Meet Simi. A ministry leader, blogger, and speaker. In this week’s feature, Simi talks about seeking intentional time with God, being committed to a Christ-filled life, and receiving the desires of our hearts.
Continue reading “Meet Simi | Confidence Without Compromise #31”
With social media, seeking success, relationships, and “adulting” in general, it’s easy to feel the pressure to follow the crowd. But we don’t have to fall under the comparison trap–Let’s get back to the Word! You can refocus, overcome temptation, follow your calling and live a life of obedience as God intended.
In today’s new YouTube video, I discuss this challenging question: Are you seeking to please the world or God?
Click below to watch!
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A vlogger, naturalista, and follower of Christ. In this week’s feature, Tyler talks about how standing firm in faith transforms our lives–and impacts the lives of others.
Continue reading “Meet Tyler | Confidence Without Compromise #2”
Fa·vor: the state of being approved or held in regard.
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God’s love for you comes with favor. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are welcomed into the body of Christ. You are part of the family of God: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 ESV).
As part of this family, you have an inheritance. You are approved before God, and He holds you in high regard. You have access to Him–on earth and one day in heaven. You have access to His promises for you.
God makes a way when there is no way. When you commit your life to the Lord, you can expect Him to show up when you least expect it.
One of my favorite examples of favor in the Bible is Ruth’s story.
In the book of Ruth, we find that Ruth is living in a time of complete hopelessness–there is famine, corruption, and she experiences the death of her husband. However, Ruth decides to commit herself to God. She states to her mother-in-law, Naomi, “‘Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God’” (Ruth 1:16 NKJV).
When she loses everything, Ruth displays her loyalty to Naomi–but most importantly, she declares her loyalty to God. She wants God to be her God. She knows love for God means obedience. As she’s following Him, she receives favor from Him.
Boaz, a man of God who has great inheritance (wealth), recognizes Ruth because of her love for God, which is again displayed by her actions:
“And Boaz answered and said to her, ‘It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge’” (Ruth 2:11-12 NKJV).
Later on, Boaz blesses Ruth with a large supply of barley to take back to Naomi. Boaz and Ruth eventually get married. The theme in this book is obedience. Ruth is recognized for her obedience to God and rewarded by her obedience to God. She is given favor among men and even given a new life where she now has access to more than what she had before.
I’m sure Ruth didn’t know what was on the other side of her obedience, but she trusted in God anyway. We don’t know what’s on the other side, but if we trust in God and obey His commands, we can have confidence in His blessings.
God can take you higher than where you are now. He will not let your enemies triumph over you. He can promote you. He can give you favor in that job interview. He can provide financial blessings where you are lacking. He can restore broken relationships. He can deliver you from trouble. The key is to honor God–not because you want the rewards but because you want Him.
Remember: Ruth wanted God to be her God.
God sees your heart, and He is near those who draw near to Him. If you have a heart that truly wants to please and live for Him, it will be clear through your actions. You will see His promises for you unravel time and time again throughout your life.
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16 NKJV)
14 days of learning God’s love. Learn about the Love Letters here.
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Con·fide:
[Source]
There’s great comfort in being around a close friend. You can talk for hours about anything or you can say nothing, enjoying each other’s company in silence. Your presence together is effortless; you feel comfortable to share what’s on your mind, and you’re free to be yourself.
This effortless relationship with a good friend is the type of relationship we can have with God. As we learned yesterday, when we accept Christ as our Savior–reconciling our relationship with God–our sin no longer separates us from Him. We have complete access to go to God in prayer and confide in Him.
When we confide in God, we have confidence in Him that He will care for and protect us. Because of His everlasting love, we know we can give everything to Him.
Giving something to God, means you know longer have it. It means entrusting Him with something. This can mean giving sinful habits to Him, trusting and knowing He has better for you. After all, sin might feel good or justifiable in the moment, but it never has better for you.
We can also give Him our worries–trusting and knowing He has better for us. The Bible shows us that God is all-powerful, and when we trust in Him, we’re trusting Someone who is more powerful than our biggest fears.
Either way, He has you. He’ll lead you to the better path.
To build a close relationship with a friend, we have to get to know them and communicate with them regularly. We can build this close relationship with God by getting to know Him, reading His Word and speaking to Him prayer. This way, we learn more about His character and His love, and we understand His plans for our lives.
A close relationship with God is even better than a close relationship with a good friend. God loves you enough that He wants you to confide in Him–to be honest with Him. Where there is honesty, there is freedom. When you do wrong, He offers His forgiveness. When you’re afraid, He’s there to take away your fears.
Take the weight off your shoulders. Tell God what’s on your mind today.
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. (Jeremiah 29:12 NKJV)
14 days of learning God’s love. Learn about the Love Letters here.
To receive inspiring content on faith and lifestyle, follow LM on social media!
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Do you know your love language? You know, the way you really receive love?
If you’re keen on receiving gifts, and someone brings you flowers, your heart might soar for a while. Or if words of affirmation are your thing, and your friend compliments your new haircut, you might be feeling fly for the next few hours.
In other words, every one of us has a unique way we recognize we’re loved by someone else.
So, when someone communicates this exact way, we feel supported, cared for, and cherished.
However, when someone doesn’t communicate the way we’d like, we can feel forgotten, overlooked, and invisible. Even though it’s not true.
It’s often a matter of someone knowing us well. Ever see a funny joke, and think–wow, so-and-so would die if they saw this!–to yourself? It’s probably because you know that person very well. The better you know people individually, the more you know what they appreciate. But even if we know each other well, we don’t always do the best job of showing our love to each other–or knowing how to.
There is Someone who knows you quite well, better than you can ever know yourself. We may not always feel loved by others, but no matter how many failed or broken attempts at love you’ve witnessed in your life, God cannot fail you in His love.
God loves you. Like actually loves you, and He wants you to recognize His love for you. He knows you inside and out, and He knows what you need. He knows your love language…your deepest needs–even the ones you haven’t uttered.
So, why don’t we always feel this love? It could be a matter of not knowing who He is.
For the next 14 days, I want to challenge you with this: what would happen if every day, you took time out to understand God? To learn how God views you? To learn His love for you? His purpose for you?
How could your life change?
That’s where these Love Letters come in. For the next 14 days, the LizMargaret blog will share a statement from God’s Word itself (not my words) about who God says you are. The Bible, His Word, is His love letter to you.
You deserve love. I know that experiencing true love can change the course of your life. I invite you to join me for the next two weeks to take a closer look at God’s true love for you.
Starting tomorrow (Valentine’s day!), we’re going to embark on a daily journey of truth, discovery, and transformation.
Subscribe to lizmargaret.com to get a Love Letter delivered to you every day for the rest of February!
I look forward to walking along this journey with you!
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Heartbreak can be an unexplainable feeling. If you’re dealing with the loss of a loved one, the end of a relationship, or a hurtful circumstance, God hears you. It’s not over for you. You can move on, forgive, heal, and grow even in these dark, painful moments.
Today’s YouTube video features a collection of verses for comfort, peace, and understanding when you don’t understand.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of having faith in every area of our lives…except for one. It might be that you trust God with sharing the gospel, but you don’t trust him in your finances. Or perhaps, you trust Him with getting you through school, but faith runs short when it comes to your family.
I find that many people have this mindset when it comes to their dating life. But why is that? Has being single become a lost art? Today, I talk about this in my new video.
Click below to watch!
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
(Ephesians 4:14-15 NIV)
Growing in faith is like growing out of your baby clothes. 
There are things you think you need forever, or things God even provides when you need them, that will no longer fit you as you grow. When you mature in Christ, God leads you on a different path than you were on before.
Conviction kicks in. When you abandon the things that hinder your relationship with Christ or cause you to sin, your desire for them lessens. The music you once listened to no longer appeals to you. Or maybe, the movies you once watched no longer seem OK. You stop enjoying the things that never brought glory to God in the first place. Then, suddenly, the friends you have don’t fit. It’s like you don’t have anything in common anymore. You don’t do the same things they do anymore. It feels strange. You’re not able to get past “hello” with those you could once talk to for hours.
And you wonder why.
These were your baby clothes–and you’ve grown! Your baby clothes were comfortable, one-size-fits-all, but God is putting you on a unique path. Not everything will fit you anymore. It will be a lonely path, because it’s a path that is made for you alone. Believe it or not, there are others who are following God, too, on their own unique paths. Nevertheless, you will be placed in situations where you are the only one following the Lord, looking for Him. But remember, the God you’ve trusted all along has not abandoned you on this path.
As you keep walking with Him, you’ll find how limited your baby clothes were. They begin to be restricting, because they are too small. You’ll find new clothes. You’ll find that God has more variety for you. Clothes come in different shapes, sizes, cuts, and fabrics. He knows your style. He knows who will fit in your life, and He will guide you to those relationships. He knows your future spouse, and He will supply that in His time. He knows the career you need, and He will arrange that for you. He knows which city, state, or country you need to be in, and He will get you there.
Your job is to walk behind Him on this path, because you don’t know what’s up ahead. If you walk in front of God, you’ll most likely veer off, trying on clothes that don’t belong to you. It might be scary to leave them behind, but these things which are no longer for you will only toss you too and fro and bring confusion.
Your job is to not turn back to your baby clothes. They’re not for you anymore. In fact, if you look at them, they’re too tiny for you now. If you even tried to put them on, you’d rip them.
However, you’ve changed, and it’s beautiful. You’ve followed God, and you’ve transformed. If you ask God for direction, He will give it to you. And it will hurt at times. Many times. These are growing pains. You’ll have to turn away from the things you love. But if they’re not God-approved, they were never for you in the first place. If you try to keep fitting into old, ill-fitting clothes without God, you’ll have to keep mending the rips on your own.
This is the good news: Even if you veer off onto your own path, His path for you still remains. It’s waiting for you, so come back.
If you say God is Lord of your life, let Him be Lord.
Ask Him to lead you. Ask Him for the eyes to see what He wants in your life. Ask Him for the strength to respond to His calling.
If God leads you to abandon something, trust Him. He has variety for you. He has plans for you that are way bigger than your baby clothes.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
(Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV)
Why did I start the Love Series?
Love has always been on the human mind, and I believe there are reasons for that. We’re designed to serve something, to live for something, and if we don’t have a love oriented towards God, this can get out of control.
It’s easy to panic about who God has for us in friendships, marriage, and other relationships. Who does God want in my life? Is this person supposed to be there? Will I even get married? So many young and/or single people go through these thoughts. I’ve seen people, men and women, young and old, go through depressions and anxieties over this.
The problem is that we’ve been consumed by romantic love for so long. It’s a beautiful thing, but it’s one thing out of several other beautiful things life has to offer. We’re a multidimensional people. Life has many other components–yet we get stuck on love.
What is it about love?
Through this series, I wanted to show that God’s love “works,” and it’s real. It’s an active love from an active God. It’s a love that surpasses all earthly things and restores us beyond comprehension. It has worked for those in the past, it is working now, and it will work in the future.
God has so many plans for us on earth, and our lives don’t start when we fall in love or get married. For those who are in relationships or married, a relationship with God is vital to uphold. A person who is dedicated to the Lord will be able to love and serve in that relationship from a Christ-like perspective.
Relationships will not cure loneliness, insecurities, fear, or lust. I believe we limit ourselves, others and God by viewing romantic love as the turning point of our lives, the quick fix solution to any issues. As I’ve emphasized in the series, this thinking leads to making unwise choices, having unrealistic and unfair expectations of our loved ones and can bring severe conflict. However, a God-centered mindset about love can foster godly relationships that can live up to their potential.
Overall, it’s important that we stop waiting and finally live the life God has for us. We have a purpose bigger than marriage. We cannot foresee the future, but we keep trying to control it. Although I have written the Love Series from the perspective of a young, single woman, everyone should let go. Let go of idealizing people. Let’s let go of fears and worries about the future. Instead, let’s continue to understand who God is, who we are in Him, obey His commandments, and live life as it ought to be lived.
If you missed it, check out the Love Series, in the links below!
LizMargaret 