I have been studying the book of Romans. I am in the third chapter and it really has so much in it! Amazing, to say the least!
One specific part I wanted to bring out was the part on the law. If you haven't already, look around the world today and more specifically look at the laws in the United States. This nation was a nation with laws and morals, but now what do we see? We see one law after another being passed that cuts off the stable, tried and true laws. My point to saying these things is, God gives to us laws that are black and white. He gave us them so that we may use them to guide us away from the evil and towards what is right. It's through man and his unwillingness to put to death his old nature that we get where we are today. We have so many different kinds of people living in this world and all of them have discovered (wither they or it or not) spirits and they have welcomed those spirits into their home because they like the way those spirits make them feel.
How did man discover these spirits? Through hurts and pains, through searching for something to fill a void inside them, through music they listened too, and the list goes on. We are humans who all long to feel something good inside of us. That's not a bad thing, but we must be mindful and careful of what we go to to make us feel good. God gave us laws and boundaries to help us to know when what we are feeling is either temporarily good or eternally good.
Man tries to hide the real laws because he wants to do his own will and not Gods. We try and hide it and think that we will get away with it, but God is not dumb! He knows and sees all and anyone who says or thinks otherwise is only keeping themselves blind to reality.
One of the many things that happens when the Law of the LORD is removed is a lost of convictions. We see this through schools. First, man removes praying in schools. Second, no teachers are allowed to teach their students biblical applications in public schools. Third, homosexuality is now becoming more and more welcomed and encouraged. Man removes laws because that law reveals something they don't want to know or care about.
I tell you what, we can try our hardest to try and remove and forget the laws God gave (and still gives to us), but we can only 'escape' for a time. We will one day stand before our Heavenly Father and we will have to answer for our actions.
Amen
God Bless!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
This is a small post, but it is to be an encouragement to you
A couple weeks ago I quit my job and God provided me with my 'dream job'. There was a two week gap between quitting my old job and beginning my new on. During those couple weeks God brought me through many things. I went through three specific things: discouragement, Did I do the right thing by quitting my old job so soon?, attacks on my mind, and sorrow. God was so WONDERFUL in opening my eyes to hear what He was saying through it all! I would get discourage, but God would come in with strength and truth. I would have a million things in my mind causing me to be SO confused and left in a snare. God would bring in upon a friends heart to pray and call me to encourage me. I would have sorrow because I have no money to go out and do stuff with my friends or even friends to go out and do stuff with because they are either at work or in school. God brought me home my little sister for a couple days to cheer me up.
I tell you these things because I want your eyes to be open too. God is not human! He can be everywhere at once and never sleeps or slumbers. We sometimes get trapped in a human mind and forget that God is not us! He is NEVER too busy for us! He wants us to learn more about Him and He about us. There is Grace for every trial! There is grace for everything and all we need to do is cry out for it!
Open your mind to hear when God is saying to you, "Cry out for my grace now!" He sees what is ahead and wants us to pass through every trial alive and stronger!
One last thing I have to say as an encouragement. TALK MORE ABOUT WHAT GREAT THINGS GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU!!!! As it was Thanksgiving last week, God has been continually speaking to me, "Listen to what my people have to say. Learn from their experience and allow me to use you to speak to them!"
Amen :-)
God Bless
I tell you these things because I want your eyes to be open too. God is not human! He can be everywhere at once and never sleeps or slumbers. We sometimes get trapped in a human mind and forget that God is not us! He is NEVER too busy for us! He wants us to learn more about Him and He about us. There is Grace for every trial! There is grace for everything and all we need to do is cry out for it!
Open your mind to hear when God is saying to you, "Cry out for my grace now!" He sees what is ahead and wants us to pass through every trial alive and stronger!
One last thing I have to say as an encouragement. TALK MORE ABOUT WHAT GREAT THINGS GOD HAS DONE FOR YOU!!!! As it was Thanksgiving last week, God has been continually speaking to me, "Listen to what my people have to say. Learn from their experience and allow me to use you to speak to them!"
Amen :-)
God Bless
Sunday, October 9, 2011
We are called to be Christ-like! We are in this world, not to be of it, but to show them what they cannot see. To show them that life on earth isn't forever and that they're walking on a path that leads to eternal death. As Christians we tend to fear the world more then our Lord and it prevents us from speaking the truth to others around us. We must sacrifice our fears and take that step out in faith, with hope, and with love! God is speaking to me about how He wants me to practice these three things more and more! We need faith and what is faith? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. Now what's hope? Hope is taking that step out without knowing what is going to happen, but believing God's in control of this! And Love is what we need to be able to do the first two for someone whom we don't even know. We must take that first step of faith, when we hear from God, and continue in hope, in the middle of the trial where we don't seem to hear anything, but are hopeful, and then Love for the one we are doing it for!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
I was walking this evening in the rain and I wanted to pray, but I didn't really know what to pray about. So, when you don't have anything to pray for speak in tongues. A little after I started speaking in tongues God put some words in my mind. "Lift your vision high, we're in a way we've never been before! For without a progressive vision you will dwell carelessly" and these words kept going through my mind and each time God brought His feelings about this into my heart. He caused me to feel the seriousness of these words in this day and age!
In our morning service my Pastor spoke on the defense part of an army. God is raising up an army and we must listen to what He is teaching us! We cannot go into battle when we have no equipment. We must be equipped, have the strength and knowledge to handle the equipment, and lastly have our complete Armour on! Also, we must make sure that our WHOLE Armour is on and that there is no space for the enemy to sneak through!
