Walk Boldly With Jesus

I Keep My Eyes Always On The Lord

Psalm 16:7-8 “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

When I read this my first thought was, I wish my eyes were always on the Lord.  I wonder if sometimes, in the Psalms and actually in any part of the Bible, if they are saying what they know they should do instead of what they are actually doing.  The person writing this Psalm, were their eyes always on the Lord, or were they saying this as a reminder to themselves of what works best?  The beginning of this verse says I will praise the Lord and you guys know that is one of my favorite things to do.  Praising the Lord is something I tend not to forget to do too often.  Luckily I am in a prayer group that knows how important praise is, so even if I didn’t do it regularly on my own, we praise God every Thursday for an hour.  That is one of the great things about surrounding yourself with other people who love God, they help you remember what is truly important.  

“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.”  This is a great verse because it reminds us who is leading us through this crazy thing we call life.  The Lord is there to counsel us.  Are we seeking His guidance?  Are we stopping to ask Him what He thinks of all the plans we are making in our head?  When is the last time you slowed yourself down long enough to run something by God before you did it?  Has it been awhile?  Have you been running into a lot of dead ends lately?  Have you noticed that things aren’t bad, but they aren’t great either?  Maybe that’s because you are going so fast you haven’t had time to listen to God counsel you.  He really does have some pretty great advise if we slow down and listen to it.  

Things just go more smoothly with the counsel of the almighty one.  I mean, you can tell just from His name, that He knows what He is talking about.  He has seen your entire life, He know what turns you will make and He knows how to help you get to the life you want faster than you could ever could on your own.  So, why don’t we listen to His counsel then?  We don’t listen because we are too busy.  One luxury that Covid afforded us, was the gift of slowing down.  There was so much bad that came from Covid, and I am not disputing that.  However, Covid also afforded us the opportunity to clear our calendars.  To just stay home and be with our family for a little while.  The amount of time we were all home with family is different for everyone, but we all got some time where are schedules were completely cleared.  No one was going to work, no one was going to school, grocery stores and other stores weren’t open for a bit.  The whole world slowed almost to a stop.  

This was not good for so many reasons and also the fact that it allowed many people to stop and consciously choose what to add back into their schedule was a benefit.  Some people found out they liked the less busy schedule.  Some people decided they liked spending more time with their kids.  Some families were so busy they went from one activity to the next without any time to even eat a meal together.  However, with the forced time to slow down, they were able to spend that time together.  People we able to spend more quiet time with God because they no longer had a long commute to work each day.  There was  brief period in time when life slowed down and we all had the chance to check in with God and ask for His counsel.  I am sure not everyone used this time to check in with God, but they had the chance.  

When I read the second half of that first line, “even at night my heart instructs me,” I thought of how it was dark at night.  I am not sure if this verse is talking about at night meaning, even when I am asleep my heart instructs me, or even through the dark parts of my life my heart instructs me.  However, I think regardless of what the Psalm is saying, both of these are true.  God doesn’t guide us sometimes, and then other times leave us on our own to fend for ourselves.  He is always there guiding us.  He is always there in that “still small voice” down deep inside of us. However, we can’t always hear him because we aren’t always listening.  If you are going through a difficult time right now and you feel like you could really use some direction, take some time and sit with the Lord.  Ask Him for direction and then wait and listen until you get some direction.  We tend to ask God questions a lot but we don’t really ask expecting to get a reply.  God wants to talk with you, He wants to guide you.  If you ask Him a question sit expectantly and He will answer you.  

The last line in this verse is awesome, if we can just remember it.  It says, “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”  There is so much anxiety in the world and I think there wouldn’t be if we could remember this verse.  If we were to keep our eyes on the Lord, instead of on the news, our friends facebook page, the celebrity tabloids, the politics and all the other things we keep our attention on, we would not be so anxious.  It says with the Lord at our right hand, we will not be shaken! The Lord is our shield and our refuge.  We do not need to be afraid and yet we often lose sight of this fact.  We take our eyes off the Lord and we forget He is there for us, we forget He promises to always be there for us.  

This is why when I read this verse I instantly thought, “I wish I kept my eyes always on the Lord.”  It is so easy to take our eyes off the Lord.  It is so easy to get wrapped up in what were are doing and forget to stop and ask the Lord what He thinks about it.  It is easy to turn to the news, our friends and other things in the world for answers.  We expect answers from these things, but for some reason we don’t expect answers from God.  Maybe we think He is too busy to talk to us.  Maybe we think we aren’t good enough for God to talk to us.  Whatever the reason is, we take our eyes off the Lord because we don’t expect Him to talk to us.  If you notice you are getting anxious, or feeling like the things around you are making you feel scared, it is time to turn your eyes back to the Lord.  It is time to let Him guide your steps.  It is time to ask the Lord what you should do and then wait with an expectant faith that He will give you an answer.  

I know that if we all started sitting and waiting with an expectant faith for the Lord to talk with us, then He would talk with us.  I do this when I write in my prayer journal.  I write a letter to God and then I ask God to speak to me through my pen and I write a letter back to myself.  I write whatever comes into my mind because I am expecting it to be God talking to me.  God tells us right in the Bible, ask and you shall receive.  If we ask God to talk with us, He will.  The problem is not that God is not talking to us, the problem is that we are not listening to Him when He talks to us.  We are too busy to listen.  Think about your week this week.  When could you fit in some time to listen to the Lord?  Actually schedule it into your day or your week.  I am sure if you started doing this, scheduling in time to just sit and listen to the Lord, you will be amazed at what you hear Him say.  Give it a try this week and let me know how it goes.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, I ask for you to help us listen to you.  I ask that you show us where in our schedules we can take the time to sit with you.  Put it upon our hearts Lord so that we take this ever important time with you.  Lord, we want to keep our eyes on you.  We don’t want to be shaken by the things we encounter.  We want to know and trust that you have everything under control.  Lord we trust in you!  You are amazing and we are so grateful for all you do for us.  We are amazed that you would talk to each of us individually and we thank you Lord.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I have some very exciting news today.  My book is finally out there in the world.  For those of you that don’t know, I wrote a book called “Total Trust in God’s Safe Embrace.”  It is about 15 different ways I was able to grow my faith in the Lord to a point where I trust Him even in the most difficult circumstances.  If you are looking to trust God more I would love to invite you to check out my book.  It is available on Amazon in print format and eBook format.  I will be doing the audio book in the next week or two.  I thank you all so much for your support in this process.  I look forward to meeting you back here tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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What Do You Declare?

John 6:63 "It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

The other day in our class we talked about the power of our words.  I have done a couple episodes now on how painful words can be.  Today I want to talk about how saying the right words can actually change your life in a good way.  When I was just starting out on my personal development journey I was introduced to a habit where you write down 5 reasons you are grateful each day and then you write your 10 big dreams you have and you write them as if they have already happened.  For instance, I wrote I am an excellent mother.  You do this every single day and then you will notice some time from now, you have achieved all the things you set out to achieve.  The reason for this is because you have told you brain what to focus on and you told it where you are going.  Even when you are not actively coming up with a plan for how to get those things, your brain is already thinking about all of them.  Your subconscious mind goes to work on figuring out how to do all the things you want to do. It really is a beautiful thing.

When we were talking about declarations the other day our teacher reminded us of that old Saturday Night Live skit with Stuart Smalley.  He did a skit where he would look in the mirror before his talk show and he would say, “Because I am good enough, I am smart enough and doggommit people like me.”  We always laughed when he said this because it seems so silly to talk to yourself like that.  However, now they are finding that saying positive things like this can actually be helpful to how you see yourself and how you feel.  Saying positive things can be a great way to change your mindset as well.  

This is one reason why declarations can be so powerful.  We get sucked into believing a lot of negative things about ourselves and even about God sometimes.  The enemy whispers lies into our ears and instead of telling Him to shut up, we buy what he is selling hook line and sinker.  But God is also trying to tell us things.  His voice is being drowned out by the enemy and by the voices of the world.  But if we listen to what God is telling us we will learn who we are in God’s eyes.  When we listen to the lies the enemy tells us, we feel terrible about ourselves.  We feel unloved and we feel as though no-one knows what we are going through.  These are lies from the enemy.  When we listen to God we feel loved, we feel worthy, we feel like we can do anything.  

In class we went over 5 Biblical reasons to make declarations in faith for yourself.  

The first reason is because declarations  have the power to stregthen us from weakness.  In Joel 3:10 it says, “Let the weak say, I am strong.”  In Philippians 4:13 it says, “I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me.  These are both powerful statements to help strengthen us when we feel we need to be stronger.  

The second reason is that declarations can direct the course of our lives.  Look at James 3:4-5 "Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. Our tongues are the “rudder” of our life.  Although they are just a small part of our body, they can have an enormous impact on our lives.  Choose to use yours for good, too spread the love of God and to build people up and not tear them down.

The third reason for making declarations is that they can confirm or seal our beliefs.  For instance, Romans 10:9-10 “ because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.”  It says right in this verse that one who believes with the heart and so is justified and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.  Speaking the truth out-loud is so important.  

The fourth reason is because declarations are weapons  that keep us from falling into performance mentality.  When Jesus was tested in Matthew 4, He didn’t feel like He had to defend Himself by explain why what the devil was saying wasn’t true.  He simply and firmly stated scripture verses and the enemy left knowing he had been defeated.  WE CAN DO THE SAME!! We have the power to speak scripture into our lives.  We have the power to defeat the enemy with our words.  

The fifth reason we were taught to develop the declarations is because they can unlock the promises of God in our lives.  If we look at 2 Corinthians 1:19-20 it says, “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.  God has made a lot of promises and each and everyone one of them is for you and me both!  We can stand on those promises.  They aren’t the kind of wishy washy promises we make today.  These are firm promises.  It says right in this verse,  but in Him it is always yes!  God made the promises for us, now we just have to claim them.

There are two ways to come up with Declarations.  The first way is to ask the Lord to give you some declarations  for your life.  This type of declaration you should take some time and discern.  Discern it either by yourself or with a spiritual director or mentor.  See if this is really from the Lord.  The second type of declaration is one from scripture.  These ones you can always count on.  You know they are from the Lord because He inspired every word in the Scripture.  I felt moved last week to focus on the scripture verse I had underlined and made them into declarations.  I will include them in the show notes and also read them to you now.  

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13)

Because I have faith nothing will be impossible for me. (Matthew 17:20)

I will do the works Jesus did an even greater Works. (John 14:12)

Whatever I ask in Jesus's name, he will do it. (John 14:13)

My heart will not be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27)

I will abide in Jesus and bear much fruit (John 15:9)

Jesus loves me as the father loves him (John 15:9)

Jesus lay down his life for me, his friend (John 15:13)

If I ask, I will receive (John 16:24)

In Jesus, I have peace. (John 16:33)

I am a child of God (Acts 17:28)

Jesus died for me while I was still a sinner (Romans 5:8)

Death no longer has dominion over me (Romans 6:9–11)

Sin no longer has dominion over me (Romans 6:14)

the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in me! (Roman 8:11)

I receive the spirit of Sonship. I am a child of God. (Romans 8: 15–17)

I have been saved (Romans 8:24)

the Holy Spirit helps me in my weakness; he intercedes for me when I don't know how to pray (Romans 8:26)

In everything God works for good with me (Romans 8:28)

God is for me who is against me? (Romans 8:31)

I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38 to 39)

I hope that each one of you will take some time this week and ask the Lord to show you what decorations could help you grow in your understanding about yourself and about God.  I hope that if you have created some declarations that you will decide what to do with them.  I am going to write 10 declarations in the mornings  until I fully believe them, and then I will pick another 10.  First I also need to discern what 10 I will start with.  Another idea I had for someone who doesn’t have the time to write 10 declarations each morning was to write all the declarations on an index card and then place the declarations in a bowl of vase or somewhere we you can pick one out each morning and say that declaration over yourself and that day.  I think if you did either of these two ideas you would notice your mind shifting.  I bet you would notice you are beginning to believe things you never thought you would believe.  God is so good!!

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 all the promises you have made us.  Help us to take time out of our day and sit with you and ask you what declarations you have for us.  Help us to do something with those declarations.  Show us how you want us to use those declarations for our good.  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 being back with you on Monday.  Have a blessed weekend

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Signs & Wonders

Matthew 10:7-8 “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.”

I saw this verse this morning and I thought it was a great verse for today.  As you can tell, from a lot of the verses I have been sharing with you lately, the class I am taking talks a lot about the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit.  I love to share this information with you because I am not sure how many of us really know or believe that the Holy Spirit is still working in a supernatural way in this world.  I am sure we all believe in the signs and wonders that occurred when Jesus walked the earth and the ones the apostles saw and did.  However, it seems most people do not believe these things are still happening today, or that they have been happening ever since Pentecost.  

Through the ages there have been times when the supernatural signs and wonders were less and less.  However, there was never a time where there were’t any signs and wonders.  If you read about the Saints you will see about the miracles they performed all throughout the ages.  I think because the Saints are attributed to a lot of the miracles that we hear about we assume that only Saints can perform miracles.  Do you want to know a secret about Saints?  They weren’t always Saints.  At one point every saint there is was just a regular human like you and me.  They didn’t always know they were going to be a Saint.  You may be on your way to Sainthood  and you might not even know it. All they knew is that they loved Jesus and wanted to do all they could to follow Him.  Do you love Jesus, if so you are well on your way!

In the verse above Jesus is telling us what we need to do. Remember the Bible is a living document, what we are reading in the Bible is just as much for us today as it was for the apostles 2000 years ago.  Jesus is telling you and me to go and proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”  People need to hear this, even today.  Today the enemy wants to fill us with worry and anxiety.  He wants us to spend our time looking around to the world and seeing what a mess it is.  He wants us to look around the world and feel like things are hopeless because that is what it looks like right now.  There is so much violence, so much hatred, so much craziness.  It is easy to get lost in worry and anxiety when we are looking at the world.  This is why we need to affix our eyes to Jesus.  He is our savior, He is our peace.  It is only when we take our eyes off of Him that we get wrapped up in worry and even fear.  

It seems more and more people are giving into fear and anxiety these days.  They are taking their eyes off of Jesus and turning them to the news, to social media and to the newspapers.  We need to be proclaiming the good news of Jesus.  We need to be helping people turn their eyes back to Jesus and what better way to do that than to show them signs and wonders.  Signs and wonders will not necessarily be enough to change the hearts towards Jesus, however, signs and wonders might get their attention and once we have their attention we can tell them all about Jesus’ love.  I think a lot of people are disillusioned with the Church these days.  They see all the division and the scandal and they think that is all the church is.  The Church is made up of people and since we are a fallen people there will always be people that don’t do as they are called to do.  This isn’t a reason to take our eyes of Jesus, if anything it should be  more of a reason to keep our eyes fixed on Him so He can help us not make those same mistakes.  

Be honest, when I mention signs and wonders, do  you instantly count yourself out?  Are you thinking the Saints could do them because they were Saints, but that isn’t something us ordinary humans can do?  Me too!  I used to think like this too.  Well, actually, if I am being honest I still have doubts, but they lessen with each step out in faith that I take.  If you are like me you don’t have doubts that God could do miracles through you, God is God, He can do anything.  However, when I start to think of God doing signs and wonders through me I think, “Why me?”  The enemy gets in my mind and he tells me God wouldn’t use me.  He tells me I am too boring, too weak, too sinful, not holy enough, not good enough and so on.  The thing is, Jesus doesn’t usually use those who are perfect.  He didn’t come to find “perfect” people to start His church.  He used 12 people who most of us wouldn’t have picked.  One of the reasons the Gospels start with the lineage of Jesus is to show us that Jesus did not come from a perfect line of people.  There were plenty of people in Jesus’ lineage that weren’t holy enough, weren’t good enough, weren’t even close to perfect by the world’s standards, and yet they were chosen out of everyone to be part of the lineage of Christ.  

Besides proclaiming the good news, Jesus is calling us to “Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons.”  This is a pretty tall order. However, Jesus is not going to call us to do something and then not equip us for the call.  John 14:12 says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”  When Jesus went to His Father, he sent us the Holy Spirit and this is the power we need to do even greater works than Jesus did.  It says in this passage “whoever believes in me” this is a tricky statement.  I say that because the faith required to do signs and wonders is not something we can manufacture on our own.  That type of faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit.  

This type of faith can be built up by reading the scriptures and seeing all the signs and wonders Jesus and the apostles performed. It can also be built up by witnessing or hearing about miracles that are happening today.  The more you witness these miracles the more your faith will be built up. This is another reason for doing Witness Wednesdays.  When you hear about how God is still working miracles today, it helps you believe it could happen in your life.  When you see it happening to regular, every day people like you and me, you start to think, “If it could happen to them, why couldn’t it happen to me.”  

There is a documentary called “Fearless” and this is what the executive producer said about the movie, “We have come to realize it is more than a movie, it is more of a movement that the Holy Spirit is using to spark an awakening among ordinary Catholics, like you and me, to be able to live their Catholic Faith in an extraordinary way, in an extraordinary, fearless way.  It has launched thousands and thousands of people on their own God adventures. You can watch this documentary for free by going to fearlessdocumentary.net (click here) You can also watch it on Youtube (click here).  I will put links for both in the show notes.  If you get a chance check it out.  

