When most of us take a flight on a plane, we rarely think about all the technology and skill it takes to keep that machine up in the air. We just sit and enjoy the flight without concerning ourselves with all those details. We trust the education and skill of the pilot as well as the navigational tools and all the communication that is transpiring behind the closed doors of the cockpit. It would never even occur to us to ask the pilot to show proof that he’s capable of flying the plane. We’re only concerned about getting to our destination, and we have every confidence that we will.

A plane flight is a very sophisticated form of travel, and there are many machinations and calculations going on behind the scenes that ensure our safe travel in the skies. This scenario can help us understand the faith that God wants us to have in Him. In Romans 11:28(NLT), His Word tells us, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Our Heavenly Father is the One who keeps the earth rotating on its axis. He causes a billion things to happen all at once just so that we can take our next breath. God is working behind the scenes in every moment of time, and He’s doing miraculously incredible things. He is causing them to cooperate, coagulate, and come together in such a way that we are living this very moment.

Ephesians 1:5 (NLT) tells us, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” Nothing about our lives is random. We were formed in our mother’s wombs and birthed into our respective families at the exact time and space that God ordained and appointed. Nothing about us was left to chance, and God has been with us every moment of our journeys on earth. We’re alive today because He was working behind the scenes in His infinite wisdom and power, so that we would one day come to our senses and acknowledge Him as our Heavenly Father, the Great I Am, and Yahweh, the Creator of all that we survey.

Acts 17:24-28(NLT) tells us, “24 He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs–for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. 27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him–though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”

Our Heavenly Father owns everything. He owns the entire universe, as well as the millions of planets and galaxies that human eyes have never discovered or seen. Yet He is so loving and kind towards us that He’s given us this protective bubble called earth. He takes such great care of us that we never think about all the things He is orchestrating in His control room. Through the finished work that He completed in Jesus Christ for us, He’s left no “t” uncrossed and no “i” undotted. We’re His precious cargo and in Him, our destination is guaranteed. He will take care of us an eternity, and every day we are alive, our hearts should swell with gratitude for what He does behind the scenes, as well as all the other ways He blesses our lives. ■

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.

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

God tells us in Proverbs 3:5 to trust in Him with all our hearts, and He tells us not to lean on our own understanding. When we lean on something, we expect it to hold us up. We believe it will support us come what may. God tells us not to do that with our own understanding because our own understanding will not be enough to hold us up or carry us through, especially when we’re in the grips of troubles and tribulation. We don’t know what God knows and we don’t see what He sees. If we would keep this truth in the forefront of our minds and hearts continually, our faith will increase tremendously, but the reality is that most of us struggle to do this. We don’t let go and let God. Instead, we let our limited knowledge about a situation take over how we respond to it. That’s not the way.

Genesis 1:1(ESV) states, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Even though we don’t see it in the Bible, in our minds, there should be a great big ‘period’ after this verse. Its truth is absolute and so foundational to our understanding of who God is. The psalmist said in Psalm 18:30(ESV), “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.” There’s no one greater than God. His Word is true. He tells us in Revelation 1:8 that He’s Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. No one in all of eternity and time compares to Him.

God has all knowledge, He is supremely and incomparably intelligent, and all power is in His hands. He is magnificent, brilliant, and He is love. It isn’t enough for us to casually skim the surface of this truth. The heft of His sovereignty and absolute rule must be anchored deep in our hearts and minds. Our Heavenly Father has established the way through Jesus Christ, and we must follow it if His love and blessings are our aim. When it’s not our aim or we’re not quite understanding the devotion and obedience that God requires, we lean on our own understanding and try to build a life that way. We allow our emotions to take the lead, and this will not transport us to a safe and prosperous path.

