Fear: Getting Free From Ungodly Fear

“For years I couldn't take a shower without being afraid. That's because all the frightening images from the film Psycho kept coming back to terrify me. I had seen that film when I was young, and my shower experiences were ruined from that point on. It wasn't until I received the Lord and someone prayed for me to be delivered from fear that I was actually able to close my eyes in the shower and enjoy the water.

There were many other things I was afraid of too, such as dying, starving, failing, flying, accidents, needles, knives, getting lost, being abandoned, getting sick, being injured, the dark, the unknown, people's opinions, and being rejected. But God healed me from every one of these fears. Some I prayed about specifically. Some just went away as I learned to walk with the Lord and spend time in His love and His presence.

God does not want us to live in fear. Fear does not come from Him. It's the world that teaches us to fear. The things we see in movies, videos, newspapers, and “books make us afraid. The things we hear people say and see them do causes us to have fear.

The enemy can make us afraid of everything, including our future. It wears us down worrying that something we fear is going to happen. But we don't have to be tormented by fear.”

“There are so many things to be afraid of in this world. Sometimes all it takes is one news report to fill us with Fear. Our imaginations alone can frighten us. But God wants to set us free from all fear for all time.

Four Good Ways To Get Rid Of Ungodly Fear

1. Get rid of ungodly fear by praying. The Bible says that when we are afraid it's because we have not been made perfect in love.

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18). The only love that is perfect is the love of God. The way you get perfected in His love is to draw close to Him and let Him fill you with His love. When you do, He will deliver you from all fear.

2. Get rid of ungodly fear by controlling what you receive into your mind. The things of the world often make us afraid.

What kind of input are you receiving from the world? Is any of it causing fear in you? How could you change that? Do you go to scary movies or watch frightening television shows? Read the Word instead. If watching the news scares you, either don't watch it or use it as a time to pray for the people and situations you hear about in it. Do whatever you can to stay close to God (for instance, you could play worship music or sing praise songs).

Fear disappears in the presence of the Lord.

3. Get rid of ungodly fear by being in the Word of God. Many times in my life when I was afraid, I found that all fear left me just from reading the Bible. Knowing what God's Word says about our fear and the promises He has given us can make all the difference. And in the face of fear, speaking the Word out loud is a powerful weapon against it. You don't even have to be reading or speaking Scriptures specifically about fear. Reading anywhere in the Bible can take away fear, because the Spirit of the Lord can be found on every page.

4. Get rid of ungodly fear by living in the fear of the Lord. The more you get to know the Lord and understand who He is, the more you will reverence Him and fear His displeasure. “This is called the fear of the Lord, and it makes you want to obey Him.

It's what draws you closer to God and increases your longing for more of Him. It makes you forget all the things that cause you fear, because they pale in comparison to His awesome power.

When you have the fear of the Lord, you fear what your life would be like without Him.”

 

Excerpt From: Omartian, Stormie. “The Power Of A Praying Woman.” iBooks. 

Posted by Kachi

“I'm a Good Person, so Why Is He Attacking Me?”

“Many people have asked this question, but the question answers itself. The enemy attacks you because you are a good person. The devil will always attack anyone who loves God and lives His way. In fact, this is the main criteria for his enmity against you.

The only way you could get him to not do that is to become like him. You would have to stand for what he represents. As long as you have a heart for the things of God, you are his target.

Keep in mind that the greater your commitment is to the Lord, the more the devil will try to harass you.”

“That's why if you are moving into a deeper level of commitment to God, or coming into a new time of deliverance and freedom, or entering into new ministry or work God is opening up for you, you can depend on your enemy trying to stop it. He will do all he can to wear you down with discouragement, sickness, confusion, guilt, strife, fear, depression, or defeat. He may try to threaten your mind, your emotions, your health, your work, your family, or your relationships. He will try to get you to give up. Even though he is not close to being as powerful as God, he attempts to make you think otherwise. He will try to gain a point of rule in your life through deception. He will try to blind you to the truth and get you to believe his lies. He will try to convince you he is winning the battle, but the truth is that he has already lost.

This is the deal. The devil has come to steal, kill, and destroy.

Jesus has come to give you life abundantly. 

