We hear all the time from Christians, “God has a plan.” Are we referring to God’s plan or our own? Reading this morning in Ephesians 1 the following words – let these words bring joy to your day! Here is His plan: “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.  Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself…

Just finishing up 2 Samuel in the Bible. This book goes into detail of King David’s reign, so much on leadership to be learned from this book. What stood out to me was how he was able to unite the nation and his people.  #unity Great leaders will unite their people! His mighty men came from all over Israel and some came from other nations with various backgrounds and most were fugitives. The men that followed David were extremely loyal to him, often having little in common with David besides military experience and their loyalty. #mightymen The greatness of King David seems to be inspired by his character and quality…

“Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakeable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.” Hebrews 12:28 “We are receiving a Kingdom (for eternity!) that is unshakeable.” Our world is shakeable, it’s uncertain. It wants to chew us up and bring us down. But we get to worship and praise our Father through all things with a “thankful” heart because we know the promise He has given us. #truth “Let us be thankful.” The Bible didn’t say “you will automatically be thankful” it says “let” – – its a call for action and for constant reflection in our lives. Being thankful…

“But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” Psalm 86:15 As we continue in our week of thankfulness, I’m thankful that every single time I open the Bible I learn more and more about the character of God. From Genesis to Revelation the living word reveals who God is to us. He’s Gracious Kind Fair Pure Merciful Faithful Truthful Patient Just Perfect Loving (God is love!) Compassionate Trustworthy Holy Righteous But most of all I’m thankful that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside us. It…

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him  for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 Turkey Day is tomorrow! Yay!!  I am excited!!  It is a day to gather families, uphold traditions, love your families, and truly over eat!  Lol It is a day for our families to say what they are thankful for as you go around the dinner table.  This is a moment every momma cherishes and we have the perfect idea of how…

“Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Really Paul – ALL circumstances?!? This can be hard to wrap our minds around sometimes. In the teaching part of the Bible it says, “Paul is teaching us not to be thankful FOR everything that happens to us, but IN everything.”  We gotta be IN God!  When bad things happen to us and evil strikes we can still be thankful for the good that He will accomplish through the suffering.  Suffering will be part of our faith walk, it will not be fun to…

Heather and I wanted to post things we are thankful for this week as we head towards Thanksgiving day. Please share what you are thankful for in the comments below. The greatest thing I am thankful for is my relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ. As we live each day on this earth things do not always go as we have planned. (Can anyone else relate? ) But… in the uncertainty of the world – what I do have for certain is Jesus and the ability to pray.  Due to the relationship I have with Jesus, I get to the Father. God the Father will hear and answer my prayers.…

Jesus was the greatest sacrifice. If we had to say what we are thankful for – by far it’s the cross. Everything goes back to the cross! God did not condemn us; instead he gave us a way to eternal life. God made it possible for us to have salvation by giving His son to the world. It is only through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross that we are able to be saved. #truth “But you were cleansed, you were made holy (sanctified), you were made right with God (justified) by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”…

One morning at a Women’s Retreat I had the pleasure of meeting and enjoying my breakfast with one of the sweetest souls I’ve ever met. We were reflecting on the speakers and how the Holy Spirit was moving in a big way; exposing strongholds and sinful natures in almost every woman. God was molding women and tough conversations of the heart were happening.  Reflecting on my own experience I jokingly said, “yeah I just wish God would rip the bandaid off.” Truthfully speaking, my organized and type A self just wanted everything to be exposed at once so I could have my checklist of what to work on! In her…

“After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us.  I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.”  1 Corinthians 3:5-6 As Christians serving God we need to be on one team – Team God!  Scripture goes on to say, “It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:7 Paul is teaching us that as we minister and move forward in our unique God…