Offering women a biblical solution for inner healing
by Aliene
Sometimes you have to let go of the rope to see God make it right. Has a justified tug-a-war taken your joy, focus, and energy? Where do you want to “win”? What are you fighting to make things fair?
In today’s podcast, fighting injustice with God’s battle plan.
Podcast: Play in new window
by Aliene
Jericho was a mighty city, a stronghold with securely shut walls reaching toward the sky. In fact, some archeological evidence suggests there were actually two walls around the city.
I wonder if Joshua thought, How are we going to conquer this one, Lord? I am mighty with my sword, and I know you were faithful to pull back those waters of the Jordan as you did in the Red Sea. But walls? This challenge seems bigger than I am.
What walls are before you, brave heart?
What challenge seems beyond your ability?
Is there a challenge in your marriage? Your career? Your children? Your finances? Your purpose?
Sometimes when we face challenges doubt can begin to dance in our head and we might have thoughts of drawing back into our wilderness instead of pressing forward into our Promised Land.
Don’t you dare! Whatever wall you are facing, God will help you tear them down … but you must use spiritual weapons.
It took faith for the Israelites to pick up trumpets instead of weapons when God instructed the Israelites to march around Jericho. But they chose to do it God’s way—and he gave them the victory.
God commanded them to sound the trumpets for six days. On the seventh day, they were to give a shout.
In the Old Testament, trumpets were used to praise God (Numbers 10:2-10; Psalm 98:6, 150:3).
Praise is a spiritual weapon God has given us to face our walls with faith.
Never underestimate the power of praising God BEFORE seeing our walls fall. This biblical principal requires great courage and conviction. In order to lift up our arms in praise, we have to move beyond our feelings and circumstances into the rheum of faith.
Thanking God for past faithfulness is valuable – but it takes mountain moving faith to speak praise in advance of what God will do. Our Nourish Scripture gives us some practical steps to put this powerful spiritual discipline into practice.
Lord, I thank you that while I cannot see the answer to this problem, you promise in your Word you will direct my paths and give me my next steps (Proverbs 3:4-6). God, I want to thank you in advance that while I just don’t see how my marriage will mend that you are the Mountain Mover and will move in mighty ways on my behalf. I praise you that the Holy Spirit is here to counsel me and give me strength beyond my ability. Thank you for this problem that is propelling my purpose forward by pushing me to depend on you. I love how you will use walls to build my faith and prepare me for the next battle.
Often, I am tempted to stop fighting God’s way and take matters into my own hands when I don’t see my walls fall right away. You might find yourself feeling the same way, but I encourage you to be persistent in your praise!
On the seventh day, the harvest came: the walls came down with a shout from the Israelites! God can take down your walls too!
Yes, brave heart, there will be battles in the Promised Land. But praise God! He has given us the spiritual weapons to face them with his strength. ONWARD!
Nourish Scripture: Joshua 5:13-6
Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.
by Aliene
There is nothing more difficult than watching someone you love fight a battle ….especially when your hands are tied, and you are unable to fix the situation. But in those moments, we can pray boldly and watch our mighty, powerful God accomplish his perfect work. And often we find, the battle helped them reach their full potential and was the very thing that prepared them for their purpose.
More on today’s Podcast live. Listen below.
Podcast: Play in new window
by Aliene
Are you getting ready to face a battle? Today’s devotion is just for you.
Safely on the other side of the Jordan, the Israelites set up a base camp at Gilgal. Before the Israelites moved out from their camp to capture Jericho, they had to take care of some family business to prepare them for battle. Circumcision reestablished their identity with the covenant God had made with Abraham. Eating the Passover meal, the Israelites celebrated God’s mighty power to deliver them.
I believe God wanted them to remember in the days to come, inside the heat of the battle, that God was with and for them.
Adversity never means Jesus has abandoned you. But beware—that is exactly what the enemy wants us to believe. The enemy of our soul capitalizes on catastrophe by whispering sinister lies in our ears: “If God really loves you, he wouldn’t allow this to happen. He has abandoned you.” Or even worse: “There is something wrong with you, and that is why all this has happened.”
Are you walking through a battle? Do you want to shout at the top of your lungs, Jesus, where are you?
Or do you look around at our world and ask, Where is God if there is poverty, sex trafficking, and abuse of women that abound in this world?
Jesus, where are you? I’ve experienced that silent scream in my soul. How about you?
When faced with adversity, we sometimes feel God has abandoned us. But God’s Word assures us that he will never leave us and he is with us. The world is a battlefield where brave hearts make a difference.
Which voice will we believe?
Much like Passover and circumcision, communion and baptism are respectively two disciplines of the Christian faith designed to help us remember God’s faithfulness and our identity in Christ in the middle of our broken world filled with battles.
Communion is a wonderful way to remember our new covenant position. On the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion, the disciples celebrated the Passover with each other. The events that followed would test their faith. Jesus wanted them to remember that he was the Passover lamb and that his death would bring victory.
Baptism is the public outward sign of what Christ did inwardly the moment you became a Christian. When you became a Christian, Jesus circumcised your heart by the Holy Spirit and made you dead to sin but alive to Christ (Romans 2:29). Just as circumcision did not make Abraham righteous (Romans 4:11), baptism does not make you a Christian. In baptism, we identify with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. We are saying publicly, “My identity is now in Christ. My old self was crucified and he lives in me. Through my faith and reliance on the power of God, I can now live for God.”
The Lord told Joshua, “’Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’ So the place has been called Gilgal to this day” (Joshua 5:9).
Egypt symbolizes slavery to sin and shame. The word reproach means in Hebrew a taunt, a scorn, resting upon condition of shame, disgrace. The Bible says that Satan accuses and taunts Christians day and night and fills them with shame (Revelations 12:10). The enemy can use battles to shame us telling us that there must be something wrong with us.
Condemnation is never from God. Christ rolled away our shame through his sacrifice. If you feel like a bad Christian, Satan is trying to make you feel defeated by accusing you. Open your mouth and say, “Jesus rolled away my reproach, and your tactic to make me feel unworthy to be a Christian does not work anymore.”
Brave heart, it is during the battle that you need God the most. Shame is toxic because shame separates us from our mighty God!
Gilgal means a wheel or rolling. Joshua and the Israelites will retreat to Gilgal again and again. We must continue to meditate on the truth of who we are in Christ to renew our minds and to be transformed. We do not learn it once and rest. We remind ourselves repeatedly so that when the attacks come, we can stand in the truth.
Remember your baptism and all that it symbolizes. Celebrate communion often and see it as an opportunity to remember who you are in Christ.
When faced with a battle, you can be a Christian and still struggle with your identity in Christ. Although God sees you as a new creation and in complete right standing with him, you may believe something completely different. Our actions will always follow our belief system.
Remember your new identity through baptism and communion. Christ, your Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. His blood of the new covenant was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. You have been raised to new life.
After the Israelites crossed over the Jordan River, the manna went away and they ate the fruit of the land.
Take another look, a good look, at your new covenant position in Christ. The same Holy Spirit that empowered the early church is on the table. Your new identity is in Christ. In Christ, you are God’s child. The power and penalty of sin have been destroyed. God has made you an eagle . . . and you are meant to fly (Isaiah 40:31).
Nourish Scripture: Joshua 5
Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.
by Aliene
Does the struggle with insecurity mean we have failed as a Christian? HARDLY. It means we are human. Even the great prophet Jeremiah was keenly aware of God’s presence in one moment and then fell into despair in the next. Feelings of insecurity creep up in our insecure world. God gives us a remedy to intercept insecurity by inviting us to build something greater than self-esteem.
In today’s podcast, discover how to build confidence God’s way.
Podcast: Play in new window
by Aliene
God called Nancy Alcorn to step out in faith and start a home for young women who were hurting. As a result, countless women have come to stay at Mercy Multiplied.
Some who come do not know Jesus; others have been in church all their lives. All the young women are immersed in unconditional love, bathed in the Word of God, and taught who they are in Christ.
I first heard about Mercy Multiplied years ago when founder Nancy Alcorn was featured on television. Testimonies from two young women delivered from depression, drug addiction, and eating disorders touched my heart.
Since that day, my husband and I have supported Mercy. At the time, I had no idea how God would use Mercy to change me. I loved the ministry so much that one summer I visited a Mercy home in Nashville. A resident in the program began to share how Mercy had changed her life.
She said to me. “Aliene, you don’t understand. I have been to six different hospitals, and no one could fix me but this place.” I realized in that moment I was looking at a miracle. I knew beyond any doubt that all of God’s promises are true. The same God who made a covenant with that young lady made a covenant with me. Christ is still the Healer. The power of sin has been broken. There is no addiction, no lifestyle, and no destructive emotion he cannot help us overcome.
Nancy’s life work is a memorial to the power of the cross and the promises of the new covenant. I have never met a woman who followed God so intently. No matter how impossible things looked, Nancy took the Mountain Mover at his Word. Nancy Alcorn too is a brave heart.
In biblical times, after covenants were established, memorials were made to remind future generations of the covenant.
After the Israelites crossed over the Jordan, God instructed Joshua to make a memorial out of stones. Joshua appointed twelve men, one from each tribe, to retrieve a stone from the middle of the Jordan where the priests held the Ark of the covenant. Each man took up a stone and carried it on his shoulder to Gilgal, where Joshua set up the stones. The memorial was built to remind the Israelites of God’s mighty power and so that they might always follow him (Joshua 4:24).
Romans 12:1–8 tells us that in view of God’s mercy, we should offer our lives as a living sacrifice by using the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us.
We are blessed so that we can bring blessings to others.
God has called us to set up memorials to serve as a sign that Christ is still the answer for future generations. There is a hurting world out there that is looking for unconditional love and help that can be found only in Jesus.
What do you want to change?
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, you have the influence to leave a legacy.
Will you lay down your life to make a memorial to the Lord Jesus Christ? What stone has the Lord asked you to pick up in service for his glory? Where has he asked you to build a memorial?
Go for it, brave heart, and leave a legacy to amazing grace! When we let our lights shine, we build memorials to point others to Christ. That is the new covenant ministry.
Nourish Scripture: Joshua 4
Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.
by Aliene
I am tired of the victim mentality trap. Today, I want victory. Rahab was willing to risk everything for a God she barely knew. Her decision to declare God as “supreme” was the catalyst that changed her life. Rahab’s perception of God changed her reality. The same is true for us today.
In today’s podcast, find inspiration through Rahab’s story to say – THE LORD REIGNS OVER MY CIRCUMSTANCES, I WILL NO LONGER BELIEVE THEY REIGN OVER ME!
Podcast: Play in new window
by Aliene
You are never alone. You are not powerless in your current situation. You are not the Lone Ranger trying with all your might to follow Christ.
Brave heart, there is not enough determination and willpower inside of you to overcome your sin and fulfill your calling without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
God told the Israelites that he was going to take them to places they had never seen before when they crossed into the Promised Land (Joshua 3:4).
What new roads is the God asking you to travel?
Whom is God asking you to love that you cannot love on your own?
What sin pattern do you feel is impossible to break?
More love (Romans 5:5), more power (Ephesians 1:18–20), and more freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17) is available through surrender.
The Israelites passed through God-parted waters twice. They crossed the Red Sea and left a life of slavery. They crossed the Jordan, left the wilderness, and entered into the Promised Land. Salvation is just the first step.
When we surrender moment by moment, we open the door for Jesus to fill us with the Holy Spirit and step into the living waters of God’s love and power as we live set apart for his glory.
Before the Israelites crossed the Jordan, Joshua told them to consecrate themselves because God was going to do amazing things among them.
Consecration means “to be set apart for the Lord.” God gives us the Holy Spirit to make us holy, to empower us for service, and to help us point others to Christ. Our new covenant position promises the power and presence of God’s Spirit to equip us for service and to transform us to be more like Christ (Ezekiel 36:26).
God also commanded the priests to carry the Ark of the Covenant ahead of the Israelites. The Ark represents God’s presence (2 Samuel 6:2). Acts 7:44–51 describes the progression of the Ark of the Covenant from the old to the new covenant.
In the Garden of Eden, God began dwelling with man. After the fall, man built altars. Then, God instructed Moses to build the tabernacle complete with the Ark of the Covenant where he dwelt. Next, Solomon built a stationary temple in Jerusalem. One day, Emmanuel, God with Us—Jesus Christ—came to dwell among us. After his death and resurrection, our bodies became the temple and his Spirit dwelt within us. Finally, in the New Jerusalem, the dwelling of God will be with men, and he will live with them (Revelation 21:3).
Today, our bodies are the temple, and the Holy Spirit dwells inside of every believer. Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22).
If you are a Christian, you have received the Holy Spirit. However, it is one thing to have something and quite another to use it.
We have a heating system installed in our home, but in order for heat to fill my house the thermostat has to be turned on…
The phrase “filled with the Spirit” has blessed many and yet caused division within the church. The Holy Spirit moves God’s children in different ways, and I do not believe it is right to demand that our way is “right” any more than the Jewish believers demanding circumcision for the Gentiles was right (Acts 10). Nor should the controversy keep us quiet about the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts, the phrase “filled with the Spirit” is a biblical term used repeatedly in conjunction with believers doing amazing acts of service for God’s glory (Acts 4:8; 4:31; 6:3,5; 7:55; 9:17; 13:9; 13:52).
God asked the priests to stand in the middle of the Jordan River. God asked his only Son to stand in the gap for you and me; in turn, Jesus became the mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 9:15).
You may have rivers at flood stage raging all around you, but Jesus Christ is standing in the gap of the Jordan waiting for you to cross over into a deeper life with him.
The striving is over.
Your position has been secured through the blood of Christ. It is your responsibility and your great privilege to believe it and walk as an ambassador on earth for Christ—not by your might but by his Spirit as you surrender one step at a time.
If we are honest with ourselves we will eventually come to a place where we realize we cannot serve God in our own strength.
When I am still at the helm, white knuckled on the steering wheel of life, I am fighting against the winds of the Holy Spirit that long to push my sails to adventure beyond what this world could ever offer.
If you lose your life, you’ll find it. God’s strength is limitless. The Lord commanded the Israelites three times to keep the Ark of the Covenant ahead of the them while they crossed over the Jordan River (Joshua 3:3, 3:6, 3:11). What you focus on, you will follow. Trusting in His goodness at all times opens your heart wide to catch the winds of the Holy Spirit.
If you want to soar. . . surrender.
Nourish Scripture: Joshua 3-5:12
Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.
