Category Archives: God

Finding a Safe Place

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  “Create in me a pure heart, Oh god and renew a right spirit within me.”  Psalm 51:10

There was a time in my life that I needed a safe place for God to do open heart surgery. My heart was broken and as hard as I tried, I could not recover. During that time, well-meaning friends said things like, “Can’t you snap out of it and just get over it?” No, it wasn’t that easy. I needed someone safe to understand what I was going through- to listen to how I was hurting and help me release the pain. I cried out for a miracle and God heard my cry, He created in me a pure heart and renewed a right spirit within me.

My healing didn’t happen overnight; it lasted for two years. At the end, I asked the Lord, “Why did it take so long?” The Lord told me I had taken the long journey so I could minister the shorter journey to others and help them find a safe place for their healing.

For the next few weeks you will be on a “journey of healing.” Each day as you read the devotionals you will be looking at your past to identify wounds that have not been healed. Unhealed wounds are painful and very sensitive, and they can affect how you feel about yourself.

Once your heart is healed, you will be free from the fear of rejection and you will be able to love others unconditionally, regardless of their mistakes and shortcomings. Unconditional love never fails, and it turns a home into a haven.

Heavenly Father,
As Your Word says, “Create in me a clean and pure heart, and renew a right spirit within me.”

You Are Chosen and Have Purpose

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“He hath chosen us in Him…” Eph 1:4

Have you ever thought about what it really means to be chosen by God?  Do you remember an event or a series of events when it became clear that you were chosen?  Did you feel God’s sovereign hand protecting and guiding you?

You have been chosen to be God’s child so you can be His representative on the earth. Paul said in Ephesians 1:5, that He planned for us to be adopted and revealed as His own children. This is our identity and purpose in one verse.

Once you discover your identity and God’s specific purpose for your life, you will no longer get all tangled up in the world around you.  He has chosen you to carry His peaceful plan into a world of chaos and confusion.  Represent Him, speak what He says, and carry His peace into every situation.

The world can not produce peace.  Your presence should bring peace and order into the world around you.  You walk in a very special purpose and calling.  Let that calling shine to others around you.

“Grace be to you, and peace, from our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Eph1:3.

You Can Trust

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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path”.  Proverbs 3:5

There is a reason why Proverbs 3:5 says, “all your heart.”  Trusting in the Lord with all your heart means that He alone is the One you are trusting to direct you to the right path.  You simply ask Him and wait on the answer. I like to write out my questions and then record the answer in my journal.

When you ask the Lord for direction and He gives you the answer, you trust Him even though you don’t fully understand it.  You can’t wait until you understand everything.  If you wait until you understand then you are trusting in yourself.  There are some things we will never understand and that is why we need faith to trust God.

Holding on to the past can be a major block when you are trying to trust the Lord.  If you are rehearsing all of your past mistakes, then you can’t hear what He is telling you to do.  You will be hindered from moving forward until you let go of the past and release all the people who let you down.  Forgive yourself and others and then trust God to direct your steps from this day forward.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, I need Your help. Please help me to stop looking backwards at the mistakes of the past. Lord, help me to overcome all fear and put my full trust in You as I move forward.                                                                                                   In Jesus’ Name,       

I am Accepted!

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I will praise Thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right will.

Psalm 139:14

We all have our insecurities. Some may want to change their personality, appearance, height, or weight. We live in a world that is hard to please, so the pressure to change in order to be more acceptable is very great. But, in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, He declared it was good. When He created man and woman He said it was very good.

Can you see it now? Imagine the God of the universe taking a step back while viewing His work and gently nodding His head and saying, “Yes, this is good.” You were included in His beautiful work. He formed and fashioned you just right. He knew what He was doing; you were no mistake. Don’t listen to the lies of the enemy telling you that you need to change to be more satisfying to this world. The Lord sculpted you and held you up and said, “My child you are good enough!” Relax and let Him do His work in you.

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:6

Declare your praise to the Lord because you are fearfully and wonderfully made! Confess that you are good enough and acceptable to Him. Speak only uplifting and wholesome words about yourself from now on.

Father God, I need Your help. Help me to see myself the way You see me. I confess I have been trying to measure up to the world’s standards. I have believed the lies _________________. I choose today to renounce each lie and to embrace the truth that I am accepted in the beloved and I am one of your marvelous works. Thank You that when You look at me you say “very good”. Help me to only think and speak uplifting words about myself.

In Jesus’ Name
Amen

How to Discover Your Spiritual Identity

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“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” Galatians 4: 6-7

God has a place and a purpose for each of us in His kingdom.  In order for you to know where your place is, you must discover your identity.  Your spiritual identity is not based on worldly criteria, social status, or education.  You may be very successful in a profession, but still feel something is missing if you have not discovered your spiritual identity.

Healing is essential in discovering our identity.  Pain and scars from the past keep us connected to the past and distort the way we perceive ourselves and who we are to God.  God speaks to our hearts, telling us who we are, but we can’t clearly hear Him until we are healed.  Pain blocks and distorts our spiritual hearing.  Through the healing process we experience restoration, being restored into favor and fellowship with God.  Sin separates us; healing restores us!

In the past several years, I noticed a block in hearing the Lord, especially through dreams.  At the time, I could not understand why I wasn’t hearing Him or why I felt somewhat separated from Him.  But as I continue down the path of my healing, I am able to hear God speaking to my heart, speaking to me through dreams, and I feel a stronger connection to Him now than I ever have before.  It was because of my sin and pain that I was disconnected from God.  Communing with the Father is opening my eyes to how He sees me and showing me who I really am.

In Jeremiah 1:5, we read that God knew Jeremiah before he was in his mother’s womb.  God knows you and He is waiting on you to know yourself.  He wants you to know yourself as He knows you.  The prodigal son is an example of a spiritual son who finally discovered who he was.  He didn’t fully embrace his position and inheritance until he went astray and was restored to his family.  He had to go through the death of who he thought he was so he could experience life; and the same is true for us today.  The prodigal had a ring on his finger and a robe on his back as he sat at the banquet table that was prepared for him.  He heard his father say, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” Luke 15:2

“Thy Kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Matthew 6:10