Our worth and significance are not defined by our roles, achievements, or positions in the world, but by our inherent value as beloved children of God. Reclaim your true identity and live with confidence, purpose, and joy in the knowledge of God's unconditional love.

SUBSCRIBE to our sister podcasts:

Your Daily Prayer: https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-prayer/
Your Daily Bible Verse: https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-bible-verse/

Our worth and significance are not defined by our roles, achievements, or positions in the world, but by our inherent value as beloved children of God. Reclaim your true identity and live with confidence, purpose, and joy in the knowledge of God's unconditional love.
SUBSCRIBE to our sister podcasts: Your Daily Prayer: <a href="https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-prayer/">https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-prayer/</a> Your Daily Bible Verse: <a href="https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-bible-verse/">https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-bible-verse/</a>

Are you a Christian looking for a daily devotional podcast to encourage, inspire, and convict you in your walk with Christ? 7 days a week, The Crosswalk.com Daily Devotional Podcast offers wisdom and insight for applying Biblical truths to the ups and downs of everyday life. Let's study the Bible together and through the experiences of other believers, learn how to apply the Word of God to our lives.

Here’s just some of what we cover in The Crosswalk Daily Devotional Podcast:

☕️ Why the Tongue Can't Be Tamed (And What to Do about It)
☕️ The Quickest Way to an Attitude Adjustment
☕️ Your Birthday: The Most and Least Important Day of Your Life
☕️ Noticing God's Blessings in the Hardest Moments of Life
☕️ One of the Sneakiest Lies Satan Is Telling the Church
☕️ How to Push Through the Weariness of Prayer
☕️ 3 Steps to Take When Facing Temptation
☕️ What to Remember during a Stressful Election Year

If you love what you're listening to on the podcast, be sure to check out our companion devotional at https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/crosswalk-devo/.

Are you a Christian looking for a daily devotional podcast to encourage, inspire, and convict you in your walk with Christ? 7 days a week, The Crosswalk.com Daily Devotional Podcast offers wisdom and insight for applying Biblical truths to the ups and downs of everyday life. Let's study the Bible together and through the experiences of other believers, learn how to apply the Word of God to our lives.
Here’s just some of what we cover in The Crosswalk Daily Devotional Podcast:
☕️ Why the Tongue Can't Be Tamed (And What to Do about It) ☕️ The Quickest Way to an Attitude Adjustment ☕️ Your Birthday: The Most and Least Important Day of Your Life ☕️ Noticing God's Blessings in the Hardest Moments of Life ☕️ One of the Sneakiest Lies Satan Is Telling the Church ☕️ How to Push Through the Weariness of Prayer ☕️ 3 Steps to Take When Facing Temptation ☕️ What to Remember during a Stressful Election Year
If you love what you're listening to on the podcast, be sure to check out our companion devotional at <a href="https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/crosswalk-devo/">https://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/crosswalk-devo/.</a>

7 days a week, The Crosswalk.com Devotional Podcast offers wisdom and insight for applying Biblical truths to the ups and downs of everyday life.

The Crosswalk Devotional: A Daily Devotional Christian Podcast

The Crosswalk Devotional

You Are More Than the Title After Your Name

God calls us to step forward in faith, even when we don’t see the full path ahead. Hannah Benson reflects on Abraham’s journey, emphasizing that trusting God often requires waiting, patience, and obedience despite uncertainty. Abraham’s story illustrates that God’s promises are trustworthy, even when fulfillment seems slow or beyond human logic. By believing God’s Word and following His direction, we can experience His faithfulness and become a blessing to others.

Highlights


God calls us to act in faith, even without knowing all the answers.


Abraham’s journey teaches patience, trust, and obedience in the waiting season.


God fulfills His promises in His timing, not ours, reminding us that no word from Him returns void (Isaiah 55:11).


Taking matters into our own hands, as Abraham and Sarah did with Hagar, can complicate God’s plan.


Trusting God’s Word requires both courage to move and patience to wait.

This episode is sponsored by Trinity Debt Management. If you are struggling with debt call Trinity today.  Trinity's counselors have the knowledge and resources to make a difference. Our intention is to help people become debt-free, and most importantly, remain debt-free for keeps!" If your debt has you down, we should talk. Call us at 1-800-793-8548 | https://trinitycredit.org

TrinityCredit – Call us at 1-800-793-8548. Whether we're helping people pay off their unsecured debt or offering assistance to those behind in their mortgage payments. https://trinitycredit.org

Full Transcript Below:

Believe the Word the Lord Has Spoken

By Hannah Benson

Bible Reading:
“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’” (Genesis 12:1-3 ESV).

Recently, I re-read Abraham’s story through new eyes. Isn’t it amazing how we can read the same stories in Scripture again and again, yet every time we read them, the Lord will often reveal things we’ve never realized before?

God called Abraham (then called Abram) to leave his homeland and everything he knew and was familiar with to go to a land that He would show him.

How did Abraham feel about that? Was he afraid at all? Excited? Probably both.

But regardless of how he felt, note that he stepped forward in faith even though he didn’t have all the answers.

Read that again.

If God calls us to do something, we must step forward in faith even if we don’t have all the answers. In fact, I have found that God doesn’t always give us the answers all at once.

He’ll tell us the first step we need to take.

So many of us look at the long road ahead of us and think we need all the answers before we move forward.

A friend pointed out to me recently that in Exodus 24, Moses went into the fog of the mountain. Clarity came through hearing God’s voice and not from what he could see.

I do want to include a disclaimer here. Sometimes, the Lord puts something on our hearts, but it doesn’t mean the time is now. Just because something may be a God-thing doesn’t mean it’s always God’s time for it.

But when God calls us to step forward in faith, even when we can’t see the path ahead?

Step forward.

Go for it.

Even if you aren’t sure how, take the next step.

God didn’t just call Abraham. He gave him a promise. He promised He would make him a great nation, bless him, and make his name great so that he would be a blessing (Genesis 12:1-3).

Imagine what it meant for Abraham to believe that promise.

He had to leave everything familiar behind.

He had to step forward in faith even though it was frightening.

No matter what ran through Abraham’s mind, he chose to believe the promise God spoke, not knowing how or when it would come to fruition. He probably thought he would see the promise soon.

If God were to make him a great nation, then that meant God would give him a child. At this point, Abraham was 75 years old and his wife, Sarah, was 65. Perhaps he thought God would fulfill the promise within the next couple of years. After all, that made logical sense. Already, they were advanced in years and past childbearing age.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).

In other words, God doesn’t always do what makes logical sense to us.

And that’s what happened.

The promise took time, and in that time, Abraham grew discouraged.

He asked God questions. He wondered when it would happen, if the heir to his house would be Eliezer (Genesis 15:2).

God reassured Abraham that “your very own son shall be your heir” (Genesis 15:4 ESV). The Lord made a covenant with Abraham. Covenants in those days were made when two parties sacrificed animals, and the persons making the covenant passed between the split animals (or in the case of a king and his servant, the servant would pass through by himself), symbolizing, “May I be torn apart like these animals if I don’t keep my promise.” Sounds intense, doesn’t it?

Usually, the servant would walk between the animals. But instead, God put Abraham into a deep sleep and passed through the animals Himself. In other words, He was saying that He would be the One to pay the price if the covenant was broken (Genesis 15).

Abraham didn’t always remain perfectly faithful because, like the rest of us, he’s a sinner and unable to be perfect before a holy God. And one day, God fulfilled His promise, allowing Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, to be broken in atonement for all the sins we’ve committed and the broken promises we’ve ever made.

Isn’t that such a beautiful picture?

In Genesis 16, however, Abraham and Sarah (at the time still called Abram and Sarai) took matters into their own hands. Sarah suggested to Abraham that he “go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her” (v. 2b).

Abraham listened to his wife and had a child through Hagar.

God doesn’t waste anything, and every child, no matter how they are conceived, is a gift and a blessing. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t pain and conflict as a result of our actions.

Intersecting Faith & Life:

When we wait so long for something, we often begin to lose hope and think we must take matters into our own hands.

10 years after God made the promise that he would make of Abraham a great nation, the man and his wife still didn’t have a child.

Sometimes, the Lord asks us to knock, move forward in faith, and do something (Matthew 7:7).

Other times, the Lord asks us to quiet our hearts and be still before Him (Psalm 46:10).

In Abraham and Sarah’s story, God asked them to believe (Hebrews 11:11, Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:18).

God called them to go from their country and kindred to a land that He would show them, but after that, He didn’t have specific instructions. No doubt it made them wonder if they were supposed to do something, which is why Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife. Perhaps then she could bear a child through her servant.

But that was not what God had meant.

No, Sarah herself would bear a son.

The Lord had spoken the word.

No word from the Lord will return empty. It shall accomplish that which He has purposed and shall succeed in the thing for which He sent it (Isaiah 55:11) and “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:3 ESV).

Pray with me:

Dear Father, I thank You that Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105). I confess I often doubt Your Word and want all the answers rather than trusting You to take the next step. When I am in a season of “fog” like Moses, help me to listen for Your voice. When I am in a season of “waiting” like Abraham, help me to trust Your timing over my logic. Protect me from taking matters into my own hands, and give me the grace to be still when You say “wait” and the courage to move when You say “go.” Thank you for keeping Your promises, even when I am weak. In Jesus’s Name, Amen

God calls us to step forward in faith, even when we don&rsquo;t see the full path ahead. Hannah Benson reflects on Abraham&rsquo;s journey, emphasizing that trusting God often requires waiting, patience, and obedience despite uncertainty. Abraham&rsquo;s story illustrates that God&rsquo;s promises are trustworthy, even when fulfillment seems slow or beyond human logic. By believing God&rsquo;s Word and following His direction, we can experience His faithfulness and become a blessing to others.
Highlights
<ul data-start="981" data-end="1438">
<li data-start="981" data-end="1052">
God calls us to act in faith, even without knowing all the answers.
</li>
<li data-start="1053" data-end="1136">
Abraham&rsquo;s journey teaches patience, trust, and obedience in the waiting season.
</li>
<li data-start="1137" data-end="1259">
God fulfills His promises in His timing, not ours, reminding us that no word from Him returns void (Isaiah 55:11).
</li>
<li data-start="1260" data-end="1362">
Taking matters into our own hands, as Abraham and Sarah did with Hagar, can complicate God&rsquo;s plan.
</li>
<li data-start="1363" data-end="1438">
Trusting God&rsquo;s Word requires both courage to move and patience to wait.
</li>
</ul>
This episode is sponsored by Trinity Debt Management. If you are struggling with debt call Trinity today. &nbsp;Trinity's counselors have the knowledge and resources to make a difference. Our intention is to help people become debt-free, and most importantly, remain debt-free for keeps!" If your debt has you down, we should talk. Call us at 1-800-793-8548 | <a href="https://trinitycredit.org/">https://trinitycredit.org</a>
TrinityCredit &ndash; Call us at 1-800-793-8548. Whether we're helping people pay off their unsecured debt or offering assistance to those behind in their mortgage payments. <a href="https://trinitycredit.org/">https://trinitycredit.org</a>
<hr>
Full Transcript Below:
Believe the Word the Lord Has Spoken
By Hannah Benson
Bible Reading: &ldquo;Now the Lord said to Abram, &lsquo;Go from your country and your kindred and your father&rsquo;s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed&rsquo;&rdquo; (Genesis 12:1-3 ESV).
Recently, I re-read Abraham&rsquo;s story through new eyes. Isn&rsquo;t it amazing how we can read the same stories in Scripture again and again, yet every time we read them, the Lord will often reveal things we&rsquo;ve never realized before?
God called Abraham (then called Abram) to leave his homeland and everything he knew and was familiar with to go to a land that He would show him.
How did Abraham feel about that? Was he afraid at all? Excited? Probably both.
But regardless of how he felt, note that he stepped forward in faith&nbsp;even though he didn&rsquo;t have all the answers.
Read that again.
If God calls us to do something, we must&nbsp;step forward in faith even if we don&rsquo;t have all the answers. In fact, I have found that God doesn&rsquo;t always give us the answers all at once.
He&rsquo;ll tell us the first step we need to take.
So many of us look at the long road ahead of us and think we need all the answers before we move forward.
A friend pointed out to me recently that in Exodus 24, Moses went into the fog of the mountain. Clarity came through hearing God&rsquo;s voice and not from what he could see.
I do want to include a disclaimer here. Sometimes, the Lord puts something on our hearts, but it doesn&rsquo;t mean the time is now. Just because something may be a God-thing doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;s always God&rsquo;s time for it.
But when God calls us to step forward in faith, even when we can&rsquo;t see the path ahead?
Step forward.
Go for it.
Even if you aren&rsquo;t sure how, take the next step.
God didn&rsquo;t just call Abraham. He gave him a promise. He promised He would make him a great nation, bless him, and make his name great so that he would be a blessing (Genesis 12:1-3).
Imagine what it meant for Abraham to believe that promise.
He had to leave everything familiar behind.
He had to step forward in faith even though it was frightening.
No matter what ran through Abraham&rsquo;s mind, he chose to believe the promise God spoke, not knowing how or when it would come to fruition. He probably thought he would see the promise soon.