“We all have an enemy who is like a terrorist to our soul. If we don't realize this, it will be easy for him to manipulate us. Of course, he is not omniscient nor omnipresent—he can't be everywhere and know our every thought—but if we don't fully realize that he is a limited and defeated foe, then we will be harassed by him continually.”

“We are all involved in a spiritual battle with an enemy who will never let up. Even though it is people who do evil things to us, we have to keep in mind that it is our ultimate enemy, the devil, who is behind it. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). Even when we are being attacked by a person, recognizing who our real enemy is will be the first step in standing strong against him.”

“Just as God has a plan for you, so does Satan. Satan's plan is to steal from you and destroy your life. "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy" (John 10:10). He disguises himself so that he doesn't look threatening, and he lulls you into thinking that you are not in any danger (2 Corinthians 11:14). But he never takes a day off. He is constantly trying to see his plan for your life fulfilled. That's why you have to "be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the “devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).”

Excerpt From: Omartian, Stormie. “The Power Of A Praying Woman.” 

Posted by Kachi

The Invitation

“What I have forgiven . . . has been for your sakes . . . to keep Satan from getting the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions.

—2 CORINTHIANS 2:10-11

Suppose we receive a package from an overnight carrier. After we open it, we stare at a beautiful, oversized envelope, with our name written on it in exquisite calligraphy. Inside, the invitation starts with these words:

You are invited to enjoy a life filled with misery, worry, and confusion.

Which one of us would say yes to such an outrageous invitation? Don’t we seek the kind of life that keeps us free from such pain and distractions? Yet many of us choose such a life. Not that we blatantly make that choice, but we sometimes surrender—even temporarily—to Satan’s invitation. His attack is ongoing and relentless—the devil is persistent! Our enemy bombards our minds with every weapon at his disposal every day of our lives.

We are engaged in a warfare—a warfare that rages and never stops. We can put on the whole armor of God, halt the evil one’s advances, and stand fast on the Word of God, but we won’t put a complete end to the war. As long as we are alive, our minds remain Satan’s battlefield. Most of our problems are rooted in thinking patterns that produce the problems we experience. This is where Satan triumphs—he offers wrong thinking to all of us. This isn’t a new trick devised for our generation; he began his deceptive ways in the Garden of Eden. The serpent asked the woman, “Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1a). That was the first attack on the human mind. Eve could have rebuked the tempter; instead, she told him God would let them eat from the trees, but not from one particular tree. They couldn’t even touch that tree, because if they did, they would die.

“But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity” (vs. 4-5).

“This was the first attack, and it resulted in Satan’s first victory. What we often miss about temptation and the battle our enemy levels against us is that it comes to us deceptively. Suppose he had said to the woman, “Eat of the fruit. You’ll bring misery, anger, hatred, bloodshed, poverty, and injustice into the world.”

Eve would have recoiled and run away. He tricked her because he lied and told her what would appeal to her.

Satan promised, “You will be like God. You’ll know good and evil.” What a marvelous appeal to the woman. He wasn’t tempting Eve to do something bad—or at least he phrased it in such a way that what she heard sounded good.

That’s always the appeal of sin or satanic enticement. The temptation is not to do evil or to cause harm or bring injustice. The lure is that we will gain something.”

“Satan’s temptation worked on Eve. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate” (3:6).

Eve lost the first battle for the mind, and we have continued to fight for it since that time. But because we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can win—and we can keep on winning.

"Victorious God, help me resist the onslaughts of Satan, who attacks my mind and makes evil seem good. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Excerpt From: Meyer, Joyce. “Battlefield of the Mind Devotional.”

Posted by Kachi

Mountain Moving Faith

“On my tenth birthday, I received a necklace that consisted of a small glass ball hanging from a delicate gold chain. Inside the ball was the tiniest mustard seed. I thought at the time, Why in the world did they bother putting a seed in there that was so small it could hardly be seen. Obviously, I didn't get the point.

It wasn't until some time later that I learned the significance of that little seed. Jesus said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there', and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20). I've since thought a lot about how tiny that seed was. If that's all the faith it takes to move mountains, then surely I can come up with enough to move the obstacles in my life.

God takes the tiniest bit of faith we have and makes it grow into something big when we act on it. The Bible says that "God has dealt to each one a measure of “faith" (Romans 12:3). We already have some faith to start with.

When we step out in that faith, God increases our faith. In other words, acting in faith begets more faith.

