Save Now, Jesus!

And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”Mark 11:9-10

We come alive in pivotal moments. Our souls sense the rise of a changing tide and are quick to submit to its power. We love the significance of feeling a shift in the atmosphere, and something in us longs to participate.

That changing tide caught the crowd on the first Palm Sunday. The people could feel something in the air. Prophesies promised centuries ago were breaking through to fulfillment in their generation. 

And they couldn’t hold back their excitement. The crowds encircled Jesus, their voices crying out praise. “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Hosanna. Save now!

The people believed their hearts were ready to receive their Messiah. They spread their cloaks on the road and waved palm branches they had cut from the fields in honor of their King. They declared themselves ready for rescue, to leave the oppressive shackles of the Roman Empire and see their own promised Kingdom established.

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

Their hearts cried out for Jesus to save them. What they didn’t understand at the time—what we still struggle to understand in our day—is that true salvation requires surrender.

The people wanted Jesus to save them, but they wanted it on their terms. They wanted to define what it would look like. And it when it didn’t look like what they expected, they turned on Him.

Less than a week later, the rising tide caught the crowd again. Only this time, it turned their hearts against the One they had declared their saving King.

And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” 13And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.Mark 15:12-15 

Beloved, how does your heart respond when Jesus doesn’t save the way you thought He would? When His answer looks different than your heart’s cry?

Does your heart stay true, trusting the One who declares He works ALL THINGS for your good? Or do your circumstances dictate whether Jesus becomes your Savior or your enemy?

Trusting Jesus means trusting Him fully. 

If we don’t get that up front, we’ll find ourselves rejecting Him. His ways won’t look like we expect them too. At times darkness will seem to overshadow His light. And that’s when you and I will need to choose, dear one. 

Will we allow ourselves to be caught again by the rising tide of fear that discredits Him? Or will we surrender all that we are to trust His love?

We aren’t ready for rescue if we’re the one telling Jesus what it should look like. In that scenario, we’ve invited Jesus to submit to us as lord—and that removes Him from His position as powerful Savior.

Oh, dear one. Salvation comes through surrender.Salvation comes when we trust Jesus to be Lord over us. When we trust Him to do what He must. Because He knows best.

Jesus IS love, beloved. It’s not what He does. It’s who He is.

And He cannot operate outside of love. He will always choose what’s best, even if it’s what’s hardest.

Like He chose the cross. 

The people thought they needed new government. Save now, Jesus!

What they really needed were new hearts. Hearts that wouldn’t harden over disappointment. Hearts that wouldn’t reject the very help held out to save them. Hearts that could love with heavenly love.

So, Jesus made the hard choice. He risked everything to save their fickle hearts—to save our fickle hearts. He risked being misunderstood. Risked rejection. Risked being hated. 

Because Jesus is love. And He always gives what’s best.

To receive His best for you requires surrender, dear one. It requires softening your hardened heart and opening it to trust. To trust His Way. To trust His Truth.

Only then will you experience His Life.

A Unified Purpose

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! Psalm 133:1-2

Few things thrill the heart of God like seeing His beloved children come together in agreement over His purpose. After all, unity reflects the very nature of God.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4

Dear one, God dwells in perfect agreement with Himself. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit never depart from acting as one.

Yet His church often resists such unity. Instead of building one another up and working together to advance His kingdom, we oppose one another. We point the Sword at one another instead of standing together against the real enemy.

My heart burns to embrace the same unity that reflects our One God.

I’m excited to announce a new partnership with Renewing the Heart Ministries to claim Kingdom ground in the Northeast. Here are a few words about my vision. I pray you will catch it too!

I’m excited for the opportunity to partner with Renewing the Heart Ministries, answering God’s call to redefine “women’s ministry” in our region and become women who authentically and biblically minister to women. Ministry was never supposed to be about programs. God calls us to live ministry, impacting the lives of those around us as a natural consequence of our own personal walk with Jesus.

I share Renewing the Heart’s passion to teach believers how to align their lives with the Word of God so they can live transformed and victorious. I know the frustration of living a powerless existence, doing my best to please God while rarely experiencing joy myself. The days of empty works are over. Christ’s return draws near. He calls His body to prepare the way for His coming, to rise in unity and prove the power of the cross through the word of our testimony. It’s time we link arms and together experience the promise of 1 Corinthians 4:20, “For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.”

I am honored and humbled to join Renewing the Heart for their Iron Sharpens Iron conferences as MC and one of their keynote speakers. Uniting all churches to worship together in Spirit and Truth echoes Christ’s cry to His Father in Gethsemane:

“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:22-23

Unity in the body of Christ releases love to accomplish His work. And together we have the opportunity to come alongside hurting churches through our Woman2Woman events. The Kelley Latta Ministries team will work in partnership with Renewing the Heart to disciple leaders and their women in the Word and equip them to raise up difference makers—authentic followers of Christ who impact their communities.

Together we’ll see Christ revealed in our region. Love remains the answer. The Word of God lived in love carries the power to heal and restore. Our God stands ready to reveal Himself in our midst. What a privilege to be a vessel He uses to release life!

Thank you for your prayer support as we join together in Jesus’ Name. I look forward to updating you as the vision unfolds!

Anticipating the Harvest,

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Happy New Year!

Wishing you a year filled with Christ’s presence, redeeming love, and resurrection life! May the power of the cross be evident in you and reveal God’s love to a broken world. Happy New Year from our family to yours!

A Transformed Thief

“Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also heaped insults on him. Mark 15:32

At times I have difficulty grasping the love of God. When I consider the road to Calvary, emotion overwhelms me. I picture Jesus anguishing on His knees in Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood. I see fists pounding His flesh, a thorny crown beaten into His head, lashes repeatedly stripping skin and bloody tissue from His back.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Isaiah 53:7

While His own people spit at Him and mocked Him, Jesus silently bore the weight of a cross and stumbled up the hill to Calvary. There, angry soldiers pounded nails into His hands and feet, pinning Him to that cross. The ground beneath Him stained crimson by the blood of earth’s Creator, at last Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

It might be easy for us to blame the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. But the truth is, you and I put Jesus there as much as they did. Our sin nailed Him to that cross.

These words from Sidewalk Prophets’ song, You Love Me Anyway, pierce my heart each time I hear them.

I am the thorn in Your crown, but You love me anyway

I am the sweat from Your brow, but You love me anyway

I am the nail in Your wrist, but You love me anyway

I am Judas’ kiss, but You love me anyway

I am a blessed recipient of God’s grace, dear one, of His incomprehensible love. For 26 years I rejected my Lord and King while pretending to love Him. Yet still He welcomed me with open arms the instant I finally opened my heart.

Words cannot express my gratitude over His pursuit of this prodigal. He intersected my life, pierced my blindness with His glorious truth, and inscribed His Word upon my heart. I am eternally grateful. And forever changed.

History records another recipient of grace whose life—and death—offers irrefutable hope of redemption through faith in the Son of God. The story of the crucified thief who joined Jesus in paradise unravels any theory that Jesus welcomes us based on the good we’ve done. Even the thief declared of himself,

“We are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man [Jesus] has done nothing wrong.” Luke 23:41

 I’d like to shift our focus to his next words, however.

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Luke 23:42

Perhaps you have never considered this thought before: How did he know? How did the thief know that Jesus would, indeed, come into a kingdom?

His eyes witnessed the same things Jesus’ Disciples saw that sent them running in fear, believing it was over. Jesus hung battered and broken, struggling for His next breath and nearing His last. Death loomed immanently, yet the thief knew that Jesus would one day reign as King, and he entrusted his life to His care.

“…remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

How did the thief know what even the Disciples could not yet understand?

I’d like to suggest that our friend the thief had an encounter with glory. God sent His Spirit to open his eyes and enable him to see. In John 6:65, Jesus said,

“. . . I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

Our opening Scripture today reveals that as our thief first hung on the cross beside Jesus, he did not recognize Him as the Son of God. He joined the crowd and the other thief hurling insults at the King of Kings.

Jesus performed no visible miracle from the cross to change his opinion. He only heard His fervent prayers to the Father and listened to Jesus speak of forgiveness. But as the thief heard the words of Christ, God pierced his darkness with the light of truth, allowing a once blind man to see that Jesus was everything He claimed to be. He suddenly knew that death would not hold this King of the Jews. And with a repentant heart, our thief emerged alone from the crowd in defense of Jesus, abandoning the hateful mockers to proclaim His coming kingdom. All doubt erased, this man stood certain of what his earthly eyes could not see.

 “ . . . blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

Indeed.

Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43

Have you had your encounter with glory, dear one? Do you know beyond reason and doubt that Jesus’ kingdom is coming? Or are you still trying to convince yourself based on what others have told you?

You can know, beloved. Jesus longs to reveal Himself to you, to invade your darkness with His truth-baring light. All He requires of you is a seeking heart. He’ll do the rest.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29:13-14

The forgiven thief possessed the only thing he needed to draw God to him that day. He had a repentant heart that sought the truth, so God faithfully showed up to reveal it in time for him to enter into paradise. Then our thief made the choice to believe.

And what of the rest of the angry mob? Why couldn’t they see what the thief saw?

Some people simply prefer the darkness (John 3:19).

 

Word on Wednesday

I am sorry to inform you that this week there will no Word on Wednesday.

Kelley has been ill this week and unable to do her blog.  She is deeply saddened

to miss this time with you.

We hope you will continue to follow Kelley Latta Ministries on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

and of course stay tuned next week for

Kelley's latest installment of Word on Wednesday!

If the Lord brings Kelley to mind, would you please lift her up in prayer, for complete healing and for rest.

Thank you & God Bless!

Independence Day

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

Today we celebrate freedom from oppression, liberty purchased for us by the blood of those who came before. I am so thankful for their sacrifice, and for their part in establishing this great country where we can live in the freedom of democracy.

As we pause to reflect on our liberty, may we also remember another who bled for our freedom: the precious Son who gave His life as a ransom for many. Jesus suffered the cross so that we could live free.

Are you free, dear one? Have you left behind the shackles of past hurts?  Are you still locked in the bondage of controlling sin? Jesus shed His blood to purchase your release.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Isaiah 61:1

We live in uncertain times. The face of liberty has changed in the United States of America. Perhaps you share concern over the direction our once great nation appears to be headed. Take heart! Hope looms on the horizon. Its power rests within hearts of the redeemed.

Consider God’s promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14,

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

What if we celebrated this Independence Day by answering the Spirit’s call to revival?

It sounds good in theory. What Christian wouldn’t applaud the masses turning to the Lord in repentance? We love the concept, but we often ignore the means. You see, God desires to begin revival in you and me.

What if you chose to make it personal, to really believe the promises in God’s Word were meant for you? What if you really could be free and were able to experience the miracle of a transformed heart? What if your prayers actually could have the power to open the heavens?

He waits for you to trust Him, dear one. All of His promises are true. And they’re meant for you. I pray that this Independence Day will mark the beginning of your own journey to real freedom. May you become all that Jesus bled and died for you to be, and may you discover with joy that in Him, you really do have the power to change the world.

 

Opening the Gift of Prayer

 

“. . . your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”     Matthew 6:10

We often approach God in prayer like He’s a magic genie in a lamp. If we speak our request and rub Him right, we’ll soon have what we asked!

Unfortunately, the results often disappoint us. We earnestly go before the throne to tell God what we need from Him, and His silence leaves us doubting the power of this God who apparently has better things to do than answer.

Can you relate? Do you faithfully bring your requests before God in anticipation of His desire to help you? Do you find that He regularly answers you in tangible ways? Or have you found yourself frustrated and doubting whether prayer has any real power at all?

Dear one, our Creator God invites us to touch the realms of heaven with our needs and requests, and He delights in revealing Himself through His answers!

Scripture is full of promises regarding prayer, but many times we struggle due to our interpretation of them. One of those promises is found in Matthew 21:22:

Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

We often interpret this verse to say that if we can just muster up enough faith, God will give us whatever we ask for. Then when we don’t see the answer we prayed for, we assume our faith must not have been strong enough. Yet Jesus taught that we only need faith as small as a mustard seed to move a mountain! (Matthew 17:20)

Jesus offers this teaching about prayer in John 16:24:

Jesus said, “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

Here Scripture teaches that we will receive from God when we ask in the name of Jesus. Great! In answer to this, we decide that we will simply end all of our prayers with the words, “In Jesus name, Amen.” That should get God moving.

Dear one, seeing God answer our prayers isn’t the result of having the right formula or the right amount of faith. It comes from having a right heart.

Let’s review our opening verse for today. In Jesus’ model for prayer, before He ever asked God to meet a single need, He prayed, “. . . your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).  

My friend, prayer is not about making God bring about our will on this earth. Prayer is the conduit that releases God’s will upon the earth. Our prayers, when uttered in compliance with His perfect purpose, dispense the blessing and power of God into the lives of individuals.

Consider 1 John 5:14:

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

When we utter prayers that are aligned with His perfect will, Scripture promises that God hears us. Even more beautiful is the promise found in verse 15.

“And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

The key to unlocking the mystery of powerful prayer is to align ourselves with God’s will. Instead of insisting on telling God how He should answer our need, we must approach Him with a humble heart that’s willing to move where He leads.

Yes, God invites us to ask big things of Him. He loves when we offer specific needs and ask Him to reveal Himself by meeting them. But we must remember that God’s desire isn’t just to make us happy. He desires to provide His very best for us.

