While many of us are spending time at home thanks to this winter weather, let’s continue to be intentional.

Let’s burn bright, better together! Holy Barre is here to gather people for workout, worship, and wellness! We believe these are all connected as we are created to worship in everything we do, wherever you are!

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

I Cor 10:31 NLT

What if fitness was just a way to get the Lord’s breath in our lungs? While our physical wellness is of some value, our spiritual well-being is what truly reflects our ultimate health and wellness.

Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.

I Tim 4:8 NLT

So let’s move our bodies in love, worship in spirit and in truth, and seek first the King and His righteousness! Because Jesus changes everything!

For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

John 4:24 NLT

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Matthew 6:33 NLT

Here’s a 40-minute home workout if you’d like to move! You can find more on YouTube as well as Instagram.

Feeling stuck? Struggling with New Year’s resolutions? Or maybe just trying to keep your head above water? Or maybe you’re struggling to find energy and joy at all?

We typically look towards outward things to assess ourselves, and our goals often involve physical things as a result. So our circumstances like our bodies, our relationships, our work, our finances, etc all influence our assessment of our overall health and wealth.

We’ve been discussing and pursing His freedom for us as we move forward into 2023. But what does that look like in this crazy season? What if our circumstances don’t reflect freedom? What if our constraints feel more suffocating than freeing?

There is still freedom in constraints, craziness, and circumstances because there is freedom IN Christ!

The Lord’s constraints and seasons are for our good. We are free to move our bodies however we’d like, but its for our protection, stability, and strength that we keep our core engaged. More importantly, it’s for our good that we keep the belt of truth wrapped tightly around our waists continually.

Let’s desire to experience freedom IN Christ! This requires having faith IN Christ, believing IN His promise and WHO we are IN Him.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

I John 3:1a

Freedom is knowing our identity is IN Christ, not in our circumstances or even ourselves. Freedom is not dependent upon the state of our bodies, our marriages, our finances, etc. So while goals in those areas are valuable, you can experience freedom today, right where you are, even if your jeans are too tight, your marriage is struggling, and your bank account seems low.

Our identity is defined by who we are IN Christ and nothing else!

So in this freedom, we’re called to bloom where you are planted. A sweet friend shared she’s going to ‘look ahead and stay in my lane’. We’re on a journey with God – let’s enjoy the ride!

Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status (or any other circumstance), defines your life . . .

1 Cor 7:17 MSG

Let’s not be wishing you were some place else or with someone else (or had a different job or had more time or had a different body).  Where you are right now is God’s place for you. 

Remain as you are. Remain in Him. That’s where freedom is found.

Looking for more? Join us beginning January 23 for a 40-Day Reading Plan titled The Wellness Revelation. Click here to join the journey of health, wholeness, and holiness with us.

Hey, Friends! As our new rhythms develop for 2023, let’s touch base about Holy Barre! We have welcomed so many into our local and online communities over the past year, and we’d like to ensure you’re aware of all that Holy Barre has to offer!

Holy Barre exists to gather women for workout, worship, and wellness! While Holy Barre is an actual barre fitness class, our desire is beyond just the physical benefits. While we promise your muscles will burn, we pray even more the Lord ignites a fire in your soul that burns bright. His fire within us burns with love, freedom, grace, and truth!

We’re on a journey together towards health, wholeness, and holiness. We truly believe we’re better together and desire to provide a community of connection. In-person opportunities are our favorite as it’s tough to replace face-to-face interaction. Yet in our digital world, we love being about to connect through other channels. We need each other and are designed for biblical community. So if you live in Edmond, OK, or surrounding areas, please join us in person! If you live beyond Central Oklahoma, USA, please join us online but also promise you’ll find in person community where the Lord has planted you! Deal?!

Here are the ways you can burn bright, better together with Holy Barre in 2023! These opportunities might adjust and more may be added as we anticipate all the Lord has in store. For the most up-to-date information, you can always visit our landing page, holybarre.org, to get the latest!

