Walk Boldly With Jesus

God’s Mercy Is Endless

Psalm 36:7-9 “How precious is your mercy, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.  They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.  For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.”

I love the imagery in this verse.  I love how it talks about God’s mercy.  This is something I don’t think we talk about enough.  We talk about God’s love but not always His mercy.  I think the reason for this is because we have a hard time believing in His mercy.  We have a hard enough time believing that God loves us. Believing that and believing that he forgives us for our sins, all of our sins is just too much to believe for some of us.  Why is it so much easier to believe these things for other people than it is to believe them about ourselves?  I can believe that God will forgive my kids for all their sins.  That comes easily to me.  I can believe he loves them with his whole heart no matter what they do.  I find that easy to believe because I know I love them with my whole heart no matter what they do.  If I can do it in my broken state, surely God can do it.  

I know that God’s mercy is endless.  This made me think of a prayer that is part of the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  Here is the prayer, “Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will, which is Love and Mercy itself.”  I think the Holy Spirit brought this to my mind right now is because it talks about God’s mercy.  Is this something you believe for others, but not yourself?  Is it something that you think you believe, but then when you examine your actions, you realize you are not quite there yet?  This is where I am at most of the time.  I know God is merciful.  I know God loves me and forgives all my sins, and yet at times I act like I am not forgiven.  I strive to do all I can to earn God’s love when in actuality, there is nothing I have to do because I already have all His love.  Do you do this too?

The beginning of this verse says, “The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”  Isn’t that a beautiful image?  When I hear that verse I picture a giant Eagle just standing on the ground and I am standing next to Him.  I am holding on to his little leg and He has His giant wing wrapped around me in protection.  We can take refuge in the Lord, did you know that?  There are many places in the Bible where it talks about God being our refuge.  When you need protection, when you need a safe place to rest, rest in the Lord, He will be your refuge.

The next line says, “They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.”  Sometimes we can think of God in terms of giving things up.  We can think if we want to be a good Christian then we have to sacrifice all we have.  We think we need to go without.  This is not the case.  God is a God of abundance.  Yes, we are called to give and to sacrifice, but God will not be outdone in generosity.  The more you give the more God gives to you.  God knows what things you like, He knows the things you need and He is taking care of them for you.  He is a God of abundance. He is not just taking care of the things you need, but the things you want as well.  It says, you give them drink from the river of your delights. God is so good.  He isn’t just in the big things in life, He is in all the little details of your life too.  He shares His delights with you.  

This verse ends with, “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.” God is our fountain of life.  Everything we have flows through Him.  We would have nothing without Him and we are nothing without Him.  God is also our light.  He lights the way for us and He is the light in the world that we see.  What would be great is if we could get to a point where we that light for others.  If we got to a place where God’s light shined so brightly though us that we could be that light for others.  Now that I am saying that, I think we can be a light for others, even if we aren’t quite where we want to be.  I am not sure we will ever be at a place where we think we have finally arrived.  I don’t think this life is all about getting to the perfect place in life.  I think this life is more about our journey to become the best versions of ourselves.  I am not sure we ever arrive at that destination while we are here on earth.  I think it is something we can continually work towards.  

What came to my mind just after I wrote that we could be a light for others is all the ways we help to spread God’s love around this world.  When you are talking about God or Jesus to those you meet, that is spreading God’s light.  When you pray for someone, you are being a light to them.  When you do something kind for someone, you are spreading God’s light to them.  I know we probably don’t think of ourselves as spreading God’s light to others.  We don’t think of ourselves as being a light to others, and yet, that is exactly what we are doing when we are talking about God, spreading His message, spreading His love.  Sometimes we can spread God’s love, without even opening our mouths.  There is so much darkness in the world, so much hatred and division.  When we are the opposite of that, when we are love and light people can’t help but notice.  We can be the light to others just by being different, just by being positive and not letting the world take our joy away.  If we can do that, other’s will notice and they will want what we have.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Dad, we want you to be our light, we want to drink of the river of your delights. Dad, please help us to remember that you are a God of abundance.  Help us to not be afraid that if we give to others we will be left with nothing.  Help us to remember that you will not be out done in generosity.  Father, your mercy is endless and we are so grateful.  Please help us to remember and to believe this in our day to day life.  Help us to believe that you truly do forgive our sins and that you love us always.  We love you Dad and we ask all of this in accordance with your will an in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.  

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

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Remain Steadfast

Sirach 2:1-3 “My son, if you come forward to serve the Lord, remain in justice and in fear, and prepare yourself for temptation.  Set your heart right and be steadfast, incline your ear, and receive words of understanding, and do not be hasty in time of calamity.  Await God’s patience, cling to him and do not depart, that you may be wise in all your ways.”

What originally drew me to this verse was the word steadfast.  Each person in my mentoring group asks God to lead them to a word for the year.  This is a word them will help guide them throughout the year.  Before receiving that word we do a worksheet that asks questions like “What do you want in this upcoming year?” “What has been getting in your way?” and “What is the truth?”  Once we have our word for the year, we come up with a mantra, something to say everyday to remind us of what is important to us this upcoming year.  For instance, my word is Breakthrough and my mantra is “Every day I step out in boldness to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, even if I am scared. I am unwavering in my commitment to grow in all areas of my life. This year is a year of breakthrough for me!!”  One of my friends chose the word steadfast, so when I heard this verse at my prayer group yesterday I instantly thought of my friend Kelly.  

Then when I went back to look up the scripture I decided it was a good one to share with all of you.  I know that not everyone listening to this podcast is Catholic.  If you are not Catholic and you do not have the Book of Sirach in you Bible, I want to encourage you to read through it.  You can find it on biblegateway.com or any other website that has various versions of the Bible.  If you just put “read Sirach” into the search bar, it will come up.  There are also various Bible apps where you can read the different versions of the Bible.  Sirach is full of so much wisdom, I think if you take a look at you will love it as much as I do.  

