A Simple Lenten Prayer

Lord, during this time of reflection, open my eyes to see the truth of Your presence in my life. It isn’t what I don’t have, but all the things that I do have that I forgot or ignored. I pray you keep me safe under your arms and guide me to the path that you have set before me. Help me to stay faithful even in my darkest days and help me to love and forgive those that have hurt or forgotten me. Jesus thank you for the grace that only you can give and for setting me free from the things that weren’t right, putting me on a new path and a new start ahead.

Praying all this in your precious Holy Name, Jesus

 

John 8:32

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 

Shalom, 

Nancy

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The Challenges We Face

Here comes the New Year…again.

As we look ahead to the future, some of us have set some goals, others planned vacation, and maybe some are thinking about moving either to a new home or job. But as you think ahead, considering your plans do you see hope in that?

The hope we see is that maybe this year could be better than last year, hey maybe it was a great year, but when we look back did we see the challenges we faced?

Sometimes the challenges were fierce and hard to deal with, others were spiritual challenges with hard lessons about ourself or others. Maybe some of you had or are having physical challenges and you think no one truly understands or cares.

Hard to see but the challenges we face are very healthy for our soul, teaching us strength and endurance. Facing each challenge we can look back and see how God has worked in it. He may have brought you closer to Him or someone you know and or love. It may have taught, things aren’t always what they seem to be, having to learn patience and understand that we should look at what’s going on as a bigger picture, challenging us to look outward and not inwardly.

No doubt this year there will be challenges, some easier than others, some could be triumphs and some traumatizing but remember this, God is and will be with you, just put it in His hands and as you depend on Him more, the results and outcome will amaze you. Stop trying to figure it out all the time or control it. Trust God and His purpose for your life, look to Him for all your needs.

May you live in peace and good health during the year with God’s blessings, Nancy

2 Corinthians 13:11

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

 

 

 

Horoscopes, Fortune Tellers & Cults

If you are one of those people that enjoy alittle unsuspecting encouragement in your day through what you think is a harmless horoscope reading. or maybe you went to a psychic, or a card reader that gave you some answers that encouraged you and maybe trusted on those words as truth.

Let me lead you into some godly truth, it’s false teaching to entice you to want more, to be caught up in some words that do not come from God but from satan.

You see satan knows your weaknesses, he knows you will get caught up in it and he will do anything to take your eyes off God, even if it sounds true. Trusting in something or someone isn’t focused on God is false.

Here are some ways that you will know its false:

You put hope in what you read

Someone will ask for a free will devotion or fee

They seem to be telling you the truth, but it just doesn’t seem right

They put fear in you, you believe them

You leave in hope of what they told you and then it never happens or,

What they say does happen but doesn’t have a good outcome or you sit and wait for it to happen (no one knows your future, only God does)

You are continuing to want more

You may start to separate yourself from people you have always had relationships with either by resentment, misunderstanding or unforgiveness

They tell you to pray to false gods/things/people (crystals, preachers, false teaching, etc.) Deuteronomy 18:10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,

Their motives are selfish

They can’t really help you and you feel lost.

Praying to Saints

Worshipping the church, it’s activities/leaders/rituals

They just lead you away from God

Exodus 20:3

“You shall have no other gods before me. (one of God’s 10 Commandments to us)

 

Here are some ways that you will know truth through God:

Spend time in prayer, listen for His voice

He does not separate you from the people that love or care about you

He doesn’t ask you to give away your money to get a reading or a teaching

He gently calls you and wants to speak into your life

He guides you into truth, through His word (the Bible)

He prepares you for eternity with Him

You do not have to pray to saints, teachers or anything but right to Jesus as our great intercessor

You come freely to Him at any time.

Jesus sends you the Holy Spirit for truth

Make no mistake, worshiping yourself, idols; things that aren’t God are a sin. Trusting in anything that isn’t God is a sin.

1 Samuel 15:23

 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”

So my word to you today is this:

What are you worshipping that isn’t the one true God who has created you for a purpose? Whose plans are great for you? Who gives you bread everyday

Are you willing to step out and trust Him instead of the things of this world?

No one of this world died to cover your sins, why trust in anything else but Jesus who shed His blood to cover your sins? Trust Jesus.

 

Shalom, Nancy

#trustJesus #horoscopesfortunetellers&cults

 

 

Do You See Results Of Prayer?

It’s not a coincidence that you are reading this today. You may be one of those that just don’t pray enough and think you should or if you pray you don’t seem to be getting the answer you think you should.

~Have you ever thought what would God want me to pray for?

~~Have you ever looked at this through God’s eyes?

Psalm 6:9

The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
    the Lord accepts my prayer.

He wants you to pray and wait for His timing in a specific situation, waiting for answers are not easy, we run out of patience but that’s where God works in us to give us patience and provide us time to see a situation and work towards an outcome that we may not understand right now but will be revealed at another time.

There are types of prayers as well. There is a prayer of thanksgiving for all that you have and all He has given and still will be giving to you in the future days.

Have you thought about the things that God has prevented from happening to you? Or the accident you just missed, a situation that you thought you would never see the light from, have you thanked Him and for that gift of protection from something bad happening to you?

God sees all things, He knows what’s happening in your life but you haven’t turned to Him in prayer and asked for His leading because you find yourself leading your own life and ignoring what He has given to you.

Believing that God is working in your life leads to persistent prayer and waiting.

1 Peter 1:17

Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear.

 

To ignore God in any way doesn’t lead to good decisions in a life lived for self-gain or desires. But to seek God in everything sheds light on situations that you clearly thought there was no escape from, He leads you out into the green grass and gives you hope for a future and blesses you with gifts, but if you are too busy not to pray or call on Him for His help, you will continue to go down a blind path until one day he shows you that you need Him, desperately. A life lived without Him is not a life lived. It’s just living. So grab your coffee my friend and go read God’s word and see what he really does for you and you will pray to Him and seek Him more often. May the Lord bless you and keep you in His sight as you grow in your relationship with Him.

Mark 11:24

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

 

 

Shalom

Nancy

 

#prayer

#God

#waiting

#Father

#thankfulness

#gifts

 

 

 

The True Light

There was a popular fiction movie in 1990 called “Ghost” a man spends most of the movie trying to solve his murder and bring the men that did it to justice with the help of a psychic and at the end of the movie everything seems to be resolved, the psychic tells the Ghost to “go into the light”; the audience assumes the character is going into heaven.

Here’s the Truth

The fact is no one gets into the Kingdom of God for being good or nice or even if you saved a million people. You get into the Kingdom of God by your relationship with Jesus.

This is what Jesus says:

^{John 3:3}

^{Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”}

                                                                                 ^and

^{John 3:5}

 ^{Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.}

^{Plain and simple}

^{You must be Born Again to see the Kingdom of God, there is no one on earth including your self that can save you, only Christ through His shed blood on the cross, and death and resurrection could do this.}

 ^{Mark 10:15} 

^{Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”}

 ^{If you feel frustrated and angry because you are reading this then this is doing it’s job because the point is for you to think long term about your eternal life. Your physical life is short but your spiritual life is eternal. God sees all you do good and bad and at the end of your life you are accountable for everything done even in secret.}

^{Yes in secret, that means what you do that you think you can hide is not hidden from God. Listen all I am saying is this, you may be spending your life enjoying it and that’s what God wants us to do, but if you don’t have a relationship or not put God at the center of your life you aren’t going to see the true Kingdom. of God, not because I say but because Jesus says.}

^{Matthew 7:13-14}

^{The Narrow and Wide Gates}

^{“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.}

 ^{But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.}

 ^{Whoever has said I will go to Heaven and not believed in Jesus isn’t going to the true light. All else is false, follow Jesus It’s simple, repent of your sins and ask Jesus into your life, He will lead and guide you to the true light, His light and watch what he can do through your prayers and His promises to you. You will have trials but you will always have His peace and light.} 

^{John 8:12}

^{When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world.}

^{Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”}

 

 

 

^{#Jesus #gate #Heaven #God #good #nice}

 

 

How God Helps You Endure Struggles

Everyone is going through and has been through some tough struggling, whether it be a loss of a loved one a traumatic experience or financial setbacks believe it or not, you are learning endurance and growth.

Maybe you are thinking how can I be growing through this horrendous time, how is God showing up for me during this and why is He leaving me in this?

Honestly we can never know what is in the mind of God and what is behind the things that happen in our lives and how we can possibly endure such pain or trials.

I want to tell you, God is with you during this in every way possible because loving God puts you in a place like no other; He takes what is bad and makes it good showing His glory through it.

I know, how you wonder?

Well let me tell you, hardship, burden, struggling -will pass, but joy is the ultimate outcome in the end.

You may have been praying for something to happen for months, years and where was God? He wasn’t showing up but for good reason, sometimes what we pray for just isn’t good for us. So we pray more and wait, nothing happens…. Is there a commonality here? Stop praying for that one thing , He has heard you and it has been recorded in heaven Psalm 56:8 Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll, are they not in your record? and ask God to heal the circumstance, to change your heart and make you more like Him in everyway you will see His glory and glorify Him when the trial passes.

Romans 15:30

I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.

 God gives us patient endurance and maybe you will never see the very thing you have waited for, but abundance in every other way, do you see the abundance not the thing you seek so hard to acquire?

May you see this as a blessing gift and that God will be glorified in the very things you receive and don’t receive. Struggle equals growth.

 

Through every circumstance seek God and pray continuously.

Shalom, Nancy

#God #howGod helps you endure struggles #patience #prayer #seekGod

 

http://www.nancysabato.com

Who Is The Great Influencer In Your Life?

There are many people in this world that influence your; life, first it’s your parents or caregivers, maybe it’s a sibling or close relative.  It could be someone you look up to like a popular Movie Star or public speaker, maybe a motivator. All these people influence our lives on a daily basis. We want to be like them or look like them, people we probably want to look like or be. That could most likely how our lives get shaped. As you get older you’ve learned and grown and that person is no longer influencing your life so much any more. Maybe that person changed or did something you didn’t agree with, then they become less in your mind and the search continues!

I remember for years listening to a popular speaker his motivational style was quite amazing to me. He was the type of guy who would say ”no limits” – the walk through fire type. I have to admit I used to hang onto every word because I thought he was opening my mind to endless possibilities.

I was putting my trust in his philosophy and motivation. I even had my brother listening to his audio tracks.

As I grew older I realized that not everything he said worked for me, this person didn’t know me or my thoughts and furthermore I felt as though his motivation was selling more of his books and programs than pointing me to really knowing who it was that was truly the motivator.

I’m not saying that the person that has opened your mind to possibilities is wrong but were they really guiding you to the one who created you?

Goals and dreams are great to have, but who is the one that directs your path?

Proverbs 3:6

 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Now I know there are people that are really doing great things in the world right now and we should always strive to do better in our lives but instead of looking up to them, why not look to who truly saved your soul?

Who is the ultimate hero of your life?

Jesus!

He is our motivator,

He is always with us,

He moves mountains no mere man can,

He loves us

He will never fail us in times of need.

                                That’s Christ who went to the cross for you and saved your life!

So as you think about who has influenced you through your life and were they lasting?

Were they there for you in every single aspect all the time?

                                                              Think…….

It is our Lord and Savior

Christ will never leave you or forsake you, look to Him to be the great influencer in your life!

Romans 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Shalom

Nancy

#influencer #JesusChrist #Lord #love #motivator #God

 

Have You Committed To God?

God has His very best for you and maybe you haven’t seen Him work in your situations or trials–being frustrated with God is common so here are a few questions that may have passed through your mind:

Why hasn’t God answered my prayers?

 Is it because I don’t pray long enough?

 Or have I sinned that I don’t see it?

 Has God forgotten me?

But it’s simple, so simple, “Stay Connected” 

What does that look like?

Staying in prayer when you think God isn’t listening.

Connecting up with fellow Christians for support.

Listening to the Holy Spirit when He gives you a gentle nudge to do something.

Going to a church to hear what God has to say to you through the sermon.

Are you looking back?

Backsliding, when you start your journey with high hopes and joy –then nothing is happening, thinking God isn’t working in the situation. So you turn back to what “used to work”. Clearly that path didn’t.

Are you the thorns or shallow soil?

 Look at what Jesus says in Matthew 13

The Parable of the Sower

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

The disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables – this is what He told them:

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

If you are reading the Bible and not understanding what it says or means, ask God for wisdom and to help you.

 Jesus explains this so we may understand fully:

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

 ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

So you see how prayers may be hindered, by not letting go of the worries and trusting God in all your situations.

We may not see prayers answered for many years but God is working on you and the situation to bring it all to light, to mature and refine you to be more like His One and Only Son-Jesus.

The harder road with God is better, it may seem like it takes forever and you may feel defeated at times but the outcome is a win-win.

Have you committed to God?

 

#God #Jesus #parableoftheseed #goodsoil #trials #prayer

 

The Trials We Face

 Are you facing difficulty?

Does everything say “give up” and go on?

Do you feel people are in the way of your progress?

 You are facing the same trials many have faced throughout time. Some have been defeated in their strive to move forward, yet because you have faith in Christ you have an assurance that a defeat doesn’t mean an end it means you have been taught.

Many times King David faced enemies in every direction, it could have been defeat but David fled to God for refuge.

Psalm 57:1

Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me,
for in you I take refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings
until the disaster has passed.

He saw men coming at him like “ravenous beasts”

Psalm 57:4

I am in the midst of lions;
 I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
 whose tongues are sharp swords.

But David knew His God, he knew what His God can do and David knew how to praise God in a battle, not to give up or give in. He knew to continue moving forward not getting stuck in old details of worry and negativity but instead to

Glorify and Praise God.

Psalm 57:7

My heart, O God, is steadfast,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.

So David stayed steadfast. What does God call you to do in a trial so overwhelming you want to run for the hills? Does He say be defeated?

Or does He say, “I am with you, you are not alone.”

Romans 8:31b

More Than Conquerors

If God is for us, who can be against us?

David was praising God in his trials knowing the God with him and that no matter what David had to face he knew his God can not be defeated, so in times of trouble, even if we lose, we will always win because God is with us through it all.

SHALOM

 

 

 

#God #trials # Jesus #King David #lions #beasts

Do You Doubt What God Can Do?

 John 20:19-20

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

After Jesus rises from the dead He visits the disciples in the room they had been gathering. The amazing joy the disciples must have felt!

John 20:24

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.

 

But only 10 of the disciples were there, Judas was gone after betraying and hanging himself from a tree and then there was Thomas, not in the room but when he arrived later after Jesus had left the disciples, they told Thomas all about the Lord’s return. But Thomas didn’t believe it, he needed more proof, he said unless I see Jesus nails scars and wound on His side will I believe.

John 20:25

²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

 

There are probably many theologians that have their angle on this, but it’s simple. When you have put your trust and love into someone and they leave your doubt is raised if they will come back. But Jesus came back just to show Thomas that it’s true, Jesus loved Thomas so much He came and met his inner desire to physically see just what He knew Thomas needed.

Like Thomas we come to doubt what God can do or if He hears our prayer or call to him. But just like Thomas we need proof, we need to see that prayer is answered and often times it is, but sometimes not what we expect because God knows us intimately and just as He knows how we are wired we need to continue to place trust and hope in Him that He knows our hearts, needs and desires.

Truly it was a happy day for Thomas, but for us who believe without seeing is a privilege and blessing.

God can and will meet your needs but you must trust that He will and not be “A Doubting Thomas”.

Shalom on your day.

Nancy

#Jesus #Doubt #desire #proof #Thomas #DoubtingThomas #believe #peace