Walk Boldly With Jesus

How To Live According To The Spirit

Romans 8:5-6 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

This verse has been waiting for me to use it for several days now.  I can’t remember how I discovered it, but I wrote it down and then Thursday and Friday I didn’t use it and then this morning I had another verse planned and this one was sitting open on my desktop.  I am sure I had a great idea of what to talk about when I chose it and yet this morning nothing was really coming to me.  Then I got the idea to search for articles on how to set our mind of the Spirit because this verse says that will bring life and peace and I think we could all use more of that in our lives!

I think the first part of this verse is pretty easy to understand.  If we live according to the flesh, then our minds will be set on the things according to the flesh.  Now that I think about it, it might not be easy for all of us to understand what it means to live according to the flesh.  Let me explain a bit.  The flesh refers to that inner power and will to do wrong, to disobey the Lord, and to yield to sinful inner urgings.  Living according to the flesh doesn’t just mean when you do things of a sexual nature, which is what I was thinking when I first read this verse, or really anytime I hear that term.  Living according to the flesh means you do whatever you want to do.  You let your urges control your actions.  You know you really shouldn’t do something and yet you do it anyway just because you really want to.  Sometimes it is not merely a want, it might be an addiction to something.  You feel you need to have it, and physically or mentally, your body might need it at that moment.  For instance if you are addicted too drugs your body needs them to continue to feel like it wants to feel.

Living according to the flesh can be easier at times because our bodies and minds have many cravings and many times it is easier to give in than to fight it.  I have really been struggling with will power lately.  I used to be really good at not giving in to my cravings and doing the right thing.  There was a time when I decided to not watch any TV unless it was helping me grow closer to God.  I would listen to programs on Formed.org, and I would watch videos on the various Saints lives.  I would read books about the Saints.  I was doing really good.  I was also very disciplined with my food cravings.  I honestly felt so much better, mentally and physically.  Not that I feel bad now, but I did feel better then.  

I agree with this verse when it says, if you live according to the flesh, you set your mind on the flesh.  When I was living more according to the Spirit it was easier to be disciplined because I was in God’s Word more, I was surrounding myself with excellent examples of people who lived in the Spirit and I could see all the benefits they received from our heavenly Father.  I could see the fruits of the Holy Spirit in their lives and I wanted those fruits.  Now I struggle with living according to the Spirit.  I have days when I know what God would like me to be doing and yet I choose to sit and watch mindless TV instead.  I struggle to not give in to my urges to procrastinate, to hit the snooze button instead of spending time with God, and to not eat the entire pan of brownies.  (In my defensive my son did put caramel on them, you would want to eat the whole pan if you saw them too.)  The more I live according to my flesh, the more normal it seems because the more my mind gets set to the ways of the flesh.

However, that is not how I want to live.  I want to live according to the Spirit.  Now I just need to know how to do that.  There are lots of ways, and many of you are probably doing many of them.  Since I am one that likes instruction and step by step directions so that I can make sure I am doing things correctly, I will give you some guidance from an article I found and I will put the link to this article in the show notes.  I do want to just say first that these are not the only ways to live more according to the Spirit.  You do what feels best for you.  These are just a few ideas to get you started.  The main thing to remember is that if you put God first, you will be off to a great start!

This article had 5 ideas for how to “Set Your Mind On Things Above” and was written by Lissie Hoover.

Put to death what is earthly: She says that the first steps toward setting your mind on things above is to rid yourself of your old self and the sin and habits that accompanied it.  She said we can’t remain part of the system of sin we have been delivered from.  She gave a great analogy about trying to climb a ladder toward freedom with heavy weights upon your feet.  You would get dragged down each time you tried to take a step.  This is what sin can do to us if we don’t let it go.

Put on the New Self: Casting off sin is not enough if we do it with our own strength.  We are given the power to reject sin and temptation through the empowering of His Spirit and the transforming of our minds through His Word.  She said the new self refers to the justified, transformed being that looks more like Jesus than our old selves in sin and shame.  

Let the peace of Christ rule in your mind: If we focus on this world, our peace will be stolen from us.  There is so much to worry about all around us.  When we say the peace of Christ should rule our hearts it means it should rule our minds too.  We need to turn away from focusing on our problems and the problems on our world and turn our focus to God and his goodness and sovereignty.  I love the saying, don’t focus on how big your problems are, focus on how big your God is.

Let the Word of Christ richly dwell: One of the best ways to set your mind on things above is to read the Word of the Lord.  If we are just reading and consuming things of this world we cannot keep our focus on things above.  She gave a great analogy about reading the Bible.  She said, “If someone you love send you a letter, would you toss it on a shelf and fail to open it? Of Course not! If we love Christ, we will dedicate ourselves to reading his words to us.”  She is so right.  God gave us the Bible, and often times we let it sit on a shelf, or at least I did for a good 30 years or so.  Even now I have days where it just sits on a shelf, or a table.  She also talks about how quiet study time is important and yet we also need to share what we learn.  She says it only makes sense that reading and discussing Christ-centered things will shift our mind from things of this world to his truth.

Give Thanks to God: The author acknowledges that thankfulness may not always come easy in all circumstances.  However, every good thing comes from God.  She points out that we are all deserving of God’s wrath for our rebellion against Him, for violating His laws and departing from what is true and right and yet Christ died for us, making salvation possible.  Gratitude can also help us shift our focus from our worries to God’s power to save and provide.  Thank God, even when it is hard.  He does a lot for us and the least we can do is thank him.  

There was another article I read which I don’t really have time to talk about but I will put a link for it in the show notes.  One quick think I do want to mention is what he said about prayer.  He said we need to fight with prayer.  Prayer is not meant to be a last resort, or a defensive strategy for when we mess up.  It’s meant to be a first response and an offensive weapon.  I will go more into that another time I am sure but I wanted to at least put it out there to let your subconscious mind start taking that in.  Our prayers are more powerful than we realize, I know that to be true!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to pray for all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to fix our eyes, hearts and minds on you, please continue to show us how.  Show us how to focus more on the things above than on the things of this world.  Help transform us Lord.  Help give us a renewal of the mind. We love you Lord, you are truly amazing.  Thank you for all you have done for us and in us and thank you for all you are continuing to do.  We are truly grateful 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.  This week I an attending a retreat and I will be one of the speakers. I ask that you all keep me and this retreat in your prayers  I ask that God has something personal and specific for each person attending.  

Next weekend, April 28-30, a group is hosting a “Satanic Conference” at the Boston Marriot Hotel that will gather over 5,000 people to give glory to Satan. As difficult as it might be for us to comprehend, the event is completely sold out. While many may be attending on a lark or out of curiosity, we know that events such as these are very serious and can cause great damage to souls. There is well-founded concern that consecrated Eucharistic Hosts may be publicly desecrated at this event.

