Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, episode number 34 my name is Tracie Rollins, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. Before we get started, I wanted to ask you a favor. If you haven’t left a review of this podcast on whichever app you are listening to, please do that. If you can today, I would really appreciate it. It does help this podcast get discovered, and I want to thank you in advance. This months series is about Freedom in Christ, and we’re working out of the Momentum devotional offered by Bible Journaling Ministries titled Freedom. You can learn more about Bible journaling with our free 10-day course at BibleJournalingMiinistries.com. Today, we’re talking about the Freedom from the penalty of sin, and our verse is Romans 8:1-2 and I will read that out of the world, English Bible, it reads, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who don’t walk according to the flesh. But according to the spirit for the law of the spirit of life in Christ, Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. My kids ask a lot of questions about the Bible. Sometimes I can answer them with confidence. Other times we have to look up the answers together, and sometimes I don’t know, and I have to seek others to help lead me to the right scripture. The hard questions come when a friend when they lose a friend or a parent of one of their friends first when they have when we start this discussion, we talk about sin. We talk about the penalty of sin. They asked me, why can a murderer be saved but a mommy not be? Then we talk about Jesus as the lamb who fulfills the law and who covers our sins. We discussed Romans 6:22-23, and I’ll read that out of the world English Bible. It says, but now being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life for the wages of sin is death, but the free-gift of God is eternal life in Jesus our Lord.
I asked them to tell me what they think about it. The answer is so easy for the ones who departed that we know we’re believers. We say for sure they are in heaven and rejoicing. They are glorified and pure and free from sin, but for those who are unsure if we hope and we pray that they found Jesus before their last breath, we will never know what happened during their last breath. I’m confident that when I die, I will see my maker. My kids don’t like it when I talk about death, but it’s important. I don’t plan on leaving any time soon, but I do want them to know how confident I am that when I die, I will truly see my maker knowing that Jesus paid the price for my sins is my confidence. I was justified before God. The second I put my faith in Jesus because the penalty of my sin was paid, I can’t be unjustified.
It’s done. I am free from the penalty of sin. Are you This week Take some time to write or journal about what justification means to you. Why is it important to have faith in Jesus, and do you believe you’re free from the penalty of sin? Why or why not? And if you’re here today and you feel like you’re not free from the penalty of sin, turn to God and ask him to come and share life except Jesus as your Lord and Savior and received the Holy Spirit. If you have experienced Freedom and craft that you feel like your sins continue to hold you back, call him the Holy Spirit to help you fight this battle you’re not promised tomorrow, and I wouldn’t put this off from. And Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free-gift of God is eternal life in Jesus our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins and follow his will in your life, and you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. Thank you so much for tuning in today, and I’m excited to continue this conversation on Freedom and the next episode of the promises of God. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the Promises of God Podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling Ministries, where thousands of women Grow in the word creatively. Get your free 10-day course from Bible Journaling Ministries and other episode resources at the PromisesofGodPodcast.com.
Episode 033: Freedom from Fear
Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number 33 my name is Tracie Rollins, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This months series is about Freedom in Christ, and we’re working into the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling ministries titled Freedom. You can learn more about Bible journaling with our free 10-day course at BibleJournalingMinistries.com today we’re talking about Freedom from fear, and our verse is 2 Timothy 1:7 and I’ll read that out of the world English Bible, it says “for God didn’t give us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self-control”. I mean a lot of people at conferences and events naturally being the curious type conversations often lead to hopes and dreams for the future. Most of the women I meet share the most amazing ideas for their businesses and ministries that one day, they hope to start.
What’s odd is that our conversations quickly go to the word, but it’s, I hear things like, but I don’t have the money, but I don’t have the resources, but I don’t have the time, but I don’t have the knowledge, but I’m not good enough. Behind each of these buds is a fear. For example, if we take them one by one when someone says, but I don’t have the money. There’s a financial fear behind that word, but if they say, I don’t have the resources, there could be a financial fear there, but it’s also maybe a fear of failure there. They may say, but I don’t have the time, and that could be a fear of overwhelm or a fear of committing and then not following up on those commitments. When they say, I don’t have the knowledge, but I don’t have the knowledge. Maybe they fear what others will think of their efforts in the same thing for, but I’m not good enough. Right Maybe they fear what others might think about what they’re trying to do. There’s also the fear of success in what that means going forward. So sometimes we might not start something, or we’ll use a, but because we fear we actually might be successful. And I know that sounds really weird, but there is a fear of success for many, many people. My fear, I’ve got quite a few fears that I worked through, but one of my fears is the fear of rejection. So what that means is that I in, it’s so odd to have this fear. It’s not odd, but it, it sounds odd. So, um, people who are entrepreneurial, all, I mean, many of them have very similar fears. Like I have a, so when you have a fear of rejection, you tend to isolate yourself. You tend to do less collaboration.
You tend to be very, very independent. You work very, very hard to achieve. You know, whatever it is you’re trying to do, oftentimes you’ll work, you know, very, very hard. So sometimes that, at least for me, I know that sometimes I’ll work late at night, sometimes I’ll work too many hours and then like the rest of your life starts to be impacted by that because of the lack of asking for help or the last lack of asking for support. I mean if, if you’re a type of person like I am, that is, I’m scared of rejection. You often don’t go out and ask for people’s help when you know you need it. And then because you don’t ask, you end up doing all the work yourself and or you might not ask for help because you don’t trust them, that the person’s going to deliver on time or would the quality that you want it to be.
So when you have that type of fear of rejection like I have, um, you have to work through that fear. It’s one of the biggest things truly. It’s one of my biggest things that I’m working on this year. I’m working on quite a few things, but one of the biggest things that I’m working on is my fear of rejection. So what does that mean That means that you know, I put myself in a mastermind group where I’m, I have a, a Christian business coach, a leader who helps me overcome my fear of rejection and who coaches me to help me, like to collaborate with other people. So you’ll see me start to work, you know, collaborations with people. You’ll see me start to maybe teach some classes with people and collaboration. You’ll see me start to not just, it won’t just be Tracie all the time.
Of course, in the podcast, it’s still me. But if you follow me at all or follow the ministry at all, you’ll start to see us collaborate more with people. And I think, and you’ll also see me start to give more work to some of the people that helped me. So I have some freelance writers, some freelance graphic designers, and illustrators that help me create the things that we do in Bible Journaling Ministries. But I also have an assistant who does a lot of the podcasts production, editing and a lot of the video editing. She comes alongside and does a lot of those things. So you’ll see things that go out. That might not be exactly how Tracie used to do them because I’m other people, and I’m learning to collaborate more, and I’m learning to work through a fear of rejection that I have. And so that’s just some of the things that, I think it’s important to share because, you know, it’s just, it’s just a girl behind this microphone talking to you right now. It’s a girl that has just as many issues as many people have in this world. And I work so hard to overcome them. And I hope that by being truthful and honest with you, that you can take a look at your life and see what areas are in your life that you might be holding yourself back because you have this fear. And I promise you that when you start to break through these fears because I’ve had multiple fears of my past that I’ve worked through, I’ve multiple sins. On my past that I’ve worked through and I still have sins that I’m doing now and sends in the future, and all these things and I’m just working through. I hope that by seeing me go through some of these things, or hearing me through podcasts or videos and all that, that you can be encouraged to heed the Holy Spirit’s call on your life, to ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate areas that might be holding you back so that you can live the life that you truly deserve to live.
Fear is not from God. Fear is what Satan uses, um, to stop progress before it even starts. It’s often the way, the easiest way out. I mean, certainly, it’s a lot easier for me not to collaborate. It’s a lot easier for me to isolate myself and, and not worry about being rejected because I don’t allow myself to get rejected. Right The majority of this world experience, fear, especially when they’re stepping out into the unknown, they let Satan hold him back from serving God and living a purposeful filled life. So what’s holding you back? You can ignore fear and keep yourself occupied. But if you truly want to be free, you’re going to need to face your fear. God didn’t give you the spirit of fear. That’s exactly our verse for today. He gave you the spirit that’s characterized as power, that works, love that cares and self-discipline that controls use what he gave you and punch fear in the face when God calls you to action.
Don’t stand in fear. Instead, seek wisdom and discernment and then take action. I promise he will be with you every step of the way this week. Take some time to write or journal about what you’re afraid of and how your life would be different if you face that fear. And if you’re here today and you’ve experienced fear in your life, and you’re looking to break free of that fear, I encourage you to start a conversation with God. Ask him to remove that fear in your life and then listen as the Holy Spirit speaks to you, call on God except Jesus Christ, and become a child of God. If you’ve experienced Freedom in Christ, but that fear continues to hold you back. So you know you’re a follower of Jesus, but you have fear in your life, and it continues to hold you back from living the life that you deserve to live.
Call on the Holy Spirit to help you fight this battle. God gave you the spirit that is characterized by power, love that cares, and self-discipline, that control. So you have what you need to overcome. This fear and the Holy Spirit will help you fight this battle because you’re not promised tomorrow. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free-gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins, and follow his will in your life, and you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. Thank you so much for tuning in today. I’m so excited to talk to you more about Freedom this month in our next episode of the Promises of God Podcast. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling Ministries where thousands of women grow in the word creatively. It’s your free 10-day course for other ministries and other episodes resources at ThePromisesofGodPodcast.Com.
Episode 032: What is Freedom in Christ?
Welcome to The Promises of God Podcast, Episode number 32 my name is Tracie Rollins, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This one series is about Freedom in Christ, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible Journaling Ministries titled Freedom. You can learn more about Bible journaling with their free 10-day course at BibleJournalingMinistries.com. Today we’re answering the question, what is Freedom In our verse is John 8:36 and it says, if therefore the son makes you free, you will be free. Indeed, according to the dictionary, Freedom, his independence, it’s the liberation from slavery, restraint in the power of another. It’s the ability to choose what you want to be, do or achieve without constraint or corrosion, but Freedom is not anarchy.
While you may be capable of doing whatever you please, your actions lead to consequences. Even in the land of the free. We have laws that govern our Freedom. The Israelites weren’t free either. The Egyptians oppress them for 400 years. In Genesis 15:13 the Lord makes a covenant with Abraham, and he says to Abraham, no for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs and we’ll serve them. They will afflict them. 400 years. The Israelites suffered under bondage and were forced to serve in a land that wasn’t theirs. You can read more about their deliverance in the book of Exodus but pay close attention. Freedom didn’t mean that they were free from God’s authority. I’m not free from God’s power either and thank goodness for that. I praise God for his never-ending forgiveness for all of the sins I’ve committed in my life and the ones that I will battle in the future.
Being free doesn’t mean I get a free pass to disobey God and do whatever the heck I want to do and continue sinning and you know, be in sin all the time, right That’s not a free pass. You can’t just continue to, you know, once you find Jesus Christ and accept him into your life, then you’re changed. Christian, you’re a changed person. You no longer are slaver or by or in bondage to the sin that you have in your life that is changed a new person. You’re no longer slave or in bondage to that sin. Now that doesn’t mean that you won’t experience than you absolutely will, but the Holy Spirit helps you battle against that sin. The Holy Spirit comes and enlightened you and shows you areas of your life that you should be paying attention to, areas in your life that you might be sending, even areas that you may not realize that you’re in sin, but the Holy Spirit is calling you to take a look at that.
And that’s why it’s so important for us to listen to the Holy Spirit. When he calls the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 6:1-2 and he says, what shall we say then Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound may it never be we who died to sin. How could we live in any longer? So what Paul is saying is, you know, we’re saved by grace, but that doesn’t mean we get to keep on sinning. And just because we’re saved, meaning that we can continue to send, he’s just, he’s saying like you, you know, we who died to sin, you know, how can we live in it any longer How could we, you know, continue to wallow in our muddy mess of sin knowing that we are free in Christ. True fee freedom is the ability not only to think about but to see and take action to do what is right.
Pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. In Paul’s letter to the Philippians in his final exhortations, he says, finally, brothers, what, or whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report. If there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about these things. Jesus didn’t free you from God’s authority. He liberated you to walk in relationship with God and be the kind of person he created you to be. Now that is Freedom worth singing for this week. Take some time to write or journal about what Freedom means to you. If you’re here today and you’ve never experienced the Freedom that comes from knowing Christ, I encourage you to start a conversation with him. It’s easy. You don’t need special prayer. Just ask him to show you what it means, but then listen and look and be prepared for him to answer you.
If you’ve experienced Freedom in Christ, but feel lately like things have taken you off course, maybe you’ve sinned, and you feel, um, you feel the bondage of that sin. Maybe you feel like you can never come out of that sin or you can’t overcome that. I encourage you to seek God and ask for forgiveness. Go to him. Tell him that you’re sorry. Tell him that you need his help to shoot from whatever bondage of sin that you are currently shackled to. I encourage you to seek God and ask for his forgiveness and then continue to work through the process of sanctification is not an easy process, and everybody sends everybody wallows in our muddy mess. It’s just part of life, and we live in a fallen world. It is only part of this journey.
But I encourage you to work through and continue to work through using the counsel of the Holy Spirit that is within you. The Holy Spirit will enlighten you, ask God to eliminate it for you. If you don’t know that you’re sending ascot to eliminate what sin that is in your life that you need to be released from right, and then take steps to release yourself from the sense I have a lot of sins in my life. I promise you one of the biggest sins that I have is my desire just constantly to overheat. It is something that I have used food as an emotional crutch for so much of my life, and so I am continually working on is battling that sin and we’ll talk more about that as we continue to go throughout this devotional. But I’m maintaining Lee working on that, and that’s not the only one I have.
If you, if you are in our momentum program at Bible Journaling Ministries, you get to see in some of the devotions that we do where I’m truthful and honest and I, and I don’t hold anything back, and even in this, even today I’m not holding anything back. I’m just not going to spend hours and hours and hours talking about all the sins that I have in my life. I’m not perfect. I’m here, and I’m working through the sanctification process. In one of these days, I will be glorified and free of sin, and that is a day worth looking forward to. So I would encourage you to, again, just if your insulin and having you know, only a hard time with it, seek God, ask him to forgive you, ask him to show you the next steps. Ask to show you any resources that he would have for you.
Ask them to provide people into your life that would support you as you go through the sanctification process. As you learn how to battle the sins in your life, you’re not promised tomorrow, and I would not put this off. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free-gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins, and follow his will in your life, and you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. I know this topic is hard, but it is so important to address. I hope that you’ll stick around as we talk about Freedom from fear, Freedom from the penalty of sin, Freedom from the power of sin, and Freedom to choose your path. I am so excited to go on this journey alongside you. This is a tough topic, but it is going to be so freeing, and I think that as you work through each of these topics, you will see how amazing is to be free in Christ. Thank you so much for tuning in today, and I’m looking forward to talking to you in the next episode of The Promises of God. Goodbye.
Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, Episode number 31 my name is Tracie Rollins. I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This months series is about understanding and receiving God’s love, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling ministries titled a Father’s Love. You can learn more about Bible journaling would their free 10-day Bible journaling course at BibleJournalingMinistries.com today we’re talking about clinging to God and choosing life. Our verse is Deuteronomy 30:19-20, and I’ll read out of the World English Bible. It says I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life that you may live you and your descendants to love your way.
You’re a god to obey his voice and to cling to him for he is your life. And the length of your days that you may dwell in the land. Would she always swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give them When I was a little girl, my grandmother bought me the biggest doll I had ever laid my eyes on? She had this rubbery plastic face. She had these freckles on her cheeks, and she had this brown yarn hair that I used to tie up and try to comb, which by the way, you should never try to comb yarn hair. She had these plastic hands and as a cloth-like body, and she only had one dress. So I would try to dress her up in my clothes, which Kinda didn’t work cause I was bigger than the doll. Anyways, she just had the prettiest dress, and I loved it.
I loved that doll so much that I took her to church with me. I took her out. When we would go out to eat, I would be all like, Hey, can we have another place setting for a fake doll And I take her out on walks. Anytime we would go anywhere; she was by my side. She was like my best friend, and I’d sit there, and I’d read books to her. I would teach her math and English and correct her spelling even though she was a doll and actually couldn’t do any of the work. I think my mom, my parents must have loved us because as I was teaching her, I pretended she do the schoolwork, but then I would do the schoolwork. So I just even learned even more at night when I went to sleep, I put my arm around her, and she was like sleeping right there next to me all the time.
