“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 NIV https://www.bible.com/111/eph.2.10.niv I’ve came across this scripture like 3 times in the past week. Therefore I believe God is stressing how important it is to know HOW DOPE WE ARE!!! He created us on purpose for a purpose. Let that sink in for a minute……… You not here by happenstance, you were not a mistake. YOUR LIFE IS INTENTIONAL. Now let’s get intentional about our purpose. God did his part. Let’s do ours. Let’s go🏆 Straight faith!!!
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalms 37:4 NIV https://www.bible.com/111/psa.37.4.niv How dope is it to know that all the great things God has already done for you, he still has so much in store!! Every dream, every thought, every desire. He got you covered!! You just gotta tell him!! Talk to him!! Sit in silence with him!! What are you waiting on? Straight Faith is all it takes.. Let’s go🏆🙌🏽
“My children, our love should not be only words and talk. No, our love must be real. We must show our love by the things we do.” 1 John 3:18 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/1jn.3.18.erv
These are trying times and I have been struggling with the election, the pandemic and general life concerns. It’s been a rough year on many levels and I have struggled to maintain my composure and my peace when faced with trials, which is out of character for me. I’ve been searching the word and praying asking God to help me, to ease my mind and to heal me. He heard me, he sent word by my circle..
One of my circle saw a post from me on Facebook speaking to my frustration and sent me this Bible plan by Vance K. Jackson called Hold Your Peace.. This excerpt caused me to stop 🛑 and think about my relationship with Christ in a new way.
Choose to hold your peace. Choose to restrain your words and actions. Let God lead you and keep you through chaotic times. Choose to deliberately hold your peace even when chaos surrounds you. The Bible states in Proverbs 25:28 KJV, “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.”
I was not allowing God to refresh me, I was allowing my fear and frustration to dictate my actions, but God!
How would your friends respond? Does your circle encourage your foolishness or your faith? Does you circle send words of encouragement or words of frustration and doubt? It’s important to have a circle who will hold you accountable and I thank God for the people who remind me to be strong and courageous, who remind me that my God is able, who reminds me to hold my peace. I’m thankful to the women who support me in spirit and truth, who allows God’s words to be their guide and to guide me with love and compassion.
When you love someone, help them!
“Brothers and sisters, continue to think about what is good and worthy of praise. Think about what is true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. And do what you learned and received from me—what I told you and what you saw me do. And the God who gives peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/php.4.8-9.erv
Why is it we expect people to be perfect or without fault? I know I go to church and I know I confess my love for Jesus and believe it or not he does not expect me to be perfect. Sometimes I’m mean, angry, petty, unforgiving and even hurt but that’s ok, it’s allowed. I am not made right by my actions, but by his. “All have sinned and are not good enough to share God’s divine greatness. They are made right with God by his grace. This is a free gift. They are made right with God by being made free from sin through Jesus Christ.” Romans 3:23-24 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/rom.3.23-24.erv
When people go to church it’s not because they have everything figured out. It’s not because they are perfect and healed from every past hurt or sin. I can’t speak for everyone, but I go to church because I want to be healed from the things I’ve survived like molestation, homelessness, abuse, hurt, pain, devastation, loss and even love. I am looking for the risen Christ who said that all who are weary can come to him for rest. I go to church looking for the peace that the world can’t give and the world can’t take away. I go to church for the strength to believe that all things are possible because when I look at my life, it seems impossible. I go to church because I am looking for people who will believe with me, not perfect people but believers, people who know that if they seek him, they will find him. People who believe that if they knock on a door, it will be answered. People who believe that you don’t have to be perfect because God can use anybody.
So the next time you see me and I don’t appear to be acting “like a church person,” please pray with me or for me. God is not done with me yet but I promise you, he has brought me from a long way.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalms 139:23-24 KJV https://www.bible.com/1/psa.139.23-24.kjv
“The Lord answered me, “Write down what I show you. Write it clearly on a sign so that the message will be easy to read. This message is about a special time in the future. This message is about the end, and it will come true. Just be patient and wait for it. That time will come; it will not be late. This message cannot help those who refuse to listen to it, but those who are good will live because they believe it.” Habakkuk 2:2-4 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/hab.2.2-4.erv
You have been obedient and wrote the message as God showed it to you, now comes the hardest part of the command, you have to WAIT! The word says, be patient and wait for it. But I would ask, how are you waiting?
Are you waiting on God with great expectation or are you worrying about what he told you. Are you so caught up in what can go wrong that you lose hope in the waiting? Do you begin to listen to the crowd who is quick to tell you what’s not possible based on your education, based on your current economic situation, reminding you of how many of that thing is already in business/existence or some other foolishness? Don’t listen to anything that would cause you to doubt what God told you. I would remind you that with God, all things are possible.
