“Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.” (Acts 5:4)
 
There are only a few things we can do with money we can give, spend, and save it. For many people spend is the most fun but, we often shy away from stating how much we spend on things and dislike the b word (budget) since it feels like a restriction. However, when we learn to budget our money, it gives us permission to spend our money and know where it is going. When we do not know where our money is going, we lie to ourselves about how much we spend on food, entertainment, and bills. The money slips away because we do not know exactly where it went.

The most joy we get with money is giving it away. Blessing others with money whether it is to a local charity, leaving an outrageous tip to a server, or even taking the time to bless a family with a gift. This fills the heart with joy since it furthers God’s kingdom and helps those in need. When we give money away, we must guard our hearts from pride because we might want to say we gave more money away than we did to seem impressive. When we lie to people, we are not lying to people but, to God. The money already belonged to us, and we have the right to spend it how we feel is fitting.

​What we do with our money shows where our heart is at if we lie about how much we give our heart is filled with pride and does not love those around us. When we spend recklessly on alcohol and things that do not give life our hearts are missing love. The Holy Spirit opens our hearts up to generous giving and spending wisely.
 
Heavenly Father, may we spend the money you have given us to steward wisely, may you show us people we can bless with generosity.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

“When they observed the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and recognized that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)
 
People sometimes say, “you are the company that you keep” and to “choose your friends wisely”. The people we spend time with play a vital role in our character development. Some people may be a great influence since they are encouragers and want to see their friends succeed while others might not be a great influence since they are bad apples always getting into trouble.  The bad apples are usually perceived as people who ditched school or did not get good grades while the good kids sat up front in class and got good grades.

Education is for some the American dream to get good grades in school later to further their education to college to be educated and trained in a profession. Boldness does not proceed from education it cannot be learned or taught but, comes from having courage to stand up and say what is right. Peter and John were uneducated and untrained fisherman they did not have fancy educations but, learned from the one that everything comes from Jesus. It showed not only how they spoke but, how they treated other people.  They saw people in need and did not turn them away but, had compassion on them and assisted them the best way they knew how.

​Boldness takes vulnerability and being brave. Courage the Cowardly Dog fears everything but, would step outside of his comfort zone and embrace the challenge that was in front of him. There is no perfect moment to start anything that we want or need to do but, the right time to start is now. Even when we fail at our goals, we can embrace it and shake it off and learn from our mistake. We can find out what are our strengths and abilities and focus on building those up. The Holy Spirit empowers us to be bold and step outside of our comfort zone, to believe in our abilities, and act.
                 
Heavenly Father, thank you for the Holy Spirit that empowers us to be bold and brave sharing the gospel to those who do not know Jesus.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins
                 

““So in the present case, I tell you, stay away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is God, you will not overthrow them. You may even be found fighting against God.” They were persuaded by him.” (Acts 5:38-39)
 
Some people have a five or a ten-year road map for their lives planning everything out where they are going to go to college, at what age they are going to get married, and even where they are going to be in their career. While others might not do a road map to figure out where they will be in the future, they might wait for doors of opportunities to happen to help them get to where they want to be in life. While others just wait on luck to get them where they want to be in life.

Still, many create plans even at work we might make plans who to talk too, what appointments to schedule throughout the day, and even what tasks are necessary that must get done that day. When we try and force things to happen often it can backfire on us and what we were expecting to happen becomes a disappointment and we fail at it. Even our energy, mental and physical well-being may suffer the consequences of trying to do something out of our own efforts.

However, there is hope for if we use wisdom and discernment and realize our own efforts versus God working within the plan then it will not be stopped God’s work will manifest and succeed on its own terms. We must have patience and trust in God’s plan even when we do not know the details, or it feels like we are taking steps one at a time in the dark. Sometimes we can resist God’s plan because it is not something we would want for ourselves a certain job, resources, and even getting assistance in areas that we are struggling. No matter how fast we want something to happen or even try and get somewhere else in life we must have patience and trust in God’s plan for our life.
 
Heavenly Father, may we trust in your plan for our lives, may we not resist you leading us through doors of opportunities.
 
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

“Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:44-45)
 
Today many people would prefer to be alone. Often you can find people going for a quick meal alone through a drive thru. Not having to worry about talking with someone while they are on their lunch break. With social media people do not have to worry about talking to strangers they can sit on a bench alone and feel connected. There is more of an emphasis of having me time and taking time to be alone. Time alone is not bad for we need to take the time to take care of ourselves and replenish our spirit. However, we are better together.

We were created for community. It is easy to want to do everything by yourself and be a lone wolf. Even young children at one point start saying, “I can do it by myself.” It’s even worse when they grow up to be teenagers and tell you to go away since “your so uncool.” Trying to disassociate with you and not claim belonging to you. It might be difficult when the people close to us no longer want to be around us but, we are made for community and to be with others.

​When we are with other people, we can find out what they need and how we can contribute to their life. It is when we are in community that we come to find wholeness. God created us for community for our inward self to be changed by the Holy Spirit and lead us to an outward change of helping those in need and building relationships. To build community we must find healthy things in common crochet, gardening, or even running. We need people who will cheer us on in life, people we can do life with, and spend time with contributing to society.
 
Heavenly Father, may you place people in our life that we can do community with and become better together.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
 
There are many ways we can define power. One way is observing power in how much money a person has and what they control. Another way is observing their position within a company if the person is CEO, they have the power to make various decisions within the company. Many have attempted at the 4-minute mile.

​To do a 4 – minute mile the person must be running at top speed the entire time. The person has powerful lungs. All these are different forms of power but, they all fade in a person’s life. The person who was CEO turns over leadership to another person, the rich person with money at one point will pass their money along in an inheritance, the person who once ran a 4- minute mile no longer can run that fast. There is one form of power that is promised to us and never fades.

Jesus promises us an even better power that enables us to do so much more and never leaves us. Power from the Holy Spirit it is a transformational power that changes us inward and outward not for our goodness but, as a witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit changes us from someone who was unkind to someone who is loving, jealous to celebrating friend’s accomplishments, selfish ambition to other focused.

The power of the Holy Spirit allows us to tell others about Jesus not only in our immediate area where we live but even further wherever we go. We can start small with telling friends, family, and even people we know about the saving power of believing in Jesus and when directed by the Holy Spirit even talk to people, we may not know librarians, clerks at stores, and even waiters. The power of the Holy Spirit is the best power that resides within us.
 
Holy Spirit, may you come and empower us to share the gospel of Jesus to those who have never heard of Jesus.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins