He Gives Encouragement!

Romans 15:5 – May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. (NLT)

God gives us patience.
He gives encouragement.

But what I love most…. With that patience and encouragement he helps us to live in harmony with others. As Christians, we need that harmony. We need it because we have a lot of work to do! We are waging a war, but we mist wage correctly. We must wage and battle in prayer!

I love Him so much and am grateful. So often we walk around saying we just need to be encouraged. He gives us encouragement!! May we just stand on that today!

Be blessed!

(I overslept big time this morning. I did find time for a quick run though)

Do What’s Right

Romans 8:12-14 – “So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!” (The Message)

Simply stated…. The struggle to do what is wrong will always be present. Paul also struggled with that.

However, the wonderful thing is that you are not obligated to give in. Every. Single. Time. It is a choice. One that over and over again we will be faced with.

If Christ is within you, then you can tap into the power inside of you, pray for strength to withstand and then get out there and do those things that He would have you do.

Everyday it’s a choice….. Do I give into my sinful nature or do I allow God to take control? We must be willing to admit those areas that are struggles, give them to God and allow Him to take over.

It’s not easy but you can do it!

Today was a cardio and core day! Got it in!

Be blessed!

Evaluation: He Set The Example

God, in all of His greatness has that ability to slow us down.  I have learned in my short time as a Christian that when something is constantly being placed on your heart it is for one of 2 reasons:

1.  You need to process something and then let it go.

2.  God is trying to teach you something so that you can grow.

At my church this past Monday I started taking a leadership course.  It is an eight month intense course being taught by my Pastor.  We kicked it off Monday night.  There is so much that I could elaborate on; however, there is one point my pastor made that I have NOT been able to get off my heart.
He said, “It is okay from a Godly perspective to identify our strengths.  We are talking about an eternal matter!  We also need to be able to identify when certain things we did just weren’t our best.”

In summation my Pastor drew the conclusion that one of the key elements to being an effective leader is ultimately that we follow in the footsteps of God the Father.  Our creator, God himself, not only had the ability to evaluate His own performance, but he acted on that ability.

Go with me on a short journey if you will ….

Romans 12:3 – Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning:  Don’t think you are better than you really are.  Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. (NLT)

In the above verse this is Paul speaking to us.  I have read this verse many times, but never with the focus that I did this evening.  My pastor started here in Romans 12 a few verses down from the above. 

I had been praying and trying to settle this issue so that I can understand, learn, and grow deeper with God.  He took me here, to the above verse.

In order to lead, we must have the ability to critique who we are, how we are performing in life, our wins, our losses and ultimately allow God to mold us into the person He desires for us to be.  This is no easy task.  It’s not easy to step back and evaluate the person we have become.  Yet at the same time we are told to be like God.  We were created in His very image to do a magnificent work for Him on this earth.

Now, I must admit, that never before tonight had I read in its entirety Genesis 1 – 4.  The other evening I felt so inadequate, but that was the devil.  I was allowing myself in my mind to feel less than because I didn’t know what my Pastor was discussing.  As he drew the conclusion to how God sets the example of evaluation he asked us the question, “What did God say at the end of each day?” 

In my mind I’m saying, “Ummmmm ….. Ummmmm ….”

Then in unison several people state the response, “It was good.”  Lightbulb came on in my mind!!

Then he says, “What did he say after he created man?”

To which a few more said, “It was very good!”

I realize now that in those moments I was guilty of the very thing that we each struggle with, “Evaluation and comparison.”

You see, I was comparing myself to others in the room thinking I must not be good enough if I don’t even know what it says in Genesis 1.  That’s the very beginning!  It’s where it all started!!  I’m not less than.  I’m very knowledgeable.  I’m very in tune to what God is trying to show me and do in my life.  But I did realize that I’m guilty of this one thing:  insecurity.  We all have it, we must find a way to rise above it if we are to take the things of God and the things He desires to do in us seriously.

The fact is at that moment I didn’t know the answer.  That’s ok!  And we have to be able to admit those things so that true progression can happen.

The reason God has placed this very statement my Pastor made on my heart was so that I would now be able to understand the most amazing thing that He had to share with me:

1.  We have a very matter of fact God.  If he said He would do it, He did it.  In the NLT version of Genesis 1 as God is creating and putting into action what He says He is going to do; very often it says, And that is what happened.  God doesn’t joke.  He is serious. He is loving. He is kind. He is just.  What He says, He means.

2.  He did indeed teach us the proper way to evaluate and examine ourselves.  Even He himself evaluated all of His creation by the simple statements it was good and it was very good.

So I kept reading …. I needed to know this.  I wanted to look at these traits and understand how this relates to being an effective leader and potentially where we initially acquired this ability to not be able to adequately evaluate and judge ourselves as it says we should do in Romans 12:3.

Adam and Eve came.  In short, they were told they could eat from any tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The devil was able to convince Eve to partake of the fruit of the tree.  Eve then convinced Adam to eat from it also.  Shortly after eating from the tree they hear God walking through the area.

Sooooooo, they run and hide!  In that moment they became insecure.  God asked Adam.  Basically, He said, “Did you eat from the tree that you weren’t supposed to eat from?”  Adam said, “Eve gave it to me.  I got it from Eve.”

If you read the whole story in Genesis 3 (assuming you, like me, may not be familiar with it before this evening) to me it symbolizes the pass-down of insecurity.  Insecurity ultimately started with the devil.  The devil was able to convince Eve to partake of the fruit, who then convinced Adam.  When Adam was confronted he blame-shifted.  Instead of being able to say, “Yes, I did.”  He said, “It was Eve that gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”

An effective leader has the ability to just step back and say, “Yes, I did it.”  We have to be able to evaluate where we are.  What we do well.  What we struggle with.  We must be able to admit when someone is better than us, it is then that God can grow us.

I personally find it quite significant that Adam and Eve when placed in the garden were naked.  They felt no shame. 

After they partook of the fruit they ran and hid.  They covered themselves with leaves because they were ashamed for God to now see them.

The story comes full circle however because we are told towards the end of Genesis 3 that God made clothing for them.

When we have the ability to evaluate ourselves in and through Christ with Christ-like eyes we can accomplish a mighty work.  When we allow insecurity to get in the way, we will never be productive.  It is the very moment that we realize our complete dependence must be on God that change begins to happen. 

Change is gradual.

Evaluation is continual.

Progress is ongoing.

But God, He is eternal.  And as we go to Him …. As we realize we are nothing and He is everything, we all the sudden, become something … we become more and more like Him!

Pray and Be Nice

Romans 12:17-21 – –  “Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”  Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.” (The Message)

I have read this verse many times, but after last night I have a different perception. We were not placed here on this earth to be mean, or to show hate.

Yes, there are some people we just don’t get along with possibly. People you would call an enemy. Instead of retaliating and getting even, we should be praying. The more that we try to put ourselves in God’s shoes and judge others, all we are doing is slowing down His work.

Forget about what others are doing. And show love to everyone. Your enemies, pray for them, show them kindness, be Christ like.

We have taken on the name of being a Christian, because we belong to Christ. So let’s stand up today and allow our behaviors to reflect that.

Just because someone hurts us, is mean to us or disrespectful doesn’t mean we should be back.

Have a blessed day!

Heirs

As believers we have been adopted. When an adoption takes place the child’s last name changes to then show the adoption name of the “new parents.”

When we accept Christ, you could say that same adoption happens. The NLT version says His Spirit “joins” with our spirit to affirm that we are his children.

To be joined means to be linked or connected. Something I love even more – – a synonym to join is “yoke”. In Matthew we are told by Jesus “take my yoke upon you for it is easy to bear.” The significance of “yoke” is that only 2 people can be yoked together. It’s impossible to be yoked with more than that.

