Know Your God | Laurie Coombs

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{Lessons Learned} How to Tune Into the Frequency of God and Hear Him Speak

Posted on: July 2nd, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

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Love your enemy, I was told. I knew who God was calling me to love––Anthony, the man who murdered my dad––and I didn’t like it. I cried out to God and said, Okay, God I get the whole forgiveness thing, but love my enemy? How am I to do THAT?!? Immediately, His response came, Bring him a bible. Now, I have only heard from God like this a few times. I’m certainly not one who claims that God speaks audibly to me, though I’d love it if He did. But instead, this was more of a thought planted into my mind immediately following my prayer. And I knew it was a word from God. In fact, it was a definitive command. God Speaks If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it is this: God speaks. As a skeptic, turned believer, this blew my mind. God speaks. To humans, nonetheless! [Tweet that]…

The Day I Met the 80 Year Old Professional Poker Player

Posted on: June 28th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 5 Comments

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“Where should we sit?” I question my thirteen year old niece. I have a mind to go right. Emily, my niece, points left. “Right there,” she says with resolve, pointing to a booth next to the window. We sit down, McDonald’s ice cream cones in hand. I have a lot of kids with me. Two, my own. Three, my sisters, including my two month old nephew. At once, all four big kids eagerly take their first lick. Soon, the baby begins to fuss, so I take him out of his infant carrier and stand, bouncing and soothing. I notice the man sitting in the booth next to ours. He looks at me, sees the kids, and smiles a warm, inviting smile. A whisper comes to my soul. Speak to him, the Lord prompts. Tell him about Me. The man looks to be about seventy or so. He has warn skin, but seems to…

{Lessons Learned} Do You See As You Ought?

Posted on: June 25th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

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I was a wreck. “I’ve spent my entire life trying to achieve and set goals for myself,” I told my husband, Travis, “and I’ve hinged all happiness on the achievement of those goals only to continuously fall short of true happiness. It’s like there’s this emptiness inside, but I don’t know how to make it go away!” I felt empty, defeated, depressed, and anxious. And I had no answers. It was a very dark place. Over and over I kept saying, I just want to feel peace. I just want peace. Yet, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t save myself. [Tweet that] Blind and Paralyzed Then, I had a dream. I dreamt I became blind and paralyzed. And when I awoke I was perplexed and greatly disturbed. I didn’t know what it meant. Perhaps it means nothing, I tried to convince myself. But still, I couldn’t shake it. Yet, it wasn’t…

{Lessons Learned} Abiding In Christ – We Can’t Do Anything Apart from Jesus

Posted on: June 11th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 14 Comments

And there's nothing we can do that will have significant, lasting impact apart from God. [Tweet that] First John 4:9 tells us, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him." Jesus came that we might live. Truly live. Not endure. Not get by. But live fully, bountifully.

I camped out in the fifteenth chapter of the gospel of John for quite some time during my correspondence with Anthony, the man who murdered my dad. I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. I knew nothing of any value could be accomplished through my endeavor apart from Jesus. For apart from me you can do nothing. I read these words over and over. Jesus says, I am the vine. Abide in me. Abide. What does it look like to abide? I looked it up. Abide – to stay; to wait; to remain fixed in some state or condition; to endure; to sustain; to submit to… Abide in me. I clung close to the cross, I devoured God’s Word, I prayed like never before, I got down, prostrate before our mighty God and learned what it meant to abide in Jesus. And as I did, it became increasingly…

{Lessons Learned} Forgiveness Flows Out of a Changed Heart – Part 1

Posted on: May 9th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

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Forgiveness––true Biblical forgiveness––requires that we have encountered and experienced the risen God. [Tweet that] It requires a changed heart. Truly, prior to forgiving one another, we need to understand and receive the forgiveness of God. For, we cannot give something we have yet to receive, and we cannot receive apart from understanding. [Tweet that] As I’m sure you know, the term Gospel––which refers to the work of Christ––literally means “good news.” I’ve heard many pastors say that in order for there to be good news something bad would have to be true. And until we understand the bad news, we cannot fully grasp how good the good news is. [Tweet that] This is why we all must come to understand who we are apart from Jesus. We need to understand just how sinful we are so that the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf––and consequently, the forgiveness He made possible––can be understood…

{Forgiveness} Make No Mistake, Justice Will Be Served.

