Author: embassychurchnlr

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What if I told you to just write?

“What if I told you to just write?” This was a question that popped into my head one night when I was feeling weary – which I often did during the night when I do most of my thinking. At first, my brain tried to rationalize the situation and I tried telling myself it was something I made up to make myself feel like I was hearing God. I’ll be the first to admit that I ask those “…but is that really you Lord?” questions too often, both in genuine curiosity and also in rebellion, because I don’t like what I’m hearing.

I took a moment to just marinate and think about the question in front of me. If you know me you know that I consider, or used to consider, writing as a passion of mine. I stopped doing it when times got confusing and hard because I told myself that other things mattered more – such as fitting the mold I thought would please everyone else; the mold that seemed like the “right” next step, the one that made sense, and the one that was physical that I could see and understand. But that is the problem. We are not supposed to understand everything that God has for us. We are supposed to TRUST and have FAITH in God our Father. We walk by faith not by sight.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

~2 Corinthians 5:7

There is a difference between being confused and not understanding. God is not a God of confusion. He is a BIG God. He is an INFINITE God. Which means that our brains aren’t able to understand or even comprehend ALL of who He is. But even in all his vastness and infiniteness He still pursues us – He still calls out to us – He still loves us. When I wrote the question that popped into my head on a piece of paper, I took time to just look at it. And then out of sheer curiosity (or nudging) I looked up what the word “write” meant in Hebrew. One of the translations for this word made that simple question turn into something more than I could’ve ever thought.

For the past month or so, I’ve really been struggling within myself about how or when I was supposed to spend time with God. I know that everyone has a different relationship with God, but if I’m being honest, there is a difference in knowing something and understanding it. For example, I know why grass grows but do I understand how it grows. I know that everyone has their own personal relationship with God but… do I understand why? Do I understand that God just wants me? He just wants you. He doesn’t want duplicates. He doesn’t want copies. He wants uniqueness. He doesn’t want religion, He wants relationship. Do I truly understand that? Do I truly understand that not everything is going to make sense? And that it’s okay – at that point is exactly where faith comes in, if you allow it.
       

Do you know what “write” translates into? It translates into connect, add, bind, link, piece, compose, tie, associate and join. When that question popped into my mind, I was asking God a bunch of how’s, what’s and why’s. He retorted it with a question so deep and full of love.


“What if I told you to just join?”
“What if I told you to just compose?
“…to just bind”
“…to just link”
“Just connect.”

The more I would look at these translations the more I realized it wasn’t really a question at all. It was a declaration of His infinite love. “Just be with Me.”

What if God just told us to be still? To forget about all of the hustle and bustle of the world. Would you listen? Would you have faith and trust? If you say yes right away, well that’s great, but be careful. You have to count the cost. Jesus said “So don’t follow me without considering what it will cost you. For who would construct a house before first sitting down to estimate the cost to complete it? Otherwise, he may lay the foundation and not be able to finish it. The neighbors will ridicule him saying, “Look at him! He started to build but couldn’t complete it!” Have you ever heard of a commander who goes out to war without first sitting down to do strategic planning to determine the strength of his army to win the war against a stronger opponent? If he knows he doesn’t stand a chance of winning the war, the wise commander will send out delegates to ask for the terms of peace. “Likewise, unless you surrender all to me, giving up all you possess, you cannot be one of my disciples.” (Luke 14:28-33 TPT)

God wants you. He wants you – but He doesn’t want half (1/2) of you, or three quarters (3/4), or ninety-nine point nine percent (99.9%) of you. He wants all of you, one-hundred percent (100%) of you, all the time. The real you. The you that is honest with Him. The you that doesn’t try to hide anything but the you that is transparent and real. It is definitely not always going to be easy but God doesn’t give you what you cannot handle; rather He lessons the severity of every single trial you face so that you can have a greater faith in Him and come out victoriously. (1 Corinthians 10:13) He loves you.

“What if I told you to just write?”

By Ainsley Wilson

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Do You Like to Wait?

Most of our culture has a very short time they are willing to wait. I remember when I was a kid and wanted something – I had to wait. Cartoons came on TV only on Saturday mornings mostly. If I wanted to hear my favorite song I had to wait for it to come on the radio. Now, I was born in 1980’s so I’m sure some of you will read this and recall even earlier times with no landline phones, indoor plumbing or air conditioned homes. I can only view things from what I’ve experienced.

The thing is, when I look at society as a whole, we don’t like to wait. Studies show that the average person loses patience after 2.5 minutes of waiting. Yes I said it – 2.5 minutes. That is shocking to me. Noah waited 40 days before sending the raven. Eventually, the dove brought back the olive leaf. Noah didn’t have cable to find a movie, apple music or social media to “mindlessly scroll” on Facebook. You know how people will text or message you and if you don’t respond in 1 nanosecond they go into panic mode? Noah would have had a hard time since mankind was having a permanent pool party. But he had to wait…….sad to say, “we”, including myself, don’t like to wait.

Isaiah 40:31 says, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” We love to quote that one at church but soon after leaving service we get frustrated while having to wait 2 minutes for the red light to change so we can go eat. Psalm 62:5 says, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.”

Even when I consider to watch a movie, I will look for “reviews”. I like doing this simply because my time is valuable and I feel like I’ve wasted it if I don’t enjoy the movie. When I do this, I am trusting someone else’s experience and assuming that it will be the same for me…..
BOOM! Are you ready for this….. we do this in our walk with GOD! We have devotionals, books and apps on our phones. These are “reviews” and we are trusting other people with our time so that it saves time to get our “time with God” done quicker so we don’t have to “wait” for the experience and get all of the other things done that we have to do. A lot of this is “negative confession” because I am like this – I don’t like to wait. Now, in church the Pastor is VERY important, especially ours. He takes what he teaches very seriously and I definitely trust his “review”. But on the other side of the coin, God works on each one of us totally different – the Holy Spirit convicts, shapes and molds us in many different ways. Church needs to be the introduction of our book not the whole story.

My children have it the worst – they don’t have to wait for anything. Mostly poor parenting on my part but if they want to watch, listen or read anything it’s delivered instantly. Amazon delivers to our door and groceries are delivered to our car. I will admit both of these services are kind of nice but it seems like we don’t have to “earn” things or put in the work to receive the
reward. We let the other guy do the heavy lifting. Do we do this in church? We let the Pastor do the heavy lifting most of the time. Like I said, it may just be me that feels this way. I hope it is because that means there is a little less work to be done for a very impatient society. Remember the old ketchup commercial? “Good things come to those who wait.”

Just remember…. waiting on the Lord has many more benefits than ketchup!

By Jason Thomas

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Perpetual Joy

What does “Joy” mean to you? Is it being happy? Or just being content with your life? Just what exactly is Joy? I have been praying for more joy for some time now. So, I decided to research “Joy” from the context of what Jewish thought is on it. And, I found some rather interesting things about joy.

I found that there is an interesting concept called “Perpetual Joy” in some rabbinic commentaries. Perpetual joy seems almost impossible to attain . . . but is it?

What is Perpetual Joy?

Perpetual Joy is a concept that was founded by Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698-1760). It was his belief that joy was, and is, a religious obligation. He founded the Chassidic movement where perpetual joy was one of the distinguishing characteristics. They also believe that it is a biblical command to be joyous with every experience.

“The ability to be joyous, by discerning the good and joyous within every experience, is considered by chassidim as a biblical command!” — Baal Shem Tov

Rabbi Baal Shem Tov made it his mission to bring the message of hope and joy to the Jewish people. At the time in which he lived, they were downtrodden. He wanted to restore joy to the people and he travelled from village to village to do so. One of the things he taught them was that joy is precious before God; and that they should serve God with joy at all times and in every situation. 

“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” -Psalm 100:1-2

Aspects of Perpetual Joy

Joy in His Presence

Another of his beliefs/teachings is that they were always in God’s presence because of the scripture, “The whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) In recognizing that they were constantly in His Presence, they should always be joyful! Just thinking and believing that the Shekinah (God’s manifested glory) is always at your side and watches over you should make you joyful! In essence, we must experience greater joy serving God above all else.

Joyous Prayer

The Rabbi believed that, based on the Torah, joyous prayer is more effective in eliciting Divine blessings. This was the direct opposite of the concept about prayer at that time, which was “an exercise of sadness and weeping, fasting and self-infliction.”

Then, on the other hand, it was believed that not serving God with joy brought punishment! The scripture cited was Deuteronomy 28:47-48, “Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.”

