Michaelyn Hodges - A Spiritual Journey to Gods Best: 40 Lessons Revealed: Fear to Faith by Understanding the Relationship with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit & You

a Spiritual Journey to GODS BEST

40 Lessons Revealed

FEAR to FAITH

by Understanding the
Relationship Between God,
Jesus, the Holy Spirit & You

Michaelyn Hodges

NASHVILLE

NEW YORKMELBOURNEVANCOUVER

a Spiritual Journey to GODS BEST

40 Lessons Revealed

FEAR to FAITH by Understanding the Relationship Between
God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit & You

2018 Michaelyn Hodges

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, (NIV). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Version. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB), Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked (AMPC) are taken from the Amplified Bible (AMPC), Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

This book is dedicated to the reader and whatever you are going through.

May the information in this book be for you the well dug that God fills from the top with His holy waters. God is with you and will never leave you or forsake you.

To my husband, whom I love with all my heart. And to my children, Cole and Katie, I love you and thank you for putting up with my imperfectness. Always do everything to the glory of God.

Many thanks to my family and friends who supported and prayed for me and helped me move this book forward, Christine, Roberta, Jerrilea, Alexandra, Terri, Suzanne, Teresa, Senayet, Brenda, Jan, Kelly, Janis, the faithful ladies of the Red Church, Dianne McDermott for her paintings, and a special thanks to my editor, Barbara Hollace, whose mentoring and editing helped make this book my best for God.

To receive the Word of God, we must persevere as we seek the truth. The truth will set us free. The strongholds in my life kept me in bondage, but I was set free by learning and understanding the truth of Gods Word. Jesus sought me when I was living a life of sin. He continues to convict me and patiently shows me through the Holy Spirit, the areas where I need to change. Now I have hope of an eternal future with Him.

When God created me, He gave me the desire to thoroughly study a concept until I finally get it. I was the annoying one who always raised her hand in class. He also gave me the gift of discernment and the ability to understand that I am to pay attention when He is teaching me something. God uses the weak and the unlikely. I think thats why He chose me, someone with a degree in Horticulture and limited writing skills, to write this book. What I did learn in college is to get right to the point. God told me that He is going to use the lessons I have learned like a well dug by a pilgrim that He takes and fills from the top with His holy water, or Holy Spirit. His message encouraged me to keep learning and to keep writing even though I felt condemnation for not being a Bible scholar. It has taken me seven years to put this book together and two decades of going through the fire to learn these lessons. Praise God if it can be a little speedier for you.

God revealed to me that He was going to use this book on September 12, 2012. I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to find Charles Spurgeons devotional (revised by Alistair Begg) Morning and Evening that was in my dresser drawer that hadnt been opened for at least a year and read that days passage. I was on my way out the door to take my children to school and didnt have time. About two oclock I heard the Holy Spirit repeat that I was to look at todays message in the devotional. When I opened the book, this is what I found. Travelers have been delighted to see the footprint of man on a barren shore, and we love to see the marks of pilgrims while passing through the vale of tears. The pilgrims dig the well, but, strangely, it fills from the top instead of the bottom. We use the means, but the blessing does not spring from the means. We dig a well, but heaven fills it with rain.

My prayer is that God will speak to you, the reader, through the Holy Spirit and these lessons will help you on your own journey. There will be resistance from the enemy as you read this book, so keep persevering, it will be worth it. May God bless you and send His angels to watch over you.

Michaelyn Hodges

In the verses below, Jesus is telling us to seek the truth of His Word. He came to this world to reveal the truth to us. Seek His truth with all your heart by diligently studying His Word, which is the seed, so that it may be planted in good soil and take root. Persevere by reading and understanding His Word as you go through lifes trials and reap the harvest of blessings that He has in store for you.

Heavenly Father, I pray that You will speak to me through Your Word and provide divine understanding of Your truth. Give me ears to hear and eyes to see and a heart to understand. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

And he said to them, Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. Mark 4:1320 (ESV)