Cross My Heart Ministry

“He gives power to the weak,
and to those who have no might He increases strength.”
Isaiah 40:29

Is today a heavy day? Are you feeling under the pile, under the weather, or perhaps overwhelmed? Are you feeling weak, lacking, or just generally inadequate?

We can only survive on adrenaline, caffeine, and willpower for so long. And thankfully, we don’t have to.

We have Jesus.

When we are running on fumes, we need His power. When we are weak, He provides His strength.

Why do we forget?

My life has been one of throwing myself at His feet for the really hard stuff (cancer, job loss, a daughter diagnosed with juvenile diabetes—to name a few), but then sweating the small stuff on my own.

When I wrote out this life-giving, hope-in-Him verse above from Isaiah, it occurred to me: this is the Gospel! Right here in the OLD Testament.

It’s God providing for us what we can’t manufacture or whip up on our own.

We need Him. We need Him for the life-altering challenges and the daily irritations. The big stuff AND the small stuff.

Whether today’s hard thing is emotional or physical, spiritual or medical, financial, vocational, or relational, let’s remind one another that He is the source of our power and His strength is ours for the asking.

When we come to Him for salvation, we must first acknowledge we need saving! The Gospel begins with admitting our need for Him … confessing that, as John Newton put it so perfectly,  “I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”

And the same is true for our growing in sanctification—living and abiding in Him after we are saved. Asking for His strength means admitting our weakness. Asking for His power means acknowledging I’m on empty.

As women of God, we know we can’t achieve eternal life on our own. So why do we think we can hope to navigate living for Him on our own? We don’t have to! And why would we want to?

Need strength? Need power? Just ask! Our God is a giving God:

“He gives power to the weak,
and to those who have no might He increases strength.”

Can I get an amen?

We continue with Laura’s series of teaching videos from her Bible study in I Kings.

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“But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you
and guard you from the evil one.”
II Thessalonians 3:3

God is ever faithful. He keeps His Word. He is a promise keeper.

We may not always know or understand what He is doing, but we know HIM. He is for us. He loves us. He has a plan, and his plan is not only for our good, but – more importantly – it is for His glory.

When any human being says, “Trust me,” we may understandably ask for details. But when God says, “Trust me,” we need not hesitate. No need to question. No room for doubt.

Whatever God asks of us, we can – with complete confidence – choose to:

• Stop
• Stay
• Release
• Run
• Hide
• Hold on
• Hold fast
• Wait
• Go
• Love
• Resist
• Stand firm
• Stand up
• Sit down
• Forgive

The assignment will differ from person to person, and from day to day for each person. Each moment may offer the choice to obey or not. Obedience is the key ingredient for sanctification. And each time we follow in obedience, the roots of our faith go deeper. We are stronger in Him.

It is a scary, pricey, risky, and exhilarating way to live. Yet, as Dr. David Burnham said, “The Christian life is not the easiest life, but it is the best life!”

Are you intrigued by a faith-fueled life? Have you tried living this way? Did you pray the prayer of faith for salvation all those years ago? Have you been lulled into thinking that faith saved you back then, but faith has little to do with today?

Yes, faith was for that day back then … but faith is also our fuel for living every day now!

We can live by faith because we know God is faithful!

Wherever He sends, whatever assignment He makes, no matter what He asks of us — He goes with us. We are never alone. He promised to never leave us and never forsake us, and our God never breaks His word.

Do you believe He “will establish you and guard you” as promised? If so, then what are you waiting for? Time to live by faith. For the woman of God, that’s what “living large” really means!

The latest teaching video from Laura’s current Bible study in I Kings is available now:

“…the joy of the LORD is your strength…”
Nehemiah 8:10b

When the people heard the Word of God read aloud by Ezra, they wept and mourned. But Nehemiah offered the reassurance found in today’s scripture verse: God’s strength is our joy. No matter what we walk through, He is our joy, our strength.

This world will bring hard things. Unhappy things. Unwanted, unplanned, and unexpected things. But when we know God, it is possible to be simultaneously unhappy, yet filled with joy. Happy comes and happy goes. But joy is a fruit of the Spirit. That means it is a constant, unchanging part of us. No matter what. Come what may – God is ever with us.

When difficult or challenging circumstances attempt to rob us of our strength, we must declare with Nehemiah, “the joy of the LORD is my strength!”

We may have cried until we are all cried out. The pain seems unending. We pray and nothing changes. We ask, “Why?” We call out, “Where are you, God?”

And then we remember: He is right here with me. His Spirit abides in me. Whatever I am facing did not catch God by surprise. He knows. He understands.

Our Lord is not just the God of “up there” … He is very much the God of “down here,” too.

Jesus put on flesh. He lived and walked as a human. He knows all about pain, rejection, and hurt. He even asked God to change the plan – to “take the cup away,” as He sweated out drops of blood in the Garden. But He prayed through until he reached that place of alignment with the Father’s plan: “Thy will be done.”

The joy of doing the will of the Father gave Jesus the strength to endure the cross. And the joy of living and abiding in Him is our strength, as well.

We may not understand. We may not see how it could end well. We do not see what God is up to. We do not know His plan. But we know Him. And that’s enough. Because He is enough. He is more than enough.

May today find you ready to declare – again – with Nehemiah:

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Does today find you facing a decision? Do you need to figure out a course of action? In this week’s Cross My Heart video devotional, Laura offers ten key questions to consider as we wrestle with and pray through the decisions we need to make. You can view it here:

The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
Exodus 15:2

The bulk of Exodus 15 is a song of praise to God by Moses and Miriam. Their delight in what God had done could not be contained. As witnesses to an extraordinary act of God — the parting of the Red Sea and the deliverance of their people from Pharaoh’s army — the joy in their hearts overflowed into praise on their lips.

If you’ve grown up in church, the story is most likely familiar to you. But take a moment to turn to Exodus 14. Try to place yourself in the sandals of these ancient people who had never known anything but slavery and cruelty. They fled Egypt, following their leader Moses, and found themselves between the proverbial rock and a hard place — in this case, Pharaoh’s army behind and the Red Sea in front.

Do they surrender or wait to be slaughtered?

Will death be painful? Will it be quick?

Then, suddenly, terror is transformed to amazement: before their eyes, the sea is miraculously parted!

God made a way where there seemed no way. He rescued His people from certain death. The sea waters parting was miracle enough, but the reality of their dire circumstances catapulted their praise of God to the heights of joyful gratefulness.

Surely the Israelites would have praised God for parting the waters of the Red Sea. But doing so when the enemy was on their heels and death seemed inevitable, propelled their praise to a new level.

Perhaps we have to look back to truly appreciate the deliverance God has provided.

Are you in a good place today? Can you count your blessings? Are you able to acknowledge God’s provision?

Egypt represented sin and the consequences sin always brings: slavery and bondage. For Moses and the Israelites, it was physical slavery. For the follower of Christ, our life before Jesus — our “Egypt” — was spiritual bondage.

The Cross of Christ represents our Red Sea parting, the place where God made a way when there was no way. Jesus did for us what we could never do for ourselves. And, like the parting of the Red Sea, the story may lose some of its wonder over the years because it is so familiar.

But, please. Do not let it.

Take a moment to go back to your Red Sea. Think about the former you, the one on the other side of that wide, seemingly impassible expanse … and let your voice sing along with all of God’s people, as you allow Moses and Miriam to lead you in worship:

“The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

Perhaps your prayers to God today are not so much worship as seeking guidance. Are you faced with a decision you need to make? Laura’s teaching from I Kings will challenge you to consider your own decision-making process, by examining the decisions made by a few of the Kings of Israel. Watch the most recent teaching video here:

Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9

The baton of leadership has been passed from Moses to Joshua, and God has given a powerful message to be delivered to His people through His servant Joshua. They are about to enter a land where God is not worshiped or honored, a land where idolatry and wickedness are rampant. He has a mission for them there … and to accomplish it, they will need to be both strong and courageous.

Thousands of years have passed since God gave those powerful words for the people to Joshua. And yet they still resonate. Though we are blessed to live this side of the Cross, we still live in a place where God is not always worshiped and honored and where idolatry and wickedness are rampant.

We still have battles to fight. Our weapon is the Word of God.

We are called to take the message of the Gospel to a hurting and broken world. Jesus left us with a task: the Great Commission. Matthew 28:19-20 calls all believers to go:

Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age.

Like God’s people going out then, we go out now. Obedience required strength and courage then. It requires the same now.

Our ability to be strong and courageous is not found in ourselves, but in God. As He promised to be with His people in Joshua’s day, He also promises to be with us. Jesus confirmed, I am with you always.

Knowing that He is ever with us gives us strength and courage to go forth and do what we could never do on our own. Do you believe that? Are you living that? Are you praying this is your reality and living it out before your children and grandchildren?

God Almighty, help me to be strong and courageous! My strength and my courage come from Your presence. Thank you for promising to be with me always. I pray this child would find strength in You and Your strength would propel him/her to live courageously! I pray my child would come to know You at an early age and then live daily in the strength and power that come from Your abiding presence. Let this child be strong and courageous! Amen!

Don’t miss the most recent teaching video from Laura’s weekly Bible study in I Kings!