Cross My Heart Ministry

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1

Condemnation. We’ve all experienced it.

Sometimes it surprises us … catches us off guard. But where does it come from? Friend and family? Neighbors and co-workers? Sometimes we find it online and other times on social media. But the worst is perhaps when it bubbles up in our own head and heart.

Have you ever found yourself condemning yourself?

Paul reminds us in Romans 8 what our enemy wants us to forget: we are no longer condemned! Our identity in Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death!

Are you living like the free woman you are? If not, perhaps it’s possible you are confusing conviction — or even consequences — with condemnation.

Check out our teaching video this week where I unpack this in more depth:

I’m praying for you, dear reader – that you would truly believed you can live FREE because you live IN HIM.

Jesus has set you free … now, go live like the free woman you are!

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Jesus answered,
“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6

This verse may be familiar to many of us. The phrase, “…the way and the truth and the life” may easily roll off our tongues, because we have heard it quoted many times. We may have committed it to memory if we grew up in Sunday School or Awana.

But as we write it out (are you Writing the WORD with us this month? It’s not too late to download the LIFE bookmark here), we may be struck by the combination of these three descriptors: way, truth, life.

These are an interesting combination. As we focus on the words individually, it prompts us to ask, “What do they have in common?”

What do way and truth have to do with life?

Jesus could have said, “I am the hope and the peace and the joy.” Or – “I am the purpose and the reason and the end.” Many combinations might seem to be more logical than, “the way, the truth, and the life.”

Without going deep in the Greek or consulting theological writing, it seems way denotes the path or the journey.

If we have a destination in mind, our Map app may offer lots of routes for getting there. If our stomach growls, there are lots of ways to satisfy it. We are accustomed to options for the choices we make.

You may have heard some suggest there are many ways to get to heaven. Having a plethora of options on Earth could make many resent the suggestion that eternal salvation has only “one way.” Those naysayers might even call this suggestion intolerant.

And that’s where the next word becomes important: truth. By its very definition, truth is exclusive. While many suggestions and options can be presented, what matters is what is the truth. Anyone can say with confidence, “I think you can get to heaven if your good deeds outweigh your bad…if you’ve done your best…if you’ve tried to be a good person…”

At the end of the day, all the “I thinks” and “I believes” mean nothing. Have you ever tried to get out of a speeding ticket by telling the officer, “I believed the speed limit here was 55” when he informed you it was a 25 mile-per-hour zone?

Believing — passionately — that the moon is inhabited by purple people does not make it so.

Believing — with all your heart — that you have a fairy godmother who, upon your death bed, will appear and escort you to heaven will not make it happen.

Believing — quite confidently — that I-40 will take you to Florida will leave you disappointed.

Our passion, devotion, and confidence will make zero difference in achieving our destination goal. What matters is the truth.

Truth was not only used to describe Jesus. Truth also was featured prominently in the Armor of God:

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…”
Ephesians 6:14a

When we don our spiritual armor, the belt of truth goes on first. Perhaps that is to remind us that truth is the foundation of everything else. Jesus not only described Himself as, “the truth,” He also declared in John 17:17, “… your word is truth.”

As followers of Christ, we put on the armor of God daily so that we can take our stand against the enemy. Ours is a spiritual battle. We know we stand against the enemy. We also stand behind the truth.

If we want to know the way, we must have truth to show us the right way. And that’s the means to reach life … eternal life. Real life. Life that matters.

Is God’s Word your source for finding the way, the truth, and the life?  Is it your go-to for answers to life’s questions?

When the world argues there’s some gray in the decision, His Word may reveal clearly what is black and white.

When the world tries to push, pull, and tug us off course, the Word of God is our compass pointing due north.

The Psalmist describes it as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We need that illumination to live well and stand firm in today’s world — and we need to understand the importance of modeling that truth for our children.

Seeking the way, the truth, and the life is a daily choice:

• Get up.
• Will yourself to HIS way.
• Put on your belt of truth.
• Immerse yourself in the Word of God.
• Rejoice in the life you have in Him.

Yesterday is gone. If you sought truth from scripture yesterday and walked in the light of that truth, you chose well. But today, the battle begins all over again. Find the way, put on your belt of truth, and celebrate your eternal life in Jesus … TODAY.

Each day is a fresh start — for good or otherwise. Protect yourself from the lies of the enemy today, by choosing to believe Jesus. He alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

This past Friday, I shared a BIG announcement concerning the monthly Write the WORD Bible study and journaling series! Hope you’re as excited as I am!

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Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
Psalm 63:3

Life is good. You’ve probably said that a few times – perhaps in response to a passing “How are you?” from a friend. The response has become almost a cliché, on par with:

• Can’t complain!
• Awesome!
• Fine!
• Great!

One organization has successfully transformed “life is good” into a thriving business. (Maybe you own a Life Is Good tee shirt.) Their mission is to spread the power of optimism and their tag line reads:  LIFE IS NOT PERFECT. LIFE IS NOT EASY. LIFE IS GOOD.

As a follower of Christ, I can’t argue with that statement. In fact, I agree with it. My life is good. I am grateful for the life I have, and am well aware that I am blessed far beyond what I deserve.

Even though life is never perfect and is often not easy, life is still good.

Life … is … good.

But God’s love is better. Because of God’s love we need not settle for good … we get better. We get eternal life. We get freedom in Christ. We get hope for eternity.

And all that is made possible because of God’s love. Love that is better than a life that is good.

The nerdy part of me wants to make it work in an equation:

Life = Good

God’s Love > Life

If we pause to count our many blessings – to make a list of all the things that make this life good – that list might include:

• A devoted, godly husband
• Children that bring delight
• Grandchildren that bright delight multiplied!
• A safe home
• Plenty to eat
• Friends I can count on and confide in
• A pastor who preaches the Word
• Coffee
• My Bible
• The ability to read
• Air conditioning
• A library card
• A KitchenAid mixer
• Photo albums
• Chocolate
• Laughter
• Tylenol when I have a headache
• Sweet tea on a hot day

The list is endless. Some seem trivial and others more substantial, but all are blessings of a good life.

As good as this life may be, God’s love is better. God’s love trumps every other blessing. God’s love brings peace and joy that transcends this life and reaches to eternity. Because of God’s love, my destiny for eternity is secure. I have confident hope.

Life here is good. I love the blessings this life brings. Anticipating that life for eternity is even better brings wonder … amazement … peace … joy.

As I ponder and embrace the truth that God’s love is better than life, the only possible response is praise. I can’t help but glorify Him. As natural as breathing is the song on my lips to the God
who loves me.

The one whose love is better than life must be praised. He must be glorified. The
deep sense of belonging – of abiding in Him – brings a delightful desire to glorify Him.

Surely, there is no better way to observe the Sabbath than to allow our lips to glorify our great God! Let’s declare with the Psalmist:

Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you!

Editor’s note: If you enjoy Laura’s devotionals here,
please check out her YouTube channel where
you will find Bible studies, devotionals, and Martha Monday household tips:

www.YouTube.com/CrossMyHeartMinistry

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight…” Philippians 1:9-11

Editor’s Note: You can view Laura’s complete teaching on this passage here:

Paul’s prayer for the Philippians in the first century is a great one for us to pray over our prodigals in the 21st century. The topic of his prayer is love.

Ahhh ……. love. The theme of the songs we love to sing, the rudder that steers our ship, and the glue that keeps us connected to others.

But what is love exactly? A feeling? A commitment? A choice?

When a teenager falls in love, we deem it “puppy love,” implying it will fade with time. We talk about being lovesick – suggesting an inability to function or behave normally. Love has been deemed mysterious, unpredictable, and disconcerting. The Greeks needed more than one word to describe what English speakers sum up simply as “love”: phileo, eros, agape.

As we struggle to understand, define, and live out love, perhaps Paul can help. His prayer for the Philippians in chapter one of the book that bears their name is a powerful prompt for us to pray over our prodigals (and ourselves), as it simultaneously teaches us much about prayer as it sheds light on the topic of love.

Read this passage slowly and thoughtfully:

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ— to the glory and praise of God.

Paul’s prayer offers great insight into the subject of love then and now. Clearly, it is more than a feeling and has purpose beyond ourselves.

Love is not static – it is growing, expanding, and prompts action and change.

When love leads out, we know what is right (“discern what is best”) and we do what is right (“pure and blameless”). Knowing what is right and then following through by doing what is right is what I call “smart love.” The resulting choices lead to purity and righteousness. As we continue to make those decisions, a lifestyle develops. Love “abounds more and more.” And the epitome of it all: God is glorified.

Join with me in praying for your prodigal:

God Almighty, please draw my prodigal back to the path of smart love. He/she has wandered away pursuing a perception of love that really isn’t love at all. Let this precious one – created in Your image and cherished by You – come to his/her senses today. Stir up his/her heart with a holy discontent. I pray life would feel boring, meaningless, and lacking as he/she looks around. And in that moment, may he/she look up and look to You. Rekindle that spark of faith. Draw this one to You! I pray the one I love would run back to You and that You would fill his/her heart with a hunger for love that is discerning. May that love grow and flourish to prompt him/her to know what is right and follow through in doing what is right. May love for you grow daily, abound more and more, produce righteousness, and bring You glory and praise!

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“…take hold of the life that is truly life.”
I Timothy 6:19

Paul wrote these words to Timothy — the young man he called “my true son in the faith” (I Timothy 1:2). Timothy received not one, but two letters from Paul, perhaps demonstrating not only the depth of the relationship, but awareness of the weight of the baton Paul was passing.

Though written specifically to Timothy, you and I — together with Bible readers for twenty centuries — are privileged to glean from the wisdom passed from a spiritual father to a spiritual son.

Father’s Day seems a good day to embrace these wise words.

What I tend to believe about wisdom is this: life will bring it. Living brings learning. That’s the natural, long-route way to arrive at wisdom. But those who are teachable get to take a shortcut. The ones willing to heed the sage advice of those who have traveled the road ahead of them, can benefit tremendously. They have joy in the journey, they take the best route, and they avoid many of the detours and pitfalls that life often brings.

The phrase, “the life that is truly life,” resonates perhaps even better to a 21^st-century audience than a first-century one. Our society has become consumed with stuff — we accumulate toys, we buy clothes we seldom wear, we are driven to replace what we have with the latest version, model, or color. After a while, the stuff we own seems to own us!

Are we individually and collectively chasing the counterfeit instead of the real?

Are we permitting the temporary to trump the eternal?

In this verse, Paul is wrapping up a teaching about riches and wealth where he encouraged a choice to “be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” This type of investment reaps dividends for eternity.

Even the minimalists and the most frugal among us can get caught up in the consumer mentality. When we say “no” to ourselves, we loosen the consumer grip. Releasing our grip on stuff frees us our hands (and hearts) to “take hold of the life that is truly life.”

What are we holding on to? What is most valuable to us? The prodigals we love may be chasing the next raise, the bigger house, or the newer car. They may be seeking acceptance and approval from friends (or strangers), or investing in nothing more than the fleeting pleasures of the moment. As we pray for an eternal mindset for them, we can pray also for ourselves — that we would model richness in good needs, a spirit of generosity, and a willingness to share the abundant blessings that God has given us.

Are you and I holding on tight to that which will last? Are we releasing the manufactured / counterfeit / temporary life for the eternal “life that is truly life”? Would you make some time on this Father’s Day to consider Paul’s wise counsel to his “son” Timothy … and to ask your own Heavenly Father, “What do I need to release, so that I can grab hold of real life?”

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This week, we continue on the topic of Praying for Prodigals, as introduced in this month’s Write The Word. Today I’d like to once again welcome those faithful readers of the Sunday Soaking series at A Reason for Homeschool. It’s such a blessing to bring that weekly series here to share with you at Cross My Heart Ministry. I invite all of you to subscribe to my email list so you will not miss a single week of Sunday Soaking!

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
Revelation 3:20

Jesus is always there, knocking on the door of our heart.

He waits patiently to be asked in. He is ready to release love, mercy, forgiveness, guidance, and whatever else we desperately need.

Jesus is a gentleman. He will not barge in uninvited, he will not push down the door, and he will not force his way into our hearts.

But when we finally choose to hear His voice and open the door to our lives, He kindly comes in.

We often hear, quote, and apply Revelation 3:20 to unbelievers who need to invite Jesus in for salvation. But it’s a powerful verse — and perhaps truer to context — when applied to those who know Christ and need to repent.

These are words of Jesus (if you have a “red-letter” version of the Bible, this passage in Revelation 3 is highlighted). Placed at the end of a series of letters to the seven churches, Revelation 3:20 specifically addresses the church at Laodicea, the worst of the seven.

As we continue our Praying for Prodigals series, this verse is a good one to pray over those we love who have wandered away or allowed their faith to grow cold.

Verse 16 describes the Laodiceans as lukewarm. Does that describe your prodigal?

Revelation 3:17 confirms they are not only lukewarm — they are lacking in self-awareness. Perhaps a lack of self-awareness leads to complacency in matters of faith.

The Laodiceans then (and many of our prodigals now) believed themselves to be rich in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Prodigals can display a smugness, an attitude of certainty. They believe they have not only figured out the important questions of life, but have also mastered the answers.

The real issue, of course, is pride. When pride takes root, it leads — among other things — to self-deception and self-sufficiency.

While they see themselves as having everything they need, Jesus says:

“…you are wretched pitiful, poor, blind, and naked….” Revelation 3:17b

Our prodigals may be listening to many other voices. They are prioritizing other issues, objectives, causes, and concerns. They have so filled their hearts and minds with what they see as important, that they have crowded out who is most needed: Jesus.

Let’s pray today that they will realize their need for Him — that today their eyes would be opened to see themselves as “wretched pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” Let’s pray that this would be the day they hear His voice above the cacophony of all the other voices vying for their attention.

Like the prodigal son who finally “came to his senses” (Luke 15:17), let’s pray our prodigals wake up, look around at the mess they’re in, and go home. Like Jesus knocking at the door, the faithful father in the parable was there waiting to welcome the prodigal home.

Lord Jesus,
let today be the day our prodigals hear your voice
and open wide the door to You!You can view Laura’s recent teaching on the Parable of the Prodigal Son here:

Today I’d like to introduce a new weekly feature for Cross My Heart Ministry: Sunday Soaking.

Although new for subscribers of this blog, Sunday Soaking has been a long-standing weekly series at A Reason for Homeschool. While I’ve been blessed to build relationships with many readers of that blog over the past several years, I am thrilled that the weekly series is now transitioning to Cross My Heart. For those who are visiting us from A Reason For Homeschool, I thank you for faithfully reading Sunday Soaking. The purpose of Cross My Heart is to honor God’s call on my life: biblical ministry to women. Welcome!

My practice has been to use each week’s Sunday Soaking to explore one verse from the monthly Write the Word series (also published by ARFH). Continuing in that vein, during the month of June, the weekly devotional will be prompted by verses from Write The Word: Praying for Our Prodigals. The free, printable daily verse list and S.O.A.P. study pages can be accessed here.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28

Jesus beckons, “Come to me…” As our Creator, He knows how we are wired. He knows our thoughts, our fears, our desires, and hopes. He knows what we need.

We need Him, of course, every day ⁠— but we especially need Him during times of anxiety, uncertainty, and trouble. Whether we are listening to our governor’s daily update, looking at our 401(k), or mourning the cancellation of yet another life event, “anxiety, uncertainty and trouble” is most likely an apt description of life for most of us during these strange times.

Where do we run when worry comes knocking?

When panic rises up, we long for peace. Our desire for rest and release may find us picking up the remote or opening the refrigerator to ease the pain (or at least temporarily distract us from it).

Where do you go ⁠— or what do you reach for ⁠— when weary and burdened?

Some of us try to eat, shop, or entertain ourselves to drive away the worry. Others will exercise, clean, or take a vacation. In extreme cases, we may look for a new car, a new job, or a new house. Sadly, some resort to the destructive false comfort of drugs or alcohol.

We crave something, and we try to satisfy that craving. But what we really need is not a what at all – it’s who.

It is Him.

Jesus.

Nothing and no one else will bring lasting satisfaction. Only Jesus knows us completely and loves us unconditionally. Only Jesus can ease our burdens and provide rest for our souls.

He says, “Come.”

Are you read to hear Him? Are you ready to trust Him? Are you ready to receive the peace and rest only He can provide?

Whether or not your circumstances change, you will be changed. A woman who walks in peace when panic is all around is a woman who is living proof that God is real ⁠— that He is great and He is good.

O Lord, today I come to You!
Forgive me for looking around when I should be looking up.
I am weary and burdened, but in You, I find rest and peace.
Help me, Jesus.

Editor’s Note: If you enjoy Laura’s devotional writing on the website,
check out her video teaching here. Subscribing is free and will bless this ministry.