Joy and Teshuvah/ Repentance

We’ve been studying Teshuvah/Repentance recently through Pastor Charlie’s teachings. Baal Shem Tov believed there was no greater joy than the knowledge that, “no matter how much you’ve messed up, no matter the grime your soul has accumulated, no matter how distant from God you’ve become (intentionally!), you still have the ability to instantly repair that which was broken and reestablish a relationship with God.” Teshuvah/Repentance is the “greatest and most powerful mitzvah (good deed) and must be done with the greatest joy.”

Is Perpetual Joy Possible?

Is it possible to see joy in every situation? There are MANY scriptures in Psalms that tells us that we are to have joy. If we trust in God, we should rejoice and be joyful! 

“But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.” -Psalm 5:11

One of my favorites is Psalm 16:11. Remembering that we are always in His Presence, because He is Omnipresent, should cause us to have “fulness of joy!” And, in the Strong’s Concordance, “pleasures” has one meaning that points to music! (H5276) “singing, sweetly sounding, musical!” 

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” -Psalm 32:11

We should also be joyful because of His salvation! Salvation (H3444) doesn’t just mean “saved” in the context of going to heaven. It means SO much more than that: salvation, deliverance, welfare, prosperity and victory!

Other meanings are for health! Did Jesus not go to the cross for our salvation and provide for our healing? (“By whose stripes ye were healed” -1 Peter: 2:24) And that includes all of the other attributes of salvation as well. Hence, we should rejoice in all that His salvation provides for us.

“And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord: it shall rejoice in his salvation.” -Psalm 35:9

Psalm 51:12 says that joy comes with His salvation; “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”

One way we can show that we have joy is to sing to God and make a “joyful noise” to Him. There are several psalms that tell us to “make a joyful noise” to the Lord. Here are a few:

“Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.” -Psalm 81:1

“O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.” -Psalm 95:1

“Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto with psalms.” -Psalm 95:2

“Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.” -Psalm 149:5

When is the last time you sang aloud on your bed because of having so much joy? That’s something to think about! But, through it all, we should, as Christians, live lives of joy. What a difference that might make in the lives of those around us if we can stay in continuous joy! Is Perpetual Joy attainable? I think it is! After all, Jesus, Himself, said, in Mark 9:23, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

By Maribeth Alexander

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Why Do We Question Anything?

Why do we question anything? Is the Word of God not enough to keep us content and wanting nothing but a relationship with Him? Do we search out our hearts daily? If not, the time is now! 

In January, I lost my dad (62 yrs old) and a month later lost my 96 year old grandmother.  Both loved the Lord. Both served Him in similar ways. Both from different religious backgrounds.  Both showed God’s love and knew the importance of Him in all our lives. Both taught me to love the Lord above anything else. Lessons I want to pass along to my children. 

Lately, I have been led to use my grandmothers Bible along with my own. As I thumb through the pages, I see many hours spent in His Word, understanding, love, knowledge and  relationship. I then question, like all the writings and underlined scriptures in there, do we have this knowledge and understanding written on the tablets of our hearts? Proverbs 3:3 says, “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Are they there? Inscribed in your heart? 

In this truth/understanding/knowledge, do we not worry (Matthew 6:25), not doubt (James 1:6), not fear (Isaiah 41:10)? It pleases God to trust Him with our every need. Like in Matthew, the birds are fed and have no worry of anything. Why not us? “Look at the birds! They do not worry about what to eat – they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food – for your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to Him than they are. Will all your worries add a single moment to your life?” (vs 26-27) Trust comes from spending time with Him and in His Word. This will help with our heart issue. 

It seemed that the Israelite’s were never satisfied in the desert. God provided their every need, but they still weren’t happy. The problem is they were following God with their words and not their hearts. Their hearts were far away and this grieved God’s heart. The same goes for us today. Are we following God with our words or our hearts?  

I don’t want to hurt or grieve Him. God has done so much for me over and over again. “I recall the many miracles He did for me so long ago.” – Psalms 77:11. I constantly work on my heart. If we don’t do this, we can’t have a true relationship with Him and we can’t follow any of His instructions in the scriptures. 

When I read Psalms 139:17-18, I was overcome with God’s love for us. It says, “How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn towards me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me.” Are we the same way with Him? Our hearts and thoughts should be constantly on Him in this same manner. This is the only way for us to walk through this world and be ready to be with Him forever. 

