GOOD NEWS DAILY – October 14

By the grace of the Lord God almighty, yesterday I received my first copy of the book I just wrote and published called 365 BLESSINGS. By His grace, yes, it is the seventh book I have written. I am so excited that He through me brought to completion what He placed on my heart some time ago, and more and more in my life I am understanding what it is to live a life of love, surrender, and obedience to Jesus!

It is my heart’s cry with this book that the Lord uses it in whatever way He desires to bring glory to His name and to bring more people into His forever Kingdom and to strengthen those already His.

Not so very long ago, I would have been devastated that the books I have written are known by virtually nobody, that they never made it in bookstores, that I will likely never make the New York Times bestsellers list, that some of my books may never be read or may be read by very few. But now I understand what it means to be wholly His. I am on the road for Jesus full-time with my handicapped streets ministry doggies doing streets ministry and writing and publishing Gospel tracts IN OBEDIENCE TO THE LORD – FOR THE GLORY OF THE LORD.

When He tells me to do something, I need to do it BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST IS LORD FOREVER! Following Jesus isn’t about us and our fleshly desires. It’s about THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and LIVING to LOVE AND GLORIFY THE LORD FOREVERMORE!

If it’s the Lord’s will, a zillion people will read this latest book. If it’s His will that only one does, that’s okay. What I want is not my will – but His. FOR HIS GLORY!

Please stay tuned for more information on getting a copy of the book if you’re led, or you can contact me at 843-338-2219 or lara@GoodNews.love.

IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love

love & blessings,

lara

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Word of God. I simply can’t get enough of the Bible. Right now, I am reading in multiple places as I almost always do, but I am being particularly drawn to the book of Hosea. Are you familiar with it? If you say you are because you’ve heard it preached, or used a church workbook to learn about it, or read the commentaries on it, I have some serious encouragement for you. But my encouragement is not just about the book of Hosea. It’s about the Bible as a whole.

Babies are nursed. Then they are bottle fed. Then, as they grow up, they eat baby food. Then they learn to eat for themselves as they mature. Friend, the most beautiful, precious, wonderful, marvelous, exciting, exhilerating, life-changing blessing when it comes to the Bible is that when we turn from our sins and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and His Spirit comes to live inside us, we are given the greatest teacher in the universe. The Spirit of God living inside those of us who follow Him.

Hearing good preaching is an incredible blessing, but the greatest gift of all when it comes to the Bible I believe is when we commit to spend time alone with Jesus, open up the pages of the Bible, and read and get lovingly and mercifully taught, convicted, loved, chastened, changed, grown, transformed, blessed, and so very much more by the Spirit of God through the Word of God.

I beg you with all my heart to please make a commitment every single day to make the Lord Jesus Christ your greatest love, your greatest priority, and your alone time with Jesus and the Bible the very foundation of each and every day.

I’m excited to dig deeper into the book of Hosea, but more than anything I’m excited beyond measure to keep reading the Bible as a whole, filled with and led by and taught by God’s Spirit, and to enjoy His fellowship as Lord, King, Savior, master, redeemer, healer, teacher, and friend for the rest of my life AND ETERNITY.

How about you, my friend?

love & blessings,

lara

DO YOU KNOW THE FUTURE?

^“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,…” Hebrews 12:2

“Do you know the future?” the Holy Spirit who lives and moves in and through Christ’s followers said as He broke into my thoughts. “It is mine.”

I was heading right down the worry path – a path with which I am all too familiar. The Lord wanted to stop me. Immediately.

I was trying to figure something out about something big in my life. Something surprising. Something my flesh decided I needed to know. Now. Oh, but not so. Not according to the Lord.

The Lord wasn’t done. A little bit later?

“Don’t look to the future. Look to me,” He told me.

In a nutshell? The future belongs to Jesus. Not us. We don’t need to try to figure it out. We shouldn’t try to figure it out. We shouldn’t be looking to ourselves and the future. We should look to the Lord and to His Word. Even if we are led to look ahead, it should be in the context of loving and serving Christ. Of seeking and fulfilling His will for us. Of looking through the eyes of a Christ follower. Through the lens of the Bible. With the motive of loving and glorifying the Lord in whatever way He desires.

