Good Morning Everyone!
I was praying to the Lord this morning and I asked Him what He wanted me to write about today. As I was waiting upon Him, the Lord brought to my remembrance the day I received Him as my Lord and Savior. So grab a cup of coffee and sit down for a couple of moments while I take you back to the day I received Christ. To give you a back story of myself, I grew up in church. We went to church Sunday morning and Sunday night. We also went on Wednesday night as well. Any kind of church function, we were there. I remember helping my grandmother clean the church during the week when it was summer time. I went to Sunday school with my friends and as I got older I went to the youth room and went on youth trip. Even though I went to church, I didn't receive Jesus as my Savior yet. When I was nineteen years old, my life was just beginning. I had just graduated from high school in May and then come December, I turned nineteen. Realty was setting in and I didn't know what to do with my life. I was volunteering at a school (the one that I work at now), helping out at home, going to church, etc. I remember I applied for college and the first couple of classes that I registered for were Bible classes. I thought, "Why not, this could be fun and this may benefit me." Little did I know that it was the first stepping stones leading me to Christ.
I received my books for the classes and started doing my assignments. I had to read one to two chapters in each of my textbooks and then read a few chapters in my Bible. After the first week, I began to change. For the first time, it felt like I had come alive and I had a peace that surpassed all understanding. I was so joyful and my life was changing little by little everyday. I couldn't put down my Bible, I was drawn to it more and more! I was very pleased with the changes that were happening to me. It wasn't long before I received Christ. It was September 2010 that I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I didn't have to think about it or pray about it, I knew deep down this was the right decision and I had to do it!
Once I received Him, He began to show me His love for me and His beloved church. It was a wonderful experience! I am learning through my relationship with the Lord that everything in our lives is stepping stones even our mistakes and mishaps. You may say, "Well, how in the world could God use my mistakes? He can't save me or get me out of my troubles, they're too deep." Oh yes He can my friend. Jesus said, "In this world we would have trials and tribulations, but to be of good cheer for I have overcome the world." John 16:33 This means that even though we go through life and we have bumps in the road or things to get us off track, it's okay because He died for our sins (past, present, and future) and rose from the grave to give us a relationship with Him. A Christian is not perfect by any means, we are saved by His grace. We don't deserve His grace, but He loved us enough to give it to us even though we deserved His punishment. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, He knew no human being could pay such a price, that's why He came down as God in flesh. God always has a way of restoring us back to Him. He chose us first before we chose Him. He is a merciful God and I don't care what you have done in life, He can save you like He saved me. In Romans chapter two verse eleven it says, "God does not show favoritism." This means that He loves us all the same and no matter what you have done or what I have done doesn't make Him love us more or less. My friend, when I made the decision to make Him my Lord and Savior, that was the best decision I have ever made. Did my life all of a sudden become easier? No. Did all my problems go away? No. Did my life become perfect? Absolutely not! The difference is that I have The Ultimate Problem Solver, the Healer, a Friend, a Helper, Comforter, Counselor, Mighty God, King of all kings, and Lord of all lords. He came into my life and changed me. Am I perfect, do I have it all together? Oh no, far from it, but that's okay because that's why I cling to Him because without Him, I am nothing. My friend, start praying and asking God if you need to make that decision or if you need to rededicate your life to Him. He won't let you down, it will be the best decision you ever make in your life and you won't regret! I pray that the Lord bless and keep you!
It is the official start of Spring Break! It has been such a busy week, but praise the Lord for a week of rest. I started off the morning with prayer and Bible study and then went out for a much needed walk and run! As I was jogging around the neighborhood this morning, I was pondering on what to write. The Lord reminded me of the importance of Bible study and why we need it especially in this day and time. So before we get started, go get a cup of coffee or your favorite tea, maybe eat a bite of breakfast and let's begin!
Do you desire a deeper relationship with the Lord? Do you long to know Him better than you did a year ago, a month ago, a week ago? If you do, that's good because that means you are hungry and thirsty for Him. He loves you so much that He wants to become the desire of your heart. When God made Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden, He wanted to establish a relationship with mankind. When they sinned against God, it caused separation between mankind and God. Thank God He sent His Son Jesus to make the sacrifice for us to come back into relationship with Him without making an animal sacrifice or going through a priest. Jesus became our High Priest so that He could bring us back to God through His blood.
We should always want to go deeper with God in our relationship. Our relationship will not always be a mountaintop experience, you have the valleys, the dark places, the storms of life, the desert areas, but that's where trust comes in. In Psalm chapter 62 verse 8, it says, "Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge." So this means that we are trust Him in everything that we go through good or bad. He says in His word that, "He will never leave us nor forsake us." Deut. 31:8 So if you want to grow in your relationship with the Lord, you are going to have trust Him and hold onto His word.
His word is so important for our faith, without it, the enemy can find a way to get in and have us depressed and confused. Study and meditate on His word and when the enemy comes with his lies, you can say just like Jesus said, "It is written." His word is powerful, that's why the enemy tries to keep us out of God's word with distractions and I have to do this and that. His word strengthens our faith and it also gives us peace, wisdom, joy, confirmation, anything you need, you can find it in His word.
Prayer is also an essential, without it we become disconnected from God. Have you ever been so stressed out over a problem or situation that you didn't know what to do? Then we you got on your knees and started praying and when you finished, you felt better. Yeah, I have been there several times. Prayer is nothing more than a conversation with God, it's not complicated, we make it complicated, but all He wants is for you to pour out your heart to Him. He wants your heart and all of it, not some of it. Prayer also gives us strength and confidence in God. Also don't just come with your petitions, needs, and wants and then leave, He wants us to give our thanks to Him for blessing us, helping us, seeing us through our every problem, for giving us what we need when we need it. He knows our every need, He's just waiting on us to ask Him. God is always good and faithful and you can trust Him with everything in your life! If He created the entire universe and everything in it, He can handle your life and whatever comes your way. "Nothing is too hard for Him." Jeremiah 32:27 May the Lord bless you and keep you!
Good Morning Friends!
I am up early this morning listening to the rain. I wanted to write something before I get ready for work and the scripture, "you have not because you ask not" keeps coming before me. So before we dive into how we apply this to our lives I want to ask you a question. Are you being persistent in prayer about the promises that God has given you? Are you praying not only for the big things in your life, but also the small things? Are you praying about everything? I know that's a lot, but those were the questions that I had to ask myself a few days ago. The answer was no, I wasn't praying about the promises that God has given me, no I wasn't being persistent in prayer, and no I wasn't praying about everything. As I was searching the scriptures, the Lord opened my eyes to the fact that I have not because I ask not. Before we go deeper into this concept, go fix your favorite cup of coffee or tea and let's dive in!
I had gotten to the place where I had fallen off the wagon about praying for the promises of God, it seems like I have been waiting for forever and so to be honest, you kind of forget to pray about them. I have been believing for them, but as far as asking; no. Occasionally, I would pray for my future husband, I would pray that God would help me to be a godly wife, marriage, etc. It didn't occur to me that I am to be persistent in prayer about these things until the other day when the Lord brought me to this scripture. When I saw it, I wrote it down and began to ponder as to what this truly meant so that's when I typed in what persistent means. Persistent means constantly repeated, continually. So that's when I realized it's time to get determined and start not only believing the promises of God, but to ask God, to pray about them to Him.
He cares for me and "He watches over His word to perform it." Jeremiah 1:12 God was letting me know that it's okay to pray about these things everyday. I had been under the impression that I didn't want to bother God with those things so I only prayed about them every once in a while. Little did I know that I had listened to the devil's lies. So God had to show me that it's okay to bring these matters before me, I want you to, it shows my dependence on Him and He knows that I can't go a single moment without Him.
So if you are like me and you are carrying the promises of God in your heart, I want to encourage you to talk about them to God. Maybe you are waiting for God to send your future husband, maybe you're waiting on a child that God has promised you, a job opportunity, a family member to be saved, whatever it may be, God is waiting to hear from you. I encourage you not only to pray about it, but to find scriptures pertaining to your promise and start speaking them over your life. One of my favorite scriptures is, "He who finds a wife finds a treasure and he receives favor from the Lord." Proverbs 18:22 You are a treasure and you are a gift from God and you will see the fulfillment of God's promises in your life. Right now as we are waiting on God, we are having to trust Him even though we do not see anything happening yet. He is still on the throne and He is behind the scenes working on our behalf getting everything ready for us! So my friends, I encourage you to be persistent in prayer, start speaking the word of God over your life and to have faith in the Lord not your circumstances, not the people around you, not your own understanding, but in God. "Do not lean upon your own understanding but lean on His understanding." Proverbs 3:5-6 May God bless and keep you my friends! Until next time!
*Image- google images
Good Morning Friends!
I hope everyone is having a restful Saturday, I have been praying the last two days about what to write and the Lord has given me a topic that is very needful and was reminded of this morning. So before we jump into what the Lord has put on my heart to write, go grab a cup of your favorite tea or coffee and let's get started. (I am sipping on my cup of tea as I am writing this post.)
I was in Walmart this morning and I was feeling a bit down by all the news that I had heard this morning. I wasn't my usual chipper self and I could feel myself getting weary, as I sat in the car, I asked the Lord several times to help me. I told the Lord that I was tired and weary and I needed Him to help me. Have you ever gotten to place where you needed God, but you didn't know exactly what to pray except for help me? I will tell you, I have been there plenty of times! I went into the Walmart and started looking for all things on my list and I had wandered down the aisle with chips and that's when I heard the Lord speak to me.
He literally met me on the chip aisle in Walmart. I heard Him say in spirit, "Why won't you rejoice for all the blessings I have given you? Have you forgotten who your source is? Money can only get you so far and man can only go so far, but the favor of God will go above and beyond. Who has brought you this far? Who has blessed during these trying times?"
I will be very honest with you my friends, but it was a very humbling experience and I needed to be reminded of who I serve. Even though it was humbling and I couldn't speak for a while, it was also encouraging. God met me in the store and reminded me that I didn't get this far on my own, He has been with me every single step, every set back, every good moment, every bad moment, every moment when I wanted to throw in the towel and give up! He was with me and He has been the Lifter of my head. Also I found everything on my list plus extra!
So friends, I just want to encourage you today, if you are having a day like I had this morning, do not despair, He is the same God of yesterday, today, and forever, He changes not. He will meet you where you are just like He met me today. I know not every day is easy, but don't be afraid to ask God for help or that you may be wearying Him so you're not going to bother Him. Friend, I call upon the Lord multiple times a day because I know that without Him, I cannot make it. I need Him every single moment.
We are truly blessed that we serve an awesome God who has no limits, He is limitless, there's nothing too hard for Him. He loves you and He wants to meet us where we are, have you been relying upon God as your source or have you been trying to do it all in your strength? God also reminded me to seek first the kingdom of God and then He will take care of all of my other needs according to His riches in glory. Matt. 6:33 He let me know that if I take care of the first thing, He will take care of everything else! God bless and keep you my friends! Until next time!
Psalm chapter 23 verse 1 says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." In one of my commentaries, the first part of the verse means to feed, to guide, and to shield me. The word Jehovah Jireh or Yahweh Yireh (Hebrew term) means the Lord will provide which simply means He goes ahead of us and prepares things in advance. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, God was testing him to see whether or not he would obey His command. Before Abraham laid Isaac on the altar to sacrifice him, Isaac asked Abraham, "Where's the lamb?" Abraham told Isaac, "God will provide." Abraham believed that somehow, someway, God would provide a lamb instead of his son. As he was about to slaughter his son, God stopped him and said look over there in the bush, there is a ram caught in the bush, sacrifice the ram for Me. I can't even imagine how Abraham felt to know that God had provided for him.
Over and over again, we read in the Bible how God has provided for His children. The Bible says, "God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He changes not." If He can provide for His people in that day, He can most certainly provide for us today. He provided His son for us as a sacrifice for us to have eternal life and not be slaves to sin anymore. So my question today is, what do you need today? Is God your provider? God says in His word, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Matt. 6:33 What things are we talking about? If you back up a few verses, Jesus was telling about do not worry about what you will eat, drink, or wear, for the Father knows what you have need of. Jesus was telling the disciples that God will provide our basic needs, but to seek first God and His righteousness (righteous morals, right living according to God's word.) If we make our first priority seeking God and trying to live right according to His word then God will meet our every need according to His riches in glory.
What do you need today, God will meet if you will trust in Him and believe like Abraham. Abraham wanted a son and God blessed him with a son so his son was like a treasure to him. Then God says I want you to sacrifice him to Me, I am sure Abraham probably thought but he is my only son, the one that I prayed for and desired for so long. As they traveled up the mountain, he had to believe that God would provide another way. He didn't know how God would provide or when, but he had to believe. You may be in a situation where you need a job, but you don't know how you are going to get a job, God will provide a way. You may be dealing with financial struggles and don't know when the money is going to come or how, God will make a way. Maybe your marriage is falling apart and you can't see a way out or how it's going to be put back together, God will provide a way for your marriage to be whole again. You could be facing a number of things right now and not know how things are going to turn out, that's okay because God is your provider and goes ahead of you and prepares the things that are ahead.
I want to encourage you today my friends to lean on and trust God today. God will make a way for you with whatever you are facing today. Praise Him for making a way for you and being your provider. He loves you and He wants you to trust Him like Abraham had to trust God. Abraham didn't understand why God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac, but he was obedient and he trusted Him anyway. I'm sure he had thousands of questions rolling through his mind, but he trusted God anyway. If God has commanded you to do something, be obedient and trust Him and watch Him provide for you like He provided for Abraham. God bless and keep you my friends, I pray that this post encourages you and helps you to press on to see what God has in store for you! In Jesus name, Amen.
I hope everyone has had a good week! Mine was very busy, we had two observations this week, graduation pictures, and it's that time of year when we are wrapping things up before Summer break! We have about a month and half to go, but it's going to fly by so fast! I have been praying the last couple of days about what to write for the next blog post. This morning I woke up and the words, "how do I serve the Lord as a single woman" kept coming to me. So for this morning's topic, we are going to learn how to serve God as a single lady. Before we jump into it, I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you, if not, go fix a cup and let's jump in!
As you know I am single woman right now and to be honest, I would feel embarrassed because most of the young women in my family are married and are starting their families. I would get upset and irritated at the fact that I am 30 years old now and I am still not married much less in a relationship. I would ask God, why am I still single? Why haven't I met the one that you have chosen for my yet? Does he even exist? Am I wrong for wanting to be married? These questions would roll in and out of my head every time I was asked, "Katherine, are you seeing anyone or are you in a relationship right now?" Oh it used to kill me, I would want to melt into the floor right where I stood. I will admit, it still gets to me every once in a while, but I have to remind myself that God is in charge of my life. When the time is right, He will make it happen because I can't or else I will mess it up so I have to rely upon Him. Needless to say, God began to show me the benefits of being patient in my single season. Do you want to know what they are? Okay let's dig in!
Here are the benefits of your single season; you have a lot of time to spend with God through prayer and reading His word. You have the time to focus on your relationship with God before you say I do. I didn't realize how important this was until the Lord spoke to my heart and said, "How can you have a relationship with your husband if you don't really take time to develop your relationship with Me?" God is the One who can satisfy your every desire not your husband. I used to have this idea that marriage is like a fairy tale and happily ever after. That's far from the truth, marriage is ministry and work and we need God's help in our marriages. First things first is to develop your relationship with God while you have the time because there will come a day when you won't have that precious time anymore and you might have regrets. God wants us prepared as we enter into marriage, that's why He has a timing for everything. A time to grow, a time to mature, a time for preparation, and then when He sees that everything is in proper order then that's when He leads on to the next step.
Benefit number two: you can practice loving and serving others. In marriage, you will be serving not only the Lord, but also your husband and eventually your children. I not only try to serve my family, but also 15 energetic 4 year old's that need constant attention. I look at it as this is the way God is preparing me not only for my husband, but also the children that God is going to give me. So practice serving others by helping them with the needs that they have such as praying for them, helping clean house, cook, being a good listener, etc. If you do not know how to serve others or what their needs may be, ask the Lord to reveal them to you and show how to help them.
Benefit number three: Brushing up on your cleaning or cooking skills. If you are single, this would be a good time to take advantage of learning how to clean windows, different rooms in the house, and cooking! I like to cook because you can come up with your own recipes and it gives me satisfaction that I served my family something tasty to eat! They let me know if something is too dry, chewy, or could use a bit more salt and give me lots of advice on how to perfect my cooking skills!
Benefit number four: Allowing God to work on us and to develop better habits such as self control, not letting bitterness to enter our heart, teaching us what to think, say, and act. Living a life that honors God. It's easier said than done I know, but He helps us to remove those not so good habits that we do not need in our lives or in our marriages. God is gracious enough to work on one thing at a time because He knows that we are human and to work on everything at once would be traumatic for us. He takes us one step at a time and I am thankful for that!
Benefit number five: Practicing being thankful in all circumstances and living a life of thanksgiving. You're probably thinking that is not a benefit. What if I told you yes it is and it's very important no matter what season you're in. So I will admit, it is easy to complain when everything isn't going your way and all you see is negative. God did not intend for us to live a negative life, I am learning we won't get anywhere with a bad attitude. That's what negative thinking is, it's an attitude and not a good one. Did you know that you can weary God and make Him tired with your words? The children of Israel proved that. Malachi chapter 2 verse 17 says, "You have wearied the Lord with your words." Wow, that's powerful, so my question are we honoring God with our words or are we wearing Him out by complaining and speaking things that are not honoring Him? How can we honor God with our words; by speaking His word, by speaking words that are uplifting, helpful, truthful, and encouraging. I know that's a lot, but it's so important to live a life that pleases Him and reflects Him and that includes our words.
Benefit number six: Living a healthy life. During your single season, you can really focus on making healthy food choices and exercising. You can still do this when you are married of course, but you will have to schedule it in. You can learn how to cook healthy meals for yourself and also others. Over the years, I have learned that I need a good amount of protein, a few carbs, and veggies! My stomach is very appreciative when I do this. I always know when I have eaten a meal that isn't good for me because my stomach will be bloated and I will feel irritable. I also stop eating when I am full not overly stuffed. I practice moderation such as if I want some cake, I will have it, but a small portion. If I want a cookie with my cup of tea, I will have either one or two depending on my hunger level and how close it is to the next meal time. Also I try to drink plenty of water and exercise my body at least 5 or 6 days of the week and have a rest day. Find an exercise that you like and look forward to every day. I like running because of the way it makes me feel. I have always enjoyed running even as a child. There's something liberating about a run to me! If you don't like a particular exercise then don't do it. There's nothing worse than doing an exercise you don't like and just pushing yourself through just because. Find something that you like and will stick to and find enjoyable. Take care of yourself through eating healthy meals and exercise and also rest. Your body will thank you!
In conclusion, being single isn't all that bad, as I have said, God gives us preparation time for the next step in our life. Some need more time than others, it all depends on what He thinks so enjoy this time while you have it because there will come a time when you won't have this time. Take the time to devote yourself to God, live a life that honors Him, and practice serving others. God will take notice and honor you. God knows what He is doing, He is never late and He is always on time! He has a great plan for our lives so let us enjoy our single season and bring honor to God! May God bless and keep you friends! Until next time!
Hello Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well, yesterday I had keeping God first on my mind. I couldn't get away from it, it's as if it followed me everywhere. I began asking the Lord what it really means to keep Him first. He began to show me and it was astounding! My prayer has been that God would help me to be a godly woman. A woman who reads His word, delights in the Lord, visit my prayer closet often, meditate on His word, allow His word to get on the inside of me to change me. Becoming a godly woman first starts with prayer, I am learning that my relationship with the Lord is so important. My relationship with God is not only valuable to me, but valuable to Him. What is your relationship like with the Lord, are you close to Him and come to Him as a trusted friend or has your relationship grown lukewarm or cold? Is He first in your life or has something or someone taken His place? Exodus 34:14 says, "You must not worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationships with you." This scripture came out of the New Living Translation and I love how this is written, there are no mistakes, God cares about our relationship with Him. Before we dive into how to make God first priority, do you have your cup of coffee or tea? I hope so, let's begin!
How do we make God first priority in our lives? First off, we need to make time for Him. Don't try to fit God in your schedule, but work your schedule around Him. You may have to remove some things from your schedule, you may realize that you have too much on your plate and need to remove things off of it. It may hurt at first, but you have peace about it because you are putting God first. Once you figure out your schedule, devote yourself to God in prayer and studying His word. If you have never prayed before, that's okay, prayer is nothing more than having a conversation with God. You don't have to use the big and fancy words with God, He knows you inside and out, He wants you to talk to Him like your talking to your family members or one of your closest friends. Also if you haven't received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then I would definitely make sure I do that. It will change your life dear friend, if you want to know more about salvation, check out my blog post about my salvation story!
Studying the word of God is essential because it helps us to pray and brings us closer to God because we are learning God's character. We learn about His love for us and the world, His peace, His commands, His likes and dislikes, His provision, His help. We learn how to conduct our lives that is pleasing to Him. Studying the word of God takes time so if we read a passage of scripture and cannot begin to tell what it means then we need to revisit it again or break it down scripture by scripture. You wouldn't believe how much meat is in one scripture. You may have read a scripture 1,000 times and you go back to it again and God will show you something else about that scripture, that's the beautiful thing about God's word! God's word is like a treasure chest that never ends, it keeps you coming back for more! It will change your life!
How often do we think about God during the day? You would probably say I'm so busy that I don't have time to think about God. I used to think the same thing until He brought it to my attention one day. Prov. 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Notice the word acknowledge. It means to recognize, notice, realize. You may saying, "okay, but how am I supposed to do that?" Great question! You simply do this by thanking Him for everything in your life, for going before you and making all the crooked paths straight. Thank Him for your job, His favor upon your life, His provision, His mercy and grace, forgiveness, an encouraging word, helping you to have a good attitude, for working everything out in your life. You come across a problem, start thanking Him for the solution to the problem. You are acknowledging Him in your everyday life, you are recognizing that you can't go a moment without Him and that you need Him. He loves it when His children need Him! It gives Him great delight! Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you." You may be saying, I can't do that all day, I am way too busy and I would forget. I get it, we do get busy, but it is possible because God's word says, "With God, all things are possible." Matt. 19:26 So if you are trying to do it on your own, no it won't work, but if you do it with God, He will make it possible.
So my friends, making God our first priority is very important because without Him, we can do nothing. He wants us to put Him first, to keep first, to depend upon Him for everything because He loves us so much that He wants to help us! He wants to be involved in every part of our lives. He wants to change us and wants us to go from glory to glory. Why, because He is preparing us on this earth to be able to go live with Him one day! Oh isn't that exciting! My friends, if you do not know the Lord, I encourage you to get to know Him because I am telling you He will change your life and you won't regret it! How do I know this because He has changed me and He is still changing me every day and I know He's doing it for my good. He knows what I need every day and I need Him! Let Him change you today by praying to Him and studying His word! Let Him do in you what you cannot! May God bless and keep you my friends! Until next time!
God is such a gracious Father and He wants His children to live the life that He has spoken over us even before we came out of mother's womb. We are all called to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. What does that mean? How can one worship the Lord without the Holy Spirit who knows the Father more than anyone. He is our Guide and He knows the way to our Father's heart so why not worship Him in the Spirit. ( I will pray about sharing my testimony of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit in another post.) What does in truth mean? That means not just going through the motions just because everyone else is doing it, that means you are worshipping Him with your whole heart. You don't care what anyone else says or thinks about the way you are praising the Lord. If the Holy Spirit leads you to shout, shout. If He leads you to dance then dance before the Lord like David did. David worshipped the Lord with his whole heart one day and his wife wasn't happy nor nice about it. 2 Samuel chapter 6.
Worshipping the Lord takes our focus off of us, our problems and puts our focus on God. It allows us to lay down our heavy burdens and give it to God. Praise and worship is a sacrifice unto God. When you start to praise and worship the Lord, you will find it hard to stop, it's as if it's just you and God, no one else. Worshipping the Lord catches God's attention, He adores a true worshipper like David. David was a man after God's heart. 1 Samuel 13:14 Why is that because David worshipped God and God loved it! Praise and worship is showing love for God and in return God fills us with His love. You will experience great joy and peace when you start worshipping Him. It also changes your heart and sets the atmosphere for God's presence. Moses knew this secret because he prayed Lord show me Your face because he worshipped God Almighty and he became so filled with the Lord that he wanted to see His face. Worship is truly powerful especially when it's Spirit led.
So, my question is, are you a true worshipper or have you just been going through the motions? I know there's days when you don't feel like praising the Lord, but that's when it's the real sacrifice. The words I offer to You a sacrifice of praise in one of worship songs weren't put in there for no reason. It is definitely a sacrifice and He deserves all of praise and worship! He wants your heart my friends, all of it. Won't you give it to Him, He will transform you and you won't regret it! Start praising and worshipping the Lord every day and watch how He will change your life! Welcome Him in and you will find out, you won't want Him to leave. You may think how is the possible? With God, all things are possible. He won't fail you, in fact, He will exceed your expectations. My friends, I pray that this post encourages you and blesses you, may the Lord continue to bless and keep you! Until next time!
Hello Everyone!
Well today is Friday and I am so thankful! It has been a very busy day and I am glad to be home! I hope everyone has had a good day. I have had worship on my mind this week and I can't seem to get away from it, but I want to take us a little bit deeper into worshipping the Lord. I want to tell you what I have experienced in my walk with God and what He has shown me. Worship creates intimacy with God. Some of you are probably saying, "What in the world are you talking about?" If you want to find out, keep reading as we dig deeper into this level of worship.
There are different levels of worship and I can tell you that this level is very deep. I have been in church when my whole entire being just wants to worship God and nothing else. As I said in my previous post, it was like it was just God and I, no one else. My heart feels as if it could fly! There is nothing like worshipping the Lord in Spirit and in truth because you feel so much freedom! Some of the most beautiful encounters that I have had with God have been while I was worshipping Him. I know I am pouring my heart out, but I am speaking of what I know and experienced. God is so worthy of our praise and worship.
We are called to be His worshippers. He is our Creator and He has breathed His very breath in us and He gets all the credit, glory, and praise! If you have never experienced this level of worship before, I want to encourage you that you would start praying that God would help to worship Him in Spirit and truth. When I began worshipping the Lord like this, I used to wonder what is everyone going to think, what are they going to say? Can you tell you after a while, I couldn't hold it back anymore, I had to worship Him. As Jeremiah said, "It's like fire shut up in my bones." Jeremiah 20:9 To me it's like a taste of what Heaven is going to be like, worshipping God Almighty all day every day.
Will you answer His call to become a true worshipper? Will you please Him with your sacrifice of praise? Will you come before the Father and give your whole heart to Him in worship? He's waiting on you and longing for your whole heart, your sacrifice of praise. Oh please do not make Him wait, answer Him with a simple yes and He will change your life. I know it hasn't been easy, but Jesus said that we wouldn't have trials or tribulations, but that He would never leave us nor forsake us. If He brings you to it, He will surely bring you through it. My friends, I pray that you would answer to the Lord whatever He has been laying on your heart to do. I also pray that you would know the freedom that you can have when you worship Him in Spirit and in truth. May God bless and keep you friends! Until next time!
Good Evening!
Today has been a much needed relaxing day for me. I have been catching up on some blog content that I have been working on. Cleaned house a bit, ironed clothes for next week, and made my grocery list. So today I wanted to talk about living in the freedom that Jesus has given us through the Holy Spirit. The other day, I was so exhausted from work and I was browsing through Pinterest and I came across this scripture that I have read at least a thousand times. It was as if the scripture leaped off the screen at me and immediately God had revealed to me what this scripture really meant. It was like I was reading this scripture for the first time with a new pair of glasses. Earlier that day, I was struggling and I went to the bathroom for some peace and quiet and to pray. (How many of you do this or have done this before?) I told God that I was tired and asked Him for a word that would get my focus off of everything that wasn't going well that day. Well that's when this scripture hit me and God made this scripture so real to me! So without further ado, let's dig into this scripture!
I didn't realize it until the Lord showed me that I was carrying way too many cares such as work, circumstances that I cannot control, worrying about the future, what's happening in this nation, basically I was picking up all kinds of cares and carrying them in my spirit. The Lord spoke to my spirit and said, "My child, you are tired and stressed out because you are worried about too many things?" Do you know who that reminded me of? Martha in Luke Chapter 10 verse 41. He then went on to explain to me that I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Cor. 3:17 I thought and thought about it and said, "You're right God, I am free because Your Spirit is living within me and if He is living in me, I am free." It was such an eye opening moment and I couldn't help but thank God for revealing this to me! God is so good to me even when I know I don't deserve it, but He is always helping me in some way or fashion. God only knows where I would be without Him.
So you're probably thinking, how do I apply this to my life? That's a great question, the answer is by going to the altar. I am learning right now if I feel any kind of heaviness or if I may be carrying something that I need to give to God, I go to the altar. Now let me clarify, when I say go to the altar, I mean wherever you are, you stop right there and say Lord, this is out of my control and I need to give this to You. The altar can be in your car, in the bathroom, walking down the hallway, at the workplace, in the grocery store, wherever. God did not want us to be stressed out over every little thing or bad thing that happens, He said, "Be of good cheer." John 16:33
Like Martha, we tend to take on more stress than needed, but like He told Martha, "You are worried about many things, but only one thing is necessary and Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken from her." Luke 10:42 There are key words in this verse such as, "only one thing is necessary" and "Mary has chosen what is better." What was the one thing that was necessary? What did Mary choose that was better? It was spending time with Jesus. You see that's the key that the Lord was trying to show me, I was caught up with the cares of the world and God wanted me to come and spend time with Him to get my mind off of all my cares. Why, because He knows that if we will concentrate on Him, He can give us the peace we need, the joy we need, the answers that we need. There is fullness of joy in His presence. He doesn't want us to pretend that we don't have cares, but to cast them upon Him and keep our focus on Him because He cares for us.
So next time you feel frustrated or stressed out, go to Him and cast all your cares upon Him so you can live in the freedom that He has given you. He loves you my friends and He cares about your well-being. When we get tangled up in the cares of this world, it's hard to live in freedom because we are being pulled back into bondage. Learn to cast your cares on Him and spend time with Him and you will be able to walk and live in the freedom that He wants you to have. May God bless and keep you my friends! Until next time!
Hello Everyone!
Good morning friends, I pray everyone is doing well. Yesterday evening I was reading about having a lukewarm heart for God in one of my devotionals. As I was reading it, I was captivated and convicted all at the same time. When I hear the word "lukewarm" I think about my coffee getting lukewarm or as a child I would have to take a lukewarm bath and I didn't like it at all. As we dive into what a lukewarm heart is to God, go grab a hot cup of coffee or tea whatever your choice, take a seat and let's begin!
Picture this, you get up early in the morning and you are looking forward to sitting down with a hot cup of coffee. You fix it like you want it and you set it down somewhere and then you remember, I need to make a grocery list so you find a pad and pen and start writing everything that you need. Then you look at the time, I need to start making breakfast, so you find the eggs and bacon and start whisking away. Once you get breakfast started, you realize I haven't even had a sip of my coffee yet. So you take a sip of coffee and you make a wrinkly face. Why? Your hot coffee has now become lukewarm and you try not to spit it out because that would be impolite. After this, you find you do not want your cup of coffee anymore. If you're anything like me, I either want a hot cup of coffee steaming in my face or I love a good iced latte! (iced caramel latte from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts anyone?) When I take a sip of my coffee and it's lukewarm, I don't desire it anymore. I usually pour it down the drain. So my question is how's our heart for God? Is it hot, burning for Him? Is it cold, do we have any burning embers left for Him or do we need Him to give us a restart and revive His love in us? Are we lukewarm, have we gotten caught up with the ways of the world and it's temporary treasures?
I want us to see that this is an important issue and it has to do with our heart. Remember my blog post from yesterday, God sees the heart? Well, what does He see in our heart? Would He be pleased? Do we have any idols of this world that have invaded His space in our heart? Idols you ask? Yes, idols such as: money, job, career, wife/husband/children, family/friends, success, whatever you think about the most and spend most of your time on is an idol. It can even be your favorite tv show, the tv itself, phone, technology, etc. Exodus 34:14 says, "The Lord is a jealous God." So my next question is are we making Him jealous? You may say well if I am, I didn't know. That's okay, you know now and that means since we now know that having other people or things in this world before God which makes Him jealous; we need to need to take time to examine what place does God have in my life? Is He in His rightful place which is first or is somewhere down the line or worse when I need Him, I will call on Him.
Friends, all I am trying to say is we need to get serious about our relationship with God. He's not looking for a halfhearted Christian or let me live life first and then I will make time for God. No, that will not work in the kingdom of God. Friends, Jesus laid His life down for us, He didn't have to do it, He could have said, "You know, I really don't feel like being spit on, beaten till I am completely unrecognizable, and humiliated beyond belief in public." You know what made Him lay His life down, to become the ultimate sacrifice? Love, God's love. Love is what moved Him, love is what propelled Him to go and lay down His life for you and I. There's power in love, His love is everlasting, it will never die. My friends, I want to encourage you today to choose who you are going to serve. Are you going to serve the idols of this world or are you going to serve the God of Israel? You have the power to choose and if you choose to serve Him, then serve Him with a heart that is constantly burning for Him. What does it mean to have a heart burning for Him? It means He becomes your everything, everything you think about, talk about, your desire. He wants to be your desire, He wants you to know Him, to have a beautiful relationship with Him. Get in His word and find out what God has to say about the condition of our hearts. He truly loves you and He wants to give you His best. Let Him refresh you with His love and revive you according to His will and His word. God bless you and keep you friends!
I hope you are doing well this morning, I wanted to share another blog post about having a relationship with the Lord. I want to talk about how important it is to read your Bible daily. I will explain what happens when we don't and also I want to touch on making time for prayer. Before we get started, if you don't have your morning cup of coffee or tea, go make yourself a cup! Let's jump in to why Bible study is important.
Let me give you a little backstory, I was at work this week and everything around me feels as if it's falling apart, multiple problems at once, and I am frustrated and irritated. I come home after an exhausting day telling God I don't know what happened, what's going on? Next day, same thing, it's like life hits you all at once. This went on and on all the way to Friday. I thought maybe it's the end of the year funk, maybe I'm just really tired and need some rest. I get on my knees to pray and I get really still and quiet and I hear the Lord say to my spirit, I want you to get in My word and rest in My word. Now being honest, because it was a very busy week, I didn't have that much time to read God's word. I would plan and try to make time, but it was like you were being pulled this way or this would come up or that. It left me a wreck! I have always cherished my quiet time with God because I can get away from all the distractions, the confusion, the problems, and people and focus on Him.
God was letting me know that all the things that I had been doing and tending to this week should not take the place of my quiet time with God. The scripture came to my mind yesterday, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28 God saw me running around like a crazy person trying to do this and do that and it got to a place where I couldn't do it anymore because it was draining me. The Lord even spoke to me about finding a quiet place at work to spend some time with Him on my lunch break. I don't know about you, but there are times when you just need some quiet, no people around, no conversations, no trying to multitask while eating lunch, just peace and quiet. I listen to chatter from the time I get to work till the time I leave and then come home to more chatter.
The Lord also showed me that no one and nothing in this world should take His place in my life. He is to be number one in my life and He is to always be number one. If He is not number one, we are going to run into some major trouble. Our purpose on this earth is to live for Him and serve Him. How do we live for Him and serve Him? By reading and obeying His word, applying it to our lives, communicating with Him all throughout the day, finding a quiet place to spend time with Him with no distractions. Satan loves to use distractions such as phones, people, thoughts that come into your mind such as: "Oh I forgot to turn off the oven, I forgot to call so and so back, I forgot this, I forgot that. Did I remember to do this or that?" This is where we plead the blood of Jesus over our minds, ask God to block any thoughts that may distract us from talking to Him so we may be able to concentrate on what God is trying to reveal to us. He can have people interrupt you time of prayer and Bible study, or the phone starts ringing. Satan knows the power of prayer and he will do any and everything to get us to stop, we cannot allow his schemes to stop us.
So my question to you is have you been like me this past week, stretched thin, frustrated with everything and everyone? Have you been putting your relationship with God on the back burner telling yourself that you will get around to it? Do you need take time with Him today and make things right with Him or anyone else? Do you need some rest, peace and quiet? Make your relationship with God your number one priority. God said He will take care of the rest if we seek Him and His righteousness. God knows our every need and care, come to Him today and spend time with Him through prayer and reading His word. There may be something He wants to tell you or show you today that you need. Ask God to show you a quiet place and a time to meet with Him everyday. Don't neglect the most important thing or rather Person. He is our source, our Father in heaven who we so desperately need, He wants us to come to Him and to love on Him. Give Him what He so desperately wants, give Him your love, your heart today. He longs for you like your soul longs for Him. Nothing and no one in this world can satisfy you like Jesus. He is your Creator and He created you, let Him give you what you need today. My friends, I pray the Lord bless you and keep you! I pray that this post encourages you and your relationship with God. Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope everyone has had a good week, I am so thankful today is Friday! My week has been busier than usual, but overall, it was a good week! This week, I have been very much in prayer about finishing up my associates degree. I always try to make it a rule that before I jump up and do anything, I consult the Lord about it. When Covid happened last year, I had just transferred colleges and switched degrees. It was time for a change and I knew I could not keep going in the direction that I was going. So during the quarantine time, I poured out my heart before God asking Him, "Where are You taking me? What do I need to do with this life You have given me? What is it that You want me to do?" I asked Him daily sometimes several times a day because I wanted to make sure I am not doing something that I am not supposed to do. This morning I want to talk about stepping out in faith, this is what I had to do this week. To find out more, keep reading, but before you do, go grab a cup of coffee or tea to sip on as you read.
Yesterday morning, I got down on my knees and began praying asking God that this would all work out and to make sure that this was His will and not mine. I prayed and prayed for a while and then these words came to me. "Step out in faith." I sat there for a moment and said, "Okay Lord, I am going to step out in faith and trust that You are going to make it all work out." As I finished praying, I had peace as I went about my morning. Then as I began my work day, the enemy decides to show up and try to talk myself out of what I had thought about doing that day. I could feel a spirit of fear creeping in and the morning was full of confusion. If anyone has walked with the Lord long enough and He gives you a word, it's not long before the enemy shows up and he's trying to talk you out of it. I went to the bathroom for some peace and to pray. I felt the peace that I had that morning come again. I said to God, "Okay Lord, help me to trust You even though I don't know how You are going to work it out.
It was about 3:30 that afternoon and I was leaving work and thinking about the phone call that I would receive just an hour later. I prayed again and said, "God I know this may sound petty to some, but this is important to me. I know nothing is too hard for You and I want to make sure that this time I am doing what is right." You see all throughout my years of high school, it was drilled in our heads about finding the right career and going to college. When I graduated high school, I didn't go to college right away, I got a job working as a substitute teacher. So I thought I could get a degree in teaching. I applied and worked at it, but as the years went by, I knew that this wasn't working and that's when I had to have a long talk with the Lord. That's when I realized I just need to get a general studies degree and if I need more education later on, I could do so and it wasn't a bad thing.
So I finally got the call that I was expecting and I have to say that everything fell into place and the sweet lady that I spoke to me had so much encouragement that I needed. God not only opened up the door, but He gave me the blessed assurance to let me know that this was the right decision. I stepped out in faith and He didn't let me down, He went above and beyond my expectations and prayers! Friends, if you are needing to make a decision, I encourage you to pray about it and to step out in faith and see where God takes you. If He did it for me, I know He'll do it for you! "God has no favorites." Romans 2:11 God has a way of working everything out even the tiny details. We don't know how He is going to do it, but that's where our faith comes in. Are we going to trust Him that He will work everything out for our good or do we think we need to do it in our strength. If we think we can do it on our own, let me tell you, it will be a mess for sure, but if we let Him do it, everything will fall into place! God bless you and keep you friends and I pray that my story from this week will encourage you with whatever you are facing today! Until next time!
We are going to Matthew chapter 14 verses 22 through 33. Now I am going to paraphrase this story. Jesus tells His disciples to get into a boat and go on ahead of Him and He would meet them on the other side. So the disciples do exactly as He tells them, meanwhile Jesus is up on the mountain top praying while they are heading to the other side. Later that night as the disciples were sailing across the water to get to the other side, a storm pops up. They're trying to get to where Jesus was going to meet them, but the wind is pushing the boat back and the waves are crashing into the boat. Now as you can imagine, the disciples were probably in complete panic and trying to do everything that they could possibly do to keep the boat from collapsing. Right before the sun came up, Jesus went to them walking on the water. So they had been on the water for at least a few hours before Jesus showed up. As Jesus was walking on the water, the disciples looked up and cried out, "It's a ghost!" Jesus spoke to them saying, "Take courage, it is I, don't be afraid." Then Peter said, "Lord, if it is You, then tell me to come to You on the water." So Jesus said, "Come." Peter steps out of the boat and starts walking on the water. As Peter is walking toward Jesus, he notices the wind and becomes afraid and starts drowning. Jesus reaches out His hand and grabs him and pulls him up. Jesus said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
Now I want you to notice something, the disciples did what they were told to do. This wasn't their first time being in a storm, the last time they were in a storm, Jesus was in the boat. They knew He was in the boat, they could see Him and when the waves got a little rough and a storm started raging, they ran to Him for comfort. However this time, they were not with Jesus. Their faith was being tested. It wasn't just about Peter's faith, it was about all of the disciple's faith. Jesus gave them instructions, they were obedient and did what they were told, but when the storm came, they panicked. Jesus wasn't there, how were they going to make it to the other side to meet Jesus? Even though He wasn't physically there, He was with them in the Spirit and they had to trust what He said. His words were, "I will meet you on the other side." They didn't know they were going to have to face a storm in the process of trying to get to the other side. All they knew was that Jesus said, "I will meet you on the other side."
Can I tell you something, He does the same thing with us. He gives us a promise or an instruction and we are obedient and do it, but during the process, we face storms in life that will sometimes make us doubt or panic. God doesn't always give us all the details, He tells us what to do and then we have to trust Him that He will get us to the other side. We may not be able to hear Him, feel Him, or see Him, but we have to trust Him and what He said He will do. I know it's easier said than done, but He will test our faith from time to time to see if we will trust Him even in the midst of the storm.
So my question to not only you, but also to myself is will we trust Him? Will we trust what His word says? Will we stand on His word while He fights our battles? Will we continue to pray and seek His face even though the storm is getting rough and scary at times? He knows we are in life right now and He knows what each one of us is facing. He is not blind or deaf to our storms whether it be pain, struggle, mountain or valley? He is with us in our highest points and in our lowest points. He loves us all the same and He said that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Tests aren't fun, but they are necessary. They prove whether or not we can move on or we need to learn a bit more in that area just like in school. If we learn from Him, He will help us pass our tests. Friends, I want to encourage you to keep moving forward even if it's hard right now. Even if you really don't feel like it and you want to throw in the towel, He might throw it back at you and tell you to keep going, I'm not letting you quit. I pray that the Lord blesses and keeps you and that you will be encouraged! Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well and I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you because we are diving into one of the Old Testament passages today. This is one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament! I love a good love story, I am one of those people who love to see how God puts two people together and forms such a bond and love between them. To me, that is definitely a miracle and a beautiful testimony! We are going to see how God puts Isaac and Rebekah together, two very different people who have never met before! She lives her life, Isaac lives his life, but God interrupts their lives and puts them both together unexpectedly. Are you ready to jump into this beautiful love story with me? Let's go!
In Genesis chapter 24 is the story of Isaac and Rebekah. I am going to paraphrase this passage. Abraham is now up in his years and Sarah has passed away. Abraham is concerned about Isaac's life and well being. He asks his servant to come and to make a promise that he will go to his homeland and choose a wife for his dear Isaac. The servant replies, "Suppose the woman isn't willing to me to this land. Must I then bring your son back to the land from which you came?" Abraham told him not to do that. He then prayed asked that God would send His angel ahead of the servant and that he was to bring a wife for Isaac. If the woman didn't want to make the journey to Isaac then the servant would be released from this task as long as he didn't bring his son to his homeland. The servant swore to Abraham that he would do it.
Now the servant didn't just go on his way, but he took ten of Abraham's camels and all kinds of gifts from his master Abraham. He made his long journey to find a wife for Isaac. He reached Abraham's homeland and it was evening, this is the time when the women would go out to the wells and draw water. The servant prayed that God would help him find a wife for Isaac and to show grace to his master. He began to be specific as to what the sign would be if this was the girl for Isaac. Before he could finish praying, a woman named Rebekah came out with a jug on her shoulder, she was very beautiful. She went down to the well and filled her jug and came up to him.
The servant asked if he could have a drink of water and she gave him some and also watered his camels. She ran back and forth to well getting water for the camels to drink. When the camels finished drinking, he pulled out a gold nose ring for her and some gold bracelets and asked who she was. She said who she was and told him that there was room for him to stay overnight. The Lord had answered his prayer and she ran off to her mother's household to tell them what happened. Rebekah's brother came out and greeted him and learned that the servant belonged to Abraham. They fed him a meal and the servant asked them if Rebekah could go and be Isaac's wife. They agreed that Rebekah should go so the next morning they were off on the journey to Isaac. Now this young lady has left everything she knows and she is going to a land that she has never been to before.
Can you imagine the butterflies in her stomach? On a journey to become a wife of someone she has never met before! That is faith! Once they were close to home, Isaac was out walking and he saw camels coming up the road. Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac and asked, "Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?" The servant replied, "It's my master." She took her veil and covered herself. The servant told Isaac everything that happened and Isaac took Rebekah and brought her in his mother's tent and she became his wife and he loved her. Isaac was comforted for the loss of his mother.
I love this story because it proves that God is the ultimate matchmaker! Through prayer and faith, God brought these two precious people together. If you are single and wanting your husband that God has chosen for you, do not worry, God will bring you and the one He has chosen for you together. Stay in prayer, believe God that He will do it, and wait patiently. When we think of waiting patiently, we think of just sitting there doing nothing and not being too happy about it. I found out that's not the kind of attitude that God is looking for as we wait on Him. Waiting patiently means that we are to keep working and living life, but with a joyful attitude. Oh I know that is a hard thing to do. Yes it most certainly is, but God is constantly watching us and our attitudes toward our circumstances, people, etc. I am constantly reminded of this scripture, "When the time is right, I the Lord will make it happen." Isaiah 60:22 Also the scripture that God gave me a couple of years ago concerning my promise, "Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her." Luke 1:45 Why was Jesus' mother Mary blessed? She believed what the Lord had spoken to her and that He would fulfill that promise to her because she believed. You see God has His part and we have our part, He can't fulfill anything if we aren't doing our part by believing what He said He would do. So my friends, I pray that you will be blessed by this blog post and that you will be encouraged! May God bless and keep you! Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well, I am up early this morning writing a post that has been burning in my spirit the last few days. The Lord has been showing me that it is vital to nourish our spirit everyday. Think about it; we have to give our body nourishment, proper nourishment. We can't live on junk food all our lives, we need protein, a certain amount of carbs, and fruits and vegetables. Why, because when we eat a balanced meal, that's how we get the proper nutrients we need to function everyday. It's the same with our spirit, we need the proper nutrition to nourish our spirit. Maybe this is why Jesus focused on the inner parts of us because if our spirit is not in right order then it would surely affect our outer. According to Proverbs 23:7, "As a man thinks, so is he." So with that being said, let's dive into this unveiled truth that I believe will help us grow in our walks with the Lord.
God is the Creator of not just the universe, the world, and everything in it, but also He created us in His image. What does this mean? This means that He created us to be like Him, to think like Him, act like Him, talk like Him, love like Him, we learn of Him. Have you ever hung out with someone that had some character traits that you know you shouldn't be around, but you hang around them anyway and after a little while, you begin to talk and act like them? It's the same way with God. You may be asking how is that? It's simple, the more we commune with God by reading His word, praying to Him daily, and acknowledging Him, you start to see a transformation process begin. It's amazing what happens when you come to God. James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." So my question is to you is do you have some areas that you need to improve in? Are you hanging around people that have character traits that are rubbing off on you? It's okay to be honest because I have been there, we all slip up or wander off the path of righteousness. God knows we are in our walk with Him and He knows that we need His constant help to stay on the path of righteousness. He knows we are like wandering sheep and He will take His shepherd's crook and pull us back to Him.
So you may be asking, how do I get this nourishment that you're talking about? Great question! You can do simply by communing with Him everyday. Reading His word, asking Him to take what you have read and apply it in your life. Prayer, talking to Him and not just with a wish list, but thanking Him for all He has done in your life. Protecting you and your family, for always being your Provider, helping you in every problem and situation. Let the Holy Spirit lead you in your prayer time. He will come to your aid and help you pray to God especially when you don't have the words to pray. Worship Him, I am learning I love to worship God more and more everyday especially on a rough day. It helps me to get my mind off the craziness going on around me and get my mind on Him. I rather be singing all day long of His praises than go through the day unhappy and complaining. It doesn't help a thing especially my disposition, it only makes it worse.
God is the Maker of our soul and He knew what He was doing when He gave us His word and all the tools that we need in our daily lives. He knew we can't make it in this life without Him, God knows we are fragile creatures and that's why we need Him every moment of every day and night. He loves you my friend and He wants to nourish your soul, let Him do that through His word, through praise and worship, thanksgiving, and prayer. Every one of us needs His nourishment today, take some time to receive what He has for you. You will be so glad you did, let Him give you what you need today. Let His love give you the comfort you need. May God bless you and keep you my friends. Until next time.
Good Morning Friends!
I hope everyone is well and having a lovely morning. I want to say Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers, grandmothers, spiritual mothers, adoptive mothers, and also to the mothers that are no longer with us. I pray that the Lord blesses you on this special day! I woke up this morning wanting to write a blog post and there are two scriptures that I have been meditating on since yesterday. I was in deep prayer yesterday and God kept speaking to my spirit about an example. He revealed that the example was Him and we are to follow Him. What He revealed yesterday was shocking and mind blowing. It really made me take a step back and think to myself, "Am I following His example?" If you would like to know more, keep reading to find out. I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you and without further ado, let's dive in!
The two scriptures that He brought before yesterday were, "I follow the example of the Lord, who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy and loving-kindness." Psalm 103:8 The other one is Ephesians 4:31-32, "I will let all bitterness and indignation and wrath and resentment and quarreling and slander be banished from me with all malice. And I will become useful and helpful and kind to others, tenderhearted, forgiving others as God in Christ forgave me." Now I know that is a lot, but the Lord pointed out key words in these scriptures and I haven't been able to get away from them. It's as if it's being replayed in my mind over and over again. The key words in the first verse are, "I follow the example of the Lord." and in the second verse, "And I will become useful and helpful." As I was asking the Lord to give me understanding of these key words, I kept seeing my Bible sitting in front of me. I began flipping the pages of my Bible and I realized God's Word is the instruction He has given me to help me follow His example.
God gives us commands to follow and in order to follow them, we must have His help to do it pleasingly to Him. We can try to do it our way, but that doesn't make it right, we must do it God's way. Jesus came as God in the flesh to be an example for us, to follow Him, to learn of Him. How do we learn of Him? By reading His word and taking His word and applying it to our lives and praying to Him daily. Paul says we are "living epistles. " An epistle is a book, so many unbelievers are not going to open up God's word to read it for themselves, but they watch the Christians and see if there's a difference in our lives versus theirs. So with that being said, I learned we have to be careful with what we think, say, and do because someone is always watching whether we realize it or not. Now are we perfect, absolutely not, but when we do fall, we need to confess our sin, ask God for His forgiveness and then get up and keep moving in God.
Can I be honest, that's what I had to do this week. This past week has been a tough one, I was letting a lot of things and people at work bother me, anger me, and finally it got the best of me and I said some things that I shouldn't have said. I was letting fear and anger come in to my heart and as God's word says, "But the things that come of out of the mouth come from the heart." Matt 15:18 This is why it is vital to guard our hearts and if God reveals anything that's in our hearts that shouldn't be there, we need to deal with it immediately. I am learning that anger is dangerous and we must ask God for His help. He knows our weaknesses and He will use them for His glory. Once I repented of what I had said, I had to get to the root of the problem which of course was anger and fear. The Lord revealed to me that I had to receive His love to cast out the fear and anger. Let me tell you, my anxiety went away immediately and I had so much peace!
Now moving onto the next key words, "And I will become useful and helpful." The Lord revealed to me if I ask Him to remove anything out of my life that isn't pleasing to Him, then that's when He can use me. My prayer since I was 20 years old has been, "God, I want you to use me." Well I realized God can't use me if I have all this junk in my life. The junk in this life will get me off balance and I won't be open to God because my heart is full of all this stuff that doesn't matter. So what I did was I went in my room and got on my knees and starting asking God to remove all these things in my life so that I will be useful and helpful. Once He removed all the junk, I was able to think clearly, I felt so clean and God gave me a new perspective. Every day that He gives us is a new day to transform us more and more like Him.
So friends, I pray that this post helps you and encourages you today. I pray that if you are struggling with your weaknesses or the junk in this life, that you will give it over to God so that you will be useful and helpful. My friends, when I learned this truth, it has truly transformed my thinking and it made me realize that I have purpose in this life. So many times we think, "What is God doing with my life, how is He is using me for His kingdom?" I have been there so many times, but He does use us if we are open and keep all the worldly stuff out of our heart. Do we always know when He is using us, not all the times. I believe sometimes it's as simple as smiling at someone or saying good morning to a person. We don't know what people are going through and sometimes just acknowledging that person gives them a boost of encouragement. As I said before someone is always watching whether we realize it or not so we have to be careful to live according to God's word and will. God bless you and keep you my friends! Until next time!
By the way, I am thinking about starting another blog post series about becoming a godly woman soon!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well and has had a good week! This week has been super busy, we only have a couple of weeks before Summer starts. So I have been working on a few blog posts that will be coming soon, but the first one for today is called, "The Power of Forgiveness." The Lord gave me this revelatory word a few days ago and I want to share it with you. Before we dive in, I hope you have your hot cup of coffee or tea!
Forgiveness is so important in our walk with God. It's God's will for us to forgive and if we do not forgive others, it will hinder our walk with the Lord. Jesus stressed the importance of forgiveness. The message translation says, "In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part." I will admit, I love this translation of scripture, it definitely breaks down for us what we're supposed to do and the consequences of our choice. ( I am writing another blog post called "God's part and our part.")
This scripture is telling us that if we do not forgive the people that have wronged us in our lives then God will not forgive us and our relationship with Him will be cut off. This means, our closeness with God, our prayers will be hindered because of our disobedience to God's word. This is why this is so powerful because sin is such a crucial thing and if we don't ask God to forgive us of our sins and turn away from them, then our spiritual walk will be hindered. The enemy comes in and sees that we have made a mess and it makes it even bigger because He will come in telling his lies. We become spiritually crippled, but if we obey God's word and forgive that person then our relationship will remain stable.
Now how do we truly forgive a person and how do we know we have forgiven them. My friends, when you have truly forgiven a person or persons, you no longer hold bitterness or anger in your heart toward them. You will see them differently with eyes of God's love. You will no longer be offended if someone brings that person up in a conversation or you see that person out somewhere. You will have no ill will toward that person. My friends, let me tell you, I have been hurt by several people in my short lifetime and God had to help me forgive those people. It wasn't easy by any means, but I knew I had to do it because it was keeping me in bondage. It was affecting my everyday life and my relationships with others. The enemy wants us to believe that if we stay mad at that person then it's giving us some kind of revenge, but it's not. It's ruining our lives and causing us to produce rotten fruit. Now who wants that kind of life?
My friends, if someone has offended you in any way, I want to encourage you to ask God to help you forgive them. You will be so glad that you did because there is true power in forgiveness. It helps you to move on to the better things that God has for you. If you have experienced a situation that has caused hurt, rejection, anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness then I want to ask you, are you going to allow this situation to make you better or bitter? I hope your answer is better because with God, all things are possible. He knows your every hurt, pain, and what the cause was and He doesn't want you to live in defeat by being bitter. God wants you to thrive in this life not survive. We aren't called to survive, but to thrive. Are you thriving in the vine of Jesus or are you just barely hanging on? Make Him your top priority in life and He won't disappoint. My friends, I hope this post encourages and blesses you today! Make the decision to be better for the Lord, He will help you according to His will and word. May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
Proverbs 11:16 says, "A kindhearted woman gains honor, but ruthless men gain only wealth." Look at the word "kindhearted." What does kindhearted mean? It means that you have kindness flowing from your heart. You want to help people, you want to speak kindly to others, encourage one another, be polite, etc. So as you can see it's an attitude of the heart. Think about it, we all have different attitudes, some of us can go from one attitude to another within five minutes. ( God is still working on me in this area.) When you are in a group of friends or people and you are chatting happily along and then someone says something that you don't agree with, your attitude changes along with your facial expression. This is usually when the Holy Spirit has to remind me that it's okay for them to have an opinion or belief that you don't agree with. So make sure you ask God to guard your heart so the enemy doesn't try to sow anything in your heart that is not of God. The enemy loves to deceive us with his lies, he'll try sow ill will, anger, contention, complaints, etc. He will sow anything to get us off course. The world needs kindness right now because there are so many people that are hurting. Let's be kind to one another in word and in deed.
Colossians 4:6 says, "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Can I just say what a promise the Lord has given us! If we will make sure to let our conversation be full of grace with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will know how to answer everyone. Not just your family or friends or your employer, but everyone! So how do we do this? We do this by speaking God's word and here's a big one, controlling your tongue. Now you and I cannot control our tongue, but God can if we surrender our tongue to Him. Also when we speak, we must watch our tone. Has your mother ever said to you growing up, "Watch your tongue young lady." My mother has on several occasions. Your tone says everything, if you were reading scripture and your tone isn't right, the person who is listening isn't going to be convinced or interested because you're not. I know some days we are not in the mood to be happy and cheerful, but remember someone is always watching whether we realize it or not and if we say or do something contrary to God's word, what does that do to our witness? It ruins it doesn't it? We have to be careful that our words line up with our actions. So let's make sure that we adopt the trait of gracious speech.
Next trait is a gracious woman avoids using wrong expressions of anger such as: yelling, cursing, harsh sarcasm, and lashing out. Anger is such a strong emotion and we have to submit it unto God because it can get out of control quickly. How do we express our anger the right way? I will never forget, I was mad one day at one of my family members and everything seemed upside down that day. I was so angry that I let my temper get the best of me and I raised my voice and said something that I wish I wouldn't have said. I became embarrassed and took off in my room, I fell to my knees and cried out to God for forgiveness. The Lord spoke to me saying, "The Holy Spirit lives inside of you and you know how to pray in tongues. Pray more in tongues and you will notice a difference in your temper." Can I tell you that I did what He told me to do and still have to do it to this day and it has made a difference in my temper. The Holy Spirit took over my temper and gave me peace and not only peace, but self control through Him. Learning to be a gracious woman is discipline in lots of areas and we need God's help.
These are just a few traits of a gracious woman. I don't know about you, but one of my constant prayers is Lord, help me to be a gracious woman. It's hard to do it on my own, but with Him, nothing is impossible. A gracious woman relies heavily upon God to be her strength, to help her in every area of her life. Jesus relied upon the Holy Spirit to help Him and Jesus was a gentleman for sure! So my friends, I pray that this post encourages you and helps you to become the woman or man of God He calling you to become! May the Lord bless you and keep you! Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope you are doing well on this Tuesday morning. I want to ask you a question. How many times have we tried to do God's job when we haven't even done what He has asked us to do? How many times have we thought we have it all figured it out only to find out that we end up messing it up? When we read God's word and I mean really read it with a fine tooth comb, we learn in scripture that God has a part and we have a part. If you would like to find out more about what your part is then keep reading, but before we go into all the details, I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you. Let's begin on journey on finding out what we are supposed to do according to scripture!
In Matthew 6:33 it says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Now if you look closely, our part is to seek the kingdom of God first and His righteousness. God is saying to us the first thing we are to do is to read His word and pray to Him first thing in the morning. Once we do our part then God will add these things to us and these things are our needs. Another example is Matthew 6:15, "In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part." So as you can see if we won't forgive someone who has offended us then God will not forgive us of our sins.
My friends, there are so many scriptures in God's word that tell us what we are to do if we will just take time to read His word. We have to pay attention to those key words in scripture and ask God to help us apply what we have learned to our lives. God will surely do His part if we do our part and He only wants us to do our part not try to take over His part. It's like meeting God halfway, we do our part and then He will take care of the rest. He has commanded us to be obedient to His word and do what He says to do, He will reward us for our obedience.
So friends, I want to encourage you today to take time reading God's word and ask Him to help you learn from Him. Remember to always keep Him first place in your life. He never fails and you can trust Him because He knows more about you and your life than you. He is constantly watching over us and taking care of us in ways that we do not know. I pray that this blog post has encouraged you and helped you today! May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
By the way I will be writing another blog post about God's righteousness soon!
Hello Friends!
I hope you have had a lovely day! I have been in God's word for most of the day today and it felt so good to nourish my spirit! In this post, I would like to expound on God's righteousness; what it means and how we apply this principle to our lives. When I first started studying about His righteousness, I was surprised to find out that it's very simple. So without further ado, let's dive right in!
Righteousness means right standing with God and doing what is right. This attribute belongs to God. It is a wonderful gift from God to us through His love. This gift comes through believing in Jesus, once we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are made righteous with God. Man's relationship with God was restored when Jesus died and rose from the grave. This quality of being right in God's eyes includes character, attitude, actions, and words. Isn't this wonderful, God is so good! He provided a Lamb which was His Son and through His blood, we are made righteous through His precious blood!
Now how do we apply this principle to our lives? First off if we pray and read God's word, He tells us how to conduct our lives that is pleasing to Him. If we obey His word with the leading of the Holy Spirit, we are pleasing to Him. For example, God's word says to love our enemies. That's easier said than done right? With the help of the Holy Spirit, He makes it possible. Another example is to, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul." Matt. 22:37 Once again, we cannot do this without the power of the Holy Spirit. ( I am planning on writing a blog post about my experience of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit and how He has helped me and still is today.)
As you can see, we cannot obtain His righteousness without Him because then it would become our righteousness. God says, "We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind." Isaiah 64:6 Our righteousness is no good, in fact it disgusts the Lord, but with His righteousness, He accepts us. We must do the things that are pleasing to His heart.
So my friends, what are some things that we need to do differently in our lives? I want to make sure that I am pleasing Him and not man or myself. We will have to give an account for every thought, word, and deed. We will have to give an account for our obedience and disobedience. I want to hear Him say, "Well done thy good and faithful servant." Matt. 25:23 Romans 3:23 says, "We all fall short of the glory of God." That's why we need Him, without Him we can do nothing. But with God, all things are possible. Matt. 19:26 I pray that this encourages you to press forward in your walk with the Lord. May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Evening Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well! I want to talk about grace again. So let's think about the word grace means. What do you think it means to be gracious? You may say, being nice to someone or being patient, or extending mercy toward another person who may not even deserve it. These are all very good definitions, grace is defined as having unmerited favor or unconditional love. In other words, you didn't do anything to earn grace. It was given with no conditions, just because God loves us so much! So you may be thinking, wow, this is so amazing! It is and believe it or not, He expects us to extend that kind of grace to others. I know, this is easier said than done, I understand. I am learning this myself, it's not an easy thing to do. So how in the world are we supposed to do this? Well let's find out together what God's word says about extending grace to others.
Proverbs 1:8-9 says, "My child, listen when you father corrects you. Do not neglect your mother's instruction. What you learn from them will be crown you with grace and be a chain of honor around your neck." Okay so let's break this down, when our Father in heaven corrects us we are to listen and not neglect His teaching when we do this, He will crown us with grace and give us a necklace of honor. When we were little children, our parents tried their best to try to teach us and let's be honest, we as children were hardheaded at times. I can remember standing in the kitchen and watching my mother iron clothes and for whatever reason, I wondered to myself if the iron was hot. My mom would tell me not to touch the iron because it would burn me. Well for whatever reason, I had to find out for myself so what did I do? I went up and touched it and of course my mom was right, it was scalding hot and you know what? I never touched it again. Why? I learned my lesson from touching it, it was definitely hot and I didn't want to hurt my fingers again.
How many times have we read a scripture in the Bible containing instruction or God will try to correct us and we just continue to go our way only to end up in a mess? Well I can't answer for you, but my answer would be many times and you know what He always shows me grace even when I know I do not deserve it at all! He is telling us in this particular scripture that if we will obey this command then He will reward us with grace and honor. Let me ask you a question, is there a particular person or people that keep doing you wrong or hurting you in some way? I'm sure there is and even though we are first to forgive them, we are to be gracious to them. I know, I know, this is very hard to do, but God's word says, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other as Christ forgave you." Eph. 4:32 What is being kind and compassionate? This is being gracious and also in our speech. A person can tell if you aren't in the mood to be nice and cordial. Being gracious toward one another is part of our witness for Christ, being a light in the darkness.
Let's be honest, we already have a lot mean-spirited, rude, brash culture in this world. What this world needs is the compassion of Christ and kindness, how do we do this? By being polite, going out of our way to help one another, lifting each other up in prayer, not speaking negatively or evil about people. I know, as I said before, easier said than done and we do need God's help to obey this command. Without Him, it won't happen or we will try to do it in our own strength and then we end up messing up. The Holy Spirit will come to our aid and help us do what God has called us to do.
So I want to encourage you my friends to show some grace towards the ones who aren't so nice to you or have wronged you. If they have, forgive them and give them over to God and let Him deal with them. He will work it all out for our good. There are so many hurting people in this world that could use a friendly smile, a hug, a prayer, a kind word because you don't know what people are going through and they need the love of Jesus just like we do. I pray that this post has inspired you and helped you extend grace toward others. May the Lord bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well! I am doing well in fact this is first official day of Summer! I am praising the Lord for some time off to rest, recharge, and most importantly to spend more time with Him. As I was making my cup of coffee this morning, the word devotion kept popping up. I thought, "Hmmm, what does the word devotion mean?" I began pondering and the Lord simply said, "Devotion means to intentionally carve out time to spend with Me." Don't you love how the Lord simplifies things for us when we have a tendency to make it harder? I certainly do, makes my life so much easier when He's in charge. So this morning I want to write about how can we devote more time to the Lord. Before we begin, I hope you have made your favorite cup of coffee or tea, let's dive in!
So now that I have mentioned what the word devotion means, we need to know why we need to devote ourselves to our Lord. First off one of the commandments is, "Do not have no other gods before Me." Exodus 20:3 Now you may be saying I don't have any gods before God. You may not be aware of it, but you can have other gods before God such as what do you spend most of your time doing? Is it mostly working, on the cell phone, computer, electronic device, a hobby, a certain person or family? Whether we realize it or not, these things can become gods in our lives if we are not careful. Remember God is a jealous God. Exodus 34:14 I love the New Living Translation, "You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationship with you." Oh this is such a true and wonderful scripture! Think about it, the God of the entire universe wants to spend time with us, flawed little creatures like us. Do you know why because He took the time and energy to create us in His image. His wonderful heart longed for a relationship, to fill that void in His heart, He wanted to connect with someone. Now He didn't have to create us, He could have created anything, but He chose to create us with His hands. In Genesis 1:31 it says, "And God looked over all that He had made, and He saw that it was very good!" Can you imagine God looking at you and saying, "Very good?" We are a true delight to Him and that's why it is so important to put Him first and keep Him first. He loves us and cares for us more that anyone ever could and He deserves first place in our hearts and lives.
Now how can we devote ourselves to God? First and foremost, our time, we can carve out time in the first part of our day to Him. This is called our first fruits, we give our first and best time of our day to Him and that's in the beginning of our day. God always gives us His best whether we know it or not and we should give our best to Him. Another way to devote ourselves to the Lord is thinking about Him throughout our day. Asking Him for His help in difficult tasks on the job, at home, or school. Reading His word and learning about God, what He thinks, what He approves of and doesn't approve. Taking the time to learn how to conduct our lives as a believer in Christ. Also on the Sabbath day, praying and meditating on His word and His creation. I don't know about you, but I am learning to love the Sabbath day, the day that God gave us to rest from the cares of our every day life and take time to be with Him. I look forward to this day every week, I love to spend more time reading my Bible, drinking my cup of tea, and talking to Him. I also love to get outside and either walk or go for a run. I like spending time with family and friends talking about what God is doing in my life! These are a few ways that I try to devote myself to the Lord. I am not perfect by any means, but I try to live according to His word with the help of the Holy Spirit. One more thing, I love to take time to praise and worship the Lord. It's a sacrifice that I believe He loves most!
So my friends, I hope that this post encourages you to want to devote yourself more and more to the Lord everyday that He gives you. I want you to know that He loves you and cherishes you. He created you for His purpose to give Him honor and glory in your life on this earth. We are to dedicate our lives to Him, He will truly change your life. I hope that you will pray and seek the Lord about how He wants you to devote yourself to Him, be open to what He says, He may surprise you! May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
Hello Friends!
God is giving me so much to write that I cannot stop! God is so good and I am thankful that He is using me to reach out to a few people with an encouraging word. I would like to ask you a question. Do you ever feel stuck in life or that you need a change? I have and these questions came to me this week. The last few days, I have been crying out for a change. I became frustrated because I felt like God wasn't listening to me or I couldn't see Him doing anything. I remember that I couldn't say a word at one point. I was even quiet the next day and out of the blue that's when God showed up and began showing me some things.
He began showing me how He wanted to change me. Now at first, I wasn't too pleased with this idea until He showed me that it was going to make me better. He even showed me that even my speech would be different and that people would say what has changed about you? You seem so different, what happened to you over the Summer? It was as if the Lord was giving me a whole makeover on the inside and it would show on the outside. If you're like me, I love to see people go from one person and then God takes over and He changes everything about them. He brings out the best in that person and only He can do it!
So I wanted to encourage you to surrender yourself to the Lord and let Him do what only He can do in you. He is the only One that can change us! I am very excited about what God is doing in my life right now! I look forward to the new changes that He is going to do in me. To make the impossible possible in me, to give me a better attitude, to upgrade me speech, to better communicate with others, to be kind toward others who haven't been kind to me. Oh my friends, He is doing something brand new and it's up to us to recognize the change that He wants to do in us!
Are you wanting a change, a lasting change? Then give yourself to God and watch Him do a whole entire makeover on you! Be excited about the new changes and opportunities He is giving you! Let Him do what you can do in you and He will receive all the glory! I pray that this is not only encouraging, but makes you want a change. Seek Him about what He wants to do in you and watch the impossible become possible! I pray that the Lord blesses you and keeps you my friends! Until next time!
Good Evening Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well on this lovely Sunday evening. I have to say I am enjoying my Summer, catching up on rest, spending more time with the Lord, getting ready for Summer classes. I am very excited about what the Lord is doing in my life! This evening, I wanted to write about the book of Ruth, one of my favorite books to read in the Bible! Ruth is such a relatable person and I think that's one of the reasons that I love God's word so much because He takes ordinary, everyday people and uses them for His glory. When I read the book of Ruth, I see a woman of faith, persistence, and trust. It starts out tragic and then ends with so much joy! If you have your cup of coffee or tea with you, we can jump right in and find out more about Ruth. Let's go!
I am going to paraphrase this story. The book of Ruth starts out as a family living in Moab. They left Bethlehem because there was a famine. Naomi, her husband, and sons have lived in Moab for quite some time. Her sons were married and Ruth was one of her daughters in law. Then Naomi's husband dies and not long after, her two sons die as well. Naomi and her daughters in law are heartbroken and are left with nothing. A messenger was sent to Naomi to tell of the good news in Bethlehem. He told her that God has blessed Bethlehem and that they had plenty of food again. I am sure Naomi was relieved to hear this news after losing her husband and sons. So she decided to go back to Bethlehem and her daughters in law followed her. Naomi came to a certain point and told both of her daughters in law to go back to Moab. She didn't have any more sons to give so they should just go back. Well one of the daughters in law turned around and started back while Ruth contemplated in her mind what she should do. She ran up to Naomi and clung to her and said these famous words, "Don't make me leave you; for I want to go wherever you go and to live wherever you live; your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God."
So Ruth made a decision to step out in faith and follow her mother in law to a better life. I believe she knew that there was nothing to go back to in Moab. Naomi and Ruth's journey to Bethlehem was a very long one especially on foot. Once they came to Bethlehem, Naomi went back to her old house. Ruth decided to go and work in the field and little did she know that she would catch someone's eye. Let's remember that Ruth was a foreigner and she didn't know too much about Bethlehem. She wanted to help her mother in law so she went and worked in the field of Boaz. Boaz was the overseer of the field and he noticed her one day picking wheat. I'm sure he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was and he wanted to find out about her. Once he found out who she was, he approached her and gave her favor. She didn't understand why he was being so nice to her because she was stranger. Then he falls for her and she falls for him. She goes to one of the feasts and uncovers his feet and lays down at his feet. It was like a proposal in that day and time. He had to make arrangements with his close relative by redeeming her. Once he did this, he was able to marry her and have a son named Obed.
God had blessed Naomi and Ruth for their faithfulness. So too He also blesses us for our faithfulness. God watches our every move, thought, motive, and word. When we are going through tests of life, God is always seeing if we are going to remain faithful to Him and remember His promises in His word. Life can throw us some tough curve balls at times, but God always sees us through our toughest trials. Naomi and Ruth lost everything, it wasn't easy for them, but God remained faithful to them. They trusted in God and believed that He had better for them and He did!
So my friends, if you are going through some tough circumstances or a fiery trial, just remember that God is always faithful and if He brought you out before, He will do it again! So I pray that God would help all of us through everything that we are facing right now and will face in the future. He is leading us to something better and He wants us to be faithful to Him like Naomi and Ruth. Is it always going to be easy? No. Will we feel like giving up sometimes? Yes, but in the end, He will work everything out for our good! May God bless you and keep you friends! Until next time!
Good Morning Dear Friends!
I hope you are all doing well and had a wonderful Memorial Day! This morning I am coming to you with something that I have noticed in the God's word. In the mornings, I usually read one of my devotionals, my Bible, and take notes in my journal. I was reading an interesting devotional and it was about investing in God. Jesus taught His disciples about about investing, how to invest in Him and explained why it is better to invest in Heaven. This is such a life changing truth and I would love to share it with you! Before we do that, I hope you have your cup of coffee with you! Are you ready to learn more, let's dive in!
John chapter 6 verse 27 says, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endure to eternal life which the Son of man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval." Now let's take a closer look at this scripture, Jesus is saying do not constantly work for something that isn't going to last long, but work for the things that are eternal. Now what are eternal things, what is the eternal food that Jesus was speaking about? The eternal things that Jesus spoke about are reading your Bible daily, communicating with Him not just in private prayer, but throughout the day, developing your relationship with Him. Then He goes on to say that He Himself is giving us these things and God in Heaven has stamped His approval for us to receive these things! Isn't this an amazing truth?
So here's my question to all of us, what are we investing in most? You may be saying well, Katherine, I have to work, I have to feed and support my family. Someone has to pay the bills, someone has to work or we do not eat? Yes, you are right and God knows this better than we do. He knows what our needs are and that is why He encourages us to work and make a living on this earth. What I am talking about is are we investing in our relationship with Him or are we investing in more earthly things such as: your job or career, people connections, serving your family more than you serve God, home, kids, etc. It can be anything, but guess what there is coming a day when those things aren't going to matter that much.
What will matter is how did you serve the Lord, do you know Him better today than you did yesterday or a week ago or a year ago? Are you growing in Him? Are you learning from Him? Are you making sure to keep Him first priority in your life? My friends, He loves you and knows you better than you love and know yourself. You can trust Him with your needs, your life, your everything. All He wants is for you to know Him not just know about Him. Think about it, we know about a lot of people like famous people, neighbors, coworkers, maybe even some distant relatives. A lot of people know about God, the know what they have heard or read about Him, but they haven't taken the time to get to know Him. Can you call Him your closest friend, brother, or Father? Do you know Him as your provider, your vindicator, your joy, your peace?
So my friends, I pray that we all take a look at how much time we are spending on earthly things instead of God. You don't have to spend several hours or the whole day everyday, some of us have to work and have other things that need to be done. I understand that, but are we giving Him the first portion of our day or in our free time, are we taking advantage of the time and getting alone with Him? I have been asking myself the same questions and I see where I need to tweak some things in my life. God deserves our time and wants us to get excited about studying His word, drawing nearer to Him, and wanting to spend time with Him! So I want to encourage you today to make an effort to make time for Him, it will be a much better investment than the investments on this earth. May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
Good Evening Friends!
I hope everyone has had a good day today. I have been very busy this week, but this morning God gave me a topic to write about and it is so good! I was studying my Bible this morning and I ran across several scriptures that were so good that I couldn't stop reading. As I was reading, I felt at ease, refreshed, and alive! Then David's words came to me. Psalm 119:16 says, "I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word." The word of God is to be a delight to our souls. If you want to find out more about this powerful truth, keep reading.