If God gave you the vision, wait for it with thanksgiving in your heart. Praise his Holy name and continue to praise him and continue to believe in him because so a man think, so he is and the same can be said for God. His word is bond. “In the same way, my words leave my mouth, and they don’t come back without results. My words make the things happen that I want to happen. They succeed in doing what I send them to do.” Isaiah 55:11 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/isa.55.11.erv
This post is from 2013 but showed up on my Facebook memories and I had to share
God, you give true peace to people who depend on you, to those who trust in you. So trust the Lord always, because in the Lord YAH you have a place of safety forever. (Isaiah 26:3, 4 ERV)
It sounds so easy when people tell you to just “Pray about it”, “you have to cast your worries to The Lord” , girl, “Take it to the alter and leave it there”. All those sayings begin to sound like Charlie Browns mom wasaawaaawaawaa
Reality check, what does trusting The Lord look like in real life? Many of us come into our relationship with God with major trust issues, we have been let down over and over by the people in our lives. We actually give God the same characteristics of the people we have encountered in our lives. We think we have to prove our love with deeds, that we have to beg and barter for his love and protection. We feel that once we mess up he won’t trust us or bless us anymore. We feel that God will get tired of us messing up and give up. Well, speaking from personal experience none of that is true, but the devil will tell you that and keep reminding you of your faults. Trusting God for me came through trials and tribulation. One day I knew that I had to change my thinking because everything I was doing was making the situation worse, I sat down and prayed, then I waited on the word from God to show up. He sent people at my job with a message, at the grocery store, random people i would encounter, all with the same message, none of them knew of my prayer. He confirmed his answer to me and it was simply this, Trust Him! So I did and I’ve never regretted it. It’s not easy to admit you’re powerless in a situation until you realize God has all the power you need. So go ahead let God be strong and you just trust!
I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love and to have the full confidence that comes from understanding. I want them to know completely the secret truth that God has made known. That truth is Christ himself. I tell you this so that no one can fool you by telling you ideas that seem good, but are false. You must depend on Christ only, drawing life and strength from him. Just as you were taught the truth, continue to grow stronger in your understanding of it. And never stop giving thanks to God. (Colossians 2:2, 4, 7 ERV)
As we continue to grieve the loss of death after death in our families, allow me To add my prayers to yours. I add my prayer of faith to each and every one of you because I understand the power of prayer and I know that the fervent effective prayers of the righteous availeth much. I know when two or more can come together and agree on the earth, heaven will hear them and God will be in the midst. I am praying that you will trust God like Abraham as he prepared to sacrifice his child, that you will have faith like the Hebrew boys who stood before a fiery furnace, that you will have faith like Moses in the wilderness. I pray that you will trust Jesus and reach for him like the woman with the issue of blood, the faith that would allow you to be trampled and risk it all just to touch the hem of his garments. I pray that you will allow Gods healing power to help you as you try to navigate death and the grief that will hound you as you remember your loved ones. I pray that you will allow grief it’s time, because there is a time for everything, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to grieve and a time to rejoice. Take your time and remember that yes we do mourn, but not as those who have no hope, for we know where our help comes from.
“But the blood on your houses will be a special sign. When I see the blood, I will pass over your house. I will cause bad things to happen to the people of Egypt. But none of these bad diseases will hurt you.” Exodus 12:13 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/exo.12.13.erv
Here we are October 2020 with the world facing the second wave of a pandemic that decimated my friends and family. My mind begins to concentrate on my concerns and fears of becoming sick, but my soul keeps reminding me that the blood still saves, the blood still heals and the blood still delivers. I am putting the blood on my doorpost for me and my family.
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. “And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds.” “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. “You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. “I begged the Lord three times to take this problem away from me. But the Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me. Yes, I am glad to have weaknesses if they are for Christ. I am glad to be insulted and have hard times. I am glad when I am persecuted and have problems, because it is when I am weak that I am really strong.” “And because you belong to Christ you are complete, having everything you need. Christ is ruler over every other power and authority.” “I have told you these things so that you can have the true happiness that I have. I want you to be completely happy.” “Be happy because of the hope you have. Be patient when you have troubles. Pray all the time.” “Always be filled with joy in the Lord. I will say it again. Be filled with joy.”
“Great blessings belong to those who don’t listen to evil advice, who don’t live like sinners, and who don’t join those who make fun of God. Instead, they love the Lord’s teachings and think about them day and night. So they grow strong, like a tree planted by a stream— a tree that produces fruit when it should and has leaves that never fall. Everything they do is successful.” Psalms 1:1-3 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/psa.1.1-3.erv
I was riding down the street on a beautiful fall afternoon and the beauty of this tree caught my eye. It was stunning in the fact that it was still green but you could see the change happening, a bold beautiful red color began to emerge from what was green just days ago. Immediately began to remember how amazing and deliberate God is. In every season of our life we are beautiful and the transition stage creates unrivaled beauty.
This big tree stood there proudly changing and preparing for a season of renewal. Those branches will lose those beautiful red leaves and they will grace the earths surface leaving the branches bare and appearing to be dead. But we know the secret right?
God is preparing the tree for a time of hibernation and rebirth just like he prepares us.
So what I learned from this tree is to enjoy what I have right now and know that even if it changes, God is still in control and he is preparing me for what he has for me. It may appear that your life is bare, you know friends going bad on you, family and friends are dying, jobs may be changing or your finances may even be challenged, but hold on. The same God that created the heavens and earth, created you he knows the plans he has for you and it is to give you a future and a hope. The same God that takes care of the birds and the trees and the fish in the seas will take care of YOU! He told us in his word not to worry about tomorrow that each day has enough trouble of it’s own. He also told us there would be trouble in this world but not to worry because he controls the world. He also told us that in our trouble we become strong and learn to trust him.
I guess I should tell you that there is more to this thing than just trusting God, there is something that is required of you. You have to accept Jesus Christ. Oh and one more thing, you have to love God, Jesus said it like this; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’” Mark 12:30 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/mrk.12.30.erv
I think everybody who knows the Bible knows that Abraham and Sarah didn’t believe God when he told them he was going to give them a baby because they felt they were too old. Well Sarah decided that Abraham could have intimate relationship with her servant girl Hagar to get a baby. Sarah was going to help God, she hadn’t yet figured out that the Word of God is absolute and if he told her she was having a baby it was going to happen. Introducing Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl. The Bible reads she was a slave, so in my imagination she was not asked if she was willing to sleep with Abraham she was told to go and lay with someone else’s husband. I find it strange that the idea of her laying with Abraham was not given the same concern that came when Abraham lied and said Sarah was his sister and was willing to slow Pharoah to sleep with her. Pharoah was punished for taking Sarah.. anyway I guess it wasn’t the same thing if you were a man.. hmmm ok back to Hagar
Hagar was a slave who was told to go and lay with her bosses husband. She did as instructed and became pregnant. This is where the story gets tricky. Hagar got pregnant and was able to give Abraham something he believed was the promise of God. With the pregnancy Hagar started to feel she was better than Sarah and started disrespecting her but Abraham told Sarah, she is still your slave, do what you have to do. Sarah began to punish Hagar for her behavior and Hagar got mad and angry and ran away. And this is where it gets good. According to word, Hagar met an Angel of the Lord in the desert. The Angel called her out and asked her why she ran away, and then told her, you belong to Sarah so go back. And then God showed up. He did not leave Hagar the same way he found her, he prophesied over her child and gave her HOPE! He told her that her child would also be the father of many, he didn’t hold any punches though, he told her the good and the bad but she had a desert experience with God.
“The Lord talked to Hagar. She began to use a new name for God. She said to him, “You are ‘God Who Sees Me.’” She said this because she thought, “I see that even in this place God sees me and cares for me!”” Genesis 16:13 ERV
And that’s the same for us, no matter what we get ourselves into or how we try to run away when things get hard, God sees us and will care for us. I learned from Hagar that even in my desert experience, when I feel hot, tired and alone God sees me. I learned from Hagar to go back to the places where I belong and live out my purpose.
I have been gracious and I don’t have any more grace to give you. (Arizona Robbins to Cali Torez on the television show Grays Anatomy). I almost fell off the bed .. what if Jesus said that? It literally caused me to pause because I considered if those words were used by God. How would I recover if God felt that way toward me?
My heart caused me to seek the word of God to see what HE said concerning his grace.
“But the Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/2co.12.9.erv
I am so thankful for his grace that covers me, his mercy that forgives me and his peace that consumes me. I keep moving forward, accepting that I am flawed but still loved. Accepting that I am broken but knowing God can still use me. Accepting that I don’t have the ability to forgive in my own power but with God, yeah. Accepting that I must trust him and his word concerning me regardless to what it looks like. I must accept the challenges that God has given me; to be strong and of good courage, to bring my troubles to him in prayer, to not worry about tomorrow, to meditate and trust his word.
“So don’t lose the courage that you had in the past. Your courage will be rewarded richly. You must be patient. After you have done what God wants, you will get what he promised you.” Hebrews 10:35-36 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/heb.10.35-36.erv
I have to accept that man does not have endless grace, endless patience, endless forgiveness or endless love, only God does and the minute I put my faith in anything other than God, I start to fail, I begin to lose hope and feel powerless because my strength and my salvation comes from the lord.
“I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be good to you and give you peace. Jesus gave himself for our sins to free us from this evil world we live in. This is what God our Father wanted. The glory belongs to God forever and ever. Amen.” Galatians 1:3-5 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/gal.1.3-5.erv
“So King Darius gave the order. They brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “May the God you serve save you!”” Daniel 6:16 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/dan.6.16.erv
May the God you serve, save you! That speaks louder than anything the king said. Even though the King did not serve God he recognized that Daniel did because of Daniels daily walk with the Lord. Daniel did not go around bragging about his walk with the Lord, it was evident by his faithfulness to keep the Lord’s commandments, evident by his life choices.
I have to walk my walk, to trust in God, to let my light shine in the way I treat people, in my reactions to news that would be considers
I have to remind myself that when things appear to be tough in the natural that the Holy Spirit shines in the unnatural. When I find myself facing an impossible task I am reminded that with God, nothing is impossible. When I find myself worrying about bills and food I am reminded that God takes care of the birds and the fish and he will take care of me. When I wonder if I’ve messed up God’s plan for me I am reminded that nothing can separate me from the love of God. When tragedy strikes and I feel defeated I am reminded that God is with me and will never leave me.
I stand here today rejoicing in the Spirit, knowing that I am a Conqueror and that my actions are a reflection of God. If anyone knows the things that are happening in my life, I want them to feel assured that the God I serve will save me!
And after God saved Daniel, the king gave this decree in Faith and Respect: “I am making a new law. This law is for people in every part of my kingdom. All of you must fear and respect the God of Daniel. Daniel’s God is the living God; he lives forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed. His rule will never end. God helps and saves people. He does amazing miracles in heaven and on earth. He saved Daniel from the lions.” Daniel 6:26-27 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/dan.6.26-27.erv
Good morning Lord. I come to you this day on behalf of our children. As the children begin a new journey of learning, as they begin going to classrooms in person, masked up and sanitized or online, and virtual I ask that you be with them. Lord in these unprecedented times we need you to show unprecedented favor over their minds. You knew these children before you created them and you created words and concepts so help them understand them and learn to apply them in the ways required to show academic excellence. Father you created science when you formed the world so allow their minds to understand and be captivated by your amazing work. Lord you created art and music so allow the creativity you possess to inhabit our children. I know this pandemic did not catch you unaware and I know you have plans to give them a future and a hope, your plans will not allow them to be harmed so I’m trusting you today and everyday in new ways. Lord, help these parents and caregivers who are trying to teach things they never learned and help the teachers and administrators find new and creative ways to be effective. I ask these things in the name of Jesus, on the blood of the lamb knowing you will hear my cry and attend unto my need. Amen
I woke up with my heart and soul singing, ohhh Lord I need you to help me, help me on my journey Lord help me on my way, oooo Lord I need you to help me.
Do you ever feel like that? Like things are out of your control and it’s uncomfortable? Days where your family dynamics are off and you don’t know why? Stupid arguments, constant misunderstandings, feeling inadequate in your role as a wife, a mother, a friend or caregiver? It’s often assumed it’s when you are fighting the big battles that you really need to hear from God but I’m here to tell you that’s not the only time. My prayer right now is for God to heal me, heal those places in me that makes me feel inadequate, heal those areas of my life where I become angry when people don’t meet my expectations. I’m trusting God to help me remember to seek him and not my friends when I need comforting because I get hurt when I call and they don’t answer or they blow me off with words like “you have faith, trust God” when I really just wanted someone to hear me, to empathize with my pain. I’m trusting God to heal the places in me that need people to be honest and fair, I need to love them as they are, no one should have to change for me to love them. I’m trusting God to heal the places in me that are still raw from past hurts and betrayals, I already survived that mess. One thing I know for sure is God hears me, yes he does and he hears you too.
So I encourage you to seek the kingdom of God and he will give you what you need.
“Lord, your faithful love reaches to the sky. Your faithfulness is as high as the clouds. Your goodness is higher than the highest mountains. Your fairness is deeper than the deepest ocean. Lord, you protect people and animals. Nothing is more precious than your loving kindness. All people can find protection close to you. They get strength from all the good things in your house. You let them drink from your wonderful river. The fountain of life flows from you. Your light lets us see light. Continue to love those who really know you, and do good to those who are true to you.” Psalms 36:5-10 ERV https://www.bible.com/406/psa.36.5-10.erv
When U Pray 