Category: Intimacy With God

Categories
Faith Forgiveness God Still Heals God Still Speaks God's Love God's Promises God's Voice Healed Healing Intimacy With God Jesus Miracle Peace of God Prayer Presence of God Protection Redemption Restoration Salvation Testimony Uncategorized

The Best Free Gift

HI Faith Travelers!

It’s the last day of May 2025 and instead of giving you all a story, a testimony or a lesson I want to give all of you, across the now 83 countries that this blog reaches, an opportunity. It’s the best opportunity that anyone can take advantage of, especially if you haven’t in your life as of yet. This opportunity is the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Salvation is the saving or deliverance from sin and its consequences, through God’s grace and forgiveness given to us because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. It’s not something you have to strive or work for. You merely have to receive it by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

8 For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God; 9 not as a result of [your] works [nor your attempts to keep the Law], so that no one will [be able to] boast or take credit in any way [for his salvation].

Ephesians 2:8-9 AMP

Accepting the free gift of salvation doesn’t only save us from eternal damnation, it gives us eternal life. Meaning when we leave this earth after we pass on, we get the privilege to abide in the presence of God forever vs spending eternity in the midst of fire and brimstone in hell with satan. Sounds like an easy choice to make but I never want to assume that everyone has been presented with that opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Just 2 weeks ago my husband and I lost his mother and while it is a tremendous loss for us, we are grateful that we were able to make it in time to sit with her, pray over her, talk to her about Jesus and lead her in the salvation prayer because again we didn’t want to assume she had been presented with the opportunity. Even in moments when it was difficult for her to breathe she fought through repeating every single word of the salvation prayer. Even when my husband offered for her to communicate by tapping his hand, she wanted to say the prayer out loud. Nearly an hour after saying that prayer, my mother in love went to be with the Lord. While we were saddened, we knew according to Thessalonians 4:13 that we could weep and grieve with the hope and knowing that we will see her again when we get to heaven .

13 Now we do not want you to be uninformed, believers, about those who are asleep [in death], so that you will not grieve [for them] as the others do who have no hope [beyond this present life].

1 Thessalonians 4:13 AMP

The Bible says in Romans 10:9 that when you confess with your mouth and believe with your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him(Jesus) from the dead, you will be saved. Now if you would like to take advantage of this opportunity to receive salvation, I would like for you to join me in repeating this prayer that will change your life for the better.

9 because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart a person believes [in Christ as Savior] resulting in his justification [that is, being made righteous—being freed of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God]; and with the mouth he acknowledges and confesses [his faith openly], resulting in and confirming [his] salvation.

Romans 10:9-10 AMP

If you are ready to surrender your life to Jesus, Repeat This Prayer:

Dear God in Heaven,

I thank you for Jesus. I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe Jesus died on the cross, paying the price for my sins. I believe you raised Him from the dead and He is alive right now. Dear Lord Jesus, come into my heart, come into my life, save me, forgive me, and make me brand new. I repent and turn away from sin. I surrender my life and choose to follow you for the rest of my days. According to the Bible, I am right now born again.

If you prayed that prayer, I want to congratulate you on making the best decision of your life!

I encourage you to join a Bible teaching church, if you are able to, and start studying God’s word. If you have further questions, please refer to the below links.

Did you receive Salvation today and want to know more about what’s next? Click Here The Faith Travels Blog Salvation Questionnaire!

To be a part of the movement, share your own faith story Here!

Categories
Discipleship Faith God Still Speaks God's Love God's Promises God's Voice Intimacy With God Jesus Obedience Peace of God Prayer Presence of God Protection Purpose Trusting God Uncategorized

Abide: Staying Connected to GOD in Difficult Seasons

Hi Faith Travelers!

Happy Good Friday & Holy Week!

