Rest in His Peace

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

     With all the bad occurrences we receive on the news, the constant persuasion to keep up with The Kardashians, the urgency on young people to marry, all can be very overwhelming. Agreed? Agreed! Every time we may try to get a little peace there is a Facebook message or a mention on Twitter. Our friends or family may call us with devastating news which may also trouble our hearts. Some of you may have very active small children who demand EVERYTHING by throwing thought out temper tantrums. Wouldn't The Peace Of  Jesus be amazing? Ummm YEAH! 

     So, Jesus tells us with all the destruction and distractions not to be too overwhelmed because His Sovereignty supersedes all the chaos that life brings. He knows we will have to go through many struggles within ourselves and also with just living in this life in general. However, being in a relationship with Christ gives us the assurance that we have no need to allow those struggles to overtake our lives. Of course at first depending on the situation we may react in fleshly emotions, but at the end of the day we should practice to rely on The Peace of God.

     Now, one must research The Peace of God before we Rest in His Peace because we are unable to Rest in something we know nothing about. So it REQUIRES us to get deeper into God's Word out of pure love and not for memorization. Yeah, I say that because some people do that. Anyhow, by us desiring more of God we gain more of God which empowers us to triumph over life's obstacles! Furthermore, Jesus has overcome the world, death, and the grave! He is basically saying, Look child! I got you! I been there, done that, and got the t shirt. I made this world and these people you are having a tough time dealing with so let Me handle it and you chill in My awesomeness. So of course I am using today's young folk dialect, but I just want to bring it home. 

    One good thing to do is to implement an encouraging scripture that speaks to you and meditate on it every time your heart is troubled. That annoying co worker insert scripture. Your car breaks down insert scripture. Get the picture? Great! Now do it. If Christians can't live a peaceful life, what Hope do sinners have? We are the candle holders of God's Light are we not? But that's another post...go in P E A C E ✌️. 

       

      

How Many Times?

Matthew 26:33-35 " Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all disciples" 

Trust is the basis of any strong relationship. When you ask someone what they look for in a mate trust, honesty, and faithfulness will rank high on the list. These same components are important in our relationship with God; however, sometimes we get it mixed up. Often we cry out to God trying to  convince Him that we trust Him, but has He given us a reason not to? Shouldn't we be crying out asking and convincing God to trust us? God is faithful (Deuteronomy 7:9), He does not lie (Numbers 23:19), and you can trust Him (Proverbs 30:5). We are born sinners! Enough said...point blank period! Our sinful heritage makes us susceptible to being unfaithful, dishonest, and none trustworthy; to one another and even to God Himself. On any given Sunday when the deacon says "I will bless the Lord at all times" the entire church will join in to finish "and His praise shall continually be in my mouth". Then by Tuesday some (not all) will have cursed out 3 people; therefore, your word can not be trusted and you are deemed unfaithful! But God knew you would do that and He has forgiven you in advance for it; however, He does expect you to be convicted by it exhibiting an effort to do better. 

Take Peter for example. Everyone knows that Peter denied Jesus three times as, Jesus predicted it at the last supper. We often give Peter a hard time for that; however, Peter was one who gave up everything to follow Jesus (which most of would have difficulty doing) and even after the denial he was instrumental in the early days of the church. The character of Jesus shines bright in this scripture in that He didn't treat Peter any differently knowing what was to come. In fact Jesus' character allowed Him to treat Peter according to his character and not his flesh. Peter was convicted by his actions and did what was necessary to find favor in the eyes of Christ again. Jesus knew that it was a part of the plan and He then used that denial to strengthen Peter as a leader during the difficulties in the early days of the church.

What does this have to do with us? Today, denying Jesus isn't merely saying "I don't know Him". Denying Jesus is keeping quiet when you know something is wrong, denying Jesus is behaving in a way you know He would disapprove of, denying Jesus is condoning behavior that is not of Him, and etc. Can God trust you to uphold the ideals He left for us as His people? Can God trust you to keep your word in blessing His name at ALL times? Can God trust you to be faithful to Him even when it means giving up your job in Corporate America to follow Him? Or will you deny Him? 

How many times will you deny Him? How many times HAVE you denied Him? 

As Marissa mentioned the other day; sometimes God will ask you to give up something with no intention of actually taking it away, but just to see if you're willing to sacrifice. Is your lack of trust in God due to your inability to be trusted? It's something to think about. 

#FearlessFAITH

Who do you belong to?

Acts 19:15 " And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" 


     And so the evil spirit asks, "Who are you?" Such a defining question. We are asked this profound question during school, job interviews, and regular conversation. Some may say a student, doctor, Mrs. Johnson daughter, nice, but in this verse the only real answer that matters is are you apart of Christ?  Do you belong to Him?  Yes, we all have been bought with a price in Jesus Blood, but not all of us realize it,  meaning all of us are not saved. Here is the kicker, these are priests that satan asked this question to. Y'all know how in scary movies you see the priest coming to do an exorcist on someone with an evil spirit or spirits living in them, right? This is about the same. There were some evil spirits and the priests were called to do an exorcism and satan asked who are you? Ha! These men told him to come out in The Name of Jesus, the Jesus Paul preaches about and guess what happened? The evil spirits that they were trying to call out ended up leaping on them! These were looked upon high priest Jews in Ephesus, but they had no power! Just like today. It doesn't matter what a person title may be, if  that person is not born again then their life is of no effect for God and definitely not a threat to satan as we can see. That is why it is important to know who we are and make sure we belong to God because we are unable to fight satan on our own. He will ALWAYS prevail against us without The Help of God. 

What is really interesting is when you read down it says, And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell upon them all, and The Name of The Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds(Acts 19:17-18). See how God turned that situation around? Because of the lack of TRUE belief and the priest being overtaken by the enemy, it caused the surrounding religious leaders to fear The Lord. They gained WISDOM which is in Psalm that says the fear of The Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I am sure they had wordly intelligence, but this was their first time receiving the Wisdom that there is ONE True and Living God. That The Jesus Paul preached about is REAL. That leads me to my next point. The priests tried to call out a demon by what Paul knew about Jesus and not their own personal relationship with Jesus. That is where many of us mess up at in life. We are not capable to coattail someone else belief in Christ. We have to know Him for ourselves! They knew about Jesus, but didn't personally know Jesus. Just like today, we have people coming to church every Sunday out of tradition not really having a relationship with Christ, but when a situation comes up when we feel like we need Him we want to throw His Name around like we have the privilege to do so and satan will look at us like who are you? You have no authority. You are not saved. I don't see Jesus in you, which is dangerous because you see what happened to these high priests. So I ask this question not in regards of a reply, but it is a self evaluating question. Who are you? 
          

We Need Each Other

Romans 1:11-12 "For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me" 

Paul's humble spirit is so encouraging and contagious! The call God placed on his life was remarkable and further proves God's power; reassuring the work that only He can do in our lives. It amazes me how the Word was effectively spread through him without the use of social media, email, u-stream, and etc. He was able to speak to masses of people countless miles away. The introduction of this letter to the Romans is epic, please read it! Not once does he seek credit for anything God has done through him because he knows he didn't and couldn't do it on is own; instead he gives God all the glory. 

Although God is clearly with Paul I find it extremely humbling that he, in vs 12 says that they (himself and the Romans) need each other for encouragement in their faith. This is coming from Paul a man that personally had an encounter with Jesus! This very scripture proves that even the most anointed vessel of Christ sometimes need encouraging. Often times we put so much pressure on our pastors and ministry leaders forgetting that they too need encouraging. Romans 12:5 says "so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all" which essentially means we are all connected in some way operating as one. We must continue to encourage one another; especially our leaders. You are only as strong as your weakest link, as a whole we must remain strong because many forces come against the Church as a whole regularly. There are constantly stories of churches being burned, churches being robbed, and pastors being killed. The success of a leader depends largely on the faithfulness of their following; support and encouragement. 

It's Sunday, Father's Day, take the time to encourage your father, your pastor, and acknowledge THE FATHER!  

#FearlessFAITH 

Is Love safe?

Genesis 22:1-2, 9-12 "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2 And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

       Is love safe? Now, that is a tricky question. I would answer yes and no. It honestly depends on what your definition of safe may entail. If your version of safe is playing it safe then no. What do I mean by playing it safe? Well, if you choose to live a life that suits you and no one else then no love is not safe. If your life only caters to your needs and your desires then nope love is not safe. If your definition of safe is never allowing anyone in because of past hurt and fear of it happening again then yes, you guessed it love is not safe. Love is daring, open, unconditional, mind blowing, eye opening, life changing and that type of love costs. In this life, we WILL hurt. There is no way around it. People will hurt us whether we open up to them or not. We still will experience heartache, and most would consider that dangerous, but as long as your love is reflected upon Christ then it is safe! 

        In Genesis 22, it talks about one of the most talked about sacrifices other than the ULTIMATE Sacrifice Jesus gave to us. Picture that! We can view this two ways. One being a father sacrificing his son or a man who loves God so much and trusts Him so much that He will literally do anything God asks Him to do. Love. Was that Love safe? Well as I stated before, it depends on what your view of safe may be. We all may not have to sacrifice a child, but we have to sacrifice something(s). I recently and not that this is the only thing, but since it just occurred had to make a decision. Not truly knowing how Abraham felt, I feel like I was put in the similar test. God asked me to do something and I did it with Faith in spite of my own feelings because I love Him that much. What does God do? He stops the knife so to speak. He allows me to keep what He asked me to give up. It was a test. God is AMAZING! I have cried, pondered, smiled, cried, pondered at what God was doing and is doing because His Ways are beyond me. It does us no good to question God, but to practice trusting Him. I mean really trusting Him. This is the most faith driven season in my life so far. I literally do not know what my next move is, but I keep making strides each day. His Love helps me and let's me know to keep going, I got you. School, relationships(friends, family, co workers, bf), money, car, housing are ALL in  His Hands. I think about those things and the hurt and frustration with them all and ask myself will I still love? My answer is yes! A thousand times yes! In this life hurt is inevitable and so is pain. I rather be hurt in God's Arms than outside of His Arms. Because that Love is safe. Choosing to Love in spite of your situation and how someone treats you is safe when God is ushering you to do it. Isn't that what Jesus did? He knew He would conquer death and due to His love for us He willing died so that we may eternally be in Heaven. He proved that risking our lives for God is the safest decision that we will ever make. So is your love safe? 

