Category Archives: Your Relationship with God

Chasing Tears or Chasing God

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Isaiah 41:10 (NLT)
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

With tears streaming down her face, Barbara Jane angrily slammed the door to her boyfriend’s car after she got out of it. He slowly pulled off, wondering if Barbara Jane was going to be as vengeful as she had been in the past when they argued. Often, she’d shut down for weeks and wouldn’t speak to him. Barbara Jane was unaware that her grandmother had watched the whole thing from her living room window. When her marriage fell apart after only a year, Barbara Jane moved in with her Grandma Ida. She also quickly moved on to another relationship. In her adult life, she had never been without a man in her life. Even in high school and college, she always had a boyfriend and had never spent time being on her own.

Barbara Jane’s mother had gotten her addiction under control in recent years, but the relationship between them had been estranged since Barbara Jane was a teenager. Her father tried his best to be supportive, but her grandmother was the constant in her life. Ida had watched her granddaughter get her heart broken many times, but she was noticing an anger and bitterness in Barbara Jane that she hadn’t seen before. One evening, after she had prepared Barbara Jane’s favorite meal, she told her that she wanted them to have a talk.  

Some form of education or training is required to get a diploma, a degree, a driver’s license, and a job. We recognize on a very basic level that in life, we need to educate ourselves to advance, but when it comes to our spiritual walk with Christ and relationships with others, many of us drop the ball. We think we know enough to navigate these areas alone. That isn’t true. We desperately need God’s wisdom in order to truly advance in life. Proverbs 4:7(KJV) says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” He tells us here that wisdom is primary in life, and God supplies the wisdom we need by giving us His Word. 

God’s Word is an infallible road map for navigating life on earth, and it contains wisdom and guidance regarding every aspect of our existence. It is our guide to life. 2Timothy 3:16(NLT) tells us, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” Without the useful teaching of what is true, we make errors and wrong choices, and these errors and wrong choices often result in heartbreak.

Jesus Christ commanded us, as God’s sons and daughters, to humble ourselves under God. This means that we must have the humility to acknowledge and accept that we can’t navigate successfully through life without knowing God and knowing the wisdom that comes from His Word. We desperately need His help. 

He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11(NLT), “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” God is the Leader and we’re the followers. He’s the One with the plan, and the greatest gift we can give to ourselves is to follow His plan. This is going to require us to read and study His Word so that we have an understanding of what God says is right or wrong for our lives. You might say, “I’ve tried reading the Bible, but I don’t understand it.” This is one of the many ways that the Holy Spirit helps us. Jesus Christ said in John 16:13(NLT), “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, lives inside every born-again believer. When we pray for understanding before we read God’s Word, the Spirit will help us comprehend the scriptures. 

If we pay attention to the Spirit’s guidance and leadership, he will also let us know when our decisions and choices are in agreement with God’s plan for us. So, before we decide that a man is the one for our lives, we need to hear it from God. Without His greenlight, we shouldn’t move ahead. If we do, we could waste precious time and resources, and end up with a situation that causes us to go backward instead of forward. None of us should want to do this.

Barbara Jane anticipated that one of her grandmother’s serious talks was coming when she spotted her fav, a newly baked caramel cake, on the counter. At the end of grandmother’s sage advice, she asked her, “Which will make you happier, chasing tears or chasing God?” We chase tears when we neglect or refuse to seek the Lord first. Many women of God look for a man to make them complete, and when we do this, we will always be disappointed. Only God can make us complete, and He has done this through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We must trust this with our whole hearts, and make God our first priority, not what we can or can’t receive from another human being. 

Our blessed Redeemer commands us in Matthew 6:33(NKJV), “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Seeking God and the wisdom of His Word must be our first priority and practice. It can never be number two, but again, always number one. Don’t make relationships a project of trial and error. Trust God to help you live your best life. Humble yourself under His great power. Spend time in prayer and study His Word so that you will grow in your relationship with Him. Then you’ll learn to recognize His voice, hear His instructions, and remain on the path of His wisdom and blessings for 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.

“Chasing Tears or Chasing God”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Bless His Name in the Storm

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Psalms 34:1 (NLT)
“I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises.”

When we’re going through a really difficult season in life, and it seems like the storm just keeps on raging, we might find it challenging to praise God the way we should. It’s especially difficult when we have prayed steadfastly for a breakthrough, and it seems to be delayed. This can take a toll on us mentally and emotionally. A good thing to do is to go to God’s Word and study some of the many examples of those who cried out to God. They were really going through a hard time, but they waited for God to turn their situations around. Psalm 27:14 (NLT) tells us, “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” This is what God’s people did thousands of years ago, and we must wait patiently for Him as well. We can have confidence that just as He rescued them, He will do the same for us and elevate us to a place of victory in Christ.

