Just a Thought 6/14/13

If God took so much time to design the universe, and added so much detail to the placement of the stars, why wouldn't He have a plan for our lives.  God is so detail oriented with His design of everything that we should stop for a minute and think about how invested He is in our design.  The stars and the moon cannot sing Him praises, but he still placed each one where they are supposed to be.  How awesome is that? If God can create all the things on this earth, the why can't we believe that he has greater things for us and is intricately involved in our lives.  In Jeremiah 29:11 it says, "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." God tells us right there that he cares. Whatever the situation you may be going through looks like, don't fret. God loves us and he will always take care of his children.

A few things to change your perspective. Don't worry, just worship. Don't panic, just pray and praise. Don't breakdown, bear down in His word. Believe that God is not an absent parent. He is very much involved in our lives and is just waiting on us to reflect that trust in him. God bless.

More Than a Rib

This post is a poem that I recently wrote for my beautiful wife Candace. Now some may ask, "why is he putting a poem about his wife on here?" Simple answer. God blessed me with my wife (Proverbs 18:22). This poem is an expression of my love for her. This is not strange or out of line. Solomon wrote a whole book of the bible to his beloved (Songs of Songs).

Beauty defined/ in terms of an intricate design/ a smile that shines/ its a blessing to see like sight for the blind/ She is more than a rib/ She is a part of me/ one flesh in God's eyes, by His will joined in unity/ that's why I can speak so fluently/ about her worth and how even in the midst of my mess ups, she was still true to me/ She is more than a rib/ God filled my heart with love for her, though/ it's not always what I would show/ my river of love never truly changed its flow/ She is more than a rib/ my love flowin'/ into her ocean of emotion/ I'm grateful and thankful that God allowed me to seize this moment/ to let her know that she has me like the Bible on the 'This do in remembrance of Me' table...perpetually open/ She is more than a rib/ the embodiment of beauty, wisdom and strength/ to display my unconditional love, I'll go to great lengths/ She is more than a rib/ I love every inch of her being/ and if seeing is believing/ I believe I'm seeing a woman whose internal and external beauty is simultaneously beaming/ She is more than a rib/ my wonderful woman of worth, the mother of my kids/ holding the essence of phenomenal in her heart/ my best friend, my lover, sexy, classy, smart/ more valuable than calling her a dime/ I am hers and she is mine/ She is a part of me/ one flesh in God's eyes, by His will joined in unity/ that's why I can speak so fluently/ on how Candace A. Parker is more than a rib to me.

Now I know this poem is written for my wife, but there is also a message in this. Men, particularly those that are married or even engaged, you should be able to openly express to your woman how you feel about her. It doesn't make you weak or a punk to let her know that you love her. If anything, you show greater strength by openly displaying your love for her. Treat your woman right. It even talks about it in the Bible in 1 Peter 3:7 and Ephesians 5: 28-30.

Women, your man should feel something similar about you. He should honor, respect and love you as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5: 25). Also, as women of God, you should be the crown for your husband like it says in Proverbs 12:4. This meaning that he should take pride in the fact that you are his wife, like a king takes pride in wearing his crown.

I pray that this encourages those who are married, engaged, or in a serious relationship to seek God first, let Him show you how to treat your significant other and how your significant other should treat you. God bless.

Why We Go Through (Part 1)

First off, I want to thank God for allowing me another opportunity to post to my blog. It has been a while since I last posted. If this is your first time on here, welcome. If this is not your first time, then welcome back. I'm just going to jump into the scripture now.

Read Jeremiah 24: 1-7

In this passage of scripture, we learn about a vision that God has given Jeremiah. What God spoke into my spirit about this is that even though the people of God were being exiled, they were being exiled for a reason. This lead me to the question; why do we sometimes go through the things that we go through? I'm going to give you a couple reasons today (with more to come later) why we go through the trials we do.

One reason is for growth. God uses situations to help us grow in Him. What I've come to find out is that a lot of us are spiritually immature. Some of us profess to saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost. We act big and bad in Jesus' name. We act as if we have it all together and are in tuned with what's going on, but when we go through something, that all changes. What these "growth trials" do is cause us to experience a life lesson where we can use the knowledge or wisdom learned in future instances. Now that leads me to the next reason.

God uses situations to strengthen our witness. He will use these times to make our witness, our testimony, that much stronger and solidified. I used to simply think that we are blessed to be a blessing, but God reminds me that we go through trials to be a blessing as well. When we experience those life lessons, not only are we to use them for our own growth, but the testimony that comes from it can be used to help draw others nigh to God. There may be someone going through the same thing or something similar to what God just brought you through. They may not know what to do or who to turn to. I encourage you today to use that God given experience that if God can bring you through it, then He can do the same for them.

Now to tie all that in with the scripture. The exiles who God sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians were exiled with the purpose of being built "up and not torn down." So even in the midst of them being exiled, God was growing them (v 6) and strengthening them (v 7).

That same God is trying to do the same thing with you. He wants to grow and strengthen you. So I encourage you to continue to praise and worship God even in the midst of your trials. Take the lessons learned and grow from them. Use them as building blocks in your continued growth and apply them to your witness to help draw others to Christ.

I pray that this post has been a blessing to all of you that have read it. God bless.

Setting a Higher Standard Part 3 (God's Limitless Blessings)

Not too long ago, I talked about setting a higher standard. A standard in which we do not set ourselves but is set for us according to the word of God. God has called us to be victorious (Isaiah 41: 9-10). Knowing that we are victorious by His means, we must also realize that we have access to God's limitless blessings. If we can get to a place where we really focus on God, we can receive everything that is due to us.

One scripture in particular that directly tells us this is in Matthew 6: 33. Jesus tells us to, "Seek the Kingdom of God ABOVE ALL ELSE, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Clearly this scripture tells us that God can and will give us everything we need if we get to a place where we are earnestly seeking Him (earnestly meaning serious in intention, purpose, and effort). Now, with that some might ask, "How is that part of setting a higher standard?" Look at the words in all capitals. It says "ABOVE ALL ELSE." This means that whatever we may have been seeking (more money, bigger house, newer car, etc.), we have to seek the Kingdom of God more than that. His Kingdom is at a higher standard than those of earthly possessions. So when we are seeking God's limitless blessings, our standard is not how much we seek the "things" we believe we need but how much do we seek His Kingdom. Compared to what God can give us, focusing on those "things," is below the standard in which we are called to live up to.

What it boils down to, is changing our standard of focus and making it higher. We can focus all day and all night on getting more, bigger, better, newer "things." At the end of the day, however, it fails in comparison to setting a higher standard of focus, which is seeking the Kingdom of God and letting him shower you with blessings.

I hope this post has been a blessing and encourages you to set a higher standard and focus on God and letting his limitless blessings rain upon you. God bless.

Draw nigh

I know that on the last post I said that there was to be a continuation of the "Setting a Higher Standard" series, but God put something in my spirit that I needed to share. There has been a song in my heart for a while now. Every time that I hear this song my heart goes into a position of praise. The song is called, "Praise is What I Do" by William Murphy III. Really, my heart is in a place of permanent praise now simply because of the goodness God has displayed to me and my family's life. However, this song does move me.

In the song he sings, "Praise is what I do when I want to be close to you." Another part of the song goes, "Praise is what I do. Even when I'm going through, I learned to worship You." Here is the thing that God spoke to me and told me; that despite your circumstances or issues (whether it be financial, physical, mental, or whatever) when you praise God, you are pushing yourself closer to him. That's why this song moves me, because in the past and even now, I realize that I have to praise my way through and push myself closer to Him. I can't sit back and be quiet about God's grace, mercy and love. I have to outwardly praise God whether I'm in the four walls of the church or not.

God doesn't want the physical motions of praise or the talk of praise. Anybody can go through the motions or say the "key" words. What God really wants is your heart. It says in Deuteronomy 6:5 to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength." Now, in order to complete this task, we must first draw nigh to God (James 4:8). The word "nigh" means near in space, time, or relation. So when you draw nigh to God, you are drawing near in space, time and relation. Now because you are in relation to Him, you can truly do what Deuteronomy 6:5 says. Let's be honest. Most of the time people only try to get closer to God because we've tried to do things on our own and couldn't do it. After we come to this realization of not being able to make it without God, then we must do what Jesus tells us in Matthew 6: 33. We have to "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness..." By doing this, we are drawing nigh to God. In our seeking of His kingdom and righteousness, we are seeking Him. And when you diligently seek God, he will show himself true and bless you more than you can even imagine.