The verse begins by telling us that if we come to serve the Lord, we should remain in justice and in fear.  I think I have talked about fear of the Lord before, but let me just touch on it here really quickly.  Fear of the Lord does not mean that you are afraid of God in the same way that you would be afraid of a bear, or someone robbing your house.  Fear of the Lord means to be in reverent awe of His holiness, to give Him complete reverence and to honor Him as the God of great glory, majesty, purity and power.  For instance, if God was standing in front of me, I would probably fall to the ground and kneel before Him, I may even be trembling.  I wouldn’t be trembling because I was afraid he would hurt me, I would be trembling because it would be so hard to believe that God, who is all powerful, would visit me.  Does that make sense?  I hope that makes sense.  

The other thing that first verse says is to prepare yourself for temptation.  If you are going to serve the Lord you are going to be tempted.  The enemy does not want us working for the Lord.  He will do whatever He can do to make that not happen.  So, don’t be surprised if as soon as you decide to teach Sunday School at your church that you get an offer to make extra money working at your job.  Don’t be surprised if as soon as you decide you will help out with the youth group that your boss suddenly wants you to work late on those days.  Right when you decide you want to go into ministry and work for a church, you get an amazing job offer somewhere else for a lot more money.  You will be tempted if you decide to serve the Lord.

The next verse says, “Set your heart right and be steadfast, incline your ear, and receive words of understanding, and do not be hasty in time of calamity.” I looked up the definition of steadfast to make sure I understood the verse correctly.  This is the definition I found, “To be steadfast is to be firmly fixed and not subject to change, to be firm in belief and determination, and to be loyal and faithful.”  God is asking us to set our heart right and then be firm and not to change it.  He is calling us to be loyal and faithful in our beliefs.  Can we do that?  Can we set our hearts right and be steadfast?  Next, the verse says to incline your ear, and receive words of understanding.  This is something I talk about a lot because I feel God talks to me about it a lot.  Are you taking the time to listen to the Word of God?  Are you listening to what God wants to say to you?  I feel as though God has a lot to say to us and we just aren’t listening.  When this verse is talking about receiving words of understanding, it is not talking about words from the world, He is talking about His words of understanding.  If you spend even just five minutes listening to the Lord each day, you will have such a greater understanding of your life.  

This verse ends with “Do not be hasty in time of calamity. Await God’s patience, cling to him and do not depart, that you may be wise in all your ways.”  Don’t jump to fix things on your own in time of calamity.  For instance, you might have a loved one that is struggling and you want to just fix everything for them. However, this verse is telling us to wait for God’s patience.  Maybe it is not a good idea for us to fix it.  Maybe our loved one needs to go through this thing.  On Monday nights mentoring session my mentor talked about how we usually don’t get our breakthrough until we have hit rock bottom.  The same is true for our loved ones.  What if we are taking away their chance at a breakthrough because we keep preventing them from hitting rock bottom?  

The same is true in our own lives too.  Most of the time when things are crazy in our lives, we aren’t sure why the things are happening.  We can’t see the plan, we can’t see beyond the chaos.  However, God can.  He can see it all.  He knows why we are in the mess we find ourselves in and He knows our way out.  The verse says to await God’s patience, and then it also says to cling to him and do not depart, that we may be wise in all our ways.   If we cling to God He will get us through whatever we are going through.  He can get us through anything.  If we listen to God and let Him guide us, he will lead us out of any calamity that we find ourselves in.  I know it is hard to be patient. It is hard to be patient when everything is going right, being patient when calamity strikes is almost impossible.  I say almost impossible because all things are possible with Jesus who strengthens us.

We can do this!  We can await God’s patience and we can cling to Him and not depart.  We can be steadfast in our love for Him.  We can be steadfast in our listening to the Word of God and our reading of the Word of God.  We can remain in justice and in fear and we can be prepared when the enemy tries to tempt us.  I think it is important to remember that we will be tempted.  This is important because then we can recognize the enemies temptations for what they really are and we can turn them down.  Remember if we want to serve the Lord, we will be tempted, but we have the power to resist because we have the power of God living inside of us.  We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, you are amazing and we are so grateful for You!  Lord, help us to resist any temptations that come along and try to distract us from our goal of serving you.  Help us to remain steadfast in our love for you and help us to await your patience.  Lord, you know what each person listening to this episode needs and I ask you to hear the prayers of the hearts today Lord.  We pray all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I want to ask everyone listening to consider giving a witness for Witness Wednesday.  I know they really help build up the faith of others.  I know you probably don’t think you have anything to talk about, I certainly did now know I had so many witnesses to give.  Just think about any time in your life when things either worked out really well, or didn’t work out really well.  Where was God in all of it?  What did you learn from it?  You have a story, we all do, and sharing them helps and encourages others to see they are not alone.  Please give it some thought this weekend.  I look forward to spending time with you again on Monday.  Remember Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Where Sin Increased, Grace Abounded All The More

Romans 5:20-21 “Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that , as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

When I read this verse this morning I knew it was the one to talk about because one of the speakers mentioned it in their talk last week at the conference and I thought he made a really good point.  I will see if I can help you see the beauty in the time we are living in.  Let me begin with the first line of this verse because I didn’t understand it.  It was one of those lines that I just want to skip over to get to the part I can explain at least a little better.  However, my commitment to you is that we will really examine these scriptures and we will gain a better understanding of what they mean.  We can not do that if I skip over the ones I don’t understand.  So, instead I decided to see what those who do Bible commentary have to say about this verse.  

The reason I don’t understand it is because it sounds like it is saying God gave us the law so that we might sin more.  Do you see why that would be confusing to me?  Why would God want us to sin more?  Figuring out what scriptures like this is really saying is why I love doing this podcast.  A few years ago, if I was reading that on my own, I probably would have just moved on, I don’t know that I would have looked it up to see what it was saying.  This is another reason I am grateful for each of you listening to this podcast.  You push me to learn and to grow because you are willing to learn and grow with me.  Thank you!

What I found out about this verse is that ever since Adam and Eve took and ate of the apple, sin came into the world.  It is not that people were sinning more, it was that they were noticing their sin more.  In this verse, Paul is not saying that God introduced the Law because He wanted to make us sin more, but that He wanted us to be more aware of our sins and the fact that we had a totally sinful nature.  We were already sinning, we just didn’t realize what we were doing was a sin.  The analogy I read said its like accusing a kid of stealing a cookie before you even tell him what stealing is.  If there is no law against taking a cookie then he is not stealing it.  However, once there is a law and once he understands it, then any cookies he takes after that is willful disobedience.  God was helping us to see all the ways we were not living how we were meant to live.  They say the first step to change is acknowledging that you need to change.  How could the Israelites be expected to change if they did not know what they were doing was wrong?  This was the point to the law, to show them their sins, not to make them sin more.

The next part of the verse above says, "but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”  This line explains to us that God didn’t just give them the law, but He gave them grace as well.  Here is a quote from an article titled, "Pastor: What the grace of God does in us” by Rev. J. Patrick Street.  I will place a link for it in the show notes (click here for article).  This is what the pastor said about grace:

“You see that the grace of God is more than salvation but also everything we need for life and godliness. The definition of grace could be “God's life, power and righteousness given to us by unmerited favor.” It is through grace that God works effective change in our hearts and lives. Grace gives us a new life which is not condemned by God. Through God's grace we are forgiven, transforming our thinking, resulting in the renewal of our mind and heart. Through grace we live the kind of life that God would like every one of His children to experience.”  The grace of god is essential for us to live the way God wants us to live.  We need God’s grace.  

One of the speakers at the conference was talking about how the world is crazy right now.  He was talking about how the devil is having a hay day with the world and that sin is running rampant.  He also said we shouldn’t be afraid because where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.  God’s grace is alive and well and is within all of us.  We received a word of prophecy almost six months ago in our prayer group and I think it fits well with what we are talking about today.  Let me read it to you:

"How often I tell you my people to listen. To listen to my word, to not harden your hearts, but to listen to my voice. How often I tell you parables, parables that compare to life, to the life you live. You look around you and you think the world has never been in worse shape than it is now. For you that is true for others that have come before you they felt the same. But the world is in the best shape it has ever been in because I was born into this world and I gave my life for each one of you and redeemed you and set you free. So do not look at the world, look at me and do not listen to the world, listen to me, to my voice. I am faithfulness itself and I am faithful from the beginning until the end of time. You have nothing to fear. You have NOTHING to fear. You have a grand and glorious God who has fought the battle and won the victory. Listen to what I tell you. Do not look at the world, look at me. Open your hearts, listen to my Word, and I give you life.

Grace is abounding today just as it has so many times before.  God knows all that will happen.  He is not surprised by any of it.  He will give us grace according to our need.  God knows what we need and when we need it.  We can trust Him to take care of us.  I think it is important to know what is going on in the world.  I think we should be walking through life with our eyes wide open, and at the same time I don’t think we need to be scared of what is coming.  God is prepared, and He is preparing us.  It can be daunting to see all the craziness that surrounds us, all the mayhem.  There is so much we could worry about and yet God is calling us not to worry.  He is calling us to trust him and to rely on His grace.  I believe the reason we are seeing so many people that God is using in miraculous ways right now is precisely because of all the evil in the world right now.  God’s grace is all around us and we just have to rely on that instead of relying on the world.  

God is telling us in the word of prophecy that He gave to my prayer group that we need to not look at the world, but look at him.  He does not want us listening to the world, but He wants us listening to His voice.  He is telling us we have nothing to FEAR, so why aren’t we listening to Him?  Why are we so fearful and anxious all the time?  Why are we so worried about the future when we know the ending to the story?  We know what happened, death was defeated, sin was defeated, the enemy was defeated.  It doesn’t matter what it looks like here on earth.  It doesn’t matter who seems to be winning.  God has already won the war and He as already defeated the enemy.  I will leave you with the Lord’s words today, “You have nothing to fear!”

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this podcast today.  Lord, we know you are amazing and we know you have already won the war, so why are we so anxious and scared.  We ask you to take this anxiety from us Lord.  We ask you to fill us with your grace and help us to live the life you want us to live.  We are so grateful for the grace you have already given us and we ask you for more Lord.  Lord, we ask you to help us to see the world through your lens.  Helps us to see what you see.  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 spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Damian Stayne's Website with Testimony videos  Click Here

http://www.coretlumenchristi.org/videos.php#

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.  Have a blessed day!

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Can I Learn to Hope Against All Hope?

Romans 4:18-21 “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, “So shall your descendants be.”  He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.  No distrust made him waiver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”  

There is so much in these four short verse.  It begins with, “In hope he believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told.”  I wish we could believe in hope against all hope.  We have all been in one situation or another when it looked like it wasn’t going to work out.  We have all been in a situation where what we wanted seemed to be agains all hope.  Think back to a time when all hope was lost.  Can you think of a time when you were telling yourself, or maybe others were telling you that there was no hope?  This is the type of situation Abraham was living.  God told him he would be the father of all nations and yet he was 75 years old, which was pretty old in that day and age and he didn’t have any children.  Abraham had plenty of reasons to doubt what he was told.  

I like how the verse says his faith did not weaken when he considered his own body, “which was as good as dead because he was a hundred years old.”  The author of this section is even saying that Abraham was as good as dead.  According to several sources I found online Abraham was 75 years old when God promised he would be there Father of nations and his descendants would be like the stars.  Then he was 100 years old when Isaac was born.  Can you imagine waiting 25 years for a promise from God?  Maybe you can.  Maybe you have been waiting 25 years to meet your future spouse, maybe you have been waiting 25 years to have children, maybe you have been waiting 25 years for your child or your spouse to become sober or get off all drugs.  If you have been waiting a really long time for your dream to come true, or a promise to come true, look to Abraham for guidance.  

I want to have the faith that Abraham had.  I want to have a faith that believes in hope, against all hope.  I want to stand firm in my faith and not have it weaken when I see all that is up against me.  I want to have total trust as Abraham had.  It says in this verse, “No distrust made him waiver concerning the promise of God.”  How amazing would it be if our trust was so great that nothing could make us waiver in it?  I have had this type of trust before.  When my niece was born early, I believed that God was not going to take her from us.  I believed in hope, against all hope that she would live.  The doctors told us she would not, and we continued to hope and believe in God.  The nurses told us that she would not make it and we believed and trusted God against all hope.  They told us to say goodbye and we decided to praise God instead and we kept trusting, kept hoping and kept believing that our God could do anything, and He did.  

This believing in Hope for us lasted months, months that seemed like years, but it was still months.  I don’t think I have ever waited for something for 25 years.  Actually I did wait for a long time for things to get better in my family with my husband and with my children.  It was not 25 years, but it was at least 15 or so.  I trusted that God would work it all for our good, I trusted that God was in control and that He was there with us through all of it.  I believe I was given this kind of trust because I asked for it, because I looked for it.  I don’t believe I have this trust in God because I am special, I don’t think I am just lucky, I think God gives us what we ask for.  

Have you been intentional in asking God for what you need, or giving Him permission to give you all that He thinks you need?  God tells us in Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  Ask God for what you want.  Ask Him for a deeper faith, ask Him for a deeper trust, ask Him for more strength, ask Him for whatever you need and then praise Him when He gives it to you.  I knew I needed more God in my life when I was facing the things I was facing.  I knew I couldn’t do it on my own and I knew He was the only way we would all make it though.  I know God can do amazing things and so I decided I wasn’t going to be afraid to ask for them.  I wasn’t going to be afraid to seek Him and His gifts more.  He never looks at us like we are greedy when we are seeking His gifts.  He wants to give them to us.  His gifts only bring us closer to Him and help us spread His word.  Nothing bad comes from the gifts of the Lord.  We don’t have to be afraid to ask for them, he loves when we seek Him and desire Him.  

Sometimes I feel insecure talking about my faith in God because I feel as though others will think I am bragging, or think I am exaggerating.  I feel the Lord has been telling me lately to talk about it more, to not hold back because if others see the kind of faith that is possible, they can search for it too.  The kind of faith that Abraham had is not impossible.  The faith that Daniel had in the lion’s den is not impossible.  If you want to have a faith like this the first step is to ask for it and to keep asking until you get it.  We heard in Luke 18:1-8 about the parable of the persistent widow.  God likes when we ask Him for something over and over again.  That is one way He knows how much we want it.  The next thing to do is to seek it.  Ask God what you need to do and then follow His promptings.  Increased Faith is a gift from God.  There are things you can do and should do, such as follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, but ultimately, it is a gift from God.  I have a sticky note right by my computer that reminds me to keep asking God for His gifts.  That sticky note says, “It’s not that I am greedy, it’s that I am needy.”  I need all that God has to give, especially if I want to become more like Him, especially if I want to spread His love all over the world.  If you want the trust, faith and hope that is talked about in this verse above then the first step is easy, just ask for it.

I just want to take a minute to point out the last sentence in this verse, “No distrust made him waiver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”  The part of this line that I want to highlight is when it says, “but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”  Abraham grew strong in his faith as he gave Glory to God.  How often are you giving Glory to God?  Are you doing it even when you aren’t seeing the answers to your prayers?  Are you doing it even when you have been waiting a really long time?  I think we can all learn a lot from these few verses and one thing for sure is that his faith grew strong as he gave Glory to God.  If his faith can grow by doing that, so can ours.  What if we all gave a little more glory to God this week and this month?  What if we praise him more and more and see what that leads too.  I once heard a quote that I will never forget.  I think it was Joyce Meyers that said it, but I can’t be 100% certain.  The quote is, “If you complain, you remain, if you praise, you will be raised.”  I truly believed that part of the reason my faith in the Lord is so strong is because I love praise music and I love gratitude.  Those two combined have been huge in helping me grow in faith.  Give it a try, and see if you love it as much as I do!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, you are amazing and we want to trust like Abraham trusted.  We want to have faith and hope like he had.  We want to believe in hope against all hope.  We want to be unwavering in our faith, even when we look at all that seems to be against us.  We want to wait faithfully, even if it takes 25 years for you to fulfill that promise you made to us.  We love you Lord and we are so grateful for you.  We are grateful you answer when we ask, we find when we seek and that you open doors when we knock.  You are truly powerful and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

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

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Are Your Actions Bearing Fruit?

Proverbs 20:4 "The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing."

My friend Jeremy sends out an email every few weeks with a reflection on a bible verse.  I received one in the middle of December and I knew I wanted to share it with you because it addresses such an important topic.  Here is what my friend Jeremy wrote:

“I know a man who, over the past year, ate a doughnut at church every Sunday, ate them and other sweets whenever offered at work, and pretty much lacked dietary discipline. Due to exercise and what he thought was "living right", it didn't seem to affect his weight or anything else. Until he went to the doctor. His lab results showed a large jump in cholesterol over the past year. (You can tell his mom it's still not outside of healthy range.) Whoops! What he thought was having no effect was silently portending possible disaster if not curbed.

I know a student (or two or three) who, over the past semester, did little homework and thought it wasn't really having a big impact on their grade - after all, homework was only worth 10% of the grade! Then came the Final (worth 20%), and they had no idea how to do any of it...then they wondered if there was anything they could do after the Final to get their grade back up? Now, the teacher had to remind them that it's called "Final" for a reason...

