Have you ever been in a valley of despair? Our disappointments, regrets, and unmet expectations reside in the valley. Sometimes it takes a while to climb out of it and we can find ourselves getting tired of the journey. The valley experience wasn’t what we anticipated when we began our Christian journey. We may have expected hard days, but not difficult years that a valley may bring.

Yet, the valley experience will develop us into being more like Jesus Christ. It will help us with persevering under difficulty, overcoming sin, and depending completely on God. We may not immediately recognize our spiritual growth, but it will be evident to those in our homes, schools, or workplace.

If we learn to worship God in the valley, our hearts begin to understand the joy in the midst of difficulties. If we learn to pray in the valley, our prayers become more discerning and powerful. If we learn to know God’s word in the valley, our minds are well fortified against the attacks of the devil. If we learn to serve others in the valley, we immediately recognize that we aren’t the only ones hurting and that there are people much worse off than us.

The valley experience isn’t for everyone. Many believers choose the easier path of living a surface Christianity that minimally requires church attendance, infrequent Bible readings, and hurried prayers. Yet, for those who are willing to go deeper in Christ to experience His amazing presence, the valley experience will be the toughest, but most rewarding part of their life. Our mountain top triumphs are even more celebrated when we remember where we’ve come from in the valley.

Prayer

Dear Lord, my valley experience is only worth it if You are with me. Help me to persevere through this season of my life and I will give You the glory now and forever more. In Jesus’ name, amen.

When my son was young, he had a medical issue that was difficult to treat. As a young mother, I struggled with this in prayer and called out to God with all of my heart. In my mind during this prayer, I picked up my son and laid him on an altar for God’s will to be done. I was blessed a year later with a correct diagnosis and treatment for him. This experience taught me the value of casting all of my cares on God instead of trying to carry the load myself.

Casting everything to God means that we release Him to do His greater work. We let go of what we want and seek Him for what He wants for us. It’s a risk to live this way because we aren’t guaranteed that everything is going to happen in the way we want. Yet, we can experience the peace of God that calms our hearts and minds. Our faith is stretched leading to a greater capacity for spiritual maturity.

On the outside, it can seem that putting everything on the altar comes to us easily. However, learning to completely trust God is a process. As we learn to trust Him for smaller things, we will begin to trust for greater. Putting it all on the altar isn’t a type of forced resignation. It’s a choice we make based on what we know about God’s word.

Putting our hopes, dreams, and prayers on the altar means that we accept the doors God opens and closes. We remain steadfast in our joy even we don’t get what we want because the Holy Spirit comforts us. He has a plan and purpose if we would only lay it all on the altar—holding nothing back.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I lay on the altar this concern that I’ve been carrying. I trust You to do what is best and help me to grow in my faith from this experience. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Being free in Christ is great gift to everyone who desires to know the Lord. Let’s not forget this gift of freedom and remember to exercise thankfulness to Jesus Christ every day. What does it mean to be FREE?
F – Forgiven of our sins.

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” (Psalm 32:1)

Many people miss the beauty of being forgiven our sins. We are ALL sinners—not one of us is born without sin. And there’s only way to be washed white as snow from the nastiness, ugliness, and filthiness of our sin—that is to know Jesus Christ as Lord and accept His sacrifice for our sins.

R – Release from the heavy hitters of fear, anxiousness, regret, shame, and guilt.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2)

Fear, worry, regret, shame and guilt have one thing in common—they are heavy burdens to bear. Without a release from these heavy hitters, we can find ourselves locked in a spiritual, emotional, and mental prison. Through God’s love and grace, we are set free from these chains. Freedom is available for all those who call on God to help and rely on His word to change us from the inside out.

E – Experience the grace and favor of God.

“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Psalm 90:17)

God’s grace and favor hover everyone of us who puts our trust in Him. We totally don’t deserve one once of it—it’s given to us out of love and not our works. He blesses us in many ways we never see. And as we keep our eyes on the Lord, He grants us favor in our homes, schools, work, neighborhood, and communities. His grace is enough for us even when times are difficult.

E – Excelled peace beyond our own understanding.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

The world constantly is seeking peace, but it remains elusive because of the hardness of men and women’s hearts. Yet, in Christ—we have an incredible peace that we ourselves can never understand. He gives us peace in the midst of confusion, misunderstandings, disappointments, and chaos. God steadies our feet on the Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ, who knows all and through the Holy Spirit calms our hearts and floods our minds with peace.

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank You for the freedom of forgiveness, release, grace, and peace. You alone are worthy of the praise for these wonderful gifts. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Have you ever struggled with thoughts that cross your mind? It’s not that you want to think bad things; however, your mind keeps trailing to places it shouldn’t go. The scriptures teach us that there is always a battle for our minds. In order for us to guard our thoughts, we need to be vigilant and ready instead of passively allowing every thought to capture our attention.

Our thoughts are powerful because our sin begins in our mind. (Romans 7:23) Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can control our thoughts so that we don’t become captivated by sin. It’s not just a one stop intervention; rather, it’s a daily discipline of being aware of our thoughts. How do we control our thoughts?

Step #1) Stay sober minded towards Satan’s attacks on our minds. (1 Peter 5:8)
The devil can’t read our minds; however, he can plant thoughts in our head. We need to keep aware of this so that we don’t embrace his thoughts as our own.

Step #2) Cast down any thought that goes against God’s word. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
Once we recognize a unholy or unrighteous thought, we have the opportunity to use our spiritual weapons to drive it away from our minds.

Step #3) Rehearse what God’s word teaches in contrast to unholy thoughts. (Psalm 119:15)
God’s word is powerful and it can help us overcome the influence of evil thoughts. We have the choice to submit to the Holy Spirit’s leading or submit to our own desires.

Step #4) Seek God’s peace to guard our minds. (Philippians 4:7)
It’s the peace of God which guards our hearts and minds from worry and anxiousness. Our role is to lay our petitions before the Lord and trust in Him.

Step #5) Keep our minds stayed on Christ. (Isaiah 26:3)
We keep our minds on Christ’s love and sacrifice for us instead of allowing our minds to wander aimlessly. God sees our thoughts and knows our weakness—He can help us control them.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I want my thoughts to honor You. Help me to remain diligent to protect my mind from evil influences from within and without. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Each of our spiritual weapons are necessary for battle with Satan: belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, readiness shoes, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. As warriors, we should be dressed in our spiritual armor every day, yet some of our weapons have to be picked up rather than put on.

The shield of faith is a weapon that we have to remember to pick up in battle with Satan. Without the shield, we are exposed to the deadly weapons of discouragement, despair, and doubt. Our enemy will empty his arsenal primarily on those who are working diligently to build the kingdom of God. Therefore, as good soldiers of Christ, we have to be ready for battle at all times by taking our S-H-I-E-L-D:

S – Stop entertaining evil thoughts from the devil. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 KJV)

H – Hold on to what we know is true about God’s faithfulness. (Deuteronomy 7:9)

I – Invest heavily into the meditation, memorization, and practice of the Scriptures. (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV)

E – Engage in daily, consistent, and earnest prayer with God. (James 5:16, KJV)

L – Let go of our past and press forward in faith. (Philippians 3:12)

D – Don’t ever let go of our faith in God. (Mark 11:22)

When Satan launches his weapons at us, we throw up our shield of faith and swing back with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We can’t swing back what we don’t know—these weapons work together so that we aren’t delayed in fulfilling our purpose. Destiny is in the grips of those warriors of Jesus who don’t let evil powers hinder God’s plans for their lives.

Prayer

Dear Lord, without You I can do nothing. Equip me with every spiritual armor so that I may finish my walk of faith in victory. Amen.