Love Him. Trust Him. Write His Word on your hearts. Share all this with others! He is coming!  Are you ready?? 

Author

By Amber Thomas

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Let Hope Be Your Anchor

I remember back when I was in nursing school, they taught us how important it is for patients to have a positive attitude when going through a medical crisis. It wasn’t until I was out of school years later, going through my own medical issues, that I saw this really was true. I quickly learned it can be more than medical and illnesses; it can be relationships on the rocks, problems with kids, addictions, loss of a job or money problems. It’s not about IF we will face some trial or tribulations, but WHEN – it’s inevitable.

I say all that to get to this. Our attitude, how we handle things, affects every facet of our lives and honestly those around us.  Do we have a positive attitude or a negative attitude? It’s a proven fact that when you’re sick, but have a positive attitude and hope, your brain is likely to produce chemicals that boost your immune system and your body’s healing power. Through all my medical issues, I learned really quickly I couldn’t do it alone. My problems were bigger than me but my God is bigger than my problems!

One of my favorite verses that I cling to still today is Hebrew 6:19. It tells us we have a certain Hope like an anchor holding our souls to God Himself.  We all know an anchor is usually made of heavy metal attached to a vessel by a rope or chain and cast overboard into a body of water to hold the vessel in a particular place. This prevents the vessel from drifting due to high wind or current. I don’t know about you, but on many occasions I have felt like life has thrown me overboard into raging waters. But just as an anchor secures a ship, Jesus secures me because He has me anchored to Him. I just love that visual!

Jesus wants to be our anchor in all our storms – if we will just let Him. He longs to be connected to us – ALL THE TIME – not just during raging waters. An anchor has to be secured to its vessel for it to do its job in stabilizing that vessel. We have to be tethered to Jesus to have hope in this world. Jesus said in John that He has overcome the world and through this we have gained Hope in ALL of life’s trials and tribulations. Not just this one or that one but ALL of them. When you’re sinking beneath the waves of all your problems, most of the time our common sense goes right out the window. We need something so much greater to hold on to.

Psalm 121 says, “I lift my eyes up to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” If the God of Creation can create the earth and the heavens, then why wouldn’t He be able to help me with my pathetic little problems? Why wouldn’t I lay them at His feet? This concept of hope is an important one as it’s mentioned 130 times in the Bible. It’s defined as the confident expectation of what God promised and its strength in His faithfulness. Think about that – confident expectation. In this world there aren’t too many things we can have confident expectation in. Hope usually lies hidden in us until we need it for security and strength in those moments when we think we just can’t go on.

Faith, gratitude and love go hand in hand with hope. We can’t have hope without faith or faith without love and gratitude. We will all face suffering – disappointments, heartaches, loss, trials and tribulations – but how we handle them says a lot about where we are in our walk with Christ. Do we fall apart or do we fall into the loving and waiting arms of Jesus? Do we try to do it all ourselves or do we surrender and let our Anchor confidently stabilize us in the raging seas? Do we constantly ask, “Why me Lord,” or do we show gratitude because that problem might be breaking us down enough for Him to draw us to closer?  I know when my hope is in Him and only Him, I am much more confident and secure than when I’m trying to handle it myself. Why would I even think I would be equipped to handle it on my own? The thing is, we never have to do it alone – ever!

He wants us to want Him for every moment of our lives – the good, the bad and every moment in between. I remember when I was going through one of my many medical issues dealing with chronic pain, someone told me, “Donna, you praise Him through the pain”. I don’t know if you’ve ever done that before but it wasn’t easy for me at first. I remember getting in my Bible after that and reading everything I could about hope, suffering, pain and healing. I did that until I could thank Him and praise Him through the pain. And really mean it! Romans 5:3-5 says, “And not only this, but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient endurance; and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and proven character, hope and confident assurance [of eternal salvation]. Such hope [in Gods promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” 

So you see, the suffering you’ve been going through is producing some pretty incredible things in you. I can’t promise you all illness will be healed, all relationships restored or that you’ll come into millions. However, I am promising you that He counts every tear you cry. He will be your strength when you feel alone, when you feel you can’t go on or when you feel it just can’t get any better. He will always be merciful, always loving, always faithful and always trustworthy when you can’t depend on anything or anyone else – and certainly not yourself. The way I see it, we have a few options when dealing with our most difficult trials or even our basic everyday problems. We can let it decide who we are. We can let it tear us apart and destroy us. Or….we can take hold of Jesus’s hand. We can put our hope and trust in Him and by doing that there will most certainly be better days ahead.

