Category: Confidence

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When We Stumble

Recently our oldest daughter and son-in-law climbed Picacho Peak. It’s not an easy climb. It’s rocky and steep and there are areas where cables are necessary to aide you across the mountainside.

She told me at times her ankles and legs felt like jelly. She stumbled, she had scrapes and bruises and a gash in her shin but they made the climb. They reached the top!

There are times when we all stumble, it’s not a condition reserved only for those who climb. It’s easy to become discouraged and want to quit, our emotional legs get weary and shaky. We push forward, sometimes in weakness and pain.

“ There is One Who can keep you from falling and can bring you before Himself free from all sin. He can give you great joy as you stand before Him in His shining-greatness. 25 He is the only God. He is the One Who saves from the punishment of sin through Jesus Christ our Lord. May He have shining-greatness and honor and power and the right to do all things. He had this before the world began, He has it now, and He will have this forever. Let it be so.” Jude 24,25 NLV

Christ is the one who promises to be our strength and our support. He is “an ever-present help in time of trouble”.

Christians fail. We get weary, angry, depressed but by His strength we go on.

“The steps of a good man are led by the Lord. And He is happy in his way. 24 When he falls, he will not be thrown down, because the Lord holds his hand. 25 I have been young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the man who is right with God left alone, or his children begging for bread.” Psalm 37:23-25 NLV

King David had many victories in his life but he also had failures, times of stumbling. The Apostle Paul was known for his persecution and imprisonment of Christians, he stumbled and then the Lord used him to write over half of the New Testament.

“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” Romans 3:22-24 NLT

Maybe you feel like you failed, you’ve stumbled and fallen, you have bruises and scrapes. It’s hard to get up.

“And he became their Savior. 9 In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years.” Isaiah 63:8-10 NLT

When we stumble let the Lord rescue us, lift us up and carry us forward!

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Locked Out?

Each morning when I open my laptop this phrase appears on the screen, “Have you forgotten your password?”.

No.

I sign in and have access to all my information, unless like the other morning there has been a system update and some of my information has been relocated. But I digress. I’m sure many of you are like me and have written your passwords in a book and placed them in a secure place, just in case I do forget one of them. Better yet are the “secure” password vaults that remember them for you and at prompting populate the correct password for that sign-in.

I can remember a time when there were no passwords required. In fact, there were no computers. That seems like a very long time ago. But why all this talk about passwords this morning?

Well, in my prayer time I was thanking the Father that I can come into His presence freely – no password, no engraved invitation or secret access code.

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.” Psalm 100:4-5 NLT

It’s as simple as that – we enter His presence with thanksgiving! The love of God continues forever and He is faithful to each and every generation.

Sometimes we might feel unworthy and needy but He says come in, we have access!

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Hebrews 4:16 NLT

There have been times when I felt I was far from the Lord and was struggling to find my way. His instruction filled my heart.

“Call to Me, and I will answer you. And I will show you great and wonderful things which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3

There is never a time when the Father is too busy or unavailable to us. The Apostle Paul gave us this instruction.

“Never stop praying.” I Thessalonians 5:17 NLV

In Jesus’ final hours before He was tried, convicted and crucified He went to the garden to pray. He asked Peter and the others to join Him in prayer. He knew he was facing the most horrendous event of His life, so He prayed.

“Then he went back to his followers and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, ‘Could you men not stay awake with me for one hour? 41 Stay awake and pray for strength against temptation. Your spirit wants to do what is right, but your body is weak.’” Matthew 26:40-41 ERV

Ready access – open communication. The Father knows we are weak, in need of His help that’s why He tells us to come. His plan for us is good and He will not abandon or desert us.

“Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me.” Jeremiah 29:12-13 ERV

When we have an open heart seeking the Father we will never be locked out of His presence!

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You Are Loved

I’ve been doing quite a bit of praying this morning for different friends and loved ones. These are people who the Lord put on my heart; people who have been hurt deeply by others, those would have been wounded and rejected, those who have felt the stabbing pain of ridicule and mocking.

As I prayed, I asked the Lord to heal their hurt and to reveal to them their value, their worth to Him, as their Father, and show them how to walk free of the pain, never to be held in bondage again to the hurts of the past.

Just a couple of days ago I was talking with a friend about the oppressing weight of unworthiness. Those feelings of not measuring up or being good enough can be crushing. I know. But I also know the peace that comes when we realize that we are accepted in Christ.

“He was hated and men would have nothing to do with Him, a man of sorrows and suffering, knowing sadness well. We hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was hated, and we did not think well of Him.

4 For sure He took on Himself our troubles and carried our sorrows. Yet we thought of Him as being punished and hurt by God, and made to suffer. 5 But He was hurt for our wrong-doing. He was crushed for our sins. He was punished so we would have peace. He was beaten so we would be healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone the wrong way. Each of us has turned to his own way. And the Lord has put on Him the sin of us all.” Isaiah 53:3-6 NLV

This is what Jesus did for us! He took our sin, our sorrow, our rejection, our pain and carried it to the cross to be crucified there.

When He rose from the tomb, He left all of the above in the grave and He brought us a new life. His death and resurrection created a new way for us to live.

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me. He has put His hand on Me to preach the Good News to poor people. He has sent Me to heal those with a sad heart. He has sent Me to tell those who are being held that they can go free. He has sent Me to make the blind to see and to free those who are held because of trouble. 19 He sent Me to tell of the time when men can receive favor with the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19 NLV

Christ knew rejection and heart ache. He knew sorrow. His mission was and is to bring us healing and freedom.

“…the Father loves you. He loves you because you love Me and believe that I came from the Father.” John 16:27 NLV

“ So we can say for sure, ‘The Lord is my Helper. I am not afraid of anything man can do to me.’” Hebrews 13:6 NLV

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free for sure.” John 8:36 NLV

If you are one who has been hurt and rejected, I pray you will let Christ heal your broken heart and set you free. You are Loved!

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Out of Focus

What’s the first thing you see when you wake up? Strange question?

The first things I see are generally out of focus – until I reach for my glasses. Then I try to get up quietly so I don’t wake Dave. By the time I start the coffee, my sleepy eyes are bringing my familiar surroundings into focus.

But things don’t truly sharpen until I spend some time in prayer, and in reading God’s word. For so many years, I was too busy and didn’t take time to get the Father’s perspective on my plans for the day. I didn’t realize that He wanted me to come to Him with all my problems, my insecurities, and my dreams.

Now, the first thing I do is say my I love you’s. “I love you Father, I love you Jesus, I love you Holy Spirit. Good morning.”

That’s when things really come into view properly. Acknowledging the presence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is my foundation for the day.

I was reading in the Psalms I found a comment by King David at the end of Psalm 17.

“I am innocent, Lord, and I will see your face! When I awake, all I want is to see you as you are.” Psalm 17:15 CEV

To see You as You are!

Psalm 17 is another one of David’s psalms of praise – thanking the Lord for being his strength, his defender, his protector, his creator. How much better would our day go if we just focused physically and spiritually on seeing God as He is?

“I pray to you, God, because you will help me. Listen and answer my prayer! 7  Show your wonderful love, Your mighty arm protects those who run to you for safety from their enemies. 8 Protect me as you would your very own eyes; hide me in the shadow of your wings…Use your powerful arm and rescue me from the hands of mere humans whose world won’t last. You provide food for those you love. Their children have plenty, and their grandchildren will have more than enough. 15 I am innocent, Lord, and I will see your face!
When I awake, all I want is to see you as you are.” Psalm 17:6-8, 14-15 CEV

For many, it’s hard to trust that God will really be there for us like King David is saying. Either their focus has been distorted by self-sufficiency or it has been blurred by teaching that God is vengeful and unforgiving.

Throughout the Bible God tells us again and again that He wants to be our help, our protector, our provider, our Savior.

