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Affirming Our Worth
[To Find Freedom in Christ] – “Understanding your identity in Christ is absolutely essential to your success at living the victorious Christian life! The more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity!” (From “Victory Over the Darkness” by Dr. Neil Anderson) Affirming our worth is important. Every one to us need to know this isn’t about positive self-talk or even new age mumbo jumbo. This is about taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), not having a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and self-discipline (2 Tim. 1:7) because there is no fear…
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King of my Heart
[Quit Making Excuses] – “Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.’ Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night” (1 Samuel 15:10-11, NLT). The other night in my quiet time I was reading through my One Year Bible and came upon the famous passage of the downfall of King Saul. I immediately thought of this verse from Deuteronomy 17:14-15, NLT that says: “You are about to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When…
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Cheers For Change
[How to Believe Again] –“So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.” – 1 Samuel 3:9, NLT God’s used the story of Samuel one other time in a very POWERFUL way. I remember when I was writing my first book, “Faithbook of Jesus” and how I couldn’t exercise the same kind of faith I was writing about. I was weakened physically from working full time and writing full time (under a four month deadline of over 105,000 words). Burn out seemed imminent. What I did not understand, however, was how…
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Now!
“So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls” (James 1:21, NLT). Biblically speaking, it’s time to take out the trash! Now! “Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6, NLT). Just as you would a best friend or someone you care about. “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their…
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Truth is Death
I have been going through a study of 1 John with the New Living Translation study group on Facebook. It’s a revolutionary way to study the Bible in the 21st century. I love it. I’m learning that truth is death. Here are six things that caught and captured my attention going through 1 John 2: #1 – When we struggle with the Christian life we have an advocate. “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous” (1…
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Whom do you follow?
“Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch” (Luke 6:39, NLT)? Today’s blog inspiration comes from a number of places. #1 – Editing my dating & relationships book for Harvest House #2 – Study of 1 John 1 #3 – Personal reflection & quiet time #4 – Time spent with my boyfriend. #5 – Remembering my first book, “Faithbook of Jesus.” Recently, I was convicted and encouraged by the “blind leading the blind” passage. What a great representation of examining the self, right? David was personal with God; that is why I believe He was called a man after God’s own heart. He continually asked…
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A Father's Legacy
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me” (John 14:1, NLT). I just love the picture of a father holding his precious ones in His arms. There is so much love in His embrace. In His arms we are found whole. Complete. No matter what the problems of the day, all we need is to surrender and go running into the arms of Jesus. He is the one who helps us lead a Father’s legacy. I downloaded A Father’s Legacy: Twelve Important Things I Learned from My Dad by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, one of my favorite authors. I hope it encourages you this week…
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Facebook official
[Why my relationship is more important than a Facebook status or being Facebook official.] “So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless” (James 2:17, NLT). I think it’s the coolest thing that I started dating Marc the week I started editing my book on dating and relationships [to be released January, 2012 with Harvest House]. My editor, Kathleen, sent me back a TWENTY-THREE page Word document pertaining to my book, how she perceived it, and many (MANY) takeaway points of how I can make it the best book ever! At first, I was humbled. Then I was excited. And then…
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Deal breakers in Dating
I posed a question today on Twitter: “For a ‘Christian’ single what should be the top two deal-breakers?” and got plenty of responses. Which leads me to a list I found and had saved for at least five years. My deal breakers in dating was was hidden in one of my journals and thought it would be a great list for you to print and save for your own personal records! 1. Clear-cut vision (Prov. 29:18; Hab. 2:2-3) 2. Teachable spirit (Prov. 3:11-12; Prov. 1:5-7) 3. Under authority (Rom. 13:1-5; Luke 7:6-10) 4. Leader (Eph. 5:22-23; Prov. 31:23) 5. Same beliefs (Amos 3:3) – this one’s circled REALLY big!!!! 6.…
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10 Things I Hate About You
My favorite movie from high school days is 10 Things I Hate About You. This morning, I was reading about accountability in the book, “Woman of Confidence” by Pam Farrel. Not only is she my mentor, but she’s also a family friend. She has taught by example and shown through her actions over the past 15+ years of ministry that she can be trusted. She exudes confidence. I know if I were to ask her to tell me her secret, she would point me back to the section in the book that I just read and tell me to ask these 11 questions to my girlfriends weekly. “A woman of…
