Promises of God Podcast Archives - Bible Journaling Ministries

May 19, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

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 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.

May 12, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

Episode 024: Confidence Centers on Jesus Christ

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 24 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 month series is about confidence, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible drilling 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, confidence that’s centered on Jesus Christ. And our verse is Hebrews 7:22 and I’ll read this out of the world English Bible. It says, by so much Jesus has become the collateral of a better covenant. What does it mean to be the collateral of a better covenant There’s verse got me thinking about purchasing my first home. Lonnie and I were so excited to purchase our first home and then we didn’t quite understand the process that was required.

So when the loan officer asked us to list our assets, there weren’t too many to list. What we thought were assets, like our car. It was the liability because we didn’t, oh, we owed more on it than what it was worth. We were quite, um, into debt when we were young. The loan officer’s said that we could lift things like our wedding rings or jewelry or cameras, maybe computers and, uh, 401k accounts and the savings accounts that we had. We didn’t have a lot of these things. We are so trying to find things to list that would serve as some collateral. Of course, the house would serve as collateral, but they wanted us to see other things that we could use in case we couldn’t make the payment. It was our first house. We hadn’t had much success in terms of, you know, having multiple homes or a good x much progress in terms of having a long longitude city in our, um, credit history.

So it wasn’t like we could share with them that, that we had a lot of, you know, history of paying these things back. So we wanted us to list some things out. And it was interesting because just talking to him about the fact that I thought the cars should be collateral, I didn’t understand that they were so underwater, they couldn’t possibly be used as collateral and w they wouldn’t be a guarantee that the debt will be repaid. And that’s what collateral is. Collateral is a guarantee that the debt will be repaid. Now they could use my, you know, history of employment. They could use, you know, cash that maybe we had, which wasn’t a lie, I promise you very little. Back in those days, we didn’t know how to handle money when we were younger. And that was something that we learned as we got older.

But you know, I put down the wedding ring that Lonnie work so hard for maybe a couple of pieces of jewelry I had. I mean, I think why the time we came to the table with collateral for our house, it was a couple of grand. It wasn’t like a whole lot, uh, and it was just, it was just kind of funny. It was just, that was our guarantee that the debt would be repaid. But back then, it was all we had. And so we were, so, it was hard for us to say, here’s our collateral, here’s something that we could use to guarantee that the debt would be paid. And so we did end up getting the house, which is that great story. It was a beautiful first house. I wish I would’ve kept it. I think it; I probably could live in retirement into that house.

Uh, but no, we made some other financial mistakes along the way. And, and I guess I wouldn’t say those are mistakes. Those are fun opportunities to grow. Let’s call it what it is. So we talk about our homes and collateral, and you know, when we, when we talk about that home that I said, would it be great, right I thought it would be great to live on into retirement, but it is not my future home and your home that you’re in. Today’s not your next home, right or future homeless heaven. And the amazing thing about our future home is we don’t need this huge bank account, with collateral to secure it. Jesus is the collateral of a better covenant. He is the guarantee that you will inherit the kingdoms. You can read more about that in Hebrews 8:6-13.

There isn’t enough money or jewelry or precious stones that can guarantee your salvation. It is a gift for those who believe. So this week, take some time. I’m writing a journal about what it means that Jesus is the collateral of a better covenant. Think about collateral. Think about, you know, a better covenant. The New Testament. Is he your guarantee of a brighter future And if not, why not If you’re here today and you’re struggling with confidence that centers around Jesus, I encourage you to invite him into your life and receive the confidence that he only he can provide. Um, if you know the confidence that centers on Jesus, but maybe you’ve relied on your self confidence and straight from his path, just like I have many, many times, come back. He is here. He has open arms. He wants to receive you. You’re not promised tomorrow. So don’t put this off.

Romans six 23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the 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 about unshakable confidence this month. It’s such a great series, and I would encourage you to join us over at BibleJournalingMinistries.com as we have the momentum devotional available. You could be using that to follow along, and I’m looking forward to our next episode of the Promises of God Podcast, and I will talk to you soon. Goodbye.

May 5, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

Episode 023: Confidence Originates with God

Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number 23 my name is Tracie Rollins, and I want to thank you so much for spending some time with me today as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This one 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 BibleJournalinMnistries.com today we’re talking about the confidence that originates with God and our verse is Psalm 89:34 in our King James version. It reads my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Confidence originates with God. I have felt unqualified for many tasks that God’s placed in my life. As a young engineer, I didn’t feel qualified to make decisions for millions of dollars.

I was in this internship, it was a nine-month-long internship in another state was the first time I was away from my family, and my manager was, you know, used to go up and down the aisles, just yelling. That’s what he did. He loved to yell at people and, and it was a hard situation to be in, and I didn’t have confidence in my education. I didn’t have faith that I knew how to do my job as an engineer. I was right in the middle of college, just really had taken my undergraduate courses. I was planning on leaving engineering. I didn’t like it anyways, and I just thought, why am I doing this And God always puts us in funny situations so that we can learn and grow from them. Well he came up to me, my boss, and he gave me this blueprint, and he said, find the best place for this tool.

And when I say tool, I mean this big machine. And it took me about eight hours. I talked to people and, I try to find out, you know, I wanted to learn more about this tool, and I wanted to learn more about specific layouts and why it would be significant. So I would do things as I would go into the factory and when you go into the factory at the place I worked, you had to put on this, the suit that covered all of your clothes and your face. He didn’t breed on anybody and any of the equipment or any of the products. So I would be all gowned up and in the suit and I would talk to people about like, where do you think it should go and what are the best places for it And so after eight hours, I came back the next day, and I showed him my plan.