As I said, the word of God is to be a delight to our souls. Our souls crave the word of God, the Maker of heaven and earth. Have you ever picked up your Bible and begin reading and you find that you have a hard time putting it down? Let me tell you, I have been there many, many times and that was me this morning. All I wanted to do was sit at my desk and get lost in God's word. He poured out so much revelation to me this morning; it was almost like I could hear Him say, "Oh please stay My daughter, don't go just yet." Oh if you only knew how those words cut me to the core! God knows how much I love Him and that I love His word and if I could literally eat, I would! His word is life changing, reviving, refreshing, and complete healing for every wound no matter how deep. It convicts us of our sins and helps us to turn away from our sin. It leads on the right path which is the path of righteousness. It renews our minds and it is truly a delight!
The entire Bible is filled with wisdom, love, and it is written by the Author and Finisher of our faith. He loves us and He wanted us to have His love letters and He wants them written upon our hearts. He wants us to learn from the Old Testament as well as the New Testament because you cannot have one without the other. They go hand and hand and are equally important. His word is light unto our path and by His Holy Spirit, He will lead us into all truth. Unlike the world who will lie and lie, God never lies. He tells the absolute truth and that truth is in His word. God will show the hidden truths in His word if you will search it out. He wants us to seek Him with our whole hearts. He delights in the fact that His children are looking for Him and want to spend time with Him. Oh friends, there is something about pursuing God, such a deep intimacy of His love. When you experience a taste of His love, it's as if you are basking in a river of His pure love. There's nothing like it!
My question to you is, have you had an encounter with God? You may say encounter, what does that mean? Encounter simply means have you had an experience with God that you know that you know it was Him? I have had those unexpected encounters where it seemed as if He was in the room with me. Sometimes I will cry, can't move, or I would stop whatever I was doing and give Him my full attention. Let me tell you if you haven't had an encounter with Him, I would encourage you to pray that you will have one with Him. It will forever change your life, you will not be the same again and you will not regret it at all my friend.
So with that being said, I want to encourage you my friends to begin seeking God in His word, in prayer, in praise and worship, or being still and quiet and let Him do what He wants to do in your life. My friends, I pray that this post blesses and encourages you to have a deeper relationship with Him. May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Evening Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well this evening. I wasn't planning on writing a blog post, but God placed something on my heart that I need to write. I had just finished communion this evening and I kept hearing the words, "it's a privilege" in my spirit. Then it was as if God was taking me back in time in an open vision. (By the way, God does allow me to see in visions from time to time, but He shows me what He wants to show me.) He showed me myself reading His word, praying in the Spirit, praising and worshipping Him, following the leading of the Holy Spirit, and learning about my Jewish roots. I could see my face and it was full of excitement and then I could see the Lord's eyes and they were so full of delight! That's the only word that I can come up with in English because it very difficult to describe spiritual things in earthly terms. I felt so connected with God on a deeper level that I have never known.
As He was showing me these things, He made me realize that it is a wonderful privilege to be a child of God, to be His disciple. Now does it feel like this all the time? No, but we are not supposed to go by feelings, we go by faith. Studying His word, having the chance to have a deeper relationship with Him, and worshipping Him in Spirit and in truth is such an amazing privilege! My friends, having a close relationship with our Father in heaven is a true delight! We are His delight and He is our delight! He created us for Him, for His purpose. He wanted a people to connect with, to take care of, to cherish each and every day.
He wants a relationship with us and whether or not we realize it, we too in our spirits long for a relationship with Him. He is the only One that can satisfy that deep longing within us, sometimes it can be a silent cry and then sometimes we get so thirsty and hungry for Him, we don't care who's watching, we are running to Him. That's the kind of relationship He wants, a passionate relationship that says, "I don't care who makes fun of me, or thinks of me, I am running to Him." Is that you this evening? Have you had this deep longing within you that you cannot explain? Can I tell you that it is none other than Jesus Christ knocking on the door of your heart saying, "Will you let me come in and dine with you?" Do you hear Him calling out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink." John 7:37
Oh my friends, let's not make Him wait any longer. There is day that is coming and it will too late to answer His call and we will miss our opportunity. Come to Him and give Him your whole heart, your life, your all. You will not regret it, in fact you will be glad that you did. Let Him give you a cup of His eternal water, you will begin to overflow with His love! So my friends, let's take full advantage of this wonderful privilege He has given us. I pray that you will answer His call and come before Him and make Him your delight! God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Morning Everyone!
It has been a very busy week for me, but I hope everyone is well and has had a good week! This morning, the topic prayer keeps popping up in every thing that I have been reading today. It actually started yesterday evening, I was listening to the Collingsworth Family tell about one of the songs that they sing and lo and behold, it was called The Awesome Power of Prayer. Last night, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, "I want you to call unto Me so that I can show great and mighty things you don't know about." I realized that I wasn't being intentional in my prayer time. I decided last night that I want to change that and make my prayer time more meaningful, purposeful, be more diligent. So before we dive in, I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you!
As I said, last night I wanted to make a change and be more diligent in prayer life. The Lord has been teaching me over the last week or so about the power in prayer. Prayer changes things, it changes us, and we rely more and more upon God to help with our problems and circumstances. Jesus' disciples asked Him if He could teach them how to pray. How did they know that prayer was important, how did they know that they were supposed to pray? By watching our Lord and Savior pray. Jesus knew the importance of prayer, it was a lifeline between Him and the Father. They watched Jesus pray and they knew if it worked for Him, maybe it will work for them. They knew prayer was a responsibility and Jesus carried it well. So just as the Master prayed, we are called to pray, it's our responsibility.
I don't know about you, but when I finish praying, oh there is so much peace in my spirit and in my mind. I feel at ease and this is how I usually prepare my day. I try to pray first thing in the morning and before I go to bed. I learned that when we pray, God helps make decisions even the hard ones. Praying to Him keeps us from making foolish decisions because we are taking the time to seek Him and find out what He thinks is best. After all, He sees the entire picture whereas we only see a fragment. Also in prayer comes wisdom and understanding, I don't know about you, but I need His wisdom and understanding every moment of my life. It keeps my mind, my mouth, and my heart in right order.
Finally, prayer also opens the door to pray for others. We are called to pray for our enemies, those people that are hard to get along with, that doesn't like us for whatever reason. Most times they're usually not happy with their lives or themselves. When we pray for them, it paves the way for God to begin to work in their hearts. Now it doesn't usually happen overnight, it can take a while, but only God can work in people's hearts not us. Our job is to pray for them and His job is to start working in their lives. Also prayer changes us, it changes our hearts, our minds, our attitudes toward life and situations that aren't pleasant. I am so glad that He changes us, because I can say for myself that somedays I have a hard time getting along with myself. That may sound kind of funny, but it's true! This flesh is hard to live with some days, that's why Paul said, "I die daily."
We have to crucify the natural desires of this flesh. When someone is rude to me, my natural instinct is to be rude back, but God says, "I have a better way, be kind to those who persecute you." The flesh doesn't want to be nice, it wants to lash out and be rude. Do know why God calls us to act differently, talk differently, to be different? He knows that we are representing Him, we are called to be the salt of the earth, a light to the world. How can we do that if we aren't acting any different or being different than the world? How can the world see a difference if we act just like them? This is why God's way works better so that we can testify of what Jesus has done in our lives.
So my friends, with that being said, I want to encourage you to be more intentional about your prayer life with God. He loves you so much and He wants you to call upon Him so that He can show you great and mighty things that you don't know about. He wants you to rely more and more upon Him, if you draw near to God, He will draw nearer to you. I pray that the Lord helps you to develop a prayer life with Him, a rock solid relationship with Him and that you would come to Him more and more everyday. May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Hello Friends!
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As I said earlier, I was pretty stressed out this week, but the Lord began to show me how to schedule in some down time. Don't get me wrong, I like being busy, but I don't like it when it gets to the point where I want to pull my hair out. So what are some tips that we can take away from not being so stressed out? Tip number one would be to pray and read your Bible before you tackle any stressful task. Why is that? God helps to keep a proper mindset when we have talked to Him and read His word. I made the mistake of not praying or reading my Bible and jumping into the task and I became frustrated after looking at all the things that I needed to tend to for that day (not a smart move).
Tip number two is when you find that you are getting frustrated and stressed out, close your eyes and breathe in and out and walk away from the task for a little while. If you cannot then go to the bathroom for a few minutes to pray and then return back to the task. I know I am always talking about going to the bathroom to pray, but let me tell you it helps especially if you are about ready to lose your cool! For tip number three make sure to schedule in a day or two to rest and relax. I am all about resting and relaxing, this is the reason why I love the weekends. I am not thinking about work, to do lists, or anything stress related. Saturdays are usually my slow days where I can take my time. I love to go for a morning walk and then come back and fix a scrumptious breakfast and enjoy it! I also love to take my time to read my Bible and jot down notes. ( This is usually the time when I get some ideas for blog posts)!
Friends, all I am trying to say is God doesn't want us stressed out. Besides what good are we when we are stressed out? We aren't open to Him because we are so frustrated and wound up that we can't hear His voice. 1 Cor. 7:32 says, "It is God's desire that I be free from all anxiety and distressing care." God wants us to be free from the cares of this world that's why He said to cast all our cares upon Him for He cares for us. I know what you're thinking; easier said than done right? I know, it's a struggle for me too, but God is helping me in this area along with other areas in my life. I want to encourage you to keep everything in your life in balance. Don't let your job, work, your family, etc. become your main focus all the time. You will get weary and you won't be able to be your best self for God or for others. So I encourage you to pray and ask God if there is anything in your life that has gotten off balance. If He shows you anything then ask Him to help you keep everything balanced again. My friends, I pray that this encourages you and blesses you. May the Lord bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
Well I don't know about you, but I am glad today is Friday! I hope everyone is doing well and has had a good week. I have had a very busy week and I look forward to a day to rest. This morning I wanted to write about the kind of fruit we are supposed to be bearing as believers in Christ. A tree has always been a fascinating plant to me. How can an oak tree become a giant from a little tiny seed, I will never know. The Lord began showing me the different fruits that we are to bear and also what happens when we aren't bearing the right fruit. If you want to find out more, please keep reading! Also I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea, whichever you prefer.
Now picture this, you are in the garden department at the store, you are walking around looking at all the plants and you come across the fruit trees. There are all different kinds, lemon, apple, peach, plum, maybe even an orange tree. So you pick one out and bring it home. You follow all the instructions on the tag and you find a spot to plant it, water it, and wait. It takes maybe a year or two before you finally see a bloom. Oh there's hope, you know that a bloom leads to fruit finally growing on the tree. The bloom turns into what looks like fruit, so you go out to pick it and try the long desired fruit that you have been wanting to eat. Only to find out that it's not the right kind of fruit growing on the tree. What? At the store, you picked out an apple tree and your apple tree is growing peaches. That's not right, what happened? I know I picked out an apple tree, the tag said apple tree so why is it growing peaches? So you go in the house to call the 800 number to find out what happened and the person on the other end says it could be a simple mistake at the wrong label on the tree, but not to worry, they can reimburse your purchase. You say that's okay, you just wanted to find out what was the problem.
Now you may be saying what does this story have to do with me bearing fruit? That's a good question and the answer is, as a believer in Christ, there are types of fruit that we are supposed to be bearing such as patience, goodness, kindness, self- control, we can find these fruits in Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 through 23. Now say you are having a rough day and someone is being rude to you at work and you snap at that person and you hear them say, "I thought he or she was a Christian?" How many times have we heard this before? I will raise my hand and say yes, several times. We all have bad days where our attitude may not be right or we're feeling down and out, or maybe we don't want to be around anyone. I understand because we are still human, we are not perfect, even though we are following Jesus doesn't mean we won't have bad days. That's why it says in His word, "The righteous man falls seven times and gets back up." Proverbs 24:16 He also says that, "we fall short daily." Romans 3:23 So you see God knows that we have our off days, but think about it, it takes time to bear fruit. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior of our life and ask Him to come live inside of us, He places the fruits of the Spirit within us that when the time comes, we will bear His fruit.
As I have said before, Jesus is our example, He came to show us the way in which we are to walk. We are to walk in Him which means we are to think like Him, talk like Him, and act like Him. I am to pray according to His will and word. I am to spend time with Him, to thank Him, and also I am called to help others with the leading of the Holy Spirit. I am reminding of the story of Lazarus, Jesus was told that Lazarus was dead and in John chapter 11 verse 35, it says that He wept. Now Jesus was sad at the passing away of His friend, but do you know what Jesus did after He finished crying? He goes after two days to raise Lazarus from the dead. You see Jesus received some bad news and He cried about it and I'm sure He spent time with God, but He got up and went to Lazarus to call him out of the tomb. His circumstances didn't stop Him from doing what He was called to do. He walked this earth and bore the fruit of the Spirit and He is calling us to do the same.
So my friends, what kind of fruits have we been bearing lately? Is it the fruit of the Spirit or is the fruit of this world? The fruit of this world is rotten fruit such as: jealously, hatred, strife, contention, anger, gossip, greed, selfishness, lust, etc. I could go on and on, but you get the point, it is truly rotten fruit and it's not any good for the kingdom of God. Friends, He wants us to bear His fruit in order to make a difference in this world. The problem in this world today is not political, not moral, not about race or color, or any other worldly thing, it's spiritual. We need God in our lives and without Him, there is no life, all there is death. Sin paves the road to death. So if you need to make things right before God, I encourage you to do so today at this very moment because you are not guaranteed another moment or another day. My friends, I hope this post encourages you and blesses you today. I pray that the Lord would continue to bless you and keep you! Until next time!
* There may be a few more posts coming on this topic soon so be looking for those!
Hello Friends!
I hope you are all doing well and I hope you have all had a good Father's day yesterday! I want to give a shout out to all the fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers, the spiritual fathers, and the ones that are no longer with us. May God bless you and continue to help you to be the head of the household and an example of Jesus. I wanted pop on here and write about when we are having a bad day. We all have them right? Yes we do whether we make them apparent or not. Sometimes those bad days can turn into bad weeks, then a bad month, a bad year or decade. I want to encourage you today that it's okay if you are having a bad day or so, but when we you are having a bad day, this usually means that we need to get alone with God. He wants us to draw near to Him and once we do this, He will draw nearer to us. You may say, yeah, but I don't feel like drawing near to God, I just want to be alone. My friend, let me tell you, you are never alone. God is always there right beside you whether you know it or not. God's word says we are not to go by feelings, but to walk by faith. It may seem bleak or hopeless with whatever you may be facing, but God has a way of turning things around. The key is to draw near to Him. If you would like to find out more, keep reading!
Jesus had bad days too, He wasn't exempt from things happening to Him or around Him. Remember when He came on the scene, Jerusalem was governed by the Roman empire so the Jews were living in some very harsh circumstances. Jesus had to deal with the Pharisees rebuking Him or trying to correct Him on what He was doing or why. He managed to not only live, but thrive in some very difficult circumstances. He knew that He had a purpose and He had only a certain amount of time to fulfill His purpose. What I am saying is just because our circumstances aren't what we would like them to be doesn't mean we stop living or we start dwelling on them. I myself have been in some tough circumstances before and my question is, "Lord, why?" "Why me, what have I done wrong?"
Let me tell you, if you ask these same questions, I want you to stop thinking that it's you or that you are the cause of your circumstances. God sometimes will allow tough circumstances so that we can grow. You may be asking grow? Yes, grow. Grow in faith, grow in trust, grow in His love, we are to grow in Him. Think about it, if you just had a baby and that baby wasn't gaining weight or growing in size, you would probably think something is wrong with your baby and you need to take it to the doctor. It's the same way with us, we aren't supposed to stay baby believers our whole time on earth, we are supposed to grow or as God's word says, "We go from glory to glory." 2 Cor. 3:18 We are supposed to be changing every day, we are supposed to know God better today than yesterday. Do you know Him more this year than last year? Has your relationship with Him gotten deeper? These are the questions we are to be asking ourselves, allowing Him to search our hearts.
So my friends, it's okay if you are having a bad day or week or so. I just pray that during our pressing circumstances, we growing closer to Him. I want to share with you something that I read last night. This was in one of my devotionals and this is from Psalm 16, "Security is found first and foremost in relationship with my Lord." When I read these words, it brought instant peace and gratitude to my soul! Think about it, we all want a safe place, a place to be loved and cherished. There's only one safe place and that's in our relationship with the Lord. So my friends, next time you are having a bad day or rough week, think in these terms, God wants me to grow in Him. He's testing us and making us grow! I pray that God blesses you and keeps you! Until next time!
Happy Friday Everyone!
I hope you are all having a wonderful morning today! I wanted to share my story of receiving the Holy Spirit. Now I am not sure what you have heard about my Friend, the Holy Spirit, but He is such a wonderful person to have in your life! He will help you, guide you, instruct you, give you peace and joy in the most difficult circumstances and situations. He will reveal God's word to you in ways you never knew. He is very kind, gentle, and very sensitive to our words and actions. He will let you know if you have grieved Him in any way. By the way if you don't know what the word grieve means, let me enlighten you, it means to annoy. That's right, you heard me correctly, annoy. I found this out a few months ago and thought wow, the Holy Spirit gets annoyed just like us! So if you would like to know more about my Friend, the Holy Spirit and how we were introduced, keep reading to find out more!
So I was about 21 years old and I was so excited about what the Lord was doing in my life. I remember I was sitting in church and the pastor said he was going to do a study on receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I became very curious. I had grown up in church where the Holy Spirit was free to do whatever He wanted and I remember people used to shout, run around the sanctuary, or fall out in the Spirit. In my personal Bible study, I learned that the reason why people would do things like that is because that's how the Holy Spirit would lead them and we must be very careful not to judge or ridicule. God becomes pretty mad when someone does this. As I began studying about the Holy Spirit, I knew right away that I not only wanted Him in my life, but that I needed Him. Jesus set the pattern for us, He couldn't fulfill His ministry without the Holy Spirit and if Jesus needed Him, then you and I need Him so much more!
I remember, it happened on a Sunday evening, everyone was invited to come the altar to receive the Holy Spirit. I was one of the first ones to come and they told me that when they started praying, that my mouth would begin to move, but it was the Holy Spirit taking over my mouth to begin to speak the heavenly language. As they began to pray, sure enough, my mouth began to move up and down uncontrollably, it was exciting and a little unfamiliar to me. The problem was no words came out. They prayed and prayed and my mouth moved, but no words. Well I went home a little disappointed and the enemy is always working and I could hear him say, "There's something wrong with you." I pushed the thought aside and thought whatever, I am going to speak in tongues when the Lord wants me to. Have you ever noticed that when things don't go as planned or expected, the enemy always shows up and says something about us that is contrary to God's word. He is such a liar, he was in the beginning, he is now, and he will always be a liar even to the very end.
Now I found out a few years later, the reason why I didn't speak in tongues that night is because God wanted me to seek Him with all my heart. Well I can tell you that's exactly what I did, I became determined and I prayed almost every moment I thought about it, Lord help me to speak in tongues. Days went by, but about a month later, I had come home from church that morning. I finished eating my lunch and I came into my room, I was standing and had my hands lifted up and said, "Lord, I want to speak in tongues today, I am not leaving this room until I speak in tongues." As soon as I said those words, it was as if something hit me to my core and I fell to my knees and I finally began to speak in tongues. You talk about joy and relief! I was so excited and overjoyed, I told everyone! That night at church, I gave my testimony of speaking in tongues and I felt so relieved. That night, I journaled my experience to remember it and I thanked God several times that night for allowing me to receive the Holy Spirit, the gift that Jesus promised long ago to His disciples. I had received His precious gift and I pray that you will also!
