God promises to help us follow His plan

Today, I wanted to start with two of my favorite verses that inspire me when I’m trusting God to help me make decisions—whether it’s about how to do things or which path to take:

"The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.” Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord."
—Psalms 32:8-10 (NLT)

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take."
—Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

These verses remind us of God’s promise to guide us if we trust Him completely. They resonate deeply with me as I strive to trust Him in every part of my life.

Faith and Trust: A Journey

At different times in my life, I’ve experienced varying levels of trust and faith in God. As my relationship with Him deepens and I gain greater understanding of His works and what He has promised in His word, my faith continues to grow. 

This is vital because God can only work with the level of trust we place in Him, and developing that trust begins with truly getting to know Him. As the Creator who knows everything about us—even down to the number of hairs on our heads—His ability to move in our lives is tied to the strength of our faith. So, how do we cultivate this faith and trust?

Growing Through Knowledge

The key lies in gaining knowledge of what God has done for us, and the best source is His Word. Reading the Bible reveals His promises and actions, building the foundation for stronger faith.

"The Helper is the Holy Spirit. The Father will send Him in My place. He will teach you everything and help you remember everything I have told you."
—John 14:26 (NLV)

When I read my Bible each morning, I ask the Holy Spirit to teach me and reveal what God has for me that day. This practice helps me recognize His voice—the still, small voice within—that leads and guides us.

Following His Guidance

So, how does God’s voice guide us in decisions beyond the topics specifically talked about in the Bible? It's about experiencing His peace and inner witness. Romans 8:16 speaks about the Holy Spirit giving testimony to our spirit, confirming that we are children of God. Similarly, we can sense His peace and inner leading when we make decisions aligned with His will.

This is most of the time a quiet prompting or sense of peace that leads us toward the best path. As we grow in our relationship with Him, we become better equipped to recognize His guidance in all areas of life—including health and fitness.

Trusting God is a journey. One that transforms our lives as put into action what we have learned as we grow in faith and knowledge of His Word. I encourage you to open your heart to His guidance and allow His peace to lead you in every decision you make.

Affirmations of God's Love, Mercy, and Righteousness: Finding Strength Through Scripture

 

Isaiah 26:3 NLT  "You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in you."

God’s Word reminds us of His mercy, love, and the righteousness we receive through Jesus Christ. It has been increasingly clear to me how important focusing what God says about us and what He has made us through His death and resurrection to my health -mentally and physically. We are new creatures in Christ when we made Jesus the Lord and Savior of our life. 

I've decided to put together some affirmations to help me to focus on what God has said about me. I hope these affirmations also encourage your heart and help you stay rooted in Him.

1. I am deeply loved by God, and His mercy is unending in my life.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23

2. Through Christ, I am made righteous, and my life bears the fruit of His Spirit as I abide in Him.

“If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5

3. My righteousness is not my own but is found in Christ, who strengthens and sustains me.

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” – Romans 3:22

4. God’s forgiveness cleanses me, and I am made new through Christ.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9

Sometimes it can be hard to hold to the new person we are in Jesus. I know that I have let my past mistakes and mess ups have been grounds for feeling mighty condemned. I can be pretty hard on myself in the past based on these mistakes. But Jesus' blood is more powerful than anything that I could do wrong as long as I ask for His mercy.

1 John 1:9:

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Which affirmation will you choose to dwell on today? Do you have a favorite affirmation paired with a Bible verse? Please let me know in the comment section. 

Have a great day! 

Unshakable strength in Christ: Overcoming fear with Philippians 4:13

Phillipians 4:13 NKJV 

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

This is a favorite verse among Christians. It's a point of inspiration and determination to push past barriers to do what God has called us to do.

But what do we walk this out? 

In a world that can be extremely overwhelming- fear can be extremely real and whisper to us that we are not enough. Yet, This scripture reminds us that we aren't fighting this battle alone. In fact in our own strength we aren't enough. However, we have God with us. He is the source of our strength and that His perfect love that casts out fear (I John 4:18).

When fear grips us, it often distorts our view of things, making challenges seem overwhelming. Faith, however, grounds us in truth. It reminds us that God equips us with courage, wisdom, and endurance to face difficulties head-on. Building mental strength through faith means relying not solely on our abilities but on the empowering presence of Christ in our lives.

This is where wisdom and scripture comes to play. Focusing on God's word and what the Bible says about our situations along with acting out in Faith on what we feel like God is leading us to do. 

Here are a few ways to lean into this promise when fear arises:

1. Redirect Your Focus: Fear often focuses on the problem; faith fixes our eyes on God. Meditating on Philippians 4:13 and other promises from God's word like Isaiah 41:10: “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.” Help us to shift that focus. 

This is one way that I've been able to truly overcome the circumstances I've had in the past. Times where I've felt like I would be wiped out by the challenges in front of me. 

Isaiah 41:10 is definitely one of my favorite verses to rest on. It was one of the main verses when I had my first job and definitely was facing fear and overwhelm. 

The key is what God says to do about throwing down imaginations that try to exalt itself above what God says about our situation (2 Corinthians 10:5).  

2. Replace Fear with Prayer and Thanking God for the victory: In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul tells us to bring our fears to God through prayer and thanksgiving, allowing His peace to guard our hearts and minds. Turning to God in prayer gives us the courage to face the unknown by knowing and trusting that He cares for us and trusting that He will provide for whatever we need.

3. Take steps of Faith: God will meet us where we are. We can't go past where our faith is where God's promises are concerned. So building our faith up by getting the word of God and His promises in our heart. Listening to good teaching by Christian ministers. Along with choosing what to focus on are all vital steps for God to help us through the situation.

2 Corinthians 2:14 "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place."

Applying Philippians 4:13 isn’t reserved for only life’s biggest obstacles —it’s a mindset we can carry into our everyday struggles. Whether its helping me figure out something in one of my workouts or how to help a client at work. Whatever it is we can trust that God’s strength is sufficient.

When fear comes knocking, remember this truth: we are not in this battle alone. With Christ, we have everything we need to overcome. His strength enables us to face fears, build resilience, and live boldly.

But like Peter when he went to step out on the water when Jesus told him to come - We have to keep our eyes on Him and what He has to say about the situation ( Matthew 14:22-33). 

 

How God guides - a personal story

 Psalms 32:8 

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go, I will counsel you, My eye shall be upon you."

Proverbs 3:5-6 Amplified version

"Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth (removing obstacles that block your way). " 

Hebrews 11:1 " Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." 

These are the verses that I have stood on over the last few years and speak to my heart. That no matter what the circumstances I choose to trust God because He promises that he will instruct and teach me. 

That if I choose to honor and recognize Him - and chose to draw near Him - that He will meet me where I am and guide my steps.

I have seen this show up many times in my life but none more clear than when I had been in the last car accident. Things were not going right. There was a lot of confusion and I was hurting bad - physically, emotionally and it was just not going well. 

So I knew enough to ask for wisdom from God. Then I remembered that one of my friends from Kenpo Karate was a Pastor and his son had posted some time ago a title from Pastor Keith Moore - so I knew that they knew about faith and healing. 

So I reached out and asked for prayer through the prayer line on the church's website.

God connected me with their head prayer person who God continues to use as such a blessing and wonderful woman of God who encourages me.

Things started to straighten out. As I was faithful to show up at church and seek God - He met me where I was so that I could start changing my thoughts and habits.

God used my pastors to speak into my life very real and just right now words into my life.

I'm continuing to see the benefits of this as I have plugged in and continue to seek God and learn what He says about me and His way of living. 

It's been a huge blessing and I'm so grateful that I believed God to direct my steps. 

It's not a huge waiting God for move - it can be very practical - I think about the journeys that the disciples and apostles had in the New Testament - where they said " and it seemed good" and " it seemed right." 

There is a place to get quiet and spend time in the Bible and listening to anything God would say in our hearts but there is also a place to get up and start acting out what we feel God is telling us to do.

Sometimes I get it wrong - but like Pastor Keith Moore has said - I rather mess up and repent trying to believe what I thought God had told me to do than not try. 

And God has grace for when we do get it wrong.

I have recently experienced that as well. I kicked myself for not listening to my gut when I had a feeling that a certain interaction was not a good thing and then it ended up with it going horribly wrong. 

But as my friend from church reminded me - there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) and as long as I ask for forgiveness there is grace and mercy to walk out of the mess and God will help me get back on track. 

Nahum 1:7 NLT  " The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him." 

What we think on matters

  Phil. 4: 7-9 

" 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. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." 

Worrying is a meditation on the wrong things in one's lives. It's predicting the unknown in a negative way.

Now, I get that its part of the nervous system's function to do that in order to keep us alive however - there are more constructive ways to handle the situations that arise.

I have found that when I worried and fretted over things that it didn't help at all - it only wore me down and make things way harder. 

Once I started focusing on this verse - and gauging what my thought patterns were like - my reaction to stress started to improve. 

I hope to share a bit more about this later on. But for tonight I will keep it at this - what are you and I focusing on? Does it fall in line with what is talked about in Philippians on what to focus on? 

I encourage you and myself that when the devil wants to paint us a picture of the worse - that we pray and ask God for help, use scripture to help establish what God says about the subject, thank Him for the victory because He is faithful to help, keep, guide and protect us if we listen to Him and keep our minds on what He says. 

 I hope this verse and thought has helped. Good night friends. 

Faith and trust- but not in pixie dust

 A few years ago I decided in January that I felt like it was right to start watching a program that one of the pastors I deeply enjoy was teaching.

Pastor Keith Moore has a class that is free called "Faith School."

It's been one of the best decisions of my life.

I have learned what Faith is, why its so important in our relationship with God and why it's important to live our lives with it.

Faith - Hebrews 11:1 NLT- "Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see." 

However, there is a lot of wrong teachings about faith out there. I have found people can have faith in the wrong thing- like having faith in their faith- that is not enough. It's faith in who God is. What He did for us - His love that allowed Him to give His son for us so that we could live out a life of peace and abundance.

It's Faith on what God has said in the Bible as a promise to us. 

How this translates to my main concept - Who I am with Jesus? - Is that I believe what God says in the Bible above all else. That I act on it and live my life by it as it is true. Because it is. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT - "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"

How did this translate to my life? Well, To start out with when I started in Faith School I use to get really overwhelmed in my thought life when I was physically hurting. My mind wanted to contact my trainer, call the chiropractor, do this thing and rush at a hundred miles per hour. 

That's not good and its not really acting like God is my source. Plus, it led to some really embarrassing moments for me when I reached out and was overwhelmed and so didn't think very clearly. 

So I decided that as I started learning about having faith in God and what He has promised in the Bible that instead I would sit and purposefully still myself. I would tell my mind to quiet.

I would tell myself, " If no one answers you back or is there to help you today - you have God - who is the best personal trainer in the world because He made the Body and He knows exactly what is going on." 

Then I would lean on what God said in the Bible. 

James 1:5 NIV - "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 figured God should know the body better than anyone so I would remind myself if God was one that made my body and knew exactly what was going on that He could remind me of things that would be right for the situation. 

I would also lean on - 2 Timothy 1:7 "The Spirit God gave us does not make us afraid. His Spirit is a source of power and love and self-control."

So for me - this is where I started at- by believing that God was going to give me wisdom because I was going to ask for it. That I didn't need to react in fear because that wasn't from God and that I could rest assured that He would come through because He is faithful. 

 Proverbs 30:5 "You can trust this: Every word that God speaks is true. God is a safe place for those who go to him." 

Now as I've hit this point in my life I am also digging deeper into not only the promises that God has given about peace, knowledge and wisdom but I am also starting to see that I am a new person. That God has promised a new way of life for the Christian. This is where I'm starting to walk. This is what I'm navigating. To take a step of Faith not in Christianity, not in religion but in my God who wants a real relationship with me and to walk in who He says that I am because of what Jesus did. 

This is where I'm going and I am resting in the fact that the God who has been so faithful this far will continue to guide and direct me in this direction of navigating the abundant life in Him that He has promised ( John 10:10). 

Psalms 23 - The good shepherd

 Psalms 23 NLT

The Lord is my shepherd;

I have all that I need.

He lets me rest in green meadows;

He leads me beside peaceful streams.

He renews my strength.

He guides me along right paths, 

bringing honor to His name.

Even when I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will not be afraid,

for you are close beside me.

You prepare a feast for me 

in the presence of my enemies.

You honor me by anointing my head with oil.

My cup overflows with blessings.

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me

all the days of my life,

and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. 

A while back I was going through a rough patch of time at work. There was a lot of uncertainty. 

I asked the Lord for a verse to stand on. He gave me Psalms 23:1. 

The Lord is my shepherd - I shall not want. 

The more I think and ponder this scripture and the rest of this passage the more wonderful and real it becomes to me. 

In this passage, He promises to take care of us. To provide for all of our needs. I have all that I need.

To give us rest, protection and peace through everything. 

That He leads us, guides us and shows where to rest and provides us with what we need to rest. 

I have found in my recent experience that the more I think and ponder God's word - what He promises us - things like this scripture - the more grace, mercy and peace I get.

It is a choice. A choice that is based on relationship. You can't trust someone fully you just met versus someone you've known for like 20 years. It's a process.

Getting in God's word to know what He says and promised is a vital step.

Praying and spending time with God is another. 

Getting quiet before the Lord to listen to hear what He has to say is another (not a actual voice but God says that His spirit lives in us when we accept Jesus into our heart- He will remind us of things He has said in His word, things that we have learned through our Christian friends and pastors, etc). 

The Lord is my shepherd - I shall not want - including guidance and wisdom. He paints a picture of peace. One of trust and help. 

He is the good Shepherd and He has good things planned for us. 

It's a matter of faith to take a step and believe. Trusting Him. Having faith in Him - who created us and died for us so that we can have abundant life ( John 10:10).