I said the best place for this tool is here. Um, here are my reasons. It’s great for this. It’s great for that. And he looked at me, and said, well, we’ve already changed our mind. It can’t even go over here. It has to go over here because, and he didn’t also tell me why, but I found out later it was because a bigger multimillion dollar machine was coming in and the only place it would fit was where I was planning to put this little machine. So within two minutes, all of the work that I had done over the last eight hours was gone. And did that build up my confidence? Absolutely not. Did I learn and grow from it and you know, pick up something else? And do you have success with another project? Absolutely. But you know, having confidence in myself was, was hard and I didn’t have confidence in myself because I was new and out of college.

I didn’t have any experience as an instructional designer, which is someone who creates curriculum. I was tasked cause I was actually brought into the marketing department. I’ve had many jobs over my life. I was brought into the marketing department to lead its content strategy. And basically what that meant was I needed to tell the marketers that had been there for years what they needed to publish when they required a publish. And you know how they needed to publish it was I had to come up with all of the strategies, and I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even have, you know, years of experience in marketing. I had a masters in business. But when you get a college degree with a Master’s in business, you take like two to three marketing courses, and they’re certainly not digital marketing courses. So you have to figure all that on your own.

So did I have confidence in my ability to execute on what my managers are expected of me. No, I didn’t have confidence in doing it. Trusted God, I would, I would do the next step. I would do, you know, pray for resources, you know, ask around, do some research and come up with a plan and hopefully the plan would be executed, and hopefully, we would do better than what we had planned. So my point in telling you all of these things is there so many times in my life that I felt unqualified for the task that God has put in my path and my self-confidence. If I relied on that self-confidence, right That would get me a little bit, you know, give me a little bit in terms of credibility with people around me and at least boosting up their confidence. I feel like when you have self-confidence, people around you, sometimes if they’re on your team, they feel like they also can have confidence or they feel more secure because you have all this confidence, right

But this confidence is confidence in yourself. It’s confidence that I had in myself in my ability to do the things that God has placed in front of me because of the things that I had done in the past or the experience that I had it done in the past. But I will tell you that I didn’t truly understand the confidence that originates with God until he gave me this ministry that I lead today as a marketer, engineer or teacher, whatever you want to call me. I’ve had so many jobs in my life, so many different careers. They’ve all been amazing and fun, but I didn’t feel like when God put me in this position that I had the knowledge, the skills, or even the ability to lead a ministry, I didn’t feel like he had picked the right person. And I certainly didn’t have a theology degree.

I never tended seminary. Um, I didn’t really even have, you know, the, I didn’t even know like enough about the Bible. I thought in order to share, in order to write, in order to do all the things that this ministry requires. But God had different plans and he always has different plans. And it’s so funny because although I didn’t have the confidence in myself, eventually after multiple, you know, multiple, multiple hours in prayer, I learned to have the confidence in him because a lot of the things that he had done in my past, he’s always shown up, right He’s always been around. But I don’t always give him the credit. And when it came to this ministry, I knew I couldn’t do it without him. I didn’t have anything, I didn’t have anything. I believe that was good enough to serve him in this way. So I took one step and as I started taking steps, I started realizing that choosing this path in this ministry meant that I would have to take some risks in my life. Uh, one of the things was I would have to close down my small business and risk not having enough money to make ends meet again.

But then I remembered Philippians 4:19 and I remember that he would always provide for my needs. And so after prayer and conversations with my family and a lot of trust, we launched Bible journaling ministries. And I will tell you that launching this ministry with my self-confidence and myself assurance would have, we would be, we would be gone by now, we would not have been here for, I think it’s been almost way over two and a half years now. We’ve been around, I had to launch this ministry, and I have to live every day with a next step with having confidence in him because he knows the plan, and he knows the way, and he knows what he needs, and he provides for me and he provides exactly what I need when I need it in order to do the things that he has put in my life and that’s what he does with us.

May 1, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

Episode 022: What is Confidence?

Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, episode number 22 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 month series is about having confidence, and we’re working on or the momentum devotional offered by Bible journey 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 today we’re answering the question, what is confidence In our verse is First Kings 8: 57 and I’ll read that out of the new international version. It says, may the Lord our God, be with us as he was with our ancestors. May He never leave us nor forsake us. God is always with you. He will never leave you. And if that’s the case, why is it so hard to walk into that meeting, take that test or speak at the podium with all of the confidence in the world

Perhaps because we as humans seek self-confidence instead of confidence in God, but what is faith anyway According to the dictionary Confidence is the feeling or belief that you can rely on someone or something. It’s real from a trust. I can remember back to when my littles were at the park and they wanted to climb the monkey bars, and they would get up on the top of the ladder to barely get their fingers wrapped around the first rung of the monkey bars. And they would look at me, and they would say, mom, mom, come over here and help me. Because they had that time, believed that they could rely on me and they did, and I didn’t let them fall. They trusted that they could do the monkey bars with me first, holding them eventually with me just by their side with my hands, kind of, you know, they’re ready in case they needed to fall.

And then eventually with me just watching and then without me. What happens when your confidence is shaken. What if you don’t believe you can do what it is that God is calling you to do As a follower of Jesus, confidence goes beyond self-assurance. It’s rooted in what God has done for you rather than what you have achieved. You don’t need to progress to the highest ranks in your career or have thousands of wins in your corner to have confidence you don’t need. That. Confidence can be achieved by knowing what God has done for you and focusing your efforts on the things that bring him glory. You don’t need to have an Mba or a very expensive college degree or even a college degree for that matter. What God has you to do in your life, he is preparing you for today and maybe you don’t have all of the resources that you think you need right away and therefore maybe you are not confident in progressing within that step.

I would encourage you to pray to God, ask him to reveal the resources that you’re supposed to use today. Ask him to give you his confidence that you can take that next step. It is so hard to take that first step. Just like my kids when they were on the monkey bars and just had their little fingers wrapped around that first small ring and they’re afraid, and it’s hard. What if I fall? And what was so funny as, as an adult, you look at like what if they do fall and you know, where my kids were playing in the monkey bars, there was always sand at the bottom or some kind of like soft, rubbery, you know, foundation. And if they weren’t going to fall, they probably, you know, maybe scrape their leg at most. And, but as a child and as a child that didn’t have, you know, confidence, um, relying on a parent nearby, you know, to have that confidence to take that next step to go to the next rung, right. That’s important for them. And then as they continue to practice and as you know, you know, parents keep showing up and, and helping them and, and they believe that parents will be there when they need them, then they can continue to grow and thrive — the same thing with us as adults. You know, as you have confidence in God and believe in him and he shows up in your life, you continue to have that same confidence in him.

Um, there, the verse itself for Today Is First, first kings eight 57. Again, it says, the Lord will never leave us nor forsake us. He’s like that parent that is right there ready for you when you’re on your monkey bars, right when you’re taking that step that you’re just not prepared to make this week. I hope that you will take some time to write or journal about what God has done for you in the past that helps you have confidence in him. And if you’re here today and you’re struggling with confidence in God, I encourage you to start a conversation with him. It’s effortless. You don’t need a special prayer. Um, if you know that confidence originates in God, but maybe even light on your self-confidence and strayed from his path, you know, you can come back. You’re not promised tomorrow. And I, you know, encourage you not to put 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 turned 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 want to thank you for tuning in today, and I’m excited to talk to you more about confidence in our next episode of the Promises of God Podcast. Thank you and have a great day. Bye.

April 28, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

Episode 021: God’s Grace is Ready When You Are

Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, episode number 21. My name is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This month series is about grace, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by Bible Journaling Ministries. It’s titled Saved by Grace, and you can learn more about Bible journaling with our free 10-day course set BibleJournalingMinistries.com. Today we’re wrapping up are saved by grace devotional with our last topic that God’s grace is ready when you are in our verse is Luke 15:32 and it says, but we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. This is from the parable of the lost son, and I’ll give you a little summary of it. I encourage you to read this section because I think it’s much better if you read it, but basically, there’s a man. He has two sons. The younger brother comes to dad and says, look, can I have my inheritance now And can you imagine that as a father to or even as a mother, let’s think about it as another. If your son came to you and says, Hey, I know I’m supposed to get half your, your life savings when you die, but you know, I want to have it now. So can I have it now I’m going to kind of check out and see later? And can you imagine that I mean, it would be kind of an insult today, but I’m confident it was a significant insult back then. So anyway, the man gives his son his inheritance in this kid, parties it all away and ends up starving.

He has no more money left. Um, he can’t even get you to know, the food that the pigs are eating. So he decides that he’s going to go home because dad has servants in the least servants can eat. So he figures he can go home and be a servant. So is coming back home and dad sees his son and is so excited that he’s home. He welcomes them with open arms, and he throws like the most significant celebration for him. He takes the fattest cow, and they have a party, and it’s just a fantastic thing. Is so excited that his son is home, but many of us would look at it and say, holy smokes, she spent all of your inheritance. She spent like half your appearance income, and now they’re going to come back and take care of you again.

You’re going to come back home. I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping once my kids fly the coop that they’re self-sufficient enough not to go home. Of course, you know, if they have a tough time, will come home, but they’ll be conditions. It’s not like they’re supposed to be self-sufficient men. That’s what I’m teaching them to be A. I don’t want them to live with me forever. I wanted to contribute to society, and I want them to do great things. I want them to do what God put them here on this earth to do, and I’m not giving them anything from my inheritance until I die, so I can’t imagine them coming to me now asking for half of it because I would tell him no, but here we’ve got this father that gives, gives, um, as inheritance away the kid squanders it comes back, and it has to live at home again. And he’s like, welcome him with open arms and so excited that he’s home. Isn’t that an Amazing example of grace? Well, I have that grace. I don’t know. I would hope to think that if my son were to squander all of my money away and needed to stay on my couch for a while, then I would walk them through it with grace. I would love to think that I would be that kind of person, but as I’m talking to you today, it’ll know that that’s the case because I look at this and I go, man, I’m not so sure I would have done that. I’m not so sure anymore. Even the son who had a brother that stayed with dad and was doing a lot of work and then he is like, oh, I can’t believe that you. You’re throwing a party for this guy.

So he kind of agrees with me in the whole parable is about Greece. So yeah, I have a lot to learn. As a Christian woman, I have a lot to learn about what it is to give grace and I think I’m pretty good at it, but man, I know I could do a lot better because I repairable these and I wonder could I do what this man did to his son I would hope that I could, but I can tell you today I’ve got a lot of growing to do and that is for sure. In fact, things like this will happen all the time, right There are friendships that are broken. There are marriages that are, that are broken, their families that are broken. There’s so much brokenness in our society. It happens all the time. In fact, I had a friend that had this husband and he was having a relationship with another woman and he was drinking and he was spending way more time playing video games and indulging in and eating out and entertainment and other things that were not family related.

He was doing this all on his own, and they couldn’t pay the bills anymore because he was spending all of his money on alcohol and dates with this other woman and he wasn’t spending time with his kids. He didn’t want to have anything to do with them. He was just living it up, and I couldn’t understand, but she stayed with him. When he was ready to come home, she was there. She did what I can’t fathom. I mean, how could anyone have that much gray. She had every right to leave. He was cheating on her, but she chose to stay, and she welcomed her last husband home, and the thing about it is this, God does this. Every time his child walks away. When you stray, he’s waiting. When he comes home, there’s a celebration. God doesn’t slam the door on you. His grace is overflowing, and he is ready to welcome you. When you’re ready to come home this week, take some time to think about what might be keeping you from coming home to God. Are you the lost sheep Is there something that you’ve done in your life that you’ve maybe squandered away or that is keeping you from, from a good relationship with God What is that Write it down and then take some time to think about what it is that’s holding you back.

Do you believe the parable of the lost son? Do you believe that God has the grace for you that this band had for his son? I sure hope that you do. God’s grace is amazing grace, and he is here, he’s ready when you are, so if today’s the day that you’re ready to receive salvation, I pray that you stopped this podcast right now and you pray to God, and you ask him into your heart, and you ask them to send the Holy Spirit in. You are transformed today. I pray that for you. If you know the love of God and you’re lost, and you feel like you can’t come home because you’ve done such horrible things, I pray that you’ll get down underneath, pray to him and ask for forgiveness today. He will accept you back. He loves you, and you’re not promised tomorrow, so don’t wait.

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 turned to him. Confess your sins and accept the love and the grace that it gives you every single day. God’s grace is like no other grace. It’s not matched by anything on earth. It’s not something that you earn. It’s not something that you can pay for. It is a free gift to his children and he loves you and wants to give it to you, and I hope that you will receive it today and feel the love of Christ Jesus that surpasses all understanding. Thank you so much for tuning in today and I’m excited about our next series, so I hope you will join us in the next episode of the promises of God. Goodbye.

April 21, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

Episode 020: Salvation by Grace

Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, episode number 20. 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 month series is about grace, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by BibleJournalingMinistries.com. It is titled Saved by Grace. You can learn more about Bible journaling with our free 10-day course at BibleJournalingMinistries.com. Today we’re talking about salvation by grace in our verses. Acts 15:10. It says, but we believed we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. Just as they are. Accepting Salvation as a gift isn’t always easy. It wasn’t easy for me for sure. When I first started on this path. My parents always taught me early on that nothing is free in this world and that everything has a price and to this day their lesson stays with me.

Every time I see a marketing message that reads free gift with purchase free gift when you attend a seminar, free vacation, if you call now, every gift require some purchase or sacrifice, some string attached. So when it came time for me to accept salvation as a gift, it took me a little bit longer. Some people can receive gifts very easily. They naturally are very trustworthy and they, they make them in, and everything’s excellent and right in. And that’s an amazing thing if you can do that. I just, I’m just not like that. I just wasn’t brought up to be like that. So when somebody comes up to me and says, you know, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I have to really think about that. My, I grew up with my grandmother who was a huge influence on me and I’ve always had Jesus in my heart.

So as this, as a young child, I never really doubted that Jesus was there. I just, sometime in my, as an adult, somebody asked me, you know, do you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior Do you want to be baptized And I, um, I knew I wanted to be baptized, but I just, I didn’t know it was a decision that I had to really think about it. It was so important to me too when I got baptized as an adult that I would, that I would honestly know what I was doing in truly accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. So it was a big deal for me. I had to do a lot of reading of the Bible. I talked to my parents about it. I talked to my friends about it, and it wasn’t as natural for me to accept the gift of salvation as it could be for others just as it isn’t natural for me to accept, get from anybody.

I don’t know. I like to get to know people who are trying to send me things. If they’re trying to send me something, I want to know why. Why would you like me to have that Is that appropriate for me Is it appropriate for my family Is it appropriate for the audience that you want me to share it with I know that I have. I went to a trade show the other day, and I was talking to a guy that was selling these unicorn cards, and they were adorable Unicorn guards the game in a kit, and I was just complimenting him on how tough it is and the crafting industry and help Ravey was for trying this new product. And he said, well, here’s some samples. And I said, oh no, I can’t take your samples from you because I know it’s expensive for you to produce these in my audiences.

Faith-based, these Unicorn cards don’t have any, anything. Faith-based on them. Like I would have to write something in there, I’d have to switch your card around, change it a little bit to make it more faith-based. And um, he said to me, absolutely you should do that. And he’s like, go ahead and do that. And you can do whatever you want with them. In fact, if you just want to give them away, give them away, and I thought that was really funny because I felt like in order to take the sample he was trying to give to me, I should do something with it, either give it away to somebody or do a video or something, but he was just trying to give me a samples, and I think that he was hoping that I would take them home and play with them and then and then tell the world how great they are, but I wouldn’t take them because I just don’t like to take things.

Number one that doesn’t apply to my life where my audience or my friends or my family. It just seems wrong to take things and maybe not wrong, but perhaps a waste of money or a waste of time or a waste of space. I’m not really sure. It’s kind of one of those things I probably should think more about, but I definitely hesitated to take the gift that he was trying to give me. So I talked to him a little bit more. Got To know him a little bit more and in the end we talked about how he might want to create some cards that are faith-based that he could sell and his kids and I and it was just a great conversation and after I got to know him a little better, it was a lot easier to receive his, the cards and of course I do a video for on them and gave the extra ones he gave away to me.

We gave them away and then everybody’s having fun with the giveaways. We do giveaways on youtube and facebook, and everybody loves the giveaways, and so it’s so fun to do them. It makes everyone happy and smiles. I like to do them, but I didn’t want to do a giveaway and give them away. I wanted others to be able to help him and in his journey as well. So it was just. I guess the point is this, that I’m trying to say is for some people salvation by grace is hard and it’s not as easy as it is for other people and that’s okay. If you are having a hard time accepting the self, salvation by grace and you need to pray about it, or you need to read more about the Bible, or you need to investigate more, you need to talk to people, do that. Do what you need to do. Once you understand who God is and who Jesus is, the salvation of great salvation by grace, your acceptance of that will come to a lot easier. If you have to do a little bit of digging, that’s okay, but if you’re the type of person that as soon as you hear about Jesus Christ and how great it is, you accept salvation by grace. You’ve received the Holy Spirit, and everything is excellent and rosy. That’s good too. Everybody is different.

The only thing in my life that I have genuinely ever received that had no strings attach his salvation by grace. Jesus purchased my salvation and years through the sacrifice that he did on the cross. He paid the price of our sins, and by His grace, we are saved. This is indeed a free gift. The only thing you’re required to do is accept the gift by faith, so this week, ask herself if you’ve truly accepted the free gift of salvation and if you haven’t asked yourself what’s holding you back and then take action to start working towards that acceptance of salvation by grace, so this week ask herself if you’ve truly accepted the free gift of salvation and if you haven’t asked yourself what’s holding you back and then take action to start figuring out what’s holding you back and start working towards that acceptance of salvation by grace.

And if you’re here today and you haven’t accepted the free gift of salvation, that’s okay. I’m asked God for inviting me into your life. Help him. Ask him to show you how to receive his love. Some of us are hard to accept love maybe we haven’t received loved in the past, and perhaps you’ve been rejected, and you’re hurt, and you don’t know how to receive it. That’s okay. Just pray to him. That’s a great way to do it. If you know God in your life, but you’ve strayed a bit, maybe you’ve been sending, and you feel like he can’t accept you, or he won’t allow you, or he won’t forgive you, that that’s okay to pray to him, ask him to take you back. I promise you he will. He loves his children and he and he will accept you again with open arms. That is for sure. 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 today and confess your sins, 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 see you in the next episode of the Promises of God. Goodbye.

April 14, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

Episode 019: The Gift of Grace

Welcome back to the promises of God podcast, episode number 19. 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 month series is about grace, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by a Bible Journaling Ministries, the devotionals titled Saved by Grace, and you can learn more about Bible journaling with our free 10-day course at BibleJournalingMinistries.com. Today we’re talking about the gift of grace. Our verse is Titus 3:4-7, and it reads, “but when the kindness of God, our savior in his love towards mankind, appeared not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior that being justified by His grace, we might be made errors according to the hope turned life.”

When my friend adopted her son, he was still reeling from the effects of the drugs that were left in his body. He had quite a few problems that continue to surface almost five years later, but all the hurt and all frustration that happened and and as a result of working with the many departments that she worked with as they were helping him kind of grow and battle a lot of the effects of the drugs had on his system. She never left his side. She is his mother even though it’s not by birth; it’s by adoption. She’s still there, and she’s always with him. She doesn’t treat him any differently. Even when he was her foster child, she still treated him precisely as a son, and after she adopted him, she treated him the same just as he was her son. She doesn’t treat him differently. She doesn’t treat him with more or less favorable than her daughter. He didn’t earn it by birthright, yet he is still air to her heart, into her home. Just as a daughter, she carried for nine months is you are adopted into the Kingdom of God because you’re justified by His grace. You can’t earn your salvation, and your works or deeds don’t save you. Salvation as a gift is a wonderful gift as a child of God, your heir to the earth, the world, and all of the things you were air to the planet. If you look at Matthew chapter five verse five, it says, blessed are the gentile, for they will inherit the earth. You’re an heir to the world. Romans 4:13 says, for the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he should be heir of the world, wasn’t through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

That is 1Corinthians 3:21-23 where it says, Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are your’s; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your’s And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. So if that’s the case, then why do Christians could do good deeds If we’re saved, can’t we just sit back and relax and not do anything, but what we want to do Well, patients chapter two verses eight through 10 says, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It’s the gift of God, not of works, that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, listened, listened there one more time. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared. Before that, we would walk in them doing good deeds and loving people in being a good person that isn’t natural. You can see it here. We’re created in Christ Jesus for good works. It’s not a salvation issue. It’s something that comes naturally out of the response of your love of Jesus Christ. If you love Jesus, if you love God, your natural reaction is to want to serve him, to do the works that he has prepared for you. It is not required that you must do all the right things you were to do. The works that God made. Have you ever thought that you needed to do good deeds to receive God’s grace? I know a lot of us to do. Sometimes I even wrestle with that as well. I have to always double check myself, but it’s good to go back to Ephesians 2 and read that verse again.

We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them. Now, does that mean that I have to do all the good works in the world? Absolutely not. This is the works that God has prepared for me. Those are the ones that want to do. I’m not going to do you what works, and you’re not getting in my works. Of course, I can help you, and you can help me, and that’s a great, beautiful thing because we’re sisters in Christ. That’s amazing, but you have a purpose in this world, and you have a path that God has put you on. So yeah, do the things that he has planned for you, but it is not for salvation because salvation is a gift.

I hope this week that as you kind of think of this whole topic of the gifts, the gift of grace, think about the deeds that you, you feel like you’re doing because you want to earn your way to heaven, like think about those. Write those downs right then those things that you think you’re trying to do to earn, earn your way to heaven, you know, and then read them in light of Ephesians to read them in light of the verses that we’ve talked about today, and consider receiving the gift of grace from God just out of love just because he loves you. Just receive it. You don’t have to earn that. He’s given it to you. Just receive it and then do those works because you love him back because you want to do something because you have so much joy in your life. You want to give to others.

Do it out of love but not out. I have to receive anything. I hope this week that you will embrace God’s amazing gift of grace and if you’re here today and you’re struggling with giving or getting grace, I encourage you to invite God into your life. Today I know the love of God in my life, and it is so amazing and has transformed me as a woman. If you know the love of God in your life but you straight away and he feels like he won’t forgive you or you can’t come back, I encourage you to get down on your knees and pray to him to ask you to forgive. Ask him to forgive you because he will come back. Come back home. He wants to welcome you into the family. You are. You’re his child. He wants you to be with him, and he wants to love you. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death. Sure we deserve 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’ll see you in the next episode of the Promises of God Podcasts. Goodbye.

April 7, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

Episode 018: Grace Transforms

Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, episode number 18. My name is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This month series is about grace, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by BibleJournalingMinistries.com in this one’s titled Saved by Grace. You can learn more about Bible journaling with our free 10-day course BibleJournalingMinistries.Com. Today we’re focusing on the grace that transforms our verse is Titus 2:11-13, and I’ll read that out of the world English Bible. It reads, for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, instructing us that to the intent that denying ungodliness and worldly lust. We would live soberly, righteously, and Godly in this present world, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Three years ago, if you would’ve asked me if I’d be writing devotionals every month doing this, doing a podcast, writing a blog, I really would have laughed at you. I was heavily focused on my marketing business at the time, and I had little time for anything else. I had clients that had to have work done. I had writing that had to be done, social media. I had meetings to attend, and I had just quit my job as a full-time marketer for a software company, so for years I had worked a full-time job and then worked a side Gig to build up my small business on the side until I would leave the corporate job and do my side gig, and I had just left that job and so now I felt like, okay, I didn’t have to work two jobs and now I could just have one job in life would be a little bit easier. Well, God had a different plan. The first time God brought Bible journaling to the forefront of my mind, I pushed it away. I did ignore it. I, I was like, um, yeah. Okay. So people are drawing in their bibles. It’s not interesting to me. I just, it was the way I approached it was pretty negative. I didn’t even give it more than I think two seconds worth of thought. I truly pushed it out of my head and out of the forefront of my mind. Sure. I knew how to journal in my Bible. I wrote in my Bible quite a bit. Um, I even doodled in it occasionally and especially in my dad’s Bible when I was little, and paint in it. No Way. I am not an artist. I didn’t take a lot of art classes. I’m not a theologian. I didn’t go to seminary school. I, I’m just not the person that God needs to do this Bible journaling thing and to teach others. Plus how can I keep the lights on my house without my business? I was going to go and venture into something I knew little about and didn’t feel confident in doing it, and I just sat for a little bit.

I remember one day getting out of bed. This was a few months after he had first laid it on my heart that I should consider doing this. I remember one day getting out of bed and just feeling compelled by the Holy Spirit to open up my Bible and Bible Journal, and I didn’t know anything about it, and there was hardly anything on the Internet to share with me that I could use, but I just opened up my bible and started reading it, and it was the very first time in my life that the words in the Bible began coming alive. They began speaking to my heart. I remember the verse. I remembered everything about that particular verse that I was writing, and then I remembered it later on, and I immediately called my husband at work, and he must’ve thought I was crazy, but I told him what I had done. I texted him a picture of it and told him how much it impacted me. Not only did I understand the Bible because I was able to slowly get into it, and take the time to, you know, engage with it creatively. Just a lot different than a Bible study, but I was able to enjoy it. I mean, usually, in the past studying the Bible has been work for me. I’ll be honest with you. It hasn’t been fun. Sometimes it’s been quite worrying, but this time with Bible journaling, I was excited. I loved it, and I couldn’t wait to do it again. This, this heart was just filled with joy and I knew that God wanted me to do more and so I kept waiting on him to instruct me a little bit further and he would give me things and then I would seek wise counsel from other people to make sure I was hearing things right and just work through the process.

But over time his grace will teach me to trust him. I mean, why was I so busy building my empire that I left his in disrepair Didn’t I already have what I needed What more did I want God wouldn’t allow me to push him away. He kept lingering in my heart until one day the Holy Spirit got to me and that the time that I was sharing with you when I woke up and immediately it was on my heart. I remember getting down on my knees and then that wasn’t good enough, so I laid down entirely on the floor just crying because I’m like, how could you possibly want me to do to teach people This is. I am a marketer. I’m an engineer. I’m not an apostle. I’m not an anyone that can share your word, and I had quite a few people come back and explain to me that I’m pretty sure that you have what he needs if he’s calling you, and he did. So ever since then, I’ve been working hard. I’ve gone to some classes. I’m getting a ministry certificate. I’ve done a ton of art classes. I consider myself quite an artist now. I’m actually an illustrator and I have a lot of fun with what I’m doing, but it would not have come without God’s grace.

So as you think about God and what he has for you, how has he transformed you You can tell from for me. He’s transformed me significantly. I know more about the Bible today. Then I knew a few years ago before I started Bible journaling ministries. I know more about art. I know I feel more at peace. I conserve more. I am exactly where he wants me to be, but I’ll tell you what, I’m not the woman I was a year ago. I’m not the woman I was a month ago. I’m not even the woman I was a day ago. Every day brings more challenges and new opportunities to learn and grow, and believe me, those challenges are not always easy. God’s unmerited favor is made possible by Jesus’s pure self-sacrifice, but God’s grace doesn’t just save us from sin. It teaches us and transforms us. If you’re here today and you are looking to transform your life for the better, I encourage you to invite God into your life right now.

If you know the love of God in your life, but you’ve strayed a bit and feel like you’re not growing and not being transformed, come back to God. You’re not promised tomorrow and life is so short. Don’t put it 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, follow his will, and receive that grace. You will feel the love of Christ that surpasses all understanding. Thank you so much for tuning in today. I’m excited to talk to you more about grace in the next episode of the Promises of God Podcast. Goodbye.

March 31, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

Episode 017: God’s Great Grace

Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, episode number 17. My name is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. This month series is about grace, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by BibleJournalingMinistries.Com titled Saved by Grace, and you can learn more about Bible journaling with our free 10-day Bible journaling course. Our focus for today is God’s great grace in our verse is Joel 2:13, and it reads out of the King James version and wrench your heart and not your garments in turn into the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and repented him of the evil. Our God is a gracious God. He’s not like our world. Well, there are people in this world that are great at giving grace. Oh, I love them, but it’s very rare to find someone like that. We do get some grace in this world, but it is not the same kind that God gives.

As we talk today about Grace and what it is and what it means and things in your life, think about a time that you made a mistake in your life. For me, I’ve made a lot of errors. I’m not going to lie. I am over 40 years old and those years are filled with many, many mistakes. I remember one time when I was young; I was probably 12 at the time, um, my parents decided that it would be movie time. We were going to go to the movies and for us going to the film was a big deal. We didn’t get to go often, It was costly, and our Funds were non-existent. And so when we got to do things like go to the movies, it was so exciting. And so my dad, I think I remember him coming into the room, and he was like, let’s see a movie. Would you like to go And immediately I said yes? And everything that was in my head, all plans, all appointments, all, anything that I had as a 12-year-old went out the door. Um, I forgot about everything I was supposed to do that day, so we hopped in the car, we went to the movies, and we had a great time. Um, I remember just being so happy seeing the film with my family. I remember getting in a car and driving home, and it was just a great day until I actually came home and the voice message machine back then we called it an answering machine. It was a square box set on my dad, and mom’s on the side of their bed. It was brown. It had a red, blinky light and if the red blinky light was blinking, that meant you had a message.

And so we arrived home, and my dad proceeded to listen to the messages as he always did. And the next thing I heard was Tracie, get over here. And you need to hear that message. I’m sure I do not do an excellent job of my dad’s voice. But as a 12-year-old, that is how I heard it. And so we played the message, and he sat next to me as he played the message and my face turned white. There was a woman on the other line live it upset, just completely mad because I had missed a babysitting appointment that I had booked. And as soon as I heard her voice, I remembered that I was supposed to babysit and I had felt just completely awful. And I don’t know; I don’t know. I don’t know as a 12-year-old how, how bad any 12-year-old could fill, but I was feeling really bad. And so my dad looked at me, and he said, you’re going to go over to her house now, and you’re going to apologize to her face. No telephone, no writing a letter. I had to walk over to her house literally, and she lived about a couple of blocks away. So I remember the walk to her home. It was not fast, It was slow, and I was regretting every single second of it. But I did what my dad told me to do. So I knocked on the door, and she answered, and she looked at me. And the look on her face was of discussed. I mean, she was so mad at me, I can’t even explain to you how crazy this woman was, and she proceeded before I could get out a word to let me have it. Everything that you could think of, any one person would tell a young 12-year-old, even though maybe you wouldn’t tell 12-year-old debt.

But she, she handed it to me. She served it up. And um, yeah, I, um, said that I was sorry. And I apologized and offered to babysit her kids for free. And she said she wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t trust me again. It would never happen again. She had to hire her sister. They had these expensive tickets to the play, and now she had to get her sister to come over to watch him. And I could forget about ever watching her kids again. And she immediately slammed the door in my face. And that was hard. I think I was crying. I’m confident. I was crying at the time. I remember sulking my head down and walking back home crying, and as I walked past that, we used to have these mailboxes where we would retrieve our males. I saw my flyer on there with my phone number so that people could call me for babysitting. And I remember staring at that flier and feeling this massive disappointment in myself. I was distraught that I had forgotten this appointment and felt kind of unworthy of babysitting. Again. I think that’s pretty much the feeling that I had, and it was just a tough time. I believe what she did to me, uh, was deserved. I think that you know, I, I definitely should have kept my appointment. Could the delivery have been a little bit different Probably, but I got what I deserved. I made a commitment for God. It caused her all kinds of problems, he would not hire me ever again, and I got what I deserved. I would have to say I honestly did get what I deserved, but in thinking about that moment, I am so thankful that God does not give me what I deserve.

He does not give us what we deserve. When we cry out, we repent. We turn to him. He welcomes us home; we pray to him, we say, sorry, we turned around. We make the same mistake again. We say sorry, and we keep trying and trying and trying, and he always welcomes us back home with open arms. I can’t tell you just how awesome it is to have a god like that. So this week I hope that you will take some time to write in your journal. I mean, how do you feel about God’s grace and maybe you can share a time when you didn’t receive grace from others or maybe you have met someone in your life that just is amazing at giving grace and and maybe you have a great example of when you ask for grace and she gave it to you or he gave it to you just as you would pitch your God to give it to you like how awesome is that To have somebody in your life that does that How does it feel knowing that God provides grace even when we don’t deserve it To me, it’s amazing. Grace. If you’re here today and you’re struggling with either giving or receiving grace, maybe you’ve never experienced grace in your life. Perhaps nobody has ever given you the grace that you don’t deserve. Maybe you’ve been mistreated or unloved, or you’re hurting because you just never have had or had the opportunity or don’t have it regularly in your life. When you make a mistake in the world comes down on you. When you make a mistake, maybe you come down on you. Well, I pray that you would invite God into your life today because I feel like if you knew the God that I serve, that you would feel so much joy and peace in your life and you would understand what I’m saying when he provides the grace that no others can give.

If you do know God in his love in your life, but maybe you strayed, perhaps you’ve just life has gotten busy and you’re, you know, having a hard time, and perhaps you’re just having a great time and have forgotten about God. I would encourage you to come back to him. You’re not promised tomorrow and life is so short. Don’t put it 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. Thank you so much for tuning in today, and I can’t wait to see you on the next episode of the Promises of God. Goodbye.

March 24, 2019 by Tracie Rollins

Episode 016: Choose Hope

Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, episode number 16. 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 month series is about choosing hope in both the good times and the bad, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by BibleJournalingMinistries.Com, where you can learn more about Bible journaling with our free 10-day Bible journaling course. Today we’re talking about choosing hope. Our verse is Hebrews Chapter 10:23, which I’ll read from the new living translation. It says, let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Hope is a choice. Sure, there are days when I don’t have confidence. Absolutely. I’ve been trying for over a year maybe. Yeah, close to two years probably now to get my church to consider holding a Bible journaling class.

I have met with the coordinator on the campus. I’ve sent emails, I met with the pastor, and we talked about it. He seemed encouraged about it and was know, said he tells his wife and you know, pipe it up the line and that was awesome. I got to meet with the Women’s Bible study director, and she responded with me for a little bit and gave me the opportunity to tell her more about it and she-she needs to go, you know, to talk to other people about it. But so far after the wasted effort, I have heard nothing but crickets. I have all but given up hope, and yeah, it is hard and frustrating, but that is why it’s so important to pray and be in the word because it’s versus the ones we have today that say don’t waver, have to hope and I have hope. If God truly wants me to share the message with my local church, then I have to be here still. I can’t give up. I have two weights in the pause of this time. It’s possible that the church isn’t ready for it. A lot of churches aren’t prepared for Bible journaling. A lot of it’s new, and so the data isn’t there and to, to, you know, be able to say comprehensively, you know, so many millions of people have, have, you know, discovered the word in it helps them better with their study. I mean I have, I have data that shows that I present that data whenever I’m talking to people about hosting Bible journaling. I have a lot of data that says it’s fantastic and helps people grow in the word and have joy and peace and it encourages them to open up their bibles are so many benefits, and I have all that data, but it could be that the church is not ready.

It could also be that they have procedures that are in place, wouldn’t. That’s pretty likely that they have to go through in that, you know, it takes time for them to prioritize it and put it on the agenda for them all to talk about it. It could also be that I’m not the person they want to deliver that right now or ever. That’s okay too, and hopefully, they find the right person to do that. If that’s what they decide and another thing to consider is that it just might not be the right time for me to do it. It could be that God has me on pause because he has something else for me in my life, like number one, recovering from this knee replacement surgery. Right Or perhaps he has something else better for me or maybe not better but different for me. Perhaps he has a path that I haven’t considered. It’s possible that I’m supposed to do Bible journaling classes, not just at my local church, but maybe he wants me to travel or wants me to speak in different places. I’ve had many opportunities when I was in marketing to speak to large audiences, so it’s possible that you know, this could be a pause in that I’m a shift in direction potentially. I don’t know what God’s plan is, but I do have hope, and I know that he has put this on my heart, and he’s put me on this path, and I will continue to pray until he eliminates the way. There are so many instances in the Bible where God fulfills his promises. Joshua 12:45 reads, not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed. Every one was fulfilled.

The evidence throughout history is that God keeps his promises, so why do I occasionally had the feeling that God won’t keep his promises Some days I feel that his hopes in scripture are spoken over my life don’t pertain to me. Sometimes I feel like I’m not good enough or talented enough to pay attention to, but then I remember. This is precisely what Satan wants me to feel. The truth is as that though I’m not worthy, Jesus is through his blood. I am washed of my sins, and so are you. God’s promises are for me, and they are for you. He always keeps his promises. You can count on it. He may not provide them on your schedule or even in the way you think that he should provide them.

Like I was saying, I thought that I should be in my church right now doing Bible journaling and they should ask me to do it right. That’s just so silly when you think about it that way. It’s just so. It’s funny that I sometimes feel like God should do what I want him to do, but I promise you, even though God may not provide his promises on your schedule, he definitely will keep to his schedule. It’s up to you to make the right decision. Are you going to believe in Satan’s lie or are you going to choose hope Hoping in God is a choice that you can make right now? I encourage you to invite God into your life right now. You can press pause on this podcast, and you know right now, get on your knees and pray to God.

Asked him to fill you with the Holy Spirit. Ask him to be a part of your life and change you. You can. You can do that right now. If you know God and maybe you’ve strayed a little bit, that’s okay to press pause on the podcast and give your life back to him. It’s okay. You know you’re not promised tomorrow. Don’t put this off. Life is too short. 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 so excited that we wrapped up our series on hope and I cannot wait to see you in the next episode of the Promises of God Podcasts. Goodbye.