Friends, the Holy Spirit has changed my life and He continues to change my life. He is such a wonderful Friend and He loves us just as the Father in heaven and Jesus loves us! Jesus knew we wouldn't make it in this life without the Holy Spirit, that's why He sent Him. Where Jesus left off, the Holy Spirit picked up where He left off. He is doing the work of the Father, in order to do this, He must make disciples out of us to spread the Gospel, we can't do that without the Holy Spirit. He is vital to our walk in faith, without Him, we would all be lost. So I pray today that if you haven't received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that you would begin to seek God about it and that He would order your footsteps. I also pray that my testimony blesses and encourages you today! May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope you are doing well on this beautiful Sunday morning! I want to write about growing in the Lord today. This has been on my mind the past two days. I wanted to make sure this is what God wanted me to write about and He gave me confirmation yesterday. Growing in God simply means maturing spiritually. You may be thinking, "Really, you can mature spiritually?" Yes, you can and we're supposed to mature every day as a believer in Christ. So in this blog post, we are going to go over a few things such as: What does it mean to be spiritually mature, how do we grow in the Lord and what happens when we start growing in Him? So before we get started, I hope you have your favorite cup of coffee or tea with you! Let's get started!
What does it mean to be spiritually mature? Well let's take a look at the definition of the word mature. Mature refers to something or someone that is full grown whether that would be physically, or in behavior and attitude. You are considered well-balanced. Now isn't this interesting, sounds like a scripture out of God's word doesn't it? So let's dig deeper to find out what it means to be spiritually mature. I love what the book of Hebrews has to say, "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." Hebrews 5:12-14
Now let me ask you a question, do you remember elementary school? Your teacher would teach you basic math, basic spelling, basic grammar, etc. right? Yes they did because when you were in elementary school, it's because you were at the appropriate age to be in those grades. If you were 14 years old and in first grade, that would be kind of questionable wouldn't it? Yes, it would, the school and your parents would be concerned as to why you are 14 years old and on a first grade level. Guess what? It's the same way with God, if you have been saved for 5 plus years then you ought to be growing each and every day. If you haven't matured some over the past however many years, then God is going to have to make you grow. How does He do that? Do you remember growing pains as a child? I remember as a kid, my joints, and limbs hurting and my mother told me that it was growing pains. I asked her, "What is that?" She said, "You are growing and sometimes it's hurts when you start growing." Now for a long time, I thought that she was pulling my leg, but come to find out, it's a real thing. So how do we grow spiritually? By going through some painful experiences and circumstances. I know no one wants to hear that, but it's true, that's how we become spiritually mature in the Lord.
The other way of becoming spiritually mature in the Lord is by reading His word. His word is a seed and when it gets planted in our hearts, it begins to grow in us in our thinking, our speech, and our actions. I learned this the other day and it blew my mind and it has given me a new perspective on my circumstances and situations that come my way in my life. No I don't always like them or welcome them, but I know that I have to walk through these circumstances and situations with a godly attitude to grow in Him. Think about a tree, when we see a tree isn't growing, what do we do? We usually cut off the dead part so that it can be able to grow and bear fruit. I'm sure cutting that tree probably hurts, but it has to be done in order for it to bear fruit again. It's the same way with us, Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruit." Matt. 7:16-20
So my friends, I know this was a long post and a deep one, but God saw that it was necessary for me to write this truth. I hope that this word blessed you and encouraged you to press on toward what the Lord has for you! Remember growing in God isn't always easy, but it's necessary. He doesn't want us to be baby believers anymore, He wants us to grow more and more in Him every day! I pray that God will help you in your growing pains and give you the godly attitude to help you move through your circumstances and situations that you face. May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
I hope you all have had a good week! My week was busy, but it was good. I wanted to write today about using our time wisely. The Lord brought this before me two days ago and I began writing about it last night. The Lord made me realize that He has given us time to be used for His will and purpose. Every one of us has a purpose. You may be saying a what is our purpose? I'm glad you asked, our purpose on this earth is to spread the good news by the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you would like to know more about this revelation that God gave me, read on to find out more. Before we dig deeper, I hope you have your cup of tea or coffee in hand. I am sipping on my tea as I write this post, the tea that I am drinking is called sweet grapefruit, it is delicious!
Picture this, a Man that agreed before God created time that one day He would be sent to this earth to walk in our shoes, to deal with the everyday things that we do. John pens it so clearly in John chapter one verse one, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." Who is John writing about? Jesus, He was the Word, but He was also God. Then we come to verse fourteen, "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." How wonderful is this verse? He came down from His heavenly home, His home of comfort and peace into this world where there is trouble, pain, and sorrow. Now He was man, but He was also God, but He experienced joy at times, sorrow, pain, rejection, ridicule, temptation, anger, etc. He became like you and I. He walked in our shoes, He lived like us, but He came not only to save us from our sins and eternal destruction, but to show us a better way to live. Now I have mentioned this in a previous blog post if you want to know more, but today God wants you to know that the time you have right now is your preparation time for heaven.
You see Jesus had a certain amount of time to fulfill His purpose on earth and so do we. The Lord wants us to not only know His will, but to do His will. Time is running out and I ask you as I have asked myself, what are you doing with the time He has given you? Are you praying and reading His word diligently? Are you striving to get closer to Him every day? I know these are hard questions, these are the same questions I asked myself. What the Lord revealed to me is that there are no more excuses, He has given us everything we need to fulfill His purpose. My friends, I pray that we will be serious about the borrowed time He has given us and "use it wisely because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:16 We need to be more and more focused on Him and less on this world. We need to prepare for our heavenly home.
Now I want you to understand that this doesn't mean we put everything else on hold such as our family, friends, job, bills, etc. These things have a place, but we need to make sure it doesn't take God's place in our lives. His place is first and always should be first. We need to keep first in our lives and be intentional about prayer, studying His word, and yielding ourselves to the Holy Spirit more and more every day. Remember we are just traveling through this world, we are to bless and pray for this world, but this is not our permanent home. Our home is with our Father in heaven. We are here for a purpose to spread the good news whenever and wherever the Holy Spirit leads. Make sure He is leading you otherwise it will be done in vain.
Friends, I hope that this post blesses and encourages you to press on to the final victory. It won't be long before we see Jesus crossing the eastern sky to take us home. I pray that you be intentional and that your hearts be ready for when the trumpet sounds! What a glorious day that will be! May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
There is a word that God gave me a couple of years ago and it is, "War can be started by words or it can end with words." Think about this truth with me, your words can either start war or end it. I don't know about you, but I do not want to allow my words to start a war in my life or family and friends. God created everything that we see and do not see with His words. Words are very powerful! The Bible says that "the power of life and death are in the tongue." Proverbs 18:21 So my question is what are we speaking with our tongue? Are speaking life over others, over the things that God has given us or what about ourselves? I have heard people speak death over people and it's not long before they are at the funeral saying I knew that they weren't going to live much longer. Dear friends, I am asking you to please be ever so careful with your words. Jesus said we will be held accountable for every single word that we speak in our lifetime. Before you say something, think about the value of the words; are they going to encourage, uplift, be helpful and I mean truly helpful with God's love behind it. I have heard that spoken so many times that it's at the point of being abused, people will say things that they think are helpful, but they are really not, it would have been better if they had kept quiet.
If the Holy Spirit isn't prompting you to speak a word then don't say anything. I have learned there's nothing wrong with being quiet in fact the Bible tells us "he that keepeth his mouth shall keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction." Proverbs 13:3 In other words, the one who keeps his or her mouth closed will have life, but the one who is constantly opening their mouth and it's not truly benefitting anyone will suffer the consequences of what they have spoken. Have you ever said something at the wrong time to the wrong person or around a group of people? I will raise both of my hands, I have many times that's why I am so glad that the Lord took His time to teach me about my words and continues to do so. What happened as soon as those words were out of your mouth? I will tell you that I either hurt someone's feelings, made them mad, or they lashed out at me. So in the end, I was upset at myself for saying such foolish words and I had to ask God to make a way for me to repair the relationship with that person. They are hard lessons, but you end up learning what and what not to say, how to say it, and when to say it.
To conclude this post, let me ask you this, has anyone ever hurt you with the words that they have spoken to you? I'm quite sure they have and I know for a fact, it hurt deep within you. Friends, words can either being life or death to a person, we must be ever so careful with our words. You never know if a person needs an encouraging word and in place of it, someone speaks a word of death upon them. How many lives have died or being sucked out because of words? How many dreams have been crushed because of words? What could we have said to make a difference in that person's life to give them the strength and the encouragement that they needed to press on. Please friends, whatever you do, pray and ask God to help you to speak words of life and encouragement to others. Even if they don't treat the same as you do, make sure you do what you're supposed to do according to God's word and will. You do your part and God will take care of the rest. Show a little kindness toward others and speak a word that will lift someone up today. If the Holy Spirit tells you to be quiet, listen to Him and obey because He is protecting you from something bad that will happen if you speak a word that you aren't supposed to. I hope and pray that this post has blessed you and encouraged you today! May God help us to speak life and encouragement into someone's life today! May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
*A few more posts will be coming soon about the power of the tongue so be looking for those!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope you are having a good week so far, mine has been pretty busy, but I am looking forward to the weekend to rest! This morning, the Lord has laid a topic on my heart that I need to write about today. How can we honor God with our lives? Now you may say something like going to church every week, reading your Bible, prayer, etc. These are all good and we need to do these things everyday because they are important for our spiritual vitality, but let's go deeper. What if we could honor God with our thoughts, our words, our motives, the mundane tasks that we do every single day? Is it easy? No, but it is possible with God. Think about it, this is how we grow, by reading God's word and taking His word and applying it to our everyday lives even when you are cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry. So are you ready to find out how we can honor the Lord? Do you have your cup of coffee or tea in your hand? Let's begin!
Have you ever heard this saying, "It's the thought that counts?" I'm sure you have and I remember this as a child around Christmas or my birthday because I would receive a gift that I wasn't too crazy about and think, "What am I supposed to do with this or I don't like this." My mother would remind me later on that day, "It's the thought that counts." You know what, she was right, our thoughts do count, God knows and reads our every thought whether it's good or bad. Now I know it's a hard thing to control our thoughts, but God's word says, "We can take every thought captive that doesn't line up with God's word." 2 Cor. 10:5 Also the word of God helps us with our thoughts, the more we get into God's word, the more it changes our thoughts, it literally renews our mind just as His word says!
Now for our words, I have written two blog posts concerning our words and as I have said before, our words are powerful! Usually whatever we are thinking will somehow slip out. Have you ever done that before? You were thinking about something or someone and then before you knew it, the thought had slipped out of your mouth! Then you get embarrassed and ask yourself, "Why did I say that?" I have done it myself and once again, we need God's word to help us with our thoughts. So the next time you are thinking about something your shouldn't be thinking about, be sure to take that thought captive before it slips out of your mouth! God cares about our words, they not only can encourage or damage others, but they can either be encouraging or damaging to us. Picture this, you go to work on Monday morning and say a few of your coworkers have called in saying they can't come to work today. What's the first thing that comes to your mind? For me, it would be, "Great, I'm not going to get much of a break today and I am going to have the kids all by myself. I hope so and so's mother keeps them home today because I just know they are going to give me a problem." Before I know it, my attitude is in desperate need of an adjustment and my countenance is letting everyone know that I am not happy today. If I don't take all these thoughts captive, it will slip through my mouth and then that is going to make for bigger problems. Did I honor God in that scenario? Absolutely not because my thoughts were all wrong, my attitude need a big change, and eventually my words caught up with me and in the end, I didn't honor the Lord very well.
You may be saying right now, but I am not perfect and not every day is going to be a good day for me. I understand and I am not perfect either by any means, but if I want to honor God with my life, I am going to have to put away all the excuses and ask the Lord to help with my thoughts, my attitude, and my words. I need to ask Him to help me honor Him today. What I think might bring Him honor may be just my idea and not His. Proverbs 14:12 tells us, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." So be sure to ask God, "How can I honor you with my life today, show the right way to honor you." That way you don't stray off the path of righteousness.
And last, but not least, "And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Colossians 3:17 So this means, when you are cleaning up your children's messes, do it for the Lord. When you folding laundry or running errands, do it for the Lord. If you are helping a client, customer, and having a talk with a parent concerning one of your students, do it for the Lord. When a family member or loved one is sick and you have to tend to them and you are exhausted from all the work, do it for the Lord. He sees our every move, He knows our every thought and He hears our every word, make sure you are thinking, speaking, and doing for the Lord. He loves you friends and He knows your every struggle in this life and He wants to help you today. He wants to lift your heavy burdens, He wants to help you honor Him today. Let Him help you, let Him love you today as you go about your day. Don't think for one minute that He doesn't care and take notice of you. He is our Father in heaven who cares more for us in a moment than anyone else can in a lifetime.
Friends, I pray that this encourages you and blesses you today! I pray that we all honor God with our lives today in the way that He sees fit! I pray that He helps you with everything that you are struggling with today. I pray that He gives you renewed peace, hope, and joy today! May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
Good Morning Everyone!
I hope you are all doing well this week! I have been very busy the last few days, but now I have time to relax and recharge. I was praying about what to write about this morning and this is what the Lord gave me. With everything that is going on right now, we need to make sure that our feet are standing on the solid rock. I want you to think for a moment and think about all the different things that you hear everyday whether it be on the news, people's conversations, news articles that flash up on your computer or phone screen. Most of what you see or hear usually isn't the best news right? I have had to step back and try not to get too caught up in the headlines and people's conversations. I have learned that my spirit is very sensitive and I have to make sure that I am not carrying any burdens in my heart that I am not supposed to carry. So what can we do in uncertain times like these? Who can we lean upon constantly when it feels like our hearts are failing us? You are probably saying Jesus, the Lord, God. You are right, but how do we do this? Let's find out as we dive deeper into this revelation! Before we do, I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea in hand! Let's begin!
So how do we make sure our feet are standing on the solid rock? Well Jesus told a parable to His disciples or talmids that makes this clear. I will paraphrase this passage of scripture, Jesus said there were two men who built their homes on two different foundations. Do you know the story, if you do then you already know where I am going with this. One man built a beautiful home on the gorgeous sand by the ocean. Apparently he wanted a close ocean view. Then the other man built his beautiful home on a rock. After they built their homes, they moved their furniture in, and settled into their homes. They were enjoying their homes one day when suddenly a storm came. The waves in the ocean were getting bigger and bigger and crashing onto the shore. Well the man who built his home on the beach, his house was washed away never to be seen again. The man who built his home on the rock never moved. His home was stable, secure, and immoveable, why? His foundation that he built his home on was solid, secure, and immoveable.
If you think about it, sand when it gets wet, it moves, it washes out so sand wouldn't be a good idea to build on, but a rock, now that's a good foundation! A rock just sits there, it would have to take a lot of force to move it, but sand, it doesn't take much to move it around. It is the same way with our lives. What we build our lives on is going to be our foundation. So my question to you is what kind of foundation are you building your home on? Are you building your life on the trends of this world or are you building your life upon the word of God? The word of God has withstood the test of time, it has been here since God created time and it's still here today. It's still as relevant today as it was way back in the time of creation. I don't know what the year 2020 showed you, but it showed me that nothing in this world is absolute. Not even your life, look at how many lives were lost in the last year, putting politics aside. Also jobs were lost, businesses, I had to quarantine for about 6 months along with many other schools across the nation.
So if you build your life upon the trends of this world, your life will surely perish, why? It's not lasting, it's not sure, it's constantly moving in this direction or that direction and sooner or later, you won't know who you are or what you believe in anymore. Take a look at all the philosophers over the last few hundred years, they were supposed to be the wisest and smartest men, guess what? They were tossed around by all these ideas, trends, thoughts, and what ifs that it made some of them lose hope, some even committed suicide because they couldn't come to a conclusion. They were basing their lives on something that wasn't stable, that wasn't sure, that didn't stand the test of time. They gave up their lives to a hopeless foundation. So what about us, how can we make sure our feet are standing on the solid rock? Number one, don't get caught up in the world's foolishness such as trying to make sin and celebrating it okay when the Bible clearly says it's not okay. There are no gray areas with God or in His word, it is only black and white and for those of you that do not know what this means, it means God makes it perfectly clear on how we are supposed to live our lives. He tells us what sin is, in fact He gives several commandments on what we are supposed to do and not supposed to do.
Number two, we are to base our lives on the word of God, why? It will save your soul from going to eternal destruction, the horrible place we call hell. Now we don't hear that too often anymore, but let me tell you something hell is a real place and it is a place of torment and bondage. You are suffering for not obeying the Lord and His commands and as the Bible says, you will reap what you sow. Now let's make sure that we know that God doesn't send anyone to hell, that's why He sent His Son to keep us from going there. If you do not accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and live your life according to His will and His word with the help of the Holy Spirit, how you live your life will determine where you will go to spend your eternity. Number three, a relationship with the Lord is a must! If you don't know Him personally as not only your Savior and Lord, how can you tell or witness to others about Him? Do you know Him as your friend, do you know Him as your healer, your defender, your protector, your teacher, your refuge in the storm? Do you know what He approves of and not approves of? Do you take delight in His word and drawing near to Him? These are questions we need to ask ourselves daily and then draw closer to Him more and more every day.
So my friends, I know this was a long post, but the Lord wanted you to receive this word. I am only the messenger who takes the word that God has given me and spreads it to everyone who needs to hear this word. God loves you my friends, He wants you to stand upon His solid rock that is ever true and secure. He wants to be safe and secure from all alarm, He wants you to lean upon Him, to really know Him, to know His heart. Friends is calling you today to come out from amongst the world and to come to the solid rock, to build upon His solid rock? You won't be ashamed, you won't regret it, for He surely cares for you. Take time today to get quiet before Him and let Him show you what He wants you to do. Let Him wrap His loving arms around you and let Him take care of you today and all your needs. May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well this morning! I have a new blog post for you that the Lord has put on my heart to write today. Now I don't know about you, but I do not hear too many preachers or sermons preach about sin like they used to a few decades ago. To me, that's very sad because sin is very costly and we need to hear more preaching about sin and why we should stay away from it. In this blog post, we are going to dive deeper into what sin consists of and why it is dangerous and costly. I pray as we learn more about sin in this post, the Holy Spirit will examine our hearts today and that we would repent, turn from our sins, and come running back to our Father in heaven. So I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you; let's begin!
Let's start with the definition of sin. Sin is an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. Here are some synonyms for the word sin: wrongdoing, offense, crime, wickedness, fall from grace, evil, immorality, profanity, etc. Looking at these words, you would think sin is horrible and unspeakable wouldn't you? Well my friends, that's just it, it is! You see, the enemy doesn't want us to believe that sin is this terrible act that breaks God's heart and brings us to shame. We may think of sin in categories such as: the little sins and the great, big sins. Little sins may be lying, judging one another, gossiping, snubbing others, thinking you are better than this person or that person. The great, big sins may be stealing, murder, committing adultery, etc. Friends, can I tell you something, there are no categories for sin, sin is sin. God looks at sin all the same, it's offense against Him. It breaks His heart when we judge one another just as it breaks His heart when someone commits murder. Lying is just the same as committing adultery with a man or woman. Also sin usually starts with pride in our heart.
When satan was in heaven, he was called Lucifer and his name meant morning star or light bringing. He was the most beautiful angel in all of heaven, he was also the worship leader and he could come into the Holy of holies, God's presence. He had a lot going for him until pride entered his heart, we're not sure why, but maybe it was because of his beauty or that he was leader over all the angels, but nonetheless pride entered his heart. Before long, this idea kept bouncing around in his head about how he wanted to become like God, he wanted to be worshipped, and for everyone to bow down and answer to him. Next thing you know, not only did he have pride in his heart, but it became iniquity. Can you imagine, the most beautiful angel who was a worship leader had sinned in his heart against God Almighty. It wasn't long before war broke out in heaven and God casted him out of him and created this place called hell and not only did satan get thrown out, but a third of the other angels. So you see because of his sin in his heart, he was separated from God and he lost everything, even his own name. His name went from being morning star to being accuser or adversary of the brethren.
Now he has been living up to his new name ever since he was thrown out of heaven, he still has the desire to be worshipped, but his new challenge now is to get God's creation (us) to bow down to him through sin. He tries to make sin look enjoyable, wonderful, even tasty, but there is a cost to pay. Paul talked about the wages of sin and it's very high and if we're not careful, we will lose everything God has given us just like satan did in heaven. Sin separates us not only from God, but our loved ones. As we let sin grab a toe hold in our life, it will eventually grab a foot hold, a leg hold, a waist hold, a neck hold, and then death. What do I mean by death? Everything in your life will begin to crumble, destroyed little by little. If you are married, your marriage will be destroyed, your job will not last, your family will become disappointed and won't want anything to do with you anymore because of sin in your life. My question is, do you want to pay that kind of price for the sins in your life? Satan's job is to steal, kill, and destroy. He will steal your peace, your joy, your love for God, your family, and friends around you. Your relationship with God will be severed because of what you have allowed in your heart.
So friends, do you see the cost of sin? It's not worth it, it's not worth your relationship with God, not worth your peace, your joy, your family, your job, it's not worth anything that the Lord has blessed you with in your life. He has given us the chance to come to Him, to be cleansed from our sins and iniquity and to have everlasting life with Him on earth and in heaven. Jesus paid the price for our sins, He paid our way to go to heaven and to be with Him forever. He knows the wages of sin far better than us that's why He came. He didn't want to see us suffer and ultimately destroyed. He doesn't want us to burn in hell for our foolishness. Friends, if you have been living in sin and you feel as if there's no way out, I have good news for you today, there is a Way. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." John 14:6 Come to Him today and ask Him for forgiveness of your sins, ask Him to cleanse you and rededicate your life to Him today. He's waiting for you to come to Him today and to make things right with Him. He will make your life turn around, you will have your peace and joy back, He will make all things new again and you will be able to witness to someone about His mercy and goodness. My friends, I pray that you will make this decision today, don't wait because we are not guaranteed tomorrow or even the next moment. May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Evening Hello Everyone!
I hope you are all doing well this week! I have just started back to work and I am tired already. I am definitely looking forward to the weekend to relax and recharge! Our blog post today is about God rebuilding our temples. Throughout the Old Testament, Moses, Solomon, and the prophets were building and rebuilding temples for God to come dwell. If we look back to the beginning where God created everything, you will notice that there wasn't a temple. There was just the garden, God, man, woman, and all of creation, but God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. If we fast forward to the New Testament, there was a temple, but Jesus knew that God had a different plan. He didn't want a temple of bricks and stone, He had something else in mind. If you would like to find out more, keep reading, but before we do, I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you.
The temples that God had mind were hearts of flesh, that's right, He wants you and I to become His temples to dwell in. David was one of the men who knew God's heart and plan. He says in Psalm 139:23, "Search me God and know my heart." Why would David say these words? In Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Think about this for a moment, everything you do flows from the heart. Why do people murder other people? It begins with a thought and then out of their hearts, they act upon it. Why are other people bitter and jealous? It starts with a thought and then if you do not take these thoughts captive, they enter into the heart and then they say and do things because of the jealousy and bitterness in their hearts. Jesus said, "It's not what goes into your body that defiles you, you are defiled by what comes from your heart." Mark 7:15 So God is concerned with our hearts on the inside because if He can get to the root of the situation, it will reflect on the outside. He is interested in our hearts not just our outer temples.
Whenever the temples in the old testament would become defiled, it was usually sin. The presence of the Lord would leave because of sin and the only way to get rid of that sin was to do a house cleaning. They would have to throw the idols out and everything else that they set apart to that idol. In the same way, God has to do house cleaning in our hearts. If there is any bitterness, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, jealously, gossip, etc in our hearts, God is the only One that can uproot it out of us. Once He does this, we will have peace, our relationship with God will be set right again, and we will enjoy the blessings of God again. As long as there is sin in our heart, it will set the tone of our lives, they will not be enjoyable or fulfilling, in fact, we will be miserable with ourselves, everyone, and everything. We will not be living the everlasting life that Jesus promised, we will be living the miserable life that satan wants us to live.
So my friends, I pray that we will allow God to search our hearts today and everyday from here on and cast out whatever needs to be cast out of our hearts. Allow God to check your heart beat today and let Him determine what needs to be extracted. Ask the Lord to take out all the bitterness, the hurt and the pain, the anger, the unforgiveness, anything that is not of Him. Once He does, you will have so much peace and joy, you will be overflowing and you will want to tell everyone you meet about what the Lord has done for you. You will have a new song in your heart and people will wonder what's gotten into you? You can tell them that Jesus has changed my life and He can do the same thing for you! Friends, I pray that this has blessed you and encouraged you today! May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
Hello Everyone!
I hope everyone is doing well! This blog post is spontaneous, but I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to write this post. I have a question for you, have you felt overwhelmed before? Have you been feeling overwhelmed here lately by all the news and everything that seems to happening all at once? I will raise both of my hands, I have been feeling this way for a while. It seems like everything is sinking sand and all you want to do is cry because you do not know what to do. If you are there or have been there, I feel your pain because it hurts and you feel there's no way out. This afternoon, I was trying to cast out all these thoughts of despair and no hope and then this scripture came to me. Psalm 61:2 says, "From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I." I repeated it over and over again. It finally hit me, God is higher than me and He is the One who keeps me safe. If you want to know more keep reading.
God was revealing to me that He isn't blind or deaf to what is going on around me. He knew before all these things started happening. All He wants me to do is trust Him even when there seems to be no way, when there seems to be no hope, when it looks as if all is lost. I was reminded of the definition of the word seems, it means to appear, to look, or to come across as. God's word says, "We are to walk by faith and not by sight." Why did He say this because the enemy can make things look bigger or more scary than they really appear to be. He uses this tactic to frighten us, belittle us, to make us lose our hope. Our hope is in the Lord and He promises us that, "The righteous may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all." Psalm 34:19 Now I don't know about you, but that is a good place to shout! We may have many troubles, but guess what, He is going to deliver us out of all of them! I read this one day and I couldn't help but get excited and rejoice because let me tell you, I have had many troubles here lately.
I have often wondered if the Lord had forgotten about me or if He was taking a nap. I became frustrated and impatient at one point and then that's when I had to remind myself, it's not God's fault that these things are happening. Why am I getting upset with Him, He promises good to me and He has always been good and faithful to me even when I didn't deserve it. So you may be asking yourself, so what am I supposed to do when I can't take it anymore or when I want to quit? One of the things that I do is I go somewhere to be alone with God, a quiet place with no distractions. I want to be able to talk to God and I want to be able to hear His voice. Another way that helps me is I sing and worship the Lord, it shifts my focus from the problems I am facing to the Lord. The wonderful thing about this is when I start singing to Him, my problems start decreasing in size! Then I end up asking myself, why did I get so upset in the first place?
Do you see the pattern here, God is asking us to shift our focus from our problems, our situations, our difficulties to Him. When we focus on Him, our problems become smaller and really and truly, all we needed was Him. He makes our life worth living, He makes life worth it. As long as we focus on the problems in our lives, they seem gigantic and it's as if we are worshipping our problems instead of God. This is why He says, "Cast all your cares upon Me for I care for you." 1 Peter 5:7 I will be the first to tell you that this is easier said than done, I do worry about a lot of things, but thank God, He is helping me overcome this struggle. He doesn't want us burdened down with worries, cares, problems, etc. He wants us to keep our focus on Him even in the midst of adversity. Those times when it feels like the enemy has turned up the heat and you feel like you may not make it. He has good news for us today, "We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength." 1 Cor. 4:13
So friends, if you are feeling overwhelmed, go to the Rock that is higher than you and let Him reassure you today. I know it hasn't be easy the past almost two years, but God is still on His throne, He has a plan, and He will not leave you nor forsake you. He loves you my friends and He wants you to be refreshed today, He wants you to be revived today, He wants you to filled with His wonderful love. Let Him fill you, let Him minister to you as only He can. I pray that this post encourages you, brings you comfort, and blesses you today! May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Afternoon Friends!
I hope you are all doing well this week! In today's post, we are going to discuss faith in action. Now what does this mean? Well, it means that no matter what you are facing today, you are walking by faith and remembering God's word. In this post, I will give a few examples to help us learn how to put this into action in our lives. I am going to mention a few people from the Bible to help see how they lived their lives by faith. I pray that this post is encouraging and uplifting for you! So, without further ado, let's begin!
Abraham was a prime example of someone who lived by faith. God sought him out and told him to leave everything behind so that God could lead him to a better place. God also promised him a son and of course Sarah laughed at this and she used her maid Hagar to bear a son for her. It wasn't long before God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and He indeed had a son named Isaac. Now you would think that Abraham and Sarah were way past the child bearing age. It wasn't possible for them to have a son at their age, but God wanted Abraham to prosper so He made a way for them. He also wanted them to see that with God, all things are possible. There's nothing too hard for Him. It may be impossible and too hard for us, but never with God. God wanted to bless someone so He chose Abraham and today He chooses you and I to bless if we allow Him.
Another favorite character of mine is Ruth. Oh I love the book of Ruth! Ruth was a gentile woman who married a Jew and her mother in law was Naomi and undoubtedly Naomi took very good care of her daughter in law. When all their husbands died, it was time for Naomi to go back home to Bethlehem. Ruth wanted to go with her so she told Naomi not to send her away. Long story short, she goes to Bethlehem and begins working in a field when she catches the eye of handsome Boaz. Boaz finds her very attractive and he begins to find out more about her. Ruth soon has favor with Boaz and then later finds out he is kin to Naomi. Then it's not long before they are married and they have a child named Obed. Now this to is an impossible situation because she is a Moabite, a gentile woman and you didn't find too many Jewish men marrying outside their people. But with God, it happened.
So you may be asking yourself, so what does this have to do with me and my faith? That's a wonderful question! The answer is, do not give up, God didn't bring you this far to just let you go on your own and hope you figure out the rest of the way. Oh no, He is going to fulfill His promises to you once you start putting your faith in action. How can we do this? By saying Lord I want Your will for my life. By not becoming defeated in your circumstances or situations. We do not know the ways of God, but we do know that we are supposed to trust Him. Even when the journey seems long and tough, do not give up, keep going! God has a plan and will for your life and He wants us to keep moving. Keep moving when people say things that are tacky and hateful to you. Keep moving when it seems there's no way out of your situation or circumstances. Keep moving when you feel like giving up. Cry out to God for help when you feel like throwing in the towel.
Jesus is another example, people were constantly trying to bring Him down and telling Him that what He was doing was wrong and unlawful. Even healing the sick, they came and told Him that only God can do these things. He dealt with these people day after day. They were always around to try to catch Him doing something wrong. Little did they know, He was God, God's son who came for them too. I am sure there were plenty of times where Jesus thought, "You know what, I am tired and I miss home, I want to go back." He didn't allow His thoughts, His situations or circumstances to stop His purpose or God's will. He kept moving even though the journey was long and hard. He kept moving regardless of what the roman soldiers told him, regardless of what the religious ones said, regardless of disciples unbelief at times. What was His secret? He met with God daily, without this communication with God, He couldn't heal, preach or teach. He did it in God's strength not His own. He put His faith into action to see God's will come to pass through Him.
So friends, we are to do the same thing too. We are to keep moving in spite of what we are told, what we hear going on around us, and what our doubting thoughts tell us. We are to keep moving by putting our faith into action, by saying God, this is what my situation looks like and my circumstances, but I am going to trust You to see Your will fulfilled in my life. I am going to pray every day to you, to get my strength from You, to read Your word and stand on it. To proclaim Your truth every day. So my friends, I pray that this blesses you and encourages you to put your faith into action. Pray and ask the Lord on how you need to put your faith into action today! May God bless you and keep you friends! Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope everyone is doing well and I hope you are enjoying your weekend! I cannot believe that I will be going back to work in just a few more days so I am taking advantage of resting and cherishing my extra time with the Lord. I have a new blog post for you today about seeking God's face with your whole heart. What does this truly mean and how can we start doing this? My friends, I must tell you that I love the Lord, there are some days when I can feel the warmth of His embrace all around me and then there are days where I can't feel Him at all. You see our flesh operates off of feelings, but the God's word says walk by faith. This simply means that even when you can't feel Him near you, that doesn't mean He has left you. No, the Bible tells us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. This is a promise to let us know that sometimes, we can feel Him near to us and then other times we cannot. Seeking after God is such a delight and we are to do it every day. So if you want to find out more about how to seek after the Lord, keep reading! Before we begin, I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you?
I remember so clearly when I first started seeking the Lord, I didn't realize it at first, but it changed my life. I talked differently, I thought differently, and I acted differently. I had such a peace that I couldn't explain and I enjoyed the changes that were happening in my life. My family and those that knew me saw the changes too. Some were happy for me and then others were jealous. Little did they know, they could have the same transformation because God has no favorites. Romans 2:11 You may be asking what were you doing that was causing this transformation? I was reading my Bible every day and I couldn't put it down. I had found a well of living water and I couldn't stop drinking. Now when I read my Bible, I read it out loud because I understand it better and as I read each scripture, I meditate on every word. I literally roll it over and over in my mind. Also I would receive revelation by reading the Bible and things began to click! It wasn't long before I started speaking the scriptures of what I was reading. As I said, a transformation started happening in my life.
Things became clearer and I was calm and I had a gentle spirit (I am going to write a blog post about having a gentle spirit soon). Little did I know that God was overflowing me with His word and it was getting down on the inside and it was reflecting on the outside. I started singing, I would literally burst in song. I couldn't help it, it would come out of me. You may be saying to yourself, "So, what does this have to do with me and why do I need to seek His face?" I will tell you why, the same transformation that was taking place in me will happen to you. By reading His word every day and spending time with Him alone, God will start changing you. He will change you for the better, He will make your life worth living. He will show you the everlasting life that Jesus talked about in the New Testament. It's a change that only He can do. Oh how wonderful it is to fall in love with Jesus!
Also worshipping the Lord causes you to seek His face. When you start to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, the chase is on! As I have said before, God loves the heart of a worshipper! Why, because the heart of a worshipper is fully focused on God. They don't want to stop worshipping because worship draws us closer to Him. It opens our heart to Him where He can come into our hearts and do what needs to be done. Once He gets on the inside, He will begin to flow on the outside. You will want everyone to know about Him and what He has done for you. You won't care what others think or say because you know what God has done for you. You will be so full of His love, you will begin to overflow onto others. You will be a well of living water because you have taken a drink of His water in His well. Oh friends, to seek God's face is a wonderful thing to do. He created us to seek His face, to worship Him, to cherish Him, to delight in Him.
So, friends, I hope this post has encouraged you and blessed you! I pray that you would begin seeking His face today with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your being! Come to Him today, He's waiting for you, He is wanting you to come closer and closer to Him. He may want to share with you what's on His heart today. Let His love begin to change you today and you will not regret it! May the Lord bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Morning Everyone!
I hope you are all doing well this week! My week has been very busy because I am getting prepared to go back to work again! There have been work days, parent meetings, new rules for the new year, etc. Today, I wanted to hop on here and write about a scripture that always encourages me when I am not having a good day. Proverbs 24:16 says, "Though a righteous man seven times, he will get up." Let me ask you a question. Have you ever had those days where it seemed like everything kept going wrong no matter how hard you tried? Did it feel like you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed? Have you had days where it seemed like you would walk into one mess after another and all you could think about was I need to go back to bed and start over again? Let me tell you, I have been there so many times. The Lord showed me this scripture one day and I began pondering what it meant. As I pondered on it for a while, the Lord began to reveal to me what it truly means. Do you want to find out more? If you do, read on to find out how to apply this scripture to your life. Oh and I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you.
So let's begin by breaking down the scripture. A righteous man falls seven times, he will get up. Righteous means a person who is in right standing with God. They have a close walk with Him, they repent of their sins all the time, they also try not to sin or fall into temptation. Now what does it mean when a righteous man falls? This means if he falls into temptation, he has sinned against God or man or he has made a poor decision. Now the good news is he will get up. Let me ask you this. Have you ever done something you know you shouldn't have done and instead of going to God and asking for His forgiveness, you end up stewing over what happened and have a pity party? You become so upset over it that fear enters into your heart which makes it harder to come to God. Remember this is what happened when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. They were told not to eat of a certain tree and Eve was tempted by a serpent who talked her into eating the fruit. Then Adam ate from the fruit also, they looked at each other, saw that they were naked and became full of shame. They were so ashamed, they ran away and hid in the bushes. They made clothes out of the leaves from the trees and when God was calling them and they finally made their appearance, God saw that they had tried to clothe themselves.
Now God knew there was going to be a fall in the garden before it happened, but as soon as He saw them with clothes made out of leaves, He knew what they had done. Of course there were consequences because they disobeyed Him and because they sinned, God made a animal sacrifice and clothed them with animal skins. Now why did God have to make a animal sacrifice? They disobeyed God and because they disobeyed God, blood had to be shed for their sin. There is always a sacrifice that has to be made when we have sinned. Sacrifice means giving up something to something better such as in this case so that their sin could be forgiven. Now because they had sinned, their relationship with God was cut off which means if you sinned against God, you had to bring an animal to be sacrificed.
So you see friends, sin is so costly and we have to renounce it daily. We have to ask for forgiveness daily. We have to become more aware that our sin separates us from God and others. The good news is God sent His only Son to die on the cross for our sins. He was the ultimate sacrifice. He laid down His life for you and I so that we wouldn't perish, but have everlasting life which starts the moment you receive Him as your Lord and Savior. Proverbs 24:16 is a promise that even though the righteous may fall, they will get back up. So when you have sinned or done something you know you shouldn't have done. Don't let fear keep you from coming to God to make things right. You have fallen, but you are going to get back up once you make things right with God again. Don't wait until the "right time." The right time is as soon as you do it and you acknowledge you shouldn't have done it, Go to Him, ask for forgiveness and you will get back up. Don't allow the enemy to lie to you and say oh God won't forgive you. He doesn't love you anymore. If God didn't care or love us, He wouldn't have sent His Son to die for us. He wouldn't have made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
So friends, I want you to be encouraged today. This is a reminder for you today that you can always come to God and make things right. You are righteous by His righteousness not ours. So stop beating yourself up over what you should've done, could've done, would've done. God will give you a fresh start as soon as you come to Him. He will not turn you away, He will help you get back up and get going again. So if you have fallen, dust yourself off, go to the Lord and ask for forgiveness, and keep going. He loves you dear friends and He cares for you. I pray that this blog post has encouraged you and blessed you today. May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Afternoon Everyone!
This is one of those spontaneous posts that the Lord led me to write. I want to share quickly a word from the Lord about meeting our needs. Throughout the Bible we read about all the different people whose needs were met and usually they happened unexpectedly. I was reminded about Zacchaeus in the Bible. He was desperate for an encounter with Jesus. Let me ask you, are you wanting an encounter with the Lord? Do you need a fresh encounter with Him? Do you want a deeper relationship with Him? Do you want to know Him on a whole new level? If the answer to these questions is yes, read on to find out how Zacchaeus had his encounter with the Lord.
