Category: Faith

Eight years ago, I lay unconscious in a hospital bed in ICU. The doctors had told my family that they did not know if I would live through the night. But I had people who were praying for me that night—warring for me, declaring that God’s kingdom come to the earth in my life. These people knew about the power of speaking life through their words. They spoke over me God’s promises for my future. They spoke healing over me, even when others doubted. They spoke LIFE. And today, I am a living testimony of the power of their prayers.

Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…”

God spoke creation into being. In the same way, our words have the power to create. What we choose to create depends on the words that we choose to speak. And when we choose to speak life and speak God’s word into situations, God’s Kingdom comes. John Eldredge wrote, “Christianity is not a passive religion. It is an invasion of a Kingdom.”

Romans 4:17:

God…gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

When we get a word from God, that puts supernatural faith in us to speak it out and bring the kingdom of heaven into the earth.

So what are we speaking…

• Over our families?
• Over our workplace?
• Over our children?
• Over ourselves?
• Over our future?

Are you speaking God’s word and His promises, or have you succumbed to lies that are trying to kill, steal, and destroy?

Ask God to show you how He sees your life. Ask Him to show you how He sees your kids and your marriage, and speak that out over them.

Let’s decide today to choose life….Choose to speak life over our families and spheres of influence.  Your words have the power to create life—right now, right where you are.

This post was written by Heather Dillard. To read more about her, click here.

We are continuing our fall blog series, “7 Must-Wins.” With a uniquely personal twist toward us as women, we will address seven topics that must be understood and walked out in order for us to have success in this life. To start with Part 1 of this series, click here.

My tiny four year old hands grabbed my mom’s face, cupped it and quietly reminded her that “big girls don’t cry.” My siblings and I had gathered around her on the piano bench and just watched her sob. I didn’t know it at the time but my mother had just sent my father off to receive some help for bipolar disorder—by far one of the hardest choices I know she ever had to make as a wife.

Despite my many hours in prayer and fasting, my father still has bipolar disorder. I have spent many years petitioning and bargaining with the Lord for wholeness and healing in my father’s body—I haven’t seen it happen yet.

I don’t know why people get cancer. I don’t know why recently in our media we see photographs of precious children washed up on the beach, or why people who love the Lord are being executed for what they believe. I don’t know why couples struggle to conceive, or why someone throws the towel in on their marriage, or why the widow lost her husband long before they had a chance to grow old together. I don’t know why “bad things happen to good people”—but I do know that my God is STILL good.

I think that it would be super easy to blame all of these unexplainable things on God. But I think as women of faith we have to take a look in the mirror and ask ourselves: Is my belief in God rooted in my circumstances, or in the finished work of the cross? Do I REALLY believe that I was the joy set before him as he endured the cross? Do I REALLY believe that my God is FOR me, and that he will FIGHT for me?

You see, true faith is not believing hard enough, and then once you have prayed enough you get to see the miracle. No. True faith is choosing to believe that he is GOOD even when your circumstances aren’t perfect. Your miracle is that the King of Kings loved you and chose you even in your sin. If we allow our view of God and his goodness to be trapped in a happy ending, we will miss the joy in the journey, and the miracles he provides along the way.

Because even though I haven’t seen my father’s circumstances change, I have seen God as my whole complete father, and allowed healing to take root in my heart. Even though the couple who couldn’t conceive had pain—they adopted a beautiful child who NEEDED a family. When we choose to quit camping out in our misery we will see that our mess isn’t because of God, but that he IS working all things together for our good.

I don’t know where you are today. I don’t know what miracle you are hoping for, or what circumstance you wish would change or go away—but I do know that our God, he is fighting for YOU and working ALL things together for your good—you need only be still. Find joy in the journey, sweet sister. You are not forgotten, and you are NOT alone.

This post was written by Maggie Riley. 

**To read part 6 of this series, click here. 

We are continuing our fall blog series, “7 Must-Wins.” With a uniquely personal twist toward us as women, we will address seven topics that must be understood and walked out in order for us to have success in this life. To start with Part 1 of this series, click here.

Faith righteousness. WOW what a big topic, I never would have fathomed that these two words could mean so much to my soul. Two simple words when put together can impact a believer to their core.

Faith—is the complete CONFIDENCE in things hoped for and assurance in the unseen.

Righteousness—Right standing between you and the Father, as it should be.

