Friday, December 26, 2014

Grace, Mercy, and Love for God...

God's Grace, Mercy, and Love for us is the sole purpose that any of us are alive today. Sure, it was our biological parents that, through the act of coitus and the miracle of conception, gave birth to us, but without the breathe of life that only God can provide, we'd be nothing but a pile of ooze, water, salt and a few minerals. Without the life giving touch of God, we'd be nothing at all, wether in the physics or the spiritual, we all need God to survive; however, knowing and understanding that we need God, and actually loving God is two very different things, and it's my duty to inform you that simply knowing is just not enough...

James 2:19

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble...


So as we can see, simply knowing that there is a God, simply understanding that without Him, there is no life isn't good enough for, we must act on those beliefs. As we read through the second chapters of James, we can clearly see that Faith without works is dead; in other words, we can believe God for everything; however, if we do not act on that belief according to the Word of God, what good is it? and based on the Word of God found in James chapter two, works without faith is dead as well, and the same can be said about Grace as well...

God is full of Grace, Love, Mercy, Forgiveness, and a plethora of other wonderfully beautiful attributes; however, if we have received Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness, and Love from the father, through Jesus Christ, yet we have not reciprocated that love and emotion through our lives, and through our praise, and through our worship, what truly have we done? it would appear to me that we have not done anything more than attempt to mock the One True Living God. Now, I can hear it now, those who say that God's Grace is all forgiving and His love covers everyone in and on this earth, and to them, I say yes, that is absolutely true; however, the question or concern isn't wether or not God loves us, but rather, do we love God...

John 14:15,23
If ye love me, keep my commandments... Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him...

If we Love God, we will keep His commandments, this is the key statement right here, and the key word in this statement has only two letters, I and F, they spell out the word IF. You see, the fact that God loves us has long been established, the fact that He is merciful and full of grace has also been established; therefore, we can say with all honesty that no matter who you are and what you have done, God loves you and He will also love you. There is this attitude or mantra going around that because Jesus loves me, and because He already gave His life, and because He has already risen, then we can do whatever we want to do with no regard for others, nor any expectation of punishment, we simply declare that God is graceful and plan out our next round of sin; unfortunately, this is not how salvation truly works, once again, if we love God, we will keep His commandments...

Psalm 91:14-16 
Because he (us) hath set his love upon Me, (God) therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation...

James 1:12
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him...

Those that love God will be Blessed, but how does one show that he or she truly loves God? As we read in the second chapter of James, simply saying I believe isn't enough, for even the demons know that there is only one God. Perhaps by doing good things and treating everyone nicely we can show that God that we love Him; actually, no we cannot, once again if we continue to read in the James chapter two, we can see that good works are simply not enough to, there is another requirement. The book of Hebrews, specially chapter eleven, is often called the Faith Book due to the fact that it talks mainly about the importance of faith, and what faith actually is; however, in that chapter we also find a very important piece of information,  and that is piece of information tells us exactly how to please God...

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please him : for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him...


According to Hebrews chapter eleven and verse six, it is virtually impossible for us to please unless we believe that He is truly God, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him, so let's take a look at what it means to diligently seek God. According to Dictionary.com, the word diligently means to put forth a constant effort, to be attentive and persistent, or to pursue with painstaking attention, diligence. Now, let's look at the word seek, again our source is Dictionary.com, and our definition is this, to go in search of or to quest, to try to find or discover, or to try to obtain. So, I'm not sure about you, but to me, it seems that to diligently seek sounds a lot like love. When we find that special someone, the one that we want to spend eternity with, do not we put forth a constant effort to obtain, and keep, their affection? When we love someone, do don't we pursue them with painstaking attention and diligence? So in order to please God, do not we need to do the things that prove we love Him? And what are those things, are not they the same things we do for our husbands and wives? Yes, absolutely it is, we do whatever pleases them, we do whatever they ask us to do, and that is exactly how we please God, we do exactly what He has asked us to do, we follow His commandments...

God's Grace, Mercy, Love, and Forgiveness is exactly why we are all alive today, let us give thanks and show love to God by keeping His commandments to the best of our ability. We all know that no one is perfect, and God knows that as well, He knows that we will make mistakes, and that is why He gave us Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Mighty example and the sacrificial lamb, He paid the cost for our mistakes with His Blood, and each time we purposely sin, we place Him back on the cross again; instead of placing Him back on the cross, let us show our love for Him by using the Grace He has given us as a reason to love Him and the strength we need to keep His commandments... God Bless... Amen... 

