God is good. When the sun is shining on my face, God is good. When the storm rages, God is good. When health abounds, God is good. When plaques and sickness threaten, God is good. In the quiet, God is good. In chaos, God is good. In abundance, God is good. In lack, God is good. In birth, God is good. In death, God is good. God is consistently good....
Choose Love
Fear is a powerful motivator. It was present in the garden. (Eve feared she was withholding.) Feared caused Abraham to lie about his marital situation. Pharaoh was motivated by fear when he oppressed a nation of people. The Pharisees feared loosing their status so they crucified an innocent man. The Holocaust was motivated by fear of a people group. The Jim Crow laws were motivated by fear. Separation, greed, cruelty,...
No Dread
I have been dreading something. The reasons I’m dreading this event is unimportant. The “dread” is the problem. When I dread anything I partner with lies. Some of the lies I’m partnering with are 1. The impending event is bigger than God. 2. God won’t be with me in the circumstance. 3. There will be no joy as I was walk through this circumstance. When you come right down to...
Overcoming Fear
Fear is dastardly. It’s job is to distract and dismay us from doing what we are called to do – love people. Fear separates. Fear sows seeds us of distrust. Fear believes the worst in people. Fear causes us to lock our doors, close our blinds, secure our resources and protect ourselves from “them”. Fear is a liar. But if I allow fear to set my agenda, I have allowed...
Be Strong
Joshua was about to take the job of a lifetime. He had trained well under the greatest leaders ever known. It had fallen upon his shoulders to take a wandering nation into the promised land. He knew he would face giants in the land but also the people he was leading had a reputation of moaning, groaning and rebelling. As he stood that day, a rebellious people behind him, giants...
No Fear
Last night I was at a Women’s Conference. The speaker encouraged us to choose wisdom rather than fear. Now if you read my blog daily, you know how much I despise fear and try to expose it and overcome it in my life. But I asked God if there were any areas in my life in which I was agreeing with fear. This year, I have four areas in my...
Doubts Will Not Win
Why do we allow doubt to win? Peter was granted permission to walk on water. An amazing and miraculous feat. It defied the laws of gravity and physics. I think it’s also interesting, Peter’s desire to walk on water was purely for fun. It was not like he wanted to cross the sea to save a dying man. It just looked fun and Jesus said, “You, too can walk on...
Be led by Love
Abraham, a citizen, fought kings and triumphed. He fought to have his nephew, Lot, restored. He stood up to kings and refused to be compromised by accepting their goods. God’s words to Abraham shortly after: “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. ”” Genesis 15:1 NIV We should never be guided...
No Fear, No Shame
Two emotions we were never meant to carry: fear and shame. These emotions were only felt after Adam & Eve ate from the forbidden tree. In the Garden there was no need to fear. All of their needs were met. They enjoyed the presence of their Creator. There was no competition, no striving. The enemy was there but they had been given authority over him and directions to subdue him. ...
No More Cave Dwelling
Hiding and afraid. Gideon and probably most people around him, did not see himself as a warrior. Like most people in Israel, he feared the Midianites, he was anxious as to where his family’s next meal would come. He was a weak, little man hiding in a cave, trying to thresh wheat in a winepress because of fear. But suddenly God appeared. He saw who he had created Gideon to...