GOOD NEWS DAILY – October 24

Oh, how I sobbed when I learned just days ago my ex-husband had passed away. The Lord had blessed us with an amazing love, peace, mercy, and forgiveness in recent years despite an incredibly trying marriage, so the depth of my emotions that day and still just days later is great. But know what happened just a few hours after I received the news?

I walked a good ways on the New York City sidewalks with two heavy packages jam packed with about 650 new devotionals I recently wrote to send to prisons elsewhere in the country. Why then? I wanted to make a statement! I will NOT be stopped from telling this world about the Lord Jesus Christ, not by the devil, not by my emotions, not by anything other than if one day the Lord tells me to stop!

And given that I had spent years praying for my ex-husband and imploring him to make a full surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ to ensure he had a forever relationship with the Lord and would end up in heaven the day he took his last breath, my fire and passion the day I lost him felt greater than ever. He did in fact make that ultimate surrender, praise the Lord, but there is a world full of people who are on the highway to hell right now many of whom even call themselves Christians but don’t understand eternal life s for whom?

For those who turn from a lifestyle of sin, believe in Christ as Lord who died on the cross and was raised from the dead to pay their sin punishment, AND FULLY DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO FOLLOWING JESUS NOW AND FOREVERMORE! It’s not about a simple quick prayer, or church attendance, or reading the Bible, but it’s about GENUINELY COMMITTING ONE’S LIFE TO CHRIST AND HIS WAYS!

Friend, by God’s grace alone and in His strength alone, I am pressing forward in the work to which He has called me with a fiery desire that through my little heart, life, and ministry the Lord brings more and more people into His forever Kingdom and I have the opportunity to encourage more and more people in fully faithfully humbly and lovingly following Jesus day by day and forever.

Please keep me prayed up! I need prayer like never before as I follow the Lord as He leads me forth!

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

“Don’t take the bait,” the Holy Spirit who lives inside Christ’s followers told me early one morning as I lay in bed thinking about someone who had lashed out at me with nasty false accusations for no reason whatsoever.

Why the warning? Sometimes the very best thing we can do when someone rails against us with anger, meanness, hurt, rudeness, etc., is to love, forgive, and TO BE QUIET. To shut our mouths and let the Lord be our defense and deal with the person. Yet sometimes the last thing we do is to be silent. Sometimes the first thing we do, in fact, is to engage in battle with the person verbally. And who wants us to hate and fight against and seek vengeance and get into vicious battles with those who hurt us? The devil!

Friend, we need to NOT take the bait of the devil who wants us to fight instead of to love and forgive and let the Lord lead the way.

There is a time and place to speak in return, and that is when the Lord leads us to do so and gives us the words to speak. There is also a time and place to be quiet in response, and that is when the Lord wants us to keep our mouths out of battle as He steps in to address the person in whatever way He desires.

When people hurt us, how to respond? Love. Forgiveness. Mercy. For that’s the way of the Lord. As for our mouths, we need to seek the Lord and obey.

I encourage you to take your battles to the Lord and let Him be your commander in chief. As for your mouth, if you’re His follower, your mouth is yours. Surrender it to Him as to if and how and when you respond.

And I encourage you to do a study in the Bible if you are so led on the mouth, on words, on speech, on battles, on anger, on forgiveness, on whatever the Lord places on your heart to study in the way of how to deal with when people attack you!

“You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence
From the plots of man;
You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion
From the strife of tongues.” Psalm 31:20

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.” Isaiah 54:17

love & blessings,

lara

^“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:20-21

One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned about obedience doesn’t come out of the pages of the Bible for me as much as it comes out of my very own life. And sad to say it’s what I have done WRONG in the eyes of the Lord that is what the Lord has used to teach me an exceedingly important lesson about obeying Him.

Several times in the past year, including in recent days, the Lord showed me that while I was willing to obey Him in my physical actions, MY HEART WAS WRONG. I was willing to do what He called me to do, BUT MY ATTITUDE WAS TERRIBLE. I WAS RESISTING HIM IN MY HEART. I WANTED TO SIMPLY GET MY OBEDIENCE OVER WITH AND RUSH FORWARD WITH MY LIFE. I WANTED TO RUSH THROUGH THE OBEDIENCE BECAUSE I KNEW HOW HARD IT WOULD BE. In my heart, honestly, I was like a two-year-old throwing a temper tantrum shouting, “I don’t want to! I don’t want to! No way! No way! Don’t make me! Don’t make me! UGH! No! Don’t make me do this!” Kicking and screaming in my heart!

I wasn’t joyful, thankful, and yielded in my heart. My heart was filled with angst, self-will, worry over what the consequences of my obedience would be, and the wrong thinking that my life belongs to me, me, me instead of to the Lord. Oh, how I didn’t want to go forth in His will.

He straightened me out. He led me to repentance. I needed His forgiveness. And I needed a changed heart.

The Lord sees our hearts, friends, just as much as He sees our actions. And we need to desire to love, honor, and please Him IN OUR HEARTS – AND IN OUR ACTIONS!

This doesn’t mean obedience will be easy. It may be gut-wrenchingly hard in fact! But those who love the Lord obey the Lord (John 14:15), and we need to do so in a way glorifying to Him – hearts included. And THE LORD WILL GIVE US THE STRENGTH when we choose to obey Him!

Can you relate? When the Lord shows us anything in our hearts that displeases Him, there is only one right way to respond. GET RID OF IT! So that our hearts – and lives – are fully pleasing 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! Please contact me if you’re interested in getting a copy!

Blessing #174

“Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance.” Psalm 42:5

When we are down and feel unsettled, depressed, discouraged, even hopeless, we are blessed we can put our hope in Jesus and find reason to praise the Lord. For no matter our trials and troubles, He is greater than them all.

And we who belong to Jesus will be with Him forever. And one day all troubles, all tribulations, all trials, all pain and tears will be no more. In His presence we who follow Him will be forever. Let us hope in the Lord! Let us put our hope in Him! How blessed we are in Him we can place our hope!

This passage is from the book of Hosea the prophet in the Bible, and it refers to the Israelites being called to repent and return to the Lord, but please don’t miss the message that may be in it for you.

Friend, are you fully surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ in every area of your life, or do you have some surrendering to do? Do you have some returning to do?

Please don’t wait any longer. When the Lord calls us to repentance, we must not wait for some future date. When He calls us to return to Him, to fully yield ourselves to Him and to His ways, NOW IS THE TIME TO REPENT.

Please, if He’s calling you, REPENT, REPENT, REPENT! Return unto Him, AMEN!

After a recent Bible study, I walked through the turnstile to wait for the subway only to find a homeless man sitting on the floor eating his meal as he cried. I went to him, and he told me very simply, “I want God.” Or was it, “I need God”? Either way, the message was clear. He needed someone to tell him about the Lord Jesus Christ.

I needed to get back to care for my dogs and hopefully get some much needed rest, so I rushed back to the Bible study and begged two of my brothers in Christ to hurry and come and help the man. One of my brothers in the Lord hurried to him. I watched as my friend ministered to the man as the man cried and cried. Then my friend prayed for him and walked off to get a Bible for him.

Know what the man told me? He couldn’t believe that a man had taken 15 minutes of his life to talk to him. He was literally in awe that a human being would give him that much of his time.

Friend, in serving Jesus in our everyday lives, we must give of our hearts absolutely. We must also give anything the Lord desires we give whether the Gospel message, encouragement, love, mercy, a hug, food, clothing, shelter, medical help, etc. But let us not forget the exceeding importance of the GIVING OF OUR TIME.

Is it not true some of us are selfish with our time? We who follow Jesus belong to Jesus. Time included. So let us give of it generously to the Lord and to others in His name.

Those 15 minutes of my friend’s life were used by the Lord to help change a man’s life.

Please give your heart and time to the Lord and whatever else He desires and let Him lead the way!