Category Archives: Believe

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God is love


God is love.

God is good.

Your experience might currently be contrary to these statements. I can’t know what is happening in your life, but I know that these two statements are true even when I don’t understand. They aren’t just true because they are in the bible. They aren’t just true because I, and perhaps you, have experienced the truth of them.

I have and yet I didn’t think I did.

There have been times when I experienced His provision or protection, or healing and I was so sure that He is love and that He is good.

But then there were other times that I didn’t. And I felt alone and forgotten and forsaken. I’m not going to lie. Those times were very hard and very confusing. I wish I could say that I never lost my faith and hope but I very much did. Maybe not lost but it seemed very small and shriveled like it would never recover. I drew very far from Him because I was angry and hurt that my prayers weren’t answered the way I thought that they should be and the way that I thought that He would. It took me several years to recover from the time that I felt thrown away.

4 years ago, I was at a bible school that very much believed in healing and operating in the gifts of the Spirit. They frequently taught on and had guest speakers that operated in the gift of healing. I saw people healed.  I had previously been healed of cervical pre-cancer, so I fervently believed in Gods power to heal. I guess I forgot about His omniscience, immutability, and sovereignty.  I forgot that sometimes the answer to prayer is not now, or even no. God knows the end from the beginning. He knows the plans He has for me and how He needs to help me achieve the level of maturity to be able to consistently and unwaveringly walk in all that He has for me.

I can look back over the last 4 years and see His hand moving in many areas of my life. While during that time He and I didn’t have the same level of intimacy and communication that I previously had, I can now see that He was calling me into another level of trust in Him and a deeper level of intimacy. Offering me the opportunity to overcome my disappointment and use it as the floor to my next level with Him. To “level up” as it were.  

Isn’t that what a good Father does? He loves us into new levels of maturity. So that we can walk in the confident assurance that He is good and that His love never falters or fails.

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In a snit


snit noun\ˈsnit\: a state of agitation, in a snit (as defined by Mirriam Webster dictionary)

I woke up in a snit today. I woke up early and, rather than ponder life or look at Facebook, I decided to get straight up. I walked out to the back deck and sat down on the steps with a thud. Still snitting, if that’s even a word.
You see my life is, and has been, for the last 8 months, in a season of flux. No job, no place of my own to live, not many possessions, no plan…none of the things that society considers “stability” exist in my life. Some days I can put all this aside, fix my eyes on Jesus and carry on. Some days, not so much carrying on and very much questioning. This morning started out as one of those questioning days until, as I sat on the back deck, God reminded me that I am fine. Although things are not as I thought they would be, just after my 55th birthday, I am fine. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, I have a roof over my head, food for the day is provided, I am healthy, I have transportation, I am safe and all I have to do is live today. I don’t have to know what tomorrow will bring. I do have to be available to whatever He brings my way. To walk through the doors He opens and to not struggle against the doors He closes. I’m fine. My mood began to brighten and fill with hope and expectation of good.
I went in and got my coffee and bible and began asking what I should read. I hear Matthew 16. So I open up and begin to read. These verses are highlighted to me — Matthew 16:23-24 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. I feel convicted that I have been more mindful of things of this world than things of God.
There are several unfulfilled promises or calls on my life and sometimes I wonder if I missed out on them. If I made a wrong turn, procrastinated, or fearfully decided my abilities don’t line up with His call on my life. Presuming to know myself and my abilities better than the One Who created me. I hear preachers say that if a person doesn’t fulfill the calling on their life, within a certain unnamed amount of time, that God will move on to the next person to get the job done. It worries me. But then I remember my ABBA is a good Daddy and that I am sure I would have to willfully disregard opportunities set before me more than once before He would move on to the next person. He puts this scripture on my mind — Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. So I wonder if there is any instance in which God will take away the call on my life? I say a resounding NO!! My God, my ABBA, my daddy will never give up on me. And I will continually be watching expectantly for the opportunities to partner with Him to prepare for the things He has planned for me.
While I am in this season of flux I will continue to increase in intimacy with Him so that I hear every time He speaks and every word He says.

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Fact vs. Truth


Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Three times in Matthew chapter 4 Jesus says to satan “it is written” proving that the bible is the key to all truth and is to be used, by us, to walk in the authority and dominion given back to us by Jesus through His death and resurrection. No matter what you are going through. No matter how hopeless, hurtful, or desperate it may seem we have everything we need to combat every situation. How do I know this, because Jesus said so in John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. There we have it…every power and ability Jesus had we have. You might say I don’t feel like I have power over anything. So now you are faced with a choice…Are you going to believe your feelings or the Truth of Gods Word?
I think the way that we appropriate the power is in what we believe and the words we speak as a result. Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Do you believe the bible is true? The whole bible? Do you believe it is relevant for today? Do you believe Jesus would tell us one thing and do another?

To illustrate I will show you an example of fact vs. truth.

Fact: The doctor has spoken a negative diagnosis over you. He has tested you and proven that you have a disease.

Truth: Matthew 8:17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:“He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” Psalm 107:20 He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

So now you have a choice. You can believe and proclaim what the doctor has said or believe and proclaim Gods Word. The same applies to other situations in your life you just have to find the scripture that addresses your situation, read it, believe it is Truth, get it down into your heart and speak it. Speak it every time your situation comes to your mind. Every time you are tempted to worry and fret speak the scripture instead. It is also very important that you not waver and get into unbelief even for a second. Matthew 17:20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, 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.” In my opinion this is the hardest part because satan is going to combat your faith with doubt, worry, and unbelief. He will try to plant seeds like “this doesn’t work” or “Jesus has better things to worry about than your problems” or “you don’t deserve it” or “your doing it wrong”. But you will combat his efforts with IT IS WRITTEN!!! Just like Jesus did. Jesus loves you so much! John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. His will is for us to have a great life, not to just get by but to be blessed to the full, in every area of our lives. He has given us everything that we need for that to be a reality but we have to reach out and take it. He isn’t going to force it on us. Let’s do His sayings and be wise.