I just wrapped up two podcast episodes called Resolved. The word resolve is one of my favorites. The Apostle Paul said, “I resolved to speak of nothing but Christ and Him crucified.” 

I love that. 

Have you ever rebranded anything? A business? A non-profit? YOU?

I spent the last six months rebranding. A few helpful resources were my guide. Laura Brand’s book, From Individual to Empire, was the driving force behind finding my brand. Bull is an expert at pulling out the authentic. So you’re not really creating a brand so much as you are stripping away everything until you uncover what was there all along.

But I struggled with my new logo. I must have gone through at least ten versions until I landed on something that made my heart pound. 

Check it out: 

Do you love it?!! If you don’t love it, don’t tell me. It took too long to get here and my hubby and daughters have given me ultimatums if I change it again. 😝

Here’s why it took so long to find my logo: at the risk of sounding overly spiritual, the truth is I hadn’t received inspiration from God yet. Until just last week. For the life of me I don’t recall what brought my inner child to mind but I remembered my favorite cartoon as a kid. It was Jem and the Holograms. 

#TrueStory

I wanted to be a rockstar long before I wanted to be an interior designer or a writer and speaker. My parents fanned the flame of my musical abilities and Jem brought out my inner rocker. I remember my dad’s first electric guitar. Jet black. Shiny. Red pinstripe.  

I actually lived my rocker dream but it wasn’t until I was in my early-thirties. And it was in a church. I was part of our music team and one of our worship leaders saw my inner rockstar. He gave me a Benjamin Gate song and asked me to sing it at a youth service. Our youth group ran at about 600 students.  

I had a chunk of hot pink in my hair, just underneath, not too obvious but still fun. They called it peek-a-boo highlights.

And we had the most ridiculous (as in amazing) base player. His name was Joe T. During the set, Joe T. went missing. Turned out he had climbed a stack of speakers. I didn’t see him until he jumped off and flipped mid-air. Totally nailed the landing. I will never understand how he did that without wrapping himself up in the cable to his amp.

Meanwhile, I shredded the microphone. 

What made the moment so epic for me was that, even though I grew up on stage, competed with traveling jazz ensembles and choirs, played the piano and could read music, took private voice lessons…all the things, my confidence a few months prior to my rockstar moment was completely destroyed. 

There were several contributing factors that would hurt others if I spilled the tea but suffice it to say, when your nerves are off the charts it can be a big challenge to control your pitch. I found myself in a season where I couldn't hit the high notes even though I was a soprano. So I stuck to alto. 

I was a mess. Internally.  And it showed externally. 

So I put myself in voice lessons again. I got my inner rocker back; which is to say my breath support so I could do the scream-o stuff.

I made my comeback. And for whatever reason, I literally dropped the mic. I don’t recall ever doing a rock song again. Somehow that part of my life was just done. But at least I went out like a gangster. 

A few weeks later it was our 10th wedding anniversary. Rimmel surprised me and said, “Get ready. We have an appointment to get tattoos.” I had about 45 minutes to decide how I would permanently brand myself.

So I got a hot pink star outlined in black. I wanted to remember forever what comebacks feel like. I wanted to never forget that failure is miserable, but failing forward by getting back up is worth the reward. 

People are often pretty shocked to hear I have a tattoo. And maybe even more shocked to hear I had a budding rockstar career. They are even further shocked when they hear I can even rap! Yep. 

I may have been raising babies in my thirties but I was keeping it real. 

The real me. 

There is a point to this story and it’s this: I thought about Jem, I thought about the star on top of Jem’s name in the cartoon’s logo, I thought about my star tattoo, I thought about my rockstar comeback, and then I thought about Abraham. 

God took Abraham outside his tent and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:5

Abraham is often called the Father of Faith but he could just as easily be called the Father of Failing Forward. God knew Abraham was going to get off track time and time again, so He gave Abraham an exercise to keep his faith alive.

Count the stars.

Hence, the new logo. 🤩

If you’re way off track today, if you’ve lost your momentum and your confidence because you fell on your face … look up and count the stars, Abraham.

I’ve lived in Arizona for over 20 years now but I grew up in Seattle. Arizona is great for sunsets; not so much for a real starry night experience. But if you’ve seen a clear (and rare!) Seattle night, you’ve seen stars. 

Each star represents just one part of the whole God promised you. Count them. Because in doing so, you are using your faith to meditate on the promise that is coming. You are using your keys to the Kingdom to unleash your comeback. You are agreeing with God that it’s not over. You are rebranding. Rediscovering.

You are remembering you’ve been redeemed–taken back to the place of beginning. 

You are remembering who you really are and Whose you really are. 

So count the stars, Abraham.

If you’re not on this bandwagon yet, it’s time to jump on it. It’s the bandwagon of ditching mainstream theology and finally getting down to what YOU believe about God.

In my “dark night of the soul”, I had to figure out what or who was the source of my torment. Growing up in church I was told it was God allowing pain so I could be a person He could actually do something with. The problem with that messed up ideology is it makes God the abuser, defying His own laws of justice.

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“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’” Ezekiel 33:6

By God’s own decree, if you see the predator coming and don’t warn the prey, you are guilty of their blood.

Would God not hold Himself accountable to what He deems just? Would God make Himself guilty by not warning you of danger before it happens? God “will not let you stumble” (Psalm 121:3). But you might let you stumble.

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“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due [its rightful recipients], When it is in your power to do it.” Proverbs 3:27

It is always within God’s power to do good for you. He cannot withhold it or He becomes a liar.

He is a good Father. And because of Jesus, you are the rightful recipient of good (Strong’s 2896: pleasant, agreeable to the senses). Pain isn’t good for you. It isn’t pleasant or agreeable to your senses. It is PAIN. Pain comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). It takes life from you. It has no power to give life.

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“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;” James 1:13

When we are in pain, we are never to draw a conclusion that God is testing us.

Tempt: peirazó, Strong’s #3985 - to make proof of, to attempt, test, to try, make trial of, to solicit to sin, scrutinize.

What is testing if not soliciting to sin? God never tests you. He just doesn’t do it. Period. He can’t. It’s not in His nature. Somehow the church totally missed that Jesus was tested for us. God has no need to scrutinize us or put us on trial. He did that to Jesus. You were raised up into life and righteousness. What is there to test?

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I had been a woman of prayer, studying the scriptures daily, for over 20 years when my life fell apart. I didn’t know how to dig myself out of depression from grief and loss, PTSD, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and anxiety/panic attacks. I didn’t leave God but I left the ministry. I couldn’t take another sermon that was giving me answers but no solutions.

Don’t get me wrong here. I love the church even when she’s not acting like the church. I will serve the church for the rest of my life. But the church has lost more than just the proper translation of scripture. It’s lost its ability to solve people’s real-life problems.

To say God is allowing pain to train you is an answer (also, it’s a lie). But it isn’t a solution to your pain. It won’t help you walk out of pain. It won’t help you break free from destructive cycles. All it will do is cause you to accept an untruth about God so you can cope with your most life-dominating issues. Coping is managing and it certainly isn’t healing.

And that is all Christians around the world are doing…coping. They say they are helping others in their pain because they can relate. But all they can relate to are coping mechanisms that perpetuate the lie that God is the abuser and you should make peace with your pain.

I have no need in my life to make peace with pain. Not after all Jesus died to give me. Jesus didn’t make peace with pain. He defeated it. He put it in the pit of hell where it belongs.

And we can too. But the only way to do this is to put every ideology handed down to us on trial. We do this by testing them against the full council of scripture, not scripture taken out of context like pulpits across America do daily. And we stop reading the Bible in English for cryin’ out loud! Pull out a concordance and study keywords, if not every word in every scripture. This is part of the Biblical process of meditating day and night on the Word of God. We were never just supposed to read the Bible in a year just to check it off our good-Christian to-do list.

And definitely get a mentor. For the next two weeks, I feature an interview with my Hebrew/Aramaic teacher, Chaim Bentorah. I have studied under Chaim for years. Chaim received his B.A. in Jewish Studies from Moody Bible Institute, his M.A. in Old Testament and Hebrew from Denver Seminary, and his Ph.D. in Biblical Archeology.  His Doctoral Dissertation was on the “Esoteric Structure of the Hebrew Alphabet.” But most impressive, I think, is that Chaim has spent 4-5 hours a day for the last forty years studying the Bible in its original languages. Chaim was studying under those who translated the NIV in the 70s and witnessed firsthand how truth in translating was kicked to the curb in favor of money.

