surrender – Page 2

bible study, Christian, Christian Church, christian encouragement, Uncategorized

Big “S” Little “s”

September 30, 2020September 29, 2020 krisshetter

Born Again By His Spirit
How can you love others 
when you can't love yourself,
is it a bridge too far?
Perhaps you've been hidden
 away on a shelf
unaware of just who you are.

It is time for you now
 to come into view
and to stand in the place of knowing;
to allow JESUS CHRIST
 to take the helm
within your own boat you're been rowing.

And as you surrender
 to His loving Grace
you will find yourself hidden in Him;
with His loving Light
 outshining all others
allowing your sails to be trimmed.

Once blind, now you'll see,
 for GOD will release
the Wind of His Spirit to blow,
which in turn your identity,
 that was foreign to you,
 will thus be revealed and you'll know.....

Right in the middle of this wonderful poem by fellow blogger, Carol Congalton, you’ll see a very important word: Surrender. A few weeks ago, my Bible Study Girls took up this topic of submission/surrender. The conversation went something like this:

BSG 1: “That sounds good to surrender my problem to God but how do I actually do that?”

BSG 2: “Ya, when Christians say, ‘just give it up to God’ I think that can give us a bad name. Like it’s that easy.”

BSG 3: “I mean the actual giving up is like, boom, done. But the work up to it is what is so difficult.”

BSG 1: “But I don’t know how to do that.”

BSG 2: “A pastor once said if you don’t want to forgive, then ask God to help you want to forgive. And if you have trouble doing that, ask God to help you want to learn how to forgive. If you don’t want to do that, ask God to help you want to ask to learn how to forgive!”

Great advice. When we are stuck, we need to go back to a place we are ok with and start there. Which brings us to submission. Ewww. For many of us just that word alone brings negative connotations. Some of us (most of us) just aren’t white flag wavers, especially when it comes to closely held beliefs and baggage.

“Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7

Most of the time we just want the devil to flee from us without the submission part. You know, get the creamy inside without having to work our way through the hard, outer shell. The devil wants us to keep clinging to earthly definitions of submission. But God says,

“Come near to God, and He will come near to you.”
James 4:8

I realized there’s two types of submission when it comes to being a Christian. There’s a big “S” and a little “s.” The big “S” is the flipping of the script. It’s the big “ah ha” moment in our lives. It’s not the same as when we decided to believe in God or even that Jesus is our Savior. There’s a lot of Christians that believe both those but haven’t fully submitted to God. It may have happened to us as a child and we are fortunate to have lived our lives in submission to God. My friend Betsy is like that. She can’t remember a time without God as her commander. And you can tell she’s had a lifetime to accept that God loves her immensely. We joke and say “What would Betsy do?” because the spirit of Jesus is apparent in her life.

Others of us may be long time Christians but only recently had that light switch flipped or maybe we haven’t gotten there yet. We’ve gone to church, did all the “right” Christian things except actual, full submission to God. I was listening to a great podcast from Transformation Church the other day. They had guest pastor Tim Ross as their speaker. His sermon focus was on upsetting the world. And by that he meant like the disciples, who went throughout unfriendly lands waking the world up to the Word and the love of Jesus, we should be the conduits for change in people’s lives. His three steps were:

Upset yourself – in other words wake up and recognize the sin in ourselves. It’s time to take God’s Word to heart and as James tells us, do the actual work of God.
Upset religion – a great line in his sermon was we should not be ok to show up to church when God is not present in that church. Joyce Meyers says if you leave church not feeling convicted or energized to go out and do good then you need to change churches.
Let go of our independence – and there’s the “Boom.”

We are so afraid to loosen our grip. So afraid of losing control. And yet our grip is choking the life out of… our life.

“Let God have your life; He can do more with it than you can.”
Dwight L. Moody

And if you don’t believe that, you need to pray for God to help you believe that. I love the story of Peter walking on water.

“Lord, if it is you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
Matt 14:28

Notice Peter didn’t see Jesus, jump out of the boat and run toward Jesus in complete and total submission? He asked Jesus to call to him. And Jesus responded, “Come.” (Matt 14:29).

That was a pretty big “S.” Imagine if you were there sitting in the boat and saw Jesus. He tells you to “come” and either you refuse or you get about halfway out and you change your mind – faceplanting on the edge of the boat. There’s no halfway. You’re either in or you’re out. It’s not magic. When I sat at the edge of my boat I pleaded with God to tell me what I was doing wrong. I was being a “good Christian” and I was miserable. He was clear. “What have you really done?” was His response. He made it clear I had yet to fully submit to Him. I needed to climb out of the boat and walk to Him. And so, for the first time, I broke down and made a full commitment to Him.

And then there’s the little “s.” Like a little snake wiggling around at our feet, it’s the everyday moments where we make that re-commitment to submitting to God. They are our daily reminders that we have chosen not to be friends of this world but instead be children of God. We must have the big “S” before the little “s” can take on their full success and meaning. It’s those times when I’m tempted to get frustrated behind slow drivers or get mad at my husband for doing “that thing, yet again.” Or when I’m tempted to take on a new, difficult task without praying first. I must choose again to surrender to God to help fortify me. When I fail, I know He loves me and holds out a helping hand.

Our little “s” moments give us opportunities to grow and pull closer to God. Those moments allow God to remove what’s hindering us from joy. We may have a lot of little “s” moments until God sees that our big “S” is fully secure and planted in our hearts. I heard this quote somewhere, “God doesn’t take us on the longest or shortest path. He takes us on the right path for us.”

And when we submit completely to Him, to be His walking buddy on that path, only then can we enjoy the creamy filling – and the devil will flee from us. Because he knows there’s no getting past a person surrounded and filled with God.

If you aren’t sure you have fully submitted to God, ask Him. Ask Him to shine a light on any area that you still have firmly in your own grasp. Tell Him to call to you — and then get all the way out of that boat.

bible study, Christian, Christian Church, christian encouragement, Uncategorized

My Big, Fat, Sparkly Life

September 23, 2020September 22, 2020 krisshetter

I recently read an excerpt from author Tim LaHaye’s, “Spirit Controlled Temperament.” I love reading about different personalities and picking out which ones line up with my family members. For those that aren’t familiar with LaHaye’s temperaments there are four of them. He calls them the “real you” and they are based on names given by Hippocrates. Your temperament is the combination of inborn traits that affect all our behavior. Your temperament, combined with childhood training, education, basic attitudes, beliefs and principles forms our character. The outward appearance of that character is our personality. Depending upon how genuine a person is those two might or might not match up.

I am firmly in the “Rocky Choleric” temperament: hot, quick, active practical, and strong-willed. I’m self-sufficient and opinionated. I’m not frightened by adversity and I have a “dogged determination.” Here’s the downside. The “Rocky Choleric” doesn’t always sympathize with others and we don’t naturally express compassion. In fact, it’s the one area for me that makes me very uncomfortable. Oh, and did I forget to mention we can also be bossy? LaHaye goes on to say that the Apostle Paul was a Choleric.

“Who but a Choleric would crawl out from under a rock pile and the next day walk 12 miles to preach the gospel?”
Tim LaHaye

And boy have I managed to drop a lot of rocks on myself. I’m working on crawling out.

I wore my pessimistic personality like a badge of honor. I chastised people who I felt lived behind, “rose colored glasses.” I consistently was praised for fixing other people’s problems and resolving organizational messes. But did I mention us Cholerics can be bossy and not compassionate? On the inside, I envied other people’s social lives. I wanted to be that woman that walked into a room and threw off glitter wherever she went. People adore that woman. She gets invited to Palm Springs weekend getaways with the girls and Luke Bryan concerts (with backstage passes no less). I would sit hunched over my computer scrolling through other peoples’ facebook pages seeing all the parties I wasn’t invited to. I envied the sparkly people who were at all the book clubs and Bunco parties. And every time I tried fitting in, I failed miserably. Maybe that’s what James is talking about in this verse.

“For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
James 3:16

I was trying to do what Tim LaHaye says is next to impossible – change my basic temperament — because I was envious. I wanted to change the person God made me to be. What I needed to do instead was align the positive parts of my temperament to Jesus and learn how to release the negative parts. The world’s greatest generals, dictators, and gangsters have predominately been Cholerics, according to LaHaye. The difference? Their alignment or lack thereof with God.

Envy is a dangerous game. It leads to anger and hatred and sometimes violence. Warren Buffett once said,

‘It’s not greed that drives the world but envy.”

