Category: Uncategorized

They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor.
[Isa 61:3b NIV]

The Bible uses the most beautiful Eden imagery to describe growing in Christ. Oak trees are incredibly evocative because these massive organisms grow from such humble, tiny acorns. Before they can push up that first tender sapling, acorns must first send down a robust taproot deep into the soil in order to absorb the rich nutrients below. The Apostle Paul must have been aware of this fact when he reminded us that we are to be “rooted and established” in the fertile soil of God’s love for us (Ephesians 3:17). What a glorious image! However, not everyone is on the same page about our growth to be more and more like Jesus is to proceed.

Grace, Truth, and Time

     John Cloud and Henry Townsend write in their book, How People Grow, thatGod’s primary nutrients for us as growers are grace, truth, and time. These three elements, processed in the relationship, must all be present to make healthy growth possible. We need to root down into the grace of God’s love before we can even begin to face the hard truth of what needs to change, and we need time to train with others in order to learn God’s healthy strategies for growing into “oaks of righteousness.” 

Four Common Models for Growth

    Cloud and Townsend write about four incomplete models for growth that most of us encounter. Each one has essential elements of truth, but none has all three aspects of grace, truth, and time.

• The Sin Model: God is good; you are bad; stop it. This model does not include the Holy Spirit as a grace-filled source for change and does not include the time needed to process sin’s challenges and consequences with safe, godly people.
• The Truth Model: Just learn more Scriptures and doctrine, and somehow, your behavior will mysteriously change. This model points to the need for taking in God’s word and infers the time needed for change, but the support of others and God’s grace to sustain a grower are not mentioned.
• The Experience Model: Just get the pain of your life out, and you will have the power to heal and change. We do have to find out what is below our emotional water line and confess this truth, but this model does not mention supportive others, God’s grace, and time for unlearning and re-learning. 
• The Supernatural Model: God can instantly heal you and deliver you. Passively depend on the Holy Spirit to make change happen. Just get out of the way so Jesus can reproduce His life in you. God does deliver instantly, but most often, He chooses to develop us over a lifetime. This model contains God’s grace but does not make room for asking and receiving forgiveness, then digging in and training with safe others to do the gritty work that change requires.

     Which model has been the primary driver of growth in your life? Are all three nutrients of grace, truth, and time a part of your journey to be more like Jesus?

God’s Growth Model

     Our Abba, our Daddy-God, is a fantastic gardener, tending us carefully, knowing what fragile little shoots we are. His growth plan contains the grace, truth, and time we need in order to root down into His love and grow into “oaks of righteousness.”  Does the following plan feel doable to you?

• Tell God the truth about your mess.
• Ask Jesus to come to live in your heart.
  • Receive God’s forgiveness, cleansing, and acceptance.
  • Accept God’s offer of a “do-over.”
• Train with His Holy Spirit as your coach by:
  • Studying God’s Word and asking the Holy Spirit to help you understand what God is saying to you about your true identity in Christ and your true role in life.
  • Talking to God constantly about everything.
  • Asking for help to bond to healthy others yet be yourself and accept the mixture of good and bad in yourself and others during the growth process.
• Process your journey with others to receive:
  • Reality checks.
  • Love and acceptance.
  • Support and counseling.

     God wants us to grow! The people around us need all the grace and truth-wrapped-in-love we can give them. We can indeed grow into mighty oaks that pass on Jesus’ ability to provide the right response, at the right time, and for the right reason, if we receive the grace, truth, and time to grow, He is offering us. What do you say, little acorn? Are you ready to grow God’s way?

“Let every word you speak be drenched with grace and tempered with truth and clarity. For then you will be prepared to give a respectful answer to anyone who asks about your faith”
Colossians 4:6

I’m not exactly sure what God is speaking to me right now. There definitely is a theme to the message, though. 

• Sunday morning, Matt preached about Love 401. 
• My devotions this week have been about Cori Ten Boon and Rosa Parks. 
• Today’s scripture is quoted above. 

So, what is this theme: Love your enemies.

