Let go

So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
Romans 8:6‭-‬8 NLT

Ever felt like there was no pleasing some folk? Ever felt like no matter what you do they will just never be happy? I mean you can pull out all the stops and even go the extra mile that you never thought you would, all to get this person’s attention, to let them know your doing all you can to please them? Some of us have done that for a family member. Some for a friend. And some of us have tried to make that relationship work that just was not in God’s plan anyway. We sometimes allow other people to control us and we don’t even know it. I know I know, there is nobody controlling me Rev. B. Well not entirely true because truth is we all ha e been there. Spending money we didn’t ha e. Wasting gas to travel. Being places we normally or shouldnt be. Even doing things for and with people we know we have no business doing.

HERE IT IS…

Let go… that’s it. That’s the answer because we will continually and constantly mess things up using pur own thoughts. Let the spirit take control of your thoughts and your mind and lead you. We always like to try and tell people, I got it. When in fact you s houldnt. We all should be able to allow God to lead and guide us in the direction we should go. Doing it your way will not ever please God. Allowing him to lead you is like being on auto pilot and letting him take you over all the mess to your next destination.

Fear?

“Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”
Exodus 20:20 NLT

Research shows and Rick Warren has exclaimed that the bible has 365 verses related to the phrase “fear not”. 365 times we have the ability to to know that we have nothing to fear. 365 times the bible reveals that fear is only to and for God. 365 times we have been shown that we should only fear God. In a article published by, The conversation, it credits fear to be an emotion. It starts in the brain and then is filtered through the body. Our body’s then react accordingly with the fight or flight. Our bodies become defensive and starts to find ways of escape. It is natural to fear and be afraid.what happens when we take on those 365 verses and live as such? What happens when we recognize that God has us covered? What happens when we turn to God in prayer before we get afraid?

HERE IT IS…

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
Romans 8:15 NLT

What happens when we recognize that fear is an emotion that can be controlled. Fear entered into our minds which means we have learned it. We have internalized it and we have created a space for it to be apart of us. Just as Roman’s 8:15 tells us, we have not received the spirit of fear, but in fact we have allowed it in.

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10 NLT

I have nothing to fear because it’s not apart of me. It’s not who we were created to be. Fear God for he is the only one who can judge you.

Paralysis

“Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭2:9-11‬ ‭NLT‬‬
Have you ever felt paralyzed? In the physical sense it means that you can’t move and have no feeling in your extremities. You can be paralyzed from the waist down or from the neck down. I’ve never been paralyzed physically however I have felt paralyzed spiritually. Spiritual paralysis gets you to the point where you may feel like you dont feel God move. Your moving without purpose. Your moving just because you have the ability to move but there is no feeling in what your doing.

HERE IT IS…

Just as Jesus healed this man of physical paralysis, he can heal us from spiritual paralysis. It wasn’t the man himself that made or had faith to make him whole. It was his friends that took the situation into their own hands. They made sure they got him to Jesus to be healed. When you feel paralyzed spiritually, have some people around you that has faith enough to know that by any means necessary to take you to Jesus and have him heal you. Don’t worry about what people say or what people think. Go to God and watch how his word alone will heal you.

Tend to your soil

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
John 15:4 NLT

I have a coworker who is in to farming and growing his own foods. He even wants to get his own chickens, and have a mini farm. As we work together we talk about it and it actually got me Interested and doing it. However it was harder for me to do it than it would be for him. The reason is that the 2 different geographic locations I had to invest more than he would. My soil and his soil are different. The soil is what helps produce the food and fruit. Once the food starts to grow it has to also have room and natural things to grow. The food cannot grow if it’s not connected to what’s feeding it. No matter how big it gets if at all it gets disconnected it cannot grow.

HERE IT IS…

Your connection cannot cannot be just anywhere. You cannot just plant your self anywhere in this world. The soil you plant yourself in may not be the soil you need to be in. That soil may need some work and may not be ready to be planted in. When you find the soil that is rich, and has all the super natural things it needs you will then see the strength in your growth. You will continue to feed from the base and soil of the word and never disconnect from it. Even when it’s time for you to gi off on your own the soil you will be planted in will have the same factors and things you need as you had when you were growing. Check your soil…

Finish strong

“Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Finish what you started! A statement that has been said and running through my mind for a while. It can seem hard to finish something when you have so much going on. Sometimes we get away from what we have learned that causes us not to finish. We can get so comfortable in doing “things” that we miss finishing up what we started. We practice and learn certain things and when we learn it we start incorporating other things because we think we have a handle on what we started.

HERE IT IS…

Keep growing and keep going. Just because you learned something doesn’t mean that’s all there is to learn. Finish what you started. Increase what you have seen. The scripture says that you should put into practice what you have learned and then the God of peace will be with you. Go after it. Go for it. Learn it. Put it into your daily routine and God will make away for you. Finish what you started to receive the reward that God has for you.

Finish it

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1:6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

One thing I don’t like doing is starting a project and not finishing it. It bothers me when things come up in the middle of what I’m doing and I have to stop what I’m doing to go do something else. When I come back to it I have to try and get back in the mindset of where I was and remember what I was doing. That is something that makes me crazy having to try and pick up where I left off. Even though it gets done I wonder how much faster I would have completed it if I had not stopped.

HERE IT IS…

How do you think God feels with us. I’m not saying that he reacts like us or doesn’t have the patience to do it. Just think about how many things you started and when something came up you stopped and went in the opposite direction God told you. Here is the promise in the text that I love. There is a comma and a continuation of what he started in you he will finish. This version tells us that he will finish the very thing he started in you. Those dreams and businesses and school and programs you started years ago? They may have stopped because of one reason or another but because of who our God is, they will be finished. So don’t get discouraged pick up where you left off and watch what he does with it.

Everything you need

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
2 Peter 1:3 NLT

Missing something? Is there something that your missing in your life you feel or think you need? What is it that you have been asking God for that he hasn’t allowed you to obtain? Is this what God has for you or just something you see that will fit your life? Questions we all should ask ourselves when it comes to looking at the things we want or need in our life. Those things we feel will make us a better person. Based on what merit? Truth of the matter is we have all we need to have and lead a successful life as followers of Christ. It would be nice to have other things, material things, be better when it comes to our attitudes, and thoughts. We already have all we need.

HERE IT IS…

It’s by God’s power that we have these things. The very first thing that’s said to us in this scripture is that by God’s divine power we have all we need. How do I get it if I’m missing something? Well it’s by knowing who he is. Getting to know Jesus bestows on us the very ability to live a complete and happy Christian life. We have to come to know who he is to be able to receive what he gives us. Think about what was going on before you met him, and think about what you have now. It’s all in knowing where your power comes from. My help comes from the Lord. Knowing Christ is what propels you higher, all because he has all that you need.

CPR

I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land.
Hosea 13:5 NLT

Wilderness or desert, these 2 words are what brings to mind the things and issues the children of God had to go through. These things let you know just how hard it was for them. It shows you just what they had to go through. We often think of a dry and Barron place. No water, heat, no food and most of all no shelter or trees. It seems to be a place that we all can think of in our life. Where we just felt like God was not with us. We felt like we were uncovered, and we felt that we had to survive on the bare minimum. Ever felt like God had you in a place where you you were struggling to the point that everything you did had to be held on to to save it, and ration it out?

HERE IT IS.. 

The Hebrew word for wilderness or desert is midbar, which shares the root word diber which means, holy of holies. So just when you think your in a Barron wasteland. You think that your left out by yourself. You think that you are uncovered. That’s the very place where we meet God. Your wilderness is not your dying place, but it is in fact the place where you receive spiritual CPR. This is the place you receive Christs Promise of Restoration. You receive your CPR in your wilderness. You receive healing in the wilderness, you receive his love in the wilderness, you receive all that you could ask or think in your wilderness.

He’s got you

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”
Exodus 16:4‭-‬5 NLT

Provide, sustain, take care of, words and phrases that mention of making sure that someone is not in need of anything. As parents we make sure that our kids are not in need of anything. We try to make sure that the ones that we love and care for are taken care of and provided for. We dont want them to have to find it anywhere else if we are in good health and can make it happen. Where does it come from to allow you to be that providing person. That person that makes sure that everyone is sustained and not in need. Moses and Aaron was spoken to by God and was told what was going to happen. It wasnt anything that they did. It was all God.

HERE IT IS…

I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord , who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.
Psalms 121:1‭-‬3 NLT

God provides for us. God gives us the wherewithal and the ability to do what we do for our families. He gives the thoughts, mindset, and intuition to do what we do. Moses and Aaron did what God said and the Israelites where sustained for the time they were in the wilderness. Whatever you going through, He will provide. Whatever is happening in your life, he will sustain you. Whatever may be trying to pull your family apart, God will do just what he said he will do.

So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 NLT

Graduation

“But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭3:14-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬
A letter to my daughter!
Dear Camille,
I have watched you come home as a baby. I have sent you off to kindergarten. Then to elementary and middle school. High school came and went faster than I expected. You have grown into an amazing young woman who is driven, and called. You have always been the one to be the one to wear your feelings on your sleeve. As you have grown I have taught you a lot of things but one of my deepest and most amazing feelings is your love for God. You have truly been amazing to see your dedication and your compassion for others.

HERE IT IS…

I can and have taught you a lot but if you don’t remember anything else that I have shown you remember this. Graduation is a continuation of what God is doing in your life. You have moved from one level to the next and God has cleared a path. Remain faithful. Remain humble. Remain loving and trusting God. With him all things are possible. I want you to know that you have made me the happiest and proudest to say I’m your dad. Now it’s time for you to grow and god and glow. Continue to be who He has called you to be. I love you and congratulations on graduating high school. I love you.