The election season is upon us and tonight is the first of the Republican debates. Regardless of which party you identify with, if by this time next year, you have heard from all of the candidates and you remain undecided, would you cast a vote in November for our next president or would you choose to abstain? Why or why not?
Category: Question of the Week
Update! Do you believe in Modern Day Miracles? I do!
A little over a month ago I asked this question here on this blog, because I knew I had been blessed to be in the presence of a miracle unfolding. Although we knew it would take time for the culmination of this miracle to unfold, the reality of the miracle was sealed in my mind that day, because ONLY God could have orchestrated the details to occur in such supernatural succession, that it would have been foolish to doubt that His plan would succeed. As the details surrounding this monumental event continued to unfold, more began to believe in the reality of this miracle. God’s hand was in this, around this, before this and in front of this. He had prepared the minds and the hearts of those He needed to move as quickly and decisively as He needed them too.
Being privy to details that only a few knew, my mind was blown at how God chose to bless the faithfulness of a couple, while rocking the worlds of those that surrounded them. I do not think that it was a coincidence that He chose to center this miracle in the presence of a core group that had the capacity to influence a multitude…He wanted us to see first hand, to be ‘eye-witnesses’ and share His story — GO, TELL — just like others did thousands of years ago when He walked on this earth, and even before and after. The God of the Bible is and has always been the God of today. He can do in your life, what He has done in countless others…we just need to believe that He can. He shows up, in the midst of our everyday Christianity to remind us that He can to exceedingly more than we could ever ask or imagine.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV
This is not just a story of a baby, just like the miracle of Jesus is not just the story of a virgin birth. God is preparing us for greater things, your experience and perhaps your participation in the things of God are limited only by the depth of your belief in what God is capable of – “according to his power that is at work within us…”
He is able, are you able to believe?
Update! What is the difference between Guilt & Conviction?
Thank you all for your responses on social media and on this blog. I enjoyed reading your thoughts! When I considered posing this question it was a result of a thought I shared with a friend the week prior.
Here’s what was impressed upon me:
—Guilt turns you inward, conviction turns you upward towards God.
When I think about guilt I think about our internal thoughts about ourselves in relation to our behavior, past actions and even sometimes the perpetual consequences of our actions. We live in seasons of guilt when we are convinced that there is no recourse for our failures.
When I think about conviction, I consider it as the point in which I know my thoughts or actions have been sinful and I consider it a good thing. It’s the point in which I become aware of a clear fork in the road where I have the blessing to choose to make a shift in the right direction, before I settle into a season of guilt where I have lost sight of this opportunity and am instead trapped inside my feelings. Guilt keeps you buried, conviction sets you free.
Responding to conviction is courageous though. It requires the convicted to acknowledge a failure —to oneself, to God and maybe to another. This step of courage is followed by a HUGE win, because we are immediately set free from the bondage the secret sin would have otherwise held over us. This is not to say that we escape the consequences of our actions, but the guilt that prevents us from moving forward is no longer in our way.
One final thought: choosing to follow where conviction leads, paves the way towards breaking the chains of patterns of destructive behavior. I would rather bear the sting of conviction, than live in a cycle of ignorance that prevents me from living the life that God intended.
Well folks, these are my thoughts! I look forward to hearing more from you during next week’s Question of the Week!
What is the difference between Guilt & Conviction?
What do you think is the difference between guilt and conviction? Are they one and the same? Please share your thoughts and I will share mine by the end of the week!
Do you believe in “Modern Day” miracles?
We have read of miraculous things happening during “biblical times”, but do you think true miracles happen in our day and age? A miracle by definition is defined as,
“A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.” Oxford Dictionary
It has also been described as:
“A highly improbable or extraordinary event, development, or accomplishment that brings very welcome consequences.” Oxford Dictionary
Have you ever experienced a true miracle? Do you believe in miracles? I welcome your thoughts and would love to hear your stories on any miracles you have witnessed or experienced. Please share your comments below!
Can Faith & Fear Coexist? Update!
Please join me in welcoming today’s response to this week’s question of the week from a fellow blogger Jennifer Salazar.
Not too long ago I found myself at the crossroads of a life changing decision that without a doubt was guided by God. While gathering the courage to make this decision I realized that this was going to be a season where I needed to trust God like never before. I needed to surrender to God and have the faith to let go and let God.
The same day I made the decision to walk on faith, fear became my intolerable companion.
During this process of spiritual growth I found myself asking if it was possible for faith and fear to coexist. After thinking about it for a while I considered that the right answer was NO.
