Don't be Ignorant! A Warning from over 2,000 years ago!

Don't be ignorant! Yes, Paul warned believers in God's Word over 2,000 years ago, not to be ignorant concerning the Word of God. If you don't know your rights as a child of God, how can you defend yourself?  Many times after we have been knocked down for the umpteenth time, had to dust ourselves off, and stand back on our feet, we repeat the same question, "How did that happen?"
"Where did that come from?"  "Why does the same thing keep happening to me?" So, what is the lesson we are not learning that causes us to keep repeating the same cycle over and over?
Well, first of all we need to open God's Word and read Ephesians 6:10-13
Next, recognize your enemy! Put on the whole armor of God and stop sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. We see then that it is NOT humans we are fighting- it's the devil himself and all his henchmen!  Study James 4:7 and then go read 2Timothy 2:15 you see when we are grounded in God's Word, and when we find ourselves in battle with the enemy, we will not be ignorant of the devices he uses to make us stumble and fall! We will know what we are dealing with and be equipped through God's instructions through God's Word how to gain authority and victory! You must know God's Word, for every answer is given to us in the Holy Bible. The Word of God is the cornerstone of our faith and will educate us so that we are not ignorant to the enemies ways and we will be victorious and not continue to be knocked down over and over!
You can see the power God has given to us when we let our faith rise, through the hearing and studying of God's Word!

Discernment- Why is it important?

It's been a while since I've been on; God has had me in training, yes training. I wasn't sure for a while what it was I was being prepared for, but each day God is revealing more and more and is preparing many of  His children for what is on the horizon!
God is opening eyes, eyes that were blind to what was taking place around them. God is giving discernment to His children that diligently seek Him and walk in obedience to Him. You see discernment may not come as a lightning bolt from the sky, but can be as subtle as having a gut feeling that "something just isn't right". Never dismiss that feeling for God is revealing much for your protection.
Discernment is vital in this day and time for if you don't know what your dealing with and who or what it is, or the motives behind it, you can fall into a negative whirlwind that the enemy has placed in your path to make you stumble and hold you back from where you need to be.  Remember God's Word says, "My people perish for their lack of knowledge".  God will give you discernment, but you have to ask, God will give you discernment in any situation. You see the enemy works in secret, sneaking around, causing chaos,  confusion, planting evil, causing discord, hate, bitterness, and tearing relationships up and even sickness! You see satan and all his henchmen will try to stay hidden and will work through and use any willing person to do their dirty work.
In these days and times satan knows his days are numbered and he is unleashing demons everywhere to take people down and trip up as many of Gods children as he can, but know with the discernment that God gives us and the knowledge that God provides, we can avoid the fiery darts sent our way. Stay in Gods Word and in prayer, ask God to give you discernment and He will help you, have faith my friends and watch how God will work in your life!

Watch Your Step

I learned a valuable lesson last year and wanted to share it with you. I know women are more liberated and independent, but when you marry and join together with your spouse before God, we have to remember not to "over-step" our boundary that God has placed for us. For God to help your husband be the man he needs to be to lead and direct the family, we have to trust him and have faith in him while God is working with him each day. We all  continue to grow in our walk with God each day as we strive to learn and be more like Christ as we study God's Word and meet with Him in prayer. 
As God continues to work in us, we, as women, don't want to reverse the roles that God set for us, meaning the husband is to be the leader and take responsibility for protecting his family and stand up for the family. God places alot of responsibility on men as leaders of the house. They are to walk with God in counsel and allow God to lead them. Now I learned a huge lesson about this when I overstepped my boundary and decided my husband wasn't doing enough to protect and lead, so I stepped into his place and took it upon myself to handle- major mistake!! I had been having issues with my car and took it to a local dealership and after 3-4 trips back into the service department for the same thing just to be told I would have to miss more work to be back to pick up the car,etc. I felt inconvenienced for having to take off work early to turn in a rental car and get my car all before they closed just to be stuck with the same problem and couldn't drive the car fr and knowing they closed I was having to bring the car at back the next morning! After the 3rd time this happened, I was losing patience and knew I could not continue to miss work over this same problem that never seemed to get fixed! I told my husband that I was going to speak to the service manager and I was mad! For me, I don't get mad hardly ever and I was furious and felt like my husband wasn't doing enough to get the job done and let them know they need to get it corrected now! I felt the Holy Spirit convicting me not to act, but the more I kept thinking of how they people at the service department just were not listening to my husband, the madder I got! Maybe he was not being stern enough? I felt that nudge again from the Holy Spirit not to act on my thoughts, even though I knew better than to dismiss the Holy Spirit's nudges, I thought well I have to handle this. So, I put on my cowgirl boots (which are my favorite and I guess made me think I was stronger lol), I marched right in that service dept., motioned to my 6ft 4" husband to stand back and sit down for I was "handling" this!! Well I made quite a stir and was highly upset and walked out and the whole way home I blasted my husband for not standing up and letting them run over him! He sat there and didn't say a word, which was uncommon! My teenage sons sat there wondering what just happened to mom, she hardly ever gets mad!
Needless to say, God was NOT happy with my actions and I couldn't sleep that night and noticed my hip was really hurting and I was up and down all night and my hip joint felt like a drill was grinding down into the bone all night and into the next day. I was in tears the next day at work because the pain was excruciating and I have a high pain tolerance so for me to be in tears I was in a lot of pain! What I didn't realize was God was teaching me a valuable lesson. It was later that day that a Pastor that mentors me a lot in the ministry and is also a prophet of God stopped by and noticed I was in pain and asked what was going on and what boundaries I had crossed? Huh? What did he mean? As I told him about my car and how mad I was and I just "had to handle the situation" to get results, he stopped me right there and said, "You are in pain because you stepped out into a place you shouldn't have, you are hurting in the hip because that is the pivot area used when we step out and you have stepped where you shouldn't have, do you realize you have just crushed your husband?"  Woah!!  I felt Gods conviction and I "saw" what I did! In my actions, I literally told my husband he wasn't good enough to lead the family and I didn't trust him, which can tear a man down hard! When my Pastor friend, who was sent by God to stop by on that exact day, showed me what I had done, I immediately asked God to forgive me and then headed to see my husband and I sincerely apologized and told him how I had wronged him and I owed my teenage children an apology that knew what I did along with apologizing I the service department! I had to make this right, God showed me I have to be watchful and careful never to do this ever again. It crushed me to think I had publicly humiliated my husband and God for that matter! I mean for gosh sakes, I'm an ordained minister of God, I am so ashamed!!  
What happened next was quite amazing- I was still in pain with my hip, it had eased up some but not fully. After I apologized to the service department and manager and my husband, I was driving the rental car and by the time I drove home to the country I realized my hip quit hurting! I was pain free!! Yes it's true! God allowed to pain to go away. God taught me a valuable lesson that day that there are certain boundaries I am not to step across!! I learned that for God to lead and guide my husband and teach him to stand up and handle issues like this, I had to not get in Gods way! There may be times when God will nudge you and let you know when you need to stand up for various issues for your family, when per say your spouse or boyfriend is not able to be there or is out of town, etc. Always follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit, don't do like I did and step out on your own and fail to listen to God because only pain and hurt will come about when you do not heed Gods warning! Take it from me, when the Holy Spirit nudges you NOT to act, please listen and stand still!

Oh, and with the car, it still was not fixed, so I stayed home and allowed my husband to go and "handle it" for he was the man of the family and I learned my lesson! Let's just say since I learned my lesson and did not step out, my husband handled things perfectly and the owner of the dealership repaired several things with the car free of charge!

Be Blessed!

 

CAUTION: WATCH HOW YOU HANDLE GOD'S PEOPLE

CAUTION:  WATCH HOW YOU HANDLE GOD'S PEOPLE

What does this mean? Well as I grew in my walk with Christ I learned exactly what this means. You will find reading in 6th chapter of 1 Corinthians, verses 19-20, that Paul has quite a bit to say to us about HOW we should handle each other. Yes, this even means husbands and wives that are saved, along with brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are arrogant, judgement minded, accusing, greedy, short-tempered, lying, jealous, deceitful, harsh, etc. toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, you need to heed this warning!

Sinning Against Christ
 
To sin against the people of God is to sin against Jesus Himself. Why? For a few reasons. First, because all sin is ultimately against God. After all, if you steal a man’s car, although you are taking something that does belong to him, you are not ultimately breaking that man’s law; you are breaking God’s law. Sins specifically against the people of God are ultimately against Jesus because God’s people are God’s possession.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20. (You are not your own, for you were bought at a price!)
 

Jesus died for you, you are God’s property. Jesus gave His life to purchase you, therefore you are His. To sin against the people of God, then, is to sin against God Himself because the people of God are His goods. 

For people to selfishly and arrogantly wound, hurt, betray, accuse or even attack one of God's children, it would be as if they did so to God.  To sin against the people of God, is to sin against Jesus Himself,  because Jesus is one with His people (see John 15:5-7; 1 John 3:24; 4:13-16). 

This is why Jesus is referred to as the head of the church and we as His body  (Ephesians 5:22-33). This reality is most clearly evident in Acts 9:1-6.    Jesus is, after all, one with His people. To persecute them is to persecute Him. 

Let me put it this way; how you treat the people of God is how you treat God Himself. I don’t have to ask you whether you love Jesus or not, I just need to see how you handle His people. I don’t need to ask you whether you are passionate for God, I just need to observe how passionately you serve and love His people. He is one with those He came to save.

Every brother and sister in Christ need to watch how they handle each other for it will ultimately affect their spiritual well-being. If you sin against a brother or sister in Christ you need to repent before God and make it right. If your brother or sister in Christ knows you have hurt them, you should make it right in their eyes and in the eyes of God. This could even mean husband and wife, example would be if the husband falsely accuses his wife of something, even when his wife has done no wrong and has not sinned at all but is being accused falsely by her husband, then that is saying that the husband is not handling his wife properly as she is Christ's property and he is essentially accusing Christ falsely! Instead of the husband praying and asking God to give him discernment, he is taking it upon himself to pass judgement and ultimately this is as if he is judging Christ! God will not tolerate this nor sit by and watch this continue to happen without conviction and/or chastisement.

The Worth of God’s People

All of us need to understand when you are harming a brother or sister in Christ, you are messing with God’s valuable possessions. If God were to place a price tag on each of His children, he would not have different prices on the value of His people.
The price tag would read, “Invaluable: Bought with the blood of Jesus”. In the same way, you do not carelessly handle the people of God, regardless of where they are at theologically. Why?   Because they are invaluable. It is sad and embarrassing that we are more careful with our money,cars, material possessions and houses, than we are with God’s blood-bought children!

Your brothers and sisters in Christ were bought with the blood of Jesus. He spilled His blood to purchase people for God from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation (Revelation 5:9-10).

 In this scripture Paul contrasts the spilled blood of Christ with the most valuable things on this earth. God hasn’t redeemed us with cheap precious coins. No, He redeemed us, purchased us, with the infinitely valuable blood of Jesus.

The value of the blood of Jesus-  
those for whom Christ died Jesus, being equal with the Father, became a man and died a gruesome, painful, and shameful death on a cross. He bore the infinite wrath of God. All of the righteous anger and holy indignation of God the Father was pointed at the sinless Jesus who hung on the cross for you and I. Jesus took the full penalty of our sin. Do you get it?  

Jesus gave His life under the full strength of God’s wrath for all! Jesus died for your brothers and sisters too—He gave His all. This is embarrassing isn’t it? We cling to and hold on to our accusations, gossiping, bickering, and jealousy at the expense of the spiritual well-being of our brothers and sisters in Christ when Jesus endured the shame and pain of the cross and infinite wrath of God as an innocent sufferer for their salvation.

