“These words are the secret to life for those who find them. They bring health to the whole body.”
When you see someone who is struggling, it is your natural instinct to use the testimony of your own struggle in order to help them find victory.
While others may use critical words to analyze weakness, or sling accusations, you use the words of your own story to offer reassurance and hope.
Your enthusiasm for distributing God’s words of love and compassion makes you a valuable asset to your family, friends and community.
Like a cool, clear mountain stream, the story of your own deliverance brings healing and refreshment to weary travelers.
As a human host for God’s Spirit, divine spiritual energy flows from you. Through the words of your testimony, mercy is dispersed, harmony is restored, and healing is delivered.
God has given you the unique desire to generously distribute words of victory to everyone you pass on your journey through this portion of history.
Although you may not realize the full impact of your words, their ripple effect will continue long after your time on earth is over.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do you hide a lamp under a bowl or under a bed? No! You put the lamp on a lamp stand.
The goodness of God in your life creates an aura of warmth and light in the atmosphere surrounding you.
This glow of the Spirit illuminates spaces which are dark and gloomy. People are drawn to your light and want to experience it for themselves.
The wonderful thing about this light is that it can be shared freely without losing its intensity. Since God’s goodness is like the sun, all of creation can bask in its warmth. There is no limit to the number of beneficiaries who can receive the sustenance it offers.
As this warmth and light of God’s goodness shines on you and through you, healing comes.
Just like the sunshine persuades spring flowers to emerge, you too carry the ability to encourage the colorful expressions of God’s unique design to blossom in the lives of those you influence.
You carry a big responsibility, for without the goodness of God shining through you, some who are searching for the light would remain lost in darkness.
This light you carry is warm and inviting. It brings healing and comfort. It is the goodness of God shining on you and through you, which illuminates the path that others will follow.
At once Simon and Andrew left their nets and followed Jesus.
Matthew 4:20
The decision to follow Jesus is not always an easy decision to make. It sometimes requires walking away from what is familiar and stepping out into the unknown. Following Jesus often involves personal risk, but you are convinced that no matter what is at stake, the safest place to be is near the King.
You believe that the only way to find your true purpose and destiny is to drop what you are doing to follow Jesus whenever you hear Him call your name.
Sometimes His call comes while you are managing ordinary daily duties. A day may appear to be routine, but when Jesus asks for your help, the day becomes an adventure.
As a follower, you remain attentive to the One who leads. You watch eagerly for signals indicating the need to slow down, speed up, or make a turn.
Since God designed you specifically for the path you travel, equipping you with all the necessary provisions to make it a successful journey, the only thing you lack is direction, which is why the Holy Spirit serves as your spiritual GPS.
Walking in step with Christ, your ordinary tasks become extraordinary events. As you witness miracles and discover your destiny, you find yourself happily tagging along, never letting Him out of your sight.
For this reason, you are able to avoid many pitfalls and dangers that might otherwise trip you up.
Your life depends upon closely following Christ. Without His guidance, you can easily get lost in your own struggle to attain purpose and meaning.
But, as you respond to His call, following whatever direction He leads, your horizon glows with many new opportunities. In light of this, you wonder what could be more exciting that following Jesus into the next amazing adventure.
“By speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.” Ephesians 4:15
You are blessed with honest friends who offer guidance to help you discover the destiny God has laid out before you. These caring souls protect you with their prayers and support you in developing your gifts and talents.
You are grateful for their impact on your life because due to these relationships, you have risen to greater heights of spiritual and personal growth.
On some occasions, you may sense that you are lost. You get an eerie feeling that you are going in circles. These are the times when your authentic friends come to your rescue.
You do not resent their intrusion into your confusion, but rather you welcome their encouragement and support.
Your willingness to receive honest feedback offers you many unique learning opportunities. Tapping into the experience of others, you are wise beyond your years.
You are a gifted leader and can communicate directives in clear, concise, logical steps. With this God given ability, you offer honest and reliable guidance to others who are on their own quest for knowledge and enlightenment.
This comes with enormous responsibility which you do not take lightly.
As a person after God’s own heart, you understand the value of honesty, but you do not indulge in brutal honesty. You know that you must always choose your words carefully, so they are delivered with love and received with gratitude.
“Don’t be jealous of people who use violence and don’t choose to be like them.”
Knowing that evil comes in many forms, you trust the Spirit to guide your intuition.
Maintaining a firm sense of right and wrong, you reject the evil presence of hatred and prejudice. You shun pride and arrogance. You see through deception and prefer to surround yourself with people who are authentic.
You avoid paths that lead to drama and chaos. Your sense of self is deeply rooted in your desire to do the right thing. You live by a set of standards which are aligned with God’s will and your own personal integrity.
Without judgment, repulsion or excuse, you simply detach yourself from people who exhibit little concern for the pain they cause, or the negative impact they have on their fellow humans.
You do not join in with others who belittle or diminish another’s worth. You remove yourself from environments which are darkened by oppression, hate, prejudice, and intolerance.
Evil offends you deeply. You don’t understand why people are so cruel to each other. In times of conflict, you seek God’s protection, so you don’t fall prey to this temptation yourself.
In quiet times, as you vent to God in heartfelt prayers, He hears and understands. This evil that grieves you, grieves Him too.
“I tell you the truth. All sins that people do can be forgiven.” Mark 3:28
Forgiveness is an attribute which comes easily for you. You have been blessed by both giving and receiving forgiveness. You understand the forgiveness of God because you have received it abundantly.
While you may sometimes fail to make the right choice, your decision to accept God’s forgiveness for the wrong ones, is always the right choice.
You are grateful for the opportunities to offer forgiveness to others.
While it is human nature to be concerned about the risks of being merciful, you believe there is a much greater risk to the human soul when one opts to become merciless.
You are grateful for the mercy of God which provides healing and restoration. Not only does He show mercy to the offender, but He also offers forgiveness for the wrong and cancelation of the debt.
Like your Creator, you do not keep score. The mercy and forgiveness you learned from Him, enables you to wipe the slate clean and give everyone a fresh start.
Your appreciation for the forgiveness you have received is best displayed by your willingness to offer it to others.
You are a merciful person and for that reason, as Jesus reported in the Sermon on the Mount, you are blessed and will receive mercy.
It has been said that the word blessed, could be best defined by the phrase, empowered to succeed.
You are successful because you show mercy and because mercy is shown to you.
Whether or not you do everything perfectly, is not what determines your success.
It is your gift of mercy which creates a firm foundation for successful relationships. It is also the defining force of your Christian walk.
For only those who give and receive mercy will ever truly know the heart of God.
Daniel 3:27: “When they came out, the fire had not harmed them. Their hair and clothes were not burned and they didn’t even smell like smoke.“
There are times when you are called upon to take a stand, just like the three Hebrew boys in the book of Daniel. You may be urged by the Spirit to go against the masses and follow your conscience, rather than the demands of a narcissistic bully.
As Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the flames for following their divine direction, you too, will sometimes walk through fire as the result of your convictions.
In the same manner that Jesus appeared in the fiery furnace with those boys, He also appears to you when going through the fiery trials of your own faith.
Some will try to tell you what’s best, and condemn you for standing your ground. At times, you may be criticized for doing what you know is right, by those who are more comfortable taking the path of least resistance.
Lots of Hebrews bowed the knee to the golden statue because they were told to do so. Some of them were friends and family members of the three rebels who refused.
Those who bowed were not named. God did not reject them, or send fire from heaven to consume them. They simply bowed to the golden statue, and went on to live their lives of quiet desperation.
Those who bowed missed out on having a conversation with the Son of God in a fiery furnace. Those who bowed never had their names listed in Sacred Text. Those who bowed never became part of a story which would be told for thousands of years to come.
From this passage, you conclude there are two types of people: those who bow and those who stand.
Bowers are compliant. Standers are defiant. You have been called to be a stander.
Not everyone is called to be a rebel and a renegade. You are.
You go on high alert when you can right a wrong, stand up to a bully, or defend the defenseless.
You are a rebel at heart. You are wild and adventurous. You do not take the path of least resistance. You find that path boring and dull.
You are a trailblazer. You create paths which never existed and inspire others to follow your lead.
Long after you are gone from this planet, your imprint will remain on those trails. Your courage will call to future generations, inviting them to join the rebel cause and reject the status quo. The echo of your voice from a faraway dimension will call to those select few, willing to risk it all for a chance to come up higher.
The Lord cares deeply about you and comes to your rescue whenever you ask for His help.
God sees that some of the things you go through are difficult. You know that help is required if you are going to be able to withstand the pressure and come through to the other side, unscathed.
With the calm reassurance of angels at your side, these struggles do not leave you weakened. Instead, you emerge from difficult predicaments with a newfound awareness of your position in God’s family.
You sense His presence of with greater intensity during times when you are down and finding it impossible to stand on your own. Because of this, you have learned to be grateful for your struggles, because they generate a new level of intimacy between you and your Creator.
Because you know He is there to carry the heaviness you feel after having been wronged, He enables you to move freely into forgiveness where healing can be found.
Assured that the Creator of the Universe is interested in what happens to you, and is willing to help whenever you ask, your confidence is solid and no earthly problem can shake it.
1 Peter 3:22…”Now Christ has gone to heaven. He is seated in the place of honor next to God. All the angels and powers accept his authority.”
You are becoming more and more enlightened about who Jesus is, where He came from, and where He is now, preparing a place for you.
While it is true that your physical body is aging, your mind is being renewed every day. Each step of the way, the Holy Spirit is taking you to new heights of enlightenment.
Fueled by living water springing up from within you, your spirit rushes like a river, creating the power and energy needed to carry your physical form into each next heavenly assignment.
Partnered with the Spirit of God, supernatural energy is infusing you with a heavenly mindset. As you focus your attention on heavenly pursuits, you are simultaneously improving the natural world in which you reside.
In this way, you are living in two realms at once. You are a citizen of heaven, and an ambassador of Christ. Your heart is set on things above, and your days are filled with bringing heaven to earth.
Maintaining a heavenly focus creates melody in your mind and harmony in your heart. This music of heaven shifts your gaze away from your human struggles and toward the throne room of heaven.
Experiencing the power of Christ in this dual reality, His Kingdom is as real to you as the world in which you live.
1 John 3:21…”Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence.”
You lead a carefree life because you release your mistakes and weaknesses into the safe grace of God.
When regret or guilt trouble you, they immediately become the next topic of conversation with God. You talk with your Heavenly Father throughout the day about the issues which plague your thoughts. As you share your memories with God, you find a sense of release. Your thoughts are turned toward His forgiveness and mercy, rather than your own failures and remorse.
You receive clemency from Christ, which wipes the slate clean. You understand this is not a once-in-a-life-time free pass, but it is a gift of grace, providing you with a fresh start whenever you need one, throughout your entire life.
When you talk things out with God, regrets are resolved, and guilt is eliminated.
Knowing that Christ has liberated you from any past mistakes, you are overwhelmed with gratitude rather than guilt.
Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, "It is Finished!" 