Whether you realize it or not, you are living by faith everyday.

Each time you go to a doctor, you trust he will do the right thing.

When you buy medicine from the pharmacist, you believe he will fill your prescription correctly. When you go to a restaurant, you have faith they will not poison you. (Some restaurants require more faith than others.) How much easier and more certain is it to trust God?

We have no idea what great things God wants to do through us if we would just step out in faith when He asks us to. That's why He lets us go through some difficult times. Times when we feel weak and vulnerable. He allows certain things to happen so that we will turn to Him and give Him our full attention. It's in those times, when we are forced to pray in greater faith, that our faith grows stronger.”

“Jesus said, "According to your faith let it be to you" (Matthew 9:29). This could be a frightening thought, depending on the kind of faith you have. But there are things we can do to increase our faith, such as read the Word of God. Faith comes by simply hearing it (Romans 10:17). When you take the promises and truths in His Word and declare them out loud, you'll sense your faith increasing.

Praying increases our faith as well because it's how we reach out and touch God. At one point a woman reached out to the Lord believing that if she just "touched the hem of His garment" she could be healed. Jesus told her that her faith had made her well, and she was healed at that very time (Matthew 9:20-22). Every time we reach out and touch Him in prayer, our lives are healed in some way and our faith is increased.

Every day it becomes more and more crucial that we have faith.

There will be times in each of our lives when we will need the kind of faith that makes the difference between success or failure, winning or losing can increase it.

Even when your faith seems small, you can still speak in faith to the mountains in your life and tell them to move, and God will do the impossible. You can pray for the crippled parts of your life to be healed and God will restore them. You can ask God to increase your faith and give you boldness to act on it, and He will do it.

What promise of God would you like to claim in faith as your own right now? What prayer would you like to boldly pray in faith and see answered? What would you like to see accomplished in your life, or in the life of someone you know, that would take a prayer of great faith? Ask God to take that seed you have and grow it into a giant tree of faith so you can see these things come to pass.”

Excerpt From: Omartian, Stormie. “The Power Of A Praying Woman.” 

Posted by Kachi

 

Sometimes God Doesn't Choose the " Perfect girl" for the Job.

“Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.” Joshua 2:1 (NIV)

I used to believe if God needed something important done, He would ask someone who had it all together. You know those women. They never yell at their kids or have an emotional meltdown in the craft store over which tie-dye kit to buy. They know what they’re having for dinner each night and come to Bible study with their homework done.

If God is going to assign an important job to someone, it’s going to be a woman like that. A “good church girl.” Right?

That’s what I thought until I read the story of Rahab in the book of Joshua. It gave me hope that sometimes the best woman for God’s job doesn’t have a perfect life or a perfect faith.

In fact, Rahab’s story tells me sometimes God chooses women with rough resumes, gritty pasts and dauntless attitudes to get a hard job done. Which is why God chose Rahab when He needed a brave and bold person to protect His warriors.

Rahab was a prostitute who lived within the walls of the city of Jericho. Jericho was a great city, except for the fact that God told the Israelites to conquer it.

The people who lived in Jericho weren’t following God, but they had heard of Him and how He helped the Israelites win many battles. When the residents of Jericho learned the Israelites were camped outside their city, they were rightly concerned.

As part of the reconnaissance, Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, sent two spies into the city. The Bible seems to indicate they made a beeline into an unusual place of refuge: Rahab’s home.

Now why would God direct them to the house of a woman? And one who didn’t have the best reputation?

There are many reasons why God might have chosen this particular woman to help the spies. But the one that strikes the deepest chord in my heart is that other people might have underestimated Rahab’s potential based on her past and present circumstances. But not God.

Rahab had guts and grit. When the spies arrived, instead of quivering in fear, Rahab thought fast and hid them on her roof. Then she redirected the king’s men, making a way of escape for the spies.

God could have chosen someone with a perfect pedigree to help. But on that day, inside the walls of the city, facing warrior spies in danger, none were available.

Rahab, however, was in the perfect position, with the perfect disposition, to do the most good. And God must have seen something tender in the heart of this life-hardened woman and knew He could trust her.

I love this about God. When God looked at Rahab, He didn’t see her profession or her past. He saw her potential.

And in spite of the challenges and choices of her life, He knew there was a part of Rahab’s heart that was open to Him. And Rahab did not disappoint.

