And I am sure of this, that he that began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:6)
God is the one who starts the circle of life within us and who promises to complete that work, ensuring the circle is not without purpose. I am looking deeper into the things God has already done in my life, the things He is doing right now and looking forward to the things He will do as I am approaching the end of my circle. I love the fact that He says, He will complete that work. I can know that I will not leave this world unfinished, without purpose of why I was here. Unlike the ferris wheel, just a repetitive loop going round and round, God takes everything in my life, the good and bad and weaves it together to fulfil His ultimate purpose. Again, my circle ends with purpose. The Bible describes the “circle of life”-birth, labor, and death-as a natural, repeating pattern ordained by God. In the circle of life we find hope, through Jesus Christ for an eternal life. The true fulment of God’s purpose, this is the actual completed work, His purpose in all believers. The complete circle of Life is; a life of being born; birth to eternal life on a new earth, that is completion of the circle of life. Wherever you are in your circle, whether beginning, end or somewhere in the middle and you want to finish the complete circle of life, there is a step you must take. In the Gospel of John in the Bible speaks on that. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” That’s full circle y’all. Don’t spend your life like the ferris wheel in that repetitive loop, go the full circle, ask Jesus into your heart and make sure your circle is completed.
Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee” (Hosea 4:6)
Talking active rejection here, not ignorance. The passage says, “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you…” (Hosea 4:6). The people of Israel chose to forget God’s law and ignored His teachings, leading to their own destruction. When we reject God’s laws He has the right and ability to keep us from His blessings and protection over us, allowing us to face the consequences of our actions, just as he did with Israel. Good news y’all, if we will enter into an intimate relationship with Him, “Know Him,” that’s knowledge, then we can understand His commandments. We have to put forth effort, we are held responsible for our actions or lack of, so make the effort to learn. Don’t deliberately ignore God’s ways, He gives us commands/rules if you may, to protect us because He loves us and wants good things for us. I have been observing the world around me a lot lately and this is going to sound like something I heard my grandparents say when I was younger, but it is what I am seeing and hearing. Modern society is morally declining. I have been more diligent than ever before in sharing the Gospel message with ALL people. Warning guys!!! the end is only getting closer. Don’t let the lack of knowledge destroy you. Here are three scripture references in the old testament I want to share:(1) “Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.” (Isaiah 5:13). (2) “Because they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD…” (Proverbs 1:29) (3) “For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are ‘wise’-in doing evil! But how to do good they know not.” (Jeremiah 4:22) In summary of Hosea 4:6 is a warning that spiritual ignorance-specifically the active rejection of God’s Word-leads to destruction. Words of Encouragement, I’ve got Good News. You can have life; a good life, one with God’s blessings and protection for you and your family, it all begins with a right relationship with Jesus. Being righteous is simply being in right standing in Him. Maybe you like my past self have been uneducated in the things of God and please, like a Pastor I once sat under would say, “don’t hear what I’m not saying;” because I am still a work in progress. Maybe you don’t know what the Bible has to say regarding how you show act, talk, or live your life. You can ask God to help you with that and the other Good News is; “If any lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to EVERYONE generously without rebuke, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). Did you catch that? Wisdom is available to ANYONE. This is the kind wisdom used for navigating through life’s trials and making godly decisions, rather than relying on your thinking and understanding. You matter and the kind of life you live matters. God wants only the BEST for you. Don’t self-destruct.
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10)
God views obstacles as opportunities to strengthen our faith, build character, and to show us signs of His power so that we do not quit. He promises that His grace is sufficient to overcome challenges, encouraging us believers to trust Him completely rather than relying on our own understanding and He will often times use trials to prepare us for our calling. The last two days the Lord has been revealing things to me regarding my calling. The what, why’s, how long it’s been in the works and the reasons why it has taken so long for him to reveal this to me. One of the reasons is my faith wasn’t where it needed to be in order to believe for certain things. I had to endure some things in order to come to a place where I was so weak that I would get out of God’s way so that He could show me His strength and perfect my weakness, build that faith in Him. These obstacles we go through and not always signs to turn back, or give in, it can actually be meant to overcome something through prayer, fasting and trust. Again building our faith. I had and still have things to overcome, God has done some pruning in my life, cut away a lot of dead limbs so to speak, but there’s still more to be done. Through all this I know He is purifying my purpose, asuring the ultimate goal aligns with His will versus my personal comfort, because none of this has been comfortable, yet His will is being done. This year through my walk of intentionality, I have learned to trust God in ways I never have. I have quit trying to figure things out in my own mind and went right to the Word or prayer for answers. I have been able to release much of my anxieties simply be standing in agreement with the Word of God, not only that, but I have actually been faithful in taking steps forward, all the while keeping my focus on God’s power rather than the size of my obstacle. Growing in faith! As for the revelation of why it took so long, one reason was the path needed to be prepared ahead of time. #2, God’s plan was to use my own personal experiences, my background if you will as well as, #3 educating me in order to do what I was called to do. I had to learn how to submit and surrender, I had to learn obedience and how to walk in my gifts. I had to learn to keep my heart aligned with God and continue pursuing His purpose for me. I had to learn to lean in and lean on Him. Find all the right tools, like fasting and prayer. How to allow the Holy Spirit to guide, direct and help me when I needed it, instead me trying to play Holy Ghost Jr. with God myself. I’ve had a lot of obstacles getting in the way of my calling for quite some time now. I began understanding partly what my calling was a few years back and God has been revealing more and more of it all the time, but only to the point I am able to walk in it. Bottom line, God did not allow these obstacles to prevent me from my calling, all along He was preparing me for it.
Words of encouragement; Patience is a virtue. Endure the wait or difficult situations, keep your composure, and trust God. Continue working toward what you hear the Lord calling you to. Don’t give up.
I chose this photo today because as you can see there isn’t much in this room. There really isn’t anything here to distract you from focusing on one particular thing. Which is the object lesson in decreasing our self and allowing more of God in our life. We have to get rid of things that are in our way, distracting us from having clarity, 20/20 vision and excellent hearing. We need to be resting in Him, not allowing our minds to wander focusing on everything around us. We should be wanting to go deeper in our relationship with God and allowing Him to go deeper within us. Ridding us from the things that don’t serve a purpose in our life and that are keeping us from receiving all that He would have for us. I think about when I’m out on the trails hiking or riding my 4-wheeler and I come across a leaf or a flower, my focus is not on the tree or the larger group of flowers clustered together, instead I look exclusively at the individual leaf or flower and I am able to see much deeper. Looking at the leaf I can see intricate little lines, sometimes small particles of fuzz on them, the actual shape of the leaf and the lighter verse’s darker parts of it. When looking at the flower I may feel a softness in the peddle or a little insect looking for some nectar and like the leaf the colors seem more vibrant when looking up close versus afar off. That is how it is when we get rid of the clutter in our minds and sight we are able to see and hear the much deeper things of God. His voice becomes clear and our vision is no longer clouded. Sometimes it’s as if we are shouting things at God as if He can’t hear us when in reality we are trying to speak to him over all the chaos. Once we let go of some things we can quiet ourselves and come to God in a calmer quieter voice, just as the Holy Spirit is a gentleman He does not yell, He has a still quiet voice and we can too. There are other areas of less is more in our lives we need to be aware of. Things like allowing materialistic things to overtake us …more, more, MORE. We never seem to be satisfied with what we have and that’s because stuff is not what satisfies us, our relationship with Jesus is. Pride; we are some of the most prideful people, let that go! Self-sufficiency; how about more of trusting God instead of ourselves? That’s where we will find peace, when we depend on Him. He knows everything we need before we ever need it. If we will just decrease in ourselves and allow God to increase in us we will be making more room for God’s grace and power in our lives. Better is a little with the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it (Proverbs 15:16).
What are you willing to let go of in this world to allow for gaining more with God?
Life is so unpredictable. We are aware that there are different seasons yet in the changing of seasons we are unable to predict what it will be like. Will the Spring bring lots of rain or will it be dry? Will Summer be a scorching hot one early on until it meets fall? When Fall arrives will the trees have had enough water for the leaves to turn all the beautiful colors we have been waiting to admire? Will the Winter bring ice storms? snowstorms? how much? How long? Seasons come and go nothing stays the same, except God. He is unchanging, and His faithfulness remains. These pictures of me on my 4-wheeler represent a season I am in now, for how long? I do not know. I’ve been here for a couple years, but it could all change tomorrow. Right now I am happy, content and at peace whenever I am in my element which is riding off into God’s creation wherever that may lead me. Yet I am also aware of the fact this is not something I will be doing forever. My life will change again, like many times before. I once was child and did child-like things, I was a teenager, thank God I survived that season. A young wife and mother a whole new kind of season, one that was no longer just about me. Then came the season of being a grandmother, oh the joys that have come with this season have been like heaven on earth. Now I have reached yet another season in my life, one where my husband and I are pretty much alone except an occasional visit from one of our children or grandchildren when they have time because their seasons have changed to. When this season is over will I have another season? If so, what will it look like? The answer is I don’t know, life is unpredictable, I can only live for today. There is something that I am certain of though; a particular time. I wouldn’t call this time a season because it lasts forever. Scripture says, (2 Cor. 5:8) “absent from the body …present with the Lord”) and (Luke 23:43) Jesus’ promise to the thief, indicates that believers go to be with Christ in heaven immediately after death. I know I am going to be with God for all eternity when my seasons here on earth are finished. How do I know that? By faith. Faith in the Word of God. Faith in a Risen Savior, the kind of faith (1 John 5:13-21) speaks of; to KNOW. Know occurs seven times in these verses, indicating John’s focus on the assurance and even certainty of Christian faith and salvation. These things were written to those who believe in the name of the Son of God. Romans 10:9-10 says, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Verse 17; So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Saving faith is a deep inward trust in Christ at the core of your being. I can predict my future after my last season, because I believe. Can You?
“You are the light of the world-like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14)
The Lord has been pouring oil in my lamp in preparation for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in others. I am being very intentional about having my lamp full of oil, so that the lamp will give light to everyone that comes near me. I spend a lot of time around people who are living in darkness, it is a scary, hopeless, desperate & desolate place to be. As a child I was extremely scared of the dark. I never wanted to be alone when it became dark and even in the daylight there were times I could just sense the darkness. I don’t have to fear the dark now because there is a light that burns continuously inside of me. Now that I have this light I’m gonna let it shine, shine for others to be able to see. My goal is to help others light their wick right off of mine. Sharing is caring, right? I want to share the good news of living in the light. I want to see the people blessed and living in their blessings. Have you ever had a gift for someone and you were just so excited about giving it to them because you knew it was just what they needed and you could hardly hold back? That’s how I feel about my light; Jesus. When they see me, or hear me talk, or watch me emulate Jesus I want to be able to hear them say, “Hey that light your wearing is so bright, I couldn’t see anything but the light, why is that? Where can I get a lamp like that? Be prepared to light the fire in their soul. They have been in the dark so long that they can barely see the light flickering at times when it passes by. The naked eye can detect light approximately 1.6 miles away. Yet there are things that can cloud that vision such as haze & air pollution. When people are going through things such as job loss, living on the street, addictions of any kind, relationships that are beyond repair, bad experiences even in the church, so many things I can’t possibly list them all. Everyone has their own story. Their vision gets clouded, blurred, in some cases close to blindness. It’s important that we who hold the candle make sure our wick is lit, our lamp is full of oil and ready to let our light dispel darkness. Scriptures calls us believers the “light of the world,” and urges us to shine as lights in the world of a crooked and twisted generation. All of this for the sole purpose to give glory to our Father in heaven. For at one time we were in darkness, but now we are the light in the Lord, so we should walk as children of light. So Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Is. 60:1)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)
Life comes with lots of questions, decisions to be made, and a lot of pondering until you finally take a leap of faith. Bold faith that God is true and His Word is truth, that He has given you everything you need through the Holy Spirit. Our goal is to overflow with confidence in God’s promises, even in difficult circumstances. There is no way my human self could ever achieve these things without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. He causes me to overflow with expectancy, full of assurance that He is the one in control, which brings me much confidence and comfort when I am searching for the strength to move forward.