Envy is the idea of wanting what others have and taking it from them if necessary. We see a lot of envy in social media, the news, and even as a basis for some of the riots going on today. Someone wants what someone else has. As Christians, even in our darkest situations we aren’t to envy others. We are to turn to God for all our needs.

“The acts of the flesh are obvious…hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (condensed)
Gala 5:19-21

Envy never finds itself in good company. I visualize envy as a black swirling, scribbly mass that’s living inside our body. Its disorganized and ravenous. It keeps us from thinking with God’s wisdom. It tears at our hearts so we fail to be compassionate. We end up living far outside the righteous life He wants for us.

So, when I announced to a Bible study group a few years ago that I, Kris Shetter the Choleric, wanted to be Sparkly, also known in LaHaye’s world as the “Sparky Sanguine,” I had to figure out how to do that while remaining true to myself. The Sparky Sanguine is warm, buoyant, lively, and fun loving. She/He is optimistic, compassionate and friendly. Ya, I bet she goes to all the best parties!

James starts us off on the right path to aligning ourselves with God’s plan:

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom.”
James 3:13

Humbleness and envy cannot exist in the same space. When we humble ourselves, we acknowledge the One greater than ourselves. We place ourselves as servants of God. We give up all success to God. When we envy someone we think we deserve better than others. We take personal credit for success. We have selfish ambition,

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.”
1 Peter 5:6

I realized I was walking around thinking I knew better than everyone because I could clean up their messes. Because you know those “rose colored glasses” types aren’t paying attention to all that glitter they leave laying around! I knew without a doubt that my way was the best way. And here’s a little secret: people don’t like to be around people who think they are lesser. People don’t like to be constantly corrected or fixed by other faulty human beings. Go figure.

Lest we think the other three of LaHaye’s temperaments are not without faults he gives us their weaknesses as well. That Sparky Sanguine? Restless, undisciplined, egotistical, and emotional. Seen as the Apostle Peter. The Maestro Melancholy? Self-centered, suspicious, over-sensitive, pessimistic and moody. Epitomized by Solomon. And my husband’s Flip Phlegmatic? Slow, lazy, provocative, selfish and stubborn. And yet LaHaye calls out Abraham as a Phlegmatic. Thankfully, my husband only got the stubborn part of that one!

Every single one of us has something about us that can use some Godly tweaking. I know some people have looked at me enviously – “She’s so organized!” “She’s a good leader and can stand up and talk in front of anyone!” “She’s such an amazing problem solver!” There’s a difference between admiration and envy. Envy takes all those statements about me and turns them into something ugly, as though that other person could never attain those same outcomes. I wanted to start admiring people who were sparkly, not envy them.

ad•mi•ra•tion ăd″mə-rā′shən

The state of being viewed with such approval or delight.

en·vy | \ ˈen-vē \

Painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage

I don’t want to be envied for anything. I don’t need to envy anyone. I admire a lot of my friends. Because funny enough, I’ve surrounded myself with much more compassionate people that I am. And I’d rather just be admired for my faith in God. Because that is attainable for everyone. As for my Big, Fat, Sparkly Life? God and I are doing a lot of work bringing out my good characteristics and wiping away the bad ones. I know that only when I give to God those things about me that I’ve worked so hard to perfect over my 55 years will I find success – which to me means finding joy in as many moments as possible. Ya, that kinda sounds like “rose-colored glasses” living but who cares.

What parts of your temperament do you need to give over to God to help remove or refine? To read more about Tim LaHaye’s 4 Spiritual Temperaments click here.

30daysofpraise, christian encouragement, Uncategorized

The Arresting Officer

August 22, 2020August 22, 2020 krisshetter

As I sit here in my comfortable, middle-class, suburban home it’s hard for me to imagine living where rioting and violence have taken over cities in America. Now mind you, my neighborhood is very diverse. On my block alone live people from India, China, Philippines, Samoa, Puerto Rico, and Mexico — and there’s only 18 houses. What connects the tumultuous cities are a number of characteristics but what shocks me the most is the concept of “defunding the police.” There’s a lot of counterintuitive-ness going on in the world the last 10 years. What seems good and right, now is apparently bad and evil and vice versa. Loving your country and standing for its national anthem is evil but wanting to turn to Marxism, which only has ever brought about human suffering is good. A white woman screaming in a black police officer’s face about racism is good but a statue commemorating President Lincoln signing the emancipation proclamation is bad. Thank God I live under God’s plan which is steady and true.

Praise God that he takes the most unlikely people – ones who have created chaos and violence – and changes them. He is the “Super Cop.” He ferrets out those who hide in shadows doing evil. And he has no fear in standing in front of the powerful and saying, “you’re coming with me.”

I have a lot of respect for the police. Even though I once told my two police officer friends, “Sometimes cops are real jerks!” (and they agreed with me) I still value the difficult and varied roles they are asked to play in our society. For many years I was a security substitute in our local high schools. The role of high school security staff is many fold. We would ensure the morning drop off went smoothy in the parking lot as crazed parents cut each other off and cursed at one another. We then closed up the campus making sure the only people on campus were authorized to be there. We patrolled the campus – keeping kids in class and strangers out of the school. But we also counseled students. There’s the “always late” students who typically come from difficult homes. The student who you find weeping in the bathroom because of a romance failure or a parent who has left the family were not unusual circumstances. We were involved in altercations between students and staff which created opportunities to delve deeper into a student’s anger. I imagine a city police officer experiences these and much, much more. There are many difficult and dangerous situations they face and there are some uplifting moments in which it makes it all worthwhile. When I see a college educated, privileged person screaming in the face of a police officer who is doing their duty to protect our cities it makes me want to weep for both.

A black officer listens while a white protester calls him a racist.

Saul was a violent and angry man. His terror and violence against followers of Jesus was legendary. He took comfort in the Law of God. He thought of Jesus as being from satan, the false prophet. So, he intended to eliminate this “dangerous sect” before it destroyed the Jewish faith. But God met him on the road to Damascus and arrested him. One of the definitions of “arrest” is “to bring to a stop.” When God’s holy light flashed on him, he fell to the ground. The men with him were speechless. Saul knew immediately it was from the holy realm and asked, “Who are you, Lord?” Jesus replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” Wow, the authority in that statement! Instead of handcuffs placed on Saul he was blinded. He had to be led into the city. For three days he sat in the jail of darkness and did not eat or drink anything (Acts 9:9).

But God sent another of his officers to release Saul from jail. The disciple Ananias was told by Jesus to go to Saul and anoint him. He hesitated at first, knowing Saul’s reputation. When he entered the house, he placed his hands on Saul and called on the name of Jesus to fill him with the Holy Spirit. Immediately Saul could see and was freed.

How many times do we need to be “arrested by God” to finally see what life He wants for us? Some of us have seen the inside of life’s jail for far too many years. We justify our actions because it’s what the world wants from us. Or we twist the meanings of God’s Word to suit our actions. Like the city cop who knows the neighborhood junkie by name, God knows our names too. That cop has given so much help and advice to the junkie but he keeps going back to what hurts him or may even kill him. Jesus keeps putting His hand out to you and me. When He shines that light on us as we stumble in the dark alleys let’s grasp Him and let Him pull us free.

30daysofpraise, christian encouragement, Uncategorized

Dirty Knees, Bountiful Harvest

August 18, 2020August 17, 2020 krisshetter

Is there someone in your life you are praying for – praying they will know God and surrender to Jesus? I have a few friends and family members on my prayer list that I lift up continuously to the Lord. He is our great Harvester but as He says in Luke 10:2,

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
Luke 10:2

We don’t know who is on God’s list of the “elect” so it’s our job as His field workers to get on our knees and pray for those around us. For when we pray, we are then opening ourselves up to direction from the Almighty. It’s one thing to pray for ourselves – our sins, our hurts, and our needs – but those of us who have offered up ourselves to God are already saved. Our eternal place in heaven’s field of flowers is set. So, when we plead with God for those we love, it brings about something new.

When you Google the words “Harvest Celebration” you get to the Wikipedia page, “Harvest Festival.” It says, “Ample food and freedom from the necessity to work in the fields are two central features of harvest festivals: eating, merriment, games, music and romance are common features around the world.” Just think how much grander the harvest festival is in the spiritual world! God celebrates each time a new seed is planted, nurtured and brought into His ample basket. And, as His field workers we are called to play small parts in each of those steps.

I chose this topic today to send up praise of thanksgiving to our God who loves us bountifully. He answers our prayers fully that reflect His will. Here’s how I know this. This answered prayer starts with a reflection on my family. My mother is the daughter of a Baptist minister. She has a tenuous relationship with God, at best. Unfortunately, there weren’t field workers willing to nurture her through questions and feelings of mistrust. She saw Christians show up to church each week and act devout then leave the church doors and sin. My father is an atheist. He had no upbringing in the church and no friends who shared their faith. What little exposure they’ve had to God was through my mother’s sister who had many mental and family issues. In spite of this, I always believed in God. I had a friend that I occasionally attended church with but the majority of the people around me never spoke of their faith – if they had any. I married into a devout Presbyterian family. Boy, were they worried about me! Funny enough, my own parents were concerned when I told them I was going to church. Fast forward to the last few years. My parents and I never talk about my beliefs. I don’t hide them. But we just have not had another conversation centered around faith since I announced I was attending church. I asked a pastor once when I should just give up on some people – like my parents. He said, “Oh, you never give up! Just like God never gives up on you!” And so, as I have surrendered my life over to Christ, I’ve started praying more for others.

After watching the amazing movie, War Room, I set up a prayer area. On my wall I have cards filled with prayers for other people. One of those is for my parents:

“Lord, you are the only one who can break the bonds holding my parents down. With all your heavenly might break the tall and strong walls they have built around their hearts and minds. Lord, grab a hold of them and pull them from the fire!”

I’ve been praying this prayer now for about a month. The other day I added to the prayer, “Show me what part, even the smallest part, I need to do to help you accomplish this.” That very afternoon I stopped by their house to check in on them. My dad started talking about a book series he’s reading called, “The Saxon Series.” It’s an historical drama set in England. He shared that he had never understood what the “Holy Ghost” was or how the trinity worked until he read these books. Apparently, there’s a character in the book who refers to Jesus as “the nailed God” and priest who refers to the trinity as, “Father, Son and the other guy.” What ensued was a conversation about the role of the divine in each part of the trinity. I shared how when Jesus was crucified, he let the disciples know that another would come in his place to be with us always – the Holy Spirit. We talked about how much of the New Testament is written to churches who were either going astray or who needed support due to persecution. We also talked about the roles in the Old Testament of pagan gods versus The Almighty God. It. Was. Amazing.

Here’s the thing, I had written off my father as someone who would never come to know Jesus because he is an atheist. I thought my mom would possibly come around because of her faith background. But it was my father with whom I was having this conversation!

When I left the house I was stunned. I praised God for answered prayers. And, I thanked God for this: I was prepared. If this conversation had come up five or ten years ago, I would not have been able to speak so confidently and easily about these topics. God was preparing me for that day, that moment. I know the salvation of my parents is not my responsibility. I was just the field hand, who had been on my knees praying and pleading for God to help them. And if I needed to play some small role, I was ready to do the work. I will keep praying for them until either the day of their passing or the day of their surrender.

We can never know the hour God will gift us with answered prayers. Just like I really have no idea when my green tomatoes will finally turn red and be ready for harvest. Until then I get my knees dirty working in His name.

30daysofpraise, christian encouragement

The Rescuer

August 9, 2020August 7, 2020 krisshetter

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Be careful what you wish for!” That especially holds true when we sit in prayer with God. At times he will, because we refuse to listen to his guidance, give us exactly what we’ve wished for – and realize it’s not what we needed. Other times he gives us the exact opposite of what we’ve prayed. And we realize it is exactly what we needed. Charles Stanley’s Life Principle #9 is, “Trusting God means looking beyond what we can see to what God sees.”

God is our wise counselor. He is the ultimate teacher and rescuer from ourselves. Yes, from ourselves. When we finally surrender to his will we look back over all the times we prayed for the wrong things. A friend of mine shared with me the other day that she was looking back over her last six months of journal entries. She was so convicted in what her prayers said. For one, she kept praying to God to show her how to forgive someone; over and over and over she asked for guidance. And then she came to the entry where she prayed that someone would forgive her, immediately. She didn’t want that person to pray for six months about how to forgive her, she wanted it now. She had to laugh at the glaring lesson God was putting in front of her. “Yes, I want you to forgive immediately, not six months from now, not with some magic steps you need to learn, now.”

