Sitting Down With God

I work for the Department of Corrections, and our motto is "We Never Walk Alone." We know when we get to work that we might get into a potentially dangerous situation. Tonight, I was in the breeze way with a coworker, talking, and I looked up for the briefest moment and laid eyes on our shield. Above it states our motto. It clicked in my mind, wow, if I applied this to everyday life, I might get along better throughout my day. As a Christian, I know that God is with me all of the time. I know that Christ lives in me, at all times. When I am at work, I am never with an inmate by myself. If circumstances demand that I am by myself, an officer is only a short distance away, if needed. The cameras are always on us and help is never far away. I trust in my officer, that if a situation was to present itself, that they will be there when I need them the most. If I can rely on them to be there for me when I need them, why do I have to remind myself that I can call on God for any tro...

          If you are robbed something is taken from you.   What is it called when you give something away, willingly or not?   I am guessing that the logical response to this would be dependent on what is being given.   To pin point what the “Giver” is giving, I will start with Joy.           How do you give joy away?   What happens if you give your joy away?    First of all, Joy is given to you from the Lord.   It is a feeling of peace and gladness from being one with Christ.   Why would you want to give that awesome gift away?   So many people let circumstances and people get them down.   They become discouraged, depressed, angry and upset.   But, I am here to tell you that you don’t have to feel that way.   The Lord gave us joy.   John 15:11 says, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy ...

    I have a question for myself that might apply to you too.  Do I truly trust God with all I have?  This means trusting Him when everything is going wrong.  Do I trust Him when my car won't start, when it looks like rent won't get paid, when a family member gets sick, when I get sick, when I am layed off of my job, when my grades aren't what they should be, when the lights are going to go off and my bank account is sick?  Do I trust Him with everything?     Trust has many definitions: 1.) the assured resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice, friendship or other sound principle of another person 2.) confidence 3.) reliance 4.) to give credit to 5.) to risk     1 Corinthians 2:5 states, " So that your trust might rest not on the wisdom of man, but on the power of God."  If I am looking at it from a world view;  No, I will not be able to pay my bills without money, or pass a class that I am...

    I read something today that really made me think.  In the book of Genesis, Jacob describes his son Reuben as, “turbulent as the waters.”  The New Living Translation goes on to dissect this statement further by saying that water has no shape of its own, except for when it is frozen.  But, my way of thinking is that even when frozen, the water still conforms to its container or its environment.  It never really gains its own shape.      The Bible was talking about how consistent we are in our personal lives as opposed to how we act in the public view.  Human nature runs the show most of the time and I know for myself that my personal life is not always up to par to what I would like those in my “public” life to be aware of.     I have been battling temptation recently and I find myself trying hard to live the life that God wants for me.  I want to live up to his standards.  I want my standards to r...

       Okay, I am just going to get real with everyone.   I want everyone to get a pen and a piece of paper.   Now spell God.   Spell Lord, and Spell Jesus.   On my paper, I see, “G-O-D, L-O-R-D, and J-E-S-U-S.”   Now maybe I am mistaken, but on my paper I see no “I’s” anywhere      I am sure you are wondering what my point is. Well, I have no problem telling you. As Christians, we have become too "I" centered. What "I" want. What "I" need. Add "Me" and "My" and we could have a party.        It is time to take "I" out of the picture. Hmmm. What do you have left if "I" is gone, or "me", or "you"? What does that leave? It leaves us with a new beginning, with a new realization and with a new perspective.       Everything we do should be revolved on a He. I am not talking about the cute guy at the grocery store. I am not referring to our husbands or boyfrien...

NEVER AGAIN NEVER AGAIN will I confess or focus on "I can't," because the Word says: "I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) NEVER AGAIN will I confess or focus on fear, because the Word says: "God has not given me a spirit of fear, but one of power, love and a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7) NEVER AGAIN will I confess or focus on doubt and a lack of faith, because the Word says: "God has dealt to each one [every person] a measure of faith." (Romans 12:3) NEVER AGAIN will I confess or focus on weakness, because the Word says: "The Lord is the strength of My life" (Psalm 27:1) and "The people that know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits." (Daniel 11:32) NEVER AGAIN will I confess or focus on the supremacy of Satan over my life, because the Word says: "Greater is He that is within me than he that is in the world." (1 John ...

