Friday, October 28, 2011

How Great is Our God!


How Great is Our God indeed! He is always working with us, shaping us to be the people He wants us to be, positioning us to areas He needs us to be, and providing us instructions He commands us to carry out. He is truly a wonderful God. He has given me an idea for a resource center for my city. It is so great of an idea! Of course, it is God's idea so it is going to be GREAT!!! The Lord never ceases to amaze me. He is prepared to use us; we just have to let Him use us.

The Lord is marvelous! He is a wonderful God. Every idea that comes from the Lord is an idea that shows us Who He is. "But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth," Psalm 86:15. The resource center idea comes from Who He is. He cares. He loves us. He is gracious. He is long suffering and merciful. He is a truthful God. I for one desire to implement this as soon as possible, on God's time table and not mine. All Glory goes to our Almighty God. Thank You Lord.

I leave you with a song-a song that I love so much. It is called How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin.


Until Next Time...Lord's Willing.

P.S. Let the Lord use you. Be obedient to God. Remember our Heavenly Father knows best.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Make It or Break It Time

It's taken awhile for me to blog. I apologize for that. I was out of town for three days. The other days, I can honestly say that I was having a downward spiral, out of control, slowly but surely killing my relationship with God. And for what? Sin. Sin, as I have come to find out on a personal level, is much more than hurting yourself. It is hurting God. It is selfishness-thinking about what you want instead of what He wants. It is rebellion. It is selfish rebellion contradicting the Word of God. To be quite honest with those that are reading this, this thing has been a long time coming. You see, it got severe the past three days. I had a blow up with my mother. I went back to listening to songs that are ungodly. I chose to lust after someone even though I knew it was wrong. I ignored what God was telling me in order to pursue ungodly things. Hell was a step around the corner. Yet, this thing has been in the making for awhile. Months and months, my relationship with God has faltered. I have drifted apart. I can't blame this person or that incident because in reality the issue was always there. I have just been burying it, pretending that all was well when it was not. Now, things have blown up. This is not something that I nor any Christian can afford to do right now.

People, we are in a stage right now. I like to call it: The Make It or Break It stage. Some of us are going to have a falling out with God, causing us to lose out on eternal life. Some of us are going to persevere until the very end, getting that mansion in heaven. If I keep on with what I have been doing, I'm going to be the one that misses out.

It's not God's fault; it's mine. Although, I did get upset with God, wanting to know why He is allowing me to go through this stage. Why hasn't He given me a husband so that my flesh stops burning? Why isn't He strengthening me to endure these times? Because a husband is not going to help me and it is me that is turning down His help. I can't even blame the lack of husband for any of this. The only one I can blame for this is myself.

B I B L E stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth or so many say. I believe this. I have not been getting in the Word for awhile nor have I've listened. The Lord has been so patient with me, trying to help me through this. Instead, I have been turning my back on Him. I have caused this problem-not Him. It is I that is the problem-NOT Him. It's time for me to stop it-to stop chasing after worldly things. Forget the husband, forget the children, forget what I want, but acknowledge and accept what He wants. I can't be effective if I'm not listening and doing what He wants me to do. Dancing with the Stars is a show that I watch, but it should not be running interference with my study/commune time with the Lord. No show, no event should take away my time with Him. That has been my problem-not wanting to give the Lord time. How can I learn if I'm not listening/paying attention? How can I grow if I'm not accepting the food the Lord is giving me (the food is His Word)? We can't grow. We can't learn if God is the only One in it.

There is a saying: The person is there physically, but not really there. In other words, the person is physically present, but emotionally/mentally not. You can mumble words out of your mouth in your prayer, but you can't hide the fact that you are not in this commune time with the Lord. God knows where we are at mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. He only made us, shaped us, knew us before we were even conceived. We slap our heads, wondering why our prayers aren't being effective. Hello! You are absent from your prayer. You are absent from God. Sure, you are there, but you really are not there.

That's the way I have been. There, but not there. It has to stop. I know now that going through this is allowing me to see the issues that not only I, but others are going through as well. I'm not the only one physically present, but a.w.o.l. spiritually, emotionally, mentally. There are so many Christians that are dropping their guards. We can't afford this.

"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses," 1 Timothy 6:12. "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal," Matthew 6:20. We have to fight the good fight, laying hold to eternal life. We have to store up our treasures in heaven not earth. There is nothing down here worth going to hell for. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Today, I'm going all in with the Lord. I'm not putting half in neither am I going to be physically there and emotionally/spiritually/mentally away. Every part of me will be talking with the Lord. I want to be a part of those that make it and not break it. Not just this day, but every day.

I encourage all that are still chasing after everything but God to stop this. Chase after God, invest everything in God. I guarantee you that you will increase when you invest with Him.

Until Next Time...Lord's Willing

P.S. "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do," 1 Thessalonians 5:11. Be of comfort to others.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

What A Great Day

Despite the fact that my job got mad busy yesterday and the fact that my tires are acting up on me (2 of them anyways), today was a great day.

1) I got to spend time with my friend.
2) I ate amazing food my friend cooked.
3) I got to watch my friend's daughter do splits, and run faster than me (I'm not joking. The tortoise can outrun me...Lol.)
4) I spent some time in Genesis. As I have continued on in chapter 1, I'm finding some awesome points. People want to challenge that this universe and all of the living things on earth were created by a God, making themselves willingly ignorant of Him. This universe and the living things on earth are all the works of God. He is truly a Wonderful Creator. No amount of "man made" facts can ever challenge our God and His mighty works.
5) I'm so looking forward to the trip to Washington. We are leaving at 1 am on Friday. It's going to be so great.

Bless the Holy Lord! Bless the Righteous Creator, the loving Father, the Alpha & Omega! He is definitely worthy to be praised. I thank the Lord for this wonderful day. He is worthy to be praised for everything. I thank the Lord for this peace that He has bestowed upon me. I don't have to worry about my tires, because I know my Lord is more than capable of supplying all of my needs. I just thank Him, and give Him the glory.

Until Next Time...Lord's Willing.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

About...

This is another part of my series on Putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. 


10/12/11
I've decided to start writing down the things Jesus spoke about & commanded. Hey, if you are gonna walk in the Spirit & put Jesus on, you have to be getting the Word in. The first scripture I want to look at is the following:

"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," Matthew 4:4.

This was Jesus' response to Satan's request that He command the stones to be made into bread.. Earlier in chapter 4, we find that Jesus was led to the Wilderness by the Holy Spirit. The devil would tempt Him. Jesus had fasted 40 days & 40 nights. Afterwards, He was hungry. The "tempter", Satan began tempting Him. Jesus was in human form. His fasting was for 40 days & 40 nights. The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary describes this temptation as "an attempt to get Jesus to doubt God's providential care. If Jesus had turned the stones into bread, He would have been acting independently from His Heavenly Father. Satan was trying to get Jesus to use His power to meet His own needs." Jesus' quickly made it known that it isn't food that sustains us, but every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is what sustains us. When fasting, ignore the physical. Focus on the spiritual, & rely on God to meet our needs (Deuteronomy 8:3). The Lord is Who sustains us. Listening to God is far more important than focusing on our physical needs. We, Christians, have to focus on the spiritual- not the physical-READ THE WORD! "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," Hebrews 4:12. The Bible is the Word of God. This is what keeps us, directs us, corrects us. "(16) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works," 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Jesus knew that the Word of God takes priority over physical things. Today, we need to be more concerned spiritually. (10/13/11) Update: The Word was in the beginning, with God, and was God. Without Him nothing was made (from John 1:1-3). It's more important for our spiritual needs to be met than our physical.

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Until Tomorrow...Lord's Willing

Forgiveness (April 29, 2010)

I wrote this awhile back on Facebook, and felt the need to post it on here. It is something that I had been feeling with the loss of my Nephew. I titled it forgiveness.




(April 29, 2010)


Forgive-to pardon, to waive any negative feeling or desire for punishment; To accord forgiveness.

It's very easy to be consumed by hate. After I lost my 16 year old nephew one day shy of his 17th birthday, I succumbed to hating the boy responsible for driving the vehicle. He had been reckless, and my nephew was the only one who had paid for this recklessness. He did not. My Pastor had told me to keep the faith the day I found out about his death. However, I did the opposite of her advise. I lost control of who I was in Jesus. I had dropped my armor of protection and had given the devil wiggle room in my life. A wiggle room, sometimes, is all he needs to wreak havoc in one's life. That's all it took for him to do this to me.

