Fear Not

“The mystery was then revealed to Daniel in a vision at night, and Daniel praised the God of heavens and declared: May the name of the God be praised forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to him. He changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who understand.” Daniel 2: 19-20

Fear wants my worship.

Why wouldn’t it? Living in this world that is full of fear of the unknown is the reason for me to question my heart every single day. If I am listening to that voice of fear, it will grip me every single time. It will cause me to stand still frozen not wanting to open my mouth. It will question me to continue to share all of this through writing. At the same time when I can recognize that is what is preventing me from sharing is the reason I continue to share all of it. I often thought about how writing has given me a position of being in the quiet behind the scenes. Those places I don’t want to share will be places the Lord prompts me to share. And this weekend that message about how I allow the fear to be louder than the faith was once again spoken to my heart. And learning that fear is the most common god we worship was the reminder to roar back at the enemy.

Lions. I can’t escape how Daniel was in the Lion’s den and we have been talking about how the enemy is like a lion makes me wonder why that was what Daniel faced. The only thing that held Daniel was God. Death couldn't hold him. Where did Daniel get that kind of faith? “When Daniel learned the document had been signed, he went into his house. The windows in its upstairs room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” Daniel 6:10

Daniel knew the Living God. He had insight, intelligence, and extraordinary wisdom that was found in God alone. He had been captured and sent to a foreign land and surrounded by everything that wanted to destroy and take him down and the only thing that held him and determined his future was God. The same is true for us.

I learned this week that “Fear Not” is mentioned 365 times in the Bible. I love that God is not surprised by this but continually reminds our hearts and minds of this. Daniel had every reason to fear but chose before to not serve that god he chose to be determined he wasn’t going to defile himself in his foreign land. 

What would it look like to recognize the fear and roar back at the lion?

Father,

Determine our steps to be sober- minded in you alone. Aware that the enemy is roaming around roaring like a lion and knowing we have nothing to fear because you have claimed our heart. The realization that fear wants our worship is the reminder to reject the roar of rejection, hopelessness, and that we are doomed. 

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8

We are yours Lord. It all belongs to you, and we are living for your everlasting Kingdom rule in our hearts. 

You are the Alpha and Omega the Almighty the Everlasting God!

I ask for prayers this coming week. I’m going to be with a bunch of middle schoolers at camp. Pray that hearts will come to know the One Living God and that lives will be changed. Thanks again for allowing me to share. See you back in a bit.

Angela

The Work of Christ

        

“I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience as my ancestors did, when I constantly remember you in my prayer's night and day. Remembering your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.” 2 Timothy 1:3-4

Paul was writing this letter to Timothy and encouraging him as he kept living out his faith. He wasn’t encouraging Timothy to rely on himself he was reminding him of the power of the Holy Spirit within him. That clear conscience that Paul was referring to wasn’t his own but was the power of the Living God to accomplish what he was sent out to do. His conscience was being reformed into the thoughts of Christ. Paul wrote this letter from prison. Timothy was being sent to remind the church of where the power comes from. Not from them only the Holy Spirit to lead them. They had forgotten and started to look within themselves.

Our conscience is a pretty remarkable thing. God gave us this to help us understand how to live. Even people that don’t believe in God receive this gift. People in general want to do good. We are the ones that choose to rule ourselves instead of letting God rule our hearts and minds. The conscience that God gave us gives us power to allow His thoughts to become ours and live in this world knowing who we belong to. The choice is ours. 

“Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.” 2 Timothy 1:13-14

Timothy had a mom and grandma who taught him about God. But at some point Timothy had to begin to take that faith on. Their faith wasn’t going to sustain all that he was called to do. That is the same with us. We can’t just believe someone else’s faith will give us what we need. We have to allow God to begin to build it within our hearts and minds. It is that constant turning my mind to Christ in cooperation with God. But the good news is the Holy Spirit is that Guide and Counselor. Timothy was holding on the word he knew to be true that his mom and grandma had taught him but he was allowing that same Word to become his boldness. Jesus Christ was becoming so real in Timothy that even as Paul sat in prison the Holy Spirit in Timothy was being ignited in him. And even as Paul sat in prison he knew that his joy didn’t come from that it came solely from the Lord. 

He wants me to ask for direction. He wants me to know His ways. He desires that I know His will for me. He wants to know me more than any other person on this earth. And when I spend that time getting to know Him He will turn my obedience into joy. Making Jesus the highest Authority of my conscience allows him to work from the inside out to accomplish what he wants for his glory. 

The Holy Spirit is how I can learn to live in partnership with God. Satan will work hard at getting me to listen to that other voice. But learning to recognize the differences in voices is up to me. My conscience must be turned over every single thought. It is taking His Word and aligning them. “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable- If there is any excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy- dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8

Ask the Holy Spirit where you need this truth? 

Father,

Help us to know you more and more EACH day. When we seek you above all else you satisfy all our needs according to the riches in Christ Jesus. We have been given the freedom to know you because of Jesus. Don’t let us dismiss that or take that for granted. Mold us and make us more like you Jesus. Time is short. Don’t let us pass up opportunities. Keep our minds and heart fixed on eternal things. Others need to know that life of living for something so much greater than themselves. Lead us Holy Spirit in your ways. Amen

God Is Always Working

        

“Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you; and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything that he has forbidden you. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 4:23-24

I was never made to worship myself. Not my feelings, insecurities, fears, wants, desires, or cares of this world were never mine to worship. I used to hear that God was a jealous God but never fully grasped that. He is jealous because of His great love for me. He never wanted me to show my love and devotion to anyone else but Him alone. He never once asked me to step before Him, yet my flesh gravitates there every single day. As I was made by the Created, I am still the created and it is my choice what and who I choose to give my devotion to.

“Faith in God is belief, understanding, acceptance of that which is real, actual, and unchanging. Faith in God supersedes emotion. It is separate. Faith in God is a choice to believe in spite of what we see and what we feel. Faith understands that the temporal is temporary, but that God is working inside and outside and through the temporal, in an invisible thing called his kingdom and that kingdom is the only reality that matters. Emotions are fickle, faith is steady.” (Brian Enis)

What happens when we get a hold of the truth that we were made to have a relationship with the One True God? This above quote is from someone I have met in the last few months. We never even knew one another until we started reading the word of God together. But this person was changed because of the radical unrelenting love of Jesus. Someone who claimed to be atheist stumbled into the grace of God in a place that he despised. He didn’t know that day that he was going to encounter the Living Presence that would begin to light a fire within him, but God did. And the result is a life that is changed because of a God who never wavered. It has always been about Restoration. He is jealous for us because of His love and compassion for us. He restores us to become more like Jesus. The ongoing process of renewing our hearts and minds every single day.

Ask the Holy Spirit where you haven’t allowed God to be first. Surrender that to Him. 

Father,

You are a good Faithful Father; you give us a choice of what we choose to worship. Worshiping you above all the other gods give you the FULL access that you desire. Holy Spirit renew a steadfast spirit within us to keep declaring and proclaiming your truth with boldness in the middle of all our feelings. You are always working Jesus and when we allow you to continue that work within us it produces your Peace and Assurance and Steadfastness. We are created to live with a Kingdom mindset so that others can know your love Jesus.

Amen

The One

                  

“He will be like a tree planted by water; it sends its roots out toward a stream; it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.” Jeremiah 17:8

When I write I will never know what God will do with a writing. Sometimes I will get ready to share one and the Lord will restructure the whole thing. Like this one I wrote a few days ago.  He might add a different verse or questions or different thoughts. The writing started after journaling with the Lord right after my diagnosis. I took verses and then prayed them back to the Lord sharing everything that I was feeling. I went back today to look at a entry from July 2022. I wrote, “Almost a year since my diagnosis. Look what you have done in a year! The people I have met and the ways you have used this are amazing. When I look back and see what I have missed and not been able to do there isn’t much. I can probably say I have gained more. “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and they will trust in the LORD.” Psalm 40:3  It was there that I discovered He met me in that place and I got to learn to know God like I never had encountered before.  Writing devotions came from being in a situation that made me feel hopeless to wake up the next morning and go to the Lord and find words of comfort and a specific word He was speaking to my heart when I was reading my Bible. That led to my first devotional writing that I hesitantly shared with a couple women and asked them to pray.  The next words out of my mouth were, “I am not a writer but I know God is.” and from then on God has introduced me into so many lives I get to share alongside with others through sharing His faithfulness through writing. I am still amazed how God could take me who never was a writer and put something within my heart that can’t share what He is teaching me and revealing through the lives around me and His Written word. To not share would be what the enemy would love and I am completely aware of that.

Before I started writing devotions I wrote long writings that I thought might be a book one day and they still sit in my google drive. I went to a writing conference to see if that one writing would be something the Lord could use only to have it scribbled through with grammatical marks like back in highschool. Before I left that room sitting in tears I sat with that mentor just doing her job and realized once again the enemy of my mind was working against all the writing. And don’t think I didn’t leave that room with hand held high praying over those lies I was hearing in that moment that I wasn’t good enough to continue all the writing and sharing. 

At the time of this writing I have 13 devotional writings that will be published through another Christian devotional page. So that lie in the room from the enemy that day has been proven that God is always working. 

I never know what will turn into a writing. Sometimes it will be something I experience that I will begin to see in a new light after sitting with it for awhile. Or it might be a story that someone shares. My favorite thing to write about was preschoolers because I never stopped learning from them. Even during this time of not being a preschool teacher I can take heart knowing a new journey is on the horizon. And I get to share with all my coworkers what God continues to do along this new journey. 

Writing is actually something that came from the hardest time of my life. It was journaling with the Lord after being diagnosed with MS. I learned that I could go to Him with all of it and His word backs up everything He says. Not only that but that is where I could find the Peace and Security I so desperately needed. Those scriptures cards that I carried around with simple truths in my early walk with Christ now have become imprinted on my heart. That is what He does with His Written Word. It is Living and Breathing and we get to be part of that. I don’t know how I would live my life any other way.

