My Divine Notes

Divine Note #13 – March 30, 2009 I don’t know about you, but before I asked the Savior of the Universe to take over and steer my life, it was so difficult. I didn’t realize how hard I made life for myself until I began living in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now I am qualified to tell you that living without talking to God or reading the Bible each day is simply no way to live life on Earth. Whether your burden is a result of your own actions, life’s circumstances or if it’s a result of something that God is asking you to look at and handle, you must take His hand and talk to Him all the time as Pastor Paul said today! It’s all in the Bible, just read Matthew 7:7-8 and you will find His divine words: ask, seek and knock! Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Others can pray for you and please do ask others to pray for you. But there’s nothing more powerful than you kneeling down and opening up your heart to Jes

Divine Note #12 – March 23, 2009 Psalm 25 has been in my heart this week. Please read it in its entirety so you can get the full message. As the Lord transforms lives including mine, things change for the better. But as weak human beings, many of us continue to hang on to baggage that’s not needed or necessary. So I’ve been doing research on the reasons why people hang on to the negative things, thoughts or deeds that stop them from reaching their God-planned potential. Unforgiveness and fear may be at the root of why many of us stay in personal captivity. The cycle may happen something like this: Hurt = pain = retaliation = wrong response. Wrong responses may = addictions = shame = any number of different hang ups or sins. Sins = fear = shame = unforgiveness, so the cycle viciously repeats itself in many ways and we stay in personal captivity to wrong responses which = unfulfilled potential. How do we get free to experience the life that Christ died to give us? It’s a very simple yet

Divine Note #11 – March 16, 2009 The verse continues, For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Ecclesiastes was written by King Soloman, David’s son, who should have been enjoying the peaceful security and prosperity of the throne that David left. However, the theme of Ecclesiastes is that life is meaningless when you try to be happy outside of God’s will. As I prayed about the message of this note, it became clear to me that we need to build each other up and help each other live in God’s will. The theme kept repeating itself this week as I coped with healing that has to happen in my life. I reached out to those closest to me for help. I got Godly guidance and compassionate understanding. As I sat in class, I was inspired by those of you who shared your stories about your journey to spiritual maturity. Pastor Paul’s sermon about being radically committed to loving each other just as Christ loved us really hit ho

Divine Note #10 – March 9, 2009 I’ve been fascinated by what the Bible refers to as the thorn in Paul’s flesh. Three times he appealed to the Lord who replied, “My grace is sufficient for you…” The Lord did not see fit to remove Paul’s thorn, yet Paul became a powerful voice in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. I sit here humbled by the way God has powerfully shown up in my life - yet again. Never in a million years did I imagine that He would insist that I “clean up my stuff,” so that I would be free to testify about the grace and love that is available to all of us. As I’ve opened my heart to receive what the Bible says I can have, my Lord wraps His arms around me and shows me those things that must change. I receive only what I can handle, so that I don’t have a chance to fall back into denial and secrecy because that’s what the enemy tells my mind to do. Strongholds, also known as addictions, are powerful. As I shared, fasting and asking God to clean up my l

Divine Note #9 – March 2, 2009 The above verse is a direct quote from Jesus to His apostles and it continues, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” If the Creator of the universe said to His apostles and, thus to us, that we are to have peace and to not be troubled or afraid, why do many of us continue to live in personal captivity? I shared my personal story of how that Scripture was given to me by the Holy Spirit last week in midst of a tough day at work. I decided to trust God and I asked him directly to please help me. He did. I was also inspired to share it because everything that God shares with me is meant to help everyone I know. The most important gift that my Lord has given me is personal peace. My life is so not perfect. In the natural, it’s really out of control. As a single parent, I should be worried and afraid for my child and my future, but I am not. I could chose not to forgive, feel guilty, think it’s too hard and feel like I can’t hold it toge