Sunday Devotion (Know God’s Heart)

Shorter Sunday Note: We Need to Know God’s Heart to Understand His Word Properly and Intimately Know His Person. Remove the Heart and It is Not a True Picture of God.

Truly, I think (could be wrong), one of the biggest missing pieces sometimes in Christianity is understanding the heart of God. One can know the bible well, be anointed, and quote God and miss His heart.

The Pharisees knew the Torah, they lacked intimacy with God. Their interpretation of God was WAY OFF because they lacked true knowledge of God. They were religious and harmful. They cared more about being right by their eyes and looking pious than doing what was right by God. They neglected the most important things and focused on religious things.

Throughout history you can trace the misinterpretation of the bible back to a lack of understanding the heart of God and who He is and how He operates. There is no part of God that is not love. His love simply does not always match our understanding of love.

Knowing the very heartbeat of God and living out of abiding in His heart is what Jesus did. He stated His life source was living out of the Father’s love. This is one of the reasons Jesus was and is the most effective representation of heaven on earth.

Those who do not love do not know God (1 John 4:8).

A person can preach and teach and not know God.

A person can pastor and prophesy and not know God. I have met some pretty mean spirited pastors and prophets. And while they claim to just tell it like it is, many miss the true voice of God because the purpose of being a messenger for God is to connect people with His heart, not just relay information.

Those who do not know God will not accurately represent God nor release heaven on earth. Jesus was not rude, mean spirited, reckless, selfish, religious, hateful, political, sexist, racist, unfeeling, lacking compassion, disinterested with the poor, orphan or widow, interested in just filling meeting and not stopping for the one.

May we know God, and not the God of our traditions. May we know the real God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. The God whose heart beats passionately for ALL of humanity. The God who loves better than anyone on this planet.

Our world needs Ambassadors of heaven, not replicates of the Pharisee.

Lord help us (including myself) to know you, and know the height, depth, width, and vast expanse of your love. Help us to be like Jesus and live out of that love. Knowing your heart and living out of your heart is how the world will see Jesus through us. He said His disciples would be known for great love.

Warmly,

Erin Lamb

Empowered & Free Website

When Prayer is An Excuse Not to Love

Morning Short Devotion: When Prayer is An Excuse Not to Love.

I am pro action. I believe our actions tell a greater story than our words. If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, yet have not God love, I am only making noise. I love that Jesus did not just talk about loving people, the love of Jesus was demonstrated through His actions, even to death on a cross.

Love came down and pierced through the darkness, not by ego or eloquent sermons. Love extended a hand, washed feet, mentored, discipled, and met with people outside the Temple walls. Love engaged on a personal level with the least, last, and the lost.

He stated:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed,~Isaiah 61:1.

Love is verb and moves us beyond talking about the goodness of God to manifesting the goodness of God. The love of God, as Mama Heidi says, looks like something. I say, the love of God looks like someone, Jesus. All of His life centered around this one pivotal thing, “The Father’s love.”

I can see a person eating from a garbage can and offer them prayer. Or I can run to the store, if possible, and get them a sandwich.

There have been people around me who suffered great loss and I could have just offered prayer, or offered groceries, a listening ear, a connection with someone else who could help them, help them with their resume or send them job alerts, check in, go sit in hospitals/hospice with them, send gift cards, offer to hang out to take their mind off their troubles. Why? Love is demonstrative.

We cannot do everything, we can do something. There are some people I have said no to before. They sought to take advantage of kindness or I simply could not offer any assistance. I try to point people to someone who may be able to assist them. I did not have the capability to offer anything and it was not helpful. Codependency is not what I am advocating, where we think it’s our job to save people. I am advocating thinking of what is the most loving thing to do? What would we want done for us? Most importantly what would God want done for the person?

I love the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) because he refused to leave someone in a painful and vulnerable state. When others walked on by, the good Samaritan saw an opportunity to love.

Recent studies have shown people are more prone to take photos or video of someone suffering or a bad accident than help. Please call 911. Don’t just watch someone drown hoping your video goes viral. Seriously.

We do not have unlimited resources. God does. I do not have the time nor energy to help everyone. I do have the ability many times to do more than pray. There are blessing bags in my car. I have helped people look for jobs. I have helped distract kids at the checkout so their mom has a break. I have baby sat for free so parents could get a break. I have offered odd jobs to people out of work. I have helped people clean houses when they were sick. I have given people free business start up advice. I have mentored for free. I have been a friend to the lonely. I have gone to hospitals and nursing homes and just sat with the hurting or taken my guitar. I have listened to people download their issues for hours when I needed someone to be there for me. Love is so very costly. It costs us something to love well. Yet love moves us beyond just sticking bandaids on broken bones.

God love will transform the world, not sermons, politics, religious programs, nor meetings. The world needs genuine love and concern. God so loved the world He gave His Son. The Son so loved the world He gave His life. If we so love the world, what evidence of love is present? If prayer is removed, what evidence is there of love?