These stories made me wonder, what else are we doing that we think isn't harming us because we don't see the immediate effects, but in reality it is leading to a harvest of nothing? I can think of several examples...maybe thinking angry outbursts here and there have no impact only to realize later the victims of these outbursts now fear you? Or perhaps indulging (or just enjoying) gossip or social media dissing and doxxing thinking they do not hurt your ability to see people in God's light? Or that lustful thoughts and actions don't hurt your relationships? Or filling yourself with the world's media messages rather than God's Message in his Word doesn't shape you into something less beautiful?”

I think why this message from Jeremy convicted me so much is because he is talking about something that is so easy to do.  It is something that is so common.  I have definitely found myself in this trap a lot over the past few years.  We can get so caught up in doing normal, every day things that everyone else is doing and we don’t realize the harm we are causing.  I liked Jeremy’s example of how we can think that it is not a big deal to gossip or to talk about others behind their back.  We might think it is not causing any harm, they don’t even know we are doing it.  First, the unintended consequence of this is that you start to see them in a negative light. You start to see them as the rumors portray them instead of how they might really be.  Second, others around you may start to wonder if you talk about them when they aren’t around?  Those around you may think, “He talks about her when she is not here, I wonder if they talk about me when I am not there?”  Another reason gossip is so bad is because it puts division among groups of people.  Your church can’t function as one big family if there is division and gossip amongst members is the quickest way to get that division.  

When I read the sentence about how you may not think your angry outburst has any affect on the people you yelled at and yet you find out later they are scared of you.  This reminded me of a quote by Maya Angelou that said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” We may think that the unkind thing we said to the cashier was not a big deal, but it was.  Everything you say and do has the power to hurt someone, it can also have the power to help someone.  What you say matters.  How you make someone feel matters.

The verse above talks about how the slacker does not plow and then at harvest time he has nothing.  We don’t want this to be us.  We don’t wan’t to spend this life doing as we please and then when it comes time for eternal life we have nothing.  God says we will know what is good by its fruits.  Think about the things you are doing?  Are they bearing much fruit?  Do you know what the fruits of the Holy Spirit are?  The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  

If you want to know if the things you are doing are good, you can look at what you get from them.  Are these things you are doing producing good fruit?  When you gossip, does it bring you love, joy, peace, kindness faithfulness, etc?  I know when I gossip is brings an unpleasant feeling in my stomach and then I worry that the person I talked about will find out and feel bad.  Worry is not a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Judging by how worry makes us feel I do wonder if it is fruit from the devil?  

How about when you are angry and you say things while you are angry?  Does that usually bear good fruit?  Do you usually feel love, joy and peace afterwards?  Does it make the other person feel loved, or at peace?  I don’t think so, that hasn’t been my experience.  When I lose my cool and yell at someone, I tend to feel awful afterwards and they seem to feel awful too.  

What if we all took a few minutes to look at the things we are and are not doing in our lives and asked ourselves, is this bearing fruit?  Is this having unintended consequences?  Maybe it is something you didn’t realize.  For instance, maybe you think you are just helping your son or daughter see the error of their ways, that seems noble right?  What happens when you look at the fruit of your labor though?  Are they seeing the error of their ways?  Are they feeling loved and at peace?  Is it bringing them joy?  Or, do they feel unloved?  Do they feel like nothing they do is ever good enough?  Do they feel like we are being unkind to them?  

I am not saying we shouldn’t ever correct our children, I know we need to train them up in the way of the Lord.  However, what I feel the Holy Spirit was talking about here is when we are dealing with our adult children.  I know we have strong feelings of how they should be living and I know those feelings are coming from a place of love.  However, if what we are doing is not bearing fruit, maybe we could switch tactics.  How can we love and accept them for who they are and yet help them to know God more?  I don’t know.  I do now that I have a strong feeling the Holy Spirit is asking us to look at the fruit of our labors and if it is not good fruit, stop doing it.  Let the Holy Spirit guide you.  Ask the Holy Spirit how you can help your son or daughter and then follow the path He gives you.  

You may be surprised with the path you are asked to take.  Sometimes it starts with love an acceptance and not saying the things you are thinking.  Remember how God dealt with the Israelites when he set them free from Egypt?  He started with love and basics first.  He reminded them how much they were loved.  He allowed them to do things He did agree with, like divorce, because He knew where they were at and He knew they weren’t capable of that yet.  The same may be true with our children, young or old.  They may not be capable of following all of God’s rules yet.  First they much truly feel love and accepted.  Look at all of Jesus’ interactions.  He led with love and acceptance first. Come as you are.  His love and acceptance is what won people over.  He wasn’t saying what they were doing was right He was just loving them in the middle of it.  We can do this too, if we rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us.  How can we all show our love for those around us more?  How can we lead with love? Let's take a close look at the things we are doing that we know we shouldn’t be doing and look for the unintended consequences.  Let’s look at the fruit our life is bearing and make any changes we need to make.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to bear fruit in our lives, show us how.  Lord, we don’t want to be a slacker and have nothing at harvest.  We want to store up our treasures in heaven so at harvest we are fully prepared, show us how.  Lord, we are just trying to love our children and if that is causing them pain please put on our hearts how to love them better.  Dad, I really feel as though you are speaking to parents here and asking us to look at how we are making our children, especially our grown children, feel.  I hear you asking us to look at the fruits of our actions.  Please help us to do that.  We love you Lord, you are truly amazing.  We are so grateful you are so patient with us 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 spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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It Is Good You Exist!