Holy Barre Workouts – We meet in person every Tuesday at 6:00pm and Thursday at 10:00am at All Fit Collective in Edmond, OK, USA. Sign up on MindBody or just show up your first time! These classes are free – just bring your water and wear comfy clothes. For those living outside of Oklahoma, subscribe to our channel for lots of workouts available on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@HolyBarre. Periodically, we will also go live on Instagram and have a few full workouts available on that platform.

YouVersion Bible Reading Plans – As a group, we are consistently going through a YouVersion Bible Reading Plan. The invite to the latest plan is always linked on our holybarre.org landing page. Our next plan will begin Monday, January 16. Click here to join Freedom in Christ with Charles Stanley.

Workout & Wellness Events – We love offering workout and wellness events at various times and locations here in Edmond, OK. While we currently don’t have one scheduled, we always promote these events through social media and on our webpage. These events include worship-filled workouts followed by wellness discussions and treats.

The Wellness Revelation – If you’re looking to dive deeper into your wellness journey and are tired of the world’s gimmicks of weight loss and diets and tracking apps, we offer a 8-week group study that aligns health with His truth. Whether you’re searching for a healthier lifestyle, better understanding of your body, or just freedom from the idols of food, fitness, and body image, visit https://holybarre.org/the-wellness-revelation/ to learn more!

Holy Barre Instructor Training – Since we love in-person connection, we’d love to bring Holy Barre to your community! We offer instructor training to equip, empower, and encourage you and others to burn bright right where you are! Let us know if you’d like to learn more by completing the form on this webpage: https://holybarre.org/holy-barre-instructor-training/.

Special Events & Retreat(s) – Special events, and, even better, retreats are such fun and focused ways to burn bright better together! We plan to provide more extensive times of workout, worship, and wellness this year. Follow us on social media and subscribe to this weekly update to get the latest and greatest updates on these opportunities!

Contributions – In order to welcome everyone, we remove the barrier of cost and provide all these opportunities for free. We ask for donations and rely on these donations to continue the ministry of Holy Barre. If you’d like to support, we promise all donations will be spent on the ministry. Our leaders donate their time in order to continue our mission to gather women for workout, worship, and wellness. We appreciate any and all financial support! The best and most secure way to give is through Venmo – @holy-barre.

Lastly, please know that you are loved. Your body is good. And freedom is free in Jesus. Your heart means more to us than the size of your hips. If you need to talk to someone, please contact us below. One of our leaders will email you within 24 hours (check your Junk folder).

Thanks for being a part of the Holy Barre community! We’re excited for 2023 and want YOU to join us as we burn bright, better together!

This week we’re going to focus on three verses that I pray serve as a foundation of freedom for you this year. I’ll keep my personal thoughts limited and just ask you to pray and meditate over each scripture passage. Look each up in different translations, read the full chapter, write each as a prayer or praise, etc. Memorize each . . . whatever helps you engage more deeply with His Word. The first two verses in John were spoken by Jesus himself. The last verse was written by Paul.

For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

john 4:24

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

John 8:32

For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom

2 Cor 3:17

Holy Barre’s mission is to gather groups of people for worship, workout, and wellness. As we pursue His freedom in 2023, we must cling to His Spirit and His Truth. For in these we find freedom! Freedom in worship, working out, and all areas of wellness! Watch this YouTube workout and move your body in freedom and worship, founded in His Spirit and on His Truth.

As we conclude our Christmas celebrations and transition into New Year’s, I pray the shift is subtle. Why?  Because Jesus came for the new, and these two holidays could beautifully align. Yet the patterns of this world (Romans 12:1-2) seem to diminish the connection between Christmas and the new year.

While the world tells us to eat and drink and be merry during Christmas, this same world then tells us to restrict, count, and track all that we eat and drink to kick off the new year.  While the world tells us to give and love and serve others during Christmas, it then tells us to focus on self-improvement and define challenging yet achievable fitness goals to improve ourselves in our own strength.  So what if we renewed our minds and pursued the freedom in Christ our Christmas holiday celebrates?

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 CSB

Thankfully I see our world expanding it’s New Year’s marketing strategies for good, but I also pray that the world’s recommendations in general don’t serve as the foundation of your hope for 2023.  Instead, I pray that we seek to be free in ’23.

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 CSB

Now this ‘free’ is not freedom in thoughts, words, or actions as in the ‘you do you’ mantra, but rather freedom in your body and soul!  For Holy Barre, it’s transformation from what the world says about health and fitness into His glorious reflection of wellness!  A renewing of your mind that overflows into your body and soul and then on to others! (Romans 12:1-2)

“For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.”

Galatians 5:13 CSB

Our current YouVersion Reading plan reminded us of the greatest commandments to love God and love others.  And then to use these truths as the foundation of our plans and resolutions for the new year.  Love it!

Beyond that, Jesus entered this world to set the captives free. We are such captives as we become enslaved to sin and the ways of this world. So as we transition from Christmas into New Years, let’s keep our gaze on Christ.

“For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Galatians 5:1 CSB

Thanks to the incredible gift of Christ’s life, teaching, crucifixion, death, and resurrection, we have the Spirit now living inside of us.  So we have freedom. Let’s seek to live in that freedom!

“Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”

1 Corinthians 3:16 CSB

“Now, the “Lord” I’m referring to is the Holy Spirit, and wherever he is Lord, there is freedom. We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 TPT

I love that use of ‘bright’ in this passage in The Passion Translation. And ‘mirrors’.  Holy Barre desires to cultivate an environment in which the Lord can light a fire in our soul. During our workouts, your muscles will burn. But we pray even more the Lord ignites a fire in your soul that burns bright for all to see.  

Most group fitness studios have mirrors to assist with posture, form, and movement.  While seeing our position is valuable, I also realize that many use these mirrors as a source of comparison and critique.  Yet what if these mirrors reflected the glory of the Lord Jesus, burning bright for all to see? And let’s not forget that ‘those who look to the Lord are radiant; their faces will not be covered with shame. (Psalm 34:5).

Yet if you’re entering the new year weary or have a sense that this coming year might have more burdens than blessings, cling to these words of Jesus:

““Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.””

Matthew 11:28-30 MSG

So as you define your plan for the new year and/or set some resolutions, please seek His guidance and truth.  I realize for many of us, we still like tangible, clearly defined goals. Here are some current opportunities to encourage your pursuit of His freedom in the new year. Let’s be free in ’23!

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””

John 8:32 CSB

Holy Barre Workouts – if you’re in the Edmond area, we’d LOVE for you to join us weekly for either our two free classes at All Fit Collective – Tuesdays at 6:00pm and Thursdays at 10:00am. We also have Holy Barre workouts available on YouTube and will be creating new worship-filled workouts regularly in 2023 designed for home participation.

Wellness Revelation Small Group – beginning Thursday, January 12, at 2:00pm, a new group of women will go through the amazing study, Wellness Revelation. We’d love for you to join us! It’s a comprehensive, faith-based, health and fitness study that aligns truth and freedom to His design for wellness. To learn more and sign up, click here.

YouVersion Bible Reading Plans – each week we go through bible plans as a group. These plans provide daily devotionals, scripture readings, and optional group commenting. Our current plan is always linked on the landing page of holybarre.org, and you can click here to join our first plan on 2023 – Freely & Lightly.

Bible Recap – if you’d like to dive deeper into His Word, join me (Libby) in going through the Bible Recap with Tara Leigh Coble. While it may take two years to get through the whole Bible, this amazing podcast takes us through the entire book. Find the Bible Recap wherever you access podcasts. If you plan to join, email info@holybarre.org to let us know!

Revelation Wellness’ Food Is Not the Boss of Me – Revelation Wellness is kicking off an awesome program for the new year based on the principles of intuitive eating and the truth of scripture. You can learn more and sign up here!

