Have you ever considered the fact that maybe instead of changing the world around you, God wants to transform the heart within you?

Maybe that one thing you fear is designed to keep you grounded and focused on Christ. Maybe it’s there to show you the life-changing power of faith, and to strengthen the spirit within you.

As we go through the fire of testing and trials, we discover that although affliction is tough, it can also be freeing, as we are loosed from the things that once bound us.

When we stand firm in faith we overcome the enemy, we rise above tribulation, and we conquer our fear.

Are you ready to find your courage and conquer your fear? Pick up a copy of “Slaying Giants” today. Available now at: Amazon.com

For more information on this upcoming study (coming January 3rd) and a peek inside the book, click here to go to the original post.

P.S. I am going to be away from the blog for most of the month of December, but I may pop in here and there as time permits. I pray that you have a wonderful season leading up to Christmas and New Year, and may “The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.”

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Reading through the book of Judges, we start to notice a pattern–every time the Israelites turn away from the Lord, they’re chastened by Him.

I noticed the word “prove” appearing again and again, as God was testing their faith. Curious to see exactly what it said in the Hebrew text, I discovered that this word “nacah” is connected to the sense of smell.

It’s like sniffing your milk to see if it’s fresh or sniffing your kids laundry to see if it’s clean. God was testing their faith, searching for that sweet aroma of a surrendered life. And each time He did they drew closer to Him.

It’s almost bizarre really, to see how many times the Israelites went back and forth. One day they’re crying out to the Lord, and the next they’re serving false Gods.

It all sounds quite ridiculous, and yet, we’re not all that different from them. Their god’s had names like Baal, Ashtareth, and Dagon, our god’s have more familiar names like power and money and sex. Some of us spend our entire lives looking for it, when all that we really need is God.

Remember the night that Jacob wrestled with God? (Genesis 32) And, remember how he wouldn’t give up until God gave him a blessing? This is the kind of persistence that God is calling us to through the trying of our faith.

In his book Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters, Timothy Keller writes,

The blessing through the Spirit that is ours through Christ, is what Jacob received, and it is the only remedy against idolatry. Only that blessing makes idols unnecessary. As with Jacob, we usually discover this only after a life of “looking for blessings in all the wrong places.” It often takes an experience of crippling weakness for us to finally discover it. That is why so many of the most God-blessed people limp as they dance for joy.

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Tilling the Soil

Read Judges Chapter 3. As you see the Israelites waver back and forth, notice how God chastens them to draw them back again.

Planting Hope

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. (Hebrews 12:4-6, KJV)

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Celebrate Christmas God’s Way…

Ma and Pa Mouse don’t have a lot of money to spend this Christmas, but they have something extra special that money can’t buy!

What is it? Let’s find out together, as we step inside their wee little house this Christmas.

Celebrate Christmas by Living God’s Way is a delightful book that teaches children to love and to give to others. It points out that the best gifts are the ones that come from the heart. When we care and share with those in need we celebrate Christmas by living God’s way.

Pick up a copy today at Amazon.com (affil link).

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