I read a quote by an unknown author recently that I really liked – kinda sums all this up. “The deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of the pain, thanking God during the trials and trusting Him when we’re tempted to lose hope. At my lowest, God is my hope. At my darkest, God is my light. At my weakest, God is my strength. At my saddest, God is my comforter.” Don’t lose hope. Don’t quit. Have gratitude in the process of the pain. There is always someone hoping and praying for the very things you may take for granted. There is always someone worse off than you. Remember, have confidence in your Anchor to pull you out of those raging waters. To realize the worth of the Anchor, we have to feel the storm! There is always hope! God bless!

By Donna Keathley

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What Are You Exalting?

The meaning of “exalt” in Hebrew is to lift, compliment, improve, praise or applaud. Psalms 118:16 says “ The right hand of Yahweh exalts! The right hand of Yahweh will never fail.” What is so important to understand is that God exalts His people even when we don’t deserve it. This is not something that He is required to do but rather He chooses to do it in His own kindness. I’ll be honest, before I studied this word I had no idea what it really meant. I was really just using the context clues but once I studied it I realized what I had been missing out on.

“So everyone, exalt the Lord our God facedown before His glory-throne, for He is great and holy.” -Psalm 99:5


People can get so caught up with the blessings of God and His power that they forget God is the one who deserves to be exalted! It is a beautiful sea to step out onto when we choose to exalt God. It is a place of humbling and true reverencing fear and awe of Him. Every single day we should wake up with a grateful heart. We should be waking up applauding Him because when the world changes and people lash out God never changes and His loves never fades.


When I was younger, I would sit in church watching people truly exalt God. They would have beautiful intimate moments with Him and the goosebumps seemed to spread throughout my whole body just by watching them. THIS… exalting God… cannot be something that is just half-hearted or faked; God knows the difference between someone who truly steps out on the water for Him and someone who goes and gets the life raft. The Bible says that we have the PRIVILEGE to worship God; so why do we take it for granted? There isn’t a day that goes by that we shouldn’t wake up smiling because it is a day that He blessed us with – a day where we were blessed with the opportunity of knowing Him and seeking Him more.


In life we can get distracted and exalt things that last but only for a moment – things that are fleeting. As it says in 1 Samuel 16:7, God doesn’t look at our outward appearance, He looks at our heart. So I plead with you, PLEASE exalt Him, jump for joy in His presence and applaud Him with His creation. In all that you do, let it be pleasing and acceptable in His eyes because He deserves that and so much more. In the Greek, standing ovation is translated into a permanent applause – THAT is what we should be giving Him.

So, what are you exalting?

By Ainsley Wilson

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Mirror Mirror on the Wall

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. So what do you see when you look in the mirror? Don’t like your hair color? Rather have long hair like Crystal Gayle or short hair like Halle Berry? Want straight hair like Fabio or Shirley Temple curls? Have blue eyes like Frank Sinatra or prefer brown eyes? What about green or hazel eyes? Is your nose like ‘Pinocchio’? Have ears like ‘Dumbo’? Are your lips too thin or have you had too much Botox? Do you have ‘Howdy Doody’ freckles? Or Mario Lopez dimples? Are your teeth crooked or straight? Are you counting the wrinkles? Are you overweight? Or underweight? Are you just a little flabby or more muscular like the ‘Hulk’? Do you have tiny dinosaur arms or long sloth-like arms? Are your hands big enough to palm a basketball or do you have baby hands? Are you as small as a ‘Smurf’ character or as tall as an oak tree? Is your nickname ‘Bigfoot’? Do you have claws for toes or cute little piggies?   

Now let’s stop for a minute before you get dizzy from shaking your head in agreement or while you catch your breath from laughing. 🙂

Do you realize that while you may be wishing that you didn’t look a certain way or have certain features that there is also someone out there wishing they looked just like you?

Someone who is bald is wishing they had hair again. Someone without the sense of sight is daydreaming about seeing the sunrise or sunset just one more time. Someone without the sense of smell is longing for the aroma of a flower or perfume. Someone without the sense of hearing desires to be able to listen to a song or your voice. Someone without the sense of taste is craving that bite of food as to savor it a little longer. Someone who cannot speak is wanting to say something meaningful just one last time. Someone with no arms is yearning to give out hugs. Someone with no legs &/or feet is wishing they could stand, walk or run again.