I think one of the hardest things to do in life is to live with joy in the midst of trials and challenges. It’s so easy to let life dictate to us our emotions and state of being. But in God, there is a joy available to us right where we are, no matter how good or bad the situation may be.

Today we’re going to make space together to simply open our hearts and minds to receive the joy of the Father. I hope and pray that you find real, life-changing joy in God’s presence today.

The joy of the Lord available to us in the Holy Spirit transcends all circumstances, relationships, and possessions. It is an internal joy fed to our hearts by the wellspring of joy the Father has toward us. God longs to make us a people marked by his joy. He longs to fill us with the knowledge of how thrilled he is to be our Father. He longs to make us a joyful people in every circumstance and season. 1 Peter 1:6-9 says,

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We can have joy in the midst of trial and tribulation because we have a genuine faith that this life is not all there is. Our hope reaches far beyond the confines of this fleeting age of sin and separation from God and looks toward the day when we will live in perfect, face-to-face relationship with our Creator. Every trial and tribulation is an opportunity to cling to the truth that this world is not our home and to be filled with joy at the thought of what awaits us on the other side of this life.

James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” While God may not cause the various trials we face, he most certainly uses them to cause our joy to find its source in him alone. Our heavenly Father knows that if we place our joy in the fleeting and fickle circumstances of this life our lives will be an emotional rollercoaster rather than a reflection of how consistently good he is.

Your heavenly Father has a compassionate heart toward the problems you face. He never desires for you to act or try and drum up faith that everything will be all right. He longs to meet you at the very core of your trial and fill you with abundant joy that’s rooted in his love alone. He longs to guide you through the tough seasons of life that try and rob you of your allotted portion of joy. He longs to make your faith steadfast and sure so you can meet the tribulations of this world head-on with joy. Run to your Father today with every weight and problem. Ask him to guide you to the still waters that your soul might be restored. And receive all the joy he longs to give you today as you encounter his deep and powerful love for you.

It’s easy for Christian women to get stuck in the sticky trap of perfection. We push ourselves to be the best wives, mothers, co-workers, sisters, daughters, and friends to the point that we think we can’t fail. However, one misstep in our day can lead to the crashing realization of our incredible dependence on God.

It’s easy for Christian women to get stuck in the sticky trap of perfection. We push ourselves to be the best wives, mothers, co-workers, sisters, daughters, and friends to the point that we think we can’t fail. However, one misstep in our day can lead to the crashing realization of our incredible dependence on God.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I surrender my failures to You. I pray for Your strength and wisdom to live out this life with peace and joy in spite of what goes on around me every day. You are my hope in success and failure. Amen.

Have you ever failed? It could a spiritual failure to failing a class or even failing to complete a project that you started. Many times when we have failed, we feel like our world is all over. Satan will pounce on our thoughts of failure to use for self-pity or condemn us for our weakness. Yet, when we are in Christ, failure isn’t final.

Even if we lose a battle here and there, we have victory in Christ Jesus. Through Him, we have God’s grace or unmerited favor to help us get where we need to be going. Failure isn’t final for the believer. The Lord can use every good or bad thing in our lives to work towards His plan for our lives.

Our responsibility is to immediately look towards the Lord for help when we’ve failed. Perhaps we failed because of our sin, we can confess it to Him, receive forgiveness, and be cleansed of our unrighteousness. If we’ve failed because we’ve neglected the spiritual disciplines of prayer, studying God’s word, or fellowship with other believers—we can get back on the right track immediately. Whatever the reason for our failures, God has a work for us to complete and He will give us the strength to continue forward.

When we surrender our failures to the Lord, He releases us from the bondage of trying to be perfect in all things. He will use our failures to draw us closer to Him for strength, wisdom, and insight on our next steps. God has everything we need to overcome our failures as long as we humble ourselves to His perfect will for our lives.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I know my failure is not final in You. I pray for the strength to move past it and towards Your greater purpose for my life. In Jesus’ name, amen.