Many of the leaders of this convention are the same individuals who were organizers of the planned Black Mass in Cambridge ten years ago. That sacrilege was thwarted by the People of God rising up in prayer and in a Eucharistic Procession. This planned conference is a call for each of us to fast and pray over these days in a fervent manner.

A local priest by me is making a personal invitation to each of you to fast and pray and, if possible, to join in Holy Hours. Satan and his minions have an evil plan for us, but our Lord is much more powerful than any of these dark forces. Joining our prayers with the Lord and the Church, I believe we are going to witness a great Victory for Christ through the outpouring of grace that comes from the fervent prayers of His “little ones.”

This can seem like scary times but it is important to keep our eyes fixed above and remember that God already defeated evil.  The war has already been won.  I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed day!

Set Your Mind On Things Above by Lissie Hoover

How To Set The Mind On The Spirit by  Kenny Roberts

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Fear & What To Do About It

2  Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.”

I think there is a lot of fear in the world today. There was a lot of fear before this pandemic but now there is even more. It seems as though everyone is afraid of something and some people are living with fear all day everyday. There are many that have financial fears; they have lost their job, either permanently or temporarily. The Pandemic, that I hope we are finally coming out of, has caused so much panic and fear in people over the last few years.  People were so afraid to leave their houses for a while.  Then in the midst of the pandemic there were also several attacks of various racial or ethnic groups, making it even more scary for whole groups of people to leave their houses.  Even still today, there are a lot of reasons to be fearful right now. Many of these reasons are real reasons, the threat is real and it makes sense to be cautious. However, we need to remember who we are. We are children of God. He tells us in Matthew 6:27 “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Worrying won’t get us anywhere. However, knowing this does not make our fear any less real. During the pandemic I was doing the Jeff Cavin’s bible study called Walking Towards Eternity. One of the chapters addresses fear.  One thing that I think is important to point out is that there is a difference between healthy fear and unhealthy fear. I believe the difference is that a healthy fear keeps you safe and helps you to make good choices. For instance, having a healthy fear of God can help you make choices that keep you from sinning. Having a healthy fear of COVID or any disease can help you practice good hygiene and make other choices to aid in the prevention of spreading this terrible virus. An unhealthy fear is one that keeps you trapped in some way. For instance, you are so afraid of COVID that you don’t leave your house even when necessary, or you spend every moment of the day afraid you might catch the virus. One of the questions that I found in the chapter that I thought would be especially relevant for everyone right now was, “What practical steps can be taken to overcome fear?” Did you know that fear, all on its own, triggers more than 1,400 known physical and chemical responses and activates more than 30 different hormones? Here are several practical steps you can take to conquer your fear.

1. Turn your fear over to God. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:5. As soon as you notice you are having a fearful thought, take a moment and hand that thought over to God. 

2. Ask yourself if this fear is a legitimate fear/scenario?  Is it likely that the thing you are afraid of will happen? Often times we worry about things that never happen. Mark Twain once said, “I… have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

3. Educate yourself: “Prudent education teaches virtue; it prevents or cures fear … The education of the conscience guarantees freedom and engenders peace of heart.” (Catechism 1784) Learn your faith, learn to know God, the more you know and understand the word of God the less you will be afraid.

4. Understand your fear: Some fears are based on personal experience and some are a result of culture and past experiences. Understand how your fears came to be. Understand how it comes on, how it makes you feel and what level of intensity it is.

5. Visualize Courage: What would it look like if you did not have this fear? What would it look like if you overcame this fear? What if this fear did not exist in your life?

6. Act as if: If you act courageously in a gradual way, you will overcome the limiting story you tell yourself. For instance, if you are afraid to give a presentation, one way to start overcoming this fear is to give a short presentation to a family member, when comfortable with that you could give the presentation to a close friend, and then to a not so close friend. The point of this is to step outside of your comfort zone slowly and then gradually expand your comfort zone. 

7. Move towards your fear: Instead of running away from your fear, turn around and face it. Write down 5-10 ideas of ways you can face your fear in some small way and then act on these ideas daily.

8. Don’t live in Denial: It is important to examine how your fear is limiting you. Sometimes we are so used to our everyday routine that we don’t see the ways our fear has us trapped.

9. Fortitude: “The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. ‘The Lord is my strength and my song.’ ‘In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’” (Catechism 1008) Keep going, even when you don’t want to, even when you are afraid. 

10. Channel your spirituality: When you are feeling afraid of something lean into your  spirituality even more. Read God’s word, say a prayer, talk to the Lord, do something to help you connect with God and remember that he is your refuge. 

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.” ~Psalm 46:1-3

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask you to help us trust in you more and to have less fear.  Lord, we know you are protecting us.  We you know you are strength and our refuge.  If we know this we have nothing to fear, help us know this more Lord.  Help us understand with you nothing can harm us.  Help us to focus on how big you are instead of how big our problem is.  We love you Lord, you are amazing.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I wanted to take a minute to let everyone know, in case you are new to listening, that I have a book that I wrote called TOTAL TRUST In God’s Safe Embrace.  It is a book that teaches the 15 different ways in which I developed a really deep trust in God and also a more intimate relationship with Him.  I have been through a lot of stuff over the last 18 years of my life and yet through it all, I knew God was there with me and that things would be ok.  I discovered it is possible to have peace, even in the middle of chaos.  If life is hard right now, if you are struggling with something, check out my book, it could help you find God in the middle of the chaos.  Also if you want to reach out to me through my website or with an email to [email protected] (Click Here) then I can even send you a signed copy of my book.  I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend.

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Stand Firm In Your Truth

Jeremiah 1:4-5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

Do you know who you are?  Do you know without a shadow of a doubt, the truth about who you are to God?  It says in the Bible in Jeremiah 1:4-5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb.  Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”  God knew you before you were even formed.  Isn’t that amazing?  He set you apart even before you were born.  You are his child and he loves you.  

Sometimes we lose site of who we are.  Sometimes the enemy comes in and tries to confuse us. The enemy is not someone that usually comes in and tells bold face lies.  Bold face lies would be too easy for us to spot, too easy for us to see that they were not true.  If the enemy came and whispered in your ear that a dog says moo and a cow barks, you would not believe it.  You know, without a doubt, that a dog barks and a cow says moo.  However, the enemy comes in with half truths and tries to get you to believe them and often times we fall hook, line, and sinker.  For instance, when someone is having a bad day and snaps at us, the enemy comes in and tells us that person doesn’t like us, or that we are always letting people down. 

Satan preys on our weaknesses and our insecurities.  If we have a job interview, he will whisper questions in our ear like, “Are you sure you can do this job?” or “There is probably someone else out there that is more qualified.”  These are designed to make you question yourself.  They make you feel like you are not enough.  What if we knew who we were with complete certainty?  What if we did not question if we had what it takes because we knew that God gave us so much potential.  How great would it be to not even listen when the enemy whispered things like “No one could love you,” or “Your not good enough to love,” into your ear because you know that God loves you.  You know this because he says so, you know this because he gave his only son on a cross for you and so when Satan tries to tell you differently you don’t even give it a second thought.  You dismiss the thought as easily as you would if he told you that fish could walk on land.  