Image Restored Book Launch – this new book will be launching in March, and we’re invited to be part of its initial efforts. This book by Rachael Gilbert is an inside-out approach to healing body image through professional guidance, coloring pages, Scripture, prayers, journaling prompts, and teaching videos to help you experience true freedom. To sign up, click here.

Moving Your Body in Love – if you’re looking to increase your movement, I highly recommend Revelation Wellness’s podcast episodes entitled Revving the Word. These are intended to be listened to while walking, running, biking, or any other full-body movement. (The Be Still & Loved ones are also very valuable because rest is necessary). In addition, you can find online workouts at RevWellTV.

And if you’re in Edmond, we’d love to have you at All Fit Collective for lots of fun fitness options surrounded by encouraging and amazing women! Our bodies are good – let’s move them in love and freedom! All Fit Collective is having a free Open House Party on Saturday morning, January 7!

“So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.”

John 8:36 CSB

This Advent season, we choose hope, enjoy peace, give and receive joy, and live in love! (Check out our previous Weekly Updates for more on each.)

We pray this holiday season that you will be filled with His hope, His peace, and His joy as you celebrate the birth of our King! Yet ultimately, Christmas is all about His love. Everything is about His love. I mean, HE IS LOVE! 🙂

John 3:16 is such a classic and foundational scripture, but let’s read it with fresh eyes:

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17 NLT

The story of Christmas and the Good News originates in His love for us. In spite of what we’ve done and will do. But because of Whose we are. May we be filled with the awe and wonder of His love this holiday and respond in genuine love in celebration of Him.

The Message translation states is so wonderfully . . .

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.

Ephesians 5:1-2 MSG

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Holy Barre! May your celebrations be filled with joy and peace, while taking time to be still and know that He is God! Enjoy the food and drink, enjoying the people you’re with even more! May you enjoy all the gifts, keeping your eyes focused on our ultimate Gift. Savor the special season and continue to burn bright better together! And let’s LOVE LIKE THAT! 🙂

Joy to the world!  We are called to give His joy to the world!  Yet in order to give His joy and burn bright so that others see His light, we much receive His joy fully.

We receive joy through the power of His Word, reading, meditating, and reflecting on all He is and has done. The Christmas story is a great place to start. Let’s remain in awe, desiring to grasp more of His glory!

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Luke 2:8-20

We receive joy from living in the Good News and mercy. When we look at the genealogy of Christ, his family history is full of sinful, imperfect people. Let’s not let shame or guilt hinder our receiving His joy.  The Good News emphasizes His crucifixion, death and resurrection, which He endured for His joy and ours, despite our sins and struggles!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Hebrew 12:1-2

We receive joy in His presence, in Him alone.

You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.

Psalm 16:11

We receive joy beyond understanding through His Spirit.  Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, which must be received through the Vine!

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

Romans 4:17

We receive joy by remaining in His love.  Let the Lord fill your cup so that is overflows!

“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:9-13

We receive joy simply by asking in His name for it as well!

You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.

John 16:24

Now let’s give this full and abundant joy to others. 
And like in states in His Word, rejoice always!
(Philippians 4:4, I Thes 5:16)

Join us for our Joy: A Countdown to Christmas YouVersion Bible reading plan, beginning Sunday, Dec 18. Click the link to join and share this link with others!

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

Colossians 1:19-20

We learned in our Bible Project Reading Plan that the original Hebrew translation for ‘peace’ means completeness, wholeness, and restoration.  So as we savor that definition, desiring for that kind of peace in our lives, we choose hope as we look forward to Christ’s return and our eternity with Him.  Yet what does peace look like right now as we celebrate Christmas? And how we can enjoy His peace in the present?

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

Romans 5:1-2

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.