Put it together: Faith righteousness is complete confidence that I am in right standing with my Father, and I have assurance that my hopes and things that are unseen are as it should be between me and Him.

We all accept this free gift of righteousness when we become believers, but along the way, we all starting doubting. We doubt our sins are forgiven, we doubt his love, we doubt we are worthy enough. So we start working out of our own ability and taking things into our own hands, thinking we can earn His love through our works.

In my personal walk, I have had to come to a place of being confident to trust in my faith righteousness during the gaps in my life. What I mean is this: there are circumstances in life that we didn’t plan on, and a gap can be created between you and God. We get hurt, we lose a loved one, or we are in a transitioning season. But we must understand that even when our circumstances are not as it should be, we are ALWAYS as it should be with God. Understanding that, when gaps come our way, we can look up to the Father with complete confidence that we are in right standing with Him, even though the world around us is in complete chaos.

My encouragement today is to believe that you are as it should be. God sent us His Son so we could believe in Him and have righteousness that doesn’t need to be earned. It is a free gift, because he loves us…it is as it should be.

This post was written by Madi Mikael. 

**To read Part 5, of this series, click here. 

This is a guest post from Laura Brandenburg, which was originally written for her personal blog, “Obeying the Call,” on August 19, 2013. She has given us permission to share it here:

I believe last December was the first time I ever publicly blogged about our journey with trying to get pregnant, and while I don’t explicitly blog or post about it often since then, I do talk about it a lot more because that experience for me was–in a word–freeing. I received text messages and fb messages from people I had no idea were on the same journey (or had been on the same journey) as me, and what I realized is that this is something people don’t talk about much. But when you’re in the midst of it, you need people to talk about it. And you need people to talk to about it.

So, here I go again… Yesterday, our pastor at Harvest preached on faith in “the gap”–that is, having faith for the time between when God says something will happen and when it actually happens. And he said something that really caught my attention–if you’re disappointed in the gap, then your faith is not in God. God does not disappoint. Isn’t that what His word tells us? That He is faithful; that He never leaves; that His hope does. not. disappoint.

I was floored by that. I keep thinking about how all week I’ve been so discouraged. In fact, my last journal entry started like this: “I should be hopeful… but instead, I feel burned out and discouraged. Why can’t I just be a normal person who gets pregnant the way normal people do?”

Do I know about “the gap”? Sure, I do. I’ve been in it for two years now. Every day I pray for hope renewed. Why is it harder this month?

I started to do something I’m not sure I’ve ever done during a sermon (yeah, during worship, but a sermon?). I started to cry. And not like little, cute, lady-like tears. Fortunately, Brad was almost done and was inviting people down to prayer, like every Sunday. And I am one of those prideful people who doesn’t like to go down for that–I’ll just pray on my own, thanks.

But as soon as the service was over, Hal pulled my arm–we need to go. My sweet husband who has seen it all in these last two years and who knows what I need better than I do sometimes and who loves me and lets me be just me. Tears spilling over, Kleenex in hand–I couldn’t even talk. Hal gave the short version, and the couple started to pray for us. My tears were quickly full sobs. I couldn’t believe it; I was sobbing in church.

“Just trust God.” “Just keep trusting God.” “Wait on His timing.” “His timing will be perfect.” Oh, the things people say. Really? Just trust God? Oh, okay. I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll start now. Why do comments like that irritate me so much? I know people mean well…and so I braced myself for grace, in expectation, as the couple began to pray.

But the couple who prayed over us was different. She didn’t pray any of those things–and she didn’t even pray for us to get pregnant. She prayed for my heart. She prayed for my disappointment. She prayed for hope. She prayed for everything I needed to hear.

Afterward, her husband spoke a word over Hal–over his father’s heart. And then they prayed for us again–as parents.

Today is a new day. I cling to Lamentations 3–that because of His great mercy, we are not consumed. Sometimes I feel consumed. But in His great mercy, He saves me. Again and again and again.

Yesterday, Brad said that faith is not imparted; it’s implanted. I choose to keep my heart soil fertile, to let His word nourish deep, to heal the disappointment, to renew hope. I choose, and I know this.

I have learned to trust in His goodness, to breathe deeply in His peace–that I can trust Him because He is good, and I say it to myself over and over: He is good. Again. He is good. Again. He is good–and I can trust Him.