Posted on: April 18th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

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I’ve written about misconceptions about forgiveness before. But I believe one of the largest hindrances to forgiveness is a misconception that stems from childhood. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve negotiated peace between two children who are mad at one another. Regardless of what caused the issue, our peace talk usually goes something like this: Me: “Tell her you’re sorry.” Child (usually one of my daughters): “I’m sorry.” The other child: “It’s okay.” But it’s not okay. Many children are told by their parents (as I mistakenly did as a new parent) to respond to an apology by telling the other child that it’s okay. But it’s not okay to bite one another. It’s not okay to hit one another. Simply put, it’s not okay to sin against one another. And when we tell children to say “it’s okay” in this context, we are not teaching them forgiveness, but instead,…

{Lessons Learned} Can a Christian Commit Murder?

Posted on: April 15th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

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Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children. – Deuteronomy 4:9 Anthony claimed he was a Christian at the time of the murder, and I had a real problem with this. As a non-Christian and even after coming to Christ, I didn’t understand how someone who professed faith in Jesus could do something like this. Doesn’t a sin of this magnitude disqualify you from being a Christian? You can’t claim to be a Christian and commit murder, I thought. Recently, however, when telling me about a book he was reading by Kyle Idleman called Not a Fan, Anthony said, “I wonder, had I not come to prison would I have stayed a fan of Jesus or become a follower?…

I Don’t Need Help! or Learning to Receive

Posted on: April 11th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs

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Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. – Proverbs 27:17 A couple months ago, I found myself sitting at a small table in Starbucks. Across from me sat my leadership coach. “I don’t think I can do this any more,” I told her. “I’m burnt out. I’m doing too much, and honestly, I don’t think I’m doing anybody any good at this point.” I came to this meeting to quit. I had been leading a small group of women from my church in a weekly meeting for over two years. But at this point, I was exhausted. I didn’t feel I could do it any longer. After I explained the situation, she said, “Honestly, I don’t think you know how to receive very well.” Yes, I do. I thought, perplexed. “You’ve done a great job of making yourself a commodity,” she continued, “but you don’t allow others to pour into you.” Ouch. I…

{Repentance} Wanna Be Empowered Today?

Posted on: April 8th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs

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I’ve been talking a lot about repentance, and I know it can become a weighty topic, to say the least. But I feel like God has empowered me in this area recently, and I just have to pass this along. I’ve been feeling convicted lately about several sins in my life. And maybe it’s just me, but do you ever feel like you need to repent but you need to wait for the empowerment of God to do so? [Tweet that] Well, this is where I found myself last week. During my quiet time with God, I decided to begin reading Romans. I opened it up, read the first paragraph, and that was just about enough for the day. I needed to digest what I read, so I read it again. And again. Toward the end of that paragraph, Paul says, “through [Jesus] we have received grace and apostleship to…

How Jesus is the Fulfillment of God’s Love

Posted on: April 1st, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

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For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16 No doubt about it. We are loved. Truly loved, despite all our shortcomings. The Feinberg Challenge Over the last 40 days of Lent, leading up to Easter, I joined Margaret Feinberg (along with thousands of other Christ followers), in her 40-Day Bible Reading Challenge. Together we read through the Bible. Yep. The whole thing. Honestly, it was crazy, but it was amazing at the same time! Beginning in Genesis and ending with Revelation, we read an average of 30 chapters a day (though I’m a day behind, so I’ll be finishing up today). When first presented with all this craziness, I was intrigued, but I didn’t think I could do it. After all, I have children who need their mommy and a husband who needs his wife, but God…