Category Archives: Spiritual Encouragement

Trying to Get the Man to Change

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Free-Will is a gift of God that we must become intimately familiar with in our significant relationships. Many women are praying that God will change a man for them, that He will overstep a man’s thought patterns and ways of behaving without the man’s consent. This will never happen. There are pieces of information that we must know so that we remain grounded in wisdom. These will keep our expectations in check when it comes to the significant relationship in our lives. The first is that God will only send you a man that knows Him. This man doesn’t have to be super knowledgeable of the Bible, and he may not be religious, but he knows the reality of God’s sovereignty and righteousness. He desires to do right because he wants to honor God and honor himself. If he doesn’t honor himself, he will not honor you. Secondly, a man must desire to change. He must see the value in it by recognizing the harm that a failure to change will cause. Lastly, a man must love you enough that if something he is doing, thinking, or feeling is causing you distress, he will choose to change.

Romans 12:2(NLT) says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” In this verse, God tells us exactly what we should not do, and exactly what we should do. We should not copy the behaviors and customs of society or the world, because those are contrary to the Word and Will of God. Instead, He directs us to allow Him to transform us, and we give Him permission to do this when we change the way we think.

God is telling us what to do here, but He will not force us to do it. He has given us free-will, and we have the great privilege to follow what He says. We decide whether we will change the way we think and receive the reward of His blessings. The choice to renew our minds to God’s truth is ours to make. Whether we choose to accept it or not, the reality is that:  #1 God only sends a woman a man that respects His sovereignty and righteousness, #2 the desire to change according to what is right is a person’s free-will choice, and #3 truly loving someone will motivate a person to change. These are true for all human beings, both men and women. However, as women, we must be especially attentive to remind ourselves of these jewels of wisdom so that we do not punish ourselves continually with wrong actions, bad decisions, and false expectations.

Often, we expect an unattainable outcome in a significant relationship because our expectations are outside the boundaries of right believing. Some of us get into relationships with men that might have peripheral qualities we’re attracted to, but after some time is spent in their company, we find that they are far from being a match for our level of spiritual, emotional, and mental maturity. We may not articulate this, but when we pull back the layers, it’s the reality we must face. Even when there are many good qualities that we appreciate in the man we’re involved with; he can still have non-dominant negative behaviors that sneak out at the most irritating and inappropriate times. These are not insignificant and can ultimately ruin a relationship if we’re not walking in faith.

There’s a place in every woman
Amos 3:3(NKJV) asks, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” This agreement between two individuals that intend to commit to one another is one that is more than verbal. As it relates to marriage, it is a spiritual agreement that is made at the deepest level. Some of us are praying for the man we’re involved with to change. If after many arguments and disagreements, he does not seem to alter his behavior, we’re at our wits end. We’re not being heard, valued, and respected in the way we feel we deserve. It makes us feel helpless in the relationship because the agreement that two committed individuals should have with one another is not working both ways.

Within every woman, God has created a place at her very core, and her destiny partner is a man that will respond to that place within her. It’s a deep place that we may not be aware of and we cannot define, but we will know definitively when that place has made contact with the right man. We must trust with every fiber of our being that there is something about the right man’s manhood that will come into agreement with that place in order for us to have confidence in his fidelity, loyalty, and commitment. Many of us try to force this with the wrong man, but that is an unfruitful move on our parts. It will not yield the results we seek, and history has taught us this.

Many of us choose a man, give ourselves to him, and make future plans for marriage with him when his manhood has not connected with the very core of us. Often, this is why we are exasperated, because we are expecting something he cannot give. We lose so much stamina and momentum on this journey of life when we do this.

You must be led by God
We cannot make a man change. No words of a mere human have caused another human being to truly change. Only God and His Word can do this. He has commanded us to seek His Will in all that we do. We need to hear from Heavenly Father that His blessing is upon our relationships. We can never get ahead of God, and if we do this, we must seek the Lord’s forgiveness and ask for His help and wisdom.

It isn’t God’s Will that we are involved in relationships that are rollercoasters of ups and downs. We must be spiritually prepared for significant relationships because the wrong one can mess us up. We must be sharp in recognizing the Spirit’s directives, and we should have proven that we are humbled in total surrender and submission to his direction and guidance. If you have not made a habit pattern of walking by the Spirit, you will not perceive the warnings, information, and guidance necessary to preserve a union.