Yet, there is also someone out there that is thankful they are bald because they have an opportunity to connect with a child cancer patient in a special way. There is someone that is indebted for having impeccable hearing as they used their ‘white cane’ to cross a very busy intersection today in which they were almost hit by a car. And there is another that is content with their loss of smell as it prompted a Dr. visit where they learned this was a side effect of a treatable disease & saved their life. There is someone that doesn’t take their wrinkles for granted as they remind them of all the laughter & goodness they have been given with family & friends. There is someone that is grateful for their loss of hearing or speech as it forced them to learn sign language & lead them down a path of becoming an interpreter to help others. And there is yet another someone out there without a limb(s) that is overwhelmed at the testimony their life brings as a courageous survivor who fought in a battle to keep us & our country safe.

So let me ask you a second time. WHAT do see when you look in the mirror?

You may ask, “Mirror Mirror on the Wall, who is the fairest of them all?” and see nothing but flaws or imperfections ~ even weaknesses (doubt, fear, anxiety, etc.) & brokenness (hurts, failures, etc.). But don’t you know that you are a reflection of your Father? Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.”

And He [the Lord] responded, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” – I Samuel 16:7

You are being changed from the inside out so that in your reflection you will see His heart displayed in your thoughts/words, in your appearance & upon your face which in turn magnifies Him to others. “You are fearfully & wonderfully made.” (Psalm 31:30) “You are altogether beautiful, my love, there is no flaw in you.” (Song of Solomon 4:7) “Let your true beauty come from your inner personality, not a focus on the external. For lasting beauty comes from a peaceful and gentle spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.” (I Peter 3:3-4) “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of a good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed [intimidated], for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) “So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy [set apart, sanctified for His purpose] and well-beloved [by God Himself], put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience [which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes, with good temper]; bearing graciously with one another, and willingly forgiving each other if one has a cause for complaint against another; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so should you forgive. Beyond all these things put on and wrap yourselves in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when each one seeks the best for others].” (Colossians 3:12-14)

Open your eyes to see what the Father sees. Where you may see pain & regret, He sees Love blooming yielding a sweet fragrance. Listen to what the Father has to say about you. Taste & see that the Lord is good. Where you have thoughts of complaint or frustration, take them captive by speaking life & truth. Reach out to others. Walk out the plan God has for your life; He will guide your steps. He sees His Light shining upon your face. He sees His heart in you.

Now…let’s try this again. WHO do you see when you look in the mirror?

See yourself as the Father sees you. See others the way that the Father sees them. Love and care for yourself the same way and with the same intensity that you love and care for others. Look upon yourself and others through the heart of God. Become so close to His heartbeat that your reflection in Him are as One – a mirror image.

“Mirror Mirror on the Wall, WHOSE is the fairest of them all?”

By Pam Elders

Posted on

The Cry of a Heart….and Hope

I am not a perfect Christian… and as long as I am an imperfect human I never will be. In the Passion Translation Bible, Psalm 39 is titled “A Cry For Help”, now put that in the back of your mind.

If I came up to you and told you that God wanted to take up every hour, minute and second of your day today what would you say? Would you hear me but not understand me? Would you feel flattered and then move on? Would you make up excuses saying that you’re too busy? Or would you say okay and go in a private room with Him and just be with Him?


Like I said in the very first sentence, I am not a perfect Christian; I am not a perfect person. I want to tell you something raw and honest – as the Bible says, honest confession good for the soul. If someone came up to me and asked me that same question you just read, I’m not sure what I’d do. I might think, “Yeah right,” or I might try and do it only to feel like I failed because I didn’t hear this BIG loud booming voice saying “AINSLEY”. I know myself and I know that immediately I would question myself and I would doubt myself – that’s just how I have always been – in school and in life in general. I’ve always been the type to be a people pleaser and when I feel like I let someone down it eats me up inside; I feel gross and almost immediately want to cry. I feel like I have completely and utterly disappointed them and the thought of that hurts. So, when I try and put that same fear of disappointment with my relationship with God it usually doesn’t end to well. I end up feeling guilty, hurt and like I’m just broken. I start trying to compare my relationship with God to everyone else around me; my mom, dad, pastor, boyfriend….and the list goes on.


I want you to know something. Comparison does not get you anywhere! God does not want your relationship to be the same as another persons with Him. God wants each of us to have our own personal raw relationship with Him. One where you can come to Him in your darkest of moments and just praise Him and be with Him. One where you talk with Him throughout the entire day even when you aren’t really in your “study time”. We shouldn’t just meditate on His word when we pray, read the Bible or praise Him; we should be mediating on it all hours, minutes and seconds of the day. So really if someone came up to you and told you God wanted to spend an entire day with you it shouldn’t be any different from what we should already be doing. Now, I’m not saying you can’t watch TV, workout or hang out with friends and family – all that I’m asking is that in each and every moment of the day you are glorifying Him and loving Him with all that you do.

And now, God, I’m left with one conclusion:
My only hope is to hope in you alone!

Psalm 39:7


Think of it like this. When you meet someone and fall in love with them, they are all that you can think about; they are all that occupies your thoughts. You try and come up with any way that you can see them and be in their presence again. Don’t you think that God wants that with us – only multiplied?!?


Now let’s go back to Psalm 39. Did you know that when we feel guilty or hurt or even worried all we have to do His cry out to God? All we need to do is be honest with Him; be truthful with Him. Psalm 39 deals with our words and with God’s discipline.

Very quickly, I want you to think of your mouth like a garden. If we choose not to guard it (because yes it is a choice), we are letting the weeds come in and destroy what once had the potential to be beautiful. However, if we decide to actually guard our mouth, then we are keeping the weeds (death) out of the garden and allowing for beautiful things to come forth and grow (life). God cannot live in us if we have weeds because then He would be going against His own words….and well, He doesn’t do that. But if you catch yourself slipping just ask God for help, truly repent. And yes, God can rebuke us and discipline us but that is what a LOVING parent does for His children. He isn’t doing it because He finds joy in “punishing” us, in fact it isn’t punishment at all, but He is doing it because He sees our potential and He loves us so deeply that He wants to help us get to it – GET TO HIM. We just have to be willing to accept the correction.

I strongly encourage you to please read Psalm 39 and truly meditate and think on it. Be blessed.

By Ainsley Wilson

Posted on

Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve

We are so profoundly human. We all struggle with it, often feeling like a little devil is on one shoulder and an angel is on the other…the ultimate, daily battle that plays out in every human being: choice. Flesh and muscle wrapped around bone presents the outward appearance of a human body; but beyond what the natural vision can detect is something down deep inside that hands cannot quite touch…an essence beyond human understanding. It even baffles the most distinguished scientific minds…unless they have met the Master!!

“The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

1 Corinthians 2:14

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, amazing things happen! The blood that He shed on the cross makes us a new creature by washing away our sin.

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

II Corinthians 5:17

I remember the night I really asked Jesus to come into my heart. Many years earlier at seven years old and after a sermon about the crucifixion, I heard Him whisper, “I did this for you,” but no one offered to lead me in prayer. I had known Him for several years and had been seeking Him…but THAT night…I really experienced Him in my heart and I was forever changed. I was just a teenager and knew something was different but did not know just how much until I woke up the next morning to get ready for school. I realized my attitude toward my little sister was different!!! I knew immediately something had really happened inside of me!! 

I met the Man that had died for me on the cross so many, many years ago that I might live…really live!! 

I was a new creature all right, but in the same human shell…..not transported to any heavenly plane or ushered around by any band of angels (that I knew of!!). Yes, still very profoundly human! And to this day, I feel every bit of my earthly humanity, but there is something deep inside this flesh and bone… something between my emotional heart and my logical mind, that stirs me and reminds me of a LOVE that transformed me to eternal life. And it reminds me that I DO have a choice as I face those daily predicaments and decisions…now I have a Friend that supports me in times of uncertainty, questions, fear and all of the innumerable fantastic things that this earthly life will throw at me.  

Being truly “born again” has amazing advantages over winging it on your own!! 