I’ve searched and do not find any current relationships that hold this struggle. The only confusion I can come to is that there must be something in my path that I will need this for. 

I’ve been walking with Jesus throughout my adult life. There are no words to describe the comfort that a relationship with Jesus brings in times of struggle or the sense of community in times of celebration. Through it all, God is good. 

I remember when I first came across the concept of praying for those who hurt me. I had a laundry list of reasons my feelings and behavior were justifiable. I struggled with low self-worth, repressed trauma, and self-sabotage. I was also miserable. I was absolutely sick and tired of being sick and tired. I didn’t even know HOW to start praying for people I had deep-seated animosity toward. 

These are the steps I took:

• Pray for the willingness to pray for that person
• Pray for God to help me see that person through His eyes
• Pray for blessings for that person

I must start with asking God to make me willing to pray for people who have hurt me. I begin by laying my wounds at His feet. He knows my pain and honors that wound. Once I have let God have complete possession of my pain, I can see past it. This doesn’t happen all at one time. It’s a process that may take several days, weeks, or months. 

Everyone is walking around with baggage they don’t share. Once I am willing to pray for the person, I start asking God to help me see them through His eyes. To change the lens of my glasses to “Son” shades. Praying to see others through God’s eyes helps me develop empathy and compassion, regardless of the situation. 

Now I can set my flesh aside and ask God to bless that person with all He has for them. 

I want to tell you this is a simple process, but it is NOT easy or quick. It does not guarantee that anything will change in the person I see as my enemy. It also does not require that you reconcile an unhealthy or abusive relationship. 

This process heals ME. It empties the poison of pain and resentment from my soul. It allows me to grow closer to Jesus and show His love to those around me. 

“⁶ I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked: ⁷ ‘Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? ⁸ Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? ⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?’ ¹⁰ Then I thought, ‘To this, I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. ¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.'” [Psalm 77:6-11 NIV]

  Do you know the difference between a lament and a complaint?  A complaint emerges out of a victim mindset, often talking about God being unkind or unfair. There is no forward movement with a complaint.  Instead, the one groaning pitches a tent in a swamp of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment, waiting for someone to come along and fix the situation. Our complaints often emerge from pride, demanding that we escape any suffering.  A lament, however, honestly and humbly expresses grief, suffering, or sadness directly to God, asking Him for comfort and His energy to move forward. When we lament, we cry out with our eyes fixed on Jesus, telling Him the truth of our situation with the expectation that He will help us move from chaos to confidence.  Why this confidence?  God has promised to work all things for good, even when we don’t like our circumstances, would not have chosen them, and are lamenting them.  Jesus also promised to return and do away with all this suffering, a hope that can steady our trembling knees and keep us marching on.

     One of the best strategies to keep us moving forward is to remember what God has already done.  When we look in our rearview mirrors to remember the times God has moved mountains or even pebbles in our lives, we re-fuel our faith.  Why is this?  Since God is unchanging in His love for us, and since His love never fails us, we trust that He loves us now, even if seeing His footprint in our current struggle is so difficult. 

     Psalm 77 is a wonderful template for going back to move forward.  Asaph’s song of remembrance begins with an expectant cry that God is listening (v.1-3). then concludes with God’s rescue (v.19:20).  Asaph moved from tragedy to triumph by first voicing his lament by asking five common questions that we are often afraid to voice when God doesn’t appear to answer prayer (v. 7-9).  Then he chooses to remember God’s deeds (v.10-12). After looking in the rearview mirror, He is able to tell himself that God is still the Great Redeemer (v.13-15). He then sings of God’s power at Sinai and the Red Sea (v. 16-18).  Asaph moves from a humble cry to conclude that God often leads us to safety, but that way may have to be made through a great sea, where God’s footprints are not visible (v. 19).

     There is great power in remembering what God has already done.  Taking time to list the way God has moved in your life is one way to look back in order to move forward. Reviewing that list often and adding to it can add some muscle to your faith, especially when God’s footprints are invisible and chaos is swirling.  We can all put on our lists that Jesus died for us and has redeemed us, already proving His love for us (Romans 5:8). So, remember and keep trusting that God’s love for you is unfailing and He is able to work all this for your good.

