Walk Boldly With Jesus

We Were Saved Forever

Romans 5:9-10 “And since by his blood he did all this for us as sinners, how much more will he do for us now that he has declared us not guilty? Now he will save us from all of God’s wrath to come. And since, when we were his enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of his Son, what blessings he must have for us now that we are his friends and he is living within us!”

This is one of those verses that I just can’t seem to believe.  It is one I seem to get stuck on and think about often.  Well, maybe not as often as I should, but it is one that definitely sticks with me.  Jesus died on a cross for us while we were still sinners.  He knew all the things we were still going to do and yet He still thought we were worth it.  Can you believe that?  I can see dying for someone who messed up and yet they were sorry and they were committed to not doing it again.  This is not what Jesus did.  Jesus knew we were sinners and that we would not change completely and yet He died for us anyway.  

This verse begins with, “And since by his blood he did all this for us as sinners, how much more will he do for us now that he has declared us not guilty?”  I find this wording interesting.  Some of the other translations say we “were reconciled with God” and another says “there is no longer a question that we are at odds with God.” What this verse is saying, no matter which translation we are looking at is that our relationship with God was put right.  When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of good and evil we were banished from Heaven and there was a veil between us and God.  When Jesus died on that cross the veil was torn and there is nothing in the way between us and God now.  

Well, there can be things getting in the way of your relationship with God but if there are, they are things you are putting there or things you did.  Before Jesus died for us, there was original sin, so we were separated from God because of the sin of Adam and Eve.  If there is anything getting in the way of us being with God now, it is something we put there.  We have no one to blame but ourselves.  The only sins affecting our relationship with God are the ones we are committing.  This is very different than before.

The beginning of this verse is also telling us to look at how amazingly God treated His people before He sent Jesus down to die for our sins.  If God could do all those amazing things for His people before He saved us, just think of how much more He will do for us now.  In other words, God saved His people time and time again from trouble, even though they kept turning away from Him, even though they were still paying for the original sin.  If this is the case, how much more will He do for those who He has declared innocent.  I was looking for a better way to explain this, a way that might make it more clear.  I found an article and I will put a link for it in the show notes.  This article is titled, “Romans 5:9-10 | Legally Safe, Relationally Near” by David McLemore. (CLICK HERE) for the article.  This article said, "Romans 5:9-10 shows us three things about how God saves us:

He has set us free by justification;

He has drawn us near in reconciliation;

He is saving us forever by the life of Christ.”

The first point of the article was that God has set us free by Justification.  The way the author described this is to imagine you are in court on trial for something you know you did.  The judge is the person you committed the crime against.  There is no denying that you did the crime, there is overwhelming evidence and you have no choice other than to plead guilty as everyone knows you are guilty.  You plead guilty and you stand there for what feels like forever waiting for the judge to hand over your sentence, which is probably your life.  Finally, the judge looks you in the eyes and says, “The penalty has already been paid.  You are free to go.”  Can you imagine that?  Everything you have done and yet you are free to go because someone else paid the penalty.  This is what the author meant by we are set free by justification.  Jesus paid the price for our sins.

The second point he made was that God has drawn us near in reconciliation.  The author points out that the first step was a more legal step.  You are legally set free.  This next step is a relational step.  There is a difference between setting you free and wanting to have a relationship with you.  God could have set us free but still kept the barrier up.  I mean we did continuously turn away from Him.  We do continue to sin over and over again.  Can you think of a circumstance where you might forgive and set free and yet want to keep your distance?  What about in the case of a divorce?  You might forgive that person for leaving, you might realize they weren’t the only one caused the problem, and yet you might want to still keep your distance to protect your heart from being hurt again.  I have heard of this a lot in the case of addiction.  The person who was hurt is willing to forgive the person with the addiction for all the pain they caused and yet they keep their distance from them.  

God did not do this to us, He welcomed us back in with open arms.  The article describes it as the judge smiling at you after saying you are free.  Then they come down and hug you and lead you back into their chamber.  They talk with you, welcome you and support you.  It is as if they want to be a part of your life and there is no indication that they will ever leave.  It’s almost as if God has adopted you as his own child, which you soon find out, He has.  The author states this is what reconciliation feels like.  “It feels like the way you felt in the happiest, safest time of your life but infinitely better. It feels as if everything bad is going to be set right. You feel a nearness. It’s nearly inexplicable. Our words just won’t do.” When you have been reconciled with God “You look around you and think through your life and, really, nothing much has changed circumstantially, but everything seems to have changed deep in your heart.”

This brings us to his third point: He is saving us forever by the life of Christ. The author of the article tried to illustrate what the verse means when it says, “ how much more will he do for us now that he has declared us not guilty?” Here is what he says:

“Let me try to illustrate this “much more” of the gospel. Tomorrow comes and we sin again. We are grieved over it and seek to repent and we drag ourselves back into that courtroom. We find the devil there, with the world behind him, condemning us. Yet the scene looks and feels different. We aren’t on trial anymore. Jesus is there before the Father and through the Holy Spirit confirms to our hearts that the blood of Jesus paid for this sin too. We can’t be condemned now, not after all that Jesus has done for us. We are still as free as we were before. Our heart explodes again. We have new power to love God – even deeper this time! Jesus has paid the penalty for us.”

This illustration assures us that Jesus’ sacrifice was enough to pay for all of our sins.  This shows us that God is not up there just waiting for us to mess up so He can jump on us and correct us.  God has redeemed us and He wants to be with us, have a relationship with us.  He does not want anything to get in the way of that relationship.  The next paragraph I am going to read just as it is from the article because the author wrote it so well and makes a valid point.  He says,

“The hardest thing in the world for God to do was to put us poor sinners back into right relationship with him. It cost Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity his very life. He entered in and lived a perfect life and suffered and died to save us. He has already done the hardest, most complicated thing. Now all he has to do is keep you. What Paul is saying here essentially is, “Since God has already done the hardest thing, why would he not do the easier thing of keeping you? God tore his son to pieces for you, why would he not now give you everything else you need?”

God saved us, not just that one time, each and every time.  Through that one selfless act of Jesus, we have been redeemed forever.  Each time we sin we have the option of repenting, turning back to God and being forgiven.  There is no limit on how many times we can be forgiven.  We will be forgiven over and over again as long as we ask God for it.  He gave His son for us and now all we need to do is turn to Him and to repent when we mess up, which we will for sure do.  God knows this and He loves us anyway, he forgives us anyway.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we are sorry we keep turning away and we are so thankful you keep forgiving us.  We find it hard to comprehend the love you have for us that you would send your only son to die for us.  You are amazing and we love you so much!  Please help us to understand the relationship you want to have with us.  Put on our hearts whatever it is you would like us to do to have a better relationship with you.  We love you so much 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 an autographed copy of my book you can find it on my website walkboldlywithjesus.com or Click Here.  If you want to receive my weekly newsletter Click Here.  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 Are Able To Accomplish Abundantly More Than We Imagine

Ephesians 3:20 “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.”

When I read this verse I thought it was so great because it shows us the power of the Holy Spirit working inside us. It tells us that we are more powerful than we think.  It reminds us that we can accomplish more than we think.  Not just a little more, but it says abundantly more than we can imagine.  I feel this trips us up more often than we think.  We look at all we have ahead of us and we don’t see any way that we can do it.  One of my kids asked me the other day if I actually believed that God never gave us more than we can handle?  I told him I heard someone say it differently.  I heard that God never gives us more than He can handle.  However, we need to turn to God and partner with Him.  

God never intended for us to do it on our own.  He always intended to help us through it all.  I do believe that God wouldn’t give us more than we can handle with Him, and yet if we are trying to do everything by ourselves than I do believe it will be more than we can handle.  The Bible says in Philippians 4:13 “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  It does not say that I can do all things by myself with no help from anyone.  We need Christ to strengthen us and we are lucky because we have the Spirit of Christ living inside of us.  We don’t have to go far to find Him.  

When you take a look at all you are going through right now, examine how much you are relying on God and how much you are trying to do all by yourself.  I think knowing God can do anything and living our lives as if we know God can do anything are two very different things.  Are we turning to God when we are struggling or are we turning to the world?  I had a word of prophesy during the prayer group meeting and God was telling us that we are turning to the world.  Here is the word I received: “I am there with you my children. I am walking with you and I am talking with you and yet you're not listening. Open your ears, take the time to just sit in the silence and listen to what I have to say. I am your strong hold. I am your refuge. I am your place in a storm. Come search for me, come find me. When you look for me, I will be there because I am always there but you are not always searching and you're not always looking. You're looking to find comfort in other place, you're looking to find comfort in the things of this world. I am not of this world and your comfort is not in this world it is in me. Turn to me, look for me, listen to me, I am the answer, I am the way, I am the light. Don't try to find your answers in this world you will search and search and you will not find. I am right here, I am right beside you, open your eyes, open your ears, find me. I am not hidden and I am right here. All you have to do is seek and you will find, knock and the door will be answered. I am here, turn to me, come to me. I love you with an everlasting love. A love that knows no boundaries, a love that is unconditional. There is nothing you can do to lose that love. I love you my children more than you know, more than you can imagine. Come to me and let me love you like you need to be loved today.”

What I get from this word is that God wants to be there for us and yet we are not letting Him.  He is walking with us and talking with us each and everyday and yet we are not listening.  When is the last time we stopped and asked God what He wanted us to do before we did it?  When is the last time we just sat in silence and let God know we were listening if He wanted to talk with us?  Have we ever done that?  Have we ever stopped to see if we could hear God’s voice?  If you have you are probably surprised that His voice sounds a lot like your voice.  I believe this is done on purpose so we aren’t scared when He talks with us.  He is talking to us, He says so right in this word that He gave me today.  

God loves us unconditionally, this is amazing.  I feel this should make it easier for us to come to Him.  I get it if we don’t turn to the Lord in times of trouble because he will just judge us and punish us, however, that is not who God is.  God loves us always and forever no matter what we do.  I sometimes use our kids as an example because they are our children and we always love them.  I think this sort of demonstrates how much God loves us, and yet it is not exactly how because our love is human and so it is flawed.  As much as we may try, we can’t love our children perfectly and yet God can love us perfectly.  

God is telling us in this verse to invite Him into our struggle.  He is saying He loves us and He wants to help us.  He is just waiting for the invitation into our lives, the invitation into the chaos and He will help us calm the storm.  You are not alone, you don’t have to do it on your own.  Ask God to help, invite Him in, search for Him and you will find Him.  Remember you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you and we all have the Spirit of Christ living inside of us.  You will get through this, whatever “this” is for you.  I will leave you with the words from the verse, “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.”

Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, please help us turn to you, please help us ask you for help, please let us let you in.  Lord we invite you right now into our mess, into our chaos and into our lives.  We grant you full access to help us in anyway you are willing to help us.  We need you Father!  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.  If you would like an autographed copy of my book with a personal message just for you, CLICK HERE.  If you get a message that says it is unavailable, that will go away as soon as you pick regular or personalized.  Also, if you would like to receive my weekly newsletter CLICK HERE.   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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Make God Your Hiding Place

Nahum 1:7 “God is good, a hiding place in tough times. He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help, No matter how desperate the trouble.” (message translation)

I was unsure on what verse to use today and so I looked up the verse of the day.  As soon as I read it I knew it was the perfect verse for today as I have several friends who are struggling right now.  I decided to use the message translation because I love how it puts the Bible into terms that are so easy to understand.  This particular verse I loved the first line.  “God is good, a hiding place in tough times.”  When we are in tough times, we could all use a hiding place.  We could all use something to distract us so that we don’t have to think about what is going on.  We need something to take our mind off of the upcoming appointments, the “what ifs” that are running through our minds, the things we wish we could go back and change, the uncertainty of what the future holds.  We wish we could change it all.  Our mind is racing from one thing to another and it is making us nervous and uncertain.  

We just want to watch tv, scroll on our phones, read a book, do something to hide from our problems and worries.  Sometimes we even through ourselves into work because we just want to hide from everything else.  When I read this verse this morning it occurred to me that I never thought God could be that hiding place.  What came to mind when I read that verse was that we could bury ourselves in him instead of TV, books, work, and scrolling on our phones.  We could hide in the scriptures.  We don’t have to know what to read.  God is really good at leading us if we let Him.  We could just sit down with the Bible and open it up and God will speak to us through whatever we are reading in the Bible.  Yes, He is that good.  No matter what you are reading in the Bible, God can have it speak to you in your particular situation.  

You can also hide in prayer.  Instead of just thinking of all the things that might go wrong, you can turn each thought over the God. When a thought comes into your head, like “what if the doctor says I need another surgery,” you can immediately pray to God, “Lord, please let this be it.  In Jesus’ name please let the doctor say I don’t need anymore surgery.” When you start thinking about all that could go wrong, you can turn each one over to the Lord.  You can say something like, “Dad, I give these thoughts to you.”  You can also ask the Lord to give you the strength for whatever is coming.  “Lord, only you know the future.  I pray that you give me the grace and the strength to face whatever comes my way.  I pray I can feel your presence through this whole journey.”  

You could also escape your thoughts with prayers that are already written and you just have to recite them.  These could include the Hail Mary, the Our Father, Glory be to the father, the rosary, or any other prayers you know. The St. Michael prayer is a great one when you are feeling anxious or worried.  There are also countless novenas you could say.  A novena is a prayer or group of prayers you can say for nine days.  There is a miraculous rosary you can say.  It is a something you say for 54 days, 27 days in petition for something, and 27 days in thanksgiving for something.  I believe Mary appeared to someone to give them this rosary and told them that whatever the petition they are asking for will be granted to them.  Tony and I have seen amazing results from this prayer.  You could just search for a novena for your particular circumstance, most are much shorter than the miraculous rosary, they just take a minute to say.  

Another way you could hide in the Lord is to listen to praise music, or to praise the Lord on your own.  Praise the Lord is just thanking Him for all He has done and telling Him how amazing He is.  Listening to praise music can be a great way to settle our mind.  Instead of sitting thinking of all the things running through our heads we can listen to praise and worship music, which is usually filled with words from scripture.  If you sing along that is a great way to get your mind off your troubles.  If you don’t know the words, you can always go on YouTube and watch the lyric video so you can sing along.  There are so many great songs out there for when you are struggling.  There is a playlist on Spotify called “Big Life Mornings” and it is full of upbeat music.  

Listening to podcasts is another way to take your mind off of all you are going through.  There are daily devotionals, like this one and The Big Life devotional that examine scripture.  There are also ones that are longer and go a lot deeper into the scripture, like the Elevation Podcast with Steven Furtick.  There are also podcasts for anything you are going through.  If you are struggling and feel like you would like some help processing it, you can search for whatever is causing your struggle.  For instance, podcasts about cancer, podcasts about depression, anxiety, divorce, marriage issues, parenting.  Whatever your are struggling with, there is someone else who is not only struggling with it, but they are talking about it on their podcast or on Youtube.  

Today’s verse says, “God is good, a hiding place in tough times. He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help, No matter how desperate the trouble.” God is good, I know you know this and yet sometimes we need to remind ourselves of this fact, especially when our thoughts start to get the better of us.  God recognized you and welcomes you when you are looking for help.  This is reminding us that God sees us.  He knows we are struggling, He knows we need help.  He welcomes us with open arms and assures us He is there with us.  I love that the last line is “No matter how desperate the trouble.”  Sometimes we can know on some level God will be there and yet we can also struggle to believe that He will help us or we think our thing is too big for Him.  This verse assures us, no matter how desperate the times are.  There is no problem that is too big or two small for God.  He is in every situation and He will take care of it.  We can rest in that promise, we can count on it.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Dad, there are so many who are struggling right now.  We ask you to come and comfort them, help them feel your presence.  We ask that you help calm the racing thoughts and fill their hearts and minds with the peace of Christ.  Lord, give them a supernatural wisdom that you will take care of it and that you are already working all things for their good.  Help them to know they can count on you, rely on you and even hide in you if they need.  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 an autographed copy of my book with a personal message just for you, CLICK HERE.  If you get a message that says it is unavailable, that will go away as soon as you pick regular or personalized.  Also, if you would like to receive my weekly newsletter CLICK HERE.   I look forward to bringing you a witness 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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Praise The Lord, Both Now And Forevermore

Psalm 113:1-2 "Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord.  Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore.”

This verse was given at prayer group last week and when I first looked it up I was hesitant.  I had a little conversation with God about how I have already talked about praise a lot and that maybe I should use a different scripture.  I still think it is so crazy how I always try to talk to God about how my ideas might be better than His or try to tell him something like He doesn’t already know everything.  Anyway, while I was trying to convince God about how I wasn’t sure praise was the topic I should talk about today, he reminded me of what I learned while listening to Father Mike’s Catechism in a year podcast.  

This podcast is so great.  I know I have talked to several of you that started it and couldn’t really get into it and so you stopped.  I just want to say that I get it.  It was not super interesting like the Bible in a year was when it first started.  Now, I love it.  I thought it was going to be just a litany of rules that I didn’t really want to listen to but that I would because I want to be able to defend my faith to others, especially my loved ones, and also because I truly want to know why Catholic’s believe what we believe.  I was so wrong.  It is not at all a litany of rules.  It is an explanation of so much.  It talks about who God is, Who Jesus is, Who the Holy Spirit it, who they are in relationship to one another. That part was beautiful.  Recently we have been talking about the mass and why, where, when and how we meet.  I had no idea about most of the stuff he is talking about.  It helps me to see the mass in a whole new light.  A much needed new light.  

I have always liked being Catholic.  I mean I didn’t always love going to mass every single week, even when on vacation.  I didn’t love getting picked up early from a friend’s house so I could go to mass.  However, I did like the mass.  I like how I know what to expect, I like how every mass is the same all over the world.  I love that we have the body and blood of Jesus at mass.  I love all the prayers and sacraments.  I love being Catholic and yet after listening to the Catechism in a year I am falling even more in love with our faith.  It is not just about our faith either, it is about so many things.  I thought it would be a bit like the 10 commandments, a list of we can do this and we can’t do that.  However, it explains in so much detail not only what we believe, but why we believed it and where in the Bible you can find reference to it.  It has been amazing.

This week was about the mass and it was talking about praise, specifically praise music.  The church says that out of all of the art, out of all of the things that can help us pray well, singing and music is of inestimable value, greater than that of any other art.  That is from CCC #1156. The reason for music and praise songs being so important is because they combine sacred music and words.  Many praise songs use words right out of the Bible.  I remember when I first noticed this I was so excited.  After I went to a retreat with the Military Council of Catholic Woman, I picked up a CD of Anne Trufant's music.  I had no idea that Christian music was a thing. I mean I knew we sang songs at church but I didn’t know there was Christian artist in all genres of music.  It was the greatest discovery ever!  While I was listening to this music all the time and starting to learn the words, I would then begin to see or hear the words when I was reading or listening to the Bible, or when I was in church.  

Over the last few years when I talk with God about the growth in my prayer life, the deepening trust I have in Him and His plan, and the calm I am able to have in the storm, He repeatedly tells me it is due to my praise.  I truly feel praise can deepen our faith more than we know.  The more we praise, the more we can see the amazing things God does for us, even in the hard times.  When we are focused on praise, we are focused on finding the good, even in a bad situation.  

Praise can be hard at times.  There can be times when we feel as though we don’t have any reason to praise God.  There can be times when it feels like everything is against us, everything we try fails. When it is hard for us to praise, I think this is a sign that we need to praise all the more.  The good thing about praising God is that you can do it through listening to music.  You don’t even have to say anything if you don’t want to.  You can let the words of the music just wash over you.  The song writer and singers of Christian music do such a good job of praising God.  They have taken lyrics right from the Bible and put them to music.  Not only is this good because we get to hear God’s words, but also because it helps us learn them.  

Matt Maher took the Our Father prayer and made it into a song with a nice beat.  He did this because one of his friends texted him one day and said that he thought it would be a great way for kids to learn the Our Father.  Just picture kids hanging out and singing along to that song.  I am betting more people have prayed the Our Father through singing that song than they did before. “He who sings,” said St. Augustine, “prays twice.” The holy Bishop of Hippo meant that singing adds to our praise and worship of God—that our voices are gifts, with which we can make music to the Lord.

Another thing praise is good for is to pull you out of a dry season of prayer or an attack of Spiritual Warfare.  If you are trying to pray and yet nothing is coming, or if you are feeling oppressed by the enemy, put on some praise music.  The enemies don’t understand why we praise God, especially when we are struggling. It confuses them and they leave.  If we can praise God when we are struggling to pray we will be rewarded.  We will see fruit from our praise.  

I know I have said this before but I will keep saying it because I know it is hard to hear. You can always praise God, even in though times.  You don’t have to praise Him for that hard time, you can praise Him for the small ways He is showing you He is there.  For instance, a beautiful sunrise, a text from a concerned friend, a really great cup of coffee, a small step in the right direction.  Whatever it is, no matter how small it is, just stop and praise God for it.  I truly believe that things get better faster when we can praise God in the middle of the storm.  Take a second and look at your life.  Where could you add a little praise into it?  Could you listen to praise music while you clean up, or while you drive?  Could you spend 2 minutes while you drink your morning cup of coffee or tea and thank God for 3 things He did yesterday?  Can you wake up and thank God for letting you wake up to a brand new day before your feet ever hit the floor?  How can we praise God today?  How can we add it to our daily routine?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to praise you, we want to thank you, please show us how.  Lord, we are so grateful for all you do and we are sorry if we haven’t said so lately.  We are sorry if we let the over whelm the world and of our situation prevent us from seeing your glory at times.  We know you are amazing.  We know you are the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.  You are the beginning and the end and we are so grateful for you. We are grateful you choose us to have a relationship with.  We are grateful you redeemed us.  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 an autographed copy of my book with a personal message just for you, CLICK HERE.  If you get a message that says it is unavailable, that will go away as soon as you pick regular or personalized.  Also, if you would like to receive my weekly newsletter CLICK HERE.   I look forward to bringing you a witness tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

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Blank Slate

Exodus 34:4 “So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.”

I was listening to Father Mike’s weekly homily from the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity.  He talked about this verse, which is just one sentence and yet he used this sentence to show us how we should come before the Lord each and every day.  He told us how we can enter into each encounter with Him and even a different perspective on how we look at the mass.  I will put a link for this episode in the notes if you want to listen to it.  I am not going cover all that he covered, I will just touch on two things that really touched me.  

The first thing he said was that when it talks about Moses going up the mountain he brought two blank tablets in his hands.  This is Moses second time up the mountain.  The first time up the mountain he brought two tablets and God gave him the 10 commandments.  Then when he came back down the mountain the people were worshiping a golden calf.  Moses threw these tablets down and broke them.  Now Moses was headed back up the hill with two new blank tablets.  Father Mike was saying this is how we should approach the Lord, with blank tablets.

Often we approach the Lord full of expectations, not just about who the Lord is, but what He can and can’t do and how He does and does not want us to act.  We walk into a prayer session expecting it to go exactly like every other prayer session has gone.  What if we approached the Lord without any exceptions, without any preconceived notions and let Him tell us who He is and what He wants us to do?  How would your prayer life be different if you entered into it open for anything?  How would your relationship with the Lord change if you approached Him with a clean slate each and every time you approached Him?  

What the Holy Spirit keeps bringing me back to is when I said we have expectations and preconceived notions of what He can and can’t do.  I think this is what He wants me to talk about today.  This is something He talks to us about often.  Are we asking Him to answer our prayers and then assuming we know how they will be answered?  Are we placing our constraints on God and not letting Him do all He wants to do? They Holy Spirit just brought a great example of us limiting Him to my mind.

Yesterday I was at Eucharistic Adoration and when I was leaving there was another lady leaving at the same time as I was.  The other woman had a limp and her foot was turned to the side a bit.  I felt the Holy Spirit asking me to ask her if I could pray over her.  I was resisting as I tend to do.  I was explaining I didn’t know the woman and I would feel weird, as if God didn’t already know any of that.  Finally, I got up the courage to ask the woman if I could pray over her leg.  She said someone already prayed over her when she was a kid.  Her mother was part of the charismatic renewal and brought her to the meetings.  She had a priest pray over her leg back then.  

This happened 60 years ago and it seemed as though this woman believed she didn’t need any other prayers because someone had already prayed for her and it was not healed.  I do not know what she was thinking because I didn’t ask, it was not my place.  I do know that some people think if God wanted to heal them, He would have done it, so there is no point in asking again.  I agree, if God wants to heal you, He can absolutely do it at any time.  However, I disagree that just because He didn’t heal you that one time then He doesn’t want to heal you.  I can’t explain why He didn’t heal you or your loved one the first time they were prayed over.  I do know that sometimes things we do or don’t do can get in the way of our healing.  We talked about a big one yesterday, unforgiveness.  If you are harboring a lot of resentment and unforgiveness in your heart then that might be blocking the healing God wants you to have.  

I have heard many people say that since they have prayed and they were not healed then maybe God has just given them this cross to bare, just like He did for Paul.  It says in 2 Corinthians 12:7b-9 "Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” People hear this verse and they resign to living with their chronic pain, their disease, their hearing loss, their blindness, whatever their ailment is because they think God wants them to have it to teach them a lesson, or show them something.  They think it is just their thorn in their side.  

They taught us in our Encounter Ministries class that this thorn that Paul is talking about is actually not a physical ailment, but actually all the persecution he received while carrying out his public ministry.  Whether you think it is a physical ailment or not is not as important as what Paul did about this thorn in his side.  He did not ask God to heal it one time and then stop.  It says in this verse that he asked, no he pleaded three times to the Lord for Him to take it away and then the Lord responded to Him.  The Lord told Paul why he had this thorn and what would come from it. What I feel the Holy Spirit saying to you is to keep asking the Lord until you hear back from Him.  Did you hear Him clearly say He wants you to stop asking?  Did He explain what would come from this?  God wants all of His children to be healed. Also, God loves persistence. There are many examples I can think of off the top of my head.  If you are wanting a healing, needing a healing, keep asking.  Ask God every single day.  I don’t know why we have to wait sometimes.  God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher  than our thoughts.  I do know that He loves you and He wants to heal you.  Just keep asking!

When we ask God for a healing, we should approach Him with blank slates, just as Moses did.  Maybe God wants to heal you miraculously right now, maybe He wants to heal you through chemotherapy or radiation.  Maybe he wants to heal you through lots of prayer.  I don’t know what God’s plan is for you and neither do you.  However, I feel the Holy Spirit telling us to be open to it all.  Come and ask God how He wants to heal us, ask Him how he wants us to pray for healing.  We might think we know how to pray, and we probably do, and also, God might want us to do something different this time.  We won’t know until we stop and ask Him.  This is something I struggle with, remember to pause and ask God what I should do.  I like to just jump in and do what is comfortable, what I know, and yet my praying is always more fruitful when I pause and ask the Lord what He wants me to do.  What if we all just tried to approach God with blank slates this week and see how it changes things?  I was going to talk about the other point Father Mike had, but the Holy Spirit took me in another direction, on I am sure someone really needed to hear today. (CLICK HERE) for Father Mike’s episode if you are interested.  He had some really great points.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to approach you with blank slates, please show us how.  We are sorry for all the time we assumed we knew what you wanted and didn’t actually stop to ask you.  We thank you for being so very patient with us as we mess up time and time again.  Lord, we ask that you help us to be persistent in going after that healing that we so desperately want.  Lord, we believe you can heal us, we believe you want to heal us, help our unbelief.  Lord we love you so very much 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 an autographed copy of my book with a personal message just for you, CLICK HERE.  If you get a message that says it is unavailable, that will go away as soon as you pick regular or personalized.  Also, if you would like to receive my weekly newsletter CLICK HERE.  I look forward to seeing you all right here tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you so much, and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

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The Shocking Consequences of Unforgiveness

Matthew 18:21-22 “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

A few of the ladies from my prayer group and I attended a bootcamp to teach us about the unbound method of deliverance.  Unbound is a method of setting people free from the things that weigh them down.  Sometimes we open doors to the enemy in ways we didn’t know and Unbound helps us close those doors.  There are 5 Keys in the Unbound program.  The five keys are: Repenting of sin and expressing faith in Jesus; forgiving oneself and others; renouncing the lies, spirits, and tactics of Satan; taking authority over the works of Satan; receiving the Father's blessing. When you go through an Unbound session you meet with someone and they walk you through each of these keys.  

In our first night of training we covered an intro and then we learned about the first two keys.  The first one was repenting of sin and expressing faith in Jesus.  We all sin, it is a part of our daily life, and yet when we sin in hurts our relationship with God.  When we sin we are opening a door for the enemy to come in.  Repentance for our sins is a big part of our freedom.  If we truly want to be free we can’t have our sins hanging over us.  One way our sins can invite the enemy in is because He will then use that sin to make us ashamed of what we did.  Shame is straight from hell, it is not from God.  Once we start to feel ashamed then we pull away and we tend to isolate because we feel as though we aren’t worthy of anything.  Once we repent we bring our sins out of the darkness and into the light and they no longer have hold over us.  

The second key we talked about is forgiveness.  This is the one that left the biggest impression on me.  This is the one that I don’t think we realize how important it is.  I remember when I was at a Bible study and they were talking about forgiveness.  We were talking about Matthew 6:14, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” When they said that God forgives us the same way we forgive those who trespass against us I was so surprised.  I had no idea what they were talking about.  Now, I have been a Catholic for my whole life and this was only about 10 years ago.  I have probably said the Our Father prayer more times than I can count and yet I never really put two and two together.  

Have you ever had a time when you heard something or realized something and it was life changing for you?  I can remember two times this has happened for me with scripture.  The first one was when I discovered Romans 8:11, “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”  When I discovered we have the power of the one who raised Jesus from the dead, the same power Jesus had, that was life changing for me.  The second time was when I discovered what I am really saying when I say the Our Father prayer.  “Forgive us O Lord as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  Did you know that is what you are saying?  How many times do you say that prayer, have you said that prayer?  If you say the rosary every day you have said it at least 6-5 times daily.  

When I heard this I was determined to learn how to forgive better.  I was determined to not hold things against people.  I have done my best to do this.  Over the course of the last 10 years have a learned quite a bit about forgiveness in my quest to become better at it.  First I learned what forgiveness is and is not.  Forgiveness is making a decision that you are no longer going to give the thing that happened any space in your brain anymore.  You are not going to think about it and you are not going let it dictate what you do and how you act.  Forgiveness is an act of the will, it is not a feeling.  You can, not feel like forgiving someone and yet you can still forgive them.  You can forgive someone and yet not feel like anything has changed.  Forgiveness is not saying the thing that the other person did was ok, it was not.  When you forgive you are not letting the other person off the hook and condoning their behavior.  Forgiveness is making a decision to turn the judgement over to God.  Forgiveness is making a decision that you are no longer going to let the unforgiveness eat you up inside.  The person you are refusing to forgive probably has moved on and your unforgiveness is not bothering them at all.  

The analogy that I have heard time and time again about forgiveness is that it is like taking a little sip of poison every single day with the expectation that the other person will die.  I know you are angry, hurt, sad, I am sure you have every right to be and also, as long as you keep thinking about it and refusing to forgive, you can’t really heal.  I talk to people I know about unforgiveness all the time since learning we will be forgiven as we forgive.  I can’t help it, I understand what is at stake and I know it is not worth it.  Whoever you are refusing to forgive has probably taken enough from you, are you really going to let them take you eternal salvations too?  What they did to you, is not forgiving them worth the risk of God not forgiving you?  

Our teacher on Monday told us about a preacher/minister who had died and found out he was on his way to hell.  He said he saw how horrible it was.  In hell this man saw another man on all fours on fire from head to toe.  He had a collar around his neck attached to a chain and a demon was holding the chain.  Our teacher told us that this man went to hell because he had unforgiveness in his heart.  I was curious to hear the exact story so I looked it up online.  I will put a link to the article in the show notes.  It turns out is was a priest who had a heart attack and must have flatlined at some point.  CLICK HERE for the article.

Here is what priest said, "I thought I was going upward because I thought I had done so much good in this lifetime trying to help so many people and made so many decisions that were godly decisions, but as opposed to me going up, I went down.”  This priest was very angry as he said he did so much good in his lifetime.  Then he said he saw Jesus and Jesus gave him a personal message.  "He said, 'You have been secretly upset with the people who have hurt you. You had been hoping that I would punish the people that hurt you. These are not your people. These are my people.' He said, 'I only want you to focus on the assignment I am giving you.’ The priest explains, “Although I did good, the thing I had in my heart was the unforgiveness to the people who wronged me. A person that can't forgive is a person that has forgotten how much they have been forgiven of.”

This example is probably not what we want to hear.  I know it scared me when I heard it and yet we must hear it.  We have to know what will keep us from spending eternity with our Father.  This is why God sends people to share these messages with us.  Mary gave the little children of Fatima an image of hell and told them that more people than we know are ending up there.  Forgiveness is not easy, I know that.  I know that I don’t understand some of the things that have happened to you.  I know people can be terrible and they do terrible things.  If you are struggling to forgive I ask you to review what forgiveness is and is not again.  You don’t have to forgive and forget.  You don't have to forgive the person and invite them over for Christmas.  It is perfectly ok to forgive the person and never see them again, never tell them you forgave them, never talk to them again.  Forgiveness is for you, it is not for them.  

The last line the priest said really hit me.  “A person that can’t forgive is a person that has forgotten how much they have been forgiven of.”  What if all the people we wronged refused to forgive us?  What if God held original sin against us and refused to forgive us?  What if he refused to send His only son to save us?  Forgiveness is so much more important than we think it is.  I know so many people who are refusing to forgive because they say the other person doesn’t deserve forgiveness.  You might be right and also, forgiveness is about them, it is about you.  It is about setting yourself free from the spirit of unforgiveness.  Unforgiveness can block so much from the Lord.  It can block healing, it can block graces, it can block your forgiveness from the Lord.  Is it really worth it?

I want to take a minute to add some hope to this episode as if you are harboring unforgiveness it might be very scary to think of the consequences.  You might have had some truly terrible things done to you and you want the Lord to forgive you and yet you have no idea where to even begin forgiving the other person or people.  Here is the thing, the Lord doesn’t expect you to forgive on your own.  We can’t actually forgive on our own. All we can do is say, yes Lord, I want to forgive, and the Lord can change your heart for you.  If you are at a point right now where you really can’t even say, Lord, I want to forgive, please help me, that’s ok, the Lord meets us where we are at.  Can you say I want to want to forgive?  Can you say, Jesus, can you give me the grace to want to want to forgive?  If so, Jesus will help you get to that point and then you can move to actually forgiving.  

My teacher told a story about a woman who was doing an Unbound session and the woman who she was working with refused to forgive her sister.  Well, this is the first key, you can’t move on to the rest of the keys if you can’t first get through forgiveness.  The woman was adamant that she would not forgive or even pray for her sister.  The woman leading the session asked if she would be able to ask Jesus to help her want to want to forgive.  She said yes and she asked Jesus.  She said ok, now she wanted to want forgive, but she still couldn’t forgive. The leader asked her if she would be willing to do 1% of the work to forgive if Jesus could do the other 99%.  She said she thought she might be able to do that and so she forgave her sister 1% and Jesus did the rest.  

Remember, forgiveness is an act of the will, it is not a feeling.  She might not have felt any different after she forgave her sister that 1% but she was willing to do it.  God will meet you where you are at too!  If all you can say right now is, “Lord please give me the grace to want to want to want to forgive.”  That’s ok, just say it.  God is the one who does the forgiving.  We just need to say the words and God does all the hard parts.  God is asking us to let Him in, to not refuse to let Him work on any area of us.  Can we do that?  Can we give God even a tiny little crack of a window where He can come in and transform our heart?  Don’t let the unforgiveness of what others did dictate the level of forgiveness you get from God.  Haven’t then done enough, don’t let them continue to have an effect on your life and definitely not your eternity.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, today’s topic was a hard one.  I ask you to open people’s hearts and minds and let them hear the word that you want them to hear.  Holy Spirit I ask you to convict each person listening to this of any unforgiveness that they may have so we can all work to forgive.  Sometimes our unforgiveness is hidden and so we ask for you to show us any areas we need to forgive in Lord.  We say yes to you coming in and helping us forgive.  We say yes to you forgiving us as we forgive others.  We say yes to loving your children as you love them.  We love you Lord and we are sorry for closing you out and not letting you heal our hearts by guarding them with unforgiveness.  We need your help Lord and we are so grateful you always come when we call.  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.  My book is for sale on my website right now.  If you buy from my website I will write a personal message and sign it before sending it to you.  Click Here for the book and Click Here for my website in the show notes.  I also want to remind you that I send out a weekly newsletter with one of my podcast episodes, the most popular ones, and also an update on what is going on in my life.  When you sign up you also get an audio training on how to invite Jesus into your everyday life.  Click Here to sign up for the Newsletter! Thank you for all your support, I really appreciate it! I look forward to meeting you hear again on Monday.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I!  Have a blessed weekend!