If God were to make him a great nation, then that meant God would give him a child. At this point, Abraham was 75 years old and his wife, Sarah, was 65. Perhaps he thought God would fulfill the promise within the next couple of years. After all, that made logical sense. Already, they were advanced in years and past childbearing age.
&ldquo;Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen&rdquo; (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).
In other words, God doesn&rsquo;t always do what makes logical sense to us.
And that&rsquo;s what happened.
The promise took time, and in that time, Abraham grew discouraged.
He asked God questions. He wondered when it would happen, if the heir to his house would be Eliezer (Genesis 15:2).
God reassured Abraham that &ldquo;your very own son shall be your heir&rdquo; (Genesis 15:4 ESV). The Lord made a covenant with Abraham. Covenants in those days were made when two parties sacrificed animals, and the persons making the covenant passed between the split animals (or in the case of a king and his servant, the servant would pass through by himself), symbolizing, &ldquo;May I be torn apart like these animals if I don&rsquo;t keep my promise.&rdquo; Sounds intense, doesn&rsquo;t it?
Usually, the servant would walk between the animals. But instead, God put Abraham into a deep sleep and passed through the animals Himself. In other words, He was saying that He would be the One to pay the price if the covenant was broken (Genesis 15).
Abraham didn&rsquo;t always remain perfectly faithful because, like the rest of us, he&rsquo;s a sinner and unable to be perfect before a holy God. And one day, God fulfilled His promise, allowing Jesus, who is fully God and fully man, to be broken in atonement for all the sins we&rsquo;ve committed and the broken promises we&rsquo;ve ever made.
Isn&rsquo;t that such a beautiful picture?
In Genesis 16, however, Abraham and Sarah (at the time still called Abram and Sarai) took matters into their own hands. Sarah suggested to Abraham that he &ldquo;go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her&rdquo; (v. 2b).
Abraham listened to his wife and had a child through Hagar.
God doesn&rsquo;t waste anything, and every child, no matter how they are conceived, is a gift and a blessing. However, that doesn&rsquo;t mean there isn&rsquo;t pain and conflict as a result of our actions.
Intersecting Faith &amp; Life:
When we wait so long for something, we often begin to lose hope and think we must take matters into our own hands.
10 years after God made the promise that he would make of Abraham a great nation, the man and his wife still didn&rsquo;t have a child.
Sometimes, the Lord asks us to knock, move forward in faith, and do something (Matthew 7:7).
Other times, the Lord asks us to quiet our hearts and be still before Him (Psalm 46:10).
In Abraham and Sarah&rsquo;s story, God asked them to believe (Hebrews 11:11, Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:18).
God called them to go from their country and kindred to a land that He would show them, but after that, He didn&rsquo;t have specific instructions. No doubt it made them wonder if they were supposed to do something, which is why Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife. Perhaps then she could bear a child through her servant.
But that was not what God had meant.
No, Sarah herself would bear a son.
The Lord had spoken the word.
No word from the Lord will return empty. It shall accomplish that which He has purposed and shall succeed in the thing for which He sent it (Isaiah 55:11) and &ldquo;For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end&mdash;it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay&rdquo; (Habakkuk 2:3 ESV).
Pray with me:
Dear Father, I thank You that Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105). I confess I often doubt Your Word and want all the answers rather than trusting You to take the next step. When I am in a season of &ldquo;fog&rdquo; like Moses, help me to listen for Your voice. When I am in a season of &ldquo;waiting&rdquo; like Abraham, help me to trust Your timing over my logic. Protect me from taking matters into my own hands, and give me the grace to be still when You say &ldquo;wait&rdquo; and the courage to move when You say &ldquo;go.&rdquo; Thank you for keeping Your promises, even when I am weak. In Jesus&rsquo;s Name, Amen

Believe the Word the Lord Has Spoken

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/5e27a451-e6e6-4c51-aa03-a7370003783c/clips/103c99e9-fee0-48a8-aef2-b40101125b60/transcript

In today’s culture, fear often keeps us from speaking truth—even when someone’s actions are harmful to themselves or others. Aaron D’Anthony Brown encourages believers to confront sin with courage, clarity, and love, following the example of Jesus. Speaking truth doesn’t require aggression; it requires wisdom, discernment, and a heart aligned with God. Honest, righteous communication strengthens relationships and fosters spiritual growth in ourselves and others.

Highlights


Fear of confrontation can keep truth unspoken, enabling harm to continue.


Jesus was not afraid to call out sin, yet He did so with purpose and discernment.


Speaking truth effectively does not require anger; it requires wisdom and courage.


Honest confrontation helps others grow spiritually, just as we rely on accountability to grow.


Let your words be clear, consistent, and aligned with God’s righteousness.

This episode is sponsored by Trinity Debt Management. If you are struggling with debt call Trinity today.  Trinity's counselors have the knowledge and resources to make a difference. Our intention is to help people become debt-free, and most importantly, remain debt-free for keeps!" If your debt has you down, we should talk. Call us at 1-800-793-8548 | https://trinitycredit.org

TrinityCredit – Call us at 1-800-793-8548. Whether we're helping people pay off their unsecured debt or offering assistance to those behind in their mortgage payments. https://trinitycredit.org

Full Transcript Below:

The Courage to Speak Truth 

By Aaron D’Anthony Brown

Bible Reading:
“But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.” - Matthew 5:37

If there’s one thing believers and nonbelievers have in common today, it is a fear that prevents us from saying exactly what’s on our mind. In our modern culture, telling someone anything remotely offensive has become taboo, even if they’re hurting us or hurting themselves.

The thought of having any sort of confrontation proves too much. We become paralyzed before finding some justification to simply let things be. Yet at the same time, we continue to complain about said things.

Recently, a friend of mine was sharing with me about someone in his friend group who was dabbling in transgenderism. My friend was afraid to share his thoughts on the issue with this person and instead remained silent, even though he was clearly concerned about his friend. 

There are so many people who feel like this today. Rather than tell people the truth, we tell them lies, or nothing at all, which they then interpret as affirmation, even though we know it to be sin.

The solution is simple - put yourself in their shoes. What would we want people to do for us if we were sinning? Call us out? Leave us be? We ourselves know the right thing to do, but are not doing it. 

Jesus says to let our “yes” and “no” be clear. Let’s talk about how to do that.

Intersecting Faith & Life:

Recognize that Christ was offensive.

Some of us in the modern church have started believing that Jesus got along perfectly with everybody all the time, but that just wasn’t the case. Jesus called people out on their sin. He wasn’t afraid to go against the culture. Why do you think there were so many who rallied against Him and were bent on having Him killed?

Certainly, Christ did not offend for the sake of hurting others. There was truth that they needed to hear, and oftentimes they didn’t want to hear it. Nonetheless, what mattered most was the truth. The same applies to us today.

Understand that the truth doesn’t have to be offensive.

We often grow squeamish at the thought of treating sin with aggression. But here’s the reality: you don’t have to be aggressive. There is such a thing as righteous anger, but calling someone out for bad behavior doesn’t require you to be angry. As discussed, Jesus was not the pacifist we often make Him out to be, but He also didn’t go around yelling at everyone He caught misbehaving. Effective communication requires wisdom, something we can attain by first stepping out of our comfort zones and having these tough conversations.

We need one another to grow.

We’re no different from the people we complain about. Our struggles may differ. Some are certainly more severe than others. However, like the people we are afraid to confront, we have struggles we don’t realize ourselves. You’re hopefully not the same person you were a year ago, or five years ago. Why? You’ve learned more about yourself in that time. Some of which you learned on your own, but other things were brought to your attention.

We need God and fellow believers to give us the wisdom to become aware. Likewise, we need to use the wisdom we’ve been blessed with and admonish those around us - effectively, honestly, and righteously.

Further Reading:

Proverbs 12:22

Proverbs 13:20

John 2:15-17

Luke 6:31

Ephesians 4:24

Matthew 10:34-36

In today&rsquo;s culture, fear often keeps us from speaking truth&mdash;even when someone&rsquo;s actions are harmful to themselves or others. Aaron D&rsquo;Anthony Brown encourages believers to confront sin with courage, clarity, and love, following the example of Jesus. Speaking truth doesn&rsquo;t require aggression; it requires wisdom, discernment, and a heart aligned with God. Honest, righteous communication strengthens relationships and fosters spiritual growth in ourselves and others.
Highlights
<ul data-start="836" data-end="1264">
<li data-start="836" data-end="913">
Fear of confrontation can keep truth unspoken, enabling harm to continue.
</li>
<li data-start="914" data-end="999">
Jesus was not afraid to call out sin, yet He did so with purpose and discernment.
</li>
<li data-start="1000" data-end="1086">
Speaking truth effectively does not require anger; it requires wisdom and courage.
</li>
<li data-start="1087" data-end="1185">
Honest confrontation helps others grow spiritually, just as we rely on accountability to grow.
</li>
<li data-start="1186" data-end="1264">
Let your words be clear, consistent, and aligned with God&rsquo;s righteousness.
</li>
</ul>
This episode is sponsored by Trinity Debt Management. If you are struggling with debt call Trinity today. &nbsp;Trinity's counselors have the knowledge and resources to make a difference. Our intention is to help people become debt-free, and most importantly, remain debt-free for keeps!" If your debt has you down, we should talk. Call us at 1-800-793-8548 | <a href="https://trinitycredit.org/">https://trinitycredit.org</a>
TrinityCredit &ndash; Call us at 1-800-793-8548. Whether we're helping people pay off their unsecured debt or offering assistance to those behind in their mortgage payments. <a href="https://trinitycredit.org/">https://trinitycredit.org</a>
<hr>
Full Transcript Below:
The Courage to Speak Truth&nbsp;
By Aaron D&rsquo;Anthony Brown Bible Reading: &ldquo;But let your &lsquo;yes&rsquo; mean &lsquo;yes,&rsquo; and your &lsquo;no&rsquo; mean &lsquo;no.&rsquo; Anything more than this is from the evil one.&rdquo; - Matthew 5:37
If there&rsquo;s one thing believers and nonbelievers have in common today, it is a fear that prevents us from saying exactly what&rsquo;s on our mind. In our modern culture, telling someone anything remotely offensive has become taboo, even if they&rsquo;re hurting us or hurting themselves.
The thought of having any sort of confrontation proves too much. We become paralyzed before finding some justification to simply let things be. Yet at the same time, we continue to complain about said things.
Recently, a friend of mine was sharing with me about someone in his friend group who was dabbling in transgenderism. My friend was afraid to share his thoughts on the issue with this person and instead remained silent, even though he was clearly concerned about his friend.&nbsp;
There are so many people who feel like this today. Rather than tell people the truth, we tell them lies, or nothing at all, which they then interpret as affirmation, even though we know it to be sin.
The solution is simple - put yourself in their shoes. What would we want people to do for us if we were sinning? Call us out? Leave us be? We ourselves know the right thing to do, but are not doing it.&nbsp;
Jesus says to let our &ldquo;yes&rdquo; and &ldquo;no&rdquo; be clear. Let&rsquo;s talk about how to do that.
Intersecting Faith &amp; Life:
Recognize that Christ was offensive.
Some of us in the modern church have started believing that Jesus got along perfectly with everybody all the time, but that just wasn&rsquo;t the case. Jesus called people out on their sin. He wasn&rsquo;t afraid to go against the culture. Why do you think there were so many who rallied against Him and were bent on having Him killed?
Certainly, Christ did not offend for the sake of hurting others. There was truth that they needed to hear, and oftentimes they didn&rsquo;t want to hear it. Nonetheless, what mattered most was the truth. The same applies to us today.
Understand that the truth doesn&rsquo;t have to be offensive.
We often grow squeamish at the thought of treating sin with aggression. But here&rsquo;s the reality: you don&rsquo;t have to be aggressive. There is such a thing as righteous anger, but calling someone out for bad behavior doesn&rsquo;t require you to be angry. As discussed, Jesus was not the pacifist we often make Him out to be, but He also didn&rsquo;t go around yelling at everyone He caught misbehaving. Effective communication requires wisdom, something we can attain by first stepping out of our comfort zones and having these tough conversations.
We need one another to grow.
We&rsquo;re no different from the people we complain about. Our struggles may differ. Some are certainly more severe than others. However, like the people we are afraid to confront, we have struggles we don&rsquo;t realize ourselves. You&rsquo;re hopefully not the same person you were a year ago, or five years ago. Why? You&rsquo;ve learned more about yourself in that time. Some of which you learned on your own, but other things were brought to your attention.
We need God and fellow believers to give us the wisdom to become aware. Likewise, we need to use the wisdom we&rsquo;ve been blessed with and admonish those around us - effectively, honestly, and righteously.
Further Reading:
Proverbs 12:22
Proverbs 13:20
John 2:15-17
Luke 6:31
Ephesians 4:24
Matthew 10:34-36

The Courage to Speak Truth

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/5e27a451-e6e6-4c51-aa03-a7370003783c/clips/c03f24bf-c332-4463-a3d4-b401011257fd/transcript

Just as every marathon runner sets goals and works to meet them, we must meet our goals to achieve what God has for us. He does not want us to be stuck in the past. Instead, he wants us to forget what is behind, completely heal from it, and move forward so that we can move toward heaven.

When we move toward heaven, we help others do the same. As people admire us and watch us straining through the ups and downs of life with joy and contentment, others are drawn to Christ, too. When we run the race that has been marked out for us, we in turn help others run the race as well. 

This episode is sponsored by Trinity Debt Management. If you are struggling with debt call Trinity today.  Trinity's counselors have the knowledge and resources to make a difference. Our intention is to help people become debt-free, and most importantly, remain debt-free for keeps!" If your debt has you down, we should talk. Call us at 1-800-793-8548 | https://trinitycredit.org

TrinityCredit – Call us at 1-800-793-8548. Whether we're helping people pay off their unsecured debt or offering assistance to those behind in their mortgage payments. https://trinitycredit.org

Full Transcript Below:

Strain Forward Towards the Goal
By: Michelle Lazurek

Bible Reading:
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 3:13-14

After waiting many months for the Lord's direction, I have begun the ordination process with my denomination. Although it is a long, complicated process, I know I am up for the challenge. But first, I wanted to pray and make sure that my decision was not simply my decision, but one that the Lord was calling me to make.

After many months of silence, God finally used somebody in my life to confirm what I needed to know. As I've gone through the process, God has recalled many emotional wounds I've needed to heal. Due to past church hurt and bad exchanges with brothers and sisters in Christ, I became nervous about whether I could do the job. I wasn't sure I wanted to go back into a situation that could be toxic or harmful to my mental or emotional state. 

One day, I was reading the Word and came across the above verses. It was interesting for me to note the phrase, “forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what's ahead.” The word “strain” implies that it's not easy to move. For instance, people with physical injuries who want to run a marathon will find it quite tricky. The pain of that injury will impede them from running the race fully with a healthy body. 

Although we may never completely forget the hurts and difficulties of our past, God wants us to forget what they are and continue toward the goal he has for us. God doesn't want us to ignore the pain. Instead, knowing it's there, we should take steps to care for ourselves and also to achieve the goal he has set for us. With proper rest, nutrition, and healthy water intake, a person who runs a marathon with an injury can do so, albeit slowly.

It is the same with us. God wants us to strive toward the goal that he has for us. In these verses, the price is heaven. Through many seasons of life, we may be straining toward heaven. We may be going through challenging health crises, financial woes, church, or relationship struggles. Yet through all of it, God wants us to keep moving forward. Even when we are stuck in those emotional wounds, God wants us to heal so we can move forward and reach the prize.

Just as every marathon runner sets goals and works to meet them, we must meet our goals to achieve what God has for us. He does not want us to be stuck in the past. Instead, he wants us to forget what is behind, completely heal from it, and move forward so that we can move toward heaven.

When we move toward heaven, we help others do the same. As people admire us and watch us straining through the ups and downs of life with joy and contentment, others are drawn to Christ, too. When we run the race that has been marked out for us, we in turn help others run the race as well. 

Don't become stuck in the past. Instead, heal from what has ailed you. Seek the help of a professional, get medication, or do whatever you need to take to forget what's behind you completely. Then, when you are ready, move toward heaven, no matter what pace you are at. Strive toward the goal, move toward heaven, and inspire others to reach heaven's goals as well.

Father, let us be people who strain toward the goal. Let us always keep our eyes on the prize: heaven. Let us remember, then, that the ultimate prize is being solidified in our identity with you and in our intimate relationship with you. Help us get the resources and time we need to completely heal from the past so we may move forward toward the goal you have set for us. Amen.

Intersecting Faith & Life:

In what way are you stuck in the past? In what ways can you heal from the past so that you can move forward to your future goals? 

Further Reading:
Hebrews 12:1

Just as every marathon runner sets goals and works to meet them, we must meet our goals to achieve what God has for us. He does not want us to be stuck in the past. Instead, he wants us to forget what is behind, completely heal from it, and move forward so that we can move toward heaven.
When we move toward heaven, we help others do the same. As people admire us and watch us straining through the ups and downs of life with joy and contentment, others are drawn to Christ, too. When we run the race that has been marked out for us, we in turn help others run the race as well.&nbsp;
This episode is sponsored by Trinity Debt Management. If you are struggling with debt call Trinity today. &nbsp;Trinity's counselors have the knowledge and resources to make a difference. Our intention is to help people become debt-free, and most importantly, remain debt-free for keeps!" If your debt has you down, we should talk. Call us at 1-800-793-8548 | <a href="https://trinitycredit.org/">https://trinitycredit.org</a>
TrinityCredit &ndash; Call us at 1-800-793-8548. Whether we're helping people pay off their unsecured debt or offering assistance to those behind in their mortgage payments. <a href="https://trinitycredit.org/">https://trinitycredit.org</a>
<hr>
Full Transcript Below:
Strain Forward Towards the Goal By: Michelle Lazurek
Bible Reading: &ldquo;Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind&nbsp;and straining toward what is ahead,&nbsp;I press on&nbsp;toward the goal to win the prize&nbsp;for which God has called&nbsp;me heavenward in Christ Jesus.&rdquo; - Philippians 3:13-14
After waiting many months for the Lord's direction, I have begun the ordination process with my denomination. Although it is a long, complicated process, I know I am up for the challenge. But first, I wanted to pray and make sure that my decision was not simply my decision, but one that the Lord was calling me to make.
After many months of silence, God finally used somebody in my life to confirm what I needed to know. As I've gone through the process, God has recalled many emotional wounds I've needed to heal. Due to past church hurt and bad exchanges with brothers and sisters in Christ, I became nervous about whether I could do the job. I wasn't sure I wanted to go back into a situation that could be toxic or harmful to my mental or emotional state.&nbsp;
One day, I was reading the Word and came across the above verses. It was interesting for me to note the phrase, &ldquo;forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what's ahead.&rdquo; The word &ldquo;strain&rdquo; implies that it's not easy to move. For instance, people with physical injuries who want to run a marathon will find it quite tricky. The pain of that injury will impede them from running the race fully with a healthy body.&nbsp;
Although we may never completely forget the hurts and difficulties of our past, God wants us to forget what they are and continue toward the goal he has for us. God doesn't want us to ignore the pain. Instead, knowing it's there, we should take steps to care for ourselves and also to achieve the goal he has set for us. With proper rest, nutrition, and healthy water intake, a person who runs a marathon with an injury can do so, albeit slowly.
It is the same with us. God wants us to strive toward the goal that he has for us. In these verses, the price is heaven. Through many seasons of life, we may be straining toward heaven. We may be going through challenging health crises, financial woes, church, or relationship struggles. Yet through all of it, God wants us to keep moving forward. Even when we are stuck in those emotional wounds, God wants us to heal so we can move forward and reach the prize.
Just as every marathon runner sets goals and works to meet them, we must meet our goals to achieve what God has for us. He does not want us to be stuck in the past. Instead, he wants us to forget what is behind, completely heal from it, and move forward so that we can move toward heaven.
When we move toward heaven, we help others do the same. As people admire us and watch us straining through the ups and downs of life with joy and contentment, others are drawn to Christ, too. When we run the race that has been marked out for us, we in turn help others run the race as well.&nbsp;
Don't become stuck in the past. Instead, heal from what has ailed you. Seek the help of a professional, get medication, or do whatever you need to take to forget what's behind you completely. Then, when you are ready, move toward heaven, no matter what pace you are at. Strive toward the goal, move toward heaven, and inspire others to reach heaven's goals as well.
Father, let us be people who strain toward the goal. Let us always keep our eyes on the prize: heaven. Let us remember, then, that the ultimate prize is being solidified in our identity with you and in our intimate relationship with you. Help us get the resources and time we need to completely heal from the past so we may move forward toward the goal you have set for us. Amen.
Intersecting Faith &amp; Life:
In what way are you stuck in the past? In what ways can you heal from the past so that you can move forward to your future goals?&nbsp;
Further Reading: Hebrews 12:1

Strain Forward Towards the Goal

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/5e27a451-e6e6-4c51-aa03-a7370003783c/clips/66cacaa8-fa4f-4c85-81ff-b4010112532d/transcript

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