Author Archives: Diana Symons

Faith Is Just A Reminder Of Who God Is

We all need to grow in faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. It is impossible to thrive in the kingdom. We’ve all been given a measure of faith, but how do we grow it?

Faith is just a reminder of who God is.

Is He omnipotent? Yes. He is all-powerful and fully, completely, and happily able to do anything we ask.

Is He kind? Yes. His heart is soft toward us. He wants to be a Father to us to meet all our needs and bless us.

Is He loving? Yes! It is His desire that no one be lost. He wants to see everyone saved. Everyone.

Is He faithful? Yes. He promises to be with us always. He will never leave us alone. Ever.

Is His word true? Yes. His promises are true. Is is God and cannot lie. Satan is the liar, not God.

Is He generous? Yes. He is the God of abundance. His blessings are full up, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.

When we remember how big, kind, loving, powerful, and good that God is, faith comes naturally. Of course He can and will do what we ask. It’s who He is. Put that first in your mind and believe Him to be who He says He is, and expect amazing things to happen when He proves Himself.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

Will You Be Brave Enough Walk In Blessing?

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Sometimes we have an odd response to blessing — we don’t want to receive it. We’re like an animal that has lived in a cage for a long time. When the cage door is opened to to freedom, the animal doesn’t know what to do. The cage is familiar and safe.

We have a calling on our lives to do amazing work in the kingdom. But we have to get past our own self-defeating limitations and step out with God. It takes trust that He will back us up when we need Him to.

You can’t walk on water until you get out of the boat. It’s crazy to think about, but miracles are like that. Let go of what you have to control and trust God to open doors for you. And when the doors open, go out! Yes, the familiar feels safer, but the blessing of obedience brings amazing opportunity.

Ask God if you’ve been holding back. Ask Him what He wants to do for you. Ask Him for faith to follow Him where ever He leads. Then enjoy. It’s going to be awesome.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

The Benefits Of Praising God

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Our Western culture is not used to the concept of praising God. It sounds like anyone who demands praise is ego-centric. It’s hard to wrap our heads around God asking us to do that. But not only is He justified, He is God after all, there are other reasons for doing it.

When we tell God how great He is, we are reminded of His power. Are there issues in your life that you need a miracle for? Your powerful God is able to be everything that you need. As we praise Him, we are filled with the awareness of His greatness, and suddenly our pressing need doesn’t sound very scary at all.

When we tell Go how beautiful and amazing He is, we begin to see His finger everywhere. We look at sunsets, flowers, a baby’s giggle and know that our amazing God has been at work. Everything that is beautiful is touched by Him.

Our praise to Him actually fills us with a greater understanding of Him. He promised to meet every need and give us joy. That comes from our awareness of who He is. The next time you are in a position to really praise God, pay attention to what He is giving back to you. It will make you praise Him more.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

You Control Your Heart – Stop Living In Fear

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Fear not, live in peace.

We have way more control over our lives and emotions than we’d like to think. We wake up in a bad mood and assume that we have to live with it. We have a certain personality and assume that we have no choice in how we respond to the world. Jesus said otherwise: Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. (John 14:1)

You have a choice about how you want to live. If you don’t want to live with anxiety and fear, you don’t have to. If you are living in anxiety and fear, it’s because you allow yourself to. Jesus said to stop it. Don’t even allow yourself to go there.

If you believe in God at all, then you have to believe in Jesus — that He died for you so you don’t have to live in fear. He made a way to give you the authority you need to claim peace. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)

He made the offer of peace. It’s up to you to receive it and live it.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

Get To Know God — He’s More Than You Thought

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One way to grow in love and faith in God is to think about how amazing He is. Pick one aspect of God, maybe His kindness, and think about it. Give yourself an entire day to just think of all the ways that God has been kind to you. Look up scripture on His kindness. Ask Him to show Himself kind to you. Ask Him to help you show His kindness to other people.

It may be that as you dive into how kind God is, you begin to learn more about it. It may take you another day to keep learning more. Maybe a week. Maybe you just get into how kind God is and take as long as you want to explore it.

Then pick another aspect of God and concentrate on that. You could do that every single day for the rest of your life and never run out of amazing things to dwell on. Get to know God. Get to know how truly awesome He is. It will make you appreciate Him so much. And as you do, you’ll trust Him more because you know Him better. You may discover that He’s not exactly who you thought He was.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

Why Did Jesus Die For You?

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Why did Jesus die for you? I know that you know. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. He so loved the world. We hear these verses for so long that they begin to lose significance. Sometimes we have to slow down and remember truth.

Go back to Genesis (3:8). God walked through the garden in the cool of the day. Why? Because He made Adam and Eve for a reason. He wanted to hang out with them. They weren’t a science experiment, they were friends.

Ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, God has been working to bring us back. He has always wanted to be friends with us. Now that salvation is available through grace, we can have what Adam had. We can be friends with God.

That is an extraordinary relationship to develop. God, who made all things, wants to talk to you and hear what you have to say. The things that are important to you are important to Him. Your dreams and hurts and frustrations all matter. Slow down and talk to Him. Hear what He has to say. Let Him help. He’s been waiting a long time to do that.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

We Are Commanded To Ask For The Gifts Of The Spirit For A Reason

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Are you seriously perusing spiritual gifts? Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. (I Cor 14:1) This is not a suggestion. God made all the gifts of the Spirit available to us. It’s our responsibility to ask for them and use them.

There’s a reason for that. God wants you to hear Him when He talks to you. He’s got a lot to say about your life and what you should be doing in the kingdom. The Holy Spirit is our Counselor. What better guide through life could you have than God Himself?

Desire His gifts. Desire the ability to prophesy, which blesses other people. Desire the word of knowledge, which makes others aware how much God knows them and loves them. Desire the ability to speaking healing and deliverance.

Salvation is not just about securing a ticket to heaven. It’s receiving citizenship in God’s kingdom. That citizenship requires participation and fellowship with other citizens. We’re meant to help each other. That’s what the gifts are all about.

If the Holy Spirit and the gifts are foreign to you, sit down and read the Bible. See what it says for yourself. Then desire the things He tells you to desire. It’s for your own good.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

How To Love Like 1 Corinthians 13

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The Bible makes it very clear that everything we do should be done in love. 1 Corinthians 13 is the field guide for explaining that. Well, that’s all good and all, but how do you do it? Can you just decide to start acting in love?

To some extent, yes, but that won’t get you all the way. God has to help. You have to hand over your heart to Him and let Him fill you with His Spirit. He has all the love you need.

But there is another element that you need to be truly loving. You need to understand how much God loves you. Until we get to heaven, we may never have a full revelation of what that means, but the more we understand, the more it will change us. Ask God to show you how much He loves you. Ask Him for a real revelation of His love for you.

If you could get your head around God-sized love, enough to suffer and die for you, it will change your outlook on your love for Him and everyone else. And when you do get a picture of that, ask to understand more. His love is deep and you’ll never get to the bottom of it. You can keep learning more and more and never run out.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

God Doesn’t Mind Offending You — How Will You Respond?

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God is definitely in the habit of messing with our heads. Jesus went to great lengths to describe an abomination that He expected His disciples to receive — eating His body and drinking His blood. Everyone was grossed out. What was Jesus’s response? Does this offend you? (John 6:61)

What’s the right answer to that? To say yes would be admitting that you don’t receive the word the He gave. To say no means that you’d be ok with eating flesh and drinking blood. Without understanding the real context, you just have to believe that Jesus wasn’t being disgusting.

Does this offend you? How often has offense kept us from understanding deeper truths? Yes, we understand that we are saved by grace. That’s a basic truth. But that’s just the doorway to the kingdom. There is so much more to learn about our God. Jesus tried to teach more, but could not. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (John 3:12)

We’re supposed to pray on earth as it is in heaven, because our world doesn’t look like heaven. If we are to learn heavenly things, then what He has to teach will be radically different from what we think we know. Are we prepared to be radically changed? Or will we be offended? A smart answer would be to press in and learn more.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

Everything, Everything Must Be Done In Love

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The foundational attitude of the Christian should be that everything is done in love. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (I Cor 13:3)

No matter what we do, if we do not love through it, we are not responding correctly. This takes some serious devotion. God has to do some real work in us for that to be true. We have a lot of history to let go of. We have to go against societal norms that push us to get our own way.

Love is the air we breath in the kingdom. Check yourself and see what your motivations are. In your daily interactions with people, you probably never even think about it. That’s why we have to submit ourselves to God. He has to change us and renew our minds. When we are filled with His Spirit, we led by Him, when we choose to pay attention. Our actions can actually be motivated by love.

Ask God to help you love more. Ask Him to remove anything from your life that keeps you from loving. Be honest with Him and confess any unholy attitudes that you know you have. Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit so you can be the loving one that changes the lives of people you meet with. Love is awesome. Get more.

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart