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The 3 Ways to Gain Peace
As a Christian we are not to be in turmoil with the world or anything in the world. The Bible was written for us to have peace from it. John tells us that Jesus spoke to us, so in Him we may have peace. In the world we will have tribulation, but we are not to go nuts, go insane or go berserk because Jesus has overcome the world. When He overcame the world, He gave us His peace in knowing Him. In knowing Him we just have to read the Words He spoke. He spoke all of His Words so in Him we can have peace (John 16:33).
I know that sounds tough, but it isn’t. When you become a Christian, God woos you until you fall head over heels in love with Him. Imagine, when you fall in love for the first time. You cannot get them out of your mind. That is what Jesus is doing with us. He has chosen us as His bride and He is making us fall in love with Him, day by day. Peace comes with this love. There are three ways you can gain this peace: calm yourself by talking to Jesus, know the laws of God and believe unto righteousness to sow peace.
Way One: Calm Yourself by Talking to God
My favorites part of being a Christian is the ability to speak to Jesus. When I first became a Christian, I had no idea how to speak to Jesus but in time I learned, no matter where I am or what I am doing I can speak to Jesus about anything. I would rather have a one-sided conversation with Jesus than a two-sided conversation resulting in hurt feelings. I learned to keep my mouth shut and talk with Jesus after the fact. Fifteen years later, I am becoming an expert at it. We all have feelings and sometimes they get out of control or hurt. As Christians, we have a God who cares about not only us but all the other people we are supposed to serve. He knows we will be hurt sometimes and He doesn’t want us to be the one doing the hurting.
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” We can say anything to Jesus and He will listen. I have said many things to Jesus including my misguided complaints against Him. There was a time when life was not as it should be, in my eyes, and I blamed Jesus for the way it was turning out. I couldn’t believe He wanted me to live that way, but He had a purpose for what was happening in my life. You are that purpose. Jesus taught me that I am not the only one He loves and taught me to calm myself and love, not only Him but His law.
Way Two: Know the Law of God
Because Jesus allowed me to say anything to Him I was able to speak until I discovered the real reasons why I could not have peace. I was so filled with sin that it had to be rooted out and dealt with. The only Person who can make that happen is Jesus Himself. I was reading the Word of God at the same time I was dealing with the sin bubbling up like ditch water. It stank, and it was good for nothing but carp. I needed to be taught how to use His Word to heal my wounds. I fell in love with the Law of God knowing its healing power in my life.
Psalm 119:165 tells us “Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble.” God says that if we love His law nothing will cause us to stumble. He is not saying you will never stumble but if you love the law of not lying you will not stumble when faced with a situation that might cause you to lie. It is one law at a time that changes us. We fall in love with one law at a time and we are changed by that love. To know the laws of God is to be changed by them. There might be some laws you don’t know yet or love, but when you know them and fall in love with them, you will not stumble. When we don’t stumble because we love the laws of God it is easy to believe unto righteousness.
Way Three: Believe unto Righteousness to Sow Peace
When you talk to Jesus about everything that is bothering you, and find He responds, you believe there is hope. Hope that life will get better. Hope the pain you are suffering will go away. Hope there will be peace in your life someday. You will learn His law more knowing He can be trusted with your dirty swamp waters. The swamp water begins to clear, and you can actually see beyond it. This is the fruit from your belief. Living, clear water, even in your ditches.
James 3:18 tells us the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. The living clear water in our heart is the fruit of the righteousness we now have from loving the law of God. Our hearts filled with this clear living water is sown to others. John 7:38 tells us those who believe will have living water coming out of them. This is how we sow peace. We can believe in Jesus and be righteous. We can sow peace by holding our tongue during a time of strife. The calm feeling we have is felt by others as peace and they want it. Peace sown.
We must set our mind to having this peace. If you cannot seem to gain peace in your life, then the Word of God is not in you. There can be no other result from the Words of Jesus then peace. He has told us what will happen in the world. He has told us what will happen to us. He has told us what He is doing. His Word gives us the hope we need for the peace we need to do what He has called us to do.
While chaos is erupting around you, you will be the one people look to for peace in the situation. They will look to you for stability. If this is what you want than gaining a peace from Jesus is the only way you will be able to do this. You must calm yourself enough to hear from Jesus, know His laws enough to know what is right and wrong and know that you are about to sow a peace no one will be able to understand unless they love Jesus Christ. Therefore, I beseech you, brothers and sisters, to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1). Our love for each other, our lowliness and gentleness with longsuffering bearing with each other comes from a bond of peace. You can have this peace, with me, and your brethren. It is the best feeling in the world to know that there is nothing you can do that God cannot handle so go live in peace.
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The 3 Ways God Speaks to Us
Do you love Jesus? If you do John 14:21 says “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” If you love Jesus you can expect to hear from Him but does He speak to us all the same? Yes. He uses the same method of speaking to me as He will use with you, He just talks about different things. I was amazed one time when a famous Christian teacher was giving a conference, which I attended in Mississauga, Ontario, and God was talking to her about the exact same thing He was talking to me about. I used to be jealous about those things because I wanted to be special. Well guess what, I am special, because He is telling me the same thing He is telling someone else, who is much more popular than me. How amazing is that? This was a revelation for me. I want you to know that Jesus speaks to everyone who loves Him. He doesn’t have favourites. He spoke to Beth the same thing He was speaking to me about. He not only speaks to the people He loves His timing is also impeccable. He manifests Himself at the perfect time to show us the perfect path for us to travel on.
I want to give you a picture of what following God’s path is like so can visualize what you are doing when you follow Jesus. Picture a road with white solid lines on both sides. Look into the horizon and see trees, millions of trees. Your path disappears but you can see something in the distance that looks like the foundation of a building. It is huge but there is no floor, walls or roof. Your first question will be, “How do I get to that place?” The answer, “Follow Jesus.” Your second question, “How can I get the actual building above the foundation?” The answer, “Listen to Jesus.” Your path is of Jesus, for Jesus and with Jesus. When you are walking on gravel, not knowing your direction, look to Jesus because He has already paved a path for you to travel. It is all about listening and following but if you lose sight of Him there are three ways to get sight of Him again, His Words, nature and humans.
Way One: Words
We know that Jesus speaks because we have evidence of that in the Bible. He spoke the Heavens into being, this world into being and He spoke us into being. He may have been speaking a different language than us, but He was used Words that can be translated into our language. He doesn’t just use His own voice but He used breath. He breathes out what He wants us to know. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17). He speaks so you will be equipped to do His work. His purpose for speaking is you. His purpose for speaking is them. His purpose for speaking is Jesus. The plan of the Father is forefront in His mind when He speaks. He never says anything the Father hasn’t told Him to say (John 12:49). He leads us into the plan the Father has for us and for Him. He manifests Himself in the Word of God (Holy Bible), so when He manifests Himself through nature, we know it is Him.
Way Two: Nature
From the Word of God we know the Father manifested Himself as clouds, fire, wind, rain, storms, and many more. When Paul tells us, in Romans 1:20, Jesus reveals Himself through nature giving us no excuse for not knowing Him we too must look for Him in nature. My description of following Jesus is following Him through nature. It is the best way to describe the things of God. Even Jesus used nature to describe who the Father was. Natural disasters come to speak to us. If you are unclear about how the Father uses nature you need to read the Bible more often because He uses natural things to speak almost as much as He used words. His words move mountains. His words flooded the earth.
I live in an area that feels all the seasons. It is winter right now and we have 14 inches or 35.5 cm of snow on the ground. It is cold outside so when spring comes I appreciate it more than if it was warm all winter. I live in the most Southern part of Canada. My back deck is my favourite place to be because it is like being in the forest. I love to see the creatures God created coming through my yard. We have no domestic creatures to allow God’s wild creatures to roam free unhindered. If I sit still enough a squirrel will get within inches of me before it sees me and scampers away. When you know Jesus you know His nature speaks to us. The beauty of it speaks to us. The stillness of it speaks to us. The volatility of it speaks to us. Nature speaks to us of the power of the Father. He uses that same power in people.
Way Three: Humans
It is the job of every person on this earth to do the will of the Father including Jesus. Jesus, who is God Himself, said, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30) If Jesus can do nothing of Himself then we can do nothing of ourselves. It is our job to follow Jesus who tells us what the will of the Father is but He is not just leading us He is leading every believer on this earth into the will of the Father. The Father will use both believers and non-believers to get us into His path. He uses believers to sharpen our character and non-believers to show us the world to drive us back to His character. The Father send Jesus to us and unbelievers so we stay on task. It is our character that drives us to the work of the Lord. It is that work and the character behind it that draws people to Jesus.
The building that goes on the foundation are people. The Father will send people to you to sharpen you and for you to serve. We erect the wall of our ministry with the people we serve. Every time we serve someone in the capacity we are assigned they are changed. That change establishes us as a servant in that ministry. The foundation begins to be enclosed by our works. He is sending us to help people speak His word, teach His word, and act out His word as an example to others. We do not have Jesus walking around as our example but we do have humans who are capable of having the character of Jesus on this earth. Many have done it and so will I.
The only way we can follow Jesus is through His manifestations. If we cannot see or hear him, we will get lost. We can only see and hear Him when we love Him because that is the only way He will manifest Himself to us. We see him more from love to love. One day you will discover your love for Him has grown beyond what you could ever imagine you could love. You cry at the hearing of His name. You smile at the sight of Him in nature. You want to serve His people out of love for Him. You love because you know what Jesus is doing in other people’s lives. He is manifesting Himself to them in the same way He manifested Himself to you. He is breathing His life into them with His words. He is showing them the beauty of the nature of things. He is sending people to them to serve and be served. His plan for us is remarkable and irresistible. Once you start seeing Jesus every day you will start going through withdrawals when you don’t and need to get Him back in your sight again. He has this effect on everyone who loves Him.
Recently I heard a song I want you to hear too. It is called So Will I by Hillsong United. This song speaks of God’s manifestations to us. He is the One who never leaves the one behind so if you have not seen His manifestations and you love Him, don’t worry He will not leave you behind. Your path is already paved. Your foundation is already there. The people you will serve are there waiting for you. What He speaks never comes back void (Isaiah 55:11).
For a complete teaching on this topic combine this Revealed in Me Blog post with Episode 5 of Pursuing Biblical Direction on WE Podcast.
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The 3 Ways to Earn Rewards from Heaven
You have worked hard all of your life and feel like you have gotten nowhere in particular. Your goals and your plans have all been for not or so you think. God has not looked upon your work and forgotten it. Each step you have taken, each kilometer you have driven, each ditch you have climbed your way out of has been part of His path for you. Where is your mind? Is it focused on you or on Jesus? Your labour of love is not a labour of love unless you are doing it for the love of Jesus. If you are doing your works for the love of Jesus, He will never forget it. Most of us will think our labour is to bring nonbelievers into the fold so we give up but Hebrews 6:10 tells us he will not forget our labour of love for the saints. It is no labour at all to bring people in to the fold because it is not our job. It is the job of the Father to bring them in, therefore, it is our job to labour for them after they come into the fold. What is in it for us if we labour for the Saints? Read Revelation chapters 2 & 3 to find out the rewards of the Saints. We still have to earn them but how can we do that? The ways in which we can earn them are, to know the will of the Father for us, to trust the will of the Father for us, and to overcome the things of the world that can trick us out of our rewards.
Way One: Know the Will of the Father
The wisdom of the world is not the direction we want to head if we are looking for the path God has paved for our lives. Ephesians 5:17 to not be unwise but to understand what the will of Lord is. There are many verses that tell us exactly what the will of the Father is but when it comes to walking the paved path specifically for us it takes understanding. We will not have understanding unless we know our God. I will say this over and over again in my writing and in my speaking. It is clear to me but it may not be for you. You cannot know God if you are not reading the Bible. He shows Himself to us in this Book so clearly that you cannot mistake His work for anyone else’s nor can you misunderstand His commands. The more you know Him the more you will know His will. The wisdom from knowing Him is what connects us to His rewards. He rewards us for knowing Him by speaking to us and manifesting Himself to us. The more we know the more we see. When we see Him we are able to follow Him down the paved path for us. The reward we get here is the satisfaction that we are on the right path, the reward in heaven is endless for loving Jesus while on the path. As we continue on His path we learn to trust His directions more.
Way Two: Trust the Word of the Lord
It is impossible to know Jesus more and trust Him less. He is so faithful to remember us when we move in His direction. He reminds us of the work He has done to get us to where we are even if we think we are still nowhere. It has been fifteen years since the Father called me and sometimes I feel as if I spent the whole time in the ditch. Jesus reminds me often how far I have come since the days when I traveled down gravel roads on my ten speed road bike. I have many flat tires and many broken spokes. I went off-roading to see if the grass was greener on the other side but it wasn’t. A snake is still a snake no matter what yard it lives in. Paul said to Timothy, “For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God.” (1 Timothy 4:10) We cannot have the hope of our God if we do not trust His will for us and we cannot collect any rewards. He shows us how faithful He is if we trust that He is. When we get discouraged doing good He comes through with ways to encourage us to be strong and courageous to continue on His path even in the driving rain, the fog and a snow storm. He will remember we are in there and give us the tools we need to continue and those tools sometimes are worldly rewards but are always heavenly. The tools we have will surely help us to overcome any adversity the world will throw at us.
Way Three: Overcome the Things of the World
We are not living a life that is uncommon to man. The sun shines on everyone, good and evil, and the rain comes on everyone, good or evil. The advantage we have as Christians is the Word of God and all it brings into our lives. To be an overcomer of all the world throws at us to trick us, we must use the Word of God. Paul tells us to put on the armour of God (Ephesians 6) but we know (because we know the Word) that is just putting on the character of Jesus Christ. The rewards for doing that are many. You can line those pieces of amour up with the letters to the church in Revelation 2 & 3 quite nicely. Jesus regales them with the rewards for overcoming the obstacles that are pounding against our amour. At the beginning it seems cumbersome to carry all this armour just to follow the path paved for us but after a while it becomes habit to put this armour on before we put on our walking shoes. Without this armour it is impossible to continue on the path God has for us because the armour shines a light through the darkness to reveal the tricks of the world. The obstacles we must hurdle are there in the darkness and they need to be overcome to continue. We need to stand our ground and not step backwards. Do not let a lie get through to you. We overcome by knowing our God and trusting our God as a barricade.
Knowing the will of God, trusting the will of God, and overcoming the tricks the world while doing the will of God will put you in a great position when it come to the doling out of the rewards when Jesus returns. When you read Revelation 21 and 22 you will see when the rewards are given so I beg you to understand the rewards we receive here on earth are perishable and cannot stand the test of time waiting for Jesus to return. The rewards we receive when the New Earth and the New Jerusalem become a reality are the ones that are waiting for us when the time is fulfilled for us to receive them. Just because the rewards here are perishable doesn’t mean we should not go after them but we should know they do not even hold a flashlight to the rewards we will receive from Heaven. This is your storm warning. I do not know right now if there will be storms on the New Earth for us to endure but I do know the difference between then and now. I will have Jesus to speak too then because I will be able to go into the New Jerusalem to talk to Him. Will you?
Combine this blog with Episode 4: The Future of Making Good Decisions podcast on WE Podcast.