I just absolutely loved this. Donna, I don’t know what happened to this doll because I think eventually, I grew out of her, but I just loved her so much. I just had her around me all day long. She was my best doll friend. And I’d like to kind of think about in general, at least for you, what is it that you have that you love Like what do you do to something that you’ve loved so much Some people say when you love someone, you should let them go, but that’s not necessarily good advice. If you look at our verse today, it says, the Bible says that you should cling to God for he is your life in a length of your days. Choose life; having a father’s love like the One God provides is truly like no other love. God is love. He knows things about you that you don’t even know he provides for you, and he carries you next to his heart.
Oh, what an amazing father you have. So as you’re thinking about, as we wrap up, and as you’re thinking about this last section in our devotional, we’re talking about clinging to him. Practically speaking, write in your journal. What does it mean for you to cling to God? For me, clinging to God means being with him all day long? Just like my Dolly and my Dolly and the car and Medallia at dinner and Medallia at Lynch I had my dolly everywhere. So I try to remember God throughout my day. I try to pray a lot. Even just quick, simple prayers like you know, I might be getting ready for work and I might just say, you know, quick little prayer that I think some people call them popcorn prayers and, and I know that you know, some people like very, very long prayers and those are definitely warranted and definitely you should do long prayers and have your time with God in your meditations with them and be in the word and, and all of that.
But you can do quick popcorn prayers too. He wants to see you; he wants to talk to you; he wants to be in conversation with you all the time. So it’s okay to do quick, easy popcorn prayers and allow yourself to do that. Because I think when you do stuff like that where it’s super easy, and you’re just with God and just saying, you know, Hey God, I’m about to head out the door and I pray for safety as I go to my journey, or I pray that the meeting I’m headed to, we’ll go, well, you just, you’re in that conversation with him in and it makes it easy to have a conversation with him throughout the day. You don’t have to sit down and get your Bible out, and you know, make sure you have the right dress on to pray to God.
He wants to hear from you. Now he wants to hear from you; even if it’s just a second, also if it’s just a minute, whatever you have, he wants to hear from you. And I think when you get into that habit, you bring him along throughout your day. And I, I love that. So that’s what it means to me to clean to God, to be with him throughout the day, praying to him also when I have time to get into the word, you know, I try to read the Bible in the morning when I wake up. It’s one of the first things do I like to; I also exercise as one of the first things I do too. So I try to get the stuff out of the way that I, that is most important to me. And um, that just kind of shows my priorities.
So health is important to me. Spiritual health is important to me. So I read my Bible, and I do my exercises first things in the morning. Um, and also then throughout the day if something happens and it’s not like I’m going to forget it because I’ve already done it. So, and that’s how I kind of keep in to ensure that I get in my Bible reading time in my devotional time to worship and pray to God, you know, worship him, sing songs to him. You could be in your car listening to a Christian radio station and singing to him. You can sing to God. Even not Christian songs. I mean you can sing love songs to him all day long if you want to. It doesn’t have to be a specific Christian song, barely just taking time with the Lord and not just waiting for Sundays is really what it means to clean to God, clinging to God just by going to church on Sunday.
Never talking to him again is not clinging is it is just, it’s almost like, and I know you’re visiting him once a week and God wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to be in your life. He wants to be in your life today. He wants to be in your life the second he wants to be in your life now. He doesn’t want to wait until Sunday. So begin to cling to him, and I think when you clean to him, you will find life that you haven’t experienced before because I will tell you, being with God all day long helps. Number one. I mean, it helps keep me in line. I do send, I’m not going to lie, I don’t, it’s not like I don’t send, but I do sin, but I don’t spend nearly as much as I used to, so it keeps me in line, helps me fix my eyes on my priorities, helps me align myself with what I say is important to me in my life, and I feel good about it and I know at the end of the day I feel really good about the things that I’ve accomplishment it accomplished and even some days where it’s just been really hard, or I feel like it made me, God’s not around, I just keep praying.
I feel like he’s not talking to me. And if I didn’t, if I just stopped praying and stopped trying to have a relationship with God, I would go off in, there’s a whole other tangent that would not be good for me in any part of my walk or any part of my journey. So I would encourage you that even if you’re going through one of those difficult times like I have, cause I’m, I only have been recently got out of one of those dark valleys and now I’m back into the flow. I’m back. You know I feel God’s presence now. I feel him with me each and every day. I promise you; there are times where you feel like God’s not going to be around and you need to clean to him. You need to grab him and say, I love you.
I’m here for you. I want you to hear God, and I want to be the person that you want me to be. Show me your will. Show me your way. Help me be the daughter that you want me to be and cling to him because I promise you he will come back. You know he’s always here. He’s never going to leave you. But that presence, that feeling that he’s coming back, they will be there because God never leaves. He never leaves. Just because he doesn’t answer you in the way that you want him to answer you, it doesn’t mean that he’s not there. He is always here, and you have to believe that. And I think that if you are going through a difficult time again, cling to him because I promise you, you will come out of it and you will be better for it.
I promise you, when you cleaned the god, you choose life, and if you’re here today and you’re ready to choose life, it’s easy to get started to start this podcast right now and pray to him. Just invite him into your heart. Ask him to show you him. Ask Him to talk to you and open up your Bible. Like I randomly will open up my Bible. I’ll say, Lord, speak to me today. I want to hear your voice. I want to know what you have to say to me, and I’ll randomly open up the Bible and start reading. And often it’s so applicable. It’s like he reads, he shows up in his word pretty much every time I do it. Sometimes I open it up, and it’s not exactly what I thought like it’s kind of weird, but I know that it’s a word.
I know it’s his word. And I know that I need to understand that so I feel like he speaks to me every time I opened up his Bible. So I hope that you’ll try that as well. But if you’re here today and you totally know what it means to clean to God, but you straight a bit, that’s okay. It’s okay. You’re allowed to strip it. You’re allowed history a bit. Just come back, come back to God. Just tell him that you’re sorry. Tell him that you miss him. Tell him what you want to hear him speak to you today and open your Bible and listen to what he has to say. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins and follow his will in your life and he will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding.
I want to thank you. I thank you so much for tuning in today. I am so excited about our next month, next month series. I think that this series was I think, appropriate for the month and I hope that you truly do feel a father’s love. I look forward to talking to you in the next series next month. I hope you have a beautiful day and if you haven’t left a review on iTunes, please do so. I would appreciate that. It does help us out and if you don’t subscribe via iTunes and you subscribe maybe through another channel, please go ahead and leave us a review. That helps others find us. So I hope that you have a beautiful day and I will talk to you soon. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling M
Episode 031: Cling to God and Choose Life
Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, Episode number 31 my name is Tracie Rollins. I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This months series is about understanding and receiving God’s love, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling ministries titled a Father’s Love. You can learn more about Bible journaling would their free 10-day Bible journaling course at BibleJournalingMinistries.com today we’re talking about clinging to God and choosing life. Our verse is Deuteronomy 30:19-20, and I’ll read out of the World English Bible. It says I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life that you may live you and your descendants to love your way.
You’re a god to obey his voice and to cling to him for he is your life. And the length of your days that you may dwell in the land. Would she always swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give them When I was a little girl, my grandmother bought me the biggest doll I had ever laid my eyes on? She had this rubbery plastic face. She had these freckles on her cheeks, and she had this brown yarn hair that I used to tie up and try to comb, which by the way, you should never try to comb yarn hair. She had these plastic hands and as a cloth-like body, and she only had one dress. So I would try to dress her up in my clothes, which Kinda didn’t work cause I was bigger than the doll. Anyways, she just had the prettiest dress, and I loved it.
I loved that doll so much that I took her to church with me. I took her out. When we would go out to eat, I would be all like, Hey, can we have another place setting for a fake doll And I take her out on walks. Anytime we would go anywhere; she was by my side. She was like my best friend, and I’d sit there, and I’d read books to her. I would teach her math and English and correct her spelling even though she was a doll and actually couldn’t do any of the work. I think my mom, my parents must have loved us because as I was teaching her, I pretended she do the schoolwork, but then I would do the schoolwork. So I just even learned even more at night when I went to sleep, I put my arm around her, and she was like sleeping right there next to me all the time.
I just absolutely loved this. Donna, I don’t know what happened to this doll because I think eventually, I grew out of her, but I just loved her so much. I just had her around me all day long. She was my best doll friend. And I’d like to kind of think about in general, at least for you, what is it that you have that you love Like what do you do to something that you’ve loved so much Some people say when you love someone, you should let them go, but that’s not necessarily good advice. If you look at our verse today, it says, the Bible says that you should cling to God for he is your life in a length of your days. Choose life; having a father’s love like the One God provides is truly like no other love. God is love. He knows things about you that you don’t even know he provides for you, and he carries you next to his heart.
Oh, what an amazing father you have. So as you’re thinking about, as we wrap up, and as you’re thinking about this last section in our devotional, we’re talking about clinging to him. Practically speaking, write in your journal. What does it mean for you to cling to God? For me, clinging to God means being with him all day long? Just like my Dolly and my Dolly and the car and Medallia at dinner and Medallia at Lynch I had my dolly everywhere. So I try to remember God throughout my day. I try to pray a lot. Even just quick, simple prayers like you know, I might be getting ready for work and I might just say, you know, quick little prayer that I think some people call them popcorn prayers and, and I know that you know, some people like very, very long prayers and those are definitely warranted and definitely you should do long prayers and have your time with God in your meditations with them and be in the word and, and all of that.
But you can do quick popcorn prayers too. He wants to see you; he wants to talk to you; he wants to be in conversation with you all the time. So it’s okay to do quick, easy popcorn prayers and allow yourself to do that. Because I think when you do stuff like that where it’s super easy, and you’re just with God and just saying, you know, Hey God, I’m about to head out the door and I pray for safety as I go to my journey, or I pray that the meeting I’m headed to, we’ll go, well, you just, you’re in that conversation with him in and it makes it easy to have a conversation with him throughout the day. You don’t have to sit down and get your Bible out, and you know, make sure you have the right dress on to pray to God.
He wants to hear from you. Now he wants to hear from you; even if it’s just a second, also if it’s just a minute, whatever you have, he wants to hear from you. And I think when you get into that habit, you bring him along throughout your day. And I, I love that. So that’s what it means to me to clean to God, to be with him throughout the day, praying to him also when I have time to get into the word, you know, I try to read the Bible in the morning when I wake up. It’s one of the first things do I like to; I also exercise as one of the first things I do too. So I try to get the stuff out of the way that I, that is most important to me. And um, that just kind of shows my priorities.
So health is important to me. Spiritual health is important to me. So I read my Bible, and I do my exercises first things in the morning. Um, and also then throughout the day if something happens and it’s not like I’m going to forget it because I’ve already done it. So, and that’s how I kind of keep in to ensure that I get in my Bible reading time in my devotional time to worship and pray to God, you know, worship him, sing songs to him. You could be in your car listening to a Christian radio station and singing to him. You can sing to God. Even not Christian songs. I mean you can sing love songs to him all day long if you want to. It doesn’t have to be a specific Christian song, barely just taking time with the Lord and not just waiting for Sundays is really what it means to clean to God, clinging to God just by going to church on Sunday.
Never talking to him again is not clinging is it is just, it’s almost like, and I know you’re visiting him once a week and God wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to be in your life. He wants to be in your life today. He wants to be in your life the second he wants to be in your life now. He doesn’t want to wait until Sunday. So begin to cling to him, and I think when you clean to him, you will find life that you haven’t experienced before because I will tell you, being with God all day long helps. Number one. I mean, it helps keep me in line. I do send, I’m not going to lie, I don’t, it’s not like I don’t send, but I do sin, but I don’t spend nearly as much as I used to, so it keeps me in line, helps me fix my eyes on my priorities, helps me align myself with what I say is important to me in my life, and I feel good about it and I know at the end of the day I feel really good about the things that I’ve accomplishment it accomplished and even some days where it’s just been really hard, or I feel like it made me, God’s not around, I just keep praying.
I feel like he’s not talking to me. And if I didn’t, if I just stopped praying and stopped trying to have a relationship with God, I would go off in, there’s a whole other tangent that would not be good for me in any part of my walk or any part of my journey. So I would encourage you that even if you’re going through one of those difficult times like I have, cause I’m, I only have been recently got out of one of those dark valleys and now I’m back into the flow. I’m back. You know I feel God’s presence now. I feel him with me each and every day. I promise you; there are times where you feel like God’s not going to be around and you need to clean to him. You need to grab him and say, I love you.
I’m here for you. I want you to hear God, and I want to be the person that you want me to be. Show me your will. Show me your way. Help me be the daughter that you want me to be and cling to him because I promise you he will come back. You know he’s always here. He’s never going to leave you. But that presence, that feeling that he’s coming back, they will be there because God never leaves. He never leaves. Just because he doesn’t answer you in the way that you want him to answer you, it doesn’t mean that he’s not there. He is always here, and you have to believe that. And I think that if you are going through a difficult time again, cling to him because I promise you, you will come out of it and you will be better for it.
I promise you, when you cleaned the god, you choose life, and if you’re here today and you’re ready to choose life, it’s easy to get started to start this podcast right now and pray to him. Just invite him into your heart. Ask him to show you him. Ask Him to talk to you and open up your Bible. Like I randomly will open up my Bible. I’ll say, Lord, speak to me today. I want to hear your voice. I want to know what you have to say to me, and I’ll randomly open up the Bible and start reading. And often it’s so applicable. It’s like he reads, he shows up in his word pretty much every time I do it. Sometimes I open it up, and it’s not exactly what I thought like it’s kind of weird, but I know that it’s a word.
I know it’s his word. And I know that I need to understand that so I feel like he speaks to me every time I opened up his Bible. So I hope that you’ll try that as well. But if you’re here today and you totally know what it means to clean to God, but you straight a bit, that’s okay. It’s okay. You’re allowed to strip it. You’re allowed history a bit. Just come back, come back to God. Just tell him that you’re sorry. Tell him that you miss him. Tell him what you want to hear him speak to you today and open your Bible and listen to what he has to say. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins and follow his will in your life and he will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding.
I want to thank you. I thank you so much for tuning in today. I am so excited about our next month, next month series. I think that this series was I think, appropriate for the month and I hope that you truly do feel a father’s love. I look forward to talking to you in the next series next month. I hope you have a beautiful day and if you haven’t left a review on iTunes, please do so. I would appreciate that. It does help us out and if you don’t subscribe via iTunes and you subscribe maybe through another channel, please go ahead and leave us a review. That helps others find us. So I hope that you have a beautiful day and I will talk to you soon. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling M
Episode 030: God Provides for His Children
Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, Episode number 30 my name is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This months series is about understanding and receiving God’s love, and we’re working on at the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling and ministries titled a Father’s Glove. You can learn more about Bible journaling with their free 10-day Bible journaling course located at BibleJournalingMinistries.com. Today we’re talking about God’s provision and our verse is Matthew 7:11, but I’ll read starting in verse 9 and reading out of the world English Bible, it says, or who is there among you Who if asks his son, who, if his son asks him for bread will give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish who will give him a serpent. If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?
My kids don’t ask for much. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because they experienced the recession or because they don’t see us spending money on the latest and greatest styles. Maybe they have what they need in our content. It kind of makes gift giving a little bit boring around here though. So sometimes when they decide that there is something that they want, like for their birthday or Christmas, I get excited, I get to like start finding the greatest deal on the most awesome thing that they’re asking for. So I get super excited. I want to begin to be able to give them exactly what they’ve asked for. But unfortunately, sometimes what they ask for is not something that as a parent I want to give them, or I think is appropriate for their age. So I have to say no.
Sometimes the Kiddos will ask for things that are, that will directly or indirectly harm them. I think that I do the same with God. I think there are so many prayers that I look back on today that I’m so glad he didn’t answer. God is a provider, and he wants to give good things to his children who asked them good things. And not snakes like inner verse today, but asking tests our faith because God doesn’t always deliver exactly what we want when we want. Sometimes he has something better for us, but we have to have the faith to trust in him. I know there were so many times in my life where I asked for God to provide. A lot of times, especially as I was in my young twenties, uh, we didn’t have a lot of money, so I was always asking to win the lottery.
I know that sounds so weird. Um, but I did, I prayed that I would win the lottery. I prayed that I would get like $1 million and not have to go to work anymore so I could stay at home with my kids. There were so many times that I prayed for money, and it just didn’t happen. And it was kind of funny that I would pray for money because maybe what I should have been doing is praying for help or praying for a solution to what I wanted. I mean, I was praying for money, but really what I wanted to do was spend more time with my children and not have to be at work, you know, 40 50, 60 hours a week or have a two-hour commute to work every day. I probably would’ve been better off had I prayed for something rather than just money.
Maybe it would’ve got me thinking, and I wouldn’t have continued on the path of pursuing a career that was focused on money and I was focused a lot on money in my younger years. That’s for sure. I’m so glad that God doesn’t answer our prayers exactly how we want them all the time because I can also remember, not only was I praying for money a lot, but when my son was born, my youngest son was born 11 weeks premature, and he was born at two pounds, 6.4 ounces and he was in the ICU. That’s the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital for 11 weeks, and I remember so many times driving in my car just praying to God, please let me take him home. I don’t want to go back there again. It makes me sad because there were times where you would walk by in the neonatal intensive care unit, and you would see a memorial for a child that didn’t get to come home, and as a mother trying to, trying to get her kid home, it was sad.
I mean I would stop and pray for the baby that didn’t make it for the family. That was devastated, but it also hurt my heart, and I would think about what if my child doesn’t get to come home And I would think about that a lot. And at the time, the neonatal intensive care unit that I was at, to get to that section, I had to go through the maternity ward, and so I would go through the maternity ward, see all the happy moms with their babies and then see mine in praying to God. I could take him home, and then I would leave him at night to go pick up my other son, and I have to walk through the maternity ward and see all the moms with their babies going home. And I was happy for them but also very sad about my situation.
And I would pray every day that I get to take my child home. But I will tell you that I’m so glad that God didn’t answer that prayer because if I would’ve taken my young son home, I don’t think he would be here today. My son had multiple issues with ultimately what was keeping him from coming home as he had mal rotated intestines, and I believe that if I would have taken him back that the doctors would not have been able to diagnose him and he may have died because of the lack of nutrition or other issues related to mal rotated intestines. So I was just glad that God didn’t answer that prayer because what happened was it got me to a point in my life where I completely surrender to God. It was on my way to the hospital, and I prayed to God if I couldn’t take my son home that he would provide and that he would take my son and take care of him until I got to see him one day.
That was the hardest prayer of my entire life, but it was one that also matured me in ways that I’m still trying to understand. I don’t know how I had the strength to pray that prayer, but I did. And a few weeks later my son did get to come home, and he is thriving now. So I am just glad that during those times when I was going to the hospital and, I’m glad that he didn’t send them home. I’m glad that I was able to stay in the hospital until at nine weeks they died. They said they would do some exploratory surgery, so they were going to open up and check underneath the hood, right, to see what was wrong with them. And they did in a two-hour exploratory surgery turned into four and they fixed him. And if you like for weeks later, he came home, and he’s been thriving.
Ever since of praise God for that. So I know that it’s hard in life to ask for things and you want God to deliver. Just like with financial issues or babies sick in the hospital, or even if my recent knee surgeries and all the pain that goes with that and asking for the pain to go away and me. I know that God doesn’t always provide things the way we want them to be provided. And you know, he doesn’t even provide it sometimes when we want them to be provided. But I promise you that at least in my experience and what I believe to know about my God is a, He provides things that are better than I just haven’t seen yet. And I can see it. They look in the past and my life. I can see how those difficult times were ways that helps stretch me in ways that helped me grow in multiple areas, including my faith, including my spirituality, including my health, including my work, including everything about my life.
So if God hasn’t provided for you exactly what you have wanted, maybe you’re here today and um, you’ve been praying for something that hasn’t materialized, who ask yourself, maybe it’s not what God has planned for you, or maybe it’s just not yet. Or maybe there’s a different path to take if you’re like, I was when I was younger, praying for money. Maybe you could pray for the solution or something that would enlighten us to the next step and the difficult journey that you’re currently on. I believe that God will give you exactly what he has planned for you. And I believe it is so much better than what we see each and every day of our lives. So this week I would like you to take some time to journal about a time that you prayed for something, and you didn’t get it and that you’re now glad that you didn’t get it.
So look back in your life and see, you know, where you like me. Did you pray for money and are you glad you didn’t get that Because I tell you right now that if he gave me what I asked for at as a young woman, I would not be where I am today would not speaking to you on this podcast. They would not have the opportunity to see all the beautiful people that I get to see every day here in my personal life, face to face, as well as in our online community. There is just so much that God has for us that we don’t understand. And so I pray for you that as you’re asking for provision to understand and to seek why it is you’re asking for that provision. And perhaps maybe you need to be asking for something just a little bit different or maybe it’s time to wait for a bit and see if God will provide it at a later day or maybe there’s an alternative path for you as well.
If you don’t know who I’m talking about when I say God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, I want you to know that that’s okay. I pray that this podcast takes you one step closer to learning more about him. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord, so I hope one day you’ll, you’ll take a chance on him, he’ll turn to him, maybe confess them of your sins that you’ve had in your past and feel the love of Christ just come over you. I hope that you get to experience God’s provision in your life today, tomorrow, and always. Thank you so much for tuning in today, and I’m so excited to wrap up this series with you in the next episode of the Promises of God Podcast. Have a great day. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling M
Episode 029: God Carries His Children
Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, Episode number 29 my name is Tracie Rollins, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This months series is about understanding and receiving God’s love, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling ministry titled a Father’s Love. You can learn more about Bible journaling with their free 10-day Bible journaling course, at BibleJournalingMinistries.com today we’re exploring what it means to be carried by God, and our verse is Isaiah 40:11 and I’ll read this out of the world English Bible. It says he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young. When my babies were little, I’d carry them around their house.
Their heads would rest on my chest, and they’d fall fast asleep. I would sit there, and I’d stare at their little eyes and marvel at how precious they were where they’re little, tiny fingers in it, tiny feet. I’d pat their backs and sing songs of love and happiness, and they felt safe. They were safe. I wouldn’t let anything happen to them. As they got older, I couldn’t carry them anymore, and so I’d hold their hand and gently lead them as we went about our errands. I love this first and Isaiah, the fact that God will gather his lambs in his arms and carry them close to him so close and he’ll gently lead those who have their young that that is for me. I mean, I think about that, and in my life and say, yeah, he has gently led me, especially as it relates to my parents.
Seeing and having these young two men in my life, my little boys which are now grown. I’d like us to take a moment now and spend some time just thinking about what this first is and what it means to you. I’d like you to close your eyes for just a minute, not too long and imagined God carrying you in as bosom, like hearing you so close to him right next to his chest. You can hear his heartbeat. You can feel the warmth of his body. You can feel the tenderness and love that he has for you.
Imagine that he looks down at you, his precious, beautiful child with great love. Maybe you’ve never experienced this type of love before, but as you look up, you see him just staring at you like just in love with you. I can think about that as I would take a look at my babies and fall in love with them. As I carried them, as they held them tightly and if you have children, you probably may have had that opportunity to just hold them close and just stare at how amazing in beautiful they are, and if you haven’t had children, maybe you’ve had something in your life where you’ve been able to look at it and just marvel in that beauty. It’s that great love that is just so simply amazing. I want you to think about how does it feel to be loved like that I think about the warmth of his body and him just holding you. Do you feel secure? Do you feel warm? Do you feel safe? Do you feel loved and well cared for?
As we kind of think about that for a bit, take some time and write writing in your journal. Write about how you feel as you’re contemplating God is loving you like a child, like just loving you, like greater than you’ve loved anything else near in your life. Maybe this love you can’t even comprehend, but if you were to think of your greatest love to think even greater than that and it will probably overwhelm you. Are you a lamb and Nida father’s love I hope that this week you’ll take some time and think about this first, the message of Isaiah, it makes my heart sing. God shows his fatherly love with the provision, care, protection, and guidance. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. And if maybe you’re here today and you feel like the world’s forgotten you, maybe you feel like you’re left alone, you’re isolated or maybe, or even isolating yourself, maybe that’s what you do.
I sometimes know when I feel upset or alone or isolate myself, that’s not good. I’m working on it. I have some friends that are surrounding me and trying to make sure that whenever I’m down that, I reach out to them and reach out to my God and pray to him and helped me not to get into such a deep, dark hole. That is hard to get out of sometimes. So if you feel like you’ve been forgotten or left alone in this world, I pray that you will turn to God and ask him to show his love and light into your hearts. Just ask him into your heart. Ask Him to show you that love that he has for his children. Greed, the verse, Isaiah 40:11 remember that God, exactly. We’ll feed his shot. Feed his flock like a shepherd he will provide for you.