Why is it so easy to believe all the bad stuff about ourselves and so hard to believe the good stuff?  Why do we question it when a someone gives us a compliment, but easily believe it when someone criticizes us?  Maybe it is because we don’t stand firm in who we are?  Maybe we struggle to believe all the amazing things that God has told us about who we are?  I read an article that I feel we should all read.  The title is “Who Does God Say I Am?” and it had a list of biblical affirmations about our identity in Jesus Christ.  These affirmations are based on specific bible verses.  It is not an exhaustive list from the bible, but it is something that I feel we could all benefit from reading.  Click here to read this article.  

If you know and understand who you are, then the enemy won’t be able to convince you of his half truths.  Here are some truths: 

You are made in the likeness and image of God (Gen. 1:27).  

You have the power of the one that raised Jesus from the dead inside of us (Romans 8:11).  

You are a friend to Jesus (John 15:15).  

You have been set free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).  

As a child of God, You are a fellow heir with Christ (Romans 8:17).

You have been accepted by Christ (Romans 15:7).

You have been set free in Christ (Galatians 5:1).

You are chosen, holy and blameless before God (Ephesians 1:4).

You are redeemed and forgiven by the grace of Christ (Ephesians 1:7)

The peace of God guards your heart and mind (Philippians 4:7)

God supplies all your needs (Philippians 4:19)

You have been chosen of God, and you are holy and beloved (Colossians 3:12)

These are just some of the truths about who you are according to God.  There are so many more.  Spend some time reading over these.  Spend some time in your bible reading all the wonderful things that God says to you.  Spend time learning the truth about who you are so that when someone tries to get you to believe something that is not true, you will not fall for their lies or their half truths.  Stand firm in who you are and whose you are!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, I ask you to protect each one of us and help teach us how to put on the armor of God against the enemy.  Help us to learn who we are in your eyes so we can be firm in who we are.  Help us to be so sure of your love that we don’t question it when the enemy starts talking.  Help us open our ears to you and your truth and close our ears to the enemy and his lies.  We love you Lord, you are amazing.  You know who we are and it must break your heart to see us walking around without knowing who we are.  Help us Lord.  We want to be firm in your truth.  Give us a hunger for that truth and that knowledge of who we are in your eyes.  We are so grateful for 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 in 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!

**This episode was inspired by an episode of The Big Life Devotional by Pamela Crim.  (Episode #680 The Twisted Truth)  Click here to go to that webpage

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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!

Today I want to witness about the Encounter Ministry Divine Mercy Healing Service that I had the pleasure of ministering at last Friday.  I want to explain what we do at these healing services because you may hear me talking about them and yet you may not have ever been to a healing service.  I have been to a couple different healing services.  Encounter Ministries format is by far my favorite.  One reason for this is that they get everyone involved and they show that you don’t have to be special, you don’t have to be extra holy, you don’t have to know how to heal, to be used by the Lord to heal.  God can heal through anyone.  All we have to do is be willing to say yes and do as prompted either by the Holy Spirit, or in this case, the person leading the healing service.  You will see what I mean when I get to the corporate prayer part of the service.  Another reason this format is my favorite is because they stop all along the way to test out and see if any was healed and then they give all thanks and glory to God.  I think this builds the faith of everyone in the room each time someone reports a healing and therefore allows more healings to occur.  I also chose to witness about this today because there are plenty of healings that took place that night as well.

The first thing we do at these healing services we start with an hour of praise and worship in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  These first two healings took place during the praise and worship before we even prayed over anyone.  There was a woman who said she had an issue with her neck, there was a kink in her neck and after praise and worship it was gone.  Someone else had neck pain and after praise and worship it was reduced.  Next the prayer team came up and gave any word of knowledge that we received.  A word of knowledge in this case means any conditions we felt we head from the Lord that He wanted to heal that night. The next thing we do is ask everyone to test their conditions.  There will be things you can’t test, but many you can.  For instance, if you have limitations, like you can’t raise your hand past a certain point, we ask you to try and raise it and see if there is any difference.  Many times in the Bible the healing came when the person took that step in faith and acted in some way on their part.  In Luke 6:8 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there. And then in Luke 6:10 Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. Do you see how Jesus asked him to stretch his hand out and then it was completely restored?  I have been praying over people for healing for many years now.  When I made this small shift of checking back in and asking people to check if there is a difference, I saw so many more people experience healings.  If it isn’t a limitation problem, you can assess a difference in pain.  Take a quick minute before you start and ask the person what is your pain level at now from 1-10.  Then check back in with them afterwards and see what the pain level is at after the prayer.  

After the prayer team gave any words of knowledge we received, Deacon Joe checked back in with those that came for healing to see if anyone was healed.  There was someone who had numbness in her face and then when the word of knowledge was released about God wanting to heal someone who had numbness in the face, the woman’s numbness went away.  Praise God!

Next Deacon Joe did a prayer thanking God for giving us the word of knowledge and said some words of command about those conditions.  Then he asked people to test and see if anything had changed.  He asked if they had a reduction of pain or an increase in movement.  There was no-one that saw a change after that prayer so he moved on to corporate prayer.  For this section of the service, Deacon Joe lists a body part, such as head, neck & shoulder.  If you have pain in that area you raise your hand and stand up.  Everyone that is not standing now goes over to someone that is standing and puts their hand on them, if the person says it is ok and we pray for that person.  Deacon Joe tells us what to say and we just repeat after him.  Everyone in the room is now either receiving prayer or praying over someone else.  Even if you aren’t on prayer team.  Even if you have never prayed over anyone before, you get to pray over someone.  You don’t have to be nervous about how to do it because all you are doing is putting your hand on someone and repeating after Deacon Joe and God is doing all the hard work of healing.  It is so amazing.  I am telling you, if you ever have the opportunity to be at an Encounter Ministries healing service, you should go.  It is so powerful.  After each time we pray, again, we check in with the people receiving prayer.  After this first prayer we had someone who had less pain in his shoulder.  Then we had another person who had tension released after this first prayer.  Someone else said his neck was better.  The we did the head, neck and shoulders again.  This time we had someone else’s neck that was releasing after the second time praying.  Next we moved on to back, spine and hips.  There was someone who reported no more pain.  Thank you Jesus. There was someone else who had pain in his L2 vertebrae in his spine.  He said it was 50% better and he also was filled with peace all over.  There was someone else who had a release in their lower back.  God is so good!! We did it one more time.  Another person experienced lower back pain that was decreased.  Someone else felt as though they had a lot of tension and they needed to pop their back and it didn’t pop, but the tension did release.  

Next we went to legs, ankles and feet.  After the first time praying we had a woman who had a toenail injury three times in the last 2 weeks and now the pain is gone.  Someone else had pain in her toes and now the pain is released.  Then we prayed a second time and someone had tendinitis in the Achilles tendon and after prayer the tendinitis was relaxed.  There was a prayer team who was praying in proxy for someone.  This means that the person wasn’t actually there, so someone else was standing in for them.  When the prayer team was praying in proxy for this other person, one of the prayer team members calf was being healed.  God is so good!  She wasn’t even asking for prayer for herself and yet God gave it to her anyway.  This is something I think is super important for us to all remember, God won’t be outdone in generosity.  He will always give us more than we give Him.  

Next we moved onto hearing and vision loss.  There was a woman who had a differential in hearing between her two ears.  After prayer her hearing was the same in both ears.  Praise God!  We prayed a second time and there was a woman who asked the prayer team if they were speaking louder that time.  Nope!  That is just the amazing power of God letting you hear better.  Hallelujah!  God is so good!  Next Deacon Joe encouraged everyone, if they began to receive a healing, but it was not complete, then they can ask for more prayer over that healing in individual prayer.

Then we moved onto depression and anxiety.  There was someone who felt lighter after prayer.  Then we prayed a second time.  This time we had two other people who said they were feeling better.  Someone else said they were feeling calmer now after prayer.  Deacon Joe reminded us that Jesus gave us the power to cast out any demons.  Then he asked Jesus to fill all those suffering with peace!

Next we moved on to food allergies.  We prayed twice, however, it is hard to test this one.  I’ll let you know if I hear of any testimonies for this one, nothing yet.

Then we moved on to praying for internal organs, like thyroid, heart, stomach, etc.  When we asked if there was anything that you could test this woman had COPD.  She said she was out of breath when she walked up the stairs.  She went with one of the prayer team members and jogged down the hall and up the stairs to see how she did.  When she got back she said it was better.  We prayed a second time and she tested it again.  She said it was better, even after jogging up the stairs twice she was feeling good.  Praise God!

The last thing we prayed for was cancer and terminal illnesses.  We prayed for this a second time.  This is another thing that is really hard to know, without going to the doctor, if there was any improvement.  However, one of my friends was online on zoom during this service because she had just started a new round of chemo the day before and she didn’t have enough strength to come in person.  This is the message I received the next day, “The prayer group by zoom was good last night.  They did private zoom meetings for the zoom people to get a two person prayer team to pray over people.  It was wonderful.  They prayed for healing for all the things I needed.  I had my 3rd of 5 chemo days today and I felt good and did well today.” Actually the fact she could even be on zoom is a God job because we weren’t intending to have it online and then Deacon Joe decided last minute to put in on zoom.  The Holy Spirit is so good!  My husband received a text message from someone he sent the zoom link too and her reply said, “Thanks Tony.  I can’t get the sound to work but I can feel the healing nonetheless.”  She couldn’t even hear what was being said and she could feel the healing.  It just shows that God has no boundaries, even technology can’t stop His healing power!  

I hope you enjoyed this overview of the healing service and the witness of all the healings that took place.  Jesus is still healing each and every day.  He is not only healing, but he is miraculously healing and he is using every day people like you and me.  Yes you! I know you don’t believe it, and yet I am praying you will keep coming back to listen to this podcast and these witnesses and you will begin to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit that is living inside of you.  Once you do, you will be amazed at all God can do through you.  And then hopefully you will come on here and share you testimony with others.  I can’t wait to hear about all that God is doing in your life!  When we share what God is doing with others, it gives all the Glory to God!  

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Are We Ready?

1 Corinthians 1:5-8 “For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What I thought about when I read this verse was how the apostles thought that they would see the second coming of Jesus in their time. They thought Jesus was coming back soon and that they would need to be ready for it.  I wonder if that made it easier for them to stay ready for His return.  I feel as thought the apostles had the benefit of living with Jesus and learning directly from Him.  They got to see His miracles up close and personal and they got to have a personal relationship with Jesus.  From what I can remember learning or hearing, the apostles thought Jesus would return during their lifetime.  

I was thinking that it might have been easier for them to stay on the straight and narrow because they had that time they got to spend with Jesus while he was a live and then they also had the thought that Jesus would be returning any day now for judgment.  I thought of the Bible verse Matthew 24:42, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” The apostles thought his return was imminent and so I wonder if it was easier to prepare for it and stay ready?  

We on the other hand, many of us probably don’t even really understand what is going to happen when Jesus comes again.  I will be honest, I do not know a lot.  I know he will come to judge the living and the dead.  I know this because we say it each week at church.  I don’t know much more about it.  I did hear a bit about it during the Catechism of the Catholic Church in a year podcast a week or so ago.  It was very interesting and definitely something I should spend some more time reading about.  However, regardless of how much we know about it, most people know that there will be a seconding coming of Christ and that we should be ready for it.  Are we?

I think we would all be living our lives very differently if we knew Christ was coming tomorrow.  And example of this would be when my husband Tony goes away on a trip.  When Tony is here I try to stay up on the laundry, dishes, and forth.  I don’t really like housework, but I try.  However, when Tony is away on a trip I don’t do any of that as I know my boys don’t care, they are teens who rarely come out of their rooms.  Don’t get me wrong, if he is gone for a long period of time, I will clean, but if it is a few days, I usually don’t do much in the way of cleaning, which feel great to me.  I get a break and it doesn’t bother anyone.  

The problem is the night before he comes home.  If I had just kept up with the chores the whole time he was gone, then the night before he came home wouldn’t be anything special.  However, I don’t.  So, the night before Tony comes home I am usually up until the wee hours cleaning all the dishes, putting the laundry away, making sure the counters are clean.  I am not doing this because I have to, I am doing it because I know Tony likes it that way and because I want to make him happy.  He always has the house spotless when I return from a trip, so I try to return the favor.  This is why I say I think our lives would be different if we knew the day and hour that Christ was coming.  

We go about our days as if the next day is guaranteed to us.  We take a lot of things for granted.  For instance, we just assume we will wake up to see another day of life, we assume we will get to see our grandchildren grow up and get married, or even our children get married.  We go about life as if we will live to be a very old age.  Yet, none of that is guaranteed.  I am not trying to be all doom and gloom.  I am just trying to get us all to realize that we have no idea what day will be our last day and we should live accordingly.  When I say live accordingly, I don’t mean we should be fearful and anxious each day thinking that could be our last day.  I mean we should live each day to the fullest.  We shouldn’t leave things unsaid.  We shouldn’t procrastinate and push things off until the next day, week, month or year because we don’t know if those will ever come.

The same goes with the state of our soul.  We should all be living “as if.”  As if Jesus was coming again tomorrow.  As if today was our last day.  As if our decisions matter, because they do.  We don’t know when Jesus is coming.  Do we want to be caught unprepared on that last day?  Do we want Jesus to pass us by because we kept putting off going to confession, or forgiving that person we know we needed to forgive?  Wow, when that thought came to me I felt as if the Holy Spirit wanted me to emphasize that one.  Are you holding onto unforgiveness.  Are you trying to wait until the last possible second to forgive someone?  What if you don’t get that chance?  What if you are taken right before you thought you would be? Don’t wait!  Unforgiveness is not helping you and it’s not hurting the other person.  Just let go, let go of the anger, let go of the hate, let go of all the feeling that aren’t serving you.  Give all of that to Jesus and allow him to come into your heart and heal it.  

The people in the verse above were eagerly awaiting the coming of Christ, are we?  They were trying to stay prepared because they thought He might be coming any day now.  For us, we know it has been about almost 2,000 years and he has not returned yet, so I don’t think we expect Him anytime soon.  However, we don’t know.  In Matthew 24:36 it says, ““But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”  We don’t know when He is coming and so we need to be prepared.  

What do you need to do to be ready for Christ’s coming?  I am not talking about saying 100 rosaries, or going to church every single day.  I am talking about what do you have to get right with your soul?  Do you need to take inventory of your life and see if you are putting God first?  Do you need to look at your life and see which things are in need of repentance.  That is what John the Baptist was preaching about the first coming of Jesus.  “Repent and turn back to the way of the Lord.”  Do we need to do that?  Have we turned away, either with our hearts, our minds, or our actions?  If so, it’s ok, just turn back.  God is always waiting there for us with open arms, just waiting for us to come home.  Then He scoops us up in a loving embrace, puts one of his finest robes on us, puts his ring upon our finger and throws us a party and says, “My son/daughter who was lost, has come home!”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those who are listening to this podcast today.  Lord, we want to be ready when you come again, please help us.  Put on our hearts all the things we keep putting off.  Put on our hearts all the things we are not aware of that are not good for our soul.  Lord, let us repent and be truly sorry for these things Lord.  We love you Lord, you are amazing! 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 brining you another witness tomorrow.  If you would like to share your story, witness or testimony, reach out to me.  We would all love to hear it! Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I. Have a blessed day!

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What If I Don’t Want To Forgive?

Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”

Jesus is our guide.  He came down to earth to show us how we should be acting.  He came down to teach us that the Lord our God is love.  He is trying to guide us to springs of the water of life, but we keep wanting to do our own thing.  We don’t want to follow in his foot steps.  Why don’t we?  Because  it is hard.  Jesus said to love everyone, even our enemies.  Is this even possible?  Jesus wants us to forgive, but aren’t there some people that just can’t be forgiven?  Shouldn’t be forgiven?  

I wonder if we all realize what forgiveness is? Forgiveness is not telling the other person that what they did was right, or ok.  It was not ok what they did.  It is not forgetting what happened or excusing it in anyway.  Forgiveness is admitting to yourself that this terrible thing did happen, that you can’t change it, so you are releasing any hold that it has over you.  I know forgiveness is hard.  In some cases it seems impossible.  However, it is so necessary.  God tells us right in the Our Father Prayer, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  God is going to forgive us to the same extent that we forgave others.  Think about the things or the people that you are unable to forgive.  Do you really want the inability to forgive them to get in the way of God forgiving you?  There are some things that no matter how hard we try, we can not forgive.  This is ok, we don’t have to do this on our own.  God can step in and help us forgive.  The only thing we must do is to ask him.  To give Him permission to work in your heart to forgive.  We had a word or prophecy given at our prayer group that I feel is so important to share.

“I ask you to forgive my children.  I know that is a difficult command and at times may seem very impossible for you to do.  But I remind you that I am with you always, and with me nothing is impossible.  Bring your inability to me.  Allow me to work with my grace through you, so that you can be my forgiving heart for all the world.”

In this word, the Lord is asking us to forgive.  He is reminding us that even though we feel it is impossible, nothing is impossible in Him.  In Matthew 19:26 Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  It also says in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  We are not in this alone.  We have God on our side and with that we can do anything.  I love how God always shows up to remind us of things when we forget.  I like how God is reminding us that He is always with us and then asking us to bring our inability to him.  He is asking us to allow Him to work with His grace through us, so that we can bring His forgiving heart to all the world.  How beautiful is that?  How great is it that God not only wants to use his grace to heal our heart, but he wants us to be His forgiving heart for all the world.  

God gave us free will.  Can you imagine how frustrating it must be for Him to sit by and watch us squander all that he has provided for us?  He would love nothing more than to rain down graces on us and yet we can’t be bothered to let him.  God is not going to step in if we do not ask Him.  He does not want to force us to love Him.  The only way to ensure it is true love is to give us the choice to love him or not.  Every day we have a choice to make.  Are we going to choose God or are we going to choose something else?  God has so much grace and so much mercy to give.  He does not leave us alone to make these decisions.  He is there for us every step of the way.

But we do need to make that choice.  Once we do make that choice, He will be there to help us overcome all of the obstacles.  And there will be obstacles.  The life that God is asking us to live is not an easy life.   Especially in this world right now.  Forgiveness and love are two things that we are being called to do that are not the norm in society today.  We live in a culture that does not want to forgive.  We want to stay angry, blame other, and not even talk to someone that doesn’t think as we think.   This is not what Jesus wants for us.  

Jesus did not come to earth to be with people just like Him.  He did not just hang around with those that believed like he believed.  He didn’t find all the people that were getting it right in life.  He came for those that were struggling.  He came for those that needed Him.  When he met these people, he did not meet them with judgement and unforgiveness.  He met them with love and forgiveness.  He accepted them as they were and encouraged them and helped them to become better.  

How great would it be if we could do the same.  If we could greet everyone we meet with the same love and acceptance that Jesus had.  You may be thinking that you are different.  Jesus could do that because he was man and God, so he had the Holy Spirit inside him to help him make the right choice.  Guess what?  So do you.  You have the Holy Spirit inside of you and if you let Him, He will guide you to make the right choices as well.  Just remember what Jesus said in Matthew 19:26, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  You can do this!  It is possible!  Just take a moment and ask God for help.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we really want to forgive and yet we also don’t really want to forgive.  Please help us.  We give you permission right now to come into our lives, into our hearts and help us to forgive anyone we are struggling to forgive.  Lord we want to be free to be forgiven by you.  We want nothing in the way of that forgiveness.  Dad, Abba, Father, please come to our aide and help us.  Show us how to forgive.  Prepare our hearts to forgive.  Give us the strength and the grace to forgive.  We trust you Lord.  We love you!  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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You Are Not Too Old & You Are Not Too Young

Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;  they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

If you haven’t noticed already I tend to do a lot of verses that talk about the amazing power we get from the Holy Spirit.  The reason for this is because I think it is so incredible that Jesus would send the Holy Spirit to empower us and to help guide us.  People pay so much money for people to tell them what to do and how they should do it and yet we have the ultimate guide living inside of us.  I talk so much about the Holy Spirit because I think if we all truly knew how powerful we are with it, our lives would be so different.  It is the dream of many young boys, and even some young girls to be a super hero.  Each and every one of us could be living a supernatural life style.  How great would it be if you could be doing the things from the verse above?  I know not everyone wants to have all these gifts.  Maybe you don’t have any desire to drive out demons, or speak in a new tongue.  How great would it be to be able to lay hands on sick people and they get well?  

I am not talking about in healing ministry, I understand everyone may not feel called to that. However, how about just being able to pray for a loved one when they get hurt and see them get better?  How about being able to pray for a swollen ankle or a migraine headache and have the pain and swelling go away?  There is no junior Holy Spirit.  There isn’t a different portion of the Holy Spirit given to some people and not to others.  I know some of you are listening to this and you are counting yourself out.  As soon as I said you could pray over a loved one and they could be healed you said to yourself, “Maybe some people can do that, but not me.”  I am too old, I am too young, I am not holy enough, I don’t know enough, whatever it may be.  How long are we going to keep coming up with excuses?  Moses was over 80 when he saw the burning bush and God called him into service.  Not 80 when he completed his work from God, 80 when he started it.  Noah was about 500 when he started building the arc, which took a century to build.  Noah & Moses were not too old, and you are not too old either!  You are just getting started.

As far as too young…I saw a testimony last night, I will put a link for it in the show notes.  At the Encounter School of Ministry Conference in 2020 there was a woman who attended. She had stage 4 Esophageal cancer  and the doctors told her there was nothing else they could do.  She went to the healing service and waited in line for the priest to pray over her, because that is what we do.  We go to the person we think might have the closest connection with God, or the most power of the Holy Spirit.  We want someone with a track record.  It is our future, it is our life, we want to entrust our healing to the one that is the most experienced.  I totally get it, I would have done the same.  Yet, when she finally got up to Father Matthias and she told him what was wrong, he said, I think we need to have the children pray for you.  Honestly, she didn’t want to, she had just waited in a long line to get up to Father Mathias.  However, she was obedient and she went to find some children.  At this conference they had several youth tracts.  One for elementary kids, one for middle school, one for high school and one for college.  They taught these kids all about the power of the Holy Spirit and part of that was teaching them to pray over others.  

She went up to a couple kids who ranged in age from 6-9 years old.  She told them she had cancer and the doctors said there was nothing else that could be done.  A nine year old little girl said, “That’s because they don’t know the power of Jesus.”  The kids prayed for various things, all “in Jesus’ name.”  She felt this warmth in her lung and she told the kids. They got all excited and prayed even more.  A few months later she went to the doctor for another CAT scan.  The doctor looked at it and didn’t know what to say.  He was stuttering and shocked.  He said the scan was completely clear.  There was no cancer anywhere.  This was all new territory for him as that had never happened for him before.  That was three years ago and she is still cancer free.  Praise God, He is so good.  These children were not too young and you are not too young either.  These children were not too inexperienced and you are not either.  

When we are searching for a healing, we go to the person that has the most experience because we are thinking healing is like anything else. The one with the most experience, the one with the best track record, the one that is closer to God is more likely to give you the healing.  The thing we are forgetting is that Jesus is the one that does the healing and Jesus doesn’t need any certain conditions to do a healing.  He can work through any one at any time.  Like He did with these children.  I have heard many similar stories where people who were completely “unqualified” in our standards, and even their own standards, have been the instrument of incredible healings.   I think one reason some people see more healings than others is because they are stepping out in faith and trying more than others. The more you step out in faith and try and pray over others the more healings you will see.  The rate of people getting healed that you don’t pray over is 0%.  What have you got to lose, I mean honestly, what do you have to lose?  You might risk looking silly, sounding silly, or you might risk rejection if you ask someone if you can pray over them and they say no.  If you are comparing what you might lose to what you might gain if you prayed and you did see a healing, I don’t think they can compare.  

I am talking to myself as much as I am talking to you.  I am often afraid to ask someone if I can pray over them.  Why am I afraid? The worst that can happen is that they say no?  Or I am also afraid I will pray and nothing will happen.  Again, why am I afraid?  Even if they are not healed, they won’t be any worse off than they were before I prayed.  The verse above says, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;  they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”  It does not say, those who are old enough, young enough, experienced enough, or holy enough.  It says these signs will accompany those who believe.  That’s it, that is the only requirement.  And remember, you only need the faith of a mustard see, and they are really tiny!  I love the name of the podcast, even though I didn’t know how much I loved it when I started this podcast.  I love that I am learning how to walk more boldly with Jesus and I pray you are too!  I pray as you listen to this podcast and all the witnesses you will see more and more how powerful the Holy Spirit is and how powerful you can be when you let the Holy Spirit guide your actions!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those who listen to this episode today.  Lord we love you and we are so grateful for the Holy Spirit, The Advocate, The Paraclete.  We are grateful you didn’t leave us alone.  We ask that you teach us more and more how to listen to the Holy Spirit and how to follow wherever He leads us.  Lord, we ask that you help us step out with a bold faith and begin to pray for people more.  I ask that you inspire each person listening in their own way.  If they are just ready to begin praying silently for people’s healings, great, that is super important too!  If they are ready to begin saying a quick prayer with someone when they are asked to pray, that is great too.  If they are wanting to lay hands on someone and pray commands in the name of Jesus, that is cool too.  Lord, let us each start somewhere and give us the grace, the strength and the faith to take that first step.  Lord we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I hope you take some time to CLICK HERE to listen to the testimony.  Or you could just google Angel being cured of stage 4 esophageal cancer.  You should get a youtube link that comes up.  You can also see the link on my facebook page Catherine Duggan.  It is only a 3 minute video but is awesome.  I look forward to meeting your here again on Monday.  Have a Blessed day!

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Every One Of God’s Promises Is A “Yes”

2 Corinthians 1:19-20 “ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes.”  For in him every one of God’s promises is a “Yes.” For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God.”

I thought this was an interesting verse.  When I looked up the meaning of it I found that it said God is not fickle with His promises.  He does not promise something to us and then later say “no” to that promise because He doesn’t really feel like it that day.  That seemed to really hit home with me today.  I think I have been feeling a little fickle with commitments to God lately.  I say I will get up at a certain time to pray with Him and then I hit snooze, sometimes for an hour and then I don’t have time to sit and pray with Him.  Of course in the moment I tell myself that it is ok because I can pray with Him later.  It doesn’t have to be first thing in the morning.  This may be true for some people, however, I know myself and I know that if I do not pray with God first thing in the morning, I will not make time later.  But, in that moment when I am trying to decide whether I should get up or do it later, I convince myself I will do it later.

Another way I feel I have been fickle with the Lord is with fasting.  I want to fast, I truly do, and yet every time I try to come up with a plan it all seems too hard.  I get overwhelmed with all the options and I don’t pick anything.  I also will decide on something, for instance, I will fast from breakfast and lunch on Mondays and then just eat before class at 3.  However, then Monday comes and I don’t feel like fasting, or I come up with some excuse why I can’t do it. How about you?  Have you been fickle with your promises to God?  Have you been sometimes “yes” and sometimes “no”?

God is not like this.  He doesn’t base His actions on how He feels from day to day.  When He makes a promise we can be sure He will follow through on that promise.  He fulfilled all of His Old Testament promises in Jesus.  Jesus also was not fickle.  He didn’t want to die on a cross for our sins.  He even asked His Dad if there was any other way. In Matthew 26:39 it says, “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus really didn’t want to go through the pain and suffering that He endured, and yet He didn’t say “no” He told His father if it needed to be done, He would do it.  

I think this verse is an important one to remember.  Sometimes we wonder about God’s promises.  We wonder if they will come true.  For instance, in Romans 8:28 it says, “ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” You might be stuck in the middle of a really hard season right now.  You might be really struggling to understand how God could use this for good?  You might not believe that it can be used for good.  I think that’s ok.  We don’t have to understand how God works all the time.  There is so much about Him that is a mystery.  God promises to use all thins for our good and all we need to know is that He keeps His promises.  God’s promises are always a “Yes.”  We don’t have to understand it, we just have to believe it.  

Another promise we struggle to believe is that Jesus died for our sins.  We don’t necessarily have trouble believing this in the broad sense.  We can all say Jesus died for our sins, and we truly believe He did for “our” sins collectively, but we struggle to believe He died for our sins personally.  We struggle to accept forgiveness because we don’t believe our sins can be forgiven.  We will be the first to tell others that their sins are forgiven and yet the last ones to believe it for ourselves.  Why is that?  Why is it so hard for us to believe that God loves us so much He is happy to forgive us when we say sorry?  Don’t we do that with our loved ones?  Maybe not as much our spouse, but when our kids say sorry, we usually are quick to forgive.  Our heavenly Father is the same.  

The last part of the verse says, “For this reason it is through him that we say the “Amen,” to the glory of God.” This is something I am just recently learning more about.  In my Encounter class they talk a lot about the power of coming into agreement with something.  When we say “Amen” we are saying I agree that this statement is true.  When we say Amen at the end of a prayer we are coming into agreement with all those who said it.  We are agreeing with everyone else who prayed that prayer that is a true prayer.  When we say “Amen” at mass, for Catholics, when the priest says “The Body of Christ” we are saying, “Yes, I believe that this is the body of Christ.”  When we say Amen, we are agreeing with the statement or prayer and saying, “Yes, this is true.”  

There is power when you come into agreement with things.  When Jesus was going around and healing people sometimes He asked the people if they wanted to be healed.  He wanted them to come into agreement with the healing.  Sometimes the person needed a healing asked Jesus if He wanted to heal them.  In Matthew 8:2 it says, “A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” The man wanted Jesus to come into agreement with Him about his healing.  Jesus agreed and the man was healed.  Do you see the power of coming into agreement?  

This can, unfortunately, work against us as well.  Never with God, when you come into agreement with what God is saying to you, amazing things can happen.  God has great and amazing things planned for your life and He is waiting for you to come into agreement for them.  However, we can also come into agreement with the enemy and then that gives the enemy power.  When the enemy whispers things into your ear and you adopt those things as truth, that gives the enemy power.  When you agree with all the things he is saying to you, you are giving him more and more power.  None of us would willingly give the enemy power, and yet that is exactly what we are doing when we believe his stupid lies, when we let him get in our head.  If we are going to come into agreement with someone, let’s choose God.  Let’s believe what He tells us as his promises are always a “yes” and they always result in good eventually.  The enemy is a liar and he comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.  Let’s be careful to make sure we are not coming into agreement with what the enemy is telling us.  We don’t want to give him any more power than he already has.  We are children of God, let’s live like it.  Let’s come into agreement with that and not with the lies of the enemy.  Take a look at your life.  Have you come into agreement and believed any lies of the enemy?  If so, how can you replace those lies with the promises of Christ?  God’s promises are always a “yes!”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to come into agreement with you as we know when we do it is powerful.  Please help us.  We want to break all agreements we made with the enemy, whether they were intentional or unintentional.  Please help us. We want to belong only to you Lord! You are amazing Lord and we are so grateful that your promises are always a “yes.”  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.  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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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!

Today I want to witness to you about something that happened to my sister yesterday and how she could see God working the background.  My sister’s dog Nyla was injured on their walk in the woods yesterday.  She lets Nyla run off leash in the woods so Nyla can get a lot of exercise and have fun at the same time.  Yesterday Nyla and Dee got separated for a bit.  When Nyla came back to Dee she was panting and out of breath.  Dee thought it was from a lot of running so she put her in the car and they went home.  When she got home Dee realized she had a gash on her chest and brought her straight to the emergency room.  The vet was able to stitch Nyla’s gash and give her pain medicine.  When I was talking with Dee as she waited for Nyla’s surgery she was explaining the ways that she could see God working in the background.  The first one was that Dee had the flyer for the animal hospital right on her table when she got home and saw the gash.  She didn’t really know anything about this hospital.  However, she was planning to get up at 4 to walk Nyla.  She happened to wake up at 3 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  She decided to go through a stack of papers on her desk instead of wasting that hour.  In that stack of papers was this flyer for the animal hospital so she took it out and put it on her table.  She had no idea she would need it just two hours or so later, but God did!  Next were a series of decisions she made about money.  Taking your dog to the emergency room is expensive.  The last time Dee got paid there were a couple different decisions that she made that she felt were God working in the background.  She had $400 to put towards something and several options to choose from.  However, she felt strongly that she should put it towards her credit card balance.  She then made another decision with her finances and had more money that she wouldn’t normally have and she put the towards her credit card balance as well.  She believes all those situations were God working in the background because the balance on her credit card was the same amount as the vet bill was.  How amazing is that?  God is so good.  She had no idea she was going to need all that money on her card.  If she would have put that money towards something else, she would not have had the money for the animal hospital bill.  It is always scary when our pets have to go into the hospital and it is also scary when we don’t know how we will pay for them. God took care of her and she didn’t need to worry.  She was very grateful.  Nyla is now at home resting up. Prayers for a speedy recovery would be appreciated as I am sure Nyla does not want to sit around waiting to get better.  She loves to run!