I am going to continue to talk about signs and wonders and my prayer is that something I say will be the one thing you need to hear to get you started on your journey to discovering what signs and wonders God wants to give you. God wants to call us to greater things.  No matter who you are, where you are, how old you are, God has more for you.  That will look different for each one of us, but He is calling you.  Abraham was 100 when He has Issac.  Whatever age you are, you are not too old to build the kingdom of God.  However young you are, you are not too young to build the kingdom of God.  There is young boy from Italy that was only 16 when he died and He is blessed and is being considered for sainthood.  This is the first millennial too venerated.   God can use you for His purposes, all you have to do is say yes.  I know it may feel scary to say yes to something when you don’t understand it completely, but if you say yes to the Lord, He will use you in amazing ways.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the episode today.  Lord, we are so grateful for all the sign and wonders you have done and are still doing.  We ask you to show us how you want to use us Lord.  We ask you to give us the strength to say yes to you even if we don’t understand what we are saying yes too.  We ask you to give us the courage to step out in faith and trust that we are doing what you called us to do.  Lord, if we can’t hear your call we ask that you help open our ears, our hearts and our minds to whatever you are calling us to.  We ask that you help us be open to you and your will.  Confirm our will to your will Lord.  We love you, you are amazing.  We are so 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 am in the final stages of getting me book up and running. I will let you know when it is available.  I ask for prayers from all of you that these final stages of formatting and uploading go smoothly and that God gets the book out to all those that can benefit from reading it.  I look forward to spending time with you 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 on the link below.  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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Power from the Holy Spirit

Acts 1:3-5 & 8 “After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me;  for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Last night in my Encounter Ministries class we had a baptism of the Holy Spirit.  This is when someone gets prayed over for the Holy Spirit to become active in someone’s life.  As a Catholic, I know that when I was Baptized as a baby, I received the Holy Spirit.  Then when I was confirmed, that was my adult Baptism into the church and the Holy Spirit came upon me then as well.  For those listening who are not Catholic, I am not sure on your beliefs.  I have heard the Holy Spirit comes upon you when you accept Jesus Christ as your savior and receive a Baptism at your church.  For all of us, a Baptism of the Holy Spirit, in its fullness, is not an event, it’s a lifestyle.    They Holy Spirit has the power to transform your life so that you are never the same again.  However, you need to cooperate with the Spirit and give it permission to do so.  

So, if we have already received the Holy Spirit at our Baptism, why would we need or want a Baptism in the Holy Spirit?  Doesn’t He already live inside of us?  Yes, if you have been Baptized then the Holy Spirit is living inside of you.  However, have you asked the Spirit for the gifts He has to share with you?  Have you invited Him into your life to work in a powerful way?  When you are baptized you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit.  However, it is up to you to open that gift and use it.  Encounter has an interesting way of explaining it.  Imagine you are a glass of milk and the Holy Spirit is chocolate sauce.  You can add the chocolate sauce to the milk, but if you don’t stir the milk you don’t have chocolate milk, you just have chocolate sauce in your milk.  The Holy Spirit is kind of like this.  Yes, you have the Holy Spirit, but you have to do something to activate that gift.  

In the verse above, Jesus was spending time with the apostles after He came back to life after being crucified.  Let's stop there for a minute. The Holy Spirit brought Jesus back from the dead.  That same Holy Spirit is living inside of you.  Isn’t that amazing?  I still remember the first time I heard that I just couldn’t believe it.  If you don’t believe me you can look in the Bible at Romans 8:11 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.”  That just blows my mind that we have the same Spirit Jesus had.  The Holy Spirit is the one who empowered Jesus to do all the miracles.  The Holy Spirit gave Jesus the power to touch so many peoples lives.  Jesus did not use his divinity while here on earth, He relied on the Holy Spirit, the same one that we have living inside of us.  

In the verse above Jesus orders the apostles to stay in Jerusalem and wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me;  for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is the great commission Jesus gave to His apostles and all of us.  We are all to spread the word to everyone, all the way to the ends of the earth.  Jesus is talking to you and me as much as He is talking to the apostles.  Jesus never intended for it to be the job of 12 men to spread the Good News to the entire world.  

I believe He intended for them to begin spreading the world and then each person they talk to does their part in spreading the Good News.  This is much easier to do if we have the power of the Holy Spirit to help us.  I don’t know about you, but I could sure use some help.  I am not necessarily a shy person, but I am a people pleaser who does not like confrontation and cares way too much what other people think about me.  So, it is not easy for me to talk to others about Jesus.  I worry if I will upset them, I worry I will look stupid, I worry they will be mean.  All of this means that I don’t open my mouth in many situations. However, through prayer the Holy Spirit is helping me get over this fear.  I pray often for a Holy boldness to say whatever I feel the Holy Spirit prompting me to say.  I definitely still have times when I am not confident enough to say what I feel led to say, but those times are becoming less and less.  

I would not be doing this podcast if the Holy Spirit wasn’t helping me write each episode and giving me the courage to put them out there in the world where people can hear them.  Writing them is one thing, but sharing them with the world is another.  What if they don’t like them, what if I say something that isn’t true, I am not a theologian, what if I upset someone?  These are the type of questions that can paralyze someone and keep them from stepping out into the purpose God gave them.  I am grateful that I know the power of the Holy Spirit.  I am grateful I know that He wants to equip each one of us for our mission.  I know that He is there giving me the strength to do all things I am called to do.  One of my favorite sayings is, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.”  The Holy Spirit will give you all you need to do whatever God is asking you to do.  All you have to do is say yes!

If you have been baptized and you have not asked the Holy Spirit for any of His gifts I ask you to consider doing so.  I ask you to consider asking the Holy Spirit to come into your everyday life.  Give Him permission to act in your life.  Ask Him to show you what God has in store for you and then ask Him to give you the power to yes to God’s plan, even if you are scared, even if there is so much that is unknown, trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to help you.  I know this is a big prayer and also, who couldn’t use a little more power in their life?  If there is one word that God has been making sure I heard over these last few months, it’s that God has so much more for us.  He wants to give us more but we aren’t asking for it.  Spend some time with God today and ask Him where in your life He wants to give you more.  Talk to the Holy Spirit and give Him permission to work in your life.  I am sure He is already working in your life, but give Him the permission to work more powerfully in your life.  You will be amazed at the ways you see your life changing.

Dear Heavenly Father, please bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, thank you so much for giving us the Holy Spirit, you are amazing, The Holy Spirit is amazing.  Thank you for bestowing this power upon on. Help us to use the Holy Spirit to build up your kingdom.  Help each one of us to do our part to fulfill your great commission.  Open our eyes, hearts and mind to the Holy Spirit. If anyone is confused, or doesn’t understand about the Holy Spirit, we pray you enlighten their mind so they can live more fully with the Holy Spirit in their lives.  We love you Lord, you are awesome.  You love us so much and we are so grateful. 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 truly appreciate each and every one of you for listening.  If you are interested in doing a witness Wednesday, please let me know.  It is much more interesting when it isn’t me doing them each week.  I look forward to sharing another witness with you tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I. Have a blessed day!

