"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
(1Peter 4:8)
Forgive and forget. Boy, there's two words that go down about as smoothly as peanut butter and green beans. I have grown leaps and bounds in this area over the years, but it wasn't always that way. Honestly...I was in bondage. It seemed like just as I was digesting the forgiveness portion of a hurt or wrong committed against me, when here came the "forget" course of the meal. Yuck! Meanwhile in the background The Dixie Chicks sang, "Forgive? Sounds good. Forget? I don't think I want to."
For me it came down to the Lord asking me, Do you want to continue to live in misery or do you want the abundant life I can offer? Ummmm...abundant living for ten points, God! The only problem was...just as I was in the final round of the game...on my way to taking home the grand prize, I would allow all those negative emotions and memories to take my focus off of God and ultimately steal my joy. Ugh!
Over and over again, it was a most unpleasant cycle: Forgive-->Forget-->Remember--> until one day, knowing that not only was I being disobedient to God's word but was in turmoil, I cried out to him, "Lord, I cannot take another minute of feeling and living like this! Please God, change my heart, teach me how to forgive and to LET GO of all this! Lord, I want to forgive the way you forgave me and not hold offenses against anyone, anymore! I want to be FREE! And then I heard....
"Love deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
 Love deeply......? This wasn't going to be easy but was something I needed to do. So where do I begin, Lord? Your heart is willing, He said, so you're half way there.
And so we started on a new journey together...on the job training as it were. I made a commitment to allow Him to transform me--to renew my mind--and he took that commitment and ran with it! We started dealing with ME (yes, me!), and then the old hurts. One-by-one...people I didn't even know I had held a grudge against would come to mind. The memory would surface and I would bear down in prayer and speaking scripture OUT LOUD as to let the evil one know I was onto his little game. Finally...as if waking up from a dream, I would experience a new sense of peace and DEEP love for that person! Some cases were more challenging than others...but still it came! It was supernatural...and I was RELIEVED!
Next was the testing through new conflicts with others...and although it was tiring, I found it to be easier than ever before to MOVE past the hurt with genuine love. Does it still hurt? Of course!....but God is teaching me how to push through the hurt with prayer, to resist replaying the offense in my mind and to....you got it!....LOVE OTHERS DEEPLY! He is still growing me in the area of forgiveness...but I am FREE from that bondage! Thank you, Stronger One!
Forgive? Sounds good. Forget? It is best if I do because at the end of my days I want to hear the Lord say, "Julie, my daughter, thank you for loving deeply."
Julie Peyton
President, Fit for the King Ministries International
Recommended reading: Victory Over Darkness, The Bondage Breaker; Dr. Neil T. Anderson
"When John (the Baptist) heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his
disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone
else?" (Matthew 11:2-3)
 John the Baptist From The Deesis Mosaic John the Baptist's entire life had been purposed to prepare the way for the Messiah
(Luke 1:5-25). We are not unlike John in that our life is to be a witness to others of the Lord's saving grace--preparing the way for Him ...if you will. John was ready and willing to give all authority over to Jesus...
However, shortly after he exclaimed, "Behold, it is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!" (John 1:29), John was thrown into prison for calling out the adulterous affair and marriage of King Herod to his brother's wife. As Jesus increased in his ministry, John began to decrease in a dark, sweltering prison cell as he awaited beheading. John's disciples would report to him the miracles they were witnessing Jesus perform, but these word of mouth accounts were not enough to strengthen his broken heart, and so he sent word to Jesus, "Are you the one" I am in prison for, or was this just a huge mistake?
We can all relate to John's type of despair when it seems that our faith
just isn't paying off.
So, what can we do?
Spend quality time in PRAYER,
AND...
Spend quality time in HIS WORD.
We are a blessed and favored group of people to be able to experience Him, his character, ways,and will through the pages of the bible and can come BOLDLY before the throne of Grace! Attending sermons and asking for prayer is great but you do not have to solely depend on that...you can experience the joy of doing it yourself! God gave you two eyes to see, a mind to process, and a heart to feel the heights and depths of not only what his word IS but what it IS CAPABLE of doing.
Jesus sent words of assurance and confirmation to John that indeed his faith was in the right Person, "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me." (Matt. 11:6) John may have been in a physical prison but was emotionally FREED by the comforting words of Jesus! And to you, beloved, there is no power on earth that can keep you permanently bound in a prison of despair, doubt or lack of knowledge. (So, why do you stay there?)
Julie Peyton
Founder, Fit for the King Ministries International
"A man of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." (Proverbs 18:24)
 I received a random text from a long lost friend one day out of the blue. We hadn't seen or spoken to one another in over eight years as "life" had created time and distance between us. She said I had been on her heart for some time, so she decided to look me up...
We set a meeting and I was so excited to see her! But...then I started thinking about the fact that we hadn't spoken in nearly a decade which made me wonder what our meeting would be like. Would we have anything in common? Why are we reconnecting now after all these years? What kind of friend am I for letting all these years go by? Would she be upset with me? Maybe I should be upset with her? Suddenly, I was out of control and in an attempt to...chill...I started looking at my insecurities as a challenge. The challenge: "What is friendship, anyway?"
The day of our lunch date I walked into Jason's Deli, laid eyes on her, and all my concerns gave way to JOY! Both grinning from ear to ear, we hugged and it felt like it had only been "yesterday" since our last meeting. Over a chicken wrap and California club, we laughed, shared, and ultimately sat in awe of the Lord! It was incredible that over the past years--although apart--we had been living almost parallel lives! Through the ups and downs, we found that the same threads of Mercy had been woven into the tapestries of our lives.
Coming away from our rekindled relationship, I continued pondering the significance of that reunion and how it helped to redefine what I believe biblical friendships should look like. Friendship is work, but should also be a joy!!! Here are a few of my thoughts:
1.) A true friend forgives...
2.) A true friend 'loves' at all times. Note that a true friend doesn't "call or write" at all times, but loves...AND...
3.) A true friend has your back (and doesn't stab it)...
4.) True friendship is timeless. Time and physical distance cannot separate true friends and when God brings you back together, the bond is even stronger....
5.) True friends speak words of encouragement into your life!
We all fall short, right? Which is why my goal is to focus on being a better friend. I know that as I sow, so shall I reap, so I want to sow love and sweetness! I would love to hear your feedback on what you think a true, godly friendship looks like!
Julie Peyton
President, Fit for the King Ministries
“I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.” (Isaiah 45:3)
 In the Believers journey, there may be no greater darkness than that of depression and emotional anguish. This darkness is universal...I've witnessed it in the lives of women across the globe and it shows no discretion to age, race, or social class. Perhaps what makes it so dark is the fact that unless you have experienced it you cannot explain it which only compounds the experience with loneliness. It makes no sense whatsoever to you, let alone to anyone else, and at times you even feel as if friends and family become impatient waiting for you to “get over it”. You feel as if you may be going out of your mind.
I can speak of this darkness with authority, as I have lived in it myself. You see...I have persevered through many trials and tribulations, but a few years ago the enemy waged a war on the battlefield of my mind unparallel to any type of mental combat I have ever experienced. I have never felt such unwarranted sadness, loneliness, or anger in my life and the conflict within was that as lonely as I felt, I had absolutely no desire to be around anyone. So, for several months the darkness grew heavier and all I knew to do was to pray and cry out to the Lord. Pray and cry, cry and pray.
While begging the Lord to lift this shroud of seemingly endless and senseless turmoil, I found bubbling to the surface bits and pieces of what I like to call a “remnant of my attachments” to the world and its people. God was revealing to me areas in my life that were too dependent or attached to anything but HIM. I would call out to Him, “Please help me!” and he would respond that he was helping, as painful as it may be.
 I began to see, with each new day, that although the enemy had brought this darkness upon me, God had sovereignly and purposefully allowed it to come so that he could discipline me into a woman whose heart was more deliberately set on him. What the enemy had intended for evil, God used for good, “...and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,” (Romans 8:28) AND LOVE HIM I DO!
His presence became as diamonds and rubies and his love as bars of gold. I have never counted my Lord with such worth in all my life and all glory is bestowed upon Him! He patiently and lovingly called me out by name and led me through that valley of darkness to a mountain laden with the treasures of his mercy and grace!
Maybe you have not experienced the horror of depression before, maybe you have and just maybe you are stunned at how this blog seems to be pointed directly at your life right now. Either way, we have all: Walked through a valley of darkness, know someone who has/is, or have some of those valleys to come. God has much to teach us, many treasures to reveal. Join with me in praise to our God as we say, “Thank you, Lord, for not only are you Lord of the light, but of the darkness--and the darkness will tell of your splendor!”
Julie Peyton
Founder, Fit for the King Ministries
I recently read an article by Ashley Judd in "The Daily Beast"* that has gone viral. After ignoring years of good and bad press regarding her career and appearance, she couldn't let go of the newest attack against her where critics referred to her as a "cow", stated that she looks "puffy", and that she better watch out or her husband will be on the look out for a second wife. Gasp! The saddest part of it all is that the remarks against her were made mostly by women!
This article only added fuel to the fire that rages within me against the symptoms of a world--not society--that result from the toxin of propaganda ranking the worth of a woman by her appearance and sexuality.
- The deception: That the overall oppression of women starts and stops with men.
- The truth is: We women are just as much blame as any man. We've all been there, in differing degrees, as both the oppressed and the oppressor.
Sisters, it is crucial that we start speaking LIFE...into one another's lives, young and old, even when we don't feel like it or think it is deserving. If we are not speaking life than by default we are speaking death. And by not speaking at all we are only affirming the lies that we women already believe. "And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body...With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way." (James 3:6, 9-10)
God, from this day forward I ask that you would allow me to see each woman--believers and nonbelievers alike--as you see them: A valuable life you sent your Son to die for. Father, may I say the words of love and life to other women that I so desperately long to hear. In Jesus name...amen!
Julie Peyton-
President, Fit for the King Ministries International
*www.thedailybeast.com
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5)
As the ninth hour painfully arrives, the Son of Man cries out against generations of sins now crushing in around him...
A perfect Father in heaven unable to look upon his Son, a mother on earth unable to look away. A Son caught in the agony of a sinful world, nailed down by compassion for the people his love-soaked blood would save. Past the sudden silence the darkness commands of the crowd, you can hear the rhythm of each heart beat:
The Father, My Son, it is almost over.
The Mother, I don't know how much more I can bear to watch.
His Followers, Surely this can not be part of God's plan?
The Contrite, What have we done?
 And then Jesus--as to conclude his life on earth in epic proportions--breathes forth a statement that would forever change the quality of life for mankind, "It is finished."(John 19:30) The pain, sorrow and agony are all over. For the One who was crucified? Yes. But more over for the one looking hopelessly across the vista that day on Calvary in need of love, peace, joy...to be forgiven. Even for the dear one reading this at this very moment who has suddenly found her heart in her throat.
When Jesus' blood was spilled into the cup of life, overflowing with love, mercy, and grace, it overflowed into a cup with your name on it. He planned it that way, you know? He was thinking of you that day on the Hill...He is thinking of you right now. All you need to do, is drink of it.
Julie Peyton
Founder, Fit for the King Ministries
How many of us have read through the pages of Song of Songs with the feeling that Daniel Steele might have relished its erotic material for her steamy novels? If ever a love story were to unfold in uninhibited, unabashed splendor, this is it! And what woman wouldn't want to hear her man describe her with the words King Solomon used to describe his bride! Especially to anyone who would listen for the next several millennia. Hubba-hubba!
The beauty of this story is that not only did it illustrate the anointed romance between man and wife, but a foreshadowing of Christ and his bride* and the love and longing he has for her. Just like King Solomon of his queen, God wants the world to see and hear of His intense love for us:
"His banner over me is love" (Song of Songs 2:4b)
Banners were used in ancient times by the military and even the twelve tribes of Israel (during their "tent" days) to make a clear, concise statement regarding location, possession and relation. How glorious that God's statement over us is love and his claiming us as his!
 What does God's banner of love over me mean? It means.... - He is your Protector,
- He is intimately involved in your life,
- He openly displays his affections for you!
Girl.....He is madly in love with you!!!!
Julie Peyton
President, Fit for the King Ministries International
*(The bride is the body of Christ, church, followers, all believers corporately speaking.)
Beloved,
As creation's story begins to unfold in the book Genesis, the Trinity discusses the work of the Creator's hands and saw that it was good. The earth was good, the sky was good, the waters, foliage and creatures were all declared, "good".
Then, as if to imply that, there is still something missing, God says to the members of the Board, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them...and God saw it was very good." (Genesis 1:26-27, 31.) Yes, Father God, upon seeing his vision for daughter and son manifested in physical form, reckoned that indeed His creation was not only good, but very good!
Daughter, God created you with exuberant joy. You are a woman made not only for a purpose, but also with a purpose!
- For a Purpose: Being made in God's image implies that God desires a relationship with you. He is a relational, loving Father who wants to have an active, intimate and thriving relationship with His children....YOU!
- With a Purpose: You were made with a purpose. The second implication to being made in God's image is that your purpose is to be a light in the world, a reflection of His love, mercy and grace that would appeal to others and lure them into His presence.
 You were created by God, in His image and likeness with and for a purpose. Your life is not an accident and is a joy to your Creator-Father. So, make Him happy by living out your life with deliberate purpose!
Julie Peyton
President, Fit for the King Ministries International
"If sex sells then how can I protect my daughter from the market?"
During a casual chat with another parent recently, the conversation took a somber tone as this shocking yet poignant plea became the question at hand. And me, being a minister and advocate of women and girls, have heartbreaking-ly discovered that no matter where in the world I go, there is no such thing as a short order for the exploitation of females. Raising my own teenage daughter in a world that is willing to place her on the store shelves of immorality and compromise, leaves me doubly heartbroken.
So how do we, as Christian mothers/parents, lovingly protect our daughters against sexual compromise and exploitation? Ah yes...again, the question of the hour. After much prayer, thought, and reflection, I have identified ways to protect our daughters from the market, respectively. - ACCEPT the reality of the issue
- ADDRESS the reality of the issue
- ADMONISH her without making it about what you did or didn't do in the past
- AVOID condemning tones or language
- BE the example
- CONTINUE in prayer and praise
- COUNT on God
Julie Peyton
President, Fit for the King Ministries International
**View extended version of this blog post
Standing over my stove last night, seasoning a batch of ground chuck for "taco night", God gave me a progress report regarding my prayers for our oldest son. It came sometime during the course of chopping cilantro and enjoying the company of my husband and both our boys, as we engaged in a game of "Let's aggravate mom by talking about all the things we did in high school that really gets her riled up."! (Those of you who have young adult children know just what conversation I'm referring to.)
Normally, once they bring up their teenage antics (aka rebellion), they corner me into a place of "What did you expect me to do...say...react?!?!", while my husband stands--arms crossed--laughing at me with that why do you let them get to you look on his face. This time, however, the game took a new direction.
Upon defending my parental decisions with resoluteness juxtaposed to a tone of I'm sorry, my oldest leans into me and says, "I'm just kidding mom. You and dad have always handled things in such a way spiritually that I have never felt condemned and it makes me want to learn more about God for myself."
SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! I was nearly speechless and could do nothing more than smile and say, "I'm glad, Buddy", as I went about tending to dinner in a near state of shock.
I went to bed praising the Lord, and again this morning I have continued to thank him for what he is doing in Chase's life. Additionally, my praise goes up to the Lord for teaching me and my husband to love others, especially our own kids, in a way that speaks love and value into their lives, even when their life is being lived abstract to His will.
You always wonder what your kids will think of you as they enter adulthood and I am honored to leave a legacy behind where I lived my life in such a way--OUT LOUD--that it encouraged my children to want to know more about the love of my life, Jesus Christ! (And thank God for taco night!)
Julie Peyton
President, Fit for the King Ministries  Our boys, Alex (left, 18) and Chase (right, 21) holding his son, sweet Asher, who is now 4 months old.
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