On Track

Proverbs 16:1-7

King James Version (KJV)

16 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.

² All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.

³ Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.

⁴ The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

⁵ Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

⁶ By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

⁷ When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Getting on track with God is how you ensure a good life. It’s not always easy, it takes practice sometimes it takes years of practice, however when you get it that’s when the flood gates open up and blessings rain down on you. What better reward is there than the reward from our King?

I by no means am perfect or even close to being so, but with that being said I try to get better and gain more knowledge of the word and how the word works. There is no short cut to get to the “other side” other than cutting everything “cold turkey” and stop using idle words and so on. I haven’t met a man on this earth to have done just that. So for the rest of us it’s a process of being molded into what we need to be in order to live a good life and be instruments of God to help others.

There are both believers and non believers that think just because they have money and a decent job that they have the good life, not knowing that there is soo much more in life that they are missing out on whether it’s eternal salvation for the non believers or an abundant life with peace and joy for those who do believe.

Just like in my previous post about tithing-your words have a profound effect on what happens in your life. Your thoughts likewise are a contributing factor. If your thoughts and words are against you getting in line with God’s word-it will take that much longer for you to get on track, naturally. The enemy loves it when you speak against the things you want because he knows he can  act on what you say and pull back further away from your purpose.

Tithing

Hebrews 7:1-8

New International Version (NIV)

Melchizedek the Priest

7 This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, ² and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.”³ Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

⁴ Just think how great he was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder! ⁵ Now the law requires the descendants of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people—that is, from their fellow Israelites—even though they also are descended from Abraham. ⁶ This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. ⁷ And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. ⁸ In the one case, the tenth is collected by people who die; but in the other case, by him who is declared to be living.

There has been much debate as to whether or not we should be tithing today.

The ones that debate against tithing typically have never tithed or haven’t done it correctly.

Anyone who has tithed consistently, speaks life over their seed and gives that 1/10^th of their income as they should, they would not argue against tithing.

As a tither myself, I have seen favor, savings and financial returns. As soon as I heard about tithing and saw the scripture I took it as truth and started tithing from where I was at financially, in the beginning the tenth (tithe) of what I would have was only $2. Despite my tithe being small in amount it was still a tithe and I was faithful to give exactly 10% of my earnings and because of it I was protected from having to come out of pocket for unexpected things that I didn’t have the means to pay for.

As time went on I had favor with the ability to earn more, therefore my tithe was more and I realized that my blessings/favor was building up because I continued to tithe along with my increase. This strengthened my faith in the financial aspect. However along with that you have to make sure to not speak death to things-such as “I know my car is going to break down sooner or later” or “I can’t get out of debt” or “I can’t afford anything,I’m always broke”.

Your words can easily defeat your tithe-meaning you have given according to the word of God but your words that contradict what you really want will prevent God from blessing you in any aspect but since we’re talking about finances, it will block financial protection.

All I can say is to try it! When it comes to having to give out money we all get so bent out of shape, even when it comes to the church. We have to understand that the tithe is not our money anyway-that 10% is what is His because without Him we wouldn’t even have a means of getting money-or even being alive!

Try Him! Prove to yourself that God is true to His word and that it doesn’t die out or get left behind.

Doubt Door

James 1:6

New International Version (NIV)

⁶ 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.

I know I have spoken about this scripture before in regards to not doubting, however it bears repeating, doubt is a constant battle that will be with us until we join the Lord in Heaven.

Doubt is that ‘little’ voice or thought in the back of your mind saying “well, what if it doesn’t happen”, “what if it doesn’t happen IN TIME” and so on.

I believe doubt is the main gateway for depression. Doubt comes to unlock a “door” in your spirit and allows the spirit of heaviness to come in and manifest through you in different ways: helplessness to hopelessness to depression to suicidal thoughts which lead to suicidal tendencies which leads to suicide. There may be some other doors in the list, but those are the main ones.

I’m not speaking as an outsider in this situation, I’m speaking from experience with depression and the spirit of heaviness.

Circumstances affect the way you view the future and causes doubt that things will turn out better because of the way things look in the present. The future becomes impossible to think of because all you can see is what in front of you right now. The future is so unclear that when someone tries to cheer you up by saying tomorrow is a new day, it makes you angry because you don’t see it that way.

Depression manifests in many different ways-some people can go on with their daily lives and have no one even suspect it because they seem normal and happy-smiling to strangers. Some are like how I was, were we hated to make eye contact with anyone because you knew that they would see what a loser you are and struggle to communicate exactly how they feel to others because they know that others will judge them and tell them to stop being sad and try to smile.

Never assume that someone isn’t depressed because they don’t mope around, where black clothing, listen to rock music and cut themselves. It comes in many forms,but all through one door- Doubt.