Another point my Pastor brought out was that God wants us to be studying and continually learning because we MUST have the answers for the people who have questions! We sometimes may pray for God to give us people to minister to, but if we have no knowledge of what we say we believe in then He cannot use us to do what we ask Him to do! He wants us to be continually learning, meditating day and night, and equipping ourselves with the answers to questions that people will ask us!
The next thought God brought to me was on 'Difficult'. Each day is a new day full of new things both easy and hard. God is strengthening and maturing His army by bringing them through difficult trials. When things get hard, will you just give up? or will you fight the good fight?
One last thought: Matthew 22:14 - MANY are called, but FEW are chosen! God wants those who are faithful, tried, and true! The ones who listened and equipped themselves with the truth and those who will fight the good fight!!!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
GOT STRENGTH?
I was sitting in one of our Bible Certificate Program at my church. The course was on "True Christianity" a book written by Rev. Paul Caram. This book is an excellent book! It is an eye opening and convicting book! This evening our teacher taught on a portion of "Strength" and I wanted to share some of the pointers on strength and what it is. Mostly because it was an eye opener for me and I want it to be one for you too.
In this day and age, Christians, are without a doubt struggling left and right. God is bringing trials into our lives and it is to cause us to make a decision! No more "sitting on the fence"! God does not force us to do anything. The Christian walk is one that we follow Gods way, but we must remember that it is a choice. Some aren't willing to make that choice, others are, and many are in between. We are always hearing about Grace and asking God to give us Grace, but I also feel that we lack in the area of asking for strength!
In this day and age, Christians, are without a doubt struggling left and right. God is bringing trials into our lives and it is to cause us to make a decision! No more "sitting on the fence"! God does not force us to do anything. The Christian walk is one that we follow Gods way, but we must remember that it is a choice. Some aren't willing to make that choice, others are, and many are in between. We are always hearing about Grace and asking God to give us Grace, but I also feel that we lack in the area of asking for strength!
What is Strength?
Wisdom, humility are both strength! Being able to handle failure is a sign of strength (not giving up even though it gets tough). Strength is also, being ruined by success (don’t allow yourself to become over confident). It is the ability to cope with reproach and not being governed by those who reproach you. It is also facing the lose of something.
When do you know that you have true Strength?
The mark of true strength is to not be easily turned to the right or the left. Also, by having a right response to difficulties and long delays. Strength is when you are able to conquer fears. Fear is what takes away our faith and strength. There is a good and a wrong fear. We need to learn what our fears are and pray that God will help us to over come them because wrong fears can paralyze us! God wants us to overcome our fears because if we don't then they will keep us from entering into His fullness for us and our inheritance!
Properly handling injustice/hurt. God is more interested in how we handle our self and attitude then anything else. Our dependence should be found in God! Strength is not depending on our own strength, but it is depending upon God. Be whole hearted and filled with the Fruits of the Spirit! God wants His people to be fully equipped for what He has planned for us! We must realize that we are the Joshua Generation, the generation that will bring our land to deliverance but we cannot do it with our own strength! We need the continue day by day strength of God!
Blessings to you all!
When do you know that you have true Strength?
The mark of true strength is to not be easily turned to the right or the left. Also, by having a right response to difficulties and long delays. Strength is when you are able to conquer fears. Fear is what takes away our faith and strength. There is a good and a wrong fear. We need to learn what our fears are and pray that God will help us to over come them because wrong fears can paralyze us! God wants us to overcome our fears because if we don't then they will keep us from entering into His fullness for us and our inheritance!
Properly handling injustice/hurt. God is more interested in how we handle our self and attitude then anything else. Our dependence should be found in God! Strength is not depending on our own strength, but it is depending upon God. Be whole hearted and filled with the Fruits of the Spirit! God wants His people to be fully equipped for what He has planned for us! We must realize that we are the Joshua Generation, the generation that will bring our land to deliverance but we cannot do it with our own strength! We need the continue day by day strength of God!
Blessings to you all!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Labor for Eternity
"Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree bears her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call." Joel 2:21-32
One of the sermons my Pastor spoke on (09/04/11) was about Labor. The main point of his message was that our time on earth is considered labor for eternity. We are to consider what we are laboring on in this earth. Make sure that it is not labor for earthly things! We want to get to Heaven and find that our labors on earth was fruitful.
My Pastor brought up this verse in Joel and I wanted to use to encourage those who are getting discouraged or losing faith. Be not full of sorrow, but be glad and rejoice for things will change soon! God promises it and repeats Himself throughout scripture and this chapter. Hold onto those promises that He gives to you and continue to labor. If you find that you haven't been laboring in the right things; now is your time to make that decision to labor in what God has planned for you to labor in! Don't run from it because it will only bring you more sorrow and suffering! Do allow yourself to be lazy and one day find yourself with with all earthly things and nothing eternal!
I pray that God would touch the hearts of those who come and read my blog. I post stuff because I want people to understand who God is and why I serve and live each day for Him! He is the way, truth, and life and I have been brought through many situations that caused me to realize my need for Him and that I cannot go through this life on earth without Him and His saving grace, unconditional everlasting love, and Holy Spirit! So if you come to my blog and read my post, know that I really am praying for you that God would get a hold of your life and make Himself real and true to you like He did for me and start laboring in the right things!
God Bless :)
One of the sermons my Pastor spoke on (09/04/11) was about Labor. The main point of his message was that our time on earth is considered labor for eternity. We are to consider what we are laboring on in this earth. Make sure that it is not labor for earthly things! We want to get to Heaven and find that our labors on earth was fruitful.
My Pastor brought up this verse in Joel and I wanted to use to encourage those who are getting discouraged or losing faith. Be not full of sorrow, but be glad and rejoice for things will change soon! God promises it and repeats Himself throughout scripture and this chapter. Hold onto those promises that He gives to you and continue to labor. If you find that you haven't been laboring in the right things; now is your time to make that decision to labor in what God has planned for you to labor in! Don't run from it because it will only bring you more sorrow and suffering! Do allow yourself to be lazy and one day find yourself with with all earthly things and nothing eternal!
I pray that God would touch the hearts of those who come and read my blog. I post stuff because I want people to understand who God is and why I serve and live each day for Him! He is the way, truth, and life and I have been brought through many situations that caused me to realize my need for Him and that I cannot go through this life on earth without Him and His saving grace, unconditional everlasting love, and Holy Spirit! So if you come to my blog and read my post, know that I really am praying for you that God would get a hold of your life and make Himself real and true to you like He did for me and start laboring in the right things!
God Bless :)
We make time for the things we love/treasure the most!
God has been teaching me lately about time and what I am spending or even investing my time in doing. Time is important and what we do with it! Most people would ask why is it important to worry about how you spend your time? Life is short and you should just enjoy it. Well it is true, our life is short here on earth, but that is why we must be wise with our time. Revival is near and God is trying to prepare His people for what is coming. I know that I don't want Revival to come and I'm found not prepared! Even thinking about that makes me realize that my Heavenly Father would not be pleased with me and I live longing to find His favor upon my life! In our Wednesday service our speaker said these words that touch me in a great way, "Only those who please God can find true contentment." I want God's favor always to be on my life.
We are living in a generation that waste their time watching too much TV, texting, sleeping too much, over eating, partying and the list goes on. God wants to show us new and amazing things, but we tend to fill our time up so that He can't show amazing things. I attended our church camp last month and each day we experience new and absolutely amazingly new things! I want to get to the point where I have that everyday of my life! Walking with Jesus everywhere I go!
Preparation is a daily task! Each day God has planned before the creation of the Heaven and Earth and I don't know about you, but I want to find out what God has planned for me and walk in it daily! I want to invest in my Heavenly Home! I do not want to get to Heaven and find that I wasted so much time and settled for less then what God had planned for me!
Amen!
We are living in a generation that waste their time watching too much TV, texting, sleeping too much, over eating, partying and the list goes on. God wants to show us new and amazing things, but we tend to fill our time up so that He can't show amazing things. I attended our church camp last month and each day we experience new and absolutely amazingly new things! I want to get to the point where I have that everyday of my life! Walking with Jesus everywhere I go!
Preparation is a daily task! Each day God has planned before the creation of the Heaven and Earth and I don't know about you, but I want to find out what God has planned for me and walk in it daily! I want to invest in my Heavenly Home! I do not want to get to Heaven and find that I wasted so much time and settled for less then what God had planned for me!
Amen!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Psalms 27:1-6
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD."
I am thankful that I am a Christian! I believe and servant a God who gives me strength when I am weak in this world. He is my God and I live each day hoping to please Him in what I do. It amazes me that, when I see my errors, God still loves and cares for me. He still helps me and picks me up when I fall down. Some days I feel like I'm always falling down and one thing God wants us to know is; we [mortals] will always fall in our walk and He doesn't want us to be discourage about it. Our fall is an opening of our eyes to what God wants us to give to Him and allow Him to cut it from the root! I love this one portion of scripture: "...even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell..." God wants us to know this! He put it into the Bible to let us know that HE CARES about us and we need not fear or be discourage when it seems like we're always failing! If God is for us, then WHO can STAND against us? The answer to that is NO ONE!!!! Which is why we must give ourselves to God fully and believe that, though the victory seems to be on the enemies side, God is with us and if we allow Him to consecrate our lives, then the victory will soon be ours!
Blessings to you all!
I am thankful that I am a Christian! I believe and servant a God who gives me strength when I am weak in this world. He is my God and I live each day hoping to please Him in what I do. It amazes me that, when I see my errors, God still loves and cares for me. He still helps me and picks me up when I fall down. Some days I feel like I'm always falling down and one thing God wants us to know is; we [mortals] will always fall in our walk and He doesn't want us to be discourage about it. Our fall is an opening of our eyes to what God wants us to give to Him and allow Him to cut it from the root! I love this one portion of scripture: "...even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell..." God wants us to know this! He put it into the Bible to let us know that HE CARES about us and we need not fear or be discourage when it seems like we're always failing! If God is for us, then WHO can STAND against us? The answer to that is NO ONE!!!! Which is why we must give ourselves to God fully and believe that, though the victory seems to be on the enemies side, God is with us and if we allow Him to consecrate our lives, then the victory will soon be ours!
Blessings to you all!
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Discernment (Hebrews 4:12)
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12
We are living in a time where we need to have an increasing of discernment. There will be the Anti-Christ who will arise and will deceive many people through beauty, prosperity, and by promising many other worldly treasures. We must dig into the Word so that we may eat of the Bread of Life. This Bread is not only life, but truth and we must eat this truth so that it may dwell within us. We must know the truth so that we may be able to discern what is false once it has come!
