Tricia McNair: Noble Life Ministries

Many of us wish for peace on earth, yet we have no peace with God. We have no peace with ourselves or with others. We struggle in our inner souls with how we are living and the problems we are facing. If we do not believe that God has any regard for our lives, our souls become restless. So what does having peace really mean? When someone states, she is at peace with herself, what does that really mean? It is an inner contentment; serenity, or a peace of mind? It is all those things. Peace of mind requires an inner contentment that through faith everything is going to be okay. The greater our faith the greater the peace we will have. We quarrel and struggle trying to fix things, but there are some things that cannot be fixed by a word or money or another person. To truly have peace you need to stop quarreling with God. “Quit quarrelling with God. Agree with Him and you will have peace at last. His favor will surround you if you will only admit that you were wrong." Job 22:21

Everyone needs a check up, and when you go to the doctor for a physical exam he/she will always check your heart. So what is true in the physical is true in the spirit. We, as women of God, need to take a spiritual heart check on a regular basis. Not many of us can become great women unless we do a regular check of our heart. We must face what is really in our hearts and regulate it with prayer. Remove the sin from your heart and your life will become balance and your emotions will not swing from one pole to the next. Pay attention to the warning signs of sin. Tell the truth about what you are feeling and especially work on not being jealous or selfish. More marriages break up because one spouse or another is jealous and/or selfish. According to the Scriptures in James 3:13-16, we prove that we are wise by doing good and taking control of our emotions by being truthful with what is going on in our heart. James states, "If you are wise and understand God's ways, prove it by

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9 Two weeks ago today, when I was working in Dallas, Texas for Medtronic on a research and development initiative I received an unexpected text from my sister Rachel to let me know that our sister Janice was found in a car slumped over and now was at the hospital in critical condition due to a rare disease order of the blood called T hrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) with the following symptoms: kidney failure, 10 to 14 seizures, anemia, low platelet count (purpura) . The doctors in Corpus Christi, Texas said if she did not get a blood transfusion by 2:00am she would die and that hospital could not do it so she had to be transferred to a hospital that could. I immediately prayed for God's grace to remove this mountain of difficulty in our lives and especially to heal my sister Janice and save her life. I asked him not to take her now. Then I booked my flight and hoppe

Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7 while he was now in his second imprisonment in Rome, " For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control." [Amplified Bible] Paul is telling us not to be afraid because fear can be very destructive. Paul was in prison, confined to a dungeon and probably had reasons to have a lot to be fearful about, but he knew he could not allow fear to overtake him, because fear can destroy you. This Paul who was once named Saul, did not want to be like King Saul of Israel; King Saul was once so full of fear and anxiety that he could not allow even one moment of his people praise and admiration to be given to anyone else. When the people saw how David had slain their enemy, they shouted praise and wrote a song to honor his victorious defeat. "Saul has slain his thousands, A

Recently my husband had to go to redeem property that belonged to us. Even though the town official tried to delay the redemption it is impossible to deny the redemption. The reason being is that the property belongs to us. The incident took me back to my own spiritual redemption, reminding me that I belong to Christ. I was once like the property seemed to be lost, soul unclaimed, giving away my heart to my own pleasures and desires. I never thought once that I was chosen to belong to Christ and He was my Redeemer or that He loved me, even though I went to church on a regularly basis. The me Before Christ (BC), the redeemed me is definitely different than the me After Christ (AC). But I was lost and unable to do anything that God promised; because just like the property does not know the owner; I did not know the depth of God's love and promise for my life. I realized that going to church was what I knew and what was expected, but I was not truly a believer until I was 24 years

My favorite book of the Bible is Romans. I love it because it speaks to heart of mankind and speaks about the fate of the world around us while helping us to realize that we can live a victorious life no matter what situation we are faced with today. My favorite verse in the book of Romans is Romans 16:20, "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you". I believe with all my heart that even though we may face insurmountable challenges in life such as sickness, disease, poverty and broken relationships that it shall end. Satan wants us to believe that the state that we are in will last forever, but you must realize that the present state is just that the present state. Things can change suddenly, a turn will come and you will see better days. You will not always be sick, lonely, poor and broken. You will rise from this if you believe that the grace of our Lord Jesus will be with you and give you the strength to m