Yep. It’s that bad.

But the good news is that Chaim’s thousands of hours of teaching are available on his blog, daily word study emails, Full Access membership, and in his books. His studies will take you deeper into the heart of God than you’ve ever been before.

Photo: https://unsplash.com/@priscilladupreez

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What we believe about God determines how well we function under pressure. And really, the root of all emotional stability starts from this same place. Who we believe God is and what we believe He is willing to do for us will determine our next move when we feel backed into a corner.

There is a very interesting exchange between Jesus and a blind man in the book of Mark:

“And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.

And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” Mark 10:46-52

We can be assured Jesus knew the man was blind. And yet Jesus still asks him, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” In other words, what are you willing for me to do for you? Belief in God’s ability is rarely a problem for the Believer. The problem is we are not sure what He is willing to do for us.

And that begs the question: if it is impossible to please God without faith, but we don’t know what God is willing to do for us in our given situation, then how can we pray a prayer of faith for the outcome?

The answer is, we can’t.

The only way to pray a prayer of faith is to be absolutely certain what God’s preferred outcome is.

Which begs the next question: how can you always know God’s preferred outcome for your situation? Join me for this podcast episode where we learn how to become certain of God’s character, intentions, and will toward us. Once you know His desired outcome for your problem you will have to decide if you are willing for God to do it for you. If you know His will, and you are willing to agree with Heaven, you can pray the prayer of faith and experience miraculous results!

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How’s your prayer life? You probably guessed I have some thoughts about an effective prayer life. Prayer that avails much looks nothing like the way we’ve been taught to pray. We’ve been taught to bind and loose the devil even though Jesus already stripped him of all rule, rank, and authority (Col. 2:15). We’ve been taught to beg God to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves even though He gave us the Holy Spirit, wisdom, and the authority of Jesus. We’ve been taught to pray ‘if it be thy will’ instead of ‘thy will be done’. We’ve been taught to pray ‘in Jesus’ name’ even though we have no idea what that means.

To pray ‘in Jesus’ name’ means to pray in alignment with His will. But we’ve been told we can’t possibly know the will of God because who could possibly know the mind of God (1 Cor. 2:11)? We fail to read verses in context and forget we can have the mind of Christ if we want it (1 Cor. 2:16).

To have the mind of Christ and praying effective prayers goes hand-in-hand. To know God’s will and intentions is essential to an effective prayer life.

Because here’s the reality…if you don’t know God’s will you will magnify the problem when you pray. In magnifying the problem you will become more and more desperate for an answer and less and less assured your needs have already been met. Your mountains just become bigger and bigger when you’re begging God over and over again! It’s truly an exhausting process.

Prayer should look a lot more like confession. Confession means to say the same thing. Prayer should look more like saying the same thing God says about your situation until your heart is convinced He has already provided for your solution.

I find these scriptures helpful when I pray about any problem:

Scripture: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” 1 Peter 1:3
Confession: “Thank you God that I already have everything I need that pertains to life and fulfilling your perfect will. I lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10).”

Scripture: “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him is the "Yes." Therefore also in Him, the "Amen" by us is for glory to God.”
1 Cor. 1:20
Confession: “Thank you God that every promise you ever made to anyone is yes and amen for me too. You never change.”

Scripture: “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.” Psalm 37:25
Confession: “Thank you God that because I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus I will never be left without food, shelter, clothing, or a way out of the temptation to fear or to sin in my fear (1 Cor. 10:13).”

Scripture: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21
Confession: “Thank you God that I am righteous because of Christ Jesus. Therefore sin no longer has power over me.”

I’m telling you right now—if you will find a scripture that answers your need and confess that scripture over your problem, the problem will become smaller and the solution will present itself. Every solution to every problem you will ever face was solved in the life, burial, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Effective prayer always aligns with God’s will. God’s will always aligns with His heart. And God showed His heart and intentions through the finished work of Jesus.

Join me for this week’s episode of The Getting Life to Work Podcast where we examine the finished work of Jesus. This teaching will help you change the lens through which you see your problem so you can magnify the solution Jesus already provided for you!

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Blog Photo Cred: Priscilla Du Preez

Y’all. FINALLY.

Many have asked me, “Why don’t you have a podcast?” To which I would say, “I will get one done. In my free time.” But that free time never came about until two things happened:

1. I stopped wavering (being double-minded) on this issue and determined I would do it. Decisions in life never come down to “I would if I could”. God-given destinies are “I could if I would”.

2. I became a stay-at-home-mom to a 20-month-old.

I raised a now 22-year-old and 21-year-old. The 20-month-old was so out of the blue there are days I am still in total shock. At a time when I had planned to be pursuing the dreams I had put off until my biological girls were raised I was suddenly a mom to a toddler all over again. I would be lying if I said my emotions up front knew it was all going to work out and I would still live my dreams of full-time ministry, writing, and speaking. Quite the opposite. The truth was I felt like life was over. I knew that wasn’t true in my mind but my emotions tried to tell me differently. I had to build up the belief in my heart and not determine my fate based on circumstances.

This podcast is all about Getting Life to Work. I share my personal journey from the dark night of the soul to taking the limits off God to putting my life back together according to Jesus’ model for a great life.

Take a listen, give me a 5-star rating to help others find it, and share it with a friend!

I have 5 episodes already loaded for you so you can dive right in!

For your heart today…

Colossians 3:1-3 reminds us that, having been raised with Christ, we are hidden in Him.

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

We can set our minds on things above when we believe the truth in our hearts. When God gives us a promise and a mission nothing can stop the fulfillment other than our unbelief.

“As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:15-19)

It is rarely ever God’s timing or God flat-out saying, “No, not now.” that keeps us stuck where we are. These are merely justifications for our unbelief. Our unbelief in God’s willingness to keep His promise no matter how unlikely the circumstances appear leads to fear. Our fear keeps us from obedience. And because “faith without works is dead”(James 2:26) our disobedience keeps us from seeing our desires fulfilled (Prov. 13:12).

But everything is possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). The key is our belief. It has always been the key. Yes, there are times when man’s free will delays God’s ability to allow us to step into a Divine moment. But we can always be on our way through preparation. Preparation looks like adding necessary skills that will help us fulfill our destiny. It also includes prayers that avail much (James 5:16). In my private mentorship group, I am putting together a study on how to pray effective prayers and activate a faith that moves mountains. Sadly, the way we’ve been taught to pray is exactly the opposite of how Jesus taught us to pray. And we definitely haven’t been trained in operating faith for miracles.

I hope you will join my mentorship group! It is a deeper dive into discipleship and the best way you can support this ministry on a monthly basis. I have learned I cannot do what God sent me to do to the scale He wants to do it without your partnership. All proceeds go to spreading the gospel and feeding a 20-month-old. ;)

So whatever you are facing today know that “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable”. (Romans 11:29). This means He never takes them back. He doesn’t “give and take away” (Job 1:21). That is something Job said in his arrogance and ignorance and God corrected him for it.

But we can forfeit the gift and the call (fail to activate or receive it, thereby frustrating grace Gal. 2:21) by believing it’s over and our circumstances are insurmountable. Build up your belief today by meditating on the truth that nothing is impossible for you if you would only believe and then obey.

I’ve read the book of Proverbs several times but during this fall-to-winter season, I determined to take a deep dive into it. This transition in my life is like nothing I’ve experienced before so I find myself in great need of wisdom. There are a million ways I could handle this life-altering change. I could run. I could completely freak out. I could willfully bury my head in the sand and let it pass me by. I could repeat old patterns of self-abasement, self-neglect, codependency, or narcissism.

In short, this is an opportunity to really screw up my life or an opportunity to walk in the protection that comes from practicing wisdom.

“The path of life leads upward for the wise.” Proverbs 15:24

The benefits of wisdom are pretty astounding: life, health, length of days, favor, rich rewards, protection, and more. Wisdom has everything I want in this season and it is available to me right now. But what I want most that wisdom provides is life. Real life. Abundant life.

I did a word study on life and I think you’ll find it as desirable as I do. The word life comes from a Hebrew word that goes far behind just existing. It is a word that means welfare and happiness. It is an earthly bliss combined with spiritual blessing. I want me some of that!

When Christians can’t explain the hardship they are experiencing or others around them are experiencing they often say, “Well, God never promised us a good life!” or “God never said it was going to be easy!”

Hmmm…

It’s true we were never promised we wouldn’t experience hardship or persecution. But we were promised wisdom to guide us on a path to always winning. Always winning doesn’t mean other people have to lose to us. It means that in the end, whenever circumstances shake out, we can come out whole or better than before.

Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah 29:11 promises a future and a hope which looks to the future?

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11

It’s because God is trying to put the path to welfare in our hands but He can’t show us what that future looks like until we choose it for ourselves. It’s not automatic. So often we determine our only possible outcome is evil (lack, limitation, our detriment) instead of looking for the good outcome God promises.

Jesus makes some wild declarations, maybe the wildest being that He came to give us not only life, but abundant life. No matter how you try to translate the definition of abundant it always comes back to being over and above, more than is necessary, more than enough, preeminence and the advantage in every (all-around, continuously) situation, superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon, and more! There are never any exceptions, only the prerequisite… you choose to take hold of it and have faith for it until you see it materialize.

God has a way to work all things together for the good of those who love Him, are called, and are in pursuit of His purposes. And one of His purposes for you is a great life, life to the fullest!

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

If you are under pressure today, look for the way out. Every time we are tempted to solve our problems on our own or by our flesh (our five senses) God always has a way out that leads to abundant life. Believe that He has that for you, ask Him to show you the path, then use wisdom to get there. Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge or the truth. And truth alone cannot set you free. Truth has to be applied and acted upon in order to bring you to freedom.

And what is freedom? Well, it probably looks a lot like the life that comes from walking in wisdom—welfare and happiness, earthly bliss combined with spiritual blessing.

And what about the whole easy life thing? Well, circumstances and people in life might not be easy on us, but God’s instructions are easy and light. Yoke up with Him and you’ll walk right into your victory.

Photo Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/IijeyJbmrec?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink

Many would describe grace as God’s unmerited favor, but really that’s more akin to mercy. While favor is certainly a dimension of grace it isn’t a holistic view of grace. Grace is favor but it is a favor that EMPOWERS. It gives us ability beyond our own. It literally empowers us with God’s ability to do what we could never do on our own.

God’s grace working in us is SHEAR. RAW. POWER.

While there are numerous things twisted and wrong about the Supernatural TV series, one thing they did do was provide an excellent picture of grace. In the show, two of the main characters are angels. These angels only had supernatural power when they had their grace. When they lost their grace or if their grace was stolen they were left with mere human ability.

Paul understood the power of grace better than most. Check out these verses:

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” Galatians 2:21 (KJV) The word frustrate means to neutralize. If grace were defined simply as unmerited (unearned, undeserved) favor rather than a favor that bestowed power on us and in us it wouldn’t be something we could just neutralize. We can neutralize grace or keep grace from working in us by operating in our own ability versus God’s ability. When we operate in our own strength Christ becomes of no effect to us and we fall from grace (Gal. 5:4). Falling from grace doesn’t mean losing our salvation experience. It means leaving that realm of God’s ability and choosing instead to operate through our strength.

You can see why grace is so vital to living a successful Christian life. Paul knew that aside from grace he was left to his own weakness. But with grace, even his weakness was strong! Paul described his thorn in the flesh as a “messenger of Satan” buffeting him (2 Cor. 12:5). Because a thorn referred to people in the Old Testament (Joshua 23:13) we see that Paul was referring to the crowds of haters that were constantly trying to cancel him (the original cancel culture) so they could persecute him. God responded to Paul’s plea for the thorns to be removed by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor. 12:9. This was not God saying He would put Paul on life-support with a steady drip of grace. This wasn’t God saying, “Paul, I’ve given you unmerited favor. That should be enough for you. Get over yourself.” This was God saying He would empower Paul to triumph! God couldn’t change the free will of the haters but He did give Paul His own grace or ability to be strong in any situation.

God’s ability. Let that sink in.

Jesus had it. We can have it too.

Grace is available to us in abundance. James 4:6 says, “But he giveth more grace.” More grace than what? More grace than the power sin has over us. More grace (His ability and empowerment) than any situation or stronghold has to overpower us. Anywhere that sin abounds, grace abounds more (Rom. 5:20).

So what does this mean? Well, let’s define sin first. There are several Greek and Hebrew words for sin throughout the Bible. If you were to take a zoomed-out look at sin as a whole you would see that sin is not just violating the Ten Commandments. Sin is anytime we are living in a standard that is less than what Jesus died to free us from. Sin is anytime we come short of functioning in our new man, our new nature.

Addiction, depression, fear, unbelief…these are all expressions of sin. But where these abound in us grace ABOUNDS MORE. This means that if we choose to partner with God and lean on His ability to overcome addiction or any pattern of behavior that has held us captive, we can activate His grace which is more powerful and more abundant than the thing we want to overcome!

This takes practice. It could truly be summed up in the only thing God ever told us to strive for…entering into rest.

When we finally rest from trying to white-knuckle it,

grace can take over.

I have a million books in my head. It’s possible the next one could be a grace challenge. I hope you’ll stick with me. Podcasting is coming soon, and more teaching in my Getting Life to Work mentorship group…all designed to help you learn to walk in grace to defeat your addictions, codependencies, and repeated patterns of failure.

Because here’s the thing: many of us came to salvation in Jesus and were immediately set free from a whole slew of destructive behavior patterns. But the reality is, most Christians never overcome their most life-controlling issue, whether it be overeating and yo-yo dieting, pornography, codependency, shame-based thinking, etc. The good news is that it is the same grace working in us at salvation that will work in us to overcome that thing we haven’t been able to defeat!

Photo Cred: @where.mike.at

My Bible teaching centers around one fundamental truth that isn’t very popular. In the Kingdom of Heaven (the realm in which all of God’s resources are available to us), pain is never gain. Pain is pain. Pain comes to steal, kill and destroy. Always. Every time. No exceptions.

And that is why God never uses it to get a desired response from us.

I know. Saying this doesn’t always win me more friends. In fact, it makes a lot of people really mad. But the truth is the truth.

I’ve said over and over that pain has no ability to teach you, train you, or make you a better person. It is only your response to pain that can do that. And that is why God doesn’t use pain to train you.

And He doesn’t even allow it in your life. Man allows it.

Here is where people start freaking out and their heads start blowing up. People will do anything to protect the bad doctrine they’ve used to reconcile the pain that came into their lives.

How can I say God doesn’t allow pain? Because He doesn’t. And those who teach otherwise have to contend with thousands of Bible verses that don’t support their ‘no pain, no gain’ narrative, all of Psalm 121 being just a few of them. Check it out:

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from ALL harm—
    he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.” Psalm 121

I’m not sure how much clearer the Psalmist can be. God KEEPS you from ALL harm. If we find ourselves suffering it’s the result of a fallen world and/or we didn’t heed God’s warning. It was man’s free will that got us here.

God is only in control of our outcomes to the degree
we choose to take responsibility
and refuse to hold Him accountable for our pain.

If God allowed pain even when He could relieve it, He would be in violation of His own system of justice.

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.” Ezekiel 33:6

“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.” Proverbs 3:27

God holds those accountable who see evil coming and do nothing when it is within their power to act. God always sees down the line and it is always within His power to act. Would He not require the same justice of Himself?

The man who is overcome by the sword is overcome because of his own sin. Sin comes in many forms. Sin is not limited to simply violating the 10 commandments. In fact, there are 33 different words for sin in the New Testament. Sin is any form of unbelief in the goodness of God, missing the mark, or living below the standard of the abundant life Jesus modeled for us.

By giving us free will, God has OBLIGATED Himself to hand us over to our desires and beliefs. If we believe He is causing our pain, allowing our pain, or using our pain, we won’t recognize His warning to avoid the pain or take hold of His way out of the pain.

God is always trying to prevent our pain. And when we find ourselves in pain He is always trying to show us how to overcome it. He isn’t using the pain to teach us a lesson. God uses His word and the Holy Spirit to teach and train us. It is a fool that learns through pain alone. It is the wise that heed the warnings of wisdom and learn from instruction.

In my book, Prosperity to Providence, I use Biblical evidence to make the case for the failure of American Christianity, an extrapolated doctrine that taught us to blame God or blame satan for everything that happens in our lives. In all cases, whether we caused our pain, someone else caused it, or Adam’s original sin caused it, we are responsible… we are able to make a response that gets us out of pain. I’ll show you how to get the pain to stop by viewing pain through the lens of the finished work of Jesus. Download a copy today and learn how to get back on the racetrack you were born for!

“And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.”
1 Kings 4:29 (KJV)

“Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” Isaiah 60:5 (KVJ)

Enlarged: רָחַב | rachab: to be widened, enlarged, relieved, and expanded with joy (BDB)

“Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b (NKJV)

I recently shared with my private Facebook group, Getting Life to Work, that I am in the research and study phase for a future book to be called Profile(d). The book will break down the misconceptions in character profiles of some major players in the Bible and reveal how, through our misunderstanding of their lives, God Himself has been mischaracterized or profiled throughout the centuries as a result.

One of the key Bible characters this book will cover is King Solomon. We have this great misconception that God miraculously made King Solomon the wisest man who ever lived. Like, “Poof Solomon! You get to be wise but everyone else who asks for wisdom has to learn the hard way.”

Praise God that’s not quite the case.

When Solomon asked God for wisdom, God responded by showing King Solomon he already possessed the very thing he desired most… a foundation for the Spirit of Wisdom to be the guiding factor in his life.

“Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” 1 Kings 3:12 (KJV)

The Hebrew word for “behold” is “hinneh”. It means look, after all, lo, here, or indeed. It’s the same word God used in Job when He acknowledged that Job had already handed his own life over to the scrutiny of the enemy. When God says behold He is saying, “Take a look! This is already so.”

At the young age of twelve, King Solomon had already been trained in wisdom by his father, King David, whom he saw make both good and bad decisions. Solomon’s love for God and wisdom to rule is the reason he was chosen to be king. He already had the foundation required to rule justly, he simply needed to set his intention to continually grow in wisdom.

Because to him who has, even more will be given. (Matthew 25:29)

And even Jesus had to grow in wisdom and stature.

Because Solomon feared and loved God, he had the capacity to receive more and more supernatural wisdom. To fear God is to fear doing anything that would break the heart of God. In addition to having the capacity to contain wisdom and understanding, Solomon had the ability to have the boundaries of his heart enlarged. The word enlarged not only means to have the thickness of the walls of the heart enlarged but to have a heart that is specifically enlarged by joy.

How does joy enlarge the heart? When the joy of the Lord is your strength, your heart expands in its capacity to walk in faith-righteousness.

Nehemiah, in an attempt to encourage God’s chosen people after they failed to follow God and their city came to ruins as a result, said to them, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)

I’ve met many a Christian who tried to muster up enough joy in difficult circumstances in order to gain more strength. That’s hard to do when life has knocked the wind out of you. Especially if you believe God was the one who orchestrated your difficult circumstances. Even worse are the times we come to realize we were our own undoing.

We are told to just sing worship songs until we feel the joy of the Lord. We convince ourselves if we’ll just get excited about God we will have all the strength we need.

But that’s not what Nehemiah was getting at. Nehemiah is telling the people to allow themselves to call to mind the limitless joy and sheer pleasure God takes in them to receive strength. It is the knowledge of this pleasure apart from performance God takes in you that has the power to strengthen you from the inside out, if you do not allow your own heart to condemn you (1 John 3:20), creating boundaries and barriers of false beliefs you can never break through.

Both King Solomon and Nehemiah had incredibly high leadership lids. Everything they put their hands to came to fruition and the people they led flourished in their work for God! Rather than look at their lack (lack of years of experience, lack of resources, etc.) they looked to a God who took exceedingly GREAT JOY in them. They meditated on the joy of the Lord rather than on their shortcomings.

SO!!! Let the knowledge that God takes GREAT PLEASURE in you strengthen you for whatever you’re facing today! Mediate on that pleasure until it becomes real inside you and all self-condemnation melts away. THEN you’ll be able to receive the wisdom of King Solomon and the leadership ability of Nehemiah.