While we’re waiting on God, some might ask, “Well, what do we do in the wait?” Do we sit with our hands tucked beneath our laps and continue to sink in our emotions? No. When our backs are against the wall, and it seems like victory isn’t on our side, we thank God for His many blessings, and we give Him praise, proving that we have faith in His awesome love and power, and we know He will never let us down.

It’s easy to feel stuck or hopeless during times of waiting, but we must remember that waiting on God isn’t about idleness. It’s about trust. We have to trust that even when things don’t look promising, God is still working behind the scenes. Often, there is a space of time between the trouble we’re experiencing and the resolution that only our Father can bring. However, this waiting period isn’t a pause for us to be idle: it’s an opportunity to grow deeper in our relationship with Him. This is when our commitment to press should be strengthened. We should draw nearer to His presence, and allow His peace to fill us, even when everything around us feels chaotic.

The Bible reminds us in Isaiah 40:31 (NLT), “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” It’s not about staying in a constant state of sorrow and disappointment; the Father doesn’t want that for us. He wants us to keep our hearts in a posture of praise. We need to understand that our adoration and exaltation of the Father means that we are bringing ourselves in alignment with the truth. We are affirming His power as well as His willingness to use it on our behalf. Our praise is an affirmation of our faith in God.

We should also know that the enemy tries to destroy our praise for God, he doesn’t want us talking about the Father’s goodness, but instead, he wants us to glorify his evil works.

Dastardly and deceptive, the enemy wants our mouths to be filled with complaints, our hearts weighed down by worry, and our focus fixed on what’s going wrong. But when we choose to praise God in the middle of some of the worst times in our lives, we put a muzzle on the lies of the enemy and shift the atmosphere around us. Our praise becomes a weapon—a declaration that no matter what it looks like, we trust in the One who holds our future.

Our praises are faith builders. The more focused we are on God’s love and power, the less power we give to the enemy—and he will flee. James 4:7 (NLT) says, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” It’s the humility in our praise that pleases God. When we praise Him even when we don’t feel like it, we’re showing Him that we know He’s the One that causes all things to work together for our good, as Romans 8:28 says. Our relationship with God can’t be built on emotions, it must be built on faith. Hebrews 11:6 (NLT) tells us that we can’t please Him without it: “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.”

God is worthy of all praise, at all times, in all seasons of our life. He’s good all the time. Our circumstances and situations don’t dictate God’s sovereignty—He’s God all by Himself, and He will prove that to us each and every time we choose to trust Him, praise Him, and wait on Him. His faithfulness never changes, even when everything around us does. ■

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.

“Bless His Name in the Storm”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

God Is With You Every Step You Take

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During Old Testament times, our Heavenly Father made a promise to His people to give them a lush and bountiful land, so much so that it was referred to the land of ‘milk and honey’. In Joshua 1:9(The Message), He told them, “From the wilderness and this Lebanon east to the Great River, the Euphrates River—all the Hittite country—and then west to the Great Sea. It’s all yours. All your life, no one will be able to hold out against you. In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you. Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have, heart and soul. Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going. And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”

God is as faithful to us as He was to His people living during Old Testament times. Hebrews 10:23(NLT) says, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” Our Heavenly Father always keeps His promises but even after we’ve been on this Christian journey for numerous years, many of us still struggle to believe this.

A friend of mine has been a Christian for almost as long as I have. She’s been struggling in a relationship with a man that is verbally abusive and often calls her horrible names. When I tell her that she is stronger than she thinks and encourage her that God will back her every step to live free of abuse, she immediately dismisses my encouragement. Her response is always, “What works for you, won’t work for me! If I have to suffer then that’s what God wants me to do.”

Many believers have this attitude, that God wants them to suffer. 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.” In this verse, our powerful Lord and Savior tells us why the devil is in the earth, and it is to steal, kill, and destroy. This is what the enemy does, but Jesus Christ came to give us victory. He came to make a more than abundant life available to all that will believe and accept it.

In John 3:16-17(NLT), Jesus also tells us, “16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” God loves us so much that He sent His precious Son to save us. He doesn’t want us to suffer, He wants us to live a blessed existence with good health, great relationships, fulfilling work, spiritual power, and most importantly, fellowship with Him.

This is the life God made available through Christ, but we have an enemy, the devil, and God warns us about this in 1Peter 5:8. In the verse, God tells us to stay alert about the devil’s schemes, tricks, and plots against us because he roams the earth, on the hunt for an opening into a person’s life. If he finds one, he will attempt to attack us in the most deceitful and merciless way. The way that we outsmart the devil is to open our eyes by learning and knowing God’s truth.

We can be tricked into believing the wrong things about God and what He will do for us, but we must refuse to continue to allow the enemy to blind us. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t want us to suffer. He wants us lean on Him with every step we take, because He will be with us! He is our Source of strength and all good things. God doesn’t want us to be shy or discouraged about pursuing the blessed life He’s given us, and we must be resolves that no relationship with another human being is worth the cost of our peace. Our Heavenly Father wants us to learn the truth about Him and His love through His Word so that we can live confidently in the victory He has won for us through Christ! ■

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 Every Step You Take”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

God Has Done It Before and Will Do It Again

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Deuteronomy 7:16-18 (NLT) 
“You must destroy all the nations the Lord your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy, and do not worship their gods, or they will trap you. Perhaps you will think to yourselves, ‘How can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are?’  But don’t be afraid of them! Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the land of Egypt.”

These past years have been tough for a lot of people, and many of them are allowing challenging times to injure their faith. They are reacting with uncontrolled anger and outbursts that betray the example of Jesus Christ. Others are internalizing the anger, and it’s making them ill emotionally, mentally, and physically. When our understanding of the truth about God doesn’t exceed the knowledge of our troubles, our minds can sink to thoughts of doubt and unbelief. Our hearts become disappointed and grieved because we don’t trust God enough to raise our level of faith above those thoughts and feelings of sadness. We need to know that this is a condition that can be turned around if we are willing to change the way we think. 

God tells us in Romans 12:2(NLT), “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.” The first part of this verse is very instructive for us because our Heavenly Father is telling us what we shouldn’t do. He’s also letting us know that society’s behaviors and customs can be very destructive to our faith and relationship with Him. 

The world, or society, can be very negative and chooses for the most part to deny and reject God’s love and light. It shuns the things He values and loves the things He forbids. The world is a very confusing and chaotic place and if the thoughts and feelings that promote confusion and chaos find their way into our hearts and minds, we can start to go backward and instead of forward. 

Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. So, wherever the Word of God is trusted and believed, faith hangs out there, and this is extremely important information for us to know. We can’t do anything without faith. If we’re sitting down, it takes faith to get up. If we’re walking, it takes faith to run. From the smallest to the greatest detail of life, every component runs on faith. Our victory and success depend on it, and this should motivate us to increase our faith in God and to do everything we possibly can to preserve our faith in Him. 

When that doesn’t happen–when we’re at a standstill in our faith and we’re not doing what is necessary to preserve it, our minds and hearts are impacted. A lack of faith opens the door for sadness, doubt, insecurity, disappointment and other kinds of negativity to come in and make themselves at home. Whether or not they stay at home in our hearts and minds is completely left up to us. 

In the Old Testament, the backdrop for Deuteronomy 7:16-18 speaks to the promise that God made to His people to give them a promised land. It’s clear to us from reading this passage that they couldn’t sit back with their hands tucked beneath their laps and do nothing. He commanded them to do what was necessary to take possession of the land and to take it by faith. Even though they were outnumbered and lacked the power of the other nations, they had to trust and believe God for victory. We must do the same, and the way that we get this done is to renew our minds to God’s Word and think thoughts that are in line with it. 

Repeatedly, God backed His people and gave them victory and success. When it comes to causing the ones He loves to overcome adversity and obstacles, He’s done it before, and He’ll do it again. He receives the glory, and His name is magnified when we triumph and believe to receive all that He has in store for us. We might look at Deuteronomy 7:16-18 and think to ourselves, “Well, that was the Old Testament. God doesn’t show His power like that anymore.” Our Heavenly Father said in Malachi 3:6(NLT), “I am the LORD, and I do not change.”  We change all the time, but our Heavenly Father never changes. So, we need to be confident that when we kick out thoughts of doubt and negativity and change the way we think, God will turn things around so that our circumstances and conditions begin to mirror our high opinion of Him and His power and love. 