At this point, I think I can still say Happy New Year, given you haven’t heard from me since December 2024 :-)…

It has taken me quite some time to write this particular post since the beginning of January because, honestly speaking, I have not been exempt from trials in this season. In fact, many I know have also been going through their own set of trials, almost daily, since the start of the new year. But I will say this…God’s word never said we would have a life absent of trials, it did however say that He(God) would be with us through them (See Psalms 23:4).

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Psalms 23:4

Many think when they surrender their life to God and receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, that means life miraculously becomes problem free. (* Hits buzzer*… “Wrong!”) Well, your life does get better because you receive eternal life. However, satan, as the little “g” god of this world, will still attempt to attack (See John 10:10) believers to discourage, scare or slow them down from walking in the fullness of who God called them to be and what He has called them to do to advance the Kingdom of God. This is why it is said that this world we live in is a battlefield not a playground. We have to make a daily decision to stand for and on God’s word that gives us the instructions on how to fight back against the attacks of the enemy(satan).

Speaking of trials, let’s talk about 2025. I am sure this has been a peculiar year, so far, for most but God remains faithful through it all no matter what it looks like around us. As we stepped into this new season and era at the beginning of 2025, there is one word that the Lord God keeps reminding me that we all need to take heed to. That word is…ABIDE.

Abide means to remain, continue, obey or dwell. With that said, in 2025 and beyond, we need to remain in the Lord, keeping our connection to Him while continuing to trust and draw closer to the true and living God in every situation like never before. We need to walk in obedience, following the Lord’s instructions quickly and intentionally. And we need to dwell with the Lord just as His word says in Psalms 91:1.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalms 91:1

Why abide, you ask? Because apart from the Lord, we can do nothing. No matter how much you think you know, no matter the number of degrees you possess, how clever or talented you are or even how powerful you think you are on this earth. Apart from Jesus Christ, you can do nothing (See John 15:5). This is why it is important to stay connected and abide in the Lord. Parably speaking, if He is the vine and we are the branches and we are disconnected from Him, that means we are disconnected from the life source; the source of life filled with love, truth, purpose, faith, trust and abundance.

So how do we Abide?…

I am going to share 3 key ways to abide in the Lord…

  1. Learn God’s Ways & Character through Prayer and time in His Word
    • Know that God loves you ( 1 John 4:12-16) and is waiting to hear from you, no matter the circumstance or baggage you are coming with in the moment
      • He leaves the 99 to go after the 1 (If you are that one, He’s waiting for you with open arms- Matthew 18:10-14)
    • Set intentional Daily Prayer time
      • Prayer is just communication with God as if you are talking to a friend or a loving Father. (Matthew 6:5-15)
      • This can be as long as you want or as short as time allows; as many times a day as you like
        • Quote: “I don’t ever pray any longer than twenty minutes, but I never go twenty minutes without praying. ” -Smiths Wigglesworth
        • Your prayer life is not measured in minutes. Prayer is a lifestyle.
      • Understand and trust that the Lord hears your prayers wherever you are, even if you are in the car on the way to work (1 John 5:14-15)
    • Read & Study God’s Word
      • Pray for understanding and God given revelation before reading and studying the word of God so that your interpretation is true & sound
      • If you are new to studying the word of God, start with the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)
  2. Grow your relationship with the Lord (See Previous Blog on Intimacy [Closeness] with God )
    • Spend time in God’s presence
      • Uninterrupted time with the Father (God)
      • This can include prayer, praise and worship or just quiet time listening to the Lord.
    • Have 2-way communication with the Lord
      • Listen twice as long as you pray
      • Write down what you believe the Lord is saying so you can refer back to it to strengthen your trust in hearing God clearly
    • Learn how God speaks to you
      • Through His Word, through dreams, visions, inward knowing, a feeling(“Something told me…”)
      • God is always speaking we just have to listen (John 14:26)
  3. Surrender to living your life for the Lord

When we abide in the Lord, He abides in us; leading, guiding, protecting, and ordering our steps to and through the purpose and plan He has for our lives. When we submit to abiding in the Lord, it doesn’t matter what is going on in the world or how bad things get because we have the God who created the universe on our side. Rest in knowing that.

Until the next faith lesson…

To be a part of the movement, share your own faith story Here!

Categories
Debt Freedom Discipleship Faith Forgiveness God Still Heals God Still Speaks God's Promises God's Voice Healed Healing Intimacy With God Miracle Miracle Obedience Prayer Presence of God Pride Protection Purpose Redemption Restoration Testimony Uncategorized

Surely, I Thought…: Resisting Prideful Expectation from GOD

HI Faith Travelers!

It’s the last Faith Friday of the year and I pray you all are having a great wrap up to 2024 and are in expectation of the fullness of all that God has for you in 2025.

Today we are going to talk about resisting pride when it comes to your expectations from GOD. See, there is a difference between having faith and being in pride when it comes to what you are expecting from the Lord. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen (See Hebrews 11:1). Faith also means to have strong belief or complete trust or confidence in GOD. Pride, on the other hand, can be defined as the quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s importance; presumption; arrogance; conceitedness; egotism; self-regard; self-glorification or haughtiness.

There are several scriptures in the Bible that talk about the negative connotation and impact of pride:

“Pride goes before destruction…” (See Proverbs 16:18);

“When pride comes, then comes shame…” (See Proverbs 11:2)

“By pride comes nothing but strife…”(See Proverbs 13:10)

“A man’s pride will bring him low…” (See Proverbs 29:23)

“Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord…” (See Proverbs 16:5)

The Bible also states, that “God resists [to oppose, strive against or withstand] the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” (See James 4:6)

The world will make every attempt to convince you that having pride is a good thing but GOD’s word shows us in black and white just how destructive “Pride” can be.

Let’s take a look at the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5:1-19 to show you how pride can potentially hinder GOD’s blessing. Naaman was a mighty Syrian army commander who’d brought the king of Syria much victory yet he was suffering from leprosy. His wife’s maid servant told her that one of GOD’s prophets in Samaria could heal Naaman. Naaman told this to the king of Syria and the king wrote a letter to the king of Israel to introduce Naaman and his purposes of coming to their land to be healed. GOD’s prophet, Elisha, heard about the king of Israel’s response and told him to send Naaman to him so that he would know there is a true prophet of GOD in Israel. Naaman headed to Elisha’s house with his horses and chariot and stood at Elisha’s door. Elisha sent a messenger to tell Naaman to “go and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan river. Then your skin will be restored and you will be healed of your leprosy.” But Naaman, in pride, became furious and went away stating that surely he thought the prophet would come out to meet him, wave his hands and heal the leprosy. He described other rivers in Israel being better than the Jordan river and didn’t understand why he shouldn’t wash in those rivers instead. Naaman turned away in rage and pride and would have missed his blessing if it had not been for his servants reasoning with him about the instructions from Elisha. His servants stated, “if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, “Wash and be clean[cured]!” So Naaman went to the Jordan River, dipped seven times and just like the prophet of GOD said, He was completely cured from leprosy. Naaman went back to the prophet of GOD and proclaimed that now he knows there is no god except The true and living GOD (then called the God of Israel).

How many times have you missed out or nearly missed out on GOD’s blessings because the way GOD wanted to do things didn’t meet your prideful expectation? You may have been looking for the extravagant gesture or the instant result and the Lord is telling you it’s in the process and MY still small voice. (See Reference I Kings 19:11-12)

I can recall many occasions where I wanted the Lord to do something a specific way but GOD showed me that His ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts are higher than my thoughts (See Isaiah 55:8-9). There was a specific instance where I wanted GOD to heal me miraculously like He’d done so many times before. I soon found out that had I not gone the medical surgery route like GOD was leading me to, I would’ve not only missed my healing but I would have missed the opportunity to minister to so many women who were connected to my obedience to share my story. Don’t worry, I plan to share that story soon in the coming year.

There was another instance years ago, where I was expecting GOD to pay off my student loans miraculously, much like I had seen happen in the past with people I know. Well that’s not how GOD wanted to do it with me and I found that out very quickly after receiving a late fee from not making a payment that GOD didn’t tell me not to make. We all make zealous mistakes sometimes but this is why it’s important to obey GOD’s instructions and not your prideful expectations. That minor disappointment was my own fault and had nothing to do with God because He didn’t instruct me to do that. Through all of this, GOD was trying to show me how to steward my finances well and proper money management so that I would know for future purposes. Well those private student loans were paid in full in 2018 and I have been able to remain debt free from student loans even after getting a masters degree and bible college diploma because I stuck with the process of the bigger lesson that GOD wanted me to learn through all of this.

Let’s finish up the story of Naaman, Elisha and Elisha’s servant in II Kings 5:20-27, to understand what can happen when you actually give in to prideful expectations.

After Naaman spoke to Elisha sharing that he now knows the only god is the GOD of Israel, Naaman offered Elisha a gift from his servant. This gift included silver, gold and clothing. Elisha responded, “as surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept any gifts.” Even though Naaman urged him to take the gift, Elisha refused. But Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, said to himself that his master, Elisha, should not have let Naaman leave without accepting any of his gifts. In pride, Gehazi stated, “as surely as the Lord lives, I will chase after Naaman and get something from him.” Gehazi caught up with Naaman, lied about Elisha sending him to get 2 sets of clothing and 75 pounds of silver for two visiting prophets and was offered twice as much silver from Naaman along with 2 sets of clothing. When Gehazi got back to the house, he hid the gifts. Elisha asked Gehazi where he had been and he lied again, stating he hadn’t been anywhere. Elisha asked Gehazi if he realized that his spirit was there when he met with Naaman, basically letting Gehazi know that the spiritual gift that GOD had given Elisha allowed him to spiritually see everything that happened while he wasn’t physically there. Elisha asked “Is this a time to receive money and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle, and male and female servants?” Elisha proceeded to tell Gehazi, because you have done this, you and your descendants will suffer from Naaman’s leprosy forever. When Gehazi left the room, he was covered with leprosy; his skin was white as snow.

Remember those scriptures on pride. This was a clear example of how Gehazi’s prideful expectation and greed that he should get gifts from Naaman, put him right on the path to destruction. While my student loan late fee is nothing compared to Gehazi and his descendants being stricken with leprosy forever, I could have dealt with a lot worse and still been in debt had I not humbled myself and listen to the instructions GOD was actually giving me on money management versus my prideful expectation of Him just making everything go away in the blink of an eye. Don’t get me wrong, our GOD is the GOD who can do any and all things but if HE did it instantly or the same way every time then what lesson are you really learning. Are you only seeking HIS hand and what HE can do for you? Or are you seeking HIS Face and learning HIS ways intimately so that He can lead and guide you to and through the purpose HE has for your life. So resist prideful expectation from God and humble yourselves according to the Lord, knowing that He may exalt you at the appropriate time (See I Peter 5:6 AMP). The choice is yours.

Until the next faith lesson…

To be a part of the movement, share your own faith story Here!

Categories
Emotional Healing Faith God Still Heals God Still Speaks God's Love God's Promises God's Voice Grief Healed Healing Intimacy With God Jesus Miracle Miracle Obedience Peace of God Prayer Presence of God Protection Purpose Restoration Testimony Uncategorized

God’s Promise to You

Hey Faith Travelers!

Happy Faith Friday!

I know it’s been a while but I hope you all have been remaining Faith filled. God has had me focusing on a few different things in the past several months, but I promise you will still see these blog posts as the Holy Spirit leads me to write.

I have noticed that the enemy’s (Satan) tactics in this season include planting seeds of “Doubt” in an attempt to make you forget the promises that God has already made to you in His Word. Promises regarding your health & healing; Promises regarding your peace; Promises regarding your protection; Promises regarding provision, purpose, clarity and so much more.

Recently, I found myself in the midst of a struggle with doubting that God would come through for me regarding a matter. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you have seen how God has moved in my life and the lives of others in mighty and miraculous ways.  So why was I doubting?! One reason is because I’m human and we have to choose and fight daily to keep our minds stayed on Jesus (Isaiah 26:3), while remembering the benefits (Psalms 103: 2-3) of our salvation through Jesus Christ. If or when doubt tries to creep in, there’s no time for self condemnation (Romans 8:1); so if this happens, just refocus and remind yourself of what God says about you and your situation.

In the midst of my struggle with doubt, God whispered the scripture 2Corinthians 1:20 to me. “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” Immediately, my thoughts were flooded with the promises of God from His Word.

” For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

2 Corinthians 1:20 NKJV

Let’s break down what this means…

The word “Yes” is a confirmation or an affirmative response.

The word “Amen” means “so be it”, meaning “certainly” or “it is so”.

Therefore when you think of any promise written in God’s word it is already Confirmed, Yes, through Jesus Christ and we therefore say “Amen” to God, as a reference that “it is so” and “certain”, for His glory.

For those of you in the midst of a storm that has you doubting God’s ability to do the impossible, here’s a reminder of His promises that are Yes and Amen.

YES, No weapon formed against you shall prosper, AMEN.

Isaiah 54:17

YES, All things work together for The good of those who love the Lord and are called to His purpose, AMEN.

Romans 8:28

YES, weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning, AMEN.

Psalm 30:5

YES, By Jesus stripes we are healed, AMEN.

Isaiah 53:5

YES, God is able to do exceedingly,abundantly above all we can ask or imagine, AMEN.

Ephesians 3:20

YES, you shall not die, but live to declare the works of the Lord, AMEN.

Psalms 118:17

YES, A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it shall NOT come near you, AMEN.

Psalms 91:7

YES, No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling, AMEN.

Psalms 91:10

YES, God has given you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over ALL the power of the enemy (satan) and nothing shall by any means hurt you, AMEN. 

Luke 10:19

YES, for God knows the thoughts that He thinks towards us, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope, AMEN.

Jeremiah 29:11

YES, for with God nothing will be impossible, AMEN.

Luke 1:37

Meditate on these promises, remind yourself who you are in Christ Jesus and never forget God’s promises are true.

Until the next faith message…

To be a part of the movement, share your own faith story Here!

Categories
Emotional Healing Faith God Still Heals God Still Speaks God's Love God's Voice Healed Healing Intimacy With God Jesus Miracle Obedience Peace of God Prayer Presence of God Protection Purpose Restoration Testimony Uncategorized

The Answer You’ve Been Looking For

HI Faith Travelers!         

I am sure today’s title has you wondering, what is she talking about?! The answer to what…and for what?!

Well it’s the answer to All of Your Problems!

So I’ve learned a few things over the last several years of my life; from my own experiences and from the experiences of others. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that everything you need is found in the presence of God. Where the presence of God is, an invitation of intimacy with Him begins. I’ll get into what that means shortly.

“Everything you need

is found

in MY presence.”

–From God to Me

Recently I have come across several friends and individuals, including myself, who have felt physically and mentally tired, drained, confused, emotional, frustrated, angry, anxious, heavy and down right burdened. If this is you, then you will want to keep reading. Why have they felt this way and what causes it? The answer is Life causes it! Some of us are taking things day by day and just trying to make it through the first 24 hours to get to the next 24 hours and then to the next and so on. Some days are great, others are intense, some days are joyful while others are beyond stressful. Why is that? Because Life is going to Life and then rinse and repeat. We have a real enemy(the devil aka satan) in this world who seeks to steal, kill and destroy (See John 10:10) and if you are living your life for Jesus Christ then the enemy seeks to not make it easy for you. The everyday life we live may be inconsistent but the one thing in our lives that isn’t inconsistent is God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever ( See Hebrews 13:8).

So how do we get in the presence of God to fix all of our problems? Well, the answer is we build a relationship with God and we become consistent with Him; in His word, in prayer and in communing with Him daily. Being consistent with God in turn creates intimacy with God. The word intimacy means close familiarity or friendship; closeness. It also means fellowship, communion, affection, understanding, sharing and togetherness.

Intimacy with God means closeness, familiarity, friendship, fellowship, communion and togetherness with God.

How do you become consistent with God to create intimacy with Him? Well let’s look at it like a marriage. When you marry someone and choose to spend the rest of your life with them; before you make that covenant before God and the courts you develop a relationship with that person. You spend time with them, you learn their likes and dislikes, you develop familiarity, friendship and closeness with that person and you learn the ins and outs of who that person is as a whole. That’s no different than what intimacy with God looks like. When we spend time with God in prayer or in His word, we learn His likes, dislikes and the promises He has made to and for us. When we truly seek God, we learn that the time with Him is never a one sided conversation because He certainly talks back, we just have to take the time to listen. This is what a relationship with God looks like.

What happens when we have intimacy with God? How do I begin to see God make a change with the problems I see in my everyday life? In Matthew 6:33, the word of God says “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” In the context of this section of the book of Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is telling us not to worry about our life. In not worrying about our life, He’s saying don’t worry about what we will eat, drink, wear or anything related to our everyday lives. He reminds us in this chapter to look at the birds and how the Lord makes sure they are fed; look at the flowers and the grass and how the Lord makes sure they grow and are taken care of. If we, being created in God’s image (See Genesis 1:27), are regarded higher than these things then how much more will God make sure we are taken care of. “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (See Matthew 6:32). Earlier in this same chapter, where Jesus is showing us how to pray, He also says “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (See Matthew 6:8). He is all knowing and all powerful so when you have intimacy with the all knowing & powerful God, just imagine how that will change your life for the better.

“…For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”

Matthew 6:8

The above may address those who don’t have a relationship with God or rather those that don’t exactly know how to have a relationship with Him but I also want to address those of you who have a relationship with God yet are lacking in intimacy with God. There are some of you out there who pray all the time and spend time in God’s word yet you still feel burdened, drained and overwhelmed as if you are carrying a weight that isn’t yours to carry. This was me and a few others I encountered recently. Some of us were so used to seeing God as just Lord and master, instruction giver, the One who shows us what to intercede for, yet we had somehow forgotten that God is our Father first and He wants us to come to Him as His child. Why? Because we spend our days trying to be the go to person for our families, the employee, the parent, the intercessor, the prayer warrior, the missionary, the minister and so many other roles we take on along with attempts to try to be everything to everyone, that we often forget that we are not and were never built for that. That’s why Jesus died for us, so that we wouldn’t have to carry those burdens.

If this is you, you may be lacking in intimacy with God and require some intimate time with the Father. What does that look like? Intentionally setting time for just you and God with no agenda, no prayer points and no distractions…Just you and God’s presence. Where it goes from there is up to you and Him. The only requirement is going to Him like a child in need of their Father, knowing everything will be taken care of, just as children often do. It can be a conversation about your day, how you feel about something or even just basking in the awe of His felt presence. Set this time with God consistently and watch a new facet of your relationship with God begin to unfold.

I made the change this year to set consistent intentional and intimate time with God with no agenda and in just the first two weeks my life changed drastically spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially and even physically. Everything I need was and is found in the Presence of God. So, whether you have been walking with God for 2 days or 20+ years, we all need intimacy with Him. Take the first step and watch how time with Him gives you all the answers you’ve been looking for.

Until the next faith message…

To be a part of the movement, share your own faith story Here!