Once we have discerned what is false we must avoid it and not mess around with it! If you play with the false it will eventually gasp a hold of you and take over you. It's not that it's just false, but it's a Spirit and if you mess around with the false you are messing around with a Spirit. That is dangerous and can lead you down a road of destruction.
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword" The words in the Bible were planned, by God, before the word was created. He has these exact words in the Bible and they carry a power that is sharper then a two-edged sword. If you actually take time to read Gods word daily and open your heart to listen and feel the meaning of the words you can also feel a power. What is that power? It is the Spirit of the Lord that is in the words. Words are so important! I do believe that there are Spirits behind each word and that Gods Word is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Gods word is "piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit". When we read it, it also pointing on an area of your heart that needs to be dealt with. This is one reason why many people don't read their bibles! They want to think in their minds that they are a good Christian, but they don't want to read Gods word which will point to an area of their life where they need to deal with [such as an idol]. We need to love the word and be open to that piercing. If you want to please your Heavenly Father, then allow His to touch areas of your life through His piercing word.
We are living in a time where we need to have an increasing of discernment. There will be the Anti-Christ who will arise and will deceive many people through beauty, prosperity, and by promising many other worldly treasures. We must dig into the Word so that we may eat of the Bread of Life. This Bread is not only life, but truth and we must eat this truth so that it may dwell within us. We must know the truth so that we may be able to discern what is false once it has come!
Once we have discerned what is false we must avoid it and not mess around with it! If you play with the false it will eventually gasp a hold of you and take over you. It's not that it's just false, but it's a Spirit and if you mess around with the false you are messing around with a Spirit. That is dangerous and can lead you down a road of destruction.
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword" The words in the Bible were planned, by God, before the word was created. He has these exact words in the Bible and they carry a power that is sharper then a two-edged sword. If you actually take time to read Gods word daily and open your heart to listen and feel the meaning of the words you can also feel a power. What is that power? It is the Spirit of the Lord that is in the words. Words are so important! I do believe that there are Spirits behind each word and that Gods Word is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Gods word is "piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit". When we read it, it also pointing on an area of your heart that needs to be dealt with. This is one reason why many people don't read their bibles! They want to think in their minds that they are a good Christian, but they don't want to read Gods word which will point to an area of their life where they need to deal with [such as an idol]. We need to love the word and be open to that piercing. If you want to please your Heavenly Father, then allow His to touch areas of your life through His piercing word.
God Bless!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
We are living in a time where the enemy is VERY active! We need to realize what power God has given to us. This great power is called prayer! By prayer we can move the mountains and the enemy knows what great power there is in prayer. He trys to destroy that power or prevent us from using this power by causing us to think doubts and have little faith. Praying without believeing (without faith) that God is listening and will bring this to past in season is a waste of time. We must speak with our lips, believe with our hearts, and know in our minds that He will answer!
Through prayer we can also learn to hear Gods voice. This is another reason why Satan does not want us to pray. If we listen and learn to know Gods voice he cannot trick us. Satan uses the worldliness a lot of times to speak to us and we must learn and know what voice is speaking! He need to listen to when He sayes: "NO!", "not yet", and "it's time". Prayer is one key to learning how to hear and know God's voice.
Everyone has a question and everyone that has a question wants to have an answer. If we have a question we must ask God through prayer and continue to ask until He responds! He doesn't want us to stay in a pitt of confussion so if you believe that you've allowed the enemy to speak that into you! Don't believe that because God is ALL KNOWING and He wants us to know the answers! Pray, seek through His Word so that you may know the truth and that it may set you free!
God wants to bless us (Ps. 68:19), He wants us to choose to do that which is pleasing to Him (Is. 56:4), to receive the enternal He has choosen for us (Is 56:4), to come to Him when we are weary and burden so that He may give us rest (Mt. 11:28), He wants us to know Him and He you (Jer. 24:7), to provide for you in perfect season (Dt. 11:14).
Begin praying for yourself. Not for selfish or worldly things, but for breakthroughs, peace, and strength etc. As you start out praying for yourself allow God to use you to lift up others to Him! Sacrifice you time to Him in prayer and allow Him to use you to pray for others!
Amen!
Through prayer we can also learn to hear Gods voice. This is another reason why Satan does not want us to pray. If we listen and learn to know Gods voice he cannot trick us. Satan uses the worldliness a lot of times to speak to us and we must learn and know what voice is speaking! He need to listen to when He sayes: "NO!", "not yet", and "it's time". Prayer is one key to learning how to hear and know God's voice.
Everyone has a question and everyone that has a question wants to have an answer. If we have a question we must ask God through prayer and continue to ask until He responds! He doesn't want us to stay in a pitt of confussion so if you believe that you've allowed the enemy to speak that into you! Don't believe that because God is ALL KNOWING and He wants us to know the answers! Pray, seek through His Word so that you may know the truth and that it may set you free!
God wants to bless us (Ps. 68:19), He wants us to choose to do that which is pleasing to Him (Is. 56:4), to receive the enternal He has choosen for us (Is 56:4), to come to Him when we are weary and burden so that He may give us rest (Mt. 11:28), He wants us to know Him and He you (Jer. 24:7), to provide for you in perfect season (Dt. 11:14).
