May the Lord Bless You, Protect You and give you Peace

I needed this verse this morning and tried to find the perfect picture to put behind the verse. I am holding on to God’s promise in Numbers 6:24-26 and declare it over you today!

Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless you, and keep you protect you, sustain you, and guard you; The Lord make His face shine upon you with favor,And be gracious to you surrounding you with lovingkindness; The Lord lift up His countenance face upon you with divine approval,And give you peace a tranquil heart and life.’ Amplified Version

How to teach our kids to make wise godly decisions 

HOW TO TEACH OUR KIDS TO MAKE WISE GODLY DECISIONS. This verse arrested me this morning. I have been seeking God about something for one of my kids and God told me to turn to Hosea 10. Nothing hit me until I got to Verse 12 then it was like the Fourth of July went off in my spirit- there is more to the story that I will continue very soon.
What I can say now, is that I am so thankful we have taught our kids how to hear the voice of God. It is in times like this where God is directing my 12 year old’s path and even talked to my son before he talked to us his parents. Our conversation about this totally took us by surprise. We are teaching our son that having the feeling or a sense is not the only way we go about making decisions. When we feel like God is talking to us there are many confirmations we need to get before we make major decisions in our life. Even though he had a couple vivid dreams about this situation and really wanted to do it, we told him we need to dig in a little deeper to God’s heart and get confirmation in other ways. 🚦

1. We asked him if he had prayed about it. Yes, sincerely🙏🏻

2. Did he ask for advise from parents and pastors? 👍🏻Yes from us and he went on his own to talk to his pastor yesterday, which was easy because it is his (Papa) Grandpa Hjertstedt. The cool part was that we didn’t even tell him to do this, he did it on his own 😍

3. What confirmation has he seen in the Bible? 🔦 he hasn’t come to this part himself but the verse below did it for me. Reading it and studying its meaning gave me confidence and peace. Now I will ask him to see what God says to him from the Bible.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word spoken by Christ the Messiah have its home in your hearts and minds and dwell in you in all its richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom in spiritual things, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with His grace in your hearts. – Amplified

4. Is there an open door for the desired decision to happen? 🚪Need to knock and find out.

5. Provision? Is the financial part working out?💸 “If it is God’s WILL it is God’s BILL .” says my dad, Joel Hjertstedt

6. Do you have peace? Do your parents and pastors have peace? ✌Yes

Colossians 3:15 And let the peace (soul harmony) which comes from Christ rule (act as umpire) continually in your hearts deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state to which as members of Christ’s one body you were also called to live. And be thankful appreciative, giving praise to God always.   -Amplified

Unfortunately, I know many adults who have never learned this process of making a wise godly decision. It breaks my heart and I hope this blesses you to see how we can go about making a decision and know we have followed God’s heart and lead down his path.

Here is a link to Joyce Meyers article about making good decisions. Definitely a confirmation.

https://www.joycemeyer.org/articles/ea.aspx?article=following_peace_to_make_the_right_decisions

Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves according to righteousness uprightness and right standing with God; reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you. (Amplified version)


A season of completion of promises.

When I saw this video yesterday (https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153476138975921)

I could not get out of my mind what I believe God was saying. I kept hearing the phrase , THIS IS A SEASON OF COMPLETION OF PROMISES! Get ready for the promises that God has spoken over your life to begin to come full circle. One of my favorite life verse is
Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

God can not lie. What He has said, He will do! Take hold of His promises and declare them over your life. When you come into agreement with His promises and declare them over your present situation it is activating your faith and aligning your prayers with God’s will.

Matthew 21:21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

We cannot even comprehend the amount of creative energy that is held in a single word that God speaks. God spoke and it was created! What words of God are you speaking over your life?

Path to Peace

Isaiah 26:3 is one of my “Life” scriptures. When I found this picture online I couldn’t wait to put the two together. The direction of your eyes in this picture points directly to the sun. Just as our eyes when focused on the “Son” releases a peace into our thoughts and life we cant get anywhere else.

Determine to focus your thoughts on the one who holds your life in His caring hands. He knows every hair on your head (even the ones you lose) 😉

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Sometimes it is easier to see the “Son” through the fog

Have you ever looked at the sun through the fog and can actually see the shape of it. When most times the brightness of the sun would blind us as we look at it in a clear day, the shape of the sun is revealed clearly on a foggy day. This morning I begin to realize how the foggy times in our lives cause us to look to the Son, And we see him more clearly than we do on the good days.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

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The word of God never comes alive more than when there is fog in your life. It is like every verse you have read your whole life has new meaning and jumps off of the page. Those moments where a verse seems highlighted in the Bible is not a coincidence, that is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Many people think they do not hear the voice of God, but I can guarantee you, if you are one who finds yourself drawn to certain verses in the Bible, you hear God’s voice more than you think.

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Instead of burring your head in the sand in hard times, Look up to receive the love of the Father like you have never known before. He will never leave you or forsake you.

Hebrews 13:5-6 God has said,‘ Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence,‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.What can mere mortals do to me?’

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His Mercies are NEW every morning

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion;therefore I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietlyfor the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26

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What does that verse mean to you? To me it means that every day the past is wiped away and I get a new chance at living and receiving an abundant measure of God’s grace.

The understanding of Lamentations 3:22-26 FIRST has to be coupled with Romans 12, where it talks about transforming your mind. I talked about this in a previous blog “The Mind Of Christ: Thinking about Thinking)
(https://livelifeoutloudforgod.com/2014/09/25/the-mind-of-christ-thinking-about-thinking/)

If we do not purpose to have our mind renewed by the washing of the word of God, by focusing our thoughts on God and who HE is, there’s NO WAY that we are going to receive the fullness of the “New Mercies” that are promised to us every day. We will end up thinking about the past and the struggles we have gone through along with the things that maybe tormenting us in the present. God is faithful and He will never leave us, but it is very hard to feel His Love and Grace when we are only focused on all the bad in our lives.

Today, allow God to bring you new mercy, grace, strength and comfort. His word is true…..”For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord.

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The Battle: Christian Kids in Public School with a Biblical or Secular Worldview

Christian-Worldview-00892-300x225     vs  Non-Christian-Worldview-00901-300x225

Parents of Public School Kids: have you discovered that your kids teachers do not use text books for you to be able to review? We had a very interesting first 6th grade parent teacher conference last night. When the Social Studies teacher pulled out a paper from my son of a drawing of a Homosapian who lived 150,000 years ago my “creationist” ears popped up. I wanted to know what my son is being taught so I know how to further supplement his education with a “Biblical World view” teaching. He knows that God created the world in six days about 6000-10,000 years ago. But what he needs is information of the intellect that God created those first people with, Adam & Eve. They were more than “double wise” as his paper said of the homosapian’s. We had a talk about the Tower of Babel as we were waiting in line to talk to his next teacher.

Now I am thankful he does not come home with much homework, because I am going to be ordering some curriculum from Answers in Genesis so he can understand the truth about social studies and science. That is why at Destiny Christian Fellowship we are so adamant about teaching our kids the truth about the authority of the Word of God along with a biblical worldview. Like tomorrow night we will be having a dinosaur night for the kids teaching them what really happened to the dinosaurs, The flood, and many other creation issues.

We have kept my oldest son in public school so he can be a light, it is his choice along with ours. But, we will not sit by and allow him to be filled with a secular world view and not have him know the truth from the word of God. He may be bold and have confidence to speak in front of a group, but he needs to know the truth and have it in him so deep that it comes out of his mouth as easy as breathing. He needs to be able to debate or challenge an issue with more confidence than the other kid. Not with just surface head knowledge, but cold hard scientific facts that creation shows.

It is the parents responsibility to guard their children from the lies of the enemy and most importantly for our children to be aware of them when they hear it. I know he is strong and smart, however it is my responsibility to make sure he has the proper tools and resources to know right from wrong, truth from speculation. If us as parents do not hold fast to the fact that the Bible is Absolute Truth, then we will allow a secular worldview to slowly creep in our mind and our children.

Please make sure you have your own library at your home of material and curriculum for your public school children to draw a Biblical World View from. I will post links below of the places I am going to purchase our own! Our children have the opportunity to transform the educational system from the inside out, they need more than checking in at church and youth group! Kingdom Families function daily inside the home teaching and walking out the truth of God’s word. Time for me to do some research and pray!

 

Comments Copied from Facebook Post this morning:

  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell https://answersingenesis.org/store/newest/…

    Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry, dedicated to helping Christians defend their faith and…
    ANSWERSINGENESIS.ORG
  • Aimee  Has he listened to the Jonathan Park series? It may be a little below his age level, but I bet if you put it on for your other kids, he’d like it, too. They teach creation apologetics in a fun, memorable way!
    2 hrs · Unlike · 2
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell He hasnt yet. I know my mom has them somewhere, I need to download them. Thank you so much for the reminder. My kids listen a lot to adventures in odyssey by Focus on the Family. But I definitely need to switch it up again
  • 2 hrs · Edited · Like · 2 · 
  • Peggy Very important to discuss it, breathe it, learn it deep. It is taught in Science class yes, but also in Reading class, math class, anywhere and everywhere. I taught it everywhere as they still do.
    2 hrs · Unlike · 2
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell Yep, in Reading class it brought up the other side of things that makes me so thankful for Becky Fischer’s ministry
    http://www.kidsinministryinternational.org ,
    we use her curriculum in our children’s ministry. Tomorrow night while the kids learn about the dinosaurs, the parents will be watching a video that shows how the kingdom of darkness is invading our kids culture. I have her material pinned on my Pinterest site. Kids need to know what to do when they are forced to read books that are opening doors into their spirit. They need to know what to look for and what to guard them self from. If we do not teach them how to be discerning in their spirit they will open up a huge door for the lies of the enemy and his influence to come in. We have been teaching her children for the last year how to hear the voice of God from Becky’s curriculum. It has been phenomenal. From our preschool to the elementary these kids know how to hear God’s voice.
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell And by the way, I do not think it is just coincidence that they no longer use books. It is much harder for teachers to be held accountable for what they teach.
    2 hrs · Like · 2
  • Peggy Just for the sake of information teachers have the books and get new ones every 7 years, two problems exist one a lot of students can not read (comprehend) at the level of the textbooks and two teachers don’t have time to familiarize themselves to new text books with the constant flow of new curriculum as well as get their students to pass the state test.
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell Some teachers do, probably more in the elementary. But what I found yesterday at parent-teacher conferences is that in six grade in the Oregon city school district they do not have books because they say the district did not want to buy them. The teacher uses online resources from many different places.
  • Peggy  Oh they went that route, the online sources are probably from a curriculum company.
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell Unfortunately, because of going online route there are no materials for parents to look through to know and understand what their children are being taught. I’m going to be going through as many links as the teachers give me but that’s not their curriculum in entirety
  • Peggy  Unfortunately most sources support evolution, homosexuality, even anti-America (in the new common core) and other things we need to train our kids against.
  • Peggy  You are completely right Rachelle parents are cut out and teachers don’t have the time to list all their resources.
    50 mins · Unlike · 1 The common core at its roots is anti-parent.
  • Rachelle Hjertstedt Layzell On the way to taking David and Elicia to their private school, with tears in my eyes, I was sharing with them how thankful I am that I don’t have to question what they are being taught. Elicia began to have a discussion about what she would ask the teachers. She said she would ask them, “Who made you?” David went into the explanation that we didnt come here by a big explosion and then happen to come together by ourselves. He went through to describe how evolution says man came to be. And he said, “that is so extremely stupid! How in the world could they believe that!” At the same time when they get into Public high school they will have the tools They need to be bright lights who stand for truth. It made me all the more thankful for Christian resources that are available to help our children in public & private schools understand what truth is and how to discern when they are being fed secular lies. I know Isaac a strong and I will not pull him out of public school, because if he is not there who is going to share the truth with these other kids and the teachers? It is a very hard decision but one God told Isaac & us very clearly.

Freedom for your children: Breaking thoughts of agreement

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This morning I had to walk my son through some steps of freedom. Even though he is trying his hardest in school and is getting the work done, it is so intense he feels like he is drowning. For a kids with learning challenges, growing up means everything gets harder. He began agreeing with the lies of the enemy and last night and this morning came into my room because of disturbing dreams. He had a dream that there was a scary lion outside our house looking at him and it came onto our porch. This morning we had a long talk and prayer time. I read with him in

1 Pet 5:8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

I told him that when life is hard the enemy puts thoughts in our minds like we are a failure, life & school is torture, I want to give up, and when we agree with those thoughts and speak them out loud or draw them on our homework, are are coming into agreement with him and allowing him to take a cubby in our mind. We then prayed together and I had him repeat a prayer of asking forgiveness for agreeing with the specific thoughts he was having, Then asking and receiving the Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness & Self-Control (Fruits of the spirit) Of God. His mood completely shifted after we prayed.

When the kids get home we are going to go through Psalms 19 and talk about our thoughts. Parents, take advantage of every opportunity to show your kids the freedom that is found in the word of God and what it means to walk through life in that freedom. Even children can come into agreement with the lies of the enemy. We need to recognize when that happens and walk them through a prayer time of freedom. The dream that my son had, I thank God for!! Even though it scared him, it allowed this beautiful opportunity to share the truth of the word of God. I am so grateful!

Psalms 19: 7-14

 The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
and all of them are righteous.

10 They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.
11 By them your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.

14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

The Mind of Christ: thinking about “Thinking”

I have been doing a lot of thinking about “thinking”. Our thoughts have a massive amount of influence on our day. No matter what the situation that may arise-our thoughts will determine our emotions and actions. We need to understand what it means to “Have the Mind of Christ” BUT, what is the mind of Christ? Check out the picture below Phil 4:8

We also need to know how to “Take Every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ”.
But what does that mean?
It means 1st of all Repentance– for wrong thinking, for specific things we are focusing on that are not in Phil 4:8, for thoughts that contradict the nature of God and His commandments. When we constantly live with those thoughts and never repent for them, we allow the strongholds that attach themselves to those thoughts to have Legal Access to our spirit. I don’t know about you, but I do not want the enemy to have any legal access to my mind, heart or spirit. We have the authority to stop the enemies access, through our repentance with humility and sincerity.

After repenting for wrong thinking, you need to fill your mind with the good things of God. Philipians 4:8

The next step is constantly living with an attitude of thanksgiving for what God has done for us. This takes our eyes off of ourselves and present circumstances and shifts our attention to him. As we glorify and worship him He releases us from the burdens that we carry in our every day life. This is a true way to walk in joy, freedom and hope.

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Here are a couple articles that offer more teaching on “The Mind of Christ”

http://www.joycemeyer.org/articles/ea.aspx?article=live_with_the_mind_of_christ

http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/spiritual-growth/7041-living-the-truth-have-the-mind-of-christIMG_2494.JPG

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