”

I love how gentle God can be.  He is talking about protecting us and He is doing it in this last verse as any Father would.  Think back to when you were little.  When you were walking with your dad you were probably holding his hand.  If you weren’t holding it all the time, you at least know it is there if you need it.  God is giving us this visual of walking with Him through life and asking us to take His hand and walk side by side with Him, what and amazing visual that is for me. Yes, please Lord, I would love to walk side by side with you! I would love to hold your hand so you can protect me and defend me against this crazy world.  I also like how he ended the word with “Move forward with joy for you are mine.”  We are His children, isn’t that amazing!! God is so good!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to protect and bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we are so grateful you are protecting us!  We are so grateful you are a loving Father who wants to hold our hand and walk through this life with us.  Lord, we ask that you help us to be able to hear you when you are talking to us.  We are asking that you open our spiritual ears and allow us to have conversations with you.  I ask that everyone listening to this episode is able to hear your word just as they do in the prayer group meeting.  Lord, we thank you for the words above and we ask that you help them take route in our hearts.  If anyone listening to this episode had a difficult relationship with their father, I ask that you let  these two messages go deep down in their hearts and take route.  You are a good and loving Father to all your children! 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!  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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Can My Faith Really Move Mountains?

Matthew 17:20 “ He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

This is a hard verse for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I love it and I have it on a sticky not on the wall in front of where I work.  However, I struggle with it.  I am not sure I know exactly what it means and so I always skipped it and didn’t want to use it for today’s episode.  That feeling inside to skip it is exactly why I didn’t.  I have come to learn that the desire to skip things or avoid the hard things or the ones I don’t understand keeps me from growing.  The Lord has so much to teach us and yet if we shy away from it we will miss out.  The reason I love this verse and yet shy away from teaching about it is because I am not sure I fully understand it.  

When I first decided to use this verse I thought it would be more of an episode where I explain my confusion and questions with it and yet don’t really provide any insight into it.  However, I decided if I don’t understand something about it I should research it, look into it.  With the age of electronics that we live in right now, you can have an answer to almost any question within minutes.  That is what I did.  I decided to read a few commentaries to find out what this verse is actually talking about.  If you haven’t done that before, I highly suggest it.  Type into your internet search bar whatever verse you are wanting more clarity on and then type “meaning of this verse,” or “commentary on this verse.” Once you  read the commentary the verse will make so much more sense.  What I love about it also is that you get to learn about what was going on at the time it was written, who it was being written to, or what words or customs were different back then and why that makes our interpretation of the verse difficult.  

I think my biggest confusion with this verse was where it says, “if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”  I feel as though I have a faith the size of a mustard seed and yet I don’t feel like I could say that to a mountain and it would move.  Today, reading all of the commentary I realize that Jesus didn’t really mean move a mountain.  According to the commentaries I read he was using the elements around them to illustrate His meaning.  The mountain they were standing next too and a mustard seed they knew well to illustrate how small their faith needed to be to accomplish things that seemed impossible.  

This felt reassuring to me as I do know God can do the impossible and I know if He can create the whole world out of nothing, He certainly could move a mountain.  I guess I was just getting caught up in the words of it all.  I am a perfectionist at times and so I truly felt like I was doing something wrong because as hard as I tried I did not believe if I told the mountain to move that it would move.  Which leads me into the the other thing I often think, which is that if the apostles didn’t have the faith of a mustard seed after all that time what hope do I have?  Do you ever think things like this?  If he was chastising them for having little faith, what is He thinking about me? I bet you have, I think we all have.  

This is why I also felt reassured when I read in the commentaries that Jesus was not saying that they didn’t have any faith or that they lost their faith.  According to the commentaries I was reading, which I will of course put links to in the show notes, Jesus wanted them to know they didn’t need an abundance of faith, but they did need to believe in Him.  Both articles stress that the apostles had faith.  Jesus sent them out to do His will and they had all performed signs and wonders.  They had just returned from going out and healing people and chasing out demons.  They had the faith to do it.  However, the commentaries seem to agree that the reason the apostles couldn’t do it in this case is because they were trying to do it with their own power and with their own strength.  When they went out to do the work of Jesus, they were operating under His authority and yet when they came back, in this one instance, they forgot to rely on Jesus and were trying to do it with their own power, which of course we have no power, except that which Jesus gives us.  

One of the articles says, “Faith is not simply believing in Jesus, rather continually depending on him.”  The other article says that it was not that the apostles lost faith, it was more like they got caught up in the heat of the moment.  This was reassuring to me because I can do the same thing.  I can get so excited to pray over someone that I forget to invite the Lord in to do the healing.  I will forget to stop and ask the Lord how He wants me to pray.  I don’t think He is disappointed when we do this, I think he appreciates our enthusiasm and yet, we have no power without Him.  We can do nothing on our own and yet we can do all things through Christ who stengthens us.  If you find yourself rushing in to pray over someone in your own power, stop and ask Jesus to come and help you.  Ask for Him to work through you.  Ask for the Holy Spirit to give you the words to say.  If you find you do this frequently ask God in your prayer time to help you grow in humility.  Help you to remember to stop and invite Him in.  I struggle with this and so I am learning just as we all are.  I know He is the one that does the healing and yet I am so eager for Him to heal people that I forget to stop and ask Him to do it.  

I hope this has brought some clarity to you as to what this verse means and how it applies to your life.  The last line is such a great one.  It says, “and nothing will be impossible for you.”  I love this because I take God’s promises very seriously.  Some people find them hard to believe, I am not one of those people.  Some people probably think I am naive because I am so willing to believe them.  I don’t wonder if God can raise people from the dead, I know He can.  I don’t wonder if people will be healed I believe they will.  I believe it until I they join God in heaven.  I am the person at a wake wondering if the body will rise up and how we will explain that to others.  I know people think I am crazy and some people do not want me to pray over them, that is just not something they are comfortable with and that is ok.  God does not need us to lay hands on people to heal them.  I don’t know where my ability to trust in God’s promises came from.  I am so thankful I have it though.  

My goal in life, my desire, more than anything else, is for every single person to know the love of God.  To know that He loves them more than anything.  That His love is consuming.  His love is unconditional.  His love fills all the holes and gaps the world has given us.  He loves us when we are at our best and He loves us when we are at our worst.  There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, which is great because it take the pressure off to try to earn His love. There is also nothing we can do to make Him love us less.  He never looses an ounce of love, no matter how awful we might be to Him.  Who else can you say that about?

My second goal is to help every single person realize the strength and power we have when we rely on the Holy Spirit that is living inside of us.  That same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus front the dead.  Can you imagine a world where we were all walking around and standing in the authority and power that Jesus gave us.  The world would be such an amazing place.  You would see so many miracles because that is the power you have through Christ.  The power to do the same works He did and even great works.  Do you want that?  Do you want to be able to be the hands and feet of Jesus?  Do you want to be able to be used by God to help heal your loved one? Do you want to do the impossible?  Do you want to see all the mountains in your life moved?  All you need to do is rely on the Lord.  Give the Holy Spirit permission to be in your life, to be in charge of your life.  When you do this, your life will never be the same again.  When you learn to stand in the authority and power that Jesus gave you, you will never be the same.  Your faith really can move the mountains in your life if your faith is in Jesus Christ, the one with all the power.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this podcast today.  Lord you are amazing and I ask you to show all those listening just how amazing you are.  Lord I ask you to show each one of those listening one small thing you are doing in their lives.  Open their spiritual eyes and allow them to see one tiny part of their life through your eyes.  Lord there are so many people looking for healing and I know you are in each and every situation.  We bring all those situations to you today Lord.  I will not list them all as you know who they are and what they need.  We thank you for being in them Lord! Lord, I am seeing the answers to so many of the prayers those around me are asking for and I thank you.  Lord, I ask that you be with those who are not seeing the answers.  Those who have been asking and have not been receiving the answers.  I ask that you strengthen them and give them the persistence to keep asking and to praise you in the waiting.  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.  I want to remind you that the book I wrote, called Total Trust in God’s Save Embrace, is some insight into how I got to have the trust I do in the Lord.  If you would like a copy I have a few more left on my website that I am happy to write a personal message to you and then send it out.  I am also excited to let you all know I will be hosting a retreat this fall.  I am meeting with the retreat center on Wednesday, so will have more details for you soon.  I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

https://lordsguidance.com/blogs/bible-verse-meaning/matthew-17-20-meaning

https://www.rethinknow.org/faith-as-small-as-a-mustard-seed-matthew-17-20-meaning/

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