Praise Report: A new friend I gained this past semester has found a friend in Jesus! She told me this past week and I was over joyed! Like seriously, getting ready for work and fell to my knees in awe of God. He is amazing! 

It's Yours

James 4:8 "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded" 

The closer you become with God the easier it is to hand everything that you have and everything that you are over to Him. However, the process is not as easy as it sounds. God is not one to impose nor does He enter where He has not been invited. That is why the scripture here says draw near to Him and THEN He will draw near to you. Don't misunderstand and think that God is not with you because He will always be with you and protect you; however, some things He will not do if you don't ask. Just as Marissa mentioned yesterday in Wrong Side of a Blessing the man had to ASK God for what he needed, although God already knew. Earlier in this same chapter of James it is written "ye have not because ye ask not" then the scripture above (James 4:8) follows.

When we expect God to move in our lives, changing our way of life, we must relinquish control. Here we can interpret cleansing our hands as letting go of our past life, our sinful ways, and bondage situations. Ridding ourselves of all those things will ultimately purify our hearts where God can really shine through us. A purified heart gives us joy, peace, love, and hope allowing us to be faithful; exercising self-control. Often times I find myself handing something over to God then going back to it trying to fix it as if He is incapable and doesn't know what to do; double-minded.

Being double-minded is an example of doubt. Surrendering to God has to be a solid decision, there is no room for doubt or indecisiveness. He doesn't want part of you He wants all of you. It is written in Revelation 3:16 "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spur thee out of my mouth". Straddling the fence between the Word and the world is not a good place to be you have to decide which side you're fighting on. You can't serve two masters nor can you can't fight on both side; Matthew 6:24. If you're on the Lord's side one of His requirements is to surrender everything to Him (Matthew 16:24).

Whatever you're holding on to LET IT GO and whomever you're holding on to LET THEM GO!
Free yourself...it's FREEDOM FRIDAY!!!

Worship Song

#FearlessFAITH

Wrong side of a blessing

John 5:10 "The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”

In the leading scripture it shows the Jews wrongfully questioning a man that Jesus healed. Well, let me give you some background information on this verse. There was a crippled man at this well known pool called Bethesda. At this pool, sick people waited for an angel to show up to stir the pool and whoever got in the pool first was automatically healed. Now that Jesus is on the scene; He comes to show that it is not about being first, but it is about having FAITH. This man has been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus asked him a simple question which was "DO YOU WANT TO BE HEALED?" After the man answered, Jesus healed the man of his condition. Mind you in religious crowds, it is not lawful to heal on the a Sabbath. So once some of the Jews saw the healed man they began to question and discourage the newly healed man which is the scripture above.

Okay now you have your background information. We have to be careful about who we tell our blessings to sometimes. Some people will be on the wrong side of your blessing. Meaning, God could bless a homeless person with a new house. Instead of me rejoicing, I say dang now you have to pay a mortgage. Another scenario is God could bless someone with a job and I say dang now you have to pay taxes. There are always people failing to see the Glory of God because they are trying to find fault in Him. We as believers know that in a Him there is no fault, but some will try to find fault just to satisfy themselves. The seriousness in the matter of this thought process is it keeps them from being saved. Also, not only did the Jews try to find fault in the Power of God, but they tried to discourage the newly healed man. How can you see a man crippled day to day and finally he receives his deliverance and because it came on the "wrong day" in your mind you are upset? Know that they TRIED to discourage the man, but it failed. See we have to see people for who they are and not let their negativity effect our minds. God is the only one Who can deal with their hearts and we must give it to Him. The Jews were oblivious to God. They read the scriptures and practiced the rituals. They knew what God did for Moses and Isaiah yet once He performed a miracle for their very eyes to actually see and not just read about they ended up being on the wrong side of a blessing. People, even in the church, will miss the essence of your testimony because of their own darkness. This man's life was a miracle and they made it a mockery. These people were upset with Jesus and wanted to slay Him after the knowledge of the miracle. See, I said they had knowledge of the miracle but did not ACKNOWLEDGE the miracle. Jesus basically told them that as long as my Father works, I work. See, the Jews could not stop the miracle so they thought to kill Jesus. That is what the devil roams through earth doing. He wants to kill our testimony, steal our peace, destroy relationships, BUT GOD. Jesus explains that He Whom you worship and pray to is also in Me. We are a part of each other and whatever He does, I do. God never stops, sleeps, takes a nap. Therefore Jesus never stops, sleeps take a nap. Don't be discouraged or startled that people will try to destroy your testimony and be on the wrong side of your blessing. You continue to proclaim the goodness of Jesus and let Him deal with their hearts.