Debra L. Butterfield

Stories that Stir Your Spirit

Blog

Be Strong and Courageous

by

Be strong and courageous. God is with us.
Image by Iforce from Pixabay

Do you ever wake up discouraged? I know I do. It doesn’t mean I went to bed that way. In fact, the opposite might be true.

Still and all, I can wake up in a discouraged mood. Often this mood is a spiritual attack, but sometimes it’s just me being impatient over God’s promises concerning the work He has given me to do.

I know the Israelites certainly weren’t feeling courageous when Pharaoh’s army bore down on them and the Red Sea stretched out in front of them. If they weren’t feeling courageous, I guess that means they were feeling dis-courageous (scared out of their wits is more like it).

[Read more…] about Be Strong and Courageous

Feeling battle weary? Be victorious starting today.

by

Feeling defeated? Be victorious starting today.

Life has a way of constantly throwing trouble our way. The paycheck falls short of covering the bills. The kids misbehave. The car breaks down. In the last year, price’s everywhere have risen, in some cases even doubled, making it even more difficult for the paycheck.

Lately, it seems all I hear is doom and gloom. Like many others, I believe we are in the last days of the last days. Yes, the seven years of tribulation might be just around the corner, but we do not have to be afraid! We can be victorious today and in the days to come.

[Read more…] about Feeling battle weary? Be victorious starting today.

I Will Be With You

by

God is with us as He was with Moses
Image by Iforce from Pixabay

As the Israelites 40 years in the desert came to a close, God told Moses it was time for him to die and to anoint Joshua as the next leader (see Numbers 27:12–22). I imagine Joshua was rather hesitant about this. Yet, He had been Moses’ right hand man, so to speak, for over 40 years (he served Moses during the 10 plagues in Egypt too). I have no doubt their relationship had great depth. I can almost hear Joshua saying, “How can I follow in this man’s footsteps?”

[Read more…] about I Will Be With You

Jesus Is All We Need

by

Last month I wrote about being an overcomer. We all want to be victorious in what life and the devil throws our way. And while the tips from last month are key, God does not leave us defenseless or without a weapon. The following is an excerpt from my book Carried by Grace (affiliate link).

Carried by Grace book

In Matthew 6:6–13 Jesus teaches us how we should pray.

  • Begin with praise (verse 9).
  • Pray God’s will to be done in your life and other’s lives (verse 10).
  • Speak out your specific needs (verse 11).
  • Ask for forgiveness and forgive others (verse 12).
  • Pray for guidance and protection (verse 13a).
  • End with praise (verse 13b).

Don’t let prayer become an empty ritual. Jesus warned in verses 6–8 to avoid empty prayers. Pray from your heart.

Prayer is our best weapon and works in the spiritual realm, a realm we cannot see with our natural eyes. It is the world of God, angels, and demons.

[Read more…] about Jesus Is All We Need

5 Tips to Being an Overcomer

by

overcomer, rafting the river rapids

We all want to conquer the challenges we face in life. These 5 tips from the Bible will help you be an overcomer.

The Bible is the #1 top selling book of all time for a reason. (According to AllTopEverything.com, the Bible has sold 5 billion copies.) The Bible is God’s love letter to us. Among the 66 books of the Bible, one of the many things we find is advice for daily living.

Let’s take a look at one tidbit.

[Read more…] about 5 Tips to Being an Overcomer

Planting Spiritual Seeds

by

Plant pumpkin seeds you get pumpkins. Spiritual seeds work the same way.

Last month I wrote about honoring God and how I had failed to do that. Immediately following He began to speak to me about the spiritual seeds I’ve sown.

My initial thought was to read Haggai, but the specific verses running through my mind were Habakkuk 3:17–19. “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights” (NLT).

That day I was feeling like I was there in that barren land. But no matter how fruitless things look in my life, the Lord is my shepherd, and He will take care of me in every way.

When Things Look Awful

After reading those verses in Habakkuk, I still felt led to read Haggai. So I did.
Wow! It fell right in line with the verses from Habakkuk. My harvest has felt exactly like what was described in 2:14–17, falling far short of expectations. The Israelites weren’t planting spiritual seeds, but their spiritual lives were a mess. They had turned away from God. Consequently, their physical harvest fell short.

As I read further, the Lord quickened verse 19, “I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn. You have not yet harvested your grain, and your grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced their crops. But from this day onward I will bless you” (NLT). This answers the dire circumstances of Hab. 3:17–19. No matter how it looks, God takes care of us.

Planting spiritual seeds.

When we plant corn seeds, we expect corn. If we plant pumpkin seeds, we expect pumpkins. Our spiritual seeds work the same. If you need a new job, ask the Lord. Give an offering at church as a seed for that new job. “Jesus, I give this offering as my seed for a new job.” Then trust and activate your faith for the Lord to answer that prayer and grow that seed.

Ask, Knock, Seek

“For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? (Luke 11:10–11 NLT). If you ask for provision to pay the rent, God is not going to make your refrigerator break down. Are you praying for good yet expecting God to bring bad?

A seed contains all that’s needed to create the plant. We do not make it grow; we merely plant it. God makes it grow (1 Cor. 3:6–9). We nurture the seed by watering it, fertilizing it if needed, and pulling the weeds out around it. We nurture our spiritual seeds by standing in faith and proclaiming the verses God has given us that relate to our seed.

“For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous” (2 Cor. 9:10–11a NLT).

Plant your seeds and expect your harvest.

Do We Need to Honor God?

by

Bible

For the past several months my Bible reading has been in the Old Testament. I finished Numbers yesterday! The first 5 books of the Bible can be tough reading, but Holy Spirit has been showing me so much as I read.

A question regularly on my mind as I read the extensive details of the sacrifices, the tabernacle, the priestly garments, and more mentioned in Exodus, has been “why such detail?” The one word that resonated in answer was honor. God confirmed that during a sermon from Keith Moore that I was watching on TV.

The next morning as I read Exodus 34 and 35, the Lord brought forth the subject again. While I journaled afterward and thought about it, Holy Spirit brought revelation—I had never properly honored God.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines honor in this way: “to show high regard or appreciation for : to pay tribute to : to regard or treat with honor or respect .” (That’s wild that the dictionary used a verse from Exodus to illustrate the word usage!)

Honoring God can be difficult, especially if we did not honor our own earthly fathers. God intended for them to be role models of Christ to their families. This is a big reason why the devil has worked so hard to take fathers out of the home. And often the relationship we have with our earthly father affects how we relate to God the Father.

Total transparency here, I didn’t honor my earthly father as I should have. Not until much later in my adult life.

What I didn’t realize until that morning when God first mentioned honor was that I not only dishonored Him, I also resented Him. In that moment of revelation and realization, I asked for forgiveness.

God forgave me, and a big hole in my soul was healed that day. Since then, I have drawn even closer to God.

How about you? Do you honor God?

I Choose to Rejoice

by

People rejoicing
Image by Terri Sharp from Pixabay

As a follow-up to last month’s post, I’d like to share another revelation moment the Lord brought me shortly after the one I shared last month.

I’ve been a born-again Christian since 1980. I’ve been in the habit of daily Bible reading for a long time. Therefore, during my quiet time, the Lord will often prompt me with specific Bible verses as I seek Him and His answers to my prayers.

One particular morning, I was very frustrated with the level of my books sales. (Few authors earn enough in royalties to pay the bills.) Though I’m fully persuaded in God’s healing power for my life, I admit, I struggle in the persuasion department with His provision for my life. It’s not a question of “can He,” so much as it’s a question of “does He want to provide for me?”

[Read more…] about I Choose to Rejoice