Assurance

For all of us who have been born again and our completely leaning on Jesus we find that in our discovery of him and in our desire to know him more we tend to learn towards different lanes in Christianity and focus on them. For me as most of you know theology, the concepts of faith, and Christian education, how do you grow a church & minister to the people of the church, have been my two main focuses on this journey. In this blog I want to share with you something that was reveled to me through the preaching of the word to encourage you in your faith because I know that we all go through tough times and we need to be reminded of the faith that is assured in the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This year has had its difficulties for sure at one point I was apart of two ministries and had to leave them, I moved back to St. Louis from Kansas city leaving behind a lot of good relationships, some of my friendships that I have had ended and for several months I was unemployed living off of the Grace of Gods blessings to my grandparents. When you look at all of the transitions that I have been forced into some people ask me “how did you make it” and I have to say at times I didn’t think the sun would shine again but I was never doubted that Jesus was the captain of my ship and designer of my destiny. For that I am thankful that God has given me a strong self constitution because when trouble comes and ,it will , I have been blessed to always know who is in charge and thankfully God has created a spot in my heart from past tragedies’ that has given me the strength to know that my redeemer lives. I want to encourage you that God can do anything but fail.
When I look at the ministries that I had to leave I realize that I learned a lot about the next ministries that I will be apart of and how to deal with myself around people and how to deal with Christians in the church and non Christians in the church. The most important thing I gained from the lost of those ministries is that your cant love people more than God. You can want what is best for people but you have to let God love them and change them and help them to grow. Don’t move from your convictions, stay with what you know and what you have been educated to know but the most important thing about ministry is to Love God and to worship him and in doing that the emotions of loving people will be balanced because if there comes a time when you have to leave, your feeling wont get bruised and you wont leave with hate in your heart for people and disappointment with yourself. So love God and worship him fully and don’t worry about the church critics, you just stay focused on Loving Jesus with your whole heart.
In moving back to St. Louis I was discouraged because I thought I had failed personally by coming back here but what I realized is that in a time of being by myself I have learned a lot about myself. And I know that God has great plans for me, so the transition has been “soul opening” because I have been able to spend a lot of time with my grandparents and mother and that has been priceless. Also in losing some relationships with people I know that some people are only meant to be here for a season, you cant get mad at people if they have to go for whatever reason and even if they cant say goodbye because here is the thing there is a reason their not going to be in your future because God is trying to get you somewhere and there presence is not going to help elevate you to where you need to go. So don’t be angry or upset with them just remember that your process is progress and the master is trying to make you into gold.
The book of Revelation is a powerful book because it deals with so many issues prophecy, theology depicted from the apostle John descriptions, revelations of the beast or the Antichrist figure energized by Satan and so many other important things. But for me recently I was encouraged by the preaching of the word when it comes to Revelation 19:1-8 read this:
The Sound of Hallelujahs
I heard a sound like massed choirs in Heaven singing, Hallelujah! The salvation and glory and power are God's his judgments true, his judgments just. He judged the great Whore who corrupted the earth with her lust. He avenged on her the blood of his servants. Then, more singing: Hallelujah! The smoke from her burning billows up to high Heaven forever and ever and ever. The Twenty-four Elders and the Four Animals fell to their knees and worshiped God on his Throne, praising, Amen! Yes! Hallelujah! From the Throne came a shout, a command:
Praise our God, all you his servants, all you who fear him, small and great! Then I heard the sound of massed choirs, the sound of a mighty cataract, and the sound of strong thunder: Hallelujah! The Master reigns, our God, the Sovereign-Strong! Let us celebrate, let us rejoice, and let us give him the glory! The Marriage of the Lamb has come; his Wife has made herself ready. She was given a bridal gown of bright and shining linen. The linen is the righteousness of the saints.

Beloved the beauty of the verse is that depicts those who are in heaven now. It gives you a front row seat those who are in the full presences of God now. They have no more suffering and no more pain. They have seen him with their own eyes and are experiencing him forever in eternity fully justified, fully sanctified and fully perfect. So what we must get out of this verse is this: Jesus Christ reigns for all of eternity as the Only True Everlasting God. What this does for you now here on earth is gives you complete reassurance that your troubles are not in vain. That your struggle will end in victory if you continue to trust God with you whole life and being. Even if the ship is sinking in your life be assured that one day you will see him for yourself if you don’t faint or give up. So hold on. Praise him, sing Hallelujah and make it the anthem of your soul because you win. Yes you are going to have many problems on this side of heaven and God is not going to bail you out of all of them because there are lessons in all of them but one day you will be with those who have made it to the shore praising and lifting Him up for all eternity. So when you’re pissed about life- Hold on. When your heart is broken- Hold on. When your kids are making you crazy and your money isn’t right- Hold on. When your family is driving you nuts- Hold on. When a love one is sick- Hold on. No matter what hold on because victory is coming and we have the facts right here in this verse that one day you and me and all those who hold on to our faith will see him. Jesus Christ reigns for all eternity- That is your assurance and the anthem of your soul. Be encouraged Beloved!!!

The truth is life is a constant process of letting go, growing, realizing what went wrong and what you could have done better. Life is just one big lesson. You can’t get caught up on where you failed at you just have to realize you messed up that time and hope that you do better the next. If we are always down on ourselves for not being perfect and for not making the right decisions in the moment we will never grow. We will become the killers and blockers of our own destiny. God is trying to get is to our destiny here on this side of heaven and that comes with knowing him and loving yourself and your neighbor. It doesn’t mean that you will get it right every time it just means that your willing to raise your hand and say I messed up when you do and take the lessons for the journey. I think that I have figured out for me the key to my happiness here on earth and that is this accepting that I am unconditionally loved by Jesus he loves me just because and I cant earn his affection it is just there and the other part is this admitting that I don’t have all the answers and that life is not meant to be solved. A person cant blame their parents or their past or even the untimely mistakes that happened to them in life all you can do is learn and hope that you get it right the next time and in the mean time of going through the process of life try and love a few people and appreciate the moment. You cant change the past, there’s only so many times you can say sorry, so you might as well accept what is, admit to what was, and anticipate with hope what will be…..

My Sister Whit Once Said

"Believe you can and you're halfway there"

The truth lies in the discovery of not being afraid to make the change or to take the next step. It’s the mysterious that scared us and the unknown that paralyzes us but if we don’t grow and don’t move on then we will have missed out on what was created for us. We can beat ourselves up for a moment but then we must move on. We either can settle for where were at or we can see what’s behind door number 1, 2, 0r 3. But at some point for every dreamer you’re going want to pick the door or live with the regret the rest of your life that you didn’t step out and take the one chance. My sister whit was counseling me last night and the gift she gave me was to walk in my own truth. Whatever defines it or whatever I call it; just to walk in it. So my gift to you is to move on and forgive yourself. You cant change the past and you cant make up for what you didn’t know at the time. So today change your thinking and move on. Face each day as it comes because tomorrow has enough problems of her own. My lesson today is: not to have so much self hatred and to move on.

Peace Of Mind...

What is happiness? What is Joy? What is peace? What happens to a person when they are stripped of everything and stuck so low that they almost don’t want to be found? Your soul is desperate your mind is confused and your heart is empty. You long to be loved and the pain and guilt of the past has overcome you so terrible that you don’t know where to start all you can do is open your mouth and say help. I am scared because I don’t know what’s on the other side but I know I have to take the risk. Get to the heart of the issue.. what is wrong with me… why am I completely and totally self destructive in every area of my life…. Why do I choose to go right when the map says left… I am scared to death but if I don’t move now I will loose everything… Pray for me on this journey and I will keep you updated… Day one… I don’t know what else to do but to loose everything and hope to gain some peace of mind…

...Tell Me Have You Seen Him...

Judas, The Man Who Never Knew

I’ve wondered at times what kind of man this Judas was. What he looked like, how he acted, who his friends were.

I guess I’ve stereotyped him. I’ve always pictured him as a wiry, beady-eyed, sly, wormy fellow, pointed beard and all. I’ve pictured him as estranged from the other apostles.

Friendless. Distant. Undoubtedly he was a traitor and a quisling. Probably the result of a broken home. A juvenile delinquent in his youth.

Yet I wonder if that is so true. We have no evidence (save Judas’s silence) that would suggest that he was isolated. At the Last Supper, when Jesus said that his betrayer sat at the table, we don’t find the apostles immediately turning to Judas as the logical traitor.

No, I think we’ve got Judas pegged wrong. Perhaps he was just the opposite. Instead of sly and wiry, maybe he was robust and jovial. Rather than quiet and introverted, he could have been outgoing and well-meaning. I don’t know.

But for all the things we don’t know about Judas, there is one thing we know for sure: He had no relationship with the Master. He had seen Jesus, but he did not know him. He had heard Jesus, but he did not understand him. He had a religion but no relationship.

As Satan worked his way around the table in the upper room, he needed a special kind of man to betray our Lord. He needed a man who had seen Jesus but who did not know him. He needed a man who knew the actions of Jesus but had missed out on the mission of Jesus. Judas was this man. He knew the empire but had never known the Man.

Judas bore the cloak of religion, but he never knew the heart of Christ.

We learn this timeless lesson from the betrayer. Satan’s best tools of destruction are not from outside the church; they are within the church. A church will never die from the immorality in Hollywood or the corruption in Washington. But it will die from corrosion within—from those who bear the name of Jesus but have never met him and from those who have religion but no relationship.Shaped by God

Judas bore the cloak of religion, but he never knew the heart of Christ. Let’s make it our goal to know … deeply.