Romans 8:14-16 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”  it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

I love scripture verses that talk about how we are the children of God.  I love the image of God being our father.  At the same time I understand how that image can be hard for some people.  I had a wonderful father.  I had a dad that wasn’t perfect, I am sure he feels he made a lot of mistakes, but he learned from them and then changed.  I am from a large family and I know he was a different father for us younger kids than he was for the older kids.  That is to be expected.  None of us know how to be parents before we become parents.  The younger kids get the benefit of having parents that have learned by making mistakes with the older kids.  Even the older kids would agree that our dad is pretty great.  He is such a great example of walking in the faith.  Both of my parents are.  He also made sure we felt loved.  I never questioned if my parents loved me.  I know not everyone can say the same.

The idea of God being our Father, makes it easier for me to feel like I am loved by God.  I know a Father’s love and since He is God I can believe that His love is ever greater than any love we could receive from a Father here on earth.  However, what about those who didn’t have a great father?  What about those whose father was mean, abusive, absent, unloving, cold?  There are all kinds of people in the world and all kinds of fathers.  If you did not have a loving father, if you did not have a kind and generous father, then it may be hard for you to see God as your Father.  If this is the case I would suggest that you read the verse that talk about God the Father.  Read scripture and get to know who God is, who He truly is.

Another way to learn more about God as your Father is to ask Jesus to reveal who God is to you.  It says in Luke 10:22 “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”  Guess what?  Jesus chooses to reveal God the Father to you, all you have to do is ask and then sit and listen.  God knows all you have been through.  He has been there every step of the way with you.  He is not surprised that you struggle to see him as your Father because you struggle with the idea of a Father.  He knows all of this.  Take your struggle to Him, talk to Him about it.  Talk to Jesus about it.  Ask Him to help you see God as your Father.  

God is not a Father like any one of us has seen before.  Even if we had great dads, they still can’t compare to the love of our Father in heaven.  His love for us is complete, and immovable.  There isn’t anything we can do to make Him stop loving us.  I know it is hard for us to believe this, but it is 100% true.  He loves us at the exact moment when we are choosing evil over good.  He loves us when we turn away, he loves us when we are weak and he loves us when we are strong.  He loves us when we repent and come back and yet he loves us just as much even if we don’t come back.  

What I love about this verse is that it says, “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption.”  We don’t have to fear anything because God is our Father and He is taking care of us.  We fear things because we think we are on our own.  We fear things because we forget that God is in control.  We think we have to be in control of everything and when we think like that it makes sense that we would fear things because who are we to solve all of our problems.  However, we are not in control and we were never meant to be.  We don’t have to fear things because we know that our Father in heaven is looking out for us.  We know He is arranging all things for our good.  We have been adopted by God the Father and we are His children. He is our protection and our refuge.  We do not have to fear anything.  

I also love when the verse says, “When we cry, “Abba! Father!”  it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”  I am not sure most of us think we have a close enough relationship to call God Father, Abba, or Dad.  When I hear most people pray and when I pray I mostly say Lord, although I do tend to start my prayers with Heavenly Father.  I think if we want to have a more intimate relationship with God, it is up to us to ask for it and begin to cultivate it.  God wants to be closer to each one of us and yet He will not force it on us.  If you want to be able to feel comfortable calling God Abba, or even Dad, then it is up to you to start.  

I wanted to think of God more intimately as my Dad.  I wanted to feel that closeness as if I was a little kid and I could just climb up on his lap and fall asleep.  I didn’t really know where to start.  I decided in my journal writing I would address the daily entries to God more informally.  I started with “Dear Father,” as I felt Dad was too informal and I didn’t want to be disrespectful.  As I continued to write to Him daily, or as consistently as I could, I felt I was growing closer to Him and I no long felt uncomfortable with calling Him Father and then I switched to Dad and that feels right now too.  I have grown a lot closer to Him, and I do think of Him as my Father.  It is not difficult for me to believe that I am loved by Him and that He delights in me.  Do you know that He delights in you too?  He does, it’s true!  Your heavenly Father delights in you and you bring Him joy, unspeakable joy.  

That doesn’t mean He likes everything you do, or say, but it does mean that He loves you always.  I heard something at a conference last night from Peter Herbeck and I want to pass it along because it was so good.  He woke up one morning and he opened his eyes and he felt as if he could see God smiling at him.  Kinda like when a parent watches their child sleep.  He felt as though he “caught” God watching him sleep and smiling at him.  He asked God if He wanted to tell him anyting and he felt God said, “It’s really good you exist Peter.  You were my idea and I don’t have any bad ideas.”  This message is not just for Peter, it is for each and every one of us.  It is really good that you exist Joanie, Peggy, Nancy, Kelly and everyone else that is listening.  Put your name at the end of that statement.  For instance, It is really good you exist Catherine.  God is saying that to you today, He wants you to know He is so happy you are here.  

I also think it is great that He said, “You were my idea and I don’t have any bad ideas.”  Sometimes we can think it was a mistake that we are alive.  We can think we don’t belong here, or that no one wants us here.  However, if we ever start to think this way, we can remember that it was God’s idea to put us here, right now in this time and in this place.  God doesn’t have bad ideas, so what is the good in all of this?   I am meant to be here, I am here for a purpose.  God loves me and is happy I exist.  

Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Father, I ask you to heal all of our hearts.  I ask you to help those who didn’t have loving fathers to help see you as that loving Father they missed out on having.  I ask you to show them all the ways over the years that you were there loving them in the difficult times in their lives.  Lord, open us up to seeing you are our Dad, our Abba.  Soften our hearts so we can allow your love into our hearts.  Open our hearts so we see that you did not give us a spirit of fear.  Help us grow closer to you Dad.  Help us to want to grow closer to you, help us to seek you.  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 are looking for something to help you start your New Year off right may I suggest getting my book Total Trust In God’s Safe Embrace.  It takes you through 15 different things I did to increase my trust in the Lord.  It would be a great beginning to this New Year of life we will hopefully be given. You can find the book on Amazon.  If you have read the book would you do me a favor and leave an honest review on Amazon?  It is a great way to help others find my book and let others know what you thought to it.  Reviews do matter.   I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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God Loves You Just As You Are

John 3:16-17 “ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

I wrestled with God this morning when he gave me this scripture.  “Isn’t that more of a lenten scripture?” I asked God.  However, I still got the feeling He wanted me to talk about this passage, so here goes.  What stuck out to me today was the last part of this verse.  “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  I think often times we think of the Lord as sitting up in heaven looking down on us and judging us.  We see Him as a judge who is looking for reasons to condemn us.  I think God is trying to tell us this morning that this is not the case.  He loves us and wanted to save us from our own mistakes.  Sometimes we think our mistakes end with us and this isn’t always the case.  Adam & Eve fell from grace and their mistake in taking the apple from the enemy created original sin.  Every one of us was born with original sin and because of this we do many things that are against the way we should be living.  Because of original sin, we no longer had a close relationship with the father.  There always needed to be something to separate us.

Hebrews 9:1-9 tells us that in the temple a veil separated the Holy of Holies—the earthly dwelling place of God’s presence—from the rest of the temple where men dwelt. This signified that man was separated from God by sin (Isaiah 59:1-2). Only the high priest was permitted to pass beyond this veil once each year (Exodus 30:10; Hebrews 9:7) to enter into God’s presence for all of Israel and make atonement for their sins (Leviticus 16).  God did not want this separation.  This was not why He created Adam and Eve.  At the beginning before their sin, He walked with them and among them.  That is how it what was intended for our relationship.

I guess I think of this scripture usually as more of a Lenten scripture because when I hear the words “he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” I think of the sacrifice and I think of Jesus dying on the cross.  I don’t think this is what God wants us to think of this morning.  I think he wants us to focus on two things.  The first one is His love for us.  Think of how much God has to Love us in order to send us his son.  Think of how much love he must have for us to sacrifice his only son in atonement for our sins. God must really love us.  He does love us that much.  God’s love for us is so great and it is never changing.  I heard Steven Furtick on the Elevation podcast say the other day, my love for my kids is an 11.  Out of 10, he loves his kids an 11.  This is like God’s love for us.  Take a minute and think of someone you love more than anything, it may be your spouse, your children, you parents, your siblings, your boyfriend or girlfriend, whoever it is for you.  Think of how much you love them.  Now if you multiply that number by 1,000 that is how much God loves us.  

God’s love always amazes me because it is so pure and it is so unconditional.  There is a new song I heard on the radio recently and I love it.  It makes me tear up sometimes when I hear it because I think of all the people I know that don’t know God loves them like they are.  There are so many people that don’t feel loved.  They don’t feel accepted by anyone.  It breaks my heart that they don’t know how completely loved and accepted they are by God.  This new song is by King and Country, who are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands of all time, and the song is called, “Love Me Like I Am.”  (Click Here for link to song) Here are the words:

I am a little unstable

Loose wires always getting tangled now

I am a little bit difficult

I can be a little self-critical now

I am a little unable

To put all my cards on the table now

But somehow You're still with me

It's amazing that You can

Love me like I am

And even when I can't

You still love me as I am

Oh, I don't know how You do it

And I know I put You through it

Yeah, it's amazing that You can

Love me like I

Love me like I

Am

I am a little uneven

In need of a little more healing now

Yes, I am

And I feel a little unfixable

You're nothing short of a miracle now

'Cause somehow You're still with me

It's amazing that You can

Love me like I am

And even when I can't

You still love me as I am

Oh, I don't know how You do it

And I know I put You through it

Yeah, it's amazing that You can

Love me like I

Love me like I

Am,

I just love this song and I love these lyrics.  Mostly because they describe each one of us.  Who among us hasn’t felt a little unstable at some point in our lives?  Who hasn’t been self-critical or felt a little unfixable?  I also love it because it describes God’s love so perfectly.  He loves us just as we are.  It isn’t that he will love us when we get our stuff figured out.  It isn’t that he will love us when we aren’t feeling so broken.  It is not that he will love us once we do this thing or that thing.  God loves us right here, right where we are.  God loves us completely just as we are.  God loves us in the middle of the mess just as much as he loves us when we have things figured out.  I don’t know who needed to hear that today, but God loves you, just as you are!  You don’t have to change for him to love you.  He already loves you.  It doesn’t matter how many times you have turned away from Him, he still is there waiting with open arms to welcome you in.  God loves you, just as you are!

The second thing God wants us to focus on is the part where it says, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  Christmas time is a time to celebrate baby Jesus coming into the world.  It is a time to remember that God send Jesus, not to condemn us, but to save us.  Baby Jesus is a symbol of that love I was just talking about.  Baby Jesus is an answer to the promise God gave us.  Such a small baby and yet so much love and hope inside of him.  I think God wants us all thinking about how much He loves us today.  If you are feeling lonely, which I know can be common during the holidays, remember how much you are loved by God and remember He is always right by your side.  If you are feeling unloved today, remember how much God loves you just as you are.  If you are feeling unaccepted by those you love today, remember God accepts you and loves you for you.  I really feel strongly that this message was for someone listening that is struggling today.  If that is you, know that God loves you so much that he gave me this message for you specifically.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, it is amazing that you can love us like we are.  It is amazing that you can love us in our brokenness.  We are so grateful for your love.  Lord, please help us love like you love.  Please help us to show those who feel unloved love.  Please help us find those who feel broken and unloveable or un accepted and help us to love them like you love.  It breaks my heart that so many people in the world can feel so unloved.  Help us try to fix that.  Show us how we can help those people feel loved.  Help us to help them Lord.  We love you so 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! I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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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.  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Can You Defend Your Faith?