About four years ago I sat on the edge of my bed in tears. In my conversation with God I told Him how I didn’t understand why I was so unhappy. I was hosting a successful Bible study, I prayed and I went to church. I recited all my “good Christian” actions. But I was still in mental and emotional turmoil. Suddenly a loud and distinct voice behind me boomed, “What have you really done?” Now mind you, there was no one else home at the time. I quickly looked behind me to an empty room. I responded with a prosaic, “What??” And from right in front of me the voice spoke, “Really, what have you done?” It shocked me. Mostly because the conviction was true. I was doing all the “right things” but I wasn’t doing the most important thing – surrendering completely to the Almighty. And so, I got down on my knees and prayed for him to show me the path – no, pull me with both hands – out of the mud and mire of my life. He rescued me at that very moment. He started me on what I called God’s Boot Camp.

The same friend who shared her journal review asked me at the end of a long walk, “Why aren’t people adding their praise to your posts?” I responded by saying I didn’t really know – maybe people were quietly saying their own praises without feeling the need to post. Some people also reply to me personally. While others might do what I did before that fateful day on the side of the bed, they read and move on. You see God the counselor, God the rescuer can only be successful at his tasks when we intentionally obey him. I also shared with her that this 30 Days of Praise, unlike some of my other challenges I’ve opened to people, is really for me. And if someone wants to come along for the ride it makes it all the more fun.

What has God been counseling you on lately? What has he rescued you from? Share your praise for him today!

christian encouragement

Clean Feet

July 25, 2020 krisshetter

Did you realize that Jesus, in the upper room before His death, cleansed all the disciples’ feet. By all I mean even Judas’ – the betrayer. Jesus, however, made it clear that not all of the disciples had been cleansed. “Those who have had a bath (cleansing of the spirit) need only to wash their feet (to remove the sins of the world from them); their whole body is clean. And, you are clean, though not every one of you.” John 13:10. When Judas left the room with clean feet that’s all he had, clean feet. Feet that would then be sullied the minute he walked out into the world.

By all accounts Judas seemed like a loyal follower in the eyes of the other disciples. He had all the same benefits of following in the Lord’s footsteps. The same teachings. The same experiences with miracles and blessings. But he never surrendered his life over to Jesus. He kept one or even one and half of his feet in the world and with the devil. He mistrusted God’s Word. He thought he knew better. He lived in fear of what the world would do to him if he fully submitted to Jesus.

Contrast that with Peter. I realized today that Peter is the “Martha” of the disciples. Always headstrong and trying to control each situation. He also thought he knew better. However, in his heart he loved and trusted the Lord. He accepted admonishment and the teachings of Jesus. He, as my BSGs (Bible Study Girls) love to say, was making imperfect progress. He had a foot and a half in for God. Until God helped him pull in the rest of him.

I had a couple of encounters with Christian women recently who were counseled to “run to God, for His arms are wide open.” I was so saddened by their responses which included, “How” and “It’s too late for me.” The first reminds me of how, as Christians, we absolutely must share our testimony. We must do the work God makes clear to us in His Word. By enveloping us in His teachings, submitting every single thought, worry, fear, joy, to Him through prayer and petition we will come into His arms. God gives to those who ask. Judas had everything available to him. But he never submitted. He never asked for God to change his heart.

The second response makes me cry. It is never too late in God’s holy timeframe. I’ve been talking with my BSGs and other friends about banging on God’s door. Demanding to let us in. Pleading for his intercession. Not just lukewarm praying. An all-out assault. He has promised His love to us. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come and eat with that person, and they with me.” Rev 3:20. We need to stop letting satan whisper falsehoods in our ears — you aren’t worthy, you aren’t good enough, it’s too late. Take back our lives and put them safely in God’s arms by speaking the Truth of God’s promises. Promises that are clearly and consistently written out for us in the Bible. Revelations continues with: “To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne.” Rev 3:21

Sisters and brothers, God is not a passive “spiritual being.” He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent in our lives. He is powerful and that makes you powerful. We can no longer see and hear His blessings and let them roll off our backs like Judas. We need to take what is rightfully ours and plant it deep inside us. We will struggle like Peter. But our love for the Lord will work for our good. So that when we walk out into that dirty world we stay clean, we stay in His arms.