The Burt (Not Ernie) Show - Believing God’s Promises & Understanding Your Identity in Christ

Use the text box at JanLBurt.com to request Psalm 91 resources.  Psalm 91 - NLT   1 Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. 3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. 4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. 5 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. 6 Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. 7 Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. 8 Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished. 9 If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, 10 no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. 11 For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. 12 They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. 13 You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet! 14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. 15 When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. 16 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

Hello and welcome to this episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show podcast. Today we’ll be looking at a passage from the New Testament, in the book of Matthew chapter 14. Let’s jump right in. Need Prayer? Share Your Prayer Requests with Jan Here You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, playing now on the Edifi app and on iHeart radio. This is episode # 209.    Matthew chapter 14 opens with the death of John the Baptist, which is a really messed up event. You read it and it is really disturbing, the way his death came about. It just is. It can’t be prettied up because it’s too raw and too ugly for that. It is what it is. And that’s how this chapter begins.    In the NLT, verse 13 reads: As soon as Jesus heard the news, He left in a boat to a remote area to be alone.    Jesus, the Son of Man, deity, being fully God and fully man, reacted this way upon hearing the news of John the Baptist’s death. He felt the pain and the grief of it, the weight of it. And He wanted to go somewhere remote in order to be alone. Does this comfort you in any way? This understanding that Jesus sat in His grief, as much as He was able to in a world that literally chased after Him continually. Do you need permission to sit in your grief right now? Have you felt almost guilty for wanting to step back, step away to a remote place (figuratively or literally), and be alone? Maybe you’ve been told that being alone in your grieving is not okay, that it’s unsafe or unwise or that your grieving and processing should happen in community. And maybe some of your journey through grief should be in some type of community… but as I read the text from Matthew 14, I am certain that Jesus sees you in this place and He is totally okay with you stepping back and retreating to some sort of remote-ness to be alone for a time. Look, we have no “remote” part of our lives if we post all the time, inviting anyone and everyone right into our lives in every season. And we can feel guilty about hitting pause. If you need to step away when you hear terrible news, you are in good company.    And most likely, you will actually succeed at getting a bit of time alone. Jesus did not get time alone, because the crowds heard where He was headed and followed on foot from many towns. (That’s the rest of verse 13.) Verse 14 says: Jesus saw the huge crowd as He stepped from the boat and He had compassion on them and healed their sick. If Jesus, in His own grief, on His way to someplace remote in order to be alone, saw this huge crowd of people and had compassion on them, I want you to grab hold of the hope in this verse and know that He sees you and He has so much compassion for you. He is the same yesterday and today and forever, and you can depend fully on Him to have the compassion on you that you need at the exact moment you need it. These people traveled from their towns to where they figured out where He was going, and He did not take that and set it aside. You also won’t be set aside when you come to Him.    Now He was in a remote place, because that’s where He was headed earlier in the day. Late that evening the disciples came to Him and said, “This is a remote place…” Yes, I am thinking He knew it was a remote place when He chose it as His destination. But they had all these people there, and the disciples did not have a way to feed them. They wanted Jesus to send them away so they could get food before it got much later. Jesus told them to feed the people. And this is the time when they had five loaves of bread and two fish. You probably know this story, maybe even learned about it on a flannelgraph back in the olden days. Jesus took the loaves and the fish (or the fishes, as it used to be said) and he blessed them, and started breaking the bread into pieces so the disciples could hand it out to the people. Everyone ate as much as they wanted and the leftovers were about twelve baskets full and 5000 men plus women and children were fed that day.    So you have the set up for what comes next, which is the focus of this episode of the podcast.  John the Baptist was killed and it was truly horrible, Jesus went away to be alone with the grief, huge crowds figured out where He was going and followed Him there, He had compassion on them and healed their sick, then the disciples wanted Jesus to send the people away to get food, but He miraculously fed them with the loaves and fishes.  Let’s pick up in verse 22 of Matthew chapter 14, from the NLT.   Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that His disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while He sent the people home. (Jesus insisted, and the disciples did as He said to do. That’s called obedience, my friend, and it ought to be a mark of a disciple in 2025 just as much as it was the mark of a disciple of Jesus 2000 years ago. Obedience matters, and sometimes we forget that in the here and now when we’re living in the age of grace. But have we considered that we may be abusing God’s grace by excusing away our lack of obedience? Being a grace abuser is not worthy of a merit badge. Try not to forget to obey the Lord and please do remember that delayed obedience is actually disobedience, plain and simple. Had the disciples delayed in obeying the Lord, the next verses in this chapter would have played out differently. Our obedience matters! May we always only have hearts and minds and feet and hands that are quick to obey Jesus.) And Jesus Himself sent the people home. Another good word for us. When He says to go on home now, we need to heed Him. Sometimes heading home to get some rest and be with our family, our loved ones, is what He tells us to do. We lean toward the workaholic being the “hero” in American culture, but was that Jesus’ heart? If not, then it’s not the Jesus way. Even if our culture applauds workaholics, lauding them as modern day heroes, let’s bear this in mind: We are never the hero in our story, or really in anyone else’s story. Jesus is the sole hero of all time. So, set aside the workaholic ways and go home when Jesus sends you there.)  Verse 23: After sending them home, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. Night fell while He was there alone. So He did what He first set out to do when He left to go to a remote are to be alone. Sometimes well-meaning people (family, friends, Bible study group members, your pastor, and so on) - at times they may tell you that heading off to be alone is not God’s will for you. It is really, really easy to grab a verse from the Bible and use it to make their point. In Hebrews, for example, it says not to forsake the gathering together of the saints, and that verse could be utilized to persuade someone from not taking some time to be alone. (Also, I want to add that we’re never alone when we know the Lord, because He is always with us. And that is incredibly comforting.) Let this verse be a reminder to you that God always accomplishes what He sets out to accomplish. If He aims to get something done, He does not start it and then have the inability to finish it. He has no inabilities. And so every single thing He starts is every single thing you can count on Him completing. What’s He promised you? That’s what He is going to finish. Your job is to believe Him. Sometimes that act of choosing to believe, even when it flies in the face of all evidence and logic, sometimes that is harder to do than getting our hands dirty and trying to work something out by our own strength. But when you hold tightly on to belief, you simultaneously hold tightly on to hope. Hope is valuable. Hope is precious. The enemy tries to snatch it away from you because he know its worth. But if God has hope for you, then it is yours for the having. Hold on to your belief and hang on to your hope today.  He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When you have the time and opportunity to get away by yourself to pray, I hope you take it. It is never time wasted. It’s an investment, one that will pay dividends throughout eternity. Jesus got alone to pray. We also need to get alone to pray. Period. No excuses, no exceptions. This is a need, not a “eh, I can take it or leave it” optional Christian practice. You need to pray. And you need to have times when you are by yourself, nobody else with you, no phone with you, just you and the Lord and you spend that time in prayer.    Night fell while He was there, up in the hills by Himself praying.  It got dark, and the disciples were out on the lake in the boat, still far from land, caught fighting heavy waves and a strong wind. And Jesus came out to them, walking on the water (that’s verse 25). It was the middle of the night and they’d been at it for a long time, after a very long day, which began with the news of John the Baptist’s death. Do you know how heavy and exhausting and intense grief can be? They had had a DAY, and now they were fighting impossible weather. They were afraid when they saw Him walking on the water, but once Jesus told them not to be afraid, to take courage because He was there (which is a good word for all of us pretty much every single day, isn’t it? Is there any circumstance when you don’t want to know that Jesus is there and you don’t need to be afraid? I’ll take that all day long, no matter what comes my way!) Once Jesus told them not to be afraid but to take courage, then Peter called out to Him, “Lord, if it’s really You, tell me to come to You, walking on the water.” “Yes, come, “Jesus said. (verses 28-29).   So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Verse 31 - Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”  And finally, verse 32: When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped Him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.    Anybody

Well hey there, hello to ya today. Welcome to this special episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, the podcast that takes God at His word, encourages listeners as they walk with the Lord, and boldly proclaims that all God’s promises prove true. This is something of a re-launch of the podcast, as I have not recorded a new episode in about five months.  A lot of varying reasons for the long break, but now the show is back. So, let’s jump right in!   We’re living in an era when believers need a whole lot of encouragement, and when those who are considering Christianity want an honest look at what it means to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus. This episode is aimed at both of those goals. Followers and curious seekers alike. Let me read from the New Testament book of Luke, chapter 13, about four verses. Starting in verse 23, through verse 28. I’m reading from the Amplified Bible, so you can compare it to your preferred translation or read along in your Bible or in case you want to make note of different translations and versions and do some Bible study on this passage later on. All of those are really good things, by the way. Don’t just take someone’s word for it when it comes to what the Bible says, and of course that includes me. Read it for yourself anytime you want to, fact check me like crazy. Let God be true and every man, every woman, every person be a liar, Romans 3 verse 4 says. When it comes to teaching the Bible, we should be very comfortable having our sources checked. If anyone teaching God’s word is not comfortable with that, something is very, very wrong. And in those situations, you may want to … run. (Not really kidding around with that advice.)    Here’s what this passage says, verbatim, in the Amplified Bible:   Luke 13:23-27 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition 23 And someone asked Him, Lord, will only a few be saved (rescued, delivered from the penalties of the last judgment, and made partakers of the salvation by Christ)? And He said to them, 24 Strive to enter by the narrow door [force yourselves through it], for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the Master of the house gets up and closes the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door [again and again], saying, Lord, open to us! He will answer you, I do not know where [[a]what household—certainly not Mine] you come from. 26 Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets. 27 But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where [[b]what household—certainly not Mine] you come from; depart from Me, all you wrongdoers!   Okay, so if you’re not familiar with the Amplified Bible, it is wordy. Because the Greek and the Hebrew of the New and Old Testaments often carry a depth of meaning in each word that is tricky to fully convey in the English language, different translations word things differently. The Amplified basically takes all the meanings of the text in the original language and adds them, usually in parentheses, which is why what I just read to you may have sounded choppy. Also, the Amplified capitalizes words like He, Him, Mine, etc. when it is talking about the Lord. And there are a few capitalized words in the text I just read.  Were I to leave out those extra words that are in parenthesis, it would read like this: And someone asked Him (that’s a capital, so someone asked Jesus this question.) Lord, will only a few be saved. And He said to them, Strive to enter by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the Master (and that is capitalized, so it’s talking about the Lord) of the house gets up and closes the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open up to us! He will answer you, I do not know where you come from. Then you will begin to say, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets. But He will say (again, He is capitalized, so the Lord will say), I tell you I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you wrongdoers!    This is weighty. This is no joke. Jesus’ answer to the question He was asked is heavy. This is serious stuff! “Will only a few be saved?” was the question. The ESV says, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” Kind of a yes or no question. But Jesus was so good to expound upon this, to go beyond the short answer and give us all this important information as His answer. Now, back to studying the Amplified (and yes, it does require studying. Not sure when Bible “study”, in air quotes, began to not be studious. Study, the word tells us that it takes some effort, focus, and intention. If your Bible study group is not studying the Bible, you could be a person to kind of change that, to step off the merry-go-round of quick and easy answers, making a joke instead of really digging into the text, leading a group that goes through the Bible and studies it rather than maybe a small group that gets gossipy and talks about fashion and somewhat trashy shows on streaming. Y’all know what I’m talking about, and if you are new to Christianity and are shocked that I’m saying this, that’s okay. A faith that can’t hold up to some examination is, well, perhaps more cult-like than faith-in-Jesus like. Women’s small groups are notorious for not doing enough actual Bible studying. New believers, keep searching for groups that do real Bible study and if you can’t find a group, start a group.) So as we study this text in the Amplified, we find the Greek for the word saved in verse 23 has some depth to it. Lord, will only a few be saved? Rescued, delivered from the penalties of the last judgment, made partakers of the salvation by Christ. Yeah, a lot more depth there. This is about the very end of time, the last judgment. And that day, it’s coming for all of us. If we say we love Jesus but we live like we’re never going to stand before Him and have our lives examined, then we’re probably not living for Him in our everyday lives. And notice it says made partakers of THE salvation by Christ. That little three letter word T-H-E…there is only one salvation and it is by Christ. That is almost certainly the most important thing I will ever say on the podcast, honestly. When it says strive to enter by the narrow door, the Amplified gives added depth by saying force yourself through it. Force yourself through the narrow door, the doorway to eternal salvation. Force yourself through it! Maybe, just maybe, this concept of raising your hand from your seat during a mega-conference altar call and then never opening your Bible, spending time in prayer, following Jesus as His disciple, just maybe that is nothing like forcing yourself through the narrow door. You know, we live in the very era when Jesus’ return is at hand, and forcing ourselves through the narrow door that makes us partakers of THE salvation by Christ is the clarion call for this hour. Now is the time, my friend. This decision for Jesus should not be put off until another day. It shouldn’t be put off for another hour! This is the time!  In this passage, when Jesus describes them knocking at the door again and again, like they are trying to beat that door down, the same narrow door that they did not force themselves through when they had the opportunity, trying to gain entry by incessant pounding on that door…and what will He say on that day? How will He respond to their knocking again and again? He’ll say He does not know where they come from - from what household, because it’s certainly not His. That’s repeated twice, in verses 25 & 27. And in between, in verse 26, they implore Him by stating that they ate and drank in His presence…oh this is very convicting. How often are we “in His presence” and thinking that’s good enough? They’ll say, “You taught in our streets.” Is it going to get Him to open the door if you remind Him that He was taught about in your local church? Think about what this passage means for your own life. Are you ready for this day? Because it’s coming, ready or not. I’ve said before that we need to get ready, be ready, and stay ready. Force yourself through that narrow door. Be on the inside when He shuts that door tight.    Just a few more thought I’d like to share on Luke chapter 13.  Verse 23 makes it super clear that this is about where a person will spend eternity. How many people in the year 2025 never even give a single thought to their eternal destination? We’ve been so desensitized, so conditioned to only think about this life, the here and now, focus on immediate gains, quick fixes, the current struggle and how to make that struggle end, and our own selves and “living in the moment” that thinking about forever does not really happen for so many people. Are you living for the moment, or are you living for forever? Does anyone stand on their platform, or ask their loved ones, if they know for certain they will be rescued, delivered from the penalties of the last judgment, made partakers of the salvation by Christ? Do I do that? Lord, what do You want to change in my heart, mind and life so that my focus turns from the temporal to the eternal, and so that I speak life - eternal life - over others?    Jesus’ reply here,  and He minces no words, as was His norm, is: “Strive to enter by the narrow door”. I’m hitting on this again to share something that is important. The definition of strive is to “make great efforts to achieve or obtain something” - “struggle or fight vigorously”. It implies great exertion against great difficulty and specifically suggests persistent effort. Synonyms include “labor, toil, struggle, compete, exert oneself, and endeavor”.  Even a quick evaluation of those words reveals the heart behind Jesus’ answer to the critically important question asked by an unidentified person in the thirteenth chapter of Luke. The Lord is telling us that getting on and remaining on the narrow road is anything but easy-street. And yet, is that what Amer

Well, hello there! Hope you are doing well, growing in grace, enjoying the Lord’s love, spending time with Him daily, and living a Kingdom focused life. I’m thankful you’re listening today. This is episode number 207 of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, featured on the Edifi app, iHeart radio, Spotify, Apple podcasts, and pretty much all the places. Let’s jump into today’s episode. The Power of God's Will - 40 Days of God's Promises Devotional now available on Audible If you were, say, looking at the last week of Jesus’ life, those days leading up to the crucifixion - if you were looking from the outside, those events leading would leave you with an entirely different impression than they do for us who know Jesus, who love Him and live for Him. In Him we live and move and have our being, it says in Acts 17:28. When you know that for yourself in a personal way, you look at the events between Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday with thankfulness, gratitude, humility, awe, and hope for what comes next. When you look at it from the outside in, it probably doesn’t create those same emotions. It looks like a series of terribly unfortunate events from that perspective. Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion - those are gut wrenching moments in history and may be incredibly difficult to make sense out of for someone looking at the life of Jesus for the first time.    The week seems like it ended in utter hopelessness, like those three and a half years of the Lord’s life were all for naught. And that would be discouraging, if you only saw it from that perspective, from the outside looking in.    But when you are in Christ, you look at things from a heavenly perspective. You are seated with Him in the heavenly places, is says in Ephesians 2:6, and that means we don’t see things from the world’s point of view. We see everything in a different light, and not like the old Bangles song from the ‘80s (yes, I am Gen X and yes, the 1980’s produced a vast volume of songs, enough that there are references available for almost everything…and I wish the word of God was as easy to memorize as all those song lyrics from my teenage years were).    When we only see something in part, only have access or clarity on bits and pieces of a situation, it can easily feel pretty discouraging. Let me reiterate that: when we only see in part, we can easily become discouraged.   It makes sense that the last week of Jesus’ life could be discouraging to someone looking at the life of Jesus from the outside. But doesn’t it also make sense that you and I can also become discouraged about the things we can only see in part? And since we are not yet with the Lord, we do see in part. We don’t have the whole picture. But what we do have is actually far better; we have Jesus Himself, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we have the promise of heaven with Him, we are forgiven, we have access to the Father via prayer directly, at any time, because the veil was torn at Jesus death and thanks to His resurrection, death and hell are defeated for us.    I say all that to remind you that when you start feeling discouraged about something, I hope you can pause and remember that just because you can’t see it all with total clarity, that does not mean things are hopeless. Sunday is coming, and for the Christian, Sunday always, always comes, into every scenario and situation and problem and pitfall. Always.    How can I say that and be so certain that it is true, no matter what is happening in your life? Because when you know Jesus, when your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, in the end you get eternity with Him. And that is, for you, the joy of Resurrection morning, the empty tomb, the defeat of death for you, and eternal hope.    We who know the Lord understand that Jesus accomplished the Father’s will, and we know absolutely that the tomb is empty, there is no body of Jesus entombed in Israel. No grave holds Him. That tomb? It was empty 2000 years ago, it’s empty right now, and it will remain empty for time and all eternity. The deed is done. The goose is cooked. Satan truly is a defeated foe, as Revelation chapter 20 so powerfully and beautifully teaches.   The seeming series of unfortunate events was in actuality a series of events leading to the greatest moment to ever occur. There’s nothing else like it!    You and I know this to be true.  So, can we also trust that God is doing His will - His good and perfect and pleasing will - on behalf of His dearly loved children, even in the areas of our lives that are painful?    It takes some guts, some faith, and often some honest prayer sessions with the Lord to really believe this with every fiber of our being. And if you need to wrestle with God on a topic that’s especially raw and real, please do that. Wrestle in prayer with Him. Ask Him those hard questions. Cry if you need to. But don’t just cry to your small group, to your friends, to your spouse. Cry out to your ABBA Father, and be still before Him long enough to experience the love and encouragement and peace that He wants to give you right in the midst of your mess.  You are not alone. He has promised never to leave you or forsake you. So please don’t live like you’re alone, like you’ve been forsaken. God is not a liar. Do not allow your stress to lead you to a place where your faith is so nonexistent, your trust so shrunken, that you are basically accusing God of being a liar to you. Remember, it is impossible fo rGod to lie, it says that in Hebrews chapter 6, verse 18. Never live in a way that accuses God of something that it is impossible for Him to do. He has not and He will not and He is not in this moment right now today lying to you. He can’t and He won’t. Please do not forget that!    Let’s look at Mark, chapter 4. Verses 24 and 25. I’m going to read from the New Living Translation.    Then He added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given - and you will receive even more. To those who listen to My teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”  How are you at listening? It’s not easy to be a good listener in our always on our phones day and age. It takes a whole lot more effort than it used to. But it’s important to train yourself to be a good listener. In say your marriage, your parenting, at work, and all the more so when it comes to what Jesus has said via the Bible.   Are you paying close attention to what He has said? Are you listening closely, so that you can understand and then be given even more? Are you listening to His teaching? Not just during a sermon once a week, but really listening when you open your Bible and read it for yourself? And are you doing that daily? If not, can you start reading your Bible every day? Not to be a legalist, because that is a dead-end road. But because you want to do what Jesus said to do here in Mark chapter 4 - reading your Bible because you want to pay close attention, to listen to Him closely, and to be given more understanding.   The inverse is that what little understanding you have will be taken away from you if you don’t pay close attention. That’s not a good thing. And so, let’s just not do things that way.    As we think about Resurrection Sunday, we almost certainly think about the fact that Jesus finished His work on the cross. It is a finished work. Nothing more needs to be done or added to it. It is finished, that’s what He said from the cross, and He meant what He said and said what He meant. Remember, Mark 4? We are paying close attention to what He tells us.  And so, we believe that it is finished, His work on the cross. And since we believe that, we also live without trying to add to the already finished work. The work we have to do is the work of believing according to John 6:29.    We can, and really I feel like we must, we must trust the Lord who paid it all to give us eternal life is the same Lord who is at work in our lives right here and now, today, completing the good work He began in us. Philippians 1:6 tells us to be confident that He will complete the good work He started in us. He is a finisher, our God is. Jesus finished it all on the cross and that sure doesn’t indicate that He’ll leave you flapping out in the wind, unfinished. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, it says in Hebrews 12:2. The Author, so He started it and He is also continuing to write it out for us, day by day, and He will finish it. Anything Jesus finishes is done to perfection. That’s how you need to look at your faith. Jesus authored it, He is still authoring it every single moment of every single day, and He will finish it to perfection. How do we know this is true? Because of the cross; His finished work on the cross proves that Jesus finishes everything He sets His hand to with perfection. Always. Every single time.   He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Your life and times are in His hands. Those are good, good hands to be in. Jesus isn’t Allstate, He doesn’t raise your rates when you make a claim. You are rooted and established in Him. He’s got you, and if you don’t feel like you can see the end of this ordeal right now, just remember that He’s got you. He has engraved you on the palms of His hands, and it is impossible for Him to forget you. See Isaiah 49:16.   This Resurrection Sunday, I hope you rejoice and declare with total trust in Him that He is risen! He is risen, indeed!    Lord bless you today, and every day! And may His mercy, grace and peace be yours in abundance. (And one little announcement - my devotional The Power of God’s Will - 40 Days of God’s Promises is available on Audible as an audiobook. I’ll put that link in the show notes.)    I’ll see you next time. Bye bye!

Hey there, hello to you today and welcome to this episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, where we look at what God has promised His people in the Bible, and we live like those promises are true… and thank God, they are!  Biblical Motherhood Pinterest Board You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, featured on the Edifi app and on iHeart radio. Today’s episode is all about God’s promise to give us peace, and more specifically, perfect peace, as it says in Isaiah 26, verse 3. And this is episode number 206.   Isaiah is a large book in the Old Testament. 66 chapters, I believe, and it covers a lot of ground. It is a record of the history of Israel and Judah, it is very prophetic - about specific nations and people groups and what would happen, at times even to the day, as we see in parts of Isaiah 18, that chapter comes to mind, and other portions of the book are exactingly specific, as well. And of course, about Jesus’ birth and life and death and resurrection, it holds so many prophecies that have indeed proved true, exactly true, to perfection. And then, of course, it holds a lot of prophecy about His second coming, His return that will be the most incredible event this world has ever seen.    Sometimes a book the size and the depth of Isaiah can be almost intimidating to read, overwhelming in it’s scope, some parts are historical record, and they read like much of the Old Testament does in Judges or 1 Samuel or the book of Ruth or Esther. But it is intermingled with these astounding portions that are not at all like reading through the book of Ruth or Judges. And we may shy away from it, because it is, frankly, a lot and we might feel like we’re  not learned enough or qualified to really understand it.    But is that a good reason to not read it? I don’t think so. God gives us such incredible promises in the book of Isaiah, and I do not think He made those promises so that we would never know them, let alone believe Him for them. Nope. That would not make sense. And a book that has so many powerful promises for us, a book that has been so spot on accurate regarding Jesus’ life on earth, well, that’s a very hopeful, hope-filled book. And we just don't want to miss what it has to say to us.    Which is why we’re going to look at one verse, one topic or theme, from the pages of Isaiah in this episode. You know, to get to the 206th episode of a podcast takes a bit of time, and as this show is focused on God’s promises, I have spent a fair amount of time the last few years reading and thinking about and writing about (as in the podcast show notes and my personal study time) and talking about so many of God’s promises for His dearly loved children (which is what we are, according to 1 John chapter 3, verse 1). And I have yet to be moved off my stance that all His promises are true. Ya know, you get the comments from people on different platforms when clips from the show are shared, and people can say things that are really heart wrenching to read…not what they say about me, because who cares, right? But also, usually what they say is about the Lord, and that is what’s heart wrenching. Maybe they’ve experienced serious hurt or disappointment, maybe they just have no idea who God is or how much He loves them, maybe something else entirely.    But those comments don’t move my needle regarding my belief in who my God is for me personally and as a whole, to all who will come to Him. It moves my needle with heartbreak but not my belief. In thinking about this, the comments and what’s possibly behind those comments, well I wonder if some of those commenters are lacking peace, maybe?  It’s a hard life, in a dark world, for a million different reasons in every stage and season. Inner peace, inner security, that’s missing in so many lives.    The verse from Isaiah that talks about perfect peace, that’s the verse that comes to mind. And that’s the verse I’m sharing with you as one of God’s most beautiful, life-giving promises in this episode.    You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You. That’s what Isaiah 26:3 says in the New Living Translation.  It’s a hefty promise, and as always, our God does nothing but deliver on this.    Does that mean we never have to pause, do a reset, pray, seek His peace, remind one another of verses like this, ponder the fact that Jesus said in this world we will have trouble but we are to take heart, He has overcome the world and that His peace He gives to us, His peace He leaves with us, but not the world’s peace. His peace. It’s a different kind of peace. It’s sitting in the doctor’s office getting really awful news, but you have an inner calm and peace that is so rock solid, you’re able to not endure that hard moment but rather, not be shaken by it. It’s a prodigal’s parent able to fully trust in the Lord and have peace, not be up all night fretting, overcome with dread, jumping at every shadow because the stress level is so high…but having peace right in the middle of the terrible awful disaster of a mess. That’s not the world’s version of peace. It’s beyond the bounds of this world, and I am so thankful that God has promised this peace, perfect peace, to us.    Let me read Isaiah 26:3 from the Amplified now. You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast (that is, committed and focused on You - in both inclination and character), because he trusts and takes refuge in You (with hope and confident expectation).   That adds some depth to the promise. Perfect and constant peace…that’s what I’m looking for, and I’ll find it when I look for it in Christ Jesus. A steadfast mind, well that sounds pretty good to me. Committed to and focused on the Lord, in all things all of the time. That is an amazing way to live. To have my character so impacted by my trust in God that every inclination I have is aligned toward Him. And why is this promise going to prove true for me and for you? Because we trust the Lord, and we take refuge in Him when life gets hard and we’re under attack or under pressure or facing peril or heartbreak or grief of simply the great unknown. We take refuge in our God in those moments not in a disassociated way, we don’t deny the difficult things in life, but in hope and in confident expectation. That’s perfect peace. That’s your promise.    Now let me share something I read from a missionary to China had to say about how Chinese  believers, followers of Jesus, how they read this verse: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind stops at God.    Let that sink in for a moment.    Can I repeat that? I feel like it’s too awesome to only say one time.   Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind stops at God.   In the midst of your troubles, when those scary scenarios start to swamp your thoughts, and thus swamp your life, because where our thoughts go, there our lives go… in those moments, can you and I choose to let our mind STOP at God?   Is this possibly what it means to be still and know that He is God? I think so.  But this happened and then this might happen next and then it may snowball into this, that and the other… But what if my mind stops at God? But this happened, and He is God. Not God of some things, not God now and then, hit and miss, here and there. He is God. Period. My mind, that’s where it stops. At God. Nothing is greater than our God. Nobody pulls a fast one on our God. Nothing gets past Him. Nothing lets Him down, because nothing holds Him up. He holds all things together, Colossians tells us about the Lord. All things. Nothing left out. Shalom peace, nothing missing, nothing broken.    He will keep you in perfect peace when your mind stops at God.   That’s it for this episode, and I’m so glad you were able to listen today. The highest compliment you could give the show is to share it with a friend. And just on the off chance that somebody might want to hear this, I am working on a Biblical Motherhood project and I have started a Pinterest board where I share some of my content, but also I Pin lots of encouraging content that falls under into the category of Biblical motherhood. If you are a mother or know a mom who would like some encouragement from a Bible based perspective, right here in the show notes is a link to that on Pinterest.   Lord bless you today, and hold your peace and let your mind stop at God today.   See you next time. Bye bye.

Hello there, and welcome to this episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show. You know, hope is not something random. We don’t stumble upon it, trip over it, bump into it and viola - lookie there, life-change occurs. That’s not hope, especially not from a biblical perspective. The Bible has a lot to say about hope, and there is one book in particular that is brimming with hope for us today…if we’ll just take the time to read what it says, and, of course, to believe it. Looking for some hope? Then this episode is for you.   This is The Burt (Not Ernie) Show podcast, available on the Edifi app, and this is episode number 205. I’m so grateful you’re listening, and I hope today’s episode encourages and blesses you.    When I am reading my Bible, and I see the word will or the word all in a promise God makes, I take it seriously. I usually underline it twice and often I will read it out loud and put emphasis on the word will, or on the word all. There’s nothing special about doing that; it simply reminds me that whenever God makes a promise, and says that He will do something, well, then He will. And I found that to be pretty significant, that decision to actively believe that He means what He says.    So, recently I was reading Revelation. Hold up. Don’t panic, it’s not just a scary book (although what is going to come upon the whole earth in the final days is very serious, I’m not denying that, not at all). But for the believer, for those who love the Lord, it’s a terribly hopeful book in the Bible. And, it kind of shouts about hope, because it’s not a past-tense, this already happened and it shows us God’s character, He’ll take care of me because He took care of, say, David, or Ruth, or Esther; those people inspire us to trust God all the more, and that is so important, such a blessing to have their real life stories to learn from, to be encouraged by, and to know God’s character, even in the dark times of life. But Revelation, well, there’s all this stuff that has yet to happen, prophecy to be fulfilled, and so much of what we read there is crazy encouraging. It’s profound. And we know it will happen, that what the Lord has promised will come to pass, well, that’s exactly what’s going to come to pass. So it’s a hopeful book, and a hope-filled book. Proverbs tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick (that’s Proverbs 13:12). But with Revelation, we need to bear in mind that even though it feels like so long since John received this revelation from Jesus, as Peter wrote, God isn’t slow in keeping His promise, but is patient, because He does not want anyone to perish. To spend eternity apart from Him. That’s from 2 Peter, chapter 3, I believe.   Let me read to you from chapter 21 of Revelation, verses one through eight.   Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among His people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God Himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”  And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then He said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And He also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega - the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be My children. But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars - their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”    Got a whole lot of hope packed into these eight verses. The old heaven and the old earth are going to disappear. That’s just a fact. Jesus says so, and so it shall be. Disappear. Gone. No longer here. If we are loving the world so much, trying to maybe hold on to aspects of it, to make it better, improve it, help it along, maintain it, keep it going…well, that’s not the best use of our limited and finite time, because it is not going to last. Why spend all our strength on what is guaranteed to disappear? A 100% negative ROI. The sea will also be gone, says verse 1. When the old earth disappears, God will finally have His Eden. At the appearance of the New Jerusalem, which comes down from God out of heaven, there will be 1000 years of this world in perfection. Think about the hope and the promise of that. One thousand years of perfection. More than ten full lifetimes, as we know them know, more than ten lifetimes of peace and perfection in a world that is perfect. Every single thing will be perfect, under the reign and rule of Jesus. That’s a lot of good stuff to look forward to. Hope - Revelation 21 ushers in so much hope.    The sea will be gone. What does this mean? Well, here’s one thing that it means: restlessness will be no more. Think about the ocean, the sea. It’s not ever really flat and calm, except in that area around the equator known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, or the doldrums. It’s calm there, but seasoned sailors (not so much in our day and age, but in the eras of sails and wind driven vessels) - seasoned sailors know that you end up stuck there, floating, not drifting, and it is so hot, the sun is so intense, the sea is flat and still, and there’s nothing good about it. No forward movement, no momentum, the last place you want to be languishing out on the open ocean. The doldrums are the one place where the sea is not restless, but it makes the seafarers extremely restless. So when it comes to the sea, it is always a restless place. There won’t be restlessness anymore. Knowing that a day is soon to come that will leave all our restlessness behind, well, that’s hopeful. In the new world there cannot be, will not be, restlessness or lack of peace, being tossed around here and there, to and fro, as if driven by the waves of the sea. And there won’t be any doldrums that nearly drive you mad. No longer any sea reminds us, promises us, a day is soon coming with no restlessness. Isn’t that a beautiful promise to hold on to and garner hope from?    God’s home will then be among His people. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. Revelation 21:3-4. When God says will in one of His promises to us, He means it. He takes it so seriously, and I think He’d like us to also take it seriously. He will wipe every, not most, but every tear from your eyes. God Himself will do it. He doesn’t send one of His mighty angels to do this, as He sends them to do so much of His will all throughout the book of Revelation. He Himself will bend near, and wipe every tear from our eyes. This verse sparks so much hope. There will be no more (how much more? No more!) death of sorrow or crying or pain. All these will be gone forever. How much kindness, love, goodness, compassion, mercy, grace and favor will come to us when this promise is fulfilled? God’s very character and nature are wrapped up in this. Are you feeling hopeful based on these promises?    He will make everything new. I’m not sure what needs to be made new in your life, but I can think of several things in my own life, my world, that could use some brand newness from the Lord’s hand. He is going to do what He said, and He will make everything new. Look forward to this time with hope and assurance. Take this seriously. He knows all the things that need to be made new in your life, and He is going to make it all new one day, likely one day very, very soon, based on the signs of the times and the season we’re living in.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. And He ain’t messing around. When He says in this chapter, “It is finished,” boy oh boy does He ever mean it. When He said that from the cross, and then gave up His Spirit and died, He defeated sin. And three days later, when He rose from the dead, He fully defeated death and the grave and hell for all who follow Him. It is finished are words in red that ought to wake us up out of our slumber.  To all who are thirsty, I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. What you need most, what you really are thirsting for in life, the stuff that matters when the chips are down and it’s all on the line and laid bare - He’s promising to give it to you freely. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be My children.  All is used in this promise twice. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings.    It takes something to be victorious. It takes being a follower of Jesus who actually follows Him. Indeed, not just in words. Do you obey Him out of your love for Him? Are you following Him? And are you applying His words from Matthew chapter 24, when He says that the one who endures till the end shall be saved? Sometimes in this day and age, we just have to keep enduring. Moment by moment. Heartbreak, grief, sin, overwhelm, fear of what’s to come, despair…in all this and so much more, He calls us to endure. Endure till the end. That is how we will be victorious and will inherit these blessings. You can do the work of enduring, because the Holy Spirit will help you.    And then, verse 8. But Oh boy, when the Lord starts a sentence with the word but, we need to pay attention. Close attention. He’s saying something really important. But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers and all liars - their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the

Hey there, hello to you today. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show.  Today’s subject matter is of the utmost importance, but not necessarily something that is talked about enough within the Christian community. And that’s our tendency to live like orphans even though we are now part of God’s family thanks to Jesus.  God's promises devotional on Amazon Good verses to read about your true identity: Psalm 17:8 Isaiah 43:4 Psalm 147:3 Psalm 18, verses 2, 18 & 19, 28, 32, 35 & 36 Romans 12 John 8   We have so many promises from the Lord to assure and reassure us of our new identity in Christ, and yet we struggle with feeling unseen, abandoned, alone, wondering about unanswered prayers and the things in life, big and small, that wear on us and weigh us down.  How do we reconcile the way we feel with the promises God has given us?  That’s the heart of this episode of the podcast.    You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show podcast, which can be found on the EDIFI app, an all Christian content podcast option - as well as anywhere else you listen to podcasts. This is episode number 204.    If I could give a definition of a believer living more like an orphan than like a child of the Most High God, I would put it like this: there is a strong and sometimes even extreme sense of aloneness and possibly abandonment that can at times define some aspects of a person’s character, their attitudes, thoughts, feeling, beliefs and intentions.    This sense of aloneness and possibly feeling abandoned almost seems to operate on its own, like it has its own life force or something, working to mold the person’s self-image, actions and reactions. Sometimes it may seem like the words someone speaks are misheard and interpreted very differently than what was being conveyed (which can lead to strong reactions). Decisions may be made based on feeling orphaned. This can also lead to rapid decisions and reactions, as in too quick and not thought out or prayed over. Ready, fire, aim sort of a thing.    We have a God who loves us and because of that love for us and because of our love for Jesus, we have an enemy, Satan. And I think our enemy works to get us feeling alone, abandoned, orphaned. The devil is in the details, isn’t that the saying? And the devil also works in darkness and tries to push God’s children into darkness as well. Operating in the darkness and pushing that orphan-like feeling on people is an attempt to manipulate people. And to keep the evil influence secret. Satan doesn’t want us to know that he is harassing us; he would like us to wrongly believe that the problem lies within us. The father of lies, the devil, always lies to us because it is his native tongue (that’s what Jesus said in John 8:44).    Some of the things our enemy often does is try to hide what’s actually going on from the Lord’s followers. He lies, he deceives, he manipulates. Now what if a person starts to counter the sense of aloneness with the truth from God’s word? Does the devil ever try to push back on the truth? Yeah, he probably does.  So what are we to do? One thing I know for sure; Jesus died to give us freedom, and when we bump up against areas in our life where our freedom has been stolen or where we maybe have given our freedom away, we don’t want to just give up. Pray and keep on praying, isn’t that what Jesus taught His followers in Luke chapter 18? It can be so hard to keep on fighting the good fight of our faith in prayer sometimes. But I really want to encourage you to keep fighting. Keep praying. Keep your Bible open. Keep believing, even if it feels like it’s hard to believe those promises. Pray and don’t give up. Paul wrote about this in 1 Thessalonians - pray without ceasing. God won’t lie to you, leave you or forsake you. And you are not an orphan.   When we read Galatians chapter five, we get this beautiful picture of freedom. Not just freedom like we celebrate on the Fourth of July here in America. But freedom in Christ, next level freedom, freedom that impacts our life here and now but carries over into all eternity. It’s not a temporary freedom, there is no way that it can be taken from us (in spite of the fact that at times we may not feel free, our freedom in Jesus isn’t something that ebbs and flows, that comes and goes - it is permanent and eternal and everlasting, while our feelings don’t alway speak the truth).    From the J. B. Phillips translation, Galatians 5 verse 1 says this: Plant your feet firmly therefore within the freedom that Christ has won for us, and do not let yourselves be caught again in the shackles of slavery.   As I read that verse once more, imagine yourself being freed from literal shackles of slavery and then think about letting yourself be re-shackled and enslaved.    That is what we are told not to do. Plant your feet firmly with the freedom Christ won for you. Stay planted, rooted in Him. And don’t move out of that place of being planted, don’t move to a place where Satan has the chance to put those shackles back on your ankles. Keep your feet in the right place and don’t let him get your feet moving off that place, the Rock which is Christ Jesus.    Freedom is what Jesus gave to you. He bought it for you. It’s yours. That’s an absolute iron-clad promise. Don’t forget it!   If you ever feel like you’re being pushed and pulled and prodded in a super stressful way, like you’re just being driven and driven and driven, that could be the enemy harassing you. Why do I think that? Because that driven driven driven feeling is in direct opposition to the Galatians 5:1 freedom that Jesus secured for us. And the Lord sure isn’t giving us the exact opposite of what He died to grant us. When you feel like you’re being driven, pause and pray, pray that the promised freedom God clearly talks about in Galatians would be your immediate reality and that the liar the devil would be rendered ineffective in his harassment.  Satan loves to drive people. Jesus never drives people.  Satan wants everybody to live like they’ve been orphaned, but he doesn’t want anyone to talk about it. But when we talk to the Lord about it, we bring it into the light and God’s truth lands on it and that is really effective at keeping us free. Because the truth, said Jesus, will set you free. John 8:31-32.   Genesis 18:14 says this: Is anything too hard for the LORD? The Lord said these words to Abraham when Sarah laughed when He promised that she would have a son in about a year’s time.  It’s one thing to hear me pose the question, “Is anything too hard for God?” But it’s quite another when the Lord speaks for Himself and asks, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” in direct response to one of His dearly loved children wondering whether or not He will keep His promise.   Is God maybe asking you today, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” How can you apply this verse to your situation? What’s your answer to His question?    We have some weapons in our spiritual arsenal.  Weapons like prayer, like fasting, like choosing belief and refusing doubt, the weapon of worship, and of course the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17).   Luke 24:13-35 tells us that Jesus walks with us and comforts us when we are traveling on a difficult path in this life. That indicates that He never wants us to feel abandoned or orphaned on those hard roads. He wants us to know that He is walking alongside us.    In John 16:24, Jesus described the Holy Spirit as our Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener and Standby (Amplified).  This verse reminds us to ask and keep on asking in order that we might receive and have our joy be complete. Pray things through to their very final end. Please don’t give up on praying! Never stop praying! And keep believing every single promise God gives you in the Bible.    He loves you with great tenderness and he wants you to have a rich, full, joyous life as His child. Secure, at peace, resting in His love and care. Not a trouble free life - that’s not possible in this world, and Jesus Himself said that in this world we will have trouble, but to take heart, for He has overcome the world (John 16:33).    1 Peter 1:4 says that we have been born into an inheritance that is beyond the reach of change. Orphans don’t have an inheritance and they live in constant fear of change. Satan is so lying when he tells us differently than this verse promises!   And 1 Peter 2:9-10 is proof of our non-orphaned status. 9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,[g] a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10  “Once you had no identity as a people;     now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy;     now you have received God’s mercy.”[h] We are chosen, consecrated, set apart, a special people for God’s own possession, called out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Once we were not a people, but that time in our lives is over and done with.    I’m going to list off a few more verses you are welcome to read for yourself if you’d like. The truths in these verses are promises that can cement in your heart and mind how the Lord really, truly feels about you.   Psalm 17:8 Isaiah 43:4 Psalm 147:3 Psalm 18, verses 2, 18 & 19, 28, 32, 35 & 36   And the entire twelfth chapter of Romans. That’s an excellent piece of the Bible to read!   Freedom comes at a cost. But Jesus paid the price in full. And he or she who has been set free by the Son is free indeed. John 8:36   My prayer for you today is that the Lord will move by the power of His Holy Spirit to fully set you free, to bless you, guide you, speak to you so loudly that you know for certain He is right here with you. Delivering you from the enemy’s evil attacks, bringing total healing and freedom and restoration and redemption into your life. That’s a prayer I