I recently ran across a newspaper clipping from the July 1953, San Antonio newspaper, of my father Sidney's stabbing. He was driving his automobile to Sinton, Texas and he picked up hitch-hikers in San Antonio,Texas. The hitch-hikers took advantage of my father's generosity and robbed him. He was stabbed multiple times with a knife, but somehow survived. The thing that I realized was if my father had died I would not have lived. My sister Cheryl and I were conceived sometime later. But if our father had died we would not have been born, and our children and grandchildren would not exist either. God sent an angel to protect my father's life. And, my father decided to live above the mess and suffering that the men had made of his life. Maybe, he decided to live because of my mother and his 3 other children. Whatever was the case, he survived and I was conceived and born. 7 years later he died from congestion heart failure, both his aortic and mitral valves failed. He was

"For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has mercy on you." Isaiah 54:9-10 Isaiah 54 is known as the Covenant of Peace. I know that many women and men feel inadequate or just bad about themselves because of the life they have lived. They simply cannot forget their sins, pain or hurt. I don't think anyone can every truly know your story but God. I found it very comforting that He knows my faults, but He forgives my sins as though it never happened. He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs. So many people remember every single thing you have every done; every year and every day they will not let you forget it. But, God moves on. He forgives and forgets. He said that He will forgive your sins and remem

"No weapon formed against you shall prosper and every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me." Isaiah 54:17 I had a dream last night that I had given a lot of women advice and they had given their life to Christ, but the enemy was upset and tried to used various kind of people to destroy me. He came with various types of weapons (big knives, small knives, and daggers) and he even tried to force me into a false religion. But each time the knife fell, and as the false minister tried to make me a member of this false religion I spoke these words of faith, "I am protected by Jesus who died for me, and no weapon formed against me shall prosper." I thought what a strange dream. My goodness what does this mean? As I pondered about this I remembered that many people have daggers and knives thrown at them every single day. The dagger may be a lie that someone s

Why is it that we tend to fall in and out of love? In the book the five love languages, Dr. Gary Chapman states that falling in love is not love at all; it is a phase where people have no control over their emotions. He said love is about choice and in the stage of falling in love it appears that the person has no choice. So it is not love at all but euphoria of emotions. Well, I agree true love is about choice, but it is also about sacrifice and commitment. The heavenly Father gave us a picture of love. First, no matter what we do it does not change how He response to us. Secondly, he gave first his expression of love through the creation of man-kind and then through the person of Jesus Christ. He chose to create us and then loved us by giving us everlasting life through His Son Jesus the Messiah. Jesus chose to give his life up for us that we may become children of God. He personal chose to lay down His life so you and I who believe in Him could have eternal life. Love i

David states in Psalm 23:5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” David states (and we can too) that God sets an impressive table filled with what he needs to survive. He has the resources and protection that he needs and this all occurs as his enemies watch. Remember the first verse states that Lord is my Shepherd and I shall lack nothing. Your enemies see that you are God’s friend and child and he is preparing everything that you need for today. So much so your drink is abundant. It is overflowing. I started thinking about how big was the cup? A small cup will still overflow when it is overfilled. So I thought, I don’t want a small cup, since the earth is the Lord’s and everything that is within it. I want to receive all that He has for me. So I need a big Cup. How do I get this cup? God is our Father and He will give us the resources we need daily. However, the cup on that table is set by us. It

As a Senior Manager at a Defense company in Boston, MA area, I have learned that one thing that is absolutely imperative - you must play by the rules. I have encountered Christians who believe instead that they should be the exception to rules. They believe that they don't have to follow the rules of bill paying, state laws, company policy and somehow they think when they get away with it, it's favor. Crazy thinking. My childhood Pastor, Rev. H.C. Dilworth, preached one Sunday when I was sixteen years old, "You can get by, but you can't get away." It definitely made an impact on me since it was over 38 years ago and I still remember. But God favors never breaks policies or laws or promises you make to pay your bills. God favors is a supernatural anointing that open doors for you, but you must first follow the rules. For example, in order for you to get the job you want you must do the same as all applicants. You must apply, then you must meet the minimum req

The month of May was a very busy month. My daughter, LaTrisha and I ministered at the Arise and Shine Church in Washington, D.C. and then my husband, Earnie and I left for Binghamton, New York 3 days later, where I ministered to the women in M.O.P.S. Our spiritual daughter, Shea Nale, became the leader of M.O.P.S. It was wonderful to pray and anoint her for this new leadership position. She is indeed a spirit-filled leader and I am excited about what God will be doing through her in the future. There were two main thoughts through the month of May that would not go away in my spirit. One thought was that we must be careful about the type of seeds we plant in our minds. If we plant negative seeds in our thought life that consist of debauchry, drunkeness, hatred, sexual immorality, jealous, lies and deceit that is the type of fruit we will produce. However, if we plant positive seeds (thoughts) of hope, patience, truth, love, faith that will be the type of fruit our lives will pro

I know many of you are going through tough and difficult times. And this is why I believe God has me writing to bring comfort to your soul. You may not understand when things go wrong what is going on. You might even want to give up because life is too hard. Perhaps, you have just recently gone through a divorce, lost your home, job or loved ones and now nothing makes sense. But, I know that the strength you need is found in your relationship with God. Let me stop for a minute and make God more personal to you. King David, tells us God is our Shepherd and we shall lack nothing. I am amazed how David was in a dry mountainous wilderness place when he writes, “The Lord is my Shepherd and I shall lack nothing. Psalm 23:1 (CJB)” Everything David eyes saw was dry, hot and mountainous. I have seen the limestone mountains in Jerusalem and they seem to lack everything for life to survive. Yet, David said, I shall lack nothing. You cannot go by what you see going on right now in your li

There was a woman named JeanMarie who had eight daughters and 2 sons. One of the daughters died physically and another daughter died emotionally. The one daughter who died emotionally became a prostitute, her name was Ellen. Ellen rejected the love of her mother and sisters and brothers. She decided that her pain was great and she would feel no pain anymore. Therefore, she used drugs and alcohol to kill her emotions. She numbed her emotions to life. She was a dead woman walking. She felt as though her life was non-valuable to any one; not even to the children she produced through prostitution. She was not forced into prostitution like so many young women in foreign countries are today. She decided to become a prostitute to earn money and used the very thing she devalued the most, herself. She completely untied herself from her family. But her mother was a strong woman of faith and she prayed and prayed. The more she prayed the more she loved her daughter unconditionally. How

According to Wikipedia, betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive social contact, trust or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict with a relationship amongst individual, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. Often betrayal is the act of supporting a rival group (person) or it is a complete break from previously decided upon or presumed norms by one party from the others. However, if you have ever been betrayed you know what this means and it hurts like crazy when it happens. If you have been betrayed by a friend, family member or a spouse you know that it feels as though someone took a baseball bat and hit you smack down in the middle of your stomach. You double over in emotional pain, believing that the person who betrayed you have won and you life is now altered or over. However, God promises divine protection for the children of God and the steps of a good man (or woman) are ordered by the Lord; and he delights in his

There is a great secret in life that few of us realize. The secret is we all have a part in our destiny. God did not intend for us to aimlessly wander through life. We are not pawns in the hand of some demon or anyone else. God has given us free will to choose. We make choices. Deciding to do nothing is still a choice. I will admit that sometimes people can make unwise choices and it may even cause them to lose their freedom. However, it was a choice. Every day you make a choice. You cannot help but make one. But if we make choices without being fully aware of the consequences of those choices we can find ourselves with less freedom and even in bondage or prison. It is not wise to spend every day of your life making chemical induced choices. You are looking at life through a foggy view and it is very difficult to see clearly what to do. Be aware of your decisions. Do think! Don't do things without thinking it through. Choose today to begin to live a full purposeful and clea

Read Mark 5:21-34 Have you ever prayed and prayed for something and God didn’t do what you wanted him to do? Are you hoping for something sincerely and somehow it seems as though it is never going to happen? I have prayed for a lot of things to be done over the years and a lot of my prayers have been answered. However, I have prayed for things and have waited and waited for it to become a reality in my life and others and it has not as of yet. I have had unfilled expectations, people have disappointed me and let me down. I have given financially, physically, mentally and emotionally just to learn that the person(s) I gave to only wants to continue to take, take and take more. Yes I have had unfilled expectations, but I have also experienced wonderful unexpected favor. “On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he cal

Have you every prayed and prayed for something and God didn’t do what you wanted him to do? Have you ever hoped for something sincerely and somehow it seemed as though it was never going to happen. Have you been like David and cried out as he did in Psalm 13, “O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! Restore the light to my eyes or I will die? Many times whether you are single or married; rich or poor, we can feel as though God has forgotten us; forsaken us. And, maybe because your prayers have not been answered you have given up. But, the Father sent me to tell you He has not forgotten you and He will never forsake you. You are not forgotten! You are Not Forsaken! When people believe that they are forgotten or forsaken they become depressed and angry. But, sometimes our

As a former Motorola Director, I have flown to a lot of places throughout Asia. It can take up 18 to 20 hours on the plane in the air to get there depending on where I was going. I have experienced a lot of turbulence in the air as we cross the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. A long time ago when you flew on the airplane, the airline pilots would just fly through the storm because they did not always know it was ahead. Yet they would remain calm. I never understood how they were able to remain completely calm while the plane was rocking. Today technologies now allow them to see the storms ahead and then enable them to go around most of the storm by resetting their path. There is still some turbulence but the bad stuff for the most part is avoided. I asked myself how is it that the flight crew could remain calm through the storms? I realized it was because they are focus on our final destination not what is happening right now. They now it is most likely that things will end well. Its ver

Today is Valentine's Day and I have been shown enormous amount of love and appreciation by my husband, Earnie. I received flowers and candy. He made a nice breakfast, as well. However, the greatest gift he gives me every single year is his love for and faith in Jesus Christ. This is a gift that no amount of good deeds or money could buy. He first had to fall in love with Christ, before he could fall in love with me. When Christ is your first love it governs your behavior and creates your character. No amount of good deeds, hardwork, or "never giving up" in your marriage can make up for giving attention to your first love - Jesus Christ. Your love for Christ must be a deep and faithful love, an everlasting love; and it requires your full devotion to HIm. Eternal love is what God gave us. A love that is not govern by our behavior, but by His strength and desire to be in a relationship with us. Many people say, if God loves me why does bad things happen? In fact, God

We are not blessed by our goodness. We are blessed by our obedience. Obedience is the key to us living an abundant life. Why is it imperative that you learn the Holy Scriptures that God has left us? Because, living in full relationship with God allows us to receive from Him. Also you can stop your blessings from flowing down from God. The tool we have to give us the victory over Satan is : the Word of God . You must be taught the Word of God so you can know how to use your weapon and obey the laws of God. The Hebrew word for law is Torah, meaning "to teach" denoting a pathway to learning, and having a righteous relationship with God, Our Father. And, therefore, we should follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus who obeyed God's law. However, there is no list of behaviors we can overcome or possess to make ourselves acceptable to God. Paul said, " We are not under the law but under grace, and then he asked the crucial question. Is sin permissable since we are not

The self-esteem issue has to do with whether you see yourself in your own image or in the image of God. You were made in the image of God and you were created with the physical and mental attributes that He wanted you have. You were created to express the many facets of God creativity. I know a lot of women whose self-esteem is as low as the curb next to my grass because they cannot and never will look like a supermodel. They believe what makes them good is the way they look on the outside. For some women, there seems to be a direct correlation between self-esteem and their physical attributes. If we think negatively about our physical attributes then it can set the stage for us to be in what I call, “the pit of uncertainty.” Always wondering if you are good enough, pretty enough, smart enough. When you don’t like who you are, you are basically saying in your heart, “I don’t like what God created.” Yet, what He created he called it good and we must take joy in what He created. Psal

I John 4:4 states "But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. To realize that God is within you is the first step toward winning the battle against the negative thoughts that fill your mind. You must know that your mind will determine your future! The number one thing that determines your actions is what you think about on a daily basis. As a Pastor and Director of Women Ministry in the Assemblies of God, I have counseled many women on one issue of life or another. But the one issue that comes up the most often is the struggle of low self-esteem. When a woman's self-esteem is low she forgets that she is victorious. The Spirit of God is surpressed in her. She does not understand that the Spirit who lives in her is greater than the spirit of this world. She has no fight in her, and she makes poor choices around many things such as choosing a