“So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God. There we will be treated with undeserved grace, and we will find help.” Hebrews 4:16 CEV

Today there are many things fighting for our attention but when we focus, set our hearts and minds to see God, our loving heavenly Father, we will see Him as He really is!

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Pursued by Goodness

I just love it when I wake up singing praise to the Lord. It sets the tone for my whole day!

Sunday we sang a song that filled my heart and my soul. This morning it also filled my mind. I had to get up and just sit with the Father and sing it over and over to Him.

“Goodness of God” by Bethel Music

“And all my life You have been faithful, oh-oh-oh
And all my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God, yeah

‘Cause your goodness is running after, it’s running after me
Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me
With my life laid down, I’m surrendered now
I give you everything
‘Cause your goodness is running after, it’s running after me, oh-oh
‘Cause your goodness is running after, it’s running after me”

We are being chased, pursued by God’s goodness. This is the image that King David painted for us in Psalm 23.

“Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord.” Psalm 23:6 AMP

Goodness, mercy and unfailing love are sent to follow us all of our days.

Moses told the Israelites the same thing just days before they entered into the land of promise.

“Now it shall be, if you diligently listen to and obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all of His commandments which I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you pay attention to the voice of the Lord your God. 3 You will be blessed in the city, and you will be blessed in the field.” Deuteronomy 28:1-3 AMP

Why is it, I wonder, that people are so ready to believe that God is looking for ways to punish us and not to bless us?

The Israelites had faced numerous hardships on their journey to the land the Lord had promised them. In fact, one king hired a prophet to proclaim a curse on them. (This just happens to be one of my favorite stories.)

Each time the prophet was supposed to pronounce a curse he would proclaim a blessing. The king became very angry and this is what the prophet told him.

“Then King Balak demanded of Balaam, ‘What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies. Instead, you have blessed them!’…’God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through? 20 Listen, I received a command to bless; God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it!'” Numbers 23:11,19-20 NLT

The Lord has promised to fill our lives with blessings – unconditional love, forgiveness, peace, joy, provision. We are being pursued by goodness!

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All, Always, Everything

For the past forty years I have read Psalm 145 nearly every morning and almost every time I read it, I stop and focus on how many times in these few verses the writer uses the words all, always and everything.

The nature of God’s love reaches out to all! He provides for all we need. He picks up all who are fallen. He is good to all!

When I read these words I feel like a kid – a child who has been given not just a piece of pie but the whole pie. It’s overwhelming!

“God is all mercy and grace— not quick to anger, is rich in love. 9 God is good to one and all;
 everything he does is soaked through with grace. 10-11 Creation and creatures applaud you, God; your holy people bless you.

They talk about the glories of your rule, they exclaim over your splendor, 12 Letting the world know of your power for good, the lavish splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is a kingdom eternal; you never get voted out of office.

God always does what he says,  and is gracious in everything he does. 14 God gives a hand to those down on their luck, gives a fresh start to those ready to quit. 15 All eyes are on you, expectant; you give them their meals on time.

16 Generous to a fault, you lavish your favor on all creatures. 17 Everything God does is right— the trademark on all his works is love. 18 God’s there, listening for all who pray, for all who pray and mean it. 19 He does what’s best for those who fear him— hears them call out, and saves them. 20 God sticks by all who love him, but it’s all over for those who don’t.

21 My mouth is filled with God’s praise. Let everything living bless him, bless his holy name from now to eternity!” Psalm 145: 8-21 MSG

Our God is more loving and gracious that words can express! May our mouths be filled with His praise and our hearts with His love!

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Mountains & Valleys

When I was a girl I would hear the people in our church talk about “mountain top” experiences in their walk with the Lord. It was wonderful to hear those testimonies. However, quite often they would also say, “we can’t always live on the mountain top, we have to accept the valleys too”.

Frankly, that was confusing to me. It sounded like they were saying that we couldn’t always have that closeness with God in the valleys of life.

This morning I was reading in I Kings 20 and that was what the enemies of Israel were saying about God. They had gone out to make war against King Ahab. King Ben-Hadad had the armies of 32 other kings with him, the Israelite army had 232 valiant rulers and a marching army of 7000. It appeared the Israelites would be easily defeated.

But God…

“Now the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Israel’s gods are gods of the mountains. So they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and for sure we will be stronger than they. 24 And do this. Take each of the kings from his place, and put captains in their places. 25 Gather together an army like the army you lost, horse for horse, and war-wagon for war-wagon. Then we will fight against Israel in the plain. For sure we will be stronger than they.” And Ben-hadad listened to them and did so.” I Kings 20:23-25 NLV

So, at the beginning of the following year King Ben-Hadad went out against Israel again, this time in a valley. The description given of the Israelite army is they looked like two little flocks of goats while the Arameans covered the land. Once again, they were greatly outnumbered.

“Then a man who spoke for God came to the king of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says. ‘The Syrians have said, “The Lord is a god of the mountains, but He is not a god of the valleys.” So I will give all these many people to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”  I Kings 20:28 NLV

Whether we are experiencing mountain-top victories or the battles in the valleys God rules. He promises us that when we walk through the valleys of the shadow of death, He is there with us and we have no reason to fear.

God is not limited by location or by circumstance! There is nothing too hard for the Lord. When we keep our eyes on Him and follow His leading, we will see the same thing that the Israelite king saw and “Then you will know that I am the Lord”.

There’s a song that I used to sing years ago, and it came to mind this morning as I was reading these verses.

“For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley
When things go wrong, He’ll make them right
And the God of the good times, is still God in the bad times
The God of the day is still God in the night”

Mountain-top or valley – we will experience both, but we will never be alone for God is with us!

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Falling In Love

Last night in moments of nostalgia, Dave and I discussed old friends and acquaintances, wondering where they were and how their lives had turned out. We talked of childhood friends and wondered if they remembered us with the same kindnesses as we remember them.

Dave asked me if I had any regrets for things I had done or dreams I didn’t pursue. Although there are a few, I really wouldn’t want to go back and do them over. I would be concerned that I might make the wrong choices again or even worse ones.

I am so thankful for God’s grace! His grace is truly one where He forgives, removes our shame and then forgets our past, never holding us in bondage to a guilty conscience.

“And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:21-22 NLT

There is one thing I would do again; it was a favorite time for me. Times of faith building and relying on the Father’s goodness for every need.

It was a time when we brought ranchers and farmers together on a Friday night or Sunday morning or even those weekend long gatherings. We would worship, study and grow together in the love of Jesus.

A song we use to sing in Cowboy Church was “I keep falling in love with Him over and over and over and over again. He gets sweeter and sweeter as the days so by – oh, what a love between my Lord and I; I keep falling in love with Him over and over and over and over again.”

This has been my daily ambition. Falling in love with Him and getting to know the depth of His love for me. That’s what the Apostle Paul prayed for Christians nearly 2000 years ago when He wrote these verses. It is my prayer for you today.

“ I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Ephesians 3:16-19 NLT

May you experience the depth of the love of Christ and the complete fullness and power of life in God.

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The Seed and The Soil

I’d like to end the teachings on the seed and the soil this morning with a couple more thoughts.

All of Scripture and the teachings of Jesus can be summed up as seed. Every one’s reaction to God’s word is soil and the seed being planted comes from hearing and what we do with what we hear.

“So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” Romans 10:17 NLT

Not being affected by what we hear is seed falling on hard ground; quick growth with no long-lasting results is seed falling on rocky ground; getting offended by the Word that is heard and distracted by riches and worries is a result of seed falling on thorny ground but seed that brings a harvest comes when we embrace the Word of God and put it into practice.

At one time or another my heart has been like every kind of soil. Ample seed and good soil result in a bumper crop.

I want to go back to two of our examples of good soil from yesterday. They are found in Luke 8, the woman with the bleeding condition and the father with the sick daughter. The woman had been weakened by her condition for 12 years. She had spent all she had and gotten no better, hope was all but gone and then she heard of Jesus, a man who did miracles.

