Hello Friends,

On Saturday morning, August 16th, 2014, I participated in the coolest interview ever! On a Google+ Hangout, my friend Sharon Jenkins interviewed me along with some of my writing friends and my agent. The cool things was that we could see each other! This is an old-school chat on steroids! Copy and paste the link below into your box and you can watch the whole interview just like a TV show. (I knew I’d be on the screen sooner or later!) Have fun.  Love, Sharon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFuXvmvwCP0&feature=youtu.be

Hello Friends,

I was interviewed recently by Kim Wier, Sunday Night Live Host of KSBJ Houston God Listens radio show (ksbj.org). The show archives have just gone live on the website and you can find the link to the interview there:

http://www.ksbj.org/djs-shows/shows/sunday-night-live

Copy and paste that link into your browser to listen to the show!

(You will find the show at the date 7/13/14.)

Second Corinthians 5:17, a very familiar verse to many Christians, says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” We normally see this as a verse discussing the point of our salvation or baptism. We read it to say, “When we come to Christ, we are made new.” But look again. This verse is not only speaking about some point in our past. It says, “If anyone is in Christ.” In other words, as we live in Christ, we are new, present tense. In the same manner in which mercies are new every morning, we too are new moment by moment, as we live in Christ.

Jesus, the God man, lives outside of time; we live in it. What He caused to happen in eternity past, we experience along the timeline of our life span. The original Creator of all things (see John 1:3),Jesushas neither lost that creative ability, nor has He stopped using it. So, when Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “all things have become new,” we must realize that this is speaking of the creative ability of Jesus, the One who originally created everything in the first place.

So when we can’t see our way out of an impossible situation; find our way out of a toxic relationship; or fight our way out of misplaced, entrenched beliefs; we can turn our “dark formless void” (see Genesis 1:2) over to the Creator/Re-creator. Knowing His power, ability, and willingness to help us, how incredibly ridiculous of us to believe even for a second that Jesus cannot still make all things new. As long as the outcome remains consistent with His character, it’s just plain silly to talk about any situation that God can’t completely transform. Worship God today as the transformer.

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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

at bookstores, and on all major online book buying sites.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Also still available:

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

I attended a women’s conference recently and one of the songs we sang during the opening worship was an old spiritual I hadn’t heard in a long time.

• Jesus, I’ll never forget what You’ve done for me.
• Jesus, I’ll never forget how You set me free.
• Jesus, I’ll never forget how You brought me out.
• Jesus, I’ll never forget, no, never.

This chorus came back to my mind as I read of King Hezekiah and his son Manasseh, yet another couple of kings who forgot what God had done when they trusted God. Hezekiah had a long history of victories thanks to his submission to God, but for a short time, “Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem” Second Chronicles 32:25 (NKJ). Thankfully, he soon “humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah” Second Chronicles 32:26.

Although Manasseh was just 12 years old when his dad died and he became king, his advisors must have reminded him of the spiritual legacy of trust in God passed down to him. Nevertheless, Manasseh forgot all the blessings God had reigned on Jerusalem because of their obedience. He “rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he raised up altars for the Baals, and made wooden images; and he worshiped all the host of heaven[a] and served them. He also built altars in the house of the Lord… built altars for all the host of heaven… caused his sons to pass through the fire… practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger” Second Chronicles 33:3-6. Manasseh’s lapse of memory regarding the God he should have obeyed led to his capture by the captains of the army of the king of Assyria. Hardship tends to jog the memory so “when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God” Second Chronicles 33:12-13.

Reading these accounts, the connection between trust and blessing is clear: trust God, win in life; forget God, lose in life. If you know the tune of the song above, sing it whenever you are tempted to turn from God and do things your way. (If you don’t know the tune, make one up.) God has proven Himself over and over again in the pages of Scripture and in the lives of His saints past and present. What He’s done for others, He’ll do for you. Remember that and worship God today for being the memory jogger.

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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

at bookstores, and on all major online book buying sites.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Also still available:

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

When Hezekiah was king, he encouraged and led all of Israel and Judah to turn completely back to the Lord starting with keeping the Passover. Since this hadn’t been done in such a long time, he had to postpone the celebration for one month because there weren’t enough priests who had been properly consecrated to take care of all the offerings. Also, there needed to be enough time for all the people to travel to Jerusalem who wanted to come to the feast (see 2 Chronicles 30:3). Then, once the Passover started, it was discovered that all the people had not properly sanctified themselves “yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written” Second Chronicles 30:18.

We’re in the Old Testament reading this account, and we tend to see the God of the Old Testament as harsh and unyielding, but we’re delightfully surprised to find in this story that that is not the case. Second Chronicles 30:18b-20 says, “But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, ‘May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.’ And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people” (NKJ).

It may have been a long time since you prayed, attended church, or even thought about God. You might feel like you don’t even know how to approach God now, and you might figure that too much water has passed under the bridge for you to even try. Be encouraged. Stop thinking that way. The Passover under King Hezekiah was a month late, the priests had to hurry to get ready, and the people didn’t even know how to sanctify themselves properly, but God looked past all that because they had prepared their hearts to seek God.

It’s never too late to turn to God. It may seem like the wrong time, you feel like you’re at the wrong place, and you come with perhaps the wrong approach, none of those things matter. Your heart wants God and He can see that through all the “wrongs.”

Worship Him today for being the welcoming arms always ready to take you in.

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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

at bookstores, and on all major online book buying sites.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Also still available:

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

People usually use the phrase “get the hell out” in a derogatory manner. They are most often shouting it to someone whose company they no long desire. However today, believe it or not, I discovered a new use of the phrase from the words of the writer of the 86^th division of the Psalms. The Psalmist says, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Yourname. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore. For great is Your mercy toward me, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol” Psalm 86:11-13 (NKJ).

You see, the Psalmist realizes there is at least one huge benefit attached to living for God. Once he knows God’s ways, he determines to live by them. Once his heart is linked to God’s heart, he will respect God’s name by his obedience to God’s word. All of that results in praise, with the ultimate realization being that he notices that he has gotten the hell out of his future.

We too get the hell out of our future when we allow God to teach us His ways, walk in His truth, and unite our hearts to fear Him. We too will praise God with all our hearts and glorify His name every day of our lives. Worship God today; He’s praiseworthy because of His merciful action of delivering us from the depths of hell.

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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

at bookstores, and on all major online book buying sites.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Also still available:

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

We live in the information age. Thanks to the Internet and devices like our desktop and laptop computers, smartphones, and tablets, we can access a wealth of information just by typing in a few words. Whenever we want to know something—anything—all that’s needed is for us to “do a search.”

Things were not quite that easy back in Old Testament times, but records were kept, and information could be sought out. One such incident happened in the book of Ezra when the builders of the temple were challenged. Tattenai, the governor of the region containing Jerusalem, noticed that the Jews were rebuilding the temple and asked them who had given them permission to do so. When the builders told him they had permission from the powers that be, he wanted to check out their story, so he sent a letter to King Darius asking about the matter.

Ezra 6:1-2 tells us, “Then King Darius issued a decree, and a search was made in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. And at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found, and in it a record was written” (NKJ). Sure enough, the former ruler, King Cyrus, had issued the decree that the house of God be built at Jerusalem. King Darius didn’t just stop at telling Tattenai that fact; he added his own decree and a request:

• Let the cost be paid at the king’s expense from taxes on the region beyond the River; this is to be given immediately to these men, so that they are not hindered. And whatever they need—young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the request of the priests who are in Jerusalem—let it be given them day by day without fail, that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons. Ezra 6:8-10

This story teaches us some lessons about working for God.

1. Work candidly. Be involved openly in doing the work God has called us to do. Unless God has placed us in a ministry that involves undercover operations, we should not be ashamed of what God has called us to do. Anyone can see it and even challenge it if they’d like.
2. Work consistently. We should not stop working for God just because we are challenged. When Tattenai confronted the workers, they answered him but kept right on working. “But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, so that they could not make them cease till a report could go to Darius” Ezra 5:5.
3. Work confidently. When our work is firmly based upon the Word of the Lord, we can be confident in knowing God will back us up and supply abundantly for the work to be accomplished.

If we are involved in work we clearly know God has told us to do, we can expect to be challenged. We need to keep working, but hand the confronters a Bible and tell them simply, “Do a search.” All God-inspired work will be backed up somewhere in the pages of Holy Writ where the treasures of truth are stored. And we shouldn’t be surprised if those same challengers end up helping in the completion of the work. Worship God today for being the validation of our work.

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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

at bookstores, and on all major online book buying sites.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Also still available:

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

Most of us have heard the saying “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In other words, as long as something is working, there’s no need for change. Perhaps that bit of wisdom wasn’t available for King Asa of Judah because in Second Chronicles chapter 16, he changed the way he dealt with God, and that change led to his own ruin.

Asa and the people of Judah had been experiencing peace and prosperity. The people had followed the king’s example and everyone relied on God. In chapter 14, they saw God deliver them from an attack by a million-man Ethiopian army when they had been greatly outnumbered. In chapter 15, God encouraged the king by letting him know that because of his trust in God, his work would be rewarded. Oded’s prophecy and the king’s reaction were as follows:

For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law; but when in their trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them. But you, be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!” And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage… 2 Chronicles 15:3-4, 7-8 (NKJ).

For a while after this, King Asa and the people were gung-ho about pleasing the God. They “removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin… restored the altar of the Lord… [and] gathered in great numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with [King Asa]… They offered to the Lord at that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had brought. ¹² Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul… Then they took an oath before the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams’ horns. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.” The king even removed his own mother “from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron” 2 Chronicles 15:8-17. Chapter 15 ends by telling us “and there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa” (15:18).

Ah, but then comes chapter 16. After 35 years of enjoying the peace that came with serving the Lord with his whole heart, a problem arose. King Asa had apparently become self-confident. The three-and-a-half decades of comfort had hypnotized him into the belief that he could handle his problems without God.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Keep depending on God and doing things His way. That’s what works. Worship God today for being trustworthy.

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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

at bookstores, and on all major online book buying sites.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Also still available:

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)