Tag Archives: faith

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: DEC. 5, 2024

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There is a beautiful awakening God has for each one of us as we start to grow in our new life given to us. This new life is entirely consumed with our understanding of Spirit-living rather than flesh-living. Romans 6-8 defines this extremely well. I’ve read these chapters endlessly over the years. Much of all three chapters are underlined and underlined again for their significance. However, when I read them before I did so for the sake of knowing and then wondered how this could be true for me? I’d pray that God would make what is written real for me.

This morning as I asked Jesus what He wanted me to know from Him for today, as I was ending my journal writing, His response was to praise Him and His Holy Spirit for what they are doing which I can see and experience. Then, continue to praise Them for what they will be doing and are doing that I know nothing about but TRUST They are doing.

As I began reading again the three chapters of Romans I quit trying to wrap my mind around the message and simply asked God’s Spirit to speak. This time as I read the words I quit attempting flesh understanding of this message for the message tells how Spirit is at work and all of what these chapters say is about God’s Spirit through Christ and His Holy Spirit paving our way to HIs GLORIOUS FREEDOM. I can never be anchored in my flesh for it is sin based. My spirit however is Christ-based and my anchor is found there so letting my surrendered spirit to Jesus be the center of my new life is my anchor. PRAISE BE TO GOD OUR FATHER!

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: DEC. 3, 2024

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Well, the last chore of fall clean-up got finished yesterday. My 2nd oldest grandson came out and we bagged all of the fall leaves. Raking them is one thing easy for one to do. But, bagging them is so much better done by two and waiting for my helper to come was well worth it. Not only is he a great help, he is just a great young man. He’s my barber now so it is fun to hear his barbering stories as we work.

God has been awakening me to my need to come to Him daily understanding that if I’m to truly worship Him I need to do so in spirit and truth. I’ve always loved worship for it awakens my own spirit which has seemed dormant as I have lived much of life. But, most recently I’m being brought into the Light of God’s Spirit.

Yesterday, as I was doing the lesson for my Saturday morning group, the focus is on spiritual warfare. The previous lessons have been on Worship in spirit and truth and let this experience take root in routine practice. Now, moving on to spiritual warfare, I become fully awakened to the truth that Satan is spirit too. These things I’ve known most of my life but not had them confronted as this curriculum does so well. This is called spiritual warfare because it is spirit. Christ defected Satan’s plan in His Spirit and He wants us to be very aware of our own spirit and our need to address the evil attacks of our flesh with our spirit surrendered to His Holy Spirit Who is God’s Holy Spirit given to us. There is a huge difference between knowing this and experiencing it. I’m finally into the experiencing side. It is AMAZING! It is an entirely different thing to move from knowing into experiencing. Good experiences grow healthy habits and that is what we want to do.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: DEC. 1, 2024

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There is a growing awareness within me regarding spirit. God is Spirit, Jesus was first Spirit and took upon himself flesh so He could be the righteous sacrifice for you and me. Then, there is God’s Holy Spirit Whom Jesus gave to you and me as we accepted Him into our lives as our Savior and then Lord. All of this is just plainly wonderful! Yet, what is wonderful is only a beginning to our new life. This new life given to us cannot be understood in our logical flesh mind. If I cannot connect to my surrendered spirit so God’s Holy Spirit can lead me, this logical mind of mine will try to put fleshly understanding into God’s Heavenly meaning.

Satan is fully aware of our flesh and its sinful limitations so that his deceptive ways factor right into what my fleshly mind and emotions grasp. I lived a very long time thinking these deceptions were truth for me when they were only evil’s lies. As I am going through this study with a couple small groups of men, I am awakening to the meaningful truth of God’s Holy Spirit within me. Spirit and flesh are not a marriage. They are opposing forces at work within us. Only when I surrender my willful flesh to God’s Spirit within me do I find the Peace I am to put my feet into as I allow God’s Spirit to put on His armor on me each and every day. This particular piece of armor is called the Gospel of Peace which we are to put our feet into.

Well, this journey of life does continue and I never want to stop learning especially from God’s Holy Spirit Who has been waiting for me to be a better student for HIm.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: NOV. 26, 2024

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Praise–In the flesh, praise is given when something great has taken place and you give praise and thanks to the one who is praiseworthy. There is an entirely different realm to praise when it comes to giving praise to God. In flesh we praise when it is connected to something concrete that has taken place. In spirit, we praise because of Faith in God. Praise in this case is not tangible. It is built on FAITH/TRUST/HOPE that the God Who gave us salvation will walk us through anything we are presently facing.