When we accepted God – His Spirit affirmed, by joining with our spirit that we are His children. Nobody else could join and tell us that. We are yoked in with him!

Our spiritual lineage points straight back to God. It’s never exciting to be an heir to someone if your inheritance is not that great.

But, our inheritance is more than great! We are blessed, highly favored and then some!

Why? Because we are heirs to God!

His Spirit joins with our spirit to confirm… “Yep, that’s my child!”

Rest day today! Be blessed!

Dancing in the Rain …

We’ve been praying … 

We’ve been sowing … 

Now we’re crying, “Heaven send the rain!”

Zechariah 10:1 — “Ask the Lord for rain in the spring, for he makes the storm clouds.  And he will send showers of rain so every field becomes a lush pasture.” (NLT)

Often we feel tossed.  Life swirls us many directions.  It’s easy in this world to get depressed … to feel lost … to feel like the sad gloomy feeling that comes with the rain.

The above verse in Zechariah is symbolic of more than just nature and things we can see with the natural eye.  There is much greater meaning that the Prophet Zechariah was establishing here through God.

Think about it ….

We have trudged out of the winter of our lives.

Or perhaps you still feel like you are in the “winter of your life?”

Maybe still today you feel stuck in a hard spot.  Still today life feels hard … you feel pressed against the wall.  If the only thing you can do is scream … that’s what you do.

But God … our sweet Father, He begs us … “Will you just dance with me in the rain?”

The rain comes … it pounds.  In fact, it seems like it will never end.

Still He says, “Will you dance … even in the rain, will you dance with me?”

You see, that’s just the thing …

All of our experiences …

Our trials …

Our moments that we feel as if we are in the darkest pit possible …

He says to us, “Will you just wait for me?  If all you truly want is me, will you wait for me?”

It’s inevitable … you will experience “winter” moments in your life.

There will be storms …

Sadness ..

Trials …

Tribulations …

But with every winter … there is a spring.  

As Sons and Daughters of God we are told that when our spring comes to ask the Lord for rain.  We are told to sit at His feet … to approach His throne … to sit and bask … to sit and wait … to experience His rain and to watch the transformation …

Will we dance?  Will we dance with Him … even in the rain?

Are we willing to take ourself and just sit in the rain …

It’s constant … the rain that is. It fills holes, buckets, rivers, lakes and oceans until they are more than overflowing.

Rain has no limits.  Eventually, depending on the amount of rain … it can break through any wall, storm any field, and renew any life.  If we run from it, eventually, it will catch us.

And when the rain catches us …

When we have allowed our Father to do what He does best … To demonstrate His love … then we will know the truth of the below verse:

Romans 15:13 — “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him.  Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Yes … I know.

You’ve been praying.

You’ve even sowed seed in good faith of His anticipated response.

Until His response comes …

Will you patiently wait?

Will you take yourself … and plant yourself in the middle of your storm …

Will you dance?  Even in the Rain … whether good or bad … Will you dance with God?

It’s in our waiting that we are tested.

It’s those moments that we cry out to Him begging for a response … that we feel lost.

We lose hope when the immediate answer doesn’t come.  Have we forgotten that God works on His schedule and His timing?

So we wait …

We wait for the spring of our rain …

We wait for the renewal of our God.

He will make our pastures lush.  He will restore every crevice of our lives if we would but just allow Him too.

Have you been praying?  Great … keep praying!

Have you sowed in good faith?  Then, you must keep sowing!

You take yourself and plant yourself in the middle of your fields.  There is a purpose for your storm …

And eventually my dear friend … the spring rain of God will come.  It will pour down on you until you are overflowing with the most beautiful confident hope that you could ever possess.

So while you’re waiting will you dance?  Will you dance with Him even in the rain?

God’s rain will pour down on your life …

It’s coming … we must keep waiting.

We will press in …

We will dance … yes, even in the rain, we will dance!

We will rejoice ..