Not surprisingly, given the magnificence and sovereignty of the Lord, a friend who knew nothing of what had occurred regarding the Lord’s words to me shared with me the same message just hours later.

About not living in the future.

Let us look to the Lord, friend, let us look to Him! And should He lead us to look down the road ahead of us, may it be in a way glorifying to Him. AMEN!

365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I recently wrote that will soon be available in print by the grace of the Lord for the glory of the Lord! 

“This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” Acts 24:16

In this verse, the apostle Paul speaks not only of being able to have a good conscience before God most importantly – but also in front of people. The Lord calls us and enables us to live according to His ways so we honor and please and glorify Him as well as receive the blessings of being in obedience to Him. When we live like this, we can have a good conscience before Him! And we have the added blessing that those who see us pleasing God can see the love and light and peace, hope, and joy of Christ in us and through this be drawn to Him! So blessed when we live in obedience to the Lord with the good conscience that results!

No sooner than I lay down on my stomach and face to pray to the Lord than I prayed this:

“Father, I don’t want to be out of your will. I want to be in it.”

I can promise you three things.

First, I never long ago would have been on my face on the floor praying to the Lord God almighty.

Second, even if I had prayed to the Lord, I would have prayed for my will not His.

Third, I would not have wanted His correction and chastening if I had been out of His will so He would lead me to turn and be in His will.

Why the change? An amazingly, awesomely, rich, vibrant, deep, powerful, enriching, satisfying, exceedingly abundantly wonderful personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of my life. And the more I receive His love, the more I love Him in return, the more I fear Him, and revere Him, and honor and adore Him, the more I desire to please Him now and forever.

Friend, we should hunger and thirst and yearn to love and please the Lord in all ways all the time all for His glory, and being in His will not out of it should be fundamental to this desire.

May the Lord work on us all to be wholly and forever His, AMEN!

Imagine my surprise when the very homeless drug addict I had found several months earlier hiding in a severely altered state in the garbage room of the building in which I stay in New York City was slumped down toward the ground about to pass out right in front of the building. The same man of whom I had been scared, and by whom I had felt offended. Very much so. How dare he get into the building! How dare he scare me! Now please understand. The Lord has given me a love for everyone. And I have a special love for people who are in dire straits including those who are homeless and addicted. But I definitely don’t like being scared! I felt like my safety had been violated!

Oh, but wait until you hear what the Lord did! In the Lord’s love and strength, by His leading, in His amazing mercy, I ended up getting down on the ground with the man, sharing the Gospel with him, giving him a Gospel tract to him, praying fervently for him, holding him slightly from the side and keeping my arm on him, watching him rapidly toward an overdosed state, watch him become verbally and mentally unresponsive, call 911, wait for the ambulance, beg the Lord to save his life, tell the man I wanted to see him in heaven, and wait for the emergency crew to arrive. I was utterly desperate to see this man commit his life to Christ and to be physically saved from death and what would be hell and the lake of fire if he didn’t turn from his sins to Jesus Christ as Lord.

I called the ambulance a second time when he started drooling and looked like he wasn’t going to make it. I begged them to hurry. And I kept on with my hand on the man trying to help in the strength of Jesus for the glory of Jesus.

Then the most wild thing happened. He went from what looked like the edge of overdose and possible death to becoming totally alert and standing up to his feet. By the time the emergency workers walked over to him, he was so coherent and standing that they ended up doing no exam whatsoever and driving off.

The man didn’t commit his life to Jesus that day, but rest assured I made abundantly clear Jesus is THE ONLY WAY to everlasting life and that he needed to turn from his sins to the Lord.

I am so in ever awe of the Lord’s power and grace, His mercy and truth, His love and hope, His peace and joy, His Spirit and Word, and on and on. And I am blessed to be used by Him continually in all sorts of ways ALL FOR HIS GLORY. What struck me with this particular blessed opportunity to serve the Lord was this.

The very same man about whom I had been horrified was the same man I knelt down on the ground to help hold with Christ’s pure love as I cried out to the Lord for him to be physically saved and saved for eternity. Oh, how glorious is the love of the Lord Jesus!

Oh, how the Lord will fill us with HIS LOVE – for HIS GLORY, AMEN!