The story ends with the spies escaping and God destroying the city of Jericho and everyone in it — except for Rahab and her family.

I’m so glad Rahab didn’t send the spies away, explaining that she didn’t have the best track record with men. Instead, she used her smart, quick mind to devise a plan. She used her boldness to defy the king’s men. She drew from her bravery to protect her family. She risked greatly, and it paid off.

Rahab’s story tells me that although I might list all the reasons why God wouldn’t use me, God prefers I take my personality, my experiences, even the parts of me that seem less-than-pleasant and give them to Him … every part of me.

It doesn’t mean He’s going to leave me as I am; God is always refining me. But in His hands, my mess has meaning.

Have you ever stamped “disqualified” on yourself due to your personality or something in your past or present? If so, I pray Rahab’s story encourages you. God has a plan, and He wants you, in all your uniqueness, to make it happen.

Sometimes God doesn’t choose the “perfect” girl for the job … and I’m so glad He doesn’t.

Heavenly Father, thank You for looking deeper than what others see, and for seeing my potential. Please help me trust that You want me just as I am and have a plan to use me in Your kingdom. Help me to trust You and Your plan for my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
I Samuel 16:7, “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’” (NIV)

REFLECT AND RESPOND:
What good characteristics did Rahab have, based on what we can tell from her story in Joshua 2?

Many times we disqualify ourselves based on our wrong choices, or the flaws we see in our personalities. As God looks at you through His lens of love and potential, what does He see?

Written by Tracie Miles

Posted by Kachi

Loving is Our kingdom Work

In November of 2013, I had the privilege of visiting West Minster Abbey in London to attend a conference about the life of C.S. Lewis. How inspiring it was to understand that he was not just an incredible writer with transforming messages that inspired people all over the world. He was also one of the most generous, serving, humble, compassionate, loving men in his generation.

During World War II, he invited young children to live in His home, away from the bombings in London. He cared for the mother and daughter of a friend of his who died in World War I for many years. He gave away a great deal of the money he earned from writing and speaking. He shared Christ, loved friends dearly and lived as fully into Kingdom work as he possibly could.

Each of us has a story to live and people who are sprinkled in our lives that we may influence and love in the name of Christ. But we must choose to share our faith, our earthly goods, our focused time and our love freely. I was a lonely freshman in college living on the tenth floor of a dormitory. To my friends, I looked normal, content. But inside, I was praying that if there was a God in the universe, He would send someone to me to tell me about Himself. Sure enough, a shy girl knocked on my dorm door, and because of her, I became a Christian and have served Christ in full time ministry for 40 years–because she loved Jesus enough to take a risk to tell me about him.Because of her, I have written 9 Christian books in 10 languages, spoken to thousands and thousands of people about Christ–and all because she knocked on my door, became my friend and told me of His great love. His love changes lives and everyone you know was made to know and experience this redeeming love–even if they do not “look the type” as my friend told me one day—you just didn’t look like someone who would be interested in Christianity!

Jesus will ask us how we whispered the wonderful message of His love to those He brought into our lives–to our neighbors, co-workers, to our children. I have spent many years seeking to help parents learn how to share God’s love, His character, His wisdom to the lives of their children so that they will continue to serve Him through out their whole adult lives.

You never know how that one act of obedience might invite someone into the kingdom of God who might become a great teacher, a strong leader who uses his or her Christianity to influence the whole world. What if one of your children is destined by God to become a leader in his generation for the Kingdom of God? The way you invest in the life of your children may be the most important kingdom work you ever accomplish. Perhaps you are single–there are so many single adults longing for a place to find community and love. (My single adult children find this all the time in their own lives and ministry.) Perhaps you have a sick relative–the way you share love at the hospital or in schools–will become a transforming message as you extend the love of God wherever you go.

Written by Sally for Good Morning Girls

Posted by Kachi

 

 

 

 

5 Attributes of a Radical woman

Older women are not off the hook with this post…because all of the qualities listed for young women to learn –older women should be role-modeling for us.  Now remember, grace.  We are all a work in progress and none of us will have these mastered perfectly…ever.   That is why we need the power of Jesus in our lives.  He helps us become the {radical} woman he calls us to be.

Titus 2:3-5 says:

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

This list from Titus 2 is truly {Radical}.

