Now offering more opportunities and resources!
In person, virtual, in home and workplace meetings!
Confidential sessions with individuals and families.
Meetings with Church and Business staff members.
Counseling and pastoral services including communion..
Experienced Licensed Pastoral Counselor, Ordained Minister, and Institute for Clinical Pastoral Training, residency instructed Chaplain.
Available for pulpit ministry!
One of my favorite scriptures is found in the Book of John, chapter 14, verse 27. Jesus said, “I give you peace, the kind of peace only I can give. It isn’t like the peace this world can give. So. don’t be worried or afraid.”
If one were to look at the meaning of the word peace in a dictionary, it would define it as, “The absence of conflict or war”. A world without conflict would be nice, but no one can argue that conflict isn’t part of the this world’s system. It’s built in to it!
However, there is the peace that Jesus talked about; another peace that transcends the natural, world-given kind of peace. In the scripture mentioned above, Jesus said, “I’m leaving you with a different kind of peace”. It’s a peace that passes comprehension or understanding. It’s a peace that abides within you, in spite of what we hear on the news, in spite of the condition of the world. It’s not circumstantial! It’s based on a trust and commitment to the character, presence, and word of God.
Jesus told his disciples, “Don’t be worried or afraid". Other translations of the same verse instruct us to “NOT LET our hearts be troubled, DON’T LET them be afraid”. There’s responsibility on our part of living in this beautiful promise - It’s guarding our hearts from all the, what-if’s, all the fears, and troubling expectations!
It’s critically important that we “take our negative thoughts captive, and bring them to the obedience of Christ”. ( II Corinthians 10:5) God promised that He would keep us in PERFECT PEACE, if we keep our thoughts and imagination on him! (Isaiah 26:3) Peace is a gift from God, but manifests in our lives as a product of prayer, trust, gratitude, obedience and being intentional with our thoughts! (Philippians 4:6-9) The God of Peace has promised to be with us! You and I can have His inner peace - in spite of the negative, external circumstances of this world.
One of my favorite scriptures is found in the Book of John, chapter 14, verse 27. Jesus said, “I give you peace, the kind of peace only I can give. It isn’t like the peace this world can give. So. don’t be worried or afraid.”
If one were to look at the meaning of the word peace in a dictionary, it would define it as, “The absence of conflict or war”. A world without conflict would be nice, but no one can argue that conflict isn’t part of the this world’s system. It’s built in to it!
However, there is the peace that Jesus talked about; another peace that transcends the natural, world-given kind of peace. In the scripture mentioned above, Jesus said, “I’m leaving you with a different kind of peace”. It’s a peace that passes comprehension or understanding. It’s a peace that abides within you, in spite of what we hear on the news, in spite of the condition of the world. It’s not circumstantial! It’s based on a trust and commitment to the character, presence, and word of God.
Jesus told his disciples, “Don’t be worried or afraid". Other translations of the same verse instruct us to “NOT LET our hearts be troubled, DON’T LET them be afraid”. There’s responsibility on our part of living in this beautiful promise - It’s guarding our hearts from all the, what-if’s, all the fears, and troubling expectations!
It’s critically important that we “take our negative thoughts captive, and bring them to the obedience of Christ”. ( II Corinthians 10:5) God promised that He would keep us in PERFECT PEACE, if we keep our thoughts and imagination on him! (Isaiah 26:3) Peace is a gift from God, but manifests in our lives as a product of prayer, trust, gratitude, obedience and being intentional with our thoughts! (Philippians 4:6-9) The God of Peace has promised to be with us! You and I can have His inner peace - in spite of the negative, external circumstances of this world.
So you’ve failed in the past. Does this mean you're a failure?
If you're carrying the same mistakes from your past into your present, even if you know it’s wrong, you could have an unhealthy issue with your identity. Your identity has many compartments. You may seem healthy in some areas of identity, but be unhealthy in others. You might even have what appears to be a positive sense of identity, but it can still be unhealthy. Our heart is the seat of our identity. We all live out of the beliefs of our hearts. Our behavior is the result of those beliefs.
To change behavior, we must focus on changing the beliefs of our hearts. Behavior modification generally just leaves us exhausted in trying to change the symptom, but not healing the problem.
Is this scriptural? Absolutely!
Proverbs. 4:33. New International Version
"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."
Proverbs 3:23 Complete Jewish Bible.
"Above everything else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences."
Take a step in a healthy direction! Identity is Everything!
Before you judge me too harshly, let me explain. I do love God’s word. Like you, I have some favorite scriptures, (about 200 or so), but there are scriptures that challenge me.
The one I’m referring too in the title is found in the Book of James, Chapter 4, verses 2-4.
2-4 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.“
I DON’T LIKE WHEN MY FAITH HAS TESTS AND CHALLENGES! Especially when it seems like these tests really do come at me from ALL SIDES! It’s these tests and trials that expose the true colors of our faith.
But this scripture tells us to consider it a gift! WHY? Because they help us mature. This scripture doesn’t say that these tests and challenges are even from God. After all, He can’t and won’t test us with evil. The fallen world we live in is a test all by itself. I don’t like being proven to be deficient in any way. Do you? The process of life’s challenges is necessary in order to achieve the desired result!
So, if I want maturity and to be well developed, I have to change my outlook! I have to change the way I look at tests and challenges, knowing that as I “trust God” in and through them, I’m being equipped for other things.
Let me share a couple of things that can help in moving through these trying times.
There’s always more going on than what we see in the moment. We only see in part. We only know in part. There is a bigger picture. The frustrations and irritations that we feel are based on a part - not the whole. God always has a bigger picture and a bigger plan. God’s plans are good. He said so! Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, “ I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; they are good and not evil. They are plans that give you hope and a future and an expected end.”
Rest in the fact that his plan provides new appointments that have the power to override the the disappointments of our present and past.
There’s always a promise from God. During these times of, “the trying of our faith”, we can focus on the promises that God’s word has given us for every situation. I’ve yet to meet the Christian that does not need to grow more in certain areas of his or her life. Our trials, combined with faith and patience have the ability to, “Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
God’s desire is that we are not deficient in any way - which means that God wants us to grow up into His ways and representation of Him.
I may not like the process while in the process, but I love the idea of being a better representation of Him. In all ways!
Before you judge me too harshly, let me explain. I do love God’s word. Like you, I have some favorite scriptures, (about 200 or so), but there are scriptures that challenge me.
The one I’m referring too in the title is found in the Book of James, Chapter 4, verses 2-4.
2-4 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.“
I DON’T LIKE WHEN MY FAITH HAS TESTS AND CHALLENGES! Especially when it seems like these tests really do come at me from ALL SIDES! It’s these tests and trials that expose the true colors of our faith.
But this scripture tells us to consider it a gift! WHY? Because they help us mature. This scripture doesn’t say that these tests and challenges are even from God. After all, He can’t and won’t test us with evil. The fallen world we live in is a test all by itself. I don’t like being proven to be deficient in any way. Do you? The process of life’s challenges is necessary in order to achieve the desired result!
So, if I want maturity and to be well developed, I have to change my outlook! I have to change the way I look at tests and challenges, knowing that as I “trust God” in and through them, I’m being equipped for other things.
Let me share a couple of things that can help in moving through these trying times.
There’s always more going on than what we see in the moment. We only see in part. We only know in part. There is a bigger picture. The frustrations and irritations that we feel are based on a part - not the whole. God always has a bigger picture and a bigger plan. God’s plans are good. He said so! Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, “ I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; they are good and not evil. They are plans that give you hope and a future and an expected end.”
Rest in the fact that his plan provides new appointments that have the power to override the the disappointments of our present and past.
There’s always a promise from God. During these times of, “the trying of our faith”, we can focus on the promises that God’s word has given us for every situation. I’ve yet to meet the Christian that does not need to grow more in certain areas of his or her life. Our trials, combined with faith and patience have the ability to, “Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
God’s desire is that we are not deficient in any way - which means that God wants us to grow up into His ways and representation of Him.
I may not like the process while in the process, but I love the idea of being a better representation of Him. In all ways!