                             “I appreciate all that you do for me Lord, but that is not what I prayed for.”   Have you ever prayed with all your might for something?   Have you ever spent hours on bended knee, crying your heart out to the Lord for help, relief, or change?   I think everyone has a defined moment of when they came to God in such submission, full of hope and knowing exactly what you want God to do for you.                 I mean think about it.   You listed out everything you needed.   You mapped out for God just how to deal with your problem and how He can fix it for you.   Because don’t you know your way is best. Then God answers your prayer, to a point.   He deals with the issue, just not how you wanted Him to.    ...

Life is full of choices.   The most important choice I have ever made was becoming a Christian.   I made the choice to love an almighty God. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.   Every choice you make has a consequence, some good and some bad.               When you choose to live for God; to proclaim off of every rooftop the love of His Son, you will be persecuted.   In being a Christian, we know what our reward is.   We know that no matter what troubles befall us on this earth, that in the end we win.   There are consequences to being a Christian: ·         You can no longer live a life full of debauchery: o    Drunkenness o    Lust o    Idolatry ·         You will lose friends o    The people you associated with are not going to change what they do because you have made a...

            I had a great morning.   I went to church.   Praised God! Said my Hallelujahs and Amen’s and came home.   I was in very good spirits, until I spied my fiancé sitting there watching TV.   All of a sudden I just started running that flapper and couldn’t stop.   Let me rephrase I was not able to stop because I felt justified at the time in what I was saying.   I really hurt his feelings and I instantly felt bad and apologized.               However, that was not the end of things.   I just was so easily irritated today, for no apparent reason.   It was like this battle was raging in my mouth and my tongue lost.   We had another service this evening at church and at the end one of our guest preachers started talking about the power of words and the power of the tongue.         ...

WALK IN THE LIGHT:           Lesson Eight, “ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 We make choices everyday that make the difference between walking in the light of Jesus and going toward darkness.   Jesus is the light of the world.   If we walk in Him we will be free of sin and have eternal life.             Spiritually light refers to illumination of the mind, reason and will. Light is an example of Holiness. The opposite of light is darkness, which symbolically means, sin and death.   To walk in light you are choosing to be Holy, to live in truth.   You are willing to step out of the darkness and change what you do on a daily basis.             When you are walking in darkness you may stumble or fall...

EMBODY THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT:           Lesson Seven, “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5:22-26. NIV.           We should make the effort to be a representative of all the characteristics of the Fruits of the Spirit.   The Apostle Paul gave this list to show us what Christ-like attributes we need to enter the Kingdom of God. ·         Love - "Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display its...

WALK THE TALK           Lesson Five, if you say you are of Christ then let your actions reflect your words.   Each step you take is a witness to the world.   Do you want others to love Christ as you do?   How you speak and how you act are reflections of Christ in you.   I want to be a reflection of something good to others.   I want to know that when I talk about God they aren’t thinking about other things.   I want to know that the focus is not on what I do wrong on a daily basis.   I want them to see the loving God I serve.   I was raised in the church.   I fell off the wagon when I was a teenager and young adult.   I lived as far from God as I could be.   I started going back to church when I was in my early twenties and I fell off again.   I was trying to serve two masters and you can’t do that.   So now here I am back again.   I want to be the person God intended me ...

GAIN FREEDOM FROM THE WORLD:           Lesson Three, You can’t straddle the fence.   You can’t be of the world and of God too.   You have to make a choice.   You either live in the world or you live like Christ is in you. Galatians 5:1 ESV, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”           When you are of the world you are a slave to sin.   I know that before I dedicated my life back to Christ that I was a slave to sin.   My heart had gotten so hardened against what was right, that being wrong seemed right to me.   My conscious no longer worked.   I couldn’t hear God’s voice if he was standing at my ear with a megaphone.   In the world, I battled alcoholism and drug abuse. I battled debt and insecurity.   I was angry all the time and my hope was in earthly things.   I got so far dow...

          Lights, camera, action!   You are the up and coming star in a new reality TV show.   Cameras will be on you 24/7 from here on out.   You are required by contract to be 100% yourself for the next year.   You have to talk, dress, and interact with others just like you would if there was no camera crew following you around.             Now, reality is that the chances of one of us being on a reality TV show is small, but think about it really hard.   What kind of person would you show the world if you had a camera following you around all the time?             I was walking into work tonight and this question presented itself to me.   I feel that as a Christian I would like to think that I would show good qualities to the world, but the truth is none of us are perfect.   However, I feel like this was a ...