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Encouraging

Nations Day 8 Religious Or Relationship

May 19, 2021 by Christine Wood Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Matthew 9:9–13
Matthew 5:13–16
1 Peter 3:13–16
1 Corinthians 9:19–23

Nations, Day 8

I grew up a pastor’s kid in a small town in Queensland, Australia. I love being an Aussie. We don’t take anything too seriously, especially ourselves. Our country has beautiful beaches, desserts and rainforests, interesting and deadly animals, and a culture rich in history and diversity. I may be biased, but I believe Australia is the best country in the world.

When I was a little girl the Australian culture resembled a Christian ethic in many respects. Almost all of the shops were closed on Sundays even though most of my friends were at the beach rather than in church. Traditional family values were accepted and esteemed, and television had very little swearing or nudity. Most kids lived in a traditional family, with married parents and siblings. We called ourselves a ‘Christian country’ and our community values respected that.

Fast forward forty years and times have changed dramatically. None of the things I just mentioned are true anymore. Sunday is one of the busiest retail days of the week, and many people have to juggle their desire to attend church around their work commitments. Most television is full of inappropriate content, and sadly, the majority of Australian children live in a home with either a single parent or in a blended family of divorced adults and stepchildren.

With the breakdown of Christian values our community is broken, and its people are hurting. The disease of accumulating wealth and success has gripped us, leading to workaholicism and the worship of productivity. The breakdown of family relationships has resulted in a community of hurt, lonely and broken people. People’s lives are full of conflict, unforgiveness and anger. Our community is ravaged by anxiety, suicide and mental illness.

I have been blessed to always be a part of a supportive and loving church family. This encouraging environment has helped me navigate the challenges of marriage and raising three children. I have been able to worship God wholeheartedly and listen to His word preached openly every week through my entire life. This is a gift I often take for granted. The local church has always been a safe place for me, a place I love and retreat to. My church was an integral part of my personal evangelism. If I wanted to introduce someone to Jesus, I would invite them along to church. Things are different now.

A few years ago we had a Royal Commission into institutionalised abuse, and a light was shone on the horror many children endured at the hands of those who claimed to represent Jesus. The moral failures of high-profile church leaders made the headlines, and the Church’s reputation was smeared. It has become more difficult to be a Christian in Australia.

I have been compelled to my knees as my heart breaks for a community who desperately needs Jesus, and yet has largely rejected the Church. It has changed the way I think and the way I live. I am learning to take Jesus outside the walls of my church.

This has had to be very intentional for me. For most of my life, all of my close friends were already Christians—already part of my church family. I had to make an effort to mix with people who don’t have a faith, people who are very different to me. First, I joined a fitness group. We met to work out in a park close to my home three mornings a week. I found myself making friends with a lady who was openly gay. It was so good for me to get to know her as a person, with hopes and fears and worries similar to my own, and for me to share my life with her.

I also joined a community book club. Each month we read a new book, most of which I wouldn’t have chosen for myself, and we discussed the themes and characters together. The group was smart and diverse, and very different to me. They had different political views, different backgrounds and different values. At the end of my two years in the group one of the ladies said to me, “I’ve never known a proper Christian before.”

Reading the gospels, I am always challenged by the way Jesus lived and who He spent time with. It wasn’t with the religious people, who were often judgemental and exploited those they were supposed to be leading. No, Jesus spent time with sinners. The people who were far from God. The ones who needed healing, saving and loving.

In Matthew 9 we read about Jesus calling Matthew to be one of His disciples. Matthew was a tax collector, someone who had betrayed his own people to work for the occupying Roman nation. Matthew was getting rich by exploiting others, and the people hated him for it. And yet, Jesus calls Matthew to be part of His inner circle.

The first thing Jesus does is have lunch at Matthew’s house with his tax collector friends, but the Pharisees, the religious leaders, didn’t like it. They questioned the disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (Matthew 9:11—12)

As an Australian Christian I have spent most of my life with the healthy, people who already have a relationship with God. But now, God has called me to go to the sick. It is challenging and uncomfortable at times. I often feel awkward and struggle to find the right words to say, but God is faithful. I am learning to be a friend to those who are far from God and show them what Jesus is like. Australians need Jesus.

My prayer for the Australian Church is we would represent Jesus well, both as individuals and as an organisation. Pray we would be a friend to the sinners and introduce them to the One where hope is found and help them find a safe place of belonging in God’s family, here on earth as it is in heaven.

Christine Wood

Bio: Christine is a writer who packed up her city life to live in an RV and travel full-time around Australia with her husband. She misses her three adult children and church family while loving the opportunity to explore the beauty of creation and strengthen her sense of adventure. Christine writes about faith, self-care and simple living on her blog, www.livingwithmargins.com.

