Category: Movie Monday

Let Jesus be the change

‘Just because someone stumbles and loses their way doesn’t mean their lost forever’ (Charles Xavier X-Men Days of Future Past 2014)

I was that person that stumbled and lost their way. But I had friends and family that we’re there ready and waiting to help me find my way back when I was ready. But it had to be my decision, my choice.

We can’t force people to change; because if we try and even if they seem like they are changing, its not really change. Because its not their choice. I know its hard to watch others make bad choices, but we can’t force them. Forced change is always worse; because they are still going to be opposing you on the inside or resenting you.

But if we present options and support. When they are ready, they may make a change and they will know who to turn to.

Praying for them is also a big part but our prayers should not be God please change them or make them see that I am right. But God help me to see them as you see them, help me to love them as you love them.

Most of the time in order for someone to change we need to change too. None of us are perfect and we all make mistakes even with the best of intentions.

When we lived in Tennessee our Pastor would say ‘come as you are and let Jesus mess you up.’ Isn’t that what we all did? We came to Jesus with our junk and mess and let Him change us. So why don’t we encourage others to do the same?

Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash

Nerves are good for leaders

“I don’t think I’m ready” ~Prince Caspian 

“It for that very reason you are” ~Aslan

Often when we don’t feel ready to do what God calls us to. It’s then that we are ready, because it’s that insecurity in ourselves that makes us dependent on God. So it’s God working through us, not our own abilities, so we cannot boast in ourselves but in him alone.

One of my teachers when I first started preaching, reminded me that nerves are good when preaching, because it keeps us conscious of God, his will, his words, his power and his direction. If we were completely confident in ourselves. We would have no need for him. But it’s because we know our own imperfection and instead find our confidence in him, that we can shine him best.

Don’t let nerves hold you back from what you know God has called you to, instead use those nerves to depend on him and REFLECT God to others, not ourselves.

Who are you?

If someone asked you, who you are? What would you say? Would it be your job title? Who you are in relationship to others? Or would it be something else? What if all of it was striped away; your job, your friends, your family, everything. Who would you be? What would define you? Would it be characteristics or attributes? Or would you not know?

If it was just you on an island by yourself alone with nothing to go back to, no home, no friends, no family, just you. What would you cling to? What would make you, you?

For me it’s God. I am his, no matter what. He’s where my identity comes from. I’m his kid and that where I draw strength, confidence, comfort and identity from. Because like Job in the Bible even if everything was stripped away from me. I’m still his, and no one and nothing can take that from me.

As believers in Jesus that’s what we get, an undeniable sense of identity and assurance of who we are, God’s children.

If we read Ephesians chapters 1 and 2; we can see who we are because of our identity in Jesus.

We are chosen, blessed, belonging, forgiven, loved, adopted, wanted, favored, showered with grace, a gift to God, delighted in, saved, lifted up, given new life, a member of God’s family, a citizen of God’s country.

And if you are not yet a believer you can be. You can have that same assurance in your identity by just believing in Jesus love and sacrifice and allowing him into your heart.

People make mistakes

Don’t let others misrepresentation of God deter you from knowing God yourself. Many people have walked away from their faith in God because they were hurt by other believers or believe that God betrayed them.

Just because others have represented God falsely, does not mean that is who he is. Don’t let others perception be your own. Seek the truth about God from God, only he can truly represent himself in His entirety.

People are human and we all make mistakes, I make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes.

I walked away from my faith when I was 18 because I felt at the time that my spiritual leaders were more concerned with bringing others to Jesus, then helping me through the things I was facing at the time.

I was WRONG. But that was my perception and interpretation at the time.

The truth is they didn’t help me because they didn’t know, I didn’t tell anyone. Instead I started looking to those outside the faith for solutions and they provided nothing other then distractions, rather then solutions

When I came back to my faith in God, I had more problems, not less. Life without God was miserable, I was always seeking the approval of others and digging myself into a deeper and deeper hole to do it.

Giving my life back to God gave me peace and freedom that I had not know during my time away from him. God surrounded me with his love and forgiveness and brought many people into my life to encourage me to grow in my faith.

If you are questioning God I encourage you to go to scripture, flip open your Bible and begin reading. Don’t have a bible visit Biblegateway.com and randomly pick a verse. Talk to someone you respect for how they represent God and ask the hard questions. Talk to God and give him your hard questions, but don’t forget to listen for the answer.

God is there and he loves you and he wants to talk to you. Give him a chance. Don’t let other be the reason you don’t make up your own mind, make your own choices.

Fight without Fear

In Prince Caspian, from The Chronicles of Narnia, Lucy gives a perfect example of how we as believers in Jesus should feel when we feel outnumbered and surrounded. Confident and unafraid.

Because it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when we focus on what is around us or even just in front of us. But when we remember God is always with us it changes our perspective.

We become like Lucy, a child facing an army with just a dagger, oh and of course the God of the universe to fight for us. We can have complete confidence because God loves us, he fights for us and if we trust him, he will take care of everything. Nothing should phase us, because God is with US!

You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.’ Deuteronomy 3:22

Find your identity

I’ve mentioned dieing to self, having an intimate personal relationship with Jesus, and being a willing vessel. All of which are essential to our lives as Christians. But what does that entail? What does it mean? It means that we let God lead. We look to him to tell us what to do and say, when to do and say it and to provide all that we need to do what he asks us to do.

Sounds scary right. And it would be if God is distant to us. If we don’t really know him. Then of course trusting him sounds scary. But he is the one person in the universe who we can trust for everything. Because he is love and his loves is patient and kind. It does not envy, or boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. His love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres.

Want to know more about finding your identity is Jesus. Watch or listen to this video.

Love doesn’t hurt

When we’re hurt by the people that are supposed to love us or ashamed of the scares they left, it leaves us afraid to be loved by anyone else. Because to us, love hurts. But that’s not love.

Just because people in our lives who were supposed to love us, didn’t, doesn’t mean that is what love is.

Love is patience and kind, its not rude or self seeking, its not easily angered and does not keep a record of wrongs.

God is love.

And He would never hurt us, neglect us, abandon us or stop loving us.

He is always there, always wanting and waiting to be with us, to love us and take care of us, if we let Him in.

Give God a chance to show you His love, I promise you won’t regret it.

If you already know God’s love share it with a kid who needs it. Check out Royal Family Kids

Prayer makes an Impact

We never know the impact our prayers may have. In Facing the Giants a faithful man prays over the lockers at the local school for years and doesn’t see the impact till revival hits the students.

Prayer makes an impact, whether we see the results immediately or never.

My friends and family prayed for me for years during the time in my life where I ignored God, but their prayers made an impact. There were key moments during that time when I know their prayers made an impact.

When I was in Uganda, speaking at a women’s conference, at the end the other speakers and I prayed for many of the women there for healing and many other things. We each had a translator that gave us a quick snap shot of their requests for prayer. But there was still a language barrier. As I prayed, I prayed in English and in tongues.

I didn’t understand everything the ladies were saying to me and they didn’t understand what I was saying, but God understood it all; lady after lady came up and they were either healed or their prayer was answered. It wasn’t about the words, but about our hearts and the openness to allow the Holy Spirit to work through me and in them.

Prayer is a conversation with God and we may not always like or understand the answers, or we may be completely astounded and overwhelmed by the answers.

But the one thing I hold true, is that prayer is not something to be afraid.

Pray for those you love and pray for those you don’t, you never know the impact.


Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

True Fulfillment Isn’t A Quick Fix

Temptation is attractive. That’s the reason it’s tempting. Just because something is fun or enjoyable for a moment doesn’t make it a good choice. Especially if we feel guilty or worse after.

Temptation leads us slowly to make compromise after compromise to fulfill a growing need that is never really satisfied. So we go deeper and make sacrifices, push aside responsibilities, neglect family and friends to try to fulfill our need but never find satisfaction. Because we are trying to fill our lack with the counterfeit. 

Like Edmund in “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.” He craved being important which is why being a king appealed to him. Aslan made him to be a king but Edmund tried to achieve it on his own. He listened to the White Witch because she offered an almost immediate answer to his need. Edmund even uses his own family to achieve his selfish desires. When if he’d only waited his need would of been fulfilled by Aslan when he makes him king the right way without compromise or guilt. 

This is what God does in our lives. He places in us desires but we often look to fulfill them on our own. When if we would only look to him he will fulfill the needs he put in us beyond anything we could of achieved on our own.

God created us and he is the one that fills our needs, wants and desires without guilt, regret or shame. If we would only look to him to fulfill the desires he has placed in us, instead of the counterfeit quick fixes. We would find fulfillment in Jesus. What he has for us is always so much better then anything we could think, dream or imagine and its always more then we deserve.

Never underestimate an Open Door

Run the Race is a movie about the power of forgiveness and the bridges that forgiveness can build. It’ a great story of how no one is beyond saving and we should never give up on people.

My childhood friends from the church I grew up in never gave up on me. They were always there for me and never stopped praying. They never compromised themselves or approved of my choices during my time of ignoring God. But there were always there.

When I finally made the decision to change my life. They immediately jumped in to help and encourage me to stick with my decision.

My friends and my mom never gave up on me. Which made my choice to change free of fear or condemnation.

Extending forgiveness and keeping the door open, creates a safe place for people to come when they have questions or choose to make a change.

Never under estimate the power of prayer and an open door.

Like leaving the door open when you baking cookies, eventually someone is going to smell the warm comforting sweetness and come in.


Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash

Love and respect can’t be forced

We can’t change other people. But we can choose how we treat and react to other people.

I recently watched a great movie on Pureflix called ‘How to train your puppy husband‘ I thought it would be funny as we have two dogs I am training and I would never train my husband. But it reminded me of an important lesson.

We can’t change other people, but we can choose how we treat and react to other people. When you’re training a puppy you are actually modifying how you treat and react to what your puppy does.

You should never try to train or change your spouse. But you can change how you treat them and react to them. We are to love God and love others as ourselves. So think about how you would like to treated and treat your spouse that way. If you want to be loved and respected, love and respect them. You can’t get what you don’t give. When has demanding, berating and manipulating ever really resulted in exactly what you wanted.

Forced behavior is never really what we want, what we want is for others to do things for us because they want to, so we must do that for them. If we want others to care for our needs and wants, we need to put the other person first and care for their needs and desires.

Love and respect can’t be given by force.

The Love Dare

The Love Dare is a fantastic book that helps you to put your spouse first before yourself as all good marriages should. But I will be the first to admit that it is easy to put the other first when your feeling good, and things are going well. But it is so much harder when things are hard and your not at your best.

Marriage isn’t about just the good times, it about how you handle the hard times. It’s about sticking together and loving one another even when you don’t feel like it or even want to. Marriage is a commitment for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. That means you don’t bail when things get tough or you don’t care for each other at the moment, because the moment will pass and things will get better.

But that doesn’t happen by accident you have to have God at the center of your marriage. Because if your happiness and well being depends on another person you will never be fulfilled. Only God can do that. Only he can truly make you feel 100% fulfilled.

When you get your identity from God, you draw on him for strength, perseverance and perspective. To see things from the perspective of the other opens the barriers you may have put up as a defense, and when you trust God to guide you, you can drop those barriers to bring reconciliation.

What are you sacrificing?

Star Wars is a great example of the battle of good and evil we all face.

Selfish choices, even if they are for someone else, they change who we are for the worse are not worth it. We devalue the person we are trying to protect because we compromise ourselves to do it.

Anakin changed the selfless path he was on, to save Padmé but his decision to compromise actually ended up being what harmed her.

Even in what seems to be the worst circumstances we need to trust God to lead us out of it.

God knows us and knows what best for us, His plans is not to harm us but to give us a hope and a future.

I can’t even count the number of times God has brought me through valleys.

Losing our faith in Him is what got us into the valley and it will never help us move forward.

How we fight

How do we fight for our families? Prayer!

Sounds wimpy and ineffective. No.

Praying is the second best thing you can do. Loving them is first.

But if you love them you pray for them.

Prayer is what my friends and family did for me when I made bad life choices.

And prayer is what I do for my friends and family that I love and even for the people I can’t stand. I pray for them!

I pray for God to show them His love for them.

Prayer is a conversation with God.

Prayer is where I hand my friends and family over to God and say I can’t change them but you can.

Prayer is where God changes me and my view or perspective of those I am praying for. Prayer is where He shows me how He sees them.

Prayer is how God changes me

Prayer is how we fight


Don’t quit

I grew up as a Christian, but I had periodic God encounters, instead of a relationship with him. So I quit for six years. I didn’t have an everyday relationship with God, I just went from experience to experience and fended for myself in-between.

That is no way to live, of course I sought other alternative, because I didn’t really know him. I knew about him and had a few amazing moments with him, but I didn’t know him.

But once I realized I couldn’t do life without God, I began that journey into a daily relationship with him. That’s what matters, that’s what makes the difference, that everyday conversation with him.

God compares our relationship with him to marriage. You wouldn’t have much of a marriage if you didn’t at the very least talk to your spouse everyday. So how can you have a healthy relationship with God if you don’t talk to him everyday.

I don’t mean for this to feel exhaustive. Because having relationship with God is anything but, because he is the one the fills us up, restores us and makes us new.

So no matter how tired, how exhausted or even how unwell you feel you can always talk to him, because he is enough in our weakest moments he is all we need.

Hearing God

I often talk about listening to God, and following his direction, but how do you hear God? Below is a great movie with real life testimonies about hearing the voice of God. I pray you blessed and encouraged by it.

Be a miracle to someone

The Christmas Candle is a great movie about miracles in many different ways. (I know it’s not December yet.) But God does provide miraculous miracles of helping and provision and sometimes we are the miracle to someone else.

As Thanksgiving is fastly approaching I want to encourage you to look outwards instead of inward, with your thanksgiving. Who are you thankful for? Is there something you can do for them that we be a miracle for them?

Talk with the Holy Spirit and let him lead you to someone you can be Jesus too and bless them with your help, time or service.

You never know the impact you can make till you let Jesus be a miracle through you.