Once we start walking with Jesus, life will get tougher before it gets easier. I know you know this, but a friendly reminder from a friend of mine is in order, “You take a stand to go forward, the enemy will take a stand to get you to stop.”
Here is a another friendly reminder from a friend of yours, Jesus, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them (Satan’s antichrists), because the One who is in your is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) We have a power source that overcomes this resistance, if we stay plugged into it.
Choices are simple. Choosing them is hard. Yet, you have the power living inside you to make them. Keep going forward, even through failure, toward Jesus.
Set Free Now“W”w

The Psalmist writes, “Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” Do you and I really want to be where Jesus is more than anywhere else in the world?
I know what you might be thinking. “I can’t wait to get to heaven.” This is not what the Psalmist meant in this passage. He’s referring to the Temple courts, which were on earth. This Temple housed the Living God, Who now resides inside Jesus believers.
We are in His presence, though heavily veiled, at the moment. It’s our thoughts, our emotions, and/or our actions that take us away from His presence. Sin separates. This is why James writes, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (4:8)
We can, in the Spirit’s power, choose to filter out those thoughts, emotions and/or actions to draw closer to where all the good stuff we’re looking for in life – His presence. Use the FREEdom process to hang out in those courts. You really don’t want to be anywhere else.
Set “FREE” Nowww

A friend of mind said something quite interesting today. She was talking about the fruit trees in her backyard. She has a variety of trees, many of which I had no clue about what they were, which produce fruit at different times of the year. She simply eats each fruit in its own season.
Think on that for a moment. Each is watered, pruned and fertilized to produce more fruit. Yet, they do not all ripen at the same time.
What a picture of the believers walk with Jesus. By faith we plant seeds of truth into our head and heart. We keep watering those thoughts by thinking and acting on them, also by faith.
Yet, character change, bearing fruit, comes at different times. Stop stressing about what isn’t happening in your life and enjoy the fruit of what is. Keep tasting that the Lord is good while He continues to change you from the inside out – one tree at a time.
“S”et Free Nowww

One of the big differences between King Saul and King David was that when David messed up, he got up to start walking with his God again.
Paul tells us in Philippians 4:9 to practice what we hear in Scripture. Practice is where mistakes are supposed to be made, learned from and then hopefully never repeated; thus, during the game we can be victorious. As believers in Jesus, our goal is to never fall/sin. Yet if we do, we have two choices: stay down or get up. Simple. Yet hard.
Yeah, you messed up. You can either focus on it and the further pain it causes through playing the “beat-me up” game. Or, you can focus on Jesus, look into His loving eyes, give Him the beat me stick, and then take His hand up to start walking again.
You only have now, not the last moment with its mistake and certainly not tomorrow. Choose this moment to restart walking with Jesus. I’ll tell you from experience. It feels much better!
Set Free “N”owww

I saw a gentleman walking toward me the other day waving his hands. The closer I got, I could hear him calling out to something while cussing up a storm. I glanced over my shoulder to see what was behind me but couldn’t see anything. I had a quizzical look on my face as I kept walking while hoping he wasn’t talking to me.
Then I saw what that something was – his dog. He was yelling at the dog to come; and yet, the dog wasn’t moving. At the time the two were reunited, I sure was glad I wasn’t his dog. You should have seen the look on its face. It was like, “Can you rescue me?!”
Even when we stray from and hurt Jesus, our shepherd, He doesn’t treat us like this guy did his dog. You’ve got to understand something: Your view of Jesus shapes whether you will follow Him or not.
Jesus valued you enough to come to this planet. He wanted a relationship with you so bad that He died to make it happen. He believes in you so much that He calls you friend and family. Jesus is asking you to trust Him enough to follow where He leads, even when that goes against every fiber of your being.
So let me ask, “What’s in your eyes when you see Jesus?” Keep exercising the truths He gives you about Himself from Scripture. You’ll discover He’s worth trusting with every cell, not just the fibers, in your body.
S“E”t Fre“E” Nowww