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What If I Can’t See A Way?

Isaiah 51:2 “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him and made him many.”

I was very surprised when the Lord gave me this verse in adoration.  I took an Unbound training on Monday and was sure the Lord wanted me to talk about forgiveness.  However, when I was in adoration I asked the Lord to give me the verse that He wanted me to talk about and this is what I got.  Then I was confused because I wasn’t sure where he wanted me to go with it.  I mean I can see the value in looking back to see where you came from.  Looking back to see those that came before you is a good idea. I understand that and yet I wasn’t sure exactly where He wanted me to take it.  

So, I did what I always do in this circumstance, which is to type the words, “meaning of Isaiah 51:2” in the internet search bar.  If you are new to listening to this podcast I want to assure you that I know I don’t know it all.  I am definitely not a theologian and I am not an expert of scripture by any means.  I did not start this podcast because I wanted to impart my wisdom to others, I started this podcast because I wanted to learn more about scripture and then share what I learned with others.  I am learning just as all of you are and there is so much I don’t know.  Luckily we live in an age where there is so much information at our fingertips.  This can for sure be a blessing and a curse but in this instance it is a blessing.  After reading two different articles on what this verse meant to them, I finally understood what God wanted me to talk about.  

He actually revealed it to me when I was running this morning in part.  I think, if I understood correctly, that God wants to reassure us that He will be with us in times of trouble.  I know we all know this on a superficial level.  I am sure we have all said it to plenty of other people and yet God wants us to know it on a deeper level, on an intimate level.  How can we know that if we haven’t seen it before?  How can we know that God will show up for us this time if we have never needed Him to show up for us before?  How can we know He will show up for us in this circumstance when the last time it was a completely different circumstance?  Maybe this is too big of a thing for God.  

I just got a feeling in my stomach like that is the thing God wants to talk to today.  Have some of you been thinking that your situation might just be too big for God?  Have you been scared because although you have heard God is a way maker and He will find a way, you wonder if He will.  You can’t see a way and so maybe there isn’t one.  If this is you, it’s ok.  God understands what you are going though and He gets it.  Our brains our limited to earthly constraints.  Even if we have seen miracles time and time again our human condition is to doubt miracles will happen and put God in a box that we can understand and we can wrap our heads around.  

While I was on my run this morning I was worried because it was a winding road and there were no sidewalks.  When I looked up the length of the street I could not see if any cars were coming.  However, as I got closer to each turn I could see around the bend to see if there were any cars coming.  I felt as if God said, it’s the same with life.  If you look too far ahead, you can’t see the way.  You can’t see if the dangers and you also can’t see the path.  However, as you get closer your path becomes clear.  

Have you ever heard the saying that the present is all we ever really have?  The past has already happened and the future is yet to come and then when you get to the future it is actually the present.  If we want to be less anxious we need to stay in the present moment.  I think what God was trying to tell me on my run was not to worry if there were cars up ahead because I would see them when I needed to see them.  Are you worrying about things that are yet to come?  Are you trying to foresee problems  before they even happen.   Do you know why this is not a good idea?  Eigthy-five percent of things we worry about don’t even end up happening.   Think about how much time you have wasted worrying about stuff that never happened.  I bet it is a lot.  God is saying, if you need to worry, I will give you time to worry.  Well, he is actually telling us all throughout the Bible not to worry.  However, I think what he was saying was that we will see what we need to see when we need to see it.

This verse above addresses our worry and anxiety, which we all have so much of these days.  “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him and made him many.” God is reminding us in this verse that He blessed Abraham and Sarah and told them they would have more descendants than the number of stars in the sky when they didn’t have any children.  Think of how hard it must have been for them to believe that.  Yet they did believe it and they went on believing it for 25 years before they had their son Issac.  Did they wait perfectly?  No, at one point Sarah tried to take it into her own hands and had her husband sleep with her handmaid to have a baby. They weren’t perfect, but they did believe and God did come through on His promise, just as He will for you too!

I feel as if God wants you to know He sees you in your situation.  He knows how hard it is to wait.  He sees you hurting and He wants you to keep believing that He is with you, even when you can’t see a way out, even when you can’t see how He can help you.  He wants you to look back and see the miraculous things He has done in the past and believe that He will do the same for you.  That is the hard part, isn’t it?  It’s no that you don’t believe God can do it, it is that you struggle to believe you are worthy enough for Him to do it, or that He loves you enough to do it.  Let me tell you right now, you are just as worthy as any of us.  God loves you more than you could ever know.  He would do anything to show His love for you, and He did.  He gave it all just for you.  Even if you were the only one on earth, God would have still sent His son.  Isn’t that incredible?

I am so sorry life is so hard right now.  I am sorry you have cancer.  I am sorry your loved one is in the hospital, I am sorry you have chronic pain.  I am sorry you are suffering.  I truly believe that God wants me to tell you He is there with you.  He is in the hospital bed with you.  He is sitting by the hospital bed with you.  He is with you every moment of every day.  If you can’t see a way through this, if you can’t think of a possible solution, God wants you to look back to all the things He has done in the past.  Not just Abraham, the parting of the red sea, the walls of Jericho, the manna on the dessert ground every morning, the healings, the signs and wonders.  If you can’t see a way, join the club, you are not the only one.  The apostles had no idea how to feed thousands of people with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread, yet Jesus found a way.  There is a way through whatever it is you are experiencing.  God wants you to know it is ok if you can’t see it.  He is asking you, “Can you look back at the past and believe I can do it, even if you can’t see how I can do it?” What do you think?  Can you believe it before you see it?  Abraham had to wait 25 years, Noah was building the arc, waiting for the flood he couldn’t see for 100 years.  Can you wait without seeing for your miracle, your help, your way through, you answers?

Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to believe you will rescue us.  We believe, help our unbelief. Lord, we thank you for all the amazing things you have done in the past.  We thank you for being here with us every step of the way even if we don’t see you.  Holy Spirit help us to see where God is in this very moment.  Help us look at all we are going through and see the places where God helped us.  Open our eyes and give us spiritual insight into our situation.  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.  My book is for sale on my website right now.  If you buy from my website I will write a personal message and sign it before sending it to you.  Click Here for the book and Click Here for my website in the show notes.  I also want to remind you that I send out a weekly newsletter with one of my podcast episodes, the most popular ones, and also an update on what is going on in my life.  When you sign up you also get an audio training on how to invite Jesus into your everyday life.  Click Here to sign up for the Newsletter! Thank you for all your support, I really appreciate it! I look forward to meeting you hear 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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All Can Prophesy

1 Corinthians 14:31 & 39 "For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”

I felt this was particularly appropriate this week since I just attended the School of Prophetic Ministry this past weekend.  It was so amazing, I wish you could have all been there with me.  I am definitely going to incorporate some of the exercises that we did at the event into the retreat that I am going to be hosting this summer or this fall.  You will not want to miss it.  There were 37 people who attended this school and it went from 6-9 on Friday night and 9-9 on Saturday.  We learned so much information and also had plenty of opportunities to put that information into practice.  The best way to describe it for me is to imagine you are going to class all day and yet you keep taking these breaks where you get to hear God speaking encouragement and love into you.  I think every single person left that school feeling loved by God.  

I thought I would take a minute to talk about what I mean by prophesy.  I know I mentioned in another episode recently but in case you missed it, we were all baptized as priest, prophet and king.  When we think of prophet we think, or at least I think of the major and minor prophets of the Bible.  I think of people who God revealed information to and then they went out and relayed that information to God’s people.  Most of us, when we think of prophecy, we think that is something other people can do, but we aren’t capable of doing it.  This is not true.  As you can see in the verse about we can all prophesy. The definition of a prophet is someone who hears God’s voice and speaks His word.  You might be thinking that you are not a prophet because you can not hear God’s word.  However, it says in the Bible that we were all baptized at priest, prophet and king.  This means you are a prophet, which means you can hear God’s voice.

If you are a prophet, and you are supposed to be able to hear God’s voice, then why can’t you? Is this the question you are asking yourself?  There are a few reasons why you might not be able to hear God’s voice.  The biggest and most common one is because you simply aren’t listening.  When is the last time you sat down in a quiet space and asked God to speak to you?  When is the last time you talked to Him about your day expecting Him to talk back?  When is the last time you asked God a question and then stopped and waited in silence until you got your answer?  I am willing to bet for many of us, we never have, and for those who have, it has been a while since we have done it.  

Another reason that we might not be hearing God is because we don’t believe we can hear Him.  In this case, He is still talking, and we are probably hearing Him even, and yet we are brushing it off as just our own thoughts, or just saying it is our gut feeling or our inner voice.  When we ask God something, He will answer.  It says so in the Bible. This means if we ask God a question, and we listen for an answer then we can trust that God is speaking to us.  

Not everything we hear is from God.  If you are hearing something that goes against the theology of your religion, or against what you know to be true about God, then that isn’t God talking.  He will never contradict Himself.  Also, if what you are hearing makes you feel bad about yourself, makes you feel shame, or any other bad feelings, that is not God either.  He does correct us and yet He does it in such a loving way that we don’t feel bad about it.  Also, if what you are hearing is something drastic, like pick your family of 5 up and over them to another country, run that by a friend, priest, or spiritual advisor.  Have them pray over that decision with you and have them help you discern if it is from the Lord or not.  

Beyond those types of things, if you ask God and then you feel like you have an answer, move forward in the trust that it is God answering your questions.  Most of us will get something to mind right away and we will push it aside and think to ourselves, “That was too easy, that must just be from me.”  This has happened lots of times with me and the rest of the people in my class.  However, when we are brave and when we release that word to the other person, even though we aren’t sure it is really from God because it doesn’t make any sense to us, then we find out it makes all the sense in the world to the other person and that it was definitely from God.  God is so good, and He wants to talk to you too!!

Another reason that some people can’t hear God when He is talking to them is because we are so distracted.  There is so much noise and distraction in this world.  We tend to have music on in the background, or the TV on, just for the noise.  When we sleep we have white noise machines, when we are in the car we have the radio.  When we are waiting in line we are playing a game on our phones.  We can’t hear God because we never have any time when are brains aren’t already busy doing something else, listening to something else, and concentrating on something else.  What if we changed that?  What if we decided to have some part of our day where there was no other noise, no other distractions.  I know some of you are thinking that you are so busy, you don’t have time to add one more thing like meditation into your schedule.  

I am not talking about meditation and I am not talking about adding anything to your schedule.  I am talking about just sitting in silence for a few minutes.  Look at your schedule, what are you already doing that you could do in silence?  Do you have a commute sometime in your day?  Do you spend some time in the car?  Instead of listening to music or sports radio, could you ask the Lord to speak to you and then listen to what he has to say?  Maybe at lunch time, if you eat lunch alone, you could ask God to talk with you during lunch?  Maybe  you could ask God to talk with you in the shower?  It doesn’t have to be where you go to church sit in the correct pew and ask God to talk.  He will talk to you anywhere you invite Him to talk to you.  We are looking for progress not perfection.  Just ask and He will answer.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to hear your voice, please help us.  Please help us to believe you will speak to us.  Help us believe you want to speak to us and you are just waiting for us to listen.  Show us where in our lives we can make time daily to listen to you.  Help remind us to ask you and listen to you when things get hard and also when things are great.  Help us to trust it is really you talking to us.  Meet us where we are Lord, just as you always do.  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.  My book is for sale on my website right now.  If you buy from my website I will write a personal message and sign it before sending it to you.  Click Here for the book and Click Here for my website in the show notes.  I also want to remind you that I send out a weekly newsletter with one of my podcast episodes, the most popular ones, and also an update on what is going on in my life.  When you sign up you also get an audio training on how to invite Jesus into your everyday life.  Click Here to sign up for the Newsletter! Thank you for all your support, I really appreciate it! I look forward to meeting you hear again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I!  Have a blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

CLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring 

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