Know that he’s for you
If you are of the Lord, and the Lord is not in him, do not risk your life. Seek God with your whole heart! The man that is the one God has sent will not think it is a burden to change the things that jeopardize your relationship, because he will have confidence in the love of Christ in you. No longer will you allow yourself to be concerned with attributes and small things that irritated you in the past. This man will humble himself before God, and because of this, he will move you at your core. The Holy Spirit will testify in you that he is indeed the one that God has sent. Then you can have confidence that no matter what comes your way, the two of you will walk together in agreement as the love of God in Christ works within you both.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Trying to Get the Man to Change”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

You Are an Overcomer

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As we walk in this Christian journey, there’s no doubt we’ll learn a thing or two about troubles and how they come in all sizes, and varied degrees of difficulty. Jesus Christ said to the disciples in John 16:33(NLT), “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Our Lord and Savior made it very clear that life on earth comes with challenges, especially if you are following him. There will be those who don’t like us simply because we carry his light, and these individuals will sometimes come against us and do so vehemently. Jesus Christ has given us the appropriate response to challenges like these. We should take heart, which means to take courage and be strengthened, because Jesus Christ overcame the world. He won the victory over every obstacle, and through him, we will too.

God is not redundant or nonsensical. He would not tell us to do something we were incapable of doing. He tells us to take heart and be strengthened in the victory of Christ, because we are capable, as followers of Christ, to live that reality. Christ accomplished God’s mission perfectly. He didn’t leave one detail undone. Through him, God rescued us from sin and darkness, but not everyone will believe this or live it. So, the reality is that we will live the victory of Christ parallel to our faith in that victory. To the extent that we believe it, we can achieve it.  

During our most challenging times in life, we are presented with a choice. We can believe God’s Word and His promises within it, or we can choose not to believe Him, but He wants us to take Him at His Word. He wants us to have faith in Him and invite Him into every aspect of our existences.

When my friend Jocelyn was contemplating bankruptcy, she was swimming in debt. A divorced mother of two with no savings, she had tried everything she knew to save her house, and she thought bankruptcy was her only option. Many of us feel hinged in this way. In our way of thinking, we run out of options, but in the Spirit, options are bountiful and unlimited. Troubling situations can seem like mountains we can’t climb when we see them from a human point of view. Jesus Christ gives us another view. In Mark 11:23(NLT), he taught, “I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.” 

The condition of our minds and hearts are so important to walking in faith. Our life’s lessons are mostly about this, showing us the disadvantage of doubt and anxiety, and the advantage of having faith in God. Romans 8:37(ESV) declares, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” We are not just overcomers, but more than overcomers through Jesus Christ, who loves us and is continually rooting for us to succeed through him. The reality of the sacrifice and resurrection of our precious Lord is the foundation of our faith, and it is the root of any level of confidence we own as residents of earth and citizens of heaven.

In our significant relationships, some of us make the mistake of placing all our eggs in the basket of someone that is unqualified to hold them. The condition of our lives will mirror our error and levy against us circumstances that are the opposite of love and light. We must wake up and change this. Miraculously things happen in our lives and within our souls when we consciously put Jesus Christ in his rightful place of Lord in our lives. This means that no one, not a man, not mother, sister, brother, child or friend can be our everything. God is our Source, and only He can be our everything, because everything we are and could ever hope to be comes from Him. This must be settled in our minds and hearts, and when it is, our faith will be firmly placed in God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and our lives will be transformed.■ 

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“You Are an Overcomer”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Help Is on the Way

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There was a time in my life when I struggled with doubt and anxiety. I questioned if God really heard my prayers and wondered if He was happy with the kind of life I was living. I had doubts because the situations that plagued me were emotionally draining, and they didn’t seem to be getting any better. I struggled spiritually because I couldn’t make sense of anything that was happening in my life and was convinced that the scriptures in the Bible would not relate to my circumstances. Then, one day I received a phone call from a woman of God. She challenged me to be completely honest and open with God and with myself, and then trust Him with the problems I faced. She encouraged me to be committed to let go and let God for the next month, and to, “Be still, take a pause, and watch what God does.” I accepted her challenge.  

Boy, this was more challenging that I thought it would be. I became more observant of my thoughts and habits, and I began to see that some of them had been holding me back for a very long time. It was a fight to stop worrying, and I had to continuously tell myself, “Give it God. He’s got it.” I started to read in the Bible about those that had endured great difficulty and leaned on God to get them through it. Hebrews 12:1 tells us that we’re surrounded by a huge crowd of witnesses who walked this earth with their hand in the hand of our Heavenly Father. They grew in their faith and learn to trust Him utterly and completely. God tells us to look up to those folks, Abraham and Sarah, Abel, Enoch, and Noah, because their records of believing prove that God cannot fail. Their examples show us that God keeps His promises and His Word is true.

Hebrews 12:1(NLT) encourages us to “strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.” In most cases, a person won’t strip off a weight if we don’t know what it is or realize that it’s weighing them down. God tells us in His Word that sin and the oppression from not knowing Him or what He requires of us weighs us down. Bad attitudes and feelings of jealousy, envy, bitterness, resentment, arrogance, and selfishness weigh us down. When we entertain thoughts of sexual immorality and practice it, this is a heavy weight. Many of us have never confronted the reality that we’re participants in these things, and they are weighing our souls down. They cause us to draw into our lives the very situations, people, and circumstances that we don’t want.

Even though we may not have ever confronted the weight, we feel something blocking our journey forward and upward. We sense very deeply that something is wrong, and its draining us emotionally. Many of us think it’s someone or something in our external environment that is causing this, but no person or situation on the outside has the power to rule what is going on inside you. God didn’t give human beings the ability to look inside another’s heart and mind. We live from the inside out. God has given us the gift of free-will, and He holds us responsible for what is in our hearts and minds. The internal workings of your soul are your responsibility and only you can change how you act and what you think, speak, and do.

It’s internal, that’s what spearheads the issues of life. God instructs us in Proverbs 4:23(NLT) to “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” We must come clean to God and lay bare before Him. He already knows what’s in our hearts, but we need to acknowledge it as well. We must humble ourselves before Him and recognize that He has the power to transform us into the people He desires us to be.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us that God has set a race before each of us, and His Will is that we run it with endurance. This means that we must have spiritual strength and stamina. If we refuse to strip off the weight, we will continue to move at a snail’s pace toward our destinies. But if we are obedient to God’s Word, and if we seek God’s help, He will open our eyes to see the things we need to release so that we can have the kind of life He wants to give us.

In Colossians 3:10(NLT), Heavenly Father commands us to “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” If we don’t recognize the things we have to put off, we might not recognize the things we need to put on. We must read God’s Word and learn about Jesus Christ because his is the example that God commands us to follow. If you’re anything like me, I was so accustomed to handling problems on my own terms and under my own conditions that I blocked out God’s help. Because of this, my limited resources were constantly exhausted, but God’s resources are unlimited, and He offers them to us freely.

In the Old Testament, God’s people refused to change their thoughts and attitudes and would not be humble in the sight of God. They refused to seek only our Heavenly Father for provision and help. Instead, they went off the rails, worshiping idols, and bad things happened because they turned their backs on our Heavenly Father. God reminded them in Isaiah 41:27(NLT) that He was the One who told them, “Look! Help is on the way!” and He delivered on His promise. It doesn’t matter what situation we face in life; God is willing to come to our aid. Things can get very uncomfortable for us when we take our eyes off Jesus Christ, but when we anchor our confidence in God, we can be assured that His help is on the way.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Help Is on the Way”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Through A Dark Valley

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Psalm 23:4-5(NLT)
“Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. 5 You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.” 

As Children of God, we don’t have to be afraid of what’s to come, nor do we have to fear the unknown. Our only requirement is to trust God as He instructs us in Psalm 23. Many of us have been through some dark valleys. We’ve dealt with someone abusing us, taking our love for granted, and speaking down to us instead of lifting us up. Still, we loved them. We told ourselves to just keep hanging in there, thinking that sooner or later, he would turn around; he would recognize the treasure he has in us. We’ve dealt with crisis after crisis, and the emotional exhaustion is more than we ever thought we could bear. It’s a dark valley, and God wants us to know that we’re not in it alone.

No matter how hurtful your circumstances may be, you are not without the love of God. It’s having faith in His love that stumps some of us. We fail to recognize His amazing grace, and to learn more about it from His Word. Because of this, our worries and fears get the best of us. The wisdom of Proverbs 12:25(ESV) says, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” Anxiety is difficult enough when it’s on our minds, but when it’s in our hearts, it weighs us down. It makes us think and feel like we’re not going to rise above our circumstances and conditions, but instead we think and feel we’re going to be crushed by the weight of them. We may think and feel this way, but a ‘good word’ from God can turn our whole lives around if we’ll trust it.

A Good Word from God is exactly the spiritual counseling we need in order to change the way we think. We desperately need to do this, to change the way we think. We need to renew our minds to what God says. Psalm 34:17-19(ESV) is a Good Word about God’s protection, provision, and care. This passage tells us, “17 When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” There are many promises from God in His Word, and they will comfort and encourage us to trust Him.1Peter 5:7 tells us to cast all our anxieties on God, because He cares for us. We can fully surrender all to Him and trust that He will work all things out for our good.

As believers, we should never give the enemy a seat at the table. We shouldn’t allow him to steal the Word of God from our hearts and minds and make us think that God won’t help us because He’s forgotten about us or because we’re not good enough. This simply isn’t the truth. Romans 5:8 tells us that our Heavenly Father showed His great love for us all when He sent Christ to die as a sacrifice for our sins, and He did this while we were at our worst. God knows we’re going to make mistakes, and He doesn’t hold them against us. What He requires is for us to have faith that He can turn our pain into gain, and that through Him, we can become stronger, better, and wiser.

When darts are flying at you from every direction and you’re in the midst of a storm, take cover in Christ. In Ephesians 6:11, God tells us to put on all the armor He has provided through Jesus Christ, so we’ll be able to stand firm against the strategies of the devil. This is something we must do every day. Every morning, even before our feet hit the ground, we should pray and ask God to take over our day through His precious Holy Spirit. We should surrender it all to Him, and trust that He will lead, guide, and direct us as He promised in His Word.

When abusive relationships take us through a dark valley, sometimes we let our armor down. God is not punishing us. He wants us to know we can put on His armor at any time, as long as we do so with total trust in His power. Isaiah 40:29(NLT)declares, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.” The internal struggles we have are about whether we will believe in the love and power of a God that we cannot see, and whether we will see Him bigger than our problems. Don’t let doubt and insecurity win. Don’t allow them to take hold of your spirit. Make the simple but life changing choice to walk with God every moment of every day. God is close beside you and He will never leave you. Let Him control your life and trust Him to show you His marvelous light and love. Don’t listen to the enemy’s lies, listen to God! Read His Word, pray often, and have faith as He protects, comforts, and strengthens you.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

“Through A Dark Valley”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

God Heals the Brokenhearted

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1Peter 1:5-7(NLT)
“5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. 6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold–though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

Managing emotional and mental anguish seemed like something that was only discussed within the confines of family interventions and therapy. Now it’s open topic of conversation on just about every platform out there. People are tired of hurting in silence, and they’re looking for help and making use of the many resources and tools that are available in our modern times. Not all these resources and tools are helpful to our relationships with God.  As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must be so very careful. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9(NKJV), “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” The world offers many doors, but our minds and hearts were created by God for fellowship with Him through Christ. So, we must be extremely discerning because we might open the wrong door, and there’s no telling what we’ll let in.

1Peter 1:5 tells us that through our FAITH, God is protecting us by His power. In faith, joy is an inside job. It’s given to us by Christ when we accept him as Lord over our lives. Our joy and rejoicing are not interrupted by the cares of this world, even during the times when life seems crazy. 1Peter 1:7 says that our faith in God is more precious than pure gold. You and I didn’t assign the value of our faith, God did. Faith in God is a powerful reality. It’s precious to Him, therefore it must be extremely precious to us, and we must treat it that way. In life, there will be troubles and tribulations, some of them are doozies, but we must have faith that God did not cause them but will deliver us from them.

God understands all the things we go through on earth. He knows that we will experience loss, heartache, and sometimes devastation. We have an enemy, and 1Peter 5:8 tells us that the devil walks around the earth like a roaring lion, looking for those he can devour. God commands us in verse 9 to stand firm against the enemy by being strong in our faith. We must be convinced of God’s love and goodness. He knew about the problem before we did, and He already has the solution. You might ask, “well why didn’t He give it to me?” He will ask, “Why didn’t you ask me for it?” God requires us to seek Him and to understand who He is.

Nothing compares to God’s healing power, and He has already made us complete in Jesus Christ, but you and I must partner with God’s Will. We can’t stand outside of His love and power, waiting for Him to move. God has already moved. He accomplished everything for His children by giving Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for our sins. Now, it’s our move, because His door is always before us. All we have to do is open it and allow Him to lead, guide, and direct us through life.

Christ commanded us in Matthew 6:33(ESV), “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Many of us haven’t taken the Lord at His Word here. We’ve made of a habit of seeking other people first. We have conditioned our minds to trust and believe people and things that work against God’s power and love for us. He doesn’t want us to live that way because it’s beneath our rights and privileges as His sons and daughters. Jesus Christ said in Revelations 3:20(NLT), “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” This is the only door God has given us to open for salvation, healing, strength, love, and power. Everything we need is in Jesus Christ.

Psalm 147:3 (ESV) tells us, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Be careful not to seek the wrong place for your healing and wholeness. Let God guide you so that you do not open a door that looks promising but is actually an entrance to chaos and confusion. God is the One who heals our broken hearts. Through Christ, He causes a radical transformation in our lives, but we must stop looking for love in all the wrong places. God never intended us to do that. We’re to look to Him for our needs.

Our Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to remain hidden behind the walls of pain and hurt, suffering in silence. He wants us to have faith in Him. It’s ok to ask God questions, but recognize that you’re standing before the Almighty, All-loving-and-knowing, All-powerful God who has created you. He knows everything about you and knows what you need before you even ask him. Again, He knows you, but He wants you to know Him as your Healer, Protector, Provider, and Loving Father. Open the door to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him heal your broken heart, and trust with all your heart that He will.■

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“God Heals the Brokenhearted”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

No Enemy Can Reach Me

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Matthew 11:28(NLT)
“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

As parents, we go to great lengths to protect and keep our children safe.  I remember hearing my mother tell the story of me falling out of our moving car while she was backing out of the driveway. Back then there were no laws about child restraints like the car seats we have today, but it just goes to show you that as a society, the desire for us to protect our children has evolved and the technology to do so has advanced as well. Acknowledging what is truly valuable in life fundamentally connects us, and the glue for it all is love.

We protect what we value, and for Christians, the Word of God is the most valuable asset we have. 2Peter 1:3(NIV) tells us, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” The Bible contains knowledge about God, and it’s all that we need to live a Godly life. It contains the necessary information to live a bountiful existence on earth.

1John 4:7(ESV) says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” When it comes to our children, we find it so easy to love and to do what it takes to support them, but when it comes to loving and supporting ourselves, many of us fall short. One of the biggest reasons for this is that we lack faith in God and the love He has for us. God’s love is the most powerful reality that exists, and it beautifully and wonderfully takes up all of life’s space, but it requires us to trust this deeply in our hearts.

Throughout our lives, we’ve received a ton of messages and a lot them were not good for our souls. Some of them have shaped and molded the way we see our Heavenly Father. Many of us were told that we weren’t good enough and that we would never amount to anything in life. Messages like this are very damaging because for many of us they stick. We approach life as if it is a disappointment waiting to happen. God tells us in Proverbs 4:23(NLT) to “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” He tells us to not allow our hearts to be governed by doubt, insecurity, and negativity, because these will give us a stony heart, and no seed can grow there when that happens.

Romans 5:8(ESV) says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God loved us even when we were at our worse, and He loves us just the same now. He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for our sins, and this shows us how much we can count on His love. When He resurrected Christ from the dead, God demonstrated His incomparable power.

In Psalm 62:6-7(NLT), the psalmist declared, “6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. 7 My victory and honor come from God alone.  He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.” This is a powerful passage! We have a spiritual enemy, satan, who is out to do us harm, but with God on our side, we can live through the victory that Jesus Christ won for us on the cross! Romans 8:31-34 The Message (MSG) says, “So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us.”

2Chronicles 17 in the Old Testament gives us a record of God’s faithfulness and willingness to help us. Jehoshaphat was a very successful king of Judah because of his diligence to seek God in all things. 2Chronicles 17:6(NLT) says, “He was deeply committed to the ways of the LORD.” Naturally, being a king, Jehoshaphat had tremendous responsibility and great wealth, but he understood that all his blessings, wealth, and the strength of his nation was because of God. When asked to join another king in battle, Jehoshaphat was cordial, but knew such a decision could not be made without consulting God. He told the other king in 2Chronicles 18:4(NLT),
“But first let’s find out what the LORD says.”

Jehoshaphat went to battle, and the Lord protected him from his enemies, and He will do the same for us, but we have a part to play as well. So many of us are sad and feeling defeated because we believe life is against us. The person we love is hurting us and nothing seems to go the way we thought. God wants to help us. He’s our protection and refuge. He will put a hedge around us, and no enemy can reach us, but we must trust the Lord with all our hearts. He’s the One that takes care of us and our children. To show God that we’re serious about honoring Him as our all-powerful and all-knowing Creator, like Jehoshaphat, we must seek Him. Inviting God into our lives through the Lord Jesus Christ is the first step. The second is to love ourselves by trusting God’s love and committing ourselves to learn more about Him. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

“No Enemy Can Reach Me”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

The Manifestation of Your Blessings

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Genesis 1:1(NLT) says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” You and I do not know when the beginning began, but we know that whenever it was, God was there, because He tells us in Revelation 22:13(NLT), “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” God is the only Giver of blessings, and this must be acknowledged by us in every way. Jesus Christ declared in John 4:24 that God is a Spirit, and the only way to worship Him is in spirit and in truth. In other words, we cannot worship God without knowing who He is. We must know the truth regarding the perfection of His magnificence, omnipotence, and omniscience, and we must be concerned with spiritual realities in order to worship God in the spirit. A lack of understanding and acceptance of this is the reason that many have not seen the manifestation of His blessings.

God has given us His Word because we must know it for ourselves. His Word is life to us! It is the bread of life, and without it we are malnourished and depleted in every way. We cannot do anything for the Kingdom of God without walking by the Spirit and living by God’s Word. Sadly, even many believers do not believe this to be true. God is not in heaven withholding the desires that we so desperately want for ourselves. Many people think that way, and because of it they are doubting His goodness and His Word. That is never a good place to be.

Psalm 84:11 tells us that God doesn’t withhold any good thing from those who love and honor Him. It is we who withhold His blessings from ourselves because we refuse to line up our thinking, living, and speaking with the culture of the realm where all blessings abide.

The big problem
To be concerned with spiritual realities, you must comprehend the Words of Jesus in John 6:63(NKJV), and you must do so deep down, even on a molecular level. He said “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” The flesh profits nothing. You can’t be saved through the flesh. You can’t live eternally in the flesh, and you can’t please God in the flesh, because Romans 8:7 tells us that a mind that is set on the flesh is hostile towards God. That kind of mind is self-righteous, not faith-righteous. Therefore, a mind that is set on the flesh cannot submit to the ways of faith in God’s love.