Well hey there and hello again to ya. Welcome back to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show.  Created for You Freebies at JanLBurt.com The Power of God's Will - 40 Days of God's Promises Devotional on Amazon Let’s go ahead and get started. God’s got good for you, and I am hopeful that this episode will remind you of that, no matter what kind of stuff life is throwing at you today.   You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show podcast, blessed to be part of the ministry of the Edifi app. That’s EDIFI, and you can find it in your app store. And if the show blesses or encourages you, I’d like to formally invite you to subscribe. This is episode number 203. Today I am going to read a bunch of Bible verses to you and let the promises of God sink into your heart and also into your mind (because when the word of God gets into our mind, it literally  changes the way that we think and that, my friend, changes the way that we live). And I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to prepare you right now, before I even quote one single verse, to ready you and prepare you to believe His amazing promises to you so that you can live from here on out like they are taking place, being accomplished, in your life. Live like His promises to you are true.   Because they are! God keeps all of His promises so I want to encourage you today to live like you know He is keeping all of His promises to you. To your family. And to His people all over the world.    Okay, so let’s dive into God’s Word and get some encouraging news in our ears, and into our thoughts, shall we?    First let’s start with some powerful and hopeful words that Jesus spoke. I am quoting the NLT for today’s podcast & let’s look at Mark 12:27 - Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God.”    Okay - this is where we are going to begin. It is so, so important to remember, when we are making the big bold decision to really, truly believe God’s promises - to live a believing life - that we don’t base our belief on anything other than the Lord. We don’t search out something in addition to Him in order to increase our faith. We aren’t mustering up more faith by trying to make ourselves have more faith. Rather, we are relying fully on Him. And we are simply deciding that we will believe what the Bible says to us. And so, this verse is just a great reminder that you don’t have to make God’s promises work out in your life, in your kid’s lives, etc. Nope. The pressure isn't on you to make happen what God has promised. But so often we live as if the pressure is on us, somehow, to do what is impossible for us. Only God is God, and only He can keep the promises He makes. Now only you can live by faith, believing God. But you and I have no ability or power to make it happen. We cannot get it done. But what we can get done is choose to believe Him, to take Him at His word, and to abide in Him moment by moment, even while we are expecting to see His promises fulfilled.    There are actually many, many things in this life that are impossible - for mankind. For humans. For wives and for moms and for employees and so on. Humanly speaking, there is gonna be stuff that is just not possible. But not with God! Aren’t these words from Jesus incredible?  Think for just a moment about what our Savior is actually saying to us. But not with God. EVERYTHING is possible with God.   So bring God into everything, then! Never intentionally leave Him out of anything. You want the God who turns the impossible into the possible  - you want that God doing all the things in your life, right?    Get a sense of Jesus, today, looking at you intently and reminding you, firmly but with great love and compassion, that it isn’t about mankind's ability to make this thing fly. Because  is is God and God alone who makes everything possible.    Psalm 37:23 (NLT) says this - The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.   Okay, this is a great verse! What hope it provides! What assurance! This is quite a promise! He is promising that He will direct your steps. And guess what? You can pray this verse over your loved ones, your co-workers, your spouse, your aging parents, your neighbors. And also, pray this over yourself.    Lord, please do as You have said in Your word and direct my steps. Lord, delight in every detail of my life.   Lord, direct my steps. I know my righteousness and any godliness within me is thanks to Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. So Father, bless me and direct each step that I take. Stop me when I am near a misstep. Thank You for this promise of Your guidance and direction over my life, from now until my last breath.    It says that He delights in every detail of our lives. So guess what that means for us? How does that relate to us living in total belief that God’s promises for us are absolutely true and are being realized on the daily? Well, take every little and every big detail of your life to God in prayer. You can do that! You should do that! He cares so much - talk to Him.Talk to Him often. Like, talk to God a lot! All of the time. And remember, and keep on remembering, He delights, not tolerates or endures or notices, but delights in every detail of your life. You are not just barely tolerable. No, to the contrary, you are one in whom God takes great delight.    Oh this is a great promise. And a great prayer verse too. Quick side note here - anybody else feel kind of like we need to ramp up our praying? Just have that sense that we need to spend more time talking to the Lord, time in prayer by ourselves and maybe with others, too.  If you feel that way too, listen to the Lord as to what He is calling you to. And keep track of, write down, memorize, put in your phone verses that you can have at the ready at any moment to pray.That’s just a little tip that comes in handy, having some verses saved to a note on your phone so that you can open it and start praying those verses at any time, it can be helpful to have that at hand. And maybe open that note and pray those verses rather than scroll when you have ten minutes to spare. Just a thought!  Praying God’s promises is really amazing. Like, this will leave you amazed again and again. So, that’s my side note. Just keep seeking to be part of whatever He is doing, where He is moving. And hey, prayer is always always a good thing, is it not?    (And maybe take a look at what it says in Habakkuk 2:3 - that is an awesome verse to start a prayer time with. I encourage you to look it up but I will read it to you from the Amplified right now - For the vision is yet for the appointed (future) time; it hurries toward the goal (or fulfillment); it will not fail. Even though it delays, wati (patiently) for it, because it will certainly come; it will not delay.)  He is always moving, and even when it seems like there is a delay, which there is at times according to the verse I just read from Habakkuk, don't lose heart. Hang your hope on the Lord who always does as He has promised, and don’t unhang your hope when the wait gets long.    Okay, so this next verse is one that I think some people might feel like they just cannot seem to fully believe for themselves. Like, this isn’t going to be true for me. If you’ve ever thought like that, let me encourage you. I am hopeful that you and I can today believe this verse for our very own situations.   Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT) says - So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.   A lot in that verse. First, God says to be strong and courageous and that sentence ends with an exclamation point. Now there weren’t exactly punctuation marks in the original Hebrew, right? But the translation into modern English gives us the exclamation point so that we grasp God’s meaning in this verse. The punctuation reminds us of the importance - it’s to garner our attention, to make sure we’re listening and reading what God has said in His word.  So - let’s just do what He says to do! Be strong. Be courageous. Exclamation point. I am guessing you have one or more parts of your life right now, at this point in time, where you can apply this. So go ahead and apply it. Be strong. Be courageous. How? By resting in the Lord and knowing that He is going to keep His word.    Don’t be afraid. Think on Jesus and the fear dissipates, really it does! Do not panic before them, it says. Well “them” of course refers to their enemies. Don’t panic before your enemy.    And here is the reason why you don’t need to be afraid, don’t panic, but instead be strong and courageous. For the Lord your God WILL PERSONALLY go ahead of you.  This is profound to think about, and yet it is absolutely true.    When God says He WILL do something, He most assuredly will. You just be about the business of believing He will do all He has promised to do. Let Him be about the actual doing of it.    He will personally go ahead of you. How’s that for a promise that can give you some big time faith?    And the verse ends with this - He will neither fail you nor abandon you. I’m going to say that once more - He will neither fail you nor abandon you.  He won’t. That’s that.   I’ve got a couple more verses to share with you today. And I am believing they are encouraging to you and will have you just believing by the end of this episode. If not, hey, you can listen again. Let that faith grow in you and believe more and more every single day - trust God more than the news, more than fear, more than anything. Right?   Revelation 21:4 (NLT)  - He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying of pain. All these things are gone forever.   This is such a wonderful verse for us. I’m not going to mention anything specific today - but we are living in a very tumultuous era. I’m going to say this abou

Well hey there, hello and a very warm welcome to this episode.  No need to dilly-dally or make small talk…let’s just jump right in and talk about God’s promises.         Link to the devotional mentioned in this episode     Link to the free No More Worrying digital download mentioned in this episode   You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show podcast, which can be found wherever you listen to podcasts, as well as on the Edifi app, a unique podcast app featuring Christian content only. That’s EDIFI, available in the app store. This is episode number 202. The Promise of a New Year - God’s Promises for You.   New year, new you? Ever heard that phrase? How does that usually work for ya? Dive into a new year, do the prep for whatever needs prepping in order to make the new you a reality. Plan it, map it out, might even pray over it. This time! This time, for sure!  Sound familiar?  Let me ask again, how does that usually work out for you?   It works so well for (can you hear my sarcasm) that I have decided not to do that anymore. New year, same God, not going to fixate on a new and improve me. He can mold me, shape me, make me again another as it says in Jeremiah 18:4, do His sanctifying work in me for His glory and His purposes and I’ve decided that’s enough for me. More than enough, because thus far has the Lord helped me, declaring my Ebenezer (not like A Christmas Carol, but like 1 Samuel 7:12 and the hymn “Come Thou Fount” which holds the line, “Here I raise my Ebenezer”. A far, far better way to start a new calendar year, in my opinion. I gain so much peace, I bend the knee and bend my will to God, I can rest in Him and also be expectant of all He will do in the coming weeks and months. As John the Baptist said, “I must decrease and He must increase.” Yes, please. This usually (or always) works well for me, whereas new year, new me…not so much.   The title of episode number 202 is “The Promise of  New Year - God’s Promises for You” because there is so much promise in every new season when we walk out said season with the Lord. A new calendar on the wall counts as a new season, and the promises I’m about to share today fit this new season. As always, these promises are God’s promises, taken directly from the Bible, and they are for you, my friend. Y.O.U.   Psalm 125, verses 1 and 2, from the NLT:   Those who trust in the LORD are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever. Just as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people, both now and forever.   Now of course this psalm, which is a psalm of ascent, has to do with Israel and her people. No doubt about that. And it also is an encouragement for us, not as Jewish people, but as Christ followers. 2 Timothy 3:16 says all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, reproof, instruction, correction. Knowing what Scripture says matters, and that’s why Psalm 125 matters for you right here in this season.  In  Zechariah 14:4-11, Revelation 19:11-16 and Revelation 20:1-6, we read about the Messiah, Jesus, standing on Mount Zion when He returns the second time. So when Psalm 125 says that those who trust in the LORD are as secure as Mount Zion, well that’s pretty secure, I’d say. If that is the place where Jesus’ feet will land, where He will stand, it’s an iron-clad guarantee that Mount Zion is going to be there right til the very end… If we trust in the Lord, we’re secure like Mount Zion is secure. This is an amazing promise. It’s an immovable promise. They will not be defeated, but will endure forever. God surrounds you like those mountains surround Jerusalem, both now and forever. Huge, huge promise. If the only promise I shared with you today was this one, it would be more than enough for the entire year. Isn’t God good? What a promise! You are as secure as that mount on which Jesus will stand at His return, and I do not know what more could be said to ensure that you trust God and know this promised security is yours. Amen?   John 14:1 from the NLT says: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me.” This is Jesus speaking.  We all have things that trouble our hearts, and the things that fall into that category, the heart troubling category, well those aren’t the small things that get in our craw, that annoy us, the little irksome frustrations. No, anything we describe as heart troubling, well, that’s the real hard stuff in life. We can’t just brush it off, ignore it, say a quick prayer and have it dissipate, talk ourselves out of it, or anything like that. And Jesus says to you and to me about those things that are the big, hard things, He says, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God (as it says in Psalm 125 verse 1) and trust also in Me.” Do you trust in God? Do you trust Jesus? Your answer is probably, “YES”. Do you trust Him with the things that give you a troubled heart? Do you trust Him in the midst of those things, in spite of things, trusting and trusting again and again, until your faith becomes sight, until you have the peace that passes all understanding, perfect peace as it says in Isaiah? This year, trust Him like that. Trust Him more fully, more completely, with more abandonment and more certainty that He’s got you, you are so secure in Him, more than you ever have before. Because He keeps all His promises, nobody is more trustworthy than our God, and perhaps no one’s trustworthiness has been questioned more than our God. Let’s not be among those who question Him, not today, not this time. Let’s choose, let’s opt in, to not let our hearts be troubled, but to trust God, to trust Jesus.    Let’s ponder God’s utter faithfulness for a moment, because it’s worth the reminder…when we are so dug in, all in, certain of who our God is and of His absolute inability to be anything but perfectly faithful and a perfect promise keeper, well then we believe all of His promises on a better, deeper level. Malachi 3:6 from the CSB says, “Because I, the LORD, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.” The Lord does not change. He doesn’t! But sometimes the lack of belief we exhibit reveals that we think it’s somehow okay to act like He does change, like He might change this time, He might do us dirty. We’re fickle, we’re selfish, we’re mercurial, and we’re not often the least be ashamed by that.  James 1:17 also from the CSB, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”  Just to reiterate the truth that God does not change, has never changed, will never change, it just is not going to happen so let’s go all in and believe what He has promised in the Bible.  John 8:12, NLT - Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow Me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”  Want to be challenged and encouraged and bolstered and blown away by Jesus’ words and promises? Read John chapter 8. That’ll do it! Feel like you need to expand the boundaries of your faith in the Lord? Read John 8 and oh those boundaries will sure enough expand! In a good way, in the best way.    We don’t have to walk in darkness. There are no areas of life that don’t fall under this promise. So when we walk in darkness, maybe we’re forgetting this promise. Maybe we are in a place of unbelief for whatever reason. Maybe we just need to be reminded that Jesus IS, present tense, right now He is the light of the world - He is the light of your world right now. You don’t have to walk in darkness, in confusion, with a clouded mind, because you have the mind of Christ 1 Corinthians 2:16 promises. You have the light that leads to life. Don’t overanalyze, don’t think yourself out of believing it, just opt in and agree that what Jesus said in John 8:12 is true, and is true for you. Right now. No matter what. It’s a true promise for you today.   Proverbs 3:5-6, NLT, say - Trust in the LORD with all your heart (with some of your heart? Most of your heart? Or all of your heart? We need regular heart check ups to make sure our trust level is aligned with this verse) Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding (Do Not! When mom or dad says do not do that, well, the wise child listens and even the ornery child usually listens because a stern “Do not do that” warning from a parent…that gets your ears perked up. This is God, your Father, saying Do Not…and we think little to nothing about doing exactly what He says not to do. Let’s read again and keep that do not directive in mind). Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do (in most of what you do? Nope - in all you do) and He will show you which path to take.   Wondering which direction to go? Then seek His will in all you do and He will show you which path to take. We don’t just want these promises to be fulfilled in our lives, we NEED them to be fulfilled. And when we see something we’ve been missing, let’s make those adjustments and get on board with the Lord. The Good Shepherd leads His sheep well, and we’re safe when we listen to Him and not to any other voices. So, let’s listen up and heed His words.   Have you seen the animated film Over the Hedge? In one scene, the character R.J. says to another character, Hammie (and Hammie is sort of spacey, not all there, and Hammie is trying to eat a cookie that is broken in two and being held together with a band aid…kind of gross, right? Well, that’s us sometimes.) RJ says, “You don’t want that cookie, Hammie. That cookie’s junk.” What band aid cookie are you trying for and where is God saying, No, that’s junk? Trust in Him with all your heart, and do not depend on your own band-aid cookie version of understanding. He has better for you than you might have for yourself. You don’t want that cookie, my friend, because that cookie is

Hey there! Welcome to the podcast. In today’s episode, we’ll be taking a look at the hope and the promise of Christmas, from Luke chapter two. This is a time of year when hope is a watchword, and traditionally has been a season when people are much more open to receive kindness and blessings and when you say Merry Christmas and God bless you, maybe they don’t do that little uncomfortable wince that happens at times. This year, let’s take a few minutes and consider the hope we have because of Christmas, and because of all the promises God made and then fulfilled when Jesus came to earth as a newborn baby.    You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, part of the Spark Network, now playing in the Edifi app. That’s Edifi, spelled E D I F I, and you can find it in your device’s app store. The hope and the promise of Christmas is our focus today, and this is episode number 201.    As I did some research for this episode, I read that there were at least eight specific prophecies that were fulfilled when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Now of course, Jesus fulfilled hundreds of prophecies when He lived on this earth, and died and rose again. And the remainder will absolutely be fulfilled at His second coming. But regarding His birth in Bethlehem, we find the fulfillment of prophecies from Genesis 22:18, Numbers 24:17, Isaiah 7:14 (that one is a common Christmas card verse, for good reason), Isaiah 9:6-7, Daniel 9:25-26, Micah 5:2 (one of my favorite verses for this time of year), Jeremiah 31:15, Hosea 11:1 which does tie in with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.    The Bible truly is an amazing book, God’s Word is profound. And at Christmastime, I hope it has a profound impact and blessing on your life. I say this a lot, but I think it needs to be said often -  not only are God’s promises true…they are true for you. He loves you enough to make promises to you and then to keep those promises. And that’s where hope comes in for us - we have such great hope because we’ve seen Him keep His promises, and in the midst of tough times, we hold on to our hope that He will continue to keep His promises. This is not hope misplaced; it’s the opposite - perfectly placed hope. Hope in the Lord ends up being the kind of faith that yields results. It’s unseen at first, those results, but ends up being seen when our faith becomes sight. If you need some hope right now, well, this is for you.   From the Amplified, Luke chapter two verse 1 says: Now in those days a decree went out from (the emperor) Caesar Augustus, that all the inhabited world (the Roman Empire) should be registered (in a census).  So this was more than just an emperor deciding he needed to take a census and get an accounting of all the citizens of his empire. This was done at the Lord’s behest, because of His will. One of the things that is easy to overlook in the Christmas story, to take for granted, because we’ve heard this passage so many times, year after year, it’s easy to overlook the significance of the way God’s hand, albeit invisible, was at work to move the heart of Caesar to order this census that required everyone to return to their own city, hometown, the town for their family’s official registration. And if we just read verse one, that single sentence, and move right on into the rest of the chapter, we can miss the reality that’s here for us, for our lives, right now. God moves in the lives and in the hearts of men, women, and children. He moves little people, and that’s like little in quotes because all mankind is so precious to Him, nobody is small or miniscule to Him. Our God is not in the business of marginalizing people. He created each one, knitting each in their mother’s womb, has engraved us on the palms of His hands, and no one is without value to Him. So that’s not what I mean when I say little persons. What I mean is, societally, the shepherds were not big wigs, power players, in that culture. And yet, they were given the message, the announcement, of the birth of the Messiah, the very Son of God. Amazing! The emperor, Caesar Augustus, was moved to issue the decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, all his empire, and so mankind was on the move, headed to their hometowns to be registered as part of this mandatory census. Don’t miss this. There is great importance and value to this moment in time - and it’s valuable and important for your life. The God of hope is the God who wants you to believe that He can move mountains and the hearts of kings, rulers, those in authority, in order to bring about what He has in store for your life. He is not arrogant and narcissistic, that He would move those mountains and turn those hearts in ostentatious ways. He does not need to be loud about it, because He has no insecurities, needs no validation - so He can do it without there being a lot of fanfare about the WHY behind what He is doing.  And yet, He may still announce what He is doing, with great praise and rejoicing for His goodness toward us, He may still announce it to those who are not a big noise, household name, someone important in the world’s eyes. This should amaze us, and simultaneously cause hope to spring up anew in us regarding our own lives and circumstances.    Got something you have been praying about, carrying a burden about, for a long time? Weeks? Months? Years, even? The message of Luke two verse one is for you, then. Now in those days… My friend, for you right now, it might just be one of “those days” when God begins to move on your behalf.    The hope we have when we live in a state of expectancy, of believing God for what we see no evidence of, well…that kind of hope is real hope. Romans 8:24-26 says that hope that only hopes for what is seen is no hope at all (that’s not verbatim, of course). What kind of hope do you and I have? Is your hope doing any stretching in your life? Are you having to hope more, trust more, believe more, as the days wear on and the promise isn’t yet fulfilled? Then that’s actual, biblical hope.  Proverbs 13:12 tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick, and that is true. So from these two passages about hope, which seem to be in conflict with each other, what do we learn? How do we make them make sense to us when we need to hold on to our hope in Jesus, and yet we can relate to the feeling of hope deferred making us heart sick? When your faith is not sight, and you cannot even begin to fathom how it will ever become sight, how do you hold on to hope and keep holding on?  Hope really does have a name, and His name is Jesus. Some moments are simply crawling through the crowd on your hands and knees, pressing and pushing to get to Jesus, reaching out and just skimming the edge of His robe, knowing that’s all you can do, there is no more gas in the tank, you’re spent, without Him it’s over…that’s what it is like sometimes. It’s really that rough sometimes. Sometimes the biggest part of our faith journey ends up being hanging on to Jesus, hanging on to our hope in Him, when we are getting awfully heartsick and nearing the point of more than we can bear. (Spoiler alert: if you have not yet had a moment in your life when you were maxed out beyond what you ever dreamed you could handle, well, keep walking with Jesus and that will be your experience. It isn’t easy street, this discipleship life. It’s daily taking up your cross and following after Him, it’s knowing that the servant is not greater than the master and as they treated Him, so shall they also treat everyone who follows Him. It is a somewhat hard knock life, this life with Jesus, but these hard knocks are the hardest it will ever be and for the unbeliever, this life is the best it will ever be. Eternity is worth living for, my friend, because Jesus is there and He has gone ahead of you to make ready a place for you, that where He is, you may one day also be. It’s hard, but it’s such a good hard.) Hope deferred does make the heart sick. It’s absolutely true. But the point at which we feel our hope has been deferred for too long is not usually the same point at which God, in His sovereignty and providence, knows our hope has been too long deferred.  Trust Him, even when, especially when, it’s been a long, hard road.  The journey to Bethlehem was not easy for Mary, or for Joseph. The labor and delivery, also not easy. But they were exactly where God wanted them to be for that moment in time. And they HAD to be there, according to Caesar’s decree. Everyone had to be counted and registered…and likely, taxed, too. So, all around not ideal, at least from a human point of view. But thank God we have the option, the choice, the ability thanks to the Holy Spirit who indwells us, to look at the less than ideal, difficult times of life via God’s point of view. Thank God that we have the Bible, full of all it’s raw honesty about people and sin and life, and also full of God’s love and intervention and His righteousness and His fair judgements and standard that played out at Calvary - thank God we can choose to face our most not so easy moments knowing that the God who was at work in the lives of those we read about in the Bible is also at work in and through our lives and circumstances.    I want you to know that God sees you. He really does know how hard this is, how long it has been going on, and how ready you are for it to be over. We can want our deliverance to come so badly that we get hyper focused on it, and we miss the presence of God in these places. Perhaps that’s just me, maybe I am the only one who does that. It takes a reset sometimes to find God in our midst when life is overwhelming.    And I’d like to mention something about overwhelm. It isn’t always what you’d think. Sometimes that one thing that pushes you right over the edge into a state of overwhelm is so small, such an itty bitty little thing, you can hardly believe that THAT was what did you in. But the old saying about the straw that broke the camel’s back? A si