Let’s take a look at the 5 {Radical} qualities young women should pursue according to Titus 2:5.

1.) Self-Control  

A {radical} young woman pursues self-control.  She is self-controlled with her spending habits, her words, her temper, her appetites, her priorities, and her use of time.  As she pursues intimacy with God, her soul is satisfied and she finds contentment and strength through his Spirit.  A woman who has self-control is a woman who has a strong prayer life.  I find myself regularly calling out to God in moments of weakness asking God to please give me strength to have self-control.  If you are in this place today – go to God’s throne and ask him for self-control.  He wants to help you.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. ~ I Timothy 6:6

2.) Purity

The greek word for purity here is ‘hagnos’ and is referring to moral and sexual purity.    Singers and actors applauded with Oscars, Emmys and other awards, flaunt their sexuality and the world idolizes it.

But God says ” Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” Hebrews 13:4

3.) Working at Home

First I want to focus on the word – “working“.  A Godly woman is not lazy – she is to be a hard worker.

Now the “at home” part. Oh dear, must we get so controversial?  Scripture says it – so I can’t skip over this.  When Paul wrote Titus 2 – he did not feel the need to qualify it.  In his culture, women would have been expected to sew the family’s clothing, plant a garden,  grind her own wheat, cook over fire, wash the clothes down by a river, care for the children, care for the poor and open her home to guests.  Her work in the home was a necessity to survival.

But many of these women helped the family out financially by selling some of the things they had sown (like the Proverbs 31 woman or Lydia the seller of purple), or selling baked goods or teaching children.  This passage does not forbid women to earn an income.   But a {radical} young woman should be especially skilled in her homemaking abilities.

{Radical} women – we should shine like lights in a dark world. We should love maintaining a warm cozy home for our family and those passing through.  Our home should stand out as the most inviting place in the neighborhood – and  I’m not talking about having the best decorations. Let’s not treat housework as a mindless, brain numbing, waste of time —as the world would convince us to believe.  Clearly – God values women “working at home” so much that he put it in scripture.  We should value what God values.

 She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. ~ Proverbs 31:27

(for more encouragement on diligence in the home, subscribe to Women Living Well and receive my free Proverbs 31 ebook and video series.)

4.) Kind

A kind woman is a {radical} woman who is careful with her words, generous, thoughtful and compassionate.  She is cheerfully helpful and gracious when wronged.  Her husband and children see her as a kind woman.  Would your family describe you this way?

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22, 23

5.) Submissive to their own husbands

First, I love that this passage specifies — submission “to our own”husband.  Women are not inferior to men and we are not to submit to ALL men.   There’s just one specific relationship where God has called us to submit and it is to our husband.  This is where feminists unite and have a bra burning.  But a {radical] young woman – doesn’t participate in those.  She stands out in this modern world as a woman who allows her husband to take the lead. Like a couple doing a ballroom dance, the husband leads as she follows and together their life is beautiful. Is learning the dance difficult and frustrating at times?   You bet. That’s why we need older women – role modeling and teaching younger women how to dance well.

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ~ Colossians 3:18

In conclusion, every woman should strive to be a Titus 2 Woman.  Some of us need to work on becoming the Titus 2 older woman.  Others of us need to work on becoming the Titus 2 younger woman.  Most churches fail to encourage and create an environment where this sort of mentorship takes place.  We have organized retreats and events – but real life connections where older women connect and teach and train younger women – specifically how to love their husbands and children and how to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their husbands…are woefully lacking.

{Radical} Women – I plead with you – reach out to each other.  Connect with each other. Give each other grace and love and kindness and together let’s pursue becoming Titus 2 {radical} women – to the glory of God!

Chime In: Young Women – what are you pursuing?  Are you pursuing the above 5 qualities that God has called us to pursue?  Which do you find the hardest?

Older Women, who are you teaching and training to become like the above?

Walk with the King,

Written by Courtney

Posted by. Kachi

You are Next

Psalm 50:10 
10For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. 

Suppose you have just heard of someone whose financial debts have been miraculously cleared. Or your elated friend has just told you that despite being an average student in school, he scored straight As in all his subjects. Perhaps on Sunday, you heard a newlywed couple share about how they won an all-expense-paid trip for two to Hawaii, or how a once-childless couple is now expecting their miracle child. 

