How To Surrender Your Will To Him

2 Timothy 1:7

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.



How does one surrender their life and their will to the Lord? Just believe in Him, and let Him live through you by your love for other people and your actions. He is looking for people who want to live in peace and love, and who want to share that love with other people.

He wants to give you a true life, a life filled with hope and joy and the resurrection power that will change your heart and mind through the promptings of the Holy Spirit. No one can live this type of life without Him. 

When you believe in Him, He will live in your heart.
When you trust in Him, He will change the circumstances of your life.
Healing, Love, Trust, Self-Confidence, Patience and Self-Discipline will come as a result of your decision to have faith in Him and when you surrender your heart and mind to His will for your life

Trust comes easily when you have love for someone in your life. When you know that person loves you as well, you are not afraid to open your heart to them, you will trust them with everything that you have.

This is the type of trust you can have when you accept Jesus Christ into your heart. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will love you and cherish you. He will make you feel loved and needed.
He will erase the sins, the pains, the sufferings of your life and replace them with peace and joy. Wouldn't you like to feel His loving embrace in your spirit right now?


Prayer of Salvation:

"Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."

How to Have A Clean Mind

Matthew Chapter 6:14-15

 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Forgiveness is essential to living a peaceful life full of contentment. When you harbor ill feelings toward other people, this usually leads to unhappiness, anxieties, sadness, depression, and bitterness. While you are living in that frame of mind, you cannot feel the presence of the Lord in your heart or see Him doing things for your good in your life.

Once you come to Him with your problems and issues, the healing can begin. We all need to repent of our bad behaviors and our negative thinking. Negativity cancels out the good thoughts you may have or the good deeds the Lord may wish to give to you. If you are focused on what was, what other people did to you, why you are in the situation that you are in life when you see others doing what you believe is a better life, you are focusing on the problem and not on the solution, which is the faith restoring, cleansing, healing power of Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart and mind.

Once we surrender to that healing touch, our hearts and minds are cleansed from the foolish thoughts we may have about ourselves and others. We cannot see clearly about these issues without the Word of God in our hearts, and the Holy Spirits' influence on our minds.

Giving God the Glory is the first step. Surrendering our hearts and minds is the second step. Allowing the Holy Spirit to change our perspective on life is the third and final step to achieving a clear heart and a clean mind.

How To Have A Clean Heart

psalm 51:7

Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

We all make mistakes, we all miss the mark and we try to make excuses for our actions, but in our hearts we know that we did was wrong, and that is when the grace and mercy of God steps in to cleanse us from all  our unrighteous acts. He is the one that purifies our hearts.

But what if we are not aware that we have sinned, what happens to those thoughts and actions that we never acknowledge are wrong even to ourselves? We need to examine our hearts and our actions to see if they line up with the Word of God, but sometimes our pride, our fear, our natural mind cannot see what the Lord sees plainly within us. That is why we must come into His presence and humbly confess that we don't always know what is the right thing to say or to do, but we know that He can change what is wrong within us and to give us a new heart and a new mind.

We must allow God to work within the circumstances of our lives to purify what we have and who we are: our character, our thoughts, our emotions, and our daily motives. Feeling joy and happiness every single moment of the day would be wonderful, but we live in a broken world, and so fear, hate, anger, lust, pride, arrogance, ego, and suffering will always be apart of the landscape of our lives, whether we choose to be positive or not, because we have to deal with unbelievers and the people who always want more than what they deserve or need. That is when we press deeper into Jesus and His love for us, that is why we celebrate His name and we worship in His presence because He is the Key to a well lived life and a peaceful life full of contentment.

The Lord will purify your heart and make it clean, but you must choose to allow Him to do so. No one can be happy or content without speaking His name in their hearts, or without allowing the Holy Spirit to comfort them and to change them into a living and breathing citizen of the Kingdom of God.

To have a clean heart in this life means to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, to allow Him to inhabit your heart. He can give you a new heart that feels love and compassion for others, and you will want to do good deeds and to live for God and for other people and not just for yourself.

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Why Bitterness Equates With Spiritual & Physical Death

Isaiah 38:17

"Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

Prayer....."You are the one Lord who gives us the strength to deal with the everyday issues of life. Strengthen our resolve to do better and to act graciously toward each other, to express the love of Jesus Christ which resides within our hearts, so that we may confess our innermost feelings of anger, resentment, and bitterness, so that we may be clean and faultless before your presence because we relinquish our will to you, and surrender to your faithfulness and love, in Jesus Name......."

Why is it necessary to banish bitterness from our hearts and minds? Because once we choose to live in constant anger and bitterness, we are no longer living as children of God, but as the children of wrath.

Bitterness blocks our ability to feel the love of Jesus Christ in our hearts, so we would live loveless lives. We cannot love ourselves or anyone else. The lie that the devil whispers into our heart is that we cannot give up on this feeling, that we must have our revenge. The Lord states that He is the only one that should fight our battles for us, we cannot do so in our own strength and be able to conquer the pain in our hearts. Revenge does not erase the past or the effects that bitterness will have in our lives.