Begin praying for yourself. Not for selfish or worldly things, but for breakthroughs, peace, and strength etc. As you start out praying for yourself allow God to use you to lift up others to Him! Sacrifice you time to Him in prayer and allow Him to use you to pray for others!
Amen!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Waiting
If you truly love someone, then you should be willing to wait for them! God has given His people many promises and we tend to give up quickly and forget those promises, but God has been stirring up my heart recently to not give up! Hold fast to the grace received and remember that He will be faithful to complete the work He began in you!
Amen :)
Amen :)
Monday, May 2, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom: Leadership V.1 By Dr. Brian J. Bailey
Wisdom is one of the qualities of 'Great Leadership'. (Wisdom is the ability to make the right choices.)
The seven pillars of wisdom are:
1.) Pure- Victory over the passions and lusts of the flesh (free from discordant [disagreements]qualities). Our motives must be pure so that when we are held up to the light we may be found true and not deceitful.
2.) Peaceable- This word means to have a peaceful nature. One who is peaceable seeks to live in unity with others. (The key to unity is humility!)
3.) Gentle- One must remember that we must have the law of kindness on our lips when we speak! A leader must have gentle speech and remember who they are speaking to. So many tend to be rough with people and in so doing they wound the sensibilities of those to whom they are speaking to. (* A leader must remember that his speech and touch must be cradled in gentleness!)
4.) Easy to be intreated- Intreated means to plea to someone. So, easy to be intreated means that he is one who gives a listening ear to those who have a need/plea. He is sympathetic to the views of others and yields in the unimportant matters in life. Most people now don't even give a listening ear, but a leader is and must be willing to listen and give what he can. (Be that leader who people come to because they know he will listen! Also, make sure you have discernment!)
5.) Full of mercy and good fruits- As a leader you must realize that those whom you are leading will continually fail, but the constant admonition (cautionary advice about something imminent [concerning something that will occur soon]) we are given is, "You must never give up on them!" Remember, though we fall, though we fall, we shall not be cast down for the Lord upholds (causes us to remain or last) us with His hands! We shall not be cast down for He is upholding us with His hands. So as leaders under Christ we must not cast our sheep aside, but be a Christ-like leader and uphold them. Don't give up on them!!!
6.) Without partiality- This means that leader must treat all equally regardless of the position or relationship!!! Favortism does not please the Lord and He will deal with those who have partiality in them! It is easier to like those who obey you and seem to never faill, but God wants us to leader everyone and by everyone He did mean those who do well and those who seem to fail, fail, and fail! Jesus came to earth and was the example of a leader and who do not see anywhere in the Bible Him showing partiality. (Invest you time in those who seem to keep failing! God never gives up on upholding us! We must not give up upholding eachother!)
7.) Without hypocrisy- A leader must be genuine!!!!! God does not want us to be double life leaders! Those who have been given a leadership position and are a hypocritical with it! (Be that leader who practices that which he preaches and encourages others to live by!)
I am doing a study on leadership and I am studying from "Leadership" by: Dr. Brian J. Bailey. If you would also like to further your study in the area of leadership, please visit http://www.zcpublishers.com/ and type in 'Leadership' in the search box and purchase your own book for only $8.00. Also, feel free to browse through all of the books and see if there are some other books you might be interested in purchasing and studying.
God Bless!
The seven pillars of wisdom are:
1.) Pure- Victory over the passions and lusts of the flesh (free from discordant [disagreements]qualities). Our motives must be pure so that when we are held up to the light we may be found true and not deceitful.
2.) Peaceable- This word means to have a peaceful nature. One who is peaceable seeks to live in unity with others. (The key to unity is humility!)
3.) Gentle- One must remember that we must have the law of kindness on our lips when we speak! A leader must have gentle speech and remember who they are speaking to. So many tend to be rough with people and in so doing they wound the sensibilities of those to whom they are speaking to. (* A leader must remember that his speech and touch must be cradled in gentleness!)
4.) Easy to be intreated- Intreated means to plea to someone. So, easy to be intreated means that he is one who gives a listening ear to those who have a need/plea. He is sympathetic to the views of others and yields in the unimportant matters in life. Most people now don't even give a listening ear, but a leader is and must be willing to listen and give what he can. (Be that leader who people come to because they know he will listen! Also, make sure you have discernment!)
5.) Full of mercy and good fruits- As a leader you must realize that those whom you are leading will continually fail, but the constant admonition (cautionary advice about something imminent [concerning something that will occur soon]) we are given is, "You must never give up on them!" Remember, though we fall, though we fall, we shall not be cast down for the Lord upholds (causes us to remain or last) us with His hands! We shall not be cast down for He is upholding us with His hands. So as leaders under Christ we must not cast our sheep aside, but be a Christ-like leader and uphold them. Don't give up on them!!!
6.) Without partiality- This means that leader must treat all equally regardless of the position or relationship!!! Favortism does not please the Lord and He will deal with those who have partiality in them! It is easier to like those who obey you and seem to never faill, but God wants us to leader everyone and by everyone He did mean those who do well and those who seem to fail, fail, and fail! Jesus came to earth and was the example of a leader and who do not see anywhere in the Bible Him showing partiality. (Invest you time in those who seem to keep failing! God never gives up on upholding us! We must not give up upholding eachother!)
7.) Without hypocrisy- A leader must be genuine!!!!! God does not want us to be double life leaders! Those who have been given a leadership position and are a hypocritical with it! (Be that leader who practices that which he preaches and encourages others to live by!)
I am doing a study on leadership and I am studying from "Leadership" by: Dr. Brian J. Bailey. If you would also like to further your study in the area of leadership, please visit http://www.zcpublishers.com/ and type in 'Leadership' in the search box and purchase your own book for only $8.00. Also, feel free to browse through all of the books and see if there are some other books you might be interested in purchasing and studying.
God Bless!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
God will never give us a trial beyond our capability!
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
- I Cor. 10:13
Take comfort in knowing that God doesn't give Job size trials to the new in faith. The Apostle Paul states that God will never give us a trial or a test beyond our capability! (Trial of the Saints: Ten trials from the book of Daniel, written by Rev. Daniel Caram)
Amen!
God Bless
Friday, April 8, 2011
Spring Convention 2011
This week I attended our Spring church convention and words cannot seem to describe how strong, clear, comforting, and convicting Gods message was for myself.
God is so good! He wants us to take His yoke (His law) and learn of Him [Matthew 11:29]. You know we think that God is so demanding and hard, but He is not! Matthew 11:30 He says, "For my yoke [my law] is easy, and my burden [task or service] is light."
We need to be investing our time in knowing who our God really is, in creating a stronger relationship with Him, and dwelling in His presence! If we go back to verse 29 we learn that He is humble, meek, and lowly. He wants us to be humble and lowly, to esteem others before our self, just like what He did for us. I was teaching the younger kids Sunday School last week and they were learning about the 31 kings in a Christian walk and about JOY. We, as humans, want to have true joy! As Christians, we must be willing to allow a change in our mindset. Let us remember that true joy can only be: Jesus first, Others second, and then Yourself must be last. This is so hard for us to do because we think 'to be humble and lowly' means to be sad and down, but it's now! That is a bird of lies that flies over our heads and tries to lay a nest. True joy is putting God first, others next, and yourself last! We need to kick that 'birds nest' off our head and be willing to put God FIRST, others NEXT, and yourself LAST! (God wants us to dedicate our lives and be changed by the renewing of our minds; having minds like Christ.)
His grace is so very sufficient for our needs. God is wanting a people who are willing to be made more like Him. He wants us to be completely willing to surrender ALL our will to Him alone. I look back and I see nothing, but an abundance of Gods grace. His Grace still amazes me and His love is still a mystery each day!
That reminds me of the words to one of the songs my sister wrote:
Surrender ALL your will and desire for Him to fill you! He is faithful and satisfies us! We just need to discover that! 8*) Conform me Lord to YOUR plan!
God wants willing hearts! People that will surrender their all and allow Him to use us (to conform us) to fulfill His plan. A guest speaker spoke to the youth and He said something that really gave myself a slap in the face, but it is true! He said to us, "I don't think we realize that God doesn't need our help!" That is painful to hear, but it is really true! He can do it alone, but He is an awesome God and He allows us to be able to say 'He is my God and He wants to use me to fulfill something I cannot even fathom!' Hearing those words made me realize how small I really am. When we go out into the world and work with them a lot we begin to get big heads and we start to forget who really is the one who needs help! We must continually remind ourselves that without God we are nothing and that we have the victory only through Jesus!
Humble ourselves in the eyes of our LORD! In Second Chronicles chapter seven and verse fourteen it says, "If my people, who are called by my name, would humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." We must have a completely willing to humble ourselves not in our own eyes, but in the eyes of our lord, then will He: listen, forgive, and heal. We must understand the importance of this verse because we are living in the time where our nation is loosing the favor and we must be those people who are willing to humble themselves and pray for our nation! So many lives depend on me humbling myself before God (it's the humble that receive the Grace of God!). Humility is the key to unity!!!
God also spoke in the services that we must seek righteousness and meekness.
Seek Righteousness: it is important that we love righteousness and hate wickedness! God loves and delights in those who do righteousness. "Blessed are they who hunger after righteousness; for they shall be filled." Be ye filled with righteousness of God [holiness is to be different; separate from iniquity!]
Seek Meekness: To be meek is to be tamed (one who will sit until he is beckoned), one who is broken and complete submission, no reaction to what other people say or conditions [learn to control yourself!] "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."
Be dependant upon God and He shall preserve you! No more double standards, but allow God to do a cleansing work in you! Be transparent before God!
Amen! God bless!
God is so good! He wants us to take His yoke (His law) and learn of Him [Matthew 11:29]. You know we think that God is so demanding and hard, but He is not! Matthew 11:30 He says, "For my yoke [my law] is easy, and my burden [task or service] is light."
We need to be investing our time in knowing who our God really is, in creating a stronger relationship with Him, and dwelling in His presence! If we go back to verse 29 we learn that He is humble, meek, and lowly. He wants us to be humble and lowly, to esteem others before our self, just like what He did for us. I was teaching the younger kids Sunday School last week and they were learning about the 31 kings in a Christian walk and about JOY. We, as humans, want to have true joy! As Christians, we must be willing to allow a change in our mindset. Let us remember that true joy can only be: Jesus first, Others second, and then Yourself must be last. This is so hard for us to do because we think 'to be humble and lowly' means to be sad and down, but it's now! That is a bird of lies that flies over our heads and tries to lay a nest. True joy is putting God first, others next, and yourself last! We need to kick that 'birds nest' off our head and be willing to put God FIRST, others NEXT, and yourself LAST! (God wants us to dedicate our lives and be changed by the renewing of our minds; having minds like Christ.)
