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Pastor Debbie Rhoads

About Pastor Debbie Rhoads

https://welovechurch.com/

Debbie Rhoads is the Next Gen Pastor and the Leadership Development Development Director at Love Church. She is married and has two adult sons, a daughter-in-law, and two cats. Her favorite hobby is being “Gigi” to her grandson. The world stops when he calls in to FaceTime...no other human has that power over her.

Posts by Pastor Debbie Rhoads:

Are You Really Looking?

Are You Really Looking?

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As a mom, there have been many occasions where I told my children to go find something.

“Please go find your shoes.”

“Where did you put your coat? Please go find it.”

“You can’t find your favorite toy? Where did you play with it last? Go and look for it there.”

Almost every time, I would see my child aimlessly wandering around the house, half-heartedly looking. After a little while, I would hear, “Mom, I can’t find it.”

To which I would reply, “Are you REALLY looking?”

As we lean in for this 21 Days of Prayer, we commit to seek God. We seek God for answers, we seek Him for wisdom, we seek Him for healing, for understanding, for peace, for direction, etc. As we seek Him, let us ask ourselves the question, are we REALLY looking? Or are we aimlessly wandering around with half-hearted prayers? We tend to be impatient beings with our instant gratification ways, and it is sometimes easy for us to give up and throw our hands in the air and say, “God, I can’t find you. You must not be here.”

God’s response to us is found in Jeremiah 29:11-13 where he says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” Basically, God is asking us, “ARE YOU REALLY LOOKING?”

He has the answers we seek, the comfort we crave, the peace we desire, and the hope we long for.
 

I find so much comfort is this promise from God. He calms us by assuring us that He has plans for us, and the plans are good and full of hope. After this year, I am so ready to receive this promise. I am ready for some good and some hope. Bring it on!

God then goes on to remind us that He hears us when we pray. He says, “I’m listening.” Think about the enormity of that! He hears me! Little ol’ me, down here in Gainesville, Virginia, as I work in my home office…He hears ME. No matter where you are, no matter what your circumstance, no matter what is going on: God is listening. He hears YOU!

So, we know that God has a plan for us. We know that He is listening. Now God is reminding us that He’s here; we just have to really look. Open our eyes, take off the blinders and LOOK! No half-heartedly aimless looking…REALLY LOOK! When we look WHOLEHEARTEDLY, we will find him! It’s not like He’s hiding; we just have to look. However, we are sometimes like the child who can’t find their shoes that are sitting right by the door.

My friend, I challenge all of us to REALLY LOOK for God during these 21 Days of Prayer. He has the answers we seek, the comfort we crave, the peace we desire, and the hope we long for. May we all find Him.

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Fickle, Flailing, or Fierce

Fickle, Flailing, or Fierce

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When that phrase is spoken, we all agree in unison that it’s been ROUGH. Whew! It’s during these times where we cling to our faith and hold on for dear life. But what’s fueling our faith? What we allow to fuel our faith will leave us fickle, flailing, or fierce. I don’t know about you, but I definitely don’t want to be known for being fickle or flailing.

On a daily scroll through social media I come across tons of political posts, both agreeing and disagreeing with what is going on in our country. It’s exhausting. I keep scrolling, and in between the arguments on when it’s ok to put up your Christmas decorations, I see a meme of encouragement. It’s inspirational and gives me a “feel-good moment.” Aww, that’s so nice. For the moment, I feel good, and it gives me a little faith that things are going to be ok. However, as my scrolling continues, I become aggravated and frustrated from the posts about the lack of toilet paper. Now I’m questioning my own toilet paper supply. What will my family do if we can’t find toilet paper? What a horrible predicament to be in. My faith is fickle. However, my Christmas decorations are up before Thanksgiving, so that’s good, right?

Now more than ever we need FIERCE faith! Faith that stands strong in “all things 2020.”

