Tag Archives: forgiveness

Receiving Jesus as your Savior


“Thomas said to [Jesus], ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:5-7).

We all want to know where we are going when, one day, our earthly bodies fail us. We know we are finite. And none of us can deny we have failed — sinned. We know our own failings greater than anyone. We all, at some point, feel lost.

The GOOD NEWS is that we are not groping around in the dark for the answer — for the path.

JESUS. He is THE way. Jesus is the answer. There is simply no other way back to the Father, to eternal life — to the life God designed us to have. There is no other way but Jesus.

Thankfully, Jesus loved us so much so that He freely gave His innocent life – in the most gruesome death – to pave the way for us back to the Father, back to Himself (as God) to spend eternity with Him.

Do you know Him? He is not some far off entity. He is near. He is one sentence away. Call out to Him. Say His name, “Jesus.” He desires a relationship with you.

The Bible says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).

It doesn’t matter where you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done. You are never too far gone to receive Jesus as your Savior. And, when you do, you can have full assurance of where you are headed at the end of this earthly life.

And, oh, how freeing and peace-giving it is to have the assurance of eternity with Him!

If you have never asked Jesus to come into your life, but you are ready to ask Him to be your Savior, I invite you to pray this prayer today:

Dear Jesus,

I need you. I need your help and your healing in my life. I invite you into my life to be my Lord and Savior.

I repent for my sin — for the things I have done that have separated me from you. I repent for trying to make myself, others, and things gods in my life. I confess that you, Jesus, are the only way, the truth, and the life.

I receive your free gift of salvation today. Please remove my sin from me and make me a new person. Please forgive me. Please heal me and show me the way to walk.

In your name I pray, Jesus, Amen.

If you just prayed this prayer, congratulations! You just made the biggest and best choice of your life — one that will impact you for eternity!

I want to encourage you to download the YouVersion Bible App to your phone to hop into the Word of God, God’s love letter to us, where He speaks directly to us on every area of life! Start in the New Testament, in the book of John, and read through the Gospels. You will be encouraged and nourished through the words of Jesus Himself!

And, if you are a woman who would like to walk alongside other women through Bible Study, I encourage you to invite me at The Rooted Sisters online or in-person, where we meet for Bible Study the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month at 7:30 am central and for Prayer every Friday morning online at 7:30 am.

Sending you the love of Jesus! – Sarah Guldalian

Jesus: Light of the World

This world is dark, yet you do not need to fear the dark. Instead, put your trust in God.

“Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God” (Isaiah 50:10).

His light and His power are far greater than the darkness. Jesus has already defeated the devil.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Jesus is the light. He was not and will not be overcome.

“While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). – Jesus

And, He invites us, those who believe and trust in Him as their Lord and Savior, to shine brightly in this dark world for Him.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

The Bible also gives us a warning:

“But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment” (Isaiah 50:11).

We are not the source of light. On our own, we are still groping around in darkness. If we attempt to lead others in our light without Jesus as the source — the Authority in our lives, we lead them into darkness, as well meaning as we may be. It is a dangerous venture.

But, when we invite Jesus in – Light Himself – He shines into our depravity, exposes what is hidden, floods us with healing, and fills us with His light. We become the light of the world as He shines through us.

And, as we go out into a dark world each day, His light radiates through us. We become vessels – conduits – of Christ, shining for Him everywhere we go. And this can lead others to Him, leading to eternal life for them!

Though some places might alarm us, by how very dark they are, we can feel confident remembering that light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

Therefore, we need not fear the dark. Instead, we become bringers of the Light when Christ dwells within us. And, in doing so, others will experience His powerful light and be brought out of their darkness into the glorious light of Christ.

So, wherever you go today, shine. Shine everywhere you go. Shine always, knowing He will always be with you, lighting the way, when you make Jesus your Lord and Savior, and follow Him.

The Tangible Presence of God

Before God descended to earth and revealed Himself as a human in flesh as Jesus of Nazareth, He revealed Himself to the people living in Old Testament times in numerous tangible ways all throughout.

He was tangibly experienced as a pillar of smoke, a pillar of cloud, unconsumed blazing fire, and wind. He is seen and experienced over and over by His people in a tangible way.

He is very practically seen by Moses and the Israelites as He travels with them on their journey as the cloud by day and fire by night: “By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night” (Exodus 13:21).

