Edification Station Podcast

After a two year hiatus, we’re back! This episode challenges you to set specific goals in particular areas of life in order to develop your character and bring your heart in harmony with God’s.

Do you feel lonely right now? I know what that’s like. In this episode I share about my struggles with loneliness and give you the key to having peace in this season even if your circumstances don’t change yet. I promise you that placing your complete trust in God can overcome any heartache and sorrow.

Over the past few days I discovered a breakthrough in my spiritual life that is helping me have incredible peace despite the fact that I’m going through a lot at the moment. It’s so simple, that I still can’t believe how effective it is.

Psalm 55:22- Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall. -Education, page 57, by Ellen G. White

A new year brings hope for a more fulfilling and meaningful life. With a new start, it feels like we can finally be satisfied in who we are. Let these Scriptures I share encourage you to trust in His faithfulness toward you as He transforms your heart to be more like His. Only then can you become who you were created to be!

I didn’t know how much of a hold fear had in my life until I reflected on what God was teaching me most this year. I encourage you to choose faith over fear, to find the peace and confidence in Christ you truly were made to experience. Let your legacy be one of faith in your Savior.

The best part about Christmas is that it reminds us we are not alone or abandoned by God. Before any of us was born, God had a plan for our salvation ready to redeem us from sin. Never at any point has He neglected us, forgotten about us, or treated us badly.

Jesus was laid in a literal animal feeding trough in a barn when He was born. He experienced every difficult thing we may ever go through, and understands us more than we realize. This Christmas, reflect on His goodness to you, and choose to accept His gift of salvation to you. It costs you nothing, and He gives it willingly.

This time of year has many of us open to pondering what we are thankful for. I can’t think of anything more special and beautiful than the gift of redemption. Truly, there is nothing more fulfilling, purpose-giving, and joyful than knowing we are redeemed from our sin. The best news of all is that God’s grace is unconditional!! Ephesians 2:8-10

God has given to men a declaration of His character and of His method of dealing with sin. “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Exodus 34:6, 7. “All the wicked will He destroy.” “The transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.” Psalm 145:20; 37:38. The power and authority of the divine government will be employed to put down rebellion; yet all the manifestations of retributive justice will be perfectly consistent with the character of God as a merciful, long-suffering, benevolent being.
God does not force the will or judgment of any. He takes no pleasure in a slavish obedience. He desires that the creatures of His hands shall love Him because He is worthy of love. He would have them obey Him because they have an intelligent appreciation of His wisdom, justice, and benevolence. And all who have a just conception of these qualities will love Him because they are drawn toward Him in admiration of His attributes. (Great Controversy, page 541)

Episode 20!!!! It’s not enough to consider ourselves Christians just because we go to church on the weekend and live decent lives. When we have a true encounter with Christ, our lives will reflect that miracle in our motivation to seek out others who need that blessing, too. We can only have and cultivate that experience with God if we daily choose to trust Him with our lives instead of trying to control everything ourselves. Like David, we can say, “In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.” (Psalm 138:3)

Why are we lonely? Is it wrong to be lonely? When we feel alone, what can we do about it? In this episode I share with you my experience with loneliness in several dimensions, and encourage you with the lessons I’ve learned on how to deal with it and recover my joy. It’s exciting!

Philippians 4:11-13
11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Each of us knows what it’s like to reap the dissatisfying consequences of our poor choices. We often repeat our mistakes because we go along with our hearts and our misguided desires. God has such higher ideals for us, and He is able to help us live a better way. All we have to do is ask Him to live within us and bring us into harmony with Him. No one can deny the authenticity of our spiritual experience when they compare who we were with who He’s made us to be now.

Jeremiah 31:33
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Sometimes we care more about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Come on, now! Under what most of us would consider extreme duress, having been jailed for breaking the rules that forbade them from preaching the good news of Jesus’ love, Peter said to the assembly of his enemies:

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19, 20) Then he said to them in Acts 5:29, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

My challenge for you today is to esteem the praise of God higher than the approval of any other. Let your heart be in tune with God’s by obeying His commandments and living a life of surrender and commitment to His Word. It is more satisfying than all the likes, comments, and followers you could ever amass in this life, and more rewarding than immeasurable fame or popularity could ever be to you. Do you want the praise of your Creator, who is eternal, or that of seriously flawed people whose allegiance is selfish and fleeting, and whose superficial, egocentric opinions will die soon with them? The former seems like a nobler pursuit to me. Jesus wants you to know Him. Seek Him now.

If you’re feeling worn down for any reason, I can relate. The Bible is full of encouragement for us, and this episode has some special passages to lift you up!

Philippians 4:19
And my God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

One of the biggest questions we have as Christians is, “What does God want me to do?” Another way to say that is, “What is God’s will for my life?”

If you’re wrestling with making a decision, this episode is for you! In it I share some wisdom from the Book of Proverbs to give you principles to make safe, noble decisions that will fill your life with joy and fulfillment. I share some examples from my own life of how I’ve failed and succeeded at implementing these principles for better or for worse.

Proverbs 16:3- Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established.

Sometimes we get to a point where we realize we need a hard reset in life. Stress gets to us; we’re overwhelmed by the notifications from our devices; we struggle to calm our racing minds. God invites us to set aside special time with Him each week so we can empty ourselves of the stresses we take on, and thereby fill ourselves with Him. If you need a stronger sense of a quiet, abiding trust in God, this episode is for you.

Sometimes we struggle with feelings of insufficiency. Our insecurities make us withdraw from those who would encourage us. Our setbacks convince us we’ll never succeed. Looking at what others have achieved makes us feel comparatively unaccomplished.

“And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8 NKJV)

Look to God for joy, peace, and hope that will outdo your greatest pain, doubt and despair. No matter what we go through, God goes through it ahead of us and with us, so we are not alone.

The enemy tailors his assaults to us based on the season of life we’re in. Right now, he seeks to sap our souls of confidence, peace, and joy by surrounding us with negativity, doubt, and despair.

Choose instead to be bold no matter what you face, because you know in whom you have believed, and you are redeemed. The unknown loses its ominousness when we remember God knows what He’s leading us through.

Romans 8:24, 25
For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

2 Timothy 1:7, 12
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day.

More often than we like, we find that our faith and spirituality are boring, passive, and powerless. We wish we would be excited about God, but it’s difficult when we don’t see Him doing anything in our lives. The issue lies with us! God is ready and willing to act, but we often don’t ask Him to do anything interesting. Sometimes we really do ask for something big, but we don’t ask with belief in His ability to fulfill that request. Cast off your arbitrary limits of what you think God can and wants to do in your life, and you will see the Holy Spirit do things you couldn’t have anticipated!

How come God doesn’t speak louder to us? It can seem He’s aloof and uninterested in us when we don’t hear Him.

The truth is that the Holy Spirit is always speaking to us, but we don’t notice because we’re busy with other things, and afraid of what He might say.

Take a moment to let Him reach out to you. He will comfort you, counsel you, encourage you, and transform you to be more like Christ. He will show you who God truly is and bring you “peace that passes understanding” (Philippians 4:7, 8).

Thirst is one of the worst feelings there is. We often get so busy that we forget to stay hydrated. If we forget to “hydrate our souls,” we’ll find ourselves dissatisfied with life time and time again. Achieving our greatest earthly goals might be satisfying at first, but we’ll soon feel empty again because those things can be taken away from us. This cycle of unfulfilled desires jades us, making us cynical about God’s ability to give us meaning and lasting contentment.

C.S. Lewis said, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

I invite you to consider that Jesus is the fulfillment of all your desires. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you in His Word, and find out for yourself.

John 9 tells of a man who was born blind, and healed by Jesus. He didn’t know who healed him, but still believed because he knew what had happened to him. No one could convince him his experience was inauthentic, even though he didn’t know how to explain how he had been healed.

The good news is this: you don’t have to understand everything to believe something. So will you consider the invitation of John and at least look? And for some of you, believe? And for others of you, believe, again?

Who do you believe God is? Does that belief really transform the way you live? Religion can’t simply be a formal, distant experience that doesn’t humble us or require a sacrifice of us. That type of faith has no power to heal, no skill to comfort us, and no beauty to draw us near time after time. It lacks life, and meaning, and relevance.

I invite you to think about who God is to you. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you in the Bible. You may be surprised to see Him differently than you ever expected to.