 

We are blessed during this time to have podcasts and streams of unlimited amounts of preachers and men and women of God to pour into us. Whenever we are discouraged, we can easily put on a message to fuel our faith. It’s amazing! We so need this right now. However, we tend to forget that these men and women of God are human, and sometimes humans fall from grace. We’ve seen this happen multiple times within 2020. If we aren’t careful, this can make our faith flail. We begin to question the validity of what the person of God said and their ministry. Worse…we begin to question our own faith.

Now more than ever we need FIERCE faith! Faith that stands strong in “all things 2020.” Faith that doesn’t flail as we watch other people fall from grace, because it will happen.  Faith that is not fickle based on what comes across our social media feed, because that feed will take us in directions we never dreamed. We get FIERCE faith from one place, the word of God. In Romans 10:17 (KJV) we are reminded, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” God’s word is the only thing we can cling to for truth, for stability, for peace, and to fuel our faith.

The noise around us can be loud…really loud. If not careful, it can easily drown out what we need to hear. We need to hear the word of God. It is the only thing that will give us the FIERCE faith that we need. Sometimes we need to activate our childlike faith and put our fingers in our ears and chant, “Na, na, na, na, na, I can’t hear you” (insert sarcastic voice) to the things that are keeping us from hearing the true word of God.

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21DOPfinal

Not a Sermon Just a Thought

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Prayer Lessons We Learn From Our Children

Probably one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned about prayer, I learned from my oldest son, Jordan, when he was about 9 years old. He was attending Children’s Church where the leader announced that they were having a contest that month.  The winner would receive a brand new DVD player and a gift card to buy a DVD.  Jordan was beyond excited about this!  We were one of the few families that did not have a DVD player yet in our household.  He wanted this….BAD!

He came home and asked me to pray with him that God would help him win this DVD player.  He prayed for this every single day.  However, Jordan didn’t just pray, he went to work.  The terms of this contest were stated that every Sunday you came to Children’s Church your name would be put into the drawing for the DVD player.  You could also increase your chances by bringing your friends.  Your name would be entered for every friend you brought that month, as well. Jordan made sure he was in Children’s Church every single week.  However, he didn’t stop there.  Within that month, Jordan brought over 20 friends to church.

We arrived at church on the day of the drawing.  Before we got out of the car, Jordan asked me to pray with him one more time that he would win.   Before I prayed with him, I gave in to my motherly ways.  I wanted to guard him from possible disappointment.    I remember telling him that I was proud of him that he had worked so hard but that he might not win.  Many kids were hoping for the same chance.  I celebrated him for bringing all his friends to learn about Jesus and told him that was the ultimate win, etc., etc.  I wanted him to be prepared for the possibility that he wasn’t going to come home with that DVD player.  However, my 9-year-old son looked at me with such conviction and said, “No, Mom.  I’m not just praying, I’m believing!  Only say positive things about it.”    

Well, okay, then. I prayed with Jordan one more time and took him to Children’s Church. I was resigned to the fact that after church I would be having the conversation that God always answers our prayers but sometimes he says no or wait.  

When Children’s Church was over, I went to pick him up with a sinking feeling in my stomach.  However, I was met with a son who was beaming from ear to ear as he ran toward me holding a brand new DVD player and a gift card to buy a DVD.  He was overjoyed with excitement as he exclaimed, “See, Mom, God saw that I really believed!”

As I look back at this powerful lesson, I can’t help but think how many amazing things I have missed out on due to empty prayers.  Prayers that were just words.  Prayers full of “hope” but not “BELIEF.”  Prayers that didn’t have any conviction behind them.   Jesus said in his very own words, “…Have faith in God.  I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.  But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart.  I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” Mark 11:22-24 (NLT)

There is something to be said about childlike faith.  As adults, we tend to complicate things by talking ourselves out of God’s blessings.  Yes, sometimes God says “no” and “wait.”  Yes, sometimes the answer doesn’t always look the way we think it should look.  BUT…are we truly BELIEVING?  Are we putting action behind our belief?  Is there doubt in our hearts?  Are we speaking life over what we believe?  Don’t just pray…believe!  

—Pastor Debbie Rhoads

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