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We Have So Much to Be Thankful For! By Lane Jordan Burday
“O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God.” Psalm 95:1-3 Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Perhaps because it’s all about good food, good fellowship, and the realization that, because of the sacrifices of so many people, we live in such a free and wonderful country. And I love that it’s about people and gratefulness for all we have, rather than focusing on material items. In…
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Thankful for His Faithfulness by Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
Kaboom! On Monday morning, the crack of thunder woke me up before 5:00 a.m. Should I just get up or try to sleep a little longer? I dozed off, only to be woken by my husband’s alarm at 7:15 a.m. Oh no! This was late for me. We had a cleaning service scheduled for 8:00 a.m., and I had not had my coffee. What? The coffee pot was broken. I knew it was on its last leg, but it is never convenient when the coffee pot takes its last breath. Emails and text messages were already coming in. I tried…
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Don’t Grow Weary by Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
The panic is starting to set in. Thanksgiving is a week from Thursday, and I am hosting the family at our house. That means cleaning clutter, taking the time to organize my messy closet, and sprucing up the outside of the house. At the same time, ministry work still needs to get done, and this morning I asked myself, Why am I working so hard? The LORD responded immediately through the words of Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 carries so much encouragement like: “Let us run with endurance the race set before us” (Hebrews 12:1, NKJV). ”For consider Him who has…
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God’s Plan Prevails by Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
It never fails. Whenever there is a significant “God project” to accomplish, such as giving a message at an event or organizing a women’s conference, something tries to throw me off track—a roadblock. I don’t always pinpoint the source right away, but then I realize the enemy of my soul wants to take me down, so I will be discouraged. That is when I rebuke the attack and ask for the LORD’s strength to overcome any setback—emotionally or physically. God’s plan always prevails. In the book of Ezra, the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple after seventy years…
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God is Always With You by Lane Jordan Burday
The LORD is the one who is going ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not desert you or abandon you. Do not fear and do not be dismayed (Deuteronomy 31:8 NASB) When I had my first child, she was very colicky and sick the first year of her life. So much so that I had decided on no more children. However, when she was about three, she came into the kitchen, and I knew at that moment God wanted me to have another child. I had an easy second pregnancy but toward the end I became…
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Mini-Milestones by Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
I am on one of the busiest speaking stretches I have ever experienced—speaking eight times in two weeks, and officiating a wedding. Most were booked months ago, and at the time, I thought I could handle the load. However, I am tired, and although I still have a couple more sessions to teach from my original Bible study, Knowing the Father, I have allowed myself to take a break. This morning, I woke up at my usual 5:00 a.m. but prayed to sleep some more—and I did. When my eyes opened closer to 7:00 a.m., my husband proclaimed, “You’re sleeping…
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A Detailed Plan by Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
Need direction? Over the years, I have found that God will provide specific direction on how to proceed in life if we ask Him. The past two weeks have been busier than I would like. I have had eight speaking engagements, plus church and Pearls ministry work to do. When I finish writing one message, I move to the next without a break. How is this possible? I lay it all at God’s feet and ask for His wisdom and words. He always provides a blueprint for the messages. From the beginning of time, God has been all about the…
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Happy or Joyful? by Lane Jordan Burday
Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence. (Psalm 21:6) When someone asks about your child or grandchildren, we usually say, “He’s fine! I just want him to be happy!” And who doesn’t want our loved ones as well as ourselves to be happy? But the problem with happiness is that it is so fleeting. You may want that new dress in the window, a new car, or new furniture. And these things are all right to have. But have you noticed that after you get them, your happiness doesn’t last?…
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“Hiding” by Emily House
Why do I hide from God when I sin? It’s a tale as old as time—literally. In Genesis 1, we see God create time, and barely two chapters later, we see Adam and Eve sin against Him. And what’s their firstinstinct? Hide! Thousands of years later, here we are repeating their behavior. Why do we do this? Why do we run and hide from God when we sin—when He is the only one with the power to redeem? One of my favorite quotes is from pastor Matt Chandler: “If we truly understood God’s love, we would run to Him when…
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Getting Old is Hard! by Lane Jordan Burday
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). I had a birthday last month and the years it held and the way I think and feel don’t match! It makes me wonder, why is getting old so hard? I believe it’s much harder for women because we are trying to stay and look young because that’s what the magazines, movies, and TV show us. But praise our God who sees us differently! He looks at our hearts and wants us to grow into the…
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Divine Breath by Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
This week, we interviewed Author and Podcast Host Daniah Greenberg on POP Talk. Daniah is also the creator of the TLV Bible, my go-to when I am studying the Word. One of the subjects we addressed is the Tetragrammaton, or the divine name of God, YHVH. The name means “He is present,” but when spoken, the letters sound like breathing. Greenberg contended that every time we breathe, we inhale and exhale the name of God. This made sense to me. It is the LORD who gave the first created being the breath of life. “Then the Lord God formed the man of…
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Resurrecting What’s Dead by Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (Revelation 21:5, NIV). I am teaching a Bible study that I wrote back in 2019 called Knowing the Father. It’s a sequel to the book I wrote in 2018 called The Only Father I Ever Knew. After that book was completed, I felt like the LORD said, “Now write a study to teach people about my Fatherly attributes in the Bible.” So I did. However, after teaching it a couple of times, the 2020…
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What Do We Do When Old Insecurities Surface? By Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father (John 14:12). Sometimes, even as mature adults, the insecurities of the past can creep in. Last weekend, I attended my high school reunion in San Antonio, Texas. Due to my father’s death before I was born and my mother’s emotional health issues, I had little parental support in high school, and I was one of the poorest teenagers in a very wealthy school. I lacked confidence. While…
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Who is Our Helper? By Lane Jordan Burday
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17). There are thousands of religions in the world, with estimates ranging from over 4,000 to as many as 10,000 distinct religions, though there is no precise consensus on the exact number. Most people adhere to one of the world’s major religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,…
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Who’s in the Fire with You? By Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NIV). Wouldn’t it be nice to have a trouble-free life without trials, spiritual attacks, jealousy, or division? As much as we might try to create a consistently peaceful environment, the perfect, problemless existence will not happen this side of Heaven. Jesus gave us a heads up that we are to expect trouble in this world, but we are not to worry because He has overcome the world. Jesus is with us amid…
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How’s Your Tongue? By Lane Jordan Burday
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21) Did you know that the words we speak to ourselves can have a profound impact on our lives? As the verse above says, the words we say have the power to encourage or discourage, to motivate or deflate, to generate joy or stop it. Here are some examples of phrases that you and I may have said: When we think or say words like those above, we are aiming at a life of despair and one lacking in joy. So,…
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Symphony of Chaos by Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
It all seemed to go too perfectly. I left my hotel on time for the airport and made it to my gate at Portland International with plenty of time to spare. Good news! The plane was on time—until it was not. There was a problem with “bad oil,” so the boarding process for my return flight to DFW would be delayed. No problem. It was a short delay, and we boarded fifteen minutes late. However, once on the plane, there was another maintenance issue with the plane’s computer. Fifteen minutes became thirty, then an hour. All totaled, we sat on…
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Finding God’s Comfort by Rosemary Legrand
Are you afraid and need to be comforted? The Lord promises in Isaiah 41:13: I am the Lord your God, I am holding your right hand, and I say to you. Do not fear, for I will HELP you. At some point we all want or even need to hear these words. They speak directly to some of our greatest fears and challenges, as well as isolation, loneliness, vulnerability. They remind us that we are not destined to walk this earth without direction or help. We do not stand alone. God is always with us. God promises that He will never…
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How Do You Get Peace? By Lane Jordan Burday
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14:27). As you well know, Charlie Kirk was murdered last week while sharing his views and thoughts at a college campus in Utah. One would think that in America, we would have freedom of speech. But hatred abounds, and he lost his life. A life that sought to show the world, especially young minds at college, the truth of God’s word and the moral compass that would…
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Let’s Ramp it Up! By Lisa Burkhardt Worley, D.Min.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:20) Over four weeks ago, I became an Executive Pastor within a church, and the same week this happened, I received an email addressing me as “pastor” and inviting me to a Messianic pastor’s prayer retreat in Woodland, Washington. I thought, How did they know I am a Messianic pastor now? I believed this invitation was significant, and after receiving a green light from my husband and the senior pastor of our new church to attend, I made plans to travel to Washington State…