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Don’t Deprive Yourself of a Happy Day!

Sirach 14:14 “Do not deprive yourself of a happy day; let not your share of desired good pass by you.”

I was surprised at hearing this phrase in the Bible.  There are a lot of places in the Bible where it talks about sacrifices and fasting and doing without things. It was nice to hear this verse.  Do not deprive yourself of a happy day.  This is something more and more of us are doing these days.  We are spending too much time either living in the past or worrying about the future.  I heard a really great sermon on the Elevation podcast last week called “Remember Lot’s Wife,” by Christine Caine.  If you have time you I recommend listening to it.  So much wisdom in all she said.  One of her main points, I believe she had several, was to not get stuck in the past.  One of the scripture verses she mentioned was Luke 17:32.  It is a very short passage with just three words.  “Remember Lot’s wife.”  

This verse comes in the middle of the section called Coming of the Kingdom.  Jesus is telling his disciples what will happen when the Kingdom of God comes.  Then in the middle of this explanation He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”  Something I learned from this sermon is that there are 170 woman mentioned in the Bible.  Some woman even have their own book of the Bible, like Ruth and Esther.  However, when Jesus is talking about the end of days, He tells us to remember Lot’s wife.  What do we know about Lot’s wife?  The only thing I know about Lot’s wife, the only thing the Bible tells us, is that when Lot’s family was leaving Sodom, before sulfur and fire rained down to destroy the city, his family was told not to look back.  Lot’s wife looked back and she was instantly turned into a pillar of salt.

Why would it be important to remember Lot’s wife?  Lot’s wife was so caught up in what she was leaving behind, that she missed where she was going?  I totally get this.  They had to leave everything behind, they had to leave their house, their friends, any other family besides their immediate family.  It was a lot they had to leave behind.  It was also a much better life where they were going.  The town they lived in was full of people doing awful things.  And also, that town was about to be destroyed.  If she stayed their she would have died.  She knew this and yet she still couldn’t help and turn back to look.  She was too stuck in what she was leaving and it ruined the amazing future she could have had.  Is this happening to you?

Are you stuck looking back?  Are you so caught up in what happened in the past, what you gave up, what you lost, that you can’t seem to step forward towards your future?  I am not minimizing what you may have lost.  Some people have lost a lot and that is hard.  I have a friend who lost her mom, who was her best friend this year.  I just went to a funeral on Friday for another family who lost their mom.  Loss is real and it is painful.  It takes time to learn to live with the feelings of loss.  I understand this.  I also know that family member you lost wouldn’t want you to stay it that grief and that pain.  They would want you to get help to figure out how to move forward with the pain.  Staying stuck in the past won’t get you anywhere.  

Also, some of you may have had past relationships that haven’t worked out and so you are scared to move forward with a new relationship.  This is normal.  New is hard and uncertain.  It is ok to be cautious.  It’s ok to take your time.  Just don’t get too caught up in looking backwards that you miss the amazing future you could be walking towards. Whatever it is you are focusing on in your past, ask yourself, “Is this holding me back from an amazing future?” If the answer is yes, figure out what you need to do to let go of it.  That might be different for each one of us.  Maybe that means attending a grief share group, maybe that means seeing a counselor, maybe that means saying goodbye to a bad relationship.  Whatever it is, you are strong enough to do it.  You can do hard things!

The other way we deprive ourselves of a bad day is we worry about the future.  We have conversations in our head about what we will say if this happens or that happens, even though those things almost never happen.  We worry about how we will deal with a thousand different scenarios when they occur and most of them never occur.  I am not saying we shouldn’t plan ahead.  I think we should do our best to plan ahead in most circumstances.  However, I don’t think we should worry about everything that might go wrong.  We will never be able to plan for every single thing that may happen.  There will always be some level of faith or trust that things will work out.  And if something happens, we will have plenty of time to worry then.  We don’t need to ruin this day worrying bout what might happen on another day.  There is a saying that speaks the truth about worry and I just love it as it is a great reminder.  “Worrying doesn’t take away tomorrows problems, it just takes away today’s peace.”

No matter how much you worry about tomorrow’s potential problems, it won’t make your problems go away.  However, it will make it impossible to enjoy the day you are living right now.  There is so much wisdom in the verse above.  “Do not deprive yourself of a happy day; let not your share of desired good pass by you.” How many days have we deprived ourselves of a happy day because we were either stuck in the past or worried about the future?  How many more days are we going to deprive ourselves of happiness?  I love how the second half of the verse says, “let not your share of desired good pass you by.”  Do you even know how much good you might be missing out on by depriving yourself of good days?  

Some of us may need time and we may need someone to help with that grief or that trauma.  Some of us may need to accept that the past has happened and although we can’t change it, we can learn from it and move forward.  We can make a decision to stop letting the past ruin our today.  We can also make a decision to not let the unknown of the future ruin our today.  We can make a decision to enjoy today, live in today and deal with the unknown things when they become known.  The Bible is constantly telling us not to worry.  Now we have a verse telling us to not deprive ourselves of a good day, and to not miss out on the good things in life.  How many more times and in how many more different ways do we need the Lord to tell us not to worry, not to focus on the past, and to just live in the moment, before we actually listen?  What if we heard Him today?  What if we choose today to make the decision to have a happy day today, and then tomorrow and then the next day?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to have a happy day, please help us.  We want to stop worrying about the future, it’s just so hard, this world is so uncertain.  Please show us how to stop worrying.  Lord, we don’t want to be stuck in the past.  We want to let the past go, we want to move forward, please help us.  Help us to turn our eyes towards you and to know that you will help us be at peace with our past and you will be with us as we step into the future.  We trust you Lord, we know you are always with us.  Help us trust you more.  We love you Lord, you are so amazing.  You are the almighty one and we are so grateful for all you do. 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 have an exciting announcement.  My book will be coming out on Amazon very soon!  Here is the description I have about the book. “Have you ever wished you could have the kind of trust Daniel had in the Lion's Den or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had in the fiery furnace? Have you ever wished you could trust God this deeply when you were in the middle of a storm or when your faith was being tested?  Do you long for a deeper intimacy with your heavenly Father?  If so, this book is your answer! In this book, I have outlined 15 different ways in which I deepened my faith in the Lord.  I have come to know the Lord so intimately, and I know He will take care of everything.  I have had some pretty big things happen over the years and yet I knew with ever fiber of my being, God was there for me and He would be my guide.  My trust in the Lord runs deep and it didn't just happen.  I worked hard to learn to trust God with such conviction.  The good news is if I can do it, so can you!  There is something in this book for everyone.  With 15 different ways to grow closer to God, you are sure to find some that are perfect for you.  If you want to trust the Lord more, if you want to have a more intimate relationship with God, get this book.  You will not be disappointed!” I will let you know when it is available on Amazon.  I am excited to get to share this book with you! I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!

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Gentle Words Bring Life

Proverbs 15:4 “Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.”

We all know that our words are powerful and yet we don’t always pay attention to what we are saying.  We should always speak with intention and pay close attention to our words.  In my Encounter Ministry class we are learning the importance of our words.  We are learning how to make declarations.  I am sure I will share that information with you after I do this week’s homework.  However, today I wanted to share the concept of a video we watched in class because it really was powerful.  I will place a link for the video in the show notes and I encourage you to take a look a look at it.  It is not a long video, just 2 minutes of your time and yet it is so impactful.  If you have any doubt about how important words are, you should definitely watch the video.

This video is about an experiment that Ikea completed.  At Ikea they believe that happiness is spread by how we treat people.  That is why they went this extra mile to spread positivity.  They took two of their own plants in placed them in GEM schools across the UAE.  Recorded audio messages were played in a loop where one plant was being bullied and one was being complimented.  The students started to notice that the plant being bullied was starting to wilt and droop down, while the plant that was being complimented was thriving.  I think this is remarkable.  If negative words can have that much of an affect on plants, imagine how much they can affect your children, your loved ones, your friends, co-workers, and all those you meet.  

I chose this scripture because it tells a truth that although we might all already know, we don’t alway realize it when we are talking.  “Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” This is especially true when you have children.  Have you ever said something harsh to a child in a moment of anger and you just see their tiny little spirit get crushed?  You didn’t mean to, you weren’t even thinking, you just reacted.  We have all done it and it feels terrible.  I am sure we all feel terrible when we just react in the moment and we accidentally yell at our children or say something unkind.  However, what about the unkind word we said to the driver who cut us off, or the person in the store who took the last jar container of coffee?  Do you feel bad about that?

I have talked before about how words can hurt people.  That episode was called Words Can Wound.  Today I want to talk to you about how words can build people up, or as this verse says, “Gentle words bring life and health.” If words of encouragement can help a plant to thrive, think of how much more they could help those around us thrive.  If I was a betting woman I would bet if you are listening to this podcast you are aware of how hurtful your words can be.  I think this is talked about a lot these days, which I think is good because that was not always the case.  I don’t know if we talk enough about the importance of words of encouragement.

We all want our children to be successful.  We want the to be happy and healthy.  We want them to have a good job and we don’t want them to have to struggle like we did, or like others do.  This is a good thing.  Having expectations of our children is great.  We just need to make sure our expectations are good expectations.  Our children will live up to our expectations of them.  If we expect them to succeed they will, if we expect them to fail, they will.  This is why our words our so important.  Our words become the thoughts they have running through their head.  If we tell them they are capable of doing hard things, over time that will be the mantra that runs through their mind.   If we tell them we are proud of them, they are good kids, they are responsible, those are the thoughts that will be running through their heads.  

I think we sometimes accidentally put the wrong thoughts in our kids heads because we are worried for them.  We don’t realize what our words might be saying to them.  For instance, I read a book about parenting once and it said if you are constantly reminding your kids about everything then you are telling them you don’t have confidence in them to remember it.  One thing that stood out to me was, reminding them every time they get out of the car to watch out for the car next to them.  I was worried they would hit the car next to them with the door.  However, they never once did and yet every time they got out of the car, I would remind them.  When I did this it was showing them I didn’t trust them to remember what I said or I didn’t trust them to know how to get out of the car.  Either way, it was telling them I didn’t trust them.  When I would remind them to take their dishes to the sink a hundred times it is telling them they can’t be trusted to remember to do it.  Also, reminding them to be good when they go to a friends house.  I am sure you get the picture.  Our words and what we say to our kids matters.  The things we tell them all the time become the stories they tell themselves.

This can be for grown children too.  If you are telling your grown children they should be doing this or they should be doing that, they may interpret this as they are not good enough or nothing they do pleases you.  If you are reminding them of the same thing over and over again they may feel as though you don’t think they are capable of remembering it on their own.  What stories do you want playing through your child’s mind?  Decide now what stories you want playing through their mind and then be very intentional with what you say and how you say it.  There is a difference between saying, “Great job saving this week!  I can’t wait to see how much you save next week,” and “Don’t forget to save some money this week.” Which one do you think is more likely to encourage them to save more?

I know we all want our children to do well.  I guess what I am saying is that nagging them and reminding them of all the things you think they might forget may not actually be helping you accomplish your mission.  Instead, try to praise them for all they are doing right.  Have high expectations and expect they are capable of living up to them.  Trust they can remember things without a million reminders.  Trust that what you have taught them has sunk in and you don’t have to constantly remind them.  When you are correcting them for something remember this verse, ““Gentle words bring life and health; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” You children will need correction and guidance as they grow.  Remember to be intentional about how you provide that correction and guidance.  We want to bring life and health to our children, we don’t want to crush their spirit.

Dear heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we ask you to help us be intentional with our words.  Let us only use words that bring forth life.  Let us only use words that build people up instead of tearing them down.  Show us where we might be falling short of this.  Help us to not let our anger get the best of us.  Show us where in our lives we can be better about how we are communicating with those around us.  Lord, help us to see how powerful our words are and let us only use our words for good.  Lord, you are truly amazing and we are so grateful you are our dad.  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 on Monday.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I.  Have a blessed weekend!

www.findingtruenorthcoaching.com

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Love Is The Answer

Proverbs 24:17-18 "Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and do not let your heart be glad when they stumble, lest the Lord see it and be displeased and turn away his anger from them.”

I was surprised when I heard this yesterday on Father Mike’s Podcast because this topic had come up in a conversation with a friend just the other day.  She was talking about how God revealed to her a sin that she didn’t know or at least didn’t realize was a sin.  She was driving to work the other day and someone was behind her tailgating her for quite a long way.  Finally the person sped past her and then that person got pulled over.  She passed them pulled over and she laughed all the way to work.  Later she had the sense that God was telling her that was a sin.  Then I hear Father Mike read this proverb about not rejoicing when our enemies fall.  

My friend is not alone.  I think many of us would have done the same.  I think many of us would have wished for the person to get pulled over and then felt very good if they did.  I used to do this and then I head a talk on this topic.  I am not sure if it was this exact proverb or not but the speaker said we shouldn’t be wishing other people ill will.  As easy as it is to do when they are being awful to us.  The speaker, and I can’t remember who it was or where it was, was saying when someone is doing something unkind to you, like tailgating you the whole way to work, or cutting you in line at the grocery store, instead of wishing them ill will, say a prayer of blessing for them.  We never want to let others cause us to sin.

My friend was saying she had a coworker ask her to define sin.  What is a sin?  She said she had to stop in think.  It’s one of those things where you know what it is but you can’t necessarily explain it.  Or, maybe some of you can, I don’t know.  I was always taught that sin is anything you do to break your relationship with God.  However, that doesn’t really explain to someone that doesn’t know about sin, what it is.  My friend took some time, and thought about. She asked the Holy Spirit to help her out and what she felt like the Holy Spirit was telling her was that sin is whenever you do anything that goes against the biggest commandments which Jesus says is love the Lord you God with all your heart and second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  She felt like the Holy Spirit was saying sin is anything you do that goes against these commandments.

The sense she got was that it wasn’t about a long checklist of things you can and can’t do.  When you are trying to figure out if something is a sin ask yourself this question, “does it go against me showing love to God, myself, or my neighbor?” If the answer is yes, it is a sin and you should repent.  I love this because it makes things so much easier.  It says in Matthew 22:40 "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”  If you are obeying the two greatest commandments then you will be obeying all the commandments.  You cannot be truly loving your neighbor while you are stealing from their house, or coveting their wife.

On one hand, I like this definition of sin because it’s simple and it narrows our focus.  Instead of trying to think of all the commandments and all the things we should and shouldn’t do we can just ask ourselves, “Am I doing this in love?”  However, I also think it holds us to a higher standard.    It reminds us that we are called to love our enemies as well and that is not so easy to do.  I feel as though looking at the commandments it can be easy for us to think we are not sinning. If we sit down and just look at the 10 commandments, as written, not the examination of conscience, then we will probably say we have not sinned today.  However, what if you looked at all your interactions throughout the day and you asked yourself, “Did I do that with love today?”  “Did I treat that person with love?” “Did I hate anyone today?”  “Did I treat anyone in way that doesn’t show them love?”

I think if we did this we would find we were having a lot more conversations with God about our sins.  If we adopted this definition of sin, we would be living a much better life.  We would become the people God is calling us to be.  Jesus said loving God and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves are the greatest commandments.  Are we treating them as such?  Are we keeping this in our minds as we are going throughout our day?  How many of us needed this reminder today? I know I did.  When God says we need to love our neighbor, He doesn’t just mean the neighbors you like.  He doesn’t just mean the good neighbors.  He means all your neighbors, even the one that is annoying you, even the one that has 10 cars parked on their front long.  God is calling you to love all of your neighbors. When God says neighbors He doesn’t just mean people you live next to, He means everyone you share life with, everyone you interact with, everyone you drive next to on the road.  

Getting back to the verse above, it is not loving to take pleasure when our enemies fall.  It is human, we all have felt that at one time or another, probably more often than we would like to admit. However, if we are happy each time our enemies fall, then we begin to develop a pattern and slowly over time our heart hardens to our enemies.  By enemy, I don’t mean it needs to be your arch nemesis.  You enemy could be anyone who is not for you but against you.  Your enemy could be anyone you are upset with or doesn’t treat you kindly.  There are some pretty awful people in the world but here’s the thing, you can’t control them, you can only control your behaviors.  Do you want to let those awful people decide if you are going to get to spend eternity in Heaven with God or eternity in Hell? No, we don’t.  Don’t give them any power.  Live your life with as much love as you can.  When you encounter someone who is not being kind say a prayer for that person and their soul. God wants all His children in heaven with Him, so we will be helping God out if every time we want to rejoice in someone else’s misery or every time we want to treat someone like they deserve to be treated, we can say a prayer for them instead.  

A thought just came to mind, sometimes we feel we need to treat others badly so they know they hurt us.  Sometimes we feel we need to beep the horn when they cut us off so they know not to do it next time.  We feel like if we treat them with love when they are treating us badly they will just keep doing it.  The thought the Holy Spirit just gave me while writing this is, “What if God treated us like we deserved to be treated?”  Wow, what a thought.  Think about all the things God does for us?  Think about how many times we have messed up and God has forgiven us without pointing it out to us.  Do you really think that person in the car that cut you off didn’t know they did something wrong? Do you really think they won’t do it again next time just because you beeped?  What about that person that is being unkind at work?  Has the fact that you are being unkind back helped the situation?  Would the situation change if you changed your tactic and decided to love them despite their actions?  

Don’t let other people dictate your behaviors.  Don’t let them drag you down. You are better than that.  What areas in your life do you find yourself giving into the temptation to rejoice at other peoples bad fortune, or where do you find yourself rooting for people to fail?  What could you do differently?  It is much better to have a plan when you go into a situation.  Our habits don’t just change on their own.  We can’t get rid of one thing and not replace it with something else or the bad habit will creep back in.  My challenge for you today is to think of how this message applies to you and then figure out a way you can replace a sinful habit with one of love.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we don’t want to sin, please help us.  We don’t want to do anything that would separate us from you and yet we don’t know how to love our enemies.  It is so difficult Lord.  These thoughts of celebrating when our enemies fall come so naturally we hardly even notice we are having them.  Please bring them out of our subconscious and into our awareness.  Lord, we want you to show us where we are making mistakes and not living up to what you are calling us too.  We want to love all those around us and yet it is so hard.  People are complicated and sometimes down right mean.  We struggle to love those people Lord, but we can do all things through you so please help us.  Lord, I ask you to show us individually in our own lives how you want us to love others.  You are amazing Lord.  You are the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.  We are so grateful to 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 spending time with you tomorrow.  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 on the link below.  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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We Are No Longer Slaves To Sin

Romans 6:16 “ Do you not know that, if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?.”

Wow, I am not sure I have ever really thought about it in this way before.  This idea of being a slave to sin is actually something I have been thinking a lot about lately.  There were several years where I really worked on my self control and my self discipline. I gave up soda, which if you know me, that was a big sacrifice and at the same time, it isn’t really good for me so I don’t want to drink it.  Well, I want to, but I don’t.  I also wasn’t eating a lot of junk food.  It wasn’t as if I suddenly didn’t want soda, or chips, or ice cream.  I definitely did.  However, I also wanted to be healthy and I knew it wasn’t ok to give into my every whim or desire.  I knew that beside becoming healthier I was becoming mentally stronger.  It is great exercise for your mind and body to deny yourself some of the things you want.  It is really powerful to let you body know that just because it wants something doesn’t mean is should have it.  It may sound strange if you have not done this, but you feel so great when you are able to say no to yourself.  

There was a time, not too long ago where I was really good at this.  For several years I was very good at this.  However, this last year and a half, I am not sure what happened.  I seem to have forgotten that I don’t have to give in to every desire I have.  My body tells me I want chips and I say ok.  My body tells me I don’t want to work out and I say ok.  I seem to have forgotten I can tell myself no.  If this is you too, if you are struggling with self control, I suggest you read Romans 6-8.  That was my homework this week for my class and I could not believe how much it spoke to me.  Especially the first chapter or two, it reminds us that we are more powerful than sin.  It reminds us we don’t have to give in to temptation.  

This verse above says, "Do you not know that, if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”  What this verse is telling us is that if we are giving in to our every desire the we will become slaves to our desires.  Do you ever feel like that, like you are a slave to your desires or to your cravings?  I know I do.  I used to be addicted to coke a cola.  I knew it wasn’t great to drink it all the time and so I wouldn’t buy it for the house.  However, then I would find myself having to find reasons to drive by a Cumberland Farms so I could grab a coke.  More times than I can count I have been addicted to a TV show.  I would have plenty of work to do and yet I would sit on the couch and watch TV because I was a slave to that desire.  I would tell myself to get up and turn the TV off, and yet I just couldn’t.  

I don’t want to be a slave to anything.  I want the freedom to do something or not do something.  That freedom only comes when we use the will power that we were given. That freedom only comes when we ask God to help us do the things we want to do instead of that which we don’t want to do.  I recently learned that when St. Paul said in Romans 6:15 “I do not understand my own actions, but I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate.”  He was actually referring to his life before  his baptism.  This is because as it says in Romans 6:15, “ For Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under Grace.”  

We have the power to overcome sin.  We no longer have to become slave to it.  I wonder if you are asking yourself the same question I am asking myself, “They why do we?”  If you are like me, you still become slave to your desires, even though we have power over sin.  Why is this? I am not an expert but I think there are two reasons.  The first on, and I think the biggest reason is because we are believing the lies.  We are believing the enemy when he whispers lies about us.  The enemy tells us we are weak. The enemy tells us we have to eat that cookie, or watch that TV show. The enemy tells us it’s ok to just have one cookie, or to just watch one TV.  If you are addicted to something you must hear me now, “It won’t be just one.”  The enemy knows this. He knows if he can get you to just do it one time, he will have you hooked.  

The enemy is a liar.  He makes us think “we deserve” to eat that cookie, or drink that soda.  He convinces us we don’t need to go to the gym because we are tired and “we deserve” to just sit down and watch some TV  He convinces us that all these little choices don’t matter.  He convinces us a cookie is just a cookie.  And sometimes it is.  If you can eat a cookie or two and not have a problem, then a cookie is just a cookie.  But if it is not cookies, for you, what is it?  I am sure each one of us has that one thing we feel we can’t control.  Where are you lacking in will power and self control?  What lies is the enemy telling you about that.    What lies are you believing?  

Did you know you are a child of God?  Did you know God will give you the strength to get through anything?  He will give you the strength to do anything.  In Philippians 4:13 it says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  This is a fact.  It doesn’t say I can do some things, it says, “I can do all things.”  You can go to the gym, you can stop eating that junk, you can turn the TV off.  You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!

The second reason I think we continue to fall prey to sin is because of our human nature.  We were born with original sin and although Jesus died for our sins and so our nature to sin is gone, we still have some of the effects of original sin which means we will still sin sometimes.  The more we stay connected to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, the less we will sin.  The more we turn our lives over to God, the more we will learn to live like and think like Jesus did.  Is it hard work, yes!  Is it worth it, absolutely

The next time your body or your mind is telling you that you “need” to do something that you know is not good for you, you remind yourself of Romans 6:15, “ For Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under Grace.” You remind yourself that the enemy is a liar and you don’t have to listen.  Remind yourself that you are more powerful than the enemy because you have the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of you.  If the Holy Spirit can raise Jesus from the dead, he can absolutely give you the will power to say no to any temptation the enemy throws at you.  You can do this!  We can do this!  Sin no longer has dominion over us!

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this podcast today.  Lord, help us remember that you defeated the enemy and he no longer has any control over us.  Help us remember that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Lord, we ask that you come into any area we are struggling with and you show us how to succeed.  We invite you into all of our struggles and ask you to help us overcome.  Give us the strength we need to say no when we need to say no and to say yes when we need to say yes.  We love you Lord, you are truly amazing and we are so grateful for all you have done for us.  We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Tomorrow I will be sharing a witness with you about some answers to prayers I have seen while praying over people or praying for people.   I look forward to sharing those with you tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day.    

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