When we’re facing a challenge in life, reverence for the awesomeness of our God must be in our hearts, faith in Him must be on our minds, and seeking Him for guidance and direction must be on our lips. Sometimes our actions don’t line up with this. Many of us run hot for Him one minute and cold for Him the next. We forget about honoring and praising God when things are good, but often heat up in prayer when situations are troublesome. We can’t allow our situations and conditions to determine our temperature for honoring and praising God. Gratitude for His goodness and mercy should always be on our hearts, minds, and lips. 1Corinthians 10:31(NLT) tells us, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

Our extraordinary Heavenly Father commands us in Proverbs 3:6-7(NLT) to, “6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. 7 Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil.” Seeking and living by the Will of God isn’t negotiable. God expects us to just do it! This means that whether we’re sad, angry, discouraged, excited, weary, or full of joy, we must seek God and have faith that He alone is able to help us. Whenever we need a reminder in our not so good moments of life, God’s promises are right at our fingertips. Understand that our love, faith, and honor for God shouldn’t be determined by whether we’re having a good or bad day. Focus on Him and His goodness no matter what and move everything else out of the way. Just do it, and you’ll have peace as He gives you the victory in every situation of life. ■

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.

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

James 5:16 (NLT)
“And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

I don’t know about you, but I know quite a few believers that have been praying for the same special desire for a while now. Some want to be married, others want financial increase, a new job, house, or car. There are others in this group that desire greater spiritual growth, so they can bless the body of Christ even more. Jesus Christ said in John 10:10(NKJV), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have [it] more abundantly.” Our Lord and Savior came to the earth to make it available for everyone to live a rich and satisfying life. This is the Will of God for us. In light of this truth, it seems a little out of place for so many of us to be continually in wait mode. Could it be that there’s something more about this promise that God wants us to understand?

God blesses His Word
In John 17, Jesus Christ prayed for the disciples and committed them to our Heavenly Father in prayer. He prayed in John 17:14-17(NLT), “14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do. 17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.” From his youth, our Lord and Master studied, spoke, and prayed God’s Word. He knew the Words of the psalmist, King David, in Psalm 12:6(NLT) which says, “The LORD’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over.” The disciples couldn’t sanctify themselves and neither can we. Our Lord and Savior prayed that God would sanctify them—to purify, refine, set apart, and cleanse them—and would do so through His Word.

Jesus Christ only did the Will of the Father, and this is our responsibility as well. He never deviated from God’s Word, because he understood that this was the source of our power, authority, and peace. The more of God’s Word that we put on in our hearts and minds, the more we will be cleansed by it. This is so monumentally important for us to understand because God blesses His Word. His Word is His Will. Wherever and whenever His Word is believed and practiced, His power is manifested. God doesn’t bless lies. He doesn’t bless half-truths. We must cling to the truth He speaks so that we pray prayers of faith! Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes from hearing the truth that God has spoken in His Word, and Jesus Christ tells us in John 8:32 that the truth will make us free. The Words of our Heavenly Father in Isaiah 55:11(NLT) should cement His allegiance to His Word in our minds and hearts. This verse says, “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”

Honor for God’s Word
The psalmist said of God in Psalm 138:2(NKJV), “I will worship toward Your holy temple,
And praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” Our Heavenly Father elevates His Word above His name, and His name is exceedingly great. This verse communicates the level of honor that God has for His own Word, and through it, we can learn the level of honor and respect we are required to have for His Word as well. God’s Word and our obedience to it is what gets His attention. When we pray, we should have this in our minds and on our hearts.

Ecclesiastes 6:10(NLT) declares “Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny.” This is what we can lay hold to in faith. Ephesians 1:3 tells us that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, and He did this when we gave our lives to Jesus Christ. Our words don’t have any power until we say what God says. When we pray, it’s imperative to speak His promises outwardly with reverence and boldness and to declare with gratitude that what He promises is already ours.■

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.

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

Many of us are struggling with sadness because we’ve been emotionally hurt so badly in the past. When it comes to relationships, we might feel as though we can’t catch a break. Nothing seems to go as we planned. Why does finding and keeping love seem to be so difficult? All we want to do is love someone in a way that is fulfilling and meaningful, and we want to receive that same quality of love back. It’s simple enough, but the truth is that not everyone knows how to love in a fulfilling and meaningful way. Many individuals are not interested in giving quality love, even when they receive it. When we end up choosing someone like this as a partner, we sometimes set ourselves up for heartbreak. That’s not easy medicine to take, but it can heal our hearts if we’re willing to listen to God’s direction and instruction. 