Well hey there! Hello to ya today. Welcome to episode number 200 of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show podcast. I’m so excited and grateful that you’re listening today. Let’s jump right in!   You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, part of the Spark Network, playing via the Edifi app. This is episode number 200, and we’re looking at some promises from 1 Peter.   So recently during my prayer time I started jotting down thoughts that I had while I was praying. It was for sure not just me thinking these things in my own mind - it was really the Holy Spirit encouraging me. Let me share what I wrote down.   Make a promise or keep a promise; which means more? Boastful speech with little love or fewer words and a God-honoring life; which is better? Loving God and loving others or making excuses for a cold, hard heart; which describes me? Dancing with the world or bowing at His feet; which do I do daily? Living for pleasure or living for Him; what do my daily choices reveal? Preparing for the King’s return or preparing by default for eternal hellish torment: there is no more time.   So, yeah. Very encouraging, very convicting, very sobering and that last bit, there is no more time, was somewhat heavy. I had the sense that I ought to share this on the podcast, because I’m guessing I am not the only one who needs to be reminded often that how I spend my time, how I love others, how I honor the Lord, what I live for matters and I only have so much time. My lifespan is not unlimited on this earth (although it will be unlimited in eternity). It’s important to pause, evaluate the condition of my heart, to discover yet again that there is a beam sticking out of my eye and I need to remove it before pointing out the toothpick in someone else’s eye.  Sharing this was not exactly what I wanted to do. It felt pretty personal, ya know? But obedience to the leading of the Lord is important, because Jesus said those who love Him will obey Him in John 14:23.    1 Peter 4:7-9 and 10-11 from the NLT:  The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay. God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God Himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to Him forever and ever! Amen.   In the Amplified Bible, verse 7 reads like this: The end and culmination of all things is near. Therefore, be sound-minded and self-controlled for the purpose of prayer (staying balanced and focused on the things of God so that your communication will be clear, reasonable, specific and pleasing to Him).    This is the passage the Lord led me to read after I wrote down what I read to you a moment ago. This is not a portion of the Bible that I have memorized, where I know by the reference exactly what it says. I ought to, because this is good stuff, but I didn’t just know in my knower what the passage said when the Holy Spirit led me to read 1 Peter, and in particular these verses from chapter four of 1 Peter.   And these words go hand in glove with what I wrote down during my prayer time that morning.   Listen carefully. God’s Word never returns to Him void but always accomplishes that for which He sends it forth. And so it will do what He wants it to do. God keeps His promises. He is unfailing in His faithfulness. His love and compassion know no bounds, His mercies are new every morning. He is a good God, a good Father. And this portion of Scripture says the end and culmination of all things is near…therefore, we need to be sober minded, earnest in our prayers, focused on Him, staying balanced in what we are focusing on so that our communication with Him in prayer and with others in our lives will be clear, not muddled or confusing, and reasonable, and specific, not vague, not bouncing all over the place, and pleasing to Him.    So what matters more? Making a promise or keeping a promise? Which is better?  And if the end and culmination of all things is near, is it important for us to know that God does not just make promises and throw them around willy nilly and leave it at that, but He keeps every single promise perfectly and to perfection? Yes, that’s something we need to know, each of us individually, as the end of the world is coming soon, as the NLT says. Do you personally know that God is keeping, has kept and will keep all the promises He has made? And that you have promises from Him that He is keeping and will keep right til the end of it all? It’s so important to know that. And to know it for yourself.    As I think about verse 11, as a podcaster and speaker, it’s convicting but also encouraging to consider that each episode is me using the gift He gave to hopefully serve everyone who listens. And you serve when you use your gifts. Now maybe nobody has told you this in a while, or maybe ever, but when you do what the Lord equips you to do in service, that’s invaluable. It’s truly more precious than most of what we spend our lives on. You being the you that God created you to be is serving. Thank you for serving the way that only you can. You know, only my husband can give our grandchildren a hug that is from grandpaw. Nobody else can give them a grandpaw hug. It’s not possible. That’s how it is with your gifts. Nobody else can do what you do the way that you do it. So please keep doing it and thank you for doing it. You glorify God when you do so - and that’s the Biblical truth. It’s right here in verse 11.    Let me read 1 Peter 4 verses 1 and 2 from the J.B. Phillips New Testament.  Since Christ had to suffer physically for you, you must fortify yourselves with the same inner attitude that He must have had. You must realize that to be dead to sin inevitably means pain, and you should not therefore spend the rest of your time here on earth indulging your physical nature, but in doing the will of God.    That’s not a Bible translation we often read from, but it phrases these verses really well.  Part of the promise for us as Christians is that we will suffer, because we follow Jesus and He suffered. We must fortify ourselves with the same inner attitude Jesus had. We must realize that to be dead to sin will inevitably lead to pain. We should not spend the rest of our time here on earth indulging our physical nature, but in doing the will of God.    Make a promise or keep a promise; which means more? Boastful speech with little love or fewer words and a God-honoring life; which is better? Loving God and loving others or making excuses for a cold, hard heart; which describes me? Dancing with the world or bowing at His feet; which do I do daily? Living for pleasure or living for Him; what do my daily choices reveal? Preparing for the King’s return or preparing by default for eternal hellish torment: there is no more time.   Let’s lay aside the boastful speech with little love and choose to perhaps speak fewer words and live a God-honoring life, because that’s truly better. Let’s love God and love others, and stop making excuses for our cold, hard hearts.  Let’s stop dancing with the world and get serious about bowing at the Lord’s feet daily. Let’s be done with living for pleasure and choose to live for Him.  Let’s be prepared for Jesus’ return, because otherwise what are we preparing for by default?  And that last bit, there is no more time…my friend, we don’t have many more days to waste. When the Holy Spirit led me to write down those words, “There is no more time,” and then led me to open 1 Peter chapter 4 in my Bible, well, this is no coincidence. The enemy Satan has no reason to quote unquote trick me into readying myself for the Lord’s return, to trick me into loving the Lord more and living a life that honors Him, to trick me into bowing at His feet rather than dancing with the world, to trick me into preparing for His return. See, that wouldn’t make sense. I know many people do not believe that Jesus is returning soon.  And I know many people, students of the Word, see things lining up for His return and they are doing what Jesus said we are to do in Mark 13, verses 34-37, “The coming of the Son of Man can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. When he left home, he gave each of his slaves instructions about the work they were to do, and he told the gatekeeper to watch for his return. You, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know when the master of the household will return - in the evening, at midnight, before dawn, or at daybreak. Don’t let Him find you sleeping when He arrives without warning. I say to you what I say to everyone: Watch for Him!”   Those are the very words of Jesus. And He doesn’t say that since no man knows the hour or t he day, just don’t think about it, don’t talk about it, don’t preach any sermons about it, don’t keep yourself ready for His return, just say that there’s another fifty or one hundred years yet to go (which is kind of funny - why is it always, always fifty or one hundred more years? Just strikes me as a funny go-to for those who don’t believe we are actually in the very end of the end times.)   Jesus said not to let Him find us sleeping when He arrives without warning. Those who are kind of sleeping among the Church today are those who say, oh we’ve got time…we’ve got fifty more years at least, possibly a hundred years. We are told to keep watch. And if we are saying, oh we’ve got time, well, that’s not keeping watch.    Will you live today with Jesus as fully Lord of your life? All of your life? Will you be prepared for Jesus’ return? Because on a podcast about God’s promises, and for

Well hello to ya today, so glad you’re listening to this episode of the podcast. Let’s jump right in and look at a few verses from the New Testament that hold tremendous promises for us. Luke chapter one, verse 37 from the NLT and then Hebrews 13, verses 5 and 6. God’s promises are true. Whether or not you believe those promises, well, that’s kind of up to you. A Christmas Blessing from Mary's Song Episode Link A Merry and Bright ADVENTure book  You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, part of the Spark Network, playing now via the Edifi app. Today’s episode is sponsored by the Christmas book for families titled A Merry and Bright ADVENTure - A Christmas Devotional for Family, Faith, Food and Fun by Katie J. Trent. Sure, my children are all grown adults…but my grandbabies are the ones I will be using this book with. It’s divided into sections, by topic, by theme, and the advent readings consist of like a family devotional, a prayer, family discussion questions, some specific advent activities and of course, a recipe which is very family friendly. There are 25 of these really well thought out daily sections, which is of course perfect for advent. And there is a list of grocery items and craft items already compiled for you, to make it as easy as possible to implement the recipes and activities. Link is right here in the show notes, and a big thank you to Katie Trent for creating this Christmas season resource. I absolutely love it. And now, on with the show.  This is episode number 199.    Right there nestled among the first few verses in the book of Luke, almost too easy to read and go right on past, is the promise of verse 37. In the NLT it says, “For the word of God will never fail.”    And after that absolutely mind-blowingly huge promise, this chapter continues into Mary’s Song, the Magnificat. Which, by the way, is really a beautiful passage of Scripture to read aloud as a family during the Thanksgiving or Christmas season. Amazing, that’s what Mary’s Song is. Worship - you might call it that. Beautiful worship.   For the word of God WILL NEVER FAIL.   Hang your hat on this verse today. I mean that, seriously. Bank on it. Depend on it. Lean the full weight of all your troubles and concerns onto it. It will hold up, no matter how heavy the load is that you’ve been carrying around. This verse can handle it. All of it. Perhaps this promise is one of the most powerful promises in the entire Bible. I don’t want you to take my word for it. I want you to take God at His word. Then do it again tomorrow. And never stop taking Him at His word, every single day of your life.   Hebrews 13, 5-6 - also from the NLT -   5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,“I will never fail you.     I will never abandon you.”[a 6 So we can say with confidence,“The Lord is my helper,     so I will have no fear.     What can mere people do to me?”[b] What could possibly be missing from your life when God has said this? Combine these words from Hebrews with the words from Luke and I am thinking you have something unstoppable, ya know? Your God, whom you love and whom you serve, the One who secured your eternal salvation, He will never fail you or abandon you. What matters more than that? And what are we to say in response to these great and precious promises?  With confidence, we say, The Lord is my helper and I will have no fear. Because what can mere people, human beings, those who are created by the One making me these promises, what can they do to me?    The hope you have in knowing, believing, and living in the reality of these promises…well, I’m not really sure it gets much better than that. God won’t leave you. God won’t abandon you. God won’t fail you. He will help you. You can live with no fear. And people? What can they really do to you? For the word of God will never fail. The word of  will never fail for Jan, or for Sara, or for Rachel, or for Mike, or for Betty, or for Stuart, or for Terry, or for Gail, or for Linda or for Jon or for any of His people.    What promises in the Bible do you most need to know won’t fail right now? Is it something from Psalm 91? Psalm 103? Psalm 1? Something God promised in the book of Genesis? Acts or Joel? Isaiah? Hebrews or Matthew or Revelation?   What promises have you wanted to believe were for you, God’s to you, but maybe are afraid to go all in with that belief? About what Bible promises can you say, “Lord, I believe…help me with my unbelief?”   I want to issue this challenge to you today: write down that promise, or promises if there are multiple, and on that page where you write them down, get a pen in a different color, maybe bright red, and over the top right Luke 1:37 - For the word of God will never fail.   I don’t want you to think about this, and say eh maybe I’ll do that some day. No. Please do it this day.    For the word of God will never fail. Those promises from the word of God? They will never fail. So says Luke 1:37. This is a big deal, isn’t it?  Because when we begin to really know the word of God will never fail, we start praying that way, we start thinking that way, we gain victory in areas that we once thought would end up taking us out. This is important because God wants us to know that His word will never fail…and the enemy wants us to believe his lie that the word of God will always fail. Which will ya have today? Five pounds of Jesus in a brown paper sack, or more than that? Maybe God isn’t going to be controllable if you go all in and believe. Maybe you will have to do battle with your fears and doubts. Maybe some of your Christian friends will try and talk you out of such radical belief, because let’s just be honest, so many of our female small groups turn into gripe and gossip sessions, or stay so superficial that things like clothes and make up dominate the conversation…like, maybe that could change. And you might be the odd man (odd woman) out. Spoiler alert: if you are longing for those kinds of conversations to never be part of a women’s small group or Bible study ever again, then you already are the odd woman out…you just don’t want to rock the boat by mentioning it or by leaving…cuz we all know that when you leave, everybody wants to know why (like, more gossip, perhaps?) when they ought to know why just by reading the room, right?  What’s the hardest place to leave gracefully, graciously, and without gossiping? A Christian community that isn’t truly honoring the Lord. You are already the odd one out perhaps. That’s okay. I’m thinking Moses, David, Elijah, Abraham, the entire early Church in the first century…odd man out over and over again. It’s hard, but it’s not the end of the world.  What will you need to face honestly if you choose to trust the entire weight of your life, and all those things and people you’ve been praying about, all of it on the promise that the word of God will never fail?  A whole lot could change, starting with your heart and mind. Maybe we can’t really, fully love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbor as yourself until we really believe that the word of God will never fail.    Maybe, just maybe, this is the moment the Lord has been waiting for. The moment when you no longer let fear, worry, other people’s opinions, doubts, all that kind of stuff, no longer let that hold you back, tie you up in knots inside and outside, and keep you from believing all God’s promises. Maybe today is a big deal for you. Maybe tomorrow hinges on today.   Maybe, just maybe, this is your time.  What will you do now? I hope you choose to believe. Because you will never regret it, and God will never abandon you.   Until next time, keep on believing. Bye bye. 

Hey there! Hello to ya today.  Here we are, for episode number 198 of the podcast, where we focus on God’s promises and make the decision to simply believe that what God has said is exactly what He meant. If He promised it, He means to honor His promise. Remember, God is not a man, that He should lie, and He always finishes what He begins. Knowing those two things leaves us no choice but to either believe Him for His every promise or to live as if He were lying to us. Which will you choose today?  Psalm 91 Audio Bible Study Course You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, part of the Spark Network, now playing in the Edifi app. And this is episode number 198.   Ya know how there are times in life, like seasons if you will, periods of time, when the same kind of thing keeps coming up, over and over again. Maybe God has been speaking to you about hope, or loving others well, or accepting His grace, and everywhere you turn, that subject is right in front of you, staring you down, you might feel like. Can’t really get away from it. Boom, there it is. And wowza, there it is again. Ever experience that?    That’s been the case for me recently. Over the last few months, for sure one aspect of life as a follower of Jesus has been prominent. And I didn’t think it was a topic I’d cover on the podcast, at least not right now, fall of 2024. But I don’t get to pick and choose when and how I obey what the Lord says. I mean, I could, and I have of course, but it’s really wrong, and flat out sin. And this issue has been in the forefront of my life as of late, like I said, and the Holy Spirit led me to discuss it today.    In John 15 and 16 and 17, Jesus had so much to say to His disciples and for all who would follow Him later on, down the road, in the years and centuries to come. That includes us, of course. Jesus spoke about the importance of unity.  John 15 from the Amplified - 12 “This is My commandment, that you [c]love and unselfishly seek the best for one another, just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you. The header just before verse 12 says: Disciples’ Relation to Each Other And the next section header says: Disciples’ Relation to the World 18 “If the world hates you [and it does], know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love [you as] its own and would treat you with affection. But you are not of the world [you no longer belong to it], but I have chosen you out of the world. And because of this the world hates you. 20 Remember [and continue to remember] that I told you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.   Does Jesus say that the world will treat His disciples well? Uh, duh. No. He told His disciples how to treat one another, and what to expect from the world. So people in the world are not the same as our fellow disciples and will not treat us the same way.    You may be thinking, “Uh, yeah… I know that, Jan. What is your point?” Chapter 16, verse 1: “I have told you these things so that you will not stumble or be caught off guard and fall away.   So that you will not stumble or be caught off guard and fall away. It’s a very real possibility that we will be caught off guard, surprised and thrown for a loop and stumble and even fall away because of it. But what is the “it” exactly? The terrible treatment of Jesus’ followers by those who don’t follow Him. When have you been treated really terribly for choosing the Jesus way? If it was from those who don’t know Him personally and are not His disciples, were you super shocked? It may hurt and be just a terrible experience. But you aren’t shocked by that nearly as much as you are when it happens within the church, by someone who claims to follow Jesus but perhaps, oh I am gonna get some hate mail for this, but Ima say it anyway…perhaps they don’t actually know Him, because the fruit of their life reveals that they don’t. We’re called by Jesus Himself to look at the fruit of people’s lives, and to know them by their fruit. That’s Scripture, my friend. That’s words in red. And we don’t likely stumble and fall away when someone who is not walking with Jesus, would never open a Bible or go to church or sing a worship song, when that person lamblasts you for your faith in Jesus, it probably isn't going to push you to fall away. Because you know who they are, it’s evident by looking at the fruit of their life. Right? But when it’s within the church (and hey, please remember Jesus Himself warned us that there would be wolves who come to devour the sheep, so this should not come as a shocker, what I’m saying here today)... when it’s quote one of our own, man, then it hits hard, it can cause a stumble, often we’re blindsided by it, and it can lead to falling away. My friend, I am boldly telling you today that this happens all the time in the church, and people will be held accountable by God Almighty for their actions against His people, the sheep of His flock. If it has happened to you, I am so very sorry. And if it happened at the hands of those in church leadership, I am grieved for you and for their abuse and misuse of the authority that really only ought to be about leading people to Jesus, if you boil it down, but is often not used for that purpose.    Control and manipulation are basically witchcraft. I mean, think about it. If you are twisting words, manipulating people, circumstances, using guilt and shame, turning Scripture this way and that in order to control people in any facet, it really is an evil thing to do. And it’s like being under a spell, and if you’ve experienced it, you know what I mean.  Do you think, and I am actually asking you to think about this and make up your own mind, but do you personally believe that Jesus’ call to unity in His church was intended for His true disciples to be unified with those who are in the church but are not truly following Him as disciples? And at what point do you think Jesus would want His true disciples to deal with this “sticky situation”?    I know this can be a heavy topic, and it is controversial (but maybe it needs to be more normalized and less controversial to talk about the reality of, for lack of a better description, church abuse). And perhaps because there are so many people dealing with and reeling from this exact issue, I suppose this is the time and season to take a look at it through the lens of the Word of God. And as always, don’t just take my word for it - but take God’s Word for it, and read it for yourself. John chapters 15 and 16 are what I’ve been reading from, so dive in and check it out. Pray about what you read, listen for the Holy Spirit to do what He does perfectly as the Counselor that Jesus promised in John 16 verses 5-15.   Over the last several months, several people have talked with me, reached out to me, connected with me, and so on, about real problems among church leadership and what in the world to do when you come face to face with some terrible stuff, and are treated terribly, even abusively, manipulated, guilted, controlled, shamed, slandered, oh boy some of the things that have been going on are truly terrible and there is no place for this stuff in God’s Kingdom, let alone among those who call themselves leaders in the Church that bears His name! It’s like we’ve stepped into the wonky zone, and things are all sorts of off kilter.    If I were to do one of those hard hitting expose pieces from the late 1980s, I would have ample material. This isn’t so much an expose as it is a CTA.  If you are being abused spiritually, can I challenge you to this CTA, this call to action? First, read the Gospels. Read what Jesus said, how He lived, what He did for people, what He didn’t do, what He approved of and what He disapproved of. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Do you see yourself as Jesus sees you? Are you being treated the way that He treated people when He walked the earth? Are those in authority over you in the Church living like Jesus, loving like Jesus, shepherding like Jesus? Pray on this! God wants you to see yourself the way He sees you. And He wants to be Lord in His church. The letters to the churches in Revelation tell us so very much about how seriously He takes this kind of thing.  Next, I want to boldly, strongly encourage you to do what the Bible says, and to follow where the Spirit leads. Remember what Jesus said in John 16, verses 5 through 15:  Let me read it from the NLT.  5 “But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. 6 Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. 7 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate[a] won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 10 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. 11 Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged. 12 “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’ Verse 7 amplified - 7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the [a]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Hi

Thanks for listening today. I hope today’s episode is a blessing and an encouragement to you, and that the promises in the verses I’ll share today remind you that God is for you, He has good in store for you, and that He will never leave you nor forsake you, because He has engraved you on the palms of His hands and He knows how to keep hold of that which belongs to Him. That’s a great reminder for those of us who follow Jesus. Now, let’s jump right in to episode #197.  Grab a copy of "The Power of God's Will - 40 Days of God's Promises Devotional" via Amazon Stay up-to-date and sign up for my email list at JanLBurt.com   I am going to read a passage from the NT book of Matthew today, more than just one verse on this episode. And let’s look at these verses in the NLT.  Listen as I read aloud -    Matthew 25:14-30 (New Living Translation) -   “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last - dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money. After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’ The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ The servant who received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more,’ The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’ But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in a bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit upon His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in His presence, and He will separate the people as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at His right hand and the goats at His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited Me into your home, I was naked, and you gave Me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for Me. I was in prison, and you visited Me.’ Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You? Or thirsty and give You something to drink? Or a stranger and show You hospitality? Or naked and give You clothing? When did we ever see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these My brothers and sisters, You were doing it to Me!’    Does anything stand out to you, or even jump out at you, from this passage? I am going to encourage you to read it for yourself, or re-read it in the show notes. Highlight, underline or take notes on any portion(s) of this passage that stand out to you. Be an active reader. Read this while thinking about your own life. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you about this passage.   Then, read it one more time.   So, yeah, for a podcast I just asked you to read, and that is not just listening, not the norm for a podcast. Now you don’t have to read this, hearing God’s Word is tremendously powerful and has real benefits to us in our every day lives, so long as we do something with what we are hearing, right? Not just nod our heads and give an amen here and there, but live out what the Word of God is teaching. And honestly, it often is revealing things in us that the Holy Spirit is wanting to work on, to heal, to dismantle lies and strongholds, to restore and bless and move us along on this walk with Him. So be an active reader when you open God’s Word - and also, be an active listener when you hear God’s Word.    But do, for 100% certain, be sure to ask the Lord to speak to you about what His Word says.  Sit quietly before the Lord, maybe with pen and paper in hand, and write what He speaks to your heart about this passage. Ask Him to show you where you are rightly using what He has given you for His glory and His purposes. And, on the more difficult side of the coin, ask Him to show you where you are not.   If you will take the time to do this - to agree with the Lord that He meant it when He said He will ask for an account of the assets He has given to each one of us - He will most certainly reveal something (or several things) to you. Let Him do that! And then honor Him by doing His will with what He has given.   He has something for you in His Word today, that I can promise you.     Let’s look again at this passage, this literal timestamp, a series of events that actually really and truly happened, from the life of the Lord Jesus.    First off, a beautiful reminder that our God is not ever, ever far off. He is not at all similar to man-made, little g gods who are aloof and distant and above mere mortals and all of that. Our God, who is the One True God, is not distant. He is not aloof. And these verses show us how up close and personal Jesus was to people. What makes us think He is less up close and personal with us, right now, today? The Spirit of the Living God indwells all who are in Christ, so how could He be aloof or far off or distant or detached? How do you detach from someone and also indwell them simultaneously? Well, you don’t because you can’t, right?    And I have to just focus on that word WILL - it’s kind of a thing for me on this podcast, and really it predates me ever having a podcast. I have done this for a long, long time, when I see the word WILL in a promise in the Bible, or like this passage where Jesus very clearly states what WILL happen on the day we stand before His throne.   He will separate the sheep from the goats. That is going to happen. And there will probably be some goats we did not realize were goats, if I am being totally honest. I mean, the last few years I have seen a falling away that I never dreamed of. If it is in the Word of God, and here in the NT penned in words of red, well then I surely am not going to argue with whether or not it will actually happen like it says.  It will be just as He has said that it will be. Period.    The final judgment will take place, my friends. And based on the parable of the servants that Jesus told just before He began to speak about the final judgment, we are going to have a close examination of what we did with every single thing He entrusted to us. You and I, like it or not, have been entrusted with things - so many varying things. Big things, tiny things - and we are expected, says the King of kings, the One who was and is and is to come, to use them well and be prepared to show Him what we did to grow, to increase, to use wisely what He gave us for His cause. His Kingdom. That’s our truth, whether we live like it is or not. No getting around it, either. Now we can’t go back and change what we did or did not do in the past, even one minute ago, but we can right now get our heads on straight and be about using the talents, giftings, abilities, resources, time and money and platform and all of it for the right purposes. His purposes.    He will sit upon His glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered in His presence.    That is two uses of the word WILL that should be like cold water thrown in our face - wake up! Get with the program! (and it isn’t your program, nor mine - get with God’s program!)   Can I just encourage you, but with some firmness in my tone of voice, like a strong-ish encouragement, to evaluate what you have available to use for the Kingdom of God and to get busy using it to that end?    I do not care if you are five years old and what you have is a heart to pray for your sick uncle to come to know Jesus and to get better. Pray. Jesus sees it and He will reward it. If you are 99 years old and can hardly get out and about, but you like to talk to text your grandkids prayers and Bible verses. Do it, and expect Jesus to bless it.   Start where you are today and do, do, do something for the Kingdom, for the Master, today. And then keep on doing. No, we are not saved by works, it is solely by grace and the price Jesus paid at the Cross. But James tells us faith without works is dead and if you have even a bit of rigor mortis creeping into your spiritual life, well let’s

Psalm 116, verses 1 & 2 say this in the Amplified -  I love the LORD, because He hears me (and continues to hear) my voice and my supplications (my pleas, my cries, my specific needs). Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live.   So right off the bat in the first two verses of Psalm 116, we find the psalmist talking about prayer.  When you pray, is it easy or hard for you to fully believe that God hears you and continues to hear you when you pray? When you bring your supplications to Him? Do you know that you know that you know that God has inclined His ear to you, and that as a result of this truth, you ought to call on Him as long as you live. How long? Oh, only for as long as you live. If you love the Lord, let your praying be an indicator of that love. Great love will equal great praying. And when you trust Him completely, it’s really so easy to go to Him in prayer. So much of the tug of war about prayer is stripped away when we trust Him completely and maybe even dare I say exclusively. We don’t try to pray one minute and work out a plan b the next minute when we trust in the Lord exclusively.    But today’s focus isn’t on verses 1 and 2. We’re gonna hone in on verses 12 through 14.   Let me read those verses from the Amplified Bible.   What will I give to the LORD (in return) for all His benefits toward me? (How can I repay Him for His precious blessings?) I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD. Yes, in the presence of all His people.   Of course you and I don’t like thousands of years ago in ancient Israel, so what do these verses mean for us today? How does this impact our prayer lives?    These verses have encouraged me to be mindful about what I take to the Lord in prayer, what I give to Him…ever done that? A person or situation or your health or finances, you pray and give it to Him, with the total intention of letting Him do His will His way for His glory and purposes, and you get to have the peace of God and can rest easy because you have entrusted the burden of it to the Lord via prayer. But did you ever do that and then snatch it back? Like you’re worrying and fretting and trying to find the solution in your own strength. Snatched it right back. I’ve done that and it can be challenging to keep giving it to the Lord and leaving it with Him, which I suppose is what it really means to trust God with it.    If something comes to mind today as you listen to the podcast, would you give it back to the Lord today? Pray on it and let it go, knowing it’s in good hands with Him. He is trustworthy and we really can leave it to Him.    He has blessed you in the past, and He will bless you in the future. He has been good to you and He will be good to you again and again and again. His faithfulness and His love for you know no end and cannot be used up or exhausted. He loves you, He cares for you, and He hears when you pray.    Can I pray over you today?    Lord, today I ask You to do the miraculous on behalf of Your people who need a miracle. I’m seeking Your very best on their behalf. And if they have given something to You in prayer and then found themselves worrying about it again, trying to work out a solution or fix a really difficult problem, would You bless them with Your comfort, and Your peace, and draw them close, reminding them to rest in You and to enjoy peace of mind and peace of heart as You work on the problem on their behalf, because You love them so very much? We love You, Lord, and we are so grateful for the many blessings, too many to count, that You have granted to us. Thank You for hearing our prayers and for the promise that You will continue to hear us when we pray. Make us bold in our praying, give us faith to ask for things that only You can do, and may we continually trust You to do Your will, Your good will, in response to our prayers.  Lord, today would You bring healing and peace and hope into their lives? And Lord, we want to praise You and thank You and rejoice in all that You are and all You have done and all You will do in the days to come.  In Jesus Name I ask this, Amen. Hey, thanks so much for listening today and for the blessing of praying for and with you. I’d be honored to pray for you specifically and you are welcome to email me prayer requests at JanLBurt@outlook.com and I will be praying.

