Tag: God

Three Essentials

If I could only tell someone three things about God, this is what they would be.

Recently Scott and I went on a super quick, unexpected overnight trip. We had nothing planned other than to just get out of town. Time to pack did not exist. I first and foremost grabbed my toothbrush. I also threw in a change of clothes, and snatched up my book bag on the way out the door. Despite the rushed exit, it was one of our most relaxing getaways ever, and I had the essentials I needed.

If I only had a few minutes to tell someone about Jesus, what three things would I tell them?  Knowing I didn’t have time to plan and outline the whole story starting with Adam and Eve, through Abraham and into the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, not to leave out all the wonderful stories of the old testament and the new testament church, what would I tell someone? 

You are loved!

You are loved with a vast love that is impossible to completely understand. Ephesians 3:18-19 tells us, “ May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God”

You may not feel lovable, you may not have experienced the love you are worthy of in past relationships, but God’s love is real and is there for you. That is the first concept I would want everyone to hear. Just like having my toothbrush is essential for an overnight stay, knowing that God loves you is the linchpin to understanding Him. He made you uniquely just the way you are and loves you unconditionally. You are designed by Him for His purpose.

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;” Psalms 139:14

God Loves YOU!!!

You are forgiven!

No matter what ugly darkness is in your past, you will be forgiven if you ask. 1 John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” 

God is so willing to forgive us. His word tells us over and over again that our sins will be forgiven. Not just forgiven, Isaiah 55:7 says they are generously forgiven. Colossians 2:13-15 says the record is cancelled for ALL of our sins. Hebrews 8:12 says our sins will never be remembered again.  I don’t know why, but accepting that God has forgiven us is sometimes easier than forgiving, ourselves?

Last week I made an extremely selfish decision. I was disappointed in myself. I confessed; I know I’m forgiven. Unfortunately, I’ve had to repent for this before which is so humiliating. Here I am doing it again. I keep reliving that moment and wishing I could go back and redo that extremely selfish moment. I am forgiven; it is in the past. I know that. Yet, I am still struggling to let it go. There is freedom in forgiveness. We have to step into that and trust we are forgiven as well as forgive ourselves.

I pray that you can accept your forgiveness and give yourself the grace that God has so generously given us.

You are not alone!

This journey of life is hard. I look around and see the hurt and loss that people have to suffer through, and my heart breaks. The good news is, we don’t have to live life alone; God is ALWAYS with us. Yes, even in those times when I would lie in bed thinking I had to get these tears to stop or my face would be a swollen mess the next day. Yes, even when problems were flying at me faster than I could count and many with no foreseeable answers. God was with me. God’s quiet, unintrusive Spirit is always there.

He doesn’t stand up and yell, wave his hands and say, “Look, I’m over here.” No, He is the calm that can be felt when you stop and take a deep breath. He is the peace that is under all the chaos. He is there just as he promised, patiently waiting to be recognized. We have to learn to look for Him, but He is there, and His Spirit will guide you.

“This is my command – be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you where you go.” Joshua 1:9

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.” John 14:16

“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” Hebrews 13:5

Right now, stop and take a deep breath. Sit in quiet stillness with God and know you are loved, you are forgiven and you are not alone.

Tell God What, Not How.

God wants to hear from us, but he also wants us to trust him because He knows best. What does that look like?

Recently, at the close of a meeting, a roofer friend of mine lightheartedly requested prayer for a “good” hail storm. I immediately spoke up that I wasn’t praying for any kind of hail storm. He added that his business simply needed one good hail storm. I countered that not only would I not pray for his hail storm, I was going to pray against it like we were playing a game of prayer connect four and I could block his prayers. After some back and forth, I somewhat jokingly conclude with, “I guess we will see who God listens to.” 

While this conversation was friendly banter, not a real conversation about prayer, there are some prayer questions that come to light from this conversation. 

One, God hears all of our prayers equally. He already knows what we need and is waiting for us to talk to him about it. Jesus tells the disciples in Matthew 6:8, “For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” and in Psalms 34:17 God’s word tells us, “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;” Even if one person is praying for a sunny day and another one is praying for rain, God hears both of them.

In complete selfishness, I have prayed against others before. I can remember a time my late husband, Jeff, was praying to get a different job, and I was praying that he wouldn’t get it because I didn’t want to move. God knew the desires of both of our hearts, and He undoubtedly heard both of our prayers. So what does God do? Eenie, meenie, miney, mo? NO!