We know what kind of over-the-counter medicine to take for a headache or a common cold, but gut-wrenching heartbreak is unfamiliar pain. It’s not like breaking a bone. It’s a wound we can’t touch and an ache that no pill can take away. This unfamiliar pain is probably the only kind that’s on repeat in the lives of so many people. The reason for this is because we continue to make the same choices and same mistakes when it comes to significant relationships.

After a heartbreak, some of us end up in a very lonely place, and we’re in a position where loneliness continues to persist. One of the major factors in our struggle with relationships and loneliness is our habit of making wrong choices and decisions. Take Lexie for example. Three years ago, she did everything but kidnap Devin and force him down the aisle to get him to marry her. He didn’t want to get married, but he was no match for Lexie’s persistence. Her last two long-term relationships had ended because of it, and she refused to accept any more rejection. Devin went along with the big extravagant wedding and honeymoon that Lexie had always wanted, but soon after, it was clear that the marriage wasn’t going to last.

Proverbs 2:6(ESV) tells us, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.” The wisdom to make good choices and decisions comes from God, from reading and studying His Word. Lexie wasn’t interested in God’s wisdom. She didn’t ask for it and wouldn’t follow it. She had a habit of jumping into relationships too soon, and often with the wrong person. She set unattainable expectations and was in denial about a lot of red flags that would have helped her avoid the heartbreak that inevitably came her way.  Divorced for a year now, Lexie hasn’t changed. She hasn’t dated anyone seriously, but if a willing vessel came along, she’d do things exactly as she has in the past.

Like Lexie, many of us have made choices that we initially thought were very good and it ended up being very bad. We led, not with wisdom, but with our hearts. We took a leap and did so because everyone says that this is what we should do. “Follow your heart…” they say. “Your heart will never steer you wrong…” we’re told. Jeremiah 17:9(ESV) tells us about the human heart and how fickle and deceptive it can be. It says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” There’s nothing more deceptive than the human heart, and that’s why we should never lean on our own understanding about things. We must lean on the Lord.

Life will reveal that making important decisions and choices by our hearts is not always a good idea. In fact, it’s rarely a good idea. Our hearts can lead us down a very dark path, and this is a piece of information we desperately need to have in our arsenals. We all have an idea of how we want to be loved, and some of us have unrealistic expectations about this. We’re in the wrong lane when it comes to the quality of love we receive and give. Those expectations must be adjusted before we can partner in a relationship wisely and from a place of strength.

Life is given by God to be lived out in faith, not fantasy. Romans 5:3-5(NLT) “3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Relationships that are built on fantasy will not last. They must be built on our faith in God, and this means we must demonstrate the endurance and strength of character that He requires.

Life is not a romance movie. It’s filled with ups and downs, and some of the downs can be devastating. Our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, didn’t keep this a secret. In John 16:33, he told us about the troubles that come with life on earth, but he also made it clear that we can have peace in our hearts because he overcame the world, and through him, we will to. Jesus Christ gives us peace, but the world will cause some trouble in our lives, and the way that we overcome that trouble is through our faith in him. 1John 5:4(NL) says, “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.”

Significant relationships can present some of our greatest challenges. If we add unrealistic or unattainable expectations to the mix, we’re setting ourselves up for disaster. God doesn’t want this for us. He wants us to learn to walk by the Spirit so that we can be wise and make wise relationship decisions.

Don’t make the unfamiliar pain of heartbreak a familiar but unwelcome guest. Don’t let it be on repeat in your life. James 1:5(NLT) says, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” Let God’s wisdom lead you in your relationship choices, and that includes the choice about the person you are considering dating. Have faith that God will lead you in the right direction, and do not leap unless He tells you that it’s okay to do so. ■

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.

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

When a person has a lot of pride and arrogance, they will always find a way to boost themselves above others. It isn’t uncommon for an arrogant person to think that he or she knows it all. They must be right all the time and will belittle or devalue the opinions and knowledge of others to look superior. There’s a big difference between arrogance and confidence, and an arrogant person doesn’t understand this. Confidence comes from an appreciation of the abilities and qualities that God has given. It’s an assurance of one’s self that isn’t plagued with doubt and uncertainty and is proven by experience. Arrogance is devoid of gratitude and self-assurance. It is the need to hide behind and push a lie about one’s own ability and qualities at all cost.