Well hey there, hello to you and welcome to this episode of the podcast. E.M. Bounds On Prayer at Amazon JanLBurt.com to grab free download of God's Promises in Isaiah & be on my email list & receive prayer And just as a quick FYI, my second podcast The Prayer Podcast is being retired in just a few days. Turns out hosting two shows is a lot, and I feel it has hindered my writing and this podcast, to be frank. So I am sunsetting The Prayer Podcast but will share episodes from that show occasionally here on TBNES, sort of bonus episodes. Thanks for the support of all the listeners to TPP, and also, a very special shout out to the slew of recent listeners to both of the podcasts in the country of China. You are on my mind, and I am praying for you. May the Lord’s good promises to you prove true in every circumstance and situation, and I truly believe that they will because it is impossible for God to lie, and so all He has promised will come to pass. May you be richly blessed as you walk with Him, and again, thank you so much for listening. I don’t take it for granted!   You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, part of the Spark Network on the Edifi app. Today’s episode is sponsored by the book “E.M. Bounds on Prayer”, a resource that has encouraged and blessed me time and time again, year after year. A link to this book on Amazon is in the show notes, and I do not receive any sort of compensation for linking to Amazon - I share this resource solely based on how it has blessed me. Again, that’s E.M. Bounds on Prayer. Now, let’s jump into some of God’s promises for us. This is episode number 194.   Today I’m going to share several promises from the Psalms with you. If one of these promises is super encouraging to you, maybe you can write it down on a sticky note or make a note on your phone. Seeing the Word of God written out in your own handwriting or popping up via an alarm on your phone can really be encouraging for the long term, and that’s a lot better than a one-off kind of encouragement, ya know?   Psalm 10:14 - You, O God, do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it in hand. (This verse reminds me of the promise God gives to be near, to never leave us or forsake us, and knowing that He is so close to us that He sees our trouble and our grief, that’s enormously comforting. Beyond that, though, it says He considers trouble and grief and He takes it in hand. That simply means that He takes control of it. Think of a new person in the role of CEO of a company, and there is a problem area; the CEO takes it in hand, as the boss now, with the aim of correcting or improving the situation, developing it into something better. He takes your trouble and your grief in hand. Believe God is going to do this exact thing!_)   Psalm 10:17 - You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted. You encourage them, and You listen to their cry. (Please don’t forget that the Lord hears the desire, the heart cries, of the afflicted. What’s afflicting you? Talk to God about it, like really talk to Him, cry out from your heart, tell Him the truth about how this is afflicting you, and then listen for what He might say to encourage you. He promises in this verse to listen to your cry, to hear you, and to encourage you. But if you never talk to Him, if you never take time to be still and know that He is God and listen to Him, you are likely going to miss much of the promise in Psalm 10:17). Also, I have to say, there is a lot of encouragement in the tenth psalm. So maybe add that to your reading sometime soon and simply by faith receive all that’s promised in Psalm 10, and you’ll find yourself encouraged!    Now let’s look at a couple of promises in Psalm 40. Verse 2b, second half of that verse, says - He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.    Yes and amen to this! Anybody else look back at their life before Jesus and remember what it was like to live with your feet on mush? On sinking sand? When we remember what He has already done for us, and give Him praise and honor, we in turn encourage ourselves to believe for what He is going to do for us now and in the future.    And I do want to remind you that the future is not all that far away. Today is a great moment in time to believe and appropriate God’s promises and to make the decision to simply believe that what God says, He means. And He means for His children, individually and as a whole. Don’t let another day go by without choosing to believe that God will keep His promises, and He will keep them for you.    Psalm 40:4, 5b - Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust. ~ The things You planned for me no one can recount; were I to speak of them, they would be too many to declare. (Want to live a blessed life? Make the Lord your trust. Nothing else, no Jesus plus this or that. Just the Lord. Make Him your trust, and you will be blessed. That’s the promise God makes here. May it be true of you, and of me, I’m grabbing hold of this one for myself too, may it be said of you that the things the Lord planned for you are too good, too vast, to count or recount…but do try! Try and recount what He’s done for you, you’ll never be able to remember or recall everything He’s done while on this side of eternity, but give it a try! Thank Him. And know that they are too many to declare. Yeah, Psalm 40 verses four and five? Oh that’s a promise. It’s a good one.)   Psalm 40:11 -  You do not withhold Your mercy from me, O Lord. May Your love and Your truth always protect me.   This is something of a prayer verse, if you will. Like, I literally prayed this just yesterday. Lord, do not withhold Your mercy from me or from my family or from those I am praying for (speaking of those I pray for, stay tuned at the end of this episode as I share a few words to some people I’ve been sent prayer requests by). Lord, may Your love and Your truth always protect me. Pray it and believe and expect it. God’s mercy will not be withheld from you, His love and His truth will always protect you. That’s a wonderful way to pray, maybe on those days when you don’t know what to say to God, what to ask Him to do in your life, in your children’s lives perhaps, someone has asked you to pray over a situation in their life and you’re not sure what to pray, well, keep Psalm 40:11 in mind, in your prayer arsenal. And trust that God will answer this prayer.    And from Psalm 100, verse 5 says: For the Lord is good and His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations.  Oh this is such good news for all of us who love the Lord. Every disciple of Jesus needs to hear this! I mean that, literally, I really do mean it. For the Lord IS good - right now, present tense. In your life, in your family, in your workplace, in your scary situation. The Lord IS good. And His love endures forever! Forever! That’s a word that bears so much weight in this context. His love for you in your current circumstances endures forever. That’s fantastic, hopeful news for all of us today! His faithfulness continues through all generations. While we are still here on this earth, while mankind is still here, God’s faithfulness is still here, as well. Man what a promise.    Psalm 130:3 is the final verse I’m going to share with you today. It says: If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  God’s word tells us plainly that He remembers our sins no more, they are removed as far as the east is from the west. Once you are in Christ, this is a done deal for you. So says the very Word of God. Not so says Jan Burt. Who cares what I think, what I say? So says the Lord. Somebody may need to know that today, and maybe that somebody is you. No one could stand with God keeping a record of sins, and so don’t measure yourself by someone else. Measure yourself rightly, by your own degree of faith as it says in the New Testament, and then believe that for those who know the Lord, your sins are remembered no more. Huge amount of hope and encouragement in these verses from the psalms.   Now I mentioned that I wanted to say a few words to those who have either emailed me with prayer requests, used the text box feature on my website, maybe sent me something via the jotform prayer request that I’ve shared in several places, or replied to one of the emails I sent out recently. And, yes, I do send emails with a verse and a prayer and I invite people to reply with any needs I can pray about, and I do pray for every request I get. Now I want to say that on my jotform, I had a couple of people request that I follow up with them about their prayer requests and I wasn’t able to do that (I didn’t get the contact info to be able to follow up, maybe a glitch in that form, and hey I understand that sometimes sites like jotform might drop info that is personal for safety reasons, to prevent spam and the like, and I get that, so no complaints from me about protecting privacy). If any of the listeners to this episode would like to be on my email list and get the verse and prayer emails, which I send a few times a month, the easiest way to do that is to go to Jan L Burt . com and scroll down a bit to where it says God’s Promises in Isaiah, enter your email and you’ll get an immediate reply email with verses from Isaiah that are promises God makes, and you'll be on the list for the next email I send out with a verse and a prayer and you just hit reply and send me your prayer request, those go to an inbox that I see right away, which is so nice for me to be able to quickly start praying. And that’s it, I’ll be praying. Jan L. Burt . com and I will be praying.    That’s it for this episode, and thanks for listening. Thanks again for all who listened to The Prayer Podcast. As I say goodbye to it, I’m not saying goodbye to praying for you, that’s for sure. See you back here next time. Bye bye. 

Hey there! Hello and welcome to this episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show…getting the promises of God into the hearts and minds of the people of God, which is right where they belong. So thankful you’re listening to this episode of the show, and hey, today we’re looking at a promise directly from the New Testament words of Jesus, and it’s a good one. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you may want to just save this episode and plan to share it somewhere, or with somebody, because it’s gonna get really real really fast and really bring it today. God’s promises are true - let’s talk about how they’re true for you today.   You’re listening to The Burt (Not Ernie) Show, part of the Spark Network, which can be found via the Edifi app. Today’s episode is sponsored by the Psalm 91 audio Bible study & prayer sessions, created by the show host (that’s me), Jan L. Burt. Access the study at JanLBurt.com/psalm91   Psalm 91 is perhaps the most astounding passage of promises with the most astounding miracles linked to it of maybe the entire Old Testament, and for sure it is one of the most amazing and life-changing passages in the Bible. It’s something you should know and pray over yourself and your loved ones, because it holds promises that we find only in this passage, and it is something every believer needs to apply to their life - and that’s why I created the Psalm 91 audio Bible study. JanLBurt.com/psalm91 and this is episode number 194.   Alrighty, so let’s jump right into this. I’ll be reading from the Amplified today, looking at a few verses from the book of Matthew, chapter 11.   Matthew 11:28-30 Amplified Bible 28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.” That’s from Matthew 11, verses 28-30.   We’ve got a call here, something we need to do, our part is to come to Jesus. Who is it He is calling to come to Him? Those who are weary, those who are heavily burdened, dealing with religious rituals that provide no peace…and hey, there are many things that fall into that category, so don’t automatically assume this doesn’t apply to you because it really might, and Jesus has freedom for you. Today, He has freedom for you from religious systems and programs and rituals that don’t give you the kind of peace that Jesus wants you to have. And when we do as Jesus asks us to, calls us to, and come to Him, He promises (verse 28 says WILL and when He says He will do something, He will!) He will give you rest. The Lord’s salvation is restful, is peaceful, for you and for me. We can have been in the Chirstian world for so long that we begin to lose our rest, our peace. That is not what Jesus wants, my friend. From day one of your salvation to day done of your salvation, when He takes you home or when He returns and you are caught up in the air to meet Him, whatever your day done might look like, Jesus wants you to have peace and a refreshed soul, rest like literal rest in every aspect of life, in every sense of the word, on every single day that you walk with Him. This isn’t something we share with people when we are talking to them about Jesus, but we no longer have it as part of our daily life. It’s meant to be lived, this walk of faith and lived well - lived on Jesus’s terms and this verse tells us that His terms are trading our weariness and heavy burdened way of life for rest, peace, and refreshed souls. And while it might sound too good to be true, it’s actually 100 percent true. God’s promises are what, now? True. Always and in all ways.  He calls us to take His yoke upon ourselves and learn from Him - that literally means to just follow Him as His disciple. I say JUST, but I don’t say there’s never any struggle to do this. The world, our flesh, social media, old and new friends, our workplaces, even our families and sad to say often our church culture is too worldly, too focused on programs or not being a Christian weirdo, or seeker friendly or all that stuff (a subject for another day, but not biblical, not sustainable, and not discipleship…just sayin’!) All these things and more can make it tricky to keep following Jesus as His disciple. But when we stay yoked to Him and don’t pull and tug and fight that yoke, just walk with Him at His pace and His leading doing life His way, well then, that’s discipleship and we have His promised peace and rest, and it is just so good. Now if you’ve been walking with the Lord for a while, can I ask you to pause for a moment (maybe pause this podcast for a second and think on this) and just remember what it was like for you before you responded to Jesus’ call when He rescued you and saved you and forgave and turned your life around in a good way. Can you remember what it was like? The stress, the fear, the anger or other emotions, the control you maybe tried to exert on situations and people, the overwhelm, the way your did all those things you didn’t want to do, your hard heart, the lack of hope, the lack of joy, the lack of peace, afraid of all the things, uneasy, tossed around by life - do you remember? And if you have not yet made the decision to follow Jesus as His disciple, can I just tell you that right now is a great time to make that decision? It’s super simple, there is no required prayer to pray, you can just talk to God and tell Him you’re sick of your sin, sick of life like this, and you want what Jesus offers, peace and eternal life and total forgiveness for every single sin, past, present and future, and just ask Him to be Lord of your life, to forgive you of all your sins, and to take up reign on the throne of your heart. Thank Him, and believe it is done, and it is so long as you mean it. It really is that simple. Just talk to the Lord, invite Him into your life, your heart, and thank Him and say Amen, so be it, yes Lord. He doesn’t make it hard, because He is a good God and He loves you too much to make it too hard to make Jesus Lord of your life.    So, remembering what it was like before you made Him Lord, your hard knock life, and that’s the true reality for everyone who doesn’t walk with Jesus as His disciple (not about a program for six weeks at church, about discipleship for all the rest of your days!). And now think about what it’s like to have that peace, to take His yoke upon you and learn from Him, knowing He is gentle and humble in heart and that He brings you rest for your soul. Rest for your soul. This isn’t just a nap. It’s REST for your inner being, for your soul. Soul rests is next level. It’s truly supernatural, it is not of this world. It’s from the Lord. And it’s life changing. You need it. Jesus has it for you. And that’s just one smidgen of the promises from this passage alone! Soul rest. His yoke is easy to bear and His burden is light. You are not going to be weighed down and having a come apart when you are His disciple. That’s not your life, because it’s not His will based on Matthew 11, verse 28 through 30. You do need to believe that this is all true for you, because when we believe, our faith is accredited to us as righteousness, and Jesus often said that it would be done to those who asked something of Him, it would be done to them according to their faith, to their belief. So, believe the very words Jesus spoke, don’t do an eye roll and refuse to believe it. Just choose to believe. And it really is a choice. Don’t mind your feelings, but make your feelings mind the Word of God.   Now I’m going to sort of add some zest to this episode. It’s a unique episode of the podcast, because I’m going to share some things I have never spoken about on this platform. Everything I’m sharing today is true, it actually happened, just as I’m telling it. And I know it’s all true because it happened to me. I’m gonna tell ya some things, real life, nitty gritty, stuff. Here goes!   Bizarre and weirded me out experience #1: Now, first off, let me preface these next couple of snippets I’m sharing from my own life by clearly stating that I was not a follower of Jesus at all at this point in time. Not at all. Not one bit. Zero percent interested in God. I was a train wreck. No Bible in our home, didn’t go to church on Easter or Christmas, just zero of that in my growing up home or in my life. This event happened when I was a teenager, and I worked as a teen, like many of us, and at this point I was around 18, working for a telemarketing company, more like a call center for customer service stuff than outbound sales calls, but basically telemarketing. I worked second shift, we called it the night shift (only two shifts there, days or nights and I was on nights). I worked in Omaha, Nebraska but lived in Council Bluffs, Iowa, right across the river, actually very normal for the Omaha area, gotta add that piece of info to this true story.  So one afternoon, I went to work as usual, and there was a man at work that I didn’t recognize, not that big of a deal, lots of turnover in a place like that, ya know? He sat in front of my and to my left at his cubicle desk area, and on our lunch break he came and sat at the table I sat at with my normal group of work friends, and back then, I was a smoker…actually started smoking probably around age 13, maybe even sneakily smoking at 12, but smoking with my mom’s permission at 13 (meaning that at that point, when I was 13, we lived in a small town in Nebraska and she gave her permission to all the local stores that I could buy cigarettes there because she’d given me permission to smoke, and am I Gen X, the child of a Boomer? Uh, yes…) So, I sat at the outside table with the other smokers for my lunch break, and this man sat with us, but he didn’t smoke. He was chatty and said somethi

Thanks for listening to this special episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show. Today we're taking a look at Psalm 145 and praying the promises we find there. And fair warning - since this is a special bonus episode, it does cut off at a seemingly random point... but it really isn't random at all. (There was just a smidge of no-longer relevant info that I cut from the tail end of this episode.)  I’m thankful you’re listening, and I have been praying that today’s verse and today’s prayer will be a huge blessing and encouragement for you, right now, in the midst of all that is transpiring in your life, good or bad, ups and downs, no matter what. Let’s talk about it. Psalm 145:18 in the NLT says this: The LORD is close to all who call on Him, yes, to all who call on Him in truth.   Free Daily Prayer Tracker  Praying Colossians Chapter One So if you happen to know me from my first podcast, which is all about God’s promises, then you’ve probably heard me mention how God means it when He uses the words will and all in a promise from the Bible. So of course, the word all being used twice in Psalm 145:18 stood out to me. Who is the Lord close to, according to this verse? To all who call on Him in truth. And it’s doubly emphasized. He states this twice. We should take Him at His word.   All means all, it cannot mean anything else or less than all.  And so, you can go to Him in prayer, you can call out to Him (in truth, as it says…and that indicates honesty in the inmost parts, which we know from the Bible is what God desires from us, and in the name of Jesus, who is The Way, The Truth and The Life). Call out to the Lord. Tell Him what is on your heart, on your mind, stressing you out or what you are celebrating. Call out to Him about your biggest need. And expect Him to be close to you.   I take this literally. I expect Him to be so near that I know He is near, that He is right here with me. That I am not ever going to be abandoned or forsaken, because my God does all that He has promised to do. And so, yes, I call out to Him in truth. I don’t sugar coat my needs or my concerns, and I don’t try to be all cleaned up and perfect before I come to Him in prayer.   If my friend is facing something overwhelming and I am praying for them, it is not with a phony, this is not big deal but if You have time God please help my friend out. No, I get in there and pray. I am honest about what is happening in their world, and I seek God’s actual, tangible help for them in their time of need.   Little bit harder to do this for myself, if I am honest. But I don’t think it should be more difficult, because God clearly is okay with His people calling on Him.    How about you? Are you super good at calling on God when you are facing something, at a point of need? When you are afraid, do you trust in Him fully and call on Him honestly?    This is your birthright, if you will, and God does want you to have the absolute most possible peace and grace in your life right now, and every moment hereafter. There is not any of His peace or His grace or His love that He wants you to set aside and leave for later, or leave for heaven. He has all this for you here and now, but often we leave it on the table and we miss what He wants for us.   As I pray today, would you pray with me and ask the Lord to give you an overflow, an abundance of His blessing? Love and mercy and grace and help and wisdom and healing and all the things you know you need? Would you join me in asking our good and faithful God to hear you as you call out to Him, and to answer in ways that move mountains and reveal how close He is to you - that He is right here in this thing with you, and you are not alone and you are so dearly and even fiercely loved by Him. Father, today I am coming to You in prayer asking that You would hear me according to Your Word, which says that when I call out to You in truth, You will be close to me. And that is exactly what I am praying for today. That as I call out, You would show up, even in a way that seems overwhelming to the ones for whom I am praying. Overwhelm them with Your love today. Give them direct and clear and profound answers to their most pressing needs. And where they are celebrating in some way, and maybe for many of them feel as if they are celebrating alone, feeling a bit isolated perhaps, would you in some way show them that You rejoice with them.   Be honored as we pray and by the way we live our lives in Your presence. You are the friend who sticks closer than a brother, and for that, we praise You. Can I ask, Lord, for You to do it again? Those moments when the one listening has felt so close to You, so much in Your favor, loved so dearly and walking with You moment by moment, blessed and joyful and covered by Your grace and peace…would You do it again, Lord? Right now? Do that today. And I boldly ask that You keep on doing that, day by day, so that they can live in a state of peace of mind and heart that can only come from You.   Move in their lives. Show Your will, Your love, and Your hope to others through them. Provide richly for their needs. And even beyond that, Lord, I am asking for You to give them enough that they can share with others who have needs. Be generous with Your people, and remind us often to in turn be generous with others. Life is a gift, and we want to spend our gifts well for Your glory. Thank You that You are always only a prayer away, in fact You are never far and never forsake those whom You love.    Teach us how to best pray for one another, and teach me how to best pray for those who listen to this podcast. Favor them highly, comfort them in amazing ways, be much with them and may they bear so much fruit. Comfort them, and give them the opportunity to comfort others. May no weapon of the enemy that is formed against them prosper, and may every tongue that rises up against them be condemned, as Your word says, Lord. Do the things that only You can do, and do it in ways that glorify only You. We give no quarter to the enemy, we do not dwell in doubt but rather in faith and in trust, for we know the One to whom we pray.    May we trust You in all things, knowing that not one of Your good promises will ever fail to come to pass. And so, Holy Spirit, I ask You to move and keep on moving in the life of the one listening today. Move and keep moving, because I ask and I keep asking, as Jesus taught in the New Testament. We are choosing to believe You above all else, and we are certain that our hope in You will lead to blessing and favor and glory for Your name, because He who promised is faithful and He will do it.    Bless them, Lord. Draw them ever closer to You. Hear them as they call out to You, and do not be slow in answering their heart cries.    Thank You for the privilege of prayer, for making a way into the Holy of Holies to pray before Your throne of grace. I am eternally grateful and am thankful that You made a way where there was no way. Do it again, Lord. Do it again. In Jesus Name, Amen. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to pray for you. It really is a blessing! And in one of my prior episodes of The Prayer Podcast I shared a free resource with you, and in case you have not gotten it yet, I am sharing it again. It’s a link to a Daily Prayer Tracker that you can download and print and use in your daily prayer time. And I am also adding a link to a prayer based on Colossians chapter 1 that you can download and pray. And there will be more things like this coming in future episodes, I will try and rotate through and add things to bless you.

Prayer is a key element of the Christian life. I don’t think any of us would argue that. But it is also not the easiest aspect of the Christian life.   Praying Colossians 1 free download   Welcome to this BONUS episode of The Burt (Not Ernie) Show! In this episode you'll hear an excerpt from The Prayer Podcast as we take a look at Romans 12 verse 1 and learn some things about prayer.   I pray this bonus episode will be encouraging for you. Remember, when you know God's promises and you pray boldly based on those promises, you'll see mountains move in your life and in your heart.   Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any bonus or regular episodes! Prayer can feel risky, can’t it? It can feel safer to go to church each week, to follow through with the read the Bible in a year checklist, to go to small group now and then…and to let others do the praying, especially the out-loud praying.   I get it. I’m pretty introverted. Like, I’m guessing about half of the people in the world. It’s probably about a 50/50 split of introverts and extroverts. Not all of us enjoy the spotlight, being the focus of all the attention in the room. And some people, the other half of the world’s population, do seem to like the limelight. Both of these can be problematic when it comes to prayer.   Does God want showy prayers? Or genuine ones? Look at me kind of praying, or head bowed, seeking the heart of the Lord kind of praying?    Psalm 51, verse 6 says that God desires truth, or honesty, in the inmost being. Honesty from the heart. I have found it very helpful for me to pray that way - honestly, from my heart. And that also makes it so much easier for me to pray in public, even as an introvert. So if you struggle with praying aloud in a group setting, this verse may be encouraging or helpful for you. And it takes the pressure off - what we want when we pray out loud in front of others, and what we think they want when we pray. Focusing on what God wants takes a lot of the zing out of it.   Today we are going to look at a verse from the book of Proverbs, and it is often referred to as a book of wisdom. That’s accurate.    And I think this verse I’m going to share with you is going to bless you in regard to your prayer time. And of course, I get the privilege of praying for you today based on this verse.   Proverbs 15:29 - NLT - The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayers of the righteous.    Far from.   We want our prayers to be heard, or why would we spend time praying? And if we spend time praying and want our prayers to be heard, we also want them to be answered.    It’s weird to pray and not expect an answer, and that can happen to all of us; sometimes we just pray through our prayer list and don’t give a lot of thought to the expectation of God’s answer. So, we don’t want that to be our default. But if we prayed and never really ever at all expected any sort of answer to any of our prayers, that would be strange.    We expect to be heard and to get an answer. Obtaining an answer is really a huge part of why we pray. There is a need -  we need help, an illness, finances, work troubles, all the things we pray about. We are looking for answers and when we take those things to the Lord in prayer, we are going to the One who has answers, who can help us when we need it.    This verse shows us that a key part of achieving that end goal of answered prayer is not to be far from God. It says He is far from the wicked, but hears the prayers of the righteous. As followers of Jesus, we know that our righteousness is through Him and not of our own good works (“good works” is in air quotes, because none of us is righteous and that’s why we need a Savior).    How can we ensure we are not far from God?  Well, let’s maintain our spiritual integrity.  Integrity isn’t what we do out in public, in front of everyone, on the social media platforms, not even on Sunday morning at church. I mean, we want to be people of integrity in public, since that’s where we go to work, where we interact with others, and so yeah, we need to have integrity in public but if our private life is the opposite of our public life, then it’s not true integrity. Am I the same in both places? Or do I wear some kind of mask? How’s my integrity? How am I doing at this whole person of integrity thing?    So spiritual integrity could be our private life with the Lord, not solely the more public aspect of our Christian life. We want to have integrity all the time, not just some of the time. And if somebody runs into us in a non-church setting, well they shouldn’t be totally shocked by who we are and who we aren’t.    It goes beyond Sunday morning.    Does my love for Jesus plumb the depths of my heart and soul and life?  Spoiler alert: it should.   I think moral courage comes into play, too.  Think about what it looks like to have moral courage in 2023, which is when I am recording this episode. Moral courage can be viewed wrongly by society as a whole. And that is one reason it can be hard to live out. I mean, we don’t want to be unloving, because we know Jesus wants us to love well. But we don’t want to be cowards, afraid to let anybody know we follow Jesus.  Moral courage and spiritual integrity. Living for the Lord all the time, that sums it up well.   And why are we focused on those things, again? Because Proverbs 15:29 promises that the righteous will have their prayers heard by God.    This is critical. Too critical to just leave to chance.    I want to pray well. And I want those prayers to obtain answers. I want God’s very best, and I will not truly know what that is if I don’t know what the Bible says. And so, I read my Bible and I pray to the best of my ability in accordance with the Word of God.   Proverbs 15:29 - The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.   If you don’t mind, I’d like to pray for you now.   Lord, thank You for this verse from the wisdom of the Bible. Thank You for showing us clearly that we can be assured You will hear us when we pray. Thank You for the righteousness we have through Your Son, Jesus. You have been so very gracious to us, and we are so very thankful for that grace.    Lord, would you bless each listener with braveness to pray to You about the things that are weighing heavy on their hearts today? Would You give them the exact wisdom that they need in that exact situation. Heal them if they are in need of any sort of healing. Provide for them if they are facing financial lack, or any other kind of lack in their life. You have promised to meet all of our needs, and so I am asking You to do that today. Open doors to bless them, lead them to people who can help them move forward in life. Bless their families and their workplaces and their friendships and the churches they attend.    Take care of them daily, Lord. Emotionally and physically and spiritually, take good and careful care of each one listening today.   May they experience Your love in powerful ways, and may they find all that they have longed for in a close relationship with You. Show up for them. Show off for them. Let them know that they are the apple of Your eye, and You never take Your eyes off of them or stop thinking about them. Thank You for the hope that You offer us for the future, and for eternity.    Bless them in mighty ways today, and may they pray in boldness and receive what they need from You. Answer quickly, Lord. Do not delay - we have needs that are urgent, so I am beseeching You to move quickly.   In Jesus Name - Amen   Thank you for the blessing of praying for and with you, and thank you for listening today.   If this episode has been encouraging, feel free to share it with someone. And I’d also like to ask for reviews or comments, as those will help more people to find the podcast, especially in the new days of a new podcast. It makes a tremendous difference, to say the least. I also have a free resource for you, it is a prayer guide that follows Colossians chapter 1, and you can get that for free at the link here in the show notes. And you can email me at any time with prayer requests at JanLBurt@outlook.com and I will be praying for every request I receive. 

Do you need some hope today? Hope for restoration of things long since lost, devoured, or delayed? Then this episode is for you! Be encouraged, take hope in the Lord, and remember, He who promised is faithful!  The Power of God's Will - 40 Days of God's Promises Devotional available on Amazon   The Lord’s Promise of Restoration 18 Then the Lord will pity his people     and jealously guard the honor of his land. 19 The Lord will reply, “Look! I am sending you grain and new wine and olive oil,     enough to satisfy your needs. You will no longer be an object of mockery     among the surrounding nations. 20 I will drive away these armies from the north.     I will send them into the parched wastelands. Those in the front will be driven into the Dead Sea,     and those at the rear into the Mediterranean.[c] The stench of their rotting bodies will rise over the land.” Surely the Lord has done great things! 21     Don’t be afraid, O land. Be glad now and rejoice,     for the Lord has done great things. 22 Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field,     for the wilderness pastures will soon be green. The trees will again be filled with fruit;     fig trees and grapevines will be loaded down once more. 23 Rejoice, you people of Jerusalem!     Rejoice in the Lord your God! For the rain he sends demonstrates his faithfulness.     Once more the autumn rains will come,     as well as the rains of spring. 24 The threshing floors will again be piled high with grain,     and the presses will overflow with new wine and olive oil. 25 The Lord says, “I will give you back what you lost     to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.[d]     It was I who sent this great destroying army against you. 26 Once again you will have all the food you want,     and you will praise the Lord your God, who does these miracles for you.     Never again will my people be disgraced. 27 Then you will know that I am among my people Israel,     that I am the Lord your God, and there is no other.     Never again will my people be disgraced. The Lord’s Promise of His Spirit 28 [e]“Then, after doing all those things,     I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy.     Your old men will dream dreams,     and your young men will see visions. 29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit     even on servants—men and women alike. 30 And I will cause wonders in the heavens and on the earth—     blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun will become dark,     and the moon will turn blood red     before that great and terrible[f] day of the Lord arrives. 32 But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord     will be saved