We are 100% expected to be specific in our prayers and requests with what we need or desire. God wants to hear from us about our concerns and our needs. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for what He has done,” Philippians 4:6. The problem is, instead of telling God what we need, we tell him how to do it.  He wants to know our needs and our desires, but we need to leave the way our prayers are answered up to him.

Tell God your what, but leave the how up to Him!

Yes, pray that your child will return to the Lord, but let the Holy Spirit work his divine plan. Yes, pray and let God know you need financial help, but let God take care of how your financial needs are met. His plans are so much better than our plans. Proverbs 16:9 “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” Instead of praying for a hail storm, just communicate your business needs to the Lord. Let Him know the struggles, then let Him go to work.

“‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

Look at how Jesus modeled this for us in Matthew 6, the example prayer given at the request of the disciple seeking to learn how to pray like Jesus.  In this model prayer, Jesus asks for daily bread; he tells God his need. Take note however, he doesn’t tell God how to provide the daily bread. When my late husband and I were praying for God to enact our contrasting plans, God knew what was best for our family and what we needed more than either one of us could possibly predict. I wish I would have been mature enough to pray for God to provide Jeff with a job he loved and take care of our family how he saw best.

Try it right now. Tell God your needs; tell him your fears. Now, put your faith and trust in Him to do for you what is best.

Where is Your Identity?

Are there certain behaviors in your life that are there just to impress others? There is freedom when you chose to live a spirit-led life only working to be more like Christ.

Since most of the readers or followers of this blog know me, most of you know that I recently retired from a leadership position in education. In that role, there was an expected dress code.  Many days I needed to wear a suit; professional dress was always expected where I worked. I must admit, part of my identity was tied to how I dressed for work every day. People could recognize “my style” or who I was by what I wore. I dressed to maintain a certain image. However in my new role, I no longer find myself living under those requirements.

This reminds me of the dilemma the Jews faced after Christ’s resurrection. For many generations they were controlled by the law. There were set expectations and requirements they had to follow. Just as with my professional dress requirement, their identity was wrapped around this way of life. It separated them and identified them as God’s chosen people. This was a problem for the Jews when they no longer needed to live by the law because they had redemption through their faith in Christ’s resurrection not through their obligation to follow the law. 

Galatians 3:24-27 tells us, “The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.”  

Not only was it a drastic change in how they lived. It took away an identity that promoted them above others. 

I fear we do the same thing today. We establish self-imposed requirements in our lives just to establish an identity so people see us in a certain way. If your motive for a particular behavior is to distinguish yourself from others, this isn’t necessary. This is the same as following a law that is no longer required. We cannot get caught up in self-promoting actions to show others who we are or to prove to Christ we are worthy. Our actions should be reflective of God’s nature, abundant with love, and the other  fruits of the spirit all while becoming more like Christ. This is the evidence that will identify us as a child of God, the identity we desire.

This was made clear to me when my late husband first became ill. I can remember thinking that we had followed all of the rules, We had been faithful in every way possible. How could bad things happen to us?  I had to realize, following the rules isn’t what God truly wanted, and following the rules doesn’t protect us. God wants our heart and wants us to live a Spirit-led life. 

Speaking of a spirit-led life, Just because I am no longer required to dress in an executive professional manner, doesn’t mean I can go to my new job dressed however I want. It would not be in my best interest if I showed up in my pajamas. Likewise, just because we are not sanctified by the law, and we have been released from that covenant, doesn’t mean we can throw all caution to the wind and live however we desire.

God’s word and the Spirit gives us guidance for how to live a healthy, abundant, Christ-centered life. Romans 7:6 speaks to this, “But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit,”

When we are living in the Spirit, we are constantly seeking the Spirit’s guidance to direct our steps and provide wisdom for our decisions. Romans 8:13 tells us it is “through the power of the spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature.”

I don’t have to wear suits any more. There is a new way to dress. Likewise, there is a new way to live. We live in the Spirit. The Spirit guides us and directs us. “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature desires. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is the opposite of what the Spirit wants.” Galatians 5:16. 

Don’t let your self-imposed standard be your identity. Live in the Spirit, follow his direction and be free.

Understanding Trust in an Untrustworthy World

What is trust? Trust is believing that something or someone is reliable and true.

Who do you trust? What do you believe to be reliable and true? Personally it gets harder and harder for me to trust anything I hear or read. A couple of weeks ago, Scott and I were watching a news event. For the fun of it, we started flipping back and forth between two different news stations. You couldn’t even tell that they were covering the same event because their reporting was so drastically different. How do you know which one to believe, which one to trust, or can you trust either one?

Oh, let’s talk about social media or just the internet in general. I get these crazy ads on my feed. “My skin has never looked better.” picturing a lady who is supposedly 60 years old, with skin that looks 20. You used to be able to say, “if you can see it, you can believe it.” Not anymore. There is no way I believe that photo is real. I don’t even know that Google is trustworthy. One day it says eat more fruit. The next day you search and read that fruit has too much sugar and shouldn’t be eaten. Who knows?

While helping Blakelynn learn to ride her bike, she would constantly remind me that I promised to not let go. She struggled to trust that I would keep my word. consequently, I had every intention of letting go as soon as she was balanced. No wonder we grow up and have trust issues.

We have become conditioned to question everything, trusting very little.

Let me tell you, God and his Word can be trusted. Yes, when you hear someone describe God, it is easy to doubt or wonder because it sounds too good to be true. A God who loves us, who sent his son to take on the sin of the world. A compassionate God who provides grace and mercy. A God of hope, joy, and peace.  (1 John 4:16, John 3:16, Luke 6:36, Hebrews 4:16, Romans 15:13) I could keep going. There is no way to succinctly summarize the greatness of God. Just listing some of my favorite attributes, begins to start sounding like one of those impossible to believe social media ads. God’s goodness and power is not a fake ad. It is real. 

The disciples spent three years with Jesus. He told them explicitly that he would die, but would rise again in three days. However,  even when the disciples went to Galilee, the designated meeting place, there was doubt. Matthew 28:16, “Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him – but some of them doubted!” How could they doubt? They just saw the resurrected Jesus in person.

God is too much for our human minds to understand. So, if you find yourself doubting that God’s word or promises are real, you are not alone, but don’t linger on those thoughts. Don’t let those thoughts take root. When you start to wonder if God could love you, trust that you are worthy. When you wonder if God hears your prayers, trust that he does, and keep praying. When you wonder if God could use you, the answer is YES! When you have doubts, go to his word; find a scripture that holds the truth you need, and put his word on repeat in your mind. 

“God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it out?” Numbers 23:19

Again, we cannot understand God. He is more than we can understand, but we can trust him.

Proverbs 3:5-6  Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And lean not on your own understanding In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

Keep Your Focus: Find Peace in God

Focus is hard in this crazy, busy world. It is important to keep our focus on Christ so we can remain standing.

Scott and I have this old person exercise routine that we try to do every morning. It is a little bit of stretching, some strengthening, then we end by balancing for 1 minute on each foot before getting off the floor in one smooth movement without using our hands. It really isn’t much, but it makes us feel like we are taking care of ourselves. When we first started trying various balance poses, Scott was having a hard time holding his for a full minute. As I turn everything into a competition, I was enjoying watching him struggle. I don’t know why, but I did advise him that if he would pick one spot on the floor right in front of him and not look away, he would be able to hold it longer. It worked. Now he can often hold longer than I can.

It is so bizarre. Try it. If you are balancing on one foot and move your eyes to check out the TV or to check the time on the clock, you are more likely to fall than when you keep your focus on one spot the entire time. 

The same can be said about our lives and where we put our focus. Hebrews 12:2 tells us to “fix our eyes on Jesus.” As long as we are focused on Jesus, reading His word, praising His name, seeking after Him, it is easier to remain standing than when we focus on the circumstances around us. Easier than when we focus on what others have that we don’t. Easier than when we focus on how hard life can be, or focus on times our prayers weren’t answered the way we wanted. All of those distractions cause us to lose our balance.

One of my favorite scriptures that I stand on often is Philippians 4:6-7. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Let’s break this down.

1. Focus on Christ by praying about everything. Tell him what you need and continuously thank him for what he has done. This is a living daily focused on Christ.

2. When we do this, we experience peace – a peace that no one can explain or understand. A peace that comes only from God. I have personally experienced this unexplainable peace at various times in my life when everything was in chaos, but inside, I had peace. I didn’t have answers nor did the situation change, but I had peace.

3. This peace guards our hearts and minds. God’s peace guards us against anxiety, it guards us against fretting. We don’t have to live in a state of panic because our hearts and minds are protected when we put our focus in the right place – Jesus.

I have been in a couple of meetings recently that created a great deal of stress. I could feel it in my body. My thoughts were all over the place, but mostly full of anger with fantasies of just spouting out every mean thing I could think onto people involved. I wasn’t the person I want to be.

I began to practice the steps above. Not like a magic incantation, but as a way of changing my thoughts. I began to thank the Lord for all the wonderful amazing things He has done in my life. I was honest with God that I needed help and wisdom. Not like magic, but I am better. I’m in a place where I have confidence with who I am, not what others say about me. I know who my provider is, and I know that I am a child of God. My perspective is changed because my focus is changed. I’m not focused on me. I’m focused on the Lord who through David tells us in Psalm 16:8, “I keep my eyes ALWAYS on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (NIV)

This isn’t a practice to only walk through when battles are raging. It is a way of life. Try it.

P.S. Let me know if you try standing on one leg. I want to hear how it works for you. I would also love to hear how you stay focused on Christ in your life.

Finding Faith When It’s Hard to Go to Church

Life isn’t easy, and we have to do hard things. There have been times when going to church was one of those hard things. God is faithful when we commit and remain faithful even in the hard times.

I half-way jokingly tell people that getting out of bed is the hardest thing I do each day. I love to sleep in and hate getting out of bed in the mornings. However, I force myself to do it. Now, once I’m up, I’m up. I’m not the type who takes hours to get going, and I never sleep-in to the point that I am late. It just takes work to get out of bed.

There have been times in my life where going to church was much harder than it should be. Just like getting out of bed, I had to force myself to go. First was when my kids were little. It was so much work to get ready and out the door. We did it Monday through Friday, but Sunday just seemed harder. Another time was when my late husband was sick. You would think that would be a time to lean in and get yourself to church. Unfortunately, I would go to church, hear people laughing and joking, and I just wanted to turn around and leave. Then praise and worship would start, and all I could do was stand there and cry.  I would think to myself, “I can cry at home, why am I coming to church just to cry?”

Thirdly, sometimes when my job would put me in the news or the center of some controversy, I did not want to go to church or I wanted to slide in late and leave early. I would worry that people were making judgements about me based on news coverage rather than who I really am. From the time I walked in the door until the time I left, I unrealistically felt all eyes were on me. I might embarrassingly add a fourth reason. There were times I didn’t want to go to church because I thought I didn’t have anything to wear.

Yes, looking at these reasons now, they seem silly or vain, but at the time the struggles were real. Going to church, the event that I should be looking forward to all week, the event that should feed my soul and strengthen me for the upcoming week, was a chore that I had to force myself to do. I can also look back now and see how God was faithful and honored my willingness to force myself to go to church even when I didn’t feel like it.

I’m writing this today because I know there are others who currently find going to church hard. I just want to encourage you to take a deep breath, get in the car, and get yourself to church. Easter is coming and it is a wonderful time to be in church.

I sit here and reflect back on the feelings when I left church during those hard times. After hearing God’s word and spending time in His presence, I never regretted the decision to go. I’m thankful those seasons were short and numbered. I want to encourage you. If you are in a season where church seems like a place you don’t want to be, a place where you have been hurt, or a place that feels uncomfortable, find a way to keep going or to try it again.

Hebrews 10:23-25 tells us “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

As mentioned above Hebrews 10:25 directs us to not neglect meeting together. I can tell you from personal experience that God will honor your faithfulness. If you are struggling, please feel free to comment, email me, or message me. I would love to hear your story.

God has a Plan

God has a plan. He just needs us to trust, surrender and obey.

This is the time of the year where many churches and individuals are wrapping up a season of fasting. As Scott and I approached our fast this year, we had multiple conversations about the purpose of fasting, what comes from fasting, and Biblical directions for fasting. Which by the way doesn’t say that we only fast in January. I just had to throw that in as an extra comment.

Anyway, these conversations about fasting led me to reminisce of the summer after my senior year in high school. I had plans to head to OSU. I had been accepted into the College of Education and my parents had put down money on my room deposit. What I had been planning for several years was well underway. However, I was fasting one day that summer. I don’t know if it was something we were doing as a youth group or just something I felt compelled to do on my own. I can tell you, I remember very clearly fasting that day. I was actually babysitting at someone’s house who had great snacks. It was hard. As I was praying through my fast, I felt the strongest direction that I was not to go to OSU, but to go to NWOSU in Alva. Talk about an abrupt change. I didn’t know anyone at Northwestern, my parents would lose their deposit, but I felt very strongly that is what I was to do.

