247. What War?

Episode 254-Jesus Loves Me Romans 8:38-39 are some of the most dramatic, poetic and impactful words in scripture. They are so monumental that we sometimes just pass right by them. However, when we finally internalize what they really mean to us it will change how we view God and drive us to trust Him more.   “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 NKJV    For eight chapters in Romans, Paul has been laying out the plan of salvation and sharing who Jesus is and why trusting Him is important. In this conclusion to the first part of Romans, Paul is telling these new believers that Jesus’ love for them is a trustworthy foundation  for their faith. It will stand any test they might throw at it. His conclusion is a convincing and persuasive argument that NOTHING, can separate those of us who are in Christ from Jesus love for us which gives us access to Father God.   The depths of God’s love is seen in what Jesus did. It should be a big deal for someone to say, “I love you.” As awesome as that is, it’s quite another thing entirely for them to tell us that nothing will stop them from loving us. Nothing.    I love my husband. We’ve been married for 44 years. Not every year was perfect, but the imperfect years were mostly my fault. I say mostly because it does take two, right? See, God gave me a gem when he gave me Roy. He is calm, patience, loving. He has a servant nature that I could never outdo.    He loves me and I love him, but are there things that could separate me from his love? I’m sure there are. But he has already put up with a lot  from me, think 250 more pounds on my body. That still didn’t stop him from loving me.   However, if I yelled and screamed at him every day, that would do a lot of damage to our relationship. Are there things that could come between even the most committed couple? Yes, I’ve witnessed it happen to those who thought they’d be married forever and then out of the blue, something happened to separate them.   My question then is how can God say that there would be nothing at all that could ever stop Him from loving me? We are humans and we aren’t perfect. We learned that back in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All means all, everyone, yes, me and you, too.    But here’s where Romans 6:23 ESV comes in. “ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This verse solidifies our fate as sinners, but it also gives us the way out. Jesus is God’s pure gift of love to us. It is only because of what Jesus did that God can love us.    Without Jesus willfully agreeing to leave His heavenly throne and come to earth as a human, die on the cross, be buried, rise again from the grave, and ascend to heaven, God couldn’t love us. We are sinners by nature. It took God with skin on to rescue us when we accept His gift of salvation. If we have accepted Christ, God now sees us through Christ’s righteousness and as such we are welcomed into God’s presence.    Link for Teresa’s Website: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com Link for Overcomers Academy: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/ Link for Teresa’s Fb page: https://www.facebook.com/TeresaShieldsParker Link for Teresa’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/treeparker/ Link for Teresa’s Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/treeparker  

Episode 253-More than Conquerors One of my main goals is to be a victorious Christian. I want to be an overcomer. I want to be able to conquer whatever difficulties come my way. Romans 8:37 tells us that in all things we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. But what does that really mean? First and foremost I know I cannot be victorious without God’s leadership. That means I have to lean on Him every step of the way. Paul, in Romans 8:35, asks the question. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then he goes on to list a bunch of things that are real fears people have. These are things we are afraid might cut us off from God and everything we love.  As I share this list that I compiled from various versions of the Bible, think of your own life. Have you encountered any of these things:  trouble, hard times, tribulation, calamity, anguish, hatred, distress, hardship, persecution, harassment, famine, hunger, homelessness, deprivation, bullying threats, backstabbing, destitute, naked, danger, peril, sword, threatened with death, or the worst sins listed in Scripture. To be victorious, to overcome, to be a conqueror, I can’t focus on difficulties that are happening or may happen. I really have to follow 2 Cor. 10:5 which tells me to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” In other words I have to intentionally take authority over my thought life.  In this episode we talk more about how to do this and how to be victorious in our lifestyle change journeys.   Overcomers Academy Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers-christian-weight-loss-academy/ VIP Freedom Coaching Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/vip-freedom-coaching/ What Is A Stronghold Free Offer Link: https://www.teresashieldsparker.com/sweet-surrender/what-is-a-stronghold/  

Episode 252-God Is For Us Do you believe God is for you? Are you living that our in your everyday life? Are there times you think you are all alone and have to protect yourself because you feel vulnerable?  Romans 8:31 NIV asks a really poignant question. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The issue for us is believing completely that God is for us. As this passage continues it uses words that remind us of a courtroom scene.  Romans 8:32-34 NIV: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.“ In this scene, God Himself is our judge and Jesus is our defense attorney. The question asked is really a no brainer. If the Judge, is for us then who can ever be against us? Really believing this, though may take some introspection on our part.  Overcomers Academy Link: https://Teresashieldsparker.com/Overcomers/.  

Episode 251-What is My Destiny? You can probably quote from memory the main verse we’re talking about this week. Romans 8:28 NKJV, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”  We might see this verse as meaning God is behind the scenes pulling the strings and we are all just puppets. We also focus on the word good thinking this means that nothing bad will ever happen to us. So we think, why do we need to pray if everything is going to work out anyway? Why do we need to try to do what He wants for our lives, if it’s going to turn out great whatever we do?  Still we realize that bad things have happened to us, so what does this verse really mean anyway? Romans 8:28 is talking about our belief in the promise of what will happen if we are in Christ. It might be said this way: We have God’s sure promise that everything will work out for good because we are called by God. Our confidence is based around our belief in God and His calling on our lives. This verse is here to comfort us and let us know that even the bad things which happen to us are things God can weave into our lives and use them for good.  I have seen this in my own life. I have made so many blunders and mistakes on my journey. Eating myself towards an early grave was one of those that took up a huge part of my adult life. For more watch the podcast. Overcomers Academy link : https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds link: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247

Episode 250-Towards Glory As we’re running this race called life it’s good to remember that we are headed towards glory.  ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬Suffering is part of living in our very mortal bodies. But suffering for Christ, either physically or in any other way, is not losing. It is winning. Romans 8:18 tell us that “what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.” 2 Cor. 4:17 NLT echoes that. “For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” I’ve know some great moments here on earth, sweet, intimate moments with my husband, loving moments with my children, beautiful moments exploring God’s creation, awesome times celebrating with family and friends. Multiply those by 1,000 and it still doesn’t come close to the glory that will be revealed to us one day.  1 Cor. 2:9 NLT says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.” It’s almost as if God is pulling back the curtain just a little to give us a taste of what is coming. In the great scheme of things, the suffering, the disappointments and pain that we encounter today are not such a big deal because we are in a race to the finish line. We are headed towards glory! Overcomers Academy Link: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/  

Episode 249-Run the Race We have a race to run while we are here on earth. It’s leading us towards a heavenly prize God already has waiting for us. Of course, we know we have an enemy that does not want us to run the race or obtain the prize. One big obstacle our enemy throws in our way is condemnation. He makes us feel condemned or ashamed, guilty, fearful, unworthy, forgotten, useless, good-for-nothing.   God, though, tells us in no uncertain terms that we are not condemned. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1 NIV says. Or as TPT puts it, “So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.”  As a Christian weight loss coach, I talk to a lot of women who feel condemned and like there is no hope for them because they just love to eat or feel like they are addicted to certain foods like desserts. They try to stop. They know God wants them to get healthy, but they just can’t.  When I was in this position and weighed 430 pounds, I felt condemned, ashamed and guilty. I worked through that but it took some time. If you are feeling condemned, remember what Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14 NLT, “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,  I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” We don’t live in the past so let’s step out of shame, guilt, worry and fear, forgive ourselves and then start running the race. That’s what Jesus is calling us to. His goal is for us to gain the victory prize He has waiting for us.    Website: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com Podcast: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/podcast/ Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Teresa-Shields-Parker/e/B001K8ICKG/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeresaShieldsParker/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/treeparker/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/treeparker/_created/  

Episode 248-The Conundrum A conundrum is a difficult or confusing problem or question. It’s like a mystery we can’t solve. In Romans 7, Paul shares a conundrum that I identify with and I expect if you are honest, you do too.    Like any problem or mystery, I want the conundrum to be solved in 30 minutes like a good tv show. I don’t want to be left hanging to find out how things are solved for a week! Good or bad, I want it brought to end right now! However, for years I had no idea how to solve this issue that kept turning over and over in my mind.    Paul is really bold about his issue. He doesn’t tell us what the exact thing is he is referring to, but in Romans 7:19 he tells us straight out: “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”   Why can’t I do anything right? Why can’t I do the things that are pleasing to God? I want to do them, but many times I end up doing the opposite. Why is that? These are the questions Paul, is grappling in this chapter. And they are the questions we all struggle with.   None of us are perfect, even Christians, and we shouldn’t purport to be. In this chapter Paul makes that clear. He also tells us how the law shows us our sin, why we struggle with sin and what we can do about it.   Overcomers Academy: https://TeresaShieldsParker.com/Overcomers/ Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds: https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Surrender-Teresa-Shields-Parker/dp/0986159247/  

Episode 247-What War? We are in a war. We may not realize it as we walk through our daily lives but we are. Romans 5:17-6:23 talks about this as a war between the power of sin and the greater power of God’s wonderful grace. If we belong to Jesus, sin has no legal control over us. We are free to follow God. However, we are just as free to be entangled again in the pull of sin.  Romans 6:6 TPT: “Could it be any clearer that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with Him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us, so that we would not continue to live one moment longer submitted to sin’s power.” The whole purpose of Romans 6 is to remind us that we can choose to disentangle ourselves from the power of sin walk freely following God.  Romans 6:23 MSG: “Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.” Find the Spirit-Led Transformation course with action steps, challenge, transcript and video by joining Overcomers Academy. Go here: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/.

Episode 246-Patient Endurance If you’re like me, somewhere along the line in Sunday School you learned the nine fruit of the Spirit which include: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are all great virtues we should be incorporating on our Spirit-Led Transformation journey. As I was reading Romans 5 this week, I realized that as Christians there is one of these virtues we rarely talk about. That might be because along the way someone somewhere told us to never pray for patience because if we do something difficult will happen that will teach us the hard way how to be patient. How to endure.  After the list of virtues, Galatians 5:23 TPT says: Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless. In other words, all nine virtues are things we should desire to have in our lives in limitless quantity, especially patience. We may not like learning to be patient, but apparently God feels it something we need. In Romans 5:3 we read a bit about why this is. “With joy let us exult in our sufferings and rejoice in our hardships, knowing that hardship, distress, pressure and trouble produces patient endurance.” All the bad stuff we have to go through in this life helps to produce a virtue God wants us to possess. We need patient endurance to get through whatever is going to be thrown our way in this life.  Hebrews 10:36 TPT really sums up what this entire episode is all about “You need the strength of endurance to reveal the poetry of God’s will and then you receive the promise in full.”  As always the action steps and challenges for this lesson will be in the Spirit-Led Transformation course along with the video and transcript. This course is only available in Overcomers Academy. Go to: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/ to join.  

Episode 245-This Thing Called Faith Faith is foundational on our Spirit-Led Transformation journeys. Without it, we have no transformation. Without it we cannot be Spirit-led. So what just what is faith and how do we know if we are really living our lives based on faith?   I’m a words person, so let’s see what the dictionary says faith is. First definition is “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” Second definition says it is a strong belief in God.   Hebrews 11:1-2 has long been the go-to verse to explain faith. In NIV is says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” But we read that and say what does that mean?   To help us understand better, let’s read this scripture the Amplified Bible, which has a way of explaining things better.   It says, “Faith is the assurance, title deed, confirmation, of things hoped for or divinely guaranteed, and the evidence of things not seen or the conviction of their reality. Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses. For by this kind of faith the men (and women) of old gained divine approval.”   Remember the dictionary definition of faith we see that faith in God, or complete confidence in Him, comes from our foundational knowledge that we can trust Him to lead us.    In other words, we must have complete assurance that God is leading us and the eventual outcome of where He is leading us is for our good and His glory (as it says in Romans 8:28). We have the title deed to whatever the outcome is that God wants to happen. We have the title deed to whatever God has already put in our hands!   Several years ago we reached a milestone on our financial journey and paid off our house. We now have the title deed to our home. It is ours. Whatever God is telling you and me, if we have faith then we have the title deed to that. It is ours. It’s not just guaranteed by a financial institution, it is divinely guaranteed by the God of the Universe, who just happens to be our Daddy.    The next part is harder to understand because it is in the future. “Faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.” God already sees it. He has called what we can’t see as if it has already happened because He stands outside of time and can see the whole picture of our lives.    Our faith in God has to help us comprehend as a fact what we cannot actually see, touch or feel right now. We cannot experience it by our physical senses right this moment but we trust God and have faith that what He has said will come true. This goes back to 2 Cor. 5:7 where Paul tells us, “We walk by faith not by what we see.”  Friends, it wouldn’t be faith if we could see it! . . . I feel like I really started living by faith around 2009, when I was 56. It took me lots of years to lose 250 pounds. First I had to totally surrender to God and trust Him for the next step on my journey. I had to get His lifestyle change plan for me and do what He said to implement it. I made a lot of mistakes on my journey and as such I am well-equipped to steer others away from my same mistakes.   One of the most beautiful and spiritual part of any transformation journey is learning how to have faith Jesus Christ, and to be led by the Holy Spirit in each step we take. Then the grace, mercy, favor and glory of God will surround us as we walk in tandem with Him.    Is it easy? I mean some of the things Abraham did look easy. Who knows, maybe he was glad to get away from his mother and father and go somewhere that he had inkling of. However it definitely wasn’t easy waiting for the promised son. And I don’t think for a minute it was easy preparing to sacrifice his promised son.   Yet, through it all, He trusted God. I like to think it all started with that first step out the door of his homeland, going to a place God said He’d show him. That’s faith.   Let me ask you, what would it look like for you to have that kind of faith on your Spirit-Led Transformation journey? What would it take to do whatever God is whispering in your heart to do?    It’s time. He’s calling you. Will you have the faith to take the next step?  Father God, I lift your children to You today. Give them clear directions. Remind them of Your promises and help them take that next step on their journey whatever that may be. Make it clear to them. Give them faith to take action.   As always the action steps and challenges for this lesson will be in the Spirit-Led Transformation course along with the video and transcript. This course is only available in Overcomers Academy.  Go to: teresashieldsparker.com/overcomers/ to join.