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The 3 Ways to be Guided with His Eye
You know I believe that the Bible is the best way to find information about how to live your life, but I am especially thrilled to tell you it is excellent at helping us make good decisions. Every day we are faced with decisions, some easy some hard. What we choose to do with the power we have to decide is based on many things. Our history can play a role, our present and our future dreams and goals. The problem is we don’t think much about the future when it comes to making our current decisions. We are a generation of impatient decision makers. Why should we wait when we can have it today? The issue with that premise is, what we want today, can hurt us in the future. Take some time to look around you. Find something in the room you have purchased without thinking. As I look around me, I see purchases that are wasting away. Money that could have been used for more important things for the Lord. These were hasty decisions on my part and I am sure you can see yours sitting there too.
What does our Lord have to say about this issue with decision making? Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” Jesus has an eye on the future of His kingdom, that we do not understand, nor can we see. His eye is the eye we should look through. Our decision making should always be guided by His eye, not our own. We should look through the lens of the Bible for the way to make every decision we are facing. This is not to say that we cannot make decision on our own. When we become mature in the Word, we will be able to make decisions without consulting Jesus because we KNOW what He would say. We know specifically because we have been in this roundabout before. He has showed us His way out of the ditch and we do not want to go back for this decision. We will learn to trust God, we will learn to ask for wisdom and we will watch Him transform our skills for making godly decisions. We will be changed.
Way One: Trust Him, Proverbs 3:5
His eye is trustworthy. He has guided people from the time He created us. For six thousand years He has been showing people how to live an abundant life. If an abundant life is your goals then trusting God is the only way there. Leaning on your own understanding will not lead you to the abundant life, it will lead you to the self-serving life of the world. This will make you a slave to the world always serving them from your ditch. If you have been on this roundabout before it is time for change.
Today, I want you to stop making hasty decisions and set you mind to being guided by Jesus. If that means you are not allowed to make any decision until you know they are from Jesus, then so be it. His eye has greater knowledge than yours, so look through His eye first.
Way Two: Ask Him for Wisdom, James 1:5; James 3:17
To see through the eye of Jesus you need to know His eye. If you think not making decisions is hard, at first, wait until you try to look through the lens of the Bible. Do not get frustrated because you can do this. When you love Jesus, He reveals Himself and what He expects from you. This is the wisdom we want. We want to know Him, so we can follow Him where He wants us to be.
Today, wait before you make a decision to see if you can see Jesus already there. This is he greater knowledge you want. You want to know if this decision will lead you on the path he has paved for you or the ditch beside it. His eye knows where you need to be to accomplish His greater good.
Way Three: Watch, Romans 12:2
As you begin this Biblical decision-making process you may not notice the changes happening in you. Every Biblically based decision you make may cause turmoil within you but outside you, life is changing. Jesus will allow you to see through His eye to see the ramifications of your godly decisions. He will show you how positive His path can be when you decide to follow Him.
Today, keep your eyes open to the changes going on outside of you. Those of us who are already there so we can see the changes. Don’t be afraid to talk to us. We will encourage you.
The way to make better decisions is God’s way. Time is a better indicator of our progress than anything else. We have been making ungodly decisions for many years and we will not begin to make godly decisions over night. We need to spend time talking to Jesus about how we can begin doing this today, right now. Our fervent discussions with Jesus will result in great knowledge toward becoming a decision maker He can use for His will. We need to commit our mind to change our decisions from worldly decisions to godly ones. If we do we will learn to trust Jesus, we will learn to ask Jesus for wisdom and we will watch as Jesus transforms our skills for making godly decisions. We will be changed. We can only see that change if we are looking through the eyes of Jesus. The world’s eyes are filled with sin, but the eyes of Jesus look past sin to the abundant life. Let His eyes guide you today and see the future of good making good decisions.
Combine this blog with Episode 3: The Future of Making Good Decisions podcast on WE Podcast.
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If you want to be Content get Self-Control
Are you always trying to figure out why your life is out of control? Is there chaos even in the peaceful times? Is reverse your common direction rather than forward? You are not alone. There is only one way to steer your life to have what you desire, self-control. Jesus has much to say in His Word about controlling yourself so you can have contentment. My books are all written with this premise in mind. John 10:10 tells us, “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.” John describes who the thief is in verse one of chapter ten. The premise is that anyone who tries to lead you into any other life besides the abundant life is a thief. Those who say they are of God and lie to you do not want you to have the abundant life Jesus came to give. They are the thief’s He refers too. I want you to have the abundant life Jesus has for you even if it is away from me. I will see you again in heaven, you can be sure of that. I write the truth, so you can see the wonderfully abundant life you can have if you love Jesus. I want you to know His voice, so you can follow Him. I want you to learn to control yourself, so you can do what He asks of you without hesitation.
You will need to pull off the road of life for a little while at a RV park to camp on a few verses to help you find the path Jesus has paved for you. He has paved a path just for you, but you will need to find it. To find it you have to garner information. The information you need can only be found in the Bible. The information you need is clear, it is wise, and it is functional. The Word of God will help you to create boundaries in your life (Matthew 5:37), listen as God directs your steps (Proverbs 16:9) and set your thoughts toward that plan (Jeremiah 29:11).