Many abusers are arrogant and make victims of those who might expose their shortcomings or pose a challenge to their high opinion of themselves. Their attitude of superiority is often overbearing and leaves no room for anyone other than themselves. The abuser will not face the truth about this, and sometimes the person being abused will not face it either. We don’t want to deal with the reality that the significant person in our lives is arrogant, and they are not treating us well because of it.

The put downs, feeling less than, and having to always be on guard can exhaust us, but we are not without help. The web that arrogance weaves isn’t pretty. It’s tangled and feels hard to dismantle, but we can through the strength of Jesus Christ. He is our hope, and we can access his power and help through prayer, reading and meditating on God’s Word, and confessing what God says over our situations. We can renew our minds by thinking thoughts that are aligned with faith. This requires us to do what God says in Philippians 4:8(NLT), which is to “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” This is the way to begin the process of dismantling the web of arrogance that tries to trap us. We need to be ferocious about God’s peace and power, and we can stake a claim with all that we are to move within them confidently.

People hold on to an arrogant mindset because they believe it serves them. It doesn’t. It injures our souls and that is why we must give it up. Arrogance drains and depletes an individual of grace and mobility. It’s a downer on our lives. Romans 12:3(NLT) warns, “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” God doesn’t like arrogance, and as we pray for His help, we must understand this. Romans 12:3 tells us the attitude and heart that God requires, and it is that none of us should think we are better than we really are.

Honestly, there have been times for all of us when we have violated this. We have had arrogant thoughts and attitudes, and we must ask God to forgive us and be committed to root it out of our hearts. Our Heaven Father requires us to humble ourselves and make the necessary adjustment in our own thinking and behaving to demonstrate the humility of Christ.

1Corinthians 4:20(NLT) tells us, “For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.” As God’s children, we are not spiritual weaklings. We are filled with His Spirit and through the Spirit, we can live with power! One of the things that prevents us from fully walking in the Spirit’s power, though, is wrong believing about the nature and goodness of God. Sometimes we attribute characteristics and actions to Him, when it is the devil who does evil against us. So, the wrong belief about who God is and what He will do, we have to give it up and release it from our minds and hearts.

God doesn’t want any person to be abused. Many people have been taught or led to believe that God is angry with us because of our mistakes. Some believe that He punishes us with pain and suffering, and this is not true. It’s not who God is. 1John 4:16(NLT) tells us, “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” God is love. He is holy, pure, perfect, all-knowing, and all-powerful. There isn’t anything that He cannot do, but He only does those things that are within the boundaries of His love. 1John 1:5(NLT) tells us, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” This is God’s truth! This is who He is! He doesn’t punish people; He wants our joy to be full because we belong to Him. He’s our hope, and He will never let us down! Because of Jesus Christ and what God accomplished through him, we can live in God, and as we do, we keep growing and becoming the version of ourselves that God desires us to be.

Either because we feel powerless and weak or we just don’t want to deal with the person staring back at us, most of us find it very difficult to think that we are our greatest asset, and that through Jesus Christ, life can get better. We’re in shock that our life’s choices and decisions have betrayed us to such a devastating degree, but although things feel impossible at times, they are not. You must make a faith move and give up those things that hold you back, because they keep your mind stuck in the past. A victorious strategy is to invite the love of God into our situations and make this a habit pattern. Pray, speak and think thoughts that lift you up and invite God’s love to have greater room in our life. Arrogance has its roots in believing the wrong things about God and ourselves. Make a change, and you will discover that God will reward even the smallest step you take to release arrogance from your life.■

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.

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

I’m sure you know believers that have witnessed incredible manifestations of their faith. Like me, there are others you might know that have been praying for their desires a very long time, and they are still waiting. Not only are they waiting, but they are wondering. They want to know why others seem to be blessed in phenomenal ways, but they’re not seeing this kind of movement in their own lives. It can be very disappointing, and some are offended to such a degree that they leave the faith altogether. God doesn’t want this to happen to anyone. 1Timothy 2:4(NLT) tells us that He “wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” Our allegiance to trusting and understanding this verse is really where the rubber meets the road. Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the truth, and sometimes our disappointment is a result of simply not hearing enough of the truth from God’s Word.

