If Colossians 3:13 (MSG) says, “Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you”, Why is it so difficult for us to forgive others horizontally just as fast as God forgives us vertically?

Well, the short answer to the question above is forgiveness doesn’t come easy. If someone has hurt, wounded, or abused you in some way, the last thing you’re thinking about is forgiving them. It’s more likely you’re thinking about punishing them and inflicting pain on them since they inflicted pain on you. Revenge, retribution, and payback is what most people think about when someone has injured them physically, emotionally, mentally, vocationally. and spiritually.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a good thing Jesus doesn’t share that vengeful mindset. None of us would have a chance. We’d all be in a big world
of trouble.

Let’s face it, we are all imperfect people. Therefore, on an ongoing basis imperfect people need a lot of forgiveness. More often than we’d like to admit, we need forgiveness from God and from others. The implications of that are mind-boggling, and vital for us to come to grips with. We all need to be forgiven, which means we are all surrounded by people that we will need to forgive.

I’ve heard it said, “Forgiveness is surrendering my right to hurt you for hurting me.”

If you are harboring any amount of unforgiveness and you want to break free before the commencement of a new year , I encourage you to LET IT GO and let me emphasize; LET IT GO JUST LIKE JESUS LET IT GO! It’s just a simple as that!

I get it, that’s easier said than done, but Romans 4:7-8 reminds us that, “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never county against him.”

Here’s the deal, when you release that person’s debt(s), you will experience greater freedom versus harboring their debt(s) and the bottom line, you’ll better off! The quicker we do it, the easier it is. Let’s begin to behave as if we believe the Bible. In it, God tells us repeatedly what to do about those who offend us: love them, pray for them, bless them.

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#LetItGoJustLikeJesusItGo

Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust God and not to lean on our own understanding. However, we all possess the innate tendency to mentally and emotionally define or shape our understanding from our own experiences. Listen, I’ll be the first to admit that I am still learning that the sum total of all my previous and present circumstances in this broken world cannot define my all-powerful God.

That said, God is unequivocally bigger than any hard, hurtful, and/or struggling thing I may face in the past, today, tomorrow, or the next day! And, as I continue to grow through my challenges, I am reminded that we all have a choice in the matter. We can continue to stare the hard stuff in the face, taking in all of the moments that crush our spirits and dwell on all the what if’s and why not’s. OR, we can dare to stare into the eyes of our powerful Savior; Jesus Christ! Do you remember what happened in Matthew 14:28–31 when Peter chose the latter? Need I say more…..?

The good news is that despite our ambiguous nature God is faithful and He’s the One that sticks closer than any brother (Proverbs 18:24) as we walk through the darkest of valleys, He is the One that gently lifts us up when life has knocked us down (Ps 145:14), He is the One who has promised to always stay, even if no one else does (Heb 13:5), and He is the One who is love embodied, unchanged by our questions and wandering amidst the hard moments of life (Heb 13:8).

Additionally, He is the One who is a steady hand when we grow weary, a hiding place when the world threatens to overwhelm us, and our strength when we have grown far too weak on our own (Ps 91). We may not always know the what God is doing, but we do know what He has done (the Bible).

My brothers and Sisters, Nahum 1:7 confidently says, “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him.” Therefore, as we face difficult moments in life, remembering His proven track record should sustain us through the storm(s)! May we faithfully recognize our Savior who ultimately made a way for us, and the One who is good, ALWAYS, even when what we currently face doesn’t feel so good. Though we may never understand why He does not change our circumstance, that does NOT change HIM. He is still the faithful One, loving, compassionate, and trustworthy. The bottom line it’s always in our best interest to remember that God is good even when life isn’t fair, kind, or gentle!

#BeStrong

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#NAP

#Godisgood

Merry Christmas Be Strong!

We can’t fully appreciate this season without fully recognizing the reason for Jesus coming down to earth to save, deliver, and reconcile us back to the Father. Jesus came down to earth and paid a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay. From ancient prophecy, through the joy of His birth, the pangs of His death, and His victorious resurrection the salvation offered to us, the defeat of Satan, the assurance of eternal life, and the promise of His return—fully and completely encapsulates the true impact of Jesus’ birth and the gift God freely gave to our world.

Pray with me:
Father God, thank You for the birth of Your Son-our Savior! We are immensely grateful that through Him, we are able to find forgiveness, eternal salvation, reconciliation, fellowship, strength, comfort, wisdom, and peace. Though we may live in a world that is full of unrest, turmoil, hate, war, greed, lust, and anger we know You don’t give us what the world gives. Father God, thank You for the priceless and timeless gift of Jesus. We are forever indebted but overwhelmingly grateful for all He’s done for us. He is undeniably and irrefutably the Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Mighy God, and the Prince of Peace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

#MerryChristmas2023

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#TisTheSeasonAndReason

An encouraging message to those (like me) who are grieving a loved one in this season:

“Even with the shimmer and shine, Christmas can be a time of loneliness and grief for many people. Holiday celebrations can bring painful reminders of loss and times gone by. Jesus knows about grief. He understands. He lived in the flesh as we do, with all of its pain and challenges. He experienced loss, opposition, and betrayal. As we are told in Isaiah 53:3: “He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” But Jesus Christ came to earth so that we could experience the peace, comfort, and joy of a personal relationship with Him. He came to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. He took the weight of sin on Himself, so that we could be forgiven and free of its guilt and shame—now and for eternity. What a gift! He tells us to cast our cares on Him for He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). If you are lonely or hurting this season, I urge you to call out to the One who promises to never leave us or forsake us. The Prince of Peace. He loves you and came to save you—that’s what Christmas is all about.”

Well said and thank you for sharing this blessed word of encouragement Franklin Graham!

“At the end of the day, grief is a journey but it’s not a destination. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. Grief is the peace of love we have for those who are no longer physically here with us.” Lowell Pinnock

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#griefislove

Real talk, the enemy really wants to kill, steal and destroy us (John 10:10). This is why we need to be more intentional and consistent in our prayers for God to give us keen spiritual awareness regarding his deceptive plots, destructive plans, and damaging schemes.

God’s Holy word tells us that He opposes and brings to a halt the plans of our enemy, satan. Undoubtedly, without God’s protection our lives would be overrun by evil. Fortunately, Psalm 33:10-11 reminds us, “The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes. But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.”

One of the primary reasons we often get blindsided by the enemy’s fiery arrows is because we fail to identify the real adversary. Satan is real (1 Peter 5:8-9) and if this were not true, why would God send Jesus to destroy his works? The Bible says in 1 John 3:8, “The Son of God came to destroy these works of the Devil” (NLT).

The second primary reason we get blindsided by the enemy’s attacks is because we often go into battle under equipped or not unequipped. I don’t think a football player would ever step onto the stadium field on game day without the proper equipment so, why do we step onto the spiritual battlefield without the proper spiritual gear? In Ephesians 6:11-17, Paul wrote about the spiritual of battles we fight and about putting on the whole armor of God when he was in prison chained to a Roman guard. Paul used the Roman centurion as a model for spiritual armor. Paul says, just as the Roman soldier is properly equipped to do battle, we also need to be properly equipped for battle.

My brothers and sisters, many of you know, the battlefield for spiritual warfare is primarily in your thought life, but we must demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.(2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

I could keep on going but that’s enough to chew on for this word of encouragement. The good news is that, “Although they plot against you, their evil schemes will never succeed” (Psalm 21:11). Therefore my prayer and declaration is that every plot, plan or scheme the enemy has deceptively plotted against you and/or your family is hereby demolished, destroyed, disintegrated, and cancelled in the name of Jesus!! We can be truly thankful that what, “the enemy meant for bad, God meant it for our good” (Gen 50:20).

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#Blindsided

#SpiritualWarfareIsReal

When life leaves you speechless and you just can’t find the right words to pray, God will always listen to your heart.

No one is exempt from pain and unfortunately there are times in life when we come to the Lord speechless. We stand before God wordlessly muted due to the painful sorrows of life. We can barely breathe, much less give voice to how our heart is broken by loss or paralyzed by great fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. Prayer just seems impossible when it feels like we are drowning in despair, fear, pain, sorrow, or shame.

However, when I am made silent or gagged by the circumstances of life, I remember the psalmist’s words: “I am so troubled that I cannot speak” (Ps. 77:4) and realize I am not alone. I read the groans of David and hear them echoed in my own heart, “I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping” (Ps. 6:6). And I realize that what God wants most isn’t necessarily a stream of eloquent words, but “a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:17).

Just the simple act of coming before the throne of grace reveals the contents of our heart. The Lord sees our humble offering and if all we can muster up is “Help me!” that is enough. For as the Apostle Paul encourages, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:26-27).

So today my brothers and sisters, when the difficulties of life mute you, remember it is not how well you pray, but that you pray; even with your tears. I hope this message encourages your hearts to know God knows and hears the groans of our heart. When you cry out to him and can hardly string a sentence together, He knows what you long to say. He knows the thoughts and intentions of your heart. He hears beyond the sighs of pain and the tears of brokenness. The Spirit takes our lisps and stutters and makes them holy. Even more, He hears the Spirit interceding for you and me, praying perfect and righteous words on our behalf.

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#NAP

#SpeechlessPrayers

God never lives in the past, and He wants to bring you into the future He has in mind. He wants to put His desires into your heart. He wants to give you His dreams for your life. Even if you feel that your heart has been deadened by adversity to the point that it can no longer receive a thing, be assured that your Father can fix that, too. He can increase the capacity of your heart. God is ready to resuscitate your dead heart and plant seeds of hope in it.

There are several examples in the Bible where God placed a specific dream in someone’s heart that manifested great and amazing things. One example that comes to mind is the story of Joseph.

In short, the story of the dreamer Joseph has been retold many times (you can review it by reading Genesis 37–43). The direction for Joseph’s entire life was determined by God-inspired dreams. He went “from pit to pinnacle,” daring to trust that God was in charge of every dream-determined decision. After fifteen long and eventful years had passed, Joseph didn’t let his dream die. His dream had taken hold of him. Jospeh learned through everything that had happened, God was going to use him to continue the legacy of his family line until all his dreams was fulfilled. Joseph said these famous words to his brothers: “As for you, you meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day” (Genesis 50:20).

We are no different than Joseph. If God placed a dream in your heart, He did so for a reason! I challenge you today; dare to trust God both to give you a dream and to fulfill it. The Bible is clear that “the One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24, NIV). If you feel like your on an island never forget God is with you and He will never abandoned you in difficult circumstances. So, decide to drop your crutches and follow after Him. God’s plans for you may well seem impossible, but you will strategically move forward on His strength and wisdom, not your own. Place yourself in his strong hands and repent of trying to take care of your world without him. You can recover your footing with three key words from Psalm 37: Trust. Dwell. Commit.

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#IHaveADream

Healing from emotional and physical wounds doesn’t mean forgetting. It means, more than anything, getting to the point where they don’t control your life. Though moving forward is a meticulous process of transformation, with God’s strength, guidance, and comfort you can find a new lease on life. However, you must understand that after the healing transformation process, you won’t be the same person anymore.

Healing doesn’t mean going back in time, it means rebuilding and giving shape to something new, something stronger and more valuable. We all have wounds that need attention. We live in a world full of different types of violence. Some are more explicit and others hidden and silent. Things like sexism, discrimination, bullying, physically intimidating or intimidation in social media, family dysfunction, or even cultural messages about beauty and success can all leave their mark in areas that are not openly visible.

The good news is God doesn’t abandon us with our wounds and scars, He steps in and heal our brokenness. Psalm 147:3 reminds us that, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

God is reminding us that His power is unlimited. He is mighty enough to heal all wounds no matter when or how they occurred in our lives. Our pain is not beyond His tremendous power. He is the Great Physician, able to reach into our pasts and heal our souls.

The scripture says, “He heals,” meaning this healing is ongoing. It is not a one-time deal but rather a supernatural act that can occur over and over in the lives of the brokenhearted. For as much and as long as we need healing, God’s compassionate care is available to us.

The Hebrew meaning for the word “brokenhearted” is defined in relation to the inner person, encompassing the mind, will and emotions. Thus, the psalmist reminds us that God is capable of healing all types of wounds.

If our wounds are physical, He can heal them. If our wounds are mental, He can heal them.
If our wounds are emotional, He can heal those, too.

God not only heals our souls from brokenness; He also binds up our wounds. He takes the time to tenderly bandage the wounded places in our lives so we can be made whole. This level of tender care communicates several truths about God:

💔God cares about those with broken hearts.
♾️God’s power to heal is infinite.
♥️God loves His children deeply.
❤️‍🩹God is capable of healing all wounds.

My brothers and sisters, healing doesn’t mean the damage or wound never existed. It means that injury or scar no longer control your life. I am so grateful that God doesn’t abandon us with our wounds. God immediately steps into our lives, heals our broken hearts and binds up every wound.