God bless.

Who Do You Call On?

When it comes to seeking help, we often times forget that God is our ever present help. In Isaiah 7: 7-12, it talks about how King Ahaz actually rejected God's help and placed his trust in man. In verse 9 it says, "....Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm." The Lord is telling King Ahaz to have faith in Him and he would be protected. In other words, if you can't believe that God will do it, then He won't do it, solely based on your faith or lack thereof. We have to believe that God will protect us. In doing that, God will honor our faithfulness and protect us just as He promised.

In verse 11, God said to King Ahaz, "Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want- as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead." The king actually refused when God was/is clearly ready to show him/us His power. This showed King Ahaz's lack of faith in what God can do. He depended on man, who can fail you or quickly turn on you. He decided to call on Assyria for protection and because of this, God spoke through Isaiah and told him (King Ahaz) what will happen to Jerusalem (verse 17-25). Looking at those verses, the protection that he sought would turn on him and do tremendous damage to Jerusalem.

Even today, many of us have a similar problem. We use every way except God to help us with our problems. These alternative ways can simply lead to more problems that can overtake our lives. Some people may use alcohol or drugs to help them cope with their problems. Some people might even use social networks (Facebook, Myspace, Twitter) seeking advice or help from people and putting your trust in them more than God.{side note: I won't go hard on the social network issue this time, but I will talk about it very soon.} Those same people could very well turn around and stab you in the back. Now, I'm not saying that it is wrong to seek advice, but really stop and dig into the word of God, talking to and more importantly listening for Him before you do anything else. Let God lead you to where you need to go or what you need to do or who you need to talk to.

So I encourage you to place your trust in God, our ever present help. He can never fail you and will always love you unconditionally. He promised us that by allowing Jesus to die for us (John 3:16). God bless.

Giving Credit Where It's Due

I got this devotion from reading Isaiah 10: 12-15. When I first read this scripture, I thought to myself, "Isn't it just like us to act like the king of Assyria?" We boast or brag about what we can do or have done. Often times, we do this and don't realize that it is by the grace of God that we accomplish things. What we have to realize is that God uses us for His purpose and His glory. In Isaiah 10: 12, the prophet Isaiah says, "After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him-for he is proud and arrogant."

What happens when we are proud or arrogant in what we believe we accomplished on our own is a disconnect in our relationship with God. You might ask, "how is that?" By claiming that by your own strength, or your own power or your own wisdom that you accomplished some great thing, you are essentially saying that you did not or don't need God. This is a fatal and foolish mistake because the more you remain boastful and take pride in yourself only, the more you drift away from God's blessings. Look at what it says in Deuteronomy 8 where it talks about remembering God. Verses 16-18 is where it really talks about humbling yourself and realizing "that it is the Lord your God who gives you power to become rich..." (v. 18).

Going back to Isaiah 10, look how the king of Assyria boasts in verse 13-14. Then go to verse 15 where pivotal questions are asked. It says, "Can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a whip strike unless a hand is moving it? Can a cane walk by itself?" These questions bring absolute answers with them. None of those things are possible without someone directing it or using it for its intended purpose. The same thing goes for us. To be used correctly for our intended purpose, we cannot honestly say that it is by our own strength that we receive or accomplish great things. God deserves all the credit, all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise because after all, He is the creator of all things and where would we be if the Creator did not create things for us to accomplish?

Now God will humble those who are proud and arrogant as it says in Luke 18: 14, "....For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." So why not go ahead and humble yourself before God does it? Why not be exalted or honored for being humble instead of being forcefully humbled for being proud? I encourage you to check yourself and take a minute to thank God for the things that you have accomplished or have.

I hope this post was a blessing to you or someone you know. God bless.

Letter to God

This is a poem that I wrote in letter form. I hope that it is a blessing to you or someone you may know. God bless.


Dear Abba,


It's me again. Trying to seek your face again. I need your guidance because I'm feeling lost and I see chaos slowly closing in. Can you please help me Lord? With you, I want to be in one accord. And my issues my heart cannot afford. I don't want to bow out, don't want to admit defeat. I have goals to reach, but I feel like I'm trying to stand on two broken feet. Can you realign them, and put them in a Holy cast? Let them sit in your word while I rehab. Help me to walk straight on your ordered path. Really, I need a spiritual surgery. Please take your Holy Spirit and inject it into my I.V. and if you don't mind, can you check my eyes so I can clearly see your will for me? 'Cause I'm tired of losing, in you I want to win. With my flesh I'm wrestlin'. How do I pass this test I'm in? Please tell me, am I taking the right steps. Use me up Lord 'til I have nothing left. I need to see more of you, and make myself and others less. So this is my plea to you. Your will I'm ceding to. Readjust my internal settings to do more things pleasing you. Thank you in advance for changing my focus on maturing my spiritman. I know in you I'll be the best I can. I praise you and love you always.


Sincerely your child,


Cam


P.S. Even in the midst of a mess, I think back to what you've brought me through and I know I'm blessed. So I will be found praising you. For all you've done, what you’re doing, and what you're going to do. That's why I will continue to worship and magnify you.

You WILL.....

I'm just going to jump into things on this one.

 A lot of people had to deal with some crazy situations or people this past year. Just know that the enemies or stumbling blocks of God's children will never prosper or win. We were born victorious over all the haters, nay-sayers, liers, cheaters, road blocks/hazards, dead beats, and whoever or whatever else is against God's children. Praise God in advance for this situation being handled according to what He can do. Continue to do what God has empowered and ordained you to do. When things come against you and try to stop you from doing what God wants you to do, how do you react? Who are you listening to? God or man? In Acts 4: 19 it says, "But Peter and John replied, 'Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him?' "

When people come against you saying that you should just give up or try something else, know that if God has ordered you to do it, then he will provide you everything you need to accomplish it. Don't worry about what everybody else says about you. The same thing goes for situations or tasks that may seem too difficult to tackle. I'm not saying that it's going to be easy but God will give you the strength to complete the task He has given you. It says in Isaiah 40: 29, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." And in verse 31 it says, "But those who trust in the LORD WILL find new strength. They WILL soar high on wings like eagles. They WILL run and not grow weary. They WILL walk and not faint." Notice that it says WILL and not might. When you think that you can't go on, start praising God in advance for Him stepping in and renewing your spiritual energy. Watch how your praise will continue to grow as God re-ups your strength. Then watch how God will honor your praise and bless you in ways you may not even expect.

We have to stay focused on waiting on and trusting in the Lord. This includes praising Him, talking (praying) to Him, and reading His word. So I just want to encourage anyboby reading this to shift your focus from the negative and start praising God now for the positive things that He has done, is doing, and is going to do. Just know that by this, you WILL be blessed. God bless.

Love Letter to God

I pray that by reading this, it may help you realize all that God has done for you and how much He really loves you. Think about the mess you were in and how you thought you wouldn't make it through. But you're here now, more refined, more polished. Now it's a new day. Realize, there are renewed blessings coming your way. Just realize that God loved us enough to send his only begotten son, Jesus, to die so that we may have life. On top of that, Jesus loved us enough to tell us, with our flaws and everything, that He is preparing a home for us in heaven just by accepting Him as our personal Lord and Savior and living a life modeled after Him. It may be hard, but look what Jesus' love did for us. I don't know about you, but I feel loved. Ain't no lovin' like God's lovin'.




Dear God,



Everything that you've done for me, I wish I could just hug you/ I love you/ That's why I place no one above you/ I love you so much/ I can't breathe without you, I can't live without your healing touch/ by bringing me through so much/ I know I was blessed by your son Jesus' strength to make me so tough/ And people ask me, what can your love do? and I tell them your love got me through school/ that your love saved me from the deep end of death's pool/ your love took me home when I had no business being out/ your love kept me from letting spiteful words come out of my mouth/ that your love has been there before I was born into this world we're in/ that your love is going to stay with me through thick and thin/ and I know that your love is all I need to survive/ and that your love is never cut short because you overly supply/ your mercy and love has brought me through/ everything that I've been through/ and if people knew what you knew/ then they would know that myself alone would have been through/ That's why each day I praise and love you more and more/ when I'm against all odds/ I know I have you God/ to even the score/ and I praise your name with each breathe I take/ each step I take/ each move I make/ and since you're the O.N.E. G.O.D./ that gives me that true T.L.C./ I can step out on faith/ and I love you because you enabled me to think with the head on my shoulders/ I'm your heavenly soldier/ and I'm not worried about what the quote, unquote cool people deem as cool/ because the One I'm worried about passing judgement is you/ I love you because you loved me first/ you loved me even before I put you first/ and you loved me enough to send your only begotten son, and your son, Jesus loved me enough to die for my sins/ and I love Jesus because in Him I have THE best friend/ so thank you Lord for each and everything that you've done, without you I am not the same/ these and all the blessings I thank in your son Jesus Christ's sweet and precious name....Amen.

"Self" Therapy

This post is a little different. I'm trying to let God use me how He wants to use so I decided to add my poetry to this blog.

I haven't really wrote poetry for a while but I do hope that anyone who reads this likes it. As I try to continue on with the gift of poetry, I also try to refine it by adding components from the past, present and even future. I just pray that God uses me how He wants to use me and guides my pen or fingers everytime I write a poem or lyrics.

This poem just kind of shows how someone might struggle with things and almost have a soul therapy session within prayer. Realize that in this poem, there is no specfic response from God. Sometimes God lets us work through things to help us grow in Him. So by the end of this poem/conversation/prayer praise is being offered up as a result of realizing that God is needed in my life, your life, thier lives, our lives. I hope this is a blessing to you and those you know. God Bless.

"Self" Therapy

Lord, what's wrong with me?
I know the things I've done are so wrong of me.
Why does it seem like you've hid your face for so long from me?
Wait....you were never hiding, I was looking in the wrong direction.
I want to trust in you always but I only call on you at my own discretion.
Teach me a lesson.
Lord, break me down to rebuild me up.
Use me like an empty cup.
I need the Living Water so I'll never thirst again with your Holy Spirit, please fill me up.
And I know the devil is defeated but this sin in me,
Keeps on temptin' me.
My flesh needs to die daily because it's trying to put an end to me.
And ain't it somethin',
How I keep frontin'?
Like you don't deserve all the praise in my victories, credit me with nothin'.
Completely do away with the old me, the me before I knew you.
Show me what I need to do.
I'm on my knees, please I'm desperately needing you.
And I know, I know I need to be strong enough in you not to turn my back.
You shouldn't always have to call me back.
I have to stay mindful of you to keep our relationship in tact.
But Lord, I'm on the edge, I'm at the end of my rope.
Jehovah Jireah, my provider, my everlasting hope.
I want to be on fire for you, I can't afford to become ash and smoke.
So I'll keep on burnin'.
Everyday I'm learnin'.
Abba, my father, for your healing touch I'm truly yearnin'.
So I lift my hands up ceding to and praising you,
For what you've done, are doing and going to do.
You are holy and righteous and I give you thanks for allowing me to fall back in love with you.

What's Ya Faith Like? Part 1

First of all, I would like to welcome anybody who reads this back. It has been a long while since I last posted.

Since my last post, my wife gave birth to our third child. She was born 2 months premature, weighing in at just over 3 lbs. She was in the NICU for a whole month before she was able to come home. With that being said, I was spending as much time as humaly possible at the hospital with her. I'm not going to lie, I was not even thinking about posting on here during that time.

This is really a testimony about my daughter, Carmen. I consider her our miracle baby. She is now 3 months going on 4 and is well over 10 lbs. The doctors said that because she was 2 months premature that she will be a little bit behind in her development. Basically they were saying that at 4 months she would have a 2 month old's mindset. But me and my wife know The Doctor and He had a different diagnosis. We talked to The Doctor and started thanking Him in advance for our daughter being healthier than what the doctors predicted. We thanked Him in advance for her being bigger and stronger now than what the doctors predicted she would be at this time in her life. Those doctors couldn't tell us that she was going to be just an average baby. They must not know whose child they were talking about!!! She is a child of God and God's children are blessed beyond what the world can understand. We just had faith that our daughter was going to be better off than what the doctors said.

Let me tell you something about God and how good He is. Jesus tells us that all we need is to have faith the size of a mustard seed and we could move mountains (Matthew 17:20). Do you know how small a mustard seed is? Here is a picture of a handful of mustard seeds, just to give you a visual of how small of faith we need at minimum:

Look how small those seeds are. Just imagine if in every problem/situation we had a just a mustard seed of faith that God will or already has taken care of us. I think that it would look something like this.........

These are mustard seed flowers. Look at it like this. With just some small mustard seeds (acts of faith), all these flowers (blessings) came to be. This is just like what happens when we have AT LEAST faith the size of a mustard seed. Not even the trees (obstacles or snares) can stop the flowers from blooming. Yes, those obstacles may seem big, but look at the multitude of blessings that go beyond it. No obstacle or problem or situation is so big that God can't turn it around and make it a blessing or use it for His glory. That is exactly what happened with our daughter Carmen. Her being born 2 months early and only weighing just over 3 lbs. sounds bad, but God responded to our faith by blessing her the way she has been and will continue to be.

All we need is a little bit of faith and God will take care of the rest. Just believe that God can do it, and thank Him in advance. You will start to see God rewarding your faithfulness.

I'm going to stop there for the day. I thank everyone who has taken the time to come by and read this blog. We will look further into having and keeping faith on the next post. I pray that this has been a blessing to you all.

Again, thank you for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment or question. God Bless.

Dress for Success Part 3

Looking at where we left off in Part 2, we are still talking about the different pieces of the Armor of God. Just as a reference point, the scripture is taken from Ephesians 6: 11-18.

Looking at verse 15, Paul tells us to put on peace as our shoes so we can be fully prepared. Not just any peace though. Peace that comes from the Good News. To put it differently, would you rather walk outside and have on peace in a chaotic world and not worry about what trials you may walk through? Or would you rather walk bare foot and take the chance of stepping on some problems and not having the peace to deal with it? I don't know about you, but I'm trying to step out in my "Stacey Adams" of peace. The reason why we need the shoes of peace to be prepared is because if you put on everything except for peace, then you aren't fully prepared to go out into the spiritual battlefield. Just like if you have on all your clothes but not your shoes, then you're not ready to go out the house. And the thing about these shoes, you don't have to take them off at all. I'm sure people will appreciate it if we all keep on our peace shoes.

Going on the verse 16, it tells that we will need faith as our shield. We need this to block the "fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan." Now let's look at the word faith. Some synonyms for the word faith are confidence, reliance, trust, or assurance. We have to have to have all these things in Christ when we are going in to our spiritual battle. We have to have confidence in what God can do. We have to rely on God to take care of the things that need to be taken care of. We have to trust that God will provide for us. And as sure as Christ is King and has defeated death, we have assurance that we have victory in our spiritual battle. The thing about using faith as our shield (along with all the pieces of the Armor of God) is that we must have it on or with us at all times. In every spiritual battle we face, Satan is going to fire his arrows at us relentlessly. We have to constantly have our shield of faith up blocking the doubts, fears, misconceptions and everything else the enemy is trying to hit us with.

Going into the last couple pieces, Paul tells us to "Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (verse 17). The word salvation means to SAVE somebody or something from harm, destruction, difficulty, or failure. When we go into spiritual battle, the enemy has put a price on our head and he is trying to take us out. If you are to put on salvation as your helmet, then you must first be SAVED by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Once you're saved, then you have received salvation. Now that you have received salvation, you can wear it as your helmet to protect yourself from the the tricks the enemy tries to play on your mind.

Now Paul also tells us to take the word of God with us. We must use this to cut down any surmounting trials that may come against us. I know from personal experience, there are Bible verses for whatever you are going through. There is so much wisdom in the word of God that we can use when were faced with a situation. We just have to know how to use it. How you learn how to use it is by first reading it. If you can read this blog, then you can read the word of God because this is no way a replacement for reading your Bible. That's why I put the Bible verses on here so that you can reference them when you're reading your Bible. All I'm saying is that if we are to use the word as our sword, then we have to know how to use it. I'll put it like this. Let's say you just downloaded a new program on your computer, but aren't quite sure how to make it work. If you have an instruction manual, then you're more than likely going to read how to use that program. The same things goes with reading the Bible. If you don't know how to use it as your sword, then you should take the time to read because it is our Instruction Manual on life.

Now that we have on the full Armor of God, the last thing we must do is pray (verse 18). There is no secret to this. No analogies or synonyms. The fact of the matter is that we have to pray in all things that we do. Beyond reading our bibles, this is our way to stay in constant conversation with God. Through Christ we have a direct connection with God and we have to stay intimate in our relationship with Him. And when we pray, it doesn't have to be all formal or wordy. We can talk to God. Remember, He knows us better than we know ourselves. We might as well keep it real and just talk to Him. By constantly praying/conversing with God, this makes sure that all of His armor is on right and we are prepared to go our on that spiritual battlefield. So let us all dress for success, getting suited and booted for the Lord, and put on the full Armor of God.

Thank you for bearing with me for this 3 part series. I thank God for giving me the mental patience to put this all together. I again hope that this has been a blessing to you and yours. Please leave a comment and let me know you came by or what you think. God Bless.

Dress for Success Part 2

Last post, I left off talking about putting on the whole Armor of God. As a reminder the scripture is taken from Ephesians 6: 11-18. Again, this is where the apostle Paul is telling us to dress ourselves with the Armor of God.

Picking up where we left off last time, we are going to start at verse 14. Here we see the first couple pieces of God's armor, which is the "sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness." First let's look at the words sturdy and truth. When you think of sturdy, you might think of other words like durable, strong, solid, secure. That's exactly what the truth is. It's solid, secure, durable, strong. What the truth does is gives us a solid ground to stand on by putting whatever it is "out there" and showing that we aren't worried about what people will say. What a lie does is try to put up a front. A front that will inevitably fall and leave us exposed anyways.

Now this verse also mentions putting on the body armor of God's righteousness. When we put on the body armor of God's righteousness, we are putting on morality, justice, decency, and honesty. This goes hand in hand with the sturdy belt of truth. I'll use decency as an example. Say you're wearing a pair of pants that are just a little too big. If you don't wear a belt, then they might fall off or slide down. Either way, you're going to be showing your backside. But if you wear a belt to hold up those pants, then you're making sure that you stay decent. The same thing applies with the body armor of God's righteousness and the truth. To make sure we're not exposing our self in a spiritually indecent manner (or showing our backside) we use the truth to help hold up the righteousness we are putting on.

For example if we are truthful about having issues but praying that we continue to live right, then we are more likely to continue living righteously. The Bible even tells us how the truth can help us continue to live righteously. It can guide and lead you to God (Psalm 43:3). It can guide and teach you, bringing you to hope in God (Psalm 25:5). It also has the power to set you free from the bondage of sin (John 8:31-35). If we are not truthful about having issues, then we are less likely to continue living righteously. Take a look at these verses from the Bible. It says that some people were lead astray from God as a result of others distorting the truth (Acts 20:30). It also says in Romans 2:8 that "...he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness." That's why it's called the STURDY BELT of truth. Based on the scriptures above, that's how the truth will hold up the body armor of God's righteousness.

I'm going to stop there for now. I will talk about the remaining pieces of the Armor of God later today (2/4/09). I pray that Part 2 has been a blessing to you. Come back for Dress for Success Part 3 as I bring it all together. Thank you for coming by again. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. God Bless.

Dress for Success Part 1

If you recall from previous posts, I talked about not worrying about being suite and booted. Or being so focused on the flashy things. In this post, we are going to talk about how to dress for success. Now, I'm not talking physically, but spiritually dressing for success. To find out what to wear each day we wake up look in Ephesians 6: 11-18. This is where the apostle Paul talks about putting on the whole Armor of God. First though, we are going to cover why we need God's armor.

As a background piece for this post, we have to first realize that no matter who we are, there is a spiritual battle waged against us each and everyday we are in Christ. No matter how saved or holy we think we are, the enemy is out to get us. That is why it's so important to get this.

Paul gives us a clear description of what we are up against in verse 12 saying, "For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world..." To put it in perspective, think about this....If an object was coming towards your face, in general, you would be able to block it from hitting you. Why? Because you see it coming. In this spiritual battle, the objects coming at you are unseen and you are therefore unable to block them on your own. But thanks be to a merciful and gracious God that we are blessed with His armor to block these unseen objects. And it doesn't matter if it's coming from behind us, underneath us, to the left or right of us, or straight at us. God knows all the enemy's tricks even though they seem unpredictable to us. That's why we need to put on the Armor of God.

In verse 13, Paul instructs us to "Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil." Not just one piece for one day and another piece for the next day. EVERY PIECE. If you were going out in a snow storm, would you wear snow pants but no jacket? No. You would make sure that you have on every piece of clothing that you need to wear to protect yourself from the elements. That same concept applies to putting on God's armor. We have to protect ourselves from the evil spiritual elements coming against us. Not one of us, by our own strength, can withstand the enemy's attacks on us.

The first thing we must do before we put on the Armor of God, is to accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, confess our sins to Him (acknowledging that we can't do it alone) and start putting on the whole Armor of God.

Thank you for joining me again. The next post we will go into what exactly the pieces of God's armor are. Please leave a comment letting me know what you think. God Bless.

Why Worry Part 2

I'm going to pick up where I left off in the last post (Matthew 6:28-33). In verse 28-30 Jesus goes on to talk about the lilies of the field saying, "...they do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" Look what He is telling us. We're so worried about being suited and booted or worried about the things of this earth that we forget what God can do for us. If He can make the flowers as beautiful as they are (even when they don't have the ability to praise and worship Him), then He can make sure we are taken care of. Jesus says "O you of little faith" because we act like we don't have faith that God can provide all our needs when we worry about things.

Instead of seeking Him, we seek to put our worries to rest that's why Jesus tells us in verse 31, "Do not worry saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' " If Jesus simply telling us not to worry isn't enough, then what He goes on to tell us in verse 32 should be. He assures us that our heavenly Father knows we need these (and other) things. I know from personal experience that when I would worry about something and try to get it, fix it, figure it out, or deal with it on my own, I usually caused myself more problems than actual solutions. And often times that is the case with most of us. We worry so much about basic and sometimes more than basic needs and forget that God, who made it all, is ready and willing to supply us with everything we need. Jesus tells us this clearly and explains what we have to do in verse 33 saying "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you."

All we have to do is stop worrying about things, put it in God's hands and seek His righteousness. Plain and simple, God is trying to stop us from worrying about things by meeting us at our most basic needs. We have to stop letting worry stop us from seeking Him and seeing that He will take care of us. So my question for everybody is this: What are you worried about and why haven't you let God take over?

Thank you for spending your time on this blog. I pray that God used me to be a blessing to you or someone you know. Feel free to leave a comment or testimony about how God took your worries away or to let me know what you think. God Bless.

Why Worry? Part 1

For this week's post, I will be looking at Matthew 6:25-27. This scripture has been one that I have tried to live by for quite some time. Before I read this scripture, I was constantly worrying about things that God was already taking care of. One example that goes hand in hand with the scripture is from my early years of college. I was so consumed with how I was going to eat or buy food. Of course there was the cafeteria, but if you've been to school, then you know what that food can do to you. Plus the cafeteria had limited hours and I ate more than the 3 standard meals.

It wasn't until I happened to read this scripture that I realized I didn't have to worry about that. I didn't have to seek answers to my worries because God already had my answer. I was at peace with my situation after reading Jesus' words. And just now, it reminds me of another scripture. When the devil was tempting Jesus in Matthew 4:4, Jesus says, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" and in John 6:35 He tells us, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry..." That is just more reason not to worry about what we will eat or drink (verse 25 and 31). This particular point gets put into perspective when He talks about the birds of the air in verse 26 not reaping or sowing but our Heavenly Father still feeds them. Jesus even asks, "Are you not much more valuable than they?" If you don't consider yourself more valuable, then I'm going to need you to step back and realize that you're a child of the Most High and no bird is flyer than you.

Going back to the story, I'm not saying I just stopped thinking about food or stopped caring about eating. I'm simply saying that I stopped worrying about if and when I was going to eat. My worrying didn't furnish any results or answers. In verse 27 Jesus says, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" My worrying wasn't doing anything for me except causing self-inflicted stress.

This is where the issue lies. We often are so worried about our physical hunger being satisfied that we don't see that we are starving our soul from the Bread of Life. I was letting my worries inhibit me from worshipping and my problems suppress me from praising God for what He has already done, is already doing, and what He is going to do. So what I had to do was tell the world, "Save your soul food. I need that Savior (save your) soul food." So I encourage you all today to stop worrying about "what you will eat or drink" and start praising God for the past, present, and future "meals."

Thank you again for taking the time to read this post. I pray that it inspires you to grow closer and stronger in your relationship with God. Feel free to leave a comment or openly discuss the scripture. God Bless.