Open Letter: My Misguided Gospel and Faith

Let us get right to the proceedings. Today we live in the age of that real good gospel. We love that feel good gospel. The gospel of health and wealth. The gospel of praise God when things are right. The gospel of I need from God and He should not expect much from me until I get what I need. Some of you guys may be offended and I am not trying to offend because I have thrown myself into this lot as well. I am speaking from my experiences of myself and others. Just things I have seen. Here we go.

We have come into an age of the gospel of health and wealth. I didn't coin this. I got this from Michael Erik Dyson in a book I am reading of his and when I think about it he is right. I look at myself when I have been shouting for God and trying to do things His way because I wanted something from Him. It wasn't to give Him earnest glory and praise. It was a tactic to get my needs addressed. The problem with that is one day you'll become tired of it and figure out you don't have it in you to continue. You burn out. You take it as God doesn't care about you. You don't stick with the actions because you may not havs believed in it in the first place. You beg God to make it change because your selfish heart was never about praising Him. It was more about God addressing your needs. Admit it. Now you want to go to everything in the church because you figure He is paying attention. You're looking for a blessing by performing actions. And I'm not saying that you don't have experiences with God along the way. I'm sure God is touching you. Our God is so good even when He knows you are full of it, He will still bless you! But that doesn't mean He doesn't want you to change. I been there. I know what it feels like. You start to feel stuck and hopeless. You begin to resent everything and yourself because your life isn't where you wanted by now. You figure God isn't hearing you. He hears you. Every time. But God is waiting on you to glorify Him because of who He is and less about His ability. You know His ability already which is why you have gone through the motions of "being a good person and doing the right things." But that is all an act. You can't change yourself or your life if it was never real. If it was all about wanting God to see to get something, He will look deeper into your heart. If your heart isn't there, forget it.

You want to be healed or given abundant blessings so you can praise. Again it doesn't work that way. Psalms 34 says I will bless the Lord at ALL TIMES, not when it's convenient for you. God is not your Lord to make life convenient for you so you can do what He demands of you. You praise God and work for God at all times. You don't wait. Saw a quote, and I'm paraphrasing: If you faith doesn't change you, why expect it to change anything else? That kind of ties back in to what I said before. You want from God so you do the right things. It has nothing to do with much love but more want. Again, I been there before. I switched up so much in my life because I thought God would bless me indeed if I did. Alas, it was never from a good place. God blessed me over and over and I know that had more to do with His love for me than my love for Him. Sad right? But it's honest.

So with that lack of love and earnest change, I never worked on my attitudes or myself. If I am doing all of these great things for God on paper, why do I struggle with the exact same problems or character flaws? It's because I didn't "change myself" with intentions of being filled by God and changed by God. I did it with an expectancy. When what I expected from God didn't happen or didn't occur on my timeline, I stopped seeking Him so much. With all these actions I was doing, I began to quit on God and the things I sought Him for in the beginning. I may say we serve a mighty God or loving God but I was paying lip service. Others liked to hear it from me and I wasn't going to rob them of that. Even if my heart was not there, I would not rain on the faith of another. They may have been more genuine in faith than me and I had to assist them. I felt left out. Watching the advancement of others and the stagnancy of my life was terrible. And with that, I felt God shouldn't expect much from me. I was a fool. I turned cold to people. I was sad a lot. Felt cheated by life. Felt I didn't deserve this because I was doing the right things! Oh what fool I was. I hurt a few friendships. Definitely cost myself a good one! Almost lost good people out my life who I am still clinging on to by a loose thread today. I became complacent with life ans self. I let my own lack of faith turn me into a monster in some ways and it has cost me. Sucks right?

True faith is tested. I had been failing the test for years and was too stupid to realize it. Some of us are still failing the test. We believe are action is the key to our Salvation. Our heart and faith is the key to our salvation. Don't fall into the trap of actions. When Pastors are saying God needs the glory from you, they mean it sincerely. When it says Bless Him at all times, that's sincere. The test of true faith is that which is revealed in how one lives and walks through this life. Right belief, that is, a faith that lives in a regenerated heart born from above, is exhibited in right living. If your faith is real, your walk and attitude will align with that of God. That is for God! That is wanting for God! Your aligned faith will put you at peace because you know you're giving your best. You know God is acting for you even if it's not your specific prayer. You are grateful for all else He is setting up around you, the people who love you and try to show you love, the leaders in your life who will make you better, etc. I thank God for helping me. I still am not where I want to be in life but I can't tell you how blessed I feel for Him making you face myself through my professional growth and personal relationships. Trust the real gospel. Do what the real gospel says because you believe in God and His love and you trust Him no matter what. The gospel which wants to change you in and out. The gospel in which you aren't looking only for a blessings but to be a blessing...Be Blessed..

Your Future in God's Hands...Get Started

My encouragement to you this week is formulate your future and do something. If you want growth, pursue it. If you want change, make it. Cling to God and take the necessary steps to achieve what you want for your life. Take it to God DAILY. No one can care about your success more than you.

"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." 

If this isn't the truth. Why should we be worried even the slightest bit about our future if we know the God that we serve? If you serve a Provider, Deliverer, Healer, Shelter, Protector, and Savior, then you have nothing to fear about your future. Just get to planning. Formulate your future. Take time to think about where you want to be and the things you want to accomplish in that time, and get to work. Maybe you want to find your career, make the effort today. The problem with a lot of us is that we want to act when it is convenient. We are always looking for the perfect circumstance to do something about a situation. That time will never exist if you are waiting for it. I hear things like, "I am waiting to get my mind right" or "now isn't a good time." When is it ever a good time to get off your tail and work at the problem? There isn't a perfect time in an imperfect situation. When problems arise, the situation is already flawed. Therefore, that perfect moment of clarity you are waiting for is already in jeopardy. Formulating a future doesn't solely mean accomplishing your dreams. It could mean you saving money over the course of a couple months. That is still part of your future. You figuring out how to solve your current trouble is part of your future. It does not have to be so long term. It is about getting things done.

The one thing WE ALL NEED, INCLUDING ME, get in the discipline of giving it to God daily. Daily. We can't casually pray about things when we are going through a situation or interceding on behalf of someone else. We have to take it to God daily with some belief on it. Many of us pray when things get hard because it is  the right thing to do but there may not be an ounce of faith in the seed we are asking God to grow. That make sense? Prayer isn't always a thing of faith. Prayer can be a tool of habit or because we want it to be a genie for us. That means," We used it before and it worked, maybe it can this time." We can't operate in that way. We have to believe and believe and believe that God is going to do something amazing for us. We have to form the future and try at it. Do something and believe that God is moving on the situation. Your attitude, your effort, and your faith much match the results your are looking for in the situation. You telling everyone that I believe God but walking around with the worst attitude about the future CANNOT exist in the same place. 

No one can care about your future more than you. So get to work. Instead of giving yourself reasons why you can't, give yourself reason why you can. We ALL  have a job to do. WE ALL have a future to build on. Let's roll up our sleeves, meet God in prayer, and and do something...Be Blessed...

God is in Control because He Should be in Control

My encouragement to you is let God take the lead! Put Him in the driver seat. God loves you and wants the best for you  It's because of the value God gives you is to why you know you can ask Him to lead you. God won't disappoint you if you let Him lead. Be willing to follow.

I have written blog posts like this before but can you really over emphasize a true point like this. I may hint on it because it is something THAT important. God loves us so much. He is jealous for you. He wants you to be part of His kingdom and in His family. God wants your obedience. God wants your trust. Again: God wants your trust. Too often we are listening to friends who have no insight to our situation or experience in where we are at this time. We run to them for guidance and advice rather than trusting He who is omniscient. We trust others with limitations rather than our God who has no limitations in how He can intercede for you. Like the ones who love you on earth, your Heavenly father wants what's best for you too. But it's more than that. He is more than capable of providing for you and even the friend who loves you.

God values your life and that is more than enough reason as to why He sticks with you through the good and bad. Because unlike our friends, God isn't going to give you the silent treatment or mistreat you when you make every mistake. And don't think He is punishing you for every time you do something wrong and He doesn't step in. What are you learning if He does all the time? That God is a genie who doesn't believe in wrong or right? Don't play your Lord like that. Just like how your parents let you go through the lessons, so will God. However, ask for forgiveness and it's done. God wants you to be better. God values your life so He will teach you and bless you all at the same time. Trust Him with your life and plans.

