I am a woman who stands in awe of her loving and Faithful God.
I am the bride of Rich for 31 years, and the mother of four grown children. I recently retired from homeschooling all four of my kids for 21 years total. I am also the blessed grandmother of two.
Currently I am a Bible teacher and weekly devotions writer for Women on Wednesdays Bible Study, a local women’s ministry.
https://www.wowjcmo.com/
May God bless you and reveal to you His everlasting and faithful love!
Today is Mark 3:20-34 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”
It is hard for me to understand how the people of Jesus’s time saw Him physically in action healing the sick, casting out demons, performing miracles and still didn’t believe in him. His family thought he was “out of his mind.” (Verse 21) The teachers of the law i.e. religious leaders said he was “possessed by Beelzebul” … demon possessed.
The people of our time are not any different. When we see Jesus for who He is, a choice has to be made. We either embrace Him as God’s Son and Lord of our lives — following Him. Or we choose to disregard Him, His teaching, and His sacrifice on the cross. We cannot come to God on our own terms and in our own way.
Jesus says something in verse 35 that is profound. “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” If we want to be in relationship with Him, we have to do His will. What is the will of God for us? Jesus tells us God’s will in the Gospel of John.
“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”” John 6:40 NIV
God’s will for us is to look to Jesus and Believe — “ this assent of the mind, a yielding of the will and affections, accompanied with a humble reliance on Christ for salvation. “ Websters 1828
Believe in Jesus!
What is God showing you in these verses? Post it below 👇👇👇
Today is Mark 3:1-19 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”
In our reading today Jesus saw a man in the Synagogue, the place of worship, with a hand that needed healing. He also saw the religious leaders standing there looking for a reason to accuse Him. Verse 5 says “He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts… “ The Greek refers to their hearts as being “hard”. The Webster’s 1828 Dictionary says hardness of heart is “ inflexible persistency in sin; obstinacy in wickedness.”
The thing that bothered Jesus was the hearts of those who would not yield to Him and His Word. The religious leaders had their ways and their traditions. Their hearts were far from God. They thought they were ok because the could put on a very good religious performance, but their hearts were inflexible towards God. They were not moved by Him. Their hearts were persistent in their sins of pride, independence from God, jealousy, and such. They were obstinate in their wickedness.
They had forgotten the most important law of all:
“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT
Had they truly loved God, they would have recognized Jesus for who is and welcomed Him.
When our hearts are hard we do the same thing, we reject God and His goodness. May our hearts always be soft towards Him!
What is God showing you in our reading today? Post it below 👇 👇👇 (Tomorrow’s reading is Mark 3:20-35)
Today is Mark 2:18-27 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”
I love what Jesus is saying in verse 28 “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
The Pharisees thought they had God figured out. They had a list of laws with boxes to check off on that list. If they fulfilled it all they thought they were all good with God. They had “religion”…
Jesus came. He was Emmanuel — God with us. He came displaying God the Father to anyone who would pay attention to Him. Jesus walked and talked with the people who followed Him. He lived in relationship with them. His words He spoke and His call to follow Him literally changed lives. Relating to God was no longer a list of boxes to check off. Relating to God became a relationship — the very thing God wanted all along. Following the list of rules regarding the Sabbath was not what God was after all along. It was their hearts.
God wants our hearts as well. When we truly love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, we will do the things that God desires. We do not need a list of rules regarding the Sabbath when our greatest desire is to love and obey the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus.
Jesus will give us a new heart that desires to do what is right if we will only ask Him to.
Today is Mark 2:1-17 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”
I love verse 17, “On hearing this Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus spoke these words in response to criticism He was receiving from the religious leaders of His time. They didn’t like that Jesus was eating with the “tax collectors and sinners.” Jesus came to give new life and new hearts to those who would simply respond to His call and be willing to leave it all behind to follow Him. Jesus is still the same! It does not matter what mess we have chosen to become entangled by… our sins… Jesus came to set us free and give us relationship with Him. He has come to call sinners to come and to sit with Him at His table. He has come to forgive us and give us new life and a new heart so we can obey Him and live close to Him!! I am so thankful Jesus calls out to sinners (i.e. me) with the same call He gave Matthew the tax collector, “Follow Me!”
What did God show you in today’s reading? Post it below 👇 👇👇
Today is the big day, the launch or the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark” Let’s read Mark 1:1-20 ❤️🔥🙌 Here’s what I got out of today’s reading:
What sticks out to me in what we are reading is the lengths God has gone to in order for us to know Him. First He sends a messenger to announce Jesus’s arrival, John the Baptist. John the Baptist talks about Jesus coming. He describes Jesus as being more powerful than him and able to Baptize with the Holy Spirit. Then God the Father speaks about who Jesus is in front of everyone when Jesus is baptized. Plus Jesus, Himself, tells the ones He is calling to follow Him that He wants to teach them how to fish for people so they will come and follow Him too. God wants us to know Him! That is awesome news! What is God showing you? Post it below 👇👇👇
Today is Mark 1:21-45 ❤️🙌🔥 for the “Bible Book of the Month Club — The Gospel of Mark”
I love verse 22. The people who heard Jesus were amazed because He didn’t teach like their teachers of the law did. He had authority. He testified about what He KNEW! It reminds me of the account of a Jesus explaining the scriptures to a couple of disciples shortly after He had resurrected from the dead as they walked along on the road to Emmaus. The Word says ““They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”” Luke 24:32 NIV
There is NOTHING like the voice of God! When God speaks it is authority, it is fire, it is beautiful! We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us now, speaking to us. Our role is to LISTEN, accept what He says, BELIEVE it and OBEY His Word. That is good stuff!! 🔥🔥🔥 Happy Sunday! Enjoy church today 🤩
What did God show you today in our reading? Share it below 👇👇👇
“He said: ‘The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me.’” 2 Samuel 22:2-3 NIV
My childhood home did not have a basement. I can remember being afraid because we had no place to go if a tornado came. That was until our family became acquainted with our neighbors who had a cellar. They told us that we were always welcome to seek shelter there during a storm.
One day a severe storm rolled in. The skies suddenly became black, and the tornado warning sirens went off. Mom told us to run for the neighbor’s cellar. As we darted across our yard, the wind began to blow, and the rain started to pour. As we quickly entered the safety of that small room, large hail began to fall. After our neighbor closed the door, I breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing I was safe from everything that was going on outside that place of refuge.
Our focus verses this month are on the word “refuge.” A refuge is defined as a place that shelters and protects from danger, distress, or calamity. It is a place of security and safety. It is a place that is inaccessible to an enemy.
It is a fact that each of us will experience many storms as we journey through this life. Jesus assured us of this when He said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Storms will come. The enemy will attack and assault again and again. However, just like the cellar I ran to, believers always have a shelter to run to in the midst of the storms and/or the attacks. We have a place of protection that is always safe and secure, inaccessible to the enemy of our souls. Who and where is that place? God’s Word tells us plainly that God is our refuge. It is when we dwell in Him that we are protected from the dangers, the distresses, and the destruction. It is when we remain in Him that we are safe and secure.
When God is our refuge, we do not have to fear the possibility of danger, distress, or calamity. We do not have to fear the enemy who “comes only to steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). We do not have to believe the lies that our circumstances will blow us away. When we dwell in God, who is our refuge, we can be assured that there is no circumstance, danger, or distress that can ever harm us. We can say as David did in our verses above, God is “my stronghold, my refuge, and my savior.”
As I write the words above, the winds are blowing, and the rain is pouring down in my life. I am sitting here at the University of Missouri Medical Center next to my Dad who has multiple fractures in his back. We are waiting to hear what will happen next. The storm of uncertainty rages all around us. The lies of the enemy are falling like hail. However, my dad and I have decided to run to our God and take refuge in Him. Years ago, I experienced the safety and security of our neighbor’s cellar, a physical refuge; and today Dad and I are experiencing the safety and security of God, our spiritual refuge. The door through which we have entered our refuge is faith. We are determined to believe that no matter what God is for us, and we will trust in Him entirely and completely. We know our God will never fail.
Do you find yourself in a storm today? May I encourage you to run to and dwell in the same refuge my dad and I have found. Like us, you will say with assurance that “God is my rock, in whom I take refuge….” No plan of the enemy to harm you will succeed. Rest safe and secure in your God who is your stronghold, your refuge, and your Savior.
Our song this week is “Praise You in the Storm” by Natalie Grant.
““And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
1 Peter 5:10 NIV
“You have an enemy, and he is real.” These are words I remember hearing when I first attended WOW three years ago. I arrived at WOW after years of not standing firm in the faith. In fact, half-hearted and wavering are the words that described me well at that time. As the teaching continued, I heard these words — “determined and steadfast.” As I thought about those words, I suddenly knew what I needed. I needed to trust in God, the God who by His grace had called me to “his eternal glory in Christ,” the God who loved me, the God who would “restore” me, and make me “strong, firm and steadfast.”
This month our verses at WOW have been focused on the word “steadfast.” To be steadfast is to have firmness of mind or purpose, to be constant in pursuing a purpose unwavering, fixed, and steady. Our verse this week is a very precious promise that follows a very serious warning. It is the same warning I received three years ago at WOW — “You have an enemy, and he is real.”
In 1 Peter 5:8 Peter describes the enemy as a “roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” That enemy is real! That enemy is powerful, very cunning, and deceptive. He wants us to believe that we cannot be strong, firm, and steadfast. He wants to persuade us to be disengaged and unbelieving. If he can get us to give up or walk in fear when we undergo trials and suffering, he knows he will be able to keep us separated from our God and destroy our relationship of oneness with Him. This is why believers are commanded to be steadfast and to “resist him (the enemy), standing firm in the faith” (1 Peter 5:9).
Our verse this week assures us that we do not have to stand against this devouring enemy in our own strength. Our “God of all grace” who has called us to live as one with Him assures us that after we “have suffered a little while,” He will “restore” us and make us “strong, firm, and steadfast.” What is our role? Our role is to believe in Him and remain firmly attached to Him. We are to trust Him entirely, totally, and completely. As we do so, God’s power at work within us will enable us to remain “strong, firm and steadfast.”
I have experienced this truth. Three years ago, I came to God knowing that I needed Him to change my heart from fearful, anxious, and wavering to one that was “strong, firm and steadfast,” full of faith. As I have submitted to Him in the midst of suffering, trials, and temptations, He has been faithful to bring His precious promise to reality in my life.
Have you found yourself where I was three years ago, tormented, fearful, and anxious during the trials of life? God says come and believe in Me. As we submit our hearts to Him and believe in Him, He promises to “restore” us and make us “strong, firm, and steadfast.” Will you come? Will you trust in Him with all your heart? Our song this week is “Firm Foundation” by Cody Carnes. Our God desires to make you a woman who is strong, firm, and steadfast in faith.
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”” Jeremiah 17:9-10 NIV
“Listen to your heart”, “Follow your heart”, “Be true to your heart”… in our society, we hear messages like these almost every day. There is a problem with the common thought of our culture regarding our hearts…it is wrong. We are encouraged to follow our own truth and to see if what we are thinking about “feels true” to us. However, when we are left to our own devices we cannot even know the truth. This is because we have a “heart problem.”
Each and every one of us have been created with a spiritual heart. Our hearts are the most important aspect of us. It is in our spiritual heart that we are connected to God and experience relationship with Him. However, we are also born with spiritual hearts that are disconnected from God. Our hearts are sinful and full of sin. The spiritual heart we are born with is “deceitful and beyond cure.” Jesus described the condition of our spiritual hearts:
“He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”” Mark 7:20-23 NIV
Each and every one of us needs heart transformation. We need a new heart. It is the only cure for our spiritual hearts that are far from God. God speaks of this new heart He longs for us to receive in His Word:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV
The message of “our culture” other wise known at “the world” is contradictory to what the Word says regarding our hearts. The results of lives lived “following our hearts” instead of following God and His Word are evidenced all around us. For those of us who are living with a spiritual heart that has not been made new by Jesus…the evidence is within us.
Look deep within yourself. Are you living with peace, joy, love, kindness, and true life? Or does your heart reflect the words of Jesus above, and is it filled with death, darkness, and destruction? If so, you have a “heart problem.”
There is only one cure… Jesus. Take your heart problem to Him. He alone can perform the transformation that our hearts need!
“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2 NIV
Sin is an uncomfortable topic in our modern world. Many have come to believe that we are beyond that concept. Our thoughts, feelings, and actions cannot be the problem. The problem is the environment we have lived, the people we have interacted with and the situations that have made us. Victims… we are just victims floating aimlessly in a torrent of occurrences that have shaped who we have become. In order to experience differently we must make ourselves what we want to be, chasing what we want, when and how we want it. However, this way of thinking only digs a deeper and deeper hole for the individual who embraces them. Why? It is a complete denial of the truth written in God’s word. It is pursuit of a way outside of relationship with the only one who holds the cure for the death, darkness, and destruction in our lives…Jesus.
We are not self made, and the solution for all the “negative emotions” we feel within ourselves is not found within ourselves. We have a Creator. This Creator designed us for connection to Him in a deep and intimate relationship. When we live our lives separated from this design, we experience lives far from what He created us for. Our Creator is good, loving, kind, peaceful, true, just, etc. He is the only source of these characteristics. So our disconnection from Him means that we live disconnected from all that He is. Apart from God there is no good thing. (Psalm 16:2)
The question then becomes, if separation from my Creator is what is bringing all the anger, anxiety, hatred, bitterness, fear, control issues, etc., WHY am I separated from Him? Who separated me from the source of life I desperately need? The answer is you and I. Our deliberate choice to sin has separated us. We are sinners.
The good news is as we come to terms with what we are is there is a solution for what separates us from the peace, joy, love, faithfulness, self- control, etc. that we all need. It is a solution that is far more simple than our repeated attempts of “self- help” techniques. Because quite truthfully, we cannot help ourselves. We cannot fix what is wrong inside of us. This is only fixed by the one who created us, God.
God has provided the solution to the sin that destroys us, Jesus. Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection provided the way. As we come to Him in repentance, asking Him to cleanse us from the sin we have in our heart. He begins a good work within us. He gives us a new heart that is inclined to live in a relationship pursing Him. As we see it is our choice to sin and to pursue ourselves over God that is separating us from living a life of abundance, we have come to a place we can accept the Good News!
The problem — our iniquity and sin. The solution — repentance and surrender to Jesus!
Your Love 