Take Courage

September 26, 2023September 26, 2023 / The WheatandTares

So many live out their lives in fear. Reacting to failure. Reacting to pain. Reacting to violence. Reacting to disastrous times.

No precept. No plans. No purpose.

Only reaction upon reaction to circumstance, feelings and desire.

Not enough live their lives by sheer courage. Having courage is choosing to be equipped. Choosing to be intentional. Choosing to be in the moment. Choosing to make the right choices regardless of common ground.

Know preparation. Know purpose. Know peace.

Choosing to respond or not to respond. Speak or not to speak. But always thinking. Always alert. Always deliberate of the choice.

That’s courage.

It’s not having all confidence or even all knowledge. It’s never about being the strongest or having the most.

Courage is the choice to do right and to be right no matter who stands against you. No matter who discourages. No matter who disagrees.

Have courage today. Be different. Make a difference.

And you can change the world.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
John 1:9

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31

Faith Over Fear Brings Freedom

July 3, 2023July 15, 2023 / The WheatandTares

Sometimes, you just have to saddle up and ride the horse scared.

Sometimes, you’ve just got to take a deep breath and dive in deep.

Sometimes, you’ve got to put one foot in front of the other and keep climbing.

If you don’t, you may never see the landscape from the mountain too.

If you don’t, you may never experience the exhilaration of exploring the utopia of the abyss.

If you don’t, you may never realize that he courage you had hidden deep within.

So, take the plunge.

Take the ride or die.

Chase the dream and see what is to come.

You never know the freedom of success until you do.

And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.
1 Chronicles 28:20

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58

Be Not Afraid

June 27, 2023June 26, 2023 / The WheatandTares

Enough said, but then, there’s more to explain.

Not having fear sounds like a great statement, but when it’s your dream, your sickness, or your child, it’s not always that simple.

Control seems easier and less unpredictable.

Having more faith and less fear seems like a great slogan to follow until it’s you who has to walk out on the water, weather the storm in the (seemingly) rickety boat, or step out on the tightrope of success and hope it holds.

Control seems more comfortable and less unreliable.

Yet, I have found in life experiences that no matter how intuitive I think I am, He always sees better.

I have found in all my days of leading, advising, sharing, no matter how capable I feel, He is always stronger and more able.

Control seems right through our carnal eyes,

But His ways are higher than my ways.

His thoughts are beyond my imagination.

And His love is beyond my recognition.

And so, I will trust Him, and I will follow.

I have found in my life that my heart is safer within His mighty hands than it ever was within my human ones.

And I will walk forward with faith.

I will move toward the goal with my focus on Him.

And even if I’m trembling within, I will trust He’s got this because He loves me beyond reason.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:9

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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:33

Peace, Be Still.

March 23, 2020 / The WheatandTares / 5 Comments

Just thought I’d send out a little reminder to you today…

No matter what this world looks like. No matter what the masses might say…

God is still in control. He is not surprised by these tragedies, uncertainties or the unknown.

He is not negligent in keeping His promises, and He is not thoughtless to our concerns.

He is compassionate and long-suffering. He is merciful and kind.

Just trust Him.

Just believe.

Friday Fun Day

March 14, 2020March 14, 2020 / The WheatandTares / 4 Comments

On Saturday…and a week late!

(Please, forgive me!)

Stop and take a deep breath!

Step out from those four walls that confine and remember there’s a higher authority.

Do something to remind you there is a God. He is still in control, and He still holds you in the palm of His hand.

He is more than able.
Just rest. Just trust. Just believe.

Romans 8:37-39

To Nullify or to Rectify

July 12, 2019 / The WheatandTares

To nullify or rectify, that is the question.

Sometimes, we are faced with the choice to swallow our fears and face our purpose and march on resiliently. Other times, we are faced with the temptation to embrace those fears, learn from them, process them and grow through them. Because, “after all they’re a feeling, and feelings are real,” aren’t they?

We are faced with the choice to nullify our fears in order to grasp our future purpose or nullify our future purpose by embracing our fears when those fears are all too overwhelming, all-consuming, and debilitating. Which should it be?

If this is your only crossroad of decision, then, you’re not asking me for a real change, but rather a shallow answer that you can simply follow for the moment and move on. No, if you truly want difference in your life when face with a deep rooted fear that threatens to take over, you’ll realize there’s another option than just nullifying the fear or embracing your purpose.

One definition of rectify is “to make a substance pure.” (Cambridge) I love this description, because it perfectly describes what must be done if you want to get rid of a confining fear that threatens your very hope of purpose and livelihood. Scripture tells us, “Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18) It’s not that you have to push out the fear, deny the fear, ignore the fear or even pretend it isn’t real. You just have to love something greater than the fear!

In other words, i may be scared of being shot; however, if someone breaks into my home and threatens my babies, you better believe I’ll do everything within my power to protect those boys…even if it means stepping in the way of that bullet being fired. It’s not that my love for them is “perfect,” but my love for them is perfected in my desire to keep them safe, and my fear of that gunman is cast out because of my love for them.

You may be scared to death for the things you need to accomplish, the decisions you may have to make, the person you must confront or the new endeavors you have to face, but if your “love” is greater for the purpose you have, the hope that is coming or the God whom you serve, this love will cast out any and all fears you may have! You must carry within you a desire for something greater than that fear. You must hold within your soul a resolution of the hope for a better tomorrow, a purpose in the future, and this will rectify those fears of today!

Being truthful about your fears never nullifies your purpose. Recognition is the first step toward healing and personal victory! Once you recognize the hindrance, that hindrance can be moved. Once you recognize the roadblock, you can devise a strategy to get around it, over it or through it. Once you recognize a fear, you can rectify the problem and work to conquer it!

It is only when you recognize, embrace and refuse to take action against a given fear that you begin losing ground and take steps away from your future hope.

Your future purpose doesn’t not nullify your fears for today; however, if you dwell in them, those fears can nullify your future purpose!

So, face that giant today! Fully embrace and love your purpose more than that wimpy, gimpy fear. Realize it IS conquerable, and charge it! Nullify those fears by rectifying your purpose!

Fear or Fire?

May 11, 2018 / The WheatandTares

When troubles come, what do you do? Do you cower, shivering in fear? Do run away and hide? Do you stand, paralyzed by indecision and doubt? Do you run to the flames, ready to encounter what comes?

How you endure the heat will often times dictate who you become when the embers cool. What wisdom you to use to conclude your decisions will often determine your promotion or your failure. The whys of your choices will always impact those who follow.

“And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

Fears Have You?

December 27, 2017 / The WheatandTares

As this year draws to a close, I wonder, what fears are you battling tonight? What fears have you overcome this year? Maybe there is a fear you are seriously trying to overcome, but you don’t know exactly how to “squash it?” There is Hope, and there is an answer…

Trusting in God doesn’t instantaneously wipe away all fear simply because we believe… yeah, I said that. Now, those of you who believe in Him, please, don’t pick up your rocks to throw, just hear me out…

He is a good God. He is a BIG God, and He is a God who loves us so very much that He sent His son to die for us to save us. He is a God who, when He says in His Word He will do something, you can be 100% sure He will follow through. He’s a God of absolute Truth. He IS Truth; therefore, He simply cannot lie.

So, when He says to fear not, because He is with you, He means it. He’s right there with you. Yet, sometimes, even when we pray, believe and trust in Him, that fear can linger, not because He’s not God anymore but more because, sometimes, our heart has to grow stronger in our belief…because sometimes, we are fighting a fear that has deep roots in our lives, and we have to slay that giant on the battlefield of our faith just as David went out on the battlefield with Goliath and struck him down…because sometimes, we’ve got to lay down that fear with which we’ve walked in agreement since our childhood and stand firm in our faith and believe in His sovereignty and grace regardless of what our feelings might be screaming at us…because sometimes, our faith has been weakened by our lack of preparation, or because our consistency of feeding the flesh rather than the spirit, or because our faith has been beaten and worn due to previous battles, and we just need to rely on Him more than our own strength and ability.

That’s what it all really boils down to: total reliance on Him rather than ourselves. That’s where He wants us. That’s where He does His best work, because that’s where our testimony isn’t how we did some great thing to conquer the fear, it becomes how our Great God did an amazing thing and conquered the fear in us and through us!

So, next time you’re battling a new fear, or you’re trying to conquer an old one, and it just seems that demon is gaining ground, just call on His Name, trust Him and believe; them, watch Him do what He does best! 😉

Where Is He?

April 12, 2017April 12, 2019 / The WheatandTares / 1 Comment

Did you see that baby cowering in the corner, trying to hide from the screams and profanity swirling around her head?

Did you notice the young boy who got into a fight at school, making his friends a substitute for his anger, because he can’t hit his abuser?

Did you recognize the young teen shielding her face from the crowd, looking for the one who will make her feel loved and secure?

Where is God in all of this? Where is His mercy? Where is His grace?

Do you see that man marching off to war, preparing to slay a few demons of his own in the battle?

Do you notice the woman working three jobs, living a frazzled, exhausted life, simply trying to give her child something a little better?

Do you realize the old man wandering the halls, the same who doesn’t even know his children’s names who desperately long to love him and reach through his darkness?

Where is God in all of this? Where is His mercy? Where is His grace?

Some ask and plead. Some scream in demand. Some just sit and stare. Others simply walk away, veering this way and that, never making much sense of the journey.

“He’s always there and always faithful,” says the church walls. “Just look up and you will find all you need,” states the sign as the tender ones lie dying on the front steps. My mind wonders if we really make a difference. Do we really share and care?

Some lash out in anger. Some wallow and cry. Others become cold and stone-like, never realizing hope knocking at the door.

His love never wavers. His mercy never fails. Just because you cannot see the sun through the tornadic clouds doesn’t void its reality. Hurricanes never validate the lack of peaceful showers on the ‘morrow.

Some answers I will never find until the other side. Some questions will still remain after the crisis of one life has vanished. Yet, I have found this truth to remain: He is faithful. He is love. He is true.

He will be there when you need Him even in the quietness of your soul. He will never leave you in your deepest sorrow or shame. He will remain when all else fails, when everyone else has disappeared into the dark of night. He will remain. He will be a shield. He will be a refuge.

Just call on His name and find He is the Hope which remains.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105

Love Me Challenge #14

February 14, 2017June 3, 2018 / The WheatandTares / 5 Comments

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Sometimes, we think we’ve overcome certain fears, and later on, we realize we have to face those fears once again. So, I’m going to share a time when I simply overcame FEAR itself…

It was the summer of 1993, when I had returned home from college. My parents had just moved to the mountains of East Tennessee a few years before, and my room was now a “studio/attic” room on the top floor of their house. I began waking up in the middle of the night with a paralyzing fear. There was a large, double window on one end of the room, the wall I was facing when I awoke each time, and it seemed as if two great big eyes were staring at me. I know, I know, for some this might sound like it is being written right out of one of those cheesy 1970s cheap horror flicks. However, I am here to tell you, I was petrified. I had always battled fear as a child and young adult, but this fear was so debilitating, so overwhelming, I would just lie there in the bed, unable to move, speak or even hardly blink.

This went on for about 2-3 weeks, and the consuming fear of falling asleep was causing me to stay up till the wee hours of the morning, only to fall asleep exhausted and awake to the paralyzing fear just an hour or two later. My mom would just tell me to pray, as I didn’t really give her much detail of what I was going through. The books I’d read would advise me on all kinds of nightly routines to combat the fears and prepare my body for sleep, and the soft instrumental music I’d play seemed to help as I drifted off to sleep but would be off by the middle of the night (remember, this is the early 90s. I didn’t own a iPhone with a playlist built in. 😉 ) It seemed nothing was helping to change this terrible cycle of sleep and fear into which I had fallen. About 3 weeks into this “rollercoaster ride,” I was talking to a former pastor’s wife and describing to her what was going on. She very gently encouraged me to read the Bible more, concentrating on verses dealing with trusting God, combating fear and standing on the promises of God. She encouraged me to memorize one Scripture, 1 Timothy 2:7…

ptl2010.com

She, also, told me to just speak His name. I asked her, “What if I can’t speak His Name?” For, I had not been able to call out to my parents during those times or speak a word of anything. She said, “Then, you just whisper it, and if you can’t whisper it, you close your eyes and think His name in your head until you can.” Ok, now that I was armed with “weaponry,” I was miraculously healed that night from all my paralyzing fears, right?? Unfortunately, I have to say, “NO!” That night, when I was awoken once more by that debilitating fear, I started trying to quote the Scripture that I had not yet fully memorized, this all in my mind, of course. (Remember, I couldn’t speak, because the fear was so great.)

All I could remember was, “God…isn’t…fear.” Oh yeah, that’s just great! How can I battle this fear when I can’t even think of a Scripture to quote in my mind? Then I remembered my pastor’s wife, her sweet voice telling me, “Just say His name.” So, I did. I said, “Jesus” inside my head just as loud as my mind would scream it. I screamed it over and over again, and evidently, I drifted off to sleep after about 30+ repeats. This rolled on for about a week before I was able to whisper His name and the Scripture I was memorizing. After about 2 1/2 weeks, I was speaking this Scripture each time I awoke, speaking the name of Jesus, and very peacefully, drifting back to sleep.

After 6-8 weeks, from the very beginning, I no longer had these “night terrors,” as I now call them. I cannot tell you why I had such a battle, and I cannot answer the questions as to why God didn’t just instantaneously and miraculously heal me from that paralyzing fear; however, I can tell you this, I emerged from that period in my life with a stronger faith and trust in my God. I can tell you that I have not dealt with that type of ‘midnight fear’ again. I can also tell you that I have been able to use this story, over the years, to help people who have battled with a spirit of fear.

I have found that, throughout my life, sometimes, God doesn’t answer our prayers exactly the way we want Him to, but if we will allow Him to and trust Him to, He will answer them exactly when and how He needs to in order to fulfill His glory in our lives.

I do hope this story will encourage someone out there who has battled or is battling fear. He is a good God, and He can help you. ❤

*This is a song set in a Christmas setting, but it is a wonderful reminder to FEAR NOT… I hope you enjoy…