Verse for the rear-view mirror:

“But if from there you seek the Lord Your God, you will find Him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deut. 4:29

Seek the Lord – Seek His presence: To be before His face is to be in His presence. It is the conscious fixing or focusing of our mind’s attention and our heart’s affection on God. 1 Chron. 22:19a: “Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God.” and Col. 3:1-2 we are reminded to “set our hearts and minds on things above.”

In Psalm 34:10, the scripture tells that “Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing” and Psalm 14:2 says that “The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”

God is looking for us to seek Him. Are you ready to become a seeker today? In Jeremiah 29:13, ” …when you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord.”

Have you thought about seeking God’s face instead of His hand? Do you go to God with your list of things you need from Him? Maybe you are running low on groceries or need gas in your car? You might say these are necessities that I need and so it should be okay to ask God to provide these things, right? Matthew 6:33, states “Seek God first and all these things will be added unto you.”

Today, we want to focus on seeking God’s face. Are you seeking God’s face in whatever situation you are in? What is going on in your life today? Is this a situation where you feel like you need to seek God’s face or His hand? When you get on your knees or sit to pray, can you picture God’s face and being in His presence?

I would like to encourage you to start focusing on being in the presence of God and when you pray, all those things you have on your list will be taken care of as you dive into His presence.

In my last blog, I spoke about deliverance. I pray that you have been reading the deliverance scriptures and inserting your name in the place where it pertains to what God has promised you in His word. One of the scriptures was in Psalm 34:17. This scripture speaks about the righteous crying out to God. I believe this type of cry will be the one that puts you in the presence of God as it comes from deep in your heart and soul. I pray that in this time of crying out, you will feel the presence of God as He delivers you out of all your troubles.

If you want to become a seeker, this will take time and effort. You will need to set aside a specific time daily, preferably in the morning to intentionally spend time with God and allow Him to penetrate your mind and soul. Prov. 8:17 says “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”

In Charles Stanley’s Devotion, he lists some ways you can began seeking God and it starts with scripture and prayer. He also lists a few more ways to seek God including spending time with Him, meditating on God’s word, listening for His voice, slowly digesting what you read, talking to the Lord, asking Him questions, and applying what you learn.

When you take a pause in your day to spend time seeking the Lord (Psalm 105:4), you will position yourself to be aligned with God and His will for your life daily. This will make you aware of His continuous presence (Psalm 34:1) and allow you to surrender control of your life to Him. You will begin to acquire a hunger for the Lord and pursue Him and the more you pursue Him, the greater your cravings will be.

May you have a desire to become a seeker and acquire a deeper understanding and knowledge of Him. Prov. 2:4-6

Simple Prayer: Make me aware of Your presence every day and never let me turn my eyes from You. Be the vision of my life.

Scriptures for study: Lam. 3:35; Amos 5:4; Hosea 10:12; Isa. 55:6; Prov. 28:5; Psalm 105:3

Written by Idella Zell

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live’ “[Eze 37:9 NIV].

 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being [Gen 2:7 NIV].

     One of the biggest challenges in Christianity is understanding the difference between God’s job and our job.  John Cloud and Henry Townsend, in their book, How People Grow, sum up God’s job and our job the following way:

When we try to push God off His throne so that we can take a shot at creating and being the source of life, at controlling the world, judging everyone, and being the chief rule-maker, no wonder we flame out in utter exhaustion! We are not hard-wired for that amount of responsibility and stress. When we disconnect from God as the Source of Life, we are like some allergic-to-dependence, on-the-edge-of-death ICU patient, who yanks out all her tubes, only to discover she has unhooked herself from what supports her very existence.  Hurry sickness can cause some of us to be constantly on the move, no slowing, much less stopping, to catch our spiritual breath.  But God designed our entire being to function with His made-just-for-us, unforced rhythms of resting, then acting; of praying, then doing; and of receiving, then giving.

     Ezekiel 37 gives us a wonderful visual of dry bones receiving God’s CPR.  In verse 3, when Ezekiel in a vision, sees a large mass of desiccated bones littering the valley floor, God asks him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel is smart enough to answer, “Sovereign LORD, You alone know.” Then God tells the prophet to tell the dry bones to pay attention to His Word, for He is going to make breath come into them and bring them to life.  God calls the breath from the four winds and the dry bones are resurrected into a vast army.  Only God, “who gives breath to all living things” could speak life into those old bones.   

[Dan 10:17 NIV] 17 How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”

[Num 16:22 NIV] 22 But Moses and Aaron fell face down and cried out, “O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”

[Job 12:10 NIV] 10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

[Psa 150:6 NIV] 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

[Exo 14:14 NIV] 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

[Psa 37:7 NIV] 7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways when they carry out their wicked schemes.

[Psa 46:10 NIV] 10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

[Zec 2:13 NIV] 13 Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”

LORD JESUS, MAKE MY HEART SIT DOWN!

Patient Trust
A prayer by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J. (1881-1955)

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient in everything
To reach the end without delay should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way
To something unknown,
Something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress
That it is made by passing through
Some stages of instability –
And that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;
Your ideas mature gradually –
Let them grow
Let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
As though you could be today at what time(that is to say, grace and circumstances
Acting on your own goodwill)
Will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit
Gradually forming within you, will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing
That his hand is leading you,
And accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
In suspense, and incomplete.

Amen

Galatians 6:2 tells us to carry one another’s burdens.

I’ve been meditating on this idea heavily.

I’m coming up on almost one year since my youngest child graduated from high school. Soon after that, both of my young adult children left for college, and my nest was empty for the first time.

For many people, this is a complex and intensely emotional transition.

Life was a bit hectic just before college move-in for my youngest. The first couple of weeks were difficult for her, but I stayed pretty even. I have been pondering why my experience was not what I had imagined.

I have concluded that relationships are what held me up. I have a few deep friendships that see me through EVERYTHING. I am so thankful for those women who know me so intimately that we can just sit in the same room, be still and quiet, and the Holy Spirit does all of the talking. If you have 1-3 people in your life that fit that description, you are blessed beyond measure.

I also have friends who walk with me through the regular day-to-day life. We share prayer requests and stories about family, jobs, and church. They are consistent, and my life is rich because they are part of it. Journey and Discipleship groups are great places to start or nurture those relationships. 

Pastor Matt has reminded us that relationships are everything through the stories of the man with leprosy and the paralyzed man. We are created to be in a relationship with Jesus and each other. When those relationships are unhealthy or severed, we become spiritually sick. The pandemic forced us to separate from each other physically. This was difficult and traumatic for everyone, especially those who did not already have deep connections with other people.

I thought about the beginning of the pandemic when Pastor Matt talked about how people with leprosy were treated and expected to act. They are forced to live outside of the community’s physical safety and daily support. You’re going through life working, raising a family, tending to personal tasks, and suddenly being cut off from society.

Marrian-Webster defines trauma as “a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury.” 

Trauma has a way of manifesting in our bodies and being stored in places that are triggered by simple everyday events. A specific smell, sound, or sight sends the person back into the event. I cannot even imagine how a person with leprosy would have continually relived when the priest declared them unclean and banished them from society.

How does a person move forward after a traumatic event? Through relationships. The relationships with professionals who guide them through the psychological and clinical obstacles. Relationships with friends and family who are supportive and caring. Relationship with Jesus to experience His healing. I believe that all three of these are necessary for healing.

How did I not experience a profound and challenging transition when my nest emptied? I was grounded in relationships. I was never alone. When I felt alone, I would get a text or a phone call from someone saying, “you’re on my mind, and I wanted to check in on you.” That was the Holy Spirit reaching out to my community when I could not do it for myself.

Jesus is in the details.

Where have you seen Him lately?

