Live To Give

Godliness is good. 

Godliness with contentment is even better. 

Love is good. 

 Agape love is even better. 

When do we get to the point that all we desire from God is God himself? 

 When do we learn that all we need from one another is to just be with one another, learning to accept and encourage one another?

It is enough that our lives bring pleasure and blessing into the heart of God and into the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We love it when those we love do something to bless us. So, how much more should we set our hearts on blessing others? 

We know that Our God is a loving and giving Father. What if we reciprocated and learned to love and give to him? How wise would that be?

We can have Christmas any time, even in August, if only we concern ourselves with helping and blessing those we love and those that love us. 

 We can experience heaven always, as we learn to worship and exult in Our Father and Our Savior, just because they are worthy of our love and adoration.

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. 

 Let us live to give.

~ Brad Heilhecker 

Hurricane Harvey

Heavenly Father – run your fingers through this storm. Dissolve and dissipate every band threatening our land. Dry up every flooded area and recede and call back the rising waters.

Speak now to this storm -Be Still! 

Calm the winds, nervous minds, and anxious hearts. Give supernatural strength and endurance to Your children that are serving and helping others. Give supernatural peace and favor to Your children dealing with rising waters, high winds, and damaged homes. 

Cover Your children stranded and evacuated with Your supernatural hedge of protection and peace. Clear travel paths and protect people in their journeys. 

Remove evil from the hearts of those wanting to take advantage of people in their time of need. 

Unite our land. Unite us as brothers and sisters. Repair all rifts and restore relationships. 

Provide and meet for every need. 

Heal every hurt. 

You are the Great Restorer! – 

Restore our homes, hearts, and land. 

We thank You Lord and praise You for the many blessings amidst all these tragedies. 

Thank You for hearing our prayers. 

       ~ XXOO Michelle Bollom 

#HurricaneHarvey #PrayForTexas

Blessings For One Another

“All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too.” ~‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭1:3-5‬ ‭MSG‬‬

It is always comforting to me when God places the right person, in my life, at the very moment I needed them. I have found the greatest treasure in these relationships and I have been blessed by them. We all go through difficult times, failings, struggles, heartache, or suffering. Not one of us is immune to the sins of the world, from the sin in the garden. We all have an opportunity to find healing and comfort in the arms of our Lord. And if we allow ourselves to be in this place of vulnerability freedom awaits us.

I have suffered much and I have also lived in the abundant presence of life. It is an ongoing journey and the Lord leads the way. It is in him where we find immeasurable peace. Through you and I a similar relationship is offered through our words and actions to those who are suffering. We get to walk beside that person, sharing our testimony and offering hope. 

I thank God for the ultimate sacrifice of giving through the loss of his son and I continue to thank him for the people he brings to me to encourage and love.

Choose to encourage or love someone today!
Baring His Beauty 

Tiffany Thomas 

The Journey

You were hiding too long in the cave

The sunlight now blinds your eyes

I know you must have been so alone

Away from all things familiar

To be taken away, on an unknown journey

With only His voice and His heart 

guiding your path

This journey was set out for you 

from the beginning of time

Looking back over your life

You felt like you failed in many areas

His grace tells you it was part 

of His plans for you

You couldn’t understand 

when your life came crashing down 

like a house built on sand

You had so many questions

While He seemed silent

He knew that 

He would restore you

Mind, body and soul

More beautiful than 

you have ever been

He was by your side 

through your darkest nights

Though your pain told you

you were alone

He was your light and your strength 

when you could not go on

The lifter of your head, your best friend

He calmed your raging storms within

He fought for you, when you didn’t even know

This journey that was meant to break you

made you stronger

You now know how to war 

and win battles

Yet you still know how to love 

and to care

You now know the One 

who goes before you

The One who leads you 

into His perfect rest

Looking back at your journey

The up’s and the down’s

The detours you took

The hurt in your heart

The questions on your lips 

You now know that sometimes 

our foundations must crumble

To give way for His plans 

to come alive in our lives

When we let go and surrender

He makes everything beautiful

in His time

We can trust the process

when He is in control

The wilderness was your fruitful place

You have found your identity 

amidst the battles raging

Found your Bridegroom 

to be a covenant keeper

Found your purpose 

in the midst of the storm

Arise this day and leave your cave

I have stripped you of everything 

to have My way

I had to test the condition of your heart

For I am coming for a bride 

without spot or wrinkle

Lean into Me, my bride, my beautiful one

You have paid the price

to be One with Me

You are My delight

I will come for you.

~ Ebigale Wilson 

Still Falling For You

  I love this song by Ellie Goulding. 
Enjoy! ~ XXOO Michelle Bollom 

L.A.N.D Exercises

God’s strategic plan for his children as we walk this earth is for us to love one another. We do this by engaging in L.A.N.D. Exercises.  

Our L.A.N.D. Exercises – Loving, Accepting, Nurturing, and Discipling – the life of Christ flowing through us to others. 

 First, we love – we value highly each and every soul; we are patient and kind to all. Secondly, we accept each person at whatever stage of life they may be in; we love unconditionally. Thirdly, we nurture the life of God in each heart; we try to find out what each one needs in order to flourish. Finally, we disciple others; we find ways of bringing them along in the kingdom.

Loving. We do unto others as we would have them do unto us. We are patient and kind with everyone. We do not envy; we do not boast; we are not proud, rude or self seeking; we are not easily angered; we keep no record of wrongs; we do not delight in evil, but we rejoice in the truth; we bear all things, trust in all things, and hope in all things. 

Accepting. The first step in any relationship is acceptance of the other person right where they are in their walk of faith. We are all in different stages of our journey, and we should not demand that others meet an arbitrary standard of perfection before they are worthy of our love and acceptance. Christ did this for us when he invited us into the kingdom. He met us right where we were, came into our lives, and initiated the great eternal love affair that we now have with him. If he had waited for us to meet his standards of holiness before being worthy of a relationship with him, we would still be stuck in our sins.

Nurturing. As a mother or father deals with their children, we must also deal with others: we must often overlook faults and focus on nurturing each area of growth and grace that may be manifesting in the life of the ones we love. This requires prayerfulness, watchfulness, gentleness, and patience. People grow and change in their own time, in God’s good time, not on our time table or because we want or need them to grow or change.

Discipling. We look for opportunities to bring people along in the faith, to immerse people in the knowledge of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to teach others to be obedient to the commands of Christ. 

 We practice and teach others to keep the faith, to walk in love, and to hope in our heavenly reward.

                   ~ Brad Heilhecker 

A.I.R Exercises

If we are to live well the life that Our Father has granted us, we will need to take time each day to allow him to build us up in our spirits and souls. 

We need from Our Father Approbation, Inspiration, and Restoration – our A.I.R. Exercises.

Approbation: we need the loving approval of Our Father, to hear him praise us for the progress we are making in the faith. He will tell us when we are being good, when we are living a holy life, when we are behaving wisely, when we are growing in our faith, being filled with his Spirit, growing in grace and living by his power. We can praise him for all that he is and all that he does; we can remind him that we know that he is the Father of Lights who does not change like shifting shadows, that we know that every good and perfect gift comes from him.

Inspiration: we need to hear Our Father’s blessings on our life on a regular basis and to take time for our spirits to bless him. What blessings do we want to hear from him? What is the cry of our heart to him? God delights in those who persistently seek his blessing, just like Jacob did. Also, we need to bless the Lord from our deepest soul, to affirm our commitment to see that he is blessed by our lives, that he is able to live in and through us, that he reign omnipotent in his church, that his name is lifted up and glorified, that his word is proclaimed and honored, and that he is able to delight in us as we walk uprightly, abiding in Christ and walking in his truth.

Restoration: we need to let Our Father affirm his love for us on a regular basis and we need to take time to reciprocate his love – this is our life’s breath. He delights in letting us know how much he cherishes us, and we delight in letting him know how much we love him. He will tell us that we are his beloved children, that he is pleased with us, and that he delights in us. We in turn can tell him that we trust and obey him, that we love him, that we delight in him, and that we are pleased to be in relationship with him.

              ~Brad Heilhecker 

Wisdom Over Wealth

It is wise to seek wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. It is written that “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul”, that “by knowledge, God divided the deep and lets drop the dew“, and that “knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

“Christ has become our wisdom from God.” 

 We are wise to have yielded our life to Christ, to have accepted him as our Lord and Savior. We are wiser yet to make Christ and his Gospel the overarching purpose of our lives. We are told to seek wisdom instead of worldly riches. Wisdom will endure and reign supreme in heaven. Worldly riches will perish and will not translate into eternal wealth. Solomon wrote that the advantage of wisdom over wealth is that it will deliver us from death. This prophecy is fulfilled in Christ.

It is said of wisdom that with it we will rest secure and be at ease from fear of harm. Also, that if we are wise, we will make glad the heart of God. These are great promises and would be enough in and of themselves. However, it is also written that wisdom has long life in one hand and riches and honor in the other.  

So, let’s tally the results: peace, pleasing God, living long with riches and honor – not a bad harvest from simply obeying Our Father and seeking wisdom.

Isaiah wrote of the Spirit of Christ that he is the spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and power, knowledge and the fear of the Lord, that he will delight in the fear of the Lord. Solomon wrote that wisdom was with God in the beginning before anything was created. Wisdom is eternal as Christ is eternal. Solomon concludes that the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook. A bubbling brook – life giving, pleasant, and free flowing. James writes that the wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Luke wrote of Christ that he grew and became strong in spirit, that he was filled with wisdom, and that the grace of God was upon him. A few verses later he wrote that he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Paul wrote that one of the gifts of the Spirit is wisdom. 

 Let us seek wisdom and seek to become like Christ. As we do, we will have all the mighty forces of heaven behind, beside, and before us.

           ~ Brad Heilhecker 

Back To School

As summer winds down, and many have or are heading back to school, we thought we would honor all the “learning” that many will be embarking upon – by pulling “Train” from the #WorthyThoughts archives. 

Enjoy! 

Trust And Be Blessed

“For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,” -1 Peter 1:24 NIV

“Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD.”-Proverbs 16:20 NIV

Baring His Beauty,

Tiffany Thomas