And if you feel like you haven’t been provided for you, haven’t you feel like you haven’t been loved, you haven’t been gathered in his arms and, and you haven’t been led gently, but you’ve been forced to do things that you’re not proud of. We’re not happy to do. Lord, I pray that you would go to our Lord and ask him to show you the things that you haven’t seen before. To ask him to carry you, to ask him to provide for you, to ask him to lead your life. And if you know that God is your God and you know when you have a relationship with him, but maybe you’re mad at him because things haven’t been going your way or what you’ve asked for, he hasn’t delivered. I pray that you will go to him and repent of whatever it is that that is on your mind and her heart.
Are the things that you’re upset at him for. Perhaps he has something better for you that he has yet to share with you. I’ve always felt there are times in my life where I’ve always, I wanted something so bad, and I would pray to God, please give it to me. I just, you know, I know that I would do so good if you would just do this for me, but now that I’m older, I look back, and I’m so glad that he did not grant that wish because I would not have the love in my life that I have right now. I wouldn’t have the friends that I have in my life. I wouldn’t have the husband that I’m married to. I wouldn’t have the kids that I, that I have and it’s pretty amazing. I know. I used to think that it would be more amazing if I had a ton of money and now that I look back, I go, I’m so glad I don’t have it.
Oh, so there are a lot of problems that come with that kind of money I was wishing for, and I’m so glad that God didn’t provide cause he provided exactly what I needed exactly when I needed it. He is an amazing God, and so he truly does feed his flock like a shepherd. He gathers his lambs in his arms, he carries them in his bosom, and he gently leads those who have their young. I hope that today that you are encouraged to know that you have a god that carries you and that truly does love you. The Romans six three says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus. Our Lord turned to him. Confess your sins and follow his will in your life, and I know you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. You will feel God carry you even in your, your greatest stays as well as your deepest, darkest moments. Thank you so much for tuning in today to the promises of God podcasts, and I can’t wait to talk to you in our next episode. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling M
Episode 028: God Has Great Plans For You
Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, Episode Number 28 my name is Tracie Roll, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This months series is about understanding and receiving God’s love, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by a Bible Journaling Ministries titled a Father’s Love. You can learn more about Bible journaling with their free 10-day course at BibleJournalingMinistries.com today we’re exploring what it means to be known by God. In our verse is Jeremiah Chapter 1:5 and I’ll read out of the world English Bible. It says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you before you were born. I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. I think this first is amazing. What an amazing God to know us before we even know ourselves.
It’s a great example of a God, our God that plans for us that has just excited for us and excited to see the things that we do in life. Today we are talking about that very thing that God knows you. God declared that even before it Jeremiah was conceived. He was known by God and set apart for his divine purposes as a prophet. Jeremiah would have had a difficult life. He would be threatened; he would be beaten. He’d be placed in prison and thrown into a muddy hole. Did the words that God provide to Jeremiah give him the strength to continue I think so. The other day I was talking to my physical therapist, and he mentioned that we needed to work on a few muscles and that I would be sore the next day. And he was prepping me because he knew he was going to dig down deep into those muscles.
And he always says, I do have a high tolerance for pain. But he always says that the people that he works on, they’re so sore. And even when he’s working on him, they like to tell him to stop. But I never tell him to stop, and he didn’t understand why because I’m boy, I just let him do his thing that he needs to do to work on my knee so I can get to walking better. And he asked me about it one day, and I said, where there’s pain, there’s an opportunity, proceed with your torture. And he laughed. So he thought that was the funniest thing because no one had ever seen. No one had ever told him that before. And I explained that you know, God has a plan for this. He has a plan for me, and I’m going to be at peace with the process.
So if we need a little bit of pain so that I can, you know, you can move that knee cap, or you can detach that scar tissue and let it move around a little bit more than proceed with your plan. And I will deal with that pain and God will be glorified because you watch, I’ll be walking better than you thought I was going to walk. I mean my, even now, I mean I can tell you, my physical therapist told me that I would never have a fully straightened knee. Um, my extension wouldn’t be fully straight in my banding. Um, I’ll be lucky if I can tie my shoe. That’s based on the images that they saw after my surgery. That’s what they measured out because when they did the surgery, the doctors would bend my knee and then they would straighten it, and they took a picture so that my physical therapist could kind of get an idea of where I was going to be.
And they said he would, you know, you’re not going to be able to do what you want to do. And I said, no, we’re just going to keep on working. We’re going to keep on keeping on. And I will tell you to this day; I’m still better than where they thought I was going to be. I actually can get to a fully extended leg, um, at almost zero degrees where they thought I would be at minus five. So even my bend, I can, I can put it over my other knee and tie my shoe. Now, if that is still painful for me and it will in, and we’re working through it, but they didn’t think that I was going to be above 110. They said, it’d be lucky if I got to be above 110 in terms of my fluxion and my knee, but we’ve surpassed all of those things.
And I point to God every time I walk in there, every time they say, you know, I ordered something from them the other day it was this massager so that I can massage some of the scar tissue in my leg. And, and they said, oh, we don’t think it’s going to come in, in time for you before you leave town. And I said, okay, you know, it’ll come, and God wants it to come. And Lo and behold, it came the Friday before I left town and they laughed at me because they knew exactly what I would say. And I always say, you know, God wanted me to have it before I left. So here it is. And they, they chuckle at it. But it’s true. So my point is that you know, God knows me and God knows you, and he has great plans for both of us.
Right. He has great plans for me. And I know he has great plans for you, and you can trust that his plan is for your good, even in your darkest moments, even in pain. And yeah, nobody wants to go through those dark times and nobody wants to, you know, I have pain in their bodies or lose someone that they love or have to go through another battle of the day. But, but God has plans. He will be glorified. And if you can take a moment in your dark times to think about like, is there any way I can give him glory in this today Is there any way, even through the pain that I can say, you know, thank you God for the opportunity to bring you glory today. I know it’s hard. I’ve been through it. I still do it. Sometimes I’m good at it.
Sometimes I can, you know, be great at pointing to God. And other times I want to cry on my bed. Like I’m not going to lie, but it’s something that I work on every time. Every time I’m going through something hard in my life, I always try to try to look at the bright side and say, you know, there’s going to be an opportunity at the end of this rough, rough road and God will be glorified. So thank you God for allowing me the chance to learn and to grow and do the things that you have planned for me. Cause you have great plans for me. So when the day isn’t going well, and you feel like you’re in that muddy sister and like just like Jeremiah or even when the birds are chirping, and you feel this beautiful sense of calm, God’s plan is being carried out.
You don’t have to like it. But I pray that knowing that God is in control brings you the piece that it does for me. So this week as you journal in your Bible Journal, think about what it means to you, that your father in heaven knows you and knew you before you were born to Think about father who plans and just is so excited that you’re going to be here in this world and has these beautiful plans waiting in store for you. So I hope that you will journal that this week. And if you’re here today and you believe that God doesn’t know you and that you’re, you’re here, and when you die, you’re going to die. And that’s the end of the thing, the end of the road. Um, I encourage you to think about the possibility that there is a god that knows you. And I hope that when you think about that possibility and you hear the love that I have for my father in heaven and how he has helped me throughout my whole life, and the joy and the love that, that I feel that is like no other, I hope that that encourages you to consider him.
And when you’re ready, pray to him and ask him to come into your heart. Help him. It’s like, I don’t know you, I don’t even know if you know me, but Lord, if you’re here, please come into my heart and show me that next step. And I pray that you pray that today so that he can show you the love that he has for you so that he can show you that the plans he has for you are so much better and greater than you’ve ever thought before. And if you’re here today and you know God, but sometimes huge straight, or that you’re just having a difficult time come back, there’s no time to go the other way. Life is so short. Don’t miss out on his great love because you’re angry at him or sad because something happens. You’re in your life. Come back to him, work through, I mean journal through some of the feelings that you’re having and talked to him. It’s okay if you’re upset. It’s okay that if life hasn’t gone the way you planned, ask God to show you what his plans are for you. And I hope that you feel the love of Christ every day. That’s your passes all understanding. I am so excited to talk to you next week. We were talking about how God carries you, and I think it’s going to be a great episode. So I hope that you’ll join us and I can’t wait to talk to you again in the Promises of God Podcast. I’ll see you soon. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling M
Episode 027: Who is God?
Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number 27 my name is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This months series is about understanding and receiving God’s love, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible drilling ministries titled a Father’s Love. You can learn more about Bible journaling with their free 10-day course at BibleJournalingMinistries.com today we’re answering the question, Who is God? And our verse is Matthew 3:16-17 and I’m reading this out of the King James version. It says, and Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water and Lo the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him and Lo voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
I love this first. Mostly the reason why I love this first is that all of the three persons of the Trinity appear in this one, in these two verses. And you can see that they are United, but they’re also very distinct. And I think it is a great, great visualization of what it is to be to the Trinity. Essentially, God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus all in one. And when we ask ourselves today, who was God And I know God because when I first believed in Jesus Christ, I was given the gift of the Holy Spirit. When I was young, I called up my conscience or my intuition, but realize later in life that it wasn’t me, but it was the holy spirit. I feel his presence, and I see his work all around me, and I’m not talking about the beauty of nature, but the small things like a smile from a stranger, a lost item found or the pain of a current struggle, which leads to an opportunity in the future.
If I trust him, I know that seems odd to say pain being an opportunity, but if I look back on my life so many times where I was hurt, um, or even in physical pain, that experience grew me in some way, and allowed me to bring others to Christ or to share hope with others or whatever. There was always something positive that came out of a simple, simply just rough situation. I know God, but not fully. He is way too complex for me. Many of my pastors have tried to explain to me who God is, but for me, it’s impossible to explain it. It would take thousands upon thousands of words, but because God is just so complex, I can’t wrap my mind around even the smallest part of him. Do I start with his attributes? Do I start with the spirit? Do I even start with Jesus? It seems a bit watered down to break God apart, but I do try because not trying seems like giving up. And a lot of people ask me, who is God and what do I say God is and who do I say God is?
So I tried to say it in many different ways. I mean first, for a nonbeliever, I will always say, you know God is complex, but you know in the simplest form his true love. He created this, this earth and it was good, and he created it as a beautiful, beautiful place. Of course, that’s how we are today in the simplest form of explanation. God is the father, son and Holy Spirit in one a trinity. God is the creator. You can read about that in Genesis 1:1 he is love, and he holds the universe in his love, and that’s the first John Chapter four verse eight and Colossians 1:17 as hard as it is to fathom the point isn’t to understand God. I believe the point is to know him and be known by him.
So you can be with him in eternal glory. You can read a little more there in Second Corinthians 4:17 there is simply no one like him this week I’d like you to take some time to write or journal about what it means to have a father that his love for me to have a father that is love means that I will always be accepted and loved no matter how. How my life turns out, I am a center, right I have faults, and my God won’t never, never leave me. Even with all of my, my faults and misfortunes. I think I will always be good enough for God and I can do anything according to his plan, in his will. And you can see, even in our world, like our earthly fathers are not the same as our heavenly father. We have some amazing earthly fathers.
My father is an amazing man. Um, but of course our earthly fathers have, and they have issues, and sometimes they’re not the most loving people in the world. Sometimes, you know, I can sometimes remember where, you know, I’d want to do something, but we couldn’t do it. There was either, not finances, I was not skilled enough, there was no tutor available, et Cetera, you know And so there were limitations that I had as a child, but I believe with God that all things are possible if it’s in his wool. So there are some fathers that say, no, you can’t do that. Like you’re not good enough for that. You’re never going to be good enough. Right. I’m sure many of us have heard things like, you know, there’s no money for that, so you can’t do that. There’s no future in that for you.
So don’t even start. There’s no money to be made in that. So why even bother There’s no skill that you have that would even put you in the ranks of being able to attempt something like that. Right. Sometimes our fathers say things to us to protect us because they love us and you know, I’m sure there are plenty of fathers that don’t love their children. I’ve seen a lot of that often. I was fortunate to have a father that loved me, but there are so many of my friends that did not have a father that loved them, and some fathers abused their children. Some fathers ignore their children. And that is not an example of the heavenly father. So if you look at your life and you’re looking at your father, and you’re saying, I don’t want to have a relationship with any father.
Because of what you’ve experienced, I would encourage you to take another peek at God because God is amazing and the love that he has is like none other in. Once you get to know him, I think you’ll start to feel the love that you may never have felt before in your life. So if you’re here today and you’re struggling with receiving God’s love, I encourage you to say, today I receive God’s love. And then you can begin to take steps to experience the love that he has for you. Maybe you’ll take a break today and reflect on this verse. Maybe you’ll go outside and breathe the fresh air that is around you. Or if you live in the city in its pretty smoggy, maybe you’ll, you’ll look, stay indoors, and maybe you’ll look at the things around you that you, that you love and that are in your life for.
Maybe you’ll take a look at the friends that you have or the family that you’re surrounded with and realize how lucky you are. Or perhaps you’ll go to a food bank and donate your time today and see just how lucky you are that you are able to eat today and that you’re able to thrive in the space that God puts you in. Maybe I’m just hoping that you’ll take one step to consider accepting a father that loves you like no other, regardless of your past, regardless of your sins. And Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of eternal life is Jesus, our Lord. And He loves you. He gave his son for you. And when you accept his love, you will experience the world in a whole different light. I would encourage you to turn to him and confess your sins and follow his will in your life, and you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding.
Truly, I hope that you’ll give God a chance today if you haven’t already. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode as we explore a father’s love, we’ve got about four more episodes to go as we start talking about how to receive God’s love and then how God just knew you as he formed you in your mother’s womb. We’ve got quite a few more to go, and so I hope that you’ll join us on this journey and I can’t wait to talk to you next week. I hope that you have a fabulous day. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.
Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling M
Episode 026: Unshakable Confidence
This is the promises of God podcast and I’m your host, Tracie Rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear and believe and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on PromisesOfGodPodcast.com. Now, let’s get started.
Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, Episode Number 26 my name is Tracie Rollins and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in our lives. This month series is about confidence, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling ministries, and it’s titled Unshakable Confidence. You can learn more about Bible journaling with their free 10-day Bible journaling course at BibleJournalingMinistries.Com okay. Today we’re talking about eight ways you can have more confidence as a Christian and our verse is Psalm Chapter 3:3-6 and it’s from the King James version. It reads, but thou, oh Lord Art, a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.
As I laid down and slept. I wait for the Lord to sustain me. I will not be afraid of 10 thousands of people that have set themselves against me. Roundabout having confidence isn’t easy. It takes trust that originates with God, belief in Jesus Christ and attentiveness to the intercession of the Holy Spirit. There will be times when your confidence will be tested, but you know exactly what it takes to glorify God when times are tested. There are eight things that I have here that I’ve done in my life that I can share with you that might help you to have a little more confidence and the first thing you might consider doing is reading the Bible. Reading the Bible is a great place to start. Focus on scripture that demonstrates God’s endless love for his children. I love that reflects and goes beyond the love earthly parents have for a child.
When you do this, you will have insight that will encourage confidence being reminded that God created you and loves you, unconditionally nurtures true confidence. And as you read the Bible, you know, consider getting into a regular rhythm. You don’t need a ton of time, you know, five, 10 15 minutes. We’ll do just a regular rhythm of being in the word. Another option, you could try it and started Bible journaling study group and that’s really just going beyond the Bible and studying it closely with a group of people that can really help you to understand and unpack it, maybe apply it to your life and um, really give us some accountability to another option you can do is pray for discernment that God will always be with you as you encounter obstacles, especially in life where we feel like these are so impossible to overcome alone. When we ask in faith, God gives us the wisdom we need at that moment to face any challenge with confidence.
In James One five says, if any of you lacks wisdom, him, ask God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given to him. Another thing you could do is listen to the Holy Spirit. Listening to the Holy Spirit gives you the insight necessary to increase your confidence. The more time you spend understanding and with the Holy Spirit, the more clearly you will hear his voice. She got to listen carefully. I know that sometimes God will wake us up and it’s a big like a boom in your life, and you can’t miss it. But a lot of times he speaks softly through the holy spirit, and you have to be in his presence and to listen for it. Another thing you could do is helping other like volunteering or you know, spending time with other, other people, you know, you could, you know, have, you know, only time where maybe you go to an animal shelter or maybe volunteer in your church.
A lot of people who volunteer have higher confidence level is not only do they gain skills, why volunteering, but they also improve their social skills and their interaction and people who have, um, these volunteer activities typically have some compassionate goals, and they do feel more connected with those around them. And I’m one of the main reasons that serving others helps us to feel better about ourselves because we’re doing what God has planned for us on our path. And when you’re in his will, you have more confidence. And when you’re doing things that reflect his character, you have more confidence. This is all confidence in God. Another thing could try to take a step in faith. Confidence and wisdom comes through having peace in our minds that we’re doing what God is calling us to do. Just like I said a moment ago, it’s off often just, you know, only deciding to step in and faith.
