The difference between success and significance is as vastly different as pride to humility. How our lives impact others is far more reaching than just here on earth—but in the light of eternity. If you have ever watched the movie..WHAT A WONDERFUL LIFE…you will see how our lives are like a beautiful tapestry, knit together by the hand of God. When we begin to see what God sees, we start to connect the dots and see the hand of God at work behind the scenes, making an impact on souls. We touch the lives of everyone we meet—leaving some kind of impression. What kind of impression are you leaving?

When someone doesn’t do something like you think they should, do you mock, laugh, joke, and ridicule? Or, do you recognize that everyone is unique and individually gifted in different ways—where all are necessary in the Body of Christ? What is your heart response?

Do you take the time to get to know people, or are you too busy to stop and notice? People matter to God and they must to us as well. 

Begin to pray Ezekiel 36:26 in order for God to change your heart to be more like His. We are being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ or either becoming more like the world. 

God sent His Son Jesus to deliver us from this present world system. We are not intended to become like what God sent His Son to deliver us from…something to think about today.

(Excerpt from GOD’S PRICELESS TREASURE, by Deborah Starczewski, published Sept. 2011)…available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.

Resources for spiritual growth and encouragement:

A LEAP OF FAITH (25 Days at the Mercy Seat)

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (Will America Turn Back To God?)

Books by Deborah Starczewski

You may be sitting in a hairdresser’s chair or sitting in a seat on a plane next to someone with a breaking heart. You don’t know what is going on in the heart of any person. We all pass people by on a daily basis that are hurting, in despair, searching for hope and answers, to some who are contemplating suicide.

While we all have full plates with life—we must each take time to connect with people. Guess what? People matter to God and they must to each of us as well. 

I recently received a call, actually four of them, while about to do a short video for a website. The first three calls were from the same number with no answer. I knew the person and figured she was dialing me by accident or either in a remote area. The next call came from a number I did not have in my phone. I answered and I could hear my friend’s voice saying, “Don’t hang up..don’t hangup—someone wants to talk to you.”

I stopped what I was doing and listened to this stranger’s words. As he began to talk, I remembered when my friend called me some 15 years ago telling me she gave this man a book I had given her because he asked to read it. 

This person began to share his heart with me—how he had anger in his heart over something someone had done to him that turned to hate—then it turned to murder. He shared how he asked my friend if he could read the book. He began to pour out his heart with story after story of God’s amazing redemption and how the message in the book had gripped his heart to forgive the person who wronged him.

Anger is a weight too heavy for anyone to bear. Release anger to the Lord. Choose to forgive and watch God avenge and make all things right. He sees every detail. He knows the whole truth in every situation. Without Jesus, nothing works properly. 

The man who read the book also told me how he had been referring to me as the lady with a book ministry everywhere he went—from a country club, to his business for many years. Then he said that he saw my signature in the book just a couple weeks earlier. The lady (my friend) hadn’t been in his business in over three years—but came in that day. 

I had asked the Lord something specific in prayer earlier that morning, and God used that phone call—right in the middle of what I was doing—to answer my prayer. You see, it matters that we obey God. It matters that we keep on doing what God has put in our hearts to do with Him. Souls matter for all eternity. People matter to God and they must to you.

Never stop doing what God has called you to do. Keep moving forward. Keep looking up. Even if you don’t see the end results, when we all walk through heaven’s gate—we will see the people we have touched, unaware. Obedience is like a key that opens doors, saves lives, turns people around just in the nick of time, and unlocks destiny. Your obedience may stop someone from committing suicide or something even worse. Your life is a book that touches hearts. 

One of my favorite movies: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE…is a great movie that also shows how our lives touch others around us…sometimes unaware. 

Dare to do all God has put in your heart to do with Him today. You are an ambassador for Jesus Christ. 

You can do it…

You matter to God! GOD loves you so much.

HIS love and mine,

Deborah 

Resources for Spiritual Growth:

GOD’S PRICELESS TREASURE (How To Overcome Challenges, Be Transformed and Know Your Purpose)

A LEAP OF FAITH (25 Days at the Mercy Seat)

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (Will America Turn Back To God?)

All available on-line: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, xulon.com bookstore, etc.

* Visit www.starministriesinc.com for more information and teachings. 

“The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.” (Nahum 1:7)

Prayer changes everything. While prayer is not demanding things from God, it is also not manipulating Him to do what you want. It is more than simply asking and receiving, although in prayer we do ask and receive. 

Prayer is more than a cry for help when in the midst of trouble. It is communion, and sweet conversation between you and your Heavenly Father. Prayer is unlike many of the conversations people have that are superficial and trite, many in text or email, which can be easily misunderstood. Prayer is having a deep and meaningful conversation, which is intensely personal, with our Heavenly Father. It’s a love relationship. 

I have come to the conclusion that prayer is more for me than for God. It doesn’t change God’s will but changes mine to line up with His. We can all be stubborn and stiff-necked when it comes to something we think we want that may or may not line up with God’s perfect will for us. As a matter of fact, I don’t want anything God doesn’t want me to have in this life.

Prayer brings our stubborn will, which is part of human nature, into conformity with the Will of God our Heavenly Father. When you and I want what God wants, things start to line up that otherwise would not. When we push and shove to get something we think we want, it creates striving and competition. Competition is not a kingdom value.

“Now this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14 NKJV). John, who walked with Jesus and was one of the twelve wrote this–and it is still Truth forever. 

Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “Give us today our daily bread,” which tells you to pray about the daily needs for your personal life and family. If you have a family member who is not born-again (saved), you can pray in the perfect will of God for his or her conversion. Scripture makes it clear that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (see 2 Peter 3:9).

What about the other crucial times when you simply don’t know how to pray about a situation or what God’s will is in the matter? How do you pray then? The answer is found in Romans 8:26, where Paul addressed this same issue. Thank God. 

The Bible reveals…..we do not know what is right to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words, or, The Spirit Himself intercedes for God’s own people in God’s own way. That is great news my friend.

If someone has attacked you personally, pray for God to vindicate you and thank Him in advance. If you don’t know which direction to take with all the transition in life, ask God for wisdom. He will give it to you. Not sure how to pray in some other area? Pray for the will of God, which is to pray in the deepest level of faith. 

Ask God for a specific word for your particular situation. He will give it to you. Pray the Scriptures and trust God for the outcome. Obey what He puts in your heart to do immediately. 

Time and time again, I have personally learned that you can trust God to provide and answer in His own way. His way is always far better than our own. Don’t try to figure everything out and get into reasoning. Choose to trust God today.

God is always willing to help. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:1). No matter what you are walking through right now, God is with you and He cares for you. Turn to Him in prayer and ask Him to help you. 

Prayer empowers us to overcome our stubborn refusal to let Him work His will in our lives as His children. Don’t be stubborn..simply obey what God has put in your heart to do. If you have veered off the path and made a wrong turn, it’s not too late to turn back in repentance and obedience. Let’s pray the same for America–”God, turn America back to You in repentance”. 

PRAYER TIME AND REFLECTION: A good chapter to pray from the Bible is Psalm 138. God promises to perfect all that pertains to us as His children. Praise the Lord and declare His word over your life and circumstances. 

When you wake up in the morning, pray Psalm 138. Pray it again at noonday, and before you go to sleep at night. Thank God for the Blood of Jesus that covers your life, your family, and friends. Ask Him to direct your day. At the end of the day, ask God to forgive you for any wrong thoughts, deeds, or actions that were not pleasing to Him. Keep short accounts and live like Jesus may come today—plan like you may live for another decade to leave a legacy of knowing God. 

Jesus loves you.

Resources for Spiritual growth and encouragement:

A LEAP OF FAITH (25 Days at the Mercy Seat)

GOD’S PRICELESS TREASURE (How To Overcome Challenges, Be Transformed, And Know Your Purpose)

THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (Will America Turn Back To God?)

Books by Deborah Starczewski–available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.