The parent’s of Rachel Scott, a 17 year-old martyr for Christ, wrote that Rachel “knew she had failed to be faithful to God, but she did not get frustrated and give up; her flaws helped her remain humble before God and dependent on Him for her sense of balance and satisfaction.”
The pain of failure didn’t cause her to spiral downward, but to become even more dependent on Jesus than before she fell. Pain led to growth.
Recently, I was experiencing headaches and stomach discomfort. I thought it was residual effects from a recent concussion sustained from a surfing accident. Yet, the Lord showed me both were a result of sin in my life. I had forgotten a prior life lesson from the Lord: Jesus doesn’t need me to do anything for Him. He simply wants me to do everything with Him.
I was taking my schedule back again. I was focusing on getting things done rather than the One I was supposed to be doing them with, Jesus, which resulted in stress related headaches and stomach discomfort. If I hadn’t felt both, I wouldn’t have known what I was doing.
Don’t run from your pain (don’t seek it either!), use it to draw closer to Jesus. You fail, but you’re not a failure. You’re an awesome masterpiece of God (Eph. 2:10)!
“S”et Free Nowww

Josiah was the last good king Israel/Judah had. In 2 Kings 22-23 Josiah starts reading God’s Word. As he did, he discovered why his northern brethren had been kicked out of the land – all the garbage they had allowed into their lives.
This caused Josiah to get busy. He started by cleaning “the temple of the LORD of all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven.” The Bible sanitizes what was going on here, but it was really gross. He then went on to clean up the entire land, both Israel and Judah.
It’s true that Western societies no longer live with a Judeo-Christian worldview. We can lament this fact all we want or we can do something about it; and it won’t be through the ballot box either! Real societal change will start where it did in Josiah’s day with the Temple where God lived.
Want to change the world? It’s time for a little Spring cleaning in our own lives. Want to see revival in the Church? It starts with removing the garbage in our Temples, our hearts and minds.
Psalm 107 repeats the following four times, “Thank the LORD for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man!” Our God loves us and wants to be actively involved with our lives, right now, today. He desires to change us so others will see His love and want to experience it for themselves as well.
It’s time to be in and with the Word of God, Jesus. While reading and listening to Him, allow Him to point out and remove the garbage hidden in your heart and mind. Not only, will your life be changed for the better, but who knows, we might even see a revival in the church that could spark a fire of change that could spread over the entire planet.
Set Free Now“W”w

I was having my Jesus walk-talk in the middle of an aspen and pine tree filled forest (so there were houses in the middle of it!) with a roaring stream racing down the side of the road with beautiful views of the snow-covered Rocky Mountains when it hit me.
It’s not about how far, fast or what I do on my journey, but who I travel it with. A lot of my stress, thus temptation to take my drugs of choice, comes from being so focused on where Jesus wants me to be and what He wants me to do, all good things, that I miss the point of the journey in the first place…hanging out in His presence.
The Father sent Jesus to this earth to not only pave the way to live in His presence, where true satisfaction and fulfillment are found (Ps. 107:1,9), but to show us how to stay there as well. Jesus is my holiness. He makes me perfect/like Him. Jesus is my righteousness, the ability to do whatever He asks. And, He is my redemption, meaning only He can turn my failures into victory as I try to listen to and follow Him (1 Cor. 1:30).
Who are you choosing to walk this journey called life with? The life you were meant to live is about being with and hanging out with Jesus today, tomorrow and on into eternity. Anyone or anything else leaves you susceptible to your drug of choice, which only leaves you stressed, empty and exhausted. Don’t miss the opportunity to be in His presence today. It sure makes life’s journey much more enjoyable.
Set FREE Nowww

Most of those who’ve been martyred for their belief in Jesus have been ordinary people like you and me. Rachel Scott was such a person. You can read her story in her parent’s book called Rachel’s Tears. I’d like to challenge us with a couple of its entries.
Rachel “was aware of how often she failed to be faithful to God, but she did not get frustrated and give up; her flaws helped her remain humble before God and dependent on Him for her sense of balance and satisfaction.”
She also knew that her security came from “understanding what it means to be in Christ, and significance comes from understanding that the Christian walk is not me being somebody. It’s not me being famous. It’s not me being great. It’s Jesus being Himself in me.”
We all make mistakes…throughout our day, let alone our lives. Will it make us more dependent on ourselves to overcome them or on Jesus living in and through us? Because of what Jesus did for and in us, we are a secure children of God. Will we allow our minds to dwell on our inadequacies or Jesus’ sufficiency?
The moment we put our faith in Jesus life, ceased to be about us and about Him. Rachel was just an everyday girl with everyday struggles like the rest of us. Yet this teenage young woman chose to draw closer to her Jesus; and, is in fact today touching millions of lives for Jesus because of it.
Let’s choose to be Jesus centered rather than, well, the opposite isn’t worth mentioning.
“S”et Free Nowww

I don’t know about you, but I’ve often asked myself, “Lord, why can’t I trust You even though You’ve never hurt me?”
The question is easily answered. I trust myself more than I trust Him. Self-preservation is a strong motivator. Self-protection, especially when people have let me down, even Christians, is a tremendous barrier to overcome. Yet if I’m honest with myself, self or “I” really isn’t worth protecting or preserving.
By taking my drug of choice, I end up hurting myself and in some cases others as well. With that in mind, you’d think it would be easy to follow Jesus; yet it’s not. The battle between choosing Jesus or me is huge. In fact, the language of 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 is that I must declare war on the part of my own mind that wants to lift me up (NIV “pretensions” or KJV “every high thing”)!
I must choose to declare war on myself through exercising the truth by faith or making what’s called contrary choices, meaning I must choose to go against my thinking and my feelings and choose to trust Jesus instead. It sounds easy to read, but it’s very hard to practice. Trusting someone other than myself always is.
Set Fre“E” Nowww