Debra L. Butterfield

Stories that Stir Your Spirit

faith building

Be Strong and Courageous

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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).

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Jesus Is All We Need

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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.

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Do We Need to Honor God?

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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?