Self-control comes first by creating boundaries in your life, setting your mind to say “yes” and to say “no” when warranted. You have to set your mind to say “yes” to Jesus and “no” to the world no matter what the circumstance. Knowing what you shall and shall not be allowed to do is very important for travelling on the narrow road. The only way to know exactly what Jesus is requiring of you is written in His Word. He has boundaries for you to set your mind toward, from His Word, which you will not know unless you study the Bible. I have called the Bible the “Life Skills Encyclopedia” because it has a treasure trove of information that can be used to keep us out of the ditch. Setting boundaries based on the “yes’s” and the “no’s” of the Word will be absolutely functional for learning self-control. Knowing what to say before you are confronted with an issue is paramount to having self-control. Having self-control will make you successful at maintaining the abundant life as you allow Jesus to direct your steps.
The light to every one of your steps is the Word (Psalm 119:105). John one tells us the Word is Jesus. We plan our way in our heart but the Lord directs our steps (Proverbs 16:9). In other words, Jesus allows you to make the plans needed, using self-control, to go the step He has directed you to go in. As you make the plans He leads you to make the appropriate plans. If you take a step to serve self you might just step right into the ditch perched so precariously beside the path Jesus has for us. He puts a ditch on the right and the left of your path to teach you the narrow path represents what the world’s plans look like. I can promise you, from experience, the ditches get smaller and shallower as you learn how to follow Jesus using His Word. When you learn to control yourself and your decisions while planning to stay on the narrow path the ditches seem further away. You fall into them less and take less time to get out when you do fall in. The Light you use to get out is powerful and brighter than bright itself. When you know God is thinking about you while you set your mind to His plan it gives you more power to continue steadfastly to self-control.
It is impossible to believe that Jesus does not know who you are when He actually created you for this life but God, in His great mercy, reminds every believer in His Word on every page. Jeremiah 29:11 says He knows the thoughts he has toward us, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. You must change the way you think toward the plans God has for all of us. If anyone insists on thinking worldly thoughts she will never hear God telling her where to go and how to get there. The Lord speaks to those who love Him and if you love Him you will hear Him. Following the world is contrary to following God. Thinking like the world is also contrary to God. If we think like the world we will constantly question the direction God is sending us. The narrow path needs our full attention specifically because it is narrow surrounded by big ditches. Our path cannot be divided between the world and Jesus. A divided mind will always be fruitless and never find contentment let alone the abundant life.
This week take these three verses Matthew 5:37, Proverbs 16:9 and Jeremiah 29:11 to your study room. You have listened to what I have to say and what God has to say through me but what does God have to say to you. What is He telling you through these verses? Let Him talk to you as you ponder each of these verses in the context of obtaining the abundant life promised by our Jesus. How can you obtain that life filled with contentment? Only He has the answers but if you do the work I promise He will provide the means.
This blog is in conjunction with Episode two on the Pursing Biblical Boundaries Podcast posted with WE Podcast entitled Self-Control Leads to Contentment. Listen for the short version of this blog or just to add more meat to the blog.
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You may not be Certain, but God is!
A mouse is not how I would ever describe myself but I might now because our God saw fit to change me. Those who are not close to me might call me a mouse. I am passionate about my God and passionate about women. I like to have fun and be boisterous. When I am having fun, it is no place for meekness but when I am discussing our God, now that is another story. I become who He has trained me to be and I am certain you don’t know the half of it or even any of it. You know what your history tells you to see.
I remember when I was first saved I was a Bible thumping Christian. When I was taught the truth I had to teach everyone that truth, even if they didn’t want to hear it. I would follow then around until they said, “Uncle!” If that is God’s truth then they needed to know it too, or so I thought. I was filled with pride but now I am qualified to teach with certainty. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I still get over exuberant but I never get angry at anyone’s lack of hearing or knowledge. I know now that you are born for great things but you need to be trained to do them in your time not mine. The great Teacher is the one who will teach you. I am here to drop the seeds. This knowledge is what brought me to a certainty that I can teach women, at any time, in any situation, even if I am certain they are not hearing.
Have you ever told someone something ten times and still they forgot it? Have you ever told someone something ten minutes ago and they forgot? We are surrounded by people who learn differently than us. As a teacher, I was having a hard time with this concept because I was insecure, not my students. When I am supposed to learn something, I learn it quickly. That is a trait God gave me from birth. The quick learning trait caused me to flip from pride to insecurity and back again every minute of the day. I am also gifted with administration which did not help my insecurity at all. I could envision great plans for the future of a product, a person or a function but was halted because no one else had that vision. A woman I worked with tied up some loose ends for me. She was sent by God, for that season, to teach me what my heart did not know. The knowledge I now had, forced me to deal with my uncertainty in God’s vision for me. Maybe He is seeing something I am not?
If I am a quick learner and had vision that no one could see, why do I feel so stupid? If I am made in the image of God, why do I think I am ugly? Can people see how insecure I am? Can God see how unqualified I am to help women? These unanswered questions were holding me back. How can this turn out for the glory of God? That is the one vision I did not have, as much as I tried to conjure it up. God knew exactly who He was training and what to do to straighten my mind out. I knew where I was going with God but I had no idea how I would become qualified. Do you feel the same? Has God told you His plan for you yet you continually believe you are not qualified or worthy?
He chose me just as He has chosen you. His plan for us is so spectacular that we cannot believe it. He takes us insecure, beaten up, drug around women, picks us up, dusts us off and sets us loose on His people. We say the wrong thing at the right time, we do the best thing at the worst time and we learn our greatest lesson at the nastiest of times. He uses each and every event to build up our faith in Him until we trust Him implicitly. Then He reminds us why He chose us, what He has planned for us and that we are perfectly qualified to do it. He puts an unshakable certainty in us. When we build up our own exaggerated plan He sends someone to us to bring us back to His plan. His plan will always prevail. His plan changes us from the inside so we can walk with certainty in His plan for the world. Certain in God and certain in me!