As a child of God, My Heavenly Father and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, left me volumes of letters to read, even giving me examples, telling me how to face the issues of life. There are no new temptations and, for any that do come, God will make a way of escape!! (1 Corinthians 10:13)

“And, when Jesus ascended to be with the Father, God sent the Holy Ghost. Jesus says “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” -John 14:16 & 17

So many scriptures have become just familiar to us…..so familiar that they have lost their depth in our hearts and souls. I think we walk the greatest part of our Christian lives without really realizing who we are in Christ. He said, “Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) Jesus even prayed in the garden before being taken by the soldiers, “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:16)

You are more than flesh and bone! As a child of God, your “essence” is defined by The Living God who recreated you and the Son of God who died on the cross and rose again just so that you can walk in the freshness of Life!

Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior and Friend? There is a way that seems right to a man, but when the flesh and bone fall away, where will your soul spend eternity? 

If you have accepted Christ into your heart, you are in this world, but no longer of this world; but Jesus also said He will never leave you or forsake you! (Hebrews 13:5) His Love is wrapped around you whether you feel it or not!!!!!! 

Amen and Amen!!!

By Patsy Wallace

Posted on

The Father’s Love

What comes to mind when you think about the Old Testament? Irrelevant? Outdated? Boring? How many excuses have you & I used to avoid reading it? I don’t understand it. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t apply to MY life. For several weeks now, I’ve been reading in the Old Testament. To be honest, I’m blown away at what I’ve found. I’ve been in church throughout my entire life, and maybe like some of you, I’ve heard pieces of stories, but never been able to put it together as a whole. In what I’ve read lately, I’ve come to realize that without the Old Testament, you can’t fully appreciate the New Testament, and the value of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

You’ll notice in the Old Testament, the punishment for sin was death, immediate and harsh. If you’re not careful, you’ll have yourself convinced that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. Though, we know from Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8 that the Lord does not change; He is the same yesterday, today and forever. So, what exactly caused the difference?

Jesus.

“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5

Jesus took upon himself the penalty for our sins so we could experience forgiveness and grace. If not for His sacrifice, your complaining, disobedience, fear, and failure to trust God would result in you missing the promised land, just like the Israelite’s. Though, because of His sacrifice, we get another chance. And another chance. And another chance. We aren’t perfect, but the one who IS took our place.

I think most of us have at least tried to wrap our heads around what God really did for us by sending His son, Jesus, to die for us. Though, admittedly, it’s a seemingly impossible feat. I have three sons that I love with my whole heart. I cannot fathom for one second sending any one of them to die for even the MOST righteous person. Imagine sending them to die for the person who cut you off in traffic last week, the coworker who constantly criticizes you, the person who broke into your home and stole from you, the person who murdered someone you love….can you imagine?

Recently, it occurred to me, God didn’t give His only son so that everyone would have a relationship with Him; He gave His only son so that everyone would have the CHOICE to have a relationship with Him. No guarantee of the relationship. To put it another way, imagine that you want to adopt, but the only way you can is by giving up your child’s life. Then, imagine giving up your child’s life for someone who then rejected you, who decided not to be adopted by you. Then, imagine knowing BEFOREHAND, that you, and the adoption, would be rejected, and STILL giving up your child. Imagine giving up your child’s life for just a CHANCE of having a relationship with someone. That’s how much He loves us.

“For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life [never being separated from God].” John 3:16

I don’t know that we can ever fully understand the sacrifice that was made for us, but through the reading of His Word, I have gotten a small glimpse. Ever since this realization, there’s been an old song in my heart on repeat.

  • How Deep the Father’s Love
  • By Stuart Townend
  • How deep the Father’s love for us 
  • How vast beyond all measure,
  • That He should give His only Son
  • To make a wretch His treasure.
  • How great the pain of searing loss –
  • The Father turns His face away,
  • As wounds which mar the Chosen One
  • Bring many sons to glory.
  • Behold the man upon a cross,
  • My sin upon His shoulders;
  • Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
  • Call out among the scoffers.
  • It was my sin that held Him there
  • Until it was accomplished;
  • His dying breath has brought me life –
  • I know that it is finished.
  • I will not boast in anything,
  • No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
  • But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
  • His death and resurrection.
  • Why should I gain from His reward?
  • I cannot give an answer;
  • But this I know with all my heart –
  • His wounds have paid my ransom.

Maybe today we can put aside our preconceived ideas and opinions, and hopefully even our excuses. Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, that we may see the Father’s love revealed to us, all the way from Genesis to Revelation.

By Brandi Edwards

Visit Brandi’s Blog:

https://www.marriageandmotherhood.com/