This is a powerful topic that many never really think about and it is a valuable topic to God, for we need to remember the value of the blood of Jesus and Handle all of God's People with Caution.

Be Blessed!

THE BATTLE IS REAL-DONT BE A CASUALTY

The battle is real! There are many casualties because many refuse to put on their "armor of God". My people perish for LACK of knowledge don't be one of them.
 Anyone that watched the Bible TV Series, or reads the Bible knows we are in a constant spiritual war. Just as God told us in His Word, the times have gotten worse and as the enemy satan knows his days are limited, he is ramping up the heat on Gods people, realize this and know it is spiritual warfare. For temptation and distraction are the two "front line" strategies employed by the enemy. If either of them work, he then attempts to release condemnation and fear over you and suggests that you are not worth the finished work of the cross or the gifts God has placed in you. But our enemy is the father of LIES...you are worth every stripe Jesus took, every drop of blood He shed, and are worthy to be used by God...because God Himself said so. Live life strong and courageous for God, just as he spared the 3 in the fire and Daniel from the lions den, God will spare you too and give you peace in the midst of the storm!

The Touch of The Master's Hand

There are many times we feel weak, some days we might even feel as if we cannot go on. We wonder why there is so much chaos going on around us. It can be difficult to concentrate, when there is so much pulling at us each and every day. Some days you may feel used, other days abused. There may be times when no one believes in you and you are starting to doubt yourself. Some days may be painful and hard to fight back the tears. Other days you don't have the strength to fight. You have been accused, beaten down and wonder if God even notices what is happening.

You search for your purpose and are unsure what and why you are even going through the obstacles you face each day. You say a quick prayer to God every morning and every night, shouldn't that be sufficient for God to make everything right in your life?

If any of the above sounds like your life and you can identify with it, please know God desperately seeks you! However, you do not give Him the time He needs to speak to your heart. You quickly throw up prayers, failing to spend real time with God and make Him your priority each day. Many times the only way God can get your attention is to bring you to a standstill so you can be quiet and listen. God is not santa clause and cannot be treated as a Wish list provider. God will move whomever and whatever out of the way for you to focus your eyes upon Him. He loves you more than you will ever comprehend and He sees you struggling, but you will not surrender all the "things" in your way to spend time in His Word and in prayer. He wants to help you and He can, but due to free choice He will not make you spend time with Him, you have to be willing to want a deep, unshakeable, relationship with God and make Him the priority in your life. He sees your tears, He counts them and if anyone feels used, abused, and unloved, it is Him. 

God is reaching down His hand to you, take a hold of The Master's Hand! The same nail-scarred hand that loved you so much to die for you. One touch of the Master's Hand and you will never be the same. Ask Him today to forgive you for not making Him a priority in your life and surrender all the pain, heartache, obstacles, tears, and situations you cannot handle. He is just and loves you so much, He will help you.

Allot time each day in the morning and evening to spend time in God's Word and in prayer with Him. Don't say "I just have a busy schedule and don't have time", well He had time to wake you up this morning didn't He? And know this anytime spent in Gods Word and in prayer with Him, will leave you energized and you will feel good, for when you experience the Touch of the Master's Hand, you will never be the same again.

Be Blessed!

 

This sums up exactly how I feel about my Heavenly Father: 

 

Waiting - William McDowell

Someone Loves You Enough To Die For You

Someone Loves You Enough To Die For You-

Can you ever think of anyone that would die for you? I mean actually be tortured, beaten,and continued to be tortured for hours on end with their flesh being ripped and torn from their body, their hands tied, their face slapped, thorns embedded deeply into their head,and they took your place so you would not have to endure their pain and suffering. They died a horrendous death and they paid the price for you to spare your life and allow you to live. How many would really go through that for you? Chances are halfway through the horrible torture they would give up and say I cannot do this anymore, the pain is more than I can handle and I cannot go on.

Many may say that they would, but would they really?  Not being disrespectful, for I love my husband, but even my husband would not die for me. But I know the one who did die for me and He died for you also- Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter, Christ took our place and HE DID NOT HAVE TOO!  He loved us so much that He, living a sinless life and being the Son of God, came to earth to restore our relationship with God. Christ chose to become a living sacrifice for our sins so that we may be saved and live with Him forever. Christ could have called thousands of angels to stop this,even could have spoken a word and all would be stopped, but He endured every beating, tortured for hours for all He could see was you and I and He loved us so much that He became the sacrifice so He became our sin and chose to do His Father's will so that we may spend eternity with Him forever.

If you could realize for just a second what Jesus saved us from, you would spend every second living for Him. Each one of us are spared eternity in hell when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, a Risen Savior that sits on the right hand of God.  

None of us are here by mistake, each one of us are purposely made and Christ loves each and every one of us. There is no sin too big for God, He washes away them all and once you accept Christ into your heart and life, you will realize your valuable purpose here and God will open doors that were always closed before, He will bless you beyond compare.You are never alone, you will have a new found hope that no drug, alcohol, or person could every give to you.

How does a person ask God into their heart? By going to God in prayer and asking Him to forgive you of your sins and to come into your heart for you know He was born, died for your sins and arose again so that you may have everlasting salvation. No fancy words needed just a genuine heart that wants Christ to be their Savior forever. I promise, your life will never be the same and His love will surround you and you will realize just how much He loved you to die for you!

   

Making Choices.............

CHOICES.............

Everyday we make choices and do not even realize how many we make every day. From choosing the clothes we will wear, to what we want for breakfast, to what type of coffee or juice we want, it is all about making choices. Some choices may seem insignificant to us as we are so use to making them daily and don't think twice about it, then there are choices that baffle us.  Many times we seek other opinions and put hope in them to give us an answer, knowing we are seeking their approval also. Choices can be tough and often painful and should not be decided without direction from the one that truly will guide and lead us and knows our future- Our Heavenly Father!
Twenty-one years ago, I remember so clearly the day I asked my Heavenly Father for something materialistic and I sought His approval and blessing, but then didn't like it too much when His answer was No and to wait. Well, if I would have listened I would have been spared alot of heartache and expense!  I continued on to go purchase this large item I wanted in spite of the Lord telling me No and to Wait!  Here is what happened:   On the way to buy this "materialistic item", a cop shows up out of "nowhere" and gives us a ticket for going 3 miles OVER the speed limit- GOD WARNING ME TO STOP, then when we almost go there- flat tire! I thought, "Seriously?" this is crazy!- GOD WARNING ME TO STOP AGAIN!  Selfishly, I still refused to listen and continued on my way with a spare tire put on, after making my purchase, my credit card declined to take the full purchase- GOD WARNING ME AGAIN FOR THE 3rd TIME!!  Still not heeding Gods warning I continue to break up the purchase price and put it onto 2 of my credit cards, purchase finally went through and I was on my way home and waiting for the delivery truck to bring my expensive purchase! Needless to say because I did not heed God's warning, I only got to use my purchase 1 time and had to sell it for lack of room, for I found out the next week I would be needing room for a Nursery for my son. 
It was a costly mistake that God tried to warn me about and it took me months to sell!  God tried to get my attention, not once but 3 times! I should have choose to listen to God, but was selfish and it caused me huge heartache and pain from making the bad choice to not listen to God.  
Since then, I consult God on ALL my choices, no matter how big, small or indifferent they may be! I learned that God did not "have" to warn me but He loved me so much He did not want to see me struggle through the pain and heartache and He was trying to direct me for He knew my future.
When we do not heed God's message to us, we will end up failing and making a mess of our lives. Also, watch when you are being pressured or pushed by people to make a decision before God has given you an answer. Making a rash impromptu choice can be a disaster when you are being pressured by others. God will give you an answer and it will be the one that brings you happiness, joy and peace. Not saying that it is wrong to consult others to ask their opinion, just know it is God you need to consult, for His answer is the best choice you will ever make.
The next time you need to make a choice about a matter in life, consult the ONE that KNOWS and SEES the future!
Be Blessed!