God’s presence is so supernatural, and yet He comes to us through elements we can see and sense in this life, with the power and comfort of His presence, and the functional help of light and protection.

The Bible tells us that, in the case of the Israelites, He served tangibly as a cloud for covering and as fire to illuminate the dark: “who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go” (Deuteronomy 1:33)

As time moved on, and we moved further and further away from God, God came down to us in the form of a human – as Jesus – to walk with, live with, to physically see and touch. And He left His divinely miraculous handprint on the earth through tangible healings. Most importantly, He used His divinity, His humanity, and His never-ending love for us to break us free from spiritual bondage.

Then, when He ascended and went back to heaven, He left His presence with us through the Holy Spirit — a tangibly seen and experienced mighty rush of wind at the day of Pentecost.

And He left with us a physical representation of Himself with us, through His divine power at work every day, in the form of food – something we can hold, taste, and smell – through communion, as a regular reminder of His available healing and forgiveness for us every single day as we move through life.

God is close to us, and He wants us to very tangibly experience His presence in every decade, era, century, and millenium. So, He comes to us as fire, wind, a cloud, in the flesh, and even as bread.

God is real, and He is speaking to us. He desires to have a relationship with us, because of His unconditional, unconsumed love for us as a present Father who provides for and protects His children. His love for us is powerful, mighty, undeniable and unending. He is so, so good.

Prayer Thank you, Father, for always being present, for always loving us, and for always providing for us – your children. 🤍 I love you, Lord! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Be Healed.

When you surrender to the Lord, invite Jesus to come into your heart and do a healing work in your life, just watch Him. He will do it.

And, when you walk through this process with the Lord, and the Holy Spirit brings you healing, be healed. Be healed.

Leave it. Leave it all in the past. And move forward in your purchased freedom — a heavy price fully paid by Jesus.

In John 5, Jesus healed the leper. Then, He told him, “Pick up your mat and walk.”

Though his identity had been tied to being under, though his identity had been tied to being sick, overlooked and forgotten, Jesus healed Him and told him to get up and walk out of that history — out of that identity. It was time to move forward.

In John 4, Jesus saved an adulterous woman from being stoned to death by an angry mob. When every condemner had gone, Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” He saved her life, and then He called her to walk into a new life — a life no longer plagued by her sin and her shame.

I feel convicted that, for some of us, including myself, we need to understand the moment we are in – the healing we have been given by God – and we need to make a deliberate choice to leave our hurt, heartbreak, feelings of rejection, feelings of victimization… we need to leave it in the past.

If you have invited the Lord in to do a healing work in your life, and He has healed you, be healed.

In Ecclesiastes 3, it says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens… a time to weep and a time to laugh … a time to mourn and a time to dance … a time to tear and a time to mend.”

For some of us, the weeping has taken place – maybe even for decades – the mourning has happened, taking from us long enough, and the Lord has come in to heal us, bring us laughter, and bring us dancing. He has healed us. So, let’s be healed. Let us enjoy the freedom He bought for us.

If you gave Him your past and He has healed the past, quit telling the story. It is another person’s story — not your own. It no longer belongs to you, and you no longer bear the weight of sharing it.

I shared a story the other day of the past, and it felt so odd to me, so alarming. I felt like I had hijacked someone else’s story and was parading it as if it was my own. I was so confused by how unsettled I felt by telling it, when it is historical.

I asked the Lord why I was so bothered, and He revealed to me that it is because He has healed and restored me — that story no longer belongs to me. I surrendered it to Him, He released me of it, and it is now gone. I am a new creation, the old has passed, and I am made new. Therefore, it is not my story to tell.

Working with the Lord to be healed is a beautiful thing. When we go to Him and ask Him to reveal truth to us, He will. He showed me very specifically what part of my history is gone, because I am healed, and what I need not speak of any longer, because I am healed.

Perhaps, like me, you have surrendered hurt and heartache from your history. However, because it became your story, you adopted it as your identity. But, I believe that the Lord wants me to share with you what He has shared with me:

You are no longer sick.
You are no longer in shame.
You are no longer a victim.
That person no longer exists.
Those stories no longer belong to you.

You are free.
Walk free.
The Lord is writing a new chapter in your life and giving you new, beautiful stories to replace those with.

I love you all.

Repenting

Pride is a sin. Vanity is a sin.
Sin separates us from God.

Pride separates us from God.
Vanity separates us from God.

Pride makes it about me instead of God.
Vanity compares me to others and puts me above others, above God.

I repent for pride in my story. I repent for the times I took glory for things God had done for me and in my life.

I repent for vanity – for the times I put my reputation and others’ perception of me above my love for our relationship, above my love for the Lord.

As I look back on my life, on my career, I see where I had pride. I see where I had vanity. And it repulses me. I am repulsed by my own sin.

I don’t need consoling. I need to call it out for what it is so that it stays far, far away from me.

It is by the hand and graciousness of God that I have ever had any cool opportunity and the provision we have needed to pay our bills and supply for our family.

I will be honest… pride can reverse itself, as well, making me want to hide any neat thing I have ever done now, to share any stories or even my gifts sometimes, because I am afraid I will get some of the glory. But that too, I am realizing is pride, because I am keeping the praise under wraps instead of giving it outwardly to the Lord for what He has done in my life.

So, today, as I look ahead to a big, new year, where I will need to use the gifts, lessons, and experiences God has given me to lead as I am called, I surrender my pride. I surrender any false humility. I surrender sin and the shame of sin.

I cast off any stumbling block that has me at the center and relinquish it to God… thanking Him for the opportunities I have had, as well as for the discipline He has provided me to make me a worker who can be used in the field… because, as long as we have ourselves at the center, instead of Him and others, we can’t be used in the Kingdom of God. And I want to fulfill the call the Lord has for my life.

PRAYER

Thank you, Lord, for every blessing and opportunity you have bestowed upon me to be a blessing to others and to provide for my family. And, thank you, Father, for disciplining me over these past 8 years to make me usable in your Kingdom.

You are so gracious and so kind, Father. I surrender to you, Father. I give you both my pride as well as my shame, and I thank you that you have created beauty where my pride and vanity had produced ashes. I thank you that you discipline those you love, and that you love me so.

Help me be more like you so I can be a part of your Kingdom work to the effective measure you have intended, in Jesus’ name.

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son” (Hebrews 12:6).

Those Who Called Us Higher

I was sitting here thinking about all the people who have helped us along the way… Yet, some of them, we have formed a subtle indignance towards — a parent, teacher, pastor, doctor, trainer, boss, or friend — for doing so.

We have decided to be offended, instead of grateful, for their help… many of them just genuinely supporting us or calling us higher, because they love us, motivated by genuine care and concern.

I wonder how many genuine relationships we shunned because of our sensitivity towards correction.

As I age, I look back at some relationships over the decades – at some people – who I felt offended by or irrirated with because they took a genuine, healthy concern for my well-being.

Out of a desire to control my own life, yet feeling as if they were impeding upon my independence, I shook them off. Yet, later, looking back, I see that they cared more for me than those who agreed with or applauded me at the time in my childish ways.

As I age, it becomes clearer that I wasn’t always right. Like a toddler whose mother knows best yet their will and desire for independence reigns supreme, I shook off wisdom and correction that was for my own good.

Yet, as time marches on, I have come to realize that they were not trying to shut me down. They were genuinely trying to help me — to not waste my time, resources, or give away important things. I realize that there is a lot I didn’t know that they did, and they cared enough to share it.

And, as I age, instead of thinking I know everything, I gain the perspective that I simply don’t know everything and that I didn’t…

I realize that I need to open my hands to thank and hug those who helped, even when I took it as critical. I realize I need to open my heart to hear from Godly people even when its hard. I need to open my hands in generosity. I need to release my pride and receive instruction. I need to open my mind to learn more than I know. Most importantly, I need to open my hands in surrender to the Lord.

Thank you to my parents and to every teacher, pastor, doctor, trainer, boss, or friend who put yourself out there to help make me better from a heart of love and concern. In some cases, it has taken awhile for me to lower my wall and receive it, but I draw from those lessons daily — some bestowed even decades ago.

God Doesn’t Yell.

God doesn’t yell. He whispers.

It is His kindness that leads us to repentance.

If you hear a voice screaming at you – accusing you, chastising you, belittling you – ask God to remove it, because it hasn’t come from Him, and it doesn’t belong.

God would never call you fat and tell you that you don’t deserve to eat. He would show you how precious you are to Him and give you a desire for healthy things.

He wouldn’t blackmail you into a corner of shame. He would shine a light to show you the way out.

He wouldn’t tell you that your life has no meaning. He made you on purpose, with purpose, and has a role for you in His Kingdom.

He wouldn’t tell you that your sins define you, so you should give up. He would encourage you to give it to Him, trade that for hope, and show you a new way.

If you struggle with difficult, accusatory, shame-ridden thoughts, ask God to come into your thoughts and your life and fill that area and bring you healing.

He will, because He wants you well. He wants you whole.

God doesn’t yell. He whispers, because He is safe, because He is loving, because He is Home.

Our Guard & Our Guide

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).

There is no playing around with or entertaining dark forces. When children and teen movies try to normalize and familiarize our kids with dark rituals, highlighting them and making them light, we are out.

We can’t get used to this just because companies we used to trust are slowly seeping in these messages. How badly do we need to be entertained?

Have you ever watched something and you feel grieved or just gross?

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)

I thank God for leaving His Holy Spirit here to guard and to guide us. If we can’t find anything on TV or movies that feels right, let’s just shut it off. There’s plenty more to do.

I want to be sensitive to and gain my whole confidence from Jesus. I’m not willing to make allowances just to be relevant and to not been seen as the weird Christian. The stakes are too high. And, when it comes to my kids, I will do my very best to protect them – not just from physical harm but from spiritual harm. Its no laughing matter.

“What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

And God will give us wisdom and courage as we seek Him. We are not weaklings, but we are strong because of Him.

“Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority and power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.”

“… And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

“Listen carefully: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves.

“So do not be afraid of them, for nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, or kept secret that will not be made known.

“What I say to you in the dark (privately), tell in the light (publicly); and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops [to many people].

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

“Therefore, the one who confesses and acknowledges Me before men [as Lord and Savior, affirming a state of oneness with Me], that one I will also confess and acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven. But the one who denies and rejects Me before men, that one I will also deny and reject before My Father who is in heaven.”

‭‭(Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬, ‭7‬-‭8‬, ‭16‬, ‭26‬-‭28‬, ‭32‬-‭33‬)

Only Jesus.

Marketing slogans tell you to believe in yourself, but you are not God and neither am I. We have a very limited view. I learned a long time ago – the hard way – that I am highly fallible even on my best day. If everything depended on me, it would not last long.

Believe in Jesus. You won’t get far without Him. But, WITH Him, you will see supernatural things happen that you never knew were possible!

When we come to understand His great love for us and HIS power available to work in and through us, we will not have a low or a high view of ourselves. We will feel a deep sense of relief and peace, with hearts full of gratitude and enthusiasm for each day, knowing God loves us, He is in control, He never slumbers, He is limitless, and He is ever-present to us. He’s never going to abandon us.

And He is doing GOOD all over the earth every moment of every day! It is absolutely amazing to see! And He includes us in His great mission here on the earth! It blows my mind.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” – Jesus (John 15:5)

Staying in the Light

“Do not participate in the worthless and unproductive deeds of darkness, but instead expose them [by exemplifying personal integrity, moral courage, and godly character]” (Ephesians 5:11).

The enemy is cunning. He wants you to be confused. If something seems off, stop and pay attention.

Instead of brushing it off and barreling forward, get away from the noises and demands of the world.

Get into a quiet space to hear from the Lord. Create space and time to hear from Him.

Stop and ask the Lord to give you discernment and clarity — to make it clear as day. Then listen up to hear from His Holy Spirit.

Expose the darkness for what it is and let the light in. Seek counsel from a Godly friend or counsel. Pray together.

Read the Scripture to combat the lies with the truth of God’s Word.

Then be sure to obey. Stay away from the fruitless deeds of darkness.

If God shows you to walk away – from a job or opportunity, a situation, or a relationship – as hopeful as you were for it, walk away!

God is our protector, and we need to trust Him at His Word and listen in for His voice and let Him do His job. The Bible says God provides a way of escape. Take it!

“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

God is also our Provider, and He will provide a healthy and productive job, opportunity, situation and relationship when we yield to Him and follow His lead.

Do not cower to dark and fruitless situations or relationships, friends!

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

“‘They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 1:19).