I Am FREE!! Do You Know Who You Are in Christ?

Today is Terrific Testimonial Tell All Tuesday! My tell all testimony is this. KNOW WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST!! It will completely change life as you know it. I was reminded of so many things this morning as I opened my mail and checked out a status update from a few of my uplifting friends out there on Facebook. I started out by reading a status update from a special friend of mine. I will be seeing her tonight at the monthly meeting for her ministry 'Hagar's Fountain of Hope'. Interestingly enough I met her by going to an event she was putting on last year. I went because the girl that had returned my wallet to me with a message from God had invited me to it. Funny enough, they are sisters. I didn't even know that until I went to my first monthly meeting this past January. I have attended the meetings every month since then. It's awesome to have a strong group of God loving women to surround yourself with. It truly helps to keep your focus on the things that are important. I'm super excited to share with them how I have shed 23 1/2 inches of fat off of the main areas of my body since the last time we hung out! I still have to double that loss to get to my final goal but you could certainly say I'm busting a move toward that goal!! I will share this, it's truly about nutrition and after three years of marketing in the wellness field, I have learned a boatload about nutrition. Add that with my experience with various types of exercise and I am absolutely killing it. I must openly admit that this all began with a heartfelt prayer for my health to be given back to me. I truly believe that as long as my passion is for the Lord, He will indeed honor His promise and give me the desires of my heart. I have been witnessing desire after desire come to fruition. It is very hard to deny the truth of God's word when it manifests itself around you constantly. Honestly, it makes me feel like I'm getting a constant edge on this faith thing! My faith overflows. I love our Father for he is always Faithful, even when we aren't 100% faithful ourselves. His love is amazing. His grace is amazing. He IS AMAZING. My heart breaks for all who have not found their way home. For all who are longing for a relationship with the Lord but don't know where to start. Start in His word. Start with simple prayer. Talk to Him as if you would a friend. When trouble smacks you in the face, before you pick up the phone to vent or discuss with a friend, I encourage you to get to your knees and connect with God. The more you seek Him, the more you will recognize Him. You see, He is already around you, watching and waiting for you to invite Him in so He can better help you. The Father of Lies will always be working on destroying that relationship for when you draw close to the Lord, he loses more of his power. This does not make him happy and he will work harder at taking you out of your happy zone. Don't allow him to take that from you. Make sure to put on your proper fighting attire every day. If you are not sure what this is, I covered it pretty well last week. Check out my blog entitled 'Are you Dressed for Daily Battle? Here's the link:  http://youareworthytoo.blogspot.com/2013/10/are-you-dressed-for-daily-battle.html 

So back to where I started, my friend was talking about how she did not always use her title 'minister'. She commented that when someone else introduces her they mention all her titles and she is thinking, "Dang, I want to meet that girl!" and then she realizes it's her. So today she mentioned all the titles she is described as when others are introducing her and it reminded me of this song by Matthew West. You know I went and found it for you! Please take the time to listen and understand this is who you are in Christ:

I love this song. When it comes on the radio, every one of my children sing it LOUDLY with me!! Great words to hear from the mouths of your babes!! Count me loving life and living it abundantly just the way my Savior intended me to!! Speaking of my Savior and all He has taken care of for me, here is today's encouraging word by K-Love:

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

~ Acts, NLT 

Many people will say oh you will be saved as long as you believe in God or you do more good than bad or what ever it is that they come up with. It's right there in God's word that the only way you can be saved is through Jesus Christ. I would encourage you that if this topic is a struggle for you that you seriously give Jesus a true look. I encourage you to pray for wisdom on the matter and read the gospels. Follow the gospel of Luke for the first one you read. You will realize all four gospels share the life of Jesus from a slightly different angel for they are writing to different sects of society. Many of the things the four share are almost word for word. What makes the gospel of Luke the best to follow for the first one you read is that he is the only one that writes it all in chronological order. As you read it, you will come to understand that Jesus fulfilled messianic miracles prophesied about in the Old Testament and your belief level in who He is will grow. For a mere human to complete just 8 would be phenomenal. However Jesus completed many more than that. To save me a little time, I cheated and found what I think is the best written article of facts regarding this. Feel free to check it out for yourself. http://christianity.about.com/od/biblefactsandlists/a/Prophecies-Jesus.htm

It is my prayer that you recognize the truth and become a follower of Christ yourself.

Father, today I pray that the evil one is bound from those in search of the truth. May his lies be kept silent from the ears of all who are searching for salvation. May they come to know your son, our Messiah, Jesus Christ. May they too begin to follow Him and share the good news with others. May the workers grow, may the fields be harvested. May we work as the body of Christ as you intended us to. I want to thank you for all you have done when it comes to strengthening my faith and all my many blessings. You are so kind and loving and your grace amazes me daily, hourly, minute by minute. I am so blessed to have the relationship I do with you. I never want to be disconnected from you again. Thank you for clearly laying out the armor I will need every day to protect myself from the dangers of this world. Thank you for the wisdom you have shared. Thank you for the freedom I have. To be able to openly read your word where ever I am. So many of my brothers and sisters do not have such freedom. Go to them Father and lift them in your loving arms. Shine your light so that doubters are changed into believers. May the truth be so clear even the blind are given perfect sight. In Jesus name I pray. Amen

** For the full story of my wallet being returned these are the links to the two blogs that cover this testimony. May you find yourself blessed in reading them.

1. http://youareworthytoo.blogspot.com/2012/12/show-me-sign.html
2. http://youareworthytoo.blogspot.com/2013/07/unpacking-treasure-show-me-sign-part-ii.html

Wendy, walks with God,
Mom of Many

© Wendy Glidden 2013

Walking By The Spirit

Hello everyone! I hope the day has found with with a smile on your face and a song in your heart! Today I find God's love for me miraculous. His desire for me to live overwhelms me some days. In the realm of it all I am here but a moment just like you, yet He sent his son to save us all. What a gift. What a blessing.

I have these flash cards that my church printed up and I flip through them sometimes when I am trying to get in the mood to write. I found these three fitting for the mindset I am in this afternoon. This next weekend is the Women's Cross Roads Great Banquet #45. I attended #44 back in February. My small group is going to attend the send off this week.

Going to the Great Banquet helped me completely get the concept of Forgiveness, Grace and Agape. It is an experience I will never forget. In the simplest form, attending the Great Banquet was Life Changing.

It was while in reflection upon that weekend I found myself reading these flash cards. These 3 spoke to me and I have decided I must share all 3 of them with you.

Beginning with Galatians, Chapter 2, verse 20:

verse 20: I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Next we go to Ephesians, Chapter 4, verse 22 - 24:

verse 22: that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

verse 23: and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 

verse 24:  and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. 

And we end with 2 Corinthians, Chapter 5, verse 17:

verse 17: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.

It is my opinion that if you are not seeking God with all your heart, you are not reading His word. It is by reading His word that you begin to understand exactly what walking in the spirit feels and looks like.

I think many people believe that once a person accepts Christ for their savior they should no longer sin. It is also my belief that Satan planted that lie to cause confusion within the church as well as separation among believers. After all if you are saved and then you stumble how well does that represent God working in your life?

Satan convinced us to hide our shames and failures from one another. My sisters and brothers, we are flesh. We wake up day after day and go immediately into a spiritual battle. As soon as you spread gossip, as soon as you say something with a sarcastic tone, as soon as you react in anger, you have sinned. I don't know about you, but on occasion these fleshly characteristics have a way of making an appearance in my life.

These actions never leave me with a good taste in my mouth these days. My righteousness convicts me of this behavior. It is not what I desire to be and it does not sit well with me upon reflection.

Walking in the spirit means I try to resemble Christ in all ways. Satan knows this. He also knows my faults as well as my weakness in all areas. I am convinced the more one tries to walk in the spirit the harder the evil one attacks in all forms.  Last Sunday one of our members made mention of how he envisioned Satan checking his database for the best way to attack us. I know he is a smooth operator and quite capable of seeing through the cracks in my armor at any given moment. This alone is why it is so important to dress daily for battle.

My life belongs to Christ. I begin my days with preparation. Some mornings I read out of a devotional first thing. Every morning I listen to Christian radio. Singing praises and laughing will always put you in a more joyous, hopeful mood. Each day I have devotionals I read, I go through my flash cards, I check out my alphabet picture with Bible verses on it, I carry my Bible with me and I pray.

It is my goal to walk by the Spirit always. Jesus is my focus. With that being said, there are days when I stumble. Today I no longer convict myself of being unworthy of God's love. I know that is another lie from hell. Now, I get on my knees and pray for more strength, wisdom and understanding. I thank God for sending Jesus who died Once for All sin, including mine. I know I don't need to pray for forgiveness when I have occasion to stumble for I am already forgiven of all my sins for all time. The evil one wants me to focus on my sin and my fear of my sin being too big to be forgiven. God wants us to focus on our righteousness, understanding forgiveness because in doing so, we will actually improve our walk!
I find it ironic that the perfect song just came on the radio to tie up this post. I have been interrupted countless times and it has taken all day to put these thoughts down on paper. I hope they are an encouragement to you.

Father, today I pray more of my fellow brothers and sisters wake up and begin seeking you. I pray they do not allow the evil one to convince them they are not worthy of your love. I pray they discover what your grace is. I pray they come to realize how special they are to you. I pray more and more of my fellow brothers and sisters begin seeking you in greater more devoted ways. I pray together, strengthened by You, we as the body of Christ become bolder. I pray we begin to move as a body moves when agile and healthy. Father I thank you for the strength and understanding you have blessed me with over my lifetime. I thank you for all I have lived through for living through such trials and tribulations has taught me to find the silver lining that always exists in the midst of all storms. I pray that all my brothers and sisters come to realize there is nothing more special about anyone of us when it comes to you and your love for us all. I pray they realize the difference in the relationship between you and all your children merely lies in whether they are seeking you or not as well as how often they seek you. I pray they come to know in their hearts that You are Faithful. You have provided us with a handbook for survival. Today I pray that more and more and more of us begin to get into Your word Father. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Wendy, Mom of Many

© Wendy Glidden 2013