Category Archives: god is good

Take God At His Word- Faith Devotion written for WOW ministry 3/14/2024

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“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17 NIV

Every day I lived for the next dose of my anxiety pills. For six years, I took them faithfully. Every day was the same: wake up, get a glass of water, take the meds. Then at night: get another glass of water, take the next dose, go to bed. One morning in October 2021 everything changed. That morning, I grabbed my pill box and heard these words deep within my spiritual heart, “This is not your inheritance.” At that moment, I believed that God had different plans for my life. I believed He could provide peace where anxiety had reigned. I stopped Buspar that morning and weaned myself off Prozac within five months. Two years later, I am still living in the peace, love, and joy that my Heavenly Father has generously given to me as a part of His inheritance that I received that day.

This month our WOW verses are about faith. Faith is complete confidence in God – in His character, in His Word, and in His promises. It is complete trust in God believing and being fully assured that He is who He says He is and will do all that He says He will do. God’s Word works a mighty faith in us, a faith that is strong, and able for anything because it is the living Word of God. God’s Word is powerful and does the work of strengthening, establishing, and rooting our faith within us. We hear the Word of God, receive it into our hearts, and God uses His Word to do a work of faith in us. That is because His Word is living and active and powerful to accomplish His will.

Lately, I have been contemplating why the words, “This is not your inheritance.” came to me deep within my spiritual heart back in October 2021. It was because I had heard the Word of God spoken to me the weeks prior to that day as I sat in the main sessions at WOW. The teaching was on what we receive as a part of our “inheritance” when we dwell in God’s New Kingdom as His child. I heard how God wanted the eyes of my heart to be enlightened so that I could know the hope for which He had called me, “the riches of his glorious inheritance…” (Ephesians 1:18) I heard “the Word of Christ,” that was being spoken, took it into my heart, and it began to strengthen my faith.

Perhaps as you read these words you are experiencing a longing within you for more? The Word of Christ is speaking to you and inviting you to live a life of faith that responds to the Word of God. You may wonder, how do I respond to the Word? We must receive His Word through reading it and listening to it carefully with our spiritual ears. We must diligently study His Word, hiding it in our hearts, the Word that works within us a mighty faith if we hold firmly to what we have heard. It will trust that God will do what He has promised because He is faithful.  

God has given each of us a small deposit of faith and the opportunity to receive His Word so it will grow and mature and become established. I can testify that this is true because of that morning in October of 2021. That little seed of faith deposited within me when I had received Jesus as my personal Savior was growing as I retained it and believed it. As I have acted upon the Word I have heard over and over, that faith has grown more and more. God has been at work in me through His Word and faith. Today I am free. I am dwelling in God and His peace! What He has done for me He will do for you. His Word is speaking. Hear it, receive it, and act upon it in faith!  

This week’s song is “Take You at Your Word” by Cody Carnes and Benjamine William Hastings. May it be a reminder that God will do what He says He will do in His Word. As we receive it, we can live a life of faith!

Love,

Janet Nelson, Devoted and Determined

https://www.wowjcmo.com/

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We Stand Between Two Offers

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Make no mistake about it, we were made to receive. We will accept what is offered to us by one of two choices what God gives freely to us or what the world gives with a price we cannot afford to pay. To not choose God will by default be a choice to receive from the world. We will either know God in intimate relationship, or we will know the world and its ways in a destructive relationship with it, being shaped by its influence and receiving only what it gives.

Jesus spoke of the choice that we all must make and the fruits of that choice:

”“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”“ John 16:33 NIV
”The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.“ John 10:10 ESV

Jesus offers us a life filled with peace and life. The world offers us a life of trouble far from the relationship with our Creator, God, for which we are designed. What the world offers us will steal from us and destroy us. Ultimately it will kill us. Anything short of a living in a vibrant relationship with God is a life filled with death, darkness, and destruction.

It is important to take a look at what you are experiencing in your life. We can see that God created us for experience. He gave us our senses to hear, see, touch, taste and smell. He also has given us our spiritual senses to understand and know the things we cannot with our five outward senses. What are you experiencing within yourself? What you are experiencing reflects who you are receiving from.

If your life is a life of turmoil within— anger, anxiety, bitterness, fear, etc. You are being robbed from. You are being destroyed. Your connection with God is at the very least clogged, if not non existent making it impossible to receive from your loving Creator, God.

If your life is a life of peace, joy, and love. You are connected and receiving from God. You are experiencing a close relationship with the giver of all good things.

We have been given a choice of whom we will receive from. May our hearts long for a pure and free flowing connection to the one who generously gives life to those who will receive it, Jesus!

“Jesus Have It All”

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Today is a very special day for me. After many years of being held captive by anxiety and trying many things to get free, God heard my cry for freedom and set me free. After 6 years on anxiety meds, I no longer needed them. Two years ago on this date was my first day of freedom from taking both Prozac and Buspar.

God has worked a change in my life, and for those of you who know me, it may be a bit of a surprise for me to tell you this. Because I have always been active in church and made it no secret that I believed in Jesus. In fact, I have thought throughout my adult years that I was living my life surrendered to God. The truth is In some ways I was, but in many ways I was not.
‘Make no mistake, God wants all of us.

About 5 months prior to taking my last anxiety pill I was at a revival service at my church with Pastor Denbow speaking (October 2021). He was speaking about “syncretism”- trying to mix the gospel with the worlds ways. In that service I realized that I had been trying to mix secular humanist thought and practices, as well as the widely accepted practice of eastern meditation, with the Bible. That does not work! In my love for God, He does not want to compete with me having other “spiritual” lovers — my ways or the worlds. He wants all of me, all of my heart— entirely, totally, and completely given up to Him. This is Teachings that the Bible Study group WOW has helped me to come to understand better and better through the past few years. (God has used WOW tremendously in my life to help me walk in freedom)

At that revival 2 1/2 years ago, I went to the front and repented for the sin I had held in my heart, and told God He could have all of me. On a morning, shortly after that I went to my pill box and heard the Holy Spirit tell me “that is not your inheritance.” I quit one medicine instantly. The other one I weaned off and took my last pill almost 5 months later.

Two years later to this day, I am free! The change in me since that time has been huge. So much so that I have told my friends, “I feel like I have been born again…again.”

Friday night I was talking to my husband, his brother, and my sister in law about this change. I said it almost makes you think about getting baptized again. I didn’t think I needed to since I was baptized as a teenager.
Saturday morning I woke up with the desire to be baptized burning within my heart.

So tonight, I am going to be baptized. I want to publicly declare that I have been changed by Jesus and His power alone. I want to do whatever He tells me to do. Because He is life. And I do not want my way of doing things ever again. They have died. I am raised to new life.

Jesus have it all!

Slave to Sin… Caught in Anxieties Grip — WOW Devotion February 29, 2024

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“I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”  
Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭19‬-‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

For several years, I lived my life subjected to the cruel taskmaster of anxiety. It ruled over my life. Anxiety dictated my daily routine: Get out of bed. Take your first anxiety pill of the day: Do your daily exercise of Eastern Meditation on Headspace. Now start your day. Throughout the day anxiety would exercise its control over my feelings and emotions. Time to do breathing techniques, practice mindfulness, engage in the 5,4,3,2,1 method, then repeat. Often, I could not shake the feelings of a tight throat and a tight chest. Then it was time for my evening anxiety pill. I crawled into bed. I hoped for a night free of an anxious awakening at 2 am, lying awake for hours, and experiencing what I did in the day. This scenario was repeated day after day, night after night. I was a slave to my sin of anxiety. I was subject to its control, and it was producing death, darkness, and destruction inside of me.

Our verses this week are once again about holiness. This holiness is a benefit as we live our lives as “slaves to righteousness.” It is a life of freedom from sin as we live our lives set apart for His sacred use – a life of love, faith, holiness, and prayer. In this life, we are “slaves to God,” under His control and His rule. This submission to Him is always for our benefit, because He is a good Lord and Master. Being His slave results in more than holiness. Through it we experience “eternal life.”

Three years ago, I learned that we were created to serve someone. The words of this verse were proved true in my life. I came to understand that I had a choice. I could continue to “offer the parts of my body in slavery to impurity and ever-increasing wickedness” that the sin of anxiety was producing, or I could become a “slave to God.” I would either serve an evil master of sin or our loving and Holy God. I could not serve them both. I had to choose. This is the truth for each and every one of us. To not choose God is to choose the enemy.

God is holy. He is perfectly and impeccably pure, completely immaculate, and uncompromisingly righteous and just. He desires for us to be in relationship with Him, but in order for us to be close to Him, we must be holy as He is holy. To do so, we must “offer ourselves as slaves to righteousness.” The benefit we receive is a pure heart and freedom from sin and sinful affections, conformed to the image of God. We will be holy and the “result will be eternal life” with Him.

As you have read the words above, have you become aware that you are a “slave to impurity?”  Is there an addiction or a sin that keeps you from experiencing a close relationship with God and the freedom from sin that He alone gives? God desires for us to live our lives surrendered to Him as a “slave to righteousness” that will lead to holiness. He desires us to be close to Him in a relationship of intimacy filled with His goodness, joy, peace, and love. We can only experience this when we live our lives fully surrendered to Him!

Our song this week is once again by Charity Gayle, “Because of Jesus.” Because of what Jesus has done, we can know that we are finally free of the sin that destroys! He has redeemed us and made us holy as He is holy. May our hearts desire to serve Him in complete obedience to His Word. May we live as His “slaves to righteousness” which leads to holiness – holiness in heart and in everything we do!

Love,

Janet

https://www.wowjcmo.com/

https://mailchi.mp/wowjcmo/wow-devotion-john-6219253?e=6c56f70e45

His Beautiful Bride — Holy to the Lord (WOW Devotion February 15, 2024)

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“…be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart… to be my own.” 
Leviticus 20:26 NIV

On a cold and icy day thirty-one years ago, my husband and I were married. The ceremony for our wedding holds so many wonderful memories for me. Among them is our first kiss as husband and wife. Rich seemed to eagerly anticipate that moment. He was beaming from ear to ear when the pastor said, “Richard, you may now kiss your bride.” Moments later we stood facing our friends and family. We were introduced for the first time as, “Mr. and Mrs. Richard Nelson.” During those moments I gained a title and a position in our relationship, I was Rich’s bride. I did not fully understand at that moment what that would mean. I have grown in my appreciation of being his bride throughout the years of our exclusive relationship as husband and wife. Thirty-one years later my husband often calls me his “beautiful bride.” I alone hold this title because I belong to him.

A holy man is pure in heart and free from sin and sinful affections; he has a heart conformed to the image of God and is set apart for His sacred use or to the service or worship of God. Our verse this week speaks of this exclusive relationship. It is a relationship of belonging to God for His sacred use. To belong to God is to be strictly His, fully possessed by Him. In this relationship of belonging, God tells us that we must be holy to Him. Nothing else should compete for our affections. Our verse this week tells us it is God’s desire for us to “be holy to [him] because [He is] holy.”

As we come to Him, desiring to be His alone, set apart for His sacred and exclusive use, He will begin the process of purifying our hearts. If we totally submit our heart to Him, He will set us apart. He will declare and make us holy. He will separate us from sin, our flesh, the world, and the devil. We will be His alone. It is very much like the day that I became exclusively the bride of Rich Nelson. My affections, my desires, and my relationship were focused on him alone as my husband. I was no longer available to pursue others, only him.

The beauty of a relationship of holiness to God is a realization of closeness to God. As we allow the ways of the world and the sin in our hearts to be circumcised, we will be more and more conformed to His image. The more we are like Him, the closer we will come to God. We will know Him intimately. We will be one with Him.

As you read the words I have written, do you feel a longing in your heart to be close to God? Do you desire to leave behind the competing affections that you have held in your heart and to pursue God alone? Do you long to be holy to Him? This is God’s greatest desire for us. He longs for us much like my groom 31 years ago longed for me. He wanted me to belong to him as his beautiful bride for the rest of our lives. God longs for us to “be holy … because [He is] holy, and [He has] set us apart to be his own.”

The first steps in being holy is to be totally submitted to God and be purified through the circumcision of our hearts. Our song this week is “Purify My Heart” by Brian Doerksen. As you listen or even sing along, may you renew or start anew in submitting your heart to God’s circumcision so that you may be holy as He is holy.

Love,

Janet Nelson, Devoted and Determined

https://www.wowjcmo.com/

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Everything We Need to Know Him Part 2 — Jesus

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Have you ever thought about how much easier it would be to trust God and to live for Him if you could just see Him, listen to Him talk, touch His hand, and experience His embrace?

God desires for us to experience Him this way. This is why Jesus came. He came to us 2000 years ago as a baby born in humble circumstances. This baby grew to a man, who walked where we walk, experienced what we experience, and yet He displayed God, the Father everywhere He went. Colossians puts it this way:

“The Son is the image of the invisible God…” Colossians 1:15

Jesus came to show us exactly what the Father is like.

Philip, one of Jesus’s disciples told Jesus that it would be enough for them if He would show them the Father. Philip wanted to know what His Heavenly Father was like. Jesus told Him:

”… “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.“
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Simply put, when we see Jesus, we see exactly what our Heavenly Father is like. The accounts, in the Bible, of Jesus loving the unloveable, touching the untouchable, and healing the broken are an exact representation of our Heavenly Father. He loves us, touches us, and heals the brokenness of our past.

Every action of Jesus recorded in the Gospels, ever word He spoke, are an exact image of the God. When we look at Jesus, we are looking at God.

God deeply desires for us to know Him not just know about Him. Jesus, our Emmanuel — God with us, is evidence of this fact. Jesus is the same today as He was in Bible times. He is approachable. Even the little children were invited to come and sit on His lap. He is speaking. His words are alive and powerful. He is touchable. He still offers the skeptic and the doubting the opportunity to reach out their hand and touch and examine His nail pierced hands so they can believe.

He longs for us to experience Him! The reason for that longing is when we experience and come to know Him, we experience and come to know the Heavenly Father that He came to make known.

Do you desire to KNOW God in an intimate way? Come to Jesus! He will show you exactly what His Father is like.

Women on Wednesday’s Devotion: God’s Way of Love

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Latest devotion written for WOW ministry:

“I have stood face to face with the one, I did not think I could ever love. As I stood there before her, I was able to reach out and hug her with a true love that had no expectation of anything in return. I loved her willingly and selflessly, at no cost to her.”

For entire devotion click on the link below.

https://mailchi.mp/wowjcmo/wow-devotion-john-6217185?e=36ae1400fb

Trapped — Reflections on Proverbs 29

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”An evil man is ensnared in his transgression, but a righteous man sings and rejoices.” Proverbs 29:6 ESV

EVIL- corruption of heart, or disposition to commit wickedness; malignity. (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

”for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,“ Romans 3:23 NIV

Everyone has sinned. We’ve all went our own ways. We have all had evil in our hearts- corruption, or a disposition to commit wickedness… sin.

Sin is a trap. I have felt the weight of being trapped by my sin. In that sin I felt like there was no escape. BUT Jesus has offered to us the way to be freedom! The one He sets free is free indeed. His freedom is reason for great rejoicing.

This morning I was reflecting on what Jesus has set me free from, and the freedom that I now stand in! It brought rejoicing to my heart. Because I am free!

We are warned in Proverbs about running from evil and its snares. We are told to pursue righteous living. We must choose between the two. It is a stubborn, stiff necked heart, that pursues its selfish sinful ways. That person will suddenly be destroyed. (Verse 1) We do not have to experience the destruction and entrapment of sin. We can live free!

The only way to freedom and joy is to live a righteous life surrendered to Jesus.

Life or Death— Reflections on Proverbs 19

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We were created out of divine love, by divine love, and for divine love. God loves us and the way we show love for God is to obey.

Adam and Eve are an example for all to see of this truth. As long as they were totally obedient and totally satisfied in that obedience to God, they dwelt in perfect life in the beautiful garden God made for them. But the moment they disobeyed and chose their own way, death entered the world along with it’s darkness and destruction.

Obeying what God commands is the way to life. In fact, Jesus said He came to give abundant life. (John 10:10) He desires for us to choose His life. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) The way we choose His life is to obey!

When we choose our own way. We are careless. We show contempt for the things God has told us to do. This only leads to spiritual death.

We are told in this chapter of Proverbs that if we get wisdom, we “love life.” (Verse 8) If we “fear the Lord”, or have reverence for God that gives us a desire to obey Him fully, we will be led “to life … (and) rest content.” We will be “untouched by trouble.” (Verse 23)

Obedience to God is love for God and the way to dwell in love. God’s love is where life is found! 

”Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life, but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.“ Proverbs 19:16 NIV

 

 

 

 

 

“God So Loved” — weekly devotion written for Women on Wednesday’s Ministry

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Women on Wednesday’s

(I am the writer for a weekly devotion that goes to the email list of a local ministry. This is this weeks devotion about God’s Divine Love”)

“…Divine love surpasses the love of my parents who sacrificed much for me. It surpasses the love of my husband who knows me and accepts me just the way I am! It surpasses my own love for my four kids who I willingly laid down my wants, my desires, and my plans in order to see them excel and succeed…”

For full devotion click on the link below.

https://mailchi.mp/wowjcmo/wow-devotion-john-6215653?e=6c56f70e45