1 Peter 3:15-16 "Rather, revere Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be prepared to offer an explanation to anyone who asks you to justify the hope that is in you. However, do so with gentleness and respect and with a clean conscience so that those who slander you for your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

When I heard this verse and then heard Father Mike talking about it I thought it would be a good verse to share today.  Father Mike said this verse is the reason he studied theology in college.  He wanted to be able to offer and explanation to anyone who asked about why he believed what he believed.  This is something I think more of us should strive to obtain.  I am not saying we should all go to college and study theology, although that does sound fun to me.  I am saying we should all strive to learn more about our faith, our religion, and why we believe what we believe.  I have heard a lot of people over the years refer to themselves as cradle catholic.  This means they have been a Catholic ever since they were a baby.  Unfortunately a lot of times it also means that they do not know a lot about the faith, or why they believe what they believe.  

I know that does not represent everyone that has been Catholic since birth, but I do think it represents a lot of us.  I remember when I got married and moved into our first house.  We lived on Fairchild AFB near Spokane, WA.  Once we got settled our neighbors came over and one of the first things I can remember them asking me was what the Catholic faith was all about.  They asked me what we believe.  I didn’t really know what to say.  I did think of the creed, so I could come up with a few things to say, but mostly I froze.  I loved my faith, I love being Catholic and yet I didn’t really know what to say when people asked about it or when people challenged it, which happened quite a bit.

I don’t know if that happens with all faiths or what, but as Catholics we are asked quite a bit why we believe what we believed.  We are asked my we worship Mary?  We are asked why we worship the Saints? We are asked why we can’t just talk to God directly, why we have to go to the Saints first?  We are asked why we have to go to confession with a priest?  Why do we think the Eucharist is the real flesh and blood of Jesus?  For a good part of my life, I did not know how to answer these questions.  I did know how to defend my faith or as the verse above says, I was not prepared to offer and explanation to anyone who asked me to justify the hope that is in me.  

I remember not liking the fact that I didn’t have answers to these questions.  I didn’t like the fact that I didn’t know why I believed what I believed.  I bought a book called Catholic Apologetics.  It explained why we believe many of the things we believe and where in scripture support for those beliefs could be found.  Then I started to join Bible Studies and I learned so much more about God and what the Bible says.  I also learned more about my faith and Catholicism.  

I love being a Catholic, I love all of our sacraments, I love that we get to go to a priest for confession.  I love that we get to hear the priest say, “The Lord has freed you from your sins. Go in peace.”  For me, there is just something so special about releasing my sins to the priest and then hearing him say those words. It’s almost like a confirmation that God really does forgive me.  I love that all Catholics, all around the world, all 1.3 billion of us are celebrating the same Mass on Sunday mornings.  We are saying the same prayers, we are reading the same readings, we are sharing in the same Eucharist.  

This verse does not just apply to Catholics, it applies to all Christians.  Whatever your believe about Christ, be prepared to offer an explanation.  When someone asks you why you love Jesus, what do you tell them?  Do you have an answer?  What do you say to someone who asks you, “If God is real, then why is there so much suffering and hardship and persecution that we see going on around us?”   What do you say when you are asked, “If God knows everything like he seems to suggest, and not only that he seems to have it all worked out, then what’s the point in praying or talking to him at all?”  There are a lot of questions that people have and they are looking to us for answers.  

Some people are looking to argue, or to catch you off guard and try to convince you that your beliefs are false.  This happens more often than we would like to admit.  If we aren’t firm in our faith, if we aren’t sure of our beliefs, we may be persuaded that they don’t make sense or that they are foolish.  We may start to question what we believe.  We may fall for the lies of the enemy that what we believe isn’t really true.  There are people that are very versed in the Bible and they use that knowledge to back up their beliefs.  They are able to defend and explain what they believe and why they believe it and that can be really intimidating for someone who is  not in the same position.  Take the time to learn what you believe and why you believe it.  Don’t just learn it so you know it, learn it so you can explain it to others that ask.  

Although some people might be looking to argue, others are asking these questions because they really want to know.  They may be thinking of becoming Christian and yet they just don’t understand the difference between the various religions.  They may be searching for something and what you say might just be that thing that brings them to Jesus.  Learning what we believe and why we believe it helps us grow not only in our faith, but in our relationship with the Lord.  Studying what you believe usually entails reading the scriptures surrounding your faith.  You can’t read scripture and not be changed.  You cannot spend time in God’s Word and not grow closer to Him.  

Before I end I want to call your attention to the ending of this verse too.  It says, “However, do so with gentleness and respect and with a clean conscience so that those who slander you for your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”  It doesn’t just matter what we say, it matters how we say it.  As Father Mike says, “Don’t beat the person over the head with it.”  Explain what you believe and why with gentleness and respect.  Love is what will win people over for Jesus.  If you are talking about Jesus and how much you love Him and yet you are not doing it with gentleness and respect the person you are talking too will not want more of what you have.  If you are throwing your beliefs in someone else’s face, or trying to force them on them, they will be rejected.  I do believe in evangelizing and spreading God’s Word to all we meet.  I think this should be done more through our actions.  I want to live my life in such a way that people look at me and say, “I want more of what she has.”  That is my hope for all I meet.  I hope when they see me and they see a reflection of Jesus. This is what we are called to do.  We are all called to be a reflection of Jesus.  He is the one that will bring people to His Father.  What can we do today to be a reflection of Christ Jesus?  What can we do to learn a little more about what we believe and why we believe it?  How can we share that information with others in a gentle and respectful way?

Dear Heavenly Father I ask you to  bless all those listening to this episode.  Lord, we want to be able to share you with others.  We want to be able to explain that hope and that joy that fills us up inside, please help us.  Lord, we ask that you show us where to look, what to study, so we can be well prepared when our faith is challenged or when we meet someone that wants to know you.  Help us lead others to you Lord and help us to do it with gentleness and respect. Help us to do it in a way that makes people want to lean in and learn more, not turn away and shut down.  We love you Lord, you are amazing!! We are grateful for all you do for us 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 bringing you a witness tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I!  Have a blessed day!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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