For more info, please read: (Romans 8:28, Hebrews 5:8-9, Hebrews Ch.6, II  Corinthians 4:15, Galatians 1:6, Ephesians Ch.5) 







Monday, December 15, 2014

Revival Within Us...

(Originally posted on my Facebook page)

I was awaken early this morning with the thought and urge to pray for revival in Austin, Texas, but not the type of revival in which we have a special guest speaker or an extra evening church service, but the type of revival that actually revives the Spirit within us to do more. How many churches have noticed a lag in attendance, participation, or any other of the key areas? How many churches have had to cut programs or eliminate special services that where once common place? Why is this? It is because the believers, you and I, have lost that burning passion for our first love, we have replaced that joy we had after we where renewed in the Holy Ghost with a passion to enjoy the things of this world. Christmas, one of the most precious and cherished times of the year for the believer has been replaced with x-mas, instead of a time of happiness and reflection on the birth of our Lord and Savior, it has become a time of shopping sprees and gift exchanges in which the name of Jesus is rarely if ever mentioned...
Today, I have been praying for the type of revival to breakout within us that directs us, drives us, and pushes to call out to the Lord for our families, for our friends, for our neighbors, for the lost, and for those who have never felt the warm embrace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, as I have spoken or written about on many other occasions, there will be a time when the Spirit of the Lord no longer dwells among man; however, that time isn't now, right now His Grace, Mercy, and Love is here for us, right now His Spirit dwells amongst us and within us, right now His Holy Ghost Power is freely given, for all to receive, and right now is the time to revive that Holy Ghost Power within ourselves so we can give it out to others, so we can show them a better way, so that when the time come, we can all enjoy the presence of the Lord…

The time for revival is now, for one day soon, those who have been redeemed, renewed, and revived shall flow upon the mountain top to the house of the Lord, there will be no more sorrow, no more pain, and no more war. In that time, which surely comes quickly, we will all live as one, learning of the ways of God, nations will live in peace, the animals will run and play, and the weapons of war shall be no more, and it begins with you and I, today, right now, when we pray on one accord for revival…

Micah 4:1-3
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord , and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more…

As I come to a close, tears have began to fill my eyes and reach down my face, flowing past my cheeks; however, these are not tears of pain or fear, they are tears of joy. You see, as the word teaches, our pain may endure for the night, but soon the joy will arrive, and yes, it begins within us, a revival of the Holy Spirit within us that flows out to our families, friends, neighbors, cities, states, nations, and eventually our world…

Imagine that day when mothers no longer bury children, brothers no loner mourn for their sisters, imagine if you will that day when the seventy-five year old goes running and frolicking with his grandchildren and the lions lay down together with the lamb. Revival is the key that starts it all, prayer on one accord, regardless of tradition or denomination; but, it must start here, now, with you and I. If I pray, and you pray, and we pray, and they pray... Oh what a mighty force we become, our quiet little prayers will begin to hum, and then to rumble, and then they become a roar... Oh yes, Revival…

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Monday, December 8, 2014

The Potter and The Vessel...

Today, I would like to focus on those of us who are young in the faith, or maybe at a point in our lives in which we are struggling, unsure of what to do next, or perhaps do not know where to turn. Although I have been a Spirit filled believer for some time now, I must admit that I too have been in these types of situations myself, especially during my recent health scare. Because I have had many of these same feelings of confusion and doubt, I truly understand and empathize with those who have felt these same feelings. 

Over the past year and a half, for those who may not know, I had a spinal injury and bacterial infection that not only threatened to permanently remove the use of my legs, but it also threatened to end my life; however, God proved Himself faithful, and here I am writing this letter of love to you. Now, in hindsight, I know that God was with me every step of the way; however, while I was in the valley of indecision, facing such a frightening outcome, it was very hard to see God's face for the many tears and fears that were clouding my vision...

Eventually, after realizing that my anger, frustration, and self pity was only hurting my relationship with God and in no way could help me to recover during this very difficult time. During this season of tribulation, I refused to pray, read the Word, of in anyway acknowledge God. I felt that although I had been God's faithful servant, He abandoned me and left me alone and defenseless; however, I would soon learn this couldn't be further from the truth. Eventually, I came to myself after realizing that if one of the greatest men of God, not only in my life, but in the world today, Bishop Kenneth Phillips, would have fight for his life against cancer, who am I to believe that somehow I should be exempt from the diseases and plagues of this world...

