Desire to be Fruitful...Invest Now!

I usually only post my images on my tumblr account, but I wanted to share this on my blog as well :)

Stop and Breathe In the Freedom

After we come through a trail, what honestly is the first thing we do? After we have gone through it and have come to the end of that trial, try to take the time to stop and breathe. Recognize that you have indeed been set free from something. "If the Son, therefore, shall set you free, ye shall be free indeed." Take a moment to let that thought soak in to your mind. Often times the enemy comes in afterwards to bring confusion and even doubts of whether we have been set free. Proclaim it!

Using the Children of Israel as an example: after they were set free from their captivity with Pharaoh in Egypt, they were more worried about the next step. Moses took the time to proclaim that the Son of God has set them free and praise Him for it. We see the children set a continual pattern of focusing on something else after every trial. We too might find ourselves doing this--worried about our next trial or something else, but let us take the time to stop and think. We pray for God to do something new in our lives and the truth is, He does, we just don't take time to pause and recognize that something new has happened. Breathe in the air of freedom from something and realize that it's something new in our life. We have to get use to it and of course Satan does not want to, but he wants us to fall back into that pit.

Stop, breathe in the new freedom & life divine and thank Him for what He has done!

Blessings to you all!

God Uses Stress for Our Good

Different types of stress on these plates creates earthquakes and other geological conditions. A rock's response to stress varies according to the type of rock, the surrounding temperatures, duration of the stress and the type of stress.

Compression Stress
Compression stress = squeezes rocks. This is the most common stress. Rocks squeezing together where plates are moving toward one another causes them to fold or break. These are called faults. Faults are cracks in the crust that cause earthquakes. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the stress factor on a surface, such as a fault plane, results from "forces applied perpendicular to the surface or from remote forces transmitted through the surrounding rock."

Tensional Stress
Rocks pulled apart are under tensional stress. Tensional stress is the major type of stress that occurs at plate boundaries. This type of stress happens when rocks stretch and become thin in the middle.

Shear Stress
Shear stress occurs when forces are parallel but move in opposite directions. This is the most common stress found at plate boundaries. Rocks are pushed in different directions, causing them to slip apart or change shape. Shear stress manifests as a seismic body wave that shakes the ground.

Read more: Three Types of Stress on the Earth's Crust | eHow http://www.ehow.com/info_8468366_three-types-stress-earths-crust.html#ixzz2UWO20dlN

The reason I posted these facts about stress with rocks is because God has been revealing something to me. We all are brought through different types of stress and  just as a rock responds to stress so do we. There are various types of rocks and there are various types of people. The temperature on earth changes and so does the heat of our trials change. 

God brings stress into our lives not to create an earthquake, but to create something beautiful. However, an earthquake can happen if we resist His work in our lives. God uses a shear stress to slip apart wrong relationships that would destroy us. He brings tensional stress to thin us of our self and stretch us to be able to stand the pressure of the future. Lastly, compressional stress may be used in different ways. It can be used to squeeze together a married couple on the mission field, to break a stubborn/rebellious mind and unite them with authority. 

It is amazing how we can learn more about God through studying His creation. All the earth bows down and sings praise to His name. May we remember to sing praises to His name during times of stress in our life.

God Bless!

He Paid a Debt He Did Not Owe; I Owed a Debt I Could Not Pay!

I want to wish everyone a happy Memorial Day. May we remember not just those who died for our country, but more importantly the greatest Man who ever lived on earth. The One who sacrificed His life so that we may have life and life abundantly, Jesus Christ. The shedding of His blood was the only way for us to be one and have life.

Be one with God and one with man; for we cannot say we love God if we have bitterness or hatred in our heart towards another man. Let it go! Allow God to work love into your heart. May we see the people all around us through the eyes of our Lord and not through our own eyes. Our eyes criticized and condemn others and put them and our self in bondage. I know that I have struggled with criticizing those around me, but thank God that He loved me enough to deal with me in this around of my character. Christ did not die so that we can criticize one another, but He died so that we can be ONE. Every situation we face has a different response we must play out. Seeking God in every situation is so very important.

Understand that we cannot be covered by the blood of the lamb if we are bruising a member of Gods body. God cares greatly for His body and its member's. One does not take his one foot and stomp on the other nor does he take a knife with one hand and stab the other with it. Yet we the church are doing this and may God open our eyes today to see what we, as an individual, are doing to another member.