As I was reflecting back to that point in my life, I realized it was right there that God completely changed the trajectory of my life. It wasn’t just a college change. It was a change that set me on a different path. It was at Northwestern where I met my late husband. It was actually through my sister coming to visit me that she met her husband. Both of our lives would be completely different, but God had a plan. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10

What stands out the most to me is there was an 18-year-old girl, and God had a plan for her life. He was directing her and guiding her 40 years ago to get her to where he needed her today. “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” Jeremiah 29:11.

God knows right now where you are and what you are going through. He has a plan for you and wants to guide you through life as you surrender to him. You may be looking around at your current circumstances and wondering where God is right now? Let me tell you, he is there. Even in the darkest of times, God can be found if you look, trust, and obey. I don’t have to go all the way back 40 years to see God at work. He was there when life was hard. His plan prepared me for those hard times.

He has a plan for you; you can trust him.

The thought that God was directing my life 40 years ago to get me to where I am today is evidence of how much he loves us and cares for us. He is always working on our behalf. “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6.

Trust the plan; it is a good one.

I Can’t vs I Won’t: Looking at the Samaritan Woman

My dad was quite the handyman. In my mind there wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix. I often had projects that I wanted him to do. He would either quickly and gladly do It for me, or simply tell me it couldn’t be done. In other words, it was a bigger project than he wanted to take on. It was a family joke that when dad said it couldn’t be done, it just meant he didn’t want to do it.

I think about phrases that I catch myself saying such as, “I can’t get up early and workout.” That isn’t true. I can get up early; I just don’t. “I can’t eat just a few chips.” Again, not true. I have the ability to put the bag away and stop. I just don’t. I’m sure you have some of these statements in your life as well.

I want to take these statements and talk about the “Woman at the Well” in John 4. This is a story most are familiar with. The disciples had gone into town to get food, and Jesus stopped at a well. While he was there, a Samaritan woman come to the well. Short version of the story, Jesus not only told her all about her life, but offered her Living Water. She met Jesus there and knew he was the Messiah.

What I want to look at is what she did next. She could have kept that experience to herself, but she didn’t. Verse 28-30, “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to town and said to the people, ‘Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.”

We can’t know the thoughts of the Samaritan Woman, only her actions. But thinking about what thoughts she might have experienced, they include thoughts with the word cannot. I cannot tell anyone about this because no one will believe me. I cannot tell anyone because of all that has happened in my past. I cannot tell anyone, because I might look foolish. I could list many more thoughts that might have crossed her mind based on my personal experience. Probably the thought I have believed the most is, “I cannot tell anyone because I don’t want to offend them.” These are not statements of can’t. They are statements of won’t. Once we have been with Jesus, we should naturally want to tell people. Saying that we can’t isn’t true. We are choosing not to.

Whatever feelings were had by the Samaritan Woman, she put them aside and ran into town to tell everyone. The evidence of her actions is found in verse 39. “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.” Because she told others about her experience with Jesus, many came to know him.

What is God asking you to do? When you spend time in the word and in prayer, do you have notions or ideas of actions you should take but instead of taking moving forward, you say, “I can’t do that?”

Often when I have concerns, they aren’t necessarily that I don’t want to do something, but Satan gets in my head and tells me that I can’t. I hear, “You can’t write.” I hear, “You don’t know the Bible well enough to write about it. You will make a theological mistake.” These thoughts cause me to think that I can’t, so it becomes I won’t.

 Let’s work on this together. If the Samaritan Woman can run into town and tell everyone about the man she just met, we can do what God is asking us to do.

Navigating Life: Listening to the Holy Spirit

Jesus promised us a helper who would guide us in life. Are you paying attention to your navigator?

Scott and I spent almost 40 hours in the car over my last break. We listened to podcasts, sang some tunes, read, and had great conversations about future plans. We love time together in the car. Scott drives twice as much as I do, but I take my turn every now and then so he can get a break. As I was driving on a section of the road that I almost always drive where we transition from I30 to I49 at Texarkana, Scott nonchalantly ask if that factory looked familiar to me. I kinda shrugged it off and kept talking. After a quiet pause, Scott casually asked another question. “Do you think you are on the right road?” Without much thought I answered, “of course. This is how we always go.”  For the third time, Scott calmly stated, “I think we are going north.” You can guess, that I denied that was even a possibility until Scott motioned to the compass on the rear view mirror and pointed out that we were in fact going north. I still don’t know how or where I made the wrong turn, but I obviously did.

Sometimes in life, we do the same. We are traveling down the road of life: living, surviving, keeping our head just above water while possibly unknowingly making a wrong turn. It could be a seemingly insignificant decision, behavior or habit, and we might not even realize this action is placing us on the wrong path. However, the Holy Spirit is quietly pointing out to us that we need to change or we need to adjust priorities. It may not even be a mistake. It may just be the Holy Spirit quietly, discreetly nudging us to change paths. “And when he (Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment ….When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth” John 16:8 & 13.

Change is hard. Personally, once I recognize something needs to change, it usually takes multiple attempts and lots of prayer to get there. It’s not like driving down the highway and a simple U-turn gets your problem fixed. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit keeps whispering in my ear and God is there to provide strength and a path to help me get back on the right road.

Again change is hard, but just think what would have happened if Scott hadn’t been paying attention and noticed that I made a wrong exit? I would have kept going north for possibly miles before realizing I was going the wrong direction. Not only should we listen to the small nudge from the Holy Spirit, but be thankful for it. Listen and make the change as soon as you can.

Another thought, change is easier with a friend. Find someone you can trust and let them know what is on your heart. Ask them to help either by providing support or by providing accountability. Three verses come to my mind that confirm this is a good practice. I included them at the end. Yes, God is there and will give you all you need, but that just might be in the form of a friend.

Finally, consider that you might be the friend who someone else needs to help them get on the right path and stay there. Pray that God will help you be that person.

Scriptures:

 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” Romans 12:2

“God is at work in us.” Philippians 2:13

“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.” James 5:16

Navigating Life’s Choices with the Holy Spirit

Elevators seem to elude me in hotel hallways. Sometimes the willpower to take the highroad is just as hard to fine. The Holy Spirit is here to help us.

I have a small, embarrassing confession. I hope I’m not alone. When I’m staying at a hotel, I struggle to remember which way to go to find the elevator. I walk out the door of my room, look both ways down the hall and just guess. I have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. The worse guess is when I take off in one direction and about 5 doors down, I decide I chose wrong. I about face, walk back past my door and head the other way only to reach the end of the hall and realize I was right the first time.

You know, life can be like a hotel hallway. Sometimes I feel I’m standing at the door trying to decide which way to go. We are often faced with the choice to love or to hate, to be selfless or selfish, to judge or accept. It is our choice. You can look down the hallway both directions, but eventually you have to make a decision.  There have been times where I have been hurt deeply by someone’s comments or actions. I then had to decide how to reciprocate those actions. These decisions are not easy and in my case, cannot be done without help from the Holy Spirit.

Back to the hotel hallway, my go to if available is to follow Scott out the door and follow his direction. Of course this only works when he is with me, but guess what? In real life, the Holy Spirit is right there with us at all times to guide and direct us. The Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us with those decisions and give us the strength we need if we will follow the leading.

In Galatians 5, Paul tells the Galatians they can be led by the Spirit. Specifically, in verse 16 he says, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” He goes on to explain that the flesh and the Spirit are in conflict with each other. It is like standing in the hotel hallway deciding which way to go. We may want to hurt as deeply as we’ve been hurt. We may want to judge others for the decisions they make. However, all we have to do is follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to fight those fleshly desires.

Interestingly if we are listening and seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we make the right decision and choose wisely to begin with. However, other times we go on our own and make a selfish decision or act in an unloving way only to feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit that what we did was not in alignment with God’s righteousness. John 16:8, “And when he (Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of its sin.”

I want to take time and talk about the difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction is from the Holy Spirit and is about a behavior that needs to change or be corrected. Condemnation is from man or Satan and says you are a bad person. That is not true. You are a child of God, made in his image. You are not a bad person. However, everyone makes bad decisions from time to time that need to be corrected. That is why the Holy Spirit was sent to help us.

Maybe you are standing in one of life’s hotel hallways right now trying to decide how to respond or whether to spread untruths to make yourself look better. Choose love, choose kindness, chose the way the Holy Spirit would lead you.