Be Encouraged Today!

Message of the Cross - Thanksgiving Reflection Happy Thanksgiving EVERYONE! A few days early! Today is a day that we enjoy family, friends and food. It’s a time to rest and recoup; as well as a time to reflect on the things that we are truly grateful and thankful for. And yes, I am thankful that I am still here among the living, and for my husband and children as well as my extended family. Some will reflect on being thankful for their careers, travels and just life in general. With all of these in mind, I have also been reflecting on my thankfulness of hearing and being able to understand The Message of the Cross. It has made that much on an impact on my life. I want to share with you some things from the great book, The Bible, that shows the importance of having our Faith place in the Finished Work of Christ. Before I start, again, I want to stress the understanding that everything that Christ Jesus did and said is of the utmost importance, but it is at the Cross t...

A Reflection on Daniel — Devotional Reflection: Daniel’s Kind of Faith A personal devotional on trust, prayer, and lifelong obedience Devotional · Reflection Updated: When I studied the Book of Daniel, one truth became clear to me: my so-called “holy life,” as much as a human being can be holy, wasn’t nearly as holy as I thought. When I looked at Daniel and the Hebrew boys, I realized that my life was nowhere near as consecrated or devoted. I can’t even find the “pah” in perfect! I know that I’m a sinner saved by grace. I also understand now that I cannot live this life in Christ Jesus on my own — I’ve tried, and I’ve failed miserably. I am grateful to the Holy Spirit for showing me this. It hurt my feelings a bit but still grateful that He loves me enough to show me where I have failed and need correction. “Daniel and the ...

Reflections on Ezekiel — Jesus and Him Crucified Reflections on Ezekiel On faith, judgment, and the centrality of Jesus Christ crucified I’m sitting here, studying the book of Ezekiel. I see a parallel, a mirror of Judah and Jerusalem of old, and how America—and rather, the church—is looking like Judah and Jerusalem of old. And it breaks my heart, because they were God’s people, and we are God’s people. We have been grafted into the vine, and we didn’t learn this lesson that was taught and given to us in the book of Ezekiel. When we rebel, when we go against God’s way, when we set up idols in our heart, we must remember this isn’t God’s way, and we must do things God’s way. We cannot do things our own way. We think that we are on the path that leads to the Father, Jesus and Him Crucified, but we aren't looking to Him and what was accomplished at the Cross of Calvary for us. We cannot look like the world. Yet the church...

Idols of the Heart Idols of the Heart In Ezekiel 14 , the elders of Israel came to Ezekiel asking for prayer, but they had set up idols in their hearts. An idol of the heart can be anything we put before God—anything that takes precedence over, or replaces, our loyalty and devotion to Him. In our minds, we often think God is first—but is He really? Sometimes we have idols set up in our hearts without even realizing it. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal if you have any idols in your heart as you examine yourself. Sidebar: A Personal Example I love to work out. Years ago, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “It’s easy for you to miss praying or reading the Word of God—you say you’ll do it later, and sometimes later never comes—but you don’t miss your workouts.” Ouch—hallelujah! It hurt my feelings a little, but it was true. So, I started getting up early to study, read, and go on my prayer walks. My workouts had become an idol of the hea...

Have you ever, as a child of God, sat back and wondered "Why am I here again?!" or "Why am I going through this again?!" Have you ever had something that kept reoccurring in your life and not know why? You love God, you want and have a desire to do His Word and Will, and you know His Word — and yet you find yourself at the same crossroads (or similar) over and over again. We pray, we repent, we seek God's face, we stay in His Word, and yet the same thing — or something similar — keeps popping its head up; it keeps coming back again. The problem is we often repent and truly mean it in our hearts, but we only address the symptom. We deal with the outward sins committed through the members of our bodies — our words, actions, or thoughts — without addressing the root cause that produced them. Where is our faith placed? The real problem is that we have our faith, our hope, and our trust in the wrong thing. We look to something other than where our faith s...

