Today’s Truth 
“We should go up and take possession of the land,” they said, “for we can certainly do it…If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us” (Numbers 13:30, 14:8 NIV).

Friend To Friend 
This month, I’ve been talking a lot about faith. Believing God…it’s what takes us into our personal Promised Land. In the Old Testament, God brought the Israelites out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery.  Moses led the people under the blood-stained doorframes of the Passover, across the dry land of the Red Sea, and into the land flowing with milk and honey.  The travelers witnessed God part the sea, rain down quail from heaven, scatter manna on the ground, and pour water from a rock.  He guided them by a fire at night and a cloud by day. And yet, when it came time to march into the Promised Land, the land that was theirs for the taking, they faced a crisis of belief.           

“Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites,” God instructed Moses. So Moses sent twelve spies to scout out the land. When they returned, ten gave the following report:

“We went into the land where you sent us and it does flow with milk and honey!” they said. “But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large…We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are…The land we explored devours those living in it.  All the people we saw there are of great size…We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them” (Numbers 13:27-33).

But two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, believed God. “We should go up and take possession of the land,” they said, “for we can certainly do it!  If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.  Only do not rebel against the LORD.  And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up.  Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us.  Do not be afraid of them.” (Numbers 13:30, 14: 8, 9). 

Guess whom the people believed?  They believed the “evil report” – the ten men who did not believe God rather than the two men who did.   God had already given them the land; the people simply had to move forward and posses it.  But instead of moving into the Promised Land, they wandered in the desert for the rest of their lives. That entire generation of adults died in their unbelief, except for Caleb and Joshua.

But when the next generation came along, they believed God and moved into the Promised Land that their parents never saw.  We can be just like that unbelieving generation – saved from slavery but wandering in the desert of unbelief. I have an acronym for fear: False Evidence Appearing Real. They only saw the giants, but failed to see Almighty God. 

Oswald Chambers notes:

Human frailty is another thing that gets between God’s words of assurance and our own words and thoughts.  When we realize how feeble we are in facing difficulties, the difficulties become giants, we become like grasshoppers, and God seems to be non-existent.  But remember God’s assurance to us:  “I will never …forsake you.”  Have we learned to sing after hearing God’s keynote?  Are we continually filled with enough courage to say, “The Lord is my Helper,” or are we yielding to fear?

So here’s my question to you.  Whose report are you going to believe?  Are you going to believe God’s Word is true, or the enemy who tries to stop you from entering your own Promised Land because of fear?

Satan says, “You can’t do it.”  God says, “I already have.”

I don’t want to be like those Israelites who didn’t believe God. Do you?  Are you going to move into the land flowing with milk and honey – take God’s promises and make them yours? Or, are you going to believe the evil report and continue wandering around in the desert – free from slavery, but missing the Promised Land?  Whose report are you going to believe?

Let’s Pray 
Dear LORD, forgive me for being like the Israelites who didn’t believe You.  Forgive me when I focus on the giants in the land rather than the giant-slayer.  Today, I commit to take You at Your Word.  I’m believing God today and moving forward to take the land You have already given me!

In Jesus’ Name, 
Amen

Now It’s Your Turn 
If you were listening to the two reports mentioned in today’s devotion, which one would you have believed?

Hindsight is 20/20 and most of us would cheer, “I’d believe Joshua!  I’d believe Caleb!”  But I wonder.  Do we believe God’s promises even now?

What promises of God do you need to believe today?

Sometimes it is good to write them down. I’d love to hear your answers. Let’s chat. Click on www.facebook.com/sharonjaynes to share your response.

More From The Girlfriends 
One of God’s beauty secrets is faith. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just need a “faith lift.”  If that’s where you find yourself today, let’s go to God’s spa together.  Join me on the journey of a lifetime in Becoming Spiritually Beautiful and discover the inner glow you’ve always longed for!

Today’s Truth 
“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).

Friend To Friend 
The most difficult times to continue believing the promises of God are during the storms of life when the waves of emotions are so great they threaten to tip your boat and spill you into an ocean of despair. 

I have been there, my friend.  And I do know it can be the most difficult time to believe the truth and the easiest time to believe the enemy’s lies.  Let me share one such storm in my own life.

When my husband, Steve, and I decided to have children, we conceived with no problem.  Steven Hugh Jaynes, Jr. was born with a shock of thick black hair and long Bambi-like eyelashes that had the nurses measuring for record breaking length.  I loved being a mother more than any role I had ever experienced.  Never in my life had I ever imagined so much love could be wrapped in such a small package.           

Steven was about two-years-old when we decided to expand our family once again. 

“Steven,” we explained, “We are praying that God will give Mommy and Daddy another Jaynes baby so you can have a little brother or sister.”

He thought that sounded like a good idea, so he ended our family prayer time each night with the benediction, “And God, please give Mommy and Daddy another Jaynes baby. Amen.”

After six months, there was no news of another Jaynes baby.  I was perplexed.  Then a year passed.  I was distraught.  Then two years passed.  I began sinking in a sea of fear and doubt.  All the while, Steven prayed each night, “And God, please give Mommy and Daddy another Jaynes baby.”

My husband and I began traveling down the frustrating road of doctor visits, infertility treatment and timed intimacy (which is anything but intimate).  Then I began worrying about how this “unanswered” prayer was going to affect Steven’s faith in God.

By age four, we still had no news for Steven.  Obviously, it was not the Lord’s plan for us to have another child at this time and I didn’t know how to tell Steven that we didn’t have to pray that prayer every night.  I kept hoping that he would just forget about it.  But he didn’t forget about it any more than he forgot the “Amen” at the end of a prayer.

So I began to pray, Lord please show me how to ease out of this predicament.  Show me how to tell Steven that we don’t need to pray for another baby every night.  I do not want this seemingly unanswered prayer to damage his faith.  We have a miniature table and chairs in the kitchen where Steven and I ate lunch together each day.  One day while sharing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Steven looked up, and in his sweet little voice said, “Mommy, have you ever thought that maybe God only wants you to have one child?”

 Shocked, I answered,  “Yes, I have thought that maybe that is the case and if it is, I am so thankful because He has given me all I ever hoped for in a child wrapped up in one package, YOU!”

Then he turned his little head like a robin and said, “Well, what I think we ought to do is keep praying until you’re too old to have one.  Then we’ll know that’s His answer!”

What a great idea.  I had been worried about Steven’s faith, but all the while, it was my own that was struggling.  I was having trouble believing that God loved me when He was withholding what I wanted most…a house full of children.  How could He love me and not give me the desire of my heart? I wondered.  Maybe He doesn’t love me after all.  A favorite song Steven used to sing when he was four-years-old had these words:

 ”My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do.  The mountains are His. The valleys are His.  The stars are His handiwork too.  My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty.  There’s nothing my God cannot do.”

Steven didn’t know how old too old was, (Sarah in the Bible was 90), but he did know God.   He knew God could do anything.  If His answer was “no” he didn’t have a problem with that.  I told him “no” many times and he understood that “no” did not mean “I don’t love you.”  “No” just meant “no,” because I am your parent and I know what’s best for you.

The Lord taught me a great lesson through my four-year-old son.  I saw through his childlike faith, an example of the attitude of trust that I should have toward my Heavenly Father who loves me and knows what’s best for me.  And though the storm had subsided for just a while, a tidal wave hit a few years later.  Join me tomorrow for the rest of the story.

Let’s Pray 
Dear Heavenly Father who always knows what is best for me, today I give You my hopes and my dreams.  If the answer is “no,” I understand that You know what is best for me and honestly, I don’t have a clue.  Thank You for both Your provision and Your protection.  In Jesus’ Name, 
Amen

Now It’s Your Turn 
Can you think of a time when your earthly parents told you “no,” and you got upset?  Then later, you understood the wisdom of their guidance?