Let’s release the genie from the lamp and let God be God. Let’s give Him permission to answer our prayers in the way that He chooses, even if it might be different from what we think we need. As we approach Him in faith, believing that God is able to meet our need, can we also open our hearts to trust Him for His answer?

You needn’t fear His will for you.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Let’s boldly approach the throne to ask big things of God. But as we do, let’s leave our hearts open to receive His will for us instead. After all, it may just be better.

One Body, One Temple

 

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Last week we witnessed Jesus’ zealous guardianship of His Father’s house. At the core of Jesus’ outburst ran His desire to see the temple become a “house of prayer” (Mark 11:17). Now that Jesus has completed His work on the cross and conquered the grave, God’s residence on earth has changed. He no longer dwells behind curtains or walls of stone. He lives within the hearts of His people.

Consider Paul’s depiction of the current church found in Ephesians 2:20-22. He describes membership into God’s household,

“. . . built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

When we contemplate the house of God, we often think of the many churches dotting the landscape of our cities and towns. In our mind’s eye, God’s house can take many shapes and forms, ranging from pristine, white buildings whose tall steeples sparkle in the sunlight to small meeting rooms in schools, theaters or restaurants that house a gathering of believers.

The truth is, God’s Word teaches that there is only one church. It finds its foundations in Jesus Christ, and is made up of those who have put their faith in Him. That church is described above in Ephesians 2:20-22. Jesus Himself was the first stone laid by God to set the foundation, and only in Him will the building join together and rise to become a holy temple. Do you see where you fit into the picture?

“And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” Ephesians 2:22

You, dear one, have become a part of the temple that houses the living God. So is every other person who has placed their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Although God views each one of us as uniquely special, only in unity is God’s house made complete. Notice from our text in Ephesians that the building will rise to become God’s holy temple as it is joined together in Him (verse 21).

We will miss the glory of God’s house if we don’t gaze upon it as He does: one beautiful, glorious whole. And that whole, as Jesus taught in Mark 11:17, will be called a house of prayer.

Consider Jesus’ words to His disciples in Matthew 6:9,

“This, then, is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. . .’”

The very first word Jesus uttered in prayer as He taught His disciples to pray was “our”. Think about that for a minute. The entire Lord’s Prayer, our model given by Jesus Himself to teach us how to petition God for His aid, is spoken in the first person plural. Our Father… Give us today our daily bread. . . Forgive us our debts . . . lead us not into temptation . . . deliver us from the evil one.”

What a wonderful place for us to start as we ask God to teach us to pray. Jesus demonstrates through His words the posture we must have before God in prayer. We must share His zeal for His house, and pray with a heart of unity for His body.

Yes, God desires that we bring our personal petitions before Him, but He delights in answering the prayers of those who approach Him with a humble heart. As we become intercessors who seek to align our prayers with His perfect purpose, He begins to circumcise our hearts so that we take on the characteristics of His own. As we do, we unite our hearts with others who also seek His Kingdom, and our prayers echoing around the world will rise as a fragrant offering before the throne.

Only God's own Spirit can produce that kind of unity, and in the presence of His Spirit, we discover His power!

Nourish Your Soul

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Psalm 23:5

I must begin today in worship of my Lord and King! He is the Beginning, the End, the First and the Last. He is Faithful and True. He is Redeemer, Savior, and Friend. He is so much more than we could ever grasp or imagine. He is love, and He desires to pour into me and into you. Will you allow Him to?

I have just returned from teaching at the first ever “Women of Purpose” conference in St. Pete Beach, FL. I found myself so blessed by the worship and the messages from each of the other speakers; I was truly ushered into the presence of the King! I come away with a sense of excitement and expectation as I commit to allow God to lead me to fulfill His purpose for me, and I want to share that joy and hope with all who will receive it. I want you to know the all-surpassing joy that can only come from doing what you were created to do.

I praise God for each one of you who answered God’s invitation to join us last weekend. I see your beautiful faces filled with emotion—expressing smiles and tears, sadness and hope, darkness and understanding. We basked in the Son this weekend, didn’t we? We abandoned the dark chains of deception and stepped boldly into the warm radiance of Christ’s light. I’m so proud of you! It is my great joy and privilege to have walked beside you for a few steps of your journey with Jesus. Now, dear one, you must keep walking.

I once read an article in which Beth Moore described taking her first trip to Africa to help feed the hungry. The group she traveled with warned her in advance that the people were so starved they would likely begin to eat the grain itself rather than plant it for a long term harvest. Their immediate need was so desperate, they would consume their fill without considering the need to sow the seed so it could continue to sustain them; they would eventually find themselves right back in their same desperate need.

Scripture compares the Word of God to seed scattered by our Heavenly Father (Luke 8:11). He sends it forth seeking to fill us with it, to nourish and sustain us so we don’t return to the place of desperation. But we often approach the seed He scatters like those starving souls in Africa. We flock to our churches, Bible studies, and conferences so starved and desperate for nourishment from God’s Word that we immediately begin to devour it. We take it in, taste the beauty of its refreshment, and come away full! But we often forget the most important part. The seeds of Truth God has given us aren’t meant to merely be devoured. They need to be sown.

Scripture teaches an important truth in James 1:22,

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.”

If we don’t commit to actively trust God through our obedience, we will soon return to the same emptiness that sapped us of our joy and strength in the first place. Dear one, we come away from an encounter with God feeling empowered, refreshed, and full! But if that’s where it ends and we just return to life as if nothing had changed, nothing will. We must choose to live differently, to daily partake of His Word so He can fill us with strength and sustaining life. And as He meets us in the stillness, revealing Himself and illuminating our path, we must follow where He leads.

God’s grace is released into our lives when we trust Him through our obedience. As you faithfully sow into your life that which He has spoken, the floodgates of heaven will open, unleashing the blessings ordained for you at the creation of the world. You will begin to taste and experience heaven while still abiding on this earth. And you will wonder how you could’ve survived so long without feasting on the bread of life.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” Matthew 4:4

Feast on His Word, dear one. Allow Him to nourish your soul, strengthen your spirit, and empower you to become all you were meant to be. And as you follow, you will discover what it means to truly live.

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Not For You

I'm excited to introduce you to Susan Stilwell, a free-lance writer who loves the Lord and serves Him through her gift of teaching. I asked her to share a word with us this week. I pray you'll be encouraged by the truths she shares and will accept her challenge to pray. Be blessed, dear one.

 

 

"Not For You"

by Susan Stilwell

One of my favorite televisions shows was Seinfeld, and an episode I particularly enjoyed was “Soup Nazi.” If every rule wasn’t immediately obeyed, the chef barked, “No soup for YOU!”

We good-naturedly growl that at my house, but I’ve noticed a similar sounding voice that occasionally echoes in my head, “Not for you!” Sometimes it barks, but more often it murmurs, especially after a mountain top experience.

Inspired and refreshed, I come away feeling as though I can conquer the world. The seeds planted on the mountain take root and become little sprouts of inspiration. I dream of the changes I’ll make and the things I’ll accomplish. But then, reality sets in.

  • Job and family issues are still there.
  • Grouchy people still irritate me.
  • Bad habits still rear their ugly heads.

My little seedlings struggle under the demands of everyday life. If I’m not careful, my enthusiasm and hope can be smothered by a voice of discouragement and doubt.

“See?” The voice whispers, “Nothing has really changed. That message wasn’t for you.”

This weekend, hundreds of women will gather at the Strive 4 Greatness Women of Purpose conference in St Petersburg, FL. They will praise and worship our Lord, and hear testimonies of the mighty work He’s done in the lives of other women. Many have prayed in anticipation of this event, asking God to prepare hearts to receive His truth.

We trust the Holy Spirit to plant seeds in the hearts of those who desperately long for freedom, peace and purpose. After the conference, many will come away encouraged, refreshed, and inspired to surrender to Him and live with passion. Tending their own seedlings of inspiration, they’ll return home, ready to conquer their worlds.

Reality will set in. Distracted by ringing telephones, looming deadlines, and exasperating people, many will struggle. They will hear a voice whisper lies like:

  • “That message was really for those other women.”
  • “Your situation is totally different.”
  • “You should’ve seen some change by now. But, see? It wasn’t for you.”

It’s critical that we pray for the time following the conference. I’m asking the Lord to guard all the seedlings from the event, so that the Word may dwell richly within each woman (Col 3:16). I pray those seedlings grow, and that each woman’s life is transformed. May their minds be renewed (Romans 12:2) as they silence any lies with Truth:

  • I can do all things through Christ Who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).
  • I know He works all things for my good because I love Him and He has a purpose for my life (Romans 8:28).
  • I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. He has taken all the old things (habits, thinking, desires) and is making them new (2 Cor 5:17).

We know the enemy of our souls is the father of those lies (John 8:44). He comes against us to kill, steal and destroy any seedling of hope we have in Christ Jesus (John 10:10). So anytime the voice of doubt and discouragement starts, speak God’s Truth aloud and remember –

The message WAS and IS for you. Believe and press on!

“…They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor.”   ~Isaiah 61:3b (NIV)

 

Visit Susan's blog at www.susanstilwell.com.

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