To be continued….

Temptations/Sins

James 1:12–18

Loving God Under Trials

^12 kBlessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive ^lthe crown of life ^mwhich the Lord has promised to those who love Him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, ⁿwhen desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, ^obrings forth death.

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. ^17 pEvery good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, ^qwith whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. ^18 rOf His own will He brought us forth by the ^sword of truth, ^tthat we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

When people say that they struggle with “demons” or “vices” that they wish they didn’t have and yet expect God to just take them away, it goes against scripture. Some have said “if I wasn’t supposed to be doing this then remove it from me”. There may be some out there that say God caused them to be tempted.

The Lord cannot tempt you! Only your desires can tempt you, you can’t be tempted if you didn’t already have a desire to partake in whatever it is. That would be like ‘tempting’ a millionaire with five dollars…there is no point because they already have that and then some so it isn’t a desire. However if you used to like to smoke cigarettes and you have stopped for 3 months and then one day someone lights one up next to you and then that person asks you if you would like one, and you say yes….that’s on you! Not on God. As long as those desires are there, there will be temptation in those areas.

Temptations always lead to sin-now were aren’t talking about being “tempted” to eat a slice of cake even though you’re on a diet-temptations are those things that if you do it you have already set yourself up for a sinful course, like stealing a dollar from a tip jar leads to stealing twenty dollars to possibly stealing a cd from a store and so on. There is progression that takes place, it’s up to you to nip it in the bud after you have fallen into the temptation and repent of it and make a conscious effort to not do it again. It may take time to do, but STILL do it!

Friends

1 Peter 4:4-6

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁴ In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. ⁵ They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

Like most Christians, you will HAVE to lose some friends-this isn’t a “I can’t be your friend anymore because I’m a Christian now” type of situation.

The losing of friends:

They stop hanging out with you or staying in contact with you

They start to act funny around you

They get upset if you decline to do something that you would have done prior

They get upset if you bring up anything Christian related

AND/OR

You realize that you are being delayed in life by being connected with them

Old behaviors by them are no longer acceptable in your eyes

You can see the foul spirits operating in them and don’t those spirits to come on you

            (in this case you have to separate yourself and pray for them)

You are going to have to expect those who knew the old you to have something to say to you or about you now that you are saved and have changed. Change is inevitable so don’t say that you won’t change as a person because you will. Just know that it will happen and that if it happens to be a close friend be prepared to let them go or at least leave them at a distance. If you try to hold onto these relationships all you are going to do is sabotage your new walk and possible hinder them from being able to find their own.

To be continued….

Suffering for Christ

1 Peter 4

New King James Version (NKJV)

4 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us^[a] in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ² that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

Our separation from those things that we enjoyed doing, but were sinful, causes suffering because it’s a depriving of your flesh of what it thinks it needs to be satisfied. Trust me if you haven’t been separated from something you like or makes you feel good then you can’t understand the struggle of leading a ‘pure’ Christian life.

There is NO such thing as a perfect Christian in these times, however we strive for the best. Just because you can’t partake in all the things that you liked prior to becoming saved doesn’t mean that you live the rest of your life miserable or failing at every turn. The whole purpose of becoming saved is that you become a new creation and can go to heaven to be with Jesus, the perks of being saved FAR SURPASSES those fleeting moments of excitement in things/activities in the world. I rather give up listening to certain type of music,watching certain types of movies, not have premarital sex and so on in order to enjoy the many frequent blessings, healings, miracles, meeting the right kind of people, have peace, have joy, get to use my once hidden gifts, help others, tap into the supernatural, be forewarned of things to come, speak to God, hear from the Holy Spirit, have prayers answered, bind demons, spend ETERNITY in heaven and much more!

Now if you ask me, suffering-not even physically suffering- but suffering from not doing what you used to do is sooo much more worth it when you way what you gain in return.

Proverbs 15:22

Proverbs 15:22

New International Version (NIV)

²² Plans fail for lack of counsel,
    but with many advisers they succeed.

In a world where you have to keep things to yourself for the fear of someone stealing your joy or your idea. However in the body of Christ we are to share and seek counsel from one another and not just keep things bottled up unless the Lord tells us to keep something in until a certain time.

We are to seek counsel if we heard a word from God about doing something or moving somewhere. We can’t just act instantly on a word we get and rush into things, get anxious to jump on things right away.

But also be wise in who you seek counsel from, you seek counsel from those who you trust and are in the church. Not your neighbor who is an atheist or the coworker who is a Buddhist. The unsaved cannot give sound advice as to how to act on a word from God.

Because some people act so quickly on a prophetic word that they receive they end up getting off course and out of God’s will. You have to have confirmation and to get that is through counsel with other believers and through prayer.