Can you think of a time when your Heavenly Father said “no” to a request?  Perhaps you didn’t understand it at the time, but later the reason became crystal clear.  Let me say it another way.  Can you think of a time when you later praised God for the “no” and saw it was His provision or His protection?

I think sharing these stories would be a huge encouragement to our sisters who are struggling with an unfulfilled dream right about now.  Let’s share our stories.  Visit www.sharonjaynes.com/facebook and encourage your sister-in-Christ.  Remembering will encourage your heart as well!

More From The Girlfriends 
As I mentioned at the beginning of today’s devotion, the most difficult times to continue believing the promises of God are during the storms of life when the waves of emotions are so great they threaten to tip your boat and spill you into an ocean of despair.  So where are you today?  Do you need a “faith lift?”  Today’s devotion came from Becoming Spiritually Beautiful.  It might be just the book you need to encourage you to keep believing!  Read an excerpt at www.sharonjaynes.com

Today’s Truth 
“Then God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14 NIV).

Friend To Friend 
One day, I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone. Her four-year-old daughter, Hope, who was supposed to be taking a nap, came walking in the room.

“What are you doing out of bed, young lady,” Lysa asked.

“I’m having my quiet time,” she responded matter-of-factly.

Hope plopped down on the couch with her “Bible” – the Sears Catalog.

Unfortunately, many view God as someone up in heaven Who doles out the goodies and see prayer as a time to place an order. But He is so much more.

A.W. Tozer wrote, “Nothing twists and deforms the soul more than a low or unworthy conception of God.” Our concept of God, our understanding of who He is and what He does, is of crucial importance. Inaccurate and unbiblical thoughts about God can block His power in our lives. 

In the Old Testament, there are many names of God that describe His character: He is Elohim-the Creator, El Elyon-God Most High, El Roi- the God who sees, El Shaddai- the All-Sufficient One, Adonai- the Lord, Jehovah- the Self-Existent One, Jehovah-Jireh- the Lord will Provide, Jehovah-Rapha-the Lord who Heals.

When someone in the Old Testament had an encounter with God and learned something new about His character, that person often gave God a new name.  Likewise, when we encounter God in our everyday lives, we will learn new and exciting aspects of His character. However, our perception of God should never be based on our experiences alone. God has given us the Bible to reveal His nature. Through that revelation, God releases His power in our lives – power that renews our minds and in turn, affects our actions and emotions.

Of all the names of God mentioned in the Bible, the one that is the most powerful is I AM.  Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ then what shall I tell them?”  

God answered, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:13-14.)  That name is so powerful that when Jesus answered the questioning Roman soldiers who were coming to arrest Him with the same answer, they fell over backwards (John 18:5).  Whatever you need, dear friend, God is.

Oswald Chambers once said, “We act like pagans in a crisis – only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest faith in the character of God.” How about you? Do you trust in the Great I AM today?

Let’s Pray 
Dear God, You are the great I AM, and because of who You are, everything is as it should be.  You always have been and You always will be. You had no predecessor and You’ll have no successor. There was nobody before You and there will be nobody after You.  You are indescribable, incomprehensible, invincible, and irresistible. You are The Great I Am.

In Jesus’ name, 
Amen.

Now It’s Your Turn 
Can you think of anything you need today that God cannot provide?

Today, make a list of all the names of God you can think of.  I would love to hear them.  Let’s share our answers on my Facebook page. www.facebook.com/sharonjaynes  And while you’re there, make sure to sign up so you can visit with other Girlfriends in God.

Today’s’ Truth 
“I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV).

Friend To Friend 
She was among an eager group of four-year-old children crowded around my feet as I taught their Sunday school lesson. I was the teacher and they were the students – or at least that is how it started out. The pint-sized audience listened intently as I tried to create a mental image of Jesus and His disciples trapped in a thunderstorm on the Sea of Galilee.

“The winds bleeeeeeew and rocked the little boat back and forth, back and forth. The waves were soooooo big; they splashed over the wooden sides and got the men all wet. Then water started filling up the boat – and do you know what happens when a boat gets full of water?”

“It sinks,” they chimed together.

“That’s right.” I continued with a wrinkled brow and concerned look on my face.  “That’s not all. The lightening was sooooo bright; it looked like fire in the sky. And the claps of thunder were sooooo loud; they could feel them vibrate in their chests.” 

After painting this picture of impending doom and thinking I would have my “congregation” just a little worried about the fate of these men trapped in a storm, I asked the question.  “Now if you were in a tiny boat like this, caught in a terrible storm like this, would you be afraid?”

Then one precious little girl, confident and unshaken by the entire scenario, shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Not if Jesus was in the boat with me.”

I will never forget that answer. I have come to realize that this answer calms all our worries and fears. Just as the disciples had the storm raging all around them, many times the storms of life rage around us. A friend discovers she has cancer, a husband loses his job, and a child is born with birth defects. These are storms with waves of emotions so high that our lifeboat fills with tears and appears that it could sink at any moment.  Waves of fear rock our boat and threaten to spill us into despair without even a life jacket to keep us afloat. Storms cause us to doubt who we are, what we have, and where we are as a child of God. Waves of emotions rock our faith.

“Tell me, would you be afraid?”

“Not if Jesus was in the boat with me.”

And guess what.  He is.  God said, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV), and Jesus said, “Surely I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 26:20).  Although the pain may be great, we do not need to be afraid that the storms of life will destroy us, because Jesus is in the boat with us. His power can calm the seas and still the storms of life that threaten to pull us under. 

After the children filed out and scattered to Sunday lunches throughout the city, I sat in the room to digest the words of the real teacher that day.  It was childlike faith in its purest form.  The little girl believed God.

Let’s Pray 
Dear Heavenly Father, I will admit, sometimes I get so scared when the storms of life rock my boat.  Thank You that You are in the boat with me, that You will never leave me and that You are always right by my side.  That is what You promised.  That is what I know to be true.

In Jesus’ Name, 
Amen.

Now It’s Your Turn 
Go back and read the story of Jesus calming the storm in Luke 8:19-25. How would you answer the disciples’ question in verse 25…”Who is this?  He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

What life situations are rocking your boat today?

Do you have the sense that Jesus is in the boat with you?

What reassurance does that give you?

I would love to hear your answer!  Let’s chat at www.facebook.com/sharonjaynes or www.sharonjaynes.com/blog

More From The Girlfriends 
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just need a “faith lift.”  If that is where you find yourself today, let’s go to God’s spa together.  Join me on the journey of a lifetime in Becoming Spiritually Beautiful and discover the inner glow you have always longed for!

Today’s Truth 
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2 NIV).

Friend To Friend 
I see three emotions blocking women from being all God intends for them to be and from accomplishing all that God intends for them to accomplish – feelings of inferiority, insecurity, and inadequacy. I hear women make comments such as, I can’t do that.  I wish I were talented like Sarah.  If people really knew me, they wouldn’t like me.  I’m not very smart.  I feel like a failure.  I can’t do anything right.  I could never stand up in front of anyone and speak.  I believe the Bible works for her, but I don’t believe it would work for me.  I don’t fit in anywhere.  Nobody loves me. And friend, I admit I have heard similar comments come out of my own mouth!

Where do those feelings come from?  From the time we are born, we receive messages about ourselves. These messages are programmed into our minds. We may not realize our minds are being programmed, but it happens as surely as I’m typing these words on my computer.   Either we felt esteemed, encouraged, and embraced as a child or we felt unloved, uncared for, and worthless.  Messages were given both intentionally and unintentionally by family, friends, teachers and other significant people who made up our own little world.  They were programmed into our minds and formed a type of filter or grid system. Every thought we have, every piece of information we receive must pass through that filter before it is processed by our minds. Soon, a false filter distorts the truth.

For example, little Mari was told at an early age that she was stupid, ugly, and clumsy.  Her ears looked like wings; her teeth looked like a twenty-car-pileup, and her legs looked like a flamingo’s. In the fourth grade, she got coke bottle glasses and kids called her “four-eyes” on the playground when the teachers weren’t close enough to hear. One day in geography class, the room erupted with laughter when she incorrectly answered that Philadelphia was our nation’s capital.

Seven years later, as a high school junior, Mari’s head has grown to catch up with her ears, the orthodontist has done a stellar job of straightening her now perfectly aligned white teeth, and her blue contact lenses accentuated the aqua marine hue of her eyes. She is inducted into the National Honor Society and scores 1420 on her SAT.  Yet, when Mari walks into a room full of people, she feels like that awkward fourth grader with the big ears, skinny legs, and thick glasses who was laughed at in geography class.  Even though she is a beautiful, intelligent young lady, that negative self-degrading filter is still in place, and deception is the glue that holds it there. She does not see herself for who she really is.

Now let’s pretend that Mari goes to a church retreat and hears the good news of Jesus Christ for the first time. Let’s say she makes a profession of faith, accepts Jesus as her Savior and begins the journey of making Him Lord of every aspect of her life.  What happens to the negative filter covering her mind?  Does it immediately disappear when she becomes a Christian?  No, it does not.  As a matter-of-fact, she probably doesn’t even know it is there.  Even though Mari is a child of God, holy and dearly loved, unless she removes the negative filter by renewing her mind, she will most likely continue feeling inferior, insecure and inadequate.  Only now, she may heap guilt on top of it for not feeling more victorious and peaceful in her new Christian faith. 

When Mari became a Christian, she received a new spirit and a new identity. She just didn’t know it.  It reminds me of a story I heard about two boys arguing if a chicken running around the barnyard with his head cut off was dead or alive.  While they were watching this strange phenomenon, an old wise farmer walked up.

“Sir,” the boys asked.  “Is that headless chicken running around dead or alive?”

The old farmer scratched his chin and pondered the situation.  Finally, he spoke, “Well, best I figure, that chicken is dead, but he just don’t know it yet.”

That pretty much describes many Christians.  It described me for about fifteen years of my life after I became a born-again Christian. My old self was dead, but I just didn’t know it yet. I had the spirit of Jesus Christ living in and through me; I just didn’t know it yet. I was a saint, the salt of the earth, holy and dearly loved; I just didn’t know it yet. But when I finally understood who I am in Christ, what I have in Christ, and where I am in Christ, those feelings of inferiority, insecurity, and inadequacy began to fade away.

How about you?  Do you know who you are?

Let’s Pray 
Dear Heavenly Father, help me to renew my mind with the truth of my new identity.  Help me see the areas when I have been filtering life through the lies of the past.  As I read Your Word, please use it to renew my mind with the truth.

In Jesus’ Name, 
Amen.

Now It’s Your Turn 
Think of a time in your childhood that shaped how you see yourself today. 

Is it the truth of who you really are or are you allowing the enemy to hold up a false mirror, distorting who God says you really are?

Look up 2 Corinthians 5:17.  Write it down.  What does that mean to you?

I’d love to hear your answers on question #2.  Let’s chat.  www.facebook.com/sharonjaynes or www.sharonjaynes.com/blog.

More From The Girlfriends 
We will never be truly beautiful as long as the dark cloud of past wrong thinking blocks the radiance within. If you would like to learn more about who you truly are and how to renew your mind with God’s truth, see Sharon’s book, Becoming Spiritually Beautiful: Seeing yourself through God’s Eyes.