His grace is so very sufficient for our needs. God is wanting a people who are willing to be made more like Him. He wants us to be completely willing to surrender ALL our will to Him alone. I look back and I see nothing, but an abundance of Gods grace. His Grace still amazes me and His love is still a mystery each day!
That reminds me of the words to one of the songs my sister wrote:
One burning desire,
Is to be more like you!
How long Oh LORD,
'til I awake in Your likeness?
Empty me of every hindrance!
Fill me, with more of your Spirit,
Lord, I surrender all my will.
Let your hand come touch my heart once again,
Conform me Lord to your plan
I don't want to be the same,
Change me in Your presence day by day
Surrender ALL your will and desire for Him to fill you! He is faithful and satisfies us! We just need to discover that! 8*) Conform me Lord to YOUR plan!
God wants willing hearts! People that will surrender their all and allow Him to use us (to conform us) to fulfill His plan. A guest speaker spoke to the youth and He said something that really gave myself a slap in the face, but it is true! He said to us, "I don't think we realize that God doesn't need our help!" That is painful to hear, but it is really true! He can do it alone, but He is an awesome God and He allows us to be able to say 'He is my God and He wants to use me to fulfill something I cannot even fathom!' Hearing those words made me realize how small I really am. When we go out into the world and work with them a lot we begin to get big heads and we start to forget who really is the one who needs help! We must continually remind ourselves that without God we are nothing and that we have the victory only through Jesus!
Humble ourselves in the eyes of our LORD! In Second Chronicles chapter seven and verse fourteen it says, "If my people, who are called by my name, would humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." We must have a completely willing to humble ourselves not in our own eyes, but in the eyes of our lord, then will He: listen, forgive, and heal. We must understand the importance of this verse because we are living in the time where our nation is loosing the favor and we must be those people who are willing to humble themselves and pray for our nation! So many lives depend on me humbling myself before God (it's the humble that receive the Grace of God!). Humility is the key to unity!!!
God also spoke in the services that we must seek righteousness and meekness.
Seek Righteousness: it is important that we love righteousness and hate wickedness! God loves and delights in those who do righteousness. "Blessed are they who hunger after righteousness; for they shall be filled." Be ye filled with righteousness of God [holiness is to be different; separate from iniquity!]
Seek Meekness: To be meek is to be tamed (one who will sit until he is beckoned), one who is broken and complete submission, no reaction to what other people say or conditions [learn to control yourself!] "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."
Be dependant upon God and He shall preserve you! No more double standards, but allow God to do a cleansing work in you! Be transparent before God!
Amen! God bless!
A Heart Fully Committed to God
Man needs to face the biggest giant of all and that is the need for a pure heart.
Psalms 19:8 - "The statues of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes."
When our hearts are pure our eyes have a clear vision and our heart has a certain understanding and ability to interpret scripture with a right mind. Understanding is more an issue of the heart than the mind. Truth is only revealed to the honest and pure hearts!
Our greatest foe is a heart that is not fully surrendered to God! The issue is not the hearing of truth but the love for it!
From Dr. Paul G. Carams book, Hermeneutics Keys for Interpreting the Scriptures, He says, "Deception overtakes people not because truth is unavailable, but because "men loved darkness rather than light." They did not receive a love for the truth. I say it again, our heart must be fully surrendered to God.
God wants us to dedicate our lives and be changed by the renewing of our minds. Having the mind of Christ. In the book of Matthew chapter eleven and verse twenty nine, he brings out two aspects of Gods nature: meek and lowly [humble] heart. We, as Gods people, must be willing to be humbled and meek. Dwell and abide in His presence because He dwells with those who have a humble and contrite spirit!
We must have a humility in our mind and esteem others above ourself.
My final thought is God allowed us to be on the border, but we are now in a time where God is commanding us, His people, to make a decision. He doesn't want us to be forced to serve Him, but to have a willingness! A heart that is fully committed to Him! Single eyed!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Proverbs 18:3
"When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach."
Wicked - meaning those who are guilty, ungodly, and condemned
cometh - to attain or to carry
contempt - some synonyms for this word would be: disrespect or scorn. A dictionary definition for this word: 1. lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike, 2. a manner that is generally disrespectful and contemptuous, 3. open disrespect for a person or thing, and 4. a willful disobedience to or disrespect for the authority of a court or legislative body .
ignominy - synonyms: shame or dishonor. Definition: a state of dishonor
reproach - a mild rebuke or criticism
So now that we defined some of the main words in this verse we can put them together with a better understanding.
When the guilty, condemned, and ungodly come, then comes the scorn, disrespectful, and willful disobedient, and with shame and dishonor rebuke.
We learn in this verse that the wicked bears nor brings forth nothing good. They are the guilty, condemned, the ungodly. Their character is disrespectful, willfully disobedient, they bring dishonor and shame.
One thing I have learned about shame is that once it has a good hold onto you it's hard to destroy. It eats you up and eventually uses you to cause shame in other people. No one likes to show what they are ashamed of. What causes us to be ashamed? Criticism! When people point out our faults we become ashamed.