The stages toward bitterness are:  Anger, Resentment, Bitterness, which leads to numbness of the heart and mind. We become spiritually dead, we cannot feel God's love or His spirit in our hearts. This does not mean that the Lord has left us, but it is our state of bitterness that blocks the Lord's healing of our minds, bodies, and souls.

Many people who are ill are wracked with bitterness. They may have asked for healing in their prayers, but their prayers go unanswered. It is up to us to examine our hearts to see if we are harboring anger, resentment, or bitterness toward someone and then we must confess this to the Lord so that we may be healed in the body and in the soul.

You may have bitterness against yourself and your situation in life. God knows what you need, but you must give Him the throne of your heart. Surrender to His will for you and your life and then He can heal you of what ails you. God must be first, and you must be willing to follow Him and not your own agenda.

Once you realize that you are not alone and that God has been waiting for you to live according to His will and His standards for your life, your new life in Him can begin. Live for Him and not for yourself.

Understand that there is no anger, resentment, bitterness or strife in Heaven, so you must deal with these issues here. Here is where we learn to be children of the most high God. He will not tolerate people in His kingdom who refuses to forgive others, or those who  refuse His forgiveness.

To be absent from the Lord means you will live in everlasting darkness, here in this world and in the next, so be careful when you act towards others with bitterness, because if you do not repent, you will never enter into the Kingdom of God.

A New Generation Of Believers

The time has come for all believers to realize that we need Him more now than ever before. There was a time when things seemed okay, at least you may have felt that things were going well. You had a job, a family and friends, and you went to church on Sunday; this seemed to be the way of life for a christian.

In the last few years, things on planet Earth have gone from good to worse, and things are not getting better. There are so many signs in the world  that show that we are living in the end times.

So, what does God want us to do?  We have to be mindful of our own fears and weaknesses and admit to ourselves that we cannot do this living life thing alone and that we need God's help. He is looking for a new generation of believers, the last generation of believers before the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.


So, the next series of posts will be about how to accomplish that goal, to become a believer in Jesus Christ and to show the world how to live according to the Lord's standards for our lives.  So the questions that need to be answered are:

How To Have A Clean Heart
How To Have A Clear Mind
How To Surrender Your Will To Him
How To Have A Patient Spirit
How To Trust God And His Promises
How To Have The Peace Of God
How To Pray Tirelessly
How To Stand Firm In The Lord And Never Give Up
How To Deal With Fear And Failure
How To Surrender Your Fear

These are the principles that I will be examining this month that we celebrate the Birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ

Merry Christmas and Glory To God!

Who Is Really Poor?

James chapter 2:5

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

It all makes sense to me now, what the world views as important is nothing in the eyes of God.

There are people who have everything in life and quite a lot more. The are 'rich' and 'famous' and 'powerful' and well known. They give the impression of having it all, and they seem to be happy and healthy.

Everyone wants what they have, but does anyone realize what they have had to do to get everything they have, and what the consequences of these actions have been on their lives?

Don't get me wrong. I have desired to have more things and do to what the rich and famous can do, but as I mature in my christian walk, I have come to realize that I can still have a very happy life without all the things that rich people have and take for granted.

My life is good, not because I have everything that I will ever need in life, but because I have Jesus in my heart, and His love makes me feel treasured, appreciated, and wanted, and that is all I have wanted every since I was a little girl, and anything else that my Father in heaven gives me is a great gift and a treasured delight.

So, when you see the rich and the famous, consider if they have Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, because if they do not, the truth is that they are not rich at all, they are actually very poor and on the road that leads to no where and to their ultimate destruction.

Money and power last only as long as you are alive in this life, and in many instances doesn't even last through a person's entire life. How many have regretted on their deathbed that they wasted their lives trying to become the most powerful person on the earth and having no evidence of that power while breathing their last breaths?

Strength, power, and authority comes only from the one who created you, Jesus Christ!! Without the presence of Jesus Christ in your heart, you will not survive all the problems and issues that occur in this world and you will never know the eternal peace and joy in the Lord's presence forever and ever.

Rich by the bible's standards is not measured by money and resources but by the peace and love in your heart given by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

You are rich when you have peace, harmony, and order in your life. You are poor if you have everything you can achieve in life, but there is no peace, joy, or love in your heart. You may feel as if God is far from you, and that chaos and disorder reigns in your life.

If you believe in Jesus Christ and if He is your personal Lord and Savior, be at peace, because He cares you for and will never leave you or forsake you. You will receive everything that you need to survive in this world and much more. You are His little one, His child, and you have a great inheritance in the future as a citizen of the Kingdom Of God. Be at peace because Your Savior loves you and He will give you everything that you need .....

The God OF Second Chances

Judges Chapter 6 vs 11-14

And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?...


Where will He send you?

He is the God of second chances, when everyone else may have given up on you, when others persecute or ignore you, when all hope is lost, that is when He comes into your life and shows you who you really are; He revives you, gives you hope, joy, and peace, and He gives you the strength to do what He has commanded you to do!

I know what it is like to miss the mark and then be given a second chance to do things right. That is what God gives to everyone of His children when they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We have lost the ability to be compassionate and understanding of each others faults. We can only feel true remorse and compassion when Jesus Christ comes into our hearts.