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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Nations Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

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Posted in: Blessed, Broken, Called, church, Community, Faith, God, Hope, Jesus, Relationship Tagged: challenged, Christian, Encouraging, Environment, family, Heart Break, nations, Religious, respect, Values

Sketched VII Day 15 Nikki

March 27, 2020 by Marietta Taylor 2 Comments

Read His Words Before Ours!

Proverbs 3:5-6
Colossians 3:23-24
Psalm 2:10-11
Hebrews 4:14-16

Sketched VII, Day 15

In the beginning, I couldn’t have foreseen what Redefined Courage would become. I simply saw a need within my own family, and knew, with deep conviction, God was calling me to help.

My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. It recurred in 2011, and again in 2013. I remember telling my mom I would design clothes for her, clothes meant to be gentle to her post-op body while making her feel beautiful. At the time, it was just an idea, but God already knew the plan.

He knew He would call me to design post-surgical clothing my mom would never wear. But He also knew, until we find a cure, hundreds of other women going through bilateral mastectomy would wear them instead.

When my mom died, I designed seven or eight shirts in a frenzy. December 2019 marked four years since my mom went to her heavenly home. Since her passing, I’ve realized grief makes you run fast and hard because frenetic movement is easier than staying put. 

But when I peeled back the emotional layers and slowed down, I landed on designing and implementing just one shirt, the postoperative shirt. It’s a cotton shirt with 4 interior drain pockets, buttons up the front, and hems and seams which won’t irritate incisions.

Once I had the shirt, I knew it shouldn’t be just a shirt shipped in a pretty pink bag. It needed to be a box, a tangibly solid declaration of courage and hope. Additionally, with every HOPE shirt sent across the world, we include an encouraging note written on the tag. Sometimes it’s Scripture, and sometimes it’s my own words, meant to help each woman grow closer to God.

When women follow us on social media and read any of our blog posts, they find encouragement. Then their boxes arrive, every detail designed to speak of God’s love. In the box is the shirt they need for surgery, makeup to help them feel beautiful, organic tea (since a good cup of tea always warms your heart!), and a Norwex body cloth to aid in bathing when they have the drains attached to their bodies.

I pray over each shirt, asking for its recipient to experience the care and nearness of God. As she begins a battle which will change not only her body, but her entire life, I hope these free gifts remind her she is loved.

It’s kind of like what Jesus did for us. He offers the gift of salvation, purchased with the blood of Jesus; our only cost is our yes.

So, in essence, I believe Redefined Courage is a simple way to say,

“You’re loved.
You’re beautiful.
In this dark time, you are cared for and remembered.” 

I’ve always been good at encouraging and connecting with others. God uses those strengths when I write shirt tags, or when I connect with a local woman facing surgery.

My weakness is my lack of confidence. I don’t hold a business degree, or do math well. When I feel insecurities creeping in, He assures me, “Nikki, you are confident in Me.”

He’s using both my strengths and weaknesses to grow me. Yes, the Lord has led me to this huge undertaking, but only one manageable step at a time. And now, I feel like every box represents not only the love I have for my mom, but more importantly, my love for and obedience to the Heavenly Father. 

Living on mission has meant learning how to prioritize my time and energy.
I used to do all. the. things.,
until one day I made a 45 minute drive home in complete silence,
walked upstairs, and slept for 24 hours.
I knew something had to change.

I realized my purpose is to serve God, not my to-do list. I began reviewing my commitments, asking myself if each one was present at the Lord’s prompting, or shouldered under my own sense of “should.”

Sometimes I must say no, and sometimes my no makes people unhappy. But since I’ve followed God, I’ve seen growth personally and in ministry.
Having margin in our lives is vital.

Refueling is also critical for us to stay on mission. I spend a lot of time in my prayer room, which is full of Scripture and the first names of women who’ve reached out online. I also rely on my Bible and worship music. Finally, silence is how the Lord speaks to me, so I walk for an hour each day. Quietness fills me up and allows me to hear God.

Let me share two lessons I’ve learned with those of you called to run on mission.

First, don’t tell your Creator you can’t or won’t. Seeing your heart, knowing your refusal is rooted in fear or plain old stubbornness, and desiring your transformation, He will often ask you to do that very thing.

Second, yes, you can.
I am not “qualified.”
But I have a purpose, passion, and an amazing God, so I’m doing His work anyway.
If you, too, have only those three elements,
you can.
Period.
Because God is in it with you, and He can.
He will grow you and then you’ll bless others.

I’ll end with this . . .
trust in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Always.

Some days (or years) may be dark and excruciatingly trying. I was a wayward daughter who didn’t return to the Lord until after I had my second child out of wedlock.

And yet, in these last four years since my mom died, I’ve grown into a woman who loves God more than anything. Trust Him, because He will use even the hard things, the unqualified moments, and the dark days for your transformation and His glory.

In the end, it’s going to be beautiful.

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A Note About Sketched
In this series, we are stepping into the shoes of various characters throughout history. Some are biblical, some are well-known in modern day times, and some are people our writers know personally. We do our best to research the culture and times surrounding these individuals to give an accurate representation of their first-person perspectives on life and the world, but we can’t be 100% accurate. “Sketched” is our best interpretation of how these characters view(ed) God, themselves, and the world around them. Our hope is that by stepping into their everyday, we will see our own lives a little differently!
Enjoy!
And keep watching for Sketched Themes to pop up throughout the year!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Sketched VII Week Three! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Click the above image for today’s Digging Deeper!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Sketched VII

Posted in: Called, Courage, Deep, God, Hope, Jesus, Love, Obedience, Sketched, Trust Tagged: Beautiful, Connection, conviction, Encouraging, loved, Nikki, Redefined Courage, Trust Him

Shielded Day 5 Wrapped In Truth

January 31, 2020 by Rebekah Hargraves Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Ephesians 6:14
John 14:1-7
John 5:19-29
2 Corinthians 10:1-6
2 Timothy 3:16-17

Shielded Day 5

We are at war.
Our enemy is real, and he will come after us in fierce attack mode.
But take heart, dear friend, because the story doesn’t end there.

In Ephesians 6:10-18, Paul speaks hope into our spirits, encouraging and equipping us for the spiritual battles we face every day on this side of heaven. He teaches us precisely which weapons we need in order to fight back successfully, from a stance of victory.

What Paul describes as the armor of God is the very armor God Himself possesses.
He has gifted it to us
so we might share in His strength and power
and be equipped for victory.

Today we’re going to focus on one foundational piece of armor, the belt of truth.

The belt of truth refers to the whole canon of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. It encompasses everything we are told about the way to heaven, God’s design for men and women, right and wrong, and more.

The belt of truth is God’s righteous, holy standard on all matters pertaining to life
and godliness.
It is unchanging,
relevant,
applicable,
sufficient,
and anything but relative.
When we know and embrace His truth, fully surrendering ourselves to the sufficiency of Christ, Jesus tells us in John 8:32, we are free.

Why the belt of truth? In Paul’s day, soldiers wore military uniforms in which every other piece of armor hinged on the belt. The belt served as the foundation and held everything else together and in place.

In the same way, truth is the foundational weapon with which we face the attacks of the enemy and emerge victorious. When we go to war against the father of lies, we fight with truth.

It is only by first knowing truth we can then access the other pieces of our armor (righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation).
It is only by first knowing truth we will be able to expose the lies of the enemy.

Jesus, for example, wielded the belt of truth successfully in His wilderness season of temptation. Each time Satan threw something at Jesus, a temptation, accusation, or other falsehood, Jesus fought back only ever with the truth of the Word.

Furthermore, our understanding of truth is not merely something we turn to when the going gets tough. It is a belt we must wrap around ourselves every single day of our lives, for as Paul points out in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, it is the Word of God which equips us to successfully live our day-to-day lives:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God
and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work.”

In an age of relativism, when fewer and fewer people are believing in absolute truth, we can know without a shadow of doubt absolute truth does exist. Truth lives within the pages of Scripture and is there, at the ready for us, whenever we need it.

Perhaps even more amazingly, we have a Helper with us every time we read truth, One Who will guide us into an ever-growing understanding, day by day:

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
(John 14:25-26)

With the aid of our Helper, the truth of God’s word becomes a powerful weapon in our hands:

“For the word of God is living and active,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow,
and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
(Hebrews 4:12)

If we want to be overcomers in Christ,
victors in our every run-in with the schemes and attacks of Satan,
becoming students of the Word must be our starting place.

When we dive into the pages of Scripture, guided by the Holy Spirit,
we will be equipped to stand firm.


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Don’t miss today’s Digging Deeper!     And we’d love to hear your thoughts from today’s Journey!    Comment Here!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Shielded Week One! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Click the above image for today’s Digging Deeper!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Shielded!

Posted in: Equipped, Gift, God, Heaven, Paul, Shielded, Truth, Victorious Tagged: armor, battle, Belt Of Truth, Do Not Fear, Encouraging, enemy, War, Weapons, Wrapped

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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14