In Luke chapter 19 starting with verse one, Jesus comes to the city of Jericho. As He was passing through, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector and he was wealthy. He wanted to see Jesus, but as he tried to press his way through the crowd, there was one problem. He was short and he couldn't see Jesus. So, he had an idea, he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a fig tree so he was able to see Jesus. When Jesus came to the fig tree, He said, "Zacchaeus, hurry! Come down, because I have to stay at your house today! He climbed down as fast as could and welcomed Jesus joyfully. Then Zacchaeus said, "Here Lord, I am giving half all I own to the poor and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay him back four times as much." Jesus replied, "Today, salvation has come to this house, inasmuch as this man too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and save what was lost." Luke 19:1-10
Isn't this a wonderful story of a beautiful encounter with Jesus. Zacchaeus was a wealthy man, but there was one things he didn't have and that was Jesus. Think of all the rich and famous people in the world. They have access to everything and anything and yet they are miserable. Why, because they haven't had an encounter with the Giver of life. This life may offer a lot, but this world will never satisfy a hungry heart for Jesus. Zacchaeus was eager to meet Jesus. I am sure he had heard many stories about Him and he wanted to see Him for himself. There's nothing like having your own encounter with the Lord. Just like us today, we read many stories in the Bible about people having encounters with the Lord and biographies of godly men and women who have had their own encounters. There's a longing in our hearts to encounter God, to really know who He is. We want to find out for ourselves just like Zacchaeus.
So today, I want to ask you, are you longing for an encounter with the Lord? Does your heart feel empty and longing for more of Him? This world will not satisfy that deep longing within you, only He can do that. If you are sensing a longing within your heart for Him, then draw closer to Him. Remove all the distractions, all the doubts, all the what ifs and press into Him. He will not disappoint you, He will give you more than you could ask or think of. Just think if that fig tree had not have been there, Zacchaeus might not have gotten to see Jesus. Friends, do not ignore the Holy Spirit drawing you closer, it's part of His job. Let Him do His job and you yield unto Him. You will not regret it in fact, you might be forever changed. God loves you and He wants to draw you closer and closer to His heart. Open your heart unto Him and say yes. Whatever He is leading you to do today, do it for Him. Friends, I pray that this blesses and encourages you today to draw closer to Him. May God bless you and keep you! Until next time!
Good Evening Everyone!
Have you ever felt uncertain about life? Have you ever wondered where God is and what is He doing? Have you ever been so uncertain that you didn't know what to do and wanted to give up and quit? Let me tell you that I have felt like this here lately. It seems like everything is up in the air. You constantly wondering what will change next. If you have a job, you probably wonder if you are going to keep it the next day because there is so much uncertainty. So what are we supposed to do in times like this? What can we cling to for comfort, security, and hope? Well friends, in times like these, the only thing we can cling to is God's word. His word is sure, solid, comforting and even in the midst of hopelessness, we can find peace in His word. I know we are living in scary times, uncomfortable times and also stressful times. Everyone is feeling it in one way or another. I have had to encourage myself over the last few weeks because it has been so stressful, so scary, and uncomfortable.
Believe it or not, God doesn't want us to give up. He wants us to keep trusting Him even when all the odds are stacked against us. You may be saying, "That's easier said than done." You're right, it is, but God is always faithful and He always has a plan whether we understand it or not. Right now, I feel like my faith is being tried right now because of all the uncertainty that is around me. There are days when I wish I could run away from it all, but that's not the answer. I would still have to meet it face to face again. Jacob in the old testament was a runner and so was Moses. Also Elijah and God met them on their level and told all of them that they had to go back and face their problems. Why, because God doesn't want us to run away, that's fear. God wants us to meet our problems head on, but with Him at our side. He is our helper and He said, "I will never leave nor forsake you." I know it's tough right now and it's hard to find good news and encouragement. When you can't find anyone to encourage you, encourage yourself.
David had to do this. In 1 Samuel chapter thirty verses 1 through 6 we read that David and the men had come to Ziglag. The Amalekites had come and took all the women and everyone who was with them. All the men including David began crying and David was distressed because he overheard the men saying that they were going to stone him. But David strengthened himself in the Lord. Can you imagine the agony they must have felt, but it didn't stop David. He knew he needed some desperate encouragement and he had to receive from the Lord. He remembered all the victories he had won with the Lord on his side. He remembered all the battles that he fought and won because of the Lord. Right now, he was upset and he knew if he didn't encourage himself, he would become depressed and hopeless over his current circumstances.
My question to us is are we letting our circumstances depress us, upset us? Are we feeling defeated by what we see and hear? I can answer this question with a yes, this is how I am feeling right now. God is saying to us today that if He helped David fight the battle and win the victory, He can do the same for us today. He knows our every struggle, our every battle, and our every circumstance and He will help us win the battle. How, by encouraging ourselves in the Lord. By singing praises even though right now we really do not feel like it. By worshipping and thanking Him for all He has done for us. I know this is hard, it's a sacrifice unto the Lord. I don't know how He is going to see us through, but He promised He would. Friends, whatever you are going through today, I want to encourage you to keep trusting in the Lord. He still loves you, His love hasn't changed. He is still the same God yesterday, today, and forever. Be encouraged my friends! May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Evening!
I hope you are all doing well! I wanted to write another blog post this evening. First, let me ask you, are you in need of fresh manna today? You may be saying I don't even know what that means. Well today, you're going to find out what this beautiful word means and I pray that it changes your life. God wants to give you some fresh manna today, so without further ado, let's jump in!
Manna, what does this word mean? This Hebrew word means divinely supplied spiritual nourishment. Let's go back to the children of Israel as they were walking through the wilderness. The children of Israel just escaped Pharoah and his army. God parted the red sea and they took off running to the other side. Do you remember this story? God miraculously parted the sea and it killed the Egyptian army. So they made it to the other side and they were walking through the wilderness and God watched over them day and night. He also fed them. What did He feed them? Manna! Manna fell from heaven, God once again supernaturally fed them! Can you imagine seeing bread falling down from heaven, talk about a blessing! They ate manna every day and guess what we can eat of His manna today if we will allow Him to feed us.
You may be saying, what do you mean? I mean eating from His word every day for we need spiritual nourishment daily. Why do we need spiritual nourishment daily? Well why do we eat three times a day and sometimes snacks in between? We have to feed our bodies or else our stomach will let us know, right? It's the same way with our spirits. We need to take care of our spirits just like we do our physical bodies. Now, you're spirit is not going to growl or make noises when you are hungry, but I will tell you how you know you need spiritual nourishment. Have you ever been frustrated, angry, put out, depressed, had a bad attitude? I know I have, well these are a few signs that we need to feed our spirits. These signs mean we need to pray and get in God's word. Sometimes you just need to start praising and worshipping God. It's amazing how worshipping the Lord can get rid of a bad attitude or depression. How is that? It's because we get our eyes off ourselves and our problems and focus our eyes on Him.
So I want to ask you, do you need some fresh manna today? Do you need a word from God for yourself? Do you need a fresh touch today from Him? Friends, He is the only One that can satisfy all your needs. He wants to care for you, to supply your every need, but are you willing to place Him first? He always puts us first and He always makes time for us. God doesn't just sit on His throne all day, He is busy too. Just think for a moment, the God of the universe is busy all day and all night while we are asleep yet He still makes time for us. Friends, if you are in need of some fresh manna today, all you have to do is ask Him. He will not disappoint you by any means in fact, He may exceed your expectations. I pray today that you will receive the word that you need today and that the Lord will help you to press forward. May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Happy Labor Day!
Hello everyone, I hope you have been enjoying your Labor Day weekend. I have certainly taken the time to rest this weekend and I am so glad that I did! I wanted to share an eye opening story that happened to me this past week. So I have been really stressed out over various things the past two weeks and the stress caught up with me. I started feeling bad Thursday evening and of course the first thing that I think of is I must have covid. I thought it was sinuses and allergies because I usually have a sinus infection around this time of year, but I wasn't sure. I had a runny nose, a earache, and a scratchy throat. I finally decided to go to the doctor and get a covid test just to make sure. Of course I prayed to the Lord that it wouldn't be covid and that it would be nothing more than just an infection. Well, the Lord answered that prayer and it was a viral infection and not covid, praise the Lord! I am still praising Him today for answering my prayer. While I was waiting for my results in the doctor's office, the Lord began to reveal some things to me that have been eye opening for me. If you would like to find out, continue reading!
God spoke to my heart and said, "I want you to take better care of yourself." I thought, "What in the world are you talking about?" I take my vitamins, I get enough sleep, I try to eat as healthy as possible, what more do I need to do? He revealed to me that the enemy was trying to overload me with so much stress and it was about things that I couldn't control. The Lord also revealed to me that I wasn't getting the proper sleep that I needed and I was running on fumes. Can anyone relate to this? So with that being said, I just wanted to encourage you that the only person you can control with the help of the Holy Spirit is you. You are responsible for you, your actions, your thoughts, and your words. We are definitely living in circumstances that we cannot control, but there is One that is still in control and He has not left His throne and that is the Lord God Almighty. He sees everything that we are facing on a day to day basis, He knows what stress can do to us and it's not good.
Friends, stress lowers the immune system and if your immune system is lowered because of so much stress then it's not going to function properly. God is asking us to trust Him during these trying circumstances and although they have been very uncomfortable, He is still good! He is still with us and He will continue to sustain us! So please my friends, do not allow the stresses of this world weigh you down. Cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you. He doesn't want us trying to figure out this or that all the time, He just wants us to trust Him. I know it's hard sometimes to trust Him in the darkness, but He let me know the other day that He is in control. It may seem out of control to us, but not to Him. He has a plan and will always have one. So friends, don't get stressed out to the point where it hinders your health, it's not worth it! Make sure you are getting plenty of sleep, plenty of nutrients in your body, and make sure you are spending time with God by reading His word and prayer.
If you have to carve out some quiet time in the evenings after those long days whether at work or at home then do so. Spending time with God shifts our focus off of the stress of the world and onto Him. He helps change our perspective and gives us hope and peace. Friends, I just wanted to encourage you today to take care of yourself and to let God do all the heavy lifting. He loves you and He wants you to take care of your temple so that He can come and dwell in you. When you are stressed out all the time, He can't talk to you like He wants to so get quiet before the Lord and let Him speak to your heart today! May God bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Hello Everyone!
I hope you are all doing well! I have a new blog post for you today and I pray that this post will encourage you and help you! The Lord revealed a powerful truth to me this weekend and I have taken action to apply this truth to my daily life. I want to ask you a few questions. What kind of thoughts pop into your mind throughout the day? Are they godly? Are they thoughts that line up with God's word? Do you sometimes feel as if you are bombarded with thoughts throughout the day that you wish would go away? Well God gave me a solution because I too have this problem and with the Lord's help, we are both going to get better control of my thoughts. When the pandemic started last year, my mind would start racing with lots of negativity and fear. I used to think to myself, "What has happened to you, you used to be able to control the thoughts that would pop into your head and now it's as if these thoughts have taken over." Well as I said, over the weekend, the Lord showed me a powerful truth to help with controlling my thoughts and I want to share it with you today! So without further ado, let's begin!
The Lord began showing me how the mind and the heart are connected together. The thoughts are in our heart, but if our mind can conceive it then our heart will believe it. God has given us free will and we have to decide on a daily basis on what thoughts we will allow to enter or turn away. 1 Cor. 2:16 says, "For who has the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." How can we have the mind of Christ? Simply reading His word daily, how else are we going to know the mind of the Lord? As we begin reading God's word, it not only renews our mind, but transforms it. What you used to think about is changed by reading God's word. God's word is powerful and has transforming power! Do you want to be changed? It starts with your mind and, "With God, all things are possible." Matt. 19:26 The Lord showed me things that needed to be changed that I have been holding onto since childhood. He spoke to my heart and said, "You want change, but it starts with you." Sometimes we want our circumstances to change, but God is trying to change us.
He also revealed to me that once my mind is changed, my attitude changes too! What a relief! Friends, I have trouble in lots of areas of my life and thank God, He is still working in my life. One of those areas in my life is my attitude. It has gotten better over the years, but it still needs help from time to time. Remaining positive in a not so good situation is a struggle for me. I have had to make myself see the good in the not so good circumstances or situations in my life. There have been many times when I have had to tell myself, "God will work this out for my good even though I cannot see it." I have also had to remind myself that this is part of my growing stage right now. I may not like it, but in the end, it's for my good. The Lord asked me a question yesterday and it spoke volumes to my heart. He asked, "Am I sovereign over your mind?" He explained to me that either I am sovereign or the enemy is sovereign over your mind. Friends, when He spoke those words, I realized, my mind belongs to the Lord and I should totally surrender my mind unto Him. After all, He is the One who created it and gave it to me. If it hadn't had been for Him, I wouldn't have had a mind.
So my question to you today is, is the Lord sovereign over your mind? Have you taken time to read His word and to meditate on it? Meditating on His word is the transforming process of renewing your mind. The more you meditate on His word, the more it changes you. Are you ready for God to change your mind? Are you ready to think good thoughts and to cast out the ones that do not line up with His word? Are you ready for your life to change? Do you want God to touch your mind today with His word? If the answer to these questions is yes then go ahead and make the decision to surrender your mind to the will of God. What is the will of God? His word! That's right, His powerful, changing word! My friends, I pray that you will make the decision to allow the Lord to rule and reign over and in your mind today and from this day forward. I pray that this word has encouraged you and blessed you today! May the Lord bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I cannot believe we are halfway through the week already and the month of September is practically finished! I hope you are all having a wonderful week, I wanted to write a blog post about choosing to have some quiet time. Now I don't know about you, but after being around 20 four year olds 5 days in a row, I long for some peace and quiet. From 7:30 in the morning till 3:30 in the afternoon, they can pretty loud with their conversations, playing, our lessons, music and movement, etc. They are constantly talking and we are very busy throughout the day. For the past week, the Lord has been speaking to my heart about finding some quiet time with Him and getting away from all the noise and distractions. There was one day when I finally realized that all day long 7 days a week, I am around people all the time and I thought okay, I see what the Lord is pointing out now. He reminded me of Jesus and how He would slip away and find a quiet place. If you would like to find out more, keep reading! Before we get started, I hope you have your favorite cup of coffee or tea with you!
There was one morning that the Lord began to show me the temple. He showed me the crowds of people outside the gate and then inside the gate were people praising the Lord with their voices and instruments. As the Lord was taking me through the temple, He was revealing to me that I needed to move past all the distractions and noise. He showed me the inside and the priests were busy doing their duties. He finally showed me the Holy of holies. It was a tiny area, only big enough for two people and those two people of course are the high priest and the Lord. He also showed me that it was a quiet place, there is no noise in the Holy of holies and let me tell you why. This astounded me when I learned this! The Holy of holies is indeed holy because it is a sacred place and the priest couldn't hear a word God was telling him if there was noise.
So here's the revelation of the Holy of holies, we are considered His priests and if we are His priests, we are supposed to visit our Holy of holies on a daily basis. Jesus took care of this through His shed blood on the cross so that we can commune with Him every day 24 hours a day. Can someone say Hallelujah! So the Lord revealed to me that we as believers in Christ, we can find time in the Holy of holies to be with Him in the quiet. Oh friends, I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to learn this powerful revelation! God wants us to come to Him, to visit Him every single day, but we have to choose. We have to choose to spend time with Him and let me tell you our spiritual being depends on us choosing Him. Don't let another day nor another moment go by letting your spirit man starve from not spending time with the Almighty! I didn't realize that was what was happening to my spirit man, I was becoming frustrated with life and life's circumstances that I was neglecting my spirit man. My spirit man was crying out to go and find a quiet place and spend time with my Father in heaven.
So you may be asking how in the world am I going to find time to spend with the Lord? You don't understand, I have this and that and this and that. I am so busy throughout the day that by time I am finished, I am exhausted. Friends, I understand wholeheartedly. I too am very busy throughout the day myself and by time I get home, I am worn out. My advice to you is look at your agenda each day and see where you can find time to spend with the Lord. I will tell you right now that it will not be wasted in fact, you will be glad you decided to make time for Him. He will certainly bless you for it in ways that will blow your mind! I will tell you this, my goal is to spend at least an hour with Him first thing in the morning because this is considered my firstfruits. (I will write a blog post about firstfruits soon!) My other goal is when I get home after I have made my lunch for the next day, went for a walk, and taken a shower is to find my quiet place and spend another hour or so with Him. Friends, I need Him to nourish my spirit and to help me each and every day especially with those little ones that I mentioned in the beginning. Without Him, I cannot do it by myself, it will not work.
So friends, I pray that this post encourages you and blesses you. I also pray that this post will inspire you to really think about your time and to find your quiet place to be with the Lord. You will not regret this decision in fact, it will enrich your life! You will be living the abundant life that Jesus spoke about to His disciples. I pray that you will allow the Lord to lead in whatever direction He wants you to take. May the Lord bless you and keep you. Until next time!
Good Morning Friends!
I hope you are all doing well this week! I have a new blog post for you and this is a spontaneous one. I stumbled across a devotion this morning and it was talking about what faith is and I have to share it with you! Growing up, I would hear a lot of sermons about faith, but I never really knew what faith meant. Even before I read this morning's devotion, I still didn't quite understand faith. A lot of times we depend upon on our human abilities such as emotions and we think that when we pray, we are reaching to God because of how we feel. This of course is not the case and as I have read before, emotions are fickle, temporary. So what is faith exactly? Well we are about to find out and I pray that this helps you and encourages you today. So without further ado, let's get started!
Okay, let's answer the burning question, what is faith? Faith is... knowing God or knowledge of God. What? Yes, it goes back to having a relationship with God, coming to know Him for ourselves. Isn't this amazing? I don't know if you have noticed or not, but it seems to be the focal point of everything we discuss, it all goes back to having a relationship with Him. Now how we get to know God is simply through His word, prayer time, and through trials and tribulations. If you are going through a trial and it seems as if God has disappeared, do not be discouraged. He is still with you and He is going to show His saving grace to you. In order to know God, we have to go through some tough times to see His mercy and grace. Is it easy? No, in fact, I find myself getting impatient sometimes because I want Him to save me now.
So where does faith come from? In Romans 10:17 it says, "Faith comes by listening to this message of Good News- the Good News of Christ." So this means we need to be reading His word daily and listening to it by listening to sermons, worship songs so it can build our faith. Faith also means to trust in God even though the circumstances are not lining up. The Lord says to, "live by faith and not by sight." 2Cor. 5:7 So if your circumstances are bleak, dark, impossible, scary, hopeless, etc. Remember, the Lord is always with you and even though the situation may not be what God says, His word will truly comes to pass. Why? "His word will not return unto Him void." Isaiah 55:10-11 I am reminded of the children of Israel, they were about to depart from Egypt and Pharoah was leading his army to try to capture them. They came to the Red Sea. They had to wait a bit while God pushed the waters back, as soon as He did, they took off running through the parted waters. With Pharoah on their heels, they must have thought, "Are we going to die here and now?" As soon as they made it across, the waters came crashing down and killed the Egyptian army.
You talk about faith, my goodness, God saved them just in time! So my friends, if you are facing something impossible today, I want you to remember all the situations, the circumstances that God has brought you through. If He did it once, He can do it again! There is nothing to hard for Him, He can do all things and so can you because Jesus is the One who is giving you strength. My friends, I pray that this post has encouraged you and blessed you today! May the Lord bless you and keep you! Until next time!
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