Father God, I pray for myself as well as all who are reading this that may be in need of hope today. I pray we recognize you are the source of all hope; I ask that you fill us with joy and peace through our trust in you. I pray that by your Holy Spirit’s power; You would bring us an abundance of hope, inward peace vs. human optimism. I ask that you put people in our paths today that would bring encouragement, especially for those facing loss whether in physical death, broken relationships, jobs, etc. Remove all confusion from our minds and help us to dare to make decisions based on Your truths. To speak firmly to the mountain that is in front of us and to have the strength to persevere with passion knowing we have put our trust wholly in You, Amen.
Nehemiah 13:2b -yet our God turned the curse into a blessing.
If you are living in misery, you are NOT living in your blessing. If you are feeling condemned, lacking favor, desolate, unhappy, forsaken, damned, cursed or living in unforgiveness, you are NOT living in your blessing. There have been times in life I have felt all the above, certain I had missed out on or even had had my blessing taken from me, and actually I have had things taken from me more times than I can count, yet I realize the things I thought should have blessed me, were NOT the blessing at all. I also realize that God is the giver of ALL good gifts. He is the only One that can turn a curse into a blessing and I know I am blessed beyond the curse for His promise will endure and JOY, is gonna be my STRENGTH! You can find it all over in the Bible; Numbers, Lamentation, Joshua, Nehemiah, 2 Corinthians, Galatians are just a few place. Maybe you lost your job due to someone else’s actions or you applied for a job and was turned down for a reason that makes no sense to you. Both of these things actually happened to my husband a few years back. Here’s a personal testimony of mine I’ll share; I was robbed several years back. I had four of my grandchildren living with me at the time, I was also a substitute teacher at our local public school where my grandchildren attended when the robbery occurred, which is where we were at that very time, my husband was at his job as well. So the first blessing was that no one was home at the time of the break-in. When the kids and I got home the front door was still open, so I took the kids back to the car, called 911 and waited. My husband got home about the time the police arrived and they had the kids and I stay outside until they searched the house and found it to be safe to enter. When I got in there I was in shock at the things that were taken. It was EVERYTHING of mine. EVERY sentimental thing I had, an early 1900’s safe that had been in my family for years, all my jewelry, things of my childrens and grandchildrens memabillias I had been holding on for my entire life, the lamp beside my bed which the necklace I wore when we were married hung from the switch that turned it on. Right down to my clothes, including undergarments, along with some other things such as guitar and computer, etc. but mostly EVERYTHING that was gone was mine. I was devastated to say the least, because I am a very sentimental person. For the next 48 hours I was a mess, I couldn’t see how I would ever get any peace about this, I had been violated once again in my life and why? Was there a curse on my life? The questions that were going through my mind were of course due to shock and well of course fear which is nothing more than lies from the devil. After that 48 hours I heard the Lord tell me I was blessed. You can imagine what that might have been like, hearing I was blessed after all that. But this is what I heard God say as if He were standing right beside me. “He had protected my family, none of us were harmed and as for all of my belongings; I wasn’t going to be able to take any of those things with me when I leave this world, the ONLY thing I was going to be able to take were other souls and at the time the souls He was talking about were my four grandchildren that I was raising at the time.” Blessed I was; all four of my grandchildren ended up receiving the Lord as their personal Savior and were ALL baptized while in my care. When you’re not feeling blessed, give those feeling, thoughts, and circumstances over to God. God’s ways and our ways are not the same. What looks like misfortune or a curse to us, He says is a blessing. When in question, I just pray and I don’t act until I have a knowing in my spirit what will lead me to my blessing. Trust me there is a blessing. Have I ever missed it, sure, who hasn’t? Misfortunes happen to us all in some form or another, but so do blessings. Thank you Jesus for redeeming me from the curse of the law and may the LORD bless each person reading this and keep you and make His face shine upon you, Amen.
Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! (Psalm 149:3)
Sunday morning worship is the BEST. I’m not a good singer nor do I have instrumental talent, that’s why I love Sunday morning worship, these people on stage do. They are prayed up and anointed to bring the congregation into His presence. I’m not shy when it comes to worshipping my Lord and Savior. I throw up hands, I will jump, sway, stomp a foot all the while thanking God that no one else can hear me, but Him. Now at home or in my car it’s a whole different story, I let it rip. I’m all in. I love that no matter what I sound like, to God it is beautiful and He delights that my heart is focused on Him and He thinks this is the sweetest sound ever. Isn’t that just like a father? Always seeing the best in his child even when no one else can. Sometimes I just can’t help myself, I get this beating in my heart and overwhelmed sense of gratitude, for how much He loves me. I become so humbled before Him for all the goodness He has done for me, I mean geez …He saved my life! He set my feet upon a rock, He turned my life around, broke the chains that once had me bound, brought joy in the morning after nights of darkness, delivered me from SOooo many things, healed the deep wounds within me, gave me a reason to live, He set me FREE! It makes me want to SHOUT! I feel new strength and hope once I have been in His presence through worship. That is my best description of “JOY.” Nobody can love me like that and I’m gonna let Him know! You know God doesn’t just love to hear us sing praises to Him, it is a declaration of our trust in Him. It shows Him our surrender when we will humble ourselves and worship Him. He actually views it as an act of obedience, adoration, and a pleasant offering. God “inhabits” or dwells within the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3), affirming His presence. It shows Him that Jesus Christ really does dwell within us. So if you ever see me shouting praises to God, just know God is rejoicing over it.
Proverbs 15:3 (“The eyes of the LORD are everywhere”)
Psalm 121:8 (“The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go”), and Psalm 32:8 (“I will guide you with my eye upon you”). The Bible teaches that God is constantly watching over people as a protective guardian who never sleeps or looks away. Psalm 33:18 (“But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love”). Psalms 139:1-12 describes God’s intimate knowledge of a person’s actions, thoughts, and movements, indicating he is always present. Hebrews 4:13 (“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account”).
Knowing God is watching is meant to bring a sense of peace and comfort to believers during our difficult times. Yet, it also brings about accountability; we are warned that this watchfulness means God sees everything done in secret and that people will answer for their actions, which brings me to another area of who else is watching? We should live with integrity, because the Bible also talks about others watching us. We should set a godly example to everyone; I have to repent because I miss it in this area quite often. I do want to live in such a way that when people see me, they see Jesus and that my Father in heaven would be glorified. That it would also bring encouragement to others to live a right life before the Lord, seeing God’s work being done in my life, which is a work in progress, it would bring hope to them. God is not a respecter of persons, what He is doing in my life He will do in theirs. Baby Christians: people new to their faith in God, a younger generation, they need to see our life, our actions, aligning with our claims of faith. In Hebrews 12 it speaks of a cloud of witnesses, people witnessing our life. Not only is God’s eyes ALWAYS on us, but others are watching too. We are to witness to others by doing right especially to those that accuse us of doing wrong, that they would glorify God on the day he comes to visit them (1 Peter 2:12). We are called to be an example to those observing us (1 Ti. 4:12). It is also true that some will simply watch you to find fault or catch you making a mistake, just as how spies watched Jesus to find something to use against him (Luke 20:20, Mark 12:13, Luke 6:7). This is where I will end. A Prayer: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting! Amen
Bread and Water 