In God We Trust

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also.

(Matthew 6:21 NLT)

Money isn't evil, money is what WE make of it - we can use it for good or for bad.  We recently started Dave Ramsey's 'The Total Money Makeover', I learned so much about biblical principles for paying debt off and building a nest egg (and really so much more), so if you have been like us and have struggled with finances - do yourself a HUGE favor and check out his book! I've always been a clinger when it comes to money, afraid to let it go, hoard it for my security, but that's the wrong attitude as well. I'm putting too much faith into a dollar bill when I need to be putting my faith into God - Jehovah Jireh is my provider, not my husband's paycheck.  

"Look what happens to mighty warriors who do not trust in God. They trust their wealth instead and grow more and more in their wickedness." (Psalm 52:7 NLT)

Today I was staring at the inscription on our money, "In God We Trust", and it all made perfect sense to me - our currency is nothing without God.  Money, wealth, and possessions will come and go, but if we put our trust in God, we won't have to worry about the next paycheck or the next bill that comes due.  If we're struggling with our finances we need to focus on what Jesus said...

"So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." (Matthew 6:31-32 NLT)

Hallelujah, We are Free

He who takes refuge in the shelter of the Most High

will be safe in the shadow of the Almighty.

He will say to the Eternal, "My Shelter, my mighty Fortress, my God,

I place all my trust in You."

For He will rescue you from the snares set by your enemies

who entrap you and from deadly plagues.

Like a bird protecting its young, God will cover you with His feathers,

will protect you under His great wings; His faithfulness will form

a shield around you, a rock-solid wall to protect you.

(Psalm 91: 1-4 Voice)

As I watched this video and as my eyes welled up with tears, I thought, how much like this elephant are we! We are tormented in a life without God, chained up in bondage from the enemy, then along comes a laborer of the Lord who shares the message of the Gospel and what freedom we find in God's Son. Like this elephant finds comfort in a long lost friend,  we find refuge in our God, under his mighty wings of protection, of love and faithfulness. Our chains are gone, we've been set free! Hallelujah, we are free!  

God's Medicine, Take Daily

So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength). (2 Corinthians 12:10 Amp)

My 39th year seemed to be all about my health declining and my medical prescriptions increasing. I started the year off continuing to do intense work outs (cross fit) 3-5 times a week, to collapsing on the couch after my work outs and needing to sleep for a couple of hours, to not being able to do my work outs because as soon as I started - I was too exhausted to finish. I had to wear a heart monitor for a month, discovered I had tachycardia and recently atrial fibrillation. I have already been on blood pressure medication for 12 years, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis for my 30th birthday and in the past year I’ve been treated for high cholesterol and insulin resistance (metabolic syndrome) which has caused me from being the girl who could lose 10 lbs in 2 weeks to the girl who gains weight from looking at a cookie. And last but not least at the ripe age of 35 I had a complete hysterectomy (both ovaries gone as well) and learned what suffering through surgical menopause was all about - hot flashes are no joke!!

I’ve always believed in healing, so when I started coming down with all these chronic conditions, I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t healed - which can cause a lot of guilt for a person of faith, making you question where you stand with God, wondering shouldn’t I be receiving a miracle?  But today as I was taking one of my many prescriptions, I realized I was looking at this wrong. Paul’s words came to me and I remembered the thorn in his side.

even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9 NLT)

I may have weaknesses (lots of them), but I've got God's strength to make it through. The various conditions I have, they aren’t something I necessarily need healing from, instead maybe just some lessons to learn from.  One reminder I needed was that medicine doesn’t just come in a bottle, it also comes from my Bible.

He sent out His Word and healed them…(Psalm 107:20a NIV)

God's Word is healing to our minds, our spirits and our bodies.  We know that God can take anything that the enemy meant for harm and use it for His good and perfect will (see Romans 8:28).  My healing may take some time, depends on what lessons need to be learned, but I am confident that God’s timing is perfect, we might not understand it now, but there will come a day when it all makes sense.  

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9 Amplified)

Sweet Dreams

It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones. (Psalm 127:2 NLT)

While trying to sleep last night (this morning), I was doing what I most often do with my insomnia, I was praying. Praying for God to have mercy on me, I was overcome with all the thoughts of how out of control my circumstances were and that I had no way to ‘solve’ any of them. While asking God to show me what to do, the song ‘Lay me down’ came flooding into my mind, so as I laid there thinking about the words….I lay me down I’m not my own, I belong to you alone, lay me down, lay me down, hand on my heart this much is true, there’s no life apart from you, lay me down, lay me down…

I knew I was serving God, praying for others and for my family, but some area of my life I was holding out. I wasn’t giving EVERYTHING to God, I wasn’t giving God EVERY part of me.

With this revelation and the fact that I had been struggling for a couple of hours to fall back asleep, I began to confess to God that I knew I had so much wrong in my life, and it was only by his grace and mercy that I could come to Him in prayer for forgiveness, blessings, favor and answers. I was now exhausted, completely unable to sleep and frustrated with the situation.  I began crying out that even though I knew God was always with me and that His Word tells us we are not forsaken;  but when I struggled with my sleep that’s how exactly how I felt - forsaken - that I didn’t deserve the sleep and even though I knew every good thing is from God, so this inability to sleep and stay asleep was from the enemy, my mind argued that I must deserve this torment - I thought on how I always prayed for sleep and was unable to sleep, not understanding why this simple prayer couldn’t be answered. 

Knowing those thoughts were wrong and not inline with the scriptures and God’s promises, I asked for forgiveness for feeling that way, that God loves me and He isn’t withholding sleep from me and that’s when I fell asleep, I mean I completely passed out, no other thoughts, just sleep. This morning after I awoke and started thanking God for my sleep, I remembered that I had asked God the other day to show me where I needed to repent and well, we know God’s timing is perfect; so I believe God needed me to be in that sleepless, frustrated state to realize how I was holding my sleep issues against God, and what better way to show His faithfulness than to give me the deepest most peaceful sleep I had experienced in a long time.

But if we own up to our sins, God shows that He is faithful and just by forgiving us of our sins and purifying us from the pollution of all the bad things we have done. (1 John 1:9 Voice)

Breaking the Chains

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. (Romans 7:21 NIV)

When we are struggling against our flesh, what if we changed our perspective to this:

Each breath is for Christ who died for us
Each thought is for Christ who died for us
Each word is for Christ who died for us
Each action is for Christ who died for us

Would it be easier to fight the flesh when each breath, thought, word and action were for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

We died to sin and we were brought to new life by Christ's death and resurrection, so literally every breath of ours is owed to God, so EVERYthing we do should be FOR God's glory and out of love and appreciation for the ultimate sacrifice (made for us while we were still sinners).  We did nothing to deserve this gift, it was given to us because God loves us, because of his amazing grace & mercy.

God's righteousness can never be comprehended by our human minds, but yet our old human nature (flesh) fights our new spirit with excuses and reasons why we should do what we want and not what is right. We have to train ourselves daily to look to God, to what is pure, what is noble, what is righteous and not that which is of this world; which is a dead and decaying world, full of sin and lost souls who don't know God. 

We have been commanded to Love and be an Ambassador of Christ - to represent Him in this foreign world, to shine His light on those who have lost hope and have never known the all consuming and perfect love of a Savior.

We have been bought and paid for, we are no longer slaves to this world; we have been given a new spirit (one of power, love and self-discipline), we have the Holy Spirit to help us, so we should no longer be slaves to the old sins and struggles that had held us in bondage.  We have been freed by the blood of Jesus, so stop picking up the old chains that once captivated us; stand firm on God's promises and claim your new birthright as a Child of the Most High God.

Share your freedom, the Gospel, the truth, the love and share the light that has been given to you.

                                              artwork from (http://jtbarts.com/2012/11/set-free-jesus-my-ransom/)