When you see or hear of others being blessed, do you ever wonder when it will be your turn? Or do you even find yourself saying, “Oh, he got blessed with the very thing that I have been praying for. There goes my blessing.” 

Now, just because man’s economy operates on the principle of shortage, it does not mean that God operates in the same manner. So the next time somebody gets blessed, tell yourself, “I won’t be disheartened. I won’t be jealous. I am the next one to be blessed!” 

Always remember that God does not have to bless anyone at your expense. Nor does He have to bless you at anyone’s expense. We don’t have to be jealous of each other. There is a portion that God gives to you that no man can touch because it has your name on it — “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven”. (John 3:27) 

Our God is a rich God. He owns the whole universe. He has contacts and blessings you do not know of and which are reserved just for you! There is more than enough for everybody with plenty of leftovers. In fact, you will not be able to take it all because when the blessings start coming in, they will come in a net-breaking, boat-sinking style. You will have to call for your friends in the other boats to come and help you! (Luke 5:1–7) That is the kind of blessings that our God gives. So get ready for your blessings and overflowing abundance! 

Thought For The Day 
God has contacts and blessings you do not know of and which are reserved just for you! 

Written by Joseph Prince

Posted by Kachi

Live Every Moment

We all want to live a long life. But more important than the number of our years is what we fill them with.

Like most every headstone, yours will likely be marked with the same thought-provoking inscription. Somewhere below your name will be your birth date on the left and the date you died to the right. But the most important symbol will be the dash in between those two numbers. You see, the dates will indicate when you lived and for how long. But the dash will reflect the life you lived.

Some people strive to fill their years with meaning and purpose. Other people just live a really long time. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the desire to live a long life is something we all understand. But none of us are guaranteed even one more day. So it’s important to fill this moment – and every moment – with things that matter. When all is said and done, that boils down to faith in Christ, a strong relationship with your family, and pouring your life into others.

What will the dash on your headstone symbolize about the years you were given? A life filled with meaning that honors Christ and fulfills His purposes? Or just the number of years between two dates? Evan Esar once said, “You can’t do anything about the length of your life. But you can do something about its width and depth.” 

God put us where we are, with those parents, siblings, and relatives for a reason. If we think of how God created the world and put everything perfectly, then we should also understand that we are not mistakes. God is perfect like that. So let us see our lives as the only opportunity we have to show God we live Him. Let us learn to show love to people God has put around us. 

Written by Kachi

Reference NA

Posted by Kachi

Being a Child of Parents: Honor Your Father and Mother

If you surveyed one hundred teenagers about their parents, how many would respond, “My parents are precious, valuable people whom God has given to me for my good. I appreciate their guidance, life principles, correction, and rules”? Hah! Probably not too many. Sadly, parents are more likely seen as jailers or parole officers who arbitrarily limit children’s freedom. 

The God I know, however, thinks parents are worthy of praise and wants you to think so too. (By the way, this is not just for little kids and teenagers; this is also for you in your 40s, 50s, and 60s.) 

“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 5:16). 

This is not just the right thing to do so God won’t be angry with you and punish you. Honoring your parents triggers the release of a flood of benefit into your life. God has attached a double promise to parent-respecters: 
--I will increase the quantity of your life. 
--I will increase the quality of your life. 

What does it mean to honor your parents? It means cultivating a spirit of gratitude, because they have done far more for you than you will ever know. Because they have made sacrifices you only partially understand to bring you benefit. If it is from them that you first heard about Jesus, it is they who gave you heaven. 

Written by Time Of Grace

Posted by Kachi

Why was Judas Carrying the Moneybag

Jesus put a thief in charge of his moneybag. Has that ever struck you as odd?

Lets look at Mary, who poured a year’s wages on Jesus’s feet, and Judas, who saw Mary’s worshipful act as huge waste, because “he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6).

But this fact raises the question: Why was Judas carrying the moneybag in the first place?

Jesus could have given the moneybag to Nathaniel, “an Israelite indeed, in whom there [was] no deceit” (John 1:47), or to John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), or to Levi, who had extensive financial experience (Luke 5:27). But he didn’t. Jesus chose Judas to be the treasurer of his itinerant nonprofit.

One is tempted to offer the Lord some consulting on good stewardship. Donors were supporting this ministry financially (Luke 8:3), and Jesus appointed the one guy he knew was a “devil” (John 6:70) to manage the money. But this was not poor judgment on Jesus’s part. It was deliberate; Jesus knew Judas was pilfering. Why did Jesus allow it?

Putting Jesus’s Money Where His Mouth Was

I believe Jesus was putting his money where his mouth was.

Jesus had said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where . . . thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19–20). In letting Judas carry the moneybag, Jesus showed us by example what he meant.

Jesus said, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). In Judas, Jesus showed us the heart-hardening, heart-blinding, heartbreaking end of treasuring the wrong thing.

And Jesus had said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). In Judas, Jesus showed us an alarming example of what loving money and hating God can look like.

What Is So Unnerving About Judas

Shockingly, for quite a while loving money and hating God can actually look to others like devotion to God. This is what is unnerving about Judas.

For a long time, Judas’s reputation was as a student and close companion of Jesus. Judas lived with Jesus and the other eleven disciples for the better part of three years. He traveled long, dusty roads with these missionary comrades. He ate with them, sat around evening fires with them talking about the kingdom of God, and he prayed with them. He heard more of Jesus’s sermons than almost anybody. He received personal instruction from Jesus. He witnessed Jesus’s incredible miracles and saw the Father provide for their needs over and over again.

All during the time Judas was part of the Twelve, he mostly said and outwardly performed the right things. It’s astonishing that none of Judas’s fellow disciples perceived his deceitfulness. Even when Jesus finally sent Judas off to carry out his betrayal, the others didn’t seem to suspect him (John 13:28–29). It was a stunning and grievous blow to them all when in the end he sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15).

Judas’s masquerade is a lesson for us. Wolves can look and sound almost exactly like sheep. And sometimes Jesus, for his own reasons, allows the disguised wolves to live among the sheep for a long time and do great damage before their deception is exposed. When this happens, we must trust that the Lord knows what he’s doing. Judas reminds us that even ravaging wolves have a part to play in the drama of redemptive history.

What Not to Trust

But in knowingly giving dishonest Judas the moneybag, Jesus specifically modeled for us where notto put our trust: money. Jesus trusted his Father, not money, to provide everything he needed to fulfill his calling. He slept in peace every night, knowing that Judas was embezzling.

Judas, on the other hand, became the archetypal model of 1 Timothy 6:10: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” In Judas’s example, Jesus warns us that the love of money can be so deceptive that we can wander to the point where we are willing to sell eternal Treasure for a handful of coins. The seductive power of wealth must make us tremble.

Not all parts of this story have direct application for us. Jesus doesn’t intend for us to follow his example in appointing thieves as treasurers. Only God is wise enough to do that.

But Jesus does intend for us to follow his example in seeking the kingdom first, believing that all we need will be given to us by our Father (Matthew 6:33). His word to us is “fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Our Father can easily out-give what any thief can steal.

Written by Jon Bloom

Posted by Kachi 

Faithful is Our God

Trust is something that all humans struggle with. There is very little that everyone can really count on. We are confident that the sun will rise and set each day. All of humanity is confident that death will someday find them, and pretty much everyone trusts that they will face adversity in some form or another. But there really isn’t much in life that we can place our complete confidence in, and I think this why we often have trouble believing that God can love us with an unconditional and unwavering love.

One of the reason we cannot depend wholly on ourselves or others is because we and they are always changing. We are not constant, but God never changes (Mal 3:6), and this is why we can rest in him and in his faithfulness to us.

Understanding the faithfulness of God is critical to our confidence in him and hope for the future. Here are 4 things we must know well that will help us see the faithfulness of God.

We must know that God never changes in:

1. His purposes

While we cannot know all of God’s purposes we can know a few of them because he has revealed them to us in scripture. His main purpose is to glorify himself. This means that all things will be used for this end. With that he also causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him, as well as their sanctification. changed into the image of God. (Jn 17:17; Rom 8)

2. His Character

Don’t be afraid to do a study on all the different aspects of God’s character. You will be in awe of how great our God is and you will be greatly blessed and encouraged. You will see that because he is faithful he cannot go against his character. The old catechism says that God is unchanging in his “being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.” (WSC Q. 4, and see Ps. 102:25-27; Mal. 3:6; James 1:27)

For I the LORD do not change;
Mal. 3:6

3. His Promises

His faithfulness requires that he accept us through the blood of Jesus because he has spent his wrath against our sin on his Son. Therefore he has promised to save all of those who repent and call on the name of Christ (Rom. 3:26). His faithfulness causes him to sustain you when you are burdened and to strengthen you when you are weak. He has also promised to return and make all things right and because of his faithfulness he will come back to rescue us all.

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.
Heb 6:18

4. His Love

His love is constant, relentless, and eternal. And we see it best at the cross. This is where the love of Christ shines brightest. Here he was willing to lay down his holy, innocent life for rebellious, sinful, forgetful and unloving creatures like us. At the cross we see the Judge step down from his bench and become the one judged in our stead.

He is not like a wave that is always moving. He is our rock–our fortress that cannot be shaken, moved or changed. Because he cannot change we can place complete trust in the love he has for his people.

Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
Psalm 36:5

Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. Jn 13:1b

Perhaps you are having a hard time trusting God right now. In the midst of life that is constantly changing. In the middle of a season where crises are constant and you aren’t sure what going to happen next, you must go to God’s word and learn over and over again that he is trustworthy because he us good and never changes. You can rest in that.

Looking To Jesus,

Written by Jen Thorn

Posted by Kachi

Trading Fear For Freedom

“But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4 (NLT)

As a teenager, I lived a pretty sheltered life. I believed nothing bad would ever happen to me. Then one day, I found myself in the middle of areally bad situation.

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time resulted in a pistol put to my head. A robbery that was a sudden and terrifying scenario for this naive teenage girl.

“Don’t move or I’ll shoot!” The sharp words of my abductor rattled me to my very core. Shaking uncontrollably, I could feel the cold, hard surface of his gun pushing against my pulsating temple.

As my heart raced, thoughts ran through my mind: I’m going to die. This is it … my life is over. I wanted to run, but saw no way out.

By the grace of God, I survived. But although I had no physical wounds, the memories of that experience settled deep within my heart. Like acid, it seeped into the center of my shaken soul and ate away at my once-upon-a-time teenage confidence.

At night, my mind replayed the awful scenario. And during the day, I was afraid to go anywhere alone. Or even be left alone.

What if I run into him again? Will he recognize me? What if he followed me home that day and knows where I live? What if he comes looking for me again?

I didn’t feel safe … anywhere.

I was afraid … most all the time.

I struggled … the memories haunted me.

Looking back, I realize my abductor abused me momentarily, but fear held me hostage for what seemed like a lifetime. It kept my thoughts in bondage and dictated my daily decisions.

My biggest regret during that season of distress was not having God’s Word hidden in my heart. If I had taken the time to not only read but memorize His Word, I could have traded my fears for God’s truth of freedom found in John 8:32: “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (NLT).

On those sleepless nights, I could have claimed this promise instead:“When you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down, and your sleep will be pleasant,” Proverbs 3:24 (HCSB).

When I was alone and scared my abductor might return, I could have replaced my thoughts with today’s key verse: “But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?”Psalm 56:3-4.

Have you ever experienced something tragic that’s left you feeling afraid? Are your thoughts sometimes filled with “what-if” worries or scary scenarios that keep you awake at night? Does fear and anxiety hold you hostage today?

If so, I understand. I’ve been there. God’s Word is the answer to help you move beyond your fears to freedom with a new level of unshakable courage. Here’s the key: Real and sustainable freedom from fears can only be found in Jesus Christ and through His powerful Word.

Here’s what I’ve discovered: What consumes our thoughts overtakes our thought life. We can’t change what’s happened in our past, but we can change how we respond to those difficult situations in the future.

As women of faith, we find freedom from fear when we choose to capture those fearful memories, cover them with God’s Word and begin building a healthy thought life as we place our trust in Him.

Let’s commit to focusing on thoughts that bring life, hope and freedom. Let’s surrender our broken memories to God and allow Him to saturate them with His healing grace.

Heavenly Father, thank You for being with me so that I’m never alone. Help me to replace my fearful thoughts with Your Word as I begin memorizing Scripture verses today. I believe I can live a life of freedom from fear with Your help. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Isaiah 43:18-19a, “Forget what happened in the past, and do not dwell on events from long ago. I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Don’t you recognize it?” (GWT)

Written by Tracie Miles

Story by Leah Dipascal

Posted by Kachi