Instead of pressing on, I repressed my emotions. I believed that I was free from the anger, hate, sadness, and guilt that I had in me. Instead, the only thing I was doing was burying these emotions. I was not releasing them, but simply covering them up for another day. Repressing feelings do not help. It did not help me. All it did was grant me another day without feeling these feelings. It did not release me.

Matthew 11:26-35 (King James Version)

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I had failed to give these issues to Jesus. Instead, I decided to shoulder them myself, which made things bad.

These feelings resurfaced as I listened to Manuela read me the letter he emailed to her. It was disgusting. I won't delve into it. It was bad though. It irritated me. I found myself angry and wishing horrible things on him, which is not Christ-like. Ephesians 4:32 states, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Luke 6:28 states, "Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you." No matter how horrible this incident was, I have no right hating, or lacking forgiveness. I have to forgive and be prayerful for this person. I am instructed to be "tenderhearted" towards this person. Instead, I went the opposite. It has been consuming, but the Lord help me out. He rescued me from this bitterness and showed me how I had completely put His wants and instructions out of me by one incident that occurred on a Sunday. I had been driving down the road and had completely began to daydream. This dream caused me to lose my focus on the road. I had swerved into the left lane. God got my attention just in time to see the white truck ahead of me. I quickly swerved back into the right lane. This incident let me know how far I had strayed from God.

Had I died that day, I would not have made it to Heaven. I had completely ignored God's call for me and His Word. I went with what I had wanted. Without salvation, I have nothing. Without Jesus, I have nothing. These feelings set me back, and I went on the offense afterwards. I had to put the armor back on.

Ephesians 6:10 instructs us to "be strong in the Lord." Ephesians 6:11 states "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Wiles=tricks. Yes, the devil tries to play with your mind. That's important to keep the armor on, which I did not. (Ephesians 6:14-18 covers the armor we need). I had completely thrown it away and had been distracted from my job as a Christian.

I have quickly, by the grace of God, have come to the conclusion that I need to rededicate my life to the Lord. I have to do His will and not mine. His is to love others, bless those that curse us, and to forgive them-not to hold on to resent. So Nick, I forgive you. I will pray for you. You need salvation-not prison. I will not support nor condone sending you to prison. I have let go of my animosity and my anger.

My sadness for Mane Man is there a little bit. I finally erased him from my contacts list in my cell phone. It was the hardest thing I could have done. As I type this, I'm beginning to tear up. It's the realization that this kid that I had known since he was a baby is no more. He is gone. There will be no more communicating with him. There will be no more worrying about him. This feeling of sadness, I lean on to Jesus because it is not mine but His. He can carry us through. I repent of everything. It is done.


Happy Saturday

Today was a work day for me. My friend was on vacation. So, I had no one in front of me, talking to me. Though, I will say today was pretty good. Work was slow with a sporadic burst of some calls. Overall, today was great. I got off work not too early. That was good. My niece is spending the night with us tonight. That's cool. the only issue I have today with would be with Wal-Mart. I went in there and Cato's looking to find some pants for my Washington trip. I couldn't find anything in Cato's or Wal-Mart. Unlike Cato's, Wal-Mart looks like it is limiting, if not eliminating, the plus size section. Hello Wal-Mart! Your primary customers are plus size. I'm sorry to break that news for you, but it is true. I was so unhappy with Wal-Mart. I just left. I hope my mother can find me some pants from out of town.  When I lose weight, I may not shop at Wal-Mart for clothes, but choose to go to a shop called Conway, which has spiffy clothes that are not expensive.
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I found some notes that I took on my Facebook profile. I'm going to post this note up here in another blog. The importance and seriousness of it may be of some help to others that have been through what I have gone through. 

Until Next Time...Lord's Willing.

P.S. I will post shortly my entry from my Put On Christ lessons in a few. So keep a watch.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Awesome Day


Praise God for today! He is awesome everyday! He is powerful, mighty, merciful, WORTHY TO BE PRAISED!!! Tonight, True Light had an awesome service. I mean, you could feel the Holy Spirit. He was in the house. I love True Light. This is the second time that I have been there, and both times, I felt the Holy Spirit. His presence was there. The devotion is so wonderful each time. I mean, the Lord has blessed the voices each time they go up there. So amazing!!!


Speaking of amazing, I have only 7 more days until my church family & I go to Washington, DC. The trip is actually on the outskirts of it, but we are planning on going into Washington for sight seeing. Yay! It should be definitely great. I plan on taking as many pictures as I can.


As I mentioned in a previous post, I plan on posting my biblical studies here. I also plan on posting my own personal journal of putting Christ on. It shows the ways that help me put Him on everyday. I'm going to post the beginning tomorrow. Right now, I plan on posting the earlier journal entry that I wrote on the 11th of October. Here we go:


October 11, 2011
"Lusting, Songs, Desires"
Oh my! Okay, I have to admit today has not been the greatest day  for me. I've sunken to a new low on the sin scale. Of course, it's my fault. You see, I have dropped the "armour of God" (Ephesians 6:11 tells us to "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Well, I've read the Bible, but I have not applied it to myself. The whole fact that Abraham had a strong, unwavering faith-that's what I need & want. Yet, repeating the sins of lusts, listening to worldly songs, desiring after something-not good. 1 Peter 2: 11 states "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." Peter is urging the people to abstain from fleshly lusts. To abstain, means that you refrain from something or do without. Peter further tells them that fleshly lusts wars against the soul. Why would I continue to give into something that is fighting against my soul. Losing to lust = a trip to hell. This is not something I need to be doing. It can costs me my soul. Romans 13:14 "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." We have to put on Jesus Christ. We have to embody Who He was-His characteristics, & not give room to our flesh. We have to shut the those doors down. Galatians 5:16 "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." If I want to beat this mess, I have to walk in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit lets us know what's wrong & right. It's a necessity that we listen & obey Him. 1 Peter 2:12 "Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation." My actions speak louder than words. I have to represent God whole heartedly, honestly, every single day-even when I don't feel like it. Our godly behavior can be very influential. I have to nip the issues in the bud & pursue God. Scripture of the day comes from 1: Peter 2:11-12

"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (12)Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation."

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Until Tomorrow, Lord's Willing...Everyone have a great night!!! :)

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Happy Thursday



Happy Thursday indeed. I tell you, the Lord is wonderful, merciful, gracious, loving...I keep going on and on about my Heavenly Father, my Redeemer. This blog could not contain it. That's how much it would be. I've been going through of late. These past couple of days, the Lord showed me that in order to fight the lust of the flesh, there are a couple of things that I must do. (1) I have to walk in the Spirit & (2) I have to put on Jesus Christ. This will be discussed further in another blog. What I wanted to blog about is how great of a Thursday it is. It is truly a wonderful day. I went into the Word. So, amazing. Right now, I'm on Genesis. I decided to go back to chapter 1 and redo it. I want to make sure that I read and study it the right way with no time frame or elements distracting me. You see, we must always put the Lord first & that is what I want. My studying came out better. I'm still on the first day. That's cool because the first day allows us to see so much. 1st: God created the heaven and earth; unlike atheists' views, there is a Creator & He is Yahweh. 2nd: Jesus and the Holy Spirit have active roles in creation. 3rd: All God has to do is command something & it is done. 4th: God separated the light from the dark. This was just the first day. I combined references to theses verses.


Conclusion: God is the Creator of this world & of all living things. The Trinity was working together in the beginning. The light and the dark are literal, but also figurative as they can refer to those in Christ and those in the world-those who follow God and those that choose their evil ways. 


There is so much that a Reference Study Bible can help you with. I enjoy the Life Application Study Bible (KJV), which is of tremendous help. Also, the Holy Spirit led me to the revelations of the contrast of light and dark. It's important that we ask God for help from the Holy Ghost in regards to discerning what we have read in the Bible. Otherwise, we will read, but not have a clear understanding of what we have read, & we want an understanding.


Having said this, today has been a great restful day for me. There was the exception of a nightmare dream that I had in my nap, but I shrugged that off, and asked for forgiveness. The devil is a liar. 


It's always good to have a lazy, productive Thursday...I look forward to posting my biblical studies here.


Until Next Time...Lord's Willing.