Transformation

A Miracle Cure for Everything

April 30, 2018 By Eva Conner Leave a Comment

What if I told you I stumbled upon a miracle cure for all things?

This miracle cure can do anything and everything that you need. It can replace all things missing in your life. At one time in the past, there were travelling salesmen who went town to town selling their miracle elixirs that cured all ailments. Hungry and searching people bought it up only to find out that it was nothing more than alcohol. I’m sure many people felt cheated and duped by these slick con men.

But aren’t there still slick con men among us telling us that we are not enough and never have been and never will be unless we listen to their lies?

We are still hungry and searching people looking for that miracle cure. We race through life going from one diet or get rich quick scheme to another looking for the answer to all of our problems.

If we could lose weight, all would be right.

If we had more money, problems would magically disappear.

Sadly, too many of us chase these things with all that we have – all our energy, our money, our time – and we come up short. We wind up feeling even worse about ourselves and our life after these quick fixes don’t work.

One more failure to add to the list of all the other failures.

But remember what I said when I started this post, what if I told you I stumbled upon a miracle cure for all things? A tried and true fix for everything.

Do you need parenting advice for your wayward child?

Do you need financial provision and guidance?

Do you desire to feel better about yourself when you look in the mirror?

Are you looking for a spouse to spend the rest of your life with?

Are you longing for a deeper relationship with God?

Do you desire to hear God for yourself but you never think you can?

Do you want to fit in and belong?

There is something that will help you in every single one of these areas along with any other area of life you can imagine.

It is the Word of God. The Bible. We should pray daily for the Word of God to become our greatest treasure. We should pray that God give us a deep hunger for His Word that nothing else can satisfy. Ask God for a hunger that can never be satisfied even when we spend a lifetime trying. A hunger that fills us even at the same time as keeping us empty for more.

For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

If we allow the Word to become the dominant cure that we seek for all areas of our lives, we’ll walk in the abundant life that Jesus spoke of in John 10:10. If we allow the Word to change our thoughts, we’ll see dramatic change in our lives.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10

Do you see the slick con man in this verse? He is the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy. He’s among us and he wants nothing more than for us to buy his lies. But Jesus… read the rest of the verse. Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full – or abundance. This is truth, friends.

The Word of God is our judge.

It will clean out all the junk from our hearts and our minds if we read it with spiritual eyes. If we read the Bible with critical or natural eyes, it will not help us. When we read the Word, we must read it with our hearts and allow it to clean house.

These are some of the things that the Word will do for us:

It will show us how to be a Son and not a slave.

It is our weapon against the attack of the enemy.

It teaches us to distinguish from good and evil.

It speaks to us as the very voice of God.

It reveals Jesus to us because Jesus is the Word.

Who doesn’t want their life to be better?

The Word is literally the cure for every single area of our lives. When we know our identity in Christ we can conquer anything man can throw at us. When we know that our citizenship is in heaven, not earth, we lose our fear of death.

When we know our true identity and have no fear of death, we are immovable and unconquerable forces that WILL overcome darkness in this world.

Start reading the Word today. If you’re unsure how to start or if the Bible intimidates you, reach out to someone you know and trust to help you get started. Reach out to me and I’ll gladly help you get started. Just reach out.

It’s time for all of us to walk in the freedom Jesus died to give us.

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva

Moving Away From Passivity

April 12, 2018 By Eva Conner Leave a Comment

I started something new. I started asking God for my Word for the day. In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches us to pray for our daily bread. His Word is our daily bread and we should be asking and receiving a fresh, new word every day. It’s exciting each day to receive a new word. I encourage you to do this as well! Ask and you shall receive.

Just as God rained down bread from heaven for the Israelites, He still rains down bread for us.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

Deuteronomy 16:4

As I prayed for my word today, I heard “passivity.”

And I knew that I had to dig a little deeper to get a better understanding of what God is showing me in this word. So I Googled the word:)

Passivity (root word – passive) is defined as:

acceptance of what happens, without active response or resistance
lacking in energy or will: lethargic: tending not to take an active or dominant part
acted upon by an external agency: receptive to outside impressions or influences
not active or operating

God’s Word promises us new life in Christ.

But are we living a new life now? Or does it look suspiciously like our old life? Jesus gave us His peace when He went to sit at His Father’s right side. But do we see that peace in our life?

Too many of us in the Body of Christ are passively waiting on God to act. Click To Tweet

We are lethargic, lacking in energy or will. We are accepting of what happens in our lives without actively resisting those things that are not of God.

We are passively being led through life by others instead of taking the reigns and being the leaders.

Let me share this important truth. This is not God’s will for us!

While we are passively sitting around waiting for God to act, oftentimes, He is waiting on us to act.

It’s a stand-off. Us against God – and I’m sure we can both guess who will win.

Are you waiting on God to show you clearly the calling on your life?

Are you waiting on God to clean up some areas of your life in the hopes of being drawn closer to Him?

Are you in need of healing?

Do you have inner pain that consumes you?

Do you live life a little out of control hoping that any minute, God will bring peace and joy but never really experiencing that peace or joy?

God wants us to enter into His rest but His rest is not passivity.

The promise of entering into God’s rest still stands for us today.

Here are some things the Word instructs us to do even as we are in His rest:

Pay careful attention to what we’ve heard so that we do not drift away (Hebrews 2:1)
Fix your thoughts on Jesus (Hebrews 3:1)
Hold on to our courage and hope (Hebrews 3:6)
Do not harden your hearts (Hebrews 3:7)
Do not have a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God (Hebrews 3:12, 19)
Encourage one another daily so that no one may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (Hebrews 3:13)
Be obedient (Hebrews 3:18)
Combine what we hear with our faith (Hebrews 4:2)

So what exactly does it mean to “enter into His rest?”

Let’s read a little more in Hebrews 4.

For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Hebrews 4:2-7

Jesus finished the work since the creation of the world.

We simply need to rest in Jesus and let Him guide our lives. As He guides our lives, we will see victory and success, even during trials and suffering. When we allow Jesus to take over our lives, we will not only experience peace and joy but it will become the very DNA in our beings.

When we enter into His rest, we will accomplish more in one hour than we ever could accomplish in a full day in our own flesh. So the question is this: Are you living life in Christ Jesus or in your own efforts? This is the difference between finding His rest and not finding it.

I hope we all find His rest TODAY.

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva

A Great Big Empty

March 31, 2018 By Eva Conner Leave a Comment

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
John 20:1

This one verse holds the key to finding the freedom that Jesus proclaimed.

He said, “the truth will set you free.” (See John 8:32). What does that freedom look like? Let’s look at another verse in Luke.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”
Luke 4:18-19

Jesus is reading in the synagogue from the scroll of Isaiah the prophet. If we hop down a couple verses, we’ll see that Jesus goes on to tell all who were listening that,

“The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”
Luke 4:21

Jesus came to set us free from all captivity, including depression & oppression.

He came to set us free from depression and oppression, condemnation and guilt, shame and regret. The things that weigh us down and keep us down. The things that keep us from living the life that Jesus died to give us.

Why do we continue to live pushed down, oppressed lives?

Let’s look at the very first Scripture above. On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. Why do you think she went to the tomb? I don’t think she thought of Jesus coming back to life. She went to the tomb like so many of us do when we lose a loved one – to stay linked and connected to that person. She went to the tomb to grieve and mourn her loss. She went to the tomb to cry and be sad.

Please don’t misinterpret what I’m about to say. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t mourn. But let’s suppose that Jesus did not defeat death that day and that He stayed in the tomb forever.

Would Mary have continued to go to the tomb day after day to mourn and grieve?

Isn’t this what we do in our own lives? When something or someone dies, we cling to that death and make it part of who we are. It could be the death of a loved one. It could be the death of a marriage or business or the loss of the ability to do something you once could do.