In the bible, Job was described as a righteous man, he loved God and followed the ways of God without question. Job honored God in all his ways, he payed alms not only for himself, but for his family, and yet, he suffered great loss, facing horribly painful illnesses, the loss of his family, and almost everything he owned and everything he loved; yet and still, he remained faithful to God. You see, Job realized that no matter what happened, God was always in control; in all things, good or bad, God's hand were moving and molding, touching and guiding, smoothing and redirecting, creating man into the very image of God Himself...

Although God is always in control, it is important to remind ourselves that God has given us all "free-will" which means that we have the power to decide for ourselves what, when, why, where, and how things work and flow in our lives. Jesus Christ is indeed Lord of All, John chapter one tells us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, and without Him not anything was made that was made... Jesus is that Word. When God created the world, He spoke it into existence over a matter of days; therefore, just as in the creation of the world, there was a process and order of operation, there is a process for everything in our lives today, including the restoration of our lives, and it's up to us to initiate that process in our lives today, this leads us up to where we are now, the process of rebuilding our lives today...

Before we can rebuild our lives, before I could rebuild myself or my own life, I had to first understand one thing, God has created you and I for a purpose, after I grabbed ahold of this and I mean really believed it, my rebuilding process could begin. As we have lived our lives the way we have chosen to live them, we  have moved away from the plan God originally established for us; in affect, we have broken our lives, and now we have become broken vessels. Now, becoming a broken vessel isn't exactly a bad thing, in all honestly, it is the perfect thing, it allows God to repair us and mold us into what it is He desires us to be in the plan He had established since before the dawn of creation...

Jeremiah 18:1-6
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord . Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand...

During my health scare, I was physically broken, and I truly needed God to heal me physically, and He has done that through the hands of an excellent surgeon and other medical staff and rehab technicians; yet, more importantly, I was spiritually broken, I was a broken vessel, and only God's hands could restore my spirit. You see, when we are broken in our spirit, there is nothing that we can do to repair it ourselves, we need the help of the Great Physician, Jesus Christ. Only He can place us on the spiritual potter's wheel, only Jesus can take a broken and battered soul and place it back together; however, if we do not initiate the process, and if we do not "go down to the potter's house," we cannot even begin the repair process, but how do we find our way down to the potter's house? Great question, and here is the very simple answer, we initiate the process, and find our way to the potter's house through constant prayer, fasting, and the reading His Holy Word...

Prayer is literally talking directly to God, and it is an intricate part of the believers daily life; Jeremiah 33:3 states that that if we call Him, He will answer, showing us many great things. As we read the Word and learn of God, we will find that prayer is very important to God, in the Bible, God has mentioned prayer well over three hundred times; in fact, Jesus Himself not only instructs us to pray, but also teaches us exactly how to pray in Matthew chapter six, leading us in what has become known as the Lord's Prayer, one of the most well known passages of any sort in history. As stated above, the first chapter of John has established that the Word of God is God; therefore, the best way to learn of God, and to become the type of vessel God can work with and restore is to read the Word of God found in the Holy Bible. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus not only quotes the Old Testament, but He asked those around Him, "have you not read," (Matt.19:4) this means that Jesus expects us to not only read the Word, but to have a basic understanding of what it is we are reading, and we can only do this by studying the Word of God closely...

So, here we are, the moment of truth... This is where I tell you that on Sunday I accepted Christ and by Wednesday I was all brand new... No, that's not how it goes... The renewal process is neither quick nor swift, it is a slow process that includes both ourselves and God communicating through prayer as we surrender ourselves to the hands of God... When I was in the hospital for approximately five months, and when I was on bed rest for two months following my return home from the hospital, I spent a large majority of my time in prayer… Reading, writing, and studying the word of God... As I did these things, I began to acquire an elevated understanding of God, and with this elevated understanding came increased Faith, and with this increased Faith came a higher level of power, healing, and strength... 

This my friend is what a life with Christ is all about, we push forward, living, learning, and seeking after God; all the while, we allow God to place us on the potter's wheel so that He can mold us, guide us, and recreate us into the vessel He had originally planned for us to be... BUT, we must first allow ourselves to be broken, as only a broken vessel can be reformed and rebuilt by the hands of God into that vessel which God can use...

Isaiah 64:8
But now, O Lord , thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand...