Live with Passion
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 just 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 fill your soul, then pay attention to His prompts throughout the day. You know how I value opening my prayer journal every morning and recording His attribute that I share with you. Being still in God’s presence with pen in hand and journal open is an invitation for God to prompt us how to pray and also what He wants us to do. If you haven’t yet tried journaling, this time in our lives is a perfect time. Prayers of My Heart Journal
LORD, thank You for being the GUARDIAN of our souls. Help us be ever sensitive to Your Word and will.
Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion
Friends, I’d love to have you join me on Wednesdays or Thursdays for our weekly Bible Study of John. Click here for more info.
Live outside of the Texas Hill Country? No problem! My weekly teachings and Listening Guides will be added HERE each week so you can follow along or use it for a group study.
Has Anyone Ever Sacrificed Something for You
Has anyone ever sacrificed something for you? Have they sacrificed sleep so you could sleep? Have they sacrificed advancing so you could? Have they sacrificed their plans so you could do yours? Sacrifice. Sometimes we sacrifice but do so begrudgingly. But Ephesians 5:2 tells us Jesus willingly SACRIFICED His life for us. He thought of us, not Himself. Hill Country Ministries is dedicated to telling others of Jesus’s great love and sacrifice. One way we have done this is by taking our P.R.A.Y. with Passion Conference to every state. Christians are inspired and equipped to pray more purposefully and live more passionately for Christ. Seekers are given the opportunity to respond in faith to Christ.
Lord Jesus, thank You for willingly giving up Your glory, Your comfort, Your life for us; for being a SACRIFICE to God on our behalf so that we can be reconciled to You. Help us sacrificially fulfill Your commission to us to tell others about You.
“…walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a SACRIFICE to God as a fragrant aroma,” Ephesians 5:2.
Friends, I’d love to have you join me on Wednesdays or Thursdays for our weekly Bible Study of John. Click here for more info.
Live outside of the Texas Hill Country? No problem! My weekly teachings and Listening Guides will be added HERE each week so you can follow along or use it for a group study.
Pray to be Open Lipped
Which are you? Tight-lipped or open-lipped? In other words, are you reluctant to speak and don’t reveal much about what’s going on inside of you? Or, are you more open-lipped and let what you’re thinking and feeling readily come forth? No doubt James 1:19 tells us to be quick to listen and slow to speak when we’re angry. But what about in relation to praising God? In this case, we are to be like the psalmist, who prayed in Psalm 51:15:
O LORD, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise.
Are we grateful? Are our hearts flooded with God’s goodness? I hope so. Even when there seems to be nothing for which we can praise Him, we can open our lips and praise Him for His presence with us, His provision for us, and His purposes He will bring forth.
Develop a mindset of gratefulness. Fill your heart with praise. Open your mouth and let your praise flow to God. Pray, “LORD, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise.”
LORD, thank You for who You are and for all the incredible ways You have worked in our lives, are working, and will work. You are worthy of our praise day and night. OPEN OUR LIPS so we declare Your praise.
Record your daily praises in Prayers of My Heart journal.
Do you want to praise God, but don’t know how? If so, HERE’s help.
Give Me Jesus
“In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus.” The words, “In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus,” are written in bold letters on a plaque my daughter gave me several years ago. I see it every day. Give me Jesus. Yes, I want Jesus in my day, in my decisions, and moments. But certainly, another plaque could hang in heaven. “In the morning when she rises, give me Debbie.” Yes, rather than our relationship with Christ being one way, one in which we benefit from Christ being in our lives, isn’t Christ also to benefit from us being His child? Aren’t we supposed to be serving Him and His purposes? The answer is yes. If you realize your relationship with Christ is one way, get a copy of my book, “Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion” at Amazon. Begin a two-way relationship with Jesus.
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 much 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.
What’s Your Fragrance these Days
Do you enjoy pleasant fragrances? Did you know that God does, too? Did you know you can be a sweet fragrance to God? He can get a whiff of you and think, “You smell good!” How fun is that – to smell good to our Heavenly Father? How in the world can we smell good to God? Ephesians 5:2 answers that question. It tells us to “…walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a FRAGRANT AROMA.” Christ’s sacrificial love and life were a fragrant aroma to God. And, we’re to imitate Christ. When we do, we’re a sweet aroma to our Heavenly Father. What if we haven’t been walking in sacrificial love, but rather been selfish or unloving? We need to acknowledge our sin to our Heavenly Father, repent, and ask Jesus to forgive us. We need to ask us to fill us with Christ’s Spirit. How does that affect our spiritual “aroma”? When writing Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion, I used my daughter’s puppy, Bailey, as an example that we smell like whatever we hold close to our heart. Bailey had a distinct puppy odor and after holding her, her odor remained on me. It wasn’t pleasant so I showered and changed clothes. Just like a dog has an odor, so sin has an odor. If we’re clinging to a “pet” sin, God and others get a whiff of it. What can we do to rid ourselves of the stench of sin? Put the sin aside and bathe in God’s forgiveness and grace. Then, as Christ was, we’ll be a fragrant aroma to God.
Christ Jesus, we praise You for walking in love and giving Yourself as an offering and sacrifice to God; a FRAGRANT AROMA. Help us follow Your example.
***Be a fragrance of Christ to God and others. Share 365 Days of Praise to others by forwarding it as an email or using the social media buttons below to share them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest.
The Source of Illumination
Our nation and the world are going through what some would call a physically, intellectually, morally, and spiritually difficult time. What should we do in times like this? Shed God’s light, whom James 1:17 describes as the FATHER OF LIGHTS. The prince of darkness, Satan, would love nothing more than for us to stumble in darkness. But James points to our hope. “Every good thing is given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the FATHER OF LIGHTS, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” Charles Ryrie comments on this verse, saying, “God is the source of all light – physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual – and He does not change.”* Rather than stumble physically, intellectually, morally, and spiritually, we can pray with all our hearts, minds, souls, and spirits and walk day by day shedding the illumination of the FATHER OF LIGHTS.
Father of Lights, illumine our hearts, minds, souls, and spirit with Your Light so we walk as children of Light and spread Your Light to others.
Knock Knock
How would you describe yourself? Would you use “DOOR” to communicate with others who you are? I certainly wouldn’t. But Jesus did. In John 10:9 He said, “I am the DOOR; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved,…” Why would Jesus describe Himself as a door? He wants us to know that there is an “outside” of heaven and an “inside” of heaven. Heaven is a place and we are “outside” until we go “into” heaven through Jesus. Make no mistake. Everyone will not live eternally “in” heaven. Only those who enter through Jesus will be in heaven. Our Heavenly Father sends a personal invitation to you to enter eternal life in heaven through Jesus who paid your entrance fee when He hung on the cross for your sins. No knocking required. Just a prayer. Repent of and confess your sins to God. Ask Him to forgive you. Receive forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Learn more at Meet Jesus.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for opening the DOOR to heaven through Your sacrifice on the cross.
“Door” is one of God’s 26 character traits in my book, Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion. Learn more HERE.
The Gift of A Comforter
One blanket. Two blankets. Three blankets. Four. Keith and I sat in front of the fire trying to get warm. The winter storm had brought a temperature of 3 degrees that the weatherman said, “feels like minus 11.” If only we had power and water. We had neither. The winter storm continued and we couldn’t get down our icy driveway to get to our adult children’s homes. If you’ve lived in an area affected by a winter storm you know how devastating the cold can be. Especially if you run out of wood, which happened to us. We couldn’t complain, though. We had a comforter. A comforter that we may have taken for granted becomes deeply appreciated in a winter storm. So, too, is a spiritual Comforter when we’re experiencing life’s storms. Second Corinthians 1:3 describes the as Lord as the God of All Comfort. Yes, when a person’s crisp tongue chills us to the core or the howling wind of despair blows through our heart, or we are experiencing a literal storm, the God of all Comfort comforts us like none other. Why? The Greek word for comfort means “to call to one’s side, speak to, in the way of exhortation, console, teach.” How incredible that God gives every believer the gift of His presence through the Holy Spirit. Our Comforter is an abiding presence who will never wear out, never become threadbare, and never leave us. The more we blanket our lives with His teachings, the more we’ll know the warmth of His abiding presence.
Adapted from Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion, page 67.
Sweet friends, you are in my prayers as you suffer through life’s storms.
Heavenly Father, You are the God of all COMFORT! Please comfort all who are suffering. Give them Your wisdom. Bring resources to help them. Strengthen them as only You can. In Jesus’s name, amen.
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Help is On the Way
“I need help!” Have you ever said those words to someone? Has someone ever said them to you? “Help is on the way” is all I could think to say to a friend who once called me. She needed to hear those words. She needed to know I would be there to help her. But what if you don’t have someone who can show up at a moment’s notice and help you? In those times, remember that God is your help. Psalms 33:20 says,
Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help.
Are you in trouble and need help? Are you in despair and need help? Unlike my friend who had to wait for me to arrive, the Lord is our present help. We need only call on Him. Learn more about God and how He is your help in my book, Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion.