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TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA

Dear friend,

Yesterday I came into my little New York City apartment where I am staying temporarily before the Lord moves me to my next location as I continue being on the road for Jesus full-time to spread the Gospel message and help people find and follow Jesus. But no sooner than I came in than I felt strongly compelled to go right back out. I needed to apologize to someone.

I walked back down the street until I reached a homeless man I know and told him I was sorry for the way I had spoken to him and asked for his forgiveness. We chatted for a little while, I knew he had forgiven me, he encouraged me in my ministry work after I shared a bit of my heart with him and why I hadn’t shown him the love of Christ as I desire to do with all people, and off I went. Forgiven by the Lord. Forgiven by the homeless man.

Forgiven, yes. Do you seek the Lord’s forgiveness when you do wrong? Do you seek the forgiveness of others when you hurt them? Well we should. Love, mercy, and forgiveness are key ingredients to the life of a Christ follower.

Let us practice all three. For the glory of the Lord, let us. Yes!

“Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Mt. 5:23-24

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

TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION

I CAN’T DO THIS – CAN I?

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil. 4:13

“Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”” Mark 9:23

“But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”” Mt. 19:26

“I will love You, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:1-2

“I can’t do this,” I thought.

Too worn out. Too worn down. Not enough support. Not enough resources. Older now. Too many challenges. For too long. Old ones. New ones. Too much hurt. For decades. Just TOO MUCH!

Oh Lord! Yes, oh Lord is right. No sooner than I had thought, “I can’t do this,” than these words came to me.

“I can’t do this without you,” I thought.

There it was. A message for each and every one of us.

There are things in life that simply are too much, too hard, overwhelming, even downright impossible for us in the flesh. But when we’re in the will of the Lord, He will enable us by His love, power, and strength and everything else we need to fulfill His will.

And it is consequently the Lord to whom the glory belongs.

If you’re struggling with thinking you CAN’T do something, trust that if it’s the Lord’s will, you CAN. Not in your weakness. IN HIS STRENGTH. Not with your fleshly resources. With HIS PROVISION. Not to pat yourself on the back. TO GIVE HIM GLORY.

Amen!

TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS

365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book the Lord has led me to publish piece by piece even as I’m writing it rather than waiting until it’s in print to share it. Please join me & be blessed as I write my latest book…!

Blessing #112

“Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:1-4

Blessed are we who delight in God’s Word, who meditate on verses from the Bible, who bear fruit in season and prosper as a result of the Lord’s Word and living by it. God’s Word is pure, sweet, strong, true, delightful, hard, convicting, life-changing, transforming, powerful, wise, satisfying, fulfilling, filled with blessings, and so incredibly much more. How blessed we are to have the Bible to hold in our hands, to receive into our hearts, and to set before us as our road map for life. Countless people worldwide haven’t seen a Bible, don’t own a Bible, can’t read a Bible without the threat of being killed, can’t see to read a Bible, don’t know how to read and can’t therefore read it themselves, etc. Let us not take for granted the blessing of having a Bible, reading it, enjoying it, finding love, hope, mercy, peace, joy, and direction in it, as we learn to live according to God’s ways as He teaches us in it.

TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL

THE BEST PEP TALK OF ALL

^“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”” Mt. 11:28-30

“I need a pep talk,” I said aloud. Maybe to the dogs. Maybe to me. I don’t really know. Just felt led to say it aloud. “And I’m going to go get one,” I announced.

Minutes later, off I went. I was having a bit of a challenging morning. Don’t get me wrong. All my days for as long as I can remember have been challenging to one degree or another. Par for the course for my life’s story. But some are more challenging. This was one of them. I knew what I needed. Love. Wisdom. Encouragement.

Perfect. I love to walk. I have an earpiece for my phone. I could go on a walk through the streets of New York City and call on some friends. For help. Support. Fellowship. Maybe some tears. Maybe laughter. And definitely a pep talk. I was down. Sad. Discouraged. Exhausted. Pretty beaten down by life. By people. By yuck.