For more devotions, check out Confident & Free:

https://www.empowered-free.com/shop

This weekend journals and books are on sale. I Thought I Knew What Love Was is already marked down. Use the Code Labor Day for Confident & Free and Journals.

Love,

Erin Lamb

Upcoming Events! (Book Signing Today & Live Webcast August 22, 2018)

Hope you join us today in Columbus, Ohio for the Confident & Free book signing! There will be refreshments, a raffle, and the opportunity to chat.

Location & Time:

  • 1055 McNaughten Road, Columbus Ohio.
  • Noon until 2pm

Also join us on the author FB page August 22nd at 6am Pacific, 9 am Eastern for the Speak Life Challenge teaching.

I will teaching August 22 on healing soul wounds of rejection, trauma, abandonment, and walking in greater confidence with God.

I was trained under Dr. Charles Kraft and Dr. Scott Bitcon and have years of experience in seeing the soul healed.

Some people are seemingly stuck because they have unhealed soul wounds. I want us to be unstuck and thrive. Do you have lingering wounds of hurt, pain, shame, rejection, or trauma. God wants you healed!!

Stop by and check out previous teaching videos loaded. Author Teaching Videos.

Warmly,

Erin Lamb

Business: https://www.empowered-free.com

Charity: operationGodisLove.org

Confident & Free Book Released

I released my second book on 7/7/2018. I would love for you to check it out and leave me some feedback.

I truly believe God longs for us to live empowered lives by His Spirit where we are bold, confident, and free!

You and I were created to live confident, courageous, bold, and with healthy esteem. We were created by love (God), to be loved, then to love! We cannot love our neighbor if we do not love ourselves.

Studies show confidence is a better indicator of success than skill. Godly confidence involves healthy risks, courage, and freedom. Dive into this 30 day devotional aimed at drawing you into the heartbeat of God and building godly confidence.

Confident & Free Kindle and Paperback are available for purchase on Amazon.com! Get your copy today!

Kindle: Purchase the Kindle Version Here!

Paperback: Purchase the Paperback Here!

Warmly,

Erin Lamb

God Esteem & Confidence (Manifesting Sonship Series Part IV-b)

  
Sometimes WordPress behaves wacky. In the middle of my post on Moses it posted what was not finished. Hence getting more than one post today…😃

I left off talking about Moses letting God know about His weaknesses. God already knew. He knows everything. We are deeply loved by God, yet the story isn’t primarily about us…it’s about God. It’s about who God is. 

God has always existed. It’s His story for His glory, and we get to join His story. 

God had a plan to free His people, and He chose Moses to be His spokesperson. He knew when He chose Moses that he had a fear issue, fear of rejection, insecurities, and that Moses was not eloquent of speech. He didn’t walk up on Moses and say to Himself, “Hey I wonder what this guy is like? Can I use him?” 

God knows our flaws, fears, weaknesses, insecurities, wounds, shortcomings, and still calls us all to join His story. 

If you read the Bible cover to cover you will find only one who is perfect and He is Jesus. He perfectly represented the Father. 

What does that mean for us? 

1. It means we are who God says we are. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. He’s right in His assessment always. 

2. Our confidence is to come from our identity in Christ, nothing else. Jesus plainly said, “I am the Vine. You are the branches. If you abide in Me, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing,“~from John 15:5.

3. If God calls, He equips, and provides provision. It’s about Him being seen through us for His glory. We can’t take credit for what He has done when He works through our areas of weakness. We can’t take credit for our strengths either…

4. It’s not about our weakness, it’s about His strength! 

5. Even if we mess up, God has a redemptive plan. 

6. Low self esteem and insecurity are not the will of God, nor is it humility. 

a. Some today might applaud Moses for telling God he wasn’t qualified or worthy. God on the other hand rebuked him. He said to Moses, “Who made the mouth?” 

You may be thinking, “Easier said than done. This God esteem seems hard to walk out.” 

Ummmm…yeah! It’s something I’m learning to walk out. Confidence hasn’t always been applauded in my life. Some Christians labeled me arrogant for thinking I could hear from God and I didn’t have great experiences walking confidence out. If I stated I was a filthy sinner or worm, there was applause for my humility. Yet the more I searched the scriptures, the more evidence I found that God wanted us to accept His assessment of who we are. We were (past tense) dead in trespasses and sin. We were (past tense) sinners on the way to hell. 

Even in my occupation other women and some men made it their mission to sabatoge efforts for success. 

I am still walking it all out with you because God calls me way, way, way out of my comfort zone. I had zero desire to lead, be known, teach, preach, be on platforms, etc…leave me in a room with God alone and I’m as happy as can be. I had zero, zero desire to be a spokesperson for God. None. And God has called me repeadily to do what I never thought I could and many things I had no desire to do. 

Life examples:

After years of being somewhat beat down in ministry and enduring some intense persecution at work and with Christians. I am not talking about people just being rude either. I’m talking about being stalked, falsely accused, publicly humiliated and lied on, people trying to get me fired, cussed out in public places, vandalized property, people I didn’t know contacting me about gossip they heard, being removed from “friend” circles without warning, destroying my work samples….on and on…God calls me after this 7 year period of testing-(lets call it that), to minister to a stranger I met one time at a conference. 

My first response was, “Are you serious? Um no thanks.” God didn’t rebuke me like He did Moses. He kept nudging. “Will you go for me?” I was still hurting, still tired, over ministry, seeking rest and restoration. I had zero desire to go minister to someone I didn’t know. And I would hold things God gave me until I had courage to send them. It was hard. I had to overcome plenty of fear. Or at least move past it long enough to bless someone else. He would state the timing was on point. God had figured in my lag time.

That one act of (delayed) obedience led to years of being obedient, faithful, facing fears, and just being a vessel God could use, even while broken. It was super challenging as I felt a truck had backed over my life, yet it brought about good things for that person and their family. It also helped me grow in God confidence.  

The purpose of me telling you is this…Sometimes, you’re going to be afraid. Sometimes you may feel really small or inadequate. Sometimes you may not be well received. Yet if you give it to God, He will do something beautiful. You may not be the benefactor. It may be someone else. It’s for His glory. I told God He could have all of my life. Since then I’ve had chances to walk it out. 

We are His workmanship created for His glory. Your reward for being faithful to God (He does like to give rewards by the way), may be in heaven where moths and rust do not decay. Some may be on earth, I can’t say. I do know it’s worth it to believe what God says about us and to step out of the boat! 

No one wins games by sitting on the bench. 

No one walks on the water by sitting in the boat! 

Papa God I thank You that Your strength is made perfect in our weakness. I thank You that all You say about us is true. I thank You that You are so powerful to heal us where we are afraid, weak, broken, and insecure. Our true confidence is in You! I bless everyone reading this with Godly esteem and God Confidence. In Jesus name. Amen. 

Love, 

Erin 

Humility or Insecurity

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Photo Credit: Pinterest

I normally don’t post the same things on my personal blog and this site, but I felt led to for this topic. God longs for us to see ourselves and our circumstances through His eyes. Hope this post encourages you.

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you, Deuteronomy 31:6.

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong, 1 Corinthians 16:13.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline, 2 Timothy 1:7.

I’ve met numerous people who have mistaken insecurity with humility. Insecurity is one of those things we either glorify (that person is so humble) or pity, or we make excuses for.

The Bible does not link insecurity with humility. Jesus was perfect in humility and completely secure in His identity as the Son of God. He did not put Himself down, compare Himself to others, or doubt the Father’s love for Him. He knew who He was, why He came, and made no apologies for His confidence. Jesus was confident and bold, yet humble and compassionate. He was not filled with fear. He was filled with love.

What if I’m insecure?

Most people have battled or battle with some insecurities. It may not be appearance, status, or age related. It could be insecurities about God’s love, insecurities about the future, or just plain fear of bad things happening (foreboding).

The cure is an identity rooted in Christ and a filling of God’s love! There is no fear in love, all insecurities are rooted in fear.

Insecurity is not only rooted in fear, but unbelief. It is refusing to fully believe and accept God’s truth about who He is, what He’s called us to do, and our identity as sons and daughters.

God does not want us to be insecure. He longs for us to trust Him and receive His great love.

The Bible tells us to be courageous, to trust God fully, to place our confidence in God’s abilities and not our own. Jesus changed our names and gave us new identities in Him. We are called to live out our God given identities. We have a reason to be confident; our hope is not in ourselves or something, but Someone great. We place no confidence in our flesh, but place all confidence in God.

What is humility?

Humility is being a servant, seeking what’s best for others.

Humility is rooted in love.

Humility gives God the credit and acknowledges dependence on God.

Humility is trusting God. Without Him, we can do nothing.

Humility is God centered. Insecurity is self centered (the focus is not God, but us).

Humility exalts God. Insecurity exalts our weaknesses or shortcomings.

Humility is acknowledging that greatness comes from God.

Humility is being able to be corrected or admit fault. Insecurity can’t handle being wrong.

Sweet friends, God longs for us to see ourselves and our situations the way He does. He loves us. Our feelings may not line up with His word. If we ask God for help, He will help us to be confident in Him. We are a chosen people, set apart for His glory!

Prayer:

Father help us to receive the fullness of Your love. Uproot all lies and unbelief. Replace them with Your truth. Your perfect love cast out fear. Help us to be bold, courageous, and humble. We need You. In Jesus name, amen.

From the Killing Insecurity Series http://morena242.wordpress.com.