If you’ve read Screens and Teens, you know cultivating gratitude is something I think we should consciously do on a regular basis. Giving thanks cannot be something we do one day a year. Being thankful should be something we are.

What if we all determined to choose thankfulness between now and the end of the year and beyond? Yes, what if it truly becomes a habit that’s a part of us? As I write on page 80, “Gratitude can be a built-in part of our identities. This is what allows us to be thankful “in all circumstances” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:18).

Rather than complaining about the entitlement easily observable in many individuals and throughout our culture, let’s do what we can. We’re not responsible for everyone else. We can’t even change our own hearts, but Jesus can.

My hope for many people between now and Christmas is a change of heart. Is this relevant for you and/or your children? Would praying for God’s perspective be helpful? Would it help to pray for eyes to see what you have instead of what you don’t have? Would discussions and prayer about contentment be a good idea?

Truth can reign. We can model it, talk about it, pray for its acceptance and more. We can ask God to show us the conversations to have with children that will help shift their perspective.

What if these passages truly informed us during this season and beyond? Can you think of others to talk with your children about this season?

“And above all these things, embrace love, which is the bond of perfection. Let the peace of God, to which also you are called in one body, rule in your hearts. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col. 3:14-17).

 “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with these things” (1 Tim. 6:6-8). 

Scripture is, of course, vital to transform us more and more into the image of Christ. We can also take action. But waiting for the truths of Scripture to change hearts before stepping out in obedience isn’t necessary. Acting on truths can help children, especially, see the truths. They’ll believe the Scripture and continue to act on it.

For instance, what if we established something new during the upcoming Christmas season? What if, as we add new things to our home, we also give things away? This might happen the week after Christmas as we put toys, clothes, dishes and more away where they belong. Now we can talk about the expectation of giving.

I know some families who collect items during Thanksgiving week to give away to shelters and other charities. This makes room in their homes for new things. And, even better, organizations and struggling families looking for gently used items during December will benefit from what is given away.

We all have clothes we no longer wear, dishes we rarely use, toys that are no longer fun for our children, CDs we don’t listen to, DVDs we don’t watch and more. Others can benefit. But only if they’re not collecting dust in our homes.

When we and our children recognize how much we have that we don’t need, thankfulness should come more easily. Contentment can reign.

Let’s make this our story. {eoa}

Dr. Kathy Koch is the author of Screens & Teens: Connecting with Our Kids in a Wireless World.

God tells us that faith is the assurance, title deed or confirmation of the things He has divinely guaranteed to us. It is also the evidence of things not seen. It is the conviction of their reality. Only faith can comprehend as fact what we don’t experience with our physical senses (Heb. 11:1). Our faith has to move us toward what God wants for us, and that is freedom in the truest sense of the word—but how do we get there?

What We Want

God has enormous, over-the-top plans and desires for us, and yet we still are stuck in what we want. Most of the time what we want is very much in the moment. We must think about what is the greater thing we want. The holidays are coming up, and it’s a time many people get derailed on spending and eating. And then January comes and regret sets in. Many times, we spend all year paying for what happened in November and December.

What happened? We put ourselves back in bondage. We are in the Romans 7:19 conundrum. “For the good I desire to do, I do not do, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” Some people have 100, 200, 300 pounds to lose. Maybe a doctor has told you like one told me at one time that you need to lose weight or you’ll be dead in five years, two years or even one year. In the midst of these circumstances, it looks really bleak.

But God 

Ah, but God! My God, your God, is the God of the impossible. These impossible circumstances that look like you can never get through the trial. If you are in that circumstance, know that God can get you through it. He can take you by the hand and lead you. It’s a matter of letting Him do that.

God is for you. He is not against you. He will lead you on this journey. You just have to let Him.

Risky Step of Faith

It seems like a big, huge risky step of faith to stop eating sugar and maybe stop eating flour, but God has grace to see you through even that and move on to losing weight, becoming free and healthy for the rest of your life.

Others may have a mountain of debt like we had one at one time. Praise God we’re debt-free today. God had to lead us through a process to get there. I had to wrap my brain around the fact that debt is bondage just like certain foods are bondage to me. Other things can also be bondage such as alcohol if you are an alcoholic, smoking cigarettes or engaging in compulsive gambling. Really anything can become bondage if it is something that masters us.

Willful Bondage

“‘All things are lawful to me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be brought under the power of anything.” Wise words to the church at Corinth from the apostle Paul. We are only to allow God to master us, not things.

We willfully put ourselves in bondage to these things, but God wants us to be free. “For freedom Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

Firm Decisions

We have to make some firm decisions. Don’t spend money we don’t have to spend or that is designated for another purpose. Don’t eat things that we might really want as momentary pleasure, but will end up capturing us again. Know that when we start saying no to the things that we know put is in bondage, it will get easier to say no the next time.

I am praying for you that you will make some strong determinations in this season to say no and stay free from the things which will put you back in bondage!

Freedom from Emotional Eating

Many times we turn to food and overspending to calm our emotions. Right now in Sweet Change Weight Loss Coaching Group we are talking about emotional eating and Sweet Freedom principles which help us go to the root of those emotions and get us the freedom we need to live the way God wants us to live. Our latest videos Beautiful One and Deeper Trust will be available for all those who come in during November.

In 2017 or maybe even before, we are going to give access to many more teaching videos in the group. It will be a resource like no other available. Those already in the group won’t have to pay a bit more. However, for new folks, the price will go up. Get in now and you will be grandfathered in at our lowest rate. Don’t wait though. Go here to join now.

By the way, here’s the live video I did from my back yard a bit ago. It cuts off a bit at the end, but content is in this post. You can also access it over on my Facebook page. While you’re there like the page, then click liked and check see first and notifications on so you don’t miss anything.{eoa}

Teresa Shields Parker is a wife, mother, business owner, life group leader, speaker and author of Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor and Sweet Grace Study Guide: Practical Steps to Lose Weight and Overcome Sugar Addiction and Sweet Freedom. Get a free chapter of her memoir on her blog at . Connect with her there or on her Facebook page or Twitter.

One of my students couldn’t find something of his in the classroom a few days ago, and I have to confess that I told him flat out, “Guys can’t find things.”

“Thanks a lot,” he said. His indignation was justified, since I had just thrown all men under the bus. But then I went to look for the lost item and immediately put my hand on it.

So come on. Girls are better at finding things in pantries and medicine closets than guys are. I gloat about this at my house with no shame. (Realize, though, that there’s an equal amount of teasing from my guys about how girls cannot make sound effects, so I feel like I’m allowed at least one blanket generalization.)

“Where’s the provolone cheese?” Matt said just this week, as he pulled his head up out of the fridge. I opened the door and pulled the cheese out of the bin where he had just been looking.

“Oh, right there,” he said.

I was thinking about how men and women are made in the image of God, and I was imagining, then, that women reflect a little bit of who God is when they know just where things are.

God can find things humans can’t seem to see.

Like the answers to relationship troubles or weeding out your own sin or figuring out how to raise your kids—how in the world could we find wisdom for these things without God saying, “Look, the solution is right here.”

So I will steal words from the Psalms:

“Show me the wonders of your great love” (Ps. 17:7, NIV).

“Show me your ways, LORD” (Ps. 25:4).

“Show me, LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days” (Ps. 39:4).

“Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life” (Ps. 143:8).

Show me, show me, show me, Lord, because if You don’t, I’m like a man looking for green beans in a pantry.

I won’t blame those freshmen guys for yawning all the way through my class. It was 2 in the afternoon, and they had started the day with a before-school basketball practice. It was a grueling first week in their new schedule, to say nothing of the fact that it was the end of the quarter and they had a mountain of homework every night.

“Wouldn’t it be awesome,” said one of the guys on his way out the door, “if every day was the weekend?”

At first I started to laugh and agree, but then I took a second to think about it. “No. It would be awful, because I really like to work.”

I did not get an amen to that.

Tucked into the Ten Commandments is a simple instruction:

“Six days you shall labor and do all your work” (Ex. 20:9).

Six days we’re supposed to labor, and I like it. The challenge is good for my brain. The interactions with people are good for my soul. It’s hard. I get tired. But I’m thankful to have a job at school and jobs to do at home.

In the book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink talks about the motivation to work. He makes this statement:

Words matter.

It matters how we talk about the work we do every day.

He goes on to quote Gary Hamel, who says that business leaders “must find ways to infuse mundane business activities with deeper, soul-stirring ideals, such as honor, truth, love, justice and beauty.”

That is excellent advice and sounds very God-honoring to me. We should speak highly of our work, since the Lord has designed it to fill our days. We can infuse even the most mundane tasks with “soul-stirring ideals.”

Bring some touches of loveliness.

Rise to the opportunity to do every task honorably.

Love the people we’re serving.

So yes, I welcome the weekend rest, but work is good. Will you join me in looking back over the week and thanking God for the labor he has entrusted to us?

This is the time of year when people will be doing “thankful challenges,” and other people will remind us that we should be thankful all year ’round, not just in November.

And we should be thankful all year long.

Paul instructed us to be thankful in all circumstances.

“In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18).

This doesn’t sound very hard, until you’re faced with a huge financial setback, a child who is very ill and in the hospital, marriage trouble or a health crisis.

Suddenly, our minds are gripped with worry and anxiety. Frustration overtakes us and plants seeds of doubt in our minds and we begin questioning God.

Why me?

We start to second-guess ourselves, wondering if we somehow stepped out of God’s will. We begin to think that if we were truly in the will of God these bad things wouldn’t happen to us.

There are two things we need to remember in being thankful when life goes sideways:

1. We need to ask the right questions. In this post: “Are You Asking the Right Question?” I point out that the right question isn’t why, but what.

2. Being in God’s will doesn’t protect us from bad things happening to us, it enables us to walk through difficult circumstances with peace and joy.

3. Being thankful always is God’s will, so if you want to know what God’s will for your life is, now you know.

By now I’m sure you’re wondering how you could possibly be thankful for a child who is very ill or a marriage that is on the rocks.

Paul didn’t say, “For everything give thanks,” but “In everything give thanks.”

In other words, just because you’re facing a trial, or as my dad terms it, “waves of adversity,” doesn’t mean you stop finding reasons to live thankful.

Learning to live life through a prism of thankfulness and gratefulness is a discipline that helps keep our heart free from trap of entitlement and ungratefulness that leads to bitterness, selfishness, and pride.

For this reason I think November is a great time of year to remind ourselves of this important lesson. What’s more, I think it is the best start to our holiday season.

Begin to create a pattern of living thankful so that as we approach Christmas we aren’t consumed with what we want more than we are with celebrating Christ’s birth.

Here’s how I am creating a pattern of intentionally living thankful:

I hope you’ll join me in the Daily Christian Living Facebook Group for “25 Days of Thanksgiving.” Each day I will share one thing I am thankful for, and I hope you’ll join me in the comments by telling me one thing you are thankful for as well.

Our “November 30-Day Prayer Challenge” is for Thanksgiving. I have found 30 verses that talk about thanksgiving or praise (which is often just another word for thankful), to remind ourselves to be thankful always.

As with all of our prayer challenges, you can use the “30-Day Prayer Challenge” for Thanksgiving all year long!

Let’s start off this holiday season with training our hearts and minds to default to thankfulness in every situation, in every circumstance, in every trial and in every setback until we can face each one with peace, joy and secure faith in knowing that God is always in control and will somehow turn each circumstance around for His glory!

To join me for “25 Days of Thanksgiving,” go to our Facebook page here and join: Daily Christian Living. {eoa}

Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call where she shares her passion for local and global missions. She can also be found at on a regular basis. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest and Google +.

The gift of faith is a special kind of faith that is given as the Holy Spirit wills or desires in order for an individual to receive a miracle from God. We’ve all been given a measure of faith to use in our everyday lives (Rom. 12:3), but the gift of faith is an extraordinary, supernatural type of faith.

Let’s look at a biblical example. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were given the gift of faith. Though they were thrown into the fiery furnace, they did not burn to death, and they did not even have the smell of smoke on them (Dan. 3). It took a divine gift of the Holy Spirit, a gift of supernatural and extraordinary faith, to overcome the fear of death and the spirit of death in order to overcome this deadly situation. Even the guards outside of the fiery furnace died instantly from the heat of the flames, but not Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They first put their natural faith in God, and then they turned the situation over to Him. Thus they were given a gift of faith to overcome death. Even those outside the fiery furnace could see from a distance that Jesus Christ was with them. One truth that I pray will resound in my writings is that God honors faith.

Another example of the gift of faith in operation is from my own life. After our son Marcos was raised from the dead and while we were battling one impossible situation after another, our faith remained unshakable. We could look death in the eye every day and not be moved. This was a special kind of faith that the Holy Spirit gave to us so that we could receive our series of miracles from God for Marcos. Just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the beginning of the battle we exercised our everyday faith in Jesus Christ at first. God honored our faith, and at some point in time, we were given a supernatural kind of faith to do what we did. Everyone who was looking from the outside of our fiery furnace could see that Jesus was walking with us in the midst of the flames.

And I encourage you with this teaching and testimony today, that regardless of the situation you face, activate your natural everyday faith and continue to exercise your faith in the redemptive power of the blood of Christ until the Holy Spirit releases the supernatural gift of faith. {eoa}

Becky Dvorak is a prophetic healing evangelist and the Destiny Image author of DARE to Believe, Greater Than Magic and, soon to be released, The Healing Creed. Visit her at .

“So David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel because his kingdom was highly exalted for the sake of His people Israel” (1 Chr. 14:2).

God has established Mr. Trump as the 45th president of the United States for the sake of the American people. God has kept the first part of His promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

The only possible answer for Mr. Trump’s dramatic victory is that God has indeed heard from heaven. Just as certainly as He has answered our prayers for the national election, He will forgive the sin that we have confessed to Him, because He said He would. Now it’s time to claim His promise for the healing of our land.

Please join me in thanking God for hearing and answering our prayers.

Join me in giving God the glory for this remarkable, dramatic turn of events.

But don’t slack off in prayer. Double-down.

Pray for the healing and rebuilding of America.

Pray for Mr. Trump, that he would turn to God.

Pray that God would give the president-elect wisdom for decisions, courage to do the right thing, protection from danger, strength to govern after a grueling race, grace under the continued fire of opposition, and blessing upon blessing as he seeks to lead our nation forward and up.

Pray that God would surround Mr. Trump with godly men and women who will offer encouragement, support and wise counsel.

Pray that as God’s blessings flow, healing would begin.

Now is the time to recommit ourselves to focusing, not on a particular man or political party, but on the living God of our fathers who is our hope and who alone can bring the healing America desperately needs.

Now is the time to pray! And keep praying. {eoa}

Anne Graham Lotz, the second child of Billy and Ruth Graham, is an acclaimed Bible teacher and the founder of AnGeL Ministries. She also is the author of books, including The Glorious Dawn of God’s Story and The Vision of His Glory, both from Word Publishing.

I didn’t plan to write this post. In fact, as it began to come to me, I didn’t want to write it. But then the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and reminded me that I have often tackled social and moral issues. And so I surrendered.

I woke up Wednesday morning, Nov. 9, 2016, eager to find out the election results.

I opened Facebook and un-hid my timeline to see what my friends were posting.

Yes, I hid my timeline for two reasons: one, because of the abundance of posts either listing all of the reasons why I shouldn’t vote for Hillary or telling me what a scumbag Trump is.

Fact: I have rarely been convinced to change my opinion because of something I’ve read on Facebook.

It was too much. But the other reason I hid my Facebook timeline was because after reading something that set my teeth on edge, I’d end up posting my own rant. Truth be told, I stand behind everything I wrote, yet wisdom knows when to speak and when to hold her tongue.

I was not wise.

So to teach myself some discipline, I hid my timeline. Until 7 a.m. Nov. 9, 2016. As I scrolled, I quickly realized that the results hadn’t yet been called. But I really enjoyed scrolling down and reading people’s posts: anxious to know who our president-elect would be, posting funny presidential memes. It was not hateful, it was not mocking, it was all in good fun.

Then somewhere around mid-afternoon it all took a nasty turn.

Let me pause here and say that many of my friends and family members are Democrats. Most, if not all of them, voted for President Obama the past two elections and then voted for Hillary this year.

I have never given this any consideration; I haven’t questioned their salvation or spiritual integrity. I have never once wondered how this has affected their testimony. In my eyes, their identity doesn’t lie in the fact that they are registered Democrat anymore than my identity lies in the fact that I am a registered Republican.

But suddenly the fun and innocent memes turned into hateful mockery of Trump, Hillary and President Obama. First one post bashing those who dared to vote for Trump, then another post hinting that Trump supporters don’t care about racism. Posts spewing out the words “white evangelicals” like it’s a dirty phrase.

And it hit me square in the gut.

I have never in my life tolerated racism. I was raised in a home where skin color was celebrated. It was beautiful—all colors. Like a rainbow, it was God’s gift to us, and we embraced it. I never bought into “color blind” because I wanted to see the beauty of God’s creation in technicolor!

Then I married my husband.

My husband is a minority and is often subjected marginalization because of where he was born and raised. He often bears the brunt of jokes and experiences prejudice.

I no longer have a bird’s eye view of prejudice; it is now right on my own front doorstep and has even, at times, walked right into my home, sat at my table and dared to utter it’s poison.

And yet, there are three things my husband and I bear in mind that have everything to do with this election and something the church needs to remember today.

1. Don’t settle disputes in public. In 1 Corinthians 6:1, Paul rebukes the Corinthian church for taking their brothers and sisters in Christ to court. And I see what’s happening right now on social media in a similar way. Christians are questioning other Christians’ salvation and testimony out in the open for the whole world to see. Some are making outright accusations while others are taking to name-calling. As Paul said, “This is to your shame.” It is divisive and hurtful to the body.

Anytime the human body starts to turn on itself, we say it is a disease. And by the look of things right now, the body of Christ is fighting a disease.

2. Your identity is in Christ. My husband doesn’t take the jokes and prejudiced jabs to heart. Why? Because he knows that his identity isn’t wrapped up in the fact that he was born and raised in Bosnia. His identity is in Jesus Christ.

Your identity is not in your political party, skin color, heritage, past failures or traumatic experiences. Your identity is in Jesus Christ!

3. There will always be differences in the body. We all come from various backgrounds, family structures and worldviews. While our identity is in Christ, we are all in different stages of growth and maturity; and some will have a greater battle with their emotional and mental defaults than others.

Grace enables us to extend a hand of love and acceptance to our brothers and sisters despite those differences. Grace enables a Democrat to look a Republican in the eye and see a child of God (and vice-versa, lest you think I’m picking on one side).

The body will have differences, and Christian maturity demands that we accept that, even embrace it. Rejecting those differences, throwing up defenses and walls to protect ourselves from it, brings division to the body. The body of Christ is a beautiful spectrum. How boring it would be if all Christians thought and acted the same!

Here are three ways we should respond in light of these truths:

Pray for America, the body of Christ, President Obama and President-Elect Trump. We must pray. Our nation has once again exploded into rioting. Police officers have lost their lives today. Innocent citizens have lost personal property today. Wives will have an empty space in their bed tonight, and children will no longer see the faces of their fathers. We need peace.

Turn off the noise. Politics will not bring peace. Obama did not bring peace anymore than Hillary could have brought peace. Trump will not bring peace. A Reagan incarnate could not bring peace. Man cannot bring peace! There is only one Prince of Peace, and His name is Jesus! When we realize this, we’ll stop looking to politics as our hope.

Dear friend, if I could urge you to do one thing it would be to turn off talk radio, turn off the 5 o’clock blues, close your favorite news website, and even hide your timeline if you need to (Chrome has an extension called “Kill News Feed”). Detox from it, and then turn your eyes upon Jesus!

Learn to love the body. First Corinthians 13 is all about loving the body of Christ, faults, foibles and idiosyncrasies included. We must learn to love the body with God’s love that refuses to be offended, refuses to keep track of wrongs, and extends patience and kindness.

I have a whole Bible study on this chapter called 14 Days to Agape, and it focuses on the church and how we can learn to love the church God’s way.

Dear friends, I beg you, I implore you, I plead with you—let us set aside the gloating, the anger, the dancing and rejoicing, and the weeping and mourning because of this election.

We shouldn’t ever rejoice or grieve too much.

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; He turns it to any place He will” (Prov. 21:1).

It is God who makes rulers rise and fall.

Let us look to Him. Let us trust in Him.

“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7).

Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. She can also be found at on a regular basis. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest and Google +.

Love covers a multitude of sins.”

The words rang in my ears, and I couldn’t get the six-word phrase off my mind. At 17, already an alcoholic and an addict, I was working at a summer camp in Lake Tahoe.

Although I was raised in church, I had never been around Christians like these. They didn’t tell me to change anything about my appearance, my attitudes or my addictions. “Love covers a multitude of sins,” they said, when I smoked cigarettes or dope or threw fits over doing my chores. “Love covers a multitude of sins.” Was God’s love enough to cover all the wrong, illegal, and immoral things I had ever done, including my alcohol addiction, lying, bad habits, promiscuity and even my drug dealing? Was it true that I didn’t have to clean up my act before coming to God and that He loved me passionately just the way I was?

One night, in the quietness of my cabin, I submitted to the overwhelming love of God. I agreed with Him about my condition and allowed His grace to cover my multitude of sins. That was June 1974, and God hasn’t let go of me since. God delivered me from my drug and alcohol addiction.

“How quickly we forget God’s great deliverance in our lives. How easily we take for granted the miracles He performed in our past,” said David Wilkerson.

The name of God: Deliverer reminds us God will rescue us if we call on Him. He will give us victory over the most difficult circumstances and will see us through. “He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hate me; for they were stronger than I” (2 Sam. 22:18).

When you need deliverance, read Psalm 107, a beautiful song written about liberation. It was sung to celebrate the Jews’ return from the freedom from bondage in Egypt and return from their exile in Babylon.

Remember Joseph’s story? Through his brothers’ jealous mistreatment, God allowed Joseph to be taken away as a slave to Egypt. He ultimately became Pharaoh’s right-hand man and planned ahead for years of famine. He led the country to become the world’s economic leader. Through Joseph, God provided for the Israelites to thrive in the land of Egypt. Decades later, there was a Pharaoh ruling who didn’t know Joseph; God allowed the Israelites to be oppressed by the Egyptians. The Israelites grew in numbers and power, and the pharaohs began to eliminate them. Moses was sent by God to lead the Israelites to freedom.

“Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord speak out” (Ps. 107:1-2).

Thankfulness to God should always be on the lips of those whom He has saved. This verse is a beautiful picture of the response of the Israelites after they had been freed, though they deserved only judgment. They had been in bondage, yet the Lord heard their cries, and He freed them. A definition of redeemed found at says “redeemed means to extricate from an undesirable state: reclaim, recover, rescue.” God rescued His people. The Israelites experienced the God who redeems.

Another definition is to “restore the honor, worth, or reputation of.” You botched the last job but can redeem yourself on this one. What about you? Have you truly experienced what redemption means? We can trust God to redeem us in impossible circumstances and claim his promises.

“Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses” (Ps. 107:6).

God the Deliverer heard the cries of the children of Israel; He knew their situation. “In the passing of time the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out, and their cry came up to God on account of the bondage” (Ex. 2:23).

God promised deliverance in Exodus 6:6—”Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm and with great judgments.'” God also said in verse 7, “I will take you as my own people and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”

God’s people had cried out to God. They were in anguish because of their oppression. He heard them. God delivered them; he brought them out of slavery. He freed them from captivity. Have you cried out to God in your trouble?

When I was given a diagnosis of stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma, I prayed to God for my healing and so did others around the world. We prayed, nights and days, we anguished in prayer for my healing. I was delivered from disease. I thank God for delivering me from cancer.

God wants to deliver you.

Are you worried about the future? Isaiah 40:31 is for you “Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.”

Are you worried about the unknown test results, finances, a prodigal child? Isaiah 54:10 is for you: “For the mountains may be removed, and the hills may shake, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you.”

And when the Deliverer carries you through, thank Him and praise Him for the satisfaction He brings. “Let them praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the people! For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness” (Ps. 107:8-9).

Hope in things = Distracted

Hope in people = Disappointed

Hope in myself = Devastated

Hope in Christ = Delivered

~ Rachel Wojo

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, we give thanks to You, for You are good. “Your love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story” (Ps. 107:1-2). Thank You for hearing my cries, as I cry out in time of trouble. Thank You for delivering me (Ps. 107:6). Thank You Lord, for Your unfailing love. Thank You for satisfying the thirsty and filling the hungry with good things (Ps. 107:8-9). Thank You My Deliverer; You are so good. Thank You, My God. In Jesus name, amen.

As the elections in the U.S. are upon us, I find my spirit grieves for my fellow Christians who once stood for righteousness. Their posts and comments on social media reveal what is really in their hearts. If Christians do not take a stand for righteousness, who will?

The Scriptures found in Jeremiah 2:11-13, 27-28 ask some very pertinent questions. And Jeremiah’s words are just as convicting to us today as they were back then to the Jews.

“Has a nation changed their gods, though they are not gods? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be astonished at this, O heavens, and be horribly afraid, be very desolate, says the Lord. For My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. … say to a tree, ‘You are my father.’ And to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise and save us.’ But where are your gods that you have made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.”

As a missionary, I minister in different cultures, and I see firsthand multitudes of lost souls bow before idols, kiss feet made of wood and stone, religiously prostrate themselves before temples in freezing cold temperatures, spin wheels, send messages to dead relatives and false gods and sacrifice animals. I witness them march for hours carrying heavy statues to pay penance for their sins, and hear them chant and cry to false gods that can neither hear nor help them.

And now I see many Christian people from my own nation reject righteousness, defend or ignore the killing of innocent babies in the womb, and misuse God’s grace for an excuse to sin in every way imaginable. They walk away from their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and become their own God. They even change the rules to suit the evil desires of their flesh.

The words that come to my spirit are the words Jesus Christ cries out to the Father from the Cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). If they truly understood their actions and the fruit they will produce, they would never do these things. But the human will is a difficult gift to wield to God.

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would give you, according to the riches of His glory, power to be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:14-21). {eoa}

Becky Dvorak is a prophetic healing evangelist and the Destiny Image author of DARE to Believe, Greater Than Magic and The Healing Creed. Visit her at .