But I knew right away a telephone conversation wasn’t what I needed right then. Please don’t get me wrong. I LOVE PEOPLE. I LOVE MY FRIENDS. I LOVE GIVING AND RECEIVING SUPPORT. But there is a time and place for that, and a time and place for what I needed just then.

Jesus. I needed Jesus. A pep talk from the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I walked. I prayed. I poured out my heart some. And I listened. And I heard what I needed to hear. From God almighty. Speaking to my heart. By His Spirit who lives inside His followers and always and only speaks in line with the Bible.

Let us be sure to reach out to those who follow Jesus to love and help us along, but may our highest priority in reaching out be to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Need a pep talk? Spend some time with the Lord, friend, and the Bible. Pray. Pour out your heart. Seek Him. And be sure to listen and obey. AMEN!

TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE

TOO FAR GONE TO SERVE?

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Cor. 15:58

There have been times in my years loving and serving Jesus that I have felt simply too far gone to serve. Too worn out. Too hurting. Too broken. Too wounded. Too struggling. Too many of my own struggles. Too this and too that. Like now. I feel like this right now even as I write this. If I told you in detail what’s going on, and if you could see the inside of my heart, and if you knew my full life story thus far, you would understand. Why sometimes I have felt like there’s no way I can possibly serve Jesus for even another minute. I’m not writing this for sympathy, but because there is such an important message in this.

Serving the Lord Jesus Christ isn’t about us and what we can do. It’s about Jesus and what He desires to do in and through us. It’s not about our human weakness, but about His glorious strength. It’s not about our pitiful resources, but about His endless ones. It’s not about our having everything all perfectly put together with an image of perfection, but it’s about His perfection. It’s not about how incredibly much we may be struggling, but about what He can do through us even when we’re having a really tough time.

“God can use your brokenness,” a woman told me long ago. Oh, yes He can!

If and when the Lord wants us to take a break, we need to obey Him in this. But if He wants us to press on even when we’re feeling too far gone to serve, we need to not listen and respond to the voice of the flesh, or to the world’s voices, or even to the devil’s voice. We need to listen to the voice of the Spirit of God and carry on. Press on. In Christ. In His mercy, grace, hope, peace, joy, strength, rest, and on and on. In His power and goodness, in His wisdom and direction, at His leading, for His name to be magnified.

Please serve the Lord as He leads you – remembering to give the glory to Him as He empowers you to press on!

LATEST MINISTRY UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST

I am right in the thick of writing my latest book, so perhaps you wonder about my previous long list of books I’ve written. Believe it or not, I wrote them, published them through Walk by Faith Ministry, and then virtually nobody read them! I did little to no marketing right from the start, and no marketing at all in more recent years. But why? I write them in obedience to the Lord, and I trust Him to do with them as He desires. If one day He leads me to an agent, publisher, marketer, ministry, church, bookstore, event, anyone or anything at all He desires to distribute a zillion copies of the books, wonderful.

If He leads me to give them out for free to prisoners and the homeless nationwide, fantastic. If He leads me to give out one copy only in the next 20 years, great.

How could I possibly think this way? Here’s how. The Lord has been teaching me humility and trust for many years now. He is also teaching me how to worship Him with the gifts He has given me. He is teaching me it’s not about numbers of readers, it’s not about money, it’s not about fame, it’s not about anything other than loving and glorifying Him and helping people to find and follow Him. So whatever He desires with this gift of writing He’s given me, may His will be done, may He be glorified, may people be pointed to Him and to His Word.

The Lord can do anything He desires. He may have been teaching me His ways through all this writing of numerous books, and He may have a book down the road for me to write He will use to reach millions for His glory.

I am in His hands. My writing is in His hands. And as I press on writing Gospel tracts, devotionals, and books – Good News Daily included – please would you pray for me?

love & blessings,

lara