Um, and following his will. Even when you don’t have everything that you believe you need today. Just taking that one step and asking him to provide the next, maybe he already has resources in your lives that you don’t see. Perhaps you have what you need, and you need him to help eliminate that for you. So take a step in faith, ask God to come with you and guide you as you follow his will in your life. Uh, the next thing I would say is don’t expect it to be easy. And the Bible says if the gate is narrow, you’re probably on the right track. You can read Matthew Chapter Seven verse 13 through 14. God never promised that our days would be easy. That if we offer our love to others that, that they would love us back, that we would never experience pain or loss or failure and that everything would go our way. What God promised is that he would always be by our side carrying us through difficult times with arms, still outstretched in Lebanon support. And you can read Isaiah chapter 46 and verse four for that. When you open yourself up to God, you will experience the strength and hope and confidence.
Lastly, you learn from mistakes. Don’t try to avoid mistakes. I mean, obviously plan for risks, you know, and in your life. I think that God gives us the wisdom to plan for risks, right. We have the things we need. Sometimes we need to open our eyes and look around. I’m feeling the call to that a lot lately to open up my eyes and look around. Um, that helps to see things that you didn’t see before, but also to mitigate risks. And I think that’s a smart thing to do. I don’t think God wants us to go through life with our heads down in the dirt. You know, scared and, and pretending that we don’t see things that are right in front of us. But when you make mistakes, you should learn from the mistakes. You should pray for discernment and listen to the Holy Spirit and get up and try again.
Don’t quit. It’s important to forgive yourself. I know a lot of times when I make mistakes and even when my husband and he makes mistakes, boy, you know, we can be so hard on ourselves. And I know for me, I’m extremely hard on myself, and so I have to remind myself to forgive, forgive myself, giving myself some grace and you know, what are that Everybody makes mistakes, right It’s part of the human condition. It’s part of the growth process. And it doesn’t mean; I’m not saying that you should gloss over it and just like, oh, la, la, La, I made a mistake. I’m moving on. And then it doesn’t matter. No, it does matter. You should learn from your mistakes. And admit that you make them. You’re in. If you know, you should repent when you sin and ask for God to forgive you. You know he promised, he always promised to forgive us in that makes us possible to forgive ourselves. Always, always, always. Remember that God loves you. It’s a pure love that you will receive from nobody else. And there will be times when your confidence will be tested,
And I hope that during those times you will know what it takes to glorify God. And may you truly have unshakeable confidence in that time when you have got confidence in God, you worry less. You receive hope and have strength. You Inter difficulties and feel secure, and you can have confidence in God who has put on your heart the very thing you are here to do. Be Bold, my friend.
Have that unshakeable confidence. If you’re here today and you’re ready to receive the spirit, that’s not of yourself, but from the Lord, you can say this prayer with me, Lord Jesus, I am a sinner, and I asked for forgiveness. I believe in my heart that you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I declare that you, Jesus is Lord and ask for your direction as I follow your will and my life today and always amen. If you said that prayer with me, congratulations. Welcome to the family of God, and I am so excited to be your sister, and as we wrap up our series on unshakable confidence, I’d love to hear your feedback. Please let me know how we’re doing, and by submitting a review and leaving a comment as the series encouraged you, please encourage others by sharing it. I cannot wait to start our next series next month. Thank you so much for tuning in today, and I’ll see you in the next episode of the promises of God. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the promises of God podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling M
Episode 025: Confidence is Mediated by the Holy Spirit
This is the Promises of God Podcast, and I’m your host, Tracie Rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear and believe and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on PromisesOfGodPodcast.com. Now, let’s get started.
Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number 25 my name is Tracie Rollins, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in our lives. This month series is about confidence, and we’re working at of the momentum devotional offered by Bible journaling ministries titled Unshakable Confidence. You can learn more about Bible journaling with their free 10-day Bible journaling course at BibleJournalingMinistries.Com today we’re talking about the confidence that’s mediated by the Holy Spirit. And our verse is Ephesians Chapter 1:13-14 in it reads in him, you also have heard the word of the truth, the good news of your salvation in whom having also believed you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a pledge of our inheritance to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.
I love that verse. It is so normal to have doubts. And um, if you have doubts as to like what God has for you in your life if you’re struggling with maybe a calling that you have or even just doubting that even God exists, you’re not alone. Like having doubts is normal. In fact, during Jesus’s ministry, his disciples had, and we could read of one occurrence of Peter’s doubt in Matthew 14, and I will read that with you. To summarize it for you. I’m reading a little bit out of the NIV version, and this is the section where Jesus is walking on water. And um, I’ll start with chapter 14, verse 22 and it says immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd, after he dismissed them, he went up on the mountainside by himself to pray.
Later that night he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from the land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. And shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake, and when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It’s a ghost. They said, and they cried out fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, take courage. It is. I won’t be afraid, Lord, if it’s you. Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. Come. He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and he began to sink. Crying out, Lord, save me. Immediately. Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, you of little faith. He said, why did you doubt So you can see that those so close to Jesus Christ who was able to see the things that he had done, all the wonders, all the miracles still had doubts.
However, Peter redeems himself. I think if you read acts, acts chapter two after the Holy Spirit comes, Peter, I think does a great job here in actions chapter 2:14-18 when he received the Holy Spirit. Peter has confidence in the truth of God’s word. And he immediately spike speaks of Joel’s prophecy to the Jews and the residents of Jerusalem. He has this confidence in him. He is able to go out and talk and tell them, look, these people aren’t drunk. This is what is happening. This is the prophecy fulfilled. And he has so much confidence, and I believe that confidence is mediated by the Holy Spirit that, um, you can read about in an again, acts chapter two, all the leaders are sealed by the Holy Spirit who is a pledge of our inheritance. The Holy Spirit plays a pivotal role in our walk with God.
And according to Romans eight 27, the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the willow God. So as with Peter in Acts chapter two, the Holy Spirit gives us the confidence to trust in God’s word. But here’s the thing, to trust in God’s word means you have to know God’s word means you have to be in God’s word, lack of confidence or doubts regarding God’s promises. Yeah, they are a result of our sinful nature, the Holy Spirit. Absolutely can overcome our sinful nature, but it’s really not going to happen if we resist his work and we resist his work when we’re indulging in our sin and ignoring God’s word and being in the world, right So when we covet, you know, the latest and greatest car, when we work 80 hours for an amazing new purse, when we focus on our beauty and judge ourselves, and you know, compare ourselves to what other people have in terms of their worldly things or their worldly possessions or their beauty are things that we not have.
We are resisting God’s plan for us. God made us exactly who we are. You are exactly who you are. You have the talents, the skills, the ability. You have the beauty; you have the fit, you have the health, you have the finances, you have the location, you have the people, you have everything that God has put in your life right now for a reason. And if you look at it with lack, can you say, he hasn’t given me precisely what I need. I would encourage you to open up your eyes. And you know, I asked the Holy Spirit to guide you. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern, asked the Holy Spirit to point you in the right direction so that you can see the things that you can’t see because God has made you uniquely, you have confidence in him to do the things that he has for you because he has put you correctly in the position that you are in today for a reason.
Again, the Holy Spirit can only overcome our sinful nature. If we stop indulging in arson and ignoring God’s word, we must be in his word. We must be learning it. We must be hearing him speak to us through the Holy Spirit, and it’s only with the Holy Spirit that we can truly have the unshakable confidence that truly moves mountains. This week, take some time to write or journal about a time when the holy spirit filled you with confidence. How did you feel How did it feel to be able to press on Would that confidence? Were you like Peter, are you able to speak of things that you maybe had not so much faith before Feeling the Holy Spirit before hearing the Holy Spirit and for, for responding to him? If you’re here today and you feel like the Holy Spirit is not present in your life, that’s okay. You’re not alone. I encourage you to stop what you’re doing and ask Jesus to come into your life.
If you know the Holy Spirit, but you’ve been relying on yourself, and maybe if you strayed from the path and I invite you to come back. We all have strayed from the path, but our God is here. He loves us. He’s welcoming us, always back with open arms. You’re not promised tomorrow. Don’t put this off. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins and follow his will and your life and you will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. I certainly hope this episode encouraged you. I hope that you spend some time with the Holy Spirit this week and thank you so much for tuning in today. I will see you in the next episode of the promises of God. Goodbye.
Thanks for listening to the Promises of God Podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling M