Life

Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

Colossians 1:10 NLT

A lot of people say that experience is the best teacher. I agree to a degree. Why go through it if you don’t have to? If you take the time to know God, then some life experience you won’t have to go through. Just think about all the times you should have went right instead of left. Or the times you should have waited. Or my personal favorite, the time you should have left but didnt. Those alone are experiences that you may not have had to learn the hard way by listening to Gods voice instead of getting advice for your friends or family. Your lifes decisions start with his voice.

HERE IT IS…

Just as the teacher has to teach how to take a test, we also teach ourselves how to just pass test, seemingly get by. When in fact we need to actually learn more about what we are doing so that we can grow. We have to learn about what our teacher (God), is showing us and live it daily, rather than trying to learn how to just get by. Learn how to please God and watch how your life changes.

Memories

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

Facebook has this thing called memories. What it does is however long you have been on Facebook and what you posted or tagged in it will bring it back up and show you what was going on. I don’t know about you but I have read them a couple of times and looked at some of the things that I have posted and the things I have said. Most of them I was upset about because of the errors in spelling and things because I didn’t reread my post. However, when I look back and see some of the things that I was posting and remember what I was going through I do nothing but praise God. Not because of what it was but because it’s a reminder that he brought me out.

HERE IT IS…

This morning I was looking back at 11 years ago that 3 of my children got baptized on this very day. As I look back at what I was going through God still showed up in our life. It wasn’t anything I did but God who provided a reminder or a memory that I won’t forget because he is sovereign. When you look back over your life and in your memories what is that god shows you just how sovereign he has been to you? Just take a moment and look back over your life and see just how great he is. Just how awesome he has been. Just how amazing he has been and look at yourself now. I’m not what I want to be, but I’m heading in the right direction. I have been made new.

You better think…

“For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.””

Mark 5:28 NLT

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.”

Proverbs 23:7 KJV

I had a bout with what people thought about me. I use to maneuver my way and talk a style after what I thought people thought about me. See we can get caught up thinking about what we think people are thinking about us that our thoughts become nothing but a guess into there mind. Nobody is a mind reader. Would you want to be? I have enough trouble battling my own thoughts. I don’t need to battle with yours. So if I think I am great, I’ll be great. If I think I’m beautiful, I’ll be beautiful. If I think I can get it done, I can get it done.

HERE IT IS…

This woman with the issue of blood THOUGHT if she could touch his garment she would be made while. She didn’t wonder if other people thought that. She didn’t think about the people blocking her. She didn’t think of it as a question. She made the statement that if she touched his clothes she would be made whole. What do you think of you? What do you say to yourself in the mirror? What do you think of you when you see yourself? We have to stop thinking what would please other people and think about what’s good for us. If your not good how can you be good for other people?

Let Him defend you

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.”

Daniel 3:16 NLT

Have you ever been in a fight? Have you ever been in court and had to defend yourself before the judge? When we we are in a debate or heated argument we get defensive. In times like this that we soon have to try and formulate words together to present our case to whoever we are facing. We get guarded and most of the time we realize that fighting is not fair. Soon after that we end up saying some thing that we can’t take back. Won’t take back and sometimes wish we could. But why are we defending ourselves? Why do we feel the need to show ourselves approved in a situation?

HERE IT IS…

I know that there will be cases that we will have to speak and defend ourselves. However, a lot of times we waste time and energy that we can’t get back doing this. The three Hebrew boys had an opportunity to defend themselves but decided against it. Why? Because they knew the king had no heaven or hell to put them in. Why feel the need to prove something to someone that has no lasting place to put you in. They were placed in a fire that they should have died instantly but because of who their God was and he still is today, why try? Let the God of everything speak and protect you in everything. Keep your mouth shut and move according to his will. Not yours.

Patterns

“So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.”

Romans 7:14-15 NLT

Your not stuck. Your just committed to certain patterns of behavior because they helped you in the past. Now those behaviors have become more harmful than helpful. The reason you can’t move forward is because you keep applying the old formula to a new level in your life. Change the formula to get a different result.

– emily Maroutian

I felt every part of that statement. That statement is just what Paul was talking about. We want to do good m, but we don’t because we can’t get out of our old ways.

HERE IT IS…

I don’t know about y’all but I studied my dad when I was a child. I studied him the way he ties and untied his boots. I studied the way he put in a shirt. The type of socks he wore. I studied the type of cologne he wore. His mannerisms. But as I got older I started to see when he different things he had different walks. He had different ways about him. He moved different. We get caught up in wanting to have one set mold. Stir. Add water and bake. That doesn’t fit your life. New places mean just that NEW PLACES. Which mean you can’t go there with the same mentality. Something has to change. Out with the old, in with the new (ME).

Today

Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.

Proverbs 27:1 NLT

“Man I can’t wait until tomorrow…”

“Tomorrow is going to be so much fun”

“Do you know what I’m doing tomorrow?”

All things we have all said and felt a some point in our life. We have all put all our eegs into the basket of tomorrow. We all have made claim to this day as if it was a guarantee or a promise or even as if it was ours to claim.

HERE IT IS…

Today is the only day you have. Today is the day that is given. Today is the day that you are allotted. What are you going to do? Are you going to spend part of it thinking about what you can put off to tomorrow? Thinking about the stuff that can hold off until tomorrow? Or seeing as though you don’t know if this is it will you do what God asked of you and live in today for him? Tomorrow, what tomorrow? Let’s do it today!!!

Every praise

“Hear my prayer, O LORD, And let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; Incline thine ear unto me: In the day when I call answer me speedily.”

Psalm 102:1-2 KJV

7 years ago a young boy named Willie was kidnapped, taken away from his family and trapped. This young boy was only 9 years old and was abducted from his surroundings. The very things that he knew was gone. Crying, upset, scared this 9 year old boy did something this kidnapper never thought he would do. He started to sing. He sang a song that brought him to a place of peace. He sang a song that covered him. He sang a song that would keep his mind. In his place of kidnapping, and fear and tears he began to sing this sing. “Every praise is to our God. Every word of worship in one accord. Every praise, every praise. Is to our God.”

HERE IT IS…

What do you do when Satan try’s to kidnap you? When he tries to take your joy. When he tries to take your peace. When he tries to take your sanity. EVERY PRAISE. When he comes to try and remove you, Every praise. When he tries to take what is yours, Every praise. When he tries to remove you from where your supposed to be. Just like this little boy 9 at the time when you sing unto God he will answer. When you lift up his name, he said I’ll draw ALL men unto me. It doesn’t matter who they are all you have to do is lift up your voice and sing his praises. Why? “When mine enemies come upon to try to eat of my flesh they stumbled and fell” – Psalms 27:1

In you

For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.

1 Corinthians 15:9‭-‬10 NLT
Remember when you were in that place in your life where you were just out in the world going crazy. I mean, when you were doing it you thought it was just the best thing and fun. But now you look back and think to yourself, “I was tripping”, right? You look back and just see where and what you were doing and how bad you were. It often may bring to your mind “God why me?”. Not as in why do I have to go through it, but instead, God why did you choose me? It’s hard to believe that as bad as we were God still saw the good in us. As bad as we were God decided to save us. As bad as we were God said that he will give us life more abundantly.

HERE IT IS…

Paul says;
But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.

1 Corinthians 15:10 NLT
It was not you who got you out but God.

It was not you who saved you, but God.

It was not you who drove you home when you were drunk, but God.

It wasn’t you who protected you, but God.

Truth is whatever you are now, God did it. Pastor Marvin Saap said in a song that, he saw the best in me.
What is in you is greater than what your past was.

Message

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”

Colossians 3:16-17 NLT

Do you remember when pagers was big? When you got paged and you had to find a phone to call the number back or to listen to your messages? There was a whole language dedicated to pagers. Different messages meant different things. 911 meant emergency. How you could tell someone I love you by numbers. The message that you would receive would make you feel important when you got a page from someone. The message was something of great value. What message is God telling you today?

HERE IT IS…

These verses tell us just how great Gods message through Jesus is for us. It should not just hit you on the surface. Instead, his message should stir something inside you and make you think about his Grace and mercy towards you. This message should gives us a heart of thanksgiving and a heart filled with praise. So whatever you may be in. Whatever may be going around you. You need to check your messages and here his message, read his message and it will be in a language that you understand to show you just how he loves you.

Loved

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians 3:16-19 NLT

One of my favorite love songs is “I need love” by ‘LL cool J. That song and so many others touch our hearts because we can relate to it. We can seemingly recite that love song word for word. Jam to that and some others and remember who we dedicated that song to, who it reminds us of, who we think about when we hear it. It takes us back. It brings a sense of nostalgia to us.

HERE IT IS…

This section of scripture says exactly what we want to experience from God’s love. One of many love songs to him.

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

“May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

Ephesians 3:19 NLT

We can talk about who we were with, what we was doing, what car we was in, what time of day, what we had on. Now I have a new love song, because the day he saved me. I know now that the love I thought I had, doesn’t compare to what Jesus did for me.