When we hang onto something that we’ve lost, we’re unable to grab hold of what God wants us to find.

Mary found the tomb empty and she was able to move on with her life and not get stuck in that one moment when Jesus died.

Are you stuck in one moment in time when you experienced a loss?

Friends, the stone was rolled away!! The tomb is now empty. The tomb represents our past losses and failures. We need to put them in the tomb with Jesus and close it up. But . . . we need to roll the stone away and peer inside the tomb very closely. Be sure to look at every crack and crevice. Check it out carefully. What do you see?

A great big EMPTY!

The tomb is empty of all the things of our past that have held us tied down to one time in the past. All the depression and oppression were lifted away when Jesus was lifted away. Why? Because Jesus purchased our past when He died on the cross. He not only defeated death but He also defeated the haunted memories of our past!!!

Train your mind to think about the stone being rolled away and the great big empty.

When you get weighed down with a thought from the past, turn your thoughts to Jesus and His glorious resurrection.

There is so much joy to be found in Christ but we have to stop looking at the past and start looking at Him. It’s a process that will take some time but if you are intentional about it, you can overcome darkness. Regret, shame, unforgiveness, and all the other things that swirl around in our head is defeated.

Share this good news with everyone. It’s what we are called to do.

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva

At All Costs

March 30, 2018 By Eva Conner Leave a Comment

What does “at all costs” mean to you?

God wants us to seek Him at all costs. He wants us to save nothing for tomorrow.

Spend all you have on seeking, worshiping, praising and glorifying Him today.

This world teaches us to save for a rainy day. Save your best for really special occasions. Don’t use your china for every day eating. Don’t wear your good clothes. Don’t give away your last dime.

God has been showing me that when we save something for a rainy day, we are putting Him on a back shelf.

We are telling God – our very Creator – that we do not need Him.

Let’s establish some facts. Yes, we believe in God. But maybe, just maybe, we do not always believe God. One little word makes all the difference – “in.” We believe IN God. But we do not believe God.

Do you understand the difference?

It’s easy to believe in God. We believe in His overall existence as our God. But, if we’re really honest with ourselves, it’s not as easy to believe every word that He speaks.

Do you believe ALL of His promises?

Do you believe He can meet your EVERY need?

Do you believe He can care for your children?

This hurts me deeply because I know that I’ve faltered and fallen in this area of my faith. I have moments when I do not believe all of His promises. I have moments when I doubt He can meet ALL of my needs. Yes, I have moments when I doubt He can care for my children better than me.

But in the middle of my doubts, my fears, and even my failures I hear Him calling my name.

It’s faint at first because I’m completely wrapped up in my own woes and sorrows. But that voice doesn’t stop calling my name. Over and over again He calls until I catch a whisper of it in the wind around me. If I stop, quiet my racing thoughts and turn my heart I can hear Him.

It’s a sweet voice. It doesn’t condemn. It is gentle and loving.

The voice is Jesus.

How do I know these things? I know because the Word says it is so and Jesus is The Word.

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John 1:14

Reading the Word of God is how we learn to hear and know The Voice of God.

The more we read and pray into the Word, the more the Holy Spirit will reveal things to us that we do not know. There is no other way to know God. He reveals who He is and what His will is throughout His Word. He reveals who we are throughout His Word.

‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

Jeremiah 33:3

What a wonderful promise this is for all of us. He will tell us great and unsearchable things that we do not know. There are depths to the Word of God that we can spend a lifetime discovering.

But . . . we will not discover any of the unsearchable things that He longs to show us if we are saving our best for a rainy day.

I have to ask myself this question.

Am I seeking Him at all costs? Are you?

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva

Let No One Be Left Out

March 25, 2018 By Eva Conner 2 Comments

Have you ever felt like you didn’t fit in? Maybe you’ve been left out before.

I know this feeling well. For a good part of my life, I suffered with insecurities and feeling left out. It’s not a good feeling. It’s rejection and it’s a very real emotion that can be crippling.

Do you suffer from rejection?

If you can relate, I want to give you some good news. Jesus Christ! Please keep reading and don’t dismiss Jesus as being able to help you. Jesus has such a heart for you and for me.

Jesus has a soft spot in His heart for those who are rejected and down-trodden. Click To Tweet

I know that Jesus can help because He helped me.

Rejection can bring you to your knees in pain. There were times that I would be in a room full of people and wonder if even one person in the room would acknowledge my presence. Even if I were included in activities, I felt like I didn’t fit in very well. I struggled with small talk and socializing. It still is painful for me to talk to people without a specific subject in mind.

Do you want to know when all of it changed for me?

These feelings of rejection and insecurity started to shift the more aware I became of Jesus Christ in my life. For the first time, with Jesus, I fit in perfectly and didn’t feel out of place. He loves me whether I am quiet or if I’m struggling to express my thoughts. He accepts me and acknowledges me regardless if I’m in a room alone or with hundreds of people. He lets me know how very special I am to Him.

And I realized another very important truth as well.

IT’S OKAY TO NOT FIT IN ALL PLACES.

So the next time you are at lunch with friends or co-workers and they are talking about movies and TV shows that you know nothing about, don’t feel left out. Feel loved and cherished that Jesus is protecting you from those worldly things that can interfere with your spiritual growth and your relationship with Him.

We all make choices that either launch us straight into the world or straight into our prayer closets getting to know Jesus a little better.

What a wonderful Savior and Master we serve. He is right there ALL THE TIME waiting on us to WANT to know Him. But sadly, we choose other things that do not bring us closer to Him. However, He still patiently waits for us. He still loves us very much.

Today, what will you choose?

For me, today I choose Jesus. Nothing compares with the sweet intimacy with Jesus. Tomorrow, I’ll have to make the choice all over again.

Day-by-day we choose the world or Jesus.

Some days I do well. Some days I don’t. But the more I experience His sweetness, the easier it is to choose Him.

Do you desire a deeper intimacy with Jesus? Here are some things that help me.

I find a quiet spot wherever I am. I once read that John Wesley’s mother had so many children, it was impossible for her to find a quiet spot to pray so she’d sit in a kitchen chair and pull her apron over her head. Her children knew if mom had her apron over her head to leave her alone. Isn’t that a wonderful picture? No matter where I find myself, I’ve learned to shut off the noise around me.
I quiet my mind by focusing on Scripture. Read the words in the verses slowly, carefully. Chew on them and think about each word. I find that there is not one meaningless word written anywhere in the Bible. Each word has depth and the potential to reveal Jesus from Genesis to Revelation. He is hidden all throughout the Bible waiting on us to find Him.
I practice thanksgiving every day. Thank our Father for His goodness. Acknowledge and thank the Holy Spirit for being our constant Companion and Friend. Thank Jesus Christ for being our Lord and Master.
I play praise music and sing along. It goes a long way in praising God for who He is. It helps me when I truly sing out loud and praise Him.
I try to seek God’s face and not His hand. I enjoy being with God as I would a dear friend. We don’t always go to our friends with a laundry list of things we need. We shouldn’t do that with God either. We need to learn to be in His presence because we want to know Him better.
When He starts to speak, I write it down in a special journal. Cherish and hold dear all that He speaks.

It takes perseverance and commitment to know God better.

If you are married, you can relate to the time you and your spouse spent getting to know one another before you were married. You dated and enjoyed being in each other’s presence. You wanted to know all you could about each other. You wanted to see their heart, right? It’s no different with God. He will show us His heart if we want to see it.

Let’s desire to see God’s heart every day!

Jesus does not want even one to feel left out, rejected, abandoned or alone. This is good news. Share with all!

I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me.

John 10:14

If this word resonates with you, please leave me a comment. I want everyone to hunger for more Jesus in their lives. It’s my desire to share my passion and love for Jesus with everyone. It is the only way to see true transformation.

Stay in the Light and Love always,

Eva