She heard and she planted those seeds of the message of healing deep in her heart. She heard and she ventured out to find and touch Jesus. She knew if she could just get to Him, if she could just touch Him, she would be healed. The seed planted, grew and produced a harvest.

“…The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed.” Luke 8:47b NLT

Jairus, the father, was in the same crowd as the woman. In fact, Jesus was on the way to his house when the woman stopped them. Now, as Jairus waited for Jesus to minister to the woman servants came from his house to say his daughter had died. Jesus was quick to counter their report.

“But when Jesus heard what had happened, he said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid. Just have faith, and she will be healed.” Luke 8:50 NLT

Jesus pulled out the thorns of worry that were ready to choke the seed of faith and stop the harvest of healing that Jairus needed for his daughter. Thorns were removed and harvest came.

“…’Stop the weeping! She isn’t dead; she’s only asleep.’ 53 But the crowd laughed at him because they all knew she had died. 54 Then Jesus took her by the hand and said in a loud voice, ‘My child, get up!’ 55 And at that moment her life returned,” Luke 8:52-55 NLT

Daily I plant the seeds of God’s word in my heart and daily I’m confronted with opportunities to let it lay dormant, make a momentary impact, be stolen by worry and life’s busyness or to allow it to grow.

God’s word never fails but my application of it can. I ask you to join me in making a renewed commitment to let the seed of God’s word grow in the soil of our hearts and produce a great harvest.

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Bumper Crop

I hope you will bear with me as we continue with the teaching on good soil. You see that’s something that Dave and I know a lot about.

In the early 1980’s we farmed 900+ acres of alfalfa on the Gila River west of Phoenix. The ranch had perfect conditions for growing a bumper crop. Rich river loam soil, plenty of water and the warm AZ sunshine. That plus hard work, long hours all covered with prayer produced a crop that was hard to believe.

That’s when I learned first-hand the practicality of the principle Jesus was teaching His disciples on planting God’s word in good soil.

God’s word is called an incorruptible seed, our hearts are the soil and Jesus provides the “Son-shine” and rivers of living water to make the seed grow.

“And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.” Luke 8:15 NLT

“You have been given a new birth. It was from a seed that cannot die. This new life is from the Word of God which lives forever.” I Peter 1:23 NLV

“The Holy Writings say that rivers of living water will flow from the heart of the one who puts his trust in Me.” John 7:38 NLV

Jesus worked continually to bring seed to the hearts of the people who followed Him. He would teach for hours and days to see that the seed of the Good News of the Gospel was planted in soil (hearts) that had been prepared to receive.

He encountered hard, stony and even thorny ground among his closest disciples but the longer he tended the soil of their hearts the more productive it became. The harvest in the life of the disciples was so productive that the seed sown is being used to produce a crop of faith in our lives.

Let’s look at what happened after Jesus preached this message. Luke 8:22-25 the thorny hearts of the disciples thought they were going to drown at sea. Luke 8:26-38 the good soil of the demoniac received his deliverance, but the hard heart of the pig farmers told Jesus to leave their area.

Luke 8:40-56 the seed of hope and healing was sown into the hearts of a woman who had a bleeding condition for 12 years and also in a father whose daughter was so sick she died. Both hearts reaped a harvest of healing and restoration.

Luke 9:1-6 the disciples’ hearts received the seed of God’s power and they went to the neighboring towns and cities preaching and healing.

Luke 9:10-17 Jesus was sowing seed in the lives of 5000 men and their families. Their hearts were prepared however, the hearts of the disciples were thorny and they let the size of the crowd steal the word, the seed, that Jesus gave them. But there was one boy whose heart was open and he shared his lunch with Jesus. Jesus prayed, the disciples served and a miraculous harvest took place.

Jesus was, and still is, the sower who sows the seeds of faith into the fields of our hearts. As we prepared our hearts, His seed will produce a bumper crop!

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