Ephesians 2:14

Jesus came to bring peace . . . to bring completeness, wholeness, and restoration.  He came to give life to the fullest!  And while we value and cling to His teaching, it was through His sacrifice that true peace can be enjoyed.  He died so we can live in His complete, whole, and restored peace!

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 10:10

Our response to His life, death, and resurrection must reflect this sacrifice to experience and enjoy His peace. When we don’t feel His true peace, there might just be something we need to surrender ourselves. I love how Alisa Keeton addresses this personal sacrifice, or burning fire, inside each of us in the podcast episode about enjoying peace. Click HERE to listen while you walk, bike, or clean your house.

If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it. Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me. 

Matthew 10:39-40

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:4-9

The Bible passages here shed light on this continual, sacrificial fire burning within us that allows us to enjoy His peace.  We give the Lord our worries, fears, comforts, pains, areas of control, idols . . . even marriages and families. We must surrender our lives to receive Jesus’ peace, practice this peace as a living sacrifice, and enjoy peace fully and completely under the reign of our Prince of Peace, trusting in His restoration of all things!

The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.

Isaiah 58:11-12

Ask the Holy Spirit what you need to surrender and lay on the alter to enjoy His true peace this Advent . . . then do it. Through this sacrifice, your fire will burn even brighter and you will enjoy His peace!

I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.

John 14:25-27

We are kicking off our Advent series with a focus on hope. To fully grasp our Living Hope in Jesus, let’s apply this eternal hope to various realities and explore His Word.  While this Hope is a gift from God, we must choose and live in Hope!

To choose hope, we remember His faithfulness in the past.

O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows.

Psalm 130:7

To choose hope, we acknowledge suffering.  Just this week I’ve heard of so much death, disease, illness, depression, bitterness, and poverty.  Our world in suffering.  We are suffering.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Romans 8:18-25

To choose hope, we must forget our own failures and successes, our pain and our pride.  The things of this world and want to overcome our hope.  Our waiting gets messy when we let our minds wander . . . let’s wonder in the things of Jesus.

We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you. Rescue me from my rebellion. Do not let fools mock me.

Psalm 39:6-8

To choose hope, we anticipate and expectantly wait on Christ’s return.  Just as the world waited on the coming of the Messiah, we now wait on His return.  We cling to faith and get to choose to wait in His Living Hope, having eternal hope for a day when there is not more suffering or pain or pride.

In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world.
The nations will rally to him, and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.

Isaiah 11:10

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

Hebrews 11:1

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.

I Peter 1:3-5

To choose hope this Christmas, we share the Reason for the Season with others.  Our world needs hope!  May we burn bright with hope!

Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance.

Isaiah 60:1-3

Sing a new song to the Lord!

Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!

Sing to the Lord; praise his name.

Each day proclaim the good news that he saves.

Publish his glorious deeds among the nations.

Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.

Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!

He is to be feared above all gods.

Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor.

Let all the earth tremble before him.

Tell all the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

The world stands firm and cannot be shaken.

He will judge all peoples fairly.

Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!

Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!

Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!

Let the trees of the forest sing for joy

before the Lord, for he is coming!

He is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world with justice,

and the nations with his truth.

Psalm 96:1-4, 9-13

Last post we shared about receiving . . . inviting, praying, and listening to Him is a great way to receive. A dear friend shared a tool from her church called ISLA.  It’s an acronym for prayer and hearing from the Lord.  It’s simple yet supernatural . . .

I – INVITE: Invite God into the moment, closer your eyes and breathe

S – SHOW: Ask God to show you His truth about something specific or in general

L – LISTEN: Listen to Him, linger and look for His visual images as well that come to mind.

A – ACTION: Ask Him what He wants you to do and take action

Or maybe just share a simple prayer: ‘Jesus, show me Your love.’ (Psalm 139) ‘Jesus, I give everyone and everything to you.’ (From John Eldridge) ‘Clear my mind, calm my soul, fill my heart, and strengthen my body, Lord.’ (Holy Barre’s prayer)

Look up the scriptures listen the image and invite, pray, and listen!