So at this point, not only did I have my intolerable companion fear, but shame (fear’s BFF) decided to join the party.
Why, when I was guided by God and decided to walk by faith, could fear still affect me so much?
I had to go deeper to understand what was going on and this is my conclusion:
Faith is the shield that God gave us to protect ourselves and to put an end to the enemy’s attacks.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16 NIV
…and God didn’t give us a spirit of fear.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7 NLT
Yet it was clear to me that fear was a way to test my faith and when our faith is tested our perseverance is made stronger.
For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. James 1:3 NLT
So there is no room for shame. All this is a process where God is teaching me to be more like Jesus. Now I know that the minute faith kicks in fear leaves the room. I have become certain that faith is a real power —that faith in God is the cure for all my fears.
These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:7
So the next time you are facing fear, remember that you are human and it is normal, lean on God’s power and understand that you too are working out your faith.
∼Jenny
Wow!! Thank you so much Jenny for the question this week and your response!! One thing I learned through the process of contemplating this question is that faith is not hope. Although hope is great, it comes with hesitation. Faith is belief and I cannot believe and have fear (doubt) at the same time. Thank you all who shared your thoughts and experiences – I look forward to connecting with you all later this week! 😉 Joycy
Can Faith and Fear Coexist?
Today’s Question of the week comes from a fellow blogger – weigh in your thoughts and by the week’s end, I will share mine. This should be interesting!! GO!
Update – Do you think crying is a sign of strength or weakness?
Thank you all for joining the conversation on facebook and twitter! We learn from each other :)).
I am going to respond to this week’s question with two simple words: Jesus wept.
Jesus was anything but weak. Jesus was fully man and fully God. (If you need further explanation on this – you can ask Him when you get to heaven 🙂 ). I know many of us have heard this verse before. Today I want to examine the context of this verse to understand the necessity and purpose of our tears.
The Death of Lazarus
11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, 7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”….
11 After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” (John 11, NIV)
Jesus waited until Lazarus had been dead four days before he arrived to wake him from the dead. There is always purpose and layers of purpose in His actions and movements in our lives. This story is no exception. Here Jesus needed those who were watching and following to understand with certainty the fact of Lazarus’ death. “15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” One layer here is to demonstrate the power of Christ through the Father. Interesting enough, Jesus did not doubt the power within Him to raise Lazarus from the dead. Yet, as we read further along in the passage, we see Him modeling His humanity as well – the second layer.
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
Jesus wept. He felt sadness and allowed Himself to express it. That was not weakness. Those in observance attributed it to the depth of His love. Jesus allowed Himself to weep and to feel the sadness, BUT He did not stay there. He continued to move, as He was called, to fulfill the Father’s will. But nowhere in here was this seen as a sign of weakness — it was a natural emotion considering the death of His beloved friend (even knowing He was going to bring him back to life). Some commentaries say that He was grieving the lack of faith from those who followed. I think that we become scared of allowing ourselves to feel sadness or pain because we are worried that we will become stuck there. The reality is if we do not deal with our pain, it will ultimately hold us back. Nothing irritates me more than the “encouragement” that comes in the form of this statement, “Be strong” when it reinforces not showing emotion. If strength is seen as an avoidance of feeling, then I do not want any part of that. True strength comes from facing our heartaches and trials head on and dealing with what comes…like Jesus did in the days and weeks leading to the cross. He cried out to God while there, demonstrating that He felt the pain, He felt the burden of our sin, He felt the absence of the Father under the weight of our sin, AND He kept on moving and endured the cross for us and for God’s glory.
This is a longer post, but I could have easily added more, because I feel that this is a part of becoming unplugged. By truly modeling our emotions, actions and direction after the One who modeled perfection. We have become so lost in the ideals of our culture that we have forgotten the origins of how and why we were created. Continue to seek after your purpose in this life and I believe that you will find true freedom. I will leave you with this quote that I captured from a fellow therapist, “We need to feel, in order to deal, so that we can heal.” Be strong my friends and start feeling.
Do you think crying is a sign of weakness or a strength?
Please weigh in your thoughts to this often silently pondered question. I will share my thoughts at the end of the week.
Thanks, I enjoy interacting with you all!
Negative Self-Talk
If you had a friend who spoke to you in the same way that you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow this person to be your friend?
This week’s question is rhetorical and will tie into a post I am working on. As always please feel free to comment – we want to hear your voice! …stay tuned!
Joycy Ann Unplugged 