Finding Peace.

Scars and troubles are on the way but with joy in our hearts we can He is faithful. Why is our lives filled with so many stressful things even though we have the Lord? -the devil is why. The devil does not want us to rely on our Lord. When we worry and when we stress the devil is winning. More times than not I have no idea what to do, but I know a God who will tell me and show me exactly what I need to do. We have no need to worry about our struggles or stress about them, because we have the Lord and that's a pretty good reason to be joyful. I have made the commitment to myself and to my God that I will not let the devil have what Jesus Christ suffered and died to give me. I will not surrender my joy and my freedom to the devil by walking around worried and stressed. I've mentioned before how when ever we're trying to do something good the devil will be on our backs. I have begun to find joy in the fact that things are going wrong, because I know I'm doing something good, and the devil wants me to stop. I know it is so easy to say all this and then when it comes down to it we still worry. But again, we never have any reason to stress because He is good, and He loves us! And we should have more than a sense of peace in that fact.

Why He Loves Us.

The Love that the Lord has for His people is unlike anything our humans minds can comprehend. It’s almost like we need to come up with a new word to refer to the love for His people.  We have a God who sent His only son to die for us. Could you even imagine sending your son only to be crucified and killed just for someone else? The angels did not understand and were jealous that the Son of God was sent only to suffer and die for us. I can only imagine how they must look at us, here we have a God who loves us so much but we sin.  Sin is in our nature, and we know His love is unfailing and never gives up. However, we should never abuse His love. We shouldn’t sin just because we know God will forgive us. When we repent our sins we do so with the intention to never to commit that sin again. This concept is something that we sometimes forget or we get used to it. Aren’t we lucky to have such an awesome God who LOVES US SO MUCH?

I Believe in Faith.

As Christians we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ came into this time and space continuum, into a human form just to save us from ourselves. If we believe this about the Lord what miracle is too big or too radical for us to believe? Some Christians are skeptical when people claim that something miraculous has happened to them because it's just not how God "typically works." Who are you to define how the Lord typically works? Who are you to tell them that it's not God?


Another thing I've been experiencing lately is some people pick and choose what to believe in the Bible. As Christians we believe that the Bible is a divinely inspired work. We know that the Lord had His hand and spoke through the many authors of the Bible. So choose to believe all of it or none of it. Who are we to question it? it's been around for thousands of years and suddenly you think you're so much smarter?

Our faith is more than picking and choosing what to believe. Our faith is believing even when sometimes it seems as though we have no reason to. We should never try to make sense of God and His works or we could be missing something beautiful and simple that our Lord has tried to put into our lives.

Following HIM, Not Ourselves.

As Christians we are called to put down our nets and follow HIM. Could we leave our jobs, our school and everything we have known the moment He calls us? We would like to say we could, but are we really even open to the call? I've once heard it said that God always calls us to do the harder thing = WRONG. Our God calls us to do what is best for Him and what will be best for us, no matter how hard or how easy that may be. The call and the path are not up to us. The call to answer is where we come in. There's a wonderful hymn that reads "I will go Lord, if you lead me." Saying this and proclaiming is an awesome way to surrender to His will which is what He is calling us to do and asking Him to lead us. Never limit your calling and say for example, "God has not called me to be a teacher" He may not be calling you to be a teacher at this very moment, but He might at some point in your life. In order to truly understand what He is calling us to do we must remain completely open and listen to Him and not to ourselves and what we want to hear. We know that as long as go forth in His name He will take care of us. We just have to put down our nets, and follow Him.

Stand Up For Yourself.

Servants or the lowest of the low were slapped by their masters on the right cheek as an insult. When Jesus tells His people to turn the other cheek, He’s telling them to stand up and be treated as an equal. Today, so many Christians run from conflict because they think it’s what Jesus would do. Jesus would fight for the natural rights that He gave the human race. At no time in the Bible are we instructed to roll over and let people walk over us. Christians are not super humans. Just because we follow a great God does not mean we can do it all. We are not called to say yes to every request. We are not called to be the best all the time. We are not called to let people walk all over us. We are simply called to follow The Lord our God, and leave the rest up to Him. That's what makes Him so great, He's got our backs (literally).

We Have No Need to Run.

Whenever we are doing something noble and great the devil will be on our backs. The devil wants us to give up, the devil wants us to surrender. However, we have no need to, we have the Lord! It is written in 1 Samuel 14:45  “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” This verse just demonstrates His power over all things that is just so incomprehensible. There's also song that has brought many to tears called Our God by Chris Tomlin. The chorus of the song reads "And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us. And if our God is with us, then what could stand against." This brings us back to as long as we go forth in His name we cannot fail. The Devil has no power over us, we have the Lord. Satan will try and try again to mess up our days, to make us angry, and to make us upset. However, Satan will have no power because we are serving our God. I encourage you to pray when you feel Satan on your back and proclaim that you are for the Lord, and that Satan has NO PLACE in your life! Pray out loud and let God hear your voice, And let the devil know that you know who you are in Christ!

Someone Needs to See the Lord In You. Today!

You know when you meet someone for the first time and you're just like "wow! what a Godly person!" and you're just blown away by the image of God that person is giving you? I find that is so important to always remember as Christians we are serving in the name of the Lord. No matter what your job is you know there is a way to serve the Lord while doing it. Sometimes even just by smiling while you work you can change someone's life forever and show them a glimpse of our Savior. It doesn't matter what we're doing as long as we go forth in His name! One verse I'm reminded of is in 1 Corinthians 13:8 that claims "LOVE NEVER FAILS" and it's not our human emotion that we have labeled as love. It's the Lord's love, something the human brain can't even comprehend. As Christians we know that when we go forth in the name of His love, WE CAN NEVER FAIL. 

Being Broken, Being Beautiful.

I have come to believe that being broken in the right places is one of the best things that could happen to us. Being broken shows us just how reliant we are on Him. He makes beautiful things out of us. God does not make junk and He does not junk up what He makes! Sometimes when we are broken, we are lonely and that's fine too! Because sometimes when we are alone and we don't have anyone else you get to know God really well. And there's nothing wrong with that! (can I get an amen?!) I know we all have heard the parable about the man who looked back on the footprints of his life and asked the Lord "All my life I have seen that you were with me, but why is it that at the hardest points in my life there were only one set of footprints" the Lord responded by saying "I love you and would never leave. It was during those times when you suffered the most that I carried you." It's never fun to be broken, but know if you are something really amazing is going on inside of you and you have nothing to fear.

Child Like Faith - It's Awesome.

Do we ever really need to know why? Why did God do this to me? Why did God create us? Why didn't Jesus have any siblings? Why does He love us so much? These are all questions I believe, when asked weaken our relationship with God. Some say that by questioning faith, we grow. I disagree, faith for me is something that cannot be put into an equation, or a timeline. Faith doesn't always make sense and I honestly wonder about those who try to make sense of God. One of my favorite names for the Lord is Yahweh meaning "I am who I am". This is such a simple phrase yet is not limited or defined and paints a beautiful picture of our Lord. I once heard it said that we do not ever have to question God, because He'll reveal it to us on His time, and we have the rest of ETERNITY to figure it out! Never waste your time by questioning Him, He'll let you know when He's ready. So stop trying to figure whether or not Jesus had siblings or why God let your dog die and focus on HIM. For we walk by faith not by sight. And remember You can memorize verses all you want, but until you put them in to practice it means nothing!
  

Judging Your Value.

How many times a day do we worry about what people think of us? It's only human to seek acceptance or to want to be liked, and I totally fall victim to this every day. Something I heard recently that gave me peace was that we cannot judge our value based on what someone has to say about us. We should base it off what God will have say about us when we stand before His mighty throne. For the value that God determines is the ONLY value we should be concerned about (with that being said who are we to judge the value others?). I do believe though, that if we are working to please God and working to increase our value to Him, we won't have to worry about people wanting to be in our lives. It is written that we are to clothe the naked and feed the hungry, and that when we do this onto the least of our brothers and sisters we're doing this for our Lord.  This is one way in which we can be seen as valuable to our Lord and His assessment is the only one that matters. What will you do to increase your value to the Lord today?

Whatever You Do, Keep it With You.

Some may say testimonies are personal. I totally agree with that and believe no one should share until they are ready. However, I also believe when we share our testimonies it is an expression of our faith and a way to honor our God. I had never really opened up about my story and often times I liked to keep the past in the past. I took the personal mantra of "I'm done recovering, I'm recovered." Boy, was I wrong! God has told me in so many different ways that I always need to remember the things He has done for me. It's more than remembering them, it's that I need to proclaim what He has done for me. In Psalm 118:17 it says: "I will not die but live, and proclaim what the Lord has done." I have found so much power in this verse and realized that I do not own my story, He does. He wants me to share my story and proclaim what He has done for me in order to spread His words and His name. This is why wherever I go, and whatever I do, I'll keep my story with me and proclaim His name and His words. Will you?

Sharing His Words.

Recently, God has been speaking to me in so many different ways. My first reaction was to keep all of these words to myself, thinking that it was far to personal to share. However, I then realized that it my responsibility and duty to share these words. God gave these words to me for a reason, and I believe He did so I could share them will you. These words are not my own, these words are HIS.