I never know what I will be reading or listening to before I write. Some of the books I now hold and treasure are the ones that echo God’s heart and His love for us. Learning that the Bible is the story of God’s unshakable love for a people that continue to turn away from Him encourages me knowing I’m not alone in the fight. Or maybe a writing comes from something that is said or something I see I just never know. It goes down into my notebook only to be revealed when it comes time to write. What God is teaching me spending time with Him is something I can’t put down. When I pray, “Lord what does that mean?” and then take that same thought walking or throughout the day to have Him connect it for me is still something I can’t get over. To learn that His word was designed to increase my Godly wisdom but more so to know His heart. Learning that no matter what I can be planted in Christ and from that I can remain steady and fruitful in my life even when everything around me feels like it is falling apart. The stories aren’t much different than in the world we live in today. That encourages my heart. The Bible is so that we know how to live in this world.

I want you to know that sometimes I don’t want to share. What the Lord illuminates sometimes is comforting and other times it is this reminder to keep choosing Him and trust in what I cannot see. I am not home yet. No matter how much my understanding is it will never compare to His and in order to live for Christ it that surrender to self-life daily. Sometimes I will share a writing to sit with it all day and asking myself those same questions. And sometimes I just want to step out of all of this and hide away. But why would I if it was just for one person?

Someone had recently said that to me. “You write for the one.” And that is always behind everything I ever hesitate to share with you guys.  If one person read one writing and got something from it think of that impact. Sometimes I walk around the neighborhood or sit in my car and look around at the people and have that same thought. “Lord what if this one person knew your love for them?” What happens within one person when they get a hold of what God wants to do in them and through them? 

I pray for boldness. I ask for anything and everything when it comes to prayer. No prayer is too big or too little for God. Today I prayed for boldness with my church and here I am writing all my thoughts out before you. It has been a long time since I have written in this way and it was one of those, “Let’s write Lord” to all these words spilling out before my eyes. That is another crazy part of this whole thing. What started out as words on notecards now has become this notebook full of all these words to watch God pull it together in a way that I could never explain. What started out in writings as using commentaries has now become digging, sitting, and allowing the Lord to teach me what it means. I just never know when something I write will be shared only to pray and ask and then it will be revealed though something I read, hear, or see. And those note cards have become titles in my notebook that now have tags to identify what the writing has in it. I’ve got at least 21 waiting to be shared..

My favorite thing to write about is His faithfulness and through the testimonies of other people. If I could put together all the times someone has liked, or responded to a writing with a scripture or reflection that would probably be a chapter by itself. The hardest thing when I started all this was trusting that God would do what He wanted with it.  I have no experience when it comes to grammatical, biblical knowledge, and writing in itself so why would God call me to do this?  I still struggle knowing what I send out isn’t grammatically correct but also know the message will be there. I now share in texts, a blog, and social media and occasionally on my church app. What started as me texting a few people has continued to astound me at the span of the audience God reaches. I still share with people that I don’t see face to face. And sometimes out of the blue I will get a response back and I smile knowing that God was doing something within that heart. That is what writing has done for me. It has shown me the heart of God in a way that Has given me the desire to keep choosing Him every day.

“The one who believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” John 7:38

I recently sat in a worship and prayer service and was meditating on Living Water. I pictured myself being submerged in it. Jesus came so that we could receive that washing and submerging every single day. That is another thing I have learned about His Word. The enemy wants to choke out the Word in us so that we don’t become fruitful. The One who came to save us gives us that life giving Word to live planted and live in a way that looks joyful to the world. 

So that is the desire to write and share. Jesus went after the one. The one person that begins a new life in Jesus isn’t just changed they are beginning a new transformation. Not just them but think of those around them. What happens when we turn the schemes of the enemy into His Testimony? What happened in the Bible? What happened within your life? 

So I continue to write for the one. The person that thinks they have gone too far that they can’t come back. For the person that thinks the Lord doesn’t hear your prayers. For the person that needs that encouragement and is also facing a diagnosis they can’t wrap their minds around. For that person that has been praying for boldness to go out and share. 

The one is where Jesus wants to work. That one is you. He loves you more than you could ever imagine. He is worth it all. We are trees planted in streams of Living water and we don’t have to fear and worry and know that He has planted us exactly where He wants us. 

So I pray that you are discovering that life giving Word through your life. That no matter what happens we serve a God who is unshakable. That you tell your stories to the world of what He has done. 

I want to thank you each for all the prayers and encouragement over this last year and half. You guys are the reason I still write. It is almost like the Lord constantly reminds me, “You write and I’ll share.”

As I take a bit of a break again please know I look forward to sharing with you again. Never in a million years did I think that God would give me a passion to write and share with all of you. So thank you for coming along side me in my journey. Our stories are His to tell the world of His great love.  To Him be all the glory. He is the One worthy of ALL our praise.

Love,

Angela