If we desire, as captive ones, to be set free, then sometimes it will require ourselves setting others free. We set others free when we let go of the bitterness, hurt, pain, criticism, etc that we hold against them.

God Bless You!

God Gave Us Someone to Intercede for Us!

Ever feel like there is no one out there who cares or is able to help you right here right now? Well I want to remind you or maybe tell you for the very first time that this feeling is false. God became man so that He could be able to go through our experiences, overcome them and help us through it. Christ left, but when He left His Holy Spirit came. The Holy Spirit intercedes for the people of God. He knows their needs and He intercedes for us. What a wonderful thought! God cares enough for us that He sent us someone to intercede for us!

The Godhead (God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit) has deep feelings (Eph. 4:30; Jn. 11:35). He does care for us and the truth is He saved us and received us knowing all of our flaws. We only discover them day by day, but God knew about them before we even discovered they were there. God has feelings and He gave to us a Holy Spirit to intercede for us.

Do not push the Holy Spirit aside because He cares for you and is helping you. The Holy Spirit is a friend that sticks closer to you then a brother. He leads us, comforters us and intercedes for us. This is the kind of friend you want close to you! He can take something very difficult and make it easy to understand. He can untangle every knot. Take encouragement, take hope, take comfort in this truth. He is there for us and knows what we need before we even see it. 

Remember this, recite it to yourself and don't let the enemy blind you to this beautiful truth. The Godhead sees and intercedes for His people. 

Amen!?! Be encourage for the Comforter Intercedes for us.

God Wants Us to be Fruitful!

God is glorified when we bring forth fruit! If we were to have a chart that shows how much spiritual fruit we have produced up to this point, would we be disappointed with our selves? If we love God and are searching for a way to please Him, then go out and produce fruit when He tells you to do so. There are seven keys to producing fruit and much fruit. I know that I want to try my hardest to have a garden full of much fruit and not weeds and fruit that is dead. 

(1) Be planted in the right place--being planted in the wrong place is like being planted in a pot, you are going to produce very small fruit (Ps. 92:12-14).

(2) Be watered daily--you have to be watered in order to grow (1 Cor. 3:4,9). Being watered comes through the Word. Rain: Word; Spirit and we need both in order to grow (Deut. 32:2; Lev. 26:2). No rain, no growth!

(3) Be cultivated--digging around the plants to get the weeds out. Allow others to dig a little in your life and we too need to do a little bit of digging (Hosea 10:1). This may require seeking on your own and a breaking. Seek the Lord and allow Him to break up the fowl ground. We sometimes have to fall on the rock and be broken. 

(4) Be fertilized--God gives it to us to enrich our soil and this is fallen man that God uses to accomplish this (Lk. 13:6-9). North wind - adversity; South wind - pleasant experiences (SoS. 4:16). We need both experiences in our lives! 

(5) Be connected and stay connected to the True Vine--prayer life, communion with the Son and Holy Spirit, etc...Keys to be fruitful is to meditate upon the law (Word/Christ) day and night (Jn. 15:4). We have to abide, we have to remain in the source of true life.

(6) Be Pruned--Fruit, more fruit, and much fruit (Jn. 15:2-5). As we obey there is a pruning that takes place. God does not force us to do anything we are not willing to do. There are points in our life where God will say, "It's time to move away from this and on to this." Those things He asks are sacrifices to us and if we wish to become much fruit, then we must sacrifice what He asks. 

(7) Realize that it's All God!--In the end, all the fruit that we have was gained by God. He is the one who brings the increase of fruit into our lives (1 Cor. 3:7)! There are people who are here a season and gone, but God is looking for those who have remained and are willing to allow Him to perfect their life. Those are the ones whom God will bring an increase of fruit into their lives.

God Bless and be ye Much Fruitful!

Exodus 19:10-11

"And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:"

Meditating on Exodus 19:10-11, God quickened a thought to me. When His Son returns, we are going to be doing what we are doing now. What a scary thought! If we are preparing ourselves and preparing others, then we will be busy doing that when He comes. However, if we are sitting, not using our gifts from the Lord, and wasting the time given to us, then we will not be ready. We wont know how to use our gifts and it will be hard to help others because we ourselves are not ready.

We want to be a ready people that God can use to sanctify and prepare just as God appointed Moses to do in these verses. We must be ready, but we must also practice preparing others. We do not receive a reward for doing nothing and being unprepared. We receive our inheritance through accomplishing what God is requiring from us.

I hope you are encouraged to go out and continue or start preparing the way of the Lord.
God Bless!

We Are Gods Masterpiece!

When I saw this, I had to share it because this is us. I know that many of us have, are and will struggle with this. The way they talk things through, it is very helpful and I pray that this impacts you.

God Bless you all!

Stand in the Gap!

In our Wednesday Night Service, my Pastor spoke on, "Standing in the Gap." This really came to live in a new way to me and I wanted to share it with you. 

While Pastor was speaking, the thought came to me of Abraham and Lot. There was a point where Abraham pleaded with God that if there were any righteous men in the land of Sodom and Gomorrah, would God spare them? God said yes, but the thing is there was not even ten righteous men in the land. If Lot would have guarded his family better by not running after that which was appealing to the eye, then there would of been enough righteous men in the land to save them from destruction. Lot had the choice between two pieces of land and he went after land that was appealing to the eye. In the end he lost his family to the world and his wife who turned to look at the cities destruction and she became a pillar of salt. 

We are in a land that is like Sodom and Gomorrah. America is a land that is very appealing to the eye and many seek to come to this land. We, who are already in this land, must allow God to use us to stand in the gap for this land. Instead of focusing on that which is appealing to the eye, may we seek to intercede and stand in the gap for this land. We see it now, little by little America is losing its sovereignty. There is no way for America to turn around accept for revival and when that time comes we will see America humbled and crying out to God. But before that happens there must be those who are willing to stand in the gap and God is searching even now for those people.

Abraham pleaded with the Lord for Sodom and Gomorrah and God heard His requests. We must not accept the attitude of, "America is doomed and there is no hope for this country." If we will humble our self and pray, then God will hear us and will answer. 

May we be one that God can use to stand in the gap for others and for this land!

Blessings!

"Draw Me", Crieth My Heart

This really is quiet short, simple and to the point; it is not possible to draw close to God until we are drawn by Him. He will not draw us unless we have an open and willing heart. God does not want to draw those who are annoyed and disobedient, closer to Him.

May we be a vessel that is willing to have God search us and remove all that are hindrances and food to the disobedience. If you want to draw close to Him, then observe your response to Him. May we be one whom God desires to come to and draw us closer to Him. May our heart cry out, "Draw me, O Lord, that I may run after thee!"

God Bless!

Question for those who are following my blog:

I want to post a question for all who are following my blog: What has the Lord been speaking to you recently? 

Sometimes I feel that the Lord speaks so much to me and I fail to take it all in. Other times I ask myself, "Why isn't God speaking to me?" and a couple minutes later I realize He has been, it's just that I haven't been re-meditating upon it. So, if you wish, please share what the Lord has been speaking to you recently?

Every Day is Trash Day

Have you struggled with over thinking about all your short comings? Just like I said in my last blog post, it's only by Gods grace that we can accomplish what concerns us each new day. We have a bunch of "trash" that builds up within us; that is part of life that is lived in the world. I am ashamed to say that it is so easy to be drawn to the trash, but we want to seek to be like Jesus and resist. We see in Matthew 4 how Satan came and tempted Jesus with earthly temptations and so does Satan attempt to tempt us. This is why it is so very important to make sure that we come daily to the Lord and surrender all of the filth we have in us to the Lord.

One other thing that must be considered is this: once we remove something within us, we now have an empty and vacant spot opened up. As we wait, may we allow God to throw away that garbage we collected and replace it with His desires. Sometimes we may be very busy with working all the time, but we must find that time where we can come away and just sit and allow God to do that work in us.

God bless!

Truly it is Only by His Grace!

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."    Romans 15:13

May we never cease to forget that all that we are was only accomplished through His grace. There is a hope that we can hold onto for the future. We may have our flaws, but as we keep moving forward in Christ we will be able to overcome. God can do things in our lives without us even seeing or knowing it. One day, something will happen and God opens our eyes to see that our flaw has been worked out of us. Trust in Him and continue to cry out for His grace in every situation.

Blessings to you all!