Love is Patient

Love is Patient
(1 Corinthians 13:4)
by Max Lucado

Patience is the red carpet upon which God’s grace approaches us.

The Greek word used here for patience is a descriptive one. It figuratively means “taking a long time to boil.” Think about a pot of boiling water. What factors determine the speed at which it boils? The size of the stove? No. The pot? The utensil may have an influence, but the primary factor is the intensity of the flame. Water boils quickly when the flame is high. It boils slowly when the flame is low. Patience “keeps the burner down.”

Helpful clarification, don’t you think? Patience isn’t naive. It doesn’t ignore misbehavior. It just keeps the flame low. It waits. It listens. It’s slow to boil. This is how God treats us. And, according to Jesus, this is how we should treat others.

He once told a parable about a king who decides to settle his accounts with his debtors. His bookkeeper surfaces a fellow who owes not thousands or hundreds of thousands but millions of dollars. The king summarily declares that the man and his wife and kids are to be sold to pay the debt. Because of his inability to pay, the man is about to lose everything and everyone dear to him. No wonder “the man fell down before the king and begged him, “Oh, sir, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.” (Matt. 18:26–27 NLT, emphasis mine)

The word patience makes a surprise appearance here. The debtor does not plead for mercy or forgiveness; he pleads for patience. Equally curious is this singular appearance of the word. Jesus uses it twice in this story and never again. Jesus reserves the word for one occasion to make one point. Patience is more than a virtue for long lines and slow waiters. Patience is the red carpet upon which God’s grace approaches us.

Had there been no patience, there would have been no mercy. But the king was patient, and the man with the multimillion-dollar debt was forgiven. But then the story takes a left turn. The freshly forgiven fellow makes a beeline from the courthouse to the suburbs. There he searches out a guy who owes him some money.

“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. “Be patient and I will pay it,” he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and jailed until the debt could be paid in full.” (vv. 28–30 NLT, emphasis mine)

The king is stunned. How could the man be so impatient? How dare the man be so impatient! The ink of the CANCELED stamp is still moist on the man’s bills. Wouldn’t you expect a little Mother Teresa–ness out of him? You’d think that a person who’d been forgiven so much would love much. But he didn’t. And his lack of love led to a costly mistake. The unforgiving servant is called back to the castle. “Then the angry king sent the man to prison until he had paid every penny” (Matt. 18:34 NLT).

Whew! we sigh. Glad that story is a parable. It’s a good thing God doesn’t imprison the impatient in real life. Don’t be so sure he doesn’t. Self-absorption and ingratitude make for thick walls and lonely jails.

Impatience still imprisons the soul. For that reason, our God is quick to help us avoid it. He does more than demand patience from us; he offers it to us. Patience is a fruit of his Spirit. It hangs from the tree of Galatians 5:22: “The Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience.” Have you asked God to give you some fruit? Well I did once, but … But what? Did you, h’m, grow impatient? Ask him again and again and again. He won’t grow impatient with your pleading, and you will receive patience in your praying.

And while you’re praying, ask for understanding. “Patient people have great understanding” (Prov. 14:29). Why? Because patience always hitches a ride with understanding. The wise man says, “A man of understanding holds his tongue” (Prov. 11:12 NIV). He also says, “A man of understanding is even-tempered” (Prov. 17:27 NIV). Don’t miss the connection between understanding and patience. Before you blow up, listen up. Before you strike out, tune in.

“God is being patient with you” (2 Pet. 3:9). And if God is being patient with you, can’t you pass on some patience to others?

The Only Thing That Counts

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love”
(Galatians 5:6B, NIV)

So often, it’s easy to get caught up in our to-do lists of life. You might even have a spiritual checklist in your mind of all the things you think you need to do in order to please God. And we should have the desire to please Him and follow His commands, but pleasing Him starts with our heart condition. Scripture tells us in 1 Corinthians that only faith, hope and love will last into eternity. We can’t have faith unless we first have hope, and our faith won’t work without love. The point is that we have to remember to adjust our focus and make sure that we aren’t just going through the motions in our spiritual walk. We can do a lot of “good” things, too. But if we don’t have love, they won’t matter in eternity. We can have a lot of knowledge, but if we don’t have love, it won’t do us any good. However, when love is the foundation for everything we do, it honors God and opens the door for the life of victory in blessing He has prepared for you!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Father God, thank You for Your blessing and peace upon my life. Today, I choose love, knowing that it fuels my faith. I don’t want to go through the motions; I want to love the way You love me. Show me ways to grow in love as I keep my heart and mind fixed on You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.