I hope that each of you will have a wonderful Independence Day!
Today, I am focusing on prayer, specifically prayer for our country.
I am feeling burdened by what I am hearing and reading in the news, and am hoping that those of us who have faith in the Lord will join me in prayer, asking God to shed an extra measure of mercy and grace on our country.
Will you join me ?
If you have become a believer and accepted Christ as your personal Savior, you have also acquired a new identity (2 Corinthians 5:17). It’s a free gift but you have to acknowledge your need and accept it (John 1:12).
Once you acquire that new identity, you can begin to appreciate the breadth and depth of His love for you. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
Sometimes you just need to be still and let it sink in.
As you begin to experience His great love, you will find rest for your soul.
He will begin to change you from the inside out through His Holy Spirit living inside you.
Are you on board as a believer with a new identity?
I hope it was a happy and special Father’s Day for everyone!
I had planned to share an encouraging message about our Eternal God today, but felt led to share about Father God instead.
The Father of all Fathers! The Father who loves us like no other can!
The importance of Fathers has been minimized in our society over the past couple of decades, and I pray that we as a nation – and world! – will come to a greater understanding and recognition of the importance of the Father’s role in the family.
This meme spells out the many qualities of our Heavenly Father and some of the verses where we find them described.
Understanding and personally knowing each of these qualities, and adopting them ourselves, will go a long way towards improving the quality of our relationships with others. It will also go a long way towards strengthening our relationship with our Loving Father.
I believe that reflecting on these qualities and asking ourselves how we are doing manifesting them in our own relationships is a worthwhile way to begin the week!
Over the past couple of months, I’ve shared thoughts and verses about peace, contentment and satisfaction amidst our trials and tribulations. Today is about joy.
This is a subject that has presented a challenge for me in the past, and still does. Patterns of negative thinking can easily creep in when we’re not looking.
God is the only source of true joy! He provides joy with His assurance that He will never leave us. As believers, we can always experience joy in our assurance of both His love and His presence with us.
If you are a believer in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for you personally, then you can experience joy regardless of your circumstances.
Additionally, God’s promise that He will never leave us (Deuteronomy 31:8) and that He will always be with us (Psalm 73:23) are reasons for perpetual joy!
God’s Word is also a sure source of joy and a delight to our heart! (Jeremiah 15:16) His Word brings joy because we have a God who loves us enough to speak directly to us. No matter whether we find words of praise or correction, this knowledge alone is ample reason for joy.
We can also find joy in our daily provisions, in our relationships with others and in knowing His faithfulness to us.
When you think about it, is there really a good reason that you should not be joyful today?
Do your sources for satisfaction often fall short?
Only God can provide real and fulfilling satisfaction.
Only He can be trusted to support us when we’re going through trials, and only He can guide you along a trustworthy path.
God is also able to bear your burdens and sustain you in your every need. (Psalm 55:22)
He asks only that you call upon Him in truth (Psalm 145:18) and trust in Him to supply all of your needs through Christ Jesus. (Proverbs 3:5 and Philippians 4:19)
Lasting satisfaction is the reward for those who know the love of Christ. (Ephesians 3:19)
Have you put your trust, faith, and acceptance in God’s offer of His ultimate gift that puts you in a relationship with Him and assurance of receiving all of the above benefits? (Romans 10:9-10)
As I reflect on the men and women who have served our country on this Memorial Day, I think of them as heroes. To me, a hero is someone willing to sacrifice his or her life for a noble cause to the benefit of their fellow men and women.
Jesus is the ultimate example of a hero. He is my hero because of His willful surrender to an agonizing death to provide a path for my salvation, an abundant life and ultimately the enjoyment of eternal life with Him.
I see coaching as an opportunity to follow Jesus’ example of servanthood by ministering to others who are hurting and in need of help along life’s difficult path. While I will not be called on to give up my life, I am lifted spiritually when my ministry calls for an element of sacrifice in order to meet a need of others. When we put the needs of others ahead of our own, not only do we find fulfillment, but God meets our own needs.
How is the Lord calling you to serve others?
Today I have a tip to share with anyone interested in cultivating stronger and healthier relationships. Begin with God by focusing on who He is and your relationship with Him.
Remember – “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27)
Concentrate on how you see and understand God. I have talked with many discouraged people who limit God to their personally conceived notion of Him. They fail to recognize that their comprehension of God within the limitations of what our brain can accurately process is very limited and can never rise to seeing Him in His role as a truly sovereign God!
Charles Spurgeon, a preeminent author and preacher put it this way: “As well might a gnat seek to drink in the ocean, as a finite creature to comprehend the Eternal God.”
Are you limiting God’s ability to work in your own life by relegating His sovereignty to something less than reality? It’s worth pondering! Don’t limit the Lord! Anything is possible!
When you are in close relationship with God, all of your other relationships will benefit. It’s the best place to start!
How is your relationship with God?
There are many verses in the Bible about paths, and several about the “path of life”. The verse I quote most often is David’s in Psalm 16:11, which adds “with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Is there anyone who wouldn’t want to be on this kind of path?
This is where the name of my coaching business comes from. It is not my path, but the Lord’s. He has a unique and special path laid out for each one of us. My work as a coach is to be a guide on your path, helping you to navigate around the obstacles and avoid and/or overcome the various roadblocks along the way.
Not only are we on a path to the life we will have for eternity with the Lord in glory, if we belong to Him, but we are on a path to a better and richer life here on earth. This life path can be one that leads to healthy and fulfilling relationships – with others, with God, and with yourself!
Are you on the path of abundant life? If you would like to learn more about how I can help you or whether we would be a good fit for a coaching relationship, send me a message and we will set up a time for a complimentary discovery call.,
God is the great healer! (Exodus 15:26)
One thing that I love about my coaching is that I have the privilege of taking part in my client’s healing.
As I listen, guide and pray with and for clients, the Spirit’s love shines through and God’s healing presence goes to work.
God uses the storms that we encounter and endure in our lives to create a unique path for each of us. I love helping to direct God’s light onto that path.
In the words of the early 20th century writer and editor, Jessie Penn-Lewis, “He can gather up and straighten all that lies behind you as well as the crooked things before you.”
I don’t believe that our healing will be complete until we are with the Lord in our eternal home, but the healing we experience here and now can be used to help and encourage others and to bless us with the abundant life that He desires His children to have.
Our healing brings His light to the world!
Where do you need to experience His healing touch?
Do you spring joyfully out of bed in the morning? Even on Mondays?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to wake up each morning excited about your day and about what you could accomplish?
Would you like to have the confidence that your work is what you were called to do and that it’s exactly what you want to be doing?
Do you think that your primary work is in alignment with your Creator’s plans and purposes? Wouldn’t that be the ideal way to start your day?
Any thoughts as to how to make such a start to your day a reality?
(Hint: a life coach can help!)