“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.
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4
As it turns out, these times when we feel spiritually depleted or disinterested are not red flags for us to fret over. They are simply tests. These temporary times when we lack inspiration or get caught up in life’s drama have no bearing on our position in Christ or our commitment to His work.
We have come to understand that the testing of our faith can never happen during good times when inspiration flows freely, we are highly motivated, and praise songs play on a loop in our heads. Times of high spiritual energy and passion are thrilling, but they can’t do the work of generating patience. Only the testing of our faith can do that…
As we release our addictions with the words of Jesus, “It is finished!” and settle comfortably into our new normal, we feel gratitude beyond words. The dysfunctions we struggled with in the past are fading in the distance. We are on firm footing and making solid progress.
Sometimes we make really good progress and are pleased with the distance we cover in such a short time. We feel that our relationship with God is in great shape, and we are motivated by our sense of accomplishment.
At other times, however, we feel as if we were trudging through mud, putting one foot in front of the other, lacking any drive or inspiration. We feel inadequate, overwhelmed, and disinterested. During these times, we don’t feel so great about our relationship with God. We assume He is disappointed with our lack of energy and enthusiasm.
These times are rare, but they happen often enough to make us question our stability and resolve. We wonder if one of these periods might last so long that we will just give in and give up.
We don’t want to lose what we have gained, and we don’t want to miss the joy of the journey, so the thought of trudging through the marshy swampland of doubt, discouragement, and disagreement feels very threatening.
We love the mountaintops and the flowery meadows, but we must face the fact that dry deserts and muddy bogs are also part of the expedition. We must make peace with both if we want to get where we are going.
When the roads are easy, we feel joy in looking back to see how far we’ve come. When the roads are difficult, we seem to take one step forward, two steps back. Sometimes we slip and fall. Sometimes we just stand still and shrug. Even when we do finally get on firm footing again and start to move forward, we scold ourselves for not being stronger, more resilient, or more determined…
Waiting on God and being certain of His blessings is not pie-in-the-sky or wishful thinking. This faith choice is not presumptuous or improper. Blessings are the divine energy of God empowering us to succeed because we choose to believe in His goodness. He has equipped us with a divine destiny. He wants to see us succeed as much as we do.
And so, we wait for what God has promised, in the same way we might wait at a bus stop, in eager anticipation. We aren’t sitting at some random corner, hoping a bus might drive by. We are positioned at the right place at the right time, waiting for what we know is on its way. We aren’t waiting to see if a hopeful future will appear. We are waiting with confidence, certain of it.
Obviously, it would be silly to wait on a country road, expecting the city bus to magically appear. In the same way, we do not wait for God, based on our own whims and wishes. We examine His words when we are waiting for our miracles, just like we would examine a bus schedule to be sure of our direction.
We don’t hop on the bus headed east, when we are trying to go west. In the same manner, we don’t claim a scripture about healing when we are trying to find a job. Specific promises deliver specific results, so we search our Sacred Text to find the words we need…
“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.
Finding Total Recovery in the Words of Christ, "It is Finished!" 