In Christ One Day at a Time

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus

In 12-step programs, there’s a saying, “one day at a time.” To stick with something one day at a time is doable: it’s an attainable goal — though for some it’s one hour at a time or one minute. Looking at an unknown and frightening future can just be too much. In our walk of salvation, we too may only be able to commit to one day at a time — one hour, one minute. Keeping our eyes on the Lord helps us to get through our day when we are overwhelmed, tired, and stressed. Keeping our eyes on Jesus pulls us back into alignment with God. When we are aligned with God our burden is light. The Passion Translation Bible says, “Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you’ll discover that I’m gentle, humble, easy to please. You will find refreshment and rest in me. For all that I require of you will be pleasant and easy to bear.”

We cannot bear the weight of our burdens alone. We need the Lord; we need our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to experience God’s presence, His promises, and His glory. God wants to help us battle. If we are overwhelmed and blocked by stress and worry, we have a harder time accepting help. We are required to pick up our cross every day; we are to choose Jesus every single day. We read in Matthew 16:24, Amplified Bible, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].”

The enemy of God only wants us to focus on what we can’t do and who we are not made to be. It’s imperative in this hour to stay focused on God and what He is doing in our lives and in His Kingdom. We have a responsibility to keep God’s Word in our hearts. We must work on our relationship with God daily. We can do that by surrendering all our lives and self to Jesus. We can work on our relationship with the Lord by worshipping Him and praising His holy name. We can align with God by intentionally seeking Him in every area of our lives. Living in this way everything that is not of God or doesn’t align with His will for our lives will fade away. Sometimes it’s challenging to stay connected and present with God, but we must try — one hour, one minute at a time.

Tips for One Day at a Time

Pray and sing in tongues.
Pray and bless your life and the lives of those around you.
Be thankful for your life and all that God has already given you.
Worship with music and the life-giving Words of God.
Read your Bible and press into its meaning for you.
Ask Holy Spirit to fill you and remove everything, not of God.
Find an anointing oil that you enjoy breathing in and focus on your breathing and the sweet fragrance of the Lord.
Call a pastor or positive and uplifting friend.
Journal without holding back.
Be ready to receive God and His presence and Word.
Set your heart on Jesus.

September 2, 2022

Jesus Loves Me Podcast: August 2022

JLM Podcast August 2022

Sharon and Jana get back on track by recording the Jesus Loves Me Podcast for August 2022. Listen as they break down Psalm 110 and discuss the next move for the Podcast.

August 27, 2022

A Future & A Hope

Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12, English Standard Version

A Quick Exegesis

Proverbs 13:12 powerfully states that we need hope in our lives for our hearts to be healthy, but that’s not all it says. We hear the first part of this verse repeated often, but we rarely look at the second part of the scripture, let alone the whole meaning of the verse.

We can look at the Hebrew transliteration and clearly see the author of this verse is talking about a weak or sick heart where “heart” represents our inner man, mind, or will. Let’s take a quick look at all three of these areas. Our inner man can represent our soul as we exist today with its mind, will, and emotions. Our mind containing our emotions takes us to a complicated place of potential positivity and negativity. Emotions are feelings and they are temporary. Emotions are not who we are, they are fleeting within the scope of eternity. Our will represents our free will which God gave humans to make choices for Him or against Him.

The second part of the verse is very straightforward. A desire is a feeling to want something or want something to happen. God places desires in our hearts that support our calling and purpose. We can also create our own desires from our flesh, which can get us into trouble.

The Tree of Life is now more accessible to us because of what Jesus did. We must believe in and trust Jesus to have access to the Tree of Life. The good news is that Holy Spirit came to us, and He teaches us everything we need to know to mature and grow closer to Father God.

Hope Reimagined

In the entirety of Proverbs 13:12, we can see that a person without hope can become desperate and long for a happy life, identity, and purpose. Without a strong identity in Christ as sons and daughters of God, and an understanding of our calling and purpose, we can have a hard time finding meaning in life.

It is without hope one can become depressed, fearful, and even suicidal.

Hope is defined as a feeling of expectation of something happening or trust that a desire will be fulfilled. The thing is, we can trust God. God does what He says He is going to do; He is not a liar. God has made all of us many promises throughout the Bible that we can count on happening. Our Bible is a manual for finding hope, faith, and love.

We need to desire the Word of God, which is Jesus Himself as stated in John 1:1–3 to be set free from negative machinations. Our minds must be on the Word with our faces turned toward God in this season. It’s time to use our righteous and sanctified imaginations to desire the things of God.

I repeat, it is without hope one can become depressed, fearful, and even suicidal.

To have hope, find your calling and your purpose, and walk toward doing them. God will meet you as you walk, and He’ll give you new hope and renewed meaning to live.

July 19, 2022

Living in Love

Walking with God

Scripture says that when we love God, He will abide in us (See 1 John 4:12). Think about that. The God of everything will live in us. He will make us His dwelling place. Our lives can be difficult here in this world. We are attacked at every opportunity the devil gets to come against us. He hits us with illness, ruins relationships, and distracts us from time with the Lord. The devil steals, kills, and destroys as he roams around like a lion seeking whom he can devour. And devour he will when we forget that God live in us when we love Him.

It sounds simple enough — just love God and He’ll live in you. The thing is, we don’t always know how to love. Love is twisted for many of us who have suffered. We have a less than perfect definition of love thanks to our upbringing or dysfunctional relationships. We don’t know how to set effective boundaries, honor each other, or remain independent versus being co-dependent. We have had parents divorced, trauma and abuse, and we’ve engaged in self-destruction.

Our only out is Jesus. Jesus is the only One who can heal our understanding of love permanently. Holy Spirit knows what we need to learn and grow in love. God is the foundation of our loving relationships. We must cry out to Him with sincerity of heart for restoration of love in our lives. So, let’s stay in God’s Word, Who is Jesus Himself, and ask Him to show us how to engage in His righteous and unconditional love. Let’s walk with for love Him. Let’s know that no matter our understanding of love, He will live in us and teach us how to love ourselves and others.

November 9, 2021

Celebrating Satan

“I am glad that Christian parents let their children worship the devil at least one night out of the year. Welcome to Halloween.” — Anton Lavey, founder of the Church of Satan

Concerning Halloween

Halloween is widely defined on Bing.com as, “the one night of the year when the spirits of the dead can return to earth.”

There is a lot of information out there about Halloween. Some of the information is innocent sounding enough, other data speaks to the evil, ungodly origins of the day. We at Hardwired for Life will present some of that information here for you to do your own study about the “Holiday.” Just a note: we do not celebrate Halloween, and this Post tells why.

Our belief is that Christians should not participate in Halloween in any way, because it’s not Biblical to do so. If anything, we should celebrate the Jewish Fall Festivals (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot).

Following the Bible

We don’t celebrate Halloween because of the evil history and practices involved. We Christians are to not engage in ungodly acts of the flesh. The Bible tells us in many places in the Old and New Testaments not to participate in evil doings. In Galatians 5:19–21, New King James Version, we read, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

We know how difficult it can be for Christians, especially with small children, to refuse to celebrate Halloween. Mainstream society, both secular and Christian, is deeply sold on participating in the traditions of Halloween.

What kid wants to go to school without a costume like everyone else? We get it. Is God going to forsake you if you allow your children to dress up and trick-or-treat? Probably not in His grace and mercy. God is faithful and we can trust Him. But we would rather you had some truth about Halloween, its traditions, and current societal norms in America in order to make a more educated decision about taking part or not.

Pagan & Catholic Origins

Pagans call Halloween, “All Hallows Eve.” Historically, Catholic traditions call the day after Halloween, “All Saints Day.” This is a day dedicated to venerate martyrs and saints. There are other religions and beliefs, such as Wicca, Santeria and Voodoo, that also celebrate the Halloween or the Fall Harvest season.

Pagans particularly are individuals, cults, sects, covens, and many other groups that are not Christian (Christian meaning, believing in Jesus is Lord and Savior). Pagans hail worshipping Satan, demons, ungodly religions and gods, the earth and its elements, and/or the flesh/self.

Satanists consider Halloween, Christmas, and Easter high holy days for them to engage in evil practices against humans and animals alike. These evil practices include curses, torturous abuse, sexual abuse, and human and animal sacrifices. This is happening today, whether you choose to believe it or not. Do some research on your own to discover more.

This Post is barely scratching the surface of the darkness surrounding the Halloween season.

Please do your own research. Do what you can to make an educated decision about your personal participation in Halloween, regardless of your religion, faith or denomination.

Dark Symbology

Halloween comes with a slew of dark and scary imagery. Scary icons are not lifegiving and are meant to scare people. Life can be frightening enough without one being exposed to glorified evil. Here are just a few:

Ghosts: Disembodied spirits of the dead manifesting as apparitions.
Witches: According to Bing.com defines witches as, “a person thought to have magic powers, especially evil ones, popularly depicted as a woman wearing a black cloak and pointed hat and flying on a broomstick.”
Jack-o-lanterns: Wikipedia states, “The name is also tied to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a drunkard who bargains with Satan and is doomed to roam the Earth with only a hollowed turnip to light his way.”
Skeletons: Typically, a human framework of the bones of a dead person.
Black cats: Bing.com says black cats are superstitiously thought about this way, “A black cat crossing one’s path by moonlight means death in an epidemic.”

Celebrating Darkness

Trick-or-Treating & Costumes

Modern day trick-or-treating is thought to have been around for about 100 years. In Pagan, Celtic communities long gone, people dressed up in frightening costumes. These costumes were made to hide themselves from the spirits and fairies out on All Hallows Eve. The fear is that they would be harmed or taken away by the spirits, according to HolidaySmart.com.

Candy was given out to treat the children, or a trick was played on them. Today the candy given out by Witches of all kinds is heavily cursed, and it pries open spiritual doors that should remain shut. Candy at Halloween also promotes poor health in our children.

Haunted Houses, Parties, Decorations & Commercialism

The National Retail Federation says that Americans spent more than $8 billion on Halloween in 2020. That says something. People spend money to create Haunted Houses, have Halloween Parties, and Decorate like its Christmastime. People celebrate Halloween without considering that the day is dedicated to ungodly things and making money.

Christian Churches Today

Glorifying Evil

Many churches celebrate Halloween by creating Harvest Festivals and things like Trunk-or-Treating. Churches do this to give people, especially with children, a place to go on Halloween or to safely Trick-or-Treat. Children wear superhero costumes, princess outfits, and other “cute” costumes on Halloween. These costumes placate the desires of society to dress-up on Halloween. The older the child gets, the darker and sexier the costumes become. Dressing-up in evil or sensual costumes is an attack on the child’s identity as children of God.

Christians choosing to participate in Halloween are opening doors for evil to creep into their lives. Christians open doors to Spiritual Warfare they are not prepared for. Halloween is not innocent, not godly, not lifegiving, and it glorifies evil and darkness. Make a stand against Halloween and pray for those involved.

October 30, 2021

Get Powered Up

“God has transmitted his very substance into every Scripture, for it is God-breathed. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Then you will be God’s servant, fully mature and perfectly prepared to fulfill any assignment God gives you.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (The Passion Translation)

The Bible IS Power

In the beginning of the Book of John we read that the “Word” is Jesus and Jesus is the “Word.” God inspired every Word of the Bible that we read and it was written infused with Jesus’ Spirit. When we speak the Words of the Bible we are drawing Jesus out of the Book and into the atmosphere around us. When Jesus is present the world with its darkness fades away.

Let the Word who is Jesus lead you and guide you in your beautiful walk of life and salvation. When you do, you’ll be able fulfill all of the assignments God has for you. And when you engage in the Word of God with others, the effect is amplified.

Be blessed today and thank you for visiting!

October 26, 2021

Christ Is Our Example

Photo by eberhard 🖐 grossgasteiger on Unsplash

For [as a believer] you have been called for this purpose, since Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you may follow in His footsteps. He committed no sin, nor was deceit ever found in His mouth. While being reviled and insulted, He did not revile or insult in return; while suffering, He made no threats [of vengeance], but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges fairly.He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross [willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice], so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness; for by His wounds you [who believe] have been healed.For you were continually wandering like [so many] sheep, but now you have come back to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

1 Peter 2:21-25, Amplified Bible

August 5, 2021

My Protection & Future

You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word.
Psalm 119:114 (New King James Version)

August 1, 2021

Patience & Decisions We Make

Patiently Waiting

Patience is a virtue which can make it easy for us to make decisions. Having patience means having tolerance and peace about something. It’s a mindset of waiting that understands letting go. Patience that endures is one of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit of God, which we receive as we mature in Christ Jesus (See Galatians 5:22–23). We manifest the fruit of the Spirit in our lives by working out our character flaws and behaviors. We must absorb Scripture, and grow an intimate relationship with God.

When we are new Believers, we have less patience for God, for ourselves, and for others. We are quicker to act and react with a wider range of emotions when we are new to our salvation. The Bible tells us to grow from drinking milk like a baby to eating solid food like an adult (See 1 Corinthians 3:2). We are called to change and grow which means we are to make some of our own decisions. We can’t wait on God for everything. We do this with our children, we allow them to make decisions and reap the consequences, good or bad. God does the same thing with us.

Trusting God

God knows what decisions we will make before we do. It’s important to stay close and connected to God when we are making life-changing decisions. If God is quiet in responding to our prayers for help, it can be that He already told us and we didn’t like the answer. Sometimes we don’t “hear” Him so we keep asking hoping for Him to change His mind. God will also be quiet when He is challenging us to be mature, be responsible and accountable for the decisions we make. Ultimately, we know we must trust God even though He’s quiet. God will not only make a way of escape, but He will use whatever happens for our good (See 1 Corinthians 10:13 and Romans 8:28 respectively).

Patience means we must have faith in and trust in God. We must leave doubt, fear and other insecurities behind by laying them down at the feet of Jesus. God has a perfect will and timing for everything we set out to do and we must hear from Him before making any moves that are life-altering. God trusts us as we grow to make more and more of our own decisions. When we keep God in the loop, we can have confidence that we are doing the right thing for our lives, even if it doesn’t seem that way.

Impacting Ourselves & Others

We must have patience for ourselves and others. We are often our own worst enemies because we can get in the Lord’s way. We try to control, manipulate, run from, and dodge the challenges we face. We blame God and others for things that go wrong. We worry and stress distractedly keeping our eyes on the problem rather than Jesus. We all do these things as a part of the human condition, as part of our fleshly desires.

Patience has no room for our flesh. Our flesh makes assumptions and walks before God. Our flesh wants to control the outcome, the relationship, and the people involved. One thing we must remember is that we are a new creation when we become born again in Jesus Christ (See 2 Corinthians 5:17). We can let go of the old flesh that has been conquered through Jesus. That means maturing, being responsible and accountable for our actions, reactions, and decisions.

But there is hope. James 1:2–8 says, “My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up in you the power of endurance. And then as your endurance grows even stronger, it will release perfection into every part of your being until there is nothing missing and nothing lacking.”

So, lift-up your heads and smile knowing you are not alone, patience is possible, because Jesus loves you.

July 17, 2021

Jesus Loves Me Podcast: John Rhyner Testimonial

Episode 19

Sharon and Jana interview one man’s journey through the deep brokenness of homosexuality. John lives by his relationship with God and the hope he finds in His Word. There’s freedom for those who are ready to fight the strongholds homosexuality brings.

July 13, 2021