All Things Working Together

Posted on April 8, 2024 by daaorg1214

When it’s time for a believer to be at a certain point of spiritual maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this person has no recognition or awareness of this appointed place, it can be said that he or she is asleep as it relates to their spiritual appointment. Many will argue that this isn’t true, but our circumstances will bear it out repeatedly. Even as believers, sometimes our lives come to a standstill. It seems that things just aren’t moving, and we’re not as satisfied or fulfilled as we once were. We have a choice. We can remain at a standstill, or we can accept the reality that we’re late for our spiritual appointment, and we need to seek God with all our hearts and minds, because He has some place for us to be.

Make no mistake, there’s a place where everything for us comes together in an amazing and fulfilling way. Romans 8:28(ESV) says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Be clear that ‘all things working together for good’ is a process of God’s perfect timing. It doesn’t mean that our circumstances and conditions are continually in a state of bliss. We live on earth where people and things are coming against us all the time. Jesus Christ told us in John 16:33 that in the world we will have tribulation, but we can be encouraged because he overcame the world, and through him, we will too.

So ‘all things working together’ is not a drop-off location where things are perfect and pleasing as punch. We don’t get to remain planted there with our hands tucked beneath our laps. But this is the way some of us have trained our minds to think. We forget that this earth experience is grooming ground for our faith, and that our faith will indeed get a workout here. Instead, we have immediacy on the brain. When we’re in a bind or we’re expecting an answer to prayer, we want things working out on the double. Again, ‘All things working together’ is a continual process where we have a starting point and a destination according to our faith. And as soon as we we’ve reached one destination and gained a higher level of faith; another starting point will be revealed.

‘All things working together for our good’ is God working powerfully behind the scenes. We can’t see all the details of what He’s doing, and this is one of the reasons that so many of us become anxious and worried that things are not going to work out. We lose faith because our timetables lack the patience and endurance that God is requiring of us.

Stamina and momentum are not words we typically hear in Christian vernacular, but we should hear them more often because they are very important to our walk in Christ. Stamina and momentum have everything to do with the endurance and patience that God expects all believers to produce. He tells us in Hebrew 12:1(NLT), “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.” Notice in this verse that God didn’t tell us that HE would strip off every weight that slows us down. He’s given this responsibility to us, and when we reach a point in life where the weight is barreling down on us, we should know that it’s stripping off time. The longer we wait to strip it off, the more stamina and momentum we lose.

Our blessings are not delayed, we’ve yet to catch up to them. God does not slow the rotation of the earth to catch up with our pace; we must catch up to His pace. This is one of the reasons He is continually reminding us in His Word to put on our new nature which is created to be like Christ. If we do this, we will be prepared for all that God has in store. Some of us have delayed our spiritual growth and maturity to such a degree that our eyes no longer recognize opportunities. They slip right by us. God has designed the universe in such a way that it is continually pouring out the overflow of His blessings, but we’ve not positioned ourselves to be at the right place at the right time.

1Corinthians 14:33 (NKJV) tells us, “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace.” Heavenly Father is a God of order, and one of the greatest disservices we commit against ourselves is to underestimate His nature of peace and His allegiance to structure and order. You and I don’t have the mental and emotional capacity to absorb the true majesty and supremacy of God. It is impossible to even skim the surface of it without the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is one of the reasons why God is so patient with us. He doesn’t punish us for not reading and studying His Word. He leaves the level of intimacy in our relationship with Him totally up to us. We can seek Him first, or we can seek other things, but we will always move at a snail’s pace to blessings if we don’t seek God with all our hearts, minds, and strength.

Romans 8:28 reminds us that God has called us to His purpose. The revelation of our purpose in the Will of God must combine with our intelligence and intention to walk it out. Many of us are finding ourselves in a predicament of stagnancy when it comes to blessings, and it is most often due to the failure to soak in the knowledge of God’s Word and connect it to purpose and action. This causes us to lose momentum on this Christian journey, and it decreases our strength and ability to reach out and grab what is rightfully ours.

Blessings come from our knowledge of the Word of God. When we’re in a season in our lives where we’re not seeing the kind of movement we expect, it isn’t a time to be complacent. It’s a season to seek God like never before and draw nearer to Him with the full assurance that He will draw nearer to us. In Revelation 3:2 (NLT), God warned, “Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.” Everything, and I do mean absolutely everything is spiritual. The Spirit of God is forever and always causing all things to work together for our good. The closer we draw to our Heavenly Father, the more we will see the many blessings He’s placed before us, and we’ll have the spiritual strength to reach out and grab them. ■

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.

Trying to Get the Man to Change

Posted on April 1, 2024 by daaorg1214

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Help Is on the Way

Posted on March 18, 2024 by daaorg1214

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Through A Dark Valley

Posted on March 11, 2024 by daaorg1214

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

God Heals the Brokenhearted

Posted on March 4, 2024 by daaorg1214

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No Enemy Can Reach Me

Posted on February 26, 2024 by daaorg1214

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Our Responsibility to God

Posted on February 19, 2024 by daaorg1214

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. ■

Don’t Let Anything Shake Your Faith

Posted on January 29, 2024 by daaorg1214

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. ■

Convinced of His Love

Posted on January 22, 2024 by daaorg1214

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.■

Godly Treasures

Posted on January 15, 2024 by daaorg1214

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Tag Archives: Victims of Domestic Violence

All Things Working Together

Trying to Get the Man to Change

Help Is on the Way

Through A Dark Valley

God Heals the Brokenhearted

No Enemy Can Reach Me

Our Responsibility to God

Don’t Let Anything Shake Your Faith

Convinced of His Love

Godly Treasures