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 138:2(NKJV), “I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” This is more magnificent than our brains can compute. God, the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, Jehovah Elohim, the One True Living God, and Creator of all that we survey has elevated His Word above His name. Every Word spoken from the mouth of God is true. Hebrews 6:18 tells us that it is impossible for God to lie. This is our 150 million percent guarantee that God is faithful to His Word. He will forever honor it and back His Word up with all that He is.

Hebrews 11:1(NLT) tells us, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” God is a Spirit, and He gives to us what He is. Every good thing originates from Him, and everything that comes from Him is spiritual, because it can’t be anything else. Ephesians 1:11(NLT) declares, “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.” God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, and every blessing, without exception, is spiritual.

Faith is a gift from God, and it is spiritual. It’s the spiritual substance that He used to create the universe. There’s no one greater than God and there’ s no greater authority than the truth of every Word that He speaks. He created faith to come wherever the His truth is spoken. This is law!

When God said “Let there be light” in Genesis 1:3, light had no other choice but to obey the authority of God’s faith. He has given us this same faith through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, according to the Words spoken by God in Romans 10:17, you and I can know resolutely that faith obeys the authority of God’s truth. Faith comes wherever the truth is believed, and the result of believing the truth of God’s Word is the manifestation of His blessings in the natural realm.

Faith is God’s law in operation! Again, faith is a spiritual substance. We know that life is in every gift that comes from above; therefore, faith has life because it comes from God. Like everything that comes from the Father, faith is immutable, righteous, lovely, and perfect in every way. Our mission, then, should be to live on par with the life of faith, so that Christ is manifested in all that we do. Hebrews 12:28(NLT) tells us, “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.” From this we should clearly see that God expects our faith in Him to be as unshakable as the Kingdom that we represent.

Even if you and I are not manifesting ‘all spiritual blessings’, God’s Word declares that we can, and that is His desire for us. He blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ from the very beginning. It is our standing, our sonship right. The reality of how bountifully He’s provided is true even if we do not walk in all He has provided. Our lack is never the authority in any situation. God’s Word is the authority, and our level of believing must rise to this awesome truth.

We must stand on the truth that produces faith in our hearts and minds. The truth must be an internal reality that you live in every moment of every day. God commands us in Proverbs 3:5-6(NLT), “5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” You and I are required to seek God’s Will. Jesus Christ affirmed this in Matthew 6:33. He commands us to seek God’s Kingdom and righteousness first in everything that we attempt to do. This means that we must pursue the wisdom and knowledge of God’s Word, because He has magnified His Word above His name.

Hebrews 11:6(NLT), “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” More than anything, more than we want the desires of our hearts, we should want to please God. The way to accomplish this is to know Him through His Word. This is what means the most to Him, therefore it must mean the most to us. Don’t let anything shake your faith in God. He must see in you and in your heart that your relationship with Him will always come first. He loves you and wants you to grow in Christ. When knowing Him through His Word is what you truly desire, you’ll continually walk in the truth and witness the manifestation of His many blessings. ■

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.

“Don’t Let Anything Shake Your Faith”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

When thinking about the human heart, most of us first consider the vital organ of the human body that is necessary to keep the body alive. In the physical sense, the heart is a large muscle. As it beats, it pumps blood around the entire body, carrying oxygen and nutrients throughout all the parts, while also getting rid of unwanted wastes. Its design allows us a glimpse of God’s masterful and brilliant handiwork in creating this intricate organ that supports our lives. It also paints a detailed and precise portrait of how important the spiritual heart is to the survival of the human soul. Just as the body has a heart that keeps it alive and thriving, the soul has a heart as well. The condition of the heart of the soul is the determining factor as to whether we will live an eternity with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, or whether our souls will be tormented by eternal darkness.

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 3, Jesus Christ had a conversation with Nicodemus about God’s Kingdom and the requirements to become a citizen of it. He said in John 3:3-6(NLT), “3 I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.”

Humans are three-part beings. 1Thessalonians 5:23(NLT) says, “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” We are human-spirit, human-soul, and human-body. Without any of the three, we would not be human, we’d be something else. Our Heavenly Father was meticulous in our design. Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that He created us in His own image. We are of His kind, for in His brilliance, He made all living creatures after their own kind. Elephants can’t have giraffes, and kangaroos can’t give birth to whales. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and He made us spirit, soul, and body, after His kind.

God made us spiritual beings that are housed in a body. As His created spiritual beings, we are having an earth experience, but heaven is our home because it is where our Creator lives. God’s requirement is that in order to be His children, we must be born twice. Jesus Christ said in John 3:5 that in order to enter God’s Kingdom, we must be born of water, which is referring to the birth where humans are incubated in water in a mother’s womb, and we must be born spiritually, which is to receive God’s seed through spiritual conception.

Through our faith in Jesus Christ, our dead human-spirit that was severed from God through Adam’s sin, is recreated by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s seed, and he comes to dwell inside us when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives. 1Peter 1:22-25(NLT) tells us, “23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. 24 As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades. 25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.” And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.”

The Holy Spirit made us alive in Christ, but our hearts and minds are completely under our jurisdiction. God has given us free-will, and He will not force us to bring our hearts and minds up to the standard of our new life in Christ. This He leaves totally up to us. The Holy Spirit will give us a new heart, but our invitation to him must be clear and contain a willingness to be submissive under his guidance.

God warns us in Proverbs 4:23(NLT) to, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Get a visual on this, see yourself standing outside the gates of your soul’s heart, manning the post, ensuring that nothing evil or sinful gets past the gate. This is the vigilance you must have about your soul’s heart. You must guard it with the Word of God, so that you will have a heart that pleases Him.

When we give our lives to Christ, guarding our hearts is just about the most important task we can undertake. Standing guard requires us to examine our emotions, thoughts, and words, and determine who is the source of them. Are they giving life and inspiring others to love God, or are they seasoned with the negative and selfish buzz of the world? Our commitment to God is demonstrated by what is in our hearts and what we let out of them. This is why God said to His prophet, Samuel, in 1Samuel 16:7(NLT), “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” No one other than God can look into an individual’s heart, and our hearts tell Him what is most important to us and who we really love.

Jesus Christ commanded us in Mark 12:30(NLT), “And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” This is a heart that is sold out to God, and if we have even a hint of doubt that our hearts are not fully committed to Him, now is the time to change them. We need to be praying that God will give us a new heart so that when our Savior returns, we will be ready.

Ephesians 5:26-27(NASB20) says, “26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Jesus Christ is going to rapture his church. We are his bride and he is coming back for us. It is up to each of us to be without spot or wrinkle. He took care of the sin issue when he gave his life on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. We are born-again and covered by the blood, and he tells us to remain blameless. It’s not about being polite or nice. It’s not about looking sharp on the outside. The inside is what God cares about. We’re not perfect. Yes, we all make mistakes, but despite our errors, our hearts must be loyal to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. If they aren’t, now is the time to get into God’s Word, surrender to His Spirit, and allow the Spirit to help us change our hearts and get right before God. ■

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

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.

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

One of our primary responsibilities as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is to be the reason that others think God is good. There is in truth no boundary for His goodness, because He is good all the time. As followers of Christ, we should be so convinced of God’s goodness that it should be oozing out of our pores. Faith in God is infectious, and He intended that it should be that way. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:16(ESV), “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Through the new birth reality, Jesus Christ has given us his light, because we have his Spirit abiding inside us. He has empowered us to shine bright so that everyone can see that the Source of our light is God, and because of our shine, they will give glory to Him too.

Psalm 145:9(ESV) says, “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” God is good to the last drop, and He has designed the universe and everything in it to cooperate beautifully with His goodness. It’s the driving force of all that is lovely, pure, kind, and excellent. When humanity was at its worse, God sent His only begotten Son to the earth to offer his life as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that every person, those who love Him and those that do not, can have the gift of eternal life. God sent Christ to do for us what we were totally incapable of doing for ourselves. So, like His goodness, God’s love knows no bounds. It is unconditional and unlimited, and through Jesus Christ, He has lavished His love on us all.

Our blessed Savior told us in John 10:10(NKJV), “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” A more than abundant life is the kind of existence our Heavenly Father desires for each of us. We owe everything to Him for what He’s done for all of humanity through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of his finished work, we can have a meaningful life with solid relationships, a fulfilling marriage, financial stability with plenty left over to share with others, and most importantly, because of Christ, we can have an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Even though some of these blessings may not have manifested in our lives yet, a more than abundant life is the empowerment of God to every person who has faith in Him, and He means for us to enjoy this level of living. Deuteronomy 8:19(ESV) says, “You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.” Again, God has empowered us to reach out and grab His many blessings. He wants us to have our needs taken care of, to have good health, good relationships, and plenty of money in the bank. The question is whether we want it, and if we will meet His requirements to receive it.

Sometimes, our faith is below the threshold of our privilege. God wants us to be blessed abundantly, but we haven’t raised our thoughts and confessions to the level of blessings we desire. Some of us hang our heads low, and because we will not renew our minds to God’s Word and elevate our faith, we appear to others to be stagnant and uninspired. That’s a witness we need to change. Just because our girlfriends are lonely and feeling hopeless, we do not have to make ourselves small to fit in. Instead, we should put the glory and blessings of God on full blast.

No matter who we are or what we do for a living, someone has eyes on us. That’s just the simple truth. People look at how we move through our lives, especially when we’ve made it known we’re a believer. The reality is that our witness can either be a blessing to them or a hindrance, but God has empowered us to be a blessing and to leave a lasting impression of His glory.

Jesus Christ said in Mark 11:23(NLT), “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.” Doubt is an enemy of faith. It keeps our view obstructed so that we do not see the opportunities that have our name on them. In the Old Testament, this is what happened to the Israelites. They refused to trust God’s promise when they were in the wilderness. Moses sent spies to the land that God had promised them, and all but two of the spies brought back bad reports of fear. Numbers 13:33 tells us the spies told the people of Israel that they felt like grasshoppers next to the inhabitants of the promised land. That fear quickly spread among the others, and because of their doubt, they traveled around in circles in the wilderness until the unbelieving eventually died there.

They missed the promise of the Father because they refused to trust it. This should never be said about those of us living in the victory of Jesus Christ today. 2Corinthians 4:6(NLT) tells us, “For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” You and I know the glory of God seen in the face of Jesus Christ because Christ lives in us! That’s why we can do as our Redeemer commands and let our light shine in the lives of others.

Inspire people with your witness. Let it be full of praise for our God! Every believer has the responsibility to let their light shine. People living today are desperately seeking something and someone real. They want to believe the truth and want a witness of someone living it. Let that someone be you. Psalm 34:8(ESV) says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” With our families and friends, and in our jobs, places of worship, schools, and everywhere else, we should be the reason! We should be the reason that individuals who see our light want to come to the table to taste and see that God is good. He truly is and it is the greatest privilege and honor that any of us could ever imagine to live with confidence that His goodness is in our hearts, and it covers us every day of our lives.■

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 Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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

A very nice lady in her senior years said to me recently that she’s been praying to God a long time to heal her right leg. Her last words to me were, “…And I’m still waiting.” This is a sentiment we no doubt hear expressed from many believers, particularly those over 50 that may be dealing with minor health challenges. We need to look under the hood of this, because the idea of praying and waiting long periods of time for the manifestation of the blessing is one that has become a fixture in our way of thinking. When it comes to meeting our future spouses and being delivered from sickness, ailments, and disease, many of us believe that God has delayed the blessing, when the issue is that we have stalled in our faith.

Some of us have never witnessed God heal someone miraculously, and because we haven’t seen it, we’re challenged to believe it. We may not have heard of sisters in Christ fasting and praying for six months and meeting their destiny partners shortly thereafter. Because we’re not witnessing and hearing about the miraculous in the lives of those close to us, it’s possible that our believing has flatlined, and we need to pump some life into it.

“How did I get here, Lord? My heart has been scarred from years of fractured and broken relationships. I’ve been abandoned, talked down to, relegated to the sidelines in so many ways, and I’m just waiting for the weight of all this to move out my way so I can breathe. I want my life to be light and free, like the air You allow to flow in and out of my nostrils. I no longer want to feel powerless and hopeless, Lord, but these seem like constant companions, like I can’t shake them loose for nothing. How did I get to this place where my dreams, once so relentless in my heart, are now like a mist that flutters about and teases me only every now and again? No one understands my pain. I’m disappointed and sad, and I don’t even know how I got here.” The very nice lady didn’t say these words to me, but ‘I’m still waiting’ painted a portrait of pain way beyond that of her right leg.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, their sinful actions didn’t remain outside the perimeters of their physical bodies. When they bowed to the devil and disobeyed God’s Word, sin entered their bodies and brought death with it. They were not ignorant. They knew better. As Adam and Eve walked together with the Holy Spirit in communion and fellowship, the Spirit taught them many things because this is what he does. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher. Jesus Christ said in John 14:26(NCV), “But the Helper will teach you everything and will cause you to remember all that I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.” God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change. Because of this, we can have some idea of Adam’s and Eve’s days. They were learning from the Holy Spirit and working in the garden of Eden, because that is what God told them to do.

Regarding things that were forbidden, God gave Adam only one commandment, and Genesis 2:16-17(ESV) lays it out. It says, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “16 You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” From the Word of the Lord, we can understand that once a wrong decision or choice is acted upon, sin enters the body. Without repentance, sin sits, festers, and corrodes us from the inside out. Praise God for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who rescued us from this terrible fate! Through Christ, God handled our sin issue. Our problem is that even though we’ve been rescued from the curse of death and darkness, some of us are still going back to our old ways and picking up old dead things.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they followed the next course on the path that sin lays, which is shame. They hid themselves from God because sin brought an awareness of nakedness, of not being covered by holiness and sacred connection to our Heavenly Father. They were ashamed of their sin, and this was a new and dark development. Shame had not entered the picture until sin came on the scene. Disobedience opened their eyes to sin, and all its cousins. So, they fell. They were out of place and lost their holy positioning, and Genesis 3:9(ESV) tells us, “9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?””

“Where are you” indeed. Of course, God knew the physical location of Adam and Eve, because God knows everything. When we examine the translation of these words in Genesis 3:9, we discover that God is making a statement regarding His relationship with Adam and Eve. Sin caused their disconnect from Heavenly Father, and the catastrophe this set-in motion was conveyed in the Father’s question to them. That vulnerability, innocence, and humble dependence on God was lost, and even though many of us are saved today, we’ve lost it too.

2Corinthians 5:17(ESV) tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Our old nature was crucified with Christ when he sacrificed his life on the cross. The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20 (ESV), “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” This is us! We were with him when he nailed our sins to the cross. The flesh has been crucified, and we are new creations in Christ, but some of us didn’t let some parts die. We’re holding on to them and they are harming us.

The disappointment and nagging heartache are always just beneath our resolve of “I’m okay.” They leave us with just enough hope to make it through the day but not enough to live confidently and boldly in Christ. Pain is not a natural state, and neither is loneliness, but they are the familiar. We see these, pain and loneliness, so often in the eyes of others, and sadly, even after some of us are saved, there’s no difference between the fainting faith of those deeply wounded and us. We’ve acquiesced to the level of their apathy and melded our unbelief with their doubt, and this is mainly because we’ve kept some things, some habits, some wrong thoughts, some errors in our hearts and minds. We didn’t kick doubt and wrong believing out the door. For some of us, the heavies that we should have repented, surrendered to God, and released are still hiding out in our hearts and minds.

Our Heavenly Father does not want us in pain. He does not want us to be lonely. Wherever we are in our life’s journey, we must be completely sold out to these truths. Where are we in our faith? Where are we in the level of intimacy we’ve developed in our relationship with God? Where are we in our heads and hearts, and have we released the bitterness, the jealousy, the envy, doubt, lying, and all the other negativity God commanded us to let die? These, and anything like them, are at the root of all our pain, and if we’re wise, we’ll pray for a revelation to see them, confront them, and let them go so that God’s love can heal up our broken places. ■

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.

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

New Century Version (NCV)
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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