Give it all to Him. It always belonged to Him. Our life, dreams, passion, loves, etc always belonged to Him. Who provided them?!?! Who will establish the work of your hands? The Lord. Trust Him in all you do. He has plans for us to prosper. Prosper. Not struggle. That comes with an unrelenting and unwavering trust...Be Blessed...

Embrace Your God-Given Power to Be Great!

My encouragement to you as we go into this New Year is to release your fear of failure and embrace YOUR God-given power to be great! Greatness is born through adversity. It is overcome by those who understand the need for adversity and who will never give up because they know God is fighting with them.

To many people become crippled at the thought of failure. I mean crippled. They will in fear of error sit where they are in the same place forever it seems. The reason I say forever is because when you are stuck somewhere, even for minutes, it feel like an eternity. So think about those who are stuck in the same position for weeks at a time, months at a time, heck YEARS! That feeling of moving in circles basically. Yes, this has been a long description but I am making a point of how long that feeling of stagnancy and redundancy feels. The fear of failing will get you no where. If you want to go far, you must abandon that feeling of fear. Failure is a part of life. Success teaches us how to feel good about the work we have done. Failure teaches us to appreciate the process leading up to success. Failure makes you re-evaluate your steps and makes you stronger. Failure is inevitable. It is going to happen. It isn't meant to break you. It isn't made to make you fearful of your future. 

God gave us each a spirit of power, not of fear. Fear makes us weak and God didn't design us to make us weak. We serve an almighty God. We serve a God who prepares us for battle. We serve a God who know what is best for us. Some of us are going through it right now. Some of us are tired and ready to throw in the towel. We ask God, why does life always have to be a fight? But how will you know how to take on the next situation when you don't know how to deal with adversity. I am a Black Greek member. Every time I look at an insurmountable task, I always say, "I pledged." It is simply to say, after going through what I went through, I am prepared. God will take you from one situation to the next. And you can say, " I pledged." The same way my process made me prepared for my adversity, God places adversity in front of us to get ready for the next situation. After we have conquered it, we can be sure we are ready for the next because God has taken from one situation before and He will lead you again. But you have to want to be great. You have to want to succeed! God can't want your deliverance more than you. You have to want it more! Yes, that sounds absurd but that's what type of mind you need. A mind willing to go farther. A mind willing to hope and believe against all things that stand in your way because you believe it is possible to be amazing. That you are if you truly embrace your God-given power. He gave us all gifts and talents to become amazing. Find yours. Use yours!

You must never give up! Never give up. Adversity is to be appreciated. Sounds crazy right? But it's true. Romans 5:3-5 Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. There are many things to be taken from adversity if you are willing to be led by the Lord. We don't grow when we are always on top. Nothing is learned. We grow when we fail and keep getting back up until we see it to the end. That is when when we flourish. That is when we thrive. Stick with the Lord and we shall be ready. Stick with God and we will become powerful beyond measure. We will never play small knowing that we are chosen by God to be amazing. Fear will never cripple us again. Fear will only motivate us to lean on God harder and to work harder to be everything we want to be and receive all that we want...Be Blessed...

Peace in God's Love

My encouragement to you this week is to live in the peace of God's unconditional love. God understands you completely. He knows your faults, fears, failures. Despite that, God will NEVER withhold His blessings, grace, and love from you.

We all pray for the peace of God which surpasses our understanding to come down on us. Why does it surpass our understanding? A lot of times we are so wrapped up in our problems, we can't fathom peace coming into our situation. We have already decreed and declared our situation just way too much already. Sometimes we do this even after we allow God into our situation. Where is your faith?? In your problems or in His promises? Because our God has a peace for us. In the midst of our calamity, God surely has a peace for us. Sometimes we want to breakdown but accept God's will regardless. His peace can truly overwhelm you. His peace can truly put you in a place you may have never seen yourself. If we seek God, peace shall find us.

God understands completely as well. He knows what is in our minds. He knows what's in our hearts. He knows why we are what we are. He loves us so much despite all that. That doesn't mean He doesn't want you to push yourself to be better but God truly understands your situation. When a blessing comes in the midst of your calamity that made no sense, you know He understands. God loves you. He knows you needed that. Despite all of your faults, mistakes, character flaws, etc God still loves you so much and wants you to still dwell in His peace. God still wants you the best for you. God remains faithful to you. God won't disappoint you. We have disappointed God so much. In the way we treat each other, deny Him, forget His promises, weak character, etc. But God is still there!

God won't hold a blessing from you if you seek Him honestly. If you call to God with a full heart ready to receive, God will answer you. God will never forget you or say "forget you." “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” -Isaiah 49:1, 6, 15. Perhaps you have allowed the spirit of condemnation to rule in your life, not allowing God's forgiveness to have complete control. Then this message is for you. God's love is bigger than your faults and mistakes. He understands you! Take peace in God truly loves you with no limit. He loves you regardless. God will act on your behalf. He lets no sin against Him separate His grace and love from you. We serve that good of a God! Take peace in that! Take example from that! Let us to be blessings to other people...Be Blessed...

Get Out of God's Way...

My encouragement to you this week is to get out of God's way if you want change. God can't fulfill a promise to those who won't stand on His promise. Believe with your whole heart God can make a difference. Turn it over to God. He has YOUR solution!

Get out of God's way. Some of us don't even realize that we are in God's way but our unbelief is the problem. I said it above, if you can't believe in a promise for God please don't expect God to fulfill it for those who can't believe. Don't get me wrong, God performs MIRACLES at our lowest when we can't see a way out. That is by His grace. However, if you want the best of what God has to offer, then get out of the way with unbelief. We have tried and tried to fix ourselves and it hasn't worked. So we do the wrong thing and say, " God if I can't do it, nothing can be done." I am not saying we do this overtly but take a look at our actions. We get despondent, discouraged, angry, and a slew of other negative emotions. We profess the greatness of God. But can't live it when trouble comes. We become the barrier to God. We become the barrier to change we are waiting on that hasn't come yet. In the Bible it says James 1:6-8 "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." But this world constantly stirs us up. Makes us want to fix things our way- brings troubles that seem so huge and overwhelming- I feel like just standing by leaves me helpless. We want to do, and to act- and yet sometimes the most powerful act can simply be to lay all our cares and concerns at the feet of our Savior. Sometimes we get so busy doing- fixing- we forget to seek God first.  To come to Him for guidance and strength- to hear what He has to say. That is probably best thing that we can do to get out of God’s way. Just let Him take the lead!

Here are some things we can do to get out of God's way. We must learn to truly rely on God. We must learn to really want to see God at work. The most important part of getting out of God's way is trust God. Faith is more than positive thinking. Positive thinking will NOT produce faith. Faith is trust in God, and the only way to develop faith is to learn to know God. Since He is trustworthy, as we learn to know Him, we spontaneously learn to trust Him. Faith is trusting God when things don't turn out the way we expect. God rewards those who really seek Him. Trust will allow you to say, God "I can't but I know you can." Another aspect is staying in prayer.  it is important to focus.  If you loose focus, even for a millisecond, a flip can become very dangerous.  Walking in faith is equally demanding.  When you choose to follow Jesus, you have to discipline your mind, focus your thinking, feed your faith.  You have to keep your mind’s eye focused on where God called you to. Prayer helps with that immensely! Another thing to do is for each of us needs to develop a discerning spirit, rooted in a strong relationship with the Lord and the knowledge of right and wrong. We must also ask God to show us how to apply His truth to our lives so we can live in obedience to His Word. The truth of the matter is that the right thing to do is to let the Spirit move you. Move you out the way. Move you to submission. Move you to trust in God the way we are called to do. Next, we can accept God's correction. When someone hears of correction, he may wonder how such a subject can be a “blessing” as our title has it.  But if God has given us a great amount of instruction on how to correct others and much instruction on how to respond to the correction of others, we can know that God considers admonishment, reproof, rebuke, and correction to be vital to our life and work as Christians.  Others can be blessed through our correction of them and we can be greatly blessed in rightly responding to others’ correction of our own faults and failings. Correction hurts at times BUT it changes us. And we may need that to move out of God's way. We see that God is showing us where we are wrong and we must recognize God's voice. The most problematic part of hearing God is the fact that it takes time to learn to distinguish God's voice -- and it takes a humble heart. Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." We can't make demands on Almighty God. We can't shake our fist at the sky and say, 'all right God, let me hear you.' But we can ask, seek, and knock, and the Bible promises that God will open the door. God will expose Himself to those who humbly search for Him. Lastly, KNOW GOD IS YOUR BEST FRIEND.  God wants to be YOUR best friend! No matter what qualities you look for in a friend, God is overflowing with all the qualities that make best friends the best!God listens – “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation” – Psalm 5:3.God is honest – “A faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” – Titus 1:2. God is encouraging – “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” – Jeremiah 29:11. God enjoys spending time with us– “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” – 1 Timothy 2:3-4. God loves us even when we make mistakes – “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” – Romans 5:8. No better friend is he!

Turn it over to God! He has your solution. Whatever you are going through God has your answer. Every problem already has an answer. I know things can look dark and you might not can see your way out, but there is a way out. God had the answer before you had the problem and his answer will deal with the problem. For instance, a centurion came to Jesus for his servant he was seriously ill. He came to Jesus to heal his servant, but on the way there he said "Speak the word only and my servant shall be healed" Frank Broom says it so well," God says in Hosea 4:6 "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge". Notice it's not the problem that destroys you, but your lack of knowledge of the answer. Notice "Lack of knowledge" so God already has a solution. Sometimes we can get so focused on the problem, but 2Corinthians says "While we look not at things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal(temporary), but the things which are not seen are eternal". So your problem can change. Notice in each instance they were full of the answer and not the problem. You may not know the answer, but ask God to show you the answer and He will guide you into all truth by his spirit (John 16:13) or by his word which is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path (Psalm 119:105). For He is your shepherd(not just your shepherd, but the good shepherd that laid down his life for his sheep). So be encouraged your path out is already made you just have to find it and walk it...Be Blessed...

Let God Make You Whole

My encouragement to you this stop looking for everything else but God to fill the voids in your life. Your peace comes from His grace and His love. Depend on God to make you whole. This decision is LIFE CHANGING with no regrets!

1 Peter 5:10 HCSB

Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory  in Christ Jesus, will personally  restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little.

Our God is full of grace. Our God is so full of love. Our God is full of all the things that we need to make us happy. He is full of all the things we need to he successful. Alas, we still look for all of our needs to be filled elsewhere. We look for a new activity, a new person, a new job, new clothes, a new habit, etc to fill the voids of our life. Half of the time, we can't even communicate effectively how these things are going to fulfill us. People look for a new activity to fill their time in their time of trouble rather than focus that time on fixing the real issue. We may struggle with our self-esteem but feel buying things will make us feel better about ourselves. We are looking for direction in our professional lives and want God to move us into a new job just to remain unfulfilled. We try to convince ourselves this is what God wants us to do. Or we look for people to fill the voids of our unhappiness. If you're unhappy alone, can you provide happiness to another person? You have no peace but look to find peace in someone who may have their own problems. How wise it that?

Saints, the Bible says it in 1 Peter 5:10, our God who is full of grace will restore and establish us! How awesome is that? Our peace and happiness is only found in God. There is no debate and no discussion. Think about when you have prayed and prayed for God to make a change in your life that happens? Doesn't it feel like a burden has just been removed? I know when that happens for me I can't stop smiling. I can't stop praising. I feel at so much peace. Man can't do that for me. Because man will fail you. But our God never fails. He will never let us down. He is our source of peace.

God wants you WHOLE, complete, nothing missing nothing broken! Physically, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, financially, etc. The Bible talks about wholeness as something that starts in the center of our being and organizes our lives rightly from the inside out. It works through our basic relatedness to self, to life, to others, and to God. It begins with coming into a right relationship with God. You must depend on God. Lean on The Bible. Trust in His promises. Cast your cares on God. You may have heard this a million times, but are you even doing that?!?!  Know that God wants you to be a whole person. If you can get physical health, do it. But if you can't, remember that God can make you a whole person in spite of a physical illness. An amputee has to discover that he or she can be a whole person without the limb that has been lost. A divorcee must discover that he or she can be a whole person without the former partner. An unemployed person must discover that he or she can be a whole person even though unemployed. God wants you to be a whole person and God is working to help you become one. Work with God. Depend on Him in a way you know you  should! We ALL can do better!

You will never regret this decision. Never ever! It will change your life. Think if you depended on God just to lead your as much as you do to take care of your mess, would you regret that? Think of the feeling you get when He acts on your behalf. It is such a rewarding feeling. You deserve NOTHING but God wants to give and be your everything. Are we so foolish to deny Him that? Are we so foolish to deny ourselves that? Let us really change our lives. We really want to see God, then let God fill our voids. We want to feel God at all times, invite Him at all times. Life won't be perfect. Life won't always be happy. But you know that He is there and He will restore you again. He will establish you again. He will strengthen you again...Be Blessed...

Change your Thoughts to Change your World

My encouragement to you this week is if you ever want to change where you're going, start by changing the way you think. Don't become a prisoner of fear, doubt, and discouragement. Have faith. Believe the best is coming to you. Believe God will send provisions to your vision!

It's time to reprogram yourself. Many of us need to be reprogrammed. Myself, I can say that. God has been extremely good to me. He has opened doors for me that I can't believe have been opened. He has made provisions for me I can't even explain sometimes. God is so good to me. But I haven't been so good to myself. I was talking to someone recently that I can feel like my own detriment to my peace and my happiness. Decisions I have made exercise barely a remnant of wisdom and good judgment at times. That really gets to me. It has been a sore spot for me for a long time. But that can't remain an excuse. If I want to change, I have to change the way I think. I need to be reprogrammed.

I became a prisoner of fear, doubt and discouragement, in some ways I still am.I have done some things that I am not proud of. Made decisions I can say cut me deep and cut others deeper. There are times we will need serious changes in the way we think to shape our world the way we want it to be shaped. Don't be a prisoner to your fears because you want to hold on to something. Don't be afraid of doubt because you may not get what you want in return. Do not be afraid of discouragement because that is a big part of life. All three of these things hurt us so much but we can't be bound by them. You have to change the way you think now before you continue to sabotage your life.

God will be there. If you need to be reprogrammed, get in the Word and really trust in the Word. I always tell my Sunday school kids the.right things are ALWAYS the hardest things to do but God will be there the whole way. Therefore, you have the right to expect the best for your life. If you are willing to do His will and live a life He loves, expect the best. God only gives the best so feel free to expect the best.God will make the necessary provisions to help you achieve your vision. If you have visions of good health, peace, etc..give it over to God. Give it all to Him and let Him make the impact you are looking for in your life. But that starts with you changing your mindset. Changing how you approach things in your life...Be Blessed...

God knows, God cares...

My encouragement to you this week is God cares about your situation. Even when it seems like nothing is coming your way, God always knows how to miraculously provide. Things change when you invest in God. Invest your whole trust in Him to care about you. God never comes up short!
Many of us have wondered or currently are wondering where is God? God why have you forgotten about me? God why won't you listen to me? What did I do to you to deserve what I'm getting? All type of thoughts in your head. We essentially believe that God has stopped caring about us. Friends and Saints, God has not forgotten you for one minute despite whatever you are going through currently or have been through.
For those of us who have come out the storm, you know if it wasn't for God you probably would have given up a long time ago. You would have been given over to your depression, your circumstance, the prison of your mind, etc. But God had no plans for you to be taken over. He stuck with you. He provided for you. He made a way out of no way for you. Everything  looked bleak. It was one disappointment after another but in the end, you walked away a winner. Sometimes it may seem there is no way out. You have no clue how to fix this. You are all alone. Stop! If you read the Bible, God clearly says Isaiah 41:17 HCSB The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord , will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. He won't let us down. He won't forget us. God cares.
Things change when you invest in God. God can send a lot of help to you if you reach out to God. It can come in the form of resources, a friend, family, counsel, a church home, etc. But pouring into God and into the Word is very important. You have to invest in God. If you believe in God, you can't take God in doses. He does this for me but can't or won't do this other thing for me. He won't let me life turn around but He did this for me. No! Have real expectations of God and you treat Him like you do. Because God has real expectations of us and expects us to get it done. He is all-powerful. He steps in on time. You must invest in His saving power. That comes through you actions. You can profess it but what do the actions say? Do they speak to a Christian? Do they say I believe in God thoroughly? Take that all into perspective. Keep all that in mind. Are you trying to be helped by doing your part? Or are you waiting for God to be a genie? No. We have to work for it through investment of a relationship with God. We have to do our parts in our redemption.
God will not come up short. He does exceedingly and abundantly beyond anything we can ask of Him. He has promises that He won't break. Will never break. Trust in those promises. Please trust in those promises. Seek God to show up in your life and ask Him what to do. Seeking God is so key. Jeremiah 29:13 HCSB, You will seek Me  and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. With your whole heart. Not begging God but actually looking for God. God will show up and God will have a solution to your problems. He will change it around. Invest in God...Be Blessed...

God's Image of You

My encouragement to you this week is to build yourself to beeverything you would like God to see. Build yourself to be obedient, trusting, faithful, a servant, and anything else that matters to you annd pleases God. Pray to reach your mark. Give God a servant to take joy in.

Do you ever take the time to think how God may view you? What does God see when He looks at the life you are living at this time? Does He see someone who is standing on His promises? Does He someone who is living in accordance to the precepts set for to us in the Bible? Does God see a person whom He would be pleased with? Or does He someone who has let go of His promises? Someone who is losing faith in His ability? Someone who doesn't want to obey?

I pray none of the latter applies to you. I know sometimes life can turn us around and really get us looking through a lens of hopelessness. We get so discouraged by life we stop obeying the commands set out to us by the Lord.We all will have times in our lives when we get discouraged, depressed and upset with ourselves. We will feel like we’ve let our families, ourselves and God down. But, God is a redeemer. He is waiting on us to admit where we are not strong so he can come in and fill that void and strengthen us through his word and his love. I have been there before. I let alcohol be my God. And it's sad when I think I about it. I do so much in the church. I do my best to promote the word of God and all that He stands for but behind closed doors I wasn't even standing on the very foundation I was promoting. I really had to evaluate is this the way I would want God to look at me if I were to meet Him soon? How can I really push the Word when I myself am not standing on it and all of its promises. I was very angry with life at that time. But that is no way to handle any problem. Like my favorite song in church says," Everything to God in prayer." I want God to see me as a child of His who won't quit on Him. I want to stand on all of His promises. I want to be obedient to the Word. I want to serve others with a clean heart. I want to be a doer and steward of the Word. I want God to take notice and be delighted with me. I want to handle my stress with the Word and the people He puts around me for my counsel.

I pray still to reach the mark because while I have made progress, I know that there is ways to go. I want God to be pleased when He looks down on me. So I have to actively press myself to do what pleases Him. I have to be trusting of Him. This means when hard times come, I have to fix my attitude of life. An attitude of despair in all parts of my life is not one He would be pleased with no matter how much He loves me. Why? Because that's not the spirit He put inside me. That spirit of any despair I grow in me is one I cultivated, not of God. I need to be obedient. I need God to know that I receive His word and I will follow because I know He loves me and that is a way for me to show that I love Him too. Another way is to be a servant. Jesus led a life of service to others no matter how hard He had it. He knew people were out for His life and He still pressed forward to be there for others. Sometimes when we hit hard times, we act like we can;t do a thing for others until we are OK. There is always a little thing you can do. Something as simple as a phone call to someone going through a hard time even though you are in your own mess. Can you sit self down? Think of another. What if God told you to wait in line while He took care of someone else? You see God in many lives simultaneously.

So build yourself up Saints. We are all children of God. We are to be an example of who watches over our growth. I pray everyday we think about being seen through a lens of God as we take on the day...Be Blessed...