Discernment | Laurie Coombs

Archive for the ‘Discernment’ Category

{Love Your Enemy} Fight Darkness With Light

Posted on: September 17th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

overcome evil with good, good vs evil, good v evil, good evil, good, evil, sin, light dark, light darkness, darkness v light, light, dark, darkness, martin luther king jr, love, love your enemy, loving your enemy, enemy, Jesus, God, Christ, Christian, Christianity, devotional, children, children's devotional, childlike, hate, love hate, darkness drive out darkness, light drive out darkness, hate cannot drive out hate, truth, god satan, Satan, Romans 12, Romans 12:14-21, Marks of a true christian, overcome evil with good, lord will repay, vengeance is mine, wrath of God, grace,

Jesus taught his followers a new way to treat people. Usually when people hurt you, you want to hurt them back. If people don’t like you, you don’t like them either. But Jesus tells us to love our enemies. It’s never easy but Jesus can help you. If you do good to your enemies you could change your life and theirs forever. – Avery (right before her 6th birthday), quoting one of her children’s devotional books. I came across this piece of paper a few weeks back and had to share it. As I busily cleaned the house one day, my daughter, Avery, decided to grab her “devo” and copy down one of its entries. This is what I found. Now, I don’t know if her selection was intentional or not, but out of the 365 entries in her book, she chose this one, and of course, you all know how…

Together We Can Change the World

Posted on: August 22nd, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

You do your part, I do my part, together, change the world, impact the world, what you do with your life matters, your life matters, Christ, Christ follower, jesus Follower, Follower of Jesus, following Jesus, Christianity, Jesus, God, portion, how to I impact the world, do what you are called to do, calling, God's call, God's calling, child of God, grounded in Christ, Christ at center, the Lord, walk in calling, plate, what you do, doing, do, make a difference, God's will, love, love God, love others, effective life, intention, intentionality, living with intention,

What you do with your life matters. As mentioned in my last post, Do You Want to be a World-Changer?, I believe each and every Christ follower is called to change the world, but that will look different for each of us. I think one of the most important questions we can ask God is this: What portion of Your Kingdom would You like to entrust to me? We are not called to take on the world by ourselves. But instead, we are entrusted with a portion of the world where we’re intended to make an impact. One thing I learned early on in my walk with Christ is that I can’t do it all. I tried to do it all, but then soon, I was burnt out. I tried to take on each and every opportunity to serve only to discover that I wasn’t making much of a difference in any…

The Day I Was Given Eyes to See

Posted on: July 30th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

God, Jesus, Christian, Christ, Christianity, Love, Love God, Love Others, Ruth Graham, Billy Graham, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Ruth Graham Poem, Give me eyes to see, spiritual eyes, ordinary, mundane, souls, people, love people, love other, making a difference, make a difference, change the world, make the world better,

Look o’er the people about you–– faces so furrowed with care, lined and hardened by sorrow sin has placed on them there; think of the evil they live in, hopes none and joys so few; love them, pray for them, win them, lest they should perish, too. – Ruth Graham, age 13. (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) … I love these words. But more importantly, I love the heart behind them. Give me eyes to see, I pray. For, when we see as we ought––when we see with spiritual eyes––the world and the people in it take on a different hue. Checking out at the doctor’s office a few months ago, I stood waiting. The receptionists busied themselves with work. One was helping me. One was speaking to a patient on the phone. Another typed intently at her computer….

{Lessons Learned} Your Faith Requires Action

Posted on: May 31st, 2013 by Laurie Coombs

faith is active, faith requires action, love does, faith does, do something, ministry, feed the hungry, Jesus, Christ, Christian, the Christian life, living your faith, live it out, prayer journal, Christian life, passive, passivity, Christianity, God, action, step out in faith, empowered by the holy spirit, holy spirit, do, follow jesus, following jesus, do what jesus calls you to, do something, let go let god, commands, commandments, God's commandments, jesus commands, forgive, christian forgiveness, christian forgiveness testimony, inspirational forgiveness stories, forgiveness stories, how do I forgive, forgiveness, grace, faith, call, calling, love, love your enemy, passive faith, active faith, call to action, love emotion, love action, sermon on the mount, matthew 5:19, what are Jesus' commandments, what are god's commandments, what does jesus command, love neighbor, love god, love others, care for widow, orphan, oppressed, poor, needy, meet needs, pray, trust, share gospel, evangelism, bible, god's word, your calling, calling, faith verb, come follow me, john 14:21, ephesians 2:10, ephesians 2:8

I’m seeing that the Christian life is NOT a life of passivity but a life of choices empowered by the Holy Spirit. – My prayer journal, May 13, 2010 The Christian life is not one marked by passivity, but instead, it requires that we step out in faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to do whatever it is Jesus calls us to. Following Jesus means that we get off the couch and do something. [tweet that] When I first became a Christian, (only about a year before I was called on my crazy journey with Anthony) I was under the impression that Christianity should be characterized more by a “let go and let God” theology than one that requires action. But, when Jesus called me to love and forgive the very man who murdered my dad, this paradigm was shattered. I was presented with commands. Forgive. Love your enemy. How…

The Influence of a Thought

Posted on: May 21st, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

reflect upon the beauty of life, beauty of life, life, beautiful, jesus, god, christ, christian, christian forgiveness testimony, Philippians 4:8, true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, excellence, worth of praise, think about, think about these things, thinker, anatomy of a thought, thought, thinking, think, thought pattern, toxic thought patterns, thoughts are powerful, power of thought, influence of a thought, feelings, emotions, emotional state, behavior, decisions, thoughts affect actions, thoughts affect decisions, impact, think about ourselves, decisions, relationships worldview, thoughts truth, thoughts reflect truth, satan, folly, deception, weigh thoughts, God's word, god's truth, passively accepting truth, intentional thoughts, being intentional with, think about good things, paul, key to contentment, meditate on good, philippians 4:11-13, redemption, bad things, 2 corinthians 10:5

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. – Philippians 4:8 I’m a “thinker,” by nature. I think and analyze constantly. I’ve always been this way. And over the years I’ve learned that this trait can serve as one of my best assets or it can work against me proving to be one of my greatest weaknesses, which is why Jesus spoke Philippians 4:8 over me very early in my walk with Him. Honestly, when Jesus found me, I was a mess. My thought patterns were extremely toxic, and because of this, I learned quickly the power our thought life has upon us. The Influence of a Thought Follow me for a moment. First, you have a thought. That thought impacts what you feel…

Love Comes First

Posted on: May 2nd, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 10 Comments

it's about jesus, great commandment, great commission, matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 28:19, Matthew 28:20, mission, our mission, whats your mission, cart before the horse, love is first, only one, social media, facebook, twitter, pinterest, tribe, platform, author platform, audience, building a platform, platform numbers, self promotion, build a platform, followers, blog, building a blog, book, writing a book, publishing, publishing today, who do i publish, how many people reached, visitors to blog, what's lost is love, love lost, love one another, minister, minister to one another, jesus followers, following jesus, perspective, 1 corinthians 1:12-14, 1 Corinthians 1:12, 1 corinthians 1:13, 1 Corinthians 1:14, 1 corinthians 1:17, mark 1:17, follow me, jesus follow me, jesus at center, my center, your calling, how do you find your calling, finding your calling, without love, without love impact, lost the love, grace, mercy, paradym shIt's not about me, it's about jesus, it's not about my story, it's about loving God and loving people, loving god, loving people, love god, love people, all motivated by love, motive love, love, Jesus, God, Christ, Christianity, forgive, forgiveness testimony, inspirational forgiveness story, christian forgiveness, calling, call, God's call, call on your life, laurie coombs, laurie, coombs, lauriecoombs.org, testimony, forgiveness testimony, story, murder, murderer, forgiving murder, forgiving the unforgivable,

I received a letter from Anthony (the man who murdered my dad) a couple weeks ago. In it, he said, “I also know you feel as I do, if only one person read [our testimony] and came to Jesus because of it, because of our pain, tears, repentance, and forgiveness, all of it was worth it.” Anthony is right. And He got me thinking. If our story saves one––only one––I do believe my efforts to share what God has done is all worth it. Yet, I also believe Jesus called me to share this story with many. In fact, I believe I’m called to write a book about it. What It Takes to Publish Today When writing a book, you hear a lot about the need to build a “platform” or establish a “tribe” of followers who engage with you both on your blog and on social media (Twitter, Facebook,…

{Lessons Learned} Why We Need to Stop Comparing Ourselves

Posted on: March 21st, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

God, Jesus, Christ, Christian, forgiveness, forgive, Christian forgiveness testimony, forgiveness testimony, following Jesus, grace, mercy, lessons learned, lessons, learn, self denial, self deception, sin, sins, introspection, Bible, scripture, none are good, all have turned away, enemy of god, creator, in the world but not of the world, how are christians different, humility, humble, pride, murder, prison, sentence, life without the possibility of parole, letters, letters to a murderer, murderer, justify, justification, God's standard, perfection, you are no better, compare, comparison, comparing ourselves to others, competition with others, stop comparing, folly, sin, John 2:22, judge others, judge ourselves, good person, do good people go to heaven, who is a good person,

Jesus said to him, “…what is that to you? You follow me!” – John 21:22 We cannot accurately judge our sins or behaviors by comparing ourselves to others. [Tweet that] And when we do so, our assessment of ourselves, our sins, and the consequence of those sins will, most assuredly, be skewed. I addressed this issue with Anthony as we were working toward forgiveness. I wrote, …one more thought that I have has to do with comparing ourselves to others. I think this is dangerous, yet I believe we all do it to a certain extent…. …we, as Christians, are not to judge ourselves based upon those around us. Many of us look around and consciously or unconsciously compare ourselves to others in the world. We look around and see that there are people out there who have done x or committed y, then we look to ourselves and say, “well,…

{Lessons Learned} We Are No Better Than Repentant Murderers

Posted on: March 11th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 8 Comments

Romans 3:23, you are no better than him, you are no better, you are not better than her, letter, letters from a murderer, murder, murderer, repentant murderer, repent, repentant, judging, judge, do not judge, lest you be judged, rebuke, the Lord rebuke, I am no better than the man who murdered my dad, i am no better, I am not better, worldly truth vs biblical truth, we are all sinners, in need of god, in need of jesus, we need jesus, we need god, god, jesus, christ, christian, god shows no partiality, need grace, need mercy, why do we need grace, amazing grace, repentant sinner, moses, david, saul, paul, moses murder, moses led, egypt , slaves, slavery, bathsheba, david murder, paul murder, paul kill christians, 1 corinthians 1:26-29, 1 corinthians, 1 corinthians 1:26, 1 corinthians 1:27, 1 corinthians 1:28, 1 corinthians 1:29, beggars before christ, poor in spirit, redemption, clean, washed clean, scandal behind forgiveness, forgive, forgiveness, forgave, biblical forgiveness, what does forgiveness look like, no distinction, judge not

…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23 You are no better than him, I felt the Lord say to me. I was taken by surprise. Stunned, really. I had just gotten another letter from Anthony, the man who murdered my dad. I was angry and was contemplating what Anthony wrote, while crying out to God, How could he? How could he think that? Why doesn’t he see the truth? Who does he think he is? Then came the rebuke, You are no better than him. I fell silent and was put in my place, instantly. All my judgement, all my condemnation came to an immediate and abrupt stop, and I knew––I am no better than the man who murdered my own dad. [Tweet that] It was a difficult truth to swallow. Truths like these don’t usually sit well. Perhaps it’s because we’re listening to the world,…

{Lessons Learned} Wait for the Lord

Posted on: February 18th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 7 Comments

wait for the lord, lord, wait, waiting, blessing, bless, blessed, trusting God, God, Jesus, Christ, Christian, peace, will, will of God, free will, Lessons Learned, lessons, doing things God's way, God's way, patience, path of life, how to life, how to live a good life, how to find peace, find peace, finding peace, waiting hard, how to wait, trusting god, our way, god's way, following jesus, faith, discernment, scripture, scripture waiting for the Lord, Isaiah 55:9, scripture interpretation, bible interpretation, bible, scripture, psalms, Isaiah,

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. – Isaiah 55:9 One thing’s for certain: we need to wait for the Lord. As mentioned in my last post, I was terrified to take even one step unless I was certain of God’s direction during my journey toward forgiveness. I knew––with complete certainty––that I would mess it all up, apart from Jesus’ counsel. Here’s what the Bible has to say about waiting for God: Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! – Psalm 27:14 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. – Psalm 33:20 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him… – Psalm 37:7a Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off. – Psalm 37:34 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. – Psalm 40:1 Do not say,…

{Lessons Learned} Rely Upon Jesus

Posted on: February 14th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

God, Jesus, Christ, Christian, Trust, Lessons Learned, Lessons, Learn, saying yes to God, God's will, will, free will, following Jesus, impact lives, impact, lives, life, meaning of life, discernment, why are we here, what is the point of life, discernment, discerning God's will, figuring out God's will, grace, joy, peace, wisdom, follow, murder, correspondence, wait, sign, illusion, direction, clear direction, react, respond, react vs respond, pray, seek, seek God, seeking God, skeptic, seeking Jesus, seek Jesus, will of God, reliance upon Jesus, rely on Jesus, impact of our lives, surrender, presence of God

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven….” – Matthew 18:2-3 Lord, I can’t do this without you, I prayed. Help me. Give me wisdom. Show me the way, and I will follow. I can’t tell you how often I uttered these words throughout my correspondence with Anthony, the man who murdered my dad. I was under no illusion I could take even one step without clear direction from Jesus during this difficult journey. I was terrified to be outside of His will, for I knew things could go very wrong in a situation like this apart from God. Each time I received a letter, my emotions ran high. I wanted to react quickly, with little grace. I wanted to rebuke Anthony. Set him straight. I wanted him…