He is the one who has commanded that His people go out and show the love of Christ to everyone in the world and to their communities, their jobs, and their families; families and communities stay peaceful and productive when God's children are not afraid to show love, compassion, and kindness to the people in their lives.

Do you have a burden in your heart, a place where God has put something special for you to do? Open your heart to the possibilities of doing great things on His behalf, don't allow the naysayers to prevent you from doing what you know the Lord wants you to do.

Gideon felt the least able to do the work that the Lord had in store for him. He was hesitant at first and asked the Lord for proof of his victory. He never said no to God, he just wasn't sure that he could do what God was asking him to do.

You see, He felt deficient in his heart; he hadn't always accomplished everything he was supposed to do in his life. He had made mistakes. So when the God of the universe came calling at his door and asked him to something that even the mightiest men in his community seemed incapable of doing, he was slow to believe he could do it and he wanted God to reassure him that he could do it. Once the Lord gave him what he asked for, he became confident that he could bring the victory for his people and his community.

What if you received a plan from God that seems impossible? Well you are in the Grace of God, and that means that everything that He has asked you to do it can be accomplished because you are not the one who will accomplish it. He is the one who will accomplish it through you! You just have to be willing to allow Him to do what you would be unable to do by yourself.

That is what being a child of God is like: He knew that you could not save yourself from your sin, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for you on the cross. He loves you that much and He will never stop loving you!

He needs the work of the Kingdom to be done on the earth, but instead of sending angels or other beings into the earth to accomplish His will, He is willing to use us as His servants, His ambassadors to give hope and peace to those who are living in the darkness of this world and whose hearts are deep into despair.

He knows that we can speak to them in ways that others cannot. We know what it is like to be heartbroken. We can show the world what it is like to be loved and cherished and to have the God of this universe on our side and in our hearts.

Humble yourself to the Lord, come into His presence and allow Him to do extraordinary things in your life that the people around you will not be able to ignore. That is the treasure and the honor of being His child and the love of His heart.......


Salvation Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins please forgive me come into my life I receive you as my Lord and Savior Now help me to live for you the rest of my life in the name of Jesus I pray.

AMEN.

He Knows You

Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations...”

He knew me, before I was born He knew me. As a child, I didn't really know who He was, I just had an overwhelming feeling of wanting to be with Him. I imagined going to be with Him, I was asking Him if I could leave this plane of existence and come to Him. He never answered me directly, but I often felt His presence in different ways, and this was before I understood who Jesus was and what He wanted from me. My official declaration of faith came much later when I was a young adult.

I didn't fully realize that He knew me even in my mother's womb, even before I was placed in her womb. The reality of those words is real to me right now. When the world tells you that you are not important, or when you feel that no one really understands you, please understand that there is one person who will always understand you and who will always love you, for He was the one who gave you your life in the first place.....

God has a plan for your life. People are asking, does this life have any meaning, is there a purpose from my life? Yes these is a purpose. There is a general purpose, and there is a specific purpose, a plan that God has prepared just for you.

God's general purpose was to create you and me to be His children, to love us, to fellowship with us, to have a big family. We have the ability to choose His purpose or our own purpose for life. Living for Him brings joy, peace, and everlasting love in His presence, and choosing to go our own way brings pain, suffering, and everlasting separation from His presence forever and ever.....

We get to choose what we want for this life and for our next life in eternity, but because we are unable to make the right decision for ourselves, Jesus Christ came into the world to give us the power and the ability to choose the right path for our lives. His sacrifice on the cross makes all impossible things possible.....

We are weak, but the power of His love for us and the redeeming power of His sacrifice, His blood makes us complete spiritually when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. He comes to live within us and to abide in our hearts, and then we can live the life that was chosen for us before we were born.

So, God's general plan was to create us and then save us from ourselves. We cannot do it alone because we do not have the power to defeat our sinful nature, but the Lord made a way for us when there was no other way for us to be redeemed for His Glory.

Once we accept God's general plan for our lives, then the Lord gives us a new nature, and a new plan for our lives. He directs our paths and we must willingly walk into the plans that He has for us. We seek His guidance and His favor as He transforms our hearts and minds. He tells us what He made us for and what He would like us to do with our lives on this earth.

God's general plans for humanity are voluntary, in other words we get to choose whether we want to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God, but once we become adopted into his heavenly family, He shows us the plans that He has had for us since the beginning of our lives. He expects us to hear His voice in our hearts and to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Whatever He has for our lives will give us hope and joy, and the feeling of being apart of a much greater future; for every task we do for Him, He will get the Glory when we allow Him to live through us.

If you are not sure what God's plans are for your live, simply come to His throne of Grace and ask Him to show you what He wants you to do for Him. When you receive your answer, do not turn away from it in disbelief or fear, just know that whatever He has for you it can be accomplished, because He will give you the power to do it. Just relax and praise Him for His mercy and for His good works in your life so that you may accomplish something wonderful. Never let the world tell you that you have no value; what the world offers has no value. You are God's beloved and He will never leave you or forsake you.

