When you are between the promise and the fulfillment, surrender. If I have learned anything from reading Genesis to Revelation, it is this: “Life rarely turns out like we had planned.” But God can take our mistakes, our failures, our hurts, our pains and our tragedies, and use them for His glory. If we can trust Him with our past, can’t we trust Him with our future? God is...
Been In The Valley Too Long
Growing up, we sang a song with lyrics, “Let’s go up to the mountain. I’ve been in the valley too long.” Have you been in the valley? Depressed, discouraged, sick? Perhaps you are waiting for your circumstance to change. You are waiting for the child to return home, the marriage to get better, the job to come, the healing to happen. So you dwell in the valley. Waiting. Walking around...
Hobby or Calling?
“Is writing a hobby for you,” I was asked twice this weekend. I kind of wonder if the Holy Spirit prompted others to ask me that question. When I arrived at a writing conference yesterday morning, before I walked in the building, I had a conversation with the Father. “Why am I here? Why am I giving up my weekend, my money to pursue this? Did you truly call me...
Walking On Water
This was the last thing I read before going to sleep. “May he grant you your heart’s desire and bring all your plans to success.” Psalms 20:5 CJB It was the first thing I read when I woke up. I’m in the middle of four major Heart’s Desire projects. Each require my resources – time, money, wisdom. Each require I take a risk and step out of the boat and...
Hope as a Rope
I’m doing a word study on ‘Hope’ for my next book. It was interesting to see the word is Tiqvah in Hebrew and it means a stretched cord. That gives me an interesting word picture. Hope is a rope secured to a promise of God. Hope anchors us in times of uncertainty. Hope pulls us forward when fear paralyzes our feet. Hope lifts our head, when the world disappoints. Sometimes...
Lessons Learned
Lessons learned from Joshua as he entered the promise land. 1. Expect great things. Prophesy what God will do. – “Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”” (Joshua 3:5 NIV) 2. Don’t wait for the waters to part. Take a risk. Step out in faith. – “Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet...
Plan A or Plan B?
What is God’s will for my life? Job or school? Plan A or Plan B? Should I move or should I stay? All of these questions are good and should be asked of God. However these questions, if we are not careful, can lead us to a place of fear and paralysis. Too often, as Christians, we are afraid of making a mistake, afraid of “getting out of God’s will.”...
The Heavy Lifting
But I don’t know what to say. I’m not an eloquent speaker. What if they don’t listen? These are all the objections Moses raised when sent to deliver the children of Israel. Listening to his objections sounds similar to the objections we raise today? What if I pray for them and they are not healed? What if I tell them about the love of God and they don’t believe me?...
Who is Waiting on Whom?
As people of Grace, we say and I fully believe, that many of the promises given by God are ours today because of Jesus’ perfect obedience and not ours. However, that does not absolve us from walking in obedience. Picture a mom telling her child, “We will go get ice cream as soon as you finish cleaning your room.” The child comes back in 10 minutes. “Mom, can we go...
Pour
When you think you are ‘POOR’ you won’t ‘POUR’. Stephen Furtick If we think we have nothing to give – financially, spiritually – we tend to hold on tightly to what we have. And of course the enemy is quick to tell us things like, “Let the Pastor pray, she is more anointed than you.” Or “Let the teacher lead a study, he knows the Bible better than you.” Or...