No Troubled Hearts

John 14:1 New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God^[a]; believe also in me.

 In times such as these, with constant debates and protests about various hot button issues, we have to stay in peace. It was foretold that the world will get darker and darker and there isn't stopping it. Instead we are to stay in peace and continue to share the love of God with others.

Don't be alarmed when you hear of mass shootings, protests, or even unrighteous laws be passed, these things have to come to pass in order for the word of God to play out. This does not mean we are to just sit back and ignore what's going on, but to not let our hearts be troubled- or in other words, not get caught up in the craziness and the fear that the media and the people we meet perpetuate. 

Stay prayerful and keep an eye on what's going on because these are all signs of the times we are in and soon we will need to Him more than ever. We are comforted in the fact that He has our best interest at heart and the enemy has already been defeated, just stand and know that He has given us His peace that we may withstand the wiles of the devil during these deeply troubled times.

The End Times (scripture of the month)

Luke 21:7-28New King James Version (NKJV)

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age

⁷ So they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, but when will these things be? And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?”

⁸ And He said: “Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Therefore^[a] do not go after them. ⁹ But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not comeimmediately.”

¹⁰ Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹ And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.¹² But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecuteyou, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. ¹³ But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. ¹⁴ Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; ¹⁵ for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. ¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will putsome of you to death. ¹⁷ And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. ¹⁸ But not a hair of your head shall be lost. ¹⁹ By your patience possess your souls.

The Destruction of Jerusalem

²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. ²² For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. ²³ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. ²⁴ And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁵ “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;²⁶ men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.²⁷ Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

Confidence pt1

Confidence

Those of us who have been around older Christians or even use to hearing preachers, can all agree that they have the “unique” ability to quote scripture and are quick on their feet with sound advice. As a young believer we yearn to be able to recite scripture and be able to give good, positive, word-based advice to anyone and everyone, to be confident in our faith and be a “poster child” for your generation.

This is a major problem for those of us who have perfectionist personalities, to the point that we only get into things only to be able to progress in it and become near experts at whatever it is that we are doing.

After some time goes by and you’ve been going to church and bible study, as well as reading various books, and you still can’t quote scripture or feel confident enough to give people advice , we begin to feel a little deflated. This oddly enough starts making us feel like maybe “I won’t be able to quote scripture or be good enough at remembering all the bible stories and characters”, which results in us pulling back from those things of God that we need to stick with.

The worst thing you can do is pull away from your church, bible study and your own personal studying.

To Be Continued….

The Two Paths

Choose Your Path

Many of us have heard about ‘choosing the right path’ or just simply finding the path that you need to be on, but how do you know you’re choosing the right path? What does God say about it?

Deuteronomy 30:15-20New International Version (NIV)

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God gave us two options (two paths), either choose life or choose death. Of course he tells us to choose life, even though many of us have chosen death by default because we didn’t know better.

There are only two paths to choose from so it makes it a lot easier to choose the right one as long as you know His word. Choose the path that you know follows His word and only produce good fruit, something that you can look back on and be proud of and not the path that would cause you to constantly contradict the word of God and you have to do things that are going to bear bad fruit that you can’t confidently look back on the decisions you made.

To be continued….

Power Of Forgiveness

The power of forgiveness is an amazing ability to have. Forgiveness can release,bind and speed up things in your life.

You hold so much weight in your ability to forgive someone who has done you wrong in some way. When you withhold your forgiveness you are forever linking yourself to that person until you forgive them.

The offense can be as little as someone stealing your bike in middle school to someone who had physically harmed you in some form. Everyone has had someone wrong them in life,but it’s how you move forward afterwards that has the longest lasting effects. So, holding onto your ability to forgive the person/people involved in doing you wrong,you are tightening the cuffs that are linking you with them. Meanwhile that person(s) is moving on with their lives, possibly not even thinking about you or what they have done to you.

Some of you may be satisfied knowing this and think that the other party doesn’t deserve to be forgiven because you are left with the aftermath of what was done to you,but you have to remember that you can’t be forgiven by God because you are withholding your forgiveness. He is no respecter of persons, therefore He will not forgive some believers and not others because He felt like it. The only way you can prevent God’s forgiveness is if you withhold yours.

Don’t let the person(s) move on with their lives while you’re stuck in your feelings about what had happened.

Forgiving is not condoning what was done to you, it is an act or choice that you make because you don’t want to linked to them anymore and you want to be able to be forgiven in the future.

Give

Luke 6:38New International Version (NIV)

³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

One of the most simplest concepts to grasp is to give. Regardless of religion, it has always been a part of being a good person to give to others or at least share.

Now when you take this and apply it to living as a believer (in Jesus Christ) you are to give to your local church and/or to other good ground, such as other churches, television or online ministries that are doing God’s work. This is outside of your normal tithe (10% of your income) that you have to tithe into your church, not only because it is requested of us scripturally (see Malachi 3:10),Malachi 3:10New King James Version (NKJV) “¹⁰ Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,That there may be food in My house,And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts,“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.” , but this also helps support our churches and allows them to pay their bills and to help others.

We are also to give an offering, this is completely optional including the amount you want to give. Giving an offering is the key to help you achieve a new level of financial freedom, say that you are believing for $5,000 to pay off some debt, you should not only have prayed for it but also sowed (offering) towards it, proving to yourself and letting God know that you trust that he will stay to His word.

Look at it this way, by you giving an offering you will be blessed regardless because it was your own free will that you gave. God has no other reason to do anything other than bless you! So don’t get things twisted that your church or institution is just trying to get your money, this is a blessing that works both ways. However don’t think that you are obligated to give an offering of any particular amount, unless you are led by the Holy Spirit.

If you don’t believe in tithing and or giving an offering, test Him by actually doing it and stick with it for a while and you will see how blessed you are by not having things break down that will cost you a lot of money or have a financial increase.

Believe You’ve Received It!

 Mark 11:24New International Version (NIV)

²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

There is no greater benefit, other than salvation, than knowing that you have access to all you need and desire when you accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior. It’s unfortunate that not very many believers are taking advantage of this benefit or are just simply unaware of it.

This scripture, along with many others, are the keys to having more than enough.

Once you ask God for something in prayer, it’s then your job to constantly remind yourself that it’s yours and it has already happened/manifested. You have to train your mind to not focus on what is tangible right now and tell yourself that whatever it is that you prayed for is already in your possession. Don’t get frustrated, the biggest mistake is to give up believing that you will “actually” get whatever it is that you prayed for…that will “kill” your request.

The fastest way to get from prayer to manifestation is to:

·         Be very descriptive of what you want to happen/the item(s) you need/want

·         Find one or two scriptures to quote in your prayer

·         Meditate (repeat) those one or two scriptures to yourself often

·         Watch your words ( don’t say anything to yourself or others that contradicts what you are believing for.)

·         Remind yourself that whatever you asked for already belongs to you, it’s just waiting to be “delivered”.

·       Continue to stay righteous (asking for forgiveness, forgiving others, follow the word of God)

Mark 11:22New International Version (NIV)

²² “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.