Do you remember when you were a little girl, and your parent yelled at you all the time, and criticized everything you did? When you got grown, you promised yourself you would never do those things with your own children? But, you found that even though you did everything you could to stay away from doing the same things your parents did, you ended up doing the same yelling and criticizing, but even worse?
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Have you ever accepted what someone else tells you because you believe they know better because of their degrees and knowledge? Did you know you don’t have to receive the negativity that is spoken over your life? Well, I used to accept everything the doctors told me, but I always had difficulty remembering...
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In this Scripture, we find that the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him John’s mission would be to make people ready and prepared for the Lord’s coming. He would turn their hearts around and those who are disobedient will be turned to the wisdom of the righteous. Fathers’ hearts are being turned back to their children.
As I think about how I have been so focused on all the seriousness and busyness in my life, I have lost track of the main important people in my life—the blessings God gave me to disciple-my children. I tend to lose focus of having fun and being free and enjoying life with them because I have been so busy trying to be super mom and taking control into my own hands where I lost control at some point and was deceived by the enemy in believing everything was okay in my life. My prayer is for the Lord to help me teach my children and disciple them as John did in his day and prepare their hearts for His return.
We, the body of Christ, must continue to teach the wisdom of God so that disobedient mankind can see Jesus in us. Hearts need to be melted with the love of God by truly believing in the Lord Jesus. Just like the prophet Elijah in the OT, John the Baptist’s role was to encourage people to turn away from sin and back to God. John did heart transplants as he foretold the coming of Christ and he turned stony hearts into soft, pliable, trusting, hearts while being open to change. Is your heart opened to God or are you open to the possibility of an open-heart surgery so a change of heart can begin transforming in you?
Zechariah was punished because he did not believe the angel and he was fearful. He was doubting what he first believed. Being an old man, set in his ways, he did not have the response of a child that we all need to be aware of needs. Before we can come to Christ, we must recognize the need to humble ourselves and recognize that it is important to reach children, whose minds are most receptive, with the Word of God. While children do not have to become adults to be saved, adults must become like children and believe as you once did. The Bible says, “verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark 10:15). While growing and developing is something we must get to after becoming a child of God, it is important to leave our cleverness and sophistication and great knowledge that we sometimes boast of and return to the simplicity of childhood to be shaped into the clay the Potter can use.
What do you believe? In my community, we are beginning a journey in the Bible so that we learn how to completely “trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean on Him and not on our understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). So, as we go through this journey together, I would love to invite you to join us here. Look forward to learning more and growing together as we begin to believe in more in this new year!
Do you find yourself frustrated with praying when you don’t see the results that you’re looking for? Are you struggling to pray when things get rough or not going your way? I have been in this place where I felt like I prayed all the time and I was not seeing the results that I thought I should be receiving.
I couldn’t sleep. I was feeling so frustrated and angry with myself because I felt like I did not get enough done. I was doing so much negative self-talk and feeling like I couldn’t finish the course. I got stuck on my notes in the first chapter and begin to have a breakdown. I was dealing with the limiting belief of “I don’t have enough time.”