In this verse I also hear a warning: And that is: we must be careful of our surroundings! Last Sunday Evening the message was about 'Drinking from the Right Well' and the speaker said this, "It takes a special grace to not partake of the world! We must not drink of the waters of this world" If we don't have that special grace and we find ourselves surrounded by the wrong environment, life will be hard and no guarantee of staying on the path! We must have Grace!!! I'll admit the only thing that keeps me going at my job is the Grace of God. If His Grace isn't there then I know I must move on to another place. I have felt life with His Grace and without His Grace and I cannot life without it! Stay with His Grace!
I want to conclude by saying this: Please remember when this: when the wicked come he bring willful disrespect, shame, dishonor, and criticism.
Amen
God Bless!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Your Grace Still Amazes Me: Sung by Leah J. Anderson
Church of Mt. Zion: Erie, PA
Located: 18th & Liberty St., Erie PA
Our Telephone: (814) 456-1422
Church of Mt. Zion: Erie, PA
Located: 18th & Liberty St., Erie PA
Our Telephone: (814) 456-1422
Our Church Website: mtzionweb.org
The Church of Mt. Zion is a Full Gospel church with an emphasis on teaching, worship and missions.
We believe that the church age will end in great revival and that the great commission shall be fulfilled (Mat. 24:14). We must complete the acts of faith that our fathers saw from a distance! (See Heb. 11:39-40).
Proverbs 18:2
"A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself."
A fool hath no delight in understanding, - Why does he have no delight in understanding? and what is this understanding? I'll answer the second question first: This understanding is of the truth [Gods Word]. He does not delight in understanding the truth because the truth shows him that he is on the wrong path.
but that his heart may discover itself. - A fool seeks in darkness that he can discover what he wants to discover and forget all the things he wants to do. He wants to be 'free', but he does not know that he is blind to the fact that his 'freedom' is only for a time and is really bondage adding up.
Ex: The understanding [truth] is represented here as a bright light. No a fool he is represented as a lover of darkness. A fool loves the dark because he can go where ever he pleases and no care, but once that bright light of understanding comes closer and closer to him he gets mad. He does not like that light because it will show areas that he would rather keep in the dark.
Gods fire is like that bright light; He uses it to shine in a particular area of our heart that He knows needs to be dealt with. Through His light we can discover what is in our heart and we must not be a fool and try to hide it. We need to allow God to deal with that area now and not wait until it gets worse and harder to get ride of!
Let us make sure we are not lovers of darkness. May we be willing to allow God to shine His light upon us and deal with areas that need to be dealt with now!
God Bless :-)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Proverbs 18:1
"Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom."
Through desire a man, - We must be careful of what we desire! I say this because we love what we desire and what we love will, in time, come to us. If you desire evil things, then you will get it. If you desire God, then He shall come. Be careful though because people may appear walking on the right path, but if they are desiring evil in their head evil will come and they will leave the path to pursue more evil.
having separated himself, - Who is the 'he'?, Why is he separating? and from whom is he separating himself from?
1.) He is the fool
2.) He is separating himself because he [a fool] desires evil and evil has come to him.
3.) He is separating himself from the truth [God].
He desires evil and evil has now come to him. He loves it and is leaving the path he is on to pursue more evil.
seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom - (Proverbs 14:10; the heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy) Like it sayes in this verse, "our hearts knows its own bitterness." We all have a foolish nature and that is the 'old man'. Once we have chosen to follow Jesus we choose to put to death the 'old man' [foolish nature] and put on a new man. A fool puts on a fake 'new man', but keeps the heart of the 'old man'. He can only do this for so long before God makes the fools ways known. A fool does not like to hear the truth [wisdom], but those who have wisdom try to speak to the fool. The foolish man also has his prideful nature and so he trys to intermeddle [quarrel/interfere] with wisdom. He quarrels with wisdom and seeks to always win.
The warning God gave to me as I meditated on this verse was: We must be careful of what we desire! What you love [desire] will, in time, come to you!
God Bless
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Psalms 81:8-9
Psalms 81:8-9
"Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me; There shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any strange god."
There will always be a bondage that leads to a certain freedom. When the 'new man' is freed; then the 'old man' is put into bondage. If the 'old man' is freed, then the 'new man' is put into bondage! When I read these two verses it sounds like this: "Hear, O my people, if you will listen to me; there will not be a strange god in you."
If we listen to God, He will guide us, provide for us through all our trials and rejoicings. The 'strange god' here is what the old man feeds upon. He feeds on the god of self-pride, ignorance, worldliness, etc. The 'old man' does not like to surrender/submit to anyone. The 'new man' knows that there is more and longs for it. He has a willingness to listen and submit even when he is in a time where he does not understand.
In this verse we see 'O Israel' meaning the children of Israel whom God gave to them a leader to free them, but they did not allow their 'new man' to stay free. They submitted to the 'old man' and they were punished because the 'old man' choose to worship idols and caused the people to believe that God freed them from Eygpt just to lead them into a wilderness to die.
We need to get to the place where the 'old man' is bound and the 'new man' is free to worship our Lord. Just like one of my favorite uplifting songs I sing:
Set free to worship,
I'm set free to praise,
I'm set free rejoice before the Lord.
I'll laugh, i'll shout, i'll dance, i'll sing,
Hallelujah, Amen
Let praises ring.
Set free to rejoice forevermore!
It is easier to give up, just like the Israelites did and let the 'old man' free, but we must strive for the strength of God to keep the 'old man' bound and the 'new man' freed, so that we may worship our God, Savior, and King (especially in the dark times)!
Amen!
God Bless You All 8*)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)