Take all of our problems, worries, and issues to the Lord, and He will give comfort, peace, and joy!'


Salvation Prayer

Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins please forgive me come into my life I receive you as my Lord and Savior Now help me to live for you the rest of my life in the name of Jesus I pray.

AMEN.

Encourage Yourself In The Lord

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

When you look for peace and security, remember that it is the Lord who gives good gifts to His children, and who encourages you to encourage yourself in Him.

The fact is that the world is getting worse, and the people who live in this world are seeking pleasures, wealth, fame, power and authority, but they have closed themselves from the one who could give them everything, the God of this universe who created them.

To be encouraged means to live in peace and harmony with the one who made you, to enjoy your life and have favor and grace that transcends your problems and your fears.

Don't give into your worries and fears; trust The One who created you and give Him all of your troubles and fears, and he will exchange them for peace, joy, and everlasting happiness.

What does it mean to be happy in this world? Usually it means being wealthy and having everyone and everything you ever wanted or desired, but many have learned that being rich and famous does not truly equate with happiness. Happiness is knowing that the God who created you loves you, forgives you, wants to know you and live inside of you. You are His most desired treasure and He will keep you in His heart.

When you are loved perfectly, when you are a treasure in His heart, when you feel love beyond all understanding, the treasures of this life seem worthless, they will not have the same value in your heart as His love for you.......

So. encourage yourself in the Lord, when you feel lonely, discouraged or less than. You are more valuable than anything else in this universe to the Lord, He made you for this purpose, to love Him with all your heart and mind, and to live in His presence forever and ever, so that He might give you everything that you need, yes even the treasures of the earth and beyond. When you are His, you are saved for His mercy sake, and because of His love for you!

The Power Of The Word Of God

Isaiah chapter 51 vs 7-8

...Listen to me, you people who know about right judgements. Continue to keep my law safely in your hearts. Then you will not be afraid of the fierce words of those who hate you. Then you will not allow their evil plots to frighten you; because insects will eat them, as if they were mere bits of wool. But my triumph (total success) will last for always. And my power to save will continue until the end of the ages...

Keep God's word in your heart and you will be able to stand against the people who hate you and spitefully use you, and those who try to do bad things against you. You will have peace and joy in your heart, and God is able to save you from every trial, suffering, and circumstance.

What should you do when a problem comes into your life? Seek comfort in the word of God and come into His presence with love, understanding, and a willing to live for Him and to be guided by the Holy Spirit in your heart. Surrender your thoughts, your worries, your pain and suffering, your doubts and cares to Him, and He will take what you have, what we all have to give which is love and trust, and He will make a way out of no way. He will defeat your enemy before you, give you the strength, the power and authority to go through what you are going through right now and be victorious in the end.

Ask the Lord, what do you want me to do in this crisis? How do you want your name to be glorified in the situation? If you sense that He wants you to just be still and at peace, then lean into His Grace and Mercy and let Him fight the battle for you.

If he doesn't give you an answer right away, that does not mean He did not hear you. He is working on the solution right now, but you can't see it because of the big problem, the big obstacle in the way. When you can't see the answer, that is when you must lean deeper into His word, go higher in your praise and worship, give Him everything that you have in your heart.

The answer may not be what you were anticipating, but know that the Lord knows what is best for you. He sees your heart and He knows what you need. We cannot see the big picture of our lives, but God already knows what He wants from your life and He has a plan. Our job is to keep focused on Him, to love Him, to be guided by Him in our hearts, and to trust Him, regardless of what our situation looks like in the natural.

This is real bravery: to believe in victory when the outcome is cloudy and uncertain, to love Him even when we are not sure what He truly wants from us or that we deserve His love, to care about what He wants from our lives and put Him first in every situation, to trust Him even when we have a strong desire to fix the problem ourself, to walk with peace, joy, and victory in our hearts even when the world does not see us, believe in us, or care about us.

Victory comes in knowing His son Jesus Christ and allowing Him first place in our hearts and minds and giving all of ourselves to Him.

Believe In The Power Of The Lord

There are times that I wonder whether I am saved. I certainly don't look like what other people would call "saved and sanctified". I pray everyday, I read the bible on a daily basis. I pray in the spirit, yet sometimes I doubt because of my feelings and desires. My thoughts sometimes are not holy, and my circumstances right now would not impress a worldly person about the Providence of God.

Some people might believe that living in God's presence means that you have a perfect life with no challenges or problems. But my Lord, who is always there for me no matter what, is always confirming His hand in my life. When I start to sing and worship in His presence, when I reach out to Him in song and praise, joy fills my heart and I feel contented and loved. This is when I know that I am His, and that I am saved.

The confirmation does not come from having a big house or a fancy car. It has nothing to do with having a good job, nice clothes, and money in the bank. These are all nice things to have and the Lord can help you to acquire these things if you seek Him first in all things. Your confirmation cannot come from the world for the world does not know God and is not at all interested in getting to know Him.

This confirmation comes when He expresses His love for you in your heart, when He makes a way out of no way on your behalf, when He shows you what you need to do to survive in this world.

