by Lucy | Dec 12, 2017 | biblical counseling, biblical counseling, emotions, relationships |
Lots of Christian women think to get God’s favor they must be good. You know, follow the Ten Commandments, read the Bible and pray daily, attend church weekly, and do nice things like feed the homeless.
The truth: Every genuine Christian has God’s favor now. You need not “get” it because you’ve “got” it. The word favor nearly synonymous with blessing?
Ephesians 1:3 says this:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
Did you catch the phrase “every spiritual blessing”? If you have every spiritual blessing now, can you get more?
Choose to Believe God
The way, then, to receive God’s favor — his blessing! — is simple and profound: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31)
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. What do you need to believe? If you are not a Christian you need to believe you need help. Self-effort isn’t enough. Relying on a self-improvement book keeps you chained to a hamster wheel, running and running and going nowhere.
Instead, trust that Christ has done for you what you are cannot do: live a perfectly holy life.
If you are a Christian who has lost her way, then I invite you to read, even memorize, a biblical truth we at Biblical Counseling Center have framed in our offices and typed on our counseling materials:
Faith is believing the Word of God
and acting upon it,
no matter how I feel,
knowing God promises a good result.
Often the women, couples and families I counsel are Christians but are thinking and acting like unbelievers.
Many have let the world’s belief systems infiltrate their thinking, beliefs and motivations. They’re hurting and want relief. God gives them something better: peace and contentment in Christ in all circumstances. Here are two pictures of women who believed.
Rahab the Harlot and Favor
A prostitute in Jericho hid spies under flax on rooftop. Brave, this woman, this harlot. Brave, this believer in the one true God. A scarlet cord danging from her window attested to her belief and saved her life and the lives of her family when the Jericho walls fell in.
Do you think God can love sex-tainted women? Or women with a past, whatever the past? Perhaps abortion, adultery, promiscuity or pornography?
Isn’t it wonderful that God is bigger than the mistakes you’ve made?
The Rejected Samaritan Woman and Favor
Many times married and living with a guy, this woman was an outcast among outcasts. Fetching water midday, scorching sun high, she met Jesus at Jacob’s well and became an evangelist. This Jesus, he spoke truth, he showed compassion, and she was changed. A new creation, embraced by God Most High. She told the townsfolk who had shunned her.
Do you know the sting of disappointment and rejection? Remember middle school? The insecurity?
When you believe Jesus, you experience peace and contentment now. Sure, you still make bad choices and bad things happen will upend you. Yet you and I can rest in knowing God loves you . . .
more than wildflowers
and sparrows
even angels
because He Is Love.
COUNSELING HOPE: I encourage you to contact me and we can chat briefly by phone or email and see how biblical counseling might help you and give you hope. Stop by my counseling page for answers to questions you may have.
Counseling Hope to Your Heart,
by Lucy | Jun 16, 2016 | biblical counseling |
Jesus is in every book of the Bible! Take this music journey through the 66 books of the Bible and discover who Jesus is.
Here’s the link to the song. If you don’t have time to listen, drink in the lyrics below. Your heart will fill with the beauty of Jesus in you, for He Is!
“He Is” by Aaron Jeoffrey
In Genesis, He’s the breath of life
In Exodus, the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He’s our High Priest
Numbers, The fire by night
Deuteronomy, He’s Moses’ voice
In Joshua, He is salvation’s choice
Judges, law giver
In Ruth, the kinsmen-redeemer
First and second Samuel, our trusted prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He’s sovereign
Ezra, true and faithful scribe
Nehemiah, He’s the rebuilder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He’s Mordecai’s courage
In Job, the timeless redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song
In Proverbs, wisdom’s cry
Ecclesiastes, the time and season
In the Song of Solomon, He is the lover’s dream
He is, He is, HE IS!
In Isaiah, He’s Prince of Peace
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
In Lamentations, the cry for Israel
Ezekiel, He’s the call from sin
In Daniel, the stranger in the fire
In Hosea, He is forever faithful
In Joel, He’s the Spirits power
In Amos, the arms that carry us
In Obadiah, He’s the Lord our Savior
In Jonah, He’s the great missionary
In Micah, the promise of peace
In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He’s pleading for revival
In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage
In Zechariah, our fountain
In Malachi, He is the son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings
He is, He is, HE IS!
In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, He is God, Man, Messiah
In the book of Acts, He is fire from heaven
In Romans, He’s the grace of God
In Corinthians, the power of love
In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin
Ephesians, our glorious treasure
Philippians, the servants heart
In Colossians, He’s the Godhead Trinity
Thessalonians, our coming King
In Timothy, Titus, Philemon He’s our mediator and our faithful Pastor
In Hebrews, the everlasting covenant
In James, the one who heals the sick.
In First and Second Peter, he is our Shepherd
In John and in Jude, He is the lover coming for His bride
In the Revelation, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords
He is, He is, HE IS!
The prince of peace
The Son of man
The Lamb of God
The great I AM
He’s the alpha and omega
Our God and our Savior
He is Jesus Christ the Lord
and when time is no more
He is, HE IS!
If you haven’t yet subscribed to this blog, please do. Dare to belief the truth that in Jesus you have everything you need.
Believes God is who He says He is!
Sharing hope with your heart,
by Lucy | Apr 27, 2016 | biblical counseling, emotions, identity in Christ |
Performance-living is a mindset that says what you do determines your value.
It is a lie.
This lie tempts you to save yourself as you give in to its demands. Do you feel weary? Burdened? Exhausted? Then you may have a bad case of performance-living.
And it’s very demanding, a taskmaster, demanding that you get your own straw to make bricks and meet the quota (Exodus 5:6-9). Push, push, hurry, hurry — and look good as you try performance-living.
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It has at least three traps.
1. Performance-living: Achieve!
Performance-living ties your achievement to your value as a person. The more you achieve, the greater your value. What about people who aren’t smart like Steve Jobs? Do they have less value because they aren’t “Person of the Year”? The psalmist says,
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18, NIV
2. Performance-living: Beautify!
It links your looks to your value. The lie is only the young and beautiful matter. Haven’t you used makeup to cover a blemish? Or perhaps Root Rescue to hide gray? Or gone on a diet or exercised to lose weight and tone up?
Believing beauty determines your worth is a treadmill of anxiety and it’s exhausting.
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The apostle Peter writes,
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:3-4
Beauty is a gentle and quiet spirit. Not liposuction!
3. Performance-living: Be Perfect!
Want anxiety? Derive your value from perfection: well-behaved kids, a gorgeous home, a fulfilling career, and. . .lead a small group, keep a prayer journal faithfully, and read the Bible in a year, every year.
This is what God wants, right? Perfection? Doesn’t Jesus say, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48)? Here Jesus means growth into maturity of godliness. He doesn’t mean super-woman performance-living.
When you “succeed,” performance-living becomes pride.
When you “fail,” performance-living turns into anger, fear, and depression, resulting in all kinds of untoward behavior unbecoming of a Christian woman. Your thoughts morph into ugliness too.
Gospel-Centered Solution
Exchange performance-living for grace-living. Grace-living is believing and acting on the truth of the good news that God loves you and values you.
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Your value isn’t dependent on what you do. God determines your value, and aren’t you more precious to him than a sparrow?
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31
The gospel isn’t something you do. Grace is a gift of God. There is no score card. No boxes to check. No to-do lists.
Your value is anchored in Christ’s accomplishment, not yours. Refreshing, isn’t it?
Counseling hearts to hope,
by Lucy | Jan 24, 2012 | biblical counseling |
Every woman desires to feel beautiful. . .loved. . .valued. . .chosen. God chooses YOU even though the world may reject you. Believe God. He is your Victory.
God has the right woman. You.
Every woman desires to feel beautiful. . .loved. . .valued. . .chosen.
Chosen.
A luscious little word, this chosen. God chooses YOU.
“For He chose us in him before the creation of the world.” Ephesians 1:4a
What About Them?
But. . .
years and years ago on a playground faraway, smart-aleck girls may have chosen you or your best friend last (or next to last) for a team, girls smirking, whispers reaching your ears. “She can’t play. Have you seen how slow she runs?”
But. . .
a month or so ago, when you put in another job application, wishing praying wishing praying for a chance–just one chance–to interview for a position,
silence. No email. No phone call. Zilch.
So Who’s Right?
Are you chosen as God says you are?
Or is there a cauliflower wart hanging from your nose, scaring off every potential friend, colleague, and Welcome Wagon? In other words, are you a reject?
Here’s the Capital T truth.
You are who God says you are: chosen. You can take that to the heavenly vault.
When you recognize the truth that Jesus has chosen YOU, just as you are, your jeans size doesn’t matter. Or the number of contacts in your cell phone. Or your ability to cook a la Rachel Ray. Or put on perfect eyeliner. Or kick like a karate chick.
Yeah, like me. My black belt doesn’t matter. The fact I suffer panic attacks doesn’t matter. You heard right. A black-belted panic attack sufferer. I know. . .weird.
What Matters Most
What matters is what God says about himself and about you, and about his plan and purpose for you, dearly chosen one. 🙂
Repeat after me (now and every day this week): I am chosen.
Question: Will you share an insight on being chosen or rejected? Leave a comment, please. Thank you.
With Joy Overflowing,
by Lucy | Jul 15, 2011 | biblical counseling, emotions
Believing in the risen Christ is radical and powerful. So powerful it puts meaning into life. Your life.
What empowers the life of a Christian?
The risen Christ does.
Believing in the risen Christ is radical. Yep, radical.
A guy bops back to life, hangs with his buddies, broils fish on the beach for breakfast, and believes he is who he says he is: the Way, the Truth, the Life.
What guts! What glory!
What a gamble.
A gamble? To believe God is who he says he is means that you are who God says you are. . .and most of us women have trouble accepting that we are beautiful and blessed now. Tough to believe, but
true
true
true.
Our Lord is the King of Kings. He has conquered death. Past tense! And yet. . .our enemy wants you to think Jesus is still in the tomb.
Liar!
Our risen Christ has rescued us from the dungeons of despair and has clothed us beautifully in him.
Radical. Real. And risen.
Thank you, Jesus.
You Are Blessed,
Do you want God’s favor?
Do you want God’s favor?