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#StrongerThanYesterday

Let’s be honest, waiting can be extremely difficult, especially when your life is on DEFCON 5. That said, I know I’m not the only one to grow increasingly impatient when it comes to waiting for God to answer prayers. However, as we have all discovered, God’s timing is different from ours because unlike us, He is not bound by our limitations. God is the Creator of time; therefore, He is not restrained by twenty-four-hour clocks. Although waiting for God’s best takes time, there are many beneficial reasons why we should wait for what He has in store, but for today’s message let’s focus on two.

The two primary reasons why patiently waiting on God is beneficial is 1.) God always has something better in stored and 2.) It’s always worth the wait.

The first reason why we should wait for God’s best is because God has better things in store. Even though we may think we know best, we don’t. It is best for us to wait for God’s best rather than trying to manipulate circumstances. God has the most wonderful things in store for us if we just wait. While it can be difficult sometimes to wait for God’s best, God’s ways and plans always have our best interests in mind (Jeremiah 29:11)

No matter how good something may seem, it is not as good as we think if we are not waiting on the Lord. God has great things in store for our lives, yet they may take time. Waiting is always difficult, but waiting on the Lord’s plan is always best. God’s best is far greater than anything we could come up with on our own. The prophet Isaiah said, “But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

The second reason we should choose to patiently wait for God’s best is because it’s simply worth the wait. If we choose to not patiently wait on God’s best, we will most likely have regrets because we didn’t fully see the best God had in store for us. Believe it or not, God never wants us to settle for second best, yet when we fail to wait for God’s best, we end up doing just that and instead of waiting on God, we impatiently choose to take matters into our own hands. King David said, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:13-14).

At the end of the day, I think we can all agree that God knows what is best for us, and that we can faithfully and patiently place our trust in Him. Paul reminds us that even when our situation or circumstance is difficult, God is working all things out for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). My brothers and sister, when we choose to wait for God’s best, we will never have to worry about secondhand happiness. The world tries to give us one definition of happiness, but true joy and happiness are only found in Christ. “The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

In closing, we will never truly be able to experience God’s best if we constantly try to find “the best” outside of God. Undoubtedly, there is no long lasting goodness or joy outside of the Lord. We are trading heavenly joy for earthly temporary happiness when we choose to not patiently wait for God. God has far greater plans for us in store if we will wait for Him. As I mentioned above, neglecting to wait for God’s best can leave us feeling unnecessary regret later in life. None of us really desire to experience regrets in our life. We all want to live life to the fullest and passionately serve the Lord in our actions, words, and deeds! So remember, no matter how long it takes, when God works, it’s always worth the wait.

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#WaitOnTheLord

Prayer is the power tool for Christians to communicate to the Lord. Prayer is also a humbling way for us to acknowledge our dependency to God. Undoubtedly, we can lay our worries to God because even when we are faithless, He faithfully promised to take care of us. The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself” and I Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”

Let’s be honest, praying to God is really the easy part, but when we don’t experience the immediate change in our situations and/or circumstances it can get a little complicated, annoying, and uncomfortable.

I know I am not the only one to get upset and irritated with God. It’s totally human to feel some kind of way when we believe we are not getting what we faithfully prayed for.

In 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Paul plead (prayed) to God three times and God didn’t change his circumstance. Check out what happened; “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Ok, if that were me, my first response would have been….huh????

Let’s be clear, after Paul’s spiritual encounter aka conversion, Paul became a faithful man, but He was still a man. We don’t know what this metaphorical thorn was, but we do know that it generated more than mere annoyance; it generated great agony corresponding to the glory of what Paul had seen in the highest heaven. So when I place my feet in Paul’s sandals, I can see where God’s decision not to remove the thorn would have been frustrating, heart breaking, and disappointing.

However, though God didn’t change Paul’s circumstances, He changed him. He said this in verse 10, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses [the thorn], so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Perhaps, Paul saw two ways forward. The Lord could (1) remove the thorn, and Paul could get on with life and ministry, or (2) leave the thorn, and Paul would be forever crippled and slowed in life and ministry. The Lord responded with yet a third option: leave the thorn, but give Paul grace. And for Paul’s life and ministry, this would net out as taking Paul places in terms of divine power he could never have attained otherwise. This was and is God’s undisclosed strategy for Paul and for all of His people.

I don’t know what you have prayed for God to change in your life, but I want to encourage you to remember two things: 1.) God knows what He is doing (Isaiah 55:8-9) and 2.) Prayer may not change your circumstances, but it will change you!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#NAP

#PrayerChangesYou