I recall when I was facing my divorce and the years subsequent to it, being asked to praise God in spite of these circumstances. I recall years later when I was asked to praise God not because of my childhood abuse, but because God is always praiseworthy. In those years of my life I would attempt to do this (not often) and most always I’d end up hating God at the moment because NOTHING seemed praiseworthy. I’d ask, “Why am I suppose to praise you when I try so hard to serve you and I keep getting more hurt piled onto what is already there?!”

I have several counseling cases of present where their hurt is raging. They come for counsel and then they call during the week needing encouragement and daily guidance. I know God is wanting me to do for them what He had others do for me–point me back to Him. Today I see so clearly how God was using everything in my past to grow me into a more complete servant. I had a lot of “boundaries” for God back then. I would serve Him in ways that I felt safe and would never serve Him in the ways I do today.

GOD IS PRAISEWORTHY! It has taken me a lifetime to grow FAITH to where it is today. Planting seeds for others is a step I need to take. Helping to grow the garden of FAITH, TRUST and HOPE within each of us is a garden God wants me to help bloom. The season may be winter for some, but SPRING is on its way.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: NOV. 11, 2024

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The day has come to return home and reengage in the life of home. I believe each one of us on this trip has profited from being gone these 12 days and God has strengthened an appreciation for family in us. Only in these last few years have I believed that I could be an important member to our family. Realizing that differences in talents and personality are on purpose and not weaknesses is a real awakening for me. God does on purpose what He does in creating you and me.

As I began to read the book of Acts this morning I am reminded how unifying God is with His people. When we allow the Holy Spirit to become our leader we will automatically unify. God has different assignments for each of us, but in doing these assignments, we are not to think someone else’s assignment is of lesser importance. That is our flesh speaking, not The Holy Spirit. We shouldn’t bicker over differences, but work to understand why the differences are important. Unifying our efforts is always critically important.

Keeping our eyes of Jesus and listening to His Gift–The Holy Spirit within us is an everyday, every moment of each day assignment. I never want to forget this.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: NOV. 10, 2024

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Well, the journey of late is coming to an end. Today is our last day of vacation and tomorrow we fly back home. Yesterday afternoon we went to see The Miracle of Christmas at the Sight and Sound Theater. What a magnificent work it is! One sure can’t sit through it without sensing the supernatural presence of Jesus and The Holy Spirit for they are truly glorified in this production. If I were my grandma Wreting I would have been running the aisles waving my hankie praising Jesus just as she use to do in the power of the Holy Spirit!

During the night last night I received a troubling text from one of the guys I see. His marriage is hugely at risk with the roots of it in his ballpark. At this point in time he has seen his part and desperately wants to correct it but the damage he’s done isn’t easily forgiven by man. As I had my devotions this morning and asking Jesus what He wanted me to know from Him for today, He told me to send this man the words of the hymn–It Is Well. These words are the ones He asked me to share: “My sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole are nailed to the Cross and I bear them no more! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, oh my soul!”

God knows our heart and when we confess He forgives. Man on the other hand doesn’t always follow this same path for the hurts our sins left are not so easily forgotten and trust has been demolished by these sins. Knowing to praise the Lord for what He has done for me is critical and important. Then, trusting the Lord to bring others to see and believe our change is not just a temporary show, is in God’s Hands alone. This is extremely hard to do for we want to quicken God’s pace so “we can feel better”. God is still and always be AMAZING! I put my trust in Him for this man and his family.

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: NOV. 3, 2024

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Today is the Lord’s Day and I will rejoice and be glad in it! That little chorus line resonates in my spirit this morning. Our day with our little sis Polly and her family yesterday was such a blessed time. They live close to their youngest son and his family so we were all together for the day. Polly’s daughter had flown in from where she lives near Dallas, TX so that is also a great treat. She said she didn’t want to miss all of this excitement! We are headed back there this morning to go to church with them and eat lunch with them. Her family is very social and just plain fun! All of them love Jesus which makes the time even richer.

My two older daughters are with their mom and I just pray all of this is going as God would ordain. Shedding God’s Light into the darkness of Satan’s bondage is a major thing and how I pray this is taking place. Only God Himself knows the timing for this and I simply pray this weekend has been the start of HIs Healing Light penetrating a darkness which has been rooted in the bondage of sin for generations. How I love God’s Healing Light which on it can penetrate this bondage breaking every chain!

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: OCT. 22, 2024

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This morning has been a time of learning/awakening as I began my devotions. As I got up and was starting my devotions my mind was filled with temptations. As I started to journal I wrote asking Jesus to take these thoughts captive and I started to praise Him singing a praise song I love. I wrote that the wounds of my past He wants me to use as His tools. Satan wants me to see them only as triggers which he has done throughout my lifetime which actually began in my teen years. As I wrote this out I recognized something I knew I should have seen years ago. This is a choice I have. My wounds do not have to be triggers any longer. God has made them to be tools.

I’ve been using my past for several years now to help others know they don’t have to keep in secret as I did the wounds of abuse and subsequent sins. This morning I actually saw in my mind putting the triggers of this past of mine along side the tools of this past. I then saw the double-edged sword that is God’s Word cutting out the triggers. This time I humbly praise God where years ago in therapy I wept when the counselor was having me cut the umbilical cord of my beliefs of me so I could believe I am a child of the King. I did that surgery then out of obedience to the counselor. It left me filled with fear for I didn’t know the person who is a child of the King. Today, however, I have learned much better who this child is and so today I used the two-edged sword to cut away those triggers of wounds.

As I ended my journaling and asked Jesus what He wanted me to know from Him for today, He said He’d been patiently waiting for this moment to occur. Today I was ready. Boy, writing this just makes me tear up in joyful thanksgiving!

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: OCT. 18, 2024

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Last night’s Celebrate Recovery lesson was “Powerless”. It follows lesson 1 which is Denial. Once we step out of denial and realize the problem we face, the struggle we can’t overcome, etc., we then must realize that within our own selves we are powerless to stop the addiction, struggle, hurt, etc., without the power of God Himself. All of this is good to KNOW, but finding God’s Strength to do all of this is not necessarily easy. Our pride truly gets in the way!

Last night I taught this lesson and it brings back SO many memories of my own need to finally realize how much I thought I needed control of all my hurts and habits so NO ONE would know about them. I had so many fears that I’d lose my job, my church, my friends and family if they knew. Even after my beginning years of counsel I kept in control of who knew my story so that the community, which included our church, wouldn’t know. Even my family didn’t know until I finally had gotten to the place where I was going to write my autobiography which then started this blog. I didn’t want my siblings finding out their brother had written a book which “exposed” them as though they were the problem.

God is so Amazing! Once I stepped into vulnerability letting God take control of my “mess” did this “protected by me” mess turn into a message God uses. Equally amazing is that I found no judgment in people hearing my story. Instead, I would always have ones want to talk because they had their own story which hadn’t been told, but they felt now like they could and should.

Well, stepping out of powerlessness and into obedience to God took me lots of years and even today I need constant reminders to not hide. Always though, God’s gentle voice reminds me, “I’ve got this–do not be afraid!”

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: SEPT. 29, 2024

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A week ago today when I was journaling and asking Jesus what He wanted me to know from Him for today, I heard Him ask me when I was going to listen and obey Him fully? I like to think I do this fairly well, which I have. But, Jesus is not OK with my “fairly well”. He is asking for the “fairly” to be taken out of the equation. He seeks for me to replace fairly with full–full well.

I have written much of late about this process of learning about the significance of God’s Holy Spirit living in me and finding God’s Strength/Power from this residence in me. It is incredible to start putting together all this means. When trust and faith are placed in front of all willfulness/selfishness, one starts on this path of obedience. It is truly taking I Corinthians 10:13 to the test. This verse says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

When I’m tempted to tell The Holy Spirit, “not now” or something along that line or “I just want to stay with what I’m doing, I can do that later, just remind me.” I am disobeying. I’ve always looked at this verse from the lens of some self-gratification/selfishness. Yes, these are common to man, but just as common to man is ignoring a nudge to do whatever is being done presently. The JOY of the Lord being my strength is never found in my selfishness–only in my obedience. Today, living a week in obedience has given me great JOY as I write this. It is no surprise either that obedience that is “full well” has no sense of one not getting their way. Instead, it is full JOY!