We will praise …

We will wait for God’s spring rain to pour into our lives so that we are overflowing to the brim!

God Says, You Are Fit …

In my Small Group at church we are studying the book of Romans.  This week we were studying chapters 7 and 8.  I read them before going, but my Small Group leader shed light on a verse that has been on my mind all day since leaving.

Romans 8:1 – “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

She asked a very important question.  “Do you know what it means to be condemned?”  I had to stop and think for a minute.

We read words in the bible all the time.  In that moment, I had to stop and ask myself, “Do I really know what Paul was trying to say?”

He said ….

If you are IN Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation.

To Condemn means to “declare to be unfit for use.”

We walk around this earth at times, I must admit that I, myself, can be guilty of this.  We all can be guilty of this.

But we walk around and speak such things over ourselves that demean us, put us down, make us sound as if we are horrible people.

We look at our past and translate that to mean we are a waste.

We look at our past and think that nothing good can come from us.

We see our situations …. our experiences … our lives …. and certainly at times we think, “I can’t be loved.”

But Paul said about the saints …

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

There is a lot of power in this verse.  I see a couple of critical statements …

No condemnation.

Those in Christ Jesus.

I was studying this.  So, if we are In Christ Jesus … we have no right to think that we could be declared “unfit for use.”  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

Because we are IN Him, we are fit for His use.  Because we are IN Him, He can and will use us.

To be in Christ Jesus … to be “in” something means that we are enclosed or surrounded by something else.

How wonderful that I can be enclosed by Jesus.  How wonderful that I can literally sit at His feet and just soak in all that He has given to me.  So can you.

He says that those that are In Christ Jesus … He says … They can receive …

His redemption.

Freedom from condemnation.

The Spirit of life.

His love.

The Truth … and it shall set us free.

We can have unity.  We can have faith.

He gives us righteousness.

Hope. Security.  

He says, if they are in me, “They are Established.”

We are a new creation.

We have His power.

We have grace.

So what do we do from here?

I’ll tell you what we do …

We get up … We pick up our mats and we walk this thing out.

We lift up our heads.  We are not concerned with what the world says.

The world says, “You are no good!”  To that … you say, “I’m more than good.  I’m blessed. I’m fearfully and wonderfully made.  I’m a child of the most High God.”

The world says … or maybe you say, “No one needs me.” I use to feel that way … but in that statement, there is nothing but lies.

We are needed.  We are needed to rise up and accept the challenge that God has given us ….

Yes, we are needed.  We are needed to walk this out.  To impact some lives.  To allow His glory to shine through us.  Yes … Yes … we are needed now more than ever.

We are fit!

We are blessed!

We are wanted.

We are loved!

So you’ve messed up!  So have I … and when I say I’ve messed up, I’ve messed up big time before!

But … I am also IN Christ Jesus.  And because I’m in Him … there is so much forgiveness, grace, mercy and love … that my sins, my wrongdoings … they are forgiven.

God knew we weren’t going to be perfect.

But He also needs and wants us.

We have work to do.

Will you call yourself unfit?

Or ….

Will you stand up and do the thing He has called you to do?

I Wanna Overflow …

For the last few weeks at church the premise of my Pastor’s message has been Romans 15:13.  I have read the verse prior to his message, in fact it is one that I have recorded on a set of index cards and read daily over myself.  But more than ever, it has been on my heart.

Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (NIV)

For the last few weeks I have reworded this verse to give it a more personal meaning ….

Stephanie, as you trust in God, He will fill you with ALL joy and peace.  In doing so, you will overflow with hope because of the power of His Spirit that is inside of you.

I have only been a Christian since May 2014.  Discovering His Word, discovering Him and having a personal relationship with Him has been and is life changing.

The above verse is one of my most favorite.

We get so caught up in life and our circumstances.  I get it … because it’s tough out there.  We are hit from every direction at times with negativity and difficult circumstances.

But …. we have Him and His Word.

We need to stand taller.