I would also like to witness about another friend of mine today.  I had a friend share with me a story one time of how God miraculously answered her prayers about money as well.  She was really struggling financially.  She was sitting in the parking lot outside the dollar store where she was going to do her grocery shopping.  She was making a list of the bare essentials that she needed as she had three children and she needed to make sure she had enough food.  I don’t remember the exact numbers but I think she had $20 or so for groceries for the week.  She had gotten to the store before it opened and she had her daughter in the car.  She was looking at her list and looking at the $20 she had and knew she didn’t have enough money.  She closed her eyes and thought, “If I just had 50 more dollars I could make this work.”  She no sooner had that thought when her daughter saw something fly by wind and fall on the ground of the parking lot.  Before my friend could say anything her daughter jumped out of the car and picked up what she saw fly by.  She gave it to her mother.  It was a $50 bill.  There was no one else in that parking lot.  It was a miracle.  God heard her request.  She didn’t even have to ask God, He heard the request of her heart and gave it to her.  God is so good. He always takes care of us! He knows the things we worry about. He knows what we need.  He hears the whispers of our heart.

I am so grateful to both of these ladies for sharing their stories with me so I could share them with you.  God works in all of our lives, whether we know it or not.  God is working in your life too.  Even if you don’t see how.  Even if you don’t recognize his work.  I wonder if you would see Him more if you were looking for Him more?  I wonder if you think about the last time something happened and you thought, “Oh, what a coincidence, that worked out really well.”  What if it wasn’t a coincidence?  What if your heavenly Father arranged all of that just for you?  Would it make a difference in how you viewed that situation?  Would it change your life if you started seeing all the ways God is working in your life, even in the small details?  Try looking for God more in your days and then email or reach out to me on social media and let me know if it does make a difference?  I think you will be pleasantly surprised.  

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Let’s Replace the Bad With The Good

Matthew 12:43-45 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order.  Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.”

I heard this verse again last night and I thought it would be a good one to talk about today as it can be a confusing one.  I know I didn’t really understand this verse when I first heard it and so I thought I would explain what I have learned about it.  When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none.  This is referring to when a demon is cast out of a person.  It leaves the body, but it does not leave the world.  Once a demon is kicked out of one person, it searches for another person to inhabit.  If it is does not find one, it tries to return home again.  

When the demon gets back to the person whom he used to inhabit, if he finds them empty, swept, and put in order, then he will go and get some friends and move right back in.  I didn’t understand this when I first heard it.  I didn’t understand what the person was supposed to do. The verse says they swept it out and put it in order.  What else did they need to do.  I thought it was a good thing that it was empty and didn’t understand why the demons could come back and bring even more with them.  Then I heard it explained and it made more sense.

When we have evil spirits occupying space in our minds and bodies we need to not just kick them out, we need to replace them with the Holy Spirit.  What this verse is saying is that even though the evil spirits were kicked out of this person’s body, they person did not turn to the Lord.  The person did not fill those places with the Holy Spirit.  Basically the took the miracle of the being set free and yet did not change their lives.  They continued to live their lives in the same manner that they did before they were set free.  Living lives filled with sin is not living a life of freedom.  Paul clearly states in Romans 8:9,  “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”  If you do not invite the Spirit of Christ into you then you are left empty and evil spirits can come take up residence.

The reason we talked about his verse last night in class is because this quarter is on inner healing and the teacher was explaining that someone needs to be ready for inner healing before they can go through a session.  They were explaining that if they are not ready and they do not have a faith community to support them afterwards than we might have a situation like the one in this verse.  We may take someone through inner healing and yet if they weren’t ready for it and they aren’t ready to walk in that freedom, then it might get worse for them.  I know it seems hard to believe that someone wouldn’t want to walk in the freedom that comes with inner healing. Sometimes people want relief from the demons inside and yet they have had these demons so long they aren't ready to trust God yet.  They aren’t sure who to trust.  They may also find that they identify with their pain and so they don’t want to give that identity up.  We live in a broken world and we are used to pain.  We are not used to being loved.  We aren’t used to being forgiven.  We aren’t used to being loved for us, exactly as we are.  

Now that we know we need to replace the bad things in our lives with good things, what does this look like practically? It is one thing to hear something and understand it and it is another thing to be able to take that knowledge and apply it to your life.  You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you don’t apply any of it to your life, it won’t make any difference.  So, how do we apply this knowledge to our lives?  We might not think this applies to our lives because we don’t have evil spirits inside us.  Hopefully this is true and you are full of the Holy Spirit and you are leaving no room for evil spirits.  Even if this is true, this verse still applies to you.  No matter who you are, there is sin in your life.  None of us are perfect.  The concept in this verse doesn’t have to just apply to evil spirits.  It can be applied to any sin and also to any bad habit.  For instance, imagine if you are trying to quit smoking.  What happens if you decide to quit smoking and yet you don’t replace that habit with anything else?  You are likely to start smoking again, and maybe even start smoking more than before because you were without for awhile.  What if you decide to stop eating junk food but instead of replacing the junk food with healthy food you just stop eating the junk?  How long you do think it will be before you start eating that junk again?

We need to not just stop doing the things that aren’t good for us, we need to replace them with things that are good for us.  For instance, instead of eating ice cream, maybe make your own frozen treat with fruit.  Instead of eating chips, maybe replace it with veggies and dip or roasted chick peas?  What is your bad habit, or the sin you keep falling into and how can you replace it with something that is good for you?  One thing I struggle with is watching too much TV and the shows I am watching aren’t great for me.  I could spend that time reading scripture, or even watching shows that bless me.  At one point a few years ago I decided I wouldn’t watch regular TV shows anymore.  If I was going to be watching TV it was going to be something that would help me grow closer to God.  I watched movies about saints, I listened to audio teachings on formed.com, I used that time to grow in my faith while I was also unwinding from the day.  If you find yourself scrolling on social media a lot you can replace that with scrolling on YouTube for videos on things that will help you grow closer to God.  You could also spend that time reading a book.  

There is not just one way to grow closer to God.  The awesome news is that there are so many different ways to grow closer.  Find something that works for you.  Find something good to replace the bad habits and repetitive sins in your life.  Don’t just stop doing the bad thing and forget to replace it.  You don’t want to leave yourself vulnerable to attacks from the enemy.  Fill your time with good things, holy things.  Also, if you are like me, you have a lot of bad habits.  Don’t set out to change them all at one time because you will get discouraged and just give up.  Pick one thing today and think about what you could do instead or what you can replace that thing with and then start changing just that one thing.  You will get to all of them eventually, just start one at a time.  We can do this.  We can put things in order and yet not leave room for the enemy to come in.  You’ve got this!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to fill our lives with you and all things of you.  We don’t want to quit the bad without replacing it with good things.  We don’t want to leave any room for the enemy.  Lord we want every encounter with you to leave us changed forever.  We don’t want to encounter you and have it not change our lives.  Help us to be transformed every time we interact with you.  You are amazing Lord.  You do so much for us and we are so grateful.  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 brining you another witness tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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