Sitting Down With God

      "What do you have your sight's on?"  I feel God has been convicting me of this.  He speaks to me in themes, and everything I read points to this.  What on this earth have I put before my time with God?  Back in Bible times, the Israelites continued to try to worship other gods and idols. [golden calf] What are the idols of our world now?

    Okay sports fans, a house divided means some people in your house go for a certain team and you go for another.  Today, I want to talk about trying to live for God and still living part of your life in the world.  I am going to be blunt today.  It does not work.  It will not ever work.  No matter how gifted you feel you are at straddling the fence, you can not serve two masters.  You either want to live a life in the light, or you want to continue to keep darkness in your life.

                             “The devil is a lie!”  We have all heard this saying, at least once in our lives.  Recently, I have been in some personal situations and have been party to other people’s personal situations.  I just want to say right here and right now, “THE DEVIL IS A LIAR!”

Dear Readers,                                 I apologize that there has been such a gap between this post and the last post.   I started school and have been trying to get my schedule in order there.   The last few weeks have been busy and I pray that this note finds everyone healthy and blessed.                 I have had on my mind the last few weeks a certain scripture out of Matthew.   Matthew 10:34-36:

                               In the past week, I have had two friends from church come to me and broach the subject of suicide.   One of them was sharing her testimony of a time that she had thoughts of committing suicide the other had a suicidal thought just that morning.   Suicide is a very emotional topic for me.   In my personal life, I have dealt with my father’s suicide and an attempt at my own life when I was fifteen.                   It has taken me years to realize how precious life really is.   I find myself at the oddest moments, laughing when I should be angry and smiling when I should be sad.   The joy of the LORD is a balm to any soul.   But, here I am, with two women I care about and one of them is admitting that she is c...

                               I decided to sit on my front porch this afternoon and read out of my Bible while I was out there.  It is getting ready to storm and the wind is blowing and you can hear the thunder rumbling.  I thought of all the storms that have occurred in my life.  I say this metaphorically.  Because when we go through any trial or tribulation it is a storm in our life.  It may not really be raining in the world but you feel as if the one and only rain cloud in the world is hanging over you.  I sat there and I kept thinking that with every rumble of thunder and gust of wind my God is a good God.  He is an amazing God.

Brother Don shared a powerful message with us at church yesterday morning. It really made me think.  He talked about how so many Christians go around telling people how to be Christians.  That we put such a "religiousness" to it that people shy away from wanting any part of church or God.  I had to look back at my blog and see if I was doing this too. I think he caught me before I did anything to crazy.  His main point was that God is LOVE!!!!!!  We should love God, love Christ, but even more we should love each other.  God wants us to live a righteous life but if you love everyone as Jesus loves you then you are making a very big step.

Have you ever played with a kaleidoscope?   They are tubes made from all different kinds of materials and inside of them are mirrors that reflect off of pieces of glass, plastic or whatever else is put in them.   When the light reflects off of the mirrors and the colorful pieces; images appear that you can see.   You can turn the kaleidoscope and the image will change.     These are beautiful images you see.             I want you to look at something with me.   In order for this to work, you have to have all the pieces working in sync with each other.   The main component consists of pieces of mirror that cause light to reflect off of the broken pieces.   Now I want you to imagine that your soul is the colorful pieces the light reflects off of in the kaleidoscope.   When all the parts work together correctly, a beautiful image is created.   However, if you turn it or manipulate it e...

I sit here tonight wondering.  I wonder why it has taken me so long to see the truth.  The bible says that the truth will set you free.  So, I am going to take that step and receive that freedom.            In recent posts, I have shared what God has revealed to me in my personal bible study.  That is all well and good, but God has spoken something to me and no matter how hard I fight Him.  He has won.  He has told me that to be truly free, I have to face my past and let it go.  I always feel shame when I think about who I was.  I say who I was because when I accepted Christ as my personal savior He made me new in Him.  I am now a new creation, spirit-filled, and loved by an almighty, powerful God.  All of my sins are forgiven.  They are forgiven as far as the east is from the west.  If you can calculate how far that is, you are good.  To say the least, it is a very great d...

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...

       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...

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 ...

          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 ...

    I was doing my bible study today and a thought was put before me.  The question was " How often do you take a shower?"  How does this pertain to a bible study? Ha ha, I know what you mean.  I was like,really?  What kind of question is that?  But, as I read on in my study the answer was so clear.  I bathe everyday.  I take a shower sometimes twice a day depending on how dirty I get in the course of my day.  So if I bathe daily or more than once a day; why am I only going to the cross every now and then?     Doesn't sin make you feel unclean?  This is a good question.  If sin makes my soul unclean and dirt makes my body unclean.  Then why am I bathing my body and not my spirit?  I have really been trying to have a better walk with God and I need encouragement daily to keep myself strong in my personal convictions for a better life.  However, I find myself knowing that even though I do my bi...