We All Need Jesus! We all need Jesus! Before the Fall of Lucifer, he was perfect, beautiful, and full of wisdom! There was no other angel or creature wiser than he. And please understand, he still has that wisdom but it's perverted, and NONE of us mere mortals can outsmart him. We, within ourselves, are easily manipulated and persuaded by him, blown to and fro by the winds of change, doctrines, ideas, and opinions. With this wisdom, though perverted, he has corrupted our world and the lives of untold billions of people who are and will be eternally lost. In his wisdom of manipulation and persuasion, he is artfully cunning and dishonest. We don't even realize it - we're deceived. It evades even some who say they name the Name of the Lord. This is the reason sin is so subtle; it is elusive to us mere mortals. This is why we all need Jesus . This is why we must have our Faith rooted in the Cross of Calvary. The Holy Spirit can then help us to see a...

What is the Grace of God? The Grace of God is the goodness of God that has been freely given to us by what Jesus has accomplished on the Cross of Calvary. As believers, we can fall from grace. But what does that mean? Many people think that falling from the Grace of God means that one has simply sinned. No. In Galatians , Paul was addressing the demand that Gentile believers be circumcised. The Judaizers were teaching that circumcision (and the Law) was a requirement for salvation. Paul responded that if you add circumcision as a requirement for salvation, then what Jesus did on the Cross is rendered ineffective for you. Galatians 5:1-6 (AMP) 1 It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (sin) [which you once removed]. 2 Notice, it is I, Paul, who tells you that if you receive circumcis...

Faith in the Cross Before I start, I want to say that EVERYTHING that Jesus did and said is of the utmost importance! He did everything that the Father told Him to do. He was obedient even unto death for the remission of our sins. What He accomplished on the Cross reconciled us unto our Father God and made us His children. So why isn’t Jesus’ dying on the Cross of Calvary our source of Faith? Why isn’t our faith in that which took our sin away and set us free? Now, I can hear you saying “My faith is in the Word of God. Jesus is God and in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word is God”. In the beginning before the foundation of the world, The Plan to redeem mankind was formulated; that plan is Jesus dying on the Cross of Calvary. God put in place the Sacrificial System as His way, but the sacrifices of bulls, lambs and/or rams only covered sin so that man could commune with God. All the “types and shadows” were examples of He who...

Everything from God Comes to Us Because of the Cross Everything from God Comes to Us Because of the Cross I know the title is long—it reminds me of some of those long anime titles—but it’s true: everything we receive from God comes to us because of the Cross of Christ. It doesn’t come because we attend church every time the doors are open. It doesn’t come because we read our Bibles and pray every day. That’s not why we receive anything from God. The reason we, as Christians and true children of God, receive anything is because of the Cross. I want to look at this truth from a couple of scriptures: Hebrews 13:20–21 and Ephesians 2:13–18 . These two, among many other scriptures in the Bible, tell us this very thing—everything we receive from God comes to us because of the Cross, because of Jesus’ great sacrifice on Calvary. Hebrews 13:20–21 20 Now may the God of peace [the source of serenity and spiritual well-being] who brought up from the dead ...

The Cross of Christ and Sanctification The Cross of Christ and Sanctification I promised to share my thoughts on the Cross of Christ and Sanctification, so I want to address that now. As believers, if we do not understand the Message of the Cross—our faith should be in the Cross of Christ—then we will not be able to live sanctified and holy lives as God intended. Let me explain: if we do not grasp the significance of the Cross of Christ concerning sanctification, we will revert back to living under the law. What do I mean by that? If our faith is not rooted in what Jesus accomplished on the Cross at Calvary for us, we will attempt to live our lives before God by adhering to laws. A law is anything we put in place to live holy and sanctified before God. It can be the Law of Moses, the moral Laws of Moses, or any self-imposed regulations we believe keep us holy and aligned with God's will. These laws might be created by churches or oursel...

The Plan – John 3:16 The Plan – John 3:16 It’s been some years since I’ve posted to this blog. God was dealing with me on some things. I am grateful to Him for chastening me which shows His love for me. I want to speak a little on God’s Plan – Redemption. Redemption is a gift; it cannot be earned, and it involves our turning away from sin and towards God. God made this task simple for us—the offering of His Son, Jesus. I want to come from the verse of John 3:16. I know, I know… We all know this verse; we could probably recite it in our sleep. This verse is one of the first scriptures we all learned in Bible School/Children’s Church. I think that was by God’s design, but not fully realized. In this, I want to bring to full fruition of God’s Plan by breaking down this scripture. It is so simple, but sometimes things can seem too simple… “Surely, it can’t be this simple?!” It is just that – simple. By having our Faith ONLY in God’s Plan, Jesus...