This certainty will not stop bad things from happening or stop people from hating us. God changing us and making us certain about who we are just makes us understand the works of God and the devil better. The devil may use people to harm us but God means if for good to save many people alive (Genesis 50:20). Because we have developed an unshakable certainty in our God and in ourselves we can walk in the character He has developed in us. We can fall in line with the plan of God for us to save many people alive even if it is outrageous and audacious. Do not let your uncertainty in your own capabilities trump His certainty in you. He is certain you can do it, so go do it! Whatever your task is from God, you are qualified, and He is certain you will save many alive, I promise.
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From Pride to Qualified
You are in a pit so deep you cannot see the Light any more. Years ago, you made a decision that put you here today and pride has become your cement overshoes. Someone hurt you, and as a result every decision, since that day, has caused a shovel full of dirt to be removed under your feet. Your shoes are heavier than ever before. It is not your fault, or so you have convinced yourself, it’s their fault but they are not in this pit with you which makes you angrier. No matter, your think, you are still down in this deep cold lonely hole in the ground with cement overshoes. The darkness is blinding so even if you aren’t alone you cannot see them, but you know they are there. The darkness is closing in on you squeezing the life out of you. The sweat of fear is pouring down your brow but you can’t move your arms. Even if you could move your arms you haven’t a cloth to wipe it with. You have lost everything even the coat off your back. The cold is inside your heart. Your heart is in a deep freezer with the lid closed and locked. It wasn’t a quick freeze. It took decades of digging this pit to get down below the frost line. Every shovel full of dirt caused your heart to harden just that little bit more. Your heart is so hard with frost bite it could break into a thousand pieces with one tap of a hammer. Any word from any person is an affront to your personhood. You have become sensitive to life. It is running you down and you just don’t think you can handle one more day. You weren’t meant for this day. You constantly ask yourself, “What happened? What brought me to this point in my life?”
God is what happened! God brought you to this point in your life because He is qualifying you for the ministry He has assigned you for. Those cement overshoes you wear need to be broken off. Each swing of the hammer hurts but each swing shows you how qualified you are for the pit. Qualified to encourage your brethren. Qualified to see the need. Qualified to fulfill the need. Qualified to cry with your brethren. To be qualified you need to know you are just like me, human, broken, tattered, mistreated, lost, ignorant, prideful, human! Humility comes from knowing this. Humility comes through crying, falling, dead end streets and face plants. The world says we are qualified with higher education but God qualifies us with lower education. He lowers us down into the pit one shovel full at a time until we are qualified to come out. This is completely the opposite of the world. The world wants graduates while God wants students. When we are in the pit, we will do anything to get out including become a student of the Lord. When we become a person willing to learn, we then become qualified. There is no graduation party. There is no degree. Just you, grabbing the Hand that beckons you from deep within the pit.
Maybe Jesus didn’t have to bury you alive to qualify you. Maybe He just made you feel like you were buried. Maybe the pit was metaphorical because Jesus needed to qualify you for your ministry. Maybe you were born with cement overshoes. Whether your pit is real or metaphorical, the pit is the frat house we all belong too, with the Alpha Omega as its President. Every person who has a calling from God is an alumnus. Some of us are still living in the house of the Alpha Omega while others are the alumni helping you graduate.
When we were in the pit ourselves, we saw others at the top but we couldn’t reach their outstretched hands, as much as we wanted too. They were not qualified to pull us out only the President is qualified. He has the power to pull us out or to leave us in. He can either throw a ladder down for us to climb, or He can throw one rung at a time. He is in control of the student’s education. You will graduate from this pit when your training is complete qualifying you to walk worthy of your calling. This is your choice. Will you begin walking worthy of your calling or will the President of our frat house have to knock his pledge back down into that pit for some more training. I am fresh out of my last pit but the remnants of it still exists. It haunts me sometimes but the Lord has again made a way out of my temptation to go back into training. Each trip into the pit He gives you a way out but each trip into the pit makes me strong enough to use His way out.
Ephesians 4:1-6 has Paul beseeching us to walk worthy of the calling for which we have been called. The calling in which Jesus is making us qualified for minus the pride. The pledge is the prisoner of the Alpha Omega and He is training us to be worthy of His calling on our lives. He teaches us to be able to walk in our calling with lowliness and gentleness and with longsuffering. While we are in our training, we see others in training and others who have graduated. While we are in the pit, we commiserate with our fellow pit dwellers. We despise those we see walking freely above us. Our pride will not allow us to see they are just like us and they truly want to help us. We do a happy dance when we find out they are in their own pit of training. These emotions belong to all of us and disqualify all of us from our ministry until we check them at the door, so back into the pit we go until we are able to bear with one another in love creating unity.
Our calling cannot be done by us alone. We need each other. I am currently walking worthy of my calling on my own but one day Jesus, the Alpha Omega, will provide a woman, out from her pit, to walk beside me while we blaze a new trail, cut out by Jesus Himself. He beckons me to throw away the shovel I use for digging pits and use the tools He provides. The tools He gives me to use qualifies me for my ministry but I am the one who has too keep picking them up. I do pick up the tools and my ministry is to show you the tools Jesus has provided for you to pick up. Those tools will make you qualified for your duties under the President of this fraternity house we call the Body of Christ.
Whether you are in the pit or out, the Alpha Omega has training specific to your calling and for you alone. No one goes through the exact same training. He qualifies you for that calling in His way so you can be of service to Him. The pit happens to the best of us who are already qualified for our ministry. The pit keeps us humble and dependent on the President of our fraternity. The Christian life is filled with training and God Himself is the Teacher. Your qualifications depend on no man. As long as you are in the Body of Christ you are qualified to go out on the mission field you are assigned. As long as you use God’s tools for His work you will go from pride to qualified, I promise.
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When should your Vision from God Take Precedence?
Why would you bother to set boundaries or goals if you believe your life has no purpose? Why would a Christian believe they have no purpose? When Jesus chooses you He tells you what your purpose will be and that purpose will change your whole life therefore it always takes precedence. If you give your vision from God preference everything you do and become should point you in the direction God has pointed to. This is my vision from God – to help you remember your vision from God and walk in it through teaching you how to improve your life skills. Do not think for one second you are not worthy. If you are chosen by God you are worthy to do everything He has assigned for you.
Would you modify your vision from God? Would you delete your vision from God? Would you ignore your vision from God? I know when you read these questions your skin went red hot. As you thought about it guilt began to bubble up from the pit of your soul. If any of these answers are “yes” then I have to question whether you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. You have to question if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. This is not to criticize you it is to wake you up. Wake up to the fact that you have a calling on your life that Jesus has predestined you to walk in. Wake up to the fact that if you don’t do it someone else will and the joy from it will be theirs too. Wake up to the fact that Jesus wants you to prepare for this calling. You are worthy to do everything Jesus has assigned for you.
When I believed Jesus was who He said He was He told me I would speak all over Canada. I noodled that for a while then He gave me more. I would open a Life Skills Center for women in Essex County so they are capable to succeed in whatever God has assigned to them. Then He told me I would get the money from writing books. Okay, I know this sound awesome but I did NOT believe it. I was initially excited but my excitement waned into unbelief as time went by. How can I speak about Him when I was the only one in my house saved? This is impossible. How can I open a center for women when I had absolutely no money and in debt up to my eyeballs? This is impossible! How can I write a book because I just don’t have time with a husband, four kids and a full-time job? This is impossible. I had one big problem after another with this vision from God. Not that I didn’t want to do it or would give up the opportunity for all the world but it was impossible in my eyes therefore not believable.
The one thing I never took into account was preparation time. We are the ‘right now” generation. I put the vision out of my mind but the desire was still there. I learned how to speak publicly and to write creatively. I joined Toastmasters and took every writing course I could get my hands on. I wrote a bunch of Life Skills Workshops but they are just chilling on my computer. I gave up because there were no opened doors. I found the Lord would open a door then close it, open another one then close it and again open then close. He kept my foot in it just enough to remind me of what He had said. There were many doors He opened only to close them not long after. There was no long term doors open which frustrated me. For my whole life I have longed for stability but there has been none until Jesus. Jesus gave me my vision but He wanted me to be completely dependent on Him for the doors. He would open a door and worn me He was going to close it. I always knew the door was closing before it closed. I thought He was teasing me but I know now He was training me. He gave me time to get my emotions in check by the time the door actual closed. He taught me to put my all into whatever He opened for me for as long as it was open. Then when it closed He taught me to put my all into learning until the next door opened.
Fast forward to today, all the training has paid off. I have written a book called The White Picket Fence to help women set Biblical boundaries so they can get into the will of God. Did you catch that? Book, women, life skills – vision from God. I am beginning to do podcasts this month with WE Podcasts in Windsor. Did you catch that? Speaking all across Canada – vision from God. The only thing left is the Life Skills Center. Do you think He will do it? He will do it because He has buried the desire deep into my soul. His desire is to train all women, not just the saved. His desire is to train you and me. The vision He gave me is His desire for women, His desire for me, His desire for Essex County, His desire for you. His desire for me is to help you move toward His desire for you. You know what it is. You know what it feels like. You have ignored it long enough, squashed it long enough, forgotten it or don’t believe it long enough. The Holy Spirit is here to remind you of what Jesus has already told you. Ask and you shall be reminded of the God ordained tasks He has laid out for you.
Let me ask those questions again. Would you modify your vision from God? Would you delete your vision from God? Would you ignore your vision from God? Say “no” now and go. I don’t have the center opened yet but the Revealed in Me Blog is open every day, every hour. I have dedicated my blogging to help you get into the will of God and be successful wherever He sends you, whatever that looks like. If you have problems saying “no” to your church family or even your own wants buy The White Picket Fence novel and learn how to set Biblical boundaries. If you don’t know God well enough to know what His plan is for you start reading the Bible every day to know Him better. If you just don’t believe what God has planned for you drop to your knees and ask Him to show you truth. The time has come for you to DO what God has called you to DO. We are in this together to serve each other, in the name above all Names, Jesus Christ.
Send me an email if you have any questions or just need someone to lead you back to Jesus.
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Biblical Boundaries Part 6: Praise for Him and for You
You have been through a great deal of soul searching in the last six weeks. It is very difficult to become aware that you are not perfect. Life hinges on being the best at everything. You strive to be the best you can but you are designed to be the best God wants you to be not what you or others want you to be. Discovering or becoming aware of what needs to change is part of learning the perfection God has created you to be. His willingness to teach you how to be the perfect person He created is why you will praise Him this week. You will praise yourselves this week as well for the awareness you have developed. It will be painful but very important toward getting into the will of God, your main goal.
Once you become aware of your sin you worked hard to find out what exactly sets you off, why you do what you do. This information is praise worthy because once you know this you can avoid it or at least learn how to avoid it. The one thing you need to know is the devil will use this constantly to get you to do his bidding instead of the Lords. If you know this you can fight it better. Praise God for revealing this to you and praise yourself every time you recognize it to fight it.
To fight what sets you off is called intervention. Jesus intervenes by using His Word to make you strong. He created the Bible to use as an intervention against Satan. I call the Bible the “Life Skills Encyclopedia” and you would do well to use it as such. You will never know God is speaking until you begin reading and memorizing Scripture. This is how He intervenes and it is the strength of your intervention. Strength comes from the Lord to do what the Lord wants done. No one can do His will without His strength because what He wants done is beyond what we can do on our own. Praise Him for stretching all of us.
When you recognize His will is beyond your own strength you gain wisdom from listening to Him. He leads you through mazes because He wants you to see, smell, taste, touch and hear Him. This can only happen at dead ends and twists because the rest of the way you are moving too fast. Praise Him for the dead ends and the twists because they make you who you are today. Praise Him for the twists because they have put you in the direction you are in today. Praise yourself for the banished bruises, the concealed cuts and the healed heart because you have endured until the end and will endure until the next end because He is faithful to complete His work in you (Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 2:10).
Praise week is about recognizing what God has done in your life and praising Him for it. It is also about giving yourself credit for enduring. Your heart is broken but that is part of the plan. You can and will endure. You have no friends but that too is part of the plan. Yet you still endure with Jesus. You can and will endure. You have lost your spouse, your house, your money, your family, your car, your dignity, your happiness, etc. Yet you still endure with Jesus. You can and will endure. You only have two people to thank for your endurance – Jesus and yourself. The One who knows you is the One who will sustain you during every day you make the choice to do His bidding. You can and will endure. Through all the pain, through all the heart ache, through all the joy, through all the character development, through all the work, through all the success and failures He will be with you. You can and will endure. He is why we live. He is why we breath. He is why we exist. He is worthy of all our praise. The choice you make to continue to endure also is worthy of your praise. Look at yourself in the mirror today and give God the glory because you look just like Him. Praise You Jesus!
You were created in the image of God to go through the maze of life with Him so you can be the perfect you when you come out the other side. If you need any help at all with The White Picket Fence Instruction join the Facebook group and see how others are coping with the learning.
Happy New Year! May every improvement in the plan to improve your “Biblical Life Skills” be a blessing to you and yours.
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Rest on Your Biblical Boundaries
Change is not easy but if part of your plan is to rest in the Lord everything will work out for the good to those who love God (Romans 8:28). Time to work the plan is all we have unless Jesus has said He wants change NOW. I can understand that directive because that has always been my directive from Jesus. He wanted the change right now from me. When I first began to follow Jesus, I was not a good Christian woman. I didn’t even begin to read the Bible until one year and two months after I got saved but when I started, change happened. When change started it was not easy and it certainly wasn’t cozy. It was painful and heart breaking. It was time consuming to make the changes Jesus wanted and if I refused He sent a punishment almost instantly. The most painful part about the changes was that it never let up. It was one right change after another with no rest in between. I was learning constantly but that was not good either. I should have rested from learning and just ingrained the boundaries and the teaching a little more. I needed to just rest in the Lord for a while but I didn’t know better. My resistance to do that was probably responsible for some of my boundaries taking longer to implement.
A planned rest from learning is very important. A rest after week five is a good idea. You have your “fence” to look at and implement into your life. In the week after you create it, spend time knowing the ramification your fence will have. Read them daily so you know them. Then, hunker in to implement them into your life every day, every minute, and every second.
Since we are in the Christmas season, with everything we do focusing on Jesus, I want you to hunker into the Bible as well. All the way through The White Picket Fence you were given verses to look up, to read and to memorize. You know every work written in there was from the Father. My ability to give you that information came from Him. My ability to interest you in the women’s stories came from Him. The strength you gain from knowing what to do will come from Him. The understanding you have of what you will need to do next will come from Him.
This is a very important process to get right. Jesus is how we do everything. He is responsible for your welfare and it takes that seriously. He also wants you to take it seriously. Your welfare is very important to Him because everything you do is for His glory. If you think He doesn’t take your welfare seriously you won’t take your welfare seriously. As a result, you will muddle through life not taking anything seriously.
From now until we talk again hunker into your boundaries and hunker into the Word of God. Talk to Jesus and believe everything He is for you. He will lead you and guide you through everything you are doing for Him. If you focus on what He is asking you to do while asking Him what each of your steps should be He will bring you into all righteousness. He will bring you into success through all your failures. He will do EVERYTHING He said He will do based on your faith in Him. Rest in the Lord and you will know true rest.