We need to have more hope, because He who died for us, has given it to us.

We need to have more courage.

We need to increase our faith.

Simply stated …. we need to just walk it out and believe in Him.

He says in His Word that if we trust Him … He will fill us with joy and peace.

Never has He said we wouldn’t have troubles or difficulties. In fact, He told us we would.

But, with God …. despite our storms, despite our difficulties, despite our hard times and our obstacles ….

We are guaranteed joy and peace!

We are guaranteed a hope …. a hope that overflows!

Overflow is defined as “the excess or surplus not able to be accommodated by an available space.”

That means that you could say there is an overspill.

It’s so hard to trust isn’t it?  Because of our experiences that we have on this earth … because of what’s been done to us, and what we have seen …. trust does not come easy.

People have hurt you.  People have left you. People have gone against their word …. People have shown you that there is no reason to trust anyone.

Those people that hurt you ….

Those people that hurt me …

Those people that lied to you, and to me …

Those same people who didn’t stay true to their word ….

They are not God!

God doesn’t hurt us.  God doesn’t leave us.  In fact, His word never returns void.  It always sustains. It always fulfills!  It always upholds true to what He said He would do.

Everyday I learn to trust God more and more.

Trust doesn’t come easy for me.  If I’m honest I struggle with it daily.  I don’t trust many.  I’m learning to trust more …

But … when I first read the above verse I decided that I wanted His joy and His peace.  The condition for us to have that is just that we trust Him.

If I trust Him … If you trust Him … then the verse says He will fill us with all joy and peace.  He will fill us so much so that we will be overflowing with hope.

He gives us so much hope that we can’t contain it.  Our soul can’t keep all the hope He gives us inside …. we go into “overflow status.”  We start to spill hope out of us.

Friend, I don’t know about you, I do know about me.

I want it all.  I want everything He says I can have.

Joy and Peace.  I want it.

Hope?  Yes, I want that too.

So, will I trust Him?  Yes … and I’m learning more and more everyday to put my complete trust in my creator.

At the end of the day we must all admit what this life is about.

For me … life is no longer about living in my depression …. it’s about choosing to rise up, to believe in God, and impact lives.

Please understand, I know that we are faced with hard things.  I have seen my fair share of hard times.  I have committed my fair share of sins.  I have seen sad things happen to me.  I have faced the want and the desire of no longer wanting to live on this earth and came so close to succeeding … And, I know that I will be faced with more hard times.

But, I have also felt the Spirit of my God.  I have felt the love … the compassion …. I have experienced His grace …. 

I owe it to Him, because of what He has done for me.  Specific details aren’t important … but I am a testament of what He has done already.  And you know what, so are you.

For He is good …. and His mercy, it will endure!

He is good …. He has promised us His joy and peace if we just trust in Him.  In Corinthians it says that His promises are a “yes and an amen.”  There is no debate.  He said we can have it.

And that same joy and peace that He fills us with …. it goes into an “overflow.”  Not so that we hide it for a later time … but so that it spills over to others.

His glory shines through us…..

There are people out there hurting.  There are people out there who need strength.  Who need encouragement.  Who need hope.  There are people out there who need you, your story, to help them see just how powerful God is.

For those of us who trust in Him …. He has taken a pitcher … and poured into us all of his joy and peace.

Can you see it?  Imagine going to the faucet and turning it on …. he sets His pitcher there …. He says, “They trust me …. so I’m giving them my joy and peace.”  He fills the pitcher …. He comes to us …. and He pours into our spirit.

His joy and peace is so amazing …. that we can’t contain it.  We are supposed to spread it.

Today will you trust Him?

We have work to do.  Lives to impact.

Will I trust Him?  Yes, you better believe it.

And to Him … everyday when I recite that verse over myself … I literally say out loud, “Father, give me your joy.  Give me your peace.  I trust you and you said I could have it.”

Father …. put me into a hope overflow.  I wanna impact … I wanna be your light … I want to be your representative.