Miracle Mindset

 From Pastor Steve Smothermon Think about the Pledge of Allegiance, especially where it says, One nation under God. A beacon of light: Scripture teaches in Amos 3:3 How can two walk together unless they be agreed? God brought people from every nation of the world to make and create America — a place that would be a beacon of light to the world that God is real and that He sent Jesus to save us; a light that other nations would envy; a light that when a nation honors God, He will cause it, them to prosper; a nation like no other nation; one nation under God; “one nation.”

JUST A THOUGHT FROM PASTOR STEVE Contending for the Faith We must all contend for the faith, defend the faith (Jude 3-4). If we don’t, we will lose the freedom to worship our God the way He desires to be worshipped.

  True Freedom  Jesus said in John 8:32 NLT — And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. This is an incredible promise, especially if you need healing —whether the difficulty is an injury, illness, a financial hardship, a troubled relationship, or anything else.

Not My Will, But Thine When someone surrenders to someone or something, it means they have ceased resisting an enemy or opponent and have submitted to their authority. That is what God requires of us.

You may have heard the phrase, “hurting people hurt people.” There is so much brokenness in this world, and so many hurting people today. It is well known that those who have been emotionally damaged tend to inflict their hurt on others. People who have suffered abuse, at times, become abusers themselves. Those who have suffered under an alcoholic parent often cause their future family to suffer because they become alcoholics.

Fear can cause us to do and think the craziest stuff. It can cause us to doubt God and ourselves, to think the worst instead of the best, to see only the negative instead of what is going on in our lives that is positive, and to be overly hard on ourselves.

Designed by God Psalm 139 is a profound reminder of God's intimate knowledge and omnipresence in our lives. The psalm opens with a declaration of God's deep knowledge of the individual: "O Lord, you have searched me and known me." This knowledge is not just superficial awareness, but a profound, penetrating understanding of all our ways. The psalmist acknowledges that before a word is on our tongues, God knows it completely. This reveals a God who is not distant or disinterested but is deeply engaged with the intricacies of our lives, understanding our thoughts and actions better than we understand them ourselves.

Most of us carry a picture in our minds of how life is supposed to go. You try to make good decisions. You follow God. You try to live right. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you assume life will move forward in a predictable direction. You think, if I obey God, things will make sense. But sometimes life goes off script. The plan falls apart. The future you imagined disappears.

Sometimes God's answers don't arrive the way we imagine they should. We expect the obvious solution, the dramatic moment, or the strong and visible leader. But throughout Scripture, God often works through the unlikely and the overlooked so that His power is unmistakable. When the answer comes from a place no one expected, it reminds us that the victory didn't come from human strength but from God's hand.

Victory can make us loud, but compromise always grows quiet. Joshua 6 is walls falling and people shouting. Joshua 7 is funerals and fear. Nothing changed on the outside. The army was still strong. The promise was still true. The problem was buried under a tent. What we hide has a way of affecting more than just us. Hidden sin never stays hidden. It either comes out through confession or it comes out through exposure.

Conviction is one of the greatest gifts God gives us, even though it’s rarely comfortable. When the word of God exposes something in us, that uneasy feeling isn’t God pushing us away. It’s He drawing us closer. Conviction is not condemnation. Condemnation tells you who you are and leaves you stuck. Conviction shows you where you are and invites you forward.