This is a big problem with many individuals. They haven’t fully believed that life is spiritual, we are spiritual, and all blessings are spiritual. Everything comes from God and God is a Spirit, therefore, everything is spirit-u-al. 2Corinthians 4:18(NLT) tells us, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” This world that so many of us are clinging so tightly to, it’s temporary. It’s here today, but it will not last, yet we see it as being more real than the Kingdom of God. That’s a serious issue. It will keep us from seeing the manifestation of our blessings.

Ephesians 1:3(NLT) tells us, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” This is extraordinary beyond belief! Pray that God gives you a revelation of the astounding truth of what He is revealing here. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms! This is what God accomplished through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The flood gates that had been locked since the sin of Adam and Eve were opened by Christ, and the outpouring of every spiritual blessing was lavished upon us through our Redeemer!

We tell ourselves that we’re walking in faith, when the reality of what God has already done escapes us. We’re assuming a posture of waiting on blessings that God has already released. We’re losing out because our minds are stuck in neutral. We’re not understanding spiritual realities, and therefore, we lack the spiritual strength to reach up and grab what is rightfully ours. This way of thinking interferes with our faith because it means we are not believing rightly. We must get to a place where we line our thoughts, confessions, and actions with our faith in God. We must recognize that He has already provided, and it is our responsibility to manifest in the natural what He has supernaturally released.

Definition of manifestation
As it pertains to the spiritual realm, manifestation is defined as the process of transferring blessings from the spiritual realm into the natural realm by focus, faith, and agreement with God’s Word. All blessings are spiritual, and they have already been given by God according to Ephesians 1:3. This puts the manifestation of those blessings to our natural realm under our privilege and responsibility. It is up to us to walk in Holy Spirit power. It’s our choice to move according to his guidance so that we loose the things that have held us back and excel in the things that propel us forward.

Your completeness in Christ was received when you gave your life to him. The work of that completeness was accomplished over two thousand years ago, through his sacrifice and resurrection. Right now, at this very moment, you have everything you need to walk in the victory of Christ and to live a more than abundant life. It is God’s delight to see you prosper in this way. Philippians 2:13(NKJV) says, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” When the Holy Spirit came to dwell inside you, he brought to you God’s empowerment, and the Spirit is continually giving you the desire and the ability to do what pleases God. Manifestation of our desires takes place through our obedience to the Spirit. There is no other way.

Trust, see, and speak
We must come into the knowledge that God set the parameters for the manifestation of our desires. It is a spiritual process because God is a Spirit, and so are we! The only way to transfer from the wealth of His spiritual Kingdom is to trust Him, to see what He sees, and to speak what He speaks.

We must have faith in God’s goodness and love, and our faith is fueled by the vision that He gives us. Without a vision we perish. In other words, we’re just spinning our wheels, becoming exhausted but going nowhere. Many of us try to force faith, and we do this because we haven’t seen what God sees. We haven’t received a revelation from Him about the manifestation of the desires we seek. So, that should be the first item on our agenda. We should never try to get ahead of God regarding the timing and other details. He takes care of that. Our responsibility is to pray that He prepares us with the vision and directives for what we’ve asked to receive.

Lastly, we must understand Proverbs 18:21, that death and life are in the power of the tongue. If we don’t begin to speak what God speaks, to repeat His promises and to line up our thoughts and confessions with them, we are not in the flow of faith, and therefore, we are working against the manifestation process. You must open your mouth and begin to decree God’s favor and bounty over your existence. You must confess and affirm it so often that every cell in your makeup is drenched with the power and authority of Christ. So, work with God and partner with His Holy Spirit as he leads you on destiny’s path. Be willing to release anything that impedes your faith and believing so that your whole heart trusts God and is in agreement with every blessing that has your name on it. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“The Manifestation of Your Blessings”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Godly Treasures

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God told His people in Isaiah 45:3(NLT), “And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness- secret riches.  I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.” As believers, we should never underestimate or overlook the reality that God tied treasures and riches to His identity. This is astoundingly good news, especially for those of us that are seeking Him to cross paths with our marital partners.

For single believers that have been praying for marriage a while now, we have an acute awareness of ‘treasures hidden in the darkness and secret riches’, because ‘hidden and secret’ is exactly how finding the right person feels to us. We know that marriage is God’s institution, and that it is ordained and blessed by Him. He has given this institution to us as a way of blessing us and our family units. He desires that Godly parents will raise Godly children, and He has commanded parents to take care of their kids and bring them up in Godliness. So, marriage is a really big deal in the Will and Plan of God. It is to be honored as such, and this is one of the reasons why most of us view a Godly compatible, loving, and compassionate partner to be such a treasure.

In this verse in Isaiah 45:3, when God refers to treasures that are hidden in the dark and secret riches, He is instructing us about treasures and riches that are hidden from our physical eyes. Our Heavenly Father is not withholding these goodies from us, and they are not treasures that belong to the realm of darkness, but somehow satan has managed to hide them from our physical eyes. The reason for this is because we do not yet have the spiritual vision to see beyond satan’s tricks and plots.

1Corinthians 2:14(NLT) tells us, “But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.” Every person that is born-again through the Lord Jesus Christ has received God’s Spirit, but every person that is born-again is not walking in God’s Spirit to the extent that they can and should.

Just as we have five senses in the physical world, we have senses in the Spirit as well. It would benefit us greatly to strengthen them. In the physical realm for instance, newborns have five senses, but as infants that are not adept at using them. They can see no further than eight or twelve inches away, and anything further is blurry to their little eyes. Most often, if a child continues to grow and flourish, their vision, hearing, and other senses will sharpen and increase. Likewise, in the spiritual, God expects that we will spiritually grow in Christ. He expects that as we increase our faith through the knowledge of His Word, our spiritual vision will not be foggy or blurry. Instead, we will mature from spiritual infants to spiritual maturity in Christ.

In 2Peter 3:15-17, God warns us not to misuse the truth of His Word by twisting it to mean something other than what He has spoken. He warns us not to be tricked by wicked people who use clever words to distort the truth. We will slip away from the faith if we do this. If we fail to seek the truth by walking in the Spirit, we might become full of ourselves and think we can bend God’s truth to fit our selfish desires. This is not good. It will work against us. God warns that it will bring destruction to our lives.

We can’t navigate being single without God’s guidance and leadership. Many single people don’t believe this, and they are committed to doing what they’ve always done. They think their way will lead to success, but Proverbs 19:21(NLT) tells us, “You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” When we ask for God’s help in our quests for marriage, He’s going to examine if we are spiritually mature enough to steward or manage His Godly treasure. Are we still spiritual infants, not yet pursuing God’s Word the way He expects? If we are, God doesn’t tell us “no”, He waits for our spiritual maturity to increase and equal the blessing we seek. Physical maturity occurs as we age, but unlike the physical, God has given us the responsibility for the acceleration of our spiritual maturity, so we should never blame Him for not blessing us. Instead we should pray and increase our commitment to grow in Christ.

The blessing is ours, but we can’t do things our own way and neglect to meet God’s requirement. We must humble ourselves before Him. We must attend to our relationship with God and be committed to go and grow higher in Christ. God commands us in 2Peter 3:18(NLT), “Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Spiritual maturity is obtained by reading, studying, and meditating on God’s Word. Our level of commitment to this will increase our spiritual vision and strength. Then, the Godly treasures we seek will no longer be hidden, they will be in plain sight, clothed in all their glory, and perfectly suited to fit our lives. ■

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright ©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

English Standard Version (ESV), The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

“Godly Treasures”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

God is With You

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Isaiah 41:10(ESV)
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

God is with us when we go through some of the darkest times of our lives. When we feel lost and don’t know what to do, and we’re wondering how we ended up in the space and place we’re in, we can be encouraged in the Lord. Our Heavenly Father is with us all the time, and He is always willing and able to help us in our times of need. Sometimes, we let our feelings get in the way of accepting this truth. Then we fail to acknowledge the presence and power of God. Romans 8:1(NKJV) says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Feelings of condemnation can enter the picture when we don’t feel good enough, or we think that God won’t hear our prayers because we’ve done wrong things. This isn’t true, and we shouldn’t let feelings of unworthiness keep us from reaching out to our Heavenly Father.

God tells us in Revelation 22:13 that He is Alpha and Omega, the first and last, and the beginning and the end. He knows the end at the beginning, and He knows the beginning at the end. He’s not forgetful, and there isn’t anything that He does not know. He said in Isaiah 55:9(NLT), “For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” God has all power and intelligence, and our problems and issues are never too big for Him to solve.

Domestic violence and abuse usually occurs in the shadows, and most victims try to keep it hidden, but we can’t hide it from God, although many of us behave as though we can. We might think He doesn’t see our pain and that He will not help us escape the constant fear that many live under. With those who suffer domestic violence and abuse, relationships become an emotional roller-coaster. The abuser may be charming and sweet at times. They are often apologetic and very passionate, and this leaves us torn between staying and leaving. It’s also the reason that many individuals remain in abusive and unhealthy relationships. They feel imprisoned on so many levels, but rest assured, through Jesus Christ, there is a way of escape.

Abusive relationships and situations can bring a lot of shame as well as other emotions that keep us living life on the edge, but no matter the circumstance, we can’t limit what God can do to bring us freedom and wholeness. Things happen in this world that we live in that are brutal, chaotic, and bring a lot of suffering. This gets complicated by our lack of knowledge about our identities in Christ and a misunderstanding of who God is. Proverbs 19:21(ESV) tells us, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” The burdens of life weigh heavy on us, so much so that we forget that God has a purpose for our lives, and there’s no way to get around the reality that His purpose must be fulfilled.

God’s purpose is for us to live in Christ, to be in relationship with Him through Christ and to do all the good things that He planned for us long ago. His purpose is not for us to be abused in any way or to suffer in life, and we must allow for the reality that our minds and hearts need to change to see His love in a greater way.

We should never allow anything to cause us to shrink away from God. He knew the mistakes we’d make before we made them. He knows our weaknesses and said in 2Corinthians 12:9(NLT), “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” The most important thing in life is to be in relationship with God. It’s so wonderful to know that our relationship with God isn’t dependent on us and how much we love Him, it’s all about Him and His love for us, because He loves us no matter what. So, the very best thing we can do for ourselves is to acknowledge and be thankful that God is always with us. He is always willing to come to our aid, and if we ask Him in prayer, He’ll take the things we did wrong and use them to teach us to love Him, ourselves, and others through His grace, strength, and power. ■

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“God is With You”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Not All Scars Are Visible

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Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

It’s been seven years since Karen’s divorce, and she still talks about it as if it happened yesterday. Karen and Kevin were high school sweethearts and on the day of their wedding, she could not have been more captivated and in love. Kevin felt the same way, but Karen noticed that his love and affection often came with conditions and waned from time to time. This became apparent after she gave birth to their first son.

Karen struggled to lose her baby weight, and Kevin complained about her eating habits. He often criticized her for not being able to lose the weight, and she felt he withheld his affection at times as a way of punishing her. After their second child was born two years later, she gained more weight, and with taking care of toddlers and working, it seemed harder to lose. She began to feel bad about herself. Kevin had been her best friend and the love of her life. She had counted on his support for as long as she could remember and never dreamed that he would body shame her.  

When the person you count on most in the world doesn’t show genuine concern and support, but instead hurts you deeply, it can wound your heart or open up old wounds again. You might feel devalued and very lonely. It’s important for us to know that God understands and wants to help. Philippians 4:6(NLT) tells us “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Our Heavenly Father wants us to bring all our cares to Him, including the emotional wounds that occur when our physicality is verbally demeaned by someone that is supposed to have our backs. 

1Peter 3:7(NLT) says, “In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.” This is the standard that God has set for husbands, but when it came to her weight, Kevin didn’t do this. He didn’t honor Karen and treat her with understanding. His treatment was far from the dream of marriage she had envisioned. The disappointment of it on top of everything else cut deep, but Karen didn’t open up to Kevin about how hurt she was.

She’d try to reassure him that she was working on losing weight, and she tried many diets, but she didn’t lose as much weight as Kevin wanted. She couldn’t get back to the figure she once had, and eventually she was okay with that. After a while, Kevin’s complaints and comments about her weight lessened, but her feelings had changed about her husband. She didn’t notice it until Kevin wanted to visit his parents with the kids. She couldn’t bring herself to get excited over it, even though she dearly loved his folks. She didn’t want to go anywhere with him really. She felt ashamed and that he was always judging her. The scars from his ridicule and complaints about her weight were not visible, but they were there and they were unresolved. 

He had never apologized, and she had never told him how she truly felt. A lack of communication, compassion, and support can deepen the scars from shame and insecurity in matters like these. When neither partner is willing to confront issues with prayer and the love of Jesus Christ, they fail to introduce God’s healing which is desperately needed. Romans 8:29(NLT) tells us, “No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This verse communicates the overwhelming, unlimited, and never-ending love that God has for us. He will never stop loving us, and this same love comes to live in our hearts when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.

The scars from emotional and verbal abuse will rob a relationship of intimacy, and it also shows us very clearly that our brand of love is not enough glue to hold a relationship together. When times are challenging in our relationships, often the wounds are deep, and the residuals and emotional scars can impact our affection and devotion towards the other person. This doesn’t mean that we have to live in despair or give up on who we are. What it means is that spiritual growth in Christ is necessary, and at least one of the partners must have some recognition of this. 

Many couples are dealing with hurt that has been inflicted by abusive and unkind words, as well as other unresolved pain between them. These scars are not visible and the  issues that caused them may seem insurmountable, but nothing is impossible with the power of God’s love. When we feel bad on the inside, we eventually end up hurting others and sometimes it’s the person we love most. We can do something about this, and we should. We must always remember that our humility and honesty with ourselves, others, and most importantly, with God, will open the door to the love of Christ. If we are diligent in prayer and faith, we will introduce God’s healing within and in our relationships as well.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Not All Scars Are Visible”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!