Seen and Unseen

A flower will bloom, but eventually would fade away, but God’s word is forever.            

               As a young child, we had things that we cherished, and eventually, we will outgrow those things. They would either be tossed away, donated, or given away, as a child I never understood why I couldn’t keep those items, but as an adult with children, I realized that we can’t always have what we want, things will change. What we experienced as a child we don’t realize until we become adults, but even then, some of us adults do not realize that most of what we see, touch, and experience in our world is temporary. If life on earth is merely temporary, you should know that your problems are not permanent either. Think about it, what makes us think that our problems will last always? We must not lose hope in the midst of suffering. Our troubles should not tarnish our faith. There is always a purpose behind our suffering. Paul speaks of the troubles that God’s people have and it will not last. The enemy Satan and his followers will not last. We need to concentrate on things that will last, the unseen not what is seen. Money is temporary, a car is temporary, a house is temporary, and a career is temporary, but GOD is ETERNAL (unseen)! Paul references the glory, the beauty, and true greatness of God and what He has prepared for His people when Christ will rule forevermore. "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18, KJV).

 

New Year....New Beginnings!!

 

I know I can say for all of us 2020 was a tough year. You probably are thinking it’s a new year, so I want to be a new me, or maybe that is just me. I know for me there is one thing I want to experience and that is to learn how to live peacefully through God. How can I do this? Verse 2 Corinthians 5:17 states, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. In other words, for me to live peacefully I have to allow change to happen in my life in this new year and I need to remove old things that are not allowing me to grow and embrace the new things that will help me to grow. New year new you have a fresh start in your life. You are wiping away the old and becoming into the new. The year 2020 has been a rough year for all of us and countless times I have heard people say over and over I can’t wait for 2020 to be over. Something has to change in 2021, regardless of the blessings and good things we experienced in 2020. We must apply 2 Corinthians 5:17 to our change. The verse is telling us we are new creations through Christ. It is telling us by accepting Christ as our Savior in our hearts conquers all sin that defines us. With Christ in our lives, we are wiped clean of our sins and made new, but when we do fall short and sin we are about to repent and reject its grasp. As we embark on this journey through the new year 2021, we have to embrace Gods word into our lives daily. This will help remove the sin that follows us daily through ourselves and other people’s behaviors. In order to embark on your journey of a new year and new you just recant 2 Corinthians 5:17 “You are made new” walking through his word helping you to live right while being surrounded by sin.

Is there a Bridge between Anxiety and Christ?

 

Have you ever had a bit of anxiety knocking at your door? Have you ever asked the question: Why Me? Where are you, God?

A lot of the time we find ourselves worrying about things that never happen. Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. Anxiety is nothing that comes from God.  Philippians 4:6-7 says, “(6) Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. (7) And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (KJV). What this is basically saying is we should never worry about anything; instead, pray about it. We must tell God what we need and thank him for all that he has done. This is when we will feel the peace of God all over us. With his peace, it will guard our hearts and minds while following Gods word.

The devil can use anxiety in many ways for negativity and cause you to lose a bit of faith in God. For example, I was placed in a situation where I became very anxious and lost my way to where I was having an anxiety attack. Instead of me going to God, praying, and asking him to guide my heart; I went the other way and started thinking the worse of things. See when fear, anxiousness, and uncertainty come over you, that’s when those questions above start popping in your head. The good thing about this is, God has already provided us ways out of feeling anxious.

This all starts with us remembering our relationship with God. We must remember the key points to our relationship with God: We should always have trust in God, God has gone through tremendous pain before, he has great things in store for us, he will never lose his love for us, and never leave us. My 6-year-old son said something to me while I was going through my ordeal he said, “Mama, by Jesus Blood the virus will be removed from our bodies”.  Although he meant by the blood of Jesus the virus will be removed from our bodies. He was right, I was shocked he knew of this and to have so much faith in God (very proud mom moment). I knew then I had to get myself together and get back on track. “For God has not given us the Spirit of fear, but he has given us power, love, and a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).  This verse right here shoots volume to me. This is something I have to remember time and time again. Be blessed!!

Fill me Up

Hebrews 12:28-29 

"Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire" (KJV).

One day I was sitting in my family room when I looked at our fireplace and the song “Fill Me Up” by Casey J popped into my head. The words to this song are incredible and speak on God filling us with the Holy Spirit while we open our hearts to receive it. I thought to myself, as Christians, we are similar to a fireplace. The Holy Spirit is the fire and our willingness to give God praise is the wood. As Christians, we offer our sacrifice to God. When we get cold, we need more wood. Often times we think our fire has gone out, but if we add a little more wood to the fire, the flame would get bigger. This is similar to us giving God praise if we just open our hearts, and add our willingness to give God praise our flames will become bigger! When our hearts cry out to him, God is Faithful. He fills us up and causes an overflow so we can pour into others. 

Listen to God's Whisper

 

Have you ever heard a soft voice or a silent whisper, and you wondered where it was coming from? Have you ever stopped to think that God is trying to tell you something? The Holy Spirit wants to enter our lives providing us with grace through the presence of God. God comes to us in different ways with truths that will not allow us to have doubt. The Holy Spirit whispers words that will comfort our hearts. Have you ever felt as nothing seems to be going the way you planned it to go? You try your hardest to make things work, but you just seem to fall short. Have you ever thought to stop and listen to that soft whispering voice and think…is the Holy Spirit trying to tell you something? I’m here to tell you…you’ve tried things your way and it didn’t work, you put yourself first before God. You never stopped to think hmmmm, I believe God is trying to tell me this is not the way, and I need to try his way. There is nothing like listening to God’s sweet whispers in the time of need, or anytime really. It doesn’t have to be bad times it can be good times too. I ask again have you ever stopped to listen to what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell you? It is very important to listen to what God is saying. There is always a lesson in his message to us. Remember my favorite verse, Jeremiah 29:11? I have to result back to this verse all the time I know he has a plan for me I must stop and listen to what he is trying to tell me. Then I reflect on the verse Psalms 16:7 “I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night, my heart instructs me” (NTL). His quiet whispers of grace that will enter into our hearts will always draw us closer to God.

Let’s Take a Walk in Christ

 

Take a walk with me for a brief moment, this is a walk in Christ moment. We are on a journey and the journey is a view of my submission to God. I thought I had my life planned out (sometimes I still do) in the direction I had, I thought I was on the right track, but there was always something in my way. I would become frustrated, upset, and be like God will things ever work out for my good, not knowing I was going about it all the wrong way. My plans I had set for myself were my plans but not God’s plans. God has each of our lives planned out we just have to be willing to go through whatever the situation is and finally see what was always right in front of us. Often times we hear our ministers say – To get what you need, to get where you want to be in life, through all your messy situations you must submit to the will of God. I bet you have heard this countless times, but do you know what it means or how to reach submission? Stop right there and think about this for a moment…submission really is the end result of a full-blown relationship with God. Now let’s continue walking. There are times I find myself being a bit difficult and not wanting to submit to God’s will, and willing to sacrifice as the word tells us we should. I love God and know him and I have seen somethings he’s done for me buuuut, I still at times fall short. Stop for a moment and let’s think about this. How is it hard for me to submit to God's will, but it is easy for me to submit to earthly things that are no good for me, but his will is everything and good for me. Submitting to God allows me to enter into the plan he has for me. Now let’s continue to walk. I understand why I am willing to choose worldly treasures rather than God’s rewards because in the beginning I never understood God’s word and didn’t have a relationship with God. Not having a relationship and a clear understanding of his word made it difficult for me to submit. How does someone submit to God if you do not understand God? As I started reading and studying his word it was then I started to understand God is everything!!! God is my light in the darkness, he brings me out of dark places, and for that, I am thankful for having him in my life. Stop for a moment and think about this…If you try to live your life without having God at the head of your table you are traveling down a road that will lead you to a dead end. In order to live the life you feel you deserve you must submit to God’s will and receive the plans that are in store for you, this is the number one rule while walking with Christ. Giving it all to God is submitting everything and allowing him to lead you in the right direction. Now let’s continue to walk in Christ, through my journey I will submit to God by studying God’s word, applying his word in my daily life. Although it is a hard walk, I know as long as God is leading me I know I will be alright.

God’s Armor

 

 

No one can fight a spiritual battle by themselves with their own strength. We must study and rely on God’s word and power and ask him to provide us with his strength when we are in the midst of a storm. Ephesian 6:10 says, “to be strong in the Lord, in the power of his might” (KJV). At this point in time it is important for us to be strong in the Lord. The scripture says we must be strong and receive his power to get through whatever we are going through. The devil creates storms that can defeat us. It involves using whatever we are weak at and afraid of, the devil has ways to make you feel small when he knows you are limited in God's words. We can handle this by putting on the whole armor of God, so we can stand against what the devil has for us (Ephesian 6:11). God's word and his armor will protect us and get us through anything.