Walk Boldly With Jesus

This morning’s witness is about my day last Saturday. I had the privilege of joining a group of young adults in the Boston area who belong to a ministry called Encounter. This is different than the Encounter School of Ministry that I attended. This ministry is a group of Catholic young adults that get together as a large group on the third Saturday of the month. They meet at a church in Boston, an...

Our Heavenly Bank Luke 12:33-34 “Now, go and sell what you have and give to those in need; you will be making deposits in your account in heaven, an account that will never be taken from you. Your gifts will become a secure and unfailing treasure, deposited in heaven forever. Where you deposit your treasure, that is where you fix your thoughts—and your heart will long to be there also.” Yesterday...

Sanctify Them In The Truth John 17:17-18 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  And for their sakes, I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.” The beginning part of this was the verse of the day today. I liked this verse because it talks about sanctifying them with the Lord’s truth. I wasn’t...

You Are Chosen! John 15:16 "You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.” This was the verse that the praise leader talked about at the prayer group yesterday. Her talk lined up so much with yesterday’s episode of the podcast. Then we had a bookmark yesterday at a prayer group...

God Knows You, The Real You! John 1:47-48 “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” If you have not seen the chosen, I invite you to watch it. The series is amazing, and it helps you to understand t...

The witnesses today are from the Global Awakening Website. Randy Clark is An international itinerant minister birthed from a 4-day meeting in Canada; Randy Clark illustrates perfectly the aphorism, “Don’t despise small beginnings.” The son of an oil field worker, Randy, like most from his generation, learned the importance of perseverance. After his miraculous healing from a car accident when he w...

God Is Holding My Hand Isaiah 41:13 “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Since the mentoring theme this month is “Be Not Afraid!” I thought I would look up some verses along these lines and talk about them. Today, I found the one above. “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear...

Don’t Worry, I Will Explain It 1 John 3:8 “Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” I read this verse and thought, “Nope, I don’t want to go there.”  Actually, I read this verse and then read the next two verses after it.   1 John 3:8-10 says, “Everyone who...

Mutual Affection Romans 12:9-10 “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;  love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.” This was not the verse I thought I would be using today. I was planning on using the next two verses in this chapter. However, when I clicked on the whole chapter and read these two verses, the last part jumped out at me....

The Fruits of the Spirit Colossians 1:9-10 “For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.” I was at a conference th...

Today’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose three testimonies from the God Stories Category. Often...

God Is In The Practical Things Too! James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” I read this one and I really liked it because I think wisdom is something that we might not think to request from God.  I think we all feel pretty comfortable praying to God when we are sick or when a loved one is sick.  I d...

Be Not Afraid! Jeremiah 30:10 “‘So do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel,’  declares the Lord. ‘I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid.” This morning, when I read this verse, the words that jumped out at me were, “Do not be afraid.” The Lord is c...

Sacrifice Is The Heart of Worship Psalm 95:6-8 “O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!” This verse was received at prayer group yesterday, and when I read it this morning, I thought it would be a great one for today’s devotional. It...

No More Masquerade Colossians 3:7-9 "That's how you once behaved, characterized by your evil deeds. But now it's time to eliminate them from your lives once and for all – anger, fits of rage, all forms of hatred, cursing, filthy speech, and lying. Lay aside your old Adam self with its masquerade and disguise.” There were two things I liked about these verses this morning. The first is that they te...

Today’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose four testimonies from the Addictions and Deliverance C...

How Fleeting Life Is Psalm 39: 4-6 ““LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.” Selah “Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know wh...

Keep A Tight Rein on Your Tongue James 1:26-27 “Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” There were two things that really s...

The Lord Is My Refuge Psalm 91:9-13 “Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place,  no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion...

Today, I want to tell you about the retreat I had a few weekends ago. I felt like I would have more people at this retreat than last year. I did have many more people I invited who said they were interested in coming. However, most said they wanted to go but could not make it for the weekend that I booked the retreat house. Three weeks before the retreat, I asked the retreat director, Nancy, a que...

Consider Life's Challenges A Gift James 1:2-4 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” I love how God works. Sometimes...

Set Your Minds On Things Above Colossians 3:1-3 “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” When I read this verse this morning, what stood out to me was when it said, “Set your minds...

My Help Comes From The Lord! Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” I was going to do another part of this verse this morning, and then the song The Lord woke me up happened to be all about the beginning part of this verse. I will cover the other verse in a later episode. I really like this song because i...

Be Strong & Courageous, for the Lord is With You Joshua 1:9 " Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” I saw this verse on my refrigerator this morning. A few years ago, someone gave me one of the desk calendars. Each day, there is a new page with a new picture. The photos are of amazing sce...

Today’s witnesses are from Matthew West’s website called popwe.org. If you don’t know who Matthew West is, he is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller. This website is for the non-profit that he has with his father, a pastor. Matthew and his father encourage people to share their stories. They have various categories of stories. Today, I chose a recorded testimony from the God Stories Category. To...