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 Has Done It Before and Will Do It Again”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2025. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Get up and Pray

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Luke 22:44-44 (NLT)
44He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. 45 At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. 46“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

At one of the most challenging times of his life, our Lord and Savior wanted those closest to him to pray with him. There’s no doubt that part of his laboring in prayer to our Heavenly Father was for the disciples. He wanted the Word that he taught to them to be anchored in their hearts and minds, and to be so to such a degree that they would not fall for the tricks of the enemy and yield to temptation. He knew what he had been sent to do, and it’s not too much of a stretch to think that in his humanity, he wanted to see the disciples persevering with vigilance and prayer during that difficult time. It was not to be. His disciples fell asleep when he had asked them to stay awake and be watchful. They were asleep at the wheel, so to speak, and as children of God, this is the kind of behavior we should never want to mimic.

There’s no question that life comes with opportunities for both joy and pain. However, we are often surprised by just how challenging situations and circumstances on the painful side of life can be. It can be tough to face pain, disappointment, and a broken heart with the joy and faith of Christ. Sometimes, we feel like laying in the bed and crying for days, but our powerful Lord offers us another more meaningful way to handle the hiccups and dilemmas of our lives. His instruction and encouragement to us is to ‘get up and pray’.

Each of us may process emotional distress differently, but at some point, we have to ask ourselves if we are going to believe and trust God to do what He’s promised in His Word. We have nothing like the circumstances our precious Lord and Savior faced, but his example is the one we’re commanded to follow. He was not weak by any means. There has never been or will ever be any human as strong as he was when he carried out his ministry within the earth. Our Heavenly Father was the Source of his strength. So, if there was anyone who would have been exempt from prayer, it would have been Jesus Christ, but he prayed all the time because it is required to remain spiritually strong.

We must pray continually because this is what our Savior has taught us. Mark 1:35(NLT) says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Prayer was his habit pattern and praying early in the mornings meant that before he saw the face of anyone else, he sought the face of God. Again, a habit of earnest prayer is a standard that allows us to remain spiritually strong, so that the difficult seasons of life will not cause us to turn our backs on our faith in God. 

1Peter 4:12-14(NLT) says, “12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though something strange were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that at the revelation of His glory you may also rejoice and be overjoyed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, and of God, rests upon you.” It’s a myth to assume that just because we are followers of the Lord Jesus, and filled with God’s Holy Spirit, that we will not face fiery ordeals. Sometimes, our weaknesses are attacked by the enemy. Other times, we might have to keep quiet when we really want to give people a piece of our minds. We have to make sacrifices and not do some of the things we enjoyed in the past. These sufferings are far from what our Master Jesus endured, but because we are lights living in a dark world, we do share in his sufferings on some level. 

He tells us to keep on rejoicing because even though things are not comfortable, God has blessed us, and the Holy Spirit will comfort and help us to be victorious in Christ. We must not forget that we have the strength of God because our bodies are the Holy Spirit’s temple; he lives inside us. Our Heavenly Father knows that we’re going to go through some tough times, but through Christ, we have the strength to stay encouraged and never give up. So, whatever you’re facing, get up and pray. Pray often. Even though you might have tears and sadness, God is able to heal, deliver, rescue, and restore you, no matter the circumstance. He will show you His power and love if you have faith in Him and make turning to Him in prayer the most important practice of 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.

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

Seek God, Because He’s Always Right

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Being a child of God is a privilege incomparable to any other. It literally transforms us into people we couldn’t imagine becoming before we accepted Jesus Christ. It’s God’s love that does it. He’s made it possible for us to switch to a trajectory in life that will catapult us to a continuous journey in Christ. Nothing is better than this! It’s the life God purposed for us long ago. He handpicked you and did so way before you entered your mother’s womb. You didn’t just randomly decide to be God’s child. He’s the One that set your destiny and purposed your existence before the foundation of the world. This mind-blowing piece of revelation should inspire each of us. Our hearts should burn to be all that God created us to be and to attain all that He has in store for our lives.

Ephesians 1:5,10-11(NLT) says, “5 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. 10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ–everything in heaven and on earth. 11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”

This passage is the container that holds all our hopes and dreams. Again, we’re not random individuals. We have a destiny! We’re on this earth for a reason, and it is to carry out all that God has purposed. Understanding this is crucial to our faith. Many individuals think of faith as the means to get whatever they want. This causes them to pray for things that are not according to God’s plan for their individual lives. God has given us faith to fulfill His Will. This is the greatest fulfillment that any of us could ever hope to achieve. If we step outside of this, the thing we’re praying to receive will ultimately cause more harm to our relationship with God than good. We should always bear this in mind.