Right now. Are you stressed and busy, about to self soothe with a drive thru feast? Or maybe a glass (or two) of wine to help relax after work and kids and dishes and all the people-y situations of the day. Do you need retail therapy or a Netflix binge or a talk with a good friend about a not so good friend who pushes your buttons? Do you need a vacation? Maybe chocolate would help. Or a good run. Right this moment I bet you can tell me what you need. What do you need?

Society is really geared towards self care. Just about anyone you meet will tell you that you should absolutely go get that spa pedicure because you can’t pour from an empty cup. Women have too long been convinced that they have to give 200% and so many right now are feeling tired and stressed and worn down. And the answer you are finding is “me time”. Decide what you need and do it! Without guilt. To recharge your batteries.

And I’m not against self care. After all, you actually CAN’T pour from an empty cup. There are completely correct reasons to take breaks and care for ourselves. But here is the catch. Maybe even a dangerous trap.

Saint Augustine writes in his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”  Perhaps Augustine’s most often quoted phrase, it captures something that resonates deep within us.

Self care will not fill up your heart and give you what you truly need. It can help you relax. It can fill your belly. It can relieve anxiety or give you a break. But after the moment you set aside has passed your situations will all still be there to be faced. Without a change of heart, mind and perspective those situations will push you continuously toward your new self soothing behaviors. Until you find yourself with a whole new problem that looms: overeating, alcoholism, impulsive shopping, media addiction, gossip, escapism, chocoholic obsessions or over exercising.

What you need today can become tomorrow’s biggest battle… because we were created for a purpose and with a hole that only one thing can fill. God created you to need HIM and to have your needs met by him. How can I say this, you might wonder? How can I know what you need? And you. And you.

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. – John 6:33-35

God want to have a special and sacred relationship with us where HE is what we need because we are what he wants. Always. Every time. When we think a drive thru will settle our moods we really need the presence of God. Wine, retail therapy, Netflix, friends, vacations, chocolate and endorphins are temporary soul substitutes for the blood of Jesus that paves our way to the Father. And because we were made for relationship with our God nothing else will satisfy long term.

Self care isn’t selfish… but it is pointless if we really need to get with God and allow him to change the way we think, feel and see the world into the way he wants us to see it. So get that pedicure. Eat that chocolate. Watch that mini series… if you want to. But if you feel like you need to, you’re probably just used to covering your soul with a craving.

So what do you need? Time with God! Always time with God.

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? – Psalm 42:1-2

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law [Romans 13:8 NIV].

         All of us are in debt! According to the Federal Reserve, the average credit-card debt of American households is $6,569. According to Bankrate, when mortgages, student debt, car loans, credit card debt, and other loans are calculated, as of September 2021, “consumer debt is at $14.96 trillion, with the average American debt among consumers at $92,727.”  As scary as this sounds, we have an even more terrifying mountain of debt: sin-debt.

     Nobody sins for free. When we do not love the way Jesus loves, our sin-debt ticks upward, moment by moment, day by day, month after month, until the years pass by, and finally, our consciences stagger under a life-threatening, soul-crushing weight of unpaid bills. Scary!

   Why is sin so expensive? One of the costs of sin is that it offends God. God is our Father. He is deeply invested in us and cares about how we live. David recognized this. After committing adultery, he cried out, “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight” (Psalm 51:4). 

    The penalty for non-payment is not the poorhouse. We don’t get off that easily. Instead, we are condemned to death (Romans 6:23). Without someone stepping up to pay what we owe, we are “dead men walking,” only subsisting on death row until our sentence is carried out (Romans 7:24). Our sin and mess also grieve the Holy Spirit, who is working so hard to save us from the pollution of our bodies and the destruction of our relationships (Ephesians 4:30).

To make matters worse, sin cripples our faith, and the guilt we feel convinces us that God is no longer for us. In addition, sin severely wounds our conscience, making us spiritually dull and less sensitive to the cue-cards of the Holy Spirit. And finally, unresolved, unconfessed sin makes us unaware of God’s grace for a time. Just ask Jonah!

     There is hope, however! Jesus paid our debt with His life. We have been taken from death row and released into the new life Jesus purchased for us. What should be our response to this mind-blowing, utterly undeserved gift of mercy and grace? We can begin by admitting the truth of our mess, asking for forgiveness and for help to be more and more like Jesus. Then we need to ask for help to learn to live in a state of constant gratitude. What Jesus did for us is enormous! Got praise?

     Since we cannot pay God back, we can pay His love forward, which is now our “continuing debt” (Romans 13:8). You and I are neck-deep in an ocean of love and grace, so perhaps we can dip a cup into it and extend some mercy, forgiveness, and love to others. What is the evidence we are off death row? John writes, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death” (1 John 3:14). When our love for others bubbles up out of a deep well of gratitude for God’s undeserved mercy, we begin to pay back the unpayable.

Prayer:

    Oh, Father! What a precious gift of life and love you have given me! Remind me that I do not deserve this and can never pay You back. Teach me to live a life defined by gratitude, and from that gratitude and the ocean of Your grace, to give forgiveness, mercy, and love to others. Amen.

To fill your cup:

Luke 15:21

Proverbs 3:27

1 Timothy 1:5

James 2:8

Jehovah Mephalti – The Lord my Deliverer!

Oh no! She screamed, how can this be? Her head started spinning as if she was out of control! She was shaking all over and it seemed there was no end to it.  She fell to her knees and the tears began to fall. As the tears began to fall, she started pleading… Jesus help me! She continued to call on the name of Jesus and eventually she began confessing the Word of God. The more she confessed, the more the Word became alive to her and she realized that she was becoming stronger. She was saying things such as “the joy of the Lord is my strength” and “greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world” and before she knew it, she was smiling victoriously with tears of joy streaming down her face, praising God in the midst of her trial and those tears of devastation were turned to tears of victory!

This scenario could be any one of us but this is just an example of a situation where the woman received bad news possibly related to the loss of a child, spouse, or any close relative.

Actually, I have lost eight brothers and with one of the losses, I remember crying uncontrollably while sitting at my desk.  This was not a good reaction but at the time, my walk with the Lord wasn’t as strong as it is today, nevertheless, I do recall composing myself enough to take a flight home to bury my brother. When I received news about my other brothers, I prayed for God to give me the strength to be there for my family and help get us through the funerals as best as possible.

Have you ever felt like you were dealing with a strong enemy?  That enemy could be oppression, depression, anger, unforgiveness, grief, or even problems with the flesh.  Whatever your enemy is, God can rescue you and deliver you.

I want to talk about deliverance and how God can deliver us from any situation we are in.  This subject is not mentioned often but I would like to highlight it because it is mentioned over 100 times in the Bible.  If you search your reference, you will find that there are many times that deliver/deliverance is mentioned and it is not confined to demons.  This is something we need in our everyday life.

The meaning of deliverance is the act of delivering someone or something: the state of being delivered especially: liberation, rescue. Psalm 18:17 reads “He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.”

Deliverance is mentioned in the NIV Bible 20 times and in the KJV around 15 times.  Deliver is mentioned 281 in the KJV and 106 times in the NIV.

Each time I have studied this term deliverance/deliver, I am reminded of how much God loves us and wants to deliver us from our enemies, troubles, oppressors, and more than the areas listed below.  These are just a few:

Psalm 71:4 – the hand of the enemy
Psalm 142:6 – my persecutors
Psalm 119:134 – oppression
Psalm 120:2 – lying lips and a deceitful tongue
Psalm 34:4 – all my fears
Psalm 54:7 – all my troubles
Psalm 107:6 – my distresses
Matthew 6:13 – from evil
Psalm 54:3 – oppressors

In Exodus 3:7-10, we see that God saw the affliction of His people, heard their cries, knew their sufferings, and came down to deliver them.

God sees our affliction today and he hears our cry as well and he will deliver us the same way as he delivered the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt.  You might say, but I am not in Egypt today Idella, I am in America and I am not sure if God can help me in my situation.  Well, let me suggest something you can do to start moving towards freedom in your everyday life.  This is just one way to make the word of God personal to you: insert your name in the scripture and repeat it aloud to yourself.  Do not simply read these scriptures but say them with a heartfelt prayer to God because he is your deliverer!  (Jeremiah 29:13) Here are some examples:

Psalm 50:15 “And Idella will call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver Idella, and Idella shall glorify me.”
Psalm 107:6 “Then Idella cried to the Lord in her trouble, and he delivered her from her distress.”
Psalm 34:17 “When Idella cries for help, the Lord hears and delivers Idella out of all her troubles.”

I would like to encourage you to search the scriptures for any area you are dealing with in your life personally and allow the Lord to reveal his word to you and speak to your heart.  This will not be easy but with the help of the Holy Spirit’s leading, it will become easier as you dive deeper into his word and apply it with an intention to your life. Be encouraged ladies and enjoy your study!

Written by Idella Zell

In light of our “Relationships” theme of 2022, let’s talk about friendships. The Bible has countless insightful verses on this topic. Before diving further, I would like to highlight just a few great ones:

• “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” 1 Thessalonians 5:11a
• “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33
• “Troublemakers start fights; gossips break up friendships.” Proverbs 16:28
• “A friend loves at all times” Proverbs 17:17a

Friendships look different for everyone. Some people thrive in large friend groups, while others prefer just one “bestie.” Maybe you’ve even been both of these people just going through different seasons of life. There is no exact “right way” to have friends, but there are definitely some “wrong ways,” or at least some pitfalls to look out for. These pitfalls can include pessimism, jealousy, codependency, and combinations of many other negative qualities people struggle with.

Pessimism is heavy but sneaky. Most of the time, we don’t even realize it is creeping into our lives until it has already taken over. It can find its way to us through our friendships, and in that same way, we can infect others with it. Have you ever been around someone who just seems to drain your energy? They aren’t mean; they’re not even a bad friend, but they just have that quality that leaves you emotionally exhausted by the end of your visit. We shouldn’t avoid friendships like these, you may even be called to pour the love and light of Christ into this friend’s life, but you must be careful not to let their troubles overcome you. At the end of every day, you are still a child of the King of Kings, and no amount of negativity from others should pull your eyes away from your true purpose here.

Jealousy blinds us. It robs us of our self-love and security. A friend that is blinded by jealousy spends a lot of time worrying and anxiously wondering if they’re liked, valuable, or worth spending time with. These insecure thoughts only feed our jealousy. The beautiful thing about friendships is that God brings them into our lives with purpose and for just a specific season most of the time. Rarely do you find a life-long friendship that has managed to stay close-knit the whole way through. Jealousy lies to you, and it tells you that you won’t be okay if a friendship falls away or if it is even just placed on a temporary hold. The truth is that we shouldn’t want to tightly hold on to friendships that God isn’t pushing us to. Long-time friends can become acquaintances; long-time acquaintances can become our closest friends, and so on. Trust that our Lord knows what is best for all of us and that He is working a plan for our good, even if we don’t see the big picture yet.

You’ve had good and bad friends throughout your life, but you’ve also been a good friend and a bad friend to others. While we are all sinfully human, the hope is that we are all working diligently every day to learn how to better show Christ’s love to one another. When thinking about Godly friendships, I have only a few recommendations. Give grace freely to yourself and everyone you interact with. Repent for how you may have wronged others in the past. Pray for God’s will and guidance in your current friendships and the friendship that are still to come. Allow yourself to grieve friends whose presence you miss in your life. Trust that following God’s plan and sharing Christ’s love is enough to be fulfilled in your life. No matter what season we are in, the light we offer in our friendships can remain unshaken.

Verses for further study:

1 Peter 4:8-10
John 15:12-15
Proverbs 22:24-25
Colossians 3:13

Song for inspiration:
God is Good by Francesca Battistelli