Debbie Taylor Williams
It’s a Head Thing
I recently heard a television anchor report on a well-known religious leader whose viewpoint on a moral issue was contrary to the Bible. She then invited viewers to weigh in. “Let us know what you think. You can Twitter if you agree or disagree.” As she continued with the next story, my mind lingered on her words. Does she not know that our opinion or even religious leaders’ opinions are not what matters, but rather Jesus’s stance? In Ephesians 1:22, Paul clearly states, “And He (our Heavenly Father) put all things in subjection under His (Jesus’s) feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church.” It concerns me when churches and denominations vote their opinion rather than stand with Biblical teachings. Does it concern you, too?
LORD JESUS, head over all things, we confess our nation is drifting far from Your headship. Our churches are turning to the culture rather than You. Raise up strong, committed disciples who will speak up and boldly define truth as recorded in Your Word. Begin with us.
Hard Work, No Joy
Have you ever worked hard for what you thought was for Christ but you experienced little joy? As a matter of fact, you felt agitated as you worked? If and when that happens, it helps to step back and consider if what we’re doing is a mission Christ assigned to us and we’re relying on His wisdom and power, or if it’s an activity we decided was a good idea and we’re pushing through in our own strength. Why is this important? Colossians 1:18 explains that Christ is “head of the body, the church…so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” In other words, if it is not Christ’s idea then it’s not a good idea and will not be empowered by Him. Why? As a body is lifeless without its head, so we the church are lifeless apart from Christ. We may do what we consider to be important, but if it is done apart from Christ’s calling and Spirit it is merely human effort. Therefore, it is important for us to continually seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) so that both our individual and corporate actions flow from Christ’s mind and are done in His power. When we do the work Christ assigns us it may be challenging and difficult, but we will also experience Christ’s joy. Matthew 25:23
Lord Jesus, we praise You, HEAD OF THE CHURCH and life of the body of believers. May our words and actions be an extension of Your heart, strength, and power.
Have You Ever Wished You Had Someone to…
Have you ever wished you had someone to watch your back? Or, better, to watch over your soul – your mind, emotions, and will? The fact is, believers have that person in Jesus. First Peter 2:25 tells us “…you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” When doing research for my book, Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion about God being the guardian of our soul, I discovered that the word “guardian” is translated from the Greek word episkopos and means an “overseer, a man charged with the duty of seeing that things done by another are done rightly.” (page 98) What a blessing for us to have God as the Guardian of our souls!
God assumes responsibility for being the Guardian of our soul, but it is our responsibility to tune into Him and follow what He tells us to do both in the Bible and when the Holy Spirit prompts us during the day.
Begin each day prayerfully greeting God and lifting up your soul to Him. Invite Him to overwhelm your soul with His Spirit. Then, pay attention to the Spirit’s prompts and follow them throughout the day. You know how I value recording each of God’s attributes in my journal every morning…such as “Guardian of My Soul” today. In addition, I stay in God’s presence with pen in hand and write in my journal how God prompts me to pray and make notes of what He stirs my heart to do that day. If you haven’t yet tried journaling or tried it in the past and stopped, give it a try again. It can change your life because you will experience the Guardian of Your Soul watching over you and guiding you as never before. Prayers of My Heart Journal
Quick Start Video 7 Benefits of Journaling Slideshow Why We Love It
LORD, thank You for being the GUARDIAN of our souls. Help us be ever-sensitive to Your Word and will.
Better than Bootstraps
Do you feel hopeless? Perhaps the last bit of hope to which you’ve clung just went out the window. Your future may appear bleak. Dark clouds may seem to hover over you no matter where you go or how hard you try. But the good news is, if you’re a Christian, you have every reason to ditch any thought of hopelessness. You have the GOD OF HOPE! Whoo Hoo! He is not only with you. He’s IN you. Romans 15:13 “Now may the GOD OF HOPE fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
It’s not a question of if you have hope. You do. The question is, are you allowing the GOD OF HOPE to fill you with His joy and peace?
News Flash: You can experience hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s a matter of not trying to pull yourself up by your bootstraps to believing God is on the throne, He sees you and loves you. He has your best interest at heart. In faith, pray, “GOD OF HOPE, fill me with joy and peace through the Holy Spirit.”
GOD OF HOPE, thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit so we can abound in hope by His power. We love and adore You!
Hold the God of Eternity
“I wonder what God is like.” Have you ever had that thought? If so, you have your answer in Jesus. Look at the Son and you’ll know what the Father is like. Read Jesus’s words and you’ll hear God’s voice. Study Christ’s teachings and you’ll know what God wants of and for you. Jesus is the “spitting image” of His Daddy” as Hebrews 1:3 explains. “He (Jesus) is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature,” Grasp onto Christ and you’ll be holding onto the God of eternity.”
Christ Jesus, we look at You and see and hear our Heavenly Father… His love, grace, wisdom, and glory. We praise You, Lord.
Broken Promises? Not This Time
Has anyone ever broken a promise to you? If so, you know the devastation. The heartbreak. The despair. Can you imagine the horribleness of dying and it not being what you expected – soul rest, nothingness; as some unbelievers anticipate? There is nothing more important than making the choice today for the care of our souls for eternity. We know that at any moment we could die from a heart attack or accident. Is your soul secure if that were to happen? It is only secure if you have entrusted it to Jesus, the Covenant Maker. A familiar passage often read during Communion is Matthew 26:27-28. It is the most important promise Jesus made for the security of our souls for eternity. “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.'” Only God can forgive the sins that stain our souls and make us unfit for heaven. We can do nothing to secure our eternity in heaven. Only Jesus. Say those words with me. Only Jesus…can forgive my soul, wash me clean, and open the door to heaven and eternal life with Him. Jesus is the Covenant, the Promise Maker. Others may have broken promises to you. Jesus keeps His promise. Be joyful. Your soul is secure in Christ.
Lord Jesus, COVENANT MAKER, thank You for the Covenant of peace and eternal life through Your blood. We rest in You. We wait for You and the day we will see You and fall at Your feet and worship.
Please join me for Acts, Part 2. New teachings each week. Learn more HERE.
If You’re Wondering What to Do About Something
Are you at your wit’s end? Do you need someone to talk to who can help you sort out your concerns, problems, and worries? God understands. Our Heavenly Father is the original COUNSELOR. And, Isaiah 9:6 says this about Jesus. Not only is He our Counselor, but He is also a “Wonderful Counselor.” Our Heavenly Father and Jesus are wonderful counselors because they are excellent listeners and know us inside and out. We can talk to them and know they hear us, and when we quiet ourselves in their presence, we can hear them. Talk to your Wonderful Counselor, then follow His counsel. I record what God prompts me to do in my journal, Prayers of My Heart. It helps me follow through because I can reread what I’ve recorded that He put on my heart. What do God’s prompts sound like? His prompt might be, “Open your Bible and read a Psalm.” It might be, “Stop procrastinating and tackle what is before you.” His prompt might be, “Instead of wondering about someone, call them.” Or, “Do _____ today.” A wise Christian will both talk things out with their Wonderful Counselor and follow how the Wonderful Counselor prompts them. Are we wise?
LORD, You are the WONDERFUL COUNSELOR. Increase our sensitivity to Your Voice. Help us take seriously Your counsel and follow through on what You lead us to do.
Please join me for Acts, Part 2. New teachings each week. Learn more HERE.
Why AWESOME is an Important Word
A few years ago, the word “awesome” became a catchphrase for any and everything. “Can you go Monday night? Awesome!” “This meal is awesome!” “I read an awesome book!” If you’re like many, we began to tire of hearing the overused word. However, rather than throw out the word, the Bible points us in the right direction for when to use it. In Genesis 28:17, awesome is used in relation to heaven, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Exodus 15:11 uses it in relation to God and His works, “Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?”
Yes, we might want to scale down on our use of “awesome” in relation to mundane earthly things, but let’s use it often in relation to God.
We praise You, great and AWESOME GOD, and thank You for Your AWESOME works.
Since We Know, Are We Telling Others to Prepare
In February 2021 a winter freeze took this Texas girl by surprise. Yes, I’d seen the warnings of a winter storm. In my mind that tabulated to cold weather and snow. I did think twice about the ice warning but then went on with my life. Then it got cold. And colder. And colder. I wasn’t prepared and by the time the snow, cold, iced over roads, power outage, no water, and firewood had run out, it was too late to do anything. The days for preparing had passed. I lived with the consequences of my lackadaisical unpreparedness. As the water we had collected in bowls froze inside our home, I thought of what I would do to be better prepared should we have another winter storm. I also thought of how terrifying it is going to be for people who have a lackadaisical attitude toward Biblical warnings of judgment and hell. Yes, many people are going on with their lives and not doing anything to prepare for the salvation of their souls. Thinking of the unsaved sitting in hell with no way to get out is a horrifying thought. Equally horrifying is to neglect Christ’s call to believers to go and tell the unsaved how to be saved. If I felt stuck in the cold of my house, how will they feel stuck in the flames of hell? Friends, Jesus tells us with “all authority” in Matthew 28:18-20 that we are to be sounding the warning that a day is coming when everyone will stand before Jesus to give an account for their lives. Jesus commands us with all authority to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…”
Are we obeying Jesus’s command to warn others to prepare to meet Jesus? Are we telling them how to prepare for their eternity while they still have time?
Jesus, Son of God, You have all AUTHORITY in heaven and on earth. Open our eyes to the unsaved. Open our mouths to tell them the good news of salvation in You.
Help Others Prepare. Learn how to share your faith HERE.
When Waves of Hopelessness Pound Your Heart
You need hope. I need hope. Our loved ones need hope. Where do we find it? Do we practice “self-talk” and tell ourselves we are “happy and fine” when we aren’t? Or do we kneel, look up in praise, and cry out to the One who has gone before us to heaven and intercedes for us? Hebrews 6:19 describes our relationship with Jesus in this way,
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered…”
Our hope in Jesus is an anchor for our soul. Personalize that truth. My hope in Jesus is an anchor for my soul. Think about that. It’s amazing! We don’t have to emotionally drift into an ocean of despair. Yes, waves of hopelessness may at times pound our hearts and seem like they will overwhelm us. But when you feel that way, sweet friend, place your hope in your loving Savior. You are not going to drift beyond His sight or hold. He’s got you. Our hope in Christ is an anchor for our soul.
Jesus, sweet Savior, thank You for being the anchor of my soul. Thank You that I will never drift from your grasp.
Friends, you’re invited to a study of Acts, Part 2 that I’m teaching. Learn more HERE.