He shows up when you pray and worship Him, when you speak to Him out of the abundance of your heart, when He changes your heart and mind.

Do you want to know for sure that you are saved? Think about the past few months of your life. How many times did you feel joy in your heart? How many times did you feel peace and rest in a stressful situation? How many times did you say in your heart, 'God I love you no matter what happens in my life. I will follow you in every circumstance and in every season. You are my Father and I am our child.'

When you believe Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior, when you decide to trust him and obey His word, when you allow the Holy Spirit to reign supreme in your heart, something wonderful happens: Peace, Joy, Hope, Love, Courage, and Happiness. Yes, you are happy to be called a Child of the Living God!

If you would like to know for sure that you are saved, if you need Him now just lift up your hands now and ask Him to come into your life:

"Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."

If you are saved but you feel that you are in a dry and lonely place right now, I want you to know that you are not alone. He is there in your heart waiting for you to call out to Him, so that He can refresh you in your time of need. Ask Him to show himself to you and then surrender your whole heart and mind to the Holy Spirit; you will not be disappointed!

The Anatomy of Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13

“This, then, is how you should pray:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one...."


How should we pray? We can pray the Lord's prayer, but the Lord's prayer is also a template, a great instruction on how to form our prayers:

1 - Give praise to God - “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,...." Give a loving and respectful greeting to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our greeting should show our gratitude and reverence to our Father in Heaven.

2 - Show our allegiance to His will - "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." Our priorities should be according to His will in our lives and not our own, express your hope for peace and heaven on earth, as you live according to His word.

3 - Make your requests known to God - "Give us today our daily bread..." Now speak about our requests for healing, for financial breakthroughs, whatever is in your heart and speak with faith, knowing that your request will be heard and answered


4. Ask for forgiveness - "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors..." Now that you have given your requests, you should also confess any issues you may have and ask for forgiveness, also speak forgiveness over others who may have hurt you or did wrong against you and mean it with all of your heart. The Lord states in His word that we must forgive others, even love our enemies because the Lord forgives us and loves everyone, even those who refuse to believe in Him. We are to live our lives like Jesus lived His, and we are to let the Holy Spirit change our hearts so that we can forgive others and ourselves. Forgiveness is essential for your prayers to be effective. Seek the Lord in this issue and pray for the ability to forgive in every situation.

5. Ask For Protection from Evil - "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one...." ask for this type of protection for yourself, your family, your friends and coworkers, even pray for those who you do not know that you hear are in dangerous situations, your brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world who need your prayers just to survive from day to day, and the Lord will answer with great power and authority. Don't forget to pray for the strength to live in righteousness and for the power to give what you have so that others may know the Lord Jesus Christ for themselves......

Remember to pray without ceasing and to keep on declaring the works of the Lord!

We Are The Righteousness Of God In Christ Jesus

We all know who God is, and we celebrate His Son, Jesus Christ, for who He is and what He has done in our lives, for saving us, and helping us in our time of need. But, do you know that because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that we have become The Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus?



2 Corinthians 5:21

New International Version

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.....



What does that mean? When we were saved, our spirit became renewed as we allowed the holy spirit to come into our hearts. He changes our minds and hearts so that we will exhibit Christ-like behavior. We move with His power and His love, and we show the world what Jesus Christ is like with our actions.

This is why we can say for confidence that we are the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. As long was we choose to stay in His love and to be and live with Jesus in our hearts, we are considered righteous by the Lord. This does not mean that we cannot fall victim to our weaknesses and make mistakes. We will always have the capacity to sin while we live this life and live in our mortal bodies.

Our flesh cannot change, but our minds and hearts can be changed, if we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in our lives. We will be changed if we love the Lord and are willing to allow Him to do His work in our lives.

So, if you find yourself doing something that you know is not Christ-like, if you have a sinful thought, if you react in way that seems worldly because someone hurt you, don't worry or feel like you are not a christian anymore. Just ask the Lord to forgive you and leave the issue at His feet, give it up to Him and let Him heal your heart and mind. Forgive yourself and remember that you will always be The Righteousness of God, not because you deserve it, but because The Lord is willing to call you His Son, His Daughter, because He loves you, and because you are willing to have Him in your life!



If you do don't know the Lord for yourself, just repeat this prayer:



Prayer of Salvation

Dear Lord,

I admit that I am a sinner. I have done many things that don’t please you. I have lived my life for myself only. I am sorry, and I repent. I ask you to forgive me.

I believe that you died on the cross for me, to save me. You did what I could not do for myself. I come to you now and ask you to take control of my life; I give it to you. From this day forward, help me to live every day for you and in a way that pleases you.

I love you, Lord, and I thank you that I will spend all eternity with you.

Amen.

Congratulations, child of the most high God, you are now His forever......

Love is the beginning to more and more in Christ Jesus

1 John 4:8 ESV

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

LOVE, love is the prime motivator for everything that God does for you in your life. He came to earth to be born as a man, and to die on a wooden cross for our sins. He made the universe with words of love that flowed freely from His mouth. He gave all of His mind, heart, and soul to make you a child of God, with an inheritance rich, loving, and rewarding, so why should we not give our whole mind, heart, and soul to Him?

How do you begin to live the life that Jesus Christ commands that you live? By allowing God's love to flow into you, through you, and out into the world. No one likes to be with people who cannot be loving, considerate or caring, but if there is any part of you that likes to give in love, kindness, or consideration, you will never be without friendship or fellowship.

Even if every person on the entire world forgets about you. the Lord never will!

If you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and personal savior, you have everything that you need to succeed in this life, and God's definition of succeeding is to believing in His son, Jesus Christ, to give your life to Him, to love and trust Him, When you love and trust Him, He will show you how to live and how to love.

We should not love the way people in this world love, for their love is often conditional ("if you do this for me, than I will do that for you....."). God's love is unconditional, which means that He will always love us, He will be patient with us when we stumble and fall, or when we allow fear to overcome us, or when our weaknesses get the better of us. He will never fail to be with us and to guide us through the storms of our lives.

Do you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord? Have you confessed Him as your Lord and Savior? Then you have succeeded in life beyond your wildest dreams, because He will never leave you or forsake you; your inheritance in Jesus Christ is more than you can even conceive, because it is a richness and a love that lasts forever and ever.....

If you want to know how to begin your life in Jesus, just start with love, let His love transform your heart and mind, and the rest will flow from there......

As The Lord Loves Me.......

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."......

Matthew Chapter 5:3

I often read this verse, but was never sure exactly what it meant. What does it mean to be poor in spirit?

It is the state that you are in before you meet and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

You had everything that you needed, so you thought.....You were rich or well off, you had a house, a car, a family, money in the bank and you had the admiration and the esteem of the people in your community. But deep inside, all you felt was emptiness....

Or......

You were poor and your family was poor.....You barely had a roof over your head, and there was meager food on the table, and not a lot of clothes in your closet, and you worked hard for everything that you had. And you knew that there was something missing from your life, and it wasn't more money.......

You see, regardless of whether you have a lot of money or very little money, the answer is always, Jesus Christ!

Nothing in the world can replace the grace, the power, and the authority of Jesus in your life, and there are people right now wondering why they are not satisfied with their lives. It is because there are poor in spirit.

But they can be comforted, because Jesus said 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven'...

When you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you become a citizen of the Kingdom of God. and that means you have all the benefits that come with being a child of God: peace, joy, Grace, love, comfort, power and authority, and, yes, satisfaction......

If you would only believe in Him and serve Him, you too would know real satisfation!......

The Past, The Present, And The Future

Philippians 4:13 New King James Version (NKJV)

13 I can do all things through [a]Christ who strengthens me.

The past shows who you were,
the present shows who you are,
and the future shows who you will become.

As a child of God, we have made a choice to take what we were, and who we are now and allow
the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds, so that we become everything that the Lord wants us to be.

If you have problems and issues from the past, lay them at the cross, at Jesus's feet, and He will provide everything that you need to solve them, while giving you a sense of peace and joy that goes beyond all understanding.

If you need help today, seek His face and His guidance. Worship and prayer are essential for a deeper understanding of who Jesus is and what He wants to do in your life. Ask for wisdom and guidance, and then trust and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit upon your heart and mind. This is the way to real change and victory.

Meditate on God's word, read the bible every day, and it will give you a stronger faith and confidence in the Lord and what He is about to do in your life - look towards the future to the time when He will deliver you from every problem and situation that you will face. You will become a better person, a better christian, and a better citizen of the Kingdom of God!

I Am Gideon

Judges Chapter 6 11-16

11 The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

13 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

16 The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive......”

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the old days, when the Lord moved in mighty ways to save His people? I remember a while ago wondering if there were any people in the bible who I could relate to, so I asked the Lord, is there anyone in the bible that I can read about that I can relate to?

He told me these three words: "You are Gideon". When He said that to me, I was confused because that was not the person that I would have thought of in regards to my own situation in life. I felt a kinship to Job, because he was a man of integrity whose whole life was turned upside down because the devil challenged God regarding Job and his integrity.

The devil said that if the Lord would take away His hedge of protection, and if the Lord would allow him to wreck havoc and sorrow in his life, that Job would curse God to His face and then die. But, Job shows us that even in the hardest of circumstances, we can trust in the Lord no matter what.

I also had an affinity with joseph's life. He was unloved by his brothers and they schemed to kill him so that they might receive some favor and attention from their father, but the Lord intervened. They did not kill him but sold him into slavery in Egypt. He was used, abused, accused and looked down upon. He spent many years in jail for a crime he did not commit, and yet the Lord was always with him, so that he still had favor with men, and ultimately became the second most powerful ruler in Egypt to save and protect his family from the great famine.

When the Lord said this to me, I had to read about Gideon. What was most interesting about his story is that the Lord used him to solve a problem His people Israel was having in the land. The people needed a leader, anointed and set apart by God to deliver them from their enemies, and he was the last person that anyone would ever have chosen for the job.

Gideon was humble and fearful. He was the last person in his family and in his clan, so he had very little authority. But God doesn't care about what other people believe that they see in a person, because we cannot see what the Lord sees. The Lord saw his heart, and he knew that he was the best person for the job because:

1. he was humble and not full of pride
2. once he realized that God wanted to use him, he obeyed the Lord's commands
3. he was willing to do what the Lord wanted him to do and not his own desires
4. he did not listen to what others wanted in this situation but what God wanted for his life
5. he did not allow his fear to stop him from doing God's purpose for his life


He was not known as a fierce warrior, but the angel of the Lord called him to that service - 'mighty warrior'

What the Lord was trying to tell me was that He has a purpose for my life, and even though I might not see how it will be accomplished, He will do what it takes to make it a reality.

If the Lord is telling you that you are to do something that seems impossible, just thank the Lord for the chance to be used for His purposes, and then wait patiently to receive the power and the authority to do so. You will not be disappointed.

Love, Love, and More Love!

“God is saying, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love!”

—Jeremiah 31:3 (MSG), personalized


What God is saying to the world is true - He loves us more than we can ever know. Even when we fail to do the right thing, even when some people refuse to believe that He exists, even when some people reject His claim of ownership over them and rebel against Him, even those who are full of hatred, selfishness and pride. He will always deal with us from a place of love, because there is no hatred, selfishness or pride in His heart. That means that He CANNOT deal with us as some of us deal with Him, because He is perfect, loving and kind.


He will not treat us in the same way as we treat Him, but let me be clear upon one aspect of the Lord's character: He will not allow Himself to abide in a place of fear, hatred, and darkness. If you do not love Him, He cannot help but to love you. And if you deny His love and His existence, He will not deny your existence and He will still have love for you in His heart, because HE IS LOVE.


True love can only be defined by God and His character. The 'love' that is shown in this world is usually conditional ("if you do this for me, I will do this for you"). We try to love ourselves and each other, but our own weaknesses and fears get in the way and cloud our judgement. That is why you will never know true love until you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Once you become born again, His Spirit comes to live inside of you and into your heart; your heart and mind is transformed into a child of the Light, and fear and darkness no longer have a permanent home in your soul.


Become what you most want to be, become a child of God by confessing your sins and asking Jesus Christ to come into your heart:


"Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from you. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward you. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen."


Do it right now so that you may know true love in your heart - - YOU WILL NEVER BE DISAPPOINTED IN HIS LOVE FOR YOU!

Hold On To The Victory

"God’s way is perfect. ALL the Lord’s PROMISES prove true. I chased my enemies (sickness, pain, fear, family problems, loneliness, hurt)…I did NOT STOP (or give up) until they were CONQUERED!”

—Psalm 18:30,37 (NLT), personalized


The path to victory is in Jesus Christ - His ways are perfect and ordained by Father God. We are his servants, and He requires us to walk in this ways. We learn to do so by reading the Word of God and then putting those principles into practice. We are not perfect, but His Glory is perfected within us when we listen to promptings of the Holy Spirit and obey His will for our lives.

All of God's promises are true - if He has promised anything, if He told you He will bring it to pass, it will come to pass. Waiting is hard, and sometimes in the waiting we must bear hurt and suffering, but they are to God's Glory. When you show the world that you can withstand everything it throws at you, and you still have peace and joy in heart, you confuse the enemy and ultimately they will be defeated. Stay strong in your conviction and belief that what God has told you will come to pass......

You may be in a race for your life, but remember, evil is not chasing you, you are chasing evil! You must pursue God and everything that He has for you, and then never give up, never give in -- evil cannot stand in the presence of God's Glory, so you must focus on God and surrender all of your problems and weaknesses to Him. He will defeat the devil, and you will give God all the honor, all the glory, and all the praise.....Keep on praising until victory is accomplished!

Love Is Creative

1 Corinthians 13:4-5: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."

Love is creative. While praying in the spirit I had thoughts of creating things because I love to make jewelry and I had a thought of wanting to make something for the Lord, but He reminded me that I make things for Him everyday. Every time that I praise Him and express my love for Him it is a creative process.....

Love begets love and that is what He wants from us, LOVE......

He wants to love us and be loved by us......

Nothing is stronger than love and He created this world, the universe and us through his love......

GOD IS LOVE!

Genesis Chapter 4 Crouching Sin

Genesis Chapter 4 verses 3-9:

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
6 And the Lord said unto Cain, "Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him."
8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"....

Verse of Meditation:

“I will be accepted if I do what is right. But if I refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control me. But I must subdue it and be its master.”
—Genesis 4:7 (NLT), personalized

When sin crouches at the door, be ever vigilant and seek the Lord's face, get into His Word and repeat it out loud, so that your spirit will hear and your mind will absorb the truth and wisdom it provides, and you will not obey the temptation and the desires of the flesh.....

The first murder happened because two brothers went before the Lord and made their sacrifices, one (Abel) sacrificed a lamb, but the other brother (Cain) sacrificed grain, the produce of his efforts. When the Lord accepted one brothers' sacrifice and not the others' sacrifice, the one whose sacrifice was rejected became angry.

The Lord instructed him to do what is right instead of leaning deeper into a sinful behavior, but Cain did not listen. He allowed his anger to fester into jealousy, and then into rage, and that rage led to the first murder ever recorded in history.

What happened when Cain was questioned by the Lord? He pretended that he did now know where this brother Abel was, as if the Lord, the creator of the universe, could not have known what had happened!

Sin is pervasive, deadly, and destructive - it is not something to be handled lightly; we must always consider our actions and why we do the things that we do by applying God's word and His wisdom. There are many times that we do things for the wrong reason. We can't always see our faults and weaknesses.

What was Cain's mistake in this story?

1. He did not follow the rules for sacrificing to the Lord - This sacrifice was probably a sacrifice for atonement for their sins, but any sacrifice to the Lord must be given correctly and by His standards. The Lord required that the sacrifice be a lamb, and that is why Cain's sacrifice was rejected, but that did not mean that the Lord was rejecting Cain. Cain became angry because he may have thought the Lord should have accepted his sacrifice of grain, the product of his work and efforts, but the Lord wasn't looking for a token of Cain's efforts, He was looking for obedience and a sense of humbleness as this was not just anybody that Cain was dealing with, it was the Lord and He requires faith, trust, and obedience from his servants.

2. He refused to correct his actions and justified himself in his own mind. the scripture doesn't say that he tried to fix the problem and offer another sacrifice to correct the problem, it just says that he got angry, the Lord gave him a mild rebuke for this stinky attitude, and then later he spoke to and then killed his brother. All of this took place because he refused to do what he knew in his heart and mind was the right thing to do. Once you have gone past the part where you are willing to do what is right in God's eyes, there is no other recourse but to disobey and go deeper into sin.....

3. He spoke to his brother Abel, but the problem only got worse. The bible doesn't say what the two brothers said, but i believe that it ended in an argument, which stepped up Cain's anger and jealousy, which resulted in rage and murder. Whatever Abel did to try to correct or solve the issue was not enough to stop Cain from killing him. God says righteous anger prompts an individual into righteous actions, but unchecked anger often leads to deeper sin. There are many people who regret the actions they made when in a fit of rage.

4. When confronted by God about his brothers' death, Cain refused to confess his sin - this is as worse or as bad as the act of murder. Cain could not or would not confess his sin to the Lord. If you are not willing to confess the sins in your life, those issues and weaknesses will continue to wreak havoc and destruction in your daily life. Cain's punishment fit the crime, but perhaps the Lord could have comforted him if Cain had been willing to admit that he was wrong.

Can you imagine the pain and suffering Cain caused to Adam and Eve? There were not that many people living on the earth at that time, and the pain of losing a child must have been unbearable, especially since they lost two sons, one to murder and one to everlasting punishment. We cannot begin to understand what it must have been like to see Abel on the ground in the field, his lifeless body lying in pool of blood. He was gone and there was nothing that they could do bring him back. They would probably become very accustomed to death for the rest of their lives, but the first one must have been an shock to their hearts.

What should we do when we are confronted with our sinful behavior?

1. Do what is right in God's eyes - Obey His word and His will for your life.

2. If you do sin or make a mistake, ask for God's forgiveness and then correct the issue or the problem - do the right thing.

3. If the sin involves someone else, you should apologize to the that person and then do the thing you should have done in the first place, the right thing.

4. Confess your sins and then focus on God, get into the word, pray for help and guidance, and then wait for the Holy Spirit to change your heart and mind.

Psalm 22

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.
4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10 From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13 Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.
15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.

16 Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.
17 All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.

19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
20 Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs.
21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you.
23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,
28 for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive.
30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
31 They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!


This psalm is about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It amazes me that anyone would not be able to see a picture of Him in the verses about the suffering servant. It shows the torment He experienced on the cross when the Lord had to separate from Him spiritually because Jesus had become a symbol of sin; He took all of our sins on the cross and paid the price so that we will never have to pay the price for our sins!

The first part of the psalm gives a detailed description of what if was like to hang on that cross with physical pain and suffering, with people mocking Him and surrounding Him with their hateful words and attitudes, and then later He experienced spiritual separation from Father God, and how that was spiritually, mentally, and emotionally painful.

At last, when the penalty for our sins was paid in full, He released His Spirit into the hands and arms of Father God, and He made a show to every power and principality in the heavens, that He had conquered the devil, sin, and death in this one act of obedience and love, so that everyone that God loves, that means you and me, could be called children of the most high God. We now have a means to become citizens of the Kingdom of God when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

But that is not all that this psalm speaks about; there is a promise for the future, when the Lord comes back to the earth to bring justice, authority and righteousness to the world. We see that everyone will come to know about the saving Grace of Jesus Christ. That knowledge will spread to every corner of the earth, and that all the families of the earth will bow down before HIm, and He will rule over every nation.

This is the promise of the millienium, when everyone will know who Jesus is and what he has done for humanity and they will be given a choice, to serve the God of heaven and His son Jesus Christ, or to live without his blessings upon their lands, and no one will have any excuse as to say they never heard the Gospel, or they never had a chance to know about Jesus. For generations, the Lord will reign and we will declare His mercy to every generation that comes.

We can declare right now to generations unborn.....Jesus Christ Is Lord!