As believers, we sometimes want things that are not right for us, and there is no willingness in our minds and hearts to be led and corrected. When believers take on this way of approaching our Heavenly Father, and don’t have a mindset of “Thy Will be done”, they will keep hoping and praying, but it will seem that nothing is materializing. Rather seeking God in humility, they become discouraged and stop hoping altogether. This isn’t a spiritually mature posture. God shows us a better way, and it is to renew our minds to His Word so that we can obtain guidance and direction from the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:28(NLT) 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 not redundant or wasteful. He knows the plans He has for us, and He will employ every single encounter and experience to increase us and steer us in the direction of His love and purpose. Romans 8:29(NLT) says, “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” This verse informs us that God has a goal for us, and it is to become like our Big Brother, Jesus Christ. This is our purpose for being in the earth, and it is what life is all about.

Sometimes, we become discouraged when we’ve been praying for better health, new relationships, or greater financial blessings, and it seems as if those things are moving as slow as molasses to get to us. We’re not seeing progress, and we might be thinking that these blessings are just not going to manifest. “Why doesn’t God just tell me what’s going on? If He’s not going to bless me or I’m not praying right, why doesn’t He simply say this to me?” Well God is a God of order, and He will never overstep His order. Jesus Christ makes it clear to us that it’s our responsibility to seek God’s Will. He tells us in Matthew 6:33 to seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness first. This is key! You and I are not the authority on righteousness, God is, and Christ tells us that seeking God’s righteousness is the way to go.

Seeking God’s righteousness means yielding to it with the understanding that nothing can ever go wrong when His ‘rightness’ is the motivation for all we attempt to do. We must seek Him first because God is always right. It’s His Will to bless us, and He knows how to do it best. 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.” God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings because of our union with Christ, and this is a more than abundant life! It’s not a life where we have all that we want. An abundant life in Christ is one where we have all that we need to fulfill the Plan and Will of God for our individual lives.

Sometimes we ask for the blessing without inviting God to do a work in our hearts and minds to prepare us for what is to come. The landing strip we have created in our lives isn’t strong or wide enough to hold what we’re asking God to receive. In other words, we have more to do in order to demonstrate our desire to know God better and to build our relationship with Him. We have more to do to make sure our faith in Him is greater than our desire for the blessing. Our minds must be renewed to God’s Word and our hearts must expand in our love for Him. This must be done on a greater level than before, so that we fulfill God’s requirement for our spiritual growth in Christ and obtain more understanding regarding the perfection and righteousness of His Will. ■

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.

“Seek God, Because He’s Always Right”, written for DomesticAbuseAwareness.Org ©2024. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Our Responsibility to God

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I recently heard about an incident where a man argued with a Christian believer that was endeavoring to tell him about Jesus Christ. This man firmly believes that hell is nonsense and that all good people go to heaven. Salvation and the high price our Lord and Savior paid to make it available to us meant nothing to him, and he was adamant that the believer he was arguing with was wrong about God and wrong about heaven. It is inevitable that we are going to meet people that do not believe what the Bible says, and they are vehemently opposed to the truth. They think their opinions, thoughts, and beliefs outweigh what God has said in His Word. They have their own interpretation of the truth, and as much as we want them to know God through Jesus Christ, they will not let God’s truth into their hearts.

We are saved through God’s grace. The gift of salvation that Jesus Christ offers us is an extraordinary gift from God, and Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that He gives us this gift by His grace; we can’t or didn’t do anything to earn it. Romans 10:9-10(NLT) says, “9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” Our Heavenly Father is a God of order. He sets the conditions, requirements, and methods by which we must accept, worship, serve, love, and honor Him. He is so ordained that in order to be saved, we must open our mouths and declare out loud to others that Jesus Christ is Lord. And not only this, we must believe in our hearts, in the deepest part of our beings, that God raised Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, from the dead.

This is the only way to be saved. There is no other way to become a child of God. We must accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, and we must have faith in God’s resurrection power to be born again. Jesus Christ tells us in John 3:3(NLT), “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” This is God’s truth, and what He says goes.

Salvation is an extraordinarily great gift from God and with it comes responsibility. This is the part that many people neglect. As God’s children, we can’t live any way we choose and call it holy, we must live the way God’s Word tells us to live. We must follow the example of Jesus Christ, and we are obligated to do the things he did.

In Matthew 28:18-20(NLT), Jesus Christ told the disciples, “18 I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” As believers, we have a responsibility to Jesus Christ to share his Gospel. Sharing the Good News about him and the salvation he offers is sharing his love with others, and there is no greater task or reward in life.

2Corinthians 5:20(NLT) tells us, “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” This is our commission. We are to be ambassadors for Christ, and to share his love and light in this dark world, but there are many Christians living today that have never introduced anyone to Jesus. They have not recited a Bible verse to anyone, nor have they labored in prayer for their families and friends to be saved. They do not associate their neglect to act upon their call with the loss of momentum and stamina on this Christian journey, but they should. Hebrews 10:24 tells us that we should be thinking of creative ways to influence and inspire one another in doing good things that help and minister to others. When we are not doing our part ourselves, we are not truly able to influence others in this way.

James 2:26(NLT) says, “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” God designed things in such a way that our faith works together with the Christ-like works that we perform. In other words, a fully developed faith is more than just words, it’s action! It requires that we back it up, and this is where many of us get derailed. We must have it clear in our minds that Jesus Christ is where the action is. Anything that we do to follow his example and spread the Gospel is going to take us higher in the things of God.

There are many religions and many ways of believing that people have developed, but if those systems are not rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ in God’s Word, if they do not teach people about their responsibility to God, they are not pleasing to Him. Hebrews 10:22(ESV) echoes God’s requirement. It says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” Well, how do we acquire a true heart in the full assurance of faith?  Romans 10:17 tells us. It affirms that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Many people are in error by thinking they do not have to follow God’s Word. They don’t think they have to back their faith or fulfill their call, but they are sadly mistaken. Ephesians 1:3 declares that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places because of our union with Christ. We are packed to overflowing and oozing over with God’s bounty, and He expects us to do something with all that He’s given us. He expects us to impact His Kingdom by bringing glory to it.

Faith in God requires diligence in our commitment to please and honor Him. We can’t get away from that no matter what. We are obligated to share the Good News about Christ and not everyone will receive our witness. Some may be argumentative, but we must not be offended. Instead, we should be encouraged by every opportunity to speak the truth. Hebrews 11:26(NLT) says of Moses, “He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.” This is exactly the heart and mind that God wants each of us to have. Hebrews 11:6 declares that our God is a Rewarder! He will reward us for sharing His Gospel and for any persecution or ill-treatment that comes with following our call. We must fulfill our obligation to God through the example of Jesus Christ and know that God will bless and reward us for doing so. ■

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.

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

The Spirit of Truth

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The first born-again Christian that I met who actually talked about being filled with the Holy Spirit was a woman that I had known most of my life. I was 14 and she was a mother of seven with an abusive husband that treated them all horribly. They were poor and she was often taken with illness, no doubt from the many beatings she had endured. She told me, “I go to the Holiness church in town. That’s where I got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost!” For me, this was nuanced and shocking. I was raised in the Baptist church and Christian men and women had been my teachers, mentors, and role models, but the words this woman spoke stopped me dead in my tracks. My coloring box of ‘dignified good Christian people’ made room for a new color. For the first time I saw hope in this once hopeless woman, and it made a tremendous impact on my life.

Living with Holy Spirit power was a foreign concept to me as a young believer, still in high school. I never heard about him from anyone. When I finally did hear about the power of the Holy Spirit, and inquired about him, I was told that this wasn’t for me. It was for those folks who danced and casted out demons, but it was not for me. That simply wasn’t the truth. The Holy Spirit is for every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s not an abstract essence or an empty cloud. The Holy Spirit is a person. He’s more of a person than you and I could ever be.

The Holy Spirit is a gift from God to every born-again believer. In Acts 2:38(ESV), the Apostle Peter proclaimed, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is power from on High. He’s the difference maker in our lives. Jesus Christ tells us in John 16:13 that he sent the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and to tell us what he, the Spirit, hears from Christ.

It’s not our power we’re using. You and I don’t have any power to call our own. Our power comes from God through His Holy Spirit that indwells us. God tells us in Hosea 4:6 that His people are destroyed because they lack knowledge about Him, they don’t know what’s right and true, and they’ve turned their backs on knowledge. This happened to those living in Old Testament times and it is still happening to many of us. Some of us allow religion to hold us hostage from the truth, and we deny the gift of Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth.

Many of us have studied God’s Word, and some have done so exhaustively. We may comprehend God’s love intellectually, but we can’t understand it with spiritual depth because we deny the Teacher. The Word may make sense to us, but there’s no connection between our minds and hearts to help the Word sink deep because we have denied the Helper. We need to comprehend the Word of God in a way that the power of its truth sinks deep within. Only the Holy Spirit can do that for us.

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.” The thief is the devil, our adversary, and Jesus Christ has schooled us on what the thief is up to, however, he doesn’t want us to focus on that, because he has overcome the devil through his sacrifice and resurrection. Our precious Lord and Savior wants us to focus on what he has done for us, because he has made it available for every person to live with his victory, and therefore live a more than abundant life.

It’s no secret that life on earth comes with challenges and setbacks. Although we’re not to focus on the negative, our blessed Redeemer didn’t hide the reality of trials and tribulations. He told 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.” Many believers have not understood the awesome Good News of this scripture. Jesus Christ was tempted by satan, faced unparallel opposition, endured being called names and lied about, and walked with power, love, and strength throughout his ministry in the midst of murderous attempts on his life. He was fearless because he understood who he was. He knew that God was backing him through the power of the Holy Spirit, and you and I are called to walk with this same authority and power.

Romans 8:10(NLT) says, “And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God.” The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. It is this same Spirit that was in Christ, working in him to complete God’s mission of saving the world. There is no equal to God’s power and that power is in us through the Holy Spirit!

We underestimate our ability to soar like eagles, to conquer obstacles victoriously, and to overcome any situation because we have not allowed God’s Holy Spirit to be at work in our lives to the extent he can. When we don’t know God’s Word, and we’re ignorant about the Helper, we can be stolen from, killed, and destroyed. Many of our beautiful brothers and sisters have fallen because they didn’t realize that God has given us the Gift of Holy Spirit to protect and keep us, and to help us live powerfully. Not every person will accept what Jesus Christ has made available. Some will continue to live beneath their privilege, but don’t let that be you. God has commanded us to live by the Spirit, because the Spirit will preserve and help us to be strengthened with God’s love and power so that we can be like Christ and live a successful Christian 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.

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

Our Responsibility to God

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I recently heard about an incident where a man argued with a Christian believer that was endeavoring to tell him about Jesus Christ. This man firmly believes that hell is nonsense and that all good people go to heaven. Salvation and the high price our Lord and Savior paid to make it available to us meant nothing to him, and he was adamant that the believer he was arguing with was wrong about God and wrong about heaven. It is inevitable that we are going to meet people that do not believe what the Bible says, and they are vehemently opposed to the truth. They think their opinions, thoughts, and beliefs outweigh what God has said in His Word. They have their own interpretation of the truth, and as much as we want them to know God through Jesus Christ, they will not let God’s truth into their hearts.

We are saved through God’s grace. The gift of salvation that Jesus Christ offers us is an extraordinary gift from God, and Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that He gives us this gift by His grace; we can’t or didn’t do anything to earn it. Romans 10:9-10(NLT) says, “9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” Our Heavenly Father is a God of order. He sets the conditions, requirements, and methods by which we must accept, worship, serve, love, and honor Him. He is so ordained that in order to be saved, we must open our mouths and declare out loud to others that Jesus Christ is Lord. And not only this, we must believe in our hearts, in the deepest part of our beings, that God raised Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, from the dead.

This is the only way to be saved. There is no other way to become a child of God. We must accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, and we must have faith in God’s resurrection power to be born again. Jesus Christ tells us in John 3:3(NLT), “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” This is God’s truth, and what He says goes.

Salvation is an extraordinarily great gift from God and with it comes responsibility. This is the part that many people neglect. As God’s children, we can’t live any way we choose and call it holy, we must live the way God’s Word tells us to live. We must follow the example of Jesus Christ, and we are obligated to do the things he did.

In Matthew 28:18-20(NLT), Jesus Christ told the disciples, “18 I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” As believers, we have a responsibility to Jesus Christ to share his Gospel. Sharing the Good News about him and the salvation he offers is sharing his love with others, and there is no greater task or reward in life.

2Corinthians 5:20(NLT) tells us, “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” This is our commission. We are to be ambassadors for Christ, and to share his love and light in this dark world, but there are many Christians living today that have never introduced anyone to Jesus. They have not recited a Bible verse to anyone, nor have they labored in prayer for their families and friends to be saved. They do not associate their neglect to act upon their call with the loss of momentum and stamina on this Christian journey, but they should. Hebrews 10:24 tells us that we should be thinking of creative ways to influence and inspire one another in doing good things that help and minister to others. When we are not doing our part ourselves, we are not truly able to influence others in this way.

James 2:26(NLT) says, “Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” God designed things in such a way that our faith works together with the Christ-like works that we perform. In other words, a fully developed faith is more than just words, it’s action! It requires that we back it up, and this is where many of us get derailed. We must have it clear in our minds that Jesus Christ is where the action is. Anything that we do to follow his example and spread the Gospel is going to take us higher in the things of God.

There are many religions and many ways of believing that people have developed, but if those systems are not rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ in God’s Word, if they do not teach people about their responsibility to God, they are not pleasing to Him. Hebrews 10:22(ESV) echoes God’s requirement. It says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” Well, how do we acquire a true heart in the full assurance of faith?  Romans 10:17 tells us. It affirms that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.

Many people are in error by thinking they do not have to follow God’s Word. They don’t think they have to back their faith or fulfill their call, but they are sadly mistaken. Ephesians 1:3 declares that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places because of our union with Christ. We are packed to overflowing and oozing over with God’s bounty, and He expects us to do something with all that He’s given us. He expects us to impact His Kingdom by bringing glory to it.

Faith in God requires diligence in our commitment to please and honor Him. We can’t get away from that no matter what. We are obligated to share the Good News about Christ and not everyone will receive our witness. Some may be argumentative, but we must not be offended. Instead, we should be encouraged by every opportunity to speak the truth. Hebrews 11:26(NLT) says of Moses, “He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.” This is exactly the heart and mind that God wants each of us to have. Hebrews 11:6 declares that our God is a Rewarder! He will reward us for sharing His Gospel and for any persecution or ill-treatment that comes with following our call. We must fulfill our obligation to God through the example of Jesus Christ and know that God will bless and reward us for doing so. ■

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.

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

Convinced of His Love

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Colossians 2:10 (NLT)
“So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”

When relationships don’t work out, it can be devastating to our lives, especially when it’s clear that our partner’s feelings have changed for us. When things were good, you never thought that he would betray your trust and diminish what you brought to the relationship. You were friends, and you can’t believe that your friend would cause you so much heartache. When we go through hurtful situations like this, the emotions and feelings we experience from the aftermath can be very surprising.

One of those surprising feelings is the sheer terror that we experience internally from the loss of the relationship. We don’t quite know what to do with it, and the anxiety it causes sometimes makes us do things we never thought we would. Some of us will badger the ex or worse, go after his new girlfriend. We lose it emotionally, and we’re terrified of reaching the bottom of all that pain and only find that there’s more of it.

God commands us in Psalm 37:8(NLT), “Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper–it only leads to harm.” When we use profane language, slander, and violence as a way of coping with pain, we’re providing an opening for satan to punish us more. When we take our disappointment, anger, and sadness out on others, we’re punishing ourselves by digging a deeper hole of darkness. These are actions that keep us separated from the right person that God has ordained to walk with us through life. Actions that go against the grain of God’s love are never sanctioned by Him. Jesus Christ offers us the best way to deal with our heartache, and it requires us to keep a steady head, a stable heart, and a deep commitment to prayer.

Another emotional low is the dip in our self-esteem when someone falls out of love with us. We sometimes beat ourselves up for not recognizing the signs, or we become depressed because we think we’re not enough or not loveable. Feeling this way is a sure indicator that we need to seek the Lord with all that we are. We allow a broken relationship to injure our self-esteem because we depended way too much on another individual to validate our self-worth.

Only God can validate our worth, and He did this thousands of years ago when He sent His only begotten Son to the earth to give his life as a sacrifice for our sins. If we treasure the gift of eternal life, and if we honor our relationship with God, one of the things we must make absolutely sure we never do, and that’s nullify the cross of Christ in any way. Jesus died for us, and this shows us the depth of God’s love, and the depth of Jesus’s love. If we have placed more focus on our pain than we do on the suffering of Christ, we need to make a change, and do it quickly.

1Corinthians 6:19-20(NLT) tells us, “19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”  We are God’s children. We belong to Him totally and completely. Christ purchased us from the realm of darkness with his blood. So, we should never look to another human being for validation. Do as Jesus Christ commanded the disciples in Matthew 10:15(NLT). If a household did not accept his message, he told the disciples to “shake its dust from your feet as you leave.” In other words, Jesus is instructing them to shake off the rejection, the sadness, the putting yourself down, and continue walking in the confidence of who God has made you.

We must have faith in our Heavenly Father. Be convinced of God’s love for you and let that be your anchor continually in life. We hurt down deep because we haven’t allowed that place to be exposed to the love of Jesus Christ. We can change this. We must pray for God’s healing, commit ourselves to be guided by His Holy Spirit, and have the courage and faith to push past the fear.

As a woman of God, you are never to be stuck in the quicksand of doubt and self-sabotage. Shake that loose! You are a child of the King. Let the love of Christ be your everlasting garment, and never stoop so low as to want someone that doesn’t want you. If the brother has not chosen to